Adventist Feastkeeping:
A Study in SOP Terminology
Kevin Straub, Jan. 10,
2008
“All
who have had the light of truth are being tested, as were the Jews. . . . The Lord has been revealed to us in ever-increasing light. Our
privileges are far greater than were the privileges of the Jews. . . . That which was type and symbol
to the Jews is reality to us. . . . The spiritual banquet has been set
before us in rich abundance. We have had presented to us by the messengers of God the
richest feast,--the righteousness of Christ, justification by
faith, the exceeding great and precious promises of God in his word, free
access to the Father by Jesus Christ, the comforts of the Holy Spirit, and the
well-grounded assurance of eternal life in the kingdom of God. We ask, What
could God do for us that he has not done in preparing the great supper, the
heavenly banquet?” {RH, January 17, 1899
par. 14}
Gal 2:4 And that because of false brethren unawares brought in,
who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that
they might bring
us into bondage:
“We are to pray for divine enlightenment, and at the same time we should be careful about
receiving everything termed new light. We must beware,
lest, under cover of searching for new truth, we allow Satan to divert our
minds from Christ and the special truths for this time. I have been shown that
it is the device of the enemy to divert men's minds to some obscure or
unimportant point, something that is not fully revealed or is not essential to salvation. This
is made the absorbing theme, the "present truth," when all the investigations and suppositions only serve to make
matters more obscure, and to confuse the minds of some who ought to be seeking
for oneness through sanctification of the truth. {3MR 29.1}
“All must be careful what they present to
the people as truth. Do not present your own imaginations. The enemy tries to
warp and twist human minds. To the one who will listen to him, he will present ideas which are odd and peculiar, which will create a sensation.
These he leads him to present to others, with a test which he has imagined.
Thus Satan sets minds running in wrong channels, diverting them from the
genuine tests which God has presented in His Word. {3MR 29.2}
“There is no need of entering into
controversy with the poor souls who think they are doing God's service when they are
believing fables. . . . turn from romance, from
the fanciful
interpretations which have no foundation in God's Word. ‘What is the chaff to the wheat?’” Jeremiah 23:28. {3MR 29.3}
“Christ passed through all the experiences
of His childhood, youth, and manhood without the observance of ceremonial
temple worship.” {BEcho, October 31, 1898 par.
7
====================
When they
come to your home to convince you to “keep the feasts” -- the typical feasts -- according to the “Law of Moses,” which they say is
“still binding,” be wary and be aware of how the feastkeepers
will quote texts and use terms to make their points. Take time to study things out for yourself to
see if it truly makes sense.
|
Feastkeeping Teachers will say
things like: . . . here is a wonderful quote
which I’d like to search into in more depth and synchronize it with another
inspired text. Read it: “Christ was standing at the point of
transition between two economies and their two great festivals. He, the
spotless Lamb of God, was about to present Himself as a sin offering, that He
would thus bring to an end the system of types and ceremonies that
for four thousand years had pointed to His death.” {DA 652.2} Answer: è Let’s not use one
sentence only when the full context is so rich. Let us read it through to the end of the
paragraph and include also the next: “Christ was standing at the point of
transition between two economies and their two great festivals. He, the spotless
Lamb of God, was about to present Himself as a sin offering, that He would
thus bring to an end the system of types and ceremonies that for four
thousand years had pointed to His death. As He ate the Passover with
His disciples, He instituted in its place the service that was to be
the memorial of His great sacrifice. The
national festival of the Jews was to pass away forever. The service which Christ established was
to be observed by His followers in all lands and through all ages.” {DA 652.2}
“The Passover was ordained as a
commemoration of the deliverance of A
broader treatment of this text has been offered elsewhere, but before we
follow down the yellow brick road based upon the highlight of two words in
single sentence and lest we find that, along with Toto, “we are not in Kansas
anymore,” let’s ever keep the entire picture before us in any and all
discussions wherein one side is making a contention for the typical
celebration of Passover. (Although
they say it is, “of course, without the typical lamb offering.”) It
must be fixed in the mind – a foundation laid -- that there was a transition
from one thing to another thing. Those
things are called “economies.” One is the “Jewish economy.” The other would be the “Christian
economy.” Each one was given a fundamental
feast, or a “festival.” The Jewish
economy had Passover. The Christian
economy has the Lord’s Supper, or Communion.
The Jewish feast was “to pass away forever.” The Christian feast was to be observed
“through all ages.” We know that the
law, as God gave it to Moses, stated that the Jewish Passover was to take
place annually and was connected to
the Feast of Unleavened Bread, with its sabbaths. Jesus instructed that we sit at the
Communion table with a frequency of our
own choosing, for He said “as oft
as ye do it.” 1 Cor. 11:25. Ellen White also instructed us explicitly
to not relegate it to an annual event, but to observe it frequently. “Here our Saviour instituted the Lord's supper, to be often
celebrated . . . . Therefore, the Lord's supper was to be observed more
frequently than the annual passover.” {ST, March 25, 1880 par.
9} The
above should be sufficient to lay down a solid, immutable, bedrock
principle: The old economy and its
feast was abolished. The new
economy and its feast were established. The old one was not to merge with the new, nor was it to be reconfigured and remain in
place. The old was to supplant
the new. At
this point or earlier in an investigation of the plain meaning of the text at
hand, they will leave it and its truth behind and go to another argument,
perhaps the one of Paul and his “keep the feast” statement in 1 Cor.
5:8. They will endeavor to make it
mean what they want it to mean in order to set up their own spurious bedrock
principle and then come back here and reinterpret the plain meaning herein,
insisting that the term “Passover,” because it says that Jesus ate it, means ONLY the meal and not
the festival. They want us to
understand that the MEAL is the equivalent of the FESTIVAL. We beg to differ and declare that the meal
is only part of the festival. A
point to note is that many Christian Feastkeepers today at the Nisan 14 Feast
will actually hold a Jewish Passover Seder, with various elements in addition
to the simple elements of the Lord’s Table which are simply a cup of grape
juice and unleavened bread. They hold
the Passover feast with all or most of its symbols, rites, and traditions,
minus the lamb. (I have even known
non-Adventist Christian celebrants that have also the lamb. There are a range of styles in this, but
they all call it Passover, not the Lord’s Supper, and this in itself is
confusion.) There are the bitter
herbs, the multiple cups, the sending of a child to look out the door for
Elijah, etc. The Passover feast minus the Lamb, kept as “Passover,” as a typical
celebration in accordance with Jewish law, is not the Lord’s Supper and
cannot be the Lord’s Supper. If
one wishes to host a Seder for the lessons in it, it can be a great exercise
and we can learn much from it, but don’t think to make it a binding rite for
Christians. This is where one crosses the
line into Judaizing. Now
that we have hopefully established truth from the context, we can proceed
with the feastkeeper’s half quote: “Christ was standing at the point of
transition between two economies and their two great festivals. He, the
spotless Lamb of God, was about to present Himself as a sin offering, that He
would thus bring to an end the system of types and ceremonies that
for four thousand years had pointed to His death.” {DA 652.2} The
emphasis they will bring forth is that the system of types and ceremonies was
brought to an end. We have no argument
with this. However, we are to focus on
“types and ceremonies” as meaning one thing only. The next quote and comment are typical (no
pun intended) of how their lines may go: Feastkeeping Teachers: Here is another text from EGW
involving the types and ceremonies that we need to bring in harmony
with DA 652.2: “Paul did not bind himself nor his
converts to the ceremonies and customs of the Jews, with their varied
forms, types, and sacrifices; for he recognized that the perfect and
final offering had been made in the death of the Son of God. The age of
clearer light and knowledge had now come. And although the early education of
Paul had blinded his eyes to this light, and led him to bitterly oppose the
work of God, yet the revelation of Christ to him while on his way to Ellen White says that the types and
ceremonies that He would bring to an end are those that pointed to the death
of Jesus. This agrees with Daniel 9:27 which informs us that there
would be an end of the “sacrifices and oblations” at the end of the 2300 year
prophecy. Every time EGW uses the word “ceremonial” in her writings,
she means the sacrificial system and she supports it by using Daniel 9:27. Answer: Can
we logically draw the conclusion that this text from Life Sketches of Paul, or many others like it, because they
specify sacrifices, or that Daniel 9:27, saying that the sacrifices would
cease, means the end of sacrifices only and nothing else? This is like saying “I have blue socks in
my drawer.” Actually, I have black,
white, and other colors also. What
they are using is an error of logic called “argument from silence.” This
text in LP also includes the terms “customs” and “forms.” Both texts, DA
652.2 and LP 105.1 use also the term “types.”
