How should we celebrate the birth, life, death, and resurrection of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ?


What should God fearing, bible-believing Christians do on God's holy days?


(Personally) I believe that Jesus Christ fulfilled our requirements to observe these feasts when he established his new covenant with the Gentiles. With that being said, I don't think there is anything wrong with celebrating Jesus Christ on God's appointed holy days. And if you desire to do so, I personally believe these would be the best times to do it!


Many of the rituals (animal sacrifice, visit the temple in Jerusalem, etc) are obviously impossible in 2018; however, even a study of the feasts will provide you with a deeper symbolism and understanding of Christ's birth, death, and resurrection. Most of these feasts have already been (literally) fulfilled by Christ's life and ministry. Some of the feasts are a foreshadow to His return.


The new covenant teaches us that every day is a good day to celebrate the life of Jesus Christ; and every day is an opportunity to share the gospel with friends and family! We should shine as an example year round; and with all food and all things, we should always give thanks to God!


I think there are plenty of exciting ways we can celebrate God! If we stick to what we know from the Bible, and if we avoid what we know to be obviously pagan; we should have no problem bringing Him glory all year!

 



WHAT IS THE PASSOVER?


The story of the Passover is from the book of Exodus; and it begins with Moses asking the Pharaoh of Egypt to let the Israelites free from their slavery. For refusing Moses, the Pharaoh and his people are punished by God with a series of plagues. The final plague is the judgement on Egypt, as God pronounces that he will pass through the land that night and smite all the firstborn children. (Exodus 12:12) To avoid the punishment, the Israeli people would sacrifice a lamb and paint the door posts of their house with the blood of the lamb. Then the Lord passed through the land, He would not kill the firstborn of the houses that had shown their trust in His provision of salvation.


Among with all the other Egyptian children, even the Pharaohs own son was killed that night. In fear, the Pharaoh commanded the Israelites to leave (Exodus 12:31) The Bible says 600,000 men left Egypt that night (Exodus 12:37) ending the 430 years of Egyptian captivity (Exodus 12:40-41)


The Passover became a yearly celebration of the Israelite liberation and exodus from slavery in Egypt. In Exodus, Deuteronomy, and Numbers; God commands us to memorialize the Passover feast "for all generations" and "for ever and ever." Even in the book of Matthew 26:17-30 we see Jesus himself celebrating the Passover with his apostles. This becomes known as the Lord's Supper (aka The Last Supper) which was the inspiration for the Eucharist.


As important as the Passover was/is to the Jews; it should be equally as important to Christians!


It's been said before that "everything in the Old Testament points to Jesus Christ" and I truly believe that! The more we read and study the entire Bible, comparing scriptures with scriptures, we begin to see how the Old Testament prophesized about the coming redemption of the Messiah. We begin to see symbolism that foreshadows to his birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection, and return.

Israel lamb

Exodus 12:3 

Jesus is the lamb

John 1:29 

spotless lamb

Exodus 12:5 

sinless life

1 Peter 2:22 

blood doorframes

Exodus 12:7 

His blood

Romans 3:25 

spared

Exodus 12:13 

justified

Romans 5:9 

stay inside

Exodus 12:22 

endure

Colossians 1:22 

delivered

Exodus 12:51 

Saved

Hebrews 2:14 


1 Corinthians 5:7 says: "For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us."


Jesus Christ was the spotless lamb that needed to be sacrificed for our sins! Being covered in His blood is the only thing that will spare us from God's judgement! He is our atonement!


There are many other Passover symbolisms that are fulfilled by Jesus Christ:

He cleaned his house of all leaven before the sacrifice, by ejecting the money-changers out of the Temple (Exo. 12:15 / Matt 21:12)   He freed Barabbas as the sacrificial scapegoat (Lev 16:8 / Matt 27:26)   He was sacrificed at sunset (Deut 16:19 / Mark 15:25)   He was sacrificed with no broken bones (Exo 12:46 / John 19:36)   He was selected on the 10th day by entering Jerusalem (exodus 12:3 / John 12:1-6)   He was sacrificed with "special hooks or sticks" when he was flogged and crucified (john 19:1)   The blood from his wrists and forehead would have symbolized the bloody door frame


We even see how the Passover is followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread; and Jesus refers to himself as the "Bread of Life" many times throughout the Bible (John 6:34, John 6:48-51, Matthew 26:26) We know Jesus was even born in Bethlehem, which means "house of bread" (Luke 22:19) and that he constantly reminded us how important it was to hunger for the word of God! (John 6:58, Matthew 4:4, Luke 4:4, 1 Corinthians 10:17)


As a bible-believing Christian, I think that the Passover is a great time to celebrate the birth, life, death, and resurrection of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ! Not only does the timing of his crucifixion completely fulfill his Passover sacrifice for our sins; but the original Passover and exodus in the old testament was a prophecy and foreshadow of our Messiah's salvation and atonement with his sacrificial Lamb's blood. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16)