Holy Days in the New Testament
Netivyah International
The holy days in the New Testament are the exact same biblical festivals found in the Torah. When you read the Gospels and the letters of the apostles, you see Yeshua (Jesus) and his disciples observing the weekly Sabbath, Passover, Shavuot (Pentecost), and the fall festivals like Sukkot (Tabernacles). They did not view these days as obsolete.
For decades, many Christians have been taught that the New Testament erased the biblical calendar. The popular assumption is that because Yeshua fulfilled the law, the ancient holy days no longer matter. But as Jared Abram Seltzer points out in his research for Netivyah, the first believers in Yeshua lived their faith entirely within the rhythm of the Jewish calendar. Yeshua did not come to cancel the Torah. He came to embody it.
There are generally two ways people look at the Old Testament commands. One view claims that the ministry of Yeshua nullifies our obligation to keep the commandments. The other view says that the ministry of Yeshua is exactly what encourages his followers to uphold whatever they can from the Tanakh (the Old Testament). The core flaw in the first view is the silent assumption that God changed.
God tells us plainly, "I change not" (Malachi 3:6). His interactions with people might adapt to their maturity and circumstances, but His standard for what is good and pleasing does not waver. What God called an abomination before the first century, He did not suddenly bless afterward. And the holy days He established as a blessing were not suddenly discarded as a burden.
Whose Feasts Are They?
Calling the biblical holidays "Jewish" is a common habit, but it accidentally suggests they belong only to the Jewish people. In Leviticus 23, God calls them "My feasts." He shared them with His people as a way to draw near to Him. Learning The Basics of the Mo’adim helps us see that these are God's appointed times for all who follow Him.
We must also remember that the God-given law was never meant to secure ultimate salvation from judgment. The law was given to identify sin, to outline blessings for obedience, and to establish the boundaries of the covenant. To argue that keeping the biblical calendar is somehow a distraction from God's plan of salvation creates a massive contradiction. Did God sabotage Himself by giving Israel His commands? Are faithful believers violating God's will by doing exactly what He told Moses to teach throughout their generations?
Paul explains in Ephesians 2:11-22 that Gentiles who are faithful to God through Yeshua are grafted into Israel. They become fellow citizens in the family of God. If God broke down the wall of hostility to make Jewish and Gentile believers one, it makes little sense to say the Torah is mandatory for Jewish believers but forbidden for Gentile believers.
If Yeshua came to abolish the Torah, he would have disqualified himself from being the Messiah. The book of Deuteronomy clearly states that any prophet who tells the people to abandon the law of Moses is a false prophet. Yeshua even told the leaders of his day that if they did not believe Moses, they could not believe his words (John 5:47). The Law in the New Testament was not erased. It was lived perfectly by the Messiah.
The Weekly Anchor: The Sabbath
The most frequent holy day in the New Testament is the weekly Sabbath (Shabbat). It begins Friday at sundown and ends Saturday at sundown. It is a day to stop working, gather with family, and rest. In Jewish homes today, the Sabbath is welcomed with lit candles, a blessing over wine, and two loaves of braided bread called challah.
It was the custom of Rabbi Yeshua to attend and teach in the synagogue on the Sabbath (Luke 4:16). He also deliberately healed on the Sabbath. He pointed out that if people are allowed to untie their animals and lead them to water on the Sabbath, it is certainly right to free a suffering woman from her infirmity on the Sabbath (Luke 13:15-16). He also defended his hungry disciples when they picked grain on the day of rest. He did not defend working on the Sabbath. He simply showed that feeding the hungry takes priority over strict ritual observance, just as the temple priests worked on the Sabbath to serve God.
After the resurrection, the apostles continued to rest on the seventh day. It was Paul's firm custom to attend the synagogue on the Sabbath (Acts 13:14, Acts 17:2). When the early leaders met in Jerusalem to decide what to require of new Gentile believers, they gave them four basic moral commands. They did this with the understanding that these new believers would learn the rest of the Scriptures over time, "for Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath" (Acts 15:21).
Some point to Acts 20:7 as proof that the Sabbath was moved to Sunday. The text says the disciples gathered on the "first day of the week." Because the biblical day begins at sundown, this means they gathered on Saturday night after the Sabbath ended. They stayed up talking until midnight because Paul was leaving at sunrise on Sunday morning. If Sunday were the new day of rest, Paul would have been breaking it by starting a long travel journey at dawn.
Likewise, in Colossians 2:16, Paul tells believers not to let anyone judge them regarding a festival, a new moon, or a Sabbath. Read the rest of the chapter. Paul is warning them against a group of worldly people who worship angels and push extreme self-denial. He is not warning them against Torah-keeping Jewish people. The believers were likely being judged by pagans for actually keeping the biblical calendar.
The Spring Festivals: Passover and Shavuot
Passover (Pesach) and the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Matzot) occur in the early spring. God commanded the Israelites to mark their doors with the blood of a lamb to escape the judgment in Egypt. In Jewish practice, families gather for a special meal called a Seder to retell the Exodus story. They eat bitter herbs to remember the pain of slavery and eat bread without yeast (matzah) for seven days.
