Part 3: Keeping Festivals to God—Celebration Is Still Required

By Craig Ashton Jr., October 7, 2023

I think that Christians have discarded too much by abolishing the festivals. Even Adventists have unintentionally thrown out the joy and celebration connected with them. As Adventists, we tend to focus on our duty to obey the Ten Commandments to the point where we rarely speak of God’s pardoning mercy or saving love. When we emphasize rules and commandments over celebrating God’s redemption, as associated with the joy of the festivals, we lose much peace and joy in our worship of God. Jesus did not abolish the festive expressions of joy from our worship; if He had, we’d be left with a parched and joyless religion focused on condemning sin and achieving moral perfection. That’s not a cause for holy rejoicing.

The typical festivals may no longer be required for the reasons I detailed in the previous post, but the need for celebrations of joy remains. Joy is not against us. Rejoicing has not been done away with. Celebrating God should not cease. Feasting is not renounced. The good news is that I get to participate in my Jewish heritage and celebrate God’s goodness as expressed in my discipleship with Jesus. Rejoicing is an ongoing principle and requirement, and the festivals teach us to structure our lives around periods of rejoicing and gladness. To further our rejoicing in Christ, we ought to enhance the joy of these celebrations. The point I am trying to emphasize here is that we desperately need to recover a feast-centered ethic.

Let me introduce Ellen White into the mix:

Shall we not keep holy festivals unto God? Shall we not show that we have some enthusiasm in His service? With the grand, ennobling theme of salvation before us, shall we be as cold as statues of marble? If men can become so excited over a match game of cricket, or a horse race, or over foolish things that bring no good to anyone, shall we be unmoved when the plan of salvation is unfolded before us? Let the school and the church henceforth have festivals of rejoicing unto the Lord.

Special Testimonies on Education, p. 82

While it is true that the New Testament does not command us to keep the festivals, neither does it prohibit us from observing them. Therefore, I take the position that they are neither required nor forbidden. The festivals were characterized by feasting in celebration of God’s goodness. God calls them “my festivals” (Leviticus 23:2), suggesting that there is something precious about them that helps us remember who He is and what we are to Him. We may think that God is a stern judge or strict lawgiver, but the festivals reveal a welcoming and pardoning Savior at a feast.

We need to recover the joy and rejoicing in the theology of the festivals. When our experience with God is woven into a feast ethic, all the senses are engaged. This is why the Israelites were commanded to meet the God who liberated during Passover. They were to experience the presence of God poured out in abundance at Pentecost. They were to understand the God who renews on the Day of Atonement. Even fasting on this solemn day is declared by God to be a feast of sorts. The Israelites met God in mourning and sorrow over sin, knowing for certain that God had forgiven them as they feasted in the intimacy brought by repentance. They were also to meet God and rejoice in the feast of Tabernacles. Rescue, revival, repentance, and tabernacling with God are themes rich with meaning and deserving of our rejoicing.

Deuteronomy 16:14–15 presents this principle of joy by commanding us to “rejoice in your feast.” It’s a divine call to practice joy in the places where we meet with God. When we come together as one, it further promises, “you will be altogether joyful.” God’s presence abides with us so that our “joy may be complete.” So while we no longer need Passover sacrifices because Christ is our Passover—just as we will no longer need Pentecost when God’s Spirit pervades all people or the Day of Atonement when mediation comes to an end—we will always need joy and thanksgiving, an eternal feast of Tabernacles.

It bothers me when people degrade the festive features of the Old Testament, as these ceremonies center on Jesus. They were filled with great value and glory, and we should study them to experience more of Christ’s glory and attractive beauty. Some ridicule them, but doing so denigrates Jesus Himself. As you should clearly understand by now, I am not advocating Levitical feast keeping—this cannot be done according to the biblical instructions. I do not think we are expected or required to keep the festivals, but thank God, we are not prohibited from celebrating them. If we choose, we can learn from their beauty and richness and hold festivals of rejoicing before the Lord.

