What the Bible Teaches about God's Appointed Times
God has a calendar of appointed times to meet with His children. Not only did He set the schedule, but He gave specific instructions on how to come before Him to remember His mighty acts of the past, thank Him for the present, and anticipate the fulfillment of all His promises in the future. These appointed times, which the English Bible calls “feasts,” are rich in meaning—and they remain as fully relevant and valid today as they were the day He instructed the children of Israel to observe them.
The feasts are sprinkled throughout the Old Testament, but the main text where they are described is Leviticus 23. In verses 1-4, we are introduced to them as “feasts of the Lord”:
1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts. 3 Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. 4 These are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.’” (Emphasis added)
Notice that in verse 2, God specifically refers to them as “My feasts.” This distinction is very important: These are not merely Jewish feasts, nor do they belong exclusively to Israel. These are God’s feasts. And Leviticus 23 introduces us to the fact that God has a whole calendar of appointed times.
Why the Feasts Matter Today
It is far too easy to go about our modern lives unaware of God’s calendar and miss the opportunities the feasts offer. We can even deceive ourselves into thinking that the calendar no longer matters or that it is no longer valid because, through Christ, we can come to the Lord at any time and from anywhere. While it is absolutely true that we can approach God at any time, according to the Hebrew prophets in the messianic era, we will still be observing Shabbats (Sabbaths), new moons, and celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles at the very least. Because of this prophetic future, it’s important for Christians to understand God’s calendar so we are on His time—not ours.
To begin, we must understand a bit more about verse 2—specifically, the word “feast,” which in English can convey a misleading impression of these biblical events. In Hebrew, the word is moed, which means an “appointed time.” The feasts are scheduled appointments on God’s calendar to meet with His people, to commemorate and be reminded of His mighty acts in the past, and to thank Him for present-day blessings—usually centered around the harvest and the rain—all while keeping an eye on the future. But moed also communicates the idea of practicing something, which means the feasts are more than social celebrations—they are, in effect, a “dress rehearsal” for their coming fulfillment.
Leviticus 23 lists seven feasts, but the overarching feast over all is the Sabbath, and this beautiful day of rest is what begins God’s calendar. To understand how this calendar unfolds, let’s look first at the seven seasonal feasts.
The Rhythms of the Spring and Summer Feasts
The seasonal feasts outlined in Leviticus 23 are divided into the spring feasts, one late spring/early summer feast, and the fall feasts. Most Christians are quite familiar with the first four feasts because they have a clear, historic Christian fulfillment.
These are the feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits. They were all precisely fulfilled in the final week and day of Jesus’ earthly life—His body broken as unleavened bread, His death on Passover, and then His resurrection which occurred exactly on the Feast of Firstfruits. In 1 Corinthians 15:20, Paul explicitly underscores this connection, calling Jesus “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”
Following these, we have the summer feast of Shavuot, which in Greek was called Pentecost. This feast found its direct fulfillment in the historic outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the early believers in Jerusalem. Today, the church celebrates Pentecost, though believers don’t always know about the biblical feast of Shavuot that underlies it. At the very least, they are familiar with the word “Pentecost” and its connection to the Holy Spirit.
These spring and summer milestones are anchored in history and remain on the church calendar due to their Christian fulfillment. The remaining celebrations are prophetic and point to future events.
The Prophetic Future of the Fall Feasts
For a long time, the church was generally unfamiliar with the fall feasts—the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles. This gap in understanding exists largely because these specific feasts have not yet had their final Christian fulfillment.
The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot in Hebrew) is a celebration of the final harvest and the ultimate coming of the kingdom of God on Earth. According to the Hebrew prophet Zechariah, this is a feast that will one day be celebrated by all the nations of the world:
And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. (14:16)
This prophetic baseline is exactly why the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) began celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles over 45 years ago—and why we continue to prepare the nations to come up to Jerusalem to celebrate it. In the messianic era, it will be a glorious celebration of the final spiritual harvest, the coming of the kingdom of God on Earth, and that promised latter rain where the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon all flesh and the glory of the Lord will completely fill the earth.
That is the massive, future hope we celebrate in the Feast of Tabernacles—and why it is the most joyful feast on God’s calendar.
The Universal Principle of Sabbath Rest
Closely tied to this future kingdom reality is the overarching principle of rest, which is the first Feast listed in Leviticus 23. We tend to think that the Sabbath—the seventh day of the Hebrew week—is only for Israel and that we are no longer under that rule. However, the Sabbath preexisted the children of Israel—it was an intrinsic part of creation itself, as seen in Genesis 2:1-3:
"Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made." (Emphasis added)
Because it is rooted in creation, the Sabbath is for all of God’s people, alluding to the universal goal of rest for the entire world. This is affirmed by the writer of Hebrews 4:9-11:
There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
A spiritual rest is promised for believers who live in fellowship with God and are filled with His Spirit. Rest will only come for the world when God’s kingdom is established on Earth, and creation is fully ruled by God. He originally created the Sabbath rest for that perfect creation, but we lost it; we entered instead into a toil of the soul, living in sin and rebellion. But one day, the creation—including all of mankind—will come under the literal rule of God on Earth and experience peace and rest.
That is what the feasts are truly all about: They point us back to the Creator God, His plan of redemption of fallen mankind, and forward to His ultimate goal of tabernacling with man. When that happens, creation will finally enter its ultimate rest. When we ignore His calendar, we rob ourselves of the depths of revelation it affords us. God’s appointed meetings—His feasts—carry rich meaning and reveal His character and His plans for the world, as well as how to enjoy His presence and fellowship.
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Originally published June 25, 2026.
