Dear Sister ___________,

Thank you for contacting the Ellen G. White Estate. From time to time people ask about this matter. Though the White Estate does not have a publication about this, I'll be glad to share with you what I send to others who ask:

I find nothing in Mrs. White's writings to support the idea that Christians should observe the feasts today. She herself did not observe them.

One statement of hers that is often quoted in support of keeping the feasts is this one, from the Review and Herald, Nov. 17, 1885:

"Well would it be for us to have a feast of tabernacles, a joyous commemoration of the blessings of God to us as a people. As the children of Israel celebrated the deliverance that God wrought for their fathers, and his miraculous preservation of them during their journeyings from Egypt to the promised land, so should the people of God at the present time gratefully call to mind the various ways he has devised to bring them out from the world, out from the darkness of error, into the precious light of truth. We should often bring to remembrance the dependence upon God of those who first led out in this work. We should gratefully regard the old way-marks, and refresh our souls with memories of the loving-kindness of our gracious Benefactor."

When Mrs. White calls for us to have "a feast of tabernacles" rather than keep "the feast of tabernacles," she seems to be asking us to do something similar, but not the same, as what Israel of old did. In the remainder of the paragraph she describes the elements that she was calling for. These elements do not require our observance of the feast of tabernacles as such. In fact, in this statement Mrs. White appears to call for something more frequent than the annual feast: "We should often bring to remembrance . . . ."

On occasion Mrs. White seems to have compared our camp meetings to the feast of tabernacles:

"The forces of the enemies are strengthening, and as a people we are misrepresented; but shall we not gather our forces together, and come up to the feast of tabernacles? Let us not treat this matter as one of little importance, but let the army of the Lord be on the ground to represent the work and cause of God in Australia. Let no one plead an excuse at such a time. One of the reasons why we have appointed the camp-meeting to be held at Melbourne, is that we desire the people of that vicinity to become acquainted with our doctrines and works. We want them to know what we are, and what we believe. Let every one pray, and make God his trust. Those who are barricaded with prejudice must hear the warning message for this time. We must find our way to the hearts of the people. Therefore come to the camp-meeting, even though you have to make a sacrifice to do so, and the Lord will bless your efforts to honour his cause and advance his work." (Bible Echo and Signs of the Times, Dec. 8, 1893.)

In the remainder of the article I just quoted from, Mrs. White gives many reasons for people to attend the camp meeting, but observing the Bible feast is not one of them. And the time of year does not coordinate with the Palestinian Feast of Tabernacles, which followed the Day of Atonement in September or October.

In regard to other feasts, it seems to me that the following statement says that the Passover has been replaced by the Lord's Supper. See what you think:

"Christ was standing at the point of transition between two economies and their two great festivals. He, the spotless Lamb of God, was about to present Himself as a sin offering, that He would thus bring to an end the system of types and ceremonies that for four thousand years had pointed to His death. As He ate the Passover with His disciples, He instituted in its place the service that was to be the memorial of His great sacrifice. The national festival of the Jews was to pass away forever. The service which Christ established was to be observed by His followers in all lands and through all ages." (The Desire of Ages, p. 652, emphasis mine.)

So far I have dealt only with Mrs. White's writings. What about the Bible? The New Testament does not forbid the keeping of these festivals, and in fact we find the apostles (notably Paul) referring to them. Yet Paul also introduces the element of Christ's having fulfilled the significance of these feasts, which predicted and foreshadowed the major aspects of His work. For instance, 1 Cor. 5:7 says, "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us." Most Seventh-day Adventists believe that at Christ's crucifixion, when the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, the sacrificial system had met its completion, its fulfillment, in Jesus. Ever after, it would not be necessary to slay a lamb to express faith in the coming Redeemer, for He had already come and been slain for us. So just as we do not kill a lamb for a sin offering, neither do we kill a lamb for a passover celebration, in which the slain lamb represented Jesus who would die in our place.

So why does Paul say in the next verse (1 Cor. 5:8), "Therefore let us keep the feast"? Is he saying that one should therefore keep the passover? When I read the whole verse, and especially in its context of dealing with sin in the church (see 5:1-13), I see him using "keep the feast" as a metaphor for getting rid of sin, the "leaven" he spoke of in the previous verse as well. Here's how verse 8 reads: "Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."

In one other place Paul seems to categorize the feasts as having a predictive function which was fulfilled when Christ came. Colossians 2:16, 17 says, "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." These seem all to be ceremonial observances which Paul says foreshadowed things to come, of which Christ is the substance. Unlike the seventh-day Sabbath, which looked back to creation, the ceremonial observances looked forward to one or more aspects of His work for our redemption. After Christ came, these no longer were needed as "shadows" of things to come.

So these are some aspects of the question, as I see it, regarding whether Christians today need to keep the feasts. I do not understand the Bible or Mrs. White to forbid anyone's keeping them, but neither do I find where we are commanded or even counseled to keep them. Mrs. White, in fact, wrote that in the Last Supper and His crucifixion to follow, Jesus would "bring to an end the system of types and ceremonies that for four thousand years had pointed to His death." She added that Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper in place of the Passover. On these bases, I personally feel that agitation about keeping the feasts is not appropriate and may in fact be a distraction, a sidetrack, for God's people today.

I hope this may be useful to you in some way. Let me know if I can be of further service. Thank you again for getting in touch, and God bless.

William Fagal
Associate Director
Ellen G. White Estate
12501 Old Columbia Pike
Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600 U.S.A.
Phone: 301 680-6550
FAX: 301 680-6559
E-mail: mail@WhiteEstate.org
Web: www.WhiteEstate.org