AUDREY DICKEY MINISTRIES
Glory International Center
"A Center for God's Presence"
WHY CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE
GOD'S FEASTS
Dr. Audrey L. Dickey, Los Angeles, CA ©
God is restoring to His Church the things that have been lost or stolen. He is bringing us into the fullness of the experience He originally designed for us to have so we could walk with Him. Experience His blessings and move forward into our destiny on His timetable.
The New Covenant (New Testament) reveals what was concealed in the Old Covenant (Old Testament). In the book of Jeremiah 31:33 and in Hebrews 8:10, 12 it is written God would make a New Covenant with the house of Israel. This was fulfilled in the New Covenant by Yeshua HaMashiach (Hebrew) for Jesus the Messiah (The Anointed One). Christians are adopted into this family when they receive the Messiah as their Lord and Savior.
In Matthew 26:26-28 during the Passover Seder or better known to Christians as the “Last Supper” Jesus/Yeshua had communion with His disciples. During that meal once Jesus had given thanks, blessed and broken the bread He told them to “take, eat; this is My body.” The bread represented His body, then “He took a cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, Drink of it, all of you; For this is My blood of the new covenant, which [ratifies the agreement and] is being poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
Furthermore, the Word/Bible quotes Jesus as saying, “Do not think that I have come to do away with or undo the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to do away with or undo but to complete and fulfill them…Whoever then breaks or does away with or relaxes one of the least [important] of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least [important] in the kingdom of heaven, but he who practices them and teaches others to do so shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven,” Matthew 5:17-19.
The Law, which are instructions, were fulfilled in the New Covenant. In doing so, the sacrificial killing of animals, the moral and ceremonial laws were all fulfilled. However, the sacrificial killing of animals is not practiced by those who know and understand it is no longer required since the final Sacrifice was received by Father God.
The Lord fulfilled the Sacrificial Law when He Himself went to the cross as the Passover Lamb of God. The Word of God says, “Therefore, purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us,” I Cor. 5:7 NKJV.
The Moral Law expressed in the commandments were fulfilled with the Greatest Commandment. Where Jesus said, '"You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. "And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets,” Matthew 22:37-40 NKJV. You can also see John 13:34-35.
As a result, if we follow the instructions in the Greatest Commandment and practice it, we will have fulfilled all of the commandments throughout the Word including those in the book of Exodus chapter twenty. In practicing it, it is the same as walking in the fullness of what Jesus said. Furthermore, it means that the Moral Law is for today.
The Ceremonial Law encompasses God’s Feasts. Feasts are appointed times, days to meet with our heavenly Father allowing Him access which draws us closer to Him and thereby enabling us to accomplish specific things in our lives! These feasts occur at appointed times and seasons, a series of repeated cycles God put in the earth for mankind which were designed to align our lives with God’s timing. When we honor God by meeting with Him the strategies of the enemy are broken. And in doing so this is one way we are equipped to move forward into our destiny. God put appointed times and seasons in the earth and no one has the authority to change them, Dan. 2:21; Acts 1:7; 2 Tim. 4:2-4.
Seven Feasts given by the Lord have been recognized and observed by millions of Jewish people for centuries. Other feasts have been added by tradition or leadership. Because of the established covenant the feasts set in place by God have an open window for benefits when they are observed. In addition, according to God’s Word on God’s Biblical Hebraic calendar there are three feasts which must be observed by all whether they are of Jewish descent or a non-Jewish person that is a Believer/Christian.
The three main Feasts are: (1) Passover, in Hebrew Pesach; (2) Pentecost, in Hebrew Shavuot; and the (3) Feast of Tabernacles, in Hebrew Sukkot. These feasts have been set apart and are holy and they are to be observed every year by those who claim the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as their God. His name YHWH, is the English rendering of the Tetragrammaton which is Yahweh or Jehovah. (Click here to see "God's Way and Knowing the King" for additional information regarding our Lord and Savior.)
Why is it important for “true” Christians to observe the three main feasts? I say true Christians because many “religious” people call themselves Christians who have not received Jesus/Yeshua as their Lord and Savior and they are really not followers of His ways, teachings or instructions. Christianity is about having a Relationship with God Almighty not about religion.
One important reason Christians should celebrate the Feasts of God is because they are His. They are Biblical Feasts for those who receive His Word and desire to meet with Him on His appointed days. The whole cycle of feasts is designed to bring you into a fresh experience of God’s Glory every year. The feasts did not begin under the Law because God established a detailed weekly cycle called Sabbath on His calendar at the foundation of creation in Genesis One when He said take a day to rest from your weekly labors and enjoy His blessings. Why is that and the other appointed feasts important - because they draw you closer to God. They are NOT legalistic rituals and a person will not go into outer darkness for not observing an appointed time. The Feasts of God are designed to meet with Him, to keep you in His timing and to bring blessings into one’s life.
