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Holy Days or holidays?
Posted : 22 Apr, 2012 11:57 AM
Holy Days
Gen 1:14 And Eloheem said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for mo'ed, and for days, and years:
The heavenly lights were made for mo'ed.
Lev 23:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the mo'ed of YaHWeH, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my mo'ed.
The mo'ed are YaHWeH's holy convocations.
Psa 104:19 He appointed the moon for mo'ed: the sun knoweth his going down.
The moon was made for mo'ed. (Mo'ed are set by the phases of the moon).
The Hebrew word mo'ed should be translated as "Holy Day, or "Holy Days". This is where we get our modern English word "holiday". The word Holy used to be spelled with an "I". Today, Americans call Halloween a holiday, even though it is not a mo'ed, and there is nothing Holy about it.
How Long Is "For Ever"?
Exo 12:14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to YaHWeH throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
Exo 12:15 Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
Exo 12:16 And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.
Exo 12:17 And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.
Holy Days Will Be Kept In The Coming Kingdom:
Zec 14:16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, YaHWeH of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
Zec 14:17 And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, YaHWeH of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
Zec 14:18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith YaHWeH will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
Zec 14:19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
The First Christians Kept The Holy Days:
Act 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost(Feast Of Weeks) was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
Act 18:21 But bade them farewell, saying, I(Paul) must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.
Act 20:6 And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days.
Act 27:9 Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them,
Act 27:12 And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice, and there to winter; which is an haven of Crete, and lieth toward the south west and north west.
The "fast" Paul mentioned must have been The Day Of Atonement. It was in the fall, since they were concerned about finding a place to spend the winter. The Day Of Atonement is a fall Holy Day, known as "the fast", since it is a day of fasting.
1Co 16:8 But I(Paul) will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost.
Paul Told Us To Keep The Feast Of Unleavened Bread:
1Co 5:6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
1Co 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:
1Co 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 4:8-12 Explained:
Gal 4:8 Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
Gal 4:9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
Gal 4:10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
Gal 4:11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.
Gal 4:12 Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all.
Many people say that Paul was telling the Galatians not to keep the Holy Days. But Paul was rebuking the Galatians for keeping pagan festivals, not Holy Days. In verse 8 Paul wrote that the Galatians were serving false gods, before they knew about the true God. The Galatians converted to Christianity for a little while, but then they went back to keeping pagan festivals. Paul calls the pagan festivals weak and beggarly elements. Then Paul tells the Galatians to be like him in verse 12. Paul himself kept the Holy Days. If the Galatians were to be like Paul, they should keep the Holy Days, like Paul did.
Colossians 2:13-17 Explained:
Col 2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Col 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
Col 2:15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
Col 2:16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
Col 2:17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
These verses are often used to show that the Old Testament was nailed to the cross. But a careful reading of these verses in Greek shows that it was man-made laws that Yahshua nailed to the cross. The word translated "ordinances" in verse 14 is the Greek word "dogma". Dogma means "a man-made law". Luke 2:1 is helpful in understanding the definition of a "dogma".
Luk 2:1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree(dogma) from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
The word translated "decree" is "dogma".
However, not all dogma are bad. It was only the dogma that was against us, contrary to us, that was nailed to the cross. That is, any man-made law that contradicts the Holy Law of YaHWeH. In Paul's days, Jewish leaders had added many man-made laws that were a severe burden to believers in YaHWeH. Yahshua Himself broke many of these man-made laws(dogma), and the Jewish leaders hated Him for this. We are supposed to beware of the "leaven of the Pharisees". This leaven includes false doctrine. Paul was a "Pharisee of Pharisees", so he followed the leaven(dogma) of the Pharisees. After Paul converted, he knew that Pharisee dogma contained false doctrine, that is why he said that Yahshua "nailed it to the cross".
In verse 2:16, Paul told the Colossians not to let anyone judge them because they were now keeping Holy Days. Colosse is in modern day Turkey. The Colossians were uncircumcised(verse 13); they were not Jews. Since Colosse was a Gentile region, the Gentiles wouldn't judge the Colossians for NOT keeping the Holy Days, instead, the Colossian Christians were judged by the Gentiles because they WERE keeping the Holy Days. Paul encouraged them to not let anyone judge them because they were now keeping YaHWeH's commanded, eternal, Holy Days.
Verse 17 states that Holy Days and the weekly Sabbath days ARE a shadow of things to come. Some people like to change this verse by removing the word "are" and inserting the word "were". But the clear truth is that the Holy Days and Sabbath ARE a shadow of things yet to come. Since they still ARE a shadow, they still apply.
Proper Observance Of The Holy Days
Some people may say that if we keep the Holy Days, then we should have a Levitical priesthood, a functioning Temple, and offer sacrifices for sins. According to Hebrews 10, Yahshua was the final sin sacrifice. We no longer need to have sacrifices for sin any more(Hebrews 10:1-26). We do not have to have sin sacrifices in order to keep the Holy Days. Sin sacrifices were also done on the Sabbath, but we no longer have to have them to keep the Sabbath. Isaiah 66:23 shows us that the Sabbath will still be kept in the future, but we won't be having sin sacrifices.
