God loves feasts. The mighty Exodus He has wrought for the Israelites He immortalized with a feast. The first miracle of Jesus was done at a wedding. Throughout His ministry, the Saviour is recorded to have taken part in several social gatherings. The Bible ends with a marriage ceremony that will last at least 1000 years. The Lord's festivals are given to us as sacred times in which He desires to reveal the transcript of His character. As we keep these holy days with the right intentions, we get the privilege of partaking of His character and of His divine nature in a significantly greater measure than on normal, common days.
Not all days are equal before God, and He didn't leave us in ignorance about this truth; in His word He appointed important times around which heavenly and worldy events are revolving. These times appointed are a key for understanding the last day events from the book of Daniel. The understanding of these matters strengthens our faith in our Saviour, giving us the assurance that He now is in control and will also be then in a world soon to be filled with chaos.
In the previous article on this series it was shown that a Biblical unit-day has two evenings; that the Biblical unit-day begins when the lower limb of the sun touches the horizon in the evening and ends next evening when the upper limb of the sun touches the horizon. Therefore any of the holy days mentioned below shall be observed from its first evening to its second evening. The main inspired text that we'll have as a basis for the presentation of these holy days is chapter 23 of Leviticus. The reader is strongly encouraged to also read in parallel Numbers 28:16-31 and its following chapter, and Deuteronomy 16:1-17 and the 52nd chapter of Patriarchs and Prophets, entitled "The Annual Feasts". Leviticus says:
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. Leviticus 23:1,2
Time Appointed: The Sabbath
Also called: the Lord's Day, the Seventh Day, Saturday
Observance time: Each seventh day of the daily sequence
Work policy: No work at all, except work permitted by God for that day
Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings. Leviticus 23:3
It's a day put aside to hold social meetings and worship the Creator, because He made the world in six days and on the seventh He rested. No work, except works permitted by the Holy Spirit for that day are to be done.
Here, the Hebrew word for sabbath is שַׁבָּת (Shabbat). It means what the text already said: the seventh day of the week. Since the weekly Sabbath is the seventh day of the week, the following inspired quote means that the Lord's Day is the seventh day of the week:
It was on the Sabbath that the Lord of glory appeared to the exiled apostle. The Sabbath was as sacredly observed by John on Patmos as when he was preaching to the people in the towns and cities of Judea. He claimed as his own the precious promises that had been given regarding that day. “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day,” John writes, “and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.... And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks One like unto the Son of man.” Revelation 1:10-13. AA 581.4
Inspiration makes it crystal clear that the seventh day is what's commonly called Saturday.
[...] I explained to them that Sunday is the first day, and that the day called Saturday by the world is the seventh day. [...] Lt 163, 1904, par. 4
While the weekly Sabbath recurs dozens of times a year, the rest of the appointed times in Leviticus 23 occur once a year.
These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. Leviticus 23:4
Time Appointed: Passover
Also called: the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of the Jews, Easter
Observance time: Days 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 of the 1st month.
Work policy: No secular work as an employee or as a servant on the 15th and 21st day of the 1st month
In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD'S passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. Leviticus 23:5-8
The Passover was the most impressive and important of the Jewish Feasts. [...] Ms 60, 1902, par. 49
During their long captivity in the land of Mizraim, the Hebrews had greatly lost the oral law of God. As the Lord started to restore the law to them, the time of deliverance quickly came. The Passover happened quickly once the sacred calendar began to be restored to the Hebrews. Exodus 12 describes the beginning of their restored Biblical calendar, the Passover instructions and the wonderful deliverance God wrought for them. This is a glimpse of the yet greater Exodus that awaits us; as the sacred calendar is again being restored to us, we can only expect that the greater Exodus is at the door.
Christians should be convinced that the ancient Passover rites are ceremonial laws that were abolished, according to 2 Corinthians 3:13 and Ephesians 2:15. The following quote proves the old Passover ceremony was replaced by the Lord's Supper:
Christ was standing at the point of transition between two economies and their two great festivals. He, the spotless Lamb of God, was about to present Himself as a sin offering, that He would thus bring to an end the system of types and ceremonies that for four thousand years had pointed to His death. As He ate the Passover with His disciples, He instituted in its place the service that was to be the memorial of His great sacrifice. The national festival of the Jews was to pass away forever. The service which Christ established was to be observed by His followers in all lands and through all ages. DA 652.2
That means that the national festival of the Jews, the Jewish Passover system of ceremonies that fell on day 14 of the 1st month, was substituted by the Lord's Supper ceremony. We don't have the obligation to slaughter animals anymore. Nevertheless, the 14th day of the 1st month still bears the name of Passover on the calendar of God; the moral duty to observe the day was not lessened by the change of ceremonies. On this day of Passover, but not only on this date of the year, Christians should take the Lord's Supper.
Leviticus 23:5 says that the Lord's Passover is 'at even.' Since a Biblical unit-day has two evenings, we have to determine which 'even' verse 5 of Leviticus 23 is referring to for our times. Jesus' death throws a flood of light on this subject.