Gentiles who will observe God's feasts were also blessed. Jesus and the apostles all celebrated God’s feasts. All those who learn to flow in God’s yearly cycle will begin to gain a whole new sensitivity to the timing of Holy Spirit. This will cause you to begin to experience a new level of God’s blessings. The early church celebrated the feasts for over three hundred (300) years before the Dark Ages and for the last twenty years or so God has been restoring them back to His church.
Therefore, as Christian Believers “His Church” we were grafted into His family (Eph.1:5 and 2:11-13; 2 Cor. 5:17; and Gal. 3:24-25) and have inherited the Abrahamic Covenant (the blessings of Abraham). From the foundation this was part of God’s plan, in Genesis 22:17-18 the Amplified Bible says, “In blessing I will bless you and in multiplying I will multiply your descendants like stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore. And your Seed (Heir) will possess the gate of His enemies. And in your Seed [Christ] shall all the nations of the earth be blessed and [by Him] bless themselves, because you have heard and obeyed My voice.” As a result of this we are enjoying the restoration of a valuable inheritance that was stolen from the church. (See an explanation below).
Even though Christianity was birthed out of Judaism which is a Jewish religion, once a Believer, it should be noted Christianity is not a “Religion” but a “Relationship” a choice an individual makes to receive a way of life that brings one into a relationship with God Almighty, the Messiah, the Anointed One. Christianity crosses all denominational lines, race, creed, ethnic group, color, culture, status or former religion because a Christian has become a new creature in Christ/Messiah through Salvation. We are not changed from our race or even culture because we embrace what God did in sending His Son. However, we are changed in that we received His love and sacrifice that fulfills us and most of all gives us eternal life. After receiving Jesus/Yeshua as Lord and Savior it is our desire to honor His instructions from His Word the Holy Bible also referred to the Torah; Tanakh; Old Testament and New Testament.
The first four of the seven Feasts given by God have literally been fulfilled literally by Jesus the Christ (Yeshua HaMashiach):
(1) Passover (aka Pesach in Hebrew; I Cor. 5:7; John 1:29; Lev. 23:5; Exo 23:14)
(2) Unleavened Bread (I Cor. 5:6-8; John 6:32-35; Lev. 23:6; Exo. 23:15)
(3) Firstfruits (I Cor. 15:12-20; Lev. 23:10; Exo. 23:16)
(4) Pentecost (aka Shavuot; Harvest or Weeks; Acts 1:8-9; Lev. 23:16; Exo. 23:16)
(5) Trumpets (aka Rosh Hashanah; Yom Trooah; Lev. 23:24-25)
(6) Day of Atonement (aka Yom Kippur; Lev. 23:27-28; Lev. 16 & 17)
(7) Tabernacles (aka Sukkot or Feast of Ingathering [Booths]; Lev. 23:34-42; Exo. 23:16)
The Five Tabernacles of God are as follows:
1. The Tabernacle of Moses, Exodus 40:33-35.
2. The Tabernacle of David, Psalm 63:2
3. The Tabernacle of Jesus, John 1:14
4. The Eternal Tabernacle, Rev. 21:3-4; Isaiah 4:5
5. The Church is God’s Tabernacle, Acts 15:16-17
An Explanation of Why God’s Feasts Have Not Been Celebrated by Most Christians Until Now:
During the season of the early church which consisted of 90 to 100% of Jewish Believers who were followers of The Messiah experienced great power with demonstrations of miracles through signs and wonders. The early church which met in houses were spreading rapidly, well into thousands of people attending them and honoring God’s feasts, praying, giving, fellowshipping, teaching, ministering to one another and seeing signs and wonders because the presence of God was with them.
Then around 325 A.D. the Emperor Constantine of the Imperial Roman Empire or government decided after having a vision that he thought was from God, even though he himself was a pagan and worshipped false gods, decided to make it a law that everyone would become a Christian. He put this into law and if anyone opposed it they were to be killed. He proceeded to stop all of the house church meetings and bring everyone into buildings. He instructed the priests on what to tell the people. Tithing was forbidden, celebrating God’s Feasts were removed, the presence of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues (I Cor. 14; Acts 2:4) was forbidden. Reading, teaching and ministering to one another was stopped. All instruction had to come from a few set-in leadership placed by Constantine.
Since the pagans became Christians against their will they refused to give up their worship to their idols so these false gods were incorporated into what we know today as the Catholic Church where the names of these idols were changed as they continued to worship their gods in the form of statues with names that began with the title of saint… He had the Roman priests teach that God was done with the Jews and the Christians replaced them. Today this is referred to as “Replacement Theology” which is a lie that states the Biblical promises are no longer for the Jew but are given to the church. It is addressed in the book of Romans 11:11 NIV, “Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. Furthermore, God has Promised Israel would return and it has (Ezek.11:14-20).