While I do not consider myself a feast keeper, I do find it helpful to know that the word keeping is not narrowly defined in the Bible as obeying but can convey protecting, treasuring, and cherishing. For example, consider the shepherds “keeping their flocks by night” (Luke 2:8–14) and the priestly blessing “the Lord bless you and keep you” (Numbers 6:24–26). Obviously, the latter does not suggest that God will obey you. It means that God will protect what He treasures and cherishes—you! In regard to the feasts, the term keep can mean to treasure, such as one does an anniversary or cherished memory, which includes celebrating them whenever called to. Therefore, I don’t think we should say that we are against keeping the festivals, as keep does not only imply observing commandments and rules; it also means cherishing the festivals in significant ways that relive the experience of God’s redemption.

While feast keeping cannot literally happen according to the temple rituals and agricultural cadences of Canaan, we are still encouraged to feast. Feasts are joyous occasions that celebrate God’s goodness and grace, and we must not neglect the opportunity they provide to make Christ the one great center of attraction. I think our churches and services are suffering because we have abolished the joy and rejoicing that should be part of our experience due to Christ. Many are missing out on experiencing the joyful celebration that God intended. We have chosen obligation to commandment over celebrating God, and we desperately need to plug into the festal joy of a fully Christ-centered context.

My point is simply this: God wants holy reveling. We should not abandon the experience of joy found in the festivals. God planned three great festivals to be celebrated in His presence at the sanctuary. These feasts may no longer be required following the loss of the temple, but they have been recentered in Christ, who now ministers for us in the heavenly temple (Hebrews 7-10). Though our focus has been transferred to the heavenly setting, the festivals were not done away with. Jesus fulfills them such that these festal expressions of joy continue in Him. For the last festival, which marks the end of the harvest year, the Israelites celebrated a feast of great rejoicing. This festival conveys a message about our joyfully abundant final destination, which has yet to be fulfilled (Zechariah 14:6; Revelation 21:1–5). God wants us to be joyful so that our experience with Him will be filled with rejoicing. We especially need to bring the joy of God’s salvation back into our experience.

God invites us to feast with Jesus and others, calling us to habitually “keep the feast” (1 Corinthians 5:8). Because of Jesus, we are invited to celebrate a God who chooses to love the world in a self-giving way. It’s an invitation to feast at a meal table, Passover style. As we feast on the wonder of God’s character, everything else loses luster amid the beauty and brilliance of Jesus. I want a feast-centered ethic that doesn’t miss what God is doing. We need to see God anew. The Israelites were commanded to feast, but now that Jesus’s matchless beauty has marvelously revealed the true picture of God, who gave His life in a welcoming embrace, shouldn’t we too pursue feast-centered lives? Humankind does not seek more rigorous rules or regulations to follow, but neither does it seek a “cooler” or “watered down” Jesus. The world seeks a better Jesus, a more glorious Jesus, a more attractive Jesus. We long for a welcome-home feast in celebration of God’s love and acceptance of sinners. When experiencing the joy of being welcomed to His table, the hearts of the old and young alike will radiate with joyous bliss. That’s the table where I want to hang out.

Just imagine the homecoming party and the splendid wedding feast of the Lamb (Revelation 19:6–9). Jesus is longing to partake of this feast with us in His Father’s kingdom (Matthew 26:29). As it turns out, God is waiting at a great festive table, longing to rejoice with His family. What a glorious celebration and joy that will be! Jesus calls us to the feast of the Kingdom of God. I will say that without the joy of the feast—without feasting in God’s banquet of love, there is no Kingdom to proclaim. So, do you want to find Jesus? May I suggest that you seek Him at the feast? It’s time for this everlasting joyous feast to begin, so let’s celebrate in anticipation now!

It is helpful to know the difference:

1. Keeping festivals as a requirement means keeping them to follow a commandment or interpretation that makes feast keeping mandatory.
2. Keeping the festivals as cherished memories and to experience a feast-centered ethic means treasuring the messages they contain, keeping them spiritually or marking them as meaningful observances to better express our faith in Jesus.

Craig Ashton Jr.