Why Christians Don’t Keep the Feasts: a 3000-year Timeline

1. God spoke the Ten Commandments aloud from Mt. Sinai amid fire and smoke and trumpets and an earthquake.
2. The people were very afraid and they said to Moses, “Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”
3. After this God did not speak directly to the people, but instead He called Moses into the mountain and spoke the rest of His laws to Moses privately and Moses wrote them in a book. These laws were many times referred to as statutes and judgments. They were for the purpose of “illustrating and applying the principles of the Ten Commandments.” (PP, 310) This is where the Feasts are first commanded. You will find this in Ex. 23 and in PP, p. 310-311 (see also quotes in the right column). There were no sacrifices or ceremonies attached to the Feasts or the weekly Sabbath at this time. (Later God gave instructions regarding the ceremonial law and instituted certain sacrifices and ceremonies that were to be done on the Feast days, New Moons, and the Seventh-day Sabbath.)
4. After receiving the these laws from God Moses came down the mount and repeated them to the people.
5. The people solemnly promised, “All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient.” (Ex. 24:7)
6. The people had promised to obey God’s Covenant. So now the covenant was then ratified. (Ex. 24)
7. But the people did not realize their own sinfulness and weakness. They did not trust to God for the strength to obey, but instead thought they could keep God’s laws by their own strength; and while Moses was in the mountain, receiving instruction about the Sanctuary, the people gave way to temptation and worshiped a golden calf. Thus they broke their covenant with God and could no longer hope for His favor. (Ex. 32)
8. Moses went to intercede for them with God and God forgave them for breaking His Covenant. (Ex. 33) Now the people knew better their own heart and how weak they were in their own strength. (PP, p. 372)
9. God was merciful and gracious and again renewed His covenant with the people. (Ex. 34:10) Once more He summarized the statutes and judgments, and reminded them again to keep the Seventh-day Sabbath and the other Feast days. (Ex. 23:12-17) (Lev. 23)
10. This time the people did not declare self-confidently that they would keep God’s laws in their own strength. They now realized their need of a Saviour; and they realized that they must rely on the strength of Christ to give them power to obey God’s Commandments, Statutes, and Judgments. They were now under the New Covenant. (See PP, p. 372)
11. Now the people showed their love for God by their liberal gifts, given to build the Sanctuary.
12. After the Sanctuary had been built Moses placed the Ten Commandments (Ex. 25:16) and the Book of the Covenant, containing the Statutes and Judgments, in the Ark of the Covenant (Deut. 31:26). These laws were Jehovah’s covenant with Israel, and they were “the condition of the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel.” (PP, p. 311)
13. God had given at Sinai definite instructions concerning the sacrificial service; and once the Sanctuary had been built God spoke to Moses from the cloud of glory above the Mercy Seat and gave Him full directions concerning the system of offerings and the forms of worship to be maintained in the Sanctuary. (PP, p. 364) In giving the ceremonial law God commanded certain sacrifices and ceremonies to be performed weekly, monthly, and yearly, on the Seventh-day Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the Feast Days, respectively. (Num. 28; Lev. 23)

So now we have seen that there was two categories of laws given by God:

1. The moral law, which included the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20), plus the other moral laws (sometimes called Statutes and Judgments) which were for the purpose of “illustrating and applying the principles of the Ten Commandments”, and which Ellen White says included the feasts (see PP, 310-311).
2. And lastly, the Ceremonial law – which consisted of sacrifices and ceremonies (PP, p. 365) which were to pass away with the death of Christ. (Dan. 9:27; PP, p. 365)

Now that we understand these differences we will continue to look at the history of the feasts.

