|
The
A study by Gavin Finley MD
Download the PDF file |
'Music for Messiah', some wonderful Messianic music by 'Jews for Jesus'. Click the image to go to their website. |
It is a brief overview of the Seven Feasts of Israel or Seven "Appointed Times".
Should you have trouble streaming the video from the YouTube box above
you may go directly to YouTube and see the video by clicking the image below.
|
|
|
Be sure to also see this article on the Hebrew Calendar.
And click
HERE to see the YouTube Video on Biblical Time.
If you would like to download an MP3 of this audio for your iPod right-click
here.
Then left click on "Save file/target as" to save the file 7feasts.mp3 to a folder in your computer.
Then when the file is clicked it should, or can be made to, open up into your iTunes library.
The next time you synch to your iPod the mp3 message on the Seven Feasts will load up.
If you would like to download a WMA of this audio for a player using Windows Media right-click
here.
Then left click on "Save file/target as" to save the file 7feasts.wma to a folder in your computer.
Then when the file is clicked it should, or can be made to, open up into your Windows Media library.
The next time you synch to your WMA player the wma message on the Seven Feasts will load up.
|
TO THE 7 FEASTS OF ISRAEL |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
UNLEAVENED BREAD | |
|
FIRSTFRUITS | |
|
| |
|
PENTECOST | |
|
| |
|
TRUMPETS | |
|
ATONEMENT | |
|
TABERNACLES | |
| |
SCRIPTURE PASSAGE
FOR THE SEVEN FEASTSLeviticus 23:1-44 NKJV
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.
1. PASSOVER
5 On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord's Passover.
2. THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD
6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; seven days you must eat unleavened bread.
7. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.
8 But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord for seven days. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.' "
9. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,3. THE FEAST OF FIRSTFRUITS
10. "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest.
11. He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.
12. And you shall offer on that day, when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the Lord.
13 Its grain offering shall be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the Lord, for a sweet aroma; and its drink offering shall be of wine, one-fourth of a hin.
14 You shall eat neither bread nor parched grain nor fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.4. THE FEAST OF PENTECOST (WEEKS)
15. 'And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. 16 Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord.
17. You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the Lord.
18. And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs of the first year, without blemish, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be as a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to the Lord.
19. Then you shall sacrifice one kid of the goats as a sin offering, and two male lambs of the first year as a sacrifice of a peace offering.
20. The priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest.
21. And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
22 'When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the Lord your God.' "
Daniel 9:27;
the epic future event!
Image from Dave Wilkerson's book.
5. THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS
23. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
,
24. "Speak to the children of Israel, saying:
'In the seventh month, on the first day of the month,
you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets
a holy convocation.
25 You shall do no customary work on it;
and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.' "
6. THE DAY OF ATONEMENT
26 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
27 "Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.
28 And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God.
29 For any person who is not afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people. 30 And any person who does any work on that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people.
31 You shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
32 It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath."7. THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES
33. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
34. "Speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord.
35 On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it.
36 For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it.
37 These are the feasts of the Lord which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering and a grain offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, everything on its day--
38 besides the Sabbaths of the Lord, besides your gifts, besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings which you give to the Lord.
39 'Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days; on the first day there shall be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath-rest.
40 And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.
41 You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month.
42 You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths,
43 that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.' "
44 So Moses declared to the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord.
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE
SEVEN FEASTS OF ISRAEL
The Seven Feasts of Israel are key way points on a road map in holy history. They tell the story of the main Covenant events between God and His Elect people as they occur here on the earth and in time. The story begins back with the people God called in Old Testament times. And it extends right through to the Apocalyptic events John saw in vision and wrote about in the Book of Revelation. Indeed the very next feast, the Feast of Trumpets is coming up in some future new moon of Tishrei to express its New Covenant fulfillment in holy history. The Feast of Trumpets will almost certainly be the one that will usher us into the 70th week of Daniel and the final seven years of this present age. At the end of those seven years the final Day of Atonement will come into its ultimate fulfillment as well. This will be the very last day of this age.
