Chapter 5. Weekly Feast and Annual Feasts
From now on, let’s study the structure and significance of the appointed feasts to understand them more systematically and deeply. In Leviticus 23, God said to Moses to proclaim the appointed feasts twice. The Lord proclaimed that the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. The appointed feast proclaimed first by the Lord was the Sabbath day.
【Lev. 23:2-3】 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘These are my appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of the LORD, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies. ” ‘There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the LORD.
The appointed feasts proclaimed by the Lord second time were the seven feasts including the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles. He said to Moses to proclaim the seven feasts one time together.
【Lev. 23:4-5】 ” ‘These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times: The LORD’s Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month.
As previously mentioned the first is to promulgate the weekly feast, and the second is to promulgate the annual feasts. It is truly noteworthy that God established seven feasts, but told Moses to proclaim them (the seven annual feasts.) Furthermore, the Lord said to Moses to proclaim the seven feasts together at once, instead of repeating the word to proclaim for each feast. This is because the annual feasts have a different origin from the seventh day of the Sabbath.
God regarded the seven annual feasts as a connected feast. In this regard, you can find some principles about the appointed feasts.
First, the origin of the weekly Sabbath and the annual feasts are different each other. The weekly Sabbath was derived from the creation of the six days, and the seven annual feasts from Passover to the Feast of Tabernacles were derived from Moses’ works.
Today, many churches are worshiping on Sunday without knowing God’s will that promulgated the weekly and annual feasts differently. They claim that the resurrection of Jesus is so important that it is not bad to change the seventh-day Sabbath to Sunday.
The resurrection was the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Feast of First-fruits which was instituted in Moses’ origin. Therefore, the resurrection of Jesus on Sunday cannot be a reason to change the Sabbath to Sunday. It is true that the day of the resurrection is Sunday, but we only need to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection once a year, just like the Feast of First-fruits.
Second, the seven annual feasts from Passover to the Feast of Tabernacles are grouped like a single feast. Therefore, without knowing the Passover properly, it is difficult to know the Feast of Unleavened Bread. If the date of the Passover is calculated incorrectly, the dates of the other feasts must be wrong. It cannot be said that the Protestant Church keeps Easter properly because they do not keep the other feasts which are tied together as a single feast.
Most of the protestant churches today celebrates Easter magnificently, but not Passover or the Feast of Unleavened Bread. There are churches that keep some of the other feasts, but there are no churches that fully observe the seven feasts. Would it be a good thing if some church keeps the feasts partially? How are the status of the current churches? Most churches do not know what the feasts of the Lord are. Those are celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas magnificently. But the Thanksgiving day and Christmas were made by human being.
All churches do not respect the seven annual feasts that God Himself established. On the other hand, thanksgiving and Christmas, which were derived from the gentile practice, are revered as the largest feast of Christianity today. If you go back to the time of the Exodus and remember why God gave you the feast of God, you have to agree that all churches today are heading against God’s Word.
【Lev. 18:3-5】 You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the LORD your God. Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the LORD.
God, looking at the spiritual situation of the church in these last days, foretold that the 144,000 chosen people who would be saved in the last days are those who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.
【Rev. 14:12】 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.
Is there any church whose members obey God’s commandments perfectly including the seven feasts? We still need to find a church somewhere that will be working to fulfill God’s prophecy.