The slaying of the Passover lamb was a shadow of the death of Christ. Says Paul: “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” 1 Corinthians 5:7. The sheaf of first fruits, which at the time of the Passover was waved before the Lord, was typical of the resurrection of Christ. Paul says, in speaking of the resurrection of the Lord and of all His people: “Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming.” 1 Corinthians 15:23. Like the wave sheaf, which was the first ripe grain gathered before the harvest, Christ is the first fruits of that immortal harvest of redeemed ones that at the future resurrection shall be gathered into the garner of God.
These types were fulfilled, not only as to the event, but as to the time. On the fourteenth day of the first Jewish month, the very day and month on which for fifteen long centuries the Passover lamb had been slain, Christ, having eaten the Passover with His disciples, instituted that feast which was to commemorate His own death as “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” That same night He was taken by wicked hands to be crucified and slain. And as the antitype of the wave sheaf our Lord was raised from the dead on the third day, “the first fruits of them that slept,” a sample of all the resurrected just, whose “vile body” shall be changed, and “fashioned like unto His glorious body.” Verse 20; Philippians 3:21. GC 399.2,3
[...] On the sixth day of the week they had seen their Master die [...] DA 794.2
And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. Luke 22:14-18
Prior to His death on the sixth day of the week, the Master took the famous Last Supper with the twelve disciples. That supper was a Passover supper, according to Luke 22:15. Based on this text given by Luke, we assume that at His Last Supper, Jesus did eat a Passover lamb that was killed at a time specified by the law of Moses. Christ, who is the Lawgiver, never failed to obey one single precept from the written Torah, that was binding, so it makes sense for Him to have kept the rite rigorously also during His passion week. At what time the Passover lamb could be slain, according to the law?
Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee: But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt. And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose: and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents. Deuteronomy 16:5,6,7
It was established in the previous article on this series, that the going down of the sun means the time in the evening, from the moment the lower limb of the sun touches the horizon until the moment the upper limb of the sun touches the horizon, and that this process takes 2-3 minutes. According to this understanding, they had to begin to kill the Passover lamb in this 2-3 minutes interval, then roasted and then eaten. It takes more than 3 minutes to roast a lamb. We assume the lamb was prepared immediately after being killed, the same Biblical unit-day, in that evening, and eaten before next morning. Since we assumed Christ did it all legally, it's clear He and His disciples began eating the Passover in the evening just after the sunset before which the lamb just started dying. That evening just after the sunset before which the lamb just started dying was the same Biblical unit-day on which Christ was sacrificed:
In the upper chamber of a dwelling at Jerusalem, Christ was sitting at table with His disciples. They had gathered to celebrate the Passover. The Saviour desired to keep this feast alone with the twelve. He knew that His hour was come; He Himself was the true paschal lamb, and on the day the Passover was eaten He was to be sacrificed. He was about to drink the cup of wrath; He must soon receive the final baptism of suffering. But a few quiet hours yet remained to Him, and these were to be spent for the benefit of His beloved disciples. DA 642.1
We saw in Desire of Ages, pag. 794, that Jesus died on the sixth day of the week. So, according to the above quote, Jesus was found eating the supper lamb on the sixth day of the week (by definition, Thursday evening to Friday evening). But since we determined that the lamb was killed just after the lower limb of the sun touched the horizon in the evening, and assumed the lamb was prepared immediately after being killed, it must be the case that any moment in which Jesus ate the supper lamb was the sixth day of the week, after sunset (Thursday after sunset to Friday morning). Now, we saw in Desire of Ages, pag. 652, that Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper sacrament as He ate the Passover with His disciples,
which we just showed is the sixth day of the week, after sunset and before morning (Thursday after sunset to Friday morning). In Great Controversy, pag. 399, we saw that Christ instituted the Lord's Supper sacrament on the 14th day of the first Jewish month. That implies the sixth day of Christ's passion week, between sunset and morning (Thursday after sunset to Friday morning) is the 14th day of the first month. Since the time between sunset and morning of a Biblical unit-day does not overlap with any other Biblical unit-day, we firmly conclude that the sixth day of the passion week is the 14th day of the first month (Thursday evening to Friday evening).
Hence, the answer to the question put before is that the lamb was slain at the first setting of the sun of the 14th day of the month. Above it was shown that the Passover taken at the Last Supper, the 14th of the first month, was the sixth day of the week. It was shown that the Passover night was the night of the 14th day of the month; that is, the night following the first setting of the sun of day 14 of the month. Going back to Leviticus 23, we understand verse 6 to say that from the 15th day of the first month, there must be a seven-day feast of unleavened bread. In total, from day 14 to 21, we count eight days of feasting, with days 15 and 21 being holy convocations where no work as an employee or as a servant should be done. These days, 15 and 21, are also holy convocations, meaning meetings of people to worship God. The seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread is a seven-day feast within an eight-day feast.
There are strong evidences that, from the first Passover kept in Exodus 12 until the Passover taken at the Last Supper, it was always celebrated after the same eight-day feast pattern shown above. In Great Controversy, page 399, it said that the Passover was slain for 15 long centuries on day 14 of the first month. And, according to the following quote, it always was on the same night:
So every year, the same night on which they left Egypt, all the Israelites kept the feast of the Passover at Jerusalem. At this feast each family had a roasted lamb, with bread and bitter herbs, as their forefathers had in Egypt. And they told their children the story of God’s goodness in freeing His people from slavery. SJ 93.7
We have all the motives to continue the observation of the Passover the same way, but substituting the Jewish ceremonies with Christian ceremonies. The only thing that is taken from the Lord's feasts is their ceremonial part. There is no proof from the Bible that the duty to observe the sacred days was nailed to the cross. Only the ceremonial part of them was nailed to the cross. The observation of these days fall into the moral law category, not into the ceremonial one.
