Should Christians Keep Old Testament Feasts?

by Dr. Don Meecha, Director Light of Messiah Ministries 

When God commanded the children of Israel to leave Egypt, He commanded them to eat only unleavened bread with the Passover meal (Ex 12:8). Reading further in Ex 12:14-20 God gives the commandments for the Feast of Unleavened Bread which begins the day after the Lord’s Passover (Ex 12:11). In reference to leaven scripture states “For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. Moreover, whoever eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel, whether he is an alien or native born. Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread” (Ex. 12:20). The command from God is that anyone found to be in possession of leaven is to be cut-off (put to death). Also, notice the “Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.” God intended the Jewish people to celebrate this Feast even in the Diaspora. For over 3500 hundred years, the Jewish people have been cleaning their homes of all leaven. Every spring, wherever the Jewish people have lived, this tradition has been kept alive and ultimately inaugurating, yes, Spring Cleaning! However, was that all?  The question for believers/Christians becomes, “Should we celebrate the feast and/or any of the Old Testament Feasts? Because wouldn’t celebrating these feasts constitute legalism and going back to Judaism?” In addition, many ask, “Didn’t Jesus save us from these things?  First, believers/Christians would need a Newer Testament example or command to keep an Older Covenant Feast. Second, Yeshua died for our sins and not our liberty to break Biblical commandments.  Finally, it would not be legalism if God commanded that we keep the Feast. Yeshua said, “If you love Me, you will keep my commandments”(John 14:15).  In 1 Corinthians 5:6, Paul speaks about leaven being equated to sin and how a little leaven leavens the whole lump of bread. He goes on to say in the next verse that we, as “Christians” should “keep the feast” because, “Christ our Passover has been slain.” This means since Yeshua fulfilled Passover we are to keep the feast, but what feast? The Feast of Unleavened Bread, for Paul says,” Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor. 5:8).  Now the question is, how do we celebrate this feast? We must remember that not everything the Jewish people did was “Jewish.” If it was commanded by God then it would be “Biblical” not Jewish. As the family thoroughly cleans the home of Chametz (leaven) because of the approaching feast, leaven is the symbol for sin and the Feast is about the removal of sin from the home, this also correlates to our body and spirit. According to Biblical tradition, the priest of the home must personally inspect the house to be sure all Chametz is removed. So, to role play this out, as a type and a shadow, a teachimg tool that the children might see and learn about Passover, on erev Pesach (eve of Passover) the head of the house gathers his family about him and with the light of a wax candle goes from room to room searching for leaven. With a large feather, the father collects those crumbs of bread previously placed where they may be easily found in a wooden spoon or other receptacle. All of this sounds so strict, that year after year the Jewish people would search for little pieces of yeast while all along it is really a physical sign of a spiritual truth.  However, through this Feast it is God’s desire to reveal the leaven of our hearts.  But, now the New Covenant has come and all of these things have passed, correct?  Not so! The Newer Covenant teaches that this Feast of Unleavened Bread is one which continues as stated in 1 Corinthians 5:6-8:“Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast – as you really are. For Messiah, our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth. “ Which feast is this? The Feast of Unleavened Bread. (Ex 12:14-20) We too are commanded to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread! Yeast is a symbol for sin in the bible and we keep the Feast when we confess our sins to the Lord. Again, we must remember that Yeshua died for our sins, not our liberty to break biblical commandments.  Therefore, let us search out the leaven of sin in our lives and so let us keep the Feast of Unleavened bread and through the physical keeping of this Biblical command we can teach our children and others about God’s plan of redemption.