Across the ancient world, harvest festivals were common to most of the pagan religions throughout the earth. By the time of Moses, Satan the Devil, who knew intimately of God’s plan of salvation, had already imposed his counterfeit festivals on pagan mankind for many generations. Thus, when God revealed His annual Sabbaths to ancient Israel at Sinai, the concept of annual “holy days” or religious observances was not new to mankind.
But what, then, is so special about God’s Holy Days? Keeping God’s Festivals is vital if we are to understand God’s desires for His people, Israel. He gave specific instructions about His worship. “And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: “The Feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be ‘holy convocations, these are My feasts”’” (Leviticus 23:1–2). He spoke two phrases of enormous significance: “The Feasts of the Lord” and “these are My feasts.”
We can imagine any pagans who might have been listening making the comment, “So what else is new? We’ve been holding feasts to our gods for centuries!” Indeed, the Egyptians had harvest festivals, as did the Canaanites, the Jebusites, the Perizites and all the other “-ites” in the land. Not only the fall harvest festivals; spring festivals to Ishtar, May Day and Summer Solstice festivals were common experiences for worshipers of the pagan gods.
Yet the Feasts of God were not just seasonal observances; they were powerful demonstrations of where God was working. They would show mankind that the God of Israel is the true source of life and success, and that blessings came by following Him and His laws: “And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day?” (Deuteronomy 4:8).
Ancient Israel, as a nation newly emerging after bondage in Egypt, was to become a demonstration of God’s power over His creation. The Israelites were to be a living and functioning “type” of God’s Kingdom at work here on planet Earth (Exodus 19:6). They were to be an instrument in the destruction of the pagan harvest feasts, while they demonstrated the way of God and His Feasts: “These are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth. You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. You shall not worship the Lord your God with such things” (Deuteronomy 12:1–4).
Not only were the Israelites to destroy all pagan worship; they were never to consider the pagan festivals: “When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it” (vv. 29–32).
But what about Christians, today, as we prepare to celebrate the annual fall Holy Days? The Bible, especially the New Testament, clearly shows that, as members of God’s Church, we must be able to relate to all people (1 Corinthians 9:22). Our lifestyles are to be representative of our beliefs, our words and thoughts fully in harmony with our deeds. We are like glass houses—set upon a high hill—that are to be fully illuminated. When you think about that, it is rather sobering, even scary.
Jesus established this rather formidable description of a Christian: “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14–16).
Jesus is telling us that Christians will be watched; their actions will be watched, and their association with one another will be watched. In fact, these actions—collective and individual—will be keys to Christ’s mission to the world. It is a mission demonstrating that God is God, that God the Father sent Jesus Christ and—because we are Christ’s—God has special love for us. “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me” (John 17:20–23).
Do you find it scary, or at least very sobering, that you are being watched, and that we need to be very careful about how we present ourselves to others? Just what is it we are showing to the people around us, and what are they interpreting when they see us? We can learn much about this from the perspective of keeping the Feast Days, particularly the Feast of Tabernacles. God’s Feasts are not just an opportunity to enjoy ourselves; they reveal and picture the deep and incredibly powerful impact God’s Plan is having on this world now and in the future. They reveal our God-given goal, individually and collectively.
Lamps of the World
In Jewish tradition during Jesus’ time, according to the Adam Clarke Commentary and Gill’s Exposition of the Bible, the eminent rabbis were described as nyir olam, or “lamps of the world.” They held this title because they positioned themselves as representative of the law, and the law was a “lamp” to provide light to the world. An ever-burning lamp hung in the temple, representing the law. And not only was the law represented by a literal lamp; the rabbis saw that Scripture gave a figurative meaning as well: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105); “For the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light; reproofs of instruction are the way of life” (Proverbs 6:23).
But Jesus said in Matthew 5:14 that Christians are the “light of the world.” He used the Greek phrase phṓs tou kósmou, which indicates self-existing light, representing them as being both the light being given to the world, and its source.
There is an important distinction Jesus was making between the Pharisees and Sadducees and the disciples He was addressing. This light, in the Hebrew is ‘ôr [pronounced “ore”]. Christians are to be or olam, “light of the world.” Jesus clearly transfers the title to His own disciples then and to us today. “For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them” (John 17:8–10).
This theme of Christians being lights is used repeatedly throughout the New Testament. “Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:14–15). The Greek word “shine” is phainō[fah’ee-no], meaning to bring forth into the light, cause to shine, shed light to become evident, to be brought forth into the light, come to view, appear. This is what God is accomplishing with our keeping of these Feast days; especially the very publically visible seven-day Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day that follows. A great deal of this visibility centers on us!
