Tag Archives: Biblical Feasts

Preparing for Shavuot (Pentecost)

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The Feast of Weeks (Heb. Shavuot) or Pentecost will be occurring in about a week on Sunday, June 8, 2014. Pentecost is one of the seven biblical holy day Sabbaths that YHVH commands his people to celebrate. Below is a short piece to help you to prepare yourselves spiritually for this set-apart time when YHVH meets with is people in a special way.

A (Re)New(ed) Covenant Involving YHVH Writing Torah on Our Hearts

Jeremiah 31:27–36 prophesies about YHVH making new (or renewed) covenant being with his people Israel, which involves both houses of Israel (the Jews and the Christians) and his writing his Torah on their hearts.

Shavuot, Joyous

 Behold, the days come, saith YHVH, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith YHVH: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith YHVH, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their Elohim, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know YHVH: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith YHVH: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jer 31:31–34)

Contextually, in the verses surrounding this prophecy we discover some other important details.

  • Verse 27, The houses of Judah and Israel were to be mingled throughout the beast nations of the world as punishment for breaking their covenant with YHVH that they made with him on Shavuot (the Feast of Pentecost) at Mount Sinai (Exod 19–20, 24).
  • Verse 28, At some point in the future, YHVH’s punishment of Israel for breaking their covenant and their resulting exile among the gentile nations will come to the end. He will rebuild and restore the nation of Israel.
  • Verses 29–30, Whereas in times past, Israel was punished as a collective nation for their sins when they disobeyed YHVH and were similarly blessed when they obeyed him, now each person will be cursed or blessed for his own sins. Salvation is more of an individual matter now.
  • Verses 31–33,  YHVH promises to make a renewed covenant with the two houses of Israel at some time in the future (from Jeremiah’s perspective). It will be different from the covenant he made with Israel at Sinai in two major ways:
  • Though it will be a covenant with Israel collectively (both houses), it also will be made with individuals.
  • He will deal with the heart of each individual Israelite when he writes his Torah on their hearts.
  • Verse 34, This renewed covenant will involve mercy and forgiveness (grace). It will involve a personal relationship between each person and YHVH (“they shall all know me…”).
  • Verses 35 and 37, As the sun, moon, stars, the sea, and expanse of the heavens and the earth exist, so YHVH will renew his Torah covenant with Israel. The words of Yeshua in Matthew 5:18 are reminiscent of the this prophecy. Not one yud or tag of YHVH’s Torah will pass as long heaven and earth still exist.
  • Verse 36, The very survival of the nation and people of Israel (and hence the fulfillment of the covenants YHVH made with Abraham), is dependent on YHVH regathering and restoring Israel. If YHVH doesn’t bring this to pass, then YHVH is a liar and his Word is a lie and there is no hope for the world! This cannot be!

This was fulfilled during the time of the writing of the Testimony of Yeshua (New Testament). The author of Hebrews talks about this in Hebrews 8. Continue reading →

 

YHVH’s Love Feasts

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Leviticus 23:2, Feasts. These feast (moedim) days are set-apart times for YHVH’s consecrated people. They are divine appointments between the Creator of the Universe and his called-out ones. Furthermore, they are love feasts (Jude 12) between YHVH-Yeshua and his bride, the saints of the Most High Elohim. The seven feasts of YHVH are the perfect seven-step divine plan showing how YHVH-Yeshua will redeem his backslid people Israel, his adulterous bride, back to himself. These days are the embodiment of the gospel (the good news) message of the coming marriage between Yeshua and his bride and the establishment of his kingdom upon this earth in a full and universal sense! We show our belief, faith, love, anticipation and obedience to him by walking them out.

To not set aside time for them from one’s secular schedule is to ignore the call of the Bridegroom, Yeshua, for us to go out to meet him. It is to deprive oneself of the joys of communing with the Set-Apart (Kadosh) One of Israel in this special and set-apart way. It is to disregard and treat as common and profane the consecrated times that YHVH established for him and his people to come together. It is to disregard the covenants, the national constitution and marriage agreement between YHVH and his people—redeemed Israelite believers who have been grafted in to the olive tree of Israel through a relationship with Yeshua, the Messiah, the Anointed Sent One of Israel (Rom 11:13–24; Eph 2:11–19). To disregard YHVH’s feast days is to show disregard for his Torah-commands—his precepts, teachings and instructions in righteousness. To do this is to violate his commandments, which is sin (1 John 3:4)!