The Seven Feasts will take us beyond the Apocalypse. The seventh feast, the joyous Feast of Tabernacles, will come into its ultimate fulfillment as the true new age dawns. This will bring in the Millennium of Messiah, that glorious age to come. The deserts will bloom and streams of waters will break forth upon the dry ground. God will camp out with mankind for 1,000 years as Emmanuel, "God with us". And as a shepherd feeds and tends his sheep He will draw His people to Himself.
Is there an 8th feast? Might the Feast of Hanukkah, the festive winter season of the Eternal Light celebrate the glorification of all the saints from both this age and the 1,000 year Millennial age to come? Our Apostle Paul gives us a glimpse of that. - 1Corinthians. 15:24,25,26,27,28. But that will be a study for another time.
The first four of the Seven Feasts of Israel have already been fulfilled. They were fulfilled in spectacular fashion. They were fulfilled right on the auspicious Hebrew calendar dates on which they have been celebrated in times past, the same dates that will be celebrated forever more. The three Spring feasts were fulfilled by Jesus our Savior. And the Summer Feast of Pentecost was fulfilled as well. It was fulfilled by the Holy Spirit 2,000 years ago. Here is the situation so far.
1.
Passover
Fulfilled!
(By Jesus/Yeshua at His crucifixion on Nisan 14 in the spring of 32 A.D.)
2.
Feast of Unleavened Bread
Fulfilled!
(By Jesus/Yeshua at His burial in the tomb on Nisan 15 in the spring of 32 A.D.)
3.
Feast of Firstfruits
Fulfilled!
(By Jesus/Yeshua at His Resurrection on Nisan 17 in the spring of 32 A.D.)
4.
Feast of Pentecost
Fulfilled!
(By the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost on Sivan 7 in the summer of 32 A.D.)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
.
.
.
.
(A gap of 2000 years or so has allowed the Light of Israel to
.
go forth into the nations for the Gentiles to be evangelized).
.
.
.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
WE ARE HERE - - - - - - - - - - - - -
.
Now here come the next three holy days on the Hebrew Calendar.
They are awaiting fulfillment and are probably just up ahead.
They are
They include
5. The
Feast of Trumpets
Unfulfilled ....(as of yet).
An epic event will unfold on the new moon of Tishrei on a future Jewish New Year.
................... Trumpets and Atonement will probably erupt into holy history seven years apart.
................... They probably mark out the
introduction and the
'last day', the terminus to the
final seven years of this age.
6. The
Day of Atonement
Unfulfilled ....(as of yet).
Tishrei 10 seven years beyond that epic future Feast of Trumpets.
This will be the final Day of Reckoning, for that year, for the Jubilee, and for the age.
The Jewish nation and "all Israel" will be saved! - Zech.12:8-13:1, Rom. 11
And then comes the Day of the Lord. It is Doomsday for the wicked. (Mat.13:30)
The sign of the Son of Man will be seen in the heavens. (Mat.24:29-31)
He will deliver His people at Jerusalem by His action at Armageddon. (Joel 2:28-32)
And He will deliver His people
in exile in the magnificent
Bozrah Deliverance.
He will glorify all His Elect at the
Resurrection-Rapture . (1Thes.4:15-17)
They will be drawn out from Israel, from the Church, and from the gentile nations.
7. The Feast of Tabernacles
Unfulfilled ....(as of yet).
Tishrei 15 will come five days after that final epic Day of Atonement.
This will mark the coming of Messiah to tabernacle with His covenant people.
Thus begins the long awaited 1000 year
Millennium of Messiah.
......................................................... .........................................................
All these above are the Seven Feasts of Israel.
As we can see, there are three big events left to be fulfilled.
God's future epic agenda will unfold right on God's calendar.
