Jewish Festivals and Christian Faith
For those who are seeking to discover the Hebrew foundations of Christian faith, a good place to begin is with the system of remembrance practices known as the festivals of Judaism. The system of praise, worship, and service which God, himself, gave to the Jewish people (known by the time of Christ as Judaism) included daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal reminders that called the Jewish people to celebrate the magnificent works of God in their behalf. These remembrances constituted a major part of the worship which Yahweh prescribed for his people. They included three hours of prayer daily, the weekly Shabbat, monthly new moon celebrations, and the festivals of Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles. The post-Torah festivals of Purim and Hanukkah were added later.(click on for more info on feasts.)
Christians everywhere could profit greatly from studying these practices of Judaism that were an integral part of the religious system which the Jewish people received from Yahweh in antiquity and which Jesus and the apostles of the earliest church honored and celebrated as a part of the spiritual legacy of their forefathers. While most Christian theologians have posited that God’s remembrance system was destroyed in Christ, this was never Paul’s contention. As a matter of fact in I Corinthians 5:7, 8 we find him encouraging Gentile believers to celebrate the festival of unleavened bread (Passover) because "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us." This statement, coupled with Colossians 2:16, 17 (where Paul declares that "holy days . . . or sabbath days . . . are shadows of things to come, but the body [reality] is of Christ"), should help us to understand that the festivals of Judaism are very much a part of the Christian heritage and speak profoundly to us of the Jewish carpenter whom we recognize as Messiah and Lord. Quite simply, the Jewish festivals are pictures (shadows) that help us understand Jesus more clearly.The festivals of Judaism are closely connected with the events of the agricultural year. Since Israel was an agrarian society, their lives were closely tied with the seasons, with planting and harvesting. They were entirely dependent upon God’s favor for life-giving agriculture. The remembrance festivals which God gave them, therefore, called their attention to God’s providence and their need to be thankful.
Spring Festivals and Christian Faith 
The festivals of Judaism that occur in the spring most clearly point to Jesus. Passover is a picture of his death as "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world." It is certainly not coincidental that Jesus died on the very day of Passover, the preparation day for the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Unleavened Bread manifests his death and entombment and the resultant removal of sin and death from believers that those events provided. The fact that Jesus was resurrected on the very day firstfruits (the morning after the Sabbath after Passover) confirms to us that he is the firstfruits of the resurrection (I Corinthians 15:23). (click on for more info on Passover)
Pentecost calls us to remember the empowerment of the church through the gift of the Holy Spirit when "the day of Pentecost was fully come," just as Israel had been given the Torah on the same day centuries before. Whereas three thousand souls perished on the first Pentecost when the Torah was given to Israel, so three thousand souls were redeemed on the first Pentecost of the New Testament when the Holy Spirit was given to those who believed.What Christian would not want to continue to remember these important seasons and the miraculous events which occurred in history at God’s appointed times both in the Hebrew Scriptures and in the New Testament? In reality, if the teachings of the New Testament are true, Christians have greater reasons to celebrate Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, and Pentecost than traditional Jews. This is not merely a co-opting of the holidays of the Jewish people from their rightful owners. It is, rather, a claim for inclusion by those Gentiles who have been grafted into the olive tree of salvation, the nation of Israel. Traditional Jewish people celebrate Passover as deliverance from Egypt, remembering the events as if they themselves had been the ones who applied the blood to their houses, escaped the night of terror in Egypt, and made the mass exodus from slavery to freedom and marital relationship with God at Sinai. How much more should Christians want to be included in this scenario of miracle and chosenness when they have been redeemed personally, not just from slavery, but from the bondage of sin and death by the offering of the Lamb of God. After all, Jesus no where asked believers to remember his birthday or even his resurrection day. He did, however, command us to "remember his death until he comes." Christians have every right to celebrate Passover, and they have the liturgy their Lord gave for its celebration.And, what Christian would not want to celebrate the event of the giving of both the Law of God and the Spirit of God on the very day of Pentecost? It is the law of God which gives us the liberty of serving God with the understanding of his will, and it is the Spirit of God which empowers us to live our lives according to his will. Could we not profit from celebrating Pentecost in a manner similar to that in which the disciples of Jesus celebrated this ancient festival. We need not bake loaves of bread and make sacrifices according to the Levitical formula, for that work has been accomplished for us once and for all in the finished work of Calvary. We could well profit, from being assembled together in one accord with prayer and devotion to God, awaiting the renewal of the Holy Spirit and the consequent power for Christian service that the Spirit brings. (click on for more info on Pentecost)
Fall Festivals and Christian Faith
When we come to the fall festivals of Judaism, there is much room for speculation. These festivals are shadows (pictures) of events yet in the future; therefore, they cannot be fully understood until after they have been fulfilled. Many believe that they tell us much about the advent of the Messianic Age. For Jews, this time is the coming of the long-awaited Messiah. For Christians, it is the return of the Messiah. As Martin Buber said, Christians and Jews "share a book [the Bible] and an expectation."
