Therefore, Let Us Keep the Feast: What It Means for Us Today (1 Corinthians 5:8)

As a pastor, I have often been asked if Christians should celebrate the seven biblical feasts in Leviticus 23. The common answer is that we don’t celebrate the feasts because Jesus fulfilled them. But in Leviticus 23:14, 21, 31, and 41, God said the feasts should be celebrated forever, and in 1 Corinthians 5:8, Paul wrote, “Therefore let us keep the feast by...” referring to the Feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread. If God wanted people to stop celebrating the feasts when Jesus fulfilled them, why would He command people to celebrate them forever, and why would Paul say to celebrate them? Read on, watch, or listen to find out! https://youtu.be/nsAhfHLo2H8 Table of contentsCelebrating Spiritually Versus PhysicallyKeep the Feast of Passover By Believing Jesus Is the Lamb of GodKeep the Feast of Unleavened Bread By Removing SinRemoving Sin Corporately and PersonallyMust Be Passover Followed By the Feast of Unleavened BreadKeep the Feast of Firstfruits By Believing in the ResurrectionKeep the Feast of Pentecost with a Circumcised HeartWhen the Jews Finally Experienced Spiritual Circumcision of the HeartNo Guarantee Spiritual Circumcision Will OccurWhy Such Different Responses to Similar Sermons?Celebrating in the True and Greaqter Way As a pastor, I have often been asked, "Do we celebrate the seven Old Testament feasts today?" The simple, quick answer is no, because Jesus fulfilled them for us. Orthodox Jews who don’t recognize Jesus as the Messiah keep celebrating the feasts because they don’t see Jesus as the fulfillment of them. Let me briefly review the ways the feasts find their fulfillment in Christ. Jesus fulfilled the first four spring feasts in His first coming: Passover began the first month of the Hebrew calendar and looked forward to Jesus’s crucifixion on Passover as our Passover Lamb. The second feast, Unleavened Bread began the following day, and looked forward to Jesus’s burial when His sinless or unleavened body was in the grave. The third feast, Firstfruits, occurred on Sunday in the middle of Unleavened Bread and looked forward to Jesus’s resurrection. This is why Jesus is called the firstfruits of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:20-23. The space of seven weeks, or 49 days, between the third and fourth feasts looked forward to the seven weeks between Jesus’s resurrection and ascension when He revealed Himself to over 500 witnesses. The fourth feast, Pentecost, is also called the Feast of Weeks because it was seven weeks after Firstfruits. It looked forward to the church's birth when Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit. We look forward to Jesus fulfilling the three fall feasts in His Second Coming: He will fulfill the Feast of Trumpets at the rapture when He meets the church in the air. He will fulfill The Day of Atonement during the tribulation when He pours out his wrath on a world that rejected him, which is why in Revelation 6:16 people cry out to be hidden from “the wrath of the Lamb.” He will fulfill the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths when He returns, establishes His millennial kingdom on earth, and dwells or Tabernacles among us. But let me share something interesting with you. Consider these verses in Leviticus 23, the chapter describing the seven feasts: Leviticus 23:14 And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: IT IS A STATUTE FOREVER THROUGHOUT YOUR GENERATIONS IN ALL YOUR DWELLINGS. God told the Israelites to celebrate Firstfruits forever. Leviticus 23:21 And you shall make a proclamation on the same day. You shall hold a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. IT IS A STATUTE FOREVER in all your dwelling places throughout your generations. God told the Israelites to celebrate the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost forever. Leviticus 23:31 You shall not do any work. IT IS A STATUTE FOREVER throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. God told the Israelites to celebrate the Day of Atonement forever! Leviticus 23:41 You shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. IT IS A STATUTE FOREVER throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. God told the Israelites to celebrate the Feast of Booths forever. God is repetitive when He wants to ensure we don’t miss something, and He told the Israelites four times to celebrate the feasts forever. So, now, the statement that we don’t celebrate the feasts because Jesus fulfilled them doesn’t seem as convincing and brings up an obvious question: "If God wanted people to stop celebrating the feasts when Jesus fulfilled them, why would He command people to celebrate them FOREVER? Why didn’t He say to celebrate the feasts UNTIL the Messiah came?" Let me answer this by showing you what the New Testament says, and it might surprise you: 1 Corinthians 5:7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Paul discussed Passover and then Unleavened Bread. Because they were celebrated together over eight days, sometimes they were viewed as one feast. And Paul says we should celebrate that feast! So, what does this mean? Do we sacrifice a lamb? Then do we eat it roasted over a fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, ensuring we don’t let any of it remain until morning, and if any of it remains—perhaps because we have a smaller family—do we make sure to burn the leftovers as it says in Exodus 12? Do we eat it with a belt around our waist, sandals on our feet, and staff in our hand, also as Exodus 12 says? Then do we put its blood over our doorpost? Finally, for seven days, do we eat flat, hardened bread that’s more like a cracker and ensure we don’t do any work? Celebrating Spiritually Versus Physically You can probably guess this is not what we are supposed to do. We are supposed to celebrate the feast, but not with anything physical, such as lambs, bread, and leaven. Instead, Paul discusses malice, evil, sincerity, and truth, which are spiritual. If someone asked me if I celebrate the Old Testament feasts, it wouldn’t be as easy as, “Yes, I do,” or “No, I don’t,” because it depends on what they mean by their question. If they mean, “Do you celebrate the feast physically by sacrificing a lamb and removing all the leaven from your house?” Then, the answer is no. But if they mean, “Do you celebrate the feasts spiritually?” Then, the answer is yes. But this also raises a question: How do we celebrate the feasts spiritually? What does that mean? Keep the Feast of Passover By Believing Jesus Is the Lamb of God The primary purpose of the Law, including the seven feasts, is to bring us to Christ: Galatians 3:24 The law was our guardian (or some translations say tutor) until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. Because the law is supposed to bring us to Christ, the most important part of the feasts is seeing Christ through them. If people know the feasts inside and out, down to the smallest detail, but don’t see Christ through them, their knowledge is meaningless. Think of what Jesus told the religious leaders: John 5:39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they (the Scriptures) that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.  The religious leaders knew the seven feasts. They celebrated them their entire lives. But because they didn’t see Jesus in them, they forfeited eternal life. Acts 4:12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” You can't find salvation elsewhere if you don’t come to Christ. This reveals how we celebrate the Feast of Passover in the true and greater way: We believe Jesus, the Passover Lamb, was sacrificed for our sins. When John the Baptist saw Jesus, he said: John 1:29 Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! He referred to Jesus as the Passover Lamb. Keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread By Removing Sin To know how to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we must understand the context of these verses in 1 Corinthians 5. There was a man in the Corinthian church engaging in well-known sexual sin. The Corinthian believers should have removed him, or we would say performed church discipline, but: 1 Corinthians 5:6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? They were boasting about how tolerant and open-minded they were. They were like liberal churches today that embrace homosexuality or transgenderism and brag about how tolerant and loving they are. This was the exact opposite response they should have had. They should have been brokenhearted and contrite. Leaven is a picture or type of sin two sermons ago. Paul means that if they let this man’s sin remain in the church, it will be like leaven and spread through the church like leaven spreads through bread dough. So, Paul says they must: 1 Corinthians 5:7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. This looks back to the Feast of Unleavened Bread when the Israelites removed all the leaven from their homes: Exodus 12:15 On the first day [of the feast of unleavened bread] remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened…that person shall be cut off from Israel. They had to get rid of their leaven or be killed. So, Paul tells the Corinthians to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the true and greater way, not by removing physical leaven from their homes,