Restoration of God’s Festivals: An End Times Shadow Fulfillment

By Tom Stapleton

A fresh look at the Biblical Feasts for Seventh-day Adventist readers — making the case from Scripture and from Ellen White’s own writings that God’s Festivals will be restored in the time of the end.

This book is written primarily for Seventh-day Adventist readers who want to test the Festivals question from within their own tradition.

Most discussions of the Biblical Feasts among Adventists are quickly closed by appealing to a handful of standard objections: that the Festivals were nailed to the cross, that Colossians 2:16 ends the matter, that Ellen White’s writings settle the question. Tom Stapleton’s argument is that these objections don’t stand up to careful examination — and that Ellen White herself, read in full context, anticipated the restoration of God’s Festivals in the time of the end.

The central argument: if every divine institution is to be restored at the time of the end (Ellen White, Prophets and Kings, p. 678), and if the Festivals were divine institutions, and if they did not meet their fulfillment in the cross, and if they were changed at the time the Sabbath was changed by man — then we can come to no other conclusion than that the Festivals will be restored.

This book makes that case point by point, engaging Scripture, Ellen White, contemporary Adventist scholarship, and the standard objections head-on.

What you’ll explore in this book

• The Bible’s foretelling of a restoration of God’s calendar in the last days
• A careful examination of Colossians 2:14, 16, and 17 — the most-cited objection
• The Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 — and what Paul did after it
• Ellen White’s writings on new light, new truth, and “every divine institution”
• Contemporary Adventist scholarship on the Festivals
• Early Adventist insight on the Festivals
• The difference between celebrating the holy days and celebrating the holidays
• How the Festivals teach the plan of salvation in its fullness

Want to know more before you decide?

Read more about the book and its author here.

Two books on the Festivals — which one is for you?

Tom has written two books on God’s Festivals, and they serve different audiences:

• Restoration of God’s Festivals (this book) engages the Festivals question from within Seventh-day Adventist tradition — using Ellen White’s own words and Adventist scholarship to argue for restoration. If you’re an Adventist who’s been told the Festivals were “nailed to the cross,” this book engages those objections directly.
• Reclaiming God’s Festivals is an introduction to the Festivals from Scripture alone, written for readers from any background who are new to the topic. If you don’t bring Adventist tradition with you and just want to understand what the Festivals are and why they matter, start there. [Learn more →](link to Reclaiming page)

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