Celebrating the Biblical Holidays
Helping Friends and Family o Understand

by

Robin Scarlata Sampson

The grace of God shines forth clearly in the holidays and their stories of blessing, preservation, promise, and fulfillment.

When my family started celebrating the Biblical Feast days, it was such a joy. Not only was each celebration fun and informative, but even the preparation was full of lessons and prompted the entire family into deeper Bible study. The children enjoyed these great interactive celebrations more than any man-made holidays (more than even gift-giving days). I was very excited about all we had learned and anxious to tell my Christian friends how much we were learning about God and His Son.

My enthusiasm was met with frowns and negative comments. I was told the feast days have been done away with, are no longer necessary, and such nonsense was legalistic. It was a confusing time. Our non-Christian relatives accepted our new interest while Christian friends and relatives were very upset.

If you decide to celebrate God’s holy days, you may be surprised to discover some of the opposition our family experienced. Many people are concerned that celebrating the holidays may be an "earning salvation" type of works belief. They are afraid of the negative term law and being labeled "legalistic." They do not fully understand that the Biblical Holidays are a beautiful picture of God’s grace, His unmerited favor. Below are questions you may face from well meaning friends and relatives.

Q: Isn’t the keeping of the holidays an attempt to earn one’s way with works?

A: The holidays are a picture of God’s grace! The grace of God shines forth clearly in the holidays and their stories of blessing, preservation, promise, and fulfillment. God delivered an undeserving people before they entered into His covenant. Before God gave Israel the law, He gave them Himself as their redeemer when he liberated them from Egypt. He didn’t send the Ten Commandments and tell them to obey them before He saved them. He first saved them, then sent His law in response. His instruction (law) is His guidance for our own good, for a good life here on earth.

The Passover story–and other holidays–show God’s grace in action. Obedience is a response to grace. Grace cannot be bought; it is given. Obedience is the fruit of grace. God wants us to tell the story of His grace to our children.

"And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded you? Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand: And the Lord shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes: And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers" (Deuteronomy 6:20-23).

By studying the Old Covenant shadows through the Passover or the other holidays, we can appreciate the New Covenant (John 1:17). We are not in bondage, we are free, free in Christ–free enough to enjoy a cycle of annual celebrations that reminds us that God has done a wonderful work of redemption for us through Christ.

Q: We have grace. Why keep the law?

A: Of course we are saved by grace, through faith in Christ. Is grace a license to go the world’s way and not follow God’s paths? Many of today’s churches are adopting the world’s standards in the name of grace. An unbalanced view of grace results in emptiness, a hollow relationship with God.

"Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law" (Romans 3:24-31).

A desire to worship and gain more understanding of God should not be thwarted by a fear of being called legalistic. Our standard should be holiness, living our lives dedicated to God; not living our lives dedicated to the traditions of men. Believers are coming to realize that we need to "come out from the world" and be separate. True godliness, and purity can only come from a biblical relationship with God. That relationship is shown to us through our father Abraham’s love and devotion.

Q: Aren’t the holidays only for the Jews?

A: The biblical holidays were commanded to the Hebrew people in Leviticus. Notice these are not "Jewish" holidays. God said they were His feasts.

"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say to them, Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein."

Paul explains in Galatians that, because of God’s grace, Gentiles who came to salvation were not required to keep the feasts. The Gentiles were not raised keeping the Jewish commands and were not expected to keep the 613 laws that identify the Jews as God’s chosen people. They were expected to give up idolatry and obey the seven Noahide laws. They were glad to be a part of God’s family. Still, Gentiles had the freedom to celebrate the holidays and did sometimes at the risk of persecution. In the 339 C.E., it was considered a criminal offense to convert to Judaism. Several decades later, the Synod of Laodicea ruled against Christians feasting with Jews, classifying those that did as heretics. God’s mercy and grace through Christ’s death and resurrection saves the Jews and Gentiles then and now.

Q: Are Believing Gentiles Part of Israel?

A: Romans 2 explains that a born-again Gentile, one who has come to faith in the God of Israel through trusting Jesus the Messiah, is a Jew inwardly because his heart is circumcised even though his flesh is not; he is a true God-worshiper, whose praise comes from God–in many senses a real Jew.

Romans 2 has been used to prove Gentiles are commanded to keep the holidays because believers are Jews and God commanded the holidays to be kept forever. Romans 2 has also been used to say Gentiles are not commanded to keep the holidays because Gentiles do not need to be circumcised.

