Gospels Part 011
God’s festivals and Holy Days give us valuable insight, knowledge and understanding of what God is doing as He carries out His plan. They give us great hope for the future, for us individually as well as for all mankind.
It’s tragic that so few people are even aware of the seven festivals that God reveals in the Bible. Even fewer are aware that they teach us about God’s plan for the salvation of humankind. They aren’t obsolete and irrelevant. These days teach us about God’s plan for the salvation of humankind, and they also center around and teach us a great deal about Jesus Christ and His role in God’s plan for all mankind.
The next few daily lessons will cover a common thread of the festivals of God and what they teach us about Jesus Christ—what He has done in the past, what He is doing now and what He will yet do in the future in bringing God’s plan for the salvation of mankind to pass.
Many biblical passages discuss how great Jesus Christ is and His role in God’s plan. A favorite passage that conveys the greatness of Jesus Christ is Colossians 1:16-18. This tells us that Jesus was the divine Being who actually did the creating in Genesis 1 and 2. It also tells us much more than that.
“For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”
This tells us that Jesus created not only the visible physical world, but also the invisible world—the worlds of things we cannot even see. And the “dominions and principalities” refers to types of beings in the angelic spirit world. All of this was created through Him and for Him.
“Which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.”
This tells us that Jesus Christ is at the center of everything God is doing. He created all things in heaven and on earth, they were created by Him and for Him, He is the head of the Church, the firstborn from the dead (meaning many others will follow), and the one who will be preeminent in all things. So how do these things tie in with the Holy Days? Do the Scriptures reveal whether these Feasts teach us important truths about Jesus Christ and His role in God’s plan? The apostle Paul clearly understood that these biblical Feasts foretold what was to come in God’s master plan of salvation.
Notice Colossians 2:16-17, a passage many people misunderstand. Paul shows these feasts were “shadows” of things to come:
“So let no one judge [criticize or condemn] you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come . . .”
Most people read this and think Paul was saying there’s no need to keep the biblical festivals or Sabbaths. But that’s not what this says at all. Paul was here warning the members of the church in Colosse not to be intimidated by some who were criticizing their manner of keeping God’s feasts and the weekly Sabbath. This is referring to an early form of Gnosticism, because some Gnostics were very ascetic, meaning that anything that was pleasurable was wrong. But the members there knew that God’s festivals and the weekly Sabbath were Feast days, so they were enjoying them as such, and Gnostics were criticizing them for that. So, Paul tells the members there to ignore that criticism, because God intended these days to be celebrations.
And then Paul mentions how important these festivals are as foreshadowing coming events in God’s plan for mankind. What does a shadow do? It tells you something is coming. If you see a shadow on the ground in front of you growing larger and larger, it tells you that something very real is approaching. That’s the point that Paul is making here—that the biblical Festivals and even the Sabbath day are shadows that tell us something very important is approaching.
In the last few lessons, we have seen how the biblical Passover was all about Jesus Christ and how He gave His life as a sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sins so that we can be forgiven and reconciled to God to receive His gift of eternal life. Over the next few days we’ll continue this theme, exploring how each of God’s Holy Days help us to better understand Christ’s role in God’s plan. So, stay tuned!
© Scott Ashley, 2025. All rights reserved.
Course Content
Scott Ashley
Scott Ashley was managing editor of Beyond Today magazine, United Church of God booklets and its printed Bible Study Course until his retirement in 2023. He also pastored three congregations in Colorado for 10 years from 2011-2021. He and his wife, Connie, live near Denver, Colorado.
Mr. Ashley attended Ambassador College in Big Sandy, Texas, graduating in 1976 with a theology major and minors in journalism and speech. It was there that he first became interested in publishing, an industry in which he worked for 50 years.
During his career, he has worked for several publishing companies in various capacities. He was employed by the United Church of God from 1995-2023, overseeing the planning, writing, editing, reviewing and production of Beyond Today magazine, several dozen booklets/study guides and a Bible study course covering major biblical teachings. His special interests are the Bible, archaeology, biblical culture, history and the Middle East.
