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Celebrating Jesus in the Biblical Feasts Expanded Edition: Discovering Their Significance to You as a Christian

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Unlock the Prophetic Significance of the Biblical Feasts!
 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feast of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts.—Leviticus 23:1-2 ESV
The Feasts of the Lord have powerful and prophetic significance to God’s people, both Jew and Gentile. Each feast is a picture of Jesus the Messiah and represents one of seven phases of spiritual development in your life!

In this intriguing and biblically sound study, Dr. Richard Booker takes you on a revelatory journey through the Bible showing you how the ancient Biblical feasts are relevant for your spiritual growth today.

Get life-changing revelation of the significance of:• Passover
• Unleavened Bread
• First Fruits
• Pentecost
• Trumpets
• Atonement
• Tabernacles
From the new birth found in Passover and the Crucifixion, all the way to entering God’s rest found in the Feast of Tabernacles and the Second Coming, you will discover how the seven Biblical feast powerfully impact your faith journey with the Lord.

Learn to encounter God in a fresh powerful way by unlocking the prophetic significance of the Feasts of the Lord!

226 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 1987

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Richard Booker

51 books13 followers

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5 stars
164 (46%)
4 stars
120 (33%)
3 stars
52 (14%)
2 stars
10 (2%)
1 star
7 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
Profile Image for Christina.
111 reviews
February 25, 2019
(Admittedly, I have not entirely finished this book, but decided to refer to it one chapter at a time as each Biblical feast approaches. I have read several chapters, though, and feel confident enough to go ahead and review the book.)

This book is... good, but not great. I wanted a book which was an easy read and good overview of the Biblical feasts, both historically speaking as well as their present forms. This book fulfilled that desire just fine. I did have a couple of concerns, though, which knocked it down a couple of stars on my rating.

Most of my concerns center around citations and research. Dr. Booker makes many confident assertions about culture, theology, and little-known historical details, most of which completely lack any kind of supporting research. Despite the density of information in each chapter, citations at the end of the chapter average four or fewer. Moreover, the vast majority of these citations refer to websites, some of the more respectable .edu extension and others as commonplace as geocities.com! I get the distinct impression that Dr. Booker learned most of his information for this book from the Internet, and we all know how much we should blindly trust what the Internet says.

Take for example the crucifixion of Jesus. I was so surprised and amazed at how perfectly Dr. Booker explained a Wednesday crucifixion (rather than the commonly celebrated Good Friday). But I felt unsettled at his lack of supporting research, so I went in search for it myself. (Yes, hypocritically, on the Internet.) But what I found was that this Wednesday crucifixion argument is one of at least three major arguments for the timing of Christ's crucifixion, and it appears to be actually one of the least supported (in terms of people espousing it). There are even massive scholarly pdfs available online for reading up on the subject, and after spending at least a week on the matter myself, I decided there was distinct evidence against Dr. Booker's assertions. That's alright, it is fine for us to disagree, but what bothers me is that Dr. Booker did not even mention the other views, or admit to the weaknesses of his own. I felt like my trust in the author had been betrayed and I had been the victim of a literary slight of hand.

A bit more aware this time, I continued reading. But again and again, references were confidently made to details on which his entire argument hinged, yet those details weren't backed by reputable evidence (or any evidence). In the end, I had to stop trusting his information altogether and simply use this book as a starting point for my own personal research. It is still a good book to get an overview of each feast as well as some ideas of how to look at them from a Christian point of view, but I would recommend reading it as if it were written by a friend at church rather than by a serious, scholarly theologian.
Profile Image for Jennifer Thompson-Thalasinos.
343 reviews6 followers
October 2, 2016
I learned about this book on Sid Roth's It's Supernatural. This is a great primer on the Biblical feasts for anyone wishing to follow their faith like Yeshua (Jesus) did. As I've been in the Messianic church for over 2 years I knew a lot of this already. This is the perfect book to read this month before so many Holy days.
Profile Image for Han Beenenga.
15 reviews
July 20, 2025
This was really spectacular. A really well done way of emphasizing how important understanding the Jewish feasts are and why it should matter to us as believers (and the church). It’s not just “a Jewish thing.” The whole book was saturated in scripture to back up every single point and there were incredibly creative examples for application of celebrating each feast today.