Let us deal with these systematically: Forms The
whole Jewish economy, or “typical system of the Jews,” consisted in “forms
and ceremonies,” “types,” “shadows,” “figures,” and “symbols”: “The Lord Jesus was the foundation
of the whole Jewish economy. . . .
But the Jews had exalted the forms and
ceremonies and had lost sight of their object. . . they did not recognize in Him the fulfillment of all their types, the
substance of all their shadows. They rejected
the antitype, and clung to their types and useless ceremonies.” { “They were to diligently trace link
after link of sacred truth revealed by the prophets, in types and figures representing the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. He lifted the vail from their understanding, concerning the typical system of the Jews, and they
now saw clearly the meaning of the forms
and symbols which were virtually abolished by the death of Christ.” {3SP 249.1}
The
whole Jewish economy, more than sacrifices alone, was swept away. “Christ was standing at the point of
transition between two economies. . . .” {DA 652.2} “From the time when the promise was
made in “. . . the forms and symbols . . . were virtually abolished by the death of
Christ.” {3SP 249.1} “Christ himself was the
foundation of the whole Jewish economy, the end of types,
symbols, and sacrifices.” {RH, August 6, 1895 par. 6} “Anciently believers were saved by the same
Saviour as now, but it was a God veiled. They saw God's mercy in figures. . .
. Christ's sacrifice is the
glorious fulfillment of the whole Jewish economy. . . . When as a
sinless offering Christ bowed His head and died, when by the Almighty's
unseen hand the veil of the temple was rent in twain, a new and living way
was opened. All can now approach God through the merits of Christ. It is
because the veil has been rent that men can draw nigh to God. They need not
depend on priest or ceremonial sacrifice. We
may also assuredly add, we need neither
to depend upon typical sabbath keeping, either, for with the abandonment
of the Jewish economy was also the abandonment of the Passover/Feast of
Unleavened Bread, the “Great Festival” of that economy. The
Jewish economy includes the Great Festival of Passover “Christ was standing at the point of
transition between two economies and their two great festivals. . . . The national festival of the Jews was
to pass away forever. The
service which Christ established was to be observed by His followers in all
lands and through all ages.” {DA
652.2} Customs The
early Jewish Christians were not ready and willing to give up their customs
which made them separate from the gentiles in faith. Act
21:20 “And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto
him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe;
and they are all zealous
of the law: Act
21:21 “And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which
are among the Gentiles to forsake
Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither
to walk after the customs.” Act
15:5 “But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed,
saying, That it was needful to circumcise
them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.” The
law of Moses was considered the
customs and this had not to do
with sacrifices but the entire
system of types. "The entire body of Christians
were not called to vote upon the question.
[Regarding circumcision and the keeping of the entire ceremonial law.]
The apostles and elders--men of influence and judgment--framed and issued the
decree [to abstain from meats offered to idols, blood, things strangled, and
fornication], which was thereupon generally accepted by the Christian
churches. All were not pleased, however, with this decision; there was a
faction of false brethren who
assumed to engage in a work on their own responsibility. They indulged in
murmuring and fault-finding, proposing new plans, and seeking to pull
down the work of the experienced men whom God had ordained to teach the doctrine of Christ. The church has
had such obstacles to meet from the first, and will ever have them to the
close of time. {LP 70.2} “ “Paul did not bind himself nor his
converts to the ceremonies and customs
of the Jews, with their varied forms, types, and sacrifices; for
he recognized that the perfect and final offering had been made in the death
of the Son of God. The age of clearer light and knowledge had now come. . . .
His teaching led the mind to a more active spiritual life, that carried the
believer above mere ceremonies. "For thou desirest not sacrifice, else
would I give it. Thou delightest not in burnt-offering. The sacrifices of God
are a broken spirit. A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not
despise." {LP 105.1} Types The
feasts were types, the feasts were
typical, and they were also bound up with all things typical in their observation, therefore coming
under the “system of types.” “Among the Jews the sacred feast was connected with all their seasons of national
and religious rejoicing. It was to
them a type of the blessings of eternal life.” { “The Feast of Tabernacles was not only commemorative but typical.” {PP 541.2}
“Christ was the firstfruits of them
that slept. This very scene, the resurrection of Christ from the dead, was observed in type by the Jews at one of
their sacred feasts, called the feast of the Jews. They came up to the
temple when the firstfruits had been gathered in, and held a feast of
thanksgiving. The firstfruits of the harvest crop was sacredly dedicated to
the Lord. . . .” {CTr 286.5} “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 deliverance of It
is clear that the entire typical system was done away when type met
antitype. “. . . the death of Christ abolished . . . the typical system of sacrifices and ceremonies . . . .” {FW 90.1} “He [Jesus, before His ascension] lifted the
vail from their [the disciples’] understanding, concerning the typical system of the Jews, and they
now saw clearly the meaning of the forms and symbols which were virtually abolished by the death of Christ.” {3SP 249.1}
“Christ was standing at the point of
transition between two economies and their two great festivals. He, the
spotless Lamb of God, was about to present Himself as a sin offering, that He
would thus bring to an end the system
of types and ceremonies that for four thousand years had pointed to
His death. As He ate the Passover with His disciples, He instituted in its
place the service that was to be the memorial of His great sacrifice. The national festival of the Jews
was to pass away forever. The service which Christ established was to be
observed by His followers in all lands and through all ages.” {CCh 298.2} “. . . when Christ was
revealed in His advent to our world, and died man's sacrifice, type met antitype. Then the glory of that which is not typical,
not to be done away, but which remaineth, God's law of ten commandments,
the standard of righteousness, was
plainly discerned as immutable by all who saw to the end of that which was
abolished.” {BEcho, August 4,
1902 par. 6} This
last text is quite strong. It clearly
demonstrates that that which is not
typical but remains is the ten commandments and that which is done away
is that which is not of the decalogue.
See also the following, equating the whole Jewish economy with the
ceremonial observances with the typical and contrasting all of this with the
Decalogue and the Antitypical. “Christ was the foundation of the whole Jewish economy, and in all his specific directions regarding the
ceremonial observances, these were distinguished from the Decalog. They
were to pass away. Type was to meet
antitype in the one great offering of Christ for the sins of the
world. {ST, July 29, 1897 par.
