What are the Feasts of the LORD, יהוה?

After doing a study on the Biblical feast days with my church small group some time ago, I was surprised to learn the significance of the feast days, and the prophetic implications of them. Why had I never learned any of this before? I had read about them, but obviously while wearing blinders. Unfortunately, church tradition, misunderstandings, antisemitism in the early church, and a calculated move by the church to replace these holy days, has left us believing they are merely irrelevant, Jewish holidays. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I recommend reading my post, The church and Israel, the church or Israel, or both, before continuing.

Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Once the church is defined, and we realize that God, יהוה, delivered his instructions to twelve tribes, not just one (Judah or the “Jews”), then we can start to understand what words like forever, and phrases like, “in all your generations” actually mean. These feasts are eternal, predating Moses, and in our future as believers.

Lev 23:1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
Lev 23:2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts of the LORD that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts.
The Sabbath
Lev 23:3 “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwelling places.
The Passover
Lev 23:4 “These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them.
Lev 23:5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the LORD’s Passover.
Lev 23:6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.
Lev 23:7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.
Lev 23:8 But you shall present a food offering to the LORD for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.”

Notice they are the feasts of the LORD, יהוה, not feasts of the “Jews”. A side note; whenever you see LORD in the Bible, it is a substitution for יהוה. That is the name of God, pronounced Yahweh or Yahuah , and LORD is a substitution in most Bibles. You can read about that in the preface of your Bible. I prefer using יהוה, because it leaves no doubt as to the identity of the Lord or God I am referring to. So we have the feasts of יהוה, and now we will see that they are forever.

Passover:

Exo 12:14 “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.

Unleavened Bread:

Exo 12:17 And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever.

Feast of First Fruits:

Lev 23:14 And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

Feast of Weeks, Shavuot or Pentecost:

Lev 23:21 And you shall make a proclamation on the same day. You shall hold a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a statute forever in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.

Day of Atonement:

Lev 23:31 You shall not do any work. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.

Feast of Tabernacles Or Booths:

Lev 23:41 You shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month.

A definition of forever, Strong’s H5769, from the Brown Driver Briggs lexicon:

H5769
עלם / עולם
‛ôlâm
BDB Definition:
1) long duration, antiquity, futurity, for ever, ever, everlasting, evermore, perpetual, old, ancient, world
1a) ancient time, long time (of past)
1b) (of future)
1b1) for ever, always
1b2) continuous existence, perpetual
1b3) everlasting, indefinite or unending future, eternity

So עולם is not only eternity forward, it is also eternity backward. Where else do these feasts show up in the Bible? Referring to a time in the future after the Day of the LORD, Zechariah prophesies the following:

Zec 14:16 Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths.
Zec 14:17 And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them.
Zec 14:18 And if the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves, then on them there shall be no rain; there shall be the plague with which the LORD afflicts the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths.

If we take the book of Jubilees found in the caves of Qumran, along side the oldest fragments of Genesis, at the very least as historically important, it sheds more light on the origins of these feasts.

And he gave to Noach and his sons a sign that there should not again be a flood on the earth. He set his bow in the cloud for a sign of the eternal covenant that there should not again be a flood on the earth to destroy it all the days of the earth. For this reason it is ordained and written on the heavenly tablets, that they should celebrate the Feast of Shavu’oth in this month once a year, to renew the covenant every year. And this whole feast was celebrated in heaven from the day of creation till the days of Noach twenty six jubilees and five weeks of years: and Noach and his sons observed it for seven jubilees and one week of years, till the day of Noach’s death, and from the day of Noach’s death his sons did away with it until the days of Avraham, and they ate blood. But Avraham observed it, and Yitschaq and Ya`aqov and his children observed it up to your days, and in your days the children of Yashar’el forgot it until ye celebrated it anew on this mountain. And do you command the children of Yashar’el to observe this feast in all their generations for a commandment unto them: one day in the year in this month they shall celebrate the feast. YOVHELIYM (JUBILEES) 6:15-20 את CEPHER

We also see Jesus keeping the Sabbath, Passover, and actually being the Passover lamb, rising as the First Fruits of the resurrection, which I will cover in a future post, Three days and Three Nights, or Two Nights and a Day. The following passage is speaking of Jesus:

Luk 4:16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

Let’s establish that Jesus did not come with a different doctrine than that of his Father, יהוה. Also, the only sacred writings Timothy would have been aquatinted with would not have included anything from our “New Testament”.