“In the day of judgment we shall be asked whether we have lived in harmony with these specifications.” {AUCR, March 25, 1907 par. 4}

“Why, I have asked, are not these principles that have been expressed seen and acted out, for they are the principles of the law of God.” {1888 877.3}

“We are to become familiar with the Levitical law in all its bearings; for it contains rules that must be obeyed.” (Letter 3, 1905). {1BC 1110.4}

“…Again the people were reminded of the sacred obligation of the Sabbath. Yearly feasts were appointed, at which all the men of the nation were to assemble before the Lord, bringing to Him their offerings of gratitude and the first fruits of His bounties. The object of all these regulations was stated: they proceeded from no exercise of mere arbitrary sovereignty; all were given for the good of Israel. The Lord said, “Ye shall be holy men unto Me”–worthy to be acknowledged by a holy God. These laws were to be recorded by Moses, and carefully treasured as the foundation of the national law, and, with the ten precepts which they were given to illustrate, the condition of the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel. {PP 311.3}

“They were not shadowy types to pass away with the death of Christ. They were to be binding upon man in every age as long as time should last. These commands were enforced by the power of the moral law, and they clearly and definitely explained that law.” {RH, May 6, 1875 par. 10}

Quotes about the Covenant at Sinai:

“Under the new covenant, the conditions by which eternal life may be gained are the same as under the old. The conditions are, and ever have been, based on perfect obedience…Mercy and forgiveness are the reward of all who come to Christ trusting in His merits to take away their sins. We are cleansed from sin by the blood of Christ Jesus our Saviour.–Letter 216, 1906, p. 2. {8MR 31.1}

“The covenant God made at Sinai is for the Israel of God for all time. Herein is revealed God’s purpose for us, if we will only cooperate with Him.” {1MR 108.2}

“It would be a scene well-pleasing to God and angels, would His professed followers in this generation unite, as did Israel of old [referring especially to the revival in the days of Nehemiah], in a solemn covenant to “observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes.” (SW June 7, 1904).

“The covenant that God made with His people at Sinai is to be our refuge and defense…This covenant is of just as much force today as it was when the Lord made it with ancient Israel.” The Southern Watchman, March 1, 1904, p. 142. (“Hold Fast the Faith”)

1425 BC and onward

The feasts and the Sabbath were kept all through history, except during the times when Israel was in apostasy.

New Testament

(We will learn more about these pagan feasts of the “no gods” as we continue on through history.)

(References about the “no gods”: 2 Kings 19:18; 2 Chronicles 13:9; Isaiah 37:19; Jeremiah 2:11; 5:7; 16:20; Acts 19:26; Galatians 4:8)

“At Philippi Paul tarried to keep the Passover. …The Philippians were the most loving and truehearted of the apostle’s converts, and during the eight days of the feast he enjoyed peaceful and happy communion with them.” (AA, p. 390)

(Note: After Christ’s death, God’s name was no longer at Jerusalem, so Christians were not longer required to go there to worship. – Deut. 12:10-11; Luk. 13:34-35; ST, December 19, 1900; John 4:20-21)

(Note: The feast of Unleavened Bread is seven days long, but it is preceded by Passover [now the Lord’s Supper], which would make it eight days. The name “Passover” is may times applied to the entire eight day feast.)

The Passover/Easter Controversy Begins

“Neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp not to observe what he had always observed with John the disciple of our Lord, and the other apostles with whom he had associated; neither could Polycarp persuade Anicetus to observe it as he said that he ought to follow the customs of the presbyters that had preceded him.” (Irenæus, in a letter to Pope Victor)

“We observe the exact day; neither adding, nor taking away. For in Asia also great lights have fallen asleep, which shall rise again on the day of the Lord’s coming, when he shall come with glory from heaven, and shall seek out all the saints. Among these are Philip, one of the twelve apostles, who fell asleep in Hierapolis; and his two aged virgin daughters, and another daughter, who lived in the Holy Spirit and now rests at Ephesus; and, moreover, John, who was both a witness and a teacher, who reclined upon the bosom of the Lord, and, being a priest, wore the sacerdotal plate. He fell asleep at Ephesus. And Polycarp in Smyrna, who was a bishop and martyr; and Thraseas, bishop and martyr from Eumenia, who fell asleep in Smyrna. Why need I mention the bishop and martyr Sagaris, who fell asleep in Laodicea, or the blessed Papirius, or Melito, the Eunuch who lived altogether in the Holy Spirit, and who lies in Sardis, awaiting the episcopate from heaven, when he shall rise from the dead? All these observed the fourteenth day of the passover according to the Gospel, deviating in no respect, but following the rule of faith. And I also, Polycrates, the least of you all, do according to the tradition of my relatives, some of whom I have closely followed. For seven of my relatives were bishops; and I am the eighth. And my relatives always observed the day when the people put away the leaven. I, therefore, brethren, who have lived sixty-five years in the Lord, and have met with the brethren throughout the world, and have gone through every Holy Scripture, am not affrighted by terrifying words. For those greater than I have said ‘We ought to obey God rather than man.’”

