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THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE FEASTS OF THE JEWS AND THE SEVENTH DAY SABBATH OF THE LORD
There are some Christians who believe there is no difference between
the feast holy days of the Jews and the weekly seventh day Sabbath of the Lord, and they stay clear of both. There are also others who believe there is no difference and yet KEEP both.
But in this page, we will show you there IS a difference between the feast holy days, and the seventh day Sabbath of the Lord our God.
You can read about the various feasts and holy days in Leviticus 23 and Numbers 28-29. Now the first thing to notice about the feasts, is that they were to be observed in the land which God would give unto the Israelites. Regarding the Passover, God said the following:
Exodus 12:25 ...'And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the Lord will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service.'
Now the Passover, according to Numbers 9 was observed in the wilderness, albeit a whole year after the exodus from Egypt. But when we look at some of the other feasts, we can see that they could not be observed until the Israelites entered the promised land 40 years later, look:
Leviticus 23:10 ... [FIRSTFRUITS] 'Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest.'
Leviticus 23:15 ... [PENTECOST] 'And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete.'
Do you see that these feasts are based on the harvest of crops? This shows that the Israelites would not have begun keeping these feasts until they settled in the promised land. And if these feasts could not be observed until the Israelites settled in Canaan, then the 'holy days' which were connected with these feasts could not be observed until then also. Whereas the seventh day weekly Sabbath doesn't depend on any specific circumstances. It is simply a day blessed and sanctified by God at the end of creation week, being made for ALL mankind (Mark 2:27) and was binding upon all BEFORE the ten commandments were confirmed, as Exodus 16 confirms:
Exodus 16:4,25,26,29,30 ...'Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no ... And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the Lord: to day ye shall not find it in the field. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none ... See, for that the Lord hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day.'
This is before the confirmation of the ten commandments and statutes at Sinai, showing the seventh day Sabbath to already be instituted and NOT dependent upon where the Israelites were. Whereas the feasts DID depend on where the Israelites were. And we can confirm this even more. Take a look at the following Bible verses:
Hosea 2:11 ...'I will also cause all her mirth TO CEASE, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.'
Isaiah 1,13,14 ...'The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem ... Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.'
These prophecies were given before the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and in part were fulfilled when Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem and destroyed it, leading captive God's people. What did God prophesy? That the feast days, holy days, new moons, would all CEASE. This happened when Jerusalem was destroyed, and these feast days and annual sabbaths stopped during the captivity. Jeremiah spoke of this in Lamentations:
Lamentations 1:7, 2:5-6 ...'Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none did help her: the adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths ... The Lord was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation. And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the Lord hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.'
Do you see? Did the weekly seventh day Sabbath, instituted before sin at creation cease at the capture of Jerusalem? No, which you will see from Nehemiah below. But the other holy days did. We can see in the book of Jeremiah that it was partly because of the desecration of the weekly Sabbath, that the Lord allowed Babylon to capture and destroy Jerusalem:
Jeremiah 17:27 ...'But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.'
When the Israelites were captured and led captive to Babylon and Jerusalem destroyed, the holy days ceased to be observed, just as Hosea prophesied. Now we believe an even greater fulfillment to this prophecy for the 'ceasing' of the feasts and holy days was at the cross, when Christ became the reality of these 'shadows' as Paul calls them. But the point to make is, the keeping of these feasts and holy days was dependent on Israel being in their own land. Whereas the weekly seventh day Sabbath had no such restrictions. During the rebuilding of Jerusalem, we can even see that Nehemiah warned the people concerning the seventh day Sabbath:
Nehemiah 13:15-19 ...'In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals. There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, what evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day? Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath. And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day.'
Do you see? This is during the rebuilding of Jerusalem BEFORE any of the feasts and holy days began to be observed again. And yet we can clearly see that the weekly seventh day Sabbath of the 4th commandment is STILL BINDING and was to be observed. Also, did you notice what the feasts and holy days in Hosea and Isaiah were known as, compared to what God calls the weekly seventh day Sabbath? Take a look:
FEASTS AND HOLY DAYS (Sabbaths):
"HER feast days, HER new moons, HER sabbaths." (Hosea 2:11)
"YOUR new moons, YOUR appointed feasts." (Isaiah 1:13-14)
"HER sabbaths." (Lamentations 1:7)
"Feast OF THE JEWS." (John 5:1)
"the passover, A FEAST OF THE JEWS." (John 6:4)
THE WEEKLY SEVENTH DAY SABBATH:
"the sabbath OF THE LORD THY GOD." (Exodus 20:10)
"THY [God's] Holy Sabbath." (Nehemiah 9:14)
"MY holy day." (Isaiah 58:13)
"MY Sabbaths." (Isaiah 56:4)
"THE LORD's day." (Revelation 1:10)
Do you see the difference? The feasts and holy days connected with the feasts were called YOUR (the Jews) days. Whereas the weekly seventh day Sabbath was called MY (Jehovah's) day. The seventh day Sabbath was the day that God set aside at the end of creation week, in which He rested and blessed for ALL mankind, as there were no such thing as a 'Jew' at creation. Whereas the feast days and holy days connected to the feasts were instituted specifically for the Jews in THEIR OWN land, and were 'shadows' that pointed to Christ. Which is why the apostle Paul in Colossians 2 said that we are not to judge anyone who does or doesn't keep them, as they are not binding like the 4th commandment. Yes, there are rich lessons to learn from the feasts for our Christian experience, which is why God instituted them for the Israelites after they were released from Egypt. Lessons to depend upon God for all things and to serve Him in love and obedience for what He has done for us. But now we have the life of Christ, the shadows have met the substance and there is no longer need for the shadows. We have all the lesson book we need in Christ Jesus for true Christian living.
But regarding the Sabbath of the 4th commandment, Christ Himself, when prophesying of the coming final destruction of Jerusalem in AD70, told His followers (CHRISTIANS, not literal Jews of the flesh), that they should pray their escape from Jerusalem should not fall on the Sabbath day!
Matthew 24:20 ...'But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day.'
So we can see from this evidence that the weekly Sabbath of the 4th commandment is separate from the sabbaths of the feast days. The one was instituted at creation before sin and was to be an eternal institution for the whole world to keep, which is why Isaiah 66:23 says we will be keeping it on the new earth for eternity. While the other holy days (sabbaths) and feasts were instituted because of sin and had a more local, temporary nature for the Jews before Christ, which is why Paul calls them 'shadows' that pointed to a greater reality. Thus we can see that those who lump the weekly Sabbath in with the feast days, staying away from both, are wrong to do so, as the Sabbath of the 4th commandment is still binding and is a sin to not keep it. Those who lump them in together and KEEP both, fine, but as Paul said, do not judge others who do not keep the feast days, as they were shadows of things to come. Whereas the 7th day Sabbath cannot be a shadow, being instituted before sin entered the world.
We have many more pages on the Sabbath, including the following:
THE SABBATH IS A SIGN BETWEEN GOD AND ISRAEL - BUT WHO IS ISRAEL TODAY?