We want to also understand the Exodus in regard to the timing. First, I clarify that I use the term Passover to refer to the entire eight-day feast. The first day of the eight-day feast is called Passover. In Luke 22:7 and Mark 14:12, the day where the Passover was killed is the day of unleavened bread and the first day of unleavened bread, which we saw is day 14 of the month. The four evangelists will often interchange the terms Passover and feast/day of unleavened bread when referring to day 14. According to my understanding, the KJV Bible in Exodus 12:17 calls day 14 alone the feast of unleavened bread; in the Hebrew of the same verse calls it just unleavened bread. Both the 14th and 15th day of the first month are the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That's because, both the eight-day feast (days 14-21) and the seven-day feast (days 15-21) are called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The 14th is the first day of the eight-day Feast of Unleavened Bread; the 15th is the first day of the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread. The explanation why all is called Unleavened Bread is that the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread the Israelites were to eat unleavened bread and eat nothing with leaven; on Passover day they were to eat unleavened bread with the lamb, but there is no restriction to not eat leavened bread until the 15th day. So, on the 14th day before its second setting of the sun they could ate both leavened and unleavened bread, but from the 15th to the 21st, the could not eat leavened bread. Therefore, the 14th day was the last day to urgently put away the leaven out of their houses, but they could eat leaven. This understanding is consistent with the first Passover instructions given by God to the Hebrews:
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. 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. 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 . In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even . Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses : for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread. Exodus 12:15-20
Now, the timing:
And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children. [...] And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt . It is a night to be much observed unto the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the LORD to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations. [...] And it came to pass the selfsame day , that the LORD did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies. Exodus 12:41,42,51
Notice that the above text does not say that the following daytime after the Passover night the Israelites were already out of Rameses. It only means that they started on their way to exit Egypt. I imagine there were Israelites all over Egypt and it would take some time to gather together at Rameses a million people to proceed forth to Succoth in an organized way. The following Scripture give us more details:
These are the journeys of the children of Israel, which went forth out of the land of Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of the LORD: and these are their journeys according to their goings out. And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians. For the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, which the LORD had smitten among them: upon their gods also the LORD executed judgments. And the children of Israel removed from Rameses, and pitched in Succoth. Numbers 33:1-5
"Morrow" in the Bible means next Biblical unit-day. The "morrow" after a night, in Biblical thinking, starts at the evening of the daytime after that night, since the Biblical unit-day is from evening to evening. The night and the following morning is one and the same Biblical unit-day. Consequently, the "morrow after the passover" means the next Biblical unit-day after the passover night, which is that day which spans from the next evening after Passover evening to the next evening after the next evening after the Passover evening. According to this understanding, the Israelites, as a unitary body of people, could have departed from Rameses only after the next evening after Passover evening. So, as inferred before, the front of the camp seem to have had a slow speed for the first aprox. 18 hours, because they had to wait somewhere at Rameses to unite with the incoming thousands of Israelites. On the 15th day of the month all Israelites had reached Rameses, and then they departed and removed from Rameses. They might even have slept the night of the 15th, before the departure, to recover from that sleepless Passover night, but this detail is not necessary to have happened. Thus, the journey started on the night of day 14, when they were summoned by Moses to a place in Rameses, and the departure and the change of place from Rameses to Succoth, as a united body, started on day 15. There is a whole Biblical unit-day before the start of the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread.
We can see the above timing is consistent with an eight-day feast. There is one place in the Bible that challenges this eight-day setup. That is Ezekiel 45:21, where it says In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.
Ezekiel describes here the law of the Third Temple, which is known to be different from the First and Second Temple' law. I see two readings. If it means "ye shall have a Passover and a feast of seven days", then Passover means specifically the 14th day, followed by seven other days of unleavened bread, like in the First and Second Temple law. But if it means "ye shall have a seven-day Passover", then maybe the start of the Passover as we know it will in the future move to the second evening of day 14, and thus merge into day 15. This would make the 15th day to be the first day of Passover. If this second reading of the text would indeed be the correct interpretation, we can nevertheless say that we're not yet in the Third Temple era, and I didn't see any text authoritative enough to change the thousands year long eight-day feast to a seven-day feast prior to the future Third Temple era. The eight-day feast is the correct feast right now.
Throughout the centuries, the Passover took other names as well. This feast was so characteristic for the Jewish nation, that it was called
the feast of the Jews:
And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. John 6:4
I use this name for the whole eight-day feast. Sadly, it's not the feast of the modern Jews, because they changed the observance of the Passover night from the 14th to the 15th, thus shrinking the the eight days of the feast to seven. The eight-day feast is the feast of the Jews; the ancient Jews. We Christians have no problem with calling it "the feast of the Jews", because we know from Leviticus 23 that it's the feast of Jehovah. It's also the feast of the Christians.