Three blockbuster events will bring in the fulfillment
of each of the three
Fall Feasts of Israel.
So will the Hebrew calendar dates of those Fall Feasts deliver up earthshaking future events? It would be foolish of us to believe otherwise. Look at the first four feasts. Weren't the first four feasts fulfilled in spectacular fashion? And did we not see epic events unfolding right on those very auspicious dates on the Hebrew calendar?
Dear saints. All seven of these feasts have been celebrated
since the day Moses gave them to us at Mt. Sinai 3500 years ago.
So every one of them must be extremely important. Right?
So, will every one of those Seven Feasts of Israel,
including the
Fall Feasts, (Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles), be fulfilled as well?
Most assuredly they will!
As we have seen, the first three of the feasts, the spring feasts, have already had their New Covenant fulfillment. They were fulfilled by Jesus Himself in his death, burial, and resurrection. Jesus fulfilled them right on the set calendar dates of the feasts. He entered Jerusalem 2,000 years ago right on the day appointed in His first coming as Messiah. He came as the Suffering Servant, riding on a donkey. Four days later, just as the Passover lambs were being killed He gave His life blood for us on the cross of Calvary. Surely He was the promised Sacrifice Lamb. So He was crucified on Passover. He was buried that night and laid in the tomb just in time for the Feast of Unleavened Bread. On the third day he rose from the grave. On the Feast of Firstfruits He was resurrected as the firstfruits from the dead.
50 days later the Holy Spirit fell upon the 120 in the upper room. This happened right on the Feast of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit outpouring seen that day was unprecedented and glorious. The revival of Israel spread into the city of Jerusalem and thence to Judea, Samaria, and eventually to the utmost parts of the earth. Thus was fulfilled the summer Feast of Pentecost. This epic event happened right on the very day of the Hebrew calendar that saw Moses bring the Law down from Mount Sinai to the children of Israel . The Feast of Pentecost was Israel's birthday. Israel's birthday is also turned out to be the birthday of the Church! Is God trying to tell us something here? - Gal.3:29, Rom.11, Eph.2:12-13, 1Pet.2:9
These were four blockbuster events in the covenant history of Israel. From the precedent set by these earlier four feasts we can know for a certainty that the next three feasts, the Fall Feasts will rock our world as well. They will erupt into history in just as spectacular a fashion as those former four feasts.
The Seven Feasts of Israel are very important for Christian-Messianic believers to understand. All seven of them are celebrations of epic events in the holy history of God's covenant people. That history involves the saints from both Old Testament times and New Testament times. The feasts mark out the significant events of the first coming of Christ in His priestly role as the Suffering Servant 2,000 years ago. Then they run on into and through the end-time drama when He returns in His kingdom role as the Conquering King. The next two feasts, (# 5 and #6), mark out the 70th week of Daniel, the final seven years of this age. At some point in days that follow Christ will return to this earth and glorify His saints at the Resurrection-Rapture. The 7th feast, the Feast of Tabernacles, will come into its ultimate fulfillment on the opening day of the glorious Millennium to come.
The next two feasts that are due to come up for fulfillment are the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement, the Day of Reckoning, or Judgment Day. And here we note something very interesting. The Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement will almost certainly be beginning day and the ending day of that awesome future time period, the final seven years of this age.
Here is how it happens. According to the positioning of a given seven years in the 19 year metonic cycle a seven year time span beginning and ending on the months of Tishrei can span 86 moons or 87 moons. When it is 86 moons then something extraordinary is noted. The number of days spanning these two feasts, that is, Trumpets on Tishrei 1 and Atonement on Tishrei 10 seven years later is a time span of exactly 2550 days. This just happens to equal the exact number of days, (1260 plus 1290), that span the 70th week of Daniel along with its 30 day extension that reaches beyond the 1260 days of the Tribulation to go to day 1290! (Dan.12:11)
The diagram below and the YouTube video featured further down in this article will show how the 70th week of Daniel with those extra 30 days is staked out perfectly by the two upcoming Fall Feasts of Israel.
