Friday, May 13, 2016

The Jewish Feasts or the Feasts of the Lord, and should Christians keep them or not and why...

by Diane M. Hoffmann

In following some current blogs going around on this subject of the Jewish Feasts or the Feasts of the Lord in the Old Testament, some questions came up to me that I have answered and re-print for you in this post, particularly from a Jewish thought point of view:

Yes, they are the feasts of the Lord as they are usually referred by Jewish people. It is about the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who is the God of the chosen people of Israel. Today, the "Jewish Feasts" as often referred to by Christians, is a manner of referring to the feasts that the Jews keep, as opposed to the Christians/Gentiles. And yes, it is absolutely right for Christians to understand the meanings of the feasts as being a foreshadow of the Christ (Messiah) to come… but it is not necessary for Christians to keep them.

All the feasts of the Old Testament were there to keep the Jewish people close to God throughout history… because people are very forgetful… and so all the feasts were integrated in the everyday life of the Jews, pointing to the coming redemptive Messiah (Christ–God in the flesh), who would come, first, as the suffering servant (Isaiah 53), giving His life to end the old testament,

“For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a 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? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance, For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.” (Hebrews 9:13-16). All scriptures are quoted from the Old King James bible.

That’s what He meant at the last Passover supper, lifting up the bread and the cup He said: “This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me… likewise, this cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.” (Luke 22:19-20).

He was talking about His death — not the Old Testament Passover, but His own Passover as the Lamb Himself. The next day, just before dying, He said “It is finished”. That meant He, the Lamb of God (God in the flesh) was the ultimate sacrifice that took away all the sins of the world.

This ended the shadows of the Old Testament that pointed to His plan of Salvation or Redemption. He was the bread in the Old Testament feasts… and the temporary blood of the animals. Now that the ultimate, prophesied, sacrificial Lamb had come, the old has passed into the New. (Jeremiah 31). There is so much more, the book of Romans explains all about the Jew and the Law before and after the cross. The New Testament is all Jewish: the writers, and the Savior. The apostles were all Jewish, bringing the gospel to the Jew first, and then to the gentiles. (Romans 1:16).

The Old Testament is still relevant today in that we need to know the history of God and His chosen people, the principles behind the laws and the message of the prophecies to come. But it is no longer needed for righteousness because Jesus Christ (God in the flesh) is our righteousness. The Old Testament was there to show sin, it was the schoolmaster that showed that man (Jew or Gentile, male or female) cannot live righteously before a Holy God, for “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 4:23).

So for any one who is in Christ (has accepted and received His ultimate sacrifice on the cross), the feasts are no longer necessary. But, of course, Jews who are not yet saved continue to keep the Old Testament feasts — even Messianic Jews do it to keep the tradition.

The problem with Christians starting to keep the feasts is that this contradicts the biblical fact that salvation comes by grace and not by works. There are many that now have evolved into killing their own lambs in their own home. This is not of God. I have more on this on my blog at http://24hotpotatoes.blogspot.ca.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”(Ephesians 2:8-9)

Jesus Christ is the God of the Old Testament come down to earth in the flesh. His name means the “Anointed Savior”. He was Jewish, born in Israel…

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not…He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” (John 1-5;10-14) All Jewish writings.

Blessings/dmh

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Diane M. Hoffmann, B.Th., M.Th., Ph.D./Th.
Author of "24 Hot Potatoes in the Church Today"
Just released by Xulon Press, a div. of Salem Media.
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web site: http://24hotpotatoes.blogspot.ca/


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