Other name for Passover is Easter. It appears only once in the King James Bible:
And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. Acts 12:4
The etymology of the word Easter is disputed, with some claiming it comes from the root word for "east/spring", but others claiming it's named after pagan goddesses. Without entering into this debate, the fact is that, in the Greek text of the above verse, Easter means Passover (πάσχα — pass-ha) and that's it. I use the word Easter to mean the whole eight-day feast. Ellen White uses it only once, when she's quoting a man that mentions the Catholic Easter in the 1888 version of her book The Great Controversy, at page 386. Easter appears three more times in the appendix of the same book, at pages 685, 686, where it explains how evil men managed to change the calculation of Easter between the second and fourth century. Since then, the Christian world largely follows a wrong Easter. The true Easter is the Passover that we presented, which commences on the 14th day of the first month, in the evening.
Time Appointed: Feast of Thanksgiving
Observance time: Day 16 of the 1st month
Work policy: I didn't find any commandment in the Bible which says we must abstain from secular work on the Feast of Thanksgiving.
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD. And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin. And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. Leviticus 23:9-14
To understand this instruction, let's look at the Spirit of Prophecy:
It was to the glory of God that the Prince of life should be the first fruits, the antitype of the typical wave-sheaf. “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate, to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things?” [Romans 8:29, 32.]
Christ was the first fruits of them that slept. This very scene, the resurrection of Christ from the dead, was observed in type by the Jews at one of their sacred feasts, called the feast of the Jews. They came up to the temple when the first fruits had been gathered in, and held a feast of thanksgiving. The first fruits of the harvest crop was sacredly dedicated to the Lord. That crop was not to be appropriated for the benefit of man. The first ripe fruit was dedicated as a thank offering to God. He was acknowledged as the Lord of the harvest. When the first heads of grain ripened in the field, they were carefully gathered, and when the people went up to Jerusalem, they were presented to the Lord, waving the ripened sheaf before Him as a thank offering. After this ceremony the sickle could be put to the wheat, and it could be gathered into sheaves. Ms 115, 1897, par. 30
According to my understanding of the above text, a sheaf sample of spring firstfruits was waved by the priest before the Lord. The spring firstfruits were presented by the people the same day, which was a feast of thanksgiving. It's not the only feast where thanksgiving was practiced, because there were also other feasts were the Israelites came with their thanksgiving tributes (per example, see heading "Time Appointed: Feast of Tabernacles" below). However, this is the only title for this firstfruit-waving feast that we find in all the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy, so I think it's appropriate to call it Feast of Thanskgiving.
The following quote tells us exactly when the first heads of grain in the spring were presented to the Lord:
The Passover was followed by the seven day’s feast of unleavened bread. The first and the seventh day were days of holy convocation, when no servile work was to be performed. On the second day of the feast, the first fruits of the year’s harvest were presented before God. Barley was the earliest grain in Palestine, and at the opening of the feast it was beginning to ripen. A sheaf of this grain was waved by the priest before the altar of God, as an acknowledgment that all was His. Not until this ceremony had been performed was the harvest to be gathered. PP 539.6
The time context of this quote of Patriarchs and Prophets seems to be universal. She probably received visions of particular feast services, because she explains them with great detail, but there is no obvious single year to which we may deduce she's pointing to. It would seem very strange for this quote to mean that only on a certain unidentifiable year the first fruits of barley were to be presented on the second day of the feast, if in other years this ceremony would happen on other days than the second of the feast. The fact is that here she mostly describes the feast practices of the spring season that were carried out in an age where the center of worship was at Jerusalem. The whole chapter in which the quote is found is the third of a series of consecutive chapters (50, 51 and 52) that are expository in nature, and not narrative: they lay down judgments and statutes of the Lord, like the tithing system, the years of release, the feasts of the Lord, and their relevance for our times and the future. These three chapters are a break in between the historical narrative of the judges' era of Israel. The quote also appears in a slightly modified form in Desire of Ages, pag. 77:
The Passover was followed by the seven days’ feast of unleavened bread. On the second day of the feast, the first fruits of the year’s harvest, a sheaf of barley, was presented before the Lord. All the ceremonies of the feast were types of the work of Christ. The deliverance of Israel from Egypt was an object lesson of redemption, which the Passover was intended to keep in memory. The slain lamb, the unleavened bread, the sheaf of first fruits, represented the Saviour. DA 77.1
The Lord does not repeat things that are of no great consequence.
(Ms 107, 1897, par. 2) Here also, the context of the quote in Desire of Ages doesn't clearly emphasize any particular year; the chapter is about the year in which Jesus was 12 years old (around 10 AD), when Jesus attended His first Passover. In this chapter, Ellen White makes a parenthesis of four paragraphs in which she briefly mentions the three annual feasts of the Jews, that they had to attend them at Jerusalem, and explains the Passover in connection to the Exodus, where this paragraph finds itself in. Here one might argue that she's referring to the year of Exodus, but she writes the same timing for the barley sheaf to be brought to the priest, found in the previous quote from Patriarchs and Prophets, which quote we saw it's very improbable that it would refrence the year of Exodus, because it mostly deals with the feast gatherings at Jerusalem, but the place of these gatherings at the time of the Exodus was not at Jerusalem. Therefore, we assume that the statement that on the second day of the feast, the first fruits of the year’s harvest, a sheaf of barley, was presented before the Lord,
was the general rule for determining the time to bring the barley sheaf to the priest. Seeing it in its paragraph context, the second day of the feast
in all probability refers to the second day of the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread. Thus, the Feast of Thanksgiving falls on the second day of the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread. We saw above under heading "Time Appointed: Passover" that the first day of the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread is the 15th day of the first month, therefore the Feast of Thanksgiving is the 16th day of the first month.