Click on the image above to go to another chart of the future 70th Week of Daniel.
The discovery that the 2550 days encompassing the 70th week matches perfectly the 2550 days in between the next two fall feasts when they are spaced out 7 years apart and embracing 86 moons, (and not 87 moons), in the 19 year metonic cycle was something this author began to notice in 2003-2004.
THE SCOPE OF THE SEVEN FEASTS OF ISRAEL AS THEY SET FORTH
GOD'S WONDERFUL PLAN OF THE AGES FOR THE COMPLETE REDEMPTION,
SANCTIFICATION, AND GLORIFICATION OF ALL HIS COVENANT PEOPLE
God began His work in the nation of Israel about 3500 years ago. The exodus from Egypt took place in approximately 1500 B.C. Soon afterwards, at Mount Sinai, God, through his servant Moses, brought the nation of Israel the Law. Right there at Sinai Moses instituted the Seven Feasts of Israel. They are recorded in the Old testament book of Leviticus chapter 23. Each one of these seven holy convocations are laid out on the Hebrew calendar. God calls upon His covenant people to join Him in celebrating them every year. The feasts will continue to be celebrated in the Millennium to come.
The first three of the Feasts of Israel are in the springtime. One is in the summer and three are in the fall. All seven of these holy days, (from which we get our word 'holiday'), are special occasions in which God calls His people aside. As the Israelites would go up to Jerusalem to the feast they would join with the whole Assembly of God in a grand family camp-meeting of sorts. There at these feasts certain spiritual lessons would be demonstrated before their eyes. It would provide a wonderful opportunity to teach their children the ways of their God.
So as we see, the seven Feasts of Israel are not just quaint Jewish religious festivals of a bygone era. They are rehearsals of things to come and from a later perspective they will become memorials of things that have happened in times past. They are, (and will be in times to come), occasions when God's people pause to remember seven epic days in their history. These seven noteworthy events will be memorials of events that will have occurred on those very same special Hebrew calendar dates set out by Moses 3500 years ago. Each feast will be a holiday and also a waypoint in our understanding of the character of our God. Each feast will illustrate a certain essential truth relating to the Everlasting Covenant and how it unfolded into the history of this earth. Step by step the God of Israel is establishing and explaining certain truths. He is helping His people to come to know Him. The feasts are signposts guiding God's covenant people in their personal and national pilgrimage. They are way-points into the Kingdom of God. Each feast provides a wonderful occasion for parents to teach these lessons and precepts to their children.
These are the seven feasts of Israel. For those who ask the big questions of life and wonder what God is doing in this world a study here will give some definite answers. Our God is not idle. He is hard at work on a continuing seven part project. He is redeeming, sanctifying and glorifying His covenant people out of their dispersion among a lost mankind. He is drawing out for Himself a chosen people, even a royal priesthood and a holy nation. (Exodus 19:6, 1Pet.2:9) In the same process He is defeating Lucifer and the angelic powers of darkness.
These Seven Feasts of Israel are not just "religion". They are past and future history, a history that is in the hands of the Sovereign God of the Cosmos. They are waypoints on a roadmap that tracks from the passion of Jesus to the final glorification at the end of the Millennium. The Feasts of Israel can have a personal application in a devotional sort of way as well. They track the progress of believers as they go forward into their own personal walk with God. He takes them from salvation, to infilling of the Holy Spirit, to sanctification and ultimately into glorification. We shall take on new spiritual bodies at the Resurrection-Rapture at the last day.
The most important application of the Feasts of Israel comes as they relate to the national history of Israel and God's people around the world. The first four feasts that have been fulfilled in the past show God's Judeo-Christian people where they and their God have been. The three feasts whose fulfillment is yet future show us where we are going.
