Most of the former followers of Herbert Armstrong are probably aware that we’re in the middle of the fall festival period. Some of the other formerArmstrongites such as Felix Taylor and James Pate whose blogs that I read have recently blogged about the recent Feast of Trumpets (also known as Rosh Hashanah). I must admit that I sometimes look back at the WCG Holy Days with a bit of nostalgia and have occasionally wondered if at least that part of Armstrongism that celebrated the Jewish Holy Days was perhaps not somewhat theologically relevant. Of course 2000 years of mainstream Christianity can’t be entirely wrong about ignoring these days, or could they?

Many theologians, especially those with a dispensational leaning, look at the Jewish festivals as having a double meaning. The spring festivals such as the Days of Unleavened Bread and Passover are deemed as a looking back at Christ’s First Coming and crucifixion. The fall festivals such as Trumpets, Atonement (Yom Kippur), and the Feast of Tabernacles are portrayed as a looking forward to Christ’s Second Coming and the Millennium. I would have to agree that it’s pretty obvious, at least to me, of the symbolic meanings that the Jewish Holy Days have for Christianity.

So why don’t all Christians observe these Holy Days?

Well, one of the easiest reasons that I can give is pretty simple. We aren’t Jews! One of the keys of Armstrongism was the premise of Anglo-Israelism. The idea that somehow a large portion of the people living in Great Britain and in North America were descended from the ten lost tribes of Israel was the glue that held all of the other parts of Armstrong’s theology together. It ain’t so! Debunking Anglo-Israelism isn’t the point of this post, so I’ll leave it at that, although I may visit that at another time. The point I’m trying to make is that if you read in Leviticus about the Hebrew Holy Days, God says that they are to be a “permanent statute for you and your generations forever.” He is addressing the Hebrews and their future generations, not the entire world. So unless you are Jewish or a convert to Judaism, observing these Holy Days never did apply to you.

However, whether you are of Hebrew descent or not, it is still not a mandate for Christians to observe the Jewish Holy Days. That is because Christ’s sacrifice removed the legal requirements of the Old Law. Colossians 2:14-17 makes it clear that we are no longer under the obligation of the law and with it the requirement to observe holy days. Paul tells the Colossians “don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the manner of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is the Messiah.” Paul also teaches against the error of legalism and the “weakness” that the churches of Galatia had fallen into by “observing special days, months, seasons and years” in Galatians 4:8-11. In fact, the Bible says that God despises the simple legalistic observance of the Holy days. In Isaiah 1:13 and Amos 5:21 there are some sharp words from God about observing the Feasts without having righteous intent. Focusing on God’s love is what Christianity is about, not legalistic observances.

So what’s wrong with a Christian who is fully under Jesus’ grace and only wants to commemorate these days because of their symbolic meanings? Nothing, I suppose. If you realize that God gave us this gift of salvation through Jesus Christ and that it is by grace alone that we are saved through faith and that there is absolutely nothing that you can do to earn it, then you are free to worship God on any day that you choose. It doesn’t matter whether you worship on Saturday, Sunday or Wednesday at 2:55 PM, as long as you do worship Him. I also suppose that it probably wouldn’t be at all improper to pause during these times of the year to look back on what Christ did for us as memorialized by the spring festivals and look forward to His return as is promised in the fall festivals. And if you have a little vacation time available, sure, go ahead and take a week off during Tabernacles and go somewhere nice and worship God for a whole week if you want to. Just be sure and worship Him every other day of the year as well.

I think that many of the former members of the WCG miss the times where everyone would time off from their jobs and lives and gather together somewhere away from home and work and school to worship God. Mainstream Christianity has times like that, too. They’re called retreats. I’m blessed to be going to one next weekend. Although it will coincide with the 2009 Tabernacle season, it has nothing to do with Tabernacles. It is simply a three day Christian Men’s retreat that I go to in the spring and in the fall. My wife will be going to her women’s retreat a couple of weeks later.

I suppose that while I’m at my retreat I may pause to think about the fact that Jesus will be returning one day to set up His kingdom, but I will also thank Him that I am no longer bound by the tenants of the old law that He came to fulfill. I also suppose that I may reflect on Zechariah 14:16 and look forward to the day that all nations will “go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to celebrate the Festival of Booths.” I suppose that some part of me does wish that mainstream Christianity focused a little more on these Feasts, but I am also grateful that this same mainstream Christianity focuses on salvation through God’s unlimited grace and not salvation through works.