10} “It was the light of the glory of
the gospel of Christ, who was the
foundation of the sacrificial system, that shone in the face of
Moses. ‘But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was
glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the
face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done
away; how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?’ When
the reality, the full blaze of midday light, should come, the dim glory which was but an earnest of
the latter, should be done away, swallowed up in the greater glory. {ST, August 25, 1887 par. 5} “‘And not as Moses, which put a veil
over his face, that the children of That
which was typified, being done away, was reflected also in the feast of the
Passover, which we have already shown to have been entirely abandoned and
replaced by the communion, the Lord’s Supper: The great salvation that he brought
was typified by the deliverance of the children of The
type and symbol, being long gone, is replaced by the “richest feast” of the
realities bestowed upon us in Christ Jesus crucified and gone to prepare a
place for us in the heavenlies: That which
was type and symbol to the Jews is reality to us. . . . The spiritual banquet has been set before us in rich abundance. We have had presented to us by the
messengers of God the richest feast,--the righteousness of Christ,
justification by faith, the exceeding great and precious promises of God in
his word, free access to the Father by Jesus Christ, the comforts of the Holy
Spirit, and the well-grounded assurance of eternal life in the kingdom of
God. We ask, What could God do for us
that he has not done in preparing the great supper, the heavenly banquet? {RH, January 17, 1899 par. 14} A
leading feastkeeper wrote me to express his disgust that I am spiritualizing
and allegorizing the feasts! What else
is there for us to do with them? Read
again the above text. Statutes
to Guard the Decalogue The
feastkeepers love to quote the following to show that the feasts are still in
effect as they are statutes given to uphold and support the fourth
commandment (although there is not one shred of evidence to support this
idea, which is nothing other than worthless theories of men): “In consequence of continual
transgression, the moral law was repeated in awful grandeur from Sinai. Christ gave to Moses religious precepts
which were to govern the everyday life. These statutes were explicitly given to guard the ten commandments. They were not shadowy types to pass away with the death of Christ.
They were to be binding upon man
in every age as long as time should last. These commands were enforced by the power of the moral law, and
they clearly and definitely explained that law.” {RH, May 6, 1875 par. 10} It
has been shown by careful readers that such a treatment of this text is
unwarranted, as it is specified which statutes or precepts were not
typical. These have to do with the
governance of “everyday life.” Just as
Christmas is not “everyday life”
for the world or the corrupt churches, so much more than this were the holy
festivals not “everyday life.” They
were holy appointments. The ceremonial
law, or typical law, on the other hand, had to do with the services (more on this in a moment) and
rites of the Jewish system of religion which was given to them as a living
enactment of the gospel plan and were not
with respect to man’s dealing with his fellow man in the course of everyday
life. Getting
back to the idea of the Mosaic precepts as guardian statutes to the decalogue,
noting that above, in the May 6, 1875 article we find a certain portion of
them binding, we read in another article that the guardian statutes are of a
“different character,” changeable: “The law of ten precepts, spoken from So
we note that there was a segment of the law that was called the “ritual
system,” which term is synonymous with many other terms which we have
explored here, such as “typical system” and “ceremonial system.” In this instance, she states that this
system was to guard the ten precepts and was abolished. In another place, as seen above, she
explains that there were included in the guardian statutes certain commands
that were not to pass away and clearly defines that they pertain to “everyday
life,” which would refer to that which is other
than ritual, typical, or ceremonial. These
guardian statutes were therefore not a part of the “ritual system”; they
stand “as long as time should last.” Services
of the Feasts are no more: “. . . 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. {RH,
September 27, 1881 par. 3} “‘Then spake Jesus again unto them,
saying, I am the light of the world:
he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of
life.’ {DA 463.1} When He
spoke these words,
Jesus was in the court of the temple
specially connected with the services of the Feast of Tabernacles.”
{DA 463.2} “The Feast of Tabernacles, or
harvest festival, with its offerings from orchard and field, its week's
encampment in the leafy booths, its social reunions, the sacred memorial
service, and the generous hospitality to God's workers, the Levites of the
sanctuary, and to His children, the strangers and the poor, uplifted all
minds in gratitude to Him who had crowned the year with His goodness. . . .” {Ed 42.3}
The
“services” were connected not only to sacrificial rites, but also to the
feasts. All the feast days had
ordinances and services. Adventist
Feastkeepers, although not unanimous in their abolishment of services, tend
for the most part to do away with any prescribed typical services (save for
the elements of the Lord’s Supper, in addition to varying elements of the
Jewish Passover Seder, and the rite of cleaning homes of leaven and eating
unleavened bread during the days of the Passover/Feast of Unleavened
Bread.) So they have no sacrifices, other than Antitypical,
they have almost no services or rites
or ceremonies, other than Antitypical (either by commemoration or present
experience [day of Atonement] or by looking to various perceived future
fulfillments), but they insist upon the keeping of the typical day with
dogged determination to convince you and me that it should be done, in fact, must be done as a salvational
requirement in these last days – as having primary importance over all the
various laws, in the present movement to reinstate to God’s people the “law
of Moses,” the “statutes and judgments,” “the Torah,” in this the “day of
Elijah.” You hear mainly the call to
“keep the feasts, keep the feasts.” “Why, Paul kept the feasts, Jesus kept
the feasts – why would you not want to do what Jesus and Paul did?” and a
touch of sarcasm is generally added in there, “Did someone forget to tell
Paul and Jesus that they were done away?”
But
I say to you, if all the typical elements are stripped out of them, and these
are observed antitypically, (as they should be), what is left but these anachronistic
shells in time, to keep as sabbaths;
wherein such fellowships we are given primarily to talking and listening to
talk about how important they are, going over all our proofs, how they were
given as guardians of the 7th day Sabbath, etc. Throughout such gatherings there is such a
focused determination to labor upon the subject of the feasts so as to create
an environment or culture wherein the feasts are prone to be elevated above
the weekly Sabbath of the Decalogue, at least in a percentage of the minds of
those that get swept up in the culture.
This may be a mere perception, but it is a perception held by many
observers of radical feastkeepers and their attitudes. I show here a comment by a leading
feastkeeping teacher that seems to demonstrate such a glorification of a
festival above that of the Sabbath of the Decalogue: “Passover is of such significance
that it is to be ‘a sign on the forehead and the hand’, which not even does
Yahweh say this about the weekly Sabbath. Passover is the very opposite
of the mark of the Beast. See Ex. 13:9.”
Leading Feastkeeping teacher,
private email to K. Straub Are
the feasts part of the moral law or the ceremonial law? You decide: “God's people, whom He calls His
peculiar treasure, were privileged with a
twofold system of law; the moral and ceremonial. . . .
From the creation the moral law
was an essential part of God's divine plan, and was as unchangeable as
Himself. The ceremonial law was to
answer a particular purpose in Christ's plan for the salvation of the
race. The typical system of sacrifices and offerings was established that
through these services the sinner might discern the great offering, Christ. .
. . The ceremonial law was glorious; it was the provision made by Jesus
Christ in counsel with His Father, to aid in the salvation of the race. The
whole arrangement of the typical system was founded on Christ. Adam saw
Christ prefigured in the innocent beast suffering the penalty of his
transgression of Jehovah's law.
The need for the service of sacrifices and offerings ceased when type
met antitype in the death of Christ. In Him the shadow reached the substance.
. . . The law of God will maintain its
exalted character as long as the throne of Jehovah endures. This law is the
expression of God's character. . . . Types and shadows, offerings and
sacrifices, had no virtue after Christ's death on the cross; but God's law
was not crucified with Christ. . . . Today he [Satan] is deceiving human
beings in regard to the law of God.
The law of the ten commandments lives and will live through the
eternal ages. . . .
