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Feast Days
in Adventism
Erstwhile
Shadows or New Light?

By Raymond
Obomsawin
July, 2004
(Author’s biblical quotes
NKJV)

Our
Challenge & Opportunity to Reform

As a
lifetime member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church I perceive and concede
that my beloved Church has made serious compromises with the fallen world
system. It is in distress and sadness that I note this. For example, the
marvelous health message intended to demonstrate God’s desire to make man
whole, and the impressive powers of healing that are harnessed as we
understandingly obey the Creator’s natural laws, has been largely
supplanted by: the sorcery * (see end note on drugs as sorcery) of
poisonous drugging; vaccines which are implicated in impairing the
precious brain-nerve complex and immune systems of our children;
unwarranted radiation poisoning; and much unnecessary surgery and
associated mortality.

Our
educational institutions intended of God to be potent centers of
missionary training in the inculcation of life giving truths and light
distinctive from the world system, have instead considerably emulated and
compromised with that very system in order to secure and retain
accreditation status, and acquire broader public acceptance. Problems such
as rationalized moderate drinking and escalating divorce now plague our
Church. In a desperate attempt to halt the massive hemorrhaging of young
SDA believers that are being seduced by the world, the world’s drug
culture music is being increasingly brought into the sacred precincts of
our churches and camp meetings.

God’
clear and inspired counsels that have served as a bedrock in making this
Church a prophetically identified and coherent world movement are still
verbally acknowledged by Church leaders, educators and most members as the
measuring rod of our lives and of our mission.  However, for far too
many of us the unpalatable and disagreeable portions of God’s counsel -
whether biblical or Spirit of Prophecy - are tossed aside in our daily
lives and professional/institutional practices, as if inspired counsel is
now largely irrelevant and of little value in our age of unparalleled
innovation and sophistication. As we give pious lip service to the truth,
our insubordination and the shameless belying of our prophetically
demarcated mission tends to be veiled. Indeed, our compromises with the
world have led us down the long road of the delayed advent, thus
prolonging the great misery that is in our world. It is as clear as the
day: “We must follow the directions given through the Spirit of
Prophecy. We must love and obey the truth for this time. This will save us
from accepting strong delusions… If we disregard them, what excuse can we
offer?” Testimonies Vol. 8, pp. 296-298

As a
further point, God’s special messenger to the Remnant has given us fair
warning and promise:

If in
defiance of God’s arrangements the world be allowed to influence our
decisions or our action, the purpose of God is defeated. However specious
the pretext, if the Church waver here, there is written against her in the
books of heaven a betrayal of the most sacred trusts, and treachery to the
kingdom of Christ. The Church is firmly and decidedly to hold her
principles before the whole heavenly universe and the kingdoms of the
world; [this] steadfast fidelity in maintaining the honor…of God will
attract the notice and admiration of even the world.
Testimonies to Ministers, p. 17.

This long
needed return to fidelity remains as our greatest challenge and most
pressing opportunity.

A Proposed Solution &
Unanswered Questions

The purpose
of this paper is not to address the sad failings of ourselves and of our
Church, which have kept us Adventists wandering and dying in this sinful
wilderness for much longer than the 40 years of ancient Israel. (Despite
this protracted delay, many who’ve died and will yet die in the message
will be saved and rise in either the special, or the first resurrections.)
Instead it will focus on what is today being proposed by some members and
even a few thought leaders in our Church as the panacea that will
effectively bring us back into God’s special favor as His chosen people,
and thus hasten our Lord’s glorious return.

It is
postulated by some inter alia that an outright rejection in practice by
the Seventh Day Adventist Church of the Feast Days embodied in the
ceremonial law system as given through Moses, poses a primary act of
insubordination which - alongside the other serous compromises of the
Church - have brought down upon contemporary Adventism God’s frown and
disfavor. Consequently, it is implied that an effectual and widespread
reform in this one area of disobedience, will in turn serve as a primary
catalyst to usher in the long needed reforms in all other areas.

Logically a
few questions must be posed here. Did the practice of these ceremonial
feasts and associated rites serve as a potent force to ensure that
theocratic Israel and in turn kingly governed Judah and Israel would not
engage in compromises with and accommodation of the pagan practices that
surrounded them as a people? Anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of
Old Testament history knows very well that generally such was not the
case. And when the King of glory walked upon the pathways of Palestine
engaged on His mission of mercy to fallen humanity, did the assiduous
practice of the Feast Day ceremonies ensure that the church of Israel
embraced and honored her Messiah? We all know very well what happened to
the divine-human Son of God.

This leads
us to pose a set of basic thought questions seeking an understanding on
the role that the prospective restitution of Feast Day ceremonies could
play in ensuring or actualizing the following needed reforms in
Adventism:

ü
How will it actualize the long delayed
reformation in our medical and educational systems?

ü
How will it expel the relentless beat of rock
music from many of our churches and camp meetings?

ü
How will it reverse the all too common use of
flesh foods, and other critical violations of the health message,
including the use of fermented wines by “liberated” Adventists?

ü
How will it heal our church of selfishness,
the loss of dress standards and obsessive materialism?

ü
How will it free us from the growing fixation
with pleasure-seeking, and the demands for unbroken entertainment that now
dominate our lives by day and by night?

ü
How will it eliminate the break up of homes
and restore the lives broken thereby?

ü
How will it serve to accelerate and expand the
finishing of the Great Commission and thus hasten Christ’s return?

Relative
to these key areas of concern in our Church, I don’t see any logic or
reasonable basis to conclude that a widespread restoration of Feast Days
among our people is the appropriate and essential remedy that God calls
for.  Alternatively, I do believe the answer lies in a simple and
humble acceptance of the divine prognosis and prescription as embodied in
the message to Laodicea (Rev. 3:14-18), viz. our willing submission and
surrender to God’s sovereign Spirit and the particulars of His expressed
will. We are aptly warned “It is human pride and self-confidence,
mingled with human depravity, that has enfeebled the churches… All
resistance of God, all departures from virtue and truth, pervert the faith
as well as the morals, while conformity to God’s revealed will always
increases faith and knowledge.” Review & Herald Vol. 2 243-244
09/04/1888.

All
ceremony aside, the highest form of worship is a life actuated by the
singular purpose of fully honoring and obeying the God whom we claim to
serve. This must encompass a daily heartfelt confession and total
forsaking of worldly compromises by the laity, educators and leaders of
our Church. It will also necessitate an intelligent seeking for and
integration of His super-ordinate will, principles and methods in every
dimension of our personal lives, and in the corporate service of our
Church institutions. This and this alone will permit our longsuffering
Creator to fully shower the long delayed blessing of the latter rain upon
His Remnant Church. Only then can we be empowered and enabled - fair as
the moon, clear as the sun and awesome as an army with banners - to
vanquish the kingdom of darkness and in the unwonted power of the Loud Cry
finally finish our Master’s work on this sad and sick earth. Indeed, we
have this blessed assurance “If the church will put on the robe of
Christ's righteousness, withdrawing from all allegiance with the world,
there is before her the dawn of a bright and glorious day. God's promise
to her will stand fast forever. He will make her an eternal excellency, a
joy of many generations.”  Acts of the Apostles p.
601

The Argument of Early
Christian Observance

A few select texts are
employed by Feast Day proponents to make a case for New Testament
Christian observance of these rituals. However, in the entire New
Testament post-Gospel record there is only one explicit reference found in
Acts 18:21, to a Christian (the apostle Paul) expressing his intent to
“keep” a Feast Day. This statement was made to a group of still
unconverted Jews in their synagogue at Ephesus. It is found in Syrian or
Majority Text based translations, such as the KJV and NKJV, but is missing
in NU based versions such as the NIV. We need to bear in mind Paul’s
avowed strategy to win both Jews and Gentiles. He asserts “…to the Jews
I became a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those under the law, as under
the law, that I might win those under the law, to those who are without
the law [Gentiles], as without the law…I have become all things to all
men, that I might by all means save some.”  I Cor.
9:19-22  This portrays his stratagem to convert Jews and Gentiles
by openly fitting into their respective culture systems, without denying
Christ in the process.

