Arguments Against Observing the Feasts of the Lord: 2. The Temple was Destroyed.
(Venice) La distruzione del tempio di Gerusalemme -Francesco Hayez – gallerie Accademia Venice
Today, you cannot keep the festivals outside of Jerusalem because there is no Temple, functioning priesthood, or holy things.[1]
The Bible does not allow for the celebration of those festivals anywhere else. Any attempt to justify their celebration independent of the Israelite Temple is simply a human determination.[2]
As I stated in a previous article, most Christians do not observe the Feasts of the Lord because they believe that these feasts were for the Jews only and it became unnecessary to observe them after Jesus died on the cross. They argue that the Feasts of the Lord were part of the Ceremonial Law that ended with His crucifixion. Furthermore, once the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D.70 it became impossible to observe the Feasts of the Lord because they were supposed to be observed at the Temple. Is this true? Were the Feasts of the Lord so tethered to the Temple in Jerusalem that once it was destroyed it became no longer possible to observe them?
It is true that God commanded the Hebrews to celebrate their three pilgrimage feasts (Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Feast of Tabernacles) at the Tabernacle and then later at the Temple. This is made plain in Deuteronomy 16:
1Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the Lord thy God: for in the month of Abib the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.
2 Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the Lord thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the Lord shall choose to place his name there.
3 Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.
4 And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days; neither shall there any thing of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day at even, remain all night until the morning.
5 Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee:
6 But at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt.
7 And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose: and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents.
8 Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no work therein.
9 Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn.
10 And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God, according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee:
11 And thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen to place his name there.
12 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes.
13 Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine:
14 And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.
15 Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose: because the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.
16 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the Lord empty:
Deuteronomy 16: 1 – 16
The place that God would choose would be where the Ark of the Covenant was. These pilgrimage feasts would be observed at the Tabernacle when it was at Bethel and Shiloh and then later in Jerusalem after the Temple was built. All males were to make the pilgrimage to these feasts. The women and children could go to the feasts but were permitted to stay at home.
Not all of the Feasts of the Lord were pilgrimage feasts. The Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Shemini Atzeret were not pilgrimage feasts. This does not mean that nothing happened at the Temple on these days. There was a lot of activity at the Temple on the Day of Atonement. However, the people were not required to be at the Temple on that day. They were at home afflicting their souls (fasting).
When the men were in Jerusalem for the pilgrimage Feasts of the Lord, what were the women and children doing at home? They were observing the Feasts of the Lord. We saw in Deuteronomy 16: 4 that during Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, “And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days.” This means that while the men were in Jerusalem keeping the feast and eating unleavened bread, the women and children were doing the same thing at home. This clearly shows that the statement that the Bible did not allow for the feasts to be observed anywhere other than the Temple is incorrect.
What do we see with regards to the Feasts of the Lord in the New Testament after the death of Christ? We see the early Church continuing to observe the Feasts of the Lord but they were beginning to disassociate the feasts from the Temple in Jerusalem. We actually see indications that this would occur from Jesus when he spoke with the Samaritan woman at the well. The Samaritan woman asked Jesus, “20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” John 4: 20. What was she asking Jesus? She was asking Jesus, “Do we observe the Feasts of the Lord at Mt. Gerizim or in Jerusalem? Jesus replied,
21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
John 4: 21 – 24
Now it might be possible to say that Jesus was suggesting that Jesus was implying that observing the Feasts of the Lord was going to become no longer necessary. However, the only thing that Jesus speaks of as going away is having to go to Jerusalem to worship the Father. The people would continue to worship the Father in “spirit and in truth.” It is just as reasonable to interpret Jesus’ words as meaning that the day will come when it will no longer be necessary to observe the Feasts of the Lord in Jerusalem.
This certainly seems to be how the early Christian Church interpreted Jesus’ words because they continued observing the Feasts of the Lord. We see this in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians:
7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 8 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.
