Month: June 2019

Seasons usually signify many things in our lives physically and spiritually. Flowers, gardening, golf, camping, going back to school, colors in the landscape changing, sweaters, etc…. I LOVE spring and fall especially. It is exciting to see the first flower pop up in my garden and the green that starts to give my backyard life again. Life starts to come out of its slumber. And same goes for the fall, I love to see the colors of the leaves change all around me and to enjoy my pumpkin whatever! It also means wine is coming!

In the beginning God created the sun, moon and stars not only to divide night and day but to also use them for signs, seasons, days and years. The word seasons in Hebrew is Moed which means appointed time. Later on in Scripture we see God establish specific times/appointments with His people. God’s appointed times are times of gathering to eat, fellowship, praise and worship our almighty God. The most repetitive appointment established is the weekly Sabbath. These VIP appointments with God are times we need to mark out on our calendar each year (using the Biblical calendar not the gregorian). The Biblical feasts are also Sabbath’s, a time set apart. (The seven day feasts start and end on a Sabbath while the one day festivals are a Sabbath. These festival Sabbaths are also know as the High Sabbaths.)

Despite the fall in the garden He wants to draw close to His people and for His people to draw close to Him therefore he set in place times of special festivals and gatherings (aka assemblies, convocations, etc.) . Who doesn’t love a good party? My husband and I love to host gatherings and parties. We love to spend quality time with our close friends and family. A time of good food, amazing wine, laughing, playing games and yes, sometimes dancing. When we have a special celebration I get excited to not only create a wonderful inviting ambiance but to also prepare special dishes that we may not eat normally. Not only is the anticipation and build up exciting but sometimes you don’t want the party to end!

I believe this to be God’s heart, He yearns to be with His beloved. He is excited to see His people show up for their special appointment. He will always be there and on time no less. He wants to bless us so we can in turn bring an acceptable offering to Him. Flowers, balloons, special wine and food, etc. It is a time for us to give thanks and acknowledge the blessings he has bestowed on us. To remember what He has done for us and to really appreciate His mercy that allows us to be counted worthy. It is a time for us to really understand what it means to hallow His name, to stand in awe and reverence of our Almighty God.

These designated times are no accident nor have they been done away with. If you start to really read scripture, you will start to connect the dots to see that our God is a God of patterns and these patterns have so much meaning beyond the physical aspects. These feasts days are also prophetic in nature; they foreshadow Yeshua’s 1st and 2nd coming as well as what’s to come in the millennial reign.

The feast days are split into two separate seasons; the spring feasts and the fall feasts. If you are a farmer or have a small farm you will understand that both seasons are a time of harvesting the crops. The spring feasts foreshadow the 1st coming of Yeshua and the fall feasts foreshadow the 2nd coming of Yeshua.

I will be so bold to say that majority of Christians (I was one of them) don’t know much if anything about the feast days because we have somehow drawn the line in the sand labeling them as the “Jewish” feasts; they are only meant for the “Jews”. Where did this mentality come from? This is very ironic considering the people of Israel were given the task to teach the nations about God’s ways and now we just call them a Jewish thing. It is time to unlearn the lies that have been passed down from generation to generation. We’ve all grown up in certain ways and traditions but does it reflect God’s ways, His truth?

Who’s feasts are they really and who are they for? Were they commanded by God? Do they still apply today and for the future? Let’s see what God’s Word has to say about this topic.

• “And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, ” 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.” Lev 23:1,2 (Leviticus 23 goes through all of the feasts)
• “These are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.” Lev 23:4
• The feasts of the Lord are also reviewed in Deuteronomy 16.

A few from the New Testament –

• “His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.” Luke 2:41
• “After two days it was the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.” Mark 14:1
• “Now the Jews Feast of Tabernacles was at hand……..On the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out…” John 7:2,37
• “Therefore let us keep the feast….” 1 Corinthians 5:8
• “…I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem..” Acts 18:21
• Acts 12:3,4, Acts 20:6

In the future to come –

• “The Lord of hosts will make for all people, A feast of choice pieces, a feast of wines on the lees, Of fat things full of marrow, of well-refined wines on the lees.” Isaiah 25:6
• “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.” Zechariah 14:16

I think we have a clear picture (through these few pieces of scripture) to see the consistent PATTERNS God is giving us. They are God’s feasts…..For His people…..to be celebrated yesterday, today, tomorrow and in the future to come. The people at the time of Moses kept them, the people at the time of Yeshua kept them, Yeshua kept them, Paul and the apostles kept them, so we should also keep them.