Rome Abolished The Holy Days, Not Yahshua:
In the early years of Christianity, Christians were keeping the Holy Days:
Around 153, near the end of his life, Polycarp visited the Roman Bishop Anicetus to discuss the differences that existed between Asia and Rome "with regard to certain things" especially the observance of Passover. They �disputed much with each other� over Passover. Ireaneus says:
�Neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp not to observe it,
because he had always observed it with Yochanan(John) the disciple
of our Lord, and the rest of the Apostles, with whom he associated;
and neither did Polycarp persuade Anicetus to observe,��
(Ireaneus; quoted by Eusebius; Eccl. Hist. 5:24)
Then in 194 C.E. this conflict between Rome and Asia arose again when the Asian representative Polycrates of Ephesus wrote a letter to the Roman Bishop Victor. Eusebius describes the event this way:
A question of no small importance arose at that time. For the parishes of all Asia, as from an older tradition, held that the fourteenth day of the moon, on which day the Jews were commanded to sacrifice the lamb, should be observed as the feast of the Saviour's Passover...the bishops of Asia, led by Polycrates, decided to hold to the old custom handed down to them. He himself, in a letter which he addressed to Victor and the church of Rome, set forth in the following words the tradition which had come down to him.
(Eusebius,Eccl. Hist. 5:24).
Polycrates wrote as follows:
We observe the exact day; neither adding, nor taking away. For in Asia also great lights have fallen asleep, which shall rise again on the day of the Lord's coming, when he shall come with glory from heaven, and shall seek out all the saints. Among these are Philip, one of the twelve apostles, who fell asleep in Hierapolis; and his two aged virgin daughters, and another daughter, who lived in the Holy Spirit and now rests at Ephesus; and, moreover, John, who was both a witness and a teacher, who reclined upon the bosom of the Lord, and, being a priest, wore the sacerdotal plate. He fell asleep at Ephesus. And Polycarp in Smyrna, who was a bishop and martyr; and Thraseas, bishop and martyr from Eumenia, who fell asleep in Smyrna. Why need I mention the bishop and martyr Sagaris who fell asleep in Laodicea, or the blessed Papirius, or Melito the Eunuch who lived altogether in the Holy Spirit, and who lies in Sardis, awaiting the episcopate from heaven, when he shall rise from the dead? All these observed the fourteenth day of the Passover according to the Gospel, deviating in no respect, but following the rule of faith. And I also, Polycrates, the least of you all, do according to the tradition of my relatives, some of whom I have closely followed. For seven of my relatives were bishops; and I am the eighth. And my relatives always observed the day when the people put away the leaven. I, therefore, brethren, who have lived sixty-five years in the Lord, and have met with the brethren throughout the world, and have gone through every Holy Scripture, am not affrighted by terrifying words. For those greater than I have said 'We ought to obey God rather than man'...I could mention the bishops who were present, whom I summoned at your desire; whose names, should I write them, would constitute a great multitude. And they, beholding my littleness, gave their consent to the letter, knowing that I did not bear my gray hairs in vain, but had always governed my life by the Lord Jesus
(Eusebius. Eccl. Hist. 5:24).
Bishop Victor attempted to cut off from the common unity Polycrates and others because they were observing Passover, but later reversed his decision after Irenaeus and others interceded.
At the Nicene Council the Roman Catholic Church decreed concerning �Easter�:
�It was decreed by common consent to be expedient, that this festival should be celebrated on the same day in every place� it seemed to everyone a most unworthy thing that we should follow the custom of the Jews in the celebration of this most holy solemnity, who, polluted wretches! Having stained their hands with a nefarious crime, are justly blinded in their minds. It is fit, therefore, that rejecting the practice of this people, we should perpetuate to all future ages the celebration of this rite, in a more legitimate order, which we have kept from the first day of our Lord�s passion even to the present times. Let us then have nothing in common with the most hostile rabble of the Jews. We have received another method from our Savior�.�
In his Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/bede-book1.html
Book 3 Chapter 25 Bede recounts that this controversy arose again in Scotland in the 7th Century C.E. between those who observed Passover on the 14th day after the New Moon and those who instead �deliver the sacraments of the New Testament, to be celebrated by the church, in memory of his passion.� (i.e. weekly Communion) and �Easter�.
Rome's Counterfeit Holy Days:
Rome simply did not abolish the Holy Days, they replaced them with pagan practices. For example, what does a bunny laying eggs have to do with Yahshua dying on the cross? Absolutely nothing. Easter is a pagan festival that was popular even before the time of the New Testament. Since Easter and Passover occurred at about the same time of the year, they slowly blended into one. The Biblical day known as "Passover" was almost forgotten, and Easter was declared the replacement of Passover by the Roman church. All of YaHWeH's Holy Days were either abolished or replaced by Rome.
A Blessing And A Curse:
Deu 11:26 Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;
Deu 11:27 A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of YaHWeH your God, which I command you this day:
Deu 11:28 And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of YaHWeH your God...
Want to be blessed? Keep YaHWeH's Holy Days!
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