In these seven sacred convocations God's people learn God's plan of the ages. His agenda for the redemption of man and the restoration of the cosmos has already been set. It was decreed in heaven from before time began. Things on this planet may be in a mess right now, and getting worse by the day. But that will not be always the case. God will step into history again. He will surprise us again just as He has done in the past. He has an ongoing program. God's agenda is in full operation and right on schedule. Four feasts are down. Three fall feasts and one winter feast are yet to go.
THE UNFOLDING SEVEN FEASTS OF ISRAEL IN WESTERN JUDEO-CHRISTIANITY
VERSUS THE YING AND YANG AND MEANINGLESS CYCLES OF EASTERN MYSTICISM.
History is not just a series of endless meaningless circles in the pattern given to us in the hypnotizing eastern mysticism. The pantheism of the east sees life as little more than the ceaseless, repetitive, and meaningless cycles of summer and winter, life and death, sex and death, marriage and funerals. That is all that the heathen know. The Hindu God Kali doesn't care. She disembowels children. And as Buddha contemplates his navel there is little more that he can add.
Holy history, as laid out by the God of Israel, is different. God has come into the cosmos. He is the Apha and an Omega, a beginning and an end. History is His-story. It runs forward in linear teleological fashion. The road takes the saints on a journey from the pit to the throne, from Desolation Road to the Holy City. What could possibly be more exciting?
God's covenant people are different from the people trapped in pantheism and eastern mysticism. Instead of going round and round in circles they have found the Way. It is the Paradise Road. And now with the seven Feasts of Israel they have a chart into the future. As they move forward with the God of Israel they find themselves being drawn into a greater and more wonderful reality than they have ever known before. Holy history is not just a balancing act between the 'ying' and the 'yang', the so called 'positive' and the 'negative' forces of the spirit realm and of nature. History is teleological. It has a beginning and an end that has been decreed by God. It has a plan and a purpose. The covenant people of God are moving onwards and upwards. The times have been set by the Cosmic Christ our coming Jewish Messiah. He is the Creator of the universe, and the incarnate Son of God. He came to earth as a little baby who became the Suffering Servant, the promised Sacrifice Lamb. And He will come again as the conquering King, the Lion from the Jewish tribe of Judah, the Judge of this world. Then as Messiah of Israel He will establish His Millennial Kingdom and be the Ruler of this earth for a literal thousand years.
This may come as a surprise to some. But life on this earth does have a meaning and a purpose after all. And we do not need to sit under some church programming on the "purpose driven life" to find it. There is, after all, a Great Commission, if Christians are interested. History is indeed going somewhere. There is a plot and a counter plot. There is a main character or protagonist, even the Lamb of God. And He will be calling for His witnesses! As the story unfolds we also see an antagonist, Satan, along with his man, the Antichrist. There will also be another religious pretender known as the False Prophet. All these players along with a host of others are woven into in the matrix of the end-time story. At the end of the saga this earth's history sees a final contest between Good and evil. The great adventure, that divine romance of the ages will come to a climactic and glorious conclusion. This will be followed by a grand resolution at the end with some more big surprises thrown in for good measure. Then, since the God of Israel likes to celebrate, there will be a Marriage Supper.
WORLD HISTORY IS ULTIMATELY GOD'S HOLY HISTORY.
THE CLIMAX OF THE BATTLE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL
WILL BE PLAYED OUT RIGHT HERE ON PLANET EARTH.
God is at work in history. He is the sovereign author and the finisher of our faith. He is the active agent in this unfolding story. So we know that the conclusion of the saga will be far more magnificent than we can presently imagine. Furthermore, God is now operating in ever increasing ways by His Holy Spirit and through the greatly expanding witness of His covenant people around the world.
Earth is not the only place where God is going to make some changes.
The lower heavenly realms is the place for ruling spirits, principalities and powers.
And Lucifer is increasingly finding himself in a spot of bother.
He is being progressively cast down.