For followers of Yeshua, Passover is a clear picture of the Messiah. During his final week, Yeshua celebrated the Passover with his disciples. He used the unleavened bread and the cup of wine to establish a memorial of his own body and blood. Years later, Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth, "Messiah our Passover was sacrificed for us, so we ought to keep the feast... with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Corinthians 5:7-8). He gave an apostolic command to keep the feast, post-resurrection.
During this same week, the first sheaf of the barley harvest (the Omer) was brought to the temple. It is no coincidence that Yeshua rose from the dead on this very day. This is why Paul calls him the "firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Corinthians 15:20). This begins a fifty-day countdown, and understanding What is the Counting of the Omer? helps connect the resurrection to the giving of the Holy Spirit.
Fifty days later comes the Feast of Weeks, known in Hebrew as Shavuot and in Greek as Pentecost. It is a summer harvest festival. Jewish tradition connects Shavuot with the day God gave the Torah at Mount Sinai. God spoke from the fire, and the rabbis teach that His voice went out in all the languages of the world so the nations could understand.
In Acts 2:1-2, the disciples gathered in Jerusalem for this exact festival. A sound like a rushing wind filled the place, fire appeared, and they began to speak in foreign languages. The Jewish pilgrims from all over the known world understood them. God poured out His Holy Spirit on the very day Israel celebrated the giving of the Torah. The parallels are deliberate. God was showing that the giving of the Spirit was an event of equal weight to the giving of the law at Sinai.
The Fall Festivals: Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles
In the fall, the calendar shifts to themes of repentance, judgment, and ultimate joy. The Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah) is marked by blowing the shofar (a ram's horn). It is a memorial of blowing trumpets. Jewish sages connect this day to the coronation of a king, the binding of Isaac, and the future resurrection of the dead. Today, it is also celebrated as Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
Yeshua and Paul both describe a future day when a loud trumpet blast will announce the return of the Messiah to gather his people (Matthew 24:30-31, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). The imagery points directly to this fall festival.
Ten days later is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It is a solemn day of fasting and prayer. In the days of the temple, the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies to make atonement for the nation. Two goats were chosen. One was sacrificed, and the other, the scapegoat, had the sins of the nation placed upon its head before being driven into the wilderness.
The book of Hebrews compares Yeshua to the High Priest who makes atonement once and for all by his own blood (Hebrews 9:7-12). Just like the scapegoat, Yeshua was condemned in Jerusalem and driven outside the city gates to suffer and die.
Finally, Sukkot (The Feast of Tabernacles) arrives. For seven days, Jewish people build and spend time in temporary booths covered with branches. It remembers how God sheltered Israel in the wilderness. It is a beautiful picture of God dwelling with His people.
In John 7, Yeshua went up to Jerusalem for Sukkot. During this festival, culminating on its last great day (Shemini Atzeret), there was a joyful water-drawing ceremony at the temple. The priests carried water from the Pool of Siloam to pour on the altar, praying for winter rains. On this exact day, Yeshua stood up and called out to the crowds, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink" (John 7:37).
Bringing the Biblical Calendar Home
You do not need to become Jewish to appreciate these holy days. They belong to the God of Israel, and through Yeshua, you are invited to learn from them. If you want to start marking these biblical rhythms with your family, the best place to begin is the weekly Sabbath.
How To Celebrate Erev Shabbat in 7 Simple Steps is much easier than people think. You can create a simple Friday evening routine. Turn off your screens before the sun goes down. Light two candles to separate the busy work week from God's day of rest. Share a warm meal together. Bless your children, read a Psalm, and thank God for the peace we have in Messiah. You will quickly find that keeping the Sabbath is not a legalistic burden. It is a weekly gift that restores your household.
Take time this week to read Leviticus 23 alongside Acts 2 and Acts 20. Notice how the apostles structured their lives around these appointed times. Then ask yourself: How might paying attention to the biblical calendar change the way I read the words of Yeshua?
Questions people ask
What are the holy days in the New Testament?
The holy days in the New Testament are the exact same appointed times God gave to Israel in Leviticus 23. They include the weekly Sabbath, Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Shavuot (Pentecost), the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles.
Where is Shavuot in the Bible?
Shavuot, also known as the Feast of Weeks, is first commanded in Leviticus 23:15-21 and Deuteronomy 16. In the New Testament, Shavuot is called Pentecost, which is the Greek word for "fiftieth." It is the exact day in Acts 2 when God poured out His Holy Spirit on the disciples in Jerusalem.
Did the New Testament cancel the 7 Jewish feasts in the Bible?
No, the New Testament did not cancel the biblical feasts. Paul specifically instructed the believers in Corinth to "keep the feast" of Passover and Unleavened Bread (1 Corinthians 5:7-8). The early believers viewed the holy days as perfect pictures of the Messiah's work, not as obsolete traditions.
What major events in the New Testament happened on biblical holy days?
Many major events in the New Testament align perfectly with the biblical calendar. Yeshua was crucified during Passover, rose from the dead on the day of Firstfruits (the Omer), and the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples during Shavuot (Pentecost).