Joh 14:23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
Joh 14:24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
Joh 14:25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.

2Ti 3:14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it
2Ti 3:15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
2Ti 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
2Ti 3:17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

It was on the Day of Pentecost, which was the Feast of Shavuot, that the Spirit of יהוה was sent to the apostles gathered for the feast.

Act 2:1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.
Act 2:2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
Act 2:3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.
Act 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

See below the definition of Pentecost, Strong’s G4005, from Thayer’s Greek lexicon. It is the fiftieth day, counted from after the regular sabbath, during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This feast does get celebrated by some denominations today, but some of its history and significance gets over looked. This day was celebrated when Noah got off the ark, at the giving of the Ten Commandments and at “Pentecost”.

πεντηκοστή
pentēkostē
Thayer Definition:
Pentecost = “the fiftieth day”
1) the second of the three great Jewish feasts, celebrated at Jerusalem yearly, the seventh week after the Passover, in grateful recognition of the completed harvest

Paul was also keeping feasts after the death and resurrection of Jesus:

Act 18:20 When they desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented not;
Act 18:21 But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.

Maybe some of the best evidence for keeping the feasts comes from some of the reasons the church has strayed from the keeping the feasts. Below is part of a writing from a fourth century church father, John Chrysostom, in “Against the Jews, Homily 1, chapter 5”.

(5) What is this disease? The festivals of the pitiful and miserable Jews are soon to march upon us one after the other and in quick succession: the feast of Trumpets, the feast of Tabernacles, the fasts. There are many in our ranks who say they think as we do. Yet some of these are going to watch the festivals and others will join the Jews in keeping their feasts and observing their fasts. I wish to drive this perverse custom from the Church right now. My homilies against the Anomians can be put off to another time, and the postponement would cause no harm. But now that the Jewish festivals are close by and at the very door, if I should fail to cure those who are sick with the Judaizing disease. I am afraid that, because of their ill-suited association and deep ignorance, some Christians may partake in the Jews’ transgressions; once they have done so, I fear my homilies on these transgressions will be in vain. For if they hear no word from me today, they will then join the Jews in their fasts; once they have committed this sin it will be useless for me to apply the remedy.

John Chrysostom obviously had contempt for the Jewish people, but in order for him to be so worked up about it, there must have been church people still keeping the feasts in the fourth century. This is especially evident as he states he wants to drive the perverse custom from the church. How can one call something God, יהוה, calls “my feasts”, perverse customs? I find that very disturbing. Maybe he learned this from the Roman Emperor Constantine who wrote the following concerning Passover to the bishops who could not attend the 325 AD Council of Nice.

From the Letter of the Emperor to all those not present at the Council.
(Found in Eusebius, Vita Const., Lib. iii., 18–20.)
When the question relative to the sacred festival of Easter arose, it was universally
thought that it would be convenient that all should keep the feast on one day; for what could be more beautiful and more desirable, than to see this festival, through which we receive the hope of immortality, celebrated by all with one accord, and in the same manner? It was declared to be particularly unworthy for this, the holiest of all festivals, to follow the custom [the calculation] of the Jews, who had soiled their hands with the most fearful of crimes, and whose minds were blinded. In rejecting their custom, 113 we may transmit to our des-cendants the legitimate mode of celebrating Easter, which we have observed from the time of the Saviour’s Passion to the present day [according to the day of the week]. We ought not, therefore, to have anything in common with the Jews, for the Saviour has shown us another way; our worship follows a more legitimate and more convenient course (the order of the days of the week); and consequently, in unanimously adopting this mode, we desire, dearest brethren, to separate ourselves from the detestable company of the Jews, for it is truly shameful for us to hear them boast that without their direction we could not keep this feast. How can they be in the right, they who, after the death of the Saviour, have no longer been led by reason but by wild violence, as their delusion may urge them? They do not possess the truth in this Easter question; for, in their blindness and repugnance to all im- provements, they frequently celebrate two passovers in the same year. We could not imitate those who are openly in error. How, then, could we follow these Jews, who are most certainly blinded by error? for to celebrate the passover twice in one year is totally inadmissible. But even if this were not so, it would still be your duty not to tarnish your soul by communications with such wicked people[theJews]. Besides, consider well, that in such an important matter, and on a subject of such great solemnity, there ought not to be any division. Our Saviour has left us only one festal day of our redemption, that is to say, of his holy passion, and he desired [to establish] only one Catholic Church. Think, then, how unseemly it is, that on the same day some should be fasting whilst others are seated at a banquet; and that after Easter, some should be rejoicing at feasts, whilst others are still observing a strict fast.

