the statutes of the LORD [are] right, rejoicing the heart

Where i am 100% sure, is that the statutes of the Lord are definitely necessary to be kept even today. Ellen White and the Bible are super clear on this. What i’m not 100% sure of, is, are all the feasts of the Lord considered “statutes” also? It sure looks that way, but not positive yet.

Please understand that i am NOT anxious to keep the feasts of the Lord. In reading the Bible all the way thru for the first time over 20 years ago, it bugged me a little tho, that the 7th-day Sabbath is also a feast – according to Leviticus 23:1-3. Then, in reading the Bible thru several times since then, it always is a bit of a prick to my heart when i come to that area. Why do we Seventh-day Adventists say to keep one of those feasts, but not the others? Where is the Bible proof for that? And why do we Seventh-day Adventists wave the banner high about keeping statutes such as not eating pork and other unclean animals, paying tithe, and saying the statutes regarding sexual relations should be kept, but we pointedly ignore others such as the injunction for men not to round their beards (whatever that means), not mixing woolen and linen in our clothes, women and men not wearing each others’ clothing, and of course – the feasts?

Then last year when i stayed with relatives in Atlanta, they challenged me to search it out for myself. I was quite skeptical, and found a good article by Joe Crews, a man i highly respect as a powerful man of God, where he showed that all the ceremonies ended at the cross. It satisfied me, and i blew off this feast stuff. But then this year i got very interested in searching out God’s calendar, and found out that i had misplaced my trust in others. It is very likely that this was not present truth in Br. Crew’s time, or Ellen White’s time, but it is becoming more and more apparent that we SDAs are deceiving ourselves when we opt to keep some statutes, and not others, and one of the Sabbaths, but not ALL the Sabbaths of the Lord.

I’m not 100% convinced yet, so kind of hoping that someone will show where i see something wrong. I wonder, “How will we keep the feasts”? Of course there are no more sacrifices and oblations, just as prophesied in Daniel 9:27 (And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease). But the days still seem to be necessary to be kept, just as we keep the 7th day Sabbath. What is a problem, is that it will mean up to 7 more days a year to refrain from work.

While it is the feast days that are the most obvious things in the discussion, in actuality, the discussion is about the statutes. That the statutes of the Lord, as given to Moses, are all binding on God’s children today is truth beyond the shadow of a doubt as shown in the quotes below. This is the main issue, and a subset issue is “what is included in the statutes?”, and then, if the feasts are included, as they seem to be, a subset of that issue would be “what feasts are we supposed to keep?”, broken down further into “how should we keep the feasts?”. Another large branch of the discussion would be what exactly was done away with on the cross, as we are 100% certain that the “ceremonial laws” were finished on the cross.

Here are 2 quotes from the SOP, and one from the Bible:
1RH 1875-5-6
In consequence of continual transgression, the moral law was repeated in awful grandeur from Sinai. Christ gave to Moses religious precepts which were to govern the everyday life. These statutes were explicitly given to guard the ten commandments. They were not shadowy types to pass away with the death of Christ. They were to be binding upon man in every age as long as time should last. These commands were enforced by the power of the moral law, and they clearly and definitely explained that law.
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6RH 1900-12-25
“This day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments; thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in His ways, and to keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His judgments, and to hearken unto His voice.” This is not the voice of man; it is the voice of Christ from the infolding pillar of cloud. Read carefully all of Deuteronomy 26, also chapters 27 and 28; for here are stated plainly the blessings of obedience.

These directions, which the Lord gave to His people, express the principles of the law of the kingdom of God, and they are made specific, so that the minds of the people may not be left in ignorance and uncertainty. These scriptures present the never-ceasing obligation of all whom God has blessed with life and health and advantages in temporal and spiritual things. The message has not grown weak because of age. God’s claims are just as binding now, just as fresh in their importance, as God’s gifts are fresh and continual.
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Malachi 4:4 Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, [with] the statutes and judgments.

5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: 6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
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We have always believed that this Bible verse will be fulfilled just before the return of Christ, which makes this study about the statutes that much more exciting, as it looks like it will lead directly into the Elijah Message!
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In studying out God’s calendar, it impressed me how our spiritual forefathers in the 1843/4 movement came to exactly the correct date! With all the disinformation out there, the Holy Spirit was still able to lead them into the truth. And that truth was that a very important thing in the entire history of humanity happened exactly on the Day of Atonement in 1844. Of course the Early Rain was poured out exactly on a feast day too, and both of these happened after the cross, so it is impossible to say that they were abolished at the cross. But was it only the blood sacrifices that were done away with? What is the actual significance of the feasts for us now, and how are we to physically keep all the statutes of God about wearing ribbands of blue on the fringes of our clothes and not rounding the corners of our beards etc. etc., things which i have no clue about how to follow in this day and age.

