What is a Holy Day?

by Pastor CW Mayberry

What is a Holy day? I will answer the question based on my experience with and familiarity with the Bible, the Holy book.

A Holy day (Moedim) is a day of observance that is prescribed by God Himself and not man.

Its date, or the means of arriving at its annual date, is prescribed by God and not man. I point this out because, unlike the pagan (days) Gods’ calendar, it is not a static fixed calendar. The dates on the pagan calendar are mathematically calculated for the convenience of man.

Yehovah’s calendar requires observance of at least two elements in order to arrive at the correct date. The God of the Bible is the true God of nature and the natural world.

A Holy day has a fixed method of observance which is prescribed by God as well. We can’t approach God by any means, method, or ritual that we ourselves deem satisfactory.

But unto Cain and to his offering he had no respect.

Genesis 4:5

And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: ⁸ They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt

Exodus 32:7-8

There are many more examples I could cite but the simple truth is, if you aren’t worshipping according to Biblical prescription, you aren’t worshiping the God of the Bible!

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, ² Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.

Leviticus 23:1-2

Leviticus 23 contains forty-four verses that outline the seven Biblical Holy days (Moedim) You will not find Christmas, Easter, or Chinese New Year among them.

If the Holiday/Holy day is not prescribed, observed, or honored as a regular occurrence in the scriptures, it is foreign to the scriptures.

²⁹ When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land; ³⁰ Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. ³¹ Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods. ³² What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

Deuteronomy 12:29-32

Christmas, Easter, and all the holidays of nations and cultures outside of the Scriptures are abominations unto the God of the Bible.

You cannot mix or add to Yehovah’s program. These holidays and those who practice them are profane in His eyes.

No doubt some would say we don’t cause our children to pass through the fire. However, all of the cultures outside the scriptural pattern for life are obsessed with three things: Sex, wealth, and the unrestricted abuse of the physical world for their own pleasure. Fire indeed.

We teach our young people to sacrifice anything in order to gain and hold wealth. We teach them through the media that sex outside of a monogamous marital relationship is normal!

The end of all of this is a river of abortions, alcoholism, female-dominated fatherless households that produce godless unbalanced children, and angry young men and women who surrender their virginity looking for meaning only to perpetuate the cycle.

We have literally sent millions of human beings into incinerators because of these holidays/holy days.

The feast days of Leviticus 23 were designed to imprint eternal truth onto the minds of every generation thereby guarding the faithful against all the evils we spoke of earlier.

The Spring Feasts

Passover points to the sacrifice of Messiah and the deliverance from the bondage of sin, both in the days of Yeshua and at His second coming.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread points to an unpolluted gospel, free of the doctrines and traditions of men. It also points to a freedom of malice and all manner of contention in the life of the believer.

Shavuot or Pentecost harkens back to the giving of the Torah at Sinai as well as the writing of the Torah on the hearts and minds of the believers at Pentecost and the global application of Torah at the second coming.

The Fall Feasts

The Feast of Trumpets speaks of the second coming itself when all the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms and cultures of our God.

The Day of Atonement speaks of Yehovah bringing in the remnant of Abraham’s physical descendants into the body of Messiah immediately after the Second Coming.

Sukkot teaches us of the physical presence of Yeshua on the earth for one thousand years after the Second Coming.

There is no comparison of a Holy Day to a Holiday. One is scriptural, one is pagan. One is dedicated to the worship of the God of the Bible (Yehovah), the other is dedicated to the worship of false gods (demons) in the name of the God of the Bible. One points to a life eternal; the other directs you to the worship of the creation rather than the creator.

One points to a more fulfilling life that grows in depths of Joy, peace, love, and understanding. The other points to an endless attempt to answer life’s difficulties, sorrows, frustrations, and pointlessness with things, sex, drugs, alcohol, and a thousand other pointless pursuits.

Make your choice. You can have holidays, or you can have Holy Days. You can’t have both. You can have life, or you can have death. The choice is yours.

As for me and my house, we will choose the Lord.

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