Regarding the Sabbath referenced in Leviticus 23:11, I believe it's the Seventh-day Sabbath, because the Hebrew says שַׁבָּת (Shabbat). How does this harmonize with the fact that it always should be the second day of the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread? The answer is provided in verse 10: When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf [...]
The first year the Israelites were to keep the sheaf-waving, they were to fix a Sabbath by divine direction, and the day after that fixed Sabbath they had to keep their first sheaf-waving. I propose that that year in which the Israelites kept their first sheaf-waving, the day after Joshua's fixed Seventh-day Sabbath fell on the second day of the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread. Every year after that, they were to keep the sheaf-waving on the same day in which they brought the wave-sheaf for the first time under Joshua, which was the second day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This way Leviticus is in full harmony with the Spirit of Prophecy. If we assume the instruction means to fix every year a Seventh-day Sabbath for the determination of the time to wave the sheaf, then that's problematic, because there would arise debates on which Sabbath has to be fixed. Some I think believe this Sabbath is to be fixed each year so that the next day would fall on the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread. But the context doesn't allow for us to assume such a thing; there are two clear delimitation breaks in verses 9 and 10 that separate the barley sheaf waving from the Feast of Unleavened Bread: And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying
and Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them.
Although we saw that it does fall on the second day of the seven-day feast, no command in Leviticus 23 or Deuteronomy 16 regarding that day — the only places I know in the Bible where it describes the spring sheaf waving — tells us that we have to fix each year a Sabbath so that the next day would fall on the seven-day feast. Joshua knew by inspiration and by close connection to Jehovah and to Moses what Sabbath to fix. After that, a choice of a Sabbath each year based on very debatable instructions would be a display of human opinion, and a danger to Church unity, whereas the instruction in the Spirit of Prophecy is very clear and vanishes away all human opinions as to where is to be the time for the Feast of Thanksgiving. Why then God anchored the inception of the Feast of Thanksgiving on a Sabbath of a single year? I'm not sure, but my momentary answer is that God left a token of time in the middle of His law so that those who study the feasts would find the exact year of the first Jubilee. The assumption that the 16th day of the first month of the year the Israelites settled in Canaan fell on the first day of the week might be key to finding the first Jubilee. By God's grace we want to delve into the Sabbaticals and the Jubilees in the next article on this series.
Time Appointed: Pentecost
Also called: the Feast of Harvest, the Feast of Weeks, the Day of the Firstfruits
Observance time: The 50th day after the Feast of Thanksgiving; we start counting from 1 on the 16th day of the 1st month
Work policy: No secular work as an employee or as a servant
And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD. Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD. And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD. Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 23:15-22
In the above text no name is given to this feast, but it has names. Numbers 28:26 calls it the day of the firstfruits. Ellen White defines this feast in an easy-to-understand way:
Fifty days from the offering of first fruits, came the Pentecost, called also the feast of harvest and the feast of weeks. As an expression of gratitude for the grain prepared as food, two loaves baked with leaven were presented before God. The Pentecost occupied but one day, which was devoted to religious service. PP 540.1
We saw under heading "Time Appointed: Feast of Thanksgiving" that the "morrow after the sabbath" most probably refers to the day after a Sabbath fixed by Joshua after the children of Israel settled in Canaan. The word was שַׁבָּת (Shabbat), which is the same word used in Leviticus 23:15,16 to refer to the seven Sabbaths. So, I believe the seven sabbaths refrenced here are Seventh-day Sabbaths, but the text is referring to the year in which the children of Israel settled in Canaan. In that year, they were to number 50 days starting at 1 on the day after the Sabbath fixed by Joshua. I proposed that the day after the Sabbath fixed by Joshua actually fell on the 16th day of the first month. After that year, the Hebrews were to number 50 days starting at 1 from day 16 of the first month. The 50th day of this numbering is Pentecost, a holy convocation, where no work as an employee or servant is to be carried out.
From Joshua to the time the year was lengthened during Hezekiah's reign, Pentecost fell each year on day 5 of the third month, because all months had 30 days. After the lengthening of the year, the 50th day of the count to Pentecost could fall on day 5, 6 or 7 of the third month. The only way to know is to count 50 days starting at 1 from the Feast of Thanksgiving.
Time Appointed: Feast of Trumpets
Observance time: Day 1 of the 7th month
Work policy: No secular work as an employee or as a servant
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. Leviticus 23:23-25
The seventh new moon of the year is a holy convocation, where no work as an employee or servant is to be done. Here, the word sabbath in Hebrew is שַׁבָּתוֹן (Shabbaton), which is different from the word used in Leviticus 23:3 for the Seventh-day Sabbath (Sabbath). Shabbaton means just rest, not necessarily the Seventh-day Sabbath.
