Happy holidays

Pretty much everybody likes holidays. Holidays mean not having to go to work, being able to spend our time at home, or enjoying our favorite hobby, and often the company of family and friends whom who don’t see regularly. But holidays are about more than just having an extra day to go golfing with the guys. The word holiday is a combination of “holy” and “day.” And this is precisely how the idea of holidays came about – they were holy days set apart for worship and celebration.

Over three thousand years ago, long before there was Independence day, Easter or Christmas, God Himself established several national holidays that his people were to observe throughout the year. These holidays were referred to as “feasts” and each one was established to commemorate a certain event. In Deuteronomy 16 God told His people that these feasts were to be times of celebration and “rejoicing before the Lord your God.”

Of the feasts that God established, three were required celebrations for all the men. These three required feasts were: the feast of Passover also called the feast of Unleavened Bread, the feast of Firstfruits also called the feast of Weeks, and the feast of Booths or Tabernacles, also called the feast of Ingatherings. While each of these feasts had specific significance to the Israelites, they also have significance to us as Christians. Like so many things in the Old Testament, each of these three national feasts served as a type for something that would come in the New Testament. And as we look at the events that each of these feasts prefigured, we will see that they are indeed cause for celebrating!

The feast of Passover was established to commemorate the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt. (Exodus 12) The Passover meal was patterned after the meal they ate on the night they left Egypt. While each portion of the meal is significant in its own way, the primary significance of the Passover is that it served as an illustration of Christ’s sacrifice for us on the Cross. Jesus himself is our Passover lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7), and when we apply his blood to the “doorposts” of our heart, we are delivered from the bondage of sin and death.

The feast of First Fruits or Weeks was established to celebrate the harvesting of the first fruits of the crops each year. In “The old and the new law” (March 15^th) I showed how the giving of the law of Moses took place on or near the feast of Weeks, and that the event we know as Pentecost was in fact the feast of Weeks, which was celebrated 7 weeks (50 days, hence the name Pentecost) after Passover. The Feast of First Fruits represents “the first fruits of the spirit” which we have received. (Romans 8:23)

The Feast of Tabernacles or Ingatherings was established to commemorate the time when the full harvest was brought in from the fields. It was a joyful celebration, which lasted for seven days, during which time the Israelites lived in booths, symbolizing God as their protection, preservation and shelter from the elements. We are told what this feast represents to us in Romans 8:23, where Paul states that we have already received the “first fruits of the Spirit,” but we are still waiting for “Our adoption as sons - the redemption of our body.” He also referred to this in verse 19 as “the manifestation of the sons of God.” The infilling of the Holy Spirit is only the first fruits of the harvest that we will enjoy when Holy Spirit brings life to our entire being and “the perishable will have put on the imperishable, and the mortal will have put on immortality,” and “what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.”

I’m not sure about you, but suddenly the phrase “Happy Holidays” has taken on a whole new meaning!