1 Corinthians 5: 7, 8
He is telling the Corinthians to “keep the feast,” not in Jerusalem but in Corinth. This chapter in 1 Corinthians would not have made any sense to the Corinthians if they were not observing the Feasts of the Lord.
The most remarkable evidence about the Feasts of the Lord in the early Church comes from Paul’s last trip to Jerusalem before he was arrested. He stopped in Philippi to observe Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. “6 And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days” Acts 20: 6. Ellen G. White wrote about this in her book, Acts of the Apostles:
At Philippi Paul tarried to keep the Passover. Only Luke remained with him, the other members of the company passing on to Troas to await him there. The Philippians were the most loving and truehearted of the apostle’s converts, and during the eight days of the feast he enjoyed peaceful and happy communion with them.[3]
So, Paul observed a Pilgrimage feast with the Philippian church in Phillipi. This clearly demonstrates that Paul had disassociated observing the feasts from Jerusalem. He clearly believed that they could be observed wherever he was at the time.
The early Christian Church continued observing the Feasts of the Lord for centuries. The Quartodeciman Controversy that began in the 2nd Century was a disagreement over whether to observe Passover or Easter. This continued for several centuries and was even addressed at the Council of Nicaea in the 4th Century.
We further proclaim to you the good news of the agreement concerning the holy Easter, that this particular also has through your prayers been rightly settled; so that all our brethren in the East who formerly followed the custom of the Jews are henceforth to celebrate the said most sacred feast of Easter at the same time with the Romans and yourselves and all those who have observed Easter from the beginning.[4]
The Celtic Christians never adopted Easter and never stopped observing Passover and continue to observe it today.
I believe the evidence is overwhelming that it was possible to continue to observe the feasts after the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. In fact, the evidence in the New Testament suggests that the feasts became untethered from Jerusalem after the death of Christ almost 40 years before the destruction of the Temple. Why should this be a difficult concept for us to grasp? If God could change the place where He was to be worshipped from Bethel to Shiloh to Jerusalem, why couldn’t He change it again? Why couldn’t He change it to wherever His people are?
[4] Translated by Henry Percival. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 14. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1900.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3801.htm>.
Posted: January 11, 2026 · Leave a Comment
Arguments Against Observing the Feasts of the Lord: 2. The Temple was Destroyed.
Today, you cannot keep the festivals outside of Jerusalem because there is no Temple, functioning priesthood, or holy things.[1]
The Bible does not allow for the celebration of those festivals anywhere else. Any attempt to justify their celebration independent of the Israelite Temple is simply a human determination.[2]
As I stated in a previous article, most Christians do not observe the Feasts of the Lord because they believe that these feasts were for the Jews only and it became unnecessary to observe them after Jesus died on the cross. They argue that the Feasts of the Lord were part of the Ceremonial Law that ended with His crucifixion. Furthermore, once the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D.70 it became impossible to observe the Feasts of the Lord because they were supposed to be observed at the Temple. Is this true? Were the Feasts of the Lord so tethered to the Temple in Jerusalem that once it was destroyed it became no longer possible to observe them?
It is true that God commanded the Hebrews to celebrate their three pilgrimage feasts (Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Feast of Tabernacles) at the Tabernacle and then later at the Temple. This is made plain in Deuteronomy 16:
1Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the Lord thy God: for in the month of Abib the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.
2 Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the Lord thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the Lord shall choose to place his name there.
3 Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.
4 And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days; neither shall there any thing of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day at even, remain all night until the morning.
5 Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee:
6 But at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt.
7 And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose: and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents.
8 Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no work therein.
9 Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn.
10 And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God, according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee:
11 And thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen to place his name there.
12 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes.
13 Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine:
14 And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.
15 Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose: because the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.
16 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the Lord empty:
Deuteronomy 16: 1 – 16
The place that God would choose would be where the Ark of the Covenant was. These pilgrimage feasts would be observed at the Tabernacle when it was at Bethel and Shiloh and then later in Jerusalem after the Temple was built. All males were to make the pilgrimage to these feasts. The women and children could go to the feasts but were permitted to stay at home.