In this same chapter Apostle Paul addresses the Gentiles in case they decide to boast about having salvation given to them and try to replace the Jew. “Do not boast over the branches and pride yourself at their expense. If you do boast and feel superior, remember it is not you that support the root, but the root [that supports] you. You will say then, Branches were broken (pruned) off so that I might be grafted in! That is true. But they were broken (pruned) off because of their unbelief (their lack of real faith), and you are established through faith [because you do believe]. So do not become proud and conceited, but rather stand in awe and be reverently afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches [because of unbelief], neither will He spare you [if you are guilty of the same offense],” Romans 11:18-21 Amplified Bible.
“And even those others [the fallen branches, Jews], if they do not persist in [clinging to] their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you have been cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and against nature grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much easier will it be to graft these natural [branches] back on [the original parent stock of] their own olive tree,” (Romans 11:23-24 Amplified Bible).
“For He is [Himself] our peace (our bond of unity and harmony). He has made us both [Jew and Gentile] one [body], and has broken down (destroyed, abolished) the hostile dividing wall between us, by abolishing in His [own crucified] flesh the enmity [caused by] the law with its decrees and ordinances [which He annulled]; that He from the two might create in Him one new man [one new quality of humanity out of the two] so making peace. And [He designed] to reconcile to God both [Jew and Gentile, united] in a single body by means of His cross, thereby killing the mutual enmity and bringing the feud to an end,” Ephesians 2:14-16 Amplified Bible.
Constantine also changed the Biblical calendar to the Gregorian calendar (January to December) which the Western cultures use to this day.Since God is the only One that can set the times and seasons God continued with the calendar that He set in place. The Jewish people also continued with God’s calendar and His Feasts. They were chosen by God to be a holy nation of people – set apart and special. They witness to the world that there is a God in Heaven for the mere fact that no empire, however great, has been able to completely destroy or annihilate them because of God’s love and purpose for them. He has protected them and gives them great favor and divine wisdom to produce and achieve in all areas even though they are small in number. Because they are small in comparison to other larger nations they are considered a great nation because of what God has done for them as many of them have chosen to trust and honor Him and His Holy Scriptures.
The Lord still has a great plan for Israel and Jerusalem which belongs to them, Ezek. 11:14-20. Christians everywhere need to bless the children of Israel and pray for the peace of Jerusalem to honor God and what He has done for them and all those who receive Him, Psalm 122:6. The Jew is responsible for giving us the Bible, many inventions, most of the electronics industry, the medical industry and even the military weapons that help this nation and the entire world. But most of all for giving us a Savior for our sakes, Who Himself came as a Jew, died (laid His life down), and in three days rose from the grave as the Anointed King of the Jews, the Messiah, Christ the Anointed One. He will come again but this time as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah!
So, the question still remains: “has God totally rejected and disowned His people? Of course not! ... No, God has not rejected and disowned His people [whose destiny] He had marked out and appointed and foreknown from the beginning…” Romans 11:1-2 Amplified Bible. “So too at the present time there is a remnant (a small believing minority), selected (chosen) by grace (by God’s unmerited favor and graciousness),” Romans 11:5.
So, what is to become of the majority that has not received Christ? “So I ask, Have they stumbled so as to fall [to their utter spiritual ruin, irretrievably]? By no means! ...” (Romans 11:11). For it is written in Romans 11:25-28 Amplified Bible, “Lest you be self-opinionated (wise in your own conceits), I do not want you to miss this hidden truth and mystery, brethren: a hardening (insensibility) has (temporarily befallen a part of Israel [to last] until the full number of the ingathering of the Gentiles has come in, and so all Israel will be saved. As it is written, The Deliverer will come from Zion… they are still the beloved (dear to Him) for the sake of their forefathers.
If you would like a Biblical/Hebraic Calendar that lists all of God’s Feasts as well as some of the Gregorian (Western) Holidays and more please visit www.elijahshopper.com or call 866-354-5245 (USA) or 541-926-3250 (Outside of USA).
I Corinthians 9:11-14; instructs the people to bring an offering to financially support ministries that are feeding them spiritually. Exodus 23:15 and Deut.16:16 remind us not to come before the Lord empty-handed during His feasts. The Lord builds His Kingdom with the finances of His people. God has ordained it this way. Remember, giving during the Feasts, God’s holy appointed times when portals/windows are open will cause your seed to work toward manifesting your future harvest of blessings.
If you would like to give into the ongoing work of this ministry by making a secure donation (Click Here) Thank You.
(To Return To The Top Click Here)
In Messiah’s Love,
Audrey L. Dickey, Ph.D.
Christian Love Fellowship Church, Inc.