There were just a few times that it was communicated that each feast “so obviously” points to Jesus as Messiah. It’s obvious to us the Christian but I think it’s important to remember that the Jewish people do painfully miss that. The church and individual believer should remember this is the case and be burdened with a heart to pray for them (Jews) to see what we see: an intentional, purposeful Jesus.
Profile Image for Tom Brennan.
Author 5 books108 followers
October 18, 2022
Pentecostals...

(growl)

Booker is one. And it makes his work seriously flawed. He's a Christian, mind you, displaying a clear understanding of salvation by grace through faith in Christ. He's also probably a dispensationalist, which helps when you write about Israel from a biblical perspective. But as a pentecostal his willingness to connect dots the Scripture never connects, and to do so with blithe certainty is disturbing. It shows up mostly in his attempt to connect the seven feasts to events in Jesus' life, and in his attempt to connect them to events in Pentecostal/church history. The latter is especially absurd. He also strains the dating/chronology of events in order to make them fit his pattern.

Having said that, I read the book amongst a collection of similar one in preparation for a sermon series. It must be said this work is not totally without value in that context. He knows the Jews, having taken 25 trips to Israel, give or take, and it shows. I've read thousands of pages at this point on Jewish culture/history and he brings up things I've never seen anywhere else. That only scares me a little bit. (grin)

Each chapter covers a different feast. In each chapter, there is approximately four paragraphs of good analysis/history/connection with Christ. But those four paragraphs are good. You just have to wade through the rest to find them.
Profile Image for Lee Harmon.
Author 5 books114 followers
January 26, 2011
It’s impossible to recognize all the nuances of the New Testament writings without understanding the Jewish feasts. Consider especially the Gospel of John: It goes from one Biblical feast to the next with barely a let-up. This is one of John’s primary literary devices, where the festival celebrations provide a meaningful backdrop for Jesus’ lessons. Let me give you an example from Booker’s book, in his coverage of the Feast of Tabernacles:

As part of the ritual proceeding, a certain priest would draw water from the Pool of Siloam with a golden pitcher. He would then come to the altar at the temple where the High Priest would take the pitcher and pour the water into a basin at the foot of the altar. … About the time the water was being poured … [all the people] sought the Lord from Isaiah 44:3, which reads, “For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring.”

Now we come to the words of Jesus in John 7:37. Picture him there in the temple as the ceremony concludes. On the last day of the feast of Tabernacles, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

I have at least a half-dozen books about the feasts of Israel; it’s a basic necessity for anyone studying to publish a book about the Gospel of John. With perhaps the exception of an over-sized picture book (come on, who can resist that?) this one is my favorite. Booker will guide you through the entire year of festivals, from Passover to Hanukkah, adroitly explaining the significance of each traditional and ritual and how the events relate to the story of Jesus.

(Dr. Richard Booker is considered a pioneer and spiritual father in teaching on Israel, Jewish-Christian relations, and the biblical Hebraic roots of Christianity.)
Profile Image for Jason.
339 reviews
January 25, 2022
I was really wanting to enjoy this book. I was hopeful that it would provide insights into how Jesus connects with the Biblical Jewish feasts. Sadly, this book greatly under-delivered. The writing and editing is not good. It is not formatted well, or consistently. I did not enjoy his writing style. He has a few phrases that are meaningless and annoyed me, and they are repeated throughout the book. Also, there are multiple places where he seems more interested in selling other resources than providing information to the reader. If he had just quoted from his own works, that would be one thing. But he very plainly tries to sell his other works and resources, and that just bothers me. Also, there are some random pieces of information and arguments that really have little to do with his central point that he decides to argue, and these are never good, and are rarely true. He does give a few interesting facts about each feast and how they connect to Jesus, but overall this is not a good book.
34 reviews1 follower
December 16, 2014
This is a terrific book. I've been studying some Jewish culture and wanted to know more about the Biblical feasts because Christianity is so anchored in Jewish heritage. This book really helped me understand the background and application for today. We as Christians need to remember that an understanding of ancient Jewish history can really help us understand the God we love better and our Messiah. Yeshua was Jewish after all and spoke to Jews in terms they would understand.