Notice Paul says we “shine as lights.” The word “light” is phōstēr [foce-tare’] that which gives light, an illuminator as the stars or sun. These sources are radiant, not reflective. Christians have Christ living in them—a light source established within the very core of their beings through the begetting process of God’s very own “spiritual DNA”: “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God” (1 John 3:9). The word “born” by context is defined as gennaō [ghen-nah’-o] meaning “begotten.”
John states that the “seed,” sperma, “remains in him,” the individual Christian. The Greek is complex, but clear; “remains in” is menō [men’-o] and the voice of the Greek relates to the time and condition, meaning that once given, the Spirit will not depart unless we reject it—it remains a part of who we are. We are given the direct responsibility to maintain what has been given to us. The Apostle Paul shows this clearly: “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30); “Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19).
This is exactly why Christians radiate the Spirit and why we do not just reflect who and what God is. “Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 13:43)! Jesus used an interesting word in “shine forth”—eklampō[ek-lam’-po] meaning to be resplendent, shining as the sun shines. It is apparent that Jesus was quoting from the book of Daniel, speaking of future Christians and their role in the coming kingdom of God: “Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:3).
This certainly is relative to why we observe God’s annual festivals and the Feast of Tabernacles. It is somewhat astounding how many times the Scriptures use the word “light” or “lights” in regard to being a Christian, as this subject is linked to our personalities and how we present ourselves publically as we keep the holy days. Our personal conduct is all about light and how it radiates from within us.
It is more than coincidence that lights play such a major role in the darkness of the pagan worship, whether it is decorating the home with Christmas lights, a lit tree, bags with candles, pumpkins with candles, Easter sunrise services, candles—candles, candles everywhere. Most interestingly, nighttime and the dark play a significant role in these festivals. Light is introduced in colorful but distorted ways, highlighting the effect of darkness based on pagan principles.
Our elder brother Jesus condemns these pagan practices and rituals as darkness and warns us “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God” (John 3:18–21).
Why should we keep the festivals and, especially, attend the Feast? Just as God instructed ancient Israel to do, we are going through our own lives tearing down the idols, etc., keeping the Feasts of God, demonstrating with our own lives the redemptive work of God and Jesus Christ. Paul makes it abundantly clear why we anticipate and often yearn for God’s Feasts: “You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness” (1 Thessalonians 5:5). No one else keeps the Feasts of God, as He commands, therefore they do not demonstrate God’s plan of salvation. No pagan festival can.
Israel was commanded to show forth the results of obeying God: “Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people’” (Deuteronomy 4:5–6).
They were to keep the Feasts of the Eternal as part of those laws and statutes and reap the rewards and benefits of doing so as an example to the rest of the nations around them, but they did not. The horrible, wretched story is related later in chapter 20 of the book of Ezekiel. “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Are you defiling yourselves in the manner of your fathers, and committing harlotry according to their abominations? For when you offer your gifts and make your sons pass through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols, even to this day. So shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live,” says the Lord God, “I will not be inquired of by you. What you have in your mind shall never be, when you say, ‘We will be like the Gentiles, like the families in other countries, serving wood and stone.’ As I live,” says the Lord God, “surely with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out, I will rule over you”’” (vv. 30–33).
An important comparison must be made at this point. Who are you, as you sit reading this article? And do you realize that you, personally, represent an incredibly important, world-changing function? This comparison is contrasted between the Old and New Testaments: “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 14:2). Israel was chosen to be God’s people, His children, and they failed, miserably.
Now let’s look at something truly amazing concerning the Christian: “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy” (1 Peter 2:9–10).
We are these people who were once not God’s people, and we keep this Feast, preparing for constructive roles in the Kingdom, when we will go through the process of restoring God’s Feasts during the thousand-year period pictured by the Feast of Tabernacles: “And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles” (Zechariah 14:16–19).
We, God’s true Church, represent the success of God’s plan, stepping into the role that was to be Israel’s. They were to be the demonstration of God’s great purpose, His great love for His creation that will be poured out on mankind. But, instead, they chose darkness in the face of light outlined by the plan of salvation demonstrated by God’s Feast days, especially this Feast of Tabernacles season.
We are the “called, the chosen, and faithful,” we are a “bridge to the future;” we are or olam: “the light of the world.”