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How were holidays substituted for Holy Days?
by Dean Wilson
ost people are not familiar with God's festivals and Holy Days as given in the Bible, but Leviticus 23 lists and discusses all of them.
In Leviticus 23:1-4, God states in no uncertain terms that these days are His feast days and that they are holy convocations.
In Nehemiah 8:9 Nehemiah, inspired by God, states strongly that these feast days are "holy to the LORD your God."
In 1Corinthians 5:8 the apostle Paul tells us directly that we are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is one of God's feasts.
Kept in New Testament
Why do most people keep the holiday seasons they keep instead of those listed in the Bible? Luke 2:42 and John 7:10,11 and 37-39 are only a few of many places where the Gospel writers spoke of Christ's observance of the biblical festivals.
A study of the New Testament also reveals that the early Church observed these days. Acts 2:1 and 1Corinthians 5:8 show the original Christians keeping these days. The apostle Paul also kept them! (Acts 18:21; 20:16).
A cursory study into secular history demonstrates the same thing. The Encyclopaedia Britannica (13th edition), under the article "Festivals" states that it is "abundantly clear that Christ and His disciples observed the appointed Jewish feasts ... Jewish Christians for the most part retained all the festivals which had been instituted under the old dispensation ..."
The festivals, including the Sabbath, will be kept when Jesus Christ returns and begins to establish the kingdom of God.
This is made clear in Isaiah 66:23: "'And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me,' says the LORD."
In Zechariah 14:16-19, God emphatically states that the world will eventually keep the Feast of Tabernacles or face dire consequences.
Why the change?
The Scriptures are clear that God commanded observance of these days, they were kept by Jesus Christ and the New Testament Church, and they will be kept in the future in God's kingdom. So what happened? Why are they almost universally ignored? Why don't people who claim to follow Christ keep the feasts He kept, the feasts of God?
Again, history provides the answers. Notice this passage from the book Heritage of the Past, page 402: "Constantine, though not baptized a Christian until on his deathbed, took an active interest in the religion, presiding over the important Council of Nicea, which defined the doctrine of the Trinity. During the fourth century, under imperial protection ... the Christian religion in spite of considerable opposition to it throughout the empire, made rapid progress, even in the rural areas where the old gods had never altogether lost their appear. When at the end of the century (A.D. 392), Theodosius I decreed that henceforth Christianity would be the only religion of the Roman Empire, the countryside perforce had to submit at least to the forms of Christianity.
"But it would have been difficult for any observer to detect much difference. Instead of the pagan deities, Christ was enthroned; instead of a pagan shrine, a church was erected, but it was clear that these folk knew little enough of the teachings or theology of Christianity, and the festivals and ceremonies of paganism for the most part were incorporated directly into the new official religion" (Stewart C. Easton, Heritage of the Past, Rinehart & Company, 1955).
Sad to say, this incorporation of pagan practices has been repeated through the ages as the truth of God has been exchanged for error.
Warnings from Scripture
Paul often warns of this: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine ... and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables" (2Timothy 4:3,4).
Paul also tells us, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:2).
It is God's will that we keep His festivals instead of the practices that religious leaders have passed on to us from paganism. We must set our hearts to do those things that are pleasing to God, inspite of pressures to conform to this world. GN
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