Have the Feast Days of Leviticus 23 Been Fulfilled?

Monday, September 21, 2009

 

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ave you been told that the holy days of Scripture were "done away"?   That's the explanation we were given when we started asking questions.  Many folks, like us, as they ponder Scripture -- especially what is known as the "Old Testament" -- start to put "two and two together" and come to a realization that those days were not intentionally ordained only to later become disordained (or whatever you call it when a "holy day" becomes an "ordinary day").  Those same folks who told us that the holy days ordained in Scripture have been "done away" expected us to believe that they were replaced by days ordained by men who took it upon themselves to designate as "holy" days that had been previously honored by idol-worshipping heathens.

       If this method makes sense to you, then that is certainly your prerogative, but as for us, we prefer to wait until our Creator's "holy days" are disordained by the One who declared them "holy" in the first place. 

       A common reason we've heard that the "holy days" of Old are no longer "holy" is that they've been fulfilled by Yeshua the Messiah.  I would ask, "How does Yeshua fulfilling holy days make them no longer holy?"  I know that Yeshua is our Passover lamb, without blemish, Whose blood redeems Yahweh's people from their sins.  Although I do not understand how Yeshua being the fulfillment of the Passover lamb means, "Don't observe Passover any more," I guess I can see how some folks might think that's what it means.  Of course, according to Matthew 3:15, Yeshua "fulfilled all righteousness."  Does this mean that righteousness was "done away," too?

      Passover occurs during the first month of the Scriptural year, during the month referred to by Scripture as "Abib."  The word "Abib" is a Hebrew word that refers to newly-ripened barley. As implied by the meaning of Abib, this month does not fall during the winter; rather, the first month of the Scriptural year begins in the spring.  If you would like to know more about the Scriptural calendar, you are welcome to read our perspective of the calendar ordained by our Heavenly Father by reading our study titled Balancing the Calendar or our updated version Balancing the Calendar II.  It was during the month Abib, on the very day of Passover, that Yeshua the Messiah was crucified, thus fulfilling the type/antitype of the Passover lamb commanded to be sacrificed every year on Abib 14.  Once Yeshua fulfilled His role as our Passover lamb, did Passover henceforth become a regular, ordinary day?  If so, June and I don't glean that understanding from what the Apostle Paul wrote in I Corinthians 5:7-8: 

6Your glorying is not good.  Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?

7Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened.  For even Messiah our Passover is sacrificed for us:

8Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth

      Although Passover was never ordained as being a holy day, per se, it certainly wasn't an ordinary day, either.  It was essentially a day of preparation for the seven-day festival that immediately followed it.  An integral part of that preparation involved removing all leavening from each dwelling.  Of course, Abib 14 was also the day on which the Passover lambs were slain.  If, following Yeshua's resurrection, Passover became just an ordinary day, then the Apostle Paul missed an excellent opportunity to add that little disclaimer in his letter to the Corinthian believers.  In fact, he admonished them to “keep the feast.”  What feast was he referring to?  It’s a feast that he suggested they keep with “the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”  The Apostle Paul refers to “leaven” metaphorically as representing malice and wickedness, whereas “unleavened” represents sincerity and truth.  The feast that immediately follows the Passover is the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when Yahweh’s people are commanded to live without leavening for seven days.  Why were they commanded to do this?  Well, for those who are familiar with the Exodus story, we understand that the Israelites left Egypt in haste, carrying their yet-unleavened bread with them because it didn’t have time to rise before their sudden departure (Exodus 12:39).  However, many of us also understand that Yahweh works in mysterious ways, so I don’t believe we should conclude that the symbolism of the unleavened bread ends with the remembrance of the unleavened cakes that the Israelites were compelled to take with them when they forsook their Egyptian homes.  If “unleavened” has a dual meaning, it must be that of Paul’s “malice and wickedness” metaphor.  More specifically, it can be understood as representing sin

       For the seven-day duration of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we are commanded to be free of the leavening of malice and wickedness.  This is not an easy task to fulfill, but certainly it was fulfilled by Yahweh’s Son, Yeshua the Messiah, who was the perfect Lamb, without blemish … without sin.  Moreover, He is our Example in that we should also strive to live sinless lives.  To accomplish this, we must make every effort to live by every Word of Yahweh (Matthew 4:4), and yes, that does include observing as “holy” the days our Creator says are holy.   

      For many who observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, those seven days without leaven (sin) serve as a model for what we should strive to attain throughout the remainder of the year.  Being human, many of us tend to lose sight of our goal, whether it be at the moment in which someone cuts us off in traffic or when we gossip about someone.  We need to work on cleaning up our daily lives, and observing the Feast of Unleavened Bread can be regarded as being akin to tying that string around your finger to help you remember what you’re supposed to do … or even what you should have done.   