He knew of the impending destruction
of Jerusalem, the temple, and the soon termination of the Jewish ritual
system. Time was swiftly running out for the Jews, and it was not
unreasonable that he (and other Jewish Christians looking for practical
evangelistic opportunities) would seek to be present at the festivals as
an opportunity to maximize their prospective audience. For example, Acts 20:16 speaks of Paul
being in a hurry to be at Jerusalem at the time of Pentecost.
Additionally, the
following passage intimates that Paul knew that because the full meaning
of the ancient rites were now made clear by the Gospel, he could take
advantage of such events as an ideal platform to proclaim Christ’s great
antitypical sacrifice and high priestly ministry.

Paul had prided himself upon his
Pharisaical strictness; but after the revelation of Christ to him on the
road to Damascus the mission of the Saviour and his own work in the
conversion of the Gentiles were plain to his mind, and he fully
comprehended the difference between a living faith and a dead formalism.
Paul still claimed to be one of the children of Abraham, and kept the Ten
Commandments in letter and in spirit as faithfully as he had ever done
before his conversion to Christianity. But he knew that the typical
ceremonies must soon altogether cease, since that which they had shadowed
forth had come to pass, and the light of the gospel was
shedding its glory upon the Jewish religion, giving a new significance
to its ancient rites. Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. 3 p.
371

Christian Elders at Jerusalem spoke to
Paul informing him that Jewish converts “zealous” to defend the
law  “…have been informed about you, that you teach all the Jews
who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to
circumcise their children, nor to walk according to the customs.”
Acts 21:21 A little further in the narrative in
verse 28 we find Jews from Asia uniformly accusing Paul of teaching
“all men everywhere” things that are opposed to both the law and
the temple. We are certain that he never questioned the immutable
authority of the Decalogue, so they are obviously referring to the law of
Moses. Since the law transmitted by Moses actually refers to three
distinct and separate areas i.e. moral civil conduct, natural law
prescription, and typical ceremonies it must have been the latter that he
was challenging. When given the clear linkage made by his accusers of his
opposing the temple and its services, this is assuredly the only
reasonable conclusion.

Much later upon his arrival in Rome
“Paul called the leaders of the Jews together” and he claimed to
have committed nothing against the “customs of our fathers, yet was I
delivered as a prisoner from

Jerusalem into the hands of the
Romans…. [and]
because of the hope of Israel I am bound with this
chain.” Acts 28:17
& 20. In reference to his widespread work of exalting the Christ
who is both the foundation and fulfillment of the ceremonial and typical
services, Paul could affirm with all good conscience that he was not
advocating a violation of the Mosaic “customs”, but rather proclaiming
their full and glorious realization.

I would like to conclude this section
with a relevant quote from John Wesley:

The ritual or ceremonial law, delivered
by Moses to the children of Israel, containing all the injunctions and
ordinances which related to the old sacrifices and services of the temple,
our Lord did indeed come to destroy… But the moral law contained in the
Ten Commandments, and enforced by the prophets, He did not take away. To
this bear all the apostles witness, not only Barnabas and Paul, who
vehemently withstood those [Jewish believers] who taught that Christians
ought 'to keep the law of Moses' (Acts 15: 5). Not only St. Peter,
who termed the insisting on this, on the observance of the ritual law, a
“tempting of God”, and “putting a yoke upon the neck of the disciples,
which neither our fathers”, said he, “nor we were able to bear” (verse
10). But “all the apostles, elders, and brethren, being assembled with
one accord”, declared that to command them to keep this law, was to
subvert their souls; and that “it seemed good to the Holy Ghost” and to
them “to lay no such burden upon them” (verse 28). This
“handwriting of ordinances” our Lord did “blot out”, take away, and nail
to His cross. -  Sermons on Several Occasions, Volume 1, Sermon
25

The Argument of the Sabbath

One key proponent of the Feast Days has
sought to portray the memorial Sabbath instituted at the Creation as an
integral part of the ceremonial ritual system. (see: Apologia, Sabbath Conference Special Vol. 2, No.
1) This supposition is primarily derived
from the fact that the weekly Sabbath is mentioned in the
3rd verse of Leviticus 23 which chapter
subsequently delineates the annual typical feast day observances.  In
fact this view is promulgated in order to convince Adventists that they
can’t with consistency honor God’s weekly Sabbath, while dishonoring or
disregarding the Feast Day typical or shadow sabbaths. It bears noting that the ceremonial
sabbaths were fixed days in the annual Jewish calendar, and occurred on
the various days of the week, even as modern holidays do in this era. In
the holy scriptures God differentiates very clearly between the Sabbath He
blessed and sanctified at the Creation, and the complex of typical
sabbaths.  (For a complete exegetical overview of this and related
issues, please refer to Annex II – Ch 6 excerpt from The True
Sabbath By: R. Cottrel)

On page 9 of their publication,
the same proponents state “The Colossians text
(2:14-17) doesn’t show the abrogation of the
Sabbath; rather it proves that the Sabbath was being observed (with the
holy days and new moons)!”  The writer is so determined to
place the creation Sabbath into the feast days (as a means of legitimizing
them) that he totally confuses Paul’s point in this passage, by
erroneously indicating that the apostle is identifying the weekly sabbath
as a “shadow” and not the ritual Sabbaths of the ceremonial system.
Please excuse my crude language, but this is total unbiblical claptrap. It
is indeed accurate to say that the creation Sabbath was being observed by
all Jews (whether Christian or not) as well as the Gentile Christians.
However, this reference clearly refers to the typical shadow sabbaths,
festivals and new moons that were still being assiduously observed by
unconverted Jews, who were using the Christian rejection of these
festivals as a basis for judgment against Christians and the rejection of
Christianity. Additionally, there were apparently some Jewish converts who
were still clinging on to these ceremonies, including the need for
circumcision, and who were being judgmental toward those who had either
abandoned them (Jewish believers) or failed to adopt them (Gentile
believers).

With this background in mind Paul’s
letter points out that through the gospel “you were also circumcised…by
the circumcision of Christ… [who] has wiped out the handwriting of
requirements that was against us…and He has taken it our of the way,
having nailed it to the cross… So let no man judge you in food or in
drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a
shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” Excerpted
from Colossians 2: 11-17.  This unfair judgmentalism that Paul
addresses, obviously relates to accusations of omission and not
commission. Furthermore, in Ephesians 2:15 the apostle Paul reaffirms his point
that Christ “abolished…the law of commandments [written by
Moses hand] contained in ordinances [ceremonies and
rituals].”

