Information Related to "Feast Days God Despises"
| Audio/Video |
Feast Days God Despises By Robert Berendt While we all think we are honoring God with the days we keep, history shows it's not always true.
od told the house of Israel, "I hate, I despise your feast days, and I do not savor your sacred assemblies" (Amos 5:21). And He told the house of Judah (the Jews), "Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear" (Isaiah 1:14-15). Why? For one thing, He said, "your hands are full of blood" (last part of verse 15). God had given His people beautiful, meaningful feasts. Obviously it was not His own feasts that He despised, but the way the people were keeping them. In one blatant example of human disregard for God's feasts, Jeroboam, king of Israel, had actually changed the dates of God's Holy Days when he feared that the 10 tribes of Israel would be drawn back to the nation of Judah and the temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 12:32-33). Love and law
There are many scriptures admonishing us to obey God. It would seem that once we have even a glimpse of His love and His might, obedience to His will would be automatic. However, many people are not truly concerned about the things God despises or hates. They think since He is a father and He is love, nothing could ever upset Him. Yet God is holy by nature, and knows the terrible effects of disobedience, sin and evil. He thus cannot stand sin and evil. When we follow Satan's deceptive ways, we in effect thumb our noses at God and what is right! Satan wants us to do anything except what God commands -- what is good for us. God's feasts The Bible teaches us all of the wonderful and holy feast days God commands us to keep. He calls them "My feasts" in Leviticus 23:2. Later in the Bible we learn that when God's Kingdom is set up on earth, all nations will keep His feasts (Zechariah 14:16). Ezekiel 44:6 states: "Now say to the rebellious, to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "O house of Israel, let Us have no more of all your abominations."'" He says the priests will teach the difference between the holy and the unholy, the clean and unclean (verse 23). He also tells us that "they shall hallow My Sabbaths" (verse 24). God's Sabbaths include the seven annual Holy Days and the weekly Sabbath -- the seventh day of the week. He wants mankind to worship Him on these days. The wrong way to worship Why then would He speak so strongly against Israel for the feasts they observed? They were appearing before God as hypocrites. The people were trying to appear obedient to God by outwardly keeping the biblical Holy Days, or the altered days set by Jeroboam, while they secretly had other gods before Him. God would have nothing to do with such hypocritical attempts at deception.
They became so wicked God turned from them. There were always major problems in their worship. There were several reformations that took place (usually after a calamity), but the Bible shows that the temple was deserted at times and out of use. Worship was profaned by actions God condemned (Malachi 1:12-14). Isaiah 58 reveals some of the major problems. God's people felt quite smug in a self-congratulatory manner -- thinking whatever they did was pleasing to God. They fasted, but then did whatever they pleased. They did not concern themselves with the oppressed and downtrodden. They were gossips and accusers of others. Verse 13 encompasses God's concern by telling Israel to stop breaking the Sabbath and dishonoring it by going their own way and by not using it as a day of joy and delight.
In Malachi, God speaks out against the priests who have not set their heart to honor Him (Malachi 2:2). In the book of Proverbs we read about seven things that God hates. All seven could be found within the attitudes about the Holy Days of God. Proverbs 6:16-20 lists pride, lying, hurting the innocent, having a wicked heart, running to evil, being a false witness and sowing discord among brethren. Christ continues the theme Matthew records Jesus Christ driving out those who bought and sold in the temple, turning over their money tables and accusing them of making the temple into a den of thieves (Luke 19:46). The whole intent of the temple had been altered by decisions based on greed and commerce. God was placed far away in the minds and hearts of many of those in positions of responsibility, because their attitudes were not suitable for worship or instruction.
The day will come when God will dwell with men (Revelation 21). We will no longer be flesh and blood as we are now. God will give His faithful followers eternal life and blessings that cannot yet be imagined (Revelation 22:14). They will be the ones who have learned to love and keep His commandments. Keeping His commandments very carefully does not remove our sin. Only the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us -- but our sin caused His death, so it becomes painfully obvious that we should show our love by carefully following His instructions. Our love is reflected by our keeping God's commandments (1 John 5:3). God has given mankind His feast days and an instruction book (the Bible) to follow. Let us despise what He despises and love what He loves as we endeavor to become like Him. Recommended reading To learn more about the days God calls "My feasts" and how we should keep them, please request our free booklet . Copyright 2007 by United Church of God, an International Association All rights reserved. |
|||||||||||||||||
Related Information:
Other Articles by Robert Berendt
Origin of article "Feast Days God Despises"
Keywords: feast days holydays hypocrisy
Hypocrisy: