An often-asked question concerning the annual holy days is: Where in the Bible does it show that the Church kept these days following the crucifixion of Jesus Christ?

The concepts and terms of feast days such as Passover, the Days of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles are strange-sounding to most professing Christians and dismissed as archaic.

Traditional Christianity teaches that these were Jewish feasts and not for Christians, that they were “nailed to the cross,” and that man would be under a “yoke of bondage” if he were to observe them. Yet what do the Scriptures say about these statements from individuals who claim to know the New Testament so well?

We challenge anyone to find biblical commands to keep Christmas, New Year’s, Halloween, Valentine’s or Easter. Those festivals are not mentioned in the Bible (except for one mistranslation in Acts 12:4—see the Revised Standard Version for a correct rendering).

Since none of these holidays are mentioned in the Bible, what days does God command Christians to keep?

The Days Christ Observed

Absolutely no record exists of Jesus Christ ever keeping any of the traditional holidays mentioned above. What, then, did He observe? It is plain from the first four books of the New Testament that Jesus Christ kept the seven annual holy days ordained in Leviticus 23.

At age 12, His parents took Him to Jerusalem to observe the Passover (Luke 2:41-42). They traveled to this feast annually. We also read that Jesus continued in this practice with His parents as He was subject to them (verse 51).

Not only did they observe the Passover, but they “fulfilled the days” (verse 43). In other words, they kept the seven days of Unleavened Bread that followed the Passover observance.

Why did Joseph and Mary keep these days? The Bible shows us in verse 42: They were devout Jews who kept God’s laws, including the commandments regarding the annual sabbaths.

Although many Jews of this day were not really committed to their worship, God the Father chose these parents to rear His own Son on Earth because of their sincere devotion.

Eighteen years later, Jesus Christ still continued in the practices His parents, Joseph and Mary, had taught Him (John 2:13). Why does this verse refer to this observance as the “Jews’ Passover”? Because the Jews had made some changes regarding the Feast observance since God had given it to Israel through Moses. It certainly was not because this feast was only for the descendants of Judah.

John 5:1 discusses another feast Jesus kept. Most likely this was one of the fall festivals for which He went up to Jerusalem. The next chapter in John’s record deals with later events, including the Passover (John 6:4).

Quite some time passed between chapters 6 and 7, but John records in chapter 7 how Jesus again prepared Himself to go up to another feast. This time, it was the Feast of Tabernacles (verse 2).

Despite death threats, Jesus went up to Jerusalem and taught in the temple during the Feast (verse 14) as well as on the eighth day, or Last Great Day (verse 37). Here He addressed the deep spiritual meaning of the day (verses 37-38). Christ was not going to miss out on this opportunity to teach about the holy days—it was integral to His preaching of the gospel (Mark 1:14).

As the time of His crucifixion drew near, Jesus Christ still went up to Jerusalem, knowing what was prophesied to befall Him. He even instructed His disciples about this on the way (Matthew 20:17-19). Being conscious of all that He would face, He still observed the commanded Passover!

New Testament Church Observances

Luke, the author of the book of Acts, commonly believed to have been a Gentile himself, wrote this book specifically for Theophilus (Acts 1:1), and by extension, for all Christians. As many Bible aids point out, Theophilus is also thought to have been Greek, so we can deduce that this book was written for all Christians, both Jews and Gentiles.

On his journey from Corinth to the port of Syria, Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, said to the Church in Ephesus, “I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem …” (Acts 18:21). It would appear that this feast was the Feast of Tabernacles. Paul was intent on keeping the Feast with the headquarters church in Jerusalem! It was the major festival held in Jerusalem for which Christians from all over the known world would travel to attend where God had placed His name.

The people Paul was addressing were mostly Gentile Christians (verse 6). If the observance of the holy days were merely a tradition of the Jews, and the Gentile Christians did not know anything about them, it would have been useless for Luke to even mention that this event occurred during this Feast. The truth is that Gentiles and Jews alike were keeping these days.

This is the first of several examples of this apostle keeping the feasts of God.

Paul and his associates sailed away from Philippi, in Greece, right after the Days of Unleavened Bread (Acts 20:6). Obviously they had observed the days before their departure. The Days of Unleavened Bread were still being kept about a quarter century after Christ’s death and resurrection.

Later in this same chapter, we learn that Paul hurried to make it to Jerusalem a few weeks later for Pentecost (verse 16).

The next holy day mentioned in the New Testament is found in Acts 27:9: “Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them.”

This fast day is understood by nearly all biblical scholars to be the Day of Atonement—almost any Bible commentary will corroborate this. The Day of Atonement occurs in the fall, at which time sailing the Mediterranean Sea was considered hazardous.

Think about why a Gentile, writing to another Gentile, 30 years after the crucifixion, would use a “Jewish” tradition to describe the time of year! It wasn’t strange to Theophilus, but it would be strange to many people today who think they follow Christ but refuse to follow His example, and that of His apostles, concerning God’s holy days.

Up to this point, the book of Acts records seven different references to the holy days. Of course, there are other references to the weekly Sabbath, which the true Church also observed, and which God also considers holy (Leviticus 23:2-3). All these texts in Acts should make it clear that the early Christians knew about and kept God’s holy days.

Instruction in Righteousness

During the fall festival season, true Christians receive more instruction in righteousness than at any other time of the year. Roughly 20 percent of the messages we hear throughout the year come at the Feast of Tabernacles. God concentrates this instruction at this time for a reason. When Christ returns to set up His Father’s Kingdom—as pictured by the fall festivals—He will also set His hand to educating mankind (Isaiah 2:2-3; Micah 4:1-7). That education will be founded on God’s commandments. In fact, God’s holy days have always been a time of instruction revolving around God’s law—right back to the first-century Church.

Around a.d. 55, Paul sent a letter to the congregation he raised up at Corinth. Commonly this letter is known as 1 Corinthians, although the apostle had written the Corinthians before in an uncanonical letter (see 1 Corinthians 5:9). This congregation was predominantly Gentile.

In this letter, Paul addressed the subject of the festivals of God. In chapter 11, verses 17-34, he explains in detail the history, purpose and manner in which to keep the New Testament Passover.

Skipping forward to chapter 16 and verse 8, Paul refers to Pentecost. On this occasion, he intended to remain in Ephesus, to keep the feast there instead of at Jerusalem, and after that to continue his evangelistic journeys. Pentecost was clearly still observed every year.

The Apostle Paul, toward the end of his life, was the one who, under divine inspiration, wrote, “All scripture … is profitable … for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). Paul used the entire fifth chapter of 1 Corinthians to do just that, by expounding on the spring festivals that were being observed at the time. He corrected a glaring problem by pointing people to the purpose of the holy days.

Righteousness is synonymous with the commandments of God (Psalm 119:172). Why would an apostle spend so much time recording the observance of, and instruction in, the keeping of God’s holy days when addressing non-Jewish converts? Because they were commanded to be “an ordinance for ever” (Exodus 12:17).

God’s holy days require Christians not only to attend, but also to prepare their minds year-round for the wealth of instruction they receive at that time. Deuteronomy 14:23 commands that we save a special tithe throughout the year to fund our attendance at the Feast of Tabernacles convention, in order to learn how to better reverence our loving Creator God. That is how important God considers the holy days!

The Feast of Tabernacles in particular is the summary of God’s purpose. It portrays the worldwide establishment of God’s government, for which Christians are now preparing. It reminds us that God is not a respecter of persons, but that He has a master plan to call all people. The great fall harvest that this festival represents is our opportunity to teach mankind the truth of God. But how can we fulfill it if we don’t keep those days now? We can’t even understand our roles as teachers, let alone know what to teach.

Striking Down Refutations

The main rebuttal used by some to say the Sabbath and holy days are no longer to be observed is found in Colossians 2. Instead of proving that they were “done away,” the passage actually proves that a Gentile church at Colosse kept the holy days! To understand, we must read it in context.