At some point in the remote past he was cast down from the
throne of God into the lower heavens. (Isa.14:12)
In the middle of the 70th week Lucifer will be cast down a step further
from the second heaven to earth. See Rev.12:6,7,8,9,10.
At the end of the 70th week, when the saints have finished their 5th seal witness,
he will be cast down even further.
He will be bound in the abyss,
the bottomless pit, for a thousand years. (Rev.20:1,2,3)
At the end of the thousand year reign of Messiah,
Lucifer will have his final play in the Millennial Rebellion.
After that Lucifer/Satan will be cast down even further.
The Great White Throne Judgment will order Him cast into the Lake of Fire
for all eternity. (Rev.20:10)
WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SEVEN FEASTS FOR CHRISTIANS TODAY?
SIMPLY THIS. THEY ARE IN A BLOOD COVENANT RELATIONSHIP WITH MESSIAH.
AND
THE FALL FEASTS OF ISRAEL STAKE OUT THE FINAL 7 YEARS OF THIS AGE!
Why is this information on the Seven Feasts of Israel so important? It is because the covenant people of God have not just purchased a "ticket to heaven". They are in a blood covenant relationship with Jesus Christ/Yeshua Hamashiach. At some point in the future the saints will be going up onto the stage of history. The next two feasts provide vital keys to what will happen. We do not know which year the next feast will open up. But in some future September-October time window the next feast, the Feast of Trumpets, will break into world history and into its epic and climactic Biblical fulfillment. What is the big event that will have happened? Daniel tells clearly us in Dan.9:27. Sadly, for many who called themselves Christians it will be the occasion of a great falling away. The Apostle Paul speaks of this in 2Thessalonians 2:2,3.
Our sovereign God is in control. He, and He alone is writing the play of the ages and He oversees its events. And the grand conclusion to this epic saga will surely unfold in times to come. Four chapters, even four Spring and Summer Feasts of Israel have already been fulfilled. The three Fall Feasts of the Lord are yet to be fulfilled. And we can be sure of this. They will be fulfilled before this present age comes to its appointed terminus. The last day of this present evil age, "That Day" referred to throughout Holy Scripture will come on some future epic climactic Yom Kippur, Day of Accounting, Day of Reckoning, Day of Covering, Day of Pardoning, Day of Sentencing, Day of Atonement. See this YouTube video.
And so as we look at the final Fall Feasts it becomes obvious that we are not just passive theological observers in all this. In fact we now have conclusive evidence that the first two of the Fall Feasts of Israel stake out the final 7 years of this age! See this video below.
The lives of each one of us will be actively woven into the story. Every Christian believer is a living epistle read of men. A harlot concubine is not engaged in blood covenant matters. She will distance herself from family issues. Her man of interest is just a sugar daddy who brings her stuff. But a true Bride will stand up and be counted. She will take her stand for the One she loves, and be a witness to Him before others. She will testify on His behalf, come what may.
Dear saints. If we really belong to Christ then we are His witnesses! That is our role and our privilege as we go up to witness in the latter days. And may we never allow any man or devil to convince us otherwise!
God only knows what adventures and wonders that lie ahead of each one of us. As the feasts move on towards their ultimate fulfillment our involvement as covenant partners with Jehoveh-God takes us onwards into the divine romance. We are being drawn into the grand and splendid purposes of God, towards the climax of this age and into glories we have not yet seen.
Earthshaking events in holy history are up ahead. They will break into our future in spectacular fashion. God will revive His people. There will be an epic End-Time Revival. Joel saw this magnificent awakening of the saints rising up in the end-time and coming to a peak right at the end of the age amidst the 6th seal cosmic signs when the sun turns to darkness and the moon to blood. - Joel 2:28-32
But for many in western Christendom this will not be a happy surprise. Many, even Christian believers, are bound and determined to go there own way. The woman of wisdom is crying out in the streets. (Prov.1) But they remain willingly ignorant of the things of God. So for them these events will be a rude awakening.
