I know a group who believe in the weekly Sabbath but teach that Zechariah 14:16-17 says that only the Feast of Tabernacles will be observed in the Millennium. Furthermore, they state that these things were fulfilled in the Messiah and therefore all feast keeping is symbolic, for He was offered as the “final sacrifice.”
Zechariah 14:16-17 does teach that Tabernacles will be kept in the Millennium. Isaiah 66:23 also says of the Millennium, “And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, says Yahweh.”
Notice, this passage speaks of not only the new moons, but also includes more than the weekly Sabbath, because the Hebrew for Sabbath is in the plural. The other annual Sabbaths will be observed in the Millennium as well as Tabernacles.
Leviticus 23 lists the seven annual Holy Days and we read that these “shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings” (verses 14, 21, 31, 41).
If as some wrongly assume, the Feasts were given only to Jews, then the Jews were misled by His assumed abolishing of them because Yahshua’s death and the New Covenant He instituted apply to Jews as well, Galatians 3:28.
If these days were abolished or set aside by Yahshua, then why did Paul say in 1Corinthians 5:7-8, “For even Messiah our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth”?
Here Paul was also addressing Gentiles. The Corinthians were not Jews. Yet he plainly described the Savior as “our” Passover sacrifice, adding that we should keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread! Obviously, the Corinthians had been taught about Passover and the seven days of Unleavened Bread that follow.
All this was after the death and resurrection of the Savior, and Paul was still teaching the annual Holy Days! Why? Because the Bible calls them “Yahweh’s Feasts,” not Jewish Feasts.
In writing the history of the early assembly Luke specifically mentions that he and others sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, Acts 20:6. Note that Luke establishes time according to the annual holy days, which would be irrelevant if those days were no longer in effect.
Paul was determined to spend Pentecost at Jerusalem (Acts 20:16), and Acts 24:11 reveals that he went there to worship, not just to address a crowd of people. This was 25 years after the impalement and resurrection of the Messiah Yahshua.
In Acts 18:21 we learn that Paul observed the Feast of Tabernacles. In Acts 27:9 Luke establishes the time according to the fast on the Day of Atonement commanded in Leviticus 23:27-29 (about 61 C.E.).
The sacrifices ordained in the Old Testament are set in abeyance for us today since the death and resurrection of the Messiah. But the sacrifices were only an aspect of the ceremony carried out at the Feasts.
Just because the sacrificial ceremony changed does not mean the Feasts themselves went into disuse as well. If we are Abraham’s seed and take hold of the Covenant offered us, we will become a part of the body of Messiah. Afterwards those not called now will be given their opportunity, but the sacrifices will be reinstituted, as we see in Ezekiel 40-44.
The weekly and annual Sabbaths were given anciently to Cain and Abel (Gen. 4:1-5). They were kept by Abraham (Gen. 26:5) and written down for Israel when they were redeemed from Egypt, Exodus 23:10-11, 24:3. These were observed by ancient Israel. They were observed by the Messiah and His disciples. Paul kept them as shown. They will be kept in the Kingdom. Why then do some teach that these Sabbaths and annual Holy Days are set aside now?
To assume Colossians 2:14-16 states that the annual Feast Days are done away is perverting Scripture. This is not what these verses teach. Neither do they do away with or set aside the weekly Sabbath as some Sunday keepers teach.
How can we be a teacher and a priest in the Kingdom (Rev. 1:6; 5:10) unless we can show others what to do and when to observe these commanded days? Even in our secular world one has to be very knowledgeable about the law and even be a practicing lawyer before one becomes a judge.
How can we be a judge in the Kingdom when we never kept the annual Sabbaths a day in our life? How can we bring judgment upon someone for not observing Tabernacles (Zech. 14:16-18) when we ourselves never observed it?
The walk in truth is a continuum. It begins in this life and carries on into the next life in the Kingdom.
