Appointed Times
Holy Days & Feasts
The feasts God appointed and the days the church has kept — Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles, Advent, Easter — each one a rehearsal that points beyond itself to Christ.
Long before there was a calendar of holidays, God appointed times — “these are my appointed feasts,” he told Israel, and marked the year with them. They were never mere anniversaries. Paul calls the feasts “a shadow of the things that were to come; the substance belongs to Christ.” Passover lambs and pilgrim festivals and days of atonement were rehearsals, staged for centuries, of a rescue that had not yet happened — until it did.
This collection gathers three streams — the Levitical feasts of Israel, the Jewish holy days that grew up around them, and the seasons of the Christian year — and treats each the same way: where it came from, how it is kept, the surprising things about it, and how it finds its fulfillment in Christ. Whether you keep these days or have only ever wondered about them, each one opens a window onto the whole gospel.
Feasts of the Lord8
SabbathShabbat (שַׁבָּת) — 'to cease'
Every seventh day — from Friday evening to Saturday evening — woven into the very rhythm of creation.
Before there was a tabernacle, a priesthood, or a single law about food or feasts, there was a day God blessed by ceasing from work — and called it holy.
PassoverPesach (פֶּסַח)
The 14th of Nisan (March–April), at twilight — the first of Israel's spring feasts.
On the night Israel walked out of slavery, dinner came with instructions: eat standing, sandals on, staff in hand. This was not a meal to linger over — it was a meal to leave by.
Feast of Unleavened BreadChag HaMatzot (חַג הַמַּצּוֹת)
Seven days beginning the night after Passover (Nisan 15–21), in spring.
For one week each spring, not a crumb of yeast was allowed in the house — a nationwide spring cleaning with a spiritual point: what you tolerate in small amounts will spread.
Feast of FirstfruitsYom HaBikkurim (יוֹם הַבִּכּוּרִים)
The day after the Sabbath during Unleavened Bread (Nisan 16/17) — the start of the spring barley harvest.
Before harvesting a single field, Israel brought God the very first sheaf of grain — betting the whole crop, still in the ground, on his faithfulness to provide the rest.
PentecostShavuot (שָׁבוּעוֹת)
Fifty days after Passover, in late spring (May–June) — counted as seven full weeks plus a day.
Count fifty days from the Exodus and you arrive at a mountain on fire. Count fifty days from the empty tomb and you arrive at a room on fire. Pentecost is a feast that happened twice.
Feast of TrumpetsYom Teruah (יוֹם תְּרוּעָה) — 'day of blasting'
The first day of the seventh month (Tishrei), in early autumn (September) — opening the fall feasts.
After the long summer silence between the spring and fall feasts, the new season opened with a sound — blast after blast of the ram's horn, calling a distracted people back to attention.
Day of AtonementYom Kippur (יוֹם כִּפּוּר)
The tenth day of the seventh month (Tishrei), in autumn — the most solemn day of Israel's year.
One day a year, one man — the high priest — stepped behind the veil into the presence of God on behalf of an entire nation, carrying blood, while everyone outside held their breath.
Feast of TabernaclesSukkot (סֻכּוֹת) — 'booths'
Seven days from the fifteenth of the seventh month (Tishrei), in autumn — the joyful close of the feast cycle.
Five days after the most solemn day of the year, God commanded the most festive — a week of living in leafy huts, eating outdoors, and rejoicing, because forgiveness is meant to end in joy.
Jewish Holy Days2
PurimPurim (פּוּרִים) — 'lots'
The fourteenth of Adar, in late winter (February–March) — a day of festive celebration.
A genocide was scheduled, the date chosen by the casting of lots — and then, without a single miracle named in the whole story, it all quietly came undone.
HanukkahHanukkah (חֲנֻכָּה) — 'dedication'
Eight days beginning on the 25th of Kislev, usually in December — the darkest stretch of winter.
It is the one major Jewish festival the Hebrew Scriptures never command — born not at Sinai but in a war for the soul of a nation, and remembered by the Bible only in a single passing line about Jesus walking through the Temple in winter.
Christian Feasts6
Epiphany
January 6, twelve days after Christmas — closing the Christmas season.
Twelve days after the manger, the story breaks past Israel's borders: foreign stargazers from the East arrive to worship a Jewish baby — the first hint that this King belongs to the whole world.
Lent
The forty days (excluding Sundays) before Easter, beginning on Ash Wednesday in late winter (February–March).
Before the feast of the resurrection comes a long, deliberate hunger — forty days of stripping life down, so that Easter morning lands not as a habit but as a sunrise.
EasterPascha (Πάσχα) — from the Hebrew 'Pesach'
The Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox (March or April) — the climax of Holy Week.
It began before sunrise, with women carrying spices to a grave — and ended with the most consequential sentence in human history: 'He is not here; he has risen.'
Ascension
Forty days after Easter, on a Thursday in spring (May), and the following Sunday.
The risen Jesus did not simply fade from view — he was lifted up and enthroned, and the disciples were left staring at the sky until angels told them to get back to work.
Advent
The four Sundays before Christmas, beginning in late November or early December — the start of the Christian year.
The Christian year does not begin with a birth but with a longing — four weeks of waiting in the dark, lighting one more candle each week, learning to hope for a King who comes.
Christmas
December 25 in the Western church (January 7 in many Eastern churches), at the close of the four-week season of Advent.
The God who flung the stars into space arrived as a baby in a feeding trough, his first night spent among animals and his birth announced not to kings but to shepherds working the night shift.