When we really want to believe something
it is very easy to self-deceptively read into a reference more than what
is intended by the writer. As a rule, unfounded assumptions precipitate
poor exegesis.

Annual Feast Days
Established on the Fourth day of Creation?

It is contended by feast day advocates that the
Hebrew word “moed” or “mow’ed” translated “seasons” in the Genesis 1:14
(KJV) account of the creation of earth’s solar system, definitively refers
to the establishment of the “holy days” or festivals, and thus the
festival calendar. This Hebrew word is actually employed 213 times in the
entire Old Testament. It means (in general terms) an appointed time and/or
place. In the authorized King James version of the Old Testament it is
translated into the following English words the number of times
indicated:

“congregation” 150

“feast” 23

“seasons” 13

“appointed” 12

“assembly” 4

“solemnity” 4

“solemn” 2

“days” 1

“sign” 1

“synagogues” 1

Based on a challengeable presupposition that there
can be only one meaning for a Hebrew word, the position is taken that “the
festival calendar was in place before sin… [and] will be in place after
sin”. To the contrary, it is apparent that to affirm that this Hebrew term
must always and only mean “feast” or “festival” is both indefensible
and manifestly absurd. To ascertain a particular meaning for this word’s
usage in the holy scriptures, it is vital to take into account the full
context.  There was only one time related statute designed and
established by God at the creation to be observed by humanity for
eternity. The weekly memorial Sabbath law was pronounced in the
clearest terms by the Creator in Genesis 2: 2-3. As for the annual feast
days, the Creation record is understandably silent, and furthermore there
is no Biblical or Spirit of Prophecy record of the observance of any of
these festivities in either the antediluvian period of earth’s history, or
in the time period preceding Sinai.

Furthermore, the
question must be posed, how could the annual festivals be designed for a
perfect and unfallen world? The formation of our planet and its solar
system’s heavenly bodies were conceived as part of a sinless creation that
neither presupposed nor anticipated the existence of sin.  Since the festivals were typical ceremonies symbolic
of various elements and phases of the plan of redemption, their
establishment were clearly post-sin and not pre-sin. In
retrospection, it is also obvious that there were no baking ovens under
the bushes in Eden, for uncooked tree, bush and vine plucked foods
composed God’s original design for the human dietary. The cooking of foods
- including the baking and frying of bread as we know it in human history
- were in consequence of sin. How could a feast of  “unleavened
bread” be celebrated in a perfect and unfallen paradise?

Additionally, the annual festivals associated with the harvest and
ingathering of food would make no sense in an unfallen world. In the
perfect creation, throughout the solar year there was a perfect
spring-like climate from pole to pole, consequently contrasting seasonal
temperature and moisture changes were entirely unknown.
Indeed, the natural creation afforded on a daily basis a profusion of
ripening foods, that did not require any cooking. This food was gathered
day in and day out all year round for immediate consumption, thus
precluding the phenomena of both seasonal harvest and post-harvest food
storage. An annual time of harvest would not serve any purpose in such a
perfect world, and thus did not exist. It is only reasonable to conclude
that in the earth made new we will be returned to such pristine
conditions, and will thus not be concerned with annual harvest
celebrations, cooking stoves, or dishwashers.

As a final point, both the command to observe the
“Feast of Harvest” to be held in consequence of the firstfruits of
“your labors sown in the field” Exodus 23: 16 and the annual
“Feast of Ingathering” “when you have gathered in the fruit of your
labors from the field” Exodus 23:16, inescapably allude to
God’s post sin pronouncement “Cursed is the ground… in toil
shall you eat of it all the days of your life… in the sweat of your
face you shall eat bread” Gen 3: 17-19. In the pre-fall world,
sweat induced labor was not in any way associated with the production of
food for humanity.

Restitution of the Feast
Days Condoned by the Lord’s Messenger?

A pivotal
factor in the acceptance or rejection by Adventists of the reinstitution
of Feast Day practice is the perceived posture of the Spirit of Prophecy
on this issue. Seventh day Adventists take very seriously the clear
admonition “Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that
which is good.” 1 Thess. 5:20&21   SDAs who
conscientiously oppose this movement have understandably raised the point
that if God intended these ceremonial observances to be a pillar of truth
and practice in the Remnant Church, than why did our Church pioneers –
including Ellen and James White – uniformly go wrong by failing to
embrace, teach and practice such rites? In response to this obvious
objection, a letter that has been widely
distributed by a Feast Days advocacy organization called Sabbath More
Fully, it is therein propositioned that Ellen White
“knew and understood the truth” about God’s intention to restore
the “observance of the ancient feasts”. The reason as to why she
did not do so is because God’s messenger always let others lead in
initiating reformatory measures, and secondly this didn’t happen because
God in His wisdom knew that it wasn’t the right time.

These
sweeping assumptions strike me as being both unfounded and unproven. This
is particularly the case when we consider that all that would have been
necessary in order to resolve the matter, was for her to express God’s
intentions on this issue simply and clearly in a sentence or two. The idea
of a God-fearing prophet knowing what is right and then intentionally not
telling anyone in plain language about it, is incongruous. Also,
attributing to her the attribute of cowardice as she waited around for
someone else to do the right thing is equally absurd. A systematic search
of her massively voluminous published and unpublished books, letters and
articles reveals that such a revelation, or even such a sentiment does not
exist.

Did Ellen White Call for a
Modern Reinstitution of the Ancient Feast of Tabernacles?

Based upon the
following inspired statement Feast Day Advocates postulate that God’s
messenger at least explicitly called for the reinstitution of the ancient
Feast of Tabernacles. They then say that in order to be consistent with
inspiration, all three major annual feasts should be observed by Seventh
Day Adventist Christians. “Well would it
be for us to have a feast of tabernacles, a joyous commemoration of the
blessings of God to us as a people.” It sure sounds clear doesn’t it? Well let’s
consider the whole statement so that we see it in
context.

Well would it be for us to have a feast of tabernacles, a
joyous commemoration of the blessings of God to us as a people. As the
children of Israel celebrated the deliverance that God wrought for their
fathers, and his miraculous preservation of them during their journeyings
from Egypt to the promised land, so should the people of God at the
present time gratefully call to mind the various ways he has devised to
bring them out from the world, out from the darkness of error, into the
precious light of truth. We should often bring to remembrance the
dependence upon God of those who first led out in this work. We should
gratefully regard the old way-marks, and refresh our souls with memories
of the loving-kindness of our gracious Benefactor. Second Advent Review
and Sabbath Herald, November 17, 1885, Article Title: The Grace and Mercy
of God

God’s messenger
tells us that at the “…Feast of
Tabernacles thousands of cattle were slain, and their blood caught by the
priests and poured upon the altar”. The following scripture reference alludes to
this: "They kept also the feast of tabernacles, as it is written, and
offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the custom, as
the duty of every day required… From the first day of the seventh month
began they to offer burnt offerings unto the Lord.” Ezra 3:4-6 Is this
what the Lord’s messenger is calling for us to today engage in? Obviously
it is important that we let her writings speak for themselves as to what
she intended to mean when she placed a call for us to “have a feast of
tabernacles” to bring to remembrance God’s leading of us as a people. The
following two references speak for themselves.

