Based purely on Scripture (not man’s private interpretations), we can be confident that the Law remains for Christians to keep. However, there is a conundrum around the feasts.

On the one hand, there are verses that clearly indicate that feasts like Passover are not optional (see below). On the other hand, other verses suggest that the feasts must be kept in a specific fashion, which involves a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

However, even if one journeyed to present-day Jerusalem, and even if that were the real historical Jerusalem, it seems clear that YHWH does not dwell there. There is no temple or priesthood.

What is an obedient Christian to do? I don’t have an answer, but thought I’d present the relevant Scriptures for consideration.

The Feasts Must Be Kept

But anyone who is clean and is not on a journey and yet refrains from keeping the Passover shall be cut off from the people for not presenting YHWH’s offering at its appointed time; such a one shall bear the consequences for the sin. Any alien residing among you who wishes to keep the Passover to YHWH shall do so according to the statute of the Passover and according to its regulation; you shall have one statute for both the resident alien and the native of the land.

~ Numbers 9:13-14

You shall observe the Festival of Weeks, the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering at the turn of the year. Three times in the year all your males shall appear before YHWH God, the God of Israel.

~ Exodus 34:22-23

Then all who survive of the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, YHWH of hosts, and to keep the Festival of Booths.

~ Zechariah 14:16

The Feasts Must Be Kept On YHWH’s Terms

This Scripture says that the Passover must be kept where He chooses, not where we choose:

You are not permitted to offer the Passover sacrifice within any of your towns that YHWH your God is giving you. But at the place that YHWH your God will choose as a dwelling for his name, only there shall you offer the Passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, the time of day when you departed from Egypt.

~ Deuteronomy‬ ‭16‬:‭5‬-‭6‬

The following Scripture indicates that curses come upon those who keep Passover other than as prescribed. However, it also shows that YHWH is merciful towards those who try to keep His feasts.

For a multitude of the people, many of them from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover contrary to what was prescribed. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the good YHWH pardon all who set their hearts to seek God, YHWH the God of their ancestors, even though not in accordance with the sanctuary’s rules of cleanness.” YHWH heard Hezekiah and healed the people.

~ 2 Chronicles 30:18-20

I am not aware of any Biblical record of the feasts being kept apart from the presence of YHWH. It is true that the feasts were at times kept outside Jerusalem, but only when YHWH (and the priests) were with the Israelites:

While the Israelites were camped in Gilgal, they kept the Passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. On the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and roasted grain.

~ Joshua 5:10-11

In fact, we do have evidence of a righteous person, residing outside of Jerusalem, not keeping a feast, but fasting:

At that time I, Daniel, had been mourning for three weeks. I had eaten no rich food, no meat or wine had entered my mouth, and I had not anointed myself at all, for the full three weeks. On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river (that is, the Tigris) ...

~ Daniel 10:2-4

Of note is that Yeshua kept Passover (often referred to as the “Last Supper”) within Jerusalem.

For what it’s worth, in the apocrypha, Tobit does keep a feast while in exile:

In the days of Esar-haddon I returned home, and my wife Anna and my son Tobias were restored to me. At our Festival of Pentecost, which is the sacred Festival of Weeks, a good dinner was prepared for me, and I reclined to eat. When the table had been set for me and an abundance of food placed before me, I said to my son Tobias, “Go, my son, and bring whatever poor person you may find of our kindred among the exiles in Nineveh who is wholeheartedly mindful of God, and he shall eat together with me. I will wait for you, my son, until you come back.”

~ Tobit 2:1-2

However, feasting may not have been the right thing for Tobit to do:

Then I remembered the prophecy of Amos, how he said against Bethel, “Your festivals shall be turned into mourning and all your songs into lamentation.” And I wept.

~ Tobit 2:6

He becomes blind on the same day.

“This is a Statute Forever”

Then we have these verses. For the sake of readability, I won’t be reproducing the whole context, as there is a lot of text. However, it is always important that the reader (you) studies the context.

You shall eat no bread or parched grain or fresh ears until that very day, until you have brought the offering of your God. This is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your settlements.

~ Leviticus 23:14

On that same day you shall make proclamation; you shall hold a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations. This is a statute forever in all your settlements throughout your generations.

~ Leviticus 23:21

And anyone who does any work during that entire day, such a one I will destroy from the midst of the people. You shall do no work. This is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your settlements.

~ Leviticus 23:30-31

But When are the Feasts?

Another complication is that there is disagreement among Christians, who want to be obedient, as to what is the correct calendar.

The most common calendar that is kept is a lunar calendar that originated in Babylon, with months named after Babylonian deities. This is almost certainly a false calendar. (After all, what is common is almost never true.) The Book of Enoch clearly says that the true year has 364 days:

... the year is exactly as to its days three hundred and sixty-four.

~ Enoch 72:33

And the sun and the stars bring in all the years exactly, so that they do not advance or delay their position by a single day unto eternity; but complete the years with perfect justice in 364 days.

~ Enoch 74:12

... the exactness of the year is accomplished through its separate three hundred and sixty-four stations.

~ Enoch 75:2-3

... the year is completed in three hundred and sixty-four days. And the account thereof is accurate and the recorded reckoning thereof exact ...

~ Enoch 82:7

This couldn’t be more clear. The true year is exactly 364 days – not more, not less. The only problem, of course, is that our year appears to really be 365 days.

Enoch seems to hint at the reason for this:

And in the days of the sinners the years shall be shortened, And their seed shall be tardy on their lands and fields, And all things on the earth shall alter, And shall not appear in their time: And the rain shall be kept back And the heaven shall withhold (it). And in those times the fruits of the earth shall be backward, And shall not grow in their time, And the fruits of the trees shall be withheld in their time. And the moon shall alter her order, And not appear at her time.

~ Enoch 80:2-4

The following verse is possibly related, though I think this has to be properly interpreted (if the feasts were abolished, it would contradict Zechariah 14:16).

I will put an end to all her mirth, her festivals, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her appointed festivals.

~ Hosea 2:11

Conclusion

That’s all I have. I am hoping for further revelation on this matter. I don’t want to lead anybody astray, but to me it seems that the most direct Scriptural parallel to our situation (being outside the land) is Daniel.

Please leave a comment below if you have any ideas!