“He then writes of all the bishops who were present with him and thought as he did. His words are as follows:”

“I could mention the bishops who were present, whom I summoned at your desire; whose names, should I write them, would constitute a great multitude. And they, beholding my littleness, gave their consent to the letter, knowing that I did not bear my gray hairs in vain, but had always governed my life by the Lord Jesus.” (Polycrates, in a letter to Pope Victor and the church of Rome)

The pagan feast of Saturnalia became Christmas.

The pagan feast of the god Attis became Easter.

The pagan “Feast of the Dead” became “All Souls Day” (now called Halloween)

Etc., etc…

“The new law has it’s own spirit…and it’s own feasts which have taken the place of those appointed in the law of Moses. If we would know the days to be observed…we must go to the Catholic church, not to the Mosaic law.” (Catholic Catechism, quoted in a Signs of the Times, Nov. 4, 1919)

“The church took the pagan philosophy and made it the buckler of faith against the heathen. She took the pagan Roman Pantheon, temple of all the gods, and made it sacred to all the martyrs; so it stands to this day. She took the pagan Sunday and made it the Christian Sunday. She took the pagan Easter and made it the feast we celebrate during this season…The sun was a foremost god with heathendom. Balder the beautiful, the White God, the old Scandinavians called him…Hence the church in these countries would seem to have said, “Keep that old, pagan name. It shall remain consecrated, sanctified.” And thus the pagan Sunday, dedicated to Balder, became the Christian Sunday, sacred to Jesus. (The Catholic World, March 1894, p. 809).

“A law of the year 321 ordered tribunals, shops, and workshops to be closed on the day of the sun, and he [Constantine] sent to the legions, to be recited upon that day, a form of prayer which could have been employed by a worshiper of Mithra, of Serapis, or of Apollo, quite as well as by a Christian believer. This was the official sanction of the old custom of addressing a prayer to the rising sun. In determining what days should be regarded as holy, and in the composition of a prayer for national use, CONSTANTINE EXERCISED ONE Of THE RIGHTS BELONGING To HIM AS PONTIFEX MAXIMUS; and it caused no surprise that he should do this.” — Duruy.

“We have also gratifying intelligence to communicate to you relative to unity of judgment on the subject of the most holy feast of Easter: for this point also has been happily settled through your prayers; so that all the brethren in the East [the Asiatic Churches] who have heretofore kept this festival when the Jews did, will henceforth conform to the Romans and to us, and to all who from the earliest time have observed our period of celebrating Easter.” (A letter from the Council of Nicea to the Churches, quoted in “The Two Republics” by A.T. Jones, p. 319, brackets inserted)

“Rome’s custom replaced heaven’s statute in the fourth century A.D.” (New Catholic Encyclopedia, pages 1062 -1063)

“It seemed to everyone a most unworthy thing that we should follow the custom of the Jews in the celebration of this holy solemnity, who polluted wretches! Having stained their hands with the nefarious crime, are still blinded in their minds. It is fit, therefore, that rejecting the practice of this people, we should perpetuate to all future ages the celebration of this rite in a more legitimate order, which we have kept from the first day of our Lord’s passion even to the present times. Let us then have nothing in common with the most hostile rabble of the Jews…and to sum up the whole in a few words, it is agreeable to the common judgment of all that the most holy feast of Easter should be celebrated on one and the same day [meaning Sunday].” (Constantine’s Letter to the Churches, brackets inserted)

“Canon 29. Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday, but shall work on that day; but the Lord’s day they shall especially honor, and, as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day. If, however, they are found Judaizing, they shall be shut out from Christ.” (Council of Laodicea, Canon 29)