The
forces of the enemies are strengthening, and as a people we are
misrepresented; but shall we not gather our forces together, and come up
to the feast of tabernacles? Let us not treat this matter as one of little
importance, but let the army of the Lord be on the ground to represent the
work and cause of God in Australia. Let no one plead an excuse at such a
time. One of the reasons why we have appointed the camp-meeting to be held
at Melbourne, is that we desire the people of that vicinity to become
acquainted with our doctrines and works.… Therefore come to the
camp-meeting, even though you have to make a sacrifice to do so, and the
Lord will bless your efforts to honor his cause and advance his work.
Bible Echo and Signs of the Times, December 8, 1893, Article Title:
Come to the Feast

Will our
brethren not come up to the feast of tabernacles? How zealously should
everyone guard the way that leads to the city of God! …The Lord calls you
to put on the armor of righteousness, and come to this second camp meeting
to be held in New Zealand. Come, brethren and sisters, if you have to make
a sacrifice to do so. The Lord will bless you in your efforts.
Manuscript Releases Volume Eleven, page 9, Chapter Title: Ellen White
in New Zealand

The Spirit of Prophecy
Position Made Clear

As exampled
above, the Feast Day campaigners have sought to employ a few key
statements from the pen of inspiration as a springboard for introducing,
rationalizing, and legitimizing this practice within Adventism. However,
when we explore the Spirit of Prophecy writings on this issue, a pivotal
factor lies in grasping and properly interpreting the meaning intended
when Ellen White uses key terms such as judgments, statutes, services,
precepts, ordinances, laws, rituals, and ceremonies. Scholars on both
sides of the issue have rationalized and debated various meanings and
interpretations of these terms. Fortunately, this tug of war is something
that we really don’t need to get into. (However, it is essential for us to
address the intended meaning of the term statutes in the
next section of this article.)

The only
full-proof interpretation of E.G. White’s intended meaning would be when
she as an inspired author actually defines her own usage of such terms by
linking them to the practice of a typical Feast Day, and then employs the
very same terms in other passages in addressing the central issue of
whether the ceremonial practices - that the terms actually denote - are
still binding on us today as God’s people. Fortunately, such a reference
exists. When it is linked to and compared with other passages on the
subject under consideration the intended meaning becomes crystal clear. In
this case, I am referring to her intended usage of the two key terms
“ceremonies” and “types” in relation to the seven days
feast of unleavened bread, which followed the Passover. (emphases
my own)

The
Passover was followed by the seven days' feast of unleavened bread. On the
second day of the feast, the first fruits of the year's harvest, a sheaf
of barley, was presented before the Lord. All the ceremonies
of the feast were types of the work of
Christ  …the unleavened bread, the sheaf of first fruits,
represented the Saviour.  Desire of Ages, page 77, paragraph 1 Chapter Title:
The Passover Visit

Now
consider the following passages employing the same two terms i.e.
“ceremonies” and/or “types” or “type”.

In this ordinance [foot washing],
Christ discharged his disciples from the cares and burdens of the
ancient Jewish obligations in rites and ceremonies.
These no longer possessed any virtue; for type was
meeting antitype in himself, the authority and foundation of all
Jewish ordinances that pointed to him as the great and only efficacious
offering for the sins of the world….

If his disciples had not needed
this, it would not have been left for them as Christ's last established
ordinance in connection with, and including, the last supper. It was
Christ's desire to leave to his disciples an ordinance that would do for
them the very thing they needed, that would serve to disentangle them from
the rites and ceremonies which they had hitherto
engaged in as essential, and which the reception of the gospel made no
longer of any force. To continue these rites would be an insult to
Jehovah. Eating of the body, and drinking of the blood, of Christ, not
merely at the sacramental service, but daily partaking of the bread of
life to satisfy the soul's hunger, would be in receiving his word and
doing his will. EGW - Review & Herald, June 14,
1898
paragraphs 16 & 17

The Jews had prided themselves upon
their divinely appointed services; and they concluded that as God once
specified the Hebrew manner of worship, it was impossible that He should
ever authorize a change in any of its specifications. They decided that
Christianity must connect itself with the Jewish laws and
ceremonies. They were slow to discern to the end of
that which had been abolished by the death of Christ… in which
type had met its antitype, rendering valueless the
divinely appointed ceremonies and sacrifices of the
Jewish religion. Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. 3 p. 370

There are numerous other similarly worded references
which make the same point of abolishment of the “ceremonies” and
“types”, and they are appended as Annex II. However, the
following two references are included because one issue that some Feast
Day proponents make is that the concept and designation of “ceremonial
law” as distinguished from “moral law” is aberrant and deviant. This
construct is said to have formed the basis of Protestant theology employed
against weekly Sabbath observance, and which Adventists today employ
against Feast Day observance. To summarize their position, “This theology
of the law that attempts to justify the abrogation of festival observance
based upon a division of the law of God into two monolithic divisions of
‘moral’ and ‘ceremonial’ was not part of early church theology and
was unknown as it is unbiblical.” Apologia, Sabbath Conference Special
Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 5&6

What does the Lord’s messenger say?

There
are two distinct laws brought to view. One is the law of
types and shadows, which reached to the time of Christ,
and ceased when type met antitype in his death.
The other is the law of Jehovah, and is as abiding and changeless as his
eternal throne….  Hence the ceremonial law
ceased to be of force at the death of Christ. EGW - The
Signs of the Times, July 29, 1886,  Article Title: Christ and
the Law

But
there is a law which was abolished, which Christ "took out of the way,
nailing it to his cross." Paul calls it "the law of commandments contained
in ordinances." This ceremonial law, given by God through
Moses, with its sacrifices and ordinances, was to be binding upon the
Hebrews until type met antitype in the death of Christ as the Lamb
of God to take away the sin of the world. Then all the sacrificial
offerings and services were to be abolished. Paul and the other
apostles labored to show this, and resolutely withstood those Judaizing
teachers who declared that Christians should observe the ceremonial
law.  EGW - Signs of the Times, Sept. 4, 1884, Article
Title: Immutability of the Law of God

Clarifying the Meaning of
“Statutes”

In FD Nichols classic book Answers to
Objections (pp. 18 & 19) he observes that the
Decalogue was not the only law formally set forth by God at Sinai for
there was also specified a ritual code known as the “ceremonial laws” that
specified the “religious ritual” that Israel should follow. This included
“their sacrifices and offerings, their annual feast-days, [and] the duties
of the priesthood.”  He then points out that there were also a set of
“civil laws” designed to govern Israel as a nation, such as laws on
“marriage, divorce, slave holding, property” etc.  To the extent that
the understanding and willingness of Israel allowed, the “Lord caused
these civil statutes to reflect the perfect idea expressed in the
ten-commandment law”. Since the ceremonial law, and the civil
statutes, were written by Moses hand, and by him given to
the people, they are generally spoken of in the Bible as "the law of
Moses" even though they are obviously distinctive and separate.
(Nichols fails to mention that there were as well natural laws articulated
through Moses governing diet, hygiene, agriculture, etc.)