In a future pivotal year the Feast of Trumpets will sound the alarm. For us in the comfortable western Church of Laodicea this future event will be a wake-up call. It will, as the saying goes, "rock our world".
So. All that being understood, isn't it time that we began to study the Feasts of Israel with more diligence? And isn't it time we began to take our relationship with YHVH Jesus/Yeshua with the seriousness He deserves?
Now is the time to get to know our God both in Spirit and in Truth. Now is the time to open our hearts and open our Bibles and get to know Him personally. We are His "called out congregation", we are His ekklesia. We are His church, even the Congregation of Israel. He is calling us, even wooing us, to walk with Him in the gentle bonds of Agape love.
And why is this so important, you ask?
Because we are in a religious fog.
A thick smokescreen of religious misinformation is obscuring the way ahead.
We are in an
information war so sinister that we are scarcely aware that we are
being led astray.
The end-time information we as western evangelicals have been given is quite incorrect.
We are not passive in the covenant as we have been told. Far from it.
We are a responsible party in the heralding of our coming Messiah.
We are His witnesses!
Awesome days lie ahead up there on the Paradise Road. Oh yes, there are challenges to face. And there is a race to be won. in a future time, a certain time set apart, a group of saints will run on that final leg of the relay race. Some company of committed saints will break the tape at the end. It will be grand finale of this age.
The writer of the book of Hebrews brings us this exhortation.
Hebrews 12
1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us,
and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross,
despising the shame,
and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The race will call for our devotion and our commitment.
God is calling for us to participate.
Are we willing?
As the final curtain of the history of this age opens each one of us will have a vital role to play. God has given us this time for us to get to know Him. Only then shall we learn and understand our part in all this. We need not worry about the details and about what we are to say when we are brought up for questioning or for trial. Jesus promised us that the Holy Spirit would give us the words to say at the time when the witness is called for. See Luke 21:12,13,14,15. The curtain of Israel's future epic history will surely open up on Rosh Hashanah some year. This no Hollywood melodrama. It will the climactic drama of the age! And yes, contrary to what we have been told, it will involve us! The time of covenant dealings will erupt very suddenly in the fall season of some future year. And it will probably happen in the coming years, in our lifetime!
So these are the Seven Feasts of Israel.
They are waypoint for the redemption, the Holy Spirit equipping, and the final glorification
of
both houses of Israel.
They are the story of the royal Jewish House of Judah, (out of which came our Messiah).
And they are the story of the lost (amnesic)
ten tribes of Israel. See
THIS VIDEO.
We have been told that 'a remnant shall return'. In Revelation chapter 7 John saw a glorious company coming out from great tribulation under the auspices of all 12 houses of Israel. They are people from every nation, race, and tribe. These are the saints, the people who ultimately will make up the Congregation, the Nation, and the Commonwealth of Israel. They will come from both sides of Calvary. This is the Church in the Wilderness.
Yes, we know that there has been a terrible family feud that has now gone on for over 2900 years. And Biblical Christians still assume that the schism between "The Church" and "Israel" or "Christianity vs. the Jews" will last forever. But this is not so. In the heart of Hashem the northern and southern kingdoms are undivided. And the Holy Scriptures are very clear, there will indeed be a full and total restoration of All Israel. They are, (and at the end of this age they will be), One single undivided Elect and Chosen people. This is a great mystery to be sure. But in the Apocalypse, (the unveiling of Messiah), they shall be re-united. So the royalty and the priesthood of Israel, the royal Jewish house and the priestly Christian house, both offices of Messiah's Order of Melchizedek will be reunited at last. They are not destined to be a "royal Jewish nation" and a "holy priestly Christian Church". No, not at all. Because Moses and the Apostle Peter both declared ultimately the two will be cross-wrapped to become a a royal priesthood and a holy nation.
This is the climax of God's grand story.
It is a magnificent story that is beyond telling.
And, (should we decide to go with our God),
It will be our story as well.
Grace and shalom to all the saints.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