      We don’t have to stop at merely regarding the Feast of Unleavened Bread as a seven-day reminder/reinforcement of how we should live during the rest of the year.   June and I are acquainted with many fellow feast-observers who also regard those seven days of introspection as being the antitype of eternity, where sin (“leavening”) will be officially removed and eliminated.  Thus, this feast is not only a time for us to check our “vital signs” and commit to living lives that exemplify the message of Scripture, but it is also a time to look forward to that day when sin will be no more … when our Heavenly Father Himself will wipe every tear from the eyes of those who remained faithful to Him (Revelation 21:4).   

      As you can see, then, June and I are not yet persuaded that Yahweh’s servants should have ever discontinued observing the Feast of Unleavened Bread, nor are we persuaded that the holy days commanded to be set apart during that feast are no longer “holy.”  According to Leviticus 23:7-8, the first and last days of this feast are days on which to have a “holy convocation” and on which no servile work is to be done.  This is why we consider those days to be “holy,” and we have yet to be shown where, according to Yahweh’s Word, those days have ever been declared “unholy” or days on which it is now permissible to do regular work.  Many have tried persuading us of this belief, and perhaps we will eventually address those arguments, but for now, we hope you at least have a general understanding of why June and I choose to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread. 

      Okay, I’ve spent a considerably large amount of space commenting on our perspective pertaining to the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but there are other feasts referenced in Scripture that are also worthy of our attention.  The feast that comes fifty days after the first day of Unleavened Bread is the holy day known as "Shavuot," which is Hebrew for "Weeks," also known as the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost.  This is one of the more controversial feasts of Scripture because some believers are persuaded that we should count the fifty days from the morrow of the weekly Sabbath that falls during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, whereas others are equally persuaded that the count begins on the morrow of the first day, which is often referred to as a “high day Sabbath,” i.e., a Sabbath that may fall on any day of the week.  June and I have our own view on this topic, which we freely share with anyone interested.  Our study is titled Facing the Pentecost Controversy.  As with the holy days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, many believe this holy day was fulfilled (and hence, "done away") on the day of Pentecost that fell during the year of Yeshua's resurrection.  Again, I'm not sure I understand how this can be so construed as to mean, "Don't observe Pentecost any more" or even how it means that day is no longer a holy day, yet I know this is the approach commonly used by the majority (though certainly not all) of Christianity.   

      And now, we come to the holy days of the Scriptural seventh month.  The first day of the Scriptural seventh month is the holy day commonly known as "The Feast of Trumpets."  In Hebrew, it is called "Yom Teruah," which literally means "Day of Shouting," but it can also be understood as the day of blowing the trumpets, which is how the common designation "Trumpets" came into being.  To most of Judaism, the first day of the seventh month is known as "Rosh Hashanah," which means "head of the year."  This stems from their observance of the civil year, which starts with the seventh month.   

      Okay, this brings me to the point I'm hoping to make.  I can almost understand why folks might want to avoid observing Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and I can sorta see why they might teach that Pentecost no longer needs to be set aside as a "holy day."  However, no one has ever satisfactorily explained to us how or why the Feast of Trumpets was "done away."  It seems to me that if this feast has a literal fulfillment, it will be a day yet future.  Specifically, I'm referring to the day of the "last trump" described in I Thessalonians 4 and I Corinthians 15.  Here is what we read in I Thessalonians 4:13-18: 

13But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

14For if we believe that Yeshua died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Yeshua will the Almighty bring with Him.

15For this we say unto you by the word of the Master, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Master shall not prevent them which are asleep.

16For the Master Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of the Almighty:  and the dead in Messiah shall rise first:

17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Master in the air:  and so shall we ever be with the Master.

18Wherefore comfort one another with these words. 

      Could there possibly be a connection between the “trump of the Almighty” and the Feast of Trumpets?  The Apostle Paul made another reference to this wondrous, yet future, event in I Corinthians 15:51-52: 

51Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump:  for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 

      As we all hopefully understand, the "last trump" will occur at the time of the Messiah's return.  Is it possible that this ultimate trumpet blast, which will certainly be a day of shouting, represents the fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets – Yom Teruah?  Can anyone state with all sincerity of heart that it cannot?  If this “last trump” will be the fulfillment of Yom Teruah, one question that we must consider is, “Has this happened yet?”  If not, then why should we regard the Feast of Trumpets as having been "disordained"?

-- Larry & June

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the name of our Creator, Yahweh, sometimes called the Tetragrammaton.  It is given here in (A) the Phoenician script, (B) the Ivrit Kadum (Paleo-Hebrew) script, and (C) the Modern Hebrew script (a stylization of Aramaic).

 

 

 

 

 

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