Biblical Feasts

The Hebrew word for “feasts” (moadim) literally means “appointed times.”

We gave up the world’s holidays when our children were teenagers.  We knew there was something terribly wrong way back then. We advise our listeners to:

(15) Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
(16) For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
(17) And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.

1 John 2:15-17

 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Romans 12:2

(15) I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
(16) They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
(17) Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
(18) As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

John 17:15-18

 

What are the Biblical feasts?

Dates on calendars and even the names of feasts vary when doing research.  We have received about 20 different calendars to add to the confusion.  However, we have tried to sort this out to the best of our ability. We suggest you should:

  • Find out what the Feasts are and how they were celebrated and why.
  • Discover how Jesus fulfilled the Feasts.
  • Pray for discernment, wisdom, and direction as to how the Lord wants you to celebrate the Feasts.
  • Be careful not to get caught up in Jewish Traditions.
  • Do the best you can and give your celebration to the Lord and let him judge your works.

Here are some links to more articles about the feasts.

  • The Feasts & Holidays of the Bible pamphlet, is concise and inexpensive and the most accurate we have found.
  • Messiah in the Hebrew Feasts- The information in this link helps to understand how Jesus is seen in the feasts.
  • Calendars – Today, most of the Western world uses the Gregorian calendar, established by Pope Gregory VIII in 1582. It is a calendar based on the solar year, with 365 days and an additional leap year added every 4 years to approximate the 365.25-day solar year. Today, the Gregorian calendar is the most widely used calendar system worldwide. The ancient Jewish calendar, however, is considerably more complicated as it is based on the movements of both the sun and moon.  As a result, the Gregorian calendar dates for the Hebrew feasts changes from year to year.
  • As with many Jewish customs, the Jewish calendar has been revised over the centuries. Mathematically-based formulas have been implemented to give better accuracy, and to prevent certain feasts from falling on or near Sabbath days.

This is why it is so difficult to find the exact date to celebrate the Feasts.

Colossians 2:16-17
(16) Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
(17) Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

  1. Passover – (Pesach) – Exodus 12:1-28; Leviticus 23:5  Nisan 14 (Mar /April)
  2. Feast of Unleavened Bread – (Hag Hamazot) – Exodus 12; Leviticus 23:6  Nisan 15 (Mar / April)
  3. Firstfruits – (Yom HaBikkurim) – Leviticus 23:9-14  Nisan 17 (Mar / April)
  4. Feast of Weeks  – (Shavuot) / Pentecost – Leviticus 23:15-22  Silvan 6 (May / June)
  5. Feast of Trumpets – (Rosh Hashanah) – Leviticus 23:23-25 Tishri 10 (Sept / Oct) 
  6. Day of Atonement – (Yom Kipper) – Leviticus 16; 26-32 Tishri 10 (Sept / Oct) 
  7. Feast of Tabernacles – (Sukkot) – Leviticus 23:33-43 (Feast of Booths) 
    Tishri 10 (Sept / Oct)

The chart below is an example and the chart we usually use. These Dates are an example, but you may choose a different date.

The charts below do not show exact calendar dates.

Luke 12:1  In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

Luke 13:21  It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.

1 Corinthians 5:6  Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?

1 Corinthians 5:7  Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:

1 Corinthians 5:8  Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Galatians 5:9  A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

This Biblical Feasts Play List might also help answer your questions.

Finally a Passover Lesson to answer your questions!

Podcast – 375 – The Sederless Passover

Our Simple Video – 375 – The Sederless Passover

PASSOVER

Ok, I will try to explain. We are not perfect, but do not think Jesus wanted to put burdens on us. Since I am disabled, I may look at things differently. On this page link we have some topical studies. 

Please read this article carefully as I explain why we do not do what others do. We are NOT Jews. We do not have to do what Hebrew Roots or Messianic groups do as they have forgotten who they are supposed to be following. We do refrain from eating leaven on Passover and 7 days after the Actual Passover Day which really begins at sundown. Here is a link to an article that explains the beginning and ending of the day.

We also do not go to the extreme practice of finding all the crumbs, but use our self control and obedience to our Lord and we symbolically put some of our leavened food in the trash, but with the cost of food, we will freeze some, set some aside in a box hidden in the closet or give it away if we have access to abundance. We discipline ourselves to refrain for those 8 days which is not too much to ask from us since the Lord gave His life for us.

We usually spend time in fellowship with others telling the story of the reason for Passover and share a meal (no leaven), pray for each other, and celebrate the Lord’s Supper, and share some music and our thoughts and questions.

There are links below to teachings about Passover. Good recipe for Unleavened bread.  I have made some and other recipes, but we finally are using Carr’s Table crackers as they do not have leaven and can be broken into smaller pieces. We use 2 parts water to 1 part wine, not grape juice for our Lord’s supper. This is what the early church fathers used.  If you have an adversity to alchohol, grape juice will be acceptable.  Jesus did turn the water to real wine at the wedding feast and in Timothy we are told to take a little wine for our stomach’s sake.  We are cautioned not to drink to and get drunk and not to cause a problem for others.

John 2:6-9 KJV
(6)  And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.
(7)  Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.
(8)  And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it.
(9)  When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,

1 Tiimothy 5:23  Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.

Romans 14:21  It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.

In the Gospels, Jesus warns his followers to “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees,” which he equates with hypocrisy. This signifies the Pharisees’ deceptive practices and their emphasis on outward appearances rather than genuine faith. Leaven of the Pharisees” to warn his disciples of the Pharisees’ hypocrisy and corrupting influence.

