FEAST DAYS PART I

Are you an observer of the Holy Feast Days? Are we still under the feast days today? Can we be under the feast days as well as accepting the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as the sacrificial lamb at the same time? According to the Holy Scriptures you cannot be under the feast days, the ordinances of the law, and still accept the atonement of the blood of Jesus Christ. You will see the sacrificing of the animals, going through a high priest, and having to go to Jerusalem three times a year for the feast days has come to an end.

According to Exodus 12:12-14 the Passover came into existence as well as the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. Why? The Passover was the time when the Israelites were to put the blood of the lamb on the post of there homes so the death angel would Passover them when the firstborn were to be killed when the angel came to Egypt. The blood of the lamb was that, the blood of an animal. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was a memorial of Israel being forced to leave quickly and was told to make the unleavened bread due to the haste. The Feast of the Unleavened Bread was kept in the month of Abib, the first month of the year, on the fourteenth day at even, Ex. 12:18.

The Feast of Tabernacles began as a memorial of the conditions they encountered during the wilderness, Lev. 23. Then there was the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Harvest which the Israelites were told to observe. The Lord also told the Israelites the males had to appear before the Lord in the place which He shall choose, Deut. 16:16, and where was that? According to scripture the place to attend the feast is in Jerusalem, Luke 2:41-42. You can see that even in the time of Christ Joseph took his family to Jerusalem for the custom of the feast days, also Ex. 23:14-15.

Exodus 12:12-14 “ …I will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt…when I see the blood, I will pass over you…this shall be unto you for a memorial…ye shall keep it a feast by an Ordinance for ever.”
Leviticus 23:24 “…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.”
Deuteronomy 16:16 “three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which He shall choose; …
Luke 2:41-42 “…they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.”

Not only did the Lord tell them where and when to keep the feast days, but the Lord told Aaron, who was the beginning of the Levitical Priesthood, how to keep them, Heb. 7:11: “…if therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood. . . .what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?” In the book of Leviticus you will find the need of sacrificing of animals on certain days, with certain spices, by the High Priest as the Lord instructed him.

The first known animal sacrificing spoke of was with Abel, a keeper of the sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground, Gen 4:2-5. Abel brought his offering to the Lord, a lamb, which pleased the Lord. So you see the animal sacrificing began after the sin in the Garden of Eden, while the feast days began at the time of fleeing Egypt.