Below is a chart of the feast days of יהוה:

So what did the church replace these feast days with? It is a totally different holiday wheel, and I know we can argue about Yule being on December 23 and the purity and good intentions the Roman church had when picking these dates, but I think the Wiccan wheel of holidays speaks for itself.

Ostara, Astoreth, Isis, Venus and Ishtar are all the same goddess of fertility, throughout the ages with egg and rabbit symbols. Imbolic is kept alive as ground hog day, Beltane is May Day, where they used to dance around the May pole or Ashera pole. Samhain is embodied as All Saints Day and Halloween. Yule needs no explanation. The best understanding for these holidays are found on Wiccan, Druid and Church of Satan websites. Here is a quote from wiccaliving.com:

”Before Christianity came to dominate the cultures of Europe, most pagans celebrated festivals on or near the Equinox, often honoring deities associated with fertility and abundance. One such deity was Ostara (also known as Eostre), a Northern European goddess of fertility who was worshipped in many areas populated by Germanic tribes. As part of the strategy to absorb and therefore eliminate the pagan religions, the Christians eventually adopted the name Easter for their own Spring holiday, and the Equinox festivals gradually declined over time.

However, as we know, the Old Religion never fully disappeared—just as with Yule, some traditions that are now associated with Easter actually have Pagan roots. For example, painting eggs was a custom among Druids and ancient Eastern European cultures, and the rabbit has always been a symbol of fertility. So if you grew up with these typical Easter customs, you’ve already tapped in to the power of Ostara!“

One more quote from wiccaliving.com, this time regarding Yule.

“This is a celebration of the renewal of life, but compared to other Sabbats it is a relatively quiet, indoor holiday, as people gather within the warm shelters of their homes to be merry and give thanks. As a Yule ritual, many Wiccans decorate their altars with evergreen branches, such as cedar, pine, hemlock and spruce, as well as bright sprigs of holly, pinecones, and other festive winter flora.

Candles are paramount to this Sabbat, of course, with Yule traditions emphasizing the colors red, green, white, and gold. Images of the Sun are also appropriate. Those lucky enough to have a fireplace can burn a sacred Yule log, but you don’t need an actual hearth to brighten up your home with candles galore! Interestingly, many traditions which are generally thought of as belonging to Christmas—including the Yule log, a decorated tree, wreaths, and even caroling—are actually rooted in pre-Christian pagan traditions. So it’s quite likely that you’ve already been celebrating Yule for years, with or without your knowledge!”

Here is one from churchofsatan.com regarding Yule:

“The Christians stole this holiday from the pagans—Santa Claus has come to signify indulgence, and he is a combination of Dionysos and Silenus from Roman and Greek myths (the Romans celebrated the orgiastic Saturnalia at this time). The Nazarene has little place in the general public’s celebrations of this season, which were meant by pagans to be celebrations of abundance during a season of cold and emptiness. So for the Yule holiday season we enjoy the richness of life and the company of people whom we cherish, as we will often be the only ones who know where the traditions really came from!“

The Wiccans and Satanists are more honest about their holy days then Christianity. They are willing to say their holy days have been Christianized, and that if you are interested in the Wiccan religion and grew up with typical Christian symbols, you have already been celebrating Wiccan or Satanist traditions. Christians don’t like admitting this, and some won’t hear of the fact that many of their traditions come from Mystery Babylon. A good place to learn of the gods of these holidays, that Wiccans and Satanists celebrate, is in the Old Testament of your Bible.