As seen above, it is true that the statutes were given to be a hedge of protection around the 10 Commandments. They further define and make practical the precepts given succinctly in those 10 “words”. That this is a salvational issue is true. IF it is true that the feasts must be kept too, and we do not keep them, then we will be considered “lawbreakers”. Please remember that each generation has new light. William Miller was not accountable for not accepting the light of the Sabbath truth. But those who kept him from that light and rejected it will be outside the Holy City when it appears from heaven. At each step on the upward path God shines more light unto the bright and perfect day. If we see that light as darkness, how will we be able to discern the path we are to trod?

But is all this feast business in fact new light, or is it really just another distraction of Satan, one of many like the sacred name movement, lunar sabbaths, anti-trinity doctrine etc. etc.? We must be sure. If we take darkness for light, we will definitely fall off into the chasm where the wicked world is below.

Are the feasts all “shadows” as many say, to be done away with at the cross? There is no clear word in the Bible or SOP to my knowledge expressing so. We ASSUME that, but what are the facts? As noted before, God signally blessed the feasts AFTER the death of Christ, giving one powerful testimony in favor of the feasts still being in force. Another powerful testimony is the witness of Paul, and the early Christian church – they all kept the feasts.

Against this, we have the commonly-held, correct SDA view that the sacrifice of Christ did away with all the sacrificial system. To do sacrifices today is to make the blood of Christ as nothing.

So perhaps the biggest question for Seventh-day Adventists is —- Are the feasts part of the sacrificial system, or not? Let’s not confuse the issue with a misunderstanding of the terms “ceremonial” and “sacrificial”. “Sacrificial” is obviously related to the spilling of blood – animal sacrifices which prefigured the blood of Christ, so when he shed his blood, it made the blood of animals of no more value. Please notice tho, that up until the moment Jesus died on the cross, the people were still under the obligation to perform animal sacrifices. Is “ceremonial” the same thing as “sacrificial”? Not at all. THIS is perhaps the biggest obstacle for any SDA member in understanding the feasts. We naturally file all the feasts under the term “ceremonial”, and then thinking that “ceremonial” =“sacrificial”, confidently declare them all abolished. The weight of evidence is in favor of “not so”, but i’m still studying this out.

In the book of “Acts of the Apostles,” pages 390 and 391, Ellen White first tells how it angered certain individuals because Paul was teaching that the Jews were now released from observing the ceremonial law; and ,yet, in the very next paragraph she clearly reports that he was continuing to observe the feast days with his converts.

All SDAs agree that the ceremony of the Lord’s Supper should be observed even today. One very good reason given for that, is that it was instituted by our Lord. What most of us fail to see tho, is that the original ceremonies were also instituted by our Lord. Where did he say to quit doing them?

Daniel prophesies that the Messiah would cause the sacrifices and oblation to cease. Exactly as prophesied, it occurred on April 27, 31AD (to the best of our understanding). Where does it say the statutes will be abolished too?

One great way to know you are following Christ, is to do like he did. If we follow his example, aren’t we safe? So what did Christ do? He kept all the commandments, statutes, and at least some, perhaps all, of the feasts. Matthew 26:17, Luke 2:42, John 7:10.

There are many arguments i’ve seen against keeping the feasts/statutes, and seemingly the strongest argument against the feasts is that sacrifices are always associated with them. You cannot have a feast without a sacrifice, and since the sacrifices are done away, we can rest assured the feasts are done away. This error will lead many away from the truth at the end time if accepted. Why? Because the 7th Day Sabbath definitely was intricately connected with sacrifices also!

And on the Sabbath day two lambs of the first year without spot, and two tenth deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and the drink offering thereof: This is the burnt offering of every Sabbath, besides the continual burnt offering, and his drink offering.” Numbers 28:9, 10

Instead of an animal sacrifice, now WE are the sacrifice according to Romans 12:1 (present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God). So this teaching of keeping the statutes is calling us up to a higher standard, one of total consecration of body, word, and thots.

Jesus plainly told the lady at the well where we were to worship, thus completely invalidating the idea that to keep a feast you have to physically go to the city of Jerusalem. Praise God we can worship God in spirit and truth anywhere in the world, and that the great sacrifice has offered his life up in our stead.