God’s plan for the salvation of mankind

The Holy Bible reveals seven annual festivals, which God instructed the nation of Israel to observe.These festivals, or Holy Days , which are listed in order in Leviticus 23, are the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, The Feast of Tabernacles, Pentecost, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Last Great Day. But should Christians observe these festivals today? This is a question that has raised much controversy within the Christian community. Some clergymen say God’s annual festivals were ‘part of the old Mosaic system’, and not for us today.”

The festivals given to ancient Israel were intended only for the Old Testament and abolished by the New Testament. Keeping these strange, ancient festivals is a curse and a yoke of bondage. As Christians, we are obliged to work together in unity and harmony in celebrating holidays such as Christmas, Good Friday and Easter Sunday,” said one Roman Catholic Church priest.

It is the humble submission of this scribe that as Christians, we should follow what God tells us through His Written Word — the Bible. We must base our lives on the example of Jesus Christ, and not solely on established religious traditions. We need to distinguish between the biblical teachings and traditions conflicting with them.

The Holy Bible states, in no uncertain terms, that the annual festivals that God gave the Israelites are to be observed forever. Concerning the Day of Atonement, Leviticus 23 verse 31 says :”… It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations and in your dwellings.” Concerning the Feast of Tabernacles, Leviticus 23 verse 41 says:”You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord… It shall be a statute forever in your generations.” The Word of God admonishes us to “test all things and hold fast what is good”(1Thessalonians 5 verse 21). The Bible shows that when the Apostle Paul preached to the Bereans ,”…they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so”( Acts 17 verse 11). This is what we should do.

For enlightenment on which days we should observe as religious festivals, we should turn to Jesus Christ, the very founder of the Christian faith. As Christians, we should remember that Jesus Christ is our example, our standard, our pattern (1 Peter 2 verse 21). What He did, we must do.The Scriptures show that Jesus Christ kept God’s Holy Days. Luke 22 verses 1, 8 read: “Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called Passover… And he sent Peter and John, saying:”Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.”This Scripture plainly reveals that Jesus Christ commanded His disciples — the very foundation of the New Testament Church of God — to prepare the traditional Passover that the Jews always observed. Jesus Christ’s dedication to observing God’s Holy Days was also recorded by the Apostle John.

The Apostle John wrote: “Now the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles was at hand (John 7 verse 2). As recorded in the Bible, at the time, Jesus could not attend this Feast publicly because He knew that His adversaries were on the lookout for Him. Nevertheless, He did attend the Feast secretly (John 7 verses 8-11). About the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught… Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple… on the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out” (John 7 verses 14, 28 and 37). Jesus Christ, the active Head of His Church, kept the Feast of Tabernacles by instituting powerful preaching services. Even His adversaries were impressed. “No man ever spoke like this man,” they exclaimed (John 7 verse 46).

While some evangelists associate God’s annual festivals only with ancient Jewish traditions, what they seem to be completely oblivious of is that these festivals have deep spiritual meaning— they reflect God’s plan for the salvation of mankind in symbolic form.

The first festival, Passover, for instance, is a yearly reminder of the awesome sacrifice made by Jesus Christ, who laid down His life for the remission of all human sins.

From the Biblical evidence as recorded in Exodus 12 verse 14, the Passover was instituted as an ordinance forever. Space limitations prevent me from projecting a detailed exposition of what each of the seven annual festivals pictures in God’s plan of salvation for mankind.

Suffice it is to say that each of these festivals has tremendous meaning in God’s plan for the salvation of mankind — a plan that is simply not understood-even by the broad majority of the professing Christian world. Unlike the humanly devised, meaningless holidays of this world, God’s festivals picture His àwe-inspiring plan of salvation for mankind.

There’s absolutely no shred of evidence in the Holy Bible to substantiate claims by some church ministers that Jesus Christ and the early Church annulled or superceded God’s Holy Days with new holidays like Christmas, Good Friday, Ash Wednesday or Easter Sunday.The simple truth is that Jesus Christ never commanded His disciples to observe these holidays. Instead, He commanded them to observe God’s Old Testament annual festivals (Luke 22 verse 8, John 7 verse 2, 8).These same disciples were part of the very foundation of the New Testament Church — the same Church, which was founded by Jesus Christ Himself (Matthew 16 verse 18), and still exists in this end time. Jesus Christ’s last command to His disciples was: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that l have commanded you; and lo, l am with you always, even to the end of the age”(Matthew 28 verse 19-20).

The New Testament Church, as recorded in the book of Acts, continued to keep God’s annual festivals after Jesus Christ’s ascension to Heaven. Acts 20 verse 6, says: “We sailed away from Philippi after the Days of Unleavened Bread.” Notice also Acts 2 verse 1: “Now when the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place…” These Scriptures, including Acts 18 verse 21; Acts 20 verse 16; 1 Corinthians 5 verse 8;1 Corinthians 16 verse 8, make it abundantly clear that the early New Testament Church kept God’s annual festivals. However, the perplexing paradox is that most professing Christians today regard God’s annual festivals as archaic Jewish customs, and prioritise the celebration of pagan holidays such as Christmas and Easter.

The Bible states, in no unambiguous terms, that Satan the devil and his demons exercise power over the nations.The Apostle John, when writing about the devil, said, “ the whole world is under the control of the evil one” (1 John 5 verse 19). In modern times, however, the devil has become a laughable cartoon figure. Most people do not believe that he exists.In fact, most highly educated people have literally transformed the devil into a convenient literary metaphor for evil. But the Bible shows that the devil exists and awakens us to the harm he has done to human society, and can do to our own personal lives.The plain Biblical truth is that Satan, the devil, is behind all this fracas — the rejection of God’s annual festivals and the celebration of pagan holidays.The Bible describes Satan as the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4 verse 4) and “father of lies” (John 8 verse 44). He is a cunning, deceitful spiritual being and an enemy of God and of those who choose to obey God. Being a master of the art of deception, Satan has been able to deceive the whole world, as the Bible clearly states in Revelation 12 verse 9.
Joseph W. Tkach ,the late pastor general of the Worldwide Church of God, once said: “One of Satan’s deceptive tactics was to counterfeit God’s festivals by instituting a whole system of unbiblical celebrations and calling them Christian.

During Christmas, celebrations, more traffic deaths, murders, suicides, sicknesses and heartaches occur than at any other time of the year. And there’s more crime, domestic violence, drunkenness and sexual immorality. God’s annual festivals are very important — they picture God’s plan for the salvation of mankind. God gave His annual Holy Days as an immutable testimony, to those who keep them, of what He has done, is doing, and will yet do in His dealings with humanity.

This truth remains a mystery, totally unknown by most professing Christians today. God’s purpose in giving His annual festivals or Holy Days was to give His children insight into His Great Plan of Salvation.Christians who observe these festivals have realised what marvellous celebrations, with deep spiritual meaning, they are.They have found them to be high points in the year, just like they were intended to be. Ideally, these festivals should be a time of family togetherness, a time of learning and of joy and a time to understand more fully God’s plan for the salvation of mankind.” I rest my pen.
*Cuthbert Mavheko is a freelance journalist and theologian. He can be contacted on 0773963448/0775522095 or Email – [email protected]