Leaven, or yeast, is a small ingredient that can permeate and affect the entire batch of dough. In this context, Jesus uses it to represent a subtle yet pervasive influence that can corrupt and undermine faith. Physical Leaven is a substance that makes dough rise. In the Bible, leaven symbolizes corruption, defilement, and sin.

The Pharisees were known for their strict adherence to religious laws and traditions, often creating additional rules and regulations beyond what was explicitly commanded in the Torah. This led to a focus on outward rituals and appearances rather than inner piety and genuine relationship with God.

In Jewish tradition, “leaven” or chametz refers to food made from wheat, barley, oats, spelt, and rye that has been allowed to leaven (ferment) and is prohibited during Passover, with unleavened bread (matzah) being the traditional alternative.

Some people use Matzah crackers  Carrs Table Crackers

Also a new teaching that answers many questions.

 

Hanukkah

In Hebrew, Hanukkah means “dedication,” and the holiday marks the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem in the 2nd century BC, after a small group of Jewish fighters liberated it from occupying foreign forces.
 
Jews across the religious observance spectrum — from Reform to Conservative to Orthodox — focus on the same theme of bringing light into the darkness and emphasizing that even a small, against-the-odds effort can have a transforming effect.
 
Here is a link that explains it too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanukkah
 
Think about this – we are the temple now and Jesus is the light of this world so we do not think we should celebrate it because we are also not Jews.
 
Some may choose to celebrate it, but we are not commanded to.  Jesus may have participated, but He was a Jew by birth.
 

Feast Of Tabernacles

The Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths), called Sukkoth by the Jewish people today, is first found in the Pentateuch (Lev. 23:33–44; Num. 29:12–40; Deut. 16:13–17). It’s the last of the seven great feasts prescribed there, and it’s one of three (along with Passover and Pentecost) that all Jewish men were required to attend (Deut. 16:16–17).

The feast begins on the 15th day of the seventh month, on a Sunday. This day was to be considered a holy convocation, a day on which no common work could be done. The feast continued for seven days, during which the people made regular offerings (Num. 29:13–16) and dwelled in tabernacles, or tents. On the eighth day, called the “Great Day,” another holy convocation was called for the people to make one last offering and practice solemn rest (Num. 29:35–38).
 

1. Timing

The feast coincided with the completion of the year’s agricultural harvest. The people were to celebrate God’s blessing on Israel’s seven major crops: grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, honey, wheat, and barley (Deut. 8:8). The main ceremony, from Sunday to Saturday, recalls the creation week and is filled with celebration and rest. The week-long giving of thanks also preceded the rainy season in hopes that God would renew the land and once again give a plentiful harvest in the coming year.

2. Tabernacles

The tabernacles (or tents) were man-made, temporary dwellings that reminded the people of their 40-year sojourn in the wilderness—a time when God provided food, water, and protection from both enemies and the natural elements. Dwelling in the temporary structures incited thanksgiving for what God had done in bringing them into their permanent homes in the promised land.

3. Sacrifices

God required the people to bring costly sacrifices from their agricultural harvests. These were part of the genuine celebration of thanks to God over eight days. The fact that the Jewish people eventually incorporated elements of light, water, and the singing of key salvation psalms into the feast indicates they connected God’s past provision in the wilderness to his promise of future provision in the land. That theme of provision is renewed after Israel’s return from Babylonian exile when the people celebrated Tabernacles under new leadership in very uncertain times (Ezra 3:1–7; Neh. 8:13–18). Zechariah even extended the promise of God’s provision of rain and blessing to the Gentiles who came to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast (Zech. 14:16–19).

Jesus Dwells with and Provides for Us

In his Gospel, John repeatedly appeals to Tabernacles imagery to show us that Jesus came to dwell with us and provide for us.

John 1:14 says it explicitly. Jesus came to dwell or “tabernacle” among us (John 1:14). Then, in John’s first seven chapters, the word “water” appears 22 times along with many allusions to water in the narratives about John the Baptist and Jesus walking on the sea. The most frequent usage of the word “water” is in John 4 where Jesus talks to the Samaritan woman about “living water” he’ll provide for true worshipers (John 4:10).

In John 7, Jesus secretly attends the Feast of Tabernacles, and he discovers a debate over his identity (7:10–13). By the middle of the feast, Jesus openly teaches in the temple. The people believe in him, but the religious leaders reject and seek to arrest him (7:31–32). On the last day of the feast, Jesus stands, cries out, and declares that he’s the fulfillment of Tabernacles: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” (7:37–38)

John explains that this cry points to the provision of the Holy Spirit after Jesus’s ascension (7:39). After he calls the people to drink, Jesus claims to be the fulfillment of another Johannine and Tabernacle theme. He is the light of the world (John 8:12–58) who gives sight to the blind (John 9).

Jesus fulfills the Feast of Tabernacles, and this has great significance for us because we still need his presence and provision! Though we dwell in the tents of our corruptible earthly bodies, we have a permanent home ahead of us in heaven (2 Cor. 5:1). We’ve received the promise of the Holy Spirit, not sparingly or temporarily—he has been “poured out” as eternal, life-giving water (Joel 2:28–29; Acts 2:17–18). Just as Jesus declared on the “Great Day” of the Feast of Tabernacles, he still gives light to the nations (Rev. 21:21–26) and calls for all who thirst to come and “take the water of life without price” (Rev. 22:17). Through Christ, we can enter solemn rest (Heb. 4:9–10) as God begins his new creation in us (2 Cor. 5:17).

Many have asked us how to celebrate this Feast and we tell them to pray and ask the Father how He wants you to celebrate.  Some choose to camp and get away form the tech world and shut off their cell phones, or even build temporary booths, but all believers are not able to do these things. Therefore, just Pray and celebrate!

New Unleavened Bread with Variations