The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “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. Leviticus 23:1,2
When I first began exploring the holidays of the Bible, I became so intrigued and excited that I knew I had to do a whole study about what God has to say about HOLY-days. I mean, think about it, the very word we use to describe days of celebration originated with Him - HOLY-days became “holidays”. Can you grasp the excitement in that? Our great God, our holy, majestic King, dreamed up the very idea of celebrating! So much so that He designated annual days of feasting and jubilation for His people to observe! How cool is that? That should definitely dispel any false notion that our God is no fun!!
But, what are these HOLY-days? Are they just an excuse to party? What is God’s plan for them?
That, my friend, is what the next few weeks will be about. And hold on, because I promise you will be thrilled and excited and challenged by what God has to say in places like Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy. WHO KNEW???
We will glean most of our info from the 23rd chapter of the book of Leviticus. It’d be very helpful for you to read through it as we get started. Don’t worry if some of it seems strange or incomprehensible. I promise we will unpack it and you will find treasures you never even knew were there as the God of the HOLY-days reveals Himself to you.
Here we go….
In the first couple of verses of this chapter, we see God giving instructions to Moses for him to pass along to His people, the children of Israel. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “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. Leviticus 23:1,2
So the question becomes, what are “the appointed feasts”, the “holy convocations” that God told Moses about and what are they for? Glad you asked. Tomorrow I will give you some more info about the specific “feasts” but for today let’s discover what “appointed feasts” means and why God designed them.
The Hebrew word that we translate as “appointed feasts” is “moed”. Not sure how to pronounce it :) but it means sacred season, and includes the idea of assembling together for worship. God set aside specific times (and made them HOLY) for His people to observe. These are times that He meets with His people and reveals Himself to them. As we explore these “feasts” or “festivals”, we will discover that God uses them in two ways - as historical reminders to commemorate His faithfulness as well as for prophetic significance to declare His plan for His people. These days, tied to the agricultural economy of the Old Testament and based on the lunar calendar of the Jewish people, are special times set apart to know and worship God.
One question that you might be having is why would New Testament Christians study them. We are not under “the Law”, right? We who are in Christ are under grace and have no need to observe the Law.
Great question.
And I’ll answer it next time.
See ya then!