During Ezra's time, the people gathered at the time of this memorial of blowing of trumpets; an event described in Nehemiah 8:1-12. Inspiration, by commenting this event, gives us a name for this feast:
At the time of the feast of trumpets, when many were gathered at the holy city, the people assembled in the street that was before the water gate; “and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday.... And the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.” SW May 31, 1904, par. 2
Time Appointed: Day of Atonement
Observance time: Day 10 of the 7th month
Work policy: No work at all, except work permitted by God for that day
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God. For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people. And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people. Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath. Leviticus 23:26-32
The Day of Atonement is the only time appointed in Leviticus 23 that isn't properly a feast. Never in the Bible or in the Spirit of Prophecy this day is referred to as a feast. It's the opposite of a feast. It's a feast in the sense that is a time appointed and a solemnity. The whole of Leviticus 16 is dedicated to the explanation of the ceremonies of this day, and the Spirit of Prophecy has much to say on this subject. In short, Jesus made a full atonement by taking our sins on Him and transferring them on the sanctuary. Now, another atonement is necessary to transfer those sins from the heavenly sanctuary to Satan, and thus cleanse the sanctuary. The Day of Atonement is the day in which all the sins of the redeemed saints will one day be transferred from the heavenly sanctuary on Satan, and an atonement for our sins will be made by using Satan as the receptor of those sins. In this atonement, Satan doesn't become our savior by any stretch of the imagination; he is forced by Jesus to take the sins from off the sanctuary; it was Jesus who took the sins from us to Him, and then transferred them on the heavenly sanctuary. Satan has to bear those sins before dissapearing with them forever, and that's atonement.
This holy convocation has the strictest work policy and is very grave in nature, due to its implications: if the Israelite was found unworthy that day, he was cut off from heaven, but if he was found worthy, he had the peaceful assurance of pardon at the end of the day. Sister White gives us a description of the atmosphere that the Day of Atonement carries:
The whole ceremony was designed to impress the Israelites with the holiness of God and His abhorrence of sin; and, further, to show them that they could not come in contact with sin without becoming polluted. Every man was required to afflict his soul while this work of atonement was going forward. All business was to be laid aside, and the whole congregation of Israel were to spend the day in solemn humiliation before God, with prayer, fasting, and deep searching of heart. GC 419.3
In verse 32 of Leviticus 23, the word שַׁבָּת (Shabbat) appears twice, the same word which is used in verse 3 for the Seventh-day Sabbath. Therefore, I believe the word "sabbath" in verse 32 means the Seventh-day Sabbath. But the command is that the Day of Atonement should be held on day 10 of the seventh month. Not every year the 10th of the seventh month is a Seventh-day Sabbath. There is harmony between these two statements if we consider that some of the law is scheduled by God to start with the first year of Israel's settlement in Canaan. The very first outlaying of the judgments and statutes at Sinai begins by teaching the Israelites what they should do once they commence their first year of the Sabbatical cycle in Canaan:
Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them. If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. Exodus 21:1,2
As we'll see, by God's grace, in the next article on this series, the Sabbatical year was a year of release. If thou buy an Hebrew servant
would mean "if you will buy a Hebrew servant in the first year of the Sabbatical cycle". Only then does make sense that six years he shall serve
. So, the very first chapter of God's Bill of Rights was to enter into vigor in the first year that the children of Israel were to settle in Canaan, more than 40 years after the law was announced at Sinai. Likewise, I propose that the Day of Atonement was first kept in the year that Israel settled in Canaan under Joshua. On that year, the 10th of the seventh month would have fallen on a Sabbath. One curious evidence for this is that this is consistent with the assumption made above in this article, where I also proposed that the sabbath that is said to precede the Feast of Thanksgiving is the Seventh-day Sabbath that fell on day 15 of the first month of the first year of Israel's settlement in Canaan. The first year of Israel's settlement in Canaan was pre-Hezekiah, so had 12 months with 30 days each. Between day 16 of the first month to day 10 of the seventh month there were 175 days, which is 25 full weeks. If the Feast of Thanksgiving was the first day of the week, which is what I proposed, then the Day of Atonement would necessarily be a Sabbath. Therefore I'm compelled to believe that Leviticus 23 is a set of laws scheduled to start on the first year of Israel's settlement in Canaan.
With this understanding, that Leviticus describes a Seventh-day Sabbath that falls on the Day of Atonement, the instruction in verse 32 becomes more relevant for us than ever, because in defines the time boundaries of the Day of Atonement, but also of the Seventh-day Sabbath. It strengthens the definition of the Biblical unit-day, as defined in the previous article. "In the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath" means "in the ninth day of the month, from the beginning of the second setting of the sun, to the end of the second setting of the sun of day 10". The second setting of the sun of day 9 is the same time as the first setting of the sun of day 10. Thus describes the Bible the tenth Biblical unit-day of the month. So, the Lord is very precise and clear as to when to observe not only the Day of Atonement, but also the Sabbath.
Time Appointed: Feast of Tabernacles
Also called: the Feast of Ingathering
Observance time: Days 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22 of the 7th month
Work policy: No secular work as an employee or as a servant on the 15th and 22nd day of the 7th month
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD. On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein. Leviticus 23:33-36
In the seventh month came the Feast of Tabernacles, or of ingathering. This feast acknowledged God’s bounty in the products of the orchard, the olive grove, and the vineyard. It was the crowning festal gathering of the year. The land had yielded its increase, the harvests had been gathered into the granaries, the fruits, the oil, and the wine had been stored, the first fruits had been reserved, and now the people came with their tributes of thanksgiving to God, who had thus richly blessed them. [...]