So what are God’s commanded feasts? And what do they represent?

God’s Spring Feasts (Yeshua’s 1st coming):

• Passover – We all know it took place at the time of the exodus from Egypt. Anyone who was covered (doorpost) by the blood of the lamb were saved from the plague of the first born death. Yeshua’s blood covers over us so that we will not perish. “And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” Ephesians 5:2 “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” Ephesians 1:7
• Unleavened Bread – Leaven represents sin and we are to physically and spiritually remove the leaven from our households for seven days. We are to purge the sin from our lives to start anew; “that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.” Ephesians 4:22‭-24 “Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you are unleavened. For indeed Christ our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” 1 Corinthians 5:6-8
• Firstfruits – The first of the spring harvest (in its natural state) was to be brought before the priest to be presented to God. “Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine.” Proverbs 3:9, 10. It is also about the resurrection of Yeshua and what is to come in the end days. “For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.” Romans 11:16, “But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep…..For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order; Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.” 1 Corinthians 15:20, 22-23, “These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.” Revelation 14:4
• Feast of Weeks – aka Shavuot (Hebrew) aka Pentecost (Greek) – Count the new grain (the Omer) for 7 seven Sabbaths after it was first harvested and brought before God. At the end of the counting on the 50th day there was a Sabbath, a holy convocation, as the new grain is again presented to God but this time in its prepared state. As stated in firstfruits, the new lump is holy to be presented spotless, blameless before God. “When the Day of Pentecost (Shavuot) had fully come they were all with one accord in one place.” Acts 2:1 At that time God poured out His spirit on all flesh. We are to worship Him in Spirit and truth. One day we will be presented to God in our prepared state.

God’s Fall Feasts (Yeshua’s 2nd coming):

• Feast of Trumpets – The trumpets signify so many things throughout the Word. The trumpets consisted not only of physical shofars/kudus made of ram or silver but they also represented voices shouting. The trumpets were used to alert the people, to gather them together for the new moons, feast days and for directing movement of the camps. They were also used to warn, to signal for wars and battles. We see the significance in the time of Moses at Mount Sinai, Joshua, Gideon, the kings, etc. We will also see the significance of the trumpets in the last days. The last trump will sound (warning) and our King will return as a warrior for battle and judgement. “And he said to the people, be ready on the third day….Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God and they stood at the foot of the mountain…..And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him by voice.” Exodus 19:15-19, “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven and all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Mathew 24:30-31
• Day of Atonement – It is a day of holy convocation, a day of affliction, a day of solemn rest. The high priest made a sin offering of atonement for the whole of Israel on the altar of incense once a year. “And so you shall do on the seventh day of the month for everyone who has sinned unintentionally or in ignorance. Thus you shall make atonement for the temple.” Ezekiel 45:20 Who came later and was our sin offering atonement? “But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance….And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.” Hebrews 9&10. It is also known as the Day of Judgement aka the day of the Lord, and the Great White Throne Judgement.
• Feast of Tabernacles – “You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress. An you shall rejoice in your feast….within your gates. Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the Lord your God..” Deut 16:13-15. Feast of Tabernacles is a time of gathering the fall harvest, the wheat, the fruits and the grapes for wine for a seven day feast with the Lord! This is also a foreshadow of when Yeshua returns to gather his elect for the Wedding Supper of the Lamb. “Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!…Come and gather together for the supper of the great God,” Revelation 19:9,17-18, Luke 14:16-24, “Let both grow together until the harvest and at that time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them but gather the wheat into my barn.”, “….Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe.” So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.” Revelation 14:18-19, “Assemble yourselves and come; Gather together from all sides to My sacrificial meal which I am sacrificing for you, A great sacrificial meal on the mountains of Israel, That you may eat flesh and drink blood. You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, Drink the blood of the princes of the earth, Of rams and lambs, Of goats and bulls, All of them fatlings of Bashan. You shall eat fat till you are full, and drink blood till your drunk, at My sacrificial meal which I am sacrificing for you. You shall be filled at My table..” Ezekiel 39:17-20

As you can see there is so much meaning behind God’s feasts for His people. It wasn’t just something they did in the past, it is perpetual and will continue into the millennial reign. Now you know the real reason for the seasons. I hope this post has started some of you thinking and I hope you will dive deeper into God’s word to learn more about His Feasts as he has commanded us to be there!

It is time to lift the veil and see them for what they truly are.