The implication? Seven times a year, the God who holds the universe in His hand invites His children to break away from the ordinary and the mundane, to set aside time for a special appointment with Him. Almost like a date…

Today—just under 3,500 years after this conversation between God and Moses—the seven feasts of the Lord serve as one of the great controversies in today’s Church, with the followers of Jesus speculating, reasoning and even arguing about whether we as Christians should keep the feasts. In fact, it is a subject that causes great division—and resentment—among believers. The extremes of the one camp place a heavy emphasis on the biblical feasts and claim that those who don’t celebrate them dabble in idolatry. The extremes of the other camp argue that things like the feasts and Shabbat belong to the Old Testament, to the Jews, and that those who do celebrate are still subject to the Law. And between those two extremes you will, of course, find every conceivable position somewhere in the middle.

I’m not sure where I fall on this spectrum. Still, seeing that I’m writing about the biblical feasts, I should surely have an opinion. I do indeed. But it might be a bit different than what you think.

Henry and I often get questions like, “Where do you stand? What do you believe? Must we celebrate the feasts?” To be honest, I don’t think that is the right question. Frankly, I don’t believe it is a matter of must or must not. The way I see it, it’s a matter of really wanting to.

See, I am captivated by the beauty of God’s feasts and how intimately, how personally and how affectionately He speaks to us through each of them, like a Bridegroom’s tender declaration of love to His beloved. I am amazed at the detail He has woven into each one over the millennia so that we can look back in breathless wonder at how majestically the fulfillment has played out in the past—and look ahead in breathless wonder to how majestic the fulfillments will play out in the future.

I guess you could say I’m excited—no, passionate—about the festivals for quite a few reasons. Some of them are head reasons; truths I can rationally see and grasp. Others are heart reasons that go deeper than logic and intellect.

And that’s what these writings are about. I want to share with you my reasons, my passion and my absolute wonder about God’s feasts, and more importantly, about God in His feasts.

One of my favorite preachers, Paul Washer, often says at the beginning of his teachings that he’s basically preaching to himself; that he hopes others will benefit from what the Holy Spirit teaches him. I want to start in the same way. My prayer is that when I write the last word and you read the last word, our excitement, no, our passion for the feasts of the Lord—but more specifically for the Lord of the feasts—will burn brighter than ever as we stand overwhelmed anew by His passion, His heart and His precious love for us. I pray that we will have a new revelation of the wonder, the spectacular folly, dare I say, of the Almighty One inviting us—insignificant, nothing humans—so personally and so intimately to set time aside in our oh so busy scurrying around to draw near to the God of the universe and celebrate with Him. Selah.

A Date!

I grew up believing that the seven biblical feasts were Jewish. Other. Theirs, not ours. We had ours, they had theirs. However, if I look at what the Bible says about it, I can’t really say that it is merely a Jewish thing. If I look at what the Bible says about it, I have to admit that it’s a God thing. My logic, my intellect and my reasoning tell me it can’t be otherwise. Why? Well, the God we love and serve claims the feasts as His very own. In fact, He labels them “the feasts of the Lord” and “My feasts” (Lev. 23:2), titles that leave no room for ambiguity.

More than that, in Hebrew He calls the feasts His moadim, which translates to His special appointments, His set apart times or seasons. These descriptions touch my heart deeply. Why?

If your big boss—I’m talking about your boss’s boss’s boss, the person whose name and surname appear embossed at the top of the company’s letterhead—if he or she goes to the effort of making a special appointment with you, if he or she sets aside time and invites you to spend that time with him or her, what would your reaction be? This is exactly what the feasts of the Lord are: a special appointment with my Big Boss, my Lord and Master setting time aside and inviting me to spend that time with Him.

Let’s take it one step further. If the person you love and adore the most in the world tells you that he or she wants to set aside time just for the two of you, what would your reaction be? Chances are you will clear your calendar, dress up in your Sunday best and show up—excited, expectant at the joy and delight of this special date.

Let me give you an example. Our daughter was two months old and I was on maternity leave when my husband sent me a message from work one morning saying: “Tonight, my wife, is date night! I’ve arranged a babysitter, and you and I are going to spend some time alone. Just the two of us.” I can’t tell you how my heart sang! I made bottles and put pacifiers in a little rosebud mouth and changed dirty nappies with a skip in my step at the prospect of my date with my favorite human that night! And that is exactly what the feasts of the Lord are: a special appointment with my Beloved, my Bridegroom setting time aside just for the two of us and inviting me to spend that time with Him.

But we can take it another step further. Friends of ours have a little girl named Brooke. Every month, Brooke and her daddy have a special date—just him and her. I can promise you, for days before and days after that special appointment, it’s all Brooke can talk about. It’s the biggest, the most exciting, the best opportunity in her life! She literally twirls around in delighted circles when thinking about her daddy–Brooke date!

And that’s exactly what the festivals, the moadim, His special appointments are: a special Daddy–(put your name here) date. Just you and Him. And when a little girl twirls around in delighted circles at the thought of her earthly daddy setting aside time to spend just with her, how much more can we twirl around at the thought of our heavenly Abba, the Creator of the universe, the One who holds every detail in His hand, setting aside time to celebrate with us?

Which brings me back to the question: Must we celebrate the feasts? All I know is that if my heavenly Abba sets aside time to spend it with me, then I want to show up for my Daddy–daughter date.