“The festivals of the pitiful and miserable Jews are soon to march upon us one after the other and in quick succession: the feast of Trumpets, the feast of Tabernacles, the fasts. There are many in our ranks who say they think as we do. Yet some of these are going to watch the festivals and others will join the Jews in keeping their feasts and observing their fasts. I wish to drive this perverse custom from the Church right now….But do not be surprised that I called the Jews pitiable. They really are pitiable and miserable….they failed to accept the yoke of Christ, nor did they pull the plow of his teaching. Another prophet hinted at this when he said: “Israel is as obstinate as a stubborn heifer”. And still another called the Jews “an untamed calf”. Although such beasts are unfit for work, they are fit for killing. And this is what happened to the Jews: while they were making themselves unfit for work, they grew fit for slaughter.” (John Chrysostom, Against the Jews, 1:6)

The following is part of the dialog between Colmán, Bishop of Northumbria, and Wilfrid, a priest who had “gone to Rome to learn the ecclesiastical doctrine.”

Colman said: “The Easter which I keep, I received from my elders, who sent me bishop hither; all our forefathers, men beloved of God, are known to have kept it after the same manner; and that the same may not seem to any contemptible or worthy to be rejected, it is the same which St. John the Evangelist, the disciple beloved of our Lord, with all the churches over which he presided, is recorded to have observed.”

Wilfred replied: “The only people who stupidly contend against the whole world are those Irishmen and their partners in obstinacy the Picts and Britons, who inhabit only a portion of these two uttermost islands of the ocean.”

Coleman responds: “It is strange that you call us stupid when we uphold the customs that rest on the authority of so great an apostle, who was considered worthy to lean on the Lord’s breast and whose great wisdom is acknowledged throughout the world.”

Wilfred replies: “Far be it from us to charge John with stupidity, because he literally observed the Law of Moses at a time when the Church followed many Jewish practices and the apostles were not able immediately to abrogate the observances of the Law once given by God.” (Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, Book 3, Chapter XXV)

“The hymnal was written in Hungarian … It consisted of one hundred and two hymns. Forty-four for the Sabbath, five for the New Moon, eleven for Passover and Unleavened Bread, six for the Feast of Weeks [another name for Pentecost], six for Tabernacles, three for New Year’s, and one for Atonement, and twenty-six hymns for every day purposes.” (Samuel Kohn in Die Sabbatharier in Siebenburgen, pp. 62-67)

“Do you want to find Jesus? He is at the feast. You may find him here. He has come up to the feast. There are men and women that have brought him with them; and now we want you to press through, and touch the hem of his garment, that you may receive of the virtue that is found in him, and triumph in the God of your salvation.” {RH, August 17, 1869 par. 5}

“God gave direction to the Israelites to assemble before Him at set periods, in the place which He should choose, and observe special days [the Feast Days] wherein no unnecessary work was to be done, but the time was to be devoted to a consideration of the blessings which He had bestowed upon them…

“God requires no less of His people in these last days, in sacrifices and offerings, than He did of the Jewish nation. Especially should those whom God has prospered render to Him the things that are His…

“Let all who possibly can, attend these yearly gatherings [camp meetings]. All should feel that God requires this of them. If they do not avail themselves of the privileges which He has provided that they may become strong in Him and in the power of His grace, they will grow weaker and weaker, and have less and less desire to consecrate all to God. Come, brethren and sisters, to these sacred convocation meetings, to find Jesus. He will come up to the feast. He will be present, and He will do for you that which you most need to have done.” {2T 575.2, brackets added}

“Well would it be for us to have a feast of tabernacles, a joyous commemoration of the blessings of God to us as a people. As the children of Israel celebrated the deliverance that God wrought for their fathers, and his miraculous preservation of them during their journeyings from Egypt to the promised land, so should the people of God at the present time gratefully call to mind the various ways he has devised to bring them out from the world, out from the darkness of error, into the precious light of truth. We should often bring to remembrance the dependence upon God of those who first led out in this work. We should gratefully regard the old way-marks, and refresh our souls with memories of the loving-kindness of our gracious Benefactor.” {RH, November 17, 1885 par. 14}

“Anciently the Lord instructed his people to assemble three times a year for his worship…Thus they were to be preserved from the corrupting power of worldliness and idolatry. Faith and love and gratitude were to be kept alive in their hearts, and through their association together in this sacred service they were to be bound closer to God and to one another.