God did not make the infinite sacrifice of giving His only-begotten
Son to our world, to secure for man the privilege of breaking the
commandments of God in this life and in the future eternal life. {FLB 106}
The
sacrificial system, committed to Adam, was also perverted by his
descendants. Superstition, idolatry, cruelty, and licentiousness corrupted
the simple and significant service that God had appointed. Through long
intercourse with idolaters the people of
There are many who try to blend
these two systems, using the texts that speak of the ceremonial law to
prove that the moral law has been abolished; but this is a perversion of the Scriptures. The distinction
between the two systems is broad and clear. 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. And Christ
Himself says, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law. . . . Verily
I say unto you"--making the assertion as emphatic as possible--"Till
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the
law, till all be fulfilled." Matthew 5:17, 18. Here He teaches, not
merely what the claims of God's law had been, and were then, but that these
claims should hold as long as the heavens and the earth remain. The law of
God is as immutable as His throne. It will maintain its claims upon mankind
in all ages. {PP 365.1}
While the Saviour's death
brought to an end the law of types and shadows, it did not in the least detract
from the obligation of the moral law. On the contrary, the very fact that
it was necessary for Christ to die in order to atone for the transgression of
that law, proves it to be immutable.
{PP 365.3} What
about the “statutes and judgments?”
Feastkeepers refer to these as those commandments other than the Decalogue,
which include the feasts, which they say are surely binding for us today. “The minds of the people, blinded
and debased by slavery and heathenism, were not prepared to appreciate fully
the far-reaching principles of God's ten precepts. That the obligations of
the Decalogue might be more fully understood and enforced, additional precepts were given,
illustrating and applying the principles of the Ten Commandments. These laws were called judgments, both
because they were framed in infinite wisdom and equity and because the
magistrates were to give judgment according to them. Unlike the Ten
Commandments, they were delivered privately to Moses, who was to
communicate them to the people.” {PP
310.1} Statutes
and judgments can also refer to the ten commandments: “The word of God is made of none
effect by falsehoods and traditions. Satan
has presented his version of God's law to the world, and it has been
accepted before a plain ‘Thus saith the Lord.’ The controversy begun in heaven over the law of God, has been kept up
upon the earth ever since Satan's expulsion from heaven. . . . {RH, June
17, 1890 par. 10} “Ignorance and self-sufficiency go hand in
hand. The law of God has been given for the regulation of our conduct, and it
is far-reaching in its principles. There is no sin, no work of
unrighteousness, that escapes the condemnation of the law. The great statute-book is truth, and
truth only; for it delineates with unerring accuracy the history of Satan's
deception, and the ruin of his followers. Satan claimed to be able to present laws which were better than God's
statutes and judgments, and he was expelled from heaven.” {RH, June 17, 1890 par. 12} “Concerning the law proclaimed from Sinai, Nehemiah says,
"Thou camest down also upon As
already discussed, we know that the laws or statutes given to Moses, which were
to be guardians to the Decalogue,
which are also to be binding through
all time, are specifically a subset of statutes delineated as those that govern our relations to one another. “The law of types reached forward to Christ. All hope and faith
centered in Christ until type reached its antitype in his death. The statutes and judgments specifying
the duty of man to his fellow-men, were full of important instruction,
defining and simplifying the principles of the moral law, for the purpose
of increasing religious knowledge, and of preserving God's chosen people
distinct and separate from idolatrous nations. {RH, May 6, 1875 par. 5} “The statutes concerning marriage, inheritance, and strict justice in deal
with one another, were peculiar and contrary to the customs and manners
of other nations, and were designed of God to keep his people separate from
other nations. The necessity of this to preserve the people of God from
becoming like the nations who had not the love and fear of God, is the same
in this corrupt age, when the transgression of God's law prevails and
idolatry exists to a fearful extent. If
ancient Israel needed such security, we need it more, to keep us from
being utterly confounded with the transgressors of God's law. The hearts of
men are so prone to depart from God that there is a necessity for restraint
and discipline.” {RH, May 6, 1875 par.
6} "The law of the Lord is
perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise
the simple. The statutes of the
Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and
righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much
fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy
servant warned; and in keeping of them there is great reward.’. . . {RH, December 18, 1894 par. 5} “‘Thou shalt not oppress a hired
servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy
strangers that are in thy land within thy gates; at his day shalt thou give
him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and
setteth his heart upon it; lest he cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be
sin unto thee.’ ‘Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor, neither rob him; the
wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until morning.’ {RH, December 18, 1894 par. 6} “The Lord Jesus gave these
commandments from the pillar of cloud, and Moses repeated them to the
children of “The instructions given to Moses for
ancient Israel, with their sharp, rigid outlines, are to be studied and
obeyed by the people of God today (Letter 259, 1903).” {1BC 1103.4} It
is the non-typical, non-ceremonial, non-ritual, statutes and judgments which
govern our relations to others are those we are to give place in our
Christian conduct. We must carry that distinction, that mitigating parameter, into our reading of inspired passages,
whether they specifically refer to the laws other than the ten commandments or to the Word of God in a broad
sense, such as the one below, which uses the term statutes in a general sense
as applying to the Scriptures, overall:
“If the mind is set to the task of
studying the Bible for
information, the reasoning faculties will be improved. Under study of the Scriptures the mind expands, and
becomes more evenly balanced than if occupied in obtaining general
information from the books that are used which have no connection with the
Bible. No knowledge is so firm, so consistent and far-reaching, as that
obtained from a study of the word of God. It is the foundation of all true
knowledge. The Bible is like a fountain. The more you look into it, the
deeper it appears. The grand truths of sacred history possess amazing
strength and beauty, and are as far-reaching as eternity. No science is equal
to the science that reveals the character of God. Moses was educated in all
the wisdom of the Egyptians, yet he said, "Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the
Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to
possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your
understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely
this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is
there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all
things that we call upon Him for? And what nation is there so great, that
hath statutes and judgments so righteous, as all this law, which I set before
you this day? Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest
thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from
thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons and thy sons'
sons." {FE 393.1} “Where shall we find laws more
noble, pure, and just, than are exhibited on the statute books wherein is recorded the instruction given to
Moses for the children of Summary While
this study has not been exhaustive and surely much more could be said and there
are others much more skilled and trained in this subject, it is my own
independent study and I believe it adequately serves to show that EGW has not
set out to teach us to keep the feasts, by any stretch of the imagination. We have looked at the range of terminology
that feastkeepers use to pull out references from the SOP and found that many
of the terms are interchangeable, such as “Law of Moses,” “Jewish economy,”
“typical system,” “ritual system,” “ceremonial system,” and “customs.” We found that feasts were types, or
“typical” and, along with their rituals, sacrifices, forms, symbols, shadows,
figures, and services, were rendered obsolete as all is transitioned into the
antitypical realities of the Christian economy by the advent and ministry of
the antitypical Lamb as He moves through the antitypical sanctuary. Regarding statutes and judgments, we find
that these are fluid terms, sometimes referring to the Decalogue, sometimes
the ceremonial law, sometimes the Scriptures or the Bible in general. When enjoined to keep the statutes and
judgments as “guardians of the Decalogue,” or otherwise, we are to understand
that this refers to a subset of the same which are set apart from the
services, which were not types, forms, ceremonies, etc., but they are those
laws which refer to our treatment of our fellow man, in “everyday life.” At
last, you may get a surprise, when you find that the “teacher of Torah”
doesn’t like your Spirit of Prophecy quotes anymore. I quote a leading Adventist feastkeeping
teacher which reveals a certain attitude that can hardly cause us to agree
upon how we may use EGW to understand the differences between the Jewish and
Christian economies: “. . . you are using the the age old erroneous lies that Ellen White repeated (in ignorance) from
“. . . You will not be
judged by Ellen White and what she says, but rather what G-d spoke through
Moses through Yeshua in the Torah. Much of the final crisis in Adventism will
come over whether New wine can be put into new wineskins. If your wineskin is Ellen White for doctrine
instead of the Bible. . . , your wineskin will burst when the New Wine of
Torah and further revelation is put into it. . . . Will we cling to fossilized customs from We find error in THESE
writings: |
|
Feastkeeping Teachers will say
things like: . . . here is a wonderful quote
which I’d like to search into in more depth and synchronize it with another
inspired text. Here it is: “Christ was standing at the point of
transition between two economies and their two great festivals. He, the
spotless Lamb of God, was about to present Himself as a sin offering, that He
would thus bring to an end the system of types and ceremonies that
for four thousand years had pointed to His death.” {DA 652.2} Answer: è Let’s not use one
sentence only when the full context is so rich. Let us read it through to the end of the
paragraph and include also the next: “Christ was standing at the point of
transition between two economies and their two great festivals. He, the spotless
Lamb of God, was about to present Himself as a sin offering, that He would
thus bring to an end the system of types and ceremonies that for four
thousand years had pointed to His death. As He ate the Passover with
His disciples, He instituted in its place the service that was to be
the memorial of His great sacrifice. The
national festival of the Jews was to pass away forever. The service which Christ established was
to be observed by His followers in all lands and through all ages.” {DA 652.2}
“The Passover was ordained as a
commemoration of the deliverance of A
broader treatment of this text has been offered elsewhere, but before we
follow down the yellow brick road based upon the highlight of two words in
single sentence, lest we find that “we are not in Kansas anymore, Toto,”
let’s ever keep the entire picture before us in any and all discussions
wherein one side is making a contention for the typical celebration of
Passover. (Although they say it is,
“of course, without the typical lamb offering.”) It
must be fixed in the mind – a foundation laid -- that there was a transition
from one thing to another thing. Those
things are called “economies.” One is the “Jewish economy.” The other would be the “Christian
economy.” Each one was given a fundamental
feast, or a “festival.” The Jewish
economy had Passover. The Christian
economy has the Lord’s Supper, or Communion.