In Ellen White’s affirmation of the modern day
relevance and validity of the 10 commandment principles as embodied and
amplified in the civil and natural law systems written by Moses, she
consistently uses the term “statutes” and sometimes
“judgments”. The two terms are often used together in scripture,
one could say as a form of Hebraic emphasis or repetition.  Some E.G.
White statements using these terms have been quoted and then misunderstood
and misapplied by Feast day proponents as an endorsement of contemporary
Feast Day practice.

Also in the letter previously noted as distributed by
Sabbath More Fully, the argument is made that the term
“statutes” define our duty to God and the “judgments”
our duty to man. In this view statutes are spiritual duties,
whereas judgments are civil duties. Furthermore, it is argued that
the former can and does encompass ceremonial practices - including Feast
Days thus legitimizing their modern day practice - whereas the latter are
strictly civil in nature.  Such an interpretation is patently
unjustified and indefensible. For one thing, the Decalogue represents 10
comprehensive statutes that articulately define our
spiritual duty toward God, and our civil duty toward man. These divine
statutes are the foundation of advanced civil law in most
nations of the world today.

In the
early chapters of the book Patriarchs and Prophets there are eight
separate pre-Sinai historical references (beginning with Lucifer’s
rebellion in Heaven) to the divine “statutes” in direct
reference to God’s eternal moral law.  God’s own testimony respecting His
faithful pre-Sinai patriarch is, "Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My
charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws." Gen.
26:5 Abraham’s noted observance obviously occurred several centuries
before the typical ceremonies were introduced to the people of
Israel.

The next
quote clearly shows that God’s messenger is employing the term
“statutes” to apply to the 10 Commandment Law and speaks of
it contextual to safeguarding the integrity of civil society. “The teaching which has become so
widespread, that the divine statutes are no longer binding
upon men, is the same as idolatry in its effect upon the morals of the
people. Those who seek to lessen the claims of God's holy law are striking
directly at the foundation of the government of families and
nations.”  Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 143

That the term “statutes”
should not be divorced from the issue of applying civil “judgments” is
reflected in the following passage. Moses in assuming the role of
magistrate, was overwhelmed by the volume of disputes that arose among the
people all of which were referred to him. The Lord’s Messenger tells
us:

He had
permitted this, for it gave him an opportunity to instruct them; as he
said, "I do make them know the statutes of God, and His
laws."  But Jethro remonstrated against this, saying, "This thing is
too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone." "Thou
wilt surely wear away," and he counseled Moses to appoint proper persons
as rulers of thousands, and others as rulers of hundreds, and others of
tens.… These were to judge in all matters of minor consequence, while the
most difficult and important cases should still be brought before Moses…
Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 301

We are told that God at Sinai commanded
Moses to write under His dictation precise:

….
directions in regard to what he required them to perform, and thereby
guarded the ten precepts which he had engraved upon the tables of stone.
These specific directions and requirements were given to draw erring
man to the obedience of the moral law, which he is so prone to
transgress. If man had kept the law of God, as given to Adam after his
fall… there would have been no necessity of God's proclaiming his law from
Sinai, and engraving it upon tables of stone, and guarding it by definite
directions in the judgments and statutes given to Moses.
Moses wrote these judgments and statutes from the mouth of
God while he was with him in the mount.  Spirit of Prophecy, pp.
264 & 265, Vol. 1

The
following admonition is given to Israel, where in the days of the prophet
Amos the true worship of heartfelt obedience to God’s express moral
statutes have been compromised and largely forsaken. Because
they observe the Feast Days and corresponding sacrifices, the people are
at ease in Zion under a false sense of security thinking that their
adherence to the typical rituals is well pleasing to God. However, God
makes it very clear that His primary concern and priority for His people
is moral rectitude, and that He finds their ceremonial observances totally
abhorrent. “I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins…for
it is an evil time. Seek good and not evil that you may live… I hate, I
despise your Feast Days, and I do not savor your sacred assemblies. Though
you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept
them.” Amos 5: 12-14 & 21-22.

In describing the sinner’s return to a
life of submission to God’s moral statutes and correlative civil
obedience Ezekial tells us: "If the wicked restore the pledge, give again
that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without
committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die." Ezekiel
33:15

Further Practical Concerns
& Questions

Aside from
its obviously bankrupt theological basis in the Bible and the Spirit of
Prophecy, there are other areas of practical concern pertaining to the
phenomena of Feast Days adoption within Adventism. I raise the following
two examples not because I believe that most Feast Day supporters may be
taking such extreme positions as these two persons (whom I happen to know)
have, but rather because this shows the kind of thinking that being
obsessed with these ceremonial practices and their promulgation can lead
people into.

A personal
friend who drifted into this movement has since become an ardent
proselytizer and advocate of the practice. He even goes so far as to claim
that Seventh Day Adventists Christians who fail to embrace and practice
the Feast Days are thereby forfeiting their eternal salvation. He
rationalizes this because to disregard God’s requirements, is to be held
liable for the sin of rebellion and the omission of a revealed sacred
duty. The question should be posed as to whether this kind of deduction –
in the context of adhering to the Feast Day ceremonies - represents a
works based view of attaining salvation. In any event, if God does not
actually expect or command the post-Calvary practice of these ceremonies
among His people, then to promulgate the view that today massive numbers
of SDAs are forfeiting their eternal salvation over their negligence to do
so is to engage in irresponsible and baseless fear mongering.

Another SDA
acquaintance and Feast Days advocate (a health professional with a
doctorate – so no moron) has now placed on her agenda the rebuilding of
the temple in Jerusalem and has expressed that she is not averse to the
reinstitution of animal sacrifices. She also advocates that SDAs need to
obtain a Hebrew name and abandon Gentile forms of worship.  I know
that some ultra-orthodox Jews are pushing for the blasphemous agenda of
temple rebuilding and Old Testament prescribed sacrifices, but that at
least one “highly educated” Seventh Day Adventist Christian has the same
goal is truly incredible.  Need I say more?

Another
logical concern is the practicality of proclaiming the Three Angels
Message. Is this divinely mandated message now going include a call to
return to the shadow sabbaths as well as the weekly Sabbath of
creation?  If this were to become a pre-conditional belief for SDA
membership would this not prove for most who are still in the various
fallen Christian churches, an overwhelming and insurmountable barrier to
joining the end time Advent movement? Could this not put the brakes on the
successes being realized in global evangelism? If we were to concede that
it is a divinely ordained requirement for all true SDA Christians today,
than do we not face the prospective tragedy that millions who otherwise
would have accepted the message to come out of Babylon, will fail to do so
and end up missing out on the gift of everlasting life?