“In the days of Christ these feasts were attended by vast multitudes of people from all lands…

“With those who lived at a distance from the tabernacle, more than a month of every year must have been occupied in attendance upon these holy convocations. The Lord saw that these gatherings were necessary for the spiritual life of His people. They needed to turn away from their worldly cares, to commune with God, and to contemplate unseen realities.

“If the children of Israel needed the benefit of these holy convocations in their time, how much more do we need them in these last days of peril and conflict?” {6T, 39-40}

“A great work is to be accomplished by our camp meetings. The Lord has specially honored these gatherings, which He has called “holy convocations.” {6T 70.3}

Note: We find that this phrase “holy convocations” comes from Leviticus.

“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.” (Lev. 23:2)

“These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.” (Lev. 23:4)

“I still offer $1,000 to anyone who can prove from the Bible alone, that I am bound under pain of grievous sin to keep Sunday holy. We keep Sunday in obedience to the law of the Catholic Church. The church made this law after the Bible was written; hence the law is not in the Bible. The Catholic Church abolished not only the Sabbath, but all the other Jewish Festivals.” (T. Enright of the Redemporist fathers of the Roman Church, in a letter dated April 26, 1902)

Dan 7:25 “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”

Editor’s note: The “time and times and the dividing of time” (1260 years) during which the Little Horn would rule is finished, and God’s “times and laws” are being restored.

“2188. In respecting religious liberty and the common good of all, Christians should seek recognition of Sundays and the Church’s holy days as legal holidays.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1993)

We know Sunday laws are coming. Will there also once more be laws condemning those who keep the Feasts of the Lord and refuse to observe the Catholic holidays?

“Canon 1436 – § 1. Whoever denies a truth which must be believed with divine and catholic faith, or who calls into doubt, or who totally repudiates the Christian faith, and does not retract after having been legitimately warned, is to be punished as a heretic or an apostate with a major excommunication; a cleric moreover can bepunished with other penalties, not excluding deposition.

“§ 2. In addition to these cases, whoever obstinately rejects a teaching that the Roman Pontiff or the College of Bishops, exercising the authentic Magisterium, have set forth to be held definitively, or who affirms what they have condemned as erroneous, and does not retract after having been legitimately warned, is to be punished with an appropriate penalty.” (Pope John Paul II, May 28, 1998, Apostolic Letter, “Ad Tuendam Fidem”)

“With regard to heretics…on their own side there is sin, by which they deserve not only to be separated from the church by excommunication, but also to be severed from the world by death.” (SUMMA THEOLOGICA Part II of second part, question 11, article 3, Vol. 2 page 440).

“The Roman Catholic Church, uniting the forms of paganism and Christianity, and, like paganism, misrepresenting the character of God, had resorted to practices no less cruel and revolting. In the days of Rome’s supremacy there were instruments of torture to compel assent to her doctrines. There was the stake for those who would not concede to her claims. There were massacres on a scale that will never be known until revealed in the judgment.” (Great Controversy, 569)

“66. . . . When, through the centuries, she has made laws concerning Sunday rest,(109) the Church has had in mind above all the work of servants and workers, certainly not because this work was any less worthy when compared to the spiritual requirements of Sunday observance, but rather because it needed greater regulation to lighten its burden and thus enable everyone to keep the Lord’s Day holy. In this matter, my predecessor Pope Leo XIII in his Encyclical Rerum Novarum spoke of Sunday rest as a worker’s right which the State must guarantee. (110) . . .

67. . . . Therefore, also in the particular circumstances of our own time, Christians will naturally strive to ensure that civil legislation respects their duty to keep Sunday holy.” (John Paul II, Dies Domini, May 31, 1998)

The Seventh-day Sabbath

The Feasts of the Lord