2Ki 17:9 And the people of Israel did secretly against the LORD their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city.
2Ki 17:10 They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree,
2Ki 17:11 and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the LORD carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the LORD to anger,
2Ki 17:12 and they served idols, of which the LORD had said to them, “You shall not do this.”
2Ki 17:13 Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”

Jer 7:15 And I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of Ephraim.
Jer 7:16 “As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you.
Jer 7:17 Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
Jer 7:18 The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven. And they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.
Jer 7:19 Is it I whom they provoke? declares the LORD. Is it not themselves, to their own shame?
Jer 7:20 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; it will burn and not be quenched.”
Jer 7:21 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh.
Jer 7:22 For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.
Jer 7:23 But this command I gave them: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’

With a little research, it is not hard to determine who the queen of heaven is that Jeremiah is speaking of. The cited sources of a Wikipedia entry can be valuable resources. Here is one to some Sumerian literature, http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section1/tr141.htm about Inanna, likely the predecessor to Isis, Astarte, Ishtar, Eostre, the queen of heaven. The best source of information, of course, is from the Bible, and after reading about all of the customs of the sun gods and the fertility goddesses that entrap the tribes of Israel, it doesn’t take long to understand the two holiday wheels. Here is Isaiah speaking of the daughter of Babylon.

Isa 47:1 Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans! For you shall no more be called tender and delicate.
Isa 47:2 Take the millstones and grind flour, put off your veil, strip off your robe, uncover your legs, pass through the rivers.
Isa 47:3 Your nakedness shall be uncovered, and your disgrace shall be seen. I will take vengeance, and I will spare no one.
Isa 47:4 Our Redeemer—the LORD of hosts is his name— is the Holy One of Israel.
Isa 47:5 Sit in silence, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shall no more be called the mistress of kingdoms.

Below, the Apostle John speaks of the woman representing Babylon. We can see the connection between the mother of harlots and the queen of heaven.

Rev 17:3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

We can also speak of sun god worship, Asherah poles and Obelisks, which Ezekiel saw at the temple, calling it the image of jealousy. You can research the obelisk yourself, but it is all related to Ishtar and Baal worship, complete with temple prostitutes and child sacrifice.

Eze 8:3 He put out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head, and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north, where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy.
Eze 8:4 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the valley.
Eze 8:5 Then he said to me, “Son of man, lift up your eyes now toward the north.” So I lifted up my eyes toward the north, and behold, north of the altar gate, in the entrance, was this image of jealousy.
Eze 8:6 And he said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see still greater abominations.”

Israel continued to forsake Yahweh, יהוה, turning to the queen of heaven, Asherah, Ishtar, Baal and the many others. We continue to do the same thing today. I am not trying to single out any denomination, just bringing to light the mixture of religious symbolism that has been passed down to every denomination from the early beginnings of the church. Rome cannot be separated from the tradition of all of the Christian churches today, whether still protesting or not!

Did Rome and the Christian church have the authority to cancel the appointed feast days of יהוה, and change the sabbath to the day of the sun? Much research can be done, and it will come down to whether or not you believe the church has more authority than scripture. Many believe that to be the case, but if it is not true; does what we believe to be true or untrue change God, יהוה? There were believers keeping the feasts and sabbaths well into the 8th century that church fathers were trying to stamp out. Is this what the Apostle John speaks about in Revelation?

Rev 12:15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
Rev 12:16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
Rev 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

A final word from John.

1Jn 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
1Jn 2:2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
1Jn 2:3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.
1Jn 2:4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,
1Jn 2:5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:
1Jn 2:6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
1Jn 2:7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.
1Jn 2:8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

שלום