Finally it
must be asked: Is this discovery of  “new light” introduced to
members in our beloved Church from non-SDA Church source(s), nothing more
than a brilliant stratagem of the enemy to create further disharmony
within the Remnant Church, employing the tried and proven tactic of divide
and conquer? We are aptly warned: “Many things will be presented that
appear to be true, and yet they need to be considered with much prayer;
for they may be specious devices of the enemy.” Testimonies Vol. 8, p.
290

Conclusion

Since the Feast Days were typical
ceremonies, and not natural law or civil statute based
explications of how to put into daily practice the principles of the
eternal moral code, it does not follow that there is any unequivocal basis
in either the sacred scriptures or the Spirit of Prophecy for engaging in
the practice of these festive and sacrificial focused rites by Christians
in the post-Calvary era. Speaking prophetically of His people God
says “I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new
moons, her sabbaths – all her appointed feasts… And it shall be, in that
day, says the Lord that you will call Me my Husband, and no longer call me
my Master.”  Hosea 2: 11 & 16

For those who may have been misinformed
or misled on this complex and sensitive issue, God’s messenger in a spirit
of loving compassion warns us that “We have many lessons to learn, and
many, many to unlearn. God and heaven alone are infallible. Those who
think they will never have to give up a cherished view, never have
occasion to change an opinion, will be disappointed.”  Testimonies
To Ministers p. 30

End Note on Drugs as Sorcery:

*
The system of medicine that today
dominates the "Western" world (and increasingly the East as well) is
allopathy. It is in many respects a religious belief system,
that is actually more theoretical, philosophic and
reductionistic in nature than it is empirical and holistic (after all when
most allopathic medical practitioners hear about experiential based cases
of natural healing success, they dismiss it disparagingly as being merely
"anecdotal" evidence). Allopathy proudly traces its lineage back
to Aescalapius who is considered the "god of medicine". He was the son of
Apollo the sun god and a mortal woman impregnated by this god. The
Mediterranean cult surrounding him includes the belief that a Centaur name
Chiron became his tutor and mentor in the healing arts. After zapping him
to death for charging money to raise the dead, his father's
father Zeus made him into a god, transforming Aescalapius into the
constellation Ophiuchus (the serpent-bearer, as the snake was used in his
healing rituals). Today the staff of a single serpent encircling a staff
is called the "staff of Aescalapius" used by some medical associations
including the WHO. Many other "medical" organizations (particularly
American) use a symbol of a short rod entwined by two snakes and topped by
a pair of wings, which is actually called the caduceus or magic wand of
the Greek god Hermes, messenger of the gods, inventor of (magical)
incantations, conductor of the dead and protector of merchants and
thieves. This wand is sold at occult, new age & witchcraft stores with
descriptions such as "It's central phallic rod represents the potentiality
of the masculine, and is intimately surrounded by the writhing, woven
shakti energies of two coupling serpents. The rod also represents the
spine, while the serpents conduct spiritual currents along the ida
and pingala channels in a double helix pattern from the chakra at the base
of the spine up to the pineal gland".

The cult of Aescalapius became very
popular during the 4th century BC and the cult centers (called
Asclepieion) were used by priests called the Asclepiadae to cure the sick.
Invalids also came to the shrines of Aescalapius to find cures for their
ailments (in the same fashion pilgrims visit Lourdes today.) The process
of healing was known as incubation. The patient would spend the night in a
dormitory. During the night they would supposedly be visited by the god
Aescalapius in a dream. Priests would then interpret the dreams thereby
recommending a remedy, or give advice on how they could be cured.

The pharmaceutical symbol Rx
actually used to be an eye with an "x" below it, instead of an "R",
and it was called the "Eye of Horus." ."(The eye & lower x is
still being used some parts of the world). The Egyptian god Horus was the
"father of pharmacy. He was the son of two of the main gods in the
Egyptian pantheon, Isis and Osiris. The Eye of Horus (or "udjat") became a
powerful symbol in ancient Egypt. It was popularly and superstitiously
worn as an amulet to ensure good health and to ward off
sickness.

As to the source of the word
pharmacy we should go back to the original Koinne Greek Bible
text. Pharmakeia is a Greek word found in the New Testament that
means pharmacy, magic, sorcery and witchcraft. Its root is pharmakon,
which refers to a druggist, poisoner, magician or sorcerer. God
clearly states that Pharmakeia (the use of drugs) is a sin in Galatians
5:19-20; "The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality,
impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft/sorcery (pharmakeia)".
Revelation 18:23 refers to all of the nations being deceived by
pharmakeia. Revelation 9:21 refers to those on whom the
plagues fall as not having repented of their "murders, nor of
their pharmakeon, nor of their fornication, nor of their
thefts." Revelation 21:8 states that "...murderers, and
whoremongers, and pharmakeus, and idolaters, and all liars, shall
have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone.."
Revelation 22:15 states that "pharmakos, and whoremongers,
and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." will
be outside of the New Jerusalem. It bears noting that a year 2000 Johns
Hopkin's report confirms a top estimate of 284,000 deaths annually in the
USA caused by allopathic medical treatment. These deaths were
primarily the consequence of prescribed treatment modalities, and not
accidents.  Thus iatrogenesis can be ranked as the 3rd leading
cause of death in the nation, i.e. after cardiovascular disease and
cancer. (JAMA 2000, 07/26:284-483) It does go without saying that
God's "true remedies" (Ministry of Healing p. 127) would have brought
to these hundreds of thousands of people life and not
death.

Annex
I

Supplemental Spirit of
Prophecy Quotations Pertaining

to
Hebrew Feast-Day Rites & Ceremonies

They (some Jewish Christians) were slow to discern
that all the sacrificial offerings had but prefigured the death of the
Son of God, in which type met antitype, and after which the rites and
ceremonies of the Mosaic dispensation were no longer binding.

Before his conversion Paul had regarded himself as
blameless "touching the righteousness which is in the law." Philippians
3:6. But since his change of heart he had gained a clear conception of
the mission of the Saviour as the Redeemer of the entire race, Gentile as
well as Jew, and had learned the difference between a living faith and a
dead formalism. In the light of the gospel the ancient rites and
ceremonies committed to Israel
had gained a new and deeper significance. That which they shadowed forth
had come to pass, and those who were living under the gospel dispensation
had been freed from their observance. God's unchangeable law of Ten Commandments,
however, Paul still kept in spirit as well as in letter.
Act of the
Apostles pp. 189 &
190

After Christ died on the
cross as a sin offering, the ceremonial law could have no force.
Yet it was connected with the moral law, and was glorious. Advent
Review and Sabbath Herald, April 22, 1902, paragraph 9 - Article
Title: The Righteousness of Christ in the Law

The Jewish ceremonial
law has passed away. The temple is in ruins. Jerusalem was given up to
be destroyed. But the law of the ten commandments lives, and will live
through the eternal ages. The need for the service of sacrifices and
offerings ceased when type met anti-type in the death of Christ. In
him the shadow reached the substance. The Lamb of God was a complete and
perfect offering. Types and shadows, offerings and sacrifices, had no
virtue after Christ's death on the cross… Advent Review and
Sabbath Herald, October 10, 1899, paragraph 9 - Article Title: This
Do, and Thou Shalt Live

We have the types and
the shadows in the ceremonial laws, and these were to last until
they should meet the reality. The sacrificial offerings were
continually revealing the fact that Christ was coming to our world, and
when type met antitype in the death of Christ, then the sacrificial
offerings, typifying Christ, were no more of any value, but the royal
law of God could not be changed. … There is no shadow in the precepts of
the decalogue. The ten commandments are not a type.  Advent
Review and Sabbath Herald, July 15, 1890, paragraph 5 - Article Title:
Obedience to the Law Necessary

