Nearly all humans long to fear death and long to live forever. The question persists deep in the heart of all people, is this physical life all there is, or is there life after death? How can one conquer death and the grave and acheive immortality? Is there something beyond this physical life that’s better? This video, based on the truth of the Bible, answers these question.
Introduction
Yom Kippur is a day of contradictions and contrasts: Joy and sorrow. Rewards for the righteous and judgments for the wicked rebels. Joy for the righteous when Satan and his demons, death and Babylon are destroyed by the King of kings.
On this day the high priest of ancient Israel went into the holy of holies of the Tabernacle of Moses (and later the temple in Jerusalem). There he sprinkled blood on the mercy seat (Heb. kapporet) and the ground seven times. Atonement was made for the high priest himself, his family as well as for all Israel. On this day the sanctuary, tabernacle, the priesthood and the all Israelites were cleansed. It represented corporate or community cleansing and entering into a deeper and more intimate relationship with YHVH.
The Passover and Day of Atonement are related though different:
Pesach (Passover) is the time of the sacrifice or atonement for personal sin—initial repentance from sins committed before being born again.
Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) is the time of the atonement or covering of the individual’s as well as the corporate sins of Israel committed in ignorance (Heb 9:27) during the past Continue reading
And YHVH spoke to Moses, saying: “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 YHVH. And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before YHVH your Elohim. For any person who is not afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people. And any person who does any work on that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. You shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.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.” (Lev 23:26–32)
Yeshua the Messiah said,
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matt 5:17–20)
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15
First, a discussion of the dates for the festival in 2015, then following that (scroll down) is the information about the daily schedule. The dates are based on the confirmed sighting of the first sliver of the new moon of the 7th month. We don’t set the dates to begin the months. The new moon potentially may be first visible on the evening of 9/14th, but is not considered “easily visible” by the naked eye.
UPDATE: The new moon was not seen on 9/14. It was seen on 9/15. This means we will follow the “B” schedule. The other scheduled is being removed and information edited to avoid confusion.
Sukkot NW has reserved the campground from 9/28th through the morning of 10/8th, which covers both possible dates for the Feast and Shemini Atzeret. The policy of Josephine County Parks mimics that of Oregon State Parks where they no longer allow you to cancel only the first day of a reservation, so you will get an extra night of camping at the beginning of the Feast. This will give you an extra day to explore the area, do your grocery shopping, and to relax as we enter the Feast! Those camping may check into their campsites on M 9/28 anytime after 2 pm.
Chag Sukkot = Feast of Tabernacles is a 7-day Feast, an appointed time of YHVH from the 15th through 21st days of the 7th month. The first day is a Sabbath and commanded assembly. This prophetically points to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb and the Millennial Kingdom.
B: Sunset 9/29 through sunset 10/6/15.
Shemini Atzeret = 8th Day Assembly is a Sabbath and commanded assembly immediately following Chag Sukkot. It is an appointed time of YHVH that prophetically points to olam haba (the world to come), which is the New Jerusalem.
B: Sunset 10/6 through sunset 10/7/15.
Sukkot NW celebration will end after Sabbath on10/7/15. We’ll pack up the meeting facilities after sunset 10/7 and travel home on 10/8/15. Check out time at the campground is noon on Th 10/8/15.
Here are graphics that hopefully clarifies the dates:
Every day (except the one day we keep the schedule free all day so you have all day to explore the area) starts with live praise, worship and a teaching to help us keep our spiritual focus and priorities straight. Sukkot is about YHVH Elohim, and we don’t want to forget that. Nearly every day (except on the weekly Sabbath and the two festival sabbaths), the afternoons will be free for people to rest, recreate or fellowship. On some of the evenings, there will be scheduled sukkah parties around the campfire with food, fellowship and music. On several other evenings, we have some fun events planned for everyone including our erev Shabbat dinner.
With regard to the speakers, Sukkot NW is not a personality-driven event. We are careful to select speakers who hold to the core tenets of our faith and adhere to the Hoshana Rabbah statement of belief listed in our Credal Statement. Our teachers — Natan Lawrence, Joseph Dombek, John Herlihy, Bill Birdsong, and Clay Baremore — are born again, Spirit-filled, love Yeshua, live Torah-observant lives, are well-studied Bible students and are able presenters who have years if not decades as such.
We have done our best to put together a schedule that is a balance between spiritual instruction, fellowship and fun activities, and at the same time one that gives people plenty of space for rest and free time. The Bible says that our Elohim isn’t the author of confusion, so some structure is necessary to help keep our spiritual focus. Beyond that, there’s lots of flexibility and freedom. So come and enjoy!
We value that children and parents are together as a family during services and a separate youth program is not offered during the morning services. All youth are invited to participate in the worship and dance. Please bring quiet activities for your younger children during the teaching times. There is a playground directly next to the Meeting Shelter for the younger set who need to get out and stretch their legs a bit.
Your children (and grandchildren) will be making many friends at Sukkot and there is much to do and see in the area that interests the youth as well as adults. Families may participate in suggested activities during the free times or venture out on their own or with new friends to enjoy the area’s outdoor recreation or sightseeing.
Youth who attend school bring their homework with them to Sukkot NW. If you make arrangements in advance, most schools will provide homework for classes missed during Sukkot and then provide time after to catch up. Be sure to communicate with your schools and teachers beforehand. You’ll notice on the schedule below that 2 afternoons have been set aside for time at the library to do homework, if desired. The Josephine County Library in Grants Pass has wi-fi and reservable computers with internet access available. The library is open on both Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 2–7 pm. It is closed on Sunday and Monday. Most afternoons are free of scheduled activities and youth may study at their campsites, cabins, or motel rooms during that time as well. We’ve also compiled a handy list of all the local libraries and their hours.
Our planned schedule is as follows (with the usual caveat that it is subject to modification). Not all activities are shown on this schedule. A final detailed schedule will be provided to you in your welcome packet. To open a printable pdf file, click on the graphic below:
Let’s look at a series of events that occurred as the children of Israel were leaving Egypt, which have major relevance to what is occurring in mainstream Christianity in our day. If we fail to learn the lessons of history, we’ll likely repeat the mistakes of history. It has to do with golden calf worship.
YHVH redeemed the children of Israel out of Egypt and set the slaves free. He blessed them not only by giving them their freedom, but by giving them the wealth (gold and silver) of Egypt as well. We read that the Israelites exited of Egypt with a high hand. They were victorious, free and wealthy.
YHVH led them into the wilderness en route to the Promised Land — normally an eleven day journey. They had some difficulties: Pharaoh tried to kill them at the Red Sea, they lacked clean drinking water, and they had food issues, but YHVH provided them deliverance from Pharaoh, gave them clean water, manna and meat, and they overcame these trials.
Next, YHVH led the Israelites to the foot of Mount Sinai, and on Shavuot he made a covenantal agreement with them and gave them his Torah as their national constitution. They agreed to obey him and to keep his commandments. He promised to bless them if they remained faithful to him.
Moses went up to Mount Sinai to receive the Torah-covenant on two tablets of stone. While he was gone for 40 days, the people grew worried and anxious and become weary of waiting for Moses to return. This was a test they had to pass of their faithfulness. Would Continue reading