OBSERVE GOD'S FEAST FOREVER

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=100 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="04000640egdysm.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000066" FACE="Arial" ><B>Church of God, In Truth</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><B>    |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church of God, In Truth"><B>home</B></A></div> <div> back to<B>  </B>                                                   </div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#0000BF" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div>                                                   </div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=380 width="100%" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>OBSERVE GOD'S FEAST FOREVER</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <I>“These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim     in their seasons.”                                                                                   </I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" > Lev 23:4</FONT></div> <bR> <div>      Those of us truly familiar with the Word of God, understand that Israel was commanded to observe God's Feasts as a statute forever. Most of us are also familiar with the many scriptures which describe God's festivals, "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. 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. These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD's Passover'" (Lev 23:1-5). Notice the permanence of these festivals, "And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever... . 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... . And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever" (Exo 12:14,17,24). This theme is continued in Exodus 13: 10, "Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year." Moses, following God's orders, taught the Israelites, as long as a new year occurs, this festival is to be observed!! </div> <div>      Now notice what the Bible states concerning the Feast of Pentecost, "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" (Lev 23 :21). The generations of Israel still continue today! </div> <div>      Another example: "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... . 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... . You shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings'" (Lev 23:24,27,31). The Feast of Ingathering is mentioned again in verse 41, "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." </div> <div>      We have just read of God's annual festivals that are commanded <U>forever</U> throughout the generations of Israel. Do these verses mean what they say? Are these annual festivals really to be kept forever? The manner of observing these days are different now than they were in an agrarian society and under the Levitical priesthood, but the days are still to be observed - still to be kept Holy. Some might say, did not God command Israel to do rituals forever also? And if forever does not mean forever in one verse, how can we claim it means forever in another verse?</div> <div>      Does forever mean forever? "But thou, O LORD, shall endure for ever, and thy remembrance unto all generations" (Psa 102: 12). Does forever mean forever in this verse? Indeed, it does! Let's read another verse where Moses and the children of Israel were singing praises to God. "The LORD shall reign for ever and ever" (Exo 15: 18). The expression forever and ever means just what it says!! </div> <div>      Examining a different view of this meaning, forever. "Then thou shalt take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise" (Deu 15: 17). "Then his master shall bring him unto the judges, he shall also bring him to the door or unto the door post and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever" (Exo 21:6). Common sense tell us, if the master dies and the servant continues to live, he can no longer serve His master “forever”. The word forever means "everlasting," "perpetual" and similar expressions; it mean continuously, without end so long as the factors involved exist. </div> <div>      We know and understand from scripture, God is spirit. He cannot die. He lives and will rule forever. The factor here is God, who is without end. But in Deuteronomy 15, and Exodus 21, the factors are two mortal men, both human beings. Both will eventually die. The factor no longer exists! </div> <div>      Now, lets look at God's annual festivals or Holy Days, in the light of these factors. We are assured as long as we have day and night, year after year, God's Holy Days will be continuously observed forever! "Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divide the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is His name: If those ordinances depart from before Me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel so shall cease from being a nation before Me for ever" (Jer 31 :35-36). If day and night were to stop from reoccurring year after year, then we could stop keeping God's Holy Days! But, as long as these factors involved exist, we must keep them.</div> <div>      Another example, where a statute forever is used, is in Exodus 27, "In the tabernacle of the congregation without the veil, which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the LORD: it shall be a statute for ever unto their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel" (Exo 27:21). The lesson being, as long as a tabernacle or temple existed, this was to be performed continuously by Aaron and his sons. But today, there is no tabernacle or temple in Jerusalem. The actors involved here do not exist either. </div> <div>      God's laws are forever - so long as the factors exist. We can read of similar laws that are given in Exodus 29:9,28 and in 30:31. Aaron and his sons would have to practice these requirements by a statute forever, if there were a temple or if sacrifices were offered at Jerusalem today! But, we are no longer under the Levitical priesthood! We are under the priesthood of Jesus Christ, who was the ultimate sacrifice for all mankind. "But Christ being come an High Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building" (Heb 9:11).