The ceremonial system was
made up of symbols pointing to Christ, to His sacrifice and His
priesthood. This ritual law, with its sacrifices and ordinances, was to be
performed by the Hebrews until type met antitype in the death of Christ,
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Then all the
sacrificial offerings were to cease. It is this law that Christ "took . .
. out of the way, nailing it to His cross." Colossians 2:14.
But concerning the law of Ten Commandments the psalmist declares,
"Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven." Psalm
119:89.  Patriarchs and Prophets, page 365, paragraph 1
Chapter Title: The Law and the Covenants

When the Jews held their
services of thanksgiving, after the ingathering of nature's treasure, they
offered sacrifices to God. To us it might seem strange that sacrificial
offerings should have formed so important a part of the universal
rejoicing; and to outward appearance, it was a strange combination to
mingle the sacrifice of beasts with the expressions of joy. But this was
built upon the true foundation; for Christ himself was the object of these
ceremonial services. When, in these festal gatherings, blood was shed, and
offerings were made to God, the people were not only thanking him for his
present mercies, but they were thanking him for the promise of a Saviour,
and by this expressing the truth that without the shedding of the blood of
the Son of God, there could be no forgiveness of sins. Advent Review
and Sabbath Herald, November 24, 1896, paragraph 5 Article Title: The
Right Use of God's Gifts

In instituting the
sacramental service to take the place of the Passover, Christ left for His
church a memorial of His great sacrifice for man. "This do," He said,
"in remembrance of Me." This was the point of transition between two
economies and their two great festivals. The one was to close
forever; the other, which He had just established, was to take its
place, and to continue through all time as the memorial of His
death.—Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, June 22, 1897

After the crucifixion,
it was a denial of Christ for the Jews to continue to offer the burnt
offerings and sacrifices which were typical of his death. It was
saying to the world that they looked for a Redeemer to come, and had no
faith in Him who had given his life for the sins of the world. Hence
the ceremonial law ceased to be of force at the death of Christ.
The Signs of the Times, July 29, 1886, paragraph 4
Article Title: Christ and the Law

The
whole system of types and symbols was a compacted prophecy of the
gospel, a presentation in which were bound up the promises of
redemption. The Acts of the Apostles, p. 14

When
Jesus at His ascension entered by His own blood into the heavenly
sanctuary to shed

upon His
disciples the blessings of His mediation, the Jews were left in total
darkness to continue their useless sacrifices and offerings. The
ministration of types and shadows had ceased. That door by which men
had formerly found access to God was no longer open. The Jews had refused
to seek Him in the only way whereby He could then be found, through the
ministration in the sanctuary in heaven. Christ in His Sanctuary
p. 44

Annex
II

The
True Sabbath

Excerpts from Chapter 6:
The Shadowy Sabbaths (pp. 18-20)

By:
Raymond Cottrel (1942)

In New Testament times…disciples of
Christ found themselves struggling between two extreme classes of
religionists. The orthodox Jews together with many of the converts from
Judaism, clung tenaciously to the traditions, superstitions, and
ceremonies of their fathers, and zealously sought to force all these upon
the early Christians. On the other hand, paganism with its multitude of
degrading rites, its subtle arts and gilded pomp, menaced the infant
church; and from the hour of its birth stood ready to swallow it up.
Between these two opposing systems…the followers of Christ were to walk
the straight and narrow way…

Three times each year all Israel was to
assemble for worship at the sanctuary in Jerusalem. The Passover, a
memorial of the deliverance from Egypt and a forecast of the greater
deliverance through the world's Redeemer, was celebrated in the early
spring. Fifty days later came the feast of harvest, or Pentecost; and in
the autumn, when the year's work in field, orchard, and vineyard was
completed, the day of atonement and the feast of tabernacles were
observed. In connection with each of these gatherings were annual
Sabbaths, hallowed by Jehovah, and concerning which He solemnly charged
His people, "You shall do no servile work therein." Leviticus 23:7. See
also verses 21,25, & 35.

These
ceremonial Sabbaths were wholly separate and distinct from the weekly rest
day that was established in ancient Eden as a memorial of creation. After
enumerating the various annual assemblies and Sabbaths, the divine record
continues: "These are the feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to
be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a
burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings,
every thing upon his day. Beside the Sabbaths of the Lord, and beside your
gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings,
which you give unto the Lord." Leviticus 23:37 & 38.

Note carefully these words of
Inspiration. Lest anyone should confuse the two, God Himself makes clear
the distinction between the yearly and the weekly rest days, and enjoins
Israel to observe all of these holy annual convocations "beside the
Sabbaths of the Lord." Again, the ceremonial Sabbaths were fixed days in
the annual Jewish calendar, and occurred on the various days of the week,
even as the Fourth of July and Christmas do now.

The seventh day Sabbath was instituted
in the beginning before the entrance of sin; while the yearly Sabbaths
were not appointed until twenty-five hundred years later. (Genesis 2:1-3;
Leviticus 23:4-44) The seventh day Sabbath is presented to man as an
essential part of the moral law that defines sin; the others were given to
Israel as object lessons of God's remedy for sin. (Exodus 20:3-17;
Leviticus 16:29-34) The seventh-day Sabbath was proclaimed by the Lord
Himself from Mount Sinai, was written by the finger of God on the tablet
of stone, and formed a part of the royal law that reposed in the sacred
ark of the covenant. The other Sabbaths, being part of the temporary,
typical system, were rehearsed to Moses, who wrote of them in a book,
which was placed in the side of the ark. (Exodus 20:1-17; Deuteronomy
4:13,14; 10:1-5; Exodus 24:4,7; Deuteronomy 31:24,26)

The Sabbath
of the fourth commandment, as an original precept of the law of God,
stands unchanging and eternal; while the annual Sabbaths serving as "a
figure for the time then present," "a shadow of good things to come,"
passed away when Christ offered Himself on Calvary's cross. Type then gave
place to antitype. The true Light appeared, and the shadows faded away.
(Psalm 111:7,8; Isaiah 66:22,23; Hebrews 9:9-11; 10:1-4.)

Accordingly, disciples and Christians
who accepted the Lamb of God as a crucified and risen Savior no longer
brought their sacrifices to be offered upon an altar of stone or of brass.
They no longer celebrated the feast of unleavened bread, the sprinkling of
blood, and the Passover Sabbaths; for, with Paul, they gloried in the
knowledge that "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us." 1 Corinthians
5:7,8.

No longer with vigils and fasting did
they observe the ancient day of atonement and other ceremonial Sabbaths,
for they unhesitatingly testified, "We also joy in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." Romans 5:11.
But the Sabbath of the commandment  established before the entrance
of sin, and forming no part of the shadowy, ceremonial law, remains the
same throughout all generations and dispensations. As Article IV of the
"royal law," it is not subject to amendment or repeal. While the apostle
to the Gentiles emphatically proclaimed that the Levitical ritual had
passed away, he adored the law of God as the very constitution of
Christianity. To the Romans, he said: "Do we then make void the law
through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." Romans 3:31. And
again: " The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good."
Romans 7:12.

With these thoughts in mind we
appreciate more fully the significance of those Sabbath days "which are a
shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." Those ritual
Sabbaths of old with their services and symbols, foreshadowed Christ and
taught of Him as the coming Messiah. He was the body, or substance, that
cast the shadow. Patriarchs and prophets of old beheld the shadow, and by
faith visioned the advent of Christ. Such was the meaning of our Lord's
words when He said to the Jews: "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My
day: and he saw it, and was glad." John 8: 56.