Jesus Celebrated Too

Jesus, the One I desire to follow, the One into whose image I want to grow, celebrated the feasts. The Gospels give us ample evidence of that. We read that as a young boy, Jesus was with His parents in Jerusalem for Passover—as was their custom each year (Luke 2:41–51). John 2:13, 6:4 and 11:55 tell us about three other occasions during which He celebrated Passover. Then, of course, there was the Passover on which Jesus was crucified. Also, in John 7:10–24, Jesus teaches the people in the Temple during the Feast of Tabernacles, and in John 10:22–23, He is in Jerusalem for Hanukkah (the Feast of Dedication). In addition, each of His disciples and apostles as well as the early Church celebrated the feasts right next to their Messiah and His earthly family.

My point? The Bible makes it clear that Jesus celebrated the feasts. And if I want to follow Him, if He is my example, the One into whose image I want to grow…Well, it’s a logical conclusion, isn’t it?

Jesus as the Fulfillment

Yet Jesus was not just a mere observer or even an active participant in the feasts. He is also the fulfiller—and fulfillment—thereof.

God’s seven biblical feasts are not just seven arbitrary events scattered randomly throughout the year. Oh no. The seven occur in a carefully composed cycle or progression from one to the other. That’s important. Very. Because together, as a unit, they serve as a perfect picture of God’s breathtaking plan of redemption for the salvation of mankind, with each of the festivals serving as a watershed episode or puzzle piece of the whole. Which then means that each individual feast builds on the preceding one and each subsequent one reveals the next integral piece of the puzzle in God’s plan of redemption.

God’s perfect instrument through which He implements His plan of redemption for the salvation of mankind is His Son, Jesus Christ. This means that each of God’s seven biblical feasts has one central message: Jesus. Right there, interwoven in the events, traditions and history of the seven feasts that God gave thousands of years ago, we see a shadow, a picture of the Messiah, a prophecy of what He has already done for us and what He will still do. In Colossians 2:16–17, Paul describes the biblical feasts as a shadow, a picture of the acts of redemption that Jesus would and will perform for us as part of God’s plan of salvation. The festival—everything that happened around it and all the traditions—is an image in the mirror of the real thing. And Jesus’ redemptive deeds are the fulfillment, the real thing. This means that the feasts almost serve as an invitation from the Father to us, proclaiming, “Come! Come! Come and see what My Son has already done for you and what He will still do for you.”

Where Are We Now?

The seven biblical feasts fall into two categories: the spring feasts and the fall feasts. The reason is obvious. The first four—Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits and Shavuot—take place in Israel during the spring, while we celebrate the second three—the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles—during Israel’s fall.

Jesus already fulfilled the first four, the spring feasts—Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits and Shavuot—during His first coming. Jesus was sacrificed as our Passover Lamb and was crucified on Passover, after which He was in the tomb during Unleavened Bread, only to rise on Firstfruits and then pour out His Spirit on Shavuot. Four pivotal consecutive episodes on God’s prophetic calendar in His redemption plan for the salvation of mankind each take place on or in fulfillment of one of the feasts of the Lord in sequential order. Four puzzle pieces of God’s redemption plan for the salvation of mankind have already fallen into place.

But it also leaves us with the remaining three fall feasts, which we believe will be fulfilled when Jesus returns. Prophecy tells us that a number of episodes have yet to play out in God’s redemption plan for the salvation of mankind, including Jesus, the Son of Man, returning in His glory, His coming announced by the piercing call of a ram’s horn; all nations gathered before the Son of Man for judgment; and lastly, the Bridegroom, Jesus, dwelling or “tabernacling” with us forever.

And if the first four pivotal episodes or the first four puzzle pieces in God’s redemption plan for the salvation of mankind—that is, Jesus’ death, His burial, His resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit—took place on and in fulfillment of the first four feasts of the Lord, I think we can safely say that the following pivotal episodes or puzzle pieces of God’s redemption plan for the salvation of mankind—that is, the Son of Man returning in His glory, His coming announced by the piercing call of a ram’s horn, all the nations gathered before Him for judgment, and Jesus, the Bridegroom, dwelling or “tabernacling” with us forever—will take place on and in fulfillment of the last three feasts of the Lord, beginning with the Feast of Trumpets, then Day of Atonement and finally, Sukkot.

My Invitation to You

Ah yes. As you can see, I stand in absolute captivation, in total delight over God’s feasts. And I want you to experience the same awe and wonder—simply because it is so awesome and wonderful, simply because God’s revelation of Himself is worthy of our captivation and delight.

In the feasts and their fulfillment, I see the indescribable love and absolute might of a Father who not only sends His Son so miraculously to reconcile insignificant, sin-stained us with holy, unattainable Him. Oh no. As if that was not enough, He also gives us a blueprint, a mirror image of what this salvation looks like so that we can gaze in breathless admiration at His footsteps and fingerprints in every detail of every second of the past, present and future.

And so, I would like to take you by the hand so that we can walk through the feasts and their fulfillment together. We start at the beginning with Passover and then walk right through to the icing on the cake, Sukkot. As we progress, I invite you to rejoice with me in the beauty and feast on the sweet as we explore the wonder of Jesus in His feasts. May we meet Him anew in His appointed times as we delight ourselves in who He is and what He has done. May we be more and more amazed at the Father’s wonderful plan of salvation and deliverance, woven together and presented to us in the cycle of seven biblical feasts. And may we look forward with anticipation to the day of His return, when He will wipe away every tear and renew every broken place, every hurt, every loss and every sorrow, and allow us to marvel— for the first time fully—in His goodness and glory and sufficiency forever.

Come soon, Lord Jesus!