The Jewish feast was “to pass away forever.” The Christian feast was to be observed
“through all ages.” We know that the
law, as God gave it to Moses, stated that the Jewish Passover was to take
place annually and was connected to
the Feast of Unleavened Bread, with its sabbaths. Jesus instructed that we sit at the
Communion table with a frequency of our
own choosing, for He said “as oft
as ye do it.” 1 Cor. 11:25. Ellen White also instructed us explicitly
to not relegate it to an annual event, but to observe it frequently. “Here our Saviour instituted the Lord's supper, to be often
celebrated . . . . Therefore, the Lord's supper was to be observed more
frequently than the annual passover.” {ST, March 25, 1880 par.
9} The
above should be sufficient to lay down a solid, immutable, bedrock
principle: The old economy and its
feast was abolished. The new
economy and its feast were established. The old one was not to merge with the new, nor was it to be reconfigured and remain in
place. The old was to supplant
the new. At
this point or earlier in an investigation of the plain meaning of the text at
hand, they will leave it and its truth behind and go to another argument,
perhaps the one of Paul and his “keep the feast” statement in 1 Cor.
5:8. They will endeavor make it mean
what they want it to mean in order to set up their own spurious bedrock
principle and then come back here and reinterpret the plain meaning herein,
insisting that the term “Passover,” because it says that Jesus ate it, means ONLY the meal and not
the festival. They want us to
understand that the MEAL is the equivalent of the FESTIVAL. We beg to differ and declare that the meal
is only part of the festival. A
point to note is that many Christian Feastkeepers today at the Nisan 14 Feast
will actually hold a Jewish Passover Seder, with various elements in addition
to the simple elements of the Lord’s Table which are simply a cup of grape
juice and unleavened bread. They hold
the Passover feast with all or most of its symbols and rites, minus the lamb. (I have even known non-Adventist Christian
celebrants that have also the lamb.
There are a range of styles in this, but they all call it Passover,
not the Lord’s Supper, and this in itself is confusion.) There are the bitter herbs, the multiple
cups, the sending of a child to look out the door for Elijah, etc. The
Passover feast minus the Lamb, kept as “Passover,” as a typical celebration
in accordance with Jewish law, is not the Lord’s Supper and cannot be the
Lord’s Supper. If one wishes to
host a Seder for the lessons in it, it can be a great exercise and we can learn
much from it, but don’t think to make it a necessary rite for
Christians. This is where one crosses
a line into Judaizing. Now
that we have hopefully established truth from the context, we can proceed
with the feastkeeper’s half quote: “Christ was standing at the point of
transition between two economies and their two great festivals. He, the
spotless Lamb of God, was about to present Himself as a sin offering, that He
would thus bring to an end the system of types and ceremonies that
for four thousand years had pointed to His death.” {DA 652.2} The
emphasis they will bring forth is that the system of types and ceremonies was
brought to an end. We have no argument
with this. However, we are to focus on
“types and ceremonies” as meaning one thing only. The next quote and comment are typical (no
pun intended) of how their lines may go: Feastkeeping Teachers: Here is another text from EGW
involving the types and ceremonies that we need to bring in harmony
with DA 652.2: “Paul did not bind himself nor his
converts to the ceremonies and customs of the Jews, with their varied
forms, types, and sacrifices; for he recognized that the perfect and
final offering had been made in the death of the Son of God. The age of
clearer light and knowledge had now come. And although the early education of
Paul had blinded his eyes to this light, and led him to bitterly oppose the
work of God, yet the revelation of Christ to him while on his way to Ellen White says that the types and
ceremonies that He would bring to an end are those that pointed to the death
of Jesus. This agrees with Daniel 9:27 which informs us that there
would be an end of the “sacrifices and oblations” at the end of the 2300 year
prophecy. Every time EGW uses the word “ceremonial” in her writings,
she means the sacrificial system and she supports it by using Daniel 9:27. Answer: Can
we logically draw the conclusion that this text from Life Sketches of Paul, or many others like it, because they
specify sacrifices, or that Daniel 9:27, saying that the sacrifices would
cease, means the end of sacrifices only and nothing else? This is like saying “I have blue socks in
my drawer.” Actually, I have black,
white, and other colors also. What
they are using is an error of logic called “argument from silence.” This
text in LP also includes the terms “customs” and “forms.” Both texts, DA
652.2 and LP 105.1 use also the term “types.”
Let us deal with these systematically: Forms The
whole Jewish economy, or “typical system of the Jews,” consisted in “forms
and ceremonies,” “types,” “shadows,” “figures,” and “symbols”: “The Lord Jesus was the foundation
of the whole Jewish economy. . . .
But the Jews had exalted the forms and
ceremonies and had lost sight of their object. . . they did not recognize in Him the fulfillment of all their types, the
substance of all their shadows. They rejected
the antitype, and clung to their types and useless ceremonies.” { “They were to diligently trace link
after link of sacred truth revealed by the prophets, in types and figures representing the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. He lifted the vail from their understanding, concerning the typical system of the Jews, and they
now saw clearly the meaning of the forms
and symbols which were virtually abolished by the death of Christ.” {3SP 249.1}
The
whole Jewish economy, more than sacrifices alone, was swept away “Christ was standing at the point of
transition between two economies. . . .” {DA 652.2} “From the time when the promise was
made in “. . . the forms and symbols . . . were virtually abolished by the death of
Christ.” {3SP 249.1} “Christ himself was the
foundation of the whole Jewish economy, the end of types,
symbols, and sacrifices.” {RH, August 6, 1895 par. 6} “Anciently believers were saved by the same
Saviour as now, but it was a God veiled. They saw God's mercy in figures. . .