But, beyond the eschatological speculations, the Jewish celebrations of the fall festivals of Rosh Hashanah (new year or Festival of Trumpets), Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), and Succoth (Tabernacles), can teach Christians great lessons that will enhance their faith. First of all, what Christian could not profit from the yearly call to repentance that Rosh Hashanah signals with the clarion call of the shofar on the first day Tishrei, the first month of the Jewish civil year? And, what Christian would count of little value the opportunity to share with the Jewish people the ten "Days of Awe," the time for introspection to see if they have sinned against God or man? Could not the Day of Atonement be a time for Christians to renew themselves in repentance by praying the Lord’s Prayer? At the very least Christians could use this season as a time to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and for the well being of the international Jewish community.Then the festival of Tabernacles which concludes the agricultural year as the Feast of Ingathering could be a time for Christians to join with the Jewish people in remembering that Yahweh is a God who delivers from slavery and brings "joy unspeakable and full of glory" to his people, both Jew and Gentile. Since the Jewish people, themselves, believe that Tabernacles is a time of celebration for the entire world and since Zechariah 14:16-19 predicts that all the nations will celebrate this festival in the Messianic Age, could we not get a head start on this celebration and join with our Jewish brothers and sisters in remembering God’s deliverance and his abundant provision? (click on for more info on Fall Feasts)
The Power of Memory
There is only one of the ten commandments which uses the word remember, the Sabbath commandment. This is a clue to us of the power of the times that God has asked his people to set apart to his service. Whether they be hours of prayer, Sabbaths, or festivals, these times help us to remember. They place markers on the schedules of our lives that tell us to stop and remember the great miracles which God has performed in the past. They help us to remember that all that we are and aspire to be is the product of God’s providence.
The Sabbath is a memorial to us of the fact that a personal God–not blind fate or some cosmic force–created everything that exists and that by his grace we have relationship with this God. It also reminds us of the miracle of recreation wherein we were born from above by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus. It also points us to the expectation of a great future, when the Messiah will come and the Messianic Age will ensue. Like the Sabbath, Judaism’s other festivals give us opportunities to honor our God and appreciate our relationship with him.We need to remember because we are prone to forget! We are more often than not a negligent people, too often ungrateful. Without milestones on our calendar–the holidays of God’s liturgical calendar–we go our merry way, overwhelmed with the pressures and responsibilities of life, and we . . . forget! We forget to give God the praise that he deserves. We are predictably more like the nine lepers who forgot than the one who remembered to return and thank Jesus for healing. (for more info on Sabbath)
God’s Appointment Calendar
The festivals and holidays of Judaism are called moedim in scripture–appointed times. Quite literally, God has an appointment calendar, just as any successful business person does. These are times at which he has requested we meet with him, and times that he has scheduled to meet with us. This is not to say that we cannot enjoy communion with God at any time that we approach him in faith believing, but it is to say that God has planned to meet with us. What person would neglect an appointment to meet with the leader of one of the world’s great nations? Who, indeed, would neglect an appointment that God has scheduled on his calendar?
Rather than viewing God’s liturgical calendar with suspicion as some legalistic ogre that is waiting to ensnare us in bondage, we should rather be grateful to our Creator for having recognized our tendency to forget and providing appointments to jog our memories.
Reclaiming our Christian Heritage in Judaism
Christians have been denied a great legacy through centuries of ecclesiastical Judaeophobia, anti-Judaism, and anti-Semitism. Is it not time that we reclaim our rightful Judaic heritage that has been bequeathed to us through the New Testament of the Jewish Jesus, our Lord and Messiah? We who once were far off, estranged from the commonwealth of Israel, have been brought near by the blood of Christ so that we are now fellowcitizens with the Jewish people and of the same body, the community of faith. Through Jesus we have been included in the heritage of the fathers.
If the Holy Spirit is dealing with your heart about restoring the Hebrew foundations of your Christian faith, along with a Biblical relationship with the international Jewish community, why not begin by examining the liturgical calendar which the earliest church used to express their worship to God and to understand more clearly their Savior and Lord.