</div> <div>      Notice now another verse that speaks of a perpetual statute. "It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood" (Lev 3:17). The Apostle Paul wrote in the Book of Acts, confirming this law even on the Gentiles (read chapter 15). We know blood and fat exist today. Here again is proof that  </div> <bR> <div> <I>===================</I></div> <div> <I>FOREVER MEANS FOREVER</I></div> <div> =====================================</div> <bR> <div> forever means forever, as long as the factors involved exist! </div> <div>      What about rituals? Are they to be done today? If the factor involved today exists, then we are to do them. But, there is no commandment to carry out physical rituals today. The rituals given under Moses were never originally a part of the everlasting statutes which regulated the feast days of God! </div> <div>      Christ, speaking through Jeremiah said, "For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: But this thing commanded I them, saying, `Obey My voice. and I will be your God. and ye shall be My people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you. that it may be well unto you.' But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart. and went backward, and not forward" (Jer 7:22-24). </div> <div>      When Israel came out of Egypt with a high hand, it was by God's power and direction. The Israelites did not have God's Holy Spirit. They were yet carnal. They looked upon things as material, so God worked with them with material things: The tabernacle was a temporary tent. The tents, they lived in, were temporary! In each instance. the rituals given in Moses day were imposed only till the seed should come. "Wherefore then serve the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed [Jesus Christ], should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator" (Gal 3: 19). "Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood. which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: The Holy Spirit this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service perfect. as pertaining to the conscience; Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings. and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation" (Heb 9:6-10). The manner in which these rituals would be carried out will always remain constant. </div> <div>      Rituals given under Moses were never originally a part of the everlasting statutes. Ritual laws were given to Israel, a physically minded people, who did not have God's Holy Spirit. The washings, purifications and carnal ordinances were also given to ancient Israel for us to learn, that we are to stay clean spiritually - which is based on physical principles that still apply in principle, that is, spiritually!! The children of Israel had to wander 40 years in the wilderness, because of physical sins, thus being cut off from the promised land for 40 years. Moses was instructed by the Lord, "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" (Lev 23:34). "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; [these carnal ordinances were for a physical, carnal Israel, not spiritual Israel] 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" (Lev. 23:40). </div> <div>      Quoting from the "New Scofield Reference Bible, Authorized King James version, copyright 1967, by Oxford University Press, Inc.," <I>"The Feast of Tabernacles, or Ingathering, vv. 34-44, is like the Lord's supper for the Church, both memorial and prophetic--memorial as to redemption out of Egypt (v.43); prophetic as to the Kingdom-rest of Israel, after her re-gathering and restoration, when the Feast again becomes memorial, not for Israel alone, but also for all nations. (Eze. 3:4; Zech 14:16-21; Rev 21:3). This festival, its name derived from the fact that during its observance the Israelites dwelt in booths or tabernacles (vv. 42-43), began on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, Tishri, and last for one week. The religion of Judaism today, practices living in booths, during Succoth, (Feast of Tabernacles). Their last day of the feast of Tabernacles is called Hoshana Rabba (festival of willows). Judaism today, is still looking backward by practicing these physical rituals, symbolizing the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. The people over 40 years old could not go into the promise land." </I></div> <div>      Jesus Christ said to Moses, "And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it" (Exo 25:8-9). Christ tabernacled with the Israelites, in the wilderness, in a physical sense within the Holy of Holies. Today, Jesus Christ tabernacles with His people through His Holy Spirit. "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief comer stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit" (Eph 2: 19-22). Paul further states, "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an 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? It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us" (Heb 9:12-14, 23-24). </div> <div>      God's church today, looks forward to tabernacling with God in His Kingdom, when there will be an abundance as shown by the "Ingathering" fall harvest. God's sanctified ones are to look at the Feast of Ingathering, as having spiritual meaning as described in Revelation chapters 21 and 22. "And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying. Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God" (Rev 21:3). </div> <div>    Judaism looks back at it as a physical feast, because they are still looking for the Messiah to come!! </div> <div>  When the Congregation of Israel in Old Testament time began to sin, God temporarily added various </div> <div> physical rituals and sacrifices, which were imposed on them until the coming of Jesus Christ, to shed His own blood for our sins. "Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed [Jesus Christ] should come to whom the promises was made" (Gal 3:19). "The Holy Spirit this signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect. as pertaining to the conscience; Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. But Christ being come an High Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building" (Heb 9:8-11). </div> <div>      Jesus, the Christ, kept the Feast of Tabernacles as an example for us- He commanded those who love Him to keep His words and seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, which includes the observance of the annual festivals. This is why it is so important to obey God's instructions! "Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of an Holy Day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ" (Col 2: 16-17). We are looking at the shadow of things to come. Nowhere, in the Bible are the physical sacrifices and rituals commanded to be performed by the people forever! </div> <div>      <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" >The Seed, Jesus the Christ, is in all the Holy Days. The Holy Days picture the plan of redemption for us from God! The annual Holy Days are to be kept forever - Not the carnal ordinances!!</FONT></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>