. Christ's sacrifice is the
glorious fulfillment of the whole Jewish
economy. . . . When as a sinless offering Christ bowed His head and
died, when by the Almighty's unseen hand the veil of the temple was rent in
twain, a new and living way was opened. All can now approach God through the
merits of Christ. It is because the veil has been rent that men can draw nigh
to God. They need not depend on priest or ceremonial sacrifice. And
may we add, we need neither to depend upon typical sabbath keeping, either,
for with the abandonment of the Jewish economy was also the abandonment of
the Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread, the “Great Festival” of that economy. The
Jewish economy includes the Great Festival of Passover “Christ was standing at the point of
transition between two economies and their two great festivals. . . . The national festival of the Jews was to
pass away forever. The service
which Christ established was to be observed by His followers in all lands and
through all ages.” {DA 652.2} Customs The
early Jewish Christians were not ready and willing to give up their customs
which made them separate from the gentiles in faith. Act
21:20 “And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto
him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe;
and they are all zealous
of the law: Act
21:21 “And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which
are among the Gentiles to forsake
Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither
to walk after the customs.” Act
15:5 “But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed,
saying, That it was needful to circumcise
them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.” The
law of Moses was considered the
customs and this had not to do
with sacrifices but the entire
system of types. "The entire body of Christians
were not called to vote upon the question.
[Regarding circumcision and the keeping of the entire ceremonial law.]
The apostles and elders--men of influence and judgment--framed and issued the
decree [to abstain from meats offered to idols, blood, things strangled, and
fornication], which was thereupon generally accepted by the Christian
churches. All were not pleased, however, with this decision; there was a
faction of false brethren who
assumed to engage in a work on their own responsibility. They indulged in
murmuring and fault-finding, proposing new plans, and seeking to pull
down the work of the experienced men whom God had ordained to teach the doctrine of Christ. The church has
had such obstacles to meet from the first, and will ever have them to the
close of time. {LP 70.2} “ “Paul did not bind himself nor his
converts to the ceremonies and customs
of the Jews, with their varied forms, types, and sacrifices; for
he recognized that the perfect and final offering had been made in the death
of the Son of God. The age of clearer light and knowledge had now come. . . .
His teaching led the mind to a more active spiritual life, that carried the
believer above mere ceremonies. "For thou desirest not sacrifice, else
would I give it. Thou delightest not in burnt-offering. The sacrifices of God
are a broken spirit. A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not
despise." {LP 105.1} Types The
feasts were types, the feasts were
typical, and they were also bound up with all things typical in their observation, therefore coming
under the “system of types.” “Among the Jews the sacred feast was connected with all their seasons of national
and religious rejoicing. It was to
them a type of the blessings of eternal life.” { “The Feast of Tabernacles was not only commemorative but typical.” {PP 541.2}
“Christ was the firstfruits of them
that slept. This very scene, the resurrection of Christ from the dead, was observed in type by the Jews at one of
their sacred feasts, called the feast of the Jews. They came up to the
temple when the firstfruits had been gathered in, and held a feast of
thanksgiving. The firstfruits of the harvest crop was sacredly dedicated to
the Lord. . . .” {CTr 286.5} “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 deliverance of It
is clear that the entire typical system was done away when type met
antitype. “. . . the death of Christ abolished . . . the typical system of sacrifices and ceremonies . . . .” {FW 90.1} “He [Jesus, before His ascension] lifted the
vail from their [the disciples’] understanding, concerning the typical system of the Jews, and they
now saw clearly the meaning of the forms and symbols which were virtually abolished by the death of Christ.” {3SP 249.1}
“Christ was standing at the point of
transition between two economies and their two great festivals. He, the
spotless Lamb of God, was about to present Himself as a sin offering, that He
would thus bring to an end the system
of types and ceremonies that for four thousand years had pointed to
His death. As He ate the Passover with His disciples, He instituted in its
place the service that was to be the memorial of His great sacrifice. The national festival of the Jews
was to pass away forever. The service which Christ established was to be
observed by His followers in all lands and through all ages.” {CCh 298.2} “. . . when Christ was
revealed in His advent to our world, and died man's sacrifice, type met antitype. Then the glory of that which is not typical,
not to be done away, but which remaineth, God's law of ten commandments,
the standard of righteousness, was
plainly discerned as immutable by all who saw to the end of that which was
abolished.” {BEcho, August 4,
1902 par. 6} This
last text is quite strong. It clearly
demonstrates that that which is not
typical but remains is the ten commandments and that which is done away
is that which is not of the decalogue.
See also the following, equating the whole Jewish economy with the
ceremonial observances with the typical and contrasting all of this with the
Decalogue and the Antitypical. “Christ was the foundation of the whole Jewish economy, and in all his specific directions regarding the
ceremonial observances, these were distinguished from the Decalog. They
were to pass away. Type was to meet
antitype in the one great offering of Christ for the sins of the
world. {ST, July 29, 1897 par. 10} “It was the light of the glory of
the gospel of Christ, who was the
foundation of the sacrificial system, that shone in the face of
Moses. ‘But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was
glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the
face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done
away; how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?’ When
the reality, the full blaze of midday light, should come, the dim glory which was but an earnest of
the latter, should be done away, swallowed up in the greater glory. {ST, August 25, 1887 par. 5} “‘And not as Moses, which put a veil
over his face, that the children of That
which was typified, being done away, was reflected also in the feast of the
Passover, which we have already shown to have been entirely abandoned and
replaced by the communion, the Lord’s Supper: The great salvation that he brought
was typified by the deliverance of the children of The
type and symbol, being long gone, is replaced by the “richest feast” of the
realities bestowed upon us in Christ Jesus crucified and gone to prepare a
place for us in the heavenlies: That which
was type and symbol to the Jews is reality to us. . . . The spiritual banquet has been set before us in rich abundance. We have had presented to us by the
messengers of God the richest feast,--the righteousness of Christ,
justification by faith, the exceeding great and precious promises of God in
his word, free access to the Father by Jesus Christ, the comforts of the Holy
Spirit, and the well-grounded assurance of eternal life in the kingdom of
God. We ask, What could God do for us
that he has not done in preparing the great supper, the heavenly banquet? {RH, January 17, 1899 par. 14} A
leading feastkeeper wrote me to express his disgust that I am spiritualizing
and allegorizing the feasts! What else
is there for us to do with them? Read
again the above text. Statutes
to Guard the Decalogue The
feastkeepers love to quote the following to show that the feasts are still in
effect as they are statutes given to uphold and support the fourth
commandment (although there is not one shred of evidence to support this
idea, which is nothing other than worthless theories of men): “In consequence of continual
transgression, the moral law was repeated in awful grandeur from Sinai. Christ gave to Moses religious precepts
which were to govern the everyday life. These statutes were explicitly given to guard the ten commandments. They were not shadowy types to pass away with the death of Christ.
They were to be binding upon man
in every age as long as time should last. These commands were enforced by the power of the moral law, and
they clearly and definitely explained that law.” {RH, May 6, 1875 par. 10} It
has been shown by careful readers that such a treatment of this text is
unwarranted, as it is specified which statutes or precepts were not
typical. These have to do with the
governance of “everyday life.” Just as
Christmas is not “everyday life”
for the world or the corrupt churches, so much more than this were the holy
festivals not “everyday life.” They
were holy appointments. The ceremonial
law, or typical law, on the other hand, had to do with the services (more on this in a moment) and
rites of the Jewish system of religion which was given to them as a living
enactment of the gospel plan and were not
with respect to man’s dealing with his fellow man in the course of everyday
life. Getting
back to the idea of the Mosaic precepts as guardian statutes to the decalogue,
noting that above, in the May 6, 1875 article we find a certain portion of
them binding, we read in another article that the guardian statutes are of a
“different character,” changeable: “The law of ten precepts, spoken from So
we note that there was a segment of the law that was called the “ritual
system,” which term is synonymous with many other terms which we have
explored here, such as “typical system” and “ceremonial system.” In this instance, she states that this
system was to guard the ten precepts and was abolished. In another place, as seen above, she
explains that there were included in the guardian statutes certain commands
that were not to pass away and clearly defines that they pertain to “everyday
life,” which would refer to that which is other
than ritual, typical, or ceremonial. These
guardian statutes were therefore not a part of the “ritual system”; they
stand “as long as time should last.” Services
of the Feasts are no more: “. . . 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. {RH,
September 27, 1881 par. 3} “‘Then spake Jesus again unto them,
saying, I am the light of the world:
he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of
life.’ {DA 463.1} When He
spoke these words,
Jesus was in the court of the temple
specially connected with the services of the Feast of Tabernacles.”
