Keeping the Feast of the Lord and the Sabbath

 Why do we, Corey and Heather, keep the sabbath and feasts of the Lord?


““Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭20‬:‭8‬-‭11‬


““Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy. “ ‘Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people. The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant.”

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭31‬:‭13‬-‭14‬, ‭16‬ ‭


““Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv, for in that month you came out of Egypt. “Celebrate the Festival of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering at the turn of the year.”

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭34‬:‭18‬, ‭22‬ ‭


““Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘These are my appointed festivals, the appointed festivals 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 day of sabbath rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a sabbath to the Lord. “ ‘These are the Lord’s appointed festivals, 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. On the fifteenth day of that month the Lord’s Festival of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast.”

‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭23‬:‭2‬-‭6‬ ‭


“You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.”

‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭23‬:‭14‬ ‭


““Say to the Israelites: ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of sabbath rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts.”

‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭23‬:‭24‬


““The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present a food offering to the Lord. You shall do no work at all. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.”

‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭23‬:‭27‬, ‭31‬ ‭


““Say to the Israelites: ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Lord’s Festival of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days. (“ ‘These are the Lord’s appointed festivals, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies for bringing food offerings to the Lord—the burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings required for each day.”

‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭23‬:‭34‬, ‭37‬ ‭


Deuteronomy 16 also list the feasts to observe. 


What Are the Biblical Festivals Commanded by God?

The biblical Festivals, or Holy Days, are specific days of the year that God commanded to be kept as Holy. There are seven of them, and each one has profound meaning, which we’ll explore later in this article. These days are listed in order in Leviticus 23. Some have called these days, “Jewish Feasts,” but we see in Leviticus 23 that God calls them His Feasts. “The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts…. These are the feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times” (Leviticus 23:2–4). The rest of the chapter goes on to list them and explain when in the year each one is to be observed.


The commanded biblical festivals are:


The Passover (v. 5)

The Days of Unleavened Bread (vv. 6–8)

The Feast of Weeks, called the Day of Pentecost in the New Testament (vv. 15–22)

The Feast of Trumpets (vv. 23–25)

The Day of Atonement (vv. 26–32)

The Feast of Tabernacles (vv. 33–39)

The Eighth Day Feast, called the Last Great Day in the New Testament (v. 39)

But these days weren’t only to be kept by ancient Israel or the Jews—all of God’s people throughout history were to keep them. He states in Leviticus 23:21, “It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.” These days are to be observed by all who worship the true God. That is why Jesus Christ observed them.


It is not disputed among those who know their Bible that Jesus kept the biblical Festivals described in Leviticus. The record shows that He kept these days from an early age. “His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast” (Luke 2:41–42). Of course, He not only observed the Passover with His family in His youth; He continued to keep it until His death, even teaching His disciples to observe it with new symbols (John 13:1–7; Luke 22:14–23). It is also recorded that they observed the Days of Unleavened Bread (Matthew 26:17; Mark 14:1, 12; Luke 22:1, 7), the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7:1–24), and the Last Great Day (John 7:37–39). But observance of these Feasts did not stop when Jesus died.


The Bible shows that the Holy Days will be observed during the future millennial reign of Jesus Christ. “And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up… they shall have no rain…. This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles” (Zechariah 14:16–19).


Passover points to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins (1 Corinthians 11:23–34; Luke 22:14–23).


The Days of Unleavened Bread point to removing sin and pride from our lives and taking on the obedience and mind of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 5:6–8; John 6:4, 31–58).


The Day of Pentecost points to the giving of the Holy Spirit to the Church of God (Acts 2).

The Feast of Trumpets points to the Day of the Lord described in the book of Revelation—the year preceding the return of Jesus Christ, during which the seventh seal will be opened and the seven trumpets of God will be blown (Revelation 6:17; 8:1–13; 9:1–21; 11:15; Isaiah 34:8; 63:4).


The Day of Atonement points to the day when Satan the devil will be imprisoned for 1,000 years and no longer able to influence mankind (Leviticus 16:6–10, 21–26; Revelation 20:1–3).


The Feast of Tabernacles pictures the 1,000 year reign of Jesus Christ and His saints on planet Earth (Revelation 20:4–6; Zechariah 14:16–21; Isaiah 11:1–16).


We won’t be able to fully keep the feasts with a journey to the Holy Land until the Lord returns, but we can practice now. And that’s what we have chose to do, to celebrate as Jesus did. By celebrating the feast of the Lord, we pay honor to Him and anticipate His return! We will be doing live feeds during the feast to explain them. We hope you join in! 

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