We are approaching the most holy days of God’s year. It begins on October 2nd with the Feast of Trumpets, continues through the Day of Atonement; and is completed with the Feast of Tabernacles on October 17th.
These holy days were first given as physical celebrations with specific and physical acts of worship required. Through the grace of God in the gift of his precious son, these physical requirements are now completed in the spirit. We all trust that through Christ, one day we will cast aside our physical bodies of mud and blood to then be elevated into perfect spiritual bodies. Neither the Holy Days ordained by God, nor our bodies have been made invalid, nor have they been replaced. Both will eventually be fully elevated to their intended true spiritual natures.
The Feast of Trumpets is both a celebration of God’s bountiful provisions and a call to repentance for our personal and corporate sins. We do not have to wave a sheaf of new wheat over our heads nor blast a warning on a ram’s horn. We do need to pause and acknowledge our thankfulness to God and then carefully heed the call to consider our actions in light of God’s standards.
Ten days later comes our Day of Atonement. Here, we acknowledge our personal transgressions of God’s law and seek forgiveness for the corporate sins committed by our nation. Our thoughtful self- examination in the days following the trumpet blasts should now be acknowledged and brought before God. Here again our actions are spiritual through the blood Yeshua Ha'Mashiach. We no longer need seek a living goat to bear our sins and to be cast into the desert. Jesus already paid that cost.
Finally, the most happy and joyous event of the year, the Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot. This is sometimes called the Festival of Booths or The Ingathering. Regardless, it is a joyous celebration of our returning to again dwell in the presence of our God. It is the ingathering of all God’s people united with our creator God in love and adoration. It is a hint of what will be in the New Jerusalem when God gathers his own.
There is nothing wrong with our heartfelt exchange of gifts, or celebrations with burgers and fireworks. These are good. But we should not ignore the special days God himself set aside as Holy for our instruction and enjoyment. They have not been made invalid.
I once attended a cult that celebrated the Old Testament Holy Days. However, at Christian college I discovered that the external forms of the laws have been replaced. Why? Because they were the national forms for the Old Testament people, whereas the internal principles continue for New Testament Christians.
Look at Colossians 2:8-17, which I quote here:
Col 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
Col 2:9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
Col 2:10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
Col 2:11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
Col 2:12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.
Col 2:13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
Col 2:14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
Col 2:15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Col 2:16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.
Col 2:17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ (English Standard Version).
Note Paul's statements:
(1) Jesus is God (verse 9--of course, along with the Father and the Spirit as our one mysterious God).
(2) Believers are filled with God, but, of course, don't become God. Instead, we are his creations.
(3) Paul makes it clear that we no longer follow the external act of circumcision but a figurative one through Jesus' death and resurrection (verses 11 and 12).
(4) The external form of the legal demands of the Old Testament law has been nailed to Jesus' cross (verse 14).
(5) Therefore, the forms of the Holy Days are no longer in force, which Paul emphasizes again in verses 16 and 17.