{DA 463.2} “The Feast of Tabernacles, or
harvest festival, with its offerings from orchard and field, its week's
encampment in the leafy booths, its social reunions, the sacred memorial
service, and the generous hospitality to God's workers, the Levites of the
sanctuary, and to His children, the strangers and the poor, uplifted all
minds in gratitude to Him who had crowned the year with His goodness. . . .” {Ed 42.3}
The
“services” were connected not only to sacrificial rites, but also to the
feasts. All the feast days had
ordinances and services. Adventist
Feastkeepers, although not unanimous in their abolishment of services, tend
for the most part to do away with any prescribed typical services (save for
the elements of the Lord’s Supper, in addition to varying elements of the
Jewish Passover Seder, and the rite of cleaning homes of leaven and eating
unleavened bread during the days of the Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread.) So they have no sacrifices, other than Antitypical, they have almost no services or rites or ceremonies,
other than Antitypical (either by commemoration or present experience [day of
Atonement] or by looking to various perceived future fulfillments), but they
insist upon the keeping of the typical day with dogged determination to
convince you and me that it should be done, in fact, must be done as a salvational requirement in these last days – as
having primary importance over all the various laws, in the present movement
to reinstate to God’s people the “law of Moses,” the “statutes and
judgments,” “the Torah,” in this the “day of Elijah.” You hear mainly the call to “keep the
feasts, keep the feasts.” “Why, Paul kept the feasts, Jesus kept the feasts –
why would you not want to do what Jesus and Paul did?” and a touch of sarcasm
is generally added in there, “Did someone forget to tell Paul and Jesus that
they were done away?” But
I say to you, if all the typical elements are stripped out of them, and these
are observed antitypically, (as they should be), what is left but these anachronistic
shells in time, to keep as sabbaths;
wherein such fellowships we are given primarily to talking and listening to
talk about how important they are, going over all our proofs, how they were
given as guardians of the 7th day Sabbath, etc. Throughout such gatherings there is such a
focused determination to labor upon the subject of the feasts so as to create
an environment or culture wherein the feasts are prone to be elevated above
the weekly Sabbath of the Decalogue, at least in a percentage of the minds of
those that get swept up in the culture.
This may be a mere perception, but it is a perception held by many
observers of radical feastkeepers and their attitudes. I show here a comment by a leading
feastkeeping teacher that seems to demonstrate such a glorification of a
festival above that of the Sabbath of the Decalogue: “Passover is of such significance
that it is to be ‘a sign on the forehead and the hand’, which not even does
Yahweh say this about the weekly Sabbath. Passover is the very opposite
of the mark of the Beast. See Ex. 13:9.”
Leading Feastkeeping teacher,
private email to K. Straub Are
the feasts part of the moral law or the ceremonial law? You decide: “God's people, whom He calls His
peculiar treasure, were privileged with a
twofold system of law; the moral and ceremonial. . . .
From the creation the moral law
was an essential part of God's divine plan, and was as unchangeable as
Himself. The ceremonial law was to
answer a particular purpose in Christ's plan for the salvation of the
race. The typical system of sacrifices and offerings was established that
through these services the sinner might discern the great offering, Christ. .
. . The ceremonial law was glorious; it was the provision made by Jesus
Christ in counsel with His Father, to aid in the salvation of the race. The
whole arrangement of the typical system was founded on Christ. Adam saw
Christ prefigured in the innocent beast suffering the penalty of his
transgression of Jehovah's law.
The need for the service of sacrifices and offerings ceased when type
met antitype in the death of Christ. In Him the shadow reached the substance.
. . . The law of God will maintain its
exalted character as long as the throne of Jehovah endures. This law is the
expression of God's character. . . . Types and shadows, offerings and
sacrifices, had no virtue after Christ's death on the cross; but God's law
was not crucified with Christ. . . . Today he [Satan] is deceiving human
beings in regard to the law of God.
The law of the ten commandments lives and will live through the
eternal ages. . . .
God did not make the infinite sacrifice of giving His only-begotten
Son to our world, to secure for man the privilege of breaking the
commandments of God in this life and in the future eternal life. {FLB 106}
The
sacrificial system, committed to Adam, was also perverted by his
descendants. Superstition, idolatry, cruelty, and licentiousness corrupted
the simple and significant service that God had appointed. Through long
intercourse with idolaters the people of
There are many who try to blend
these two systems, using the texts that speak of the ceremonial law to
prove that the moral law has been abolished; but this is a perversion of the Scriptures. The distinction
between the two systems is broad and clear. 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. And Christ
Himself says, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law. . . . Verily
I say unto you"--making the assertion as emphatic as
possible--"Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no
wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Matthew 5:17, 18. Here
He teaches, not merely what the claims of God's law had been, and were then,
but that these claims should hold as long as the heavens and the earth
remain. The law of God is as immutable as His throne. It will maintain its
claims upon mankind in all ages. {PP
365.1}
While the Saviour's death
brought to an end the law of types and shadows, it did not in the least
detract from the obligation of the moral law. On the contrary, the very
fact that it was necessary for Christ to die in order to atone for the
transgression of that law, proves it to be immutable. {PP 365.3}
What
about the “statutes and judgments?”
Feastkeepers refer to these as those commandments other than the Decalogue,
which include the feasts, which they say are surely binding for us today. “The minds of the people, blinded
and debased by slavery and heathenism, were not prepared to appreciate fully
the far-reaching principles of God's ten precepts. That the obligations of the
Decalogue might be more fully understood and enforced, additional precepts were given, illustrating and applying the
principles of the Ten Commandments. These
laws were called judgments, both because they were framed in infinite wisdom
and equity and because the magistrates were to give judgment according to
them. Unlike the Ten Commandments, they were delivered privately to Moses,
who was to communicate them to the people.”
