The Thread:  God’s Appointments With History, by Ronald L. Dart

In stark contrast to the last book by Ronald L. Dart that I read [1], this book I can wholeheartedly recommend, without reservations.  It was only at the very end of the book, at the close of the lengthy second appendix to the work, that I realized a large part of why this book was so much better than The Lonely God.  For one, the book is much more organized around the subject of the Sabbath and the Holy Days.  For another, the ending of the book clearly foreshadows Law & Covenant, the first book of Mr. Dart’s that I read, and one I greatly enjoyed.

What makes this book a delight to read is that the author takes an old problem–understanding and applying the biblical holy days–and finds a new way into that problem, focusing not on their being commanded (though he does not neglect this aim) but rather on their being the occasions where God interacted with humanity in particularly meaningful and important ways.  While he doesn’t focus on the connections I have mostly been interested in (like Genesis 14 and Passover or Ruth and Pentecost), he manages to make the Christian meaning of the Sabbath and the Holy Days (including the wave sheaf offering) clear.

From reading the book, it appears there would be three practices that he would endorse or even argue are commanded that are not common in the Church of God practice.  One is to observe the “wave sheaf” day, the start of the fifty-day Feast of Weeks.  I myself have pondered the same question and consider it a worthwhile practice to adopt, though I understand there might be some resistance to it, even as its meaning is symbolic of Christ as our firstfruits offered to God the morning after His resurrection, and is therefore the genuine article of which Easter is the counterfeit.  The second custom is that of eating unleavened bread every day during the Days of Unleavened Bread, as this is the plain reading of the scripture in that regard, not merely to avoid eating leavened bread but to actively replace it for that week with unleavened bread (I also believe this is a biblical requirement; I usually choose matzos for myself, though I don’t know how one would acquire unleavened bread here in Thailand, having never seen it available to purchase anywhere).  The third biblical instruction is the requirement not only to keep the Sabbath but also to withhold from requiring work of anyone else on your behalf on the Sabbath, so far as it is within your power.  This is also something I believe in, though my practice is not as consistent as I would like.

At any rate, the book is excellent.  It carefully (with a few minor quibbles, which the book comments on, concerning “The Last Great Day”) goes through the Feasts of God, shows how they were seen in the early Christian church as deeply imbued with symbolism concerning Jesus Christ, and shows how they were assumed as being valid and easily recognizable for both Jewish and Gentile Christians.  At 290 pages of solid text (including the two appendices, both of which are great to read), the book even manages to give a plausible reason for why we have such little information on calculating the calendar of the Bible.

The book seems designed for a general Christian audience, rather than a specifically Church of God audience, and does not assume any familiarity with the Holy Days or their practice.  Indeed, the second appendix is an extended defense of the Holy Days and a refutation of the position of many Seventh Day Adventists who uneasily combine a correct understanding of the Sabbath with a woefully mistaken rejection of the Holy Days, making such a position biblically untenable and logically flawed.  If you have an interest in the Christian meaning of the Sabbath and Holy Days, this is an excellent book to read, and I wholeheartedly recommend it for its useful insights and detailed and thoughtful approach.

[1] https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2011/11/08/book-review-the-lonely-god/