Here are the key verses: “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ” (verses 16-17).

Paul does not say, “Do not keep holy days or Sabbaths,” though that is what many people read into the text. Instead, he warns them not to let a man judge them concerning the matters he mentions. If they were not to let any man judge them in these matters, who was supposed to judge?

The answer to that question is somewhat obscured by a word that was added by the translators of the King James Version, indicated by the italic type, in verse 17, which should read “but the body of Christ.” What Paul is actually saying in these two verses becomes clear if you separate out the clause Paul inserts between the first and last parts of this admonition: “Don’t let any man judge you … but let the Body of Christ judge you.”

Christ is the Head of that Body, which is the true Church (Colossians 1:18). Christ, as Head of that Church, and through His Church, will judge these matters. No one else should, especially not someone outside the Church!

Colossians 2:17 shows us that these days are a shadow—a picture in advance—of certain aspects of God’s plan of salvation. Each year, as God’s people observe these days, they understand more clearly His plan and how it is being carried out.

God anciently commanded the Sabbath and holy days to be kept forever, though He nowhere commanded observing the new moons. The new moons have been observed by some people at various times and in various ways, but nowhere in the Scriptures were they made days of rest.

The people at Colosse had not observed God’s holy days before becoming Christians, but instead had previously observed pagan festivals. After they started to observe these holy days, false religious teachers began to condemn them about how they kept them and what they did on those days. Following Christ’s example, Paul and the other true ministers showed them by their personal example and by the Scriptures how and when they should observe the holy days and Sabbath.

Just as in Colosse, the Gentile Christians of Galatia learned for the first time about the holy days of God through the apostles and the true Church. After embracing these days, which were ordained of God, they turned back to observe their old religious days, months, times and years and were judged for doing so by the body of Christ—through God’s apostle (Galatians 4:9-10).

This passage, that is also used by some to refute the keeping of God’s holy days, has nothing to do with observing God’s holy days, but rather with a group of converts who had fallen back into old pagan practices. God, in fact, condemned the observance of times—pagan practices like astrology, which are still popular today (Deuteronomy 18:10).

For Our Time Today … And Beyond!

The New Testament has so much to say about God’s holy days, and yet so many New Testament “Christians” fail to heed these inspired texts.

Nine books of the New Testament—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as well as Acts, 1 Corinthians, Colossians, 2 Peter and Jude—contain references to the observance of, or instructions about, God’s festivals. Galatians, as we’ve seen, condemns the keeping of pagan holidays instead. These books clearly show what days God’s early New Testament Church kept.

No mention is made of it keeping Christmas, Easter, May Day or April Fool’s. Only pagans observed such days, known by various names. Later the names of these pagan holidays were changed to appear Christian.

God, who later became Christ, was the one who originally commanded His holy days to be kept forever. In human flesh, Jesus set the example by keeping these same days. The apostles followed that example and taught all disciples to do the same.

Do you keep these days? If not, why not?

Consider this remarkable prophecy of the soon-coming Millennium: “And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles” (Zechariah 14:17-19).

The one feast in the Millennium which all will be required to attend in one place at first is the Feast of Tabernacles. “And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles” (verse 16). All nations will come to Jerusalem.

But Jerusalem is not now the place God has chosen. Christ said: “[T]he hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father” (John 4:21). God withdrew His name from that city, but He “shall choose Jerusalem again” (Zechariah 2:12) at the return of Jesus Christ.

During the Millennium, any man who defies God in the observance of these days will be castigated. If you understand the need to keep these days today, would you want to miss out on the tremendous blessings that observing them brings? Knowledge unapplied is of no value, and knowing about God’s commandments but failing to act on that knowledge is sin (James 4:17).

Observing God’s holy days opens our understanding to the wonderful plan God has for all mankind. What a shame if men miss out because they refuse to see God’s clear instructions in both the Old and New Testaments regarding His holy days—“a statute for ever in your generations” (Leviticus 23:41).

From the Archives: Royal Vision, September-October 2011