{PP 310.1} Statutes
and judgments can also refer to the ten commandments: “The word of God is made of none
effect by falsehoods and traditions. Satan
has presented his version of God's law to the world, and it has been
accepted before a plain ‘Thus saith the Lord.’ The controversy begun in heaven over the law of God, has been kept up
upon the earth ever since Satan's expulsion from heaven. . . . {RH, June
17, 1890 par. 10} “Ignorance and self-sufficiency go hand in
hand. The law of God has been given for the regulation of our conduct, and it
is far-reaching in its principles. There is no sin, no work of
unrighteousness, that escapes the condemnation of the law. The great statute-book is truth, and
truth only; for it delineates with unerring accuracy the history of Satan's
deception, and the ruin of his followers. Satan claimed to be able to present laws which were better than God's
statutes and judgments, and he was expelled from heaven.” {RH, June 17, 1890 par. 12} “Concerning the law proclaimed from Sinai, Nehemiah says,
"Thou camest down also upon As
already discussed, we know that the laws or statutes given to Moses, which were
to be guardians to the Decalogue,
which are also to be binding through
all time, are specifically a subset of statutes delineated as those that govern our relations to one another. “The law of types reached forward to Christ. All hope and faith
centered in Christ until type reached its antitype in his death. The statutes and judgments specifying
the duty of man to his fellow-men, were full of important instruction,
defining and simplifying the principles of the moral law, for the purpose
of increasing religious knowledge, and of preserving God's chosen people
distinct and separate from idolatrous nations. {RH, May 6, 1875 par. 5} “The statutes concerning marriage, inheritance, and strict justice in deal
with one another, were peculiar and contrary to the customs and manners
of other nations, and were designed of God to keep his people separate from
other nations. The necessity of this to preserve the people of God from
becoming like the nations who had not the love and fear of God, is the same
in this corrupt age, when the transgression of God's law prevails and idolatry
exists to a fearful extent. If ancient
Israel needed such security, we need it more, to keep us from being
utterly confounded with the transgressors of God's law. The hearts of men are
so prone to depart from God that there is a necessity for restraint and
discipline.” {RH, May 6, 1875 par. 6} "The law of the Lord is
perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise
the simple. The statutes of the
Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and
righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much
fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy
servant warned; and in keeping of them there is great reward.’. . . {RH, December 18, 1894 par. 5} “‘Thou shalt not oppress a hired
servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy
strangers that are in thy land within thy gates; at his day shalt thou give
him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and
setteth his heart upon it; lest he cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be
sin unto thee.’ ‘Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor, neither rob him; the
wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until morning.’ {RH, December 18, 1894 par. 6} “The Lord Jesus gave these
commandments from the pillar of cloud, and Moses repeated them to the
children of “The instructions given to Moses for
ancient Israel, with their sharp, rigid outlines, are to be studied and
obeyed by the people of God today (Letter 259, 1903).” {1BC 1103.4} It
is the non-typical, non-ceremonial, non-ritual, statutes and judgments which
govern our relations to others are those we are to give place in our
Christian conduct. We must carry that distinction, that mitigating parameter, into our reading of inspired passages,
whether they specifically refer to the laws other than the ten commandments or to the Word of God in a broad
sense, such as the one below, which uses the term statutes in a general sense
as applying to the Scriptures, overall:
“If the mind is set to the task of
studying the Bible for
information, the reasoning faculties will be improved. Under study of the Scriptures the mind expands, and
becomes more evenly balanced than if occupied in obtaining general
information from the books that are used which have no connection with the
Bible. No knowledge is so firm, so consistent and far-reaching, as that
obtained from a study of the word of God. It is the foundation of all true
knowledge. The Bible is like a fountain. The more you look into it, the
deeper it appears. The grand truths of sacred history possess amazing
strength and beauty, and are as far-reaching as eternity. No science is equal
to the science that reveals the character of God. Moses was educated in all
the wisdom of the Egyptians, yet he said, "Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the
Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to
possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your
understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely
this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is
there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all
things that we call upon Him for? And what nation is there so great, that
hath statutes and judgments so righteous, as all this law, which I set before
you this day? Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest
thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from
thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons and thy sons'
sons." {FE 393.1} “Where shall we find laws more
noble, pure, and just, than are exhibited on the statute books wherein is recorded the instruction given to
Moses for the children of Summary While
this study has not been exhaustive and surely much more could be said and there
are others much more skilled and trained in this subject, it is my own
independent study and I believe it adequately serves to show that EGW has not
set out to teach us to keep the feasts, by any stretch of the imagination. We have looked at the range of terminology
that feastkeepers use to pull out references from the SOP and found that many
of the terms are interchangeable, such as “Law of Moses,” “Jewish economy,”
“typical system,” “ritual system,” “ceremonial system,” and “customs.” We found that feasts were types, or
“typical” and, along with their rituals, sacrifices, forms, symbols, shadows,
figures, and services, were rendered obsolete as all is transitioned into the
antitypical realities of the Christian economy by the advent and ministry of
the antitypical Lamb as He moves through the antitypical sanctuary. Regarding statutes and judgments, we find
that these are fluid terms, sometimes referring to the Decalogue, sometimes
the ceremonial law, sometimes the Scriptures or the Bible in general. When enjoined to keep the statutes and
judgments as “guardians of the Decalogue,” or otherwise, we are to understand
that this refers to a subset of the same which are set apart from the
services, which were not types, forms, ceremonies, etc., but they are those
laws which refer to our treatment of our fellow man, in “everyday life.” At
last, you may get a surprise, when you find that the “teacher of Torah”
doesn’t like your Spirit of Prophecy quotes anymore. I quote a leading Adventist feastkeeping
teacher which reveals a certain attitude that can hardly cause us to agree
upon how we may use EGW to understand the differences between the Jewish and
Christian economies: “. . . you are using the the age old erroneous lies that Ellen White repeated (in ignorance) from
“. . . You will not be
judged by Ellen White and what she says, but rather what G-d spoke through
Moses through Yeshua in the Torah. Much of the final crisis in Adventism will
come over whether New wine can be put into new wineskins. If your wineskin is Ellen White for doctrine
instead of the Bible. . . , your wineskin will burst when the New Wine of
Torah and further revelation is put into it. . . . Will we cling to fossilized customs from We find
error in THESE and similar writings, CD and DVD media:
|
“I
am . . . receiving printed matter, tracts and leaflets, from one and another,
which present a large array of Scriptures, put together in a way that would
seem to prove certain theories; but they only prove the theories in the
estimation of their authors; for truth set in a framework of error, diverts the
mind from the real subject which should take the attention, and aids error in
calling the minds of men away from the present truth which is essential for
this time. These persons bring certain Scriptures together, and interpret
passages of the Bible, so as to give coloring to their views; but they are
wresting the Scriptures to make them appear to say that which they do not say.
False theories will thus be propagated in the world to the very end, and as
long as there are printing presses and publishing houses, erroneous matter will
be presented for publication, and books will be prepared for public
circulation.” {CW 153.1}
“Messages of every
order and kind have been urged upon Seventh-day Adventists, to take the place
of the truth which, point by point, has been sought out by prayerful study, and
testified to by the miracle-working power of the Lord. But the waymarks which
have made us what we are, are to be preserved, and they will be preserved, as
God has signified through His word and the testimony of His Spirit. He calls
upon us to hold firmly, with the grip of faith, to the fundamental principles
that are based upon unquestionable authority.” --Special Testimonies, Series B,
No. 2, p. 59. (1904.) {CW 52.1}
“Without my consent,
they have made selections from the Testimonies . . . to make it appear that my
writings sustain and approve the position they advocate. In doing this they
have done that which is not justice or righteousness. Through taking
unwarrantable liberties they have presented to the people a theory that is of
character to deceive and destroy. In times past many others have done this same
thing, and have made it appear that the Testimonies sustained positions that
were untenable and false. {TM 32.3}
There “. . . are the
class who pride themselves on their great caution in receiving "new
light," as they term it. But their failure to receive the light is caused
by their spiritual blindness; for they cannot discern the ways and works of
God. Those who array themselves against the precious light of heaven, will
accept messages that God has not sent, and will thus become dangerous to the
cause of God; for they will set up false standards. {RH, December 6, 1892 par. 5}
“The leadings of the
Lord were marked, and most wonderful were His revelations of what is truth.
Point after point was established by the Lord God of heaven. That which was
truth then, is truth today. But the voices do not cease to be heard--"This
is truth. I have new light." But these new lights in prophetic lines are
manifest in misapplying the Word and setting the people of God adrift without
an anchor to hold them. If the student of the Word would take the truths which
God has revealed in the leadings of His people, and appropriate these truths,
digest them, and bring them into their practical life, they would then be
living channels of light. But those who have set themselves to study out new
theories, have a mixture of truth and error combined, and after trying to make
these things prominent, have demonstrated that they have not kindled their
taper from the divine altar, and it has gone out in darkness.” {17MR 4.3}