You can feel it in the air. The weather begins to cool, the days become noticeably shorter. If we were occupied in a traditional manner, growing and storing our own food, it would be a very busy time. A time of plenty, a time to harvest the bounty of the earth and preserve it for the long winter ahead. For this reason it has always been a time of celebration.
These traditions persist in many ways. The store shelves are full of decor in fall colors with pumpkins as far as the eye can see and all the accouterments of festivity. The world’s favorite harvest themed holidays are right around the corner. It is both a logical and a reasonable time to celebrate, but there are certain special Holidays that go largely unnoticed year after year.
Fall, like spring, contains a number of God’s Holy Days. Our Creator and Provider often receives less credit than He is due. His calendar, with its sequence of commanded observances, not only commemorates past events but illuminates much about His plan for the future. Not only that, it provides some of the much needed variety that keeps life interesting and enjoyable. Think about it: God commands you to celebrate!
The upcoming fall Holy Days are the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day. With the exception of the somber Day of Atonement they are occasions to rejoice! Have you ever been to a Feast? In addition to being meaningful and educational it is a time to eat, drink and be merry!
It is possible to get into a sort of a spiritual rut where we only think of God in a “thou shalt not” kind of way. His Holy Days are a great reminder of His many positive commandments. They are a reminder of His coming glorious kingdom as well as the bounty and blessings we currently enjoy.
This year’s Feast of Trumpets is on September 26. This “memorial of blowing of trumpets” (Leviticus 23:24) is a reminder of how God led His people through the wilderness (Numbers 10) and called them to Mount Sinai (Exodus 19). It also looks forward to the return of Christ and the resurrection of the dead.
“And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Matthew 24:30-31)
“In 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.” (1 Corinthians 15:52)
The Day of Atonement will be on October 5. It is the only day of the year God commands you to fast, meaning to go without food or water for a full 24 hours (Jonah 3:7). You can read about the elaborate rituals performed by the priesthood in Leviticus 16. The need to be reconciled to God, to be purified from our sins and transgressions in His sight, is obvious. What was formerly accomplished in symbol has been brought to pass through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
“Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” (Hebrews 9:6-14)
The Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day go together though they are distinct from one another. The Feast begins on October 10 and the Last Great Day is October 17. This is the great harvest festival of the year, God says, “thou shalt surely rejoice!” (Deuteronomy 16:13-15) It is a reminder of how God’s people dwelt in booths before He led them into the promised land (Leviticus 23:43). Symbolically, this flesh is a temporary dwelling, a tabernacle, while our hope is in a brighter and more permanent future.
“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.” (2 Corinthians 5:1-4)
These Holy Days and their springtime counterparts are rich with meaning and relevance both physically and symbolically. They are the backdrop of the Biblical narrative and yet they are so ignored that many would be shocked to learn they were a regular part of the lives of Jesus Christ, His disciples and even the Apostle Paul!
John 7 is all about Jesus teaching in the temple during the Feast of Tabernacles. “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink” (John 7:37). The Holy Days are repeatedly mentioned in Paul’s writings. That he wanted to be in Jerusalem for Pentecost is stated in Acts 20:16. In 1 Corinthians 16 he mentions staying in Ephesus until after that day. Referring to Atonement he points out “the fast” was already past in Acts 27:9. His entire analogy in 1 Corinthians 5 only makes sense in the context that he is writing to a group currently keeping the Days of Unleavened Bread.
Very few take the time to acknowledge God’s Holy Days any longer. These observances have been overshadowed, often by practices with unsavory histories. They were nevertheless adopted by the Roman church in an effort to make conversion less of a change for pagan proselytes. Those traditions are still going strong despite God’s warning not to copy them (Jeremiah 10:2). Take the time this year to research God’s Holy Days for yourself. They were part of Christ’s sinless life and they will be a part of His kingdom (Zechariah 14:16-18). Why wait for that day? Start celebrating God’s amazing plan for mankind now!
