On Feast Days Jed Wrote...

Introduction
Christians have celebrated a variety of feast days throughout the centuries. Some movements have celebrated no feast days, other than the weekly Lord’s Day - for example, the Puritans, and the Church of Scotland. Others have celebrated a large number of feast days throughout the year, following a liturgical calendar. Let each be convinced in his own mind, with charity towards others (Romans 14:5).
I am convinced that our church should follow a simple calendar that celebrates the great days of the faith, and those celebrations should be characterized by feasting. In this article I want to demonstrate why this seems right to me. Secondly, I will lay out which feast days we ought to celebrate. Lastly, I will describe what this feasting should look like.
In Step With the Old
Feasts have always been at the center of God’s working. After all, the first command of Scripture was to feast:
Genesis 2:16 “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden . . .”
History will end with a great, restored Eden, and a feast at the center:
Revelation 19:9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”
Those who are invited to that great feast are those who feast on Christ along the way:
John 6:53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
Thus we celebrate on the first Sunday of every month the Lord’s Table:
Matthew 26:26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
And this great feast of the Lord was prefigured by the feast of the Exodus and the Passover. After all, on the Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah wanted to discuss Jesus’ “exodus” (Luke 9:31), and on his cross, not one of his bones were broken (John 19:33):
Exodus 12:46 It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones. 47 All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. [speaking of the Passover]
Of course, before Christ, Israel was commanded to enjoy great feasts. The three Great Feasts (summarized in Exodus 23:14-17) were:
* The Passover (otherwise known as the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits) - Exodus 12:1-2. As was already mentioned, in this feast Israel was to remember the Exodus, how God passed over their sins, all by His grace, and delivered them from slavery, into His dominion.
* The Feast of Weeks (otherwise known as Pentecost or the Harvest Feast) - Leviticus 23:15-21; Deuteronomy 16:9-12. Celebrated 50 days after the Passover, this feast celebrated the wheat harvest in the spring.
* The Feast of Tabernacles (or the Feast of Booths and the Feast of Ingathering) - Leviticus 23:33-43; Deuteronomy 16:13-15. This feast remembered Israel’s 40-year trek through the wilderness, and more centrally, how God dwelt among them, with them, in His tabernacle, providing for and preserving them.
It is no coincidence that that these major feasts map over to the