Like the Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles was commemorative. In memory of their pilgrim life in the wilderness the people were now to leave their houses and dwell in booths, or arbors, formed from the green branches “of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook.” Leviticus 23:40, 42, 43.
The first day was a holy convocation, and to the seven days of the feast an eighth day was added, which was observed in like manner. PP 540.2,4,5
This culmination of the sacred year's feasts is an eight-day feast, from the 15th to the 22nd day of the seventh month, beginning with a seven-day Feast of Tabernacles. About the eight day, Ellen White has this to say:
Once a year, at the feast of tabernacles, the children of Israel called to mind the time when their fathers dwelt in tents in the wilderness, as they journeyed from Egypt to the land of Canaan. The services of the last day of this feast were of peculiar solemnity; but the greatest interest centered in the ceremony that commemorated the bringing of water from the rock. [...] RH November 17, 1885, par. 2
[...] I seemed to see Jesus standing as He stood on the last great day of the feast, stretching out His arms as if to embrace the world, and crying, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.” [John 7:37.]
At the feast, the priest had that morning performed the ceremony that commemorated the smiting of the rock in the wilderness. [...] Ms 29, 1902, par. 9,10
In Review and Herald, June 9, 1896, par. 1, she also calls this eighth day the great day of the feast. I call all the eight-day feast the Feast of Tabernacles, because the first full seven days they had to live in booths, which means that only from the eighth day the booths could start to be disassembled, which means that the eighth day the booths were still there before being disassembled. Is was not commanded to the Israelites to live in booths the eighth day, but it was also not commanded that they should not sleep in them the last night of the eight-day feast, the night of the 22nd day. Since the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles end in the second evening of day 21, after a long week of feasting, it's reasonable to think that some would let those booths remain that night also and go sleep, instead of unpack them right away. Another argument why the eighth day is part of the Feast of Tabernalces is that the eighth day is a holy convocation, where in the morning, as we saw in the above quote, they may have wanted to attend the ceremonies. The unpacking of the booths wasn't a priority. On the first day, as well as on the eighth, no work as an employee or servant is to be done.
We remark that the last time appointed of the year is mirroring the first time appointed of the year. We saw that the Passover is an eight-day feast with two feasts within it: the first day of Passover followed by seven days of unleavened bread (1+7). This last feast is seven days of dwelling in booths, to which an additional day is added (7+1). Passover and Tabernacles are also linked by the fact that, as we saw under heading "Time Appointed: Passover", the first stop point of the Hebrews that marched out of Egypt at the time of the Exodus was Succoth, which means booths. The middle time appointed, Pentecost, is currently tied to the first time appointed by the Feast of Thanksgiving. There are two holy days, one of trumpets; the other one, expiatory; both are preparatory for the last time appointed of the year. Thus, all times appointed have a unitary relashionship between them, following a narrative line. They tell us something. As they are kept and studied with diligence, one can perceive how they explain the individual Plan of Salvation, Church history and even future events.
These are the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day: Beside the sabbaths of the LORD, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the LORD. Leviticus 23:37,38
All the ceremonial law that appears in the appointed times of Jehovah was not to be continued after the death of Christ. This was a duty prior to the death of Christ and a purpose of the feasts. Notice that the above text does not say that the only purpose of the feasts was to bring offerings. Observing them today has a purpose. We keep them to worship God and to partake of the divine nature in a way that couldn't be done on common days. In verse 38 of Leviticus 23 says that, beside the ceremonial law, they were to give to God their Sabbath time, gifts, vows and freewill offerings. Today, the Lord doesn't expect less in gifts than He required of His people back then. Means are needed to proclaim the everlasting gospel, and Jehovah commands that none should appear empty before Him at the annual gatherings (see Deuteronomy 16:16).
After giving us the basics of the appointed times, the Lord explains one more time the Feast of Tabernacles:
Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath. And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days. And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month. Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 23:39-43
The two sabbaths in verse 39, in Hebrew take the word "Shabbaton" (שַׁבָּתוֹן), which refers to just rest, not necessarily the Seventh-day Sabbath. The first and last day of the eight-day Feast of Tabernacles fell on any day of the week.
All the appointed times presented above in this article were meant to be kept by the Israelites forever. Anyone who believes is adopted into Israel, to be a partaker of the holy covenants, to keep His law.
And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD. Leviticus 23:44
Other Appointed Times
While the appointed times shown in this article and the new moon can be traced back at Sinai and even earlier, we can find in the Bible references to other possible feasts, not written in the law of Moses.
One example of additional feasts is Purim. As a commemoration of the deliverance God wrought for the Jews during the time of Xerxes the Great, the Jews started keeping days 14 and 15 of the twelfth month as feasts. These feasts were legitimized by Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen, in at least two letters, and named them Purim. The account of how Purim came to be instituted is provided in the Bible:
Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar [...]
