The Feasts of God
Most people, when they think of the afterlife, want their soul to go to a good place. For believers in God, that place is God’s kingdom. However, to enter His kingdom, there are certain requirements and qualifications—they are the feasts of God. The World Mission Society Church of God observes the seven feasts of God as described in the Bible and invites all people to also celebrate the feasts and enjoy the blessings of God.
Who Can Enter Heaven?
Through His teachings 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ clearly revealed who is qualified to enter heaven.
“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.”
Matthew 7:21 (NLT)
For our souls who want to live eternally in God’s kingdom, we must do God’s will. This means we must clearly understand and know the will of God.
“On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’”
Matthew 7:22-23 (NLT)
According to Jesus, it is against the will of God to break His laws. Therefore, to enter heaven, we must keep the laws, commands and decrees of God. Without doing so, we cannot enter heaven.
“You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he said about you: ‘The people show honor to me with words, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is worthless. The things they teach are nothing but human rules.’”
Matthew 15:7-9 (NCV)
Without following the ways of God, we come to keep man-made rules that have nothing to do with our salvation. To prevent this from happening, God identified the place He established for us to know His way and keep His laws.
Keeping the Feasts of God in Zion
In the last days, the mountain of the LORD’s house will be the highest of all—the most important place on earth. It will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream there to worship. People from many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the LORD’s teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem.
Micah 4:1-2 (NLT)
From the Old Testament, God prophesied that all His people would gather together in Zion to learn the ways and teachings of God. From Zion, we will be able to build the faith that leads to the kingdom of heaven.
But what is Zion exactly? A church is not Zion by name alone. According to the Bible, Zion has specific characteristics.
Instead, you will see Zion as a place of holy festivals.
Isaiah 33:20 (NLT)
The holy festivals, specifically God’s holy festivals are the building blocks of Zion. These festivals, or feasts of God, are the following, according to Leviticus 23:
- The Sabbath
- The Passover
- The Festival of Unleavened Bread
- The Festival of Firstfruits (also known as Resurrection Day)
- The Festival of Weeks (also known as Pentecost)
- The Festival of Trumpets
- The Day of Atonement
- The Festival of Tabernacles
The Sabbath is a weekly feast of God that takes place every Saturday. And the rest of the feasts are what are known as the seven feasts in three time. The seven feasts are categorized into three groups: The Feast of Unleavened Bread (which includes Passover and Unleavened Bread), the Festival of Weeks (which includes Resurrection and Pentecost), and the Festival of Tabernacles (which includes the Festival of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the Festival of Tabernacles).
Only when all these feasts are celebrated can a church proclaim itself as Zion, and we can identify it as the place where we will learn the laws of God, the will of God and the way to enter God’s kingdom.
Celebrate the New Covenant to Do the Will of God
These feasts are not specific to a religious group but they are the feasts belonging to God. So those who believe in God will keep them as He commanded.
When God first established those feasts, they were kept in accordance to the Old Covenant. However, God said He would establish the feasts of the New Covenant, which we keep nowadays.
“The day is coming,” says the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the LORD. “But this is the new covenant I will make with Israel after those days,” says the LORD. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the LORD.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the LORD. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”
Jeremiah 31:31 (NLT)
Jesus Christ fulfilled this prophecy when He established the New Covenant Passover through His body and blood (Lk 22:19-20) and said, concerning this New Covenant, that it was given for the forgiveness of our sins (Mt 26:28). Without a doubt, the New Covenant laws, commands and feasts allow us to know God, be forgiven of our sins and enter the kingdom of heaven.
Only the World Mission Society Church of God celebrates the weekly feast of the Sabbath and all seven feasts in three times in accordance with the New Covenant Jesus established. The Church of God is Zion, which the Bible testifies about throughout many of its books. Visit your nearest Church of God to learn the ways of God and to gain the faith that God is pleased with by keeping the feasts of God.