Not all of the Feasts of the Lord were pilgrimage feasts. The Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Shemini Atzeret were not pilgrimage feasts. This does not mean that nothing happened at the Temple on these days. There was a lot of activity at the Temple on the Day of Atonement. However, the people were not required to be at the Temple on that day. They were at home afflicting their souls (fasting).
When the men were in Jerusalem for the pilgrimage Feasts of the Lord, what were the women and children doing at home? They were observing the Feasts of the Lord. We saw in Deuteronomy 16: 4 that during Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, “And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days.” This means that while the men were in Jerusalem keeping the feast and eating unleavened bread, the women and children were doing the same thing at home. This clearly shows that the statement that the Bible did not allow for the feasts to be observed anywhere other than the Temple is incorrect.
What do we see with regards to the Feasts of the Lord in the New Testament after the death of Christ? We see the early Church continuing to observe the Feasts of the Lord but they were beginning to disassociate the feasts from the Temple in Jerusalem. We actually see indications that this would occur from Jesus when he spoke with the Samaritan woman at the well. The Samaritan woman asked Jesus, “20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” John 4: 20. What was she asking Jesus? She was asking Jesus, “Do we observe the Feasts of the Lord at Mt. Gerizim or in Jerusalem? Jesus replied,
21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
John 4: 21 – 24
Now it might be possible to say that Jesus was suggesting that Jesus was implying that observing the Feasts of the Lord was going to become no longer necessary. However, the only thing that Jesus speaks of as going away is having to go to Jerusalem to worship the Father. The people would continue to worship the Father in “spirit and in truth.” It is just as reasonable to interpret Jesus’ words as meaning that the day will come when it will no longer be necessary to observe the Feasts of the Lord in Jerusalem.
This certainly seems to be how the early Christian Church interpreted Jesus’ words because they continued observing the Feasts of the Lord. We see this in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians:
7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 8 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.
1 Corinthians 5: 7, 8
He is telling the Corinthians to “keep the feast,” not in Jerusalem but in Corinth. This chapter in 1 Corinthians would not have made any sense to the Corinthians if they were not observing the Feasts of the Lord.
The most remarkable evidence about the Feasts of the Lord in the early Church comes from Paul’s last trip to Jerusalem before he was arrested. He stopped in Philippi to observe Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. “6 And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days” Acts 20: 6. Ellen G. White wrote about this in her book, Acts of the Apostles:
So, Paul observed a Pilgrimage feast with the Philippian church in Phillipi. This clearly demonstrates that Paul had disassociated observing the feasts from Jerusalem. He clearly believed that they could be observed wherever he was at the time.
The early Christian Church continued observing the Feasts of the Lord for centuries. The Quartodeciman Controversy that began in the 2nd Century was a disagreement over whether to observe Passover or Easter. This continued for several centuries and was even addressed at the Council of Nicaea in the 4th Century.
The Celtic Christians never adopted Easter and never stopped observing Passover and continue to observe it today.
I believe the evidence is overwhelming that it was possible to continue to observe the feasts after the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. In fact, the evidence in the New Testament suggests that the feasts became untethered from Jerusalem after the death of Christ almost 40 years before the destruction of the Temple. Why should this be a difficult concept for us to grasp? If God could change the place where He was to be worshipped from Bethel to Shiloh to Jerusalem, why couldn’t He change it again? Why couldn’t He change it to wherever His people are?
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Picture: La distruzione del tempio di Gerusalemme – Francesco Hayez Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice
By Didier Descouens – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=132796743
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[1] https://whitefeatherministries.com/can-you-keep-the-festivals-outside-jerusalem/
[2] Rodriguez, AM. Reinventing Ancient Rituals? https://adventistbiblicalresearch.org/articles/reinventing-ancient-rituals
[3] White, E. G. (1911). The Acts of the Apostles in the Proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Vol. 4, pp. 390–391). Pacific Press Publishing Association.
[4] Translated by Henry Percival. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 14. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1900.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3801.htm>.
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