We have started celebrating the Biblical feasts and it had been a tremendous blessing. I would encourage any believer to do the same.
Profile Image for Kristi Ray.
97 reviews
September 25, 2024
Good book explaining the prophetic significance of the seasonal Biblical feasts. A well written study that can give the reader a fuller comprehension of God’s plan of redemption through our Messiah: Christ Jesus who perfectly fulfilled the Law and the Prophets. The author encourages Christians and Jews to strengthen our relationship with Christ Jesus (Messiah Yeshua) through the keeping and remembrance of these Biblical holy days.
Profile Image for EllenS.
165 reviews4 followers
February 13, 2024
This is absolutely one of the best books I have ever read. We used it as a Bible study in a group, and all agree that it really helped to clarify so many teachings of the Bible. This book brought richer meaning to God’s word by explaining the Jewish perspective and meaning of the major feasts and how Jesus fulfilled them. Highly recommended ✔️
80 reviews
December 11, 2022
Excellent definition of God’s feasts, their relationship to Jesus and Christian application

I am very familiar with God’s feasts and His invitation to the Jewish nation to join Him in His Feasts. I’ve always liked how Jesus’ last events on earth coordinate with the four spring feasts and have no doubt Jesus’ coming events will align with the three fall feasts. This book is an excellent review of God’s seven feasts, how Jesus relates to those feasts and how a Christian can apply the lessons of those feasts. The book also adds an excellent description of Purim and Hanukkah of which I didn’t know much. In addition, I found the definition of the Jewish calendar and the requirement for a “leap month” every three years very interesting. This is definitely a good read for anyone wanting to know more about the Jewish celebrations, how they relate to Jesus and how they can be applied to their own life.
Profile Image for Rodney Hall.
216 reviews2 followers
April 12, 2024
"Celebrating Jesus in the Biblical Feasts" is a good summary of the Biblical Feasts as well as Purim and Hanukkah. It will be of special interest to Christians wanting to understand how Messiah is portrayed thought each of them.

For the most part Booker stays true to other scholarship I have read on the subject with the one exception being Purim. Here Booker makes a strong statement for the Kings motivations in calling for Vashti that is not supported by the Biblical narrative and to which many scholars disagree. My problem here is not so much that he proffers and opinion but rather that he seems to state it as fact - and that is disputable. While he seems to argue for historical substantiation, such evidence is missing from his footnotes.

Nevertheless, the book is a good read that covers the salient details of the Feasts and their importance to Christians and those looking for Messiah.
Profile Image for Susan Brenning.
Author 5 books1 follower
January 12, 2023
A Jesus Fest

Mr. Booker has a pedagogical writing style guiding the reader in a clear way how to celebrate Jesus through Biblical feasts. I love that he seeks Christianity’s roots to the Jewish tradition and Old Testament. I regret that he doesn’t seem to see the wealth in the teachings of the early church and church Fathers. If I understand right, he feels they rejected the Jews and Jewish teachings and therefore have gone astray.
He offers practical advice on how to incorporate Jesus Fests into church and family life to enrich our understanding of Jesus and His salvation story.
I recommend this book for those who want to understand the Old Testament teachings in light of the New Testament and Jewish tradition.
Profile Image for Tim Shepard.
813 reviews3 followers
January 26, 2023
Ummm.... What?

