The Lord is okay with focusing on certain things on a given day. Sometimes He may even lead us to. But doing so does not equal keeping the Jewish Old Covenant Feasts, even if we do so on a day which corresponds to an old Feast-day.
For example, it's okay to give a loved-one special attention on their birthday.
It's okay to celebrate your country's national day.
It's even okay to celebrate something on the "wrong" day, if we can call it that. For example there were some orphans whose birth dates no-one knew. Their carer assigned birthdays to each child, so that each precious child could have one special day every year on which they are celebrated - even if it's not the precise day on which they'd actually been born.
Christmas falls into that category. God doesn't feel upset if we celebrate Jesus' birth on December 25, even though that might not be the date He was born.
Any weekend is a good time to remember the Lord's death, burial and resurrection - not only the time which corresponds to the former Passover. After all Jesus did invite us to remember Him as oft as ye drink it - which the early church did weekly, not annually.
Sometimes I've felt the Lord leading my conversation or my activities down a certain line without my even knowing that the day had been set aside for such a thing.
For example, one day the conversation at our dinner-table focused around the topic of martyrdom or self-sacrifice for the sake of the Gospel. Only later did I find out that the day happened to be St Stephen's Day, a day to remember all Christian martyrs.
Another day I felt led to gather with friends for an evening of thanksgiving. Only later did it occur to me that the day was actually our nation's newly allocated day for thanksgiving.
The Lord is also okay with commemorating covenants, whether they're Biblical or not, and whether they're current or not.
For example one day I acted as tour-guide for a visiting American friend of mine. While we were visiting a historical house in a neighbouring city, I felt led to walk to the far end of the property - and there I found a plaque commemorating Australian-American friendship. We both stood there, side-by-side, reflecting not only on our friendship with each other, but with our two nations - and God's favour on it all. God is totally okay with that, even though the treaty between Australia and the US isn't in the Bible.
How about the Old Covenant Feasts? They're not current - it isn't possible to keep them any more. Their real meanings have been fulfilled in Christ, and experienced everyday in our life. However, God is okay with someone focusing in on a Feast's typical significance on a certain day. God may even lead us into doing so, either knowingly or unknowingly on a day that coincides with the set-day of the former Feast. But that wouldn't mean you're literally keeping the Feast, in terms of Moses' Law of course - since doing that is not obligatory, not relevant and not possible. It's been fulfilled.
Every day is an appropriate day to reflect on Christ our Passover, our Resurrection and Life, our baptiser in the Holy Spirit, our soon-coming King at the final trumpet; and it's also totally okay to feel drawn into focusing on any one of those truths and experiences on a set day - but that is not strictly-speaking keeping the Feast, even if you do so on a day that corresponds with the former Feast-day.
When Paul said, "Let us keep the feast..." he meant to live-out its reality, daily, everywhere - not just to observe it in symbol, annually and in Jerusalem.
For example, it's okay to give a loved-one special attention on their birthday.
It's okay to celebrate your country's national day.
It's even okay to celebrate something on the "wrong" day, if we can call it that. For example there were some orphans whose birth dates no-one knew. Their carer assigned birthdays to each child, so that each precious child could have one special day every year on which they are celebrated - even if it's not the precise day on which they'd actually been born.
Christmas falls into that category. God doesn't feel upset if we celebrate Jesus' birth on December 25, even though that might not be the date He was born.
Any weekend is a good time to remember the Lord's death, burial and resurrection - not only the time which corresponds to the former Passover. After all Jesus did invite us to remember Him as oft as ye drink it - which the early church did weekly, not annually.
Sometimes I've felt the Lord leading my conversation or my activities down a certain line without my even knowing that the day had been set aside for such a thing.
For example, one day the conversation at our dinner-table focused around the topic of martyrdom or self-sacrifice for the sake of the Gospel. Only later did I find out that the day happened to be St Stephen's Day, a day to remember all Christian martyrs.
Another day I felt led to gather with friends for an evening of thanksgiving. Only later did it occur to me that the day was actually our nation's newly allocated day for thanksgiving.
The Lord is also okay with commemorating covenants, whether they're Biblical or not, and whether they're current or not.
For example one day I acted as tour-guide for a visiting American friend of mine. While we were visiting a historical house in a neighbouring city, I felt led to walk to the far end of the property - and there I found a plaque commemorating Australian-American friendship. We both stood there, side-by-side, reflecting not only on our friendship with each other, but with our two nations - and God's favour on it all. God is totally okay with that, even though the treaty between Australia and the US isn't in the Bible.
How about the Old Covenant Feasts? They're not current - it isn't possible to keep them any more. Their real meanings have been fulfilled in Christ, and experienced everyday in our life. However, God is okay with someone focusing in on a Feast's typical significance on a certain day. God may even lead us into doing so, either knowingly or unknowingly on a day that coincides with the set-day of the former Feast. But that wouldn't mean you're literally keeping the Feast, in terms of Moses' Law of course - since doing that is not obligatory, not relevant and not possible. It's been fulfilled.
Every day is an appropriate day to reflect on Christ our Passover, our Resurrection and Life, our baptiser in the Holy Spirit, our soon-coming King at the final trumpet; and it's also totally okay to feel drawn into focusing on any one of those truths and experiences on a set day - but that is not strictly-speaking keeping the Feast, even if you do so on a day that corresponds with the former Feast-day.
When Paul said, "Let us keep the feast..." he meant to live-out its reality, daily, everywhere - not just to observe it in symbol, annually and in Jerusalem.
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