And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far, To stablish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly, As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor. And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto them; Because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them; But when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. Therefore for all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and which had come unto them, The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, so as it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to their writing, and according to their appointed time every year; And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed. Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority, to confirm this second letter of Purim. And he sent the letters unto all the Jews, to the hundred twenty and seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth, To confirm these days of Purim in their times appointed, according as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had enjoined them, and as they had decreed for themselves and for their seed, the matters of the fastings and their cry. And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book. Esther 9:1a,20-32
The account is clear enough to declare that people of Jewish ethnicity have to keep Purim. The Jews took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them
to keep Purim. So anybody who joined the Jewish race is bound to keep the feast. Even if a Jew is Christian, ethnically he's a Jew. The times appointed of Leviticus 23 and the new moon were given at Sinai for all Israel, that is, for all mankind that believes. Since Christians are part of Israel, they have to keep the laws given at Sinai, such as the Ten Commandments and other statutes. The Jewish identity didn't come into existence until centuries later after the law was given at Sinai. The Jewish laws that they took upon them
to keep them throughout every generation
, and that are not in contradiction with the law of Jehovah, are still to be kept by Christian Jews, and optionally by Christian non-Jews. Christianity is to be composed of all ethnicities, and no single ethnicity has the right to force their local customs on the other ethnicities. If Christians would force the observation of Purim on Christian non-Jews, that would be judaizing. However, I see nothing wrong for Christian non-Jews optionally joining their brothers, the Christian Jews, in worshipping God with them at the feast of Purim. The event that Purim commemorates is wonderful; it's a good occasion to praise the Lord. So the Christian Church can accommodate the feast of Purim, and Christian non-Jews can keep it, but are not obliged to, as far as I understand it.
There is one more feast, and that's found in the New Testament:
And it was at Jerusalem the feast of dedication, and it was winter. John 10:22
This is the only place where the Feast of Dedication appears in the Bible. Commentators tell us that this is a festival that was instituted by a Jewish ruler during the silent age of the Jews. I didn't find any text authoritative enough to command that anyone must keep this as a holy appointed time. It's at most a national holiday, like Independence Day, which should be observed as an act of respect for the country, but there is no sanctity to it.
What's next?
To sum up all the above information, the appointed times in Leviticus 23 are all revolving around three main yearly gatherings: Passover, in spring, Pentecost, in summer, and the Feast of Tabernacles in autumn. There are seven main annual holy convocations that have a no work policy: the 15th and 21st day of the 1st month, Pentecost, Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement and the 15th and 22nd day of the 7th month. Here, in this article, was presented seven main appointed times. All together we number seven eternal feasts for rejoicing: the new moon, the Sabbath, Passover, Feast of Thanksgiving, Pentecost, Feast of Trumpets and the Feast of Tabernacles. Leviticus 23 focuses on the seven main annual holy convocations and is divided in four parts marked off by the phrase Speak unto the children of Israel:
the first part deals with the Sabbath and the Passover (v.1-8); the second part links the Feast of Thanksgiving with Pentecost (v.9-22); the third part has the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement (v.23-32); and the last part concludes the presentation with the Feast of Tabernacles (v.33-44). Tradition calls the seven holy convocations "ceremonial sabbaths". There is no such thing as "ceremonial sabbaths" in the Bible. In no one single instance Ellen White says "ceremonial sabbath". The seven holy convocations are days in which no servile work is to be done, with Day of Atonement having a stricter no work policy.
The observation of these sacred times is a moral law, not a ceremonial law. We must not do the sacrifices, oblations and ceremonies that the ceremonial law requires for these days, because the ceremonial law was abolished. However, we do have binding Christian ceremonies. One is the Lord's Supper, which replaces the Jewish ceremonies during Passover. It's very appropriate to take the Lord's Supper on Passover day, but not only on Passover day. The Churches are free to work up their ingenuity in devising ways to better worship Jehovah in these days, in accordance with the spiritual meaning and purpose of every holy day.
In trying to organize this material I noticed the Passover is the most plagued with errors. Satan must hate this feast, because it represents the beginning of his end. If man has the Passover experience, which is justification by faith, then, by the Holy Spirit's influence, he can advance in the experience of righteousness until reaching the Feast of Tabernacles, which symbolizes complete victory. I treated the Passover very carefully, making the exposition vulnerable enough for some assumptions to be seen. Verify and judge it for yourself using your Bible and Spirit of Prophecy.
Interestingly enough, the new moon is separated from the annual feasts of Leviticus 23. As far as I know, the new moon is never called a moed (מוֹעֵד), while all the times appointed in Leviticus 23 are "moeds". The moeds are a special category of times appointed. But new moons are also special, since they had special sacrifices during the ceremonial dispensation. And most moeds are reliant on the correct determination of the new moon. I hope we provided the correct way to do it in the previous article.
The keys that restored God's yearly calendar are: 1. the equinox rule from GC88 681.4, which says that anciently the year commenced at the first new moon after the vernal equinox. 2. the rule for determining the Feast of Thanksgiving, found in PP 539.6, which is the second day of the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread. Without these, we are clueless and found in a position to randomly adhere to one of the many restorationist movements, each one with their calendars. With prayer, I studied for myself to find the Biblical calendar. I assumed that it had to be a most logical and astronomically exact calendar, because Jehovah is the God of astronomy and maths. Seeing it works when tested on dates from sacred history, I am convinced of its veracity. But the Biblical calendar has to be convincing enough for 144.000 people to adhere to it. That's the Holy Spirit's work.
The next two articles on this series, we intend, by God's grace, to tackle the Sabbaticals, the Jubilees and the Cosmic Week. It gets very exciting when we realize when we are in the stream of time, and what should we expect for the near future.