Many times the question is asked, " But
what about the law that was nailed to the cross?" It could not have been
the moral law of ten precepts, for these define right and wrong, and in
their very nature remain the same from age to age. The New Testament,
however, tells of another code which was abolished: "Blotting out the
handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross." Colossians 2:14.
Reference is here made, not to the law of God, but to "the handwriting of
ordinances" that regulated the sanctuary services, eating, drinking, the
annual feasts, and holy days that were "a shadow of things to come." See
verses 16,17. Concerning these the Bible speaks: "It came to pass, when
Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until
they were finished, that Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark
of the covenant of the Lord, saying, Take this book of the law, and put it
in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may
be there for a witness against thee." Deuteronomy 31:
24-26.

These laws and ordinances may be found
in the last chapters of Exodus, in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, and gave
specific instruction concerning diet, sanitation, the Levitical
priesthood, the temple ritual, and the ceremonial Sabbaths. For example:
"Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the
first day of the month, shall you have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of
trumpets, an holy convocation." Leviticus 23:24.

All of that service was Israel's
kindergarten " for the time then present"; but when Christ came and
offered Himself on Calvary, the kindergarten lessons were no longer
required. The so-called "law of Moses," or ceremonial law, had served its
purpose; and the Redeemer "abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law
of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain
one new man, so making peace." Ephesians 2:15.

The sanctuary service and other rites
had served as a wall of separation between Jew and Gentile. They had been
the occasion for much controversy and enmity; but when Christ as the great
antitype died upon the cross, He brought an end to the law of ordinances '
and swept away all spiritual distinction between Jew and Gentile.
(Colossians 3: ll.)

The difference between the two law
codes of Scripture is also clear and obvious. The one is that

law which Christ “abolished in His
flesh" (Ephesians 2: 15); the other is the law which He did not come to
destroy (Matthew 5:17). The one is "the law of commandments contained in
ordinances" (Ephesians 2:15); the other law is embraced in the Ten
Commandments, which are presented to both Jew and Gentile alike as
embracing "the whole duty of man" (Ecelesiastes 12: 13).

THE MORAL LAW

THE CEREMONIAL LAW

Is called the "royal
law."
The law contained in ordinances."

(James 2:8.)

(Ephesians 2:15.)

Was spoken by God.

Was spoken by Moses.

(Deuteronomy 4:12,13)

(Leviticus
1:1-3.)

Was written by "the finger of God."

Was written by Moses in a book.

(Ex. 31:18.)

(2 Chron.
35:12)

Is "
perfect."
"Made nothing perfect."

(Psalm
19:7)
(Hebrews 7:l9.)

Is eternal and unchangeable.

Was nailed to the cross.

(Psalm 111:7,8)

(Colossians 2:14.)

Was not destroyed by Christ.

Was abolished by Christ.

(Matthew 5:17)

(Ephesians 2:15)

Was magnified by Christ.

Was taken out of the way by Christ.

(Is. 42:21; Ps. 40:7,8.)

(Col. 2:14.)

Is the divine code that defines sin

Was instituted in consequence of sin.

(Rom. 3:20; 7:7.)

(Lev. 3-7.)

Annex
III.

Reinventing Ancient Rituals?

(This article is
taken from the Adventist Review, February 10, 2000

under
Bible Questions Answered section, p. 21.)

Issued by the
Biblical Research Institute - General Conference of Seventh-day
Adventists.

By: Angel Manuel Rodríguez

Question -
Some church members where I live are teaching that it is necessary for
Christians to observe Israelite festivals. Is this a biblical requirement?

Answer -
Several Adventist scholars have looked into this subject, and the common
conclusion has been that the Bible does not expect Christians to observe
the Jewish festivals. Let me briefly summarize some of those conclusions.

Festivals and the Sacrificial
System: Each of the festivals was characterized by the joy of
bringing offerings and sacrifices to the Lord. In Leviticus 23 the
different festivals are listed, and their purpose is summarized with the
words "These are the Lord’s appointed feasts, which you are to proclaim
as sacred assemblies for bringing offerings made to the Lord by fire"
(verse 37, NIV). The Hebrew preposition le (for) is used here to express
the idea of purpose. There is no indication in the Bible that during the
festivals a spiritual sacrifice could take the place of a material one.

Festivals and Centralized
Worship: A number of the festivals were to be celebrated at the
Temple and not anywhere else in Israel. Three feasts are specifically
required to be observed in the Temple, making it necessary for the
people to appear before the Lord; namely, the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles (Deut. 16:16). Even
Passover, which was originally a family celebration, was also
centralized and connected with the Temple: "You must not sacrifice the
Passover in any town the Lord your God gives you except in the place he
will choose as a dwelling for his Name" (verse 5, NIV). The Bible does
not allow for the celebration of those festivals anywhere else. Any
attempt to justify their celebration independent of the Israelite Temple
is simply a human determination.

Festivals and the
Calendar: Most of the festivals were closely tied to the Israelite
agricultural calendar. This was clearly the case with respect to the
Feast of Unleavened Bread, which was closely connected to the Passover
(Lev. 23:5-11); the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost; Deut. 16:9, 10; Lev.
23:15-21); and the Feast of Tabernacles (Ex. 23:16; Deut. 16:13; Lev.
23:33-36). The same applied to the sabbatical years (Ex. 23:10, 11). The
implication is that it was impossible for the Israelites to celebrate
some of these festivals before they entered Canaan. This was
particularly the case with the Feasts of Pentecost and Tabernacles (Ex.
23:16). No exceptions to those regulations are mentioned in the Bible,
thus indicating that the celebration of those feasts was restricted to
those living in the land of Israel. In fact, Hosea announced that
Israel’s exile would make it impossible for them to celebrate the Lord’s
feasts (Hosea 9:1-5).

Festivals and Ethnic
Identity: The religious and ethnic identity of the Israelites was
closely associated with the celebration of some of the festivals, such
as the Passover, which was restricted to Israelites and to those who
through circumcision became Israelites (Ex. 12:43-50). It may well be
that the reason the Judaizers Paul confronted were requiring Christian
Gentiles to become Jews by being circumcised (Acts 15:1); otherwise they
could not celebrate Passover and other festivals and Jewish rituals.

Festivals and Christians:
The New Testament makes clear that the sanctuary services of the Old
Testament came to an end through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross
and through His high-priestly ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. The
ceremonial law was "a shadow of the good things that are coming - not
the realities themselves" (Heb. 10:1, NIV). We no longer abide by the
ceremonial Levitical law; we have a new High Priest who does not belong
to the order of Aaron; and "when there is a change of the priesthood,
there must also be a change of the law" (Heb. 7:12). This is not the law
that regulated priestly lineage; it is rather the law that could not
bring perfection (verse 19).

During the
apostolic period Jewish Christians may have observed the festivals, but
there is no biblical evidence to support the conclusion that this was
required of Gentile Christians. On the contrary, the Bible indicates that
the celebration of the festivals had geographical and temporal
limitations; their religious function found its fulfillment in Christ.

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