It has also been argued that just as certain Scripture (Exodus 13:2; Deuteronomy 21:15-17) is given only to the "first-born," the holidays are only for the Jews. Others believe because we are grafted into God’s family (Romans 11), we are accountable for all of God’s commands. Does God have different rules for His children?  He has different commands for priests, for women, and for men. To whom much is given, much is required. The first church was completely Jewish. When the Gentiles were grafted in, however, they all enjoyed the Biblical holidays together in one accord. Can you imagine that the saved Gentiles would be asked to sit on the side and not participate in Passover ?

Q: Isn’t It True there Is No Longer Jew nor Greek in Christ?

A: Galatians 3:28 says, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." This secluded verse has been twisted to say a Jew must give up his culture. There are differences between male and female, a slave and a free man. According to this verse, all should be treated as equals, thus fulfilling Jesus’ command to love others as yourself.

Jewish and Gentile believers (male or female, slave or free) are all equals before God. Continue reading the rest of Galatians 3: "And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise." Again, look at Romans 3:25: "Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. . ."

The law (guidance) was given for the people’s sake, not for God’s sake. It was a gift, a treasure, as beautifully explained in Psalm 119. Jesus never condemned the law. He only rejected what the legalistic men had turned it into. For example, the Sabbath was made for all to benefit. The law specifically said the slaves, domestic workers, and even animals were not to work. It was to be a rest for all, for the benefit of the entire community. Jesus was criticized for healing on the Sabbath. Jesus said, " . . .man was not made for the Sabbath but Sabbath for the man." He was recapturing the original point of the law, the spirit of the law, for man’s benefit. Jesus summed up all of the laws in two commands, loving God with all we have and loving others as ourselves. On these two commands hang all the law and the prophets (Matthew 22:34-40).

Q: Didn’t Christians Replace the Jews as the Chosen People?

A: The Jews are the chosen people of God. They were chosen because they accepted God when other peoples rejected Him. Some Christians believe the Jews lost that promise. Other groups claim that they are still God’s chosen people.

Replacement theology is a false belief that another group of people has replaced the Jews because the Jews gave up the opportunity to believe in Christ. We must remember the entire first church was completely Jewish. Hundreds of thousands of Jews accepted Christ. Subsequently, Peter and Paul took the gospel to the Gentiles, and many Gentiles accepted Christ. But remember also that many Gentiles rejected Christ! If someone feels the Jews gave up the right to be God’s people, that person believes that works–not just personal works–but works of a race save us! We all fall short; all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. The Jews are God’s chosen people because of God’s covenant to Abraham. God never broke His promises to the Jews. Revelation is full of references to the Israelites during the end time.

Q: Isn’t keeping the holidays Judaizing?

A: Another huge misunderstanding in the traditional Christian churches is the frequently used accusation of Judaizing. The Bible is clear that Gentiles are not to Judaize. If a Gentile believes he earns God’s approval by conforming to Jewish practice, he violates the message of Galatians and is involved in true legalism. There are cults that cultivate such legalistic Judaizing of Gentiles.

How to Handle Questions or Criticism

Meet any opposition as a chance to lovingly share God’s Word. Don’t debate opinions; look to Scripture. As with any other problem in our lives, the answer is found in Scripture. Be it Jew or Gentile, our job as believers is to:

1) Explain you are not celebrating the feast to earn or maintain divine favor. 2) Pray and ask for wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. Ask God to direct your paths. 3) Remember, we are not struggling against human beings but against the unseen agents. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Ephesians 6:12). 4) Strive for unity. "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments" (Psalm 133:1-3).

Explain to family and friends your decision to celebrate God’s Holy Days in love. No matter what we do or who we are, if we are obedient, if we give sacrificially, if we give our all, it means absolutely nothing if we lack love for the Father or for one another. "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity [love], I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal" (1 Corinthians 13).

Robin Scarlata Sampson is a home schooling mother of eight children and author of several acclaimed books including A Family Guide to the Biblical Holidays, What Your Child Needs to Know When, Far Above Rubies Lesson Plans, Heart of Wisdom: A Biblicaly Focused Teaching Approach, and Heart of Wisdom Unit Study Curriculum. She has been the keynote speaker and provided popular presentations at conferences, workshops, and meetings since 1989. Website: http://www.heartofwisdom.com

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