The idea of celebrating the Jewish holidays us one that I believe most Christians should at least loom into. But if you're looking for Biblical truths behind the reason for those celebrations, this book isn't for you. Don't get me wrong. There is great information about how the feasts were and are celebrated here. But the author throws in a lot of non-Biblical theories, including an exact date Jesus was crucified and that he rose in the evening, not in the morning unto the mix. All the while contradicting the very scripture he's quoting. Perhaps only teaching the truth behind the feast days would be better suited than outright contradicting God's word would be better suited for an argument of the necessity of holding to the Hebrew traditions.
Profile Image for BookishKelley.
77 reviews15 followers
January 19, 2025
Dr. Richard Booker does a great job explaining each Hebrew feast, how we can see it paralleled in Jesus' life, and how followers of Jesus can still honor these feasts. It is not until the last chapter that he really gives examples of how Christians can celebrate the feasts, but the ideas he gives are great. My one suggestion is, if you hear something that is mentioned that is new to you, research that new info. Never take something that someone says as truth without comparing it to the Bible and other scholarly resources. Dr. Booker makes a few statements that do require further research on my end.
98 reviews
August 15, 2022
Much of my reaction to the book is the same as this review (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...), so I would recommend reading it. Some good along with a lot of bad faith arguments, poor citations and questionable sources, and theology that I don't agree with. It did help guide me in studying more about these feasts and their connections to the covenants and Christ.
Profile Image for Roger Robart.
2 reviews1 follower
September 18, 2017
I debated between 2 or 3 stars but I'm feeling generous. The biggest problem with this book is that most of it is not about "celebrating Jesus in the Biblical feasts". if thus book got edited down to just under half of it's current size it would be a great read. As it is I found it a struggle to get through
Profile Image for Benjamin.
1 review1 follower
February 10, 2020
Very good explanation of the Biblical Feasts and how they relate to Jesus but lacking a little history and new believers will find it a little detailed and overwhelming to understand first off. Although recommend for those who have already a basic understanding of God's Feasts and foundation of Christianity
Profile Image for Paige Smith.
251 reviews6 followers
April 21, 2020
More of a text book or bible study than the regular 'book club pick' but I read and re-read every single chapter - some probably more than once. There was just so much here to learn or re-learn, to absorb as a Christian that loves learning new things about my faith and the Jewish roots and how we are connected.
Profile Image for Amber .
114 reviews
December 13, 2024
I almost gave up on this book. It was like reading a textbook. It was dull, and the accuracy of some of the points was questionable. Some of it felt very stretched as well. There was just enough useful and interesting information in it to force me to finish it, but I honestly didn't enjoy reading it at all.
Profile Image for Rachel.
49 reviews
October 8, 2022
This would have been a stronger, better book if Dr. Booker had limited his scope to the way the life of Christ is reflected in the biblical feasts and the way the Jewish liturgical calendar ties into the Gospels. Unfortunately, Dr. Booker gets distracted from this goal and tries to connect Jewish holidays to events in Christian church history (the Reformation, the Great Awakening, etc.) as well as events in Revelation that, at least in his understanding, haven't happened yet. The Church history connections made me uncomfortable because they felt too worshipful, even in the single case where Booker acknowledges a historical figure's flaws. That may sound accusatory or uncharitable, but I'm not trying to be. I'm simply being honest about why those sections bothered me.
I also felt like Dr. Booker assumed that his reader would share all of his beliefs, because it feels like he builds his arguments around the assumption that he won't have to explain in precise terms what he believes and why he believes it. But even as his fellow Christian, I don't share all of his specific beliefs. There are also beliefs where I may in fact agree with him (at least partially), but can't tell because he does not explain his beliefs. I feel this assumption and lack of explanation weakens his overall argument.
Beyond that, I also felt like the writing quality was lacking.
I found this book interesting at points and when it was a book about Jesus and the relevance of the Jewish liturgical calendar to the Gospels I enjoyed it, but I don't know that I would recommend the whole thing.
941 reviews6 followers
November 15, 2022
I found this interesting, informative and fascinating. I know little about Jewish festivals and traditions, so enjoyed adding this to my 'knowledge base.' Amazing how God laid it all out for
us, then fulfilled every prophecy as He promised.
Profile Image for Larry Squyres.
Author 3 books
January 9, 2023
I found this book to be very interesting. I really enjoyed reading it. I found that my brother lives fairly close to where Richard Booker has his ministry located. I think the next time I'm there I'll pay a visit.
27 reviews
March 15, 2023
Gods Feasts

I really enjoyed learning first hand on all these Old Testament Feasts and what they mean, and how they tie into the New Testament with Jesus. Our church is having a Seder meal the day before Easter.
79 reviews1 follower
July 7, 2023
Wonderful insight into our beginnings

So much to learn...I. loved the historic background and how it relates to us now. I have been taught to understand the New Testament it is best to understand the Old Testament. This book has done so much to help me understand more!
23 reviews
July 7, 2023
Best book to read


This is excellent reading and draws you closer to God. The explanation of the feast and how Jesus and people today can relate is an eye opener. Please read it.







Profile Image for Christina.
20 reviews
August 19, 2023
25% explanation of customs, 75% connection to Jesus. Reads like an undergrad essay that gets repetitive over time. Can probably shorten by 1/3 by deleting repetition. Helpful explanations of holidays but would have liked more 50%/50% rather than 25%/75%.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Bailey.
32 reviews1 follower
September 20, 2020
Such a good resource for studying the Biblical feasts! It is more centered on the history and symbolism of the feasts, not necessarily how to celebrate them.
2 reviews
May 14, 2021
Excellent. Really helped me understand the purpose of the Feasts, and why they were so important.
133 reviews5 followers
July 18, 2021
Great context for how the feasts point to Jesus
some helpful history especially later on in the book
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews

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