The Feasts Represent the Seven Steps of YHVH’s Plan of Salvation For Mankind (in more detail)

Passover (Pesach): The first annual festival in YHVH’s glorious lineup in the steps of redemption is Pesach which occurs in the early spring of the year at the time of the rebirth of the creation after a long and dead winter season. Likewise, it was the time of the birth of the nation of Israel. The Children of Israel had been enslaved in Egypt for many years, but they could not extricate themselves from the death grip of Pharaoh, a picture of Satan, without some help from above. YHVH heard their cries of anguish, told them to sacrifice a lamb and smear the blood on the doors of their homes. This they did by faith. YHVH extended his grace and mercy upon them, caused the angel of YHVH to pass over their homes so that they were delivered from the wages of their sins which is death. At the same time, the Egyptians received judgment unto death because they were not under the blood of the lamb. Israel was now free to leave Egypt. Spiritually one must leave the world (spiritual Egypt), a place of spiritual oppression and slavery, darkness and false religion. It is the realm or kingdom of Satan, the prince of death. One cannot leave the kingdom of darkness on one’s own strength. One cannot free oneself from slavery to the strong tyrants and masters of this world, the flesh or the devil. Continue reading →

 

Overview of the Biblical Feasts

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Leviticus 23

If you had to sum up the entire message of the Bible in one word what would it be? Probably words such as love, hope, salvation, eternal life or heaven are coming to your mind. But I challenge you to find a better word than the following: r-e-c-o-n-c-i-l-i-a-t-i-o-n. The dictionary defines reconciliation as “to restore to friendship or harmony, to settle or resolve a quarrel, to make consistent or congruous.” When man chose to rebel against YHVH and to give in to sin at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil at the very beginning he chose the path of separation from his Heavenly Father. Sin causes man to be separated from a totally holy, righteous and sinless Creator. Since that time YHVH has been endeavoring to reconcile man to himself. He has laid out criteria for man to follow for this to occur—for man to once again have a friendly, loving and intimate relationship with his Heavenly Father as did Adam before he sinned.

Feasts, Spring

The set-apart appointed times (moedim) or divine rehearsals/gatherings (miqra kodesh) of YHVH are prophetic shadow-pictures or symbols of the steps man must take to be reconciled to his Heavenly Father. They are the complete plan of salvation or redemption rolled up into seven easy-to-understand steps. Though a child can understand these steps, the truths contained therein can at the same time be expanded and unfolded until one literally has rolled out before oneself the entire message of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation—a message that to the human comprehension is staggering, deep and rich beyond understanding. These feast days are literally the skeletal structure upon which the truths of the entire Bible hang. The message of redemption, sanctification, salvation, the atonement, glorification, eschatology, the history of Israel, the entire Gospel message, the covenants, the marriage of the Lamb, the bride of Messiah and Yeshua the Messiah are all prefigured within the glorious spiritual container of YHVH’s set apart feasts contained in seven steps—seven being the biblical number of divine perfection and completion.

Feasts, fall

Quite assuredly, without a deep, walking-it-out comprehension of the feast days of YHVH, no matter how learned one is in biblical understanding, or how academically astute and mentally acute in biblical erudition one may be, one will not have a deep understanding of those scriptural subjects listed above. How can one understand end-time events such as the second coming, the great tribulation and the rapture unless one understands the feast days from a deep Hebraic perspective? One simply cannot have just a knowledge of Greek, the Gospels, the Apostolic Scriptures along with a surface understanding (i.e., traditional Christian perspective) of the prophecies of the “Old Testament” and expect to understand eschatology (the study of end-time events) unless one immerses themselves in understanding and keeping the feast days of YHVH. One cannot throw out the foundation or the skeletal structure and expect to have a body of understanding that amounts to anything at all. Simple logic and common sense and the very truth and character of YHVH Elohim demands and dictates this so.

Continue reading →

 

Insights on the Feast of Unleavened Bread

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The Feast of Unleavened Bread Is a Commemorative Ritual

Passover going into the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is the birthday of the nation of Israel. In ancient times, universal Israel came together in Jerusalem to celebrate this event. Today, redeemed Israelites come together to celebrate these divine appointment sacred convocations.

Days of Unleavened Bread

Abstaining from leavened bread for seven days is symbolic of Elohim’s people separating themselves from sin and turning towards a holy relationship with him.

Removing leavening from our  homes is a symbolic activity just like taking communion, being baptized for the remission of sins, or building a sukkah during the Feast of Tabernacles. As humans, we need symbolic commemorative occasions for several reasons. They give us a sense of history by helping us to understand the past, so that we can move forward into the future knowing who we are and where we’ve come from. They give us guidance so that we’ll learn from the lessons of history, both the good and bad ones. Our culture is full of symbolic rituals and commemorative acts and markers (Christmas, Easter, birthdays, anniversaries, Independence Day, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, statues, historical markers, monuments, museums, heritage sites, etc.). Likewise, Biblical commemorative rituals help us in several ways.

  • They help us to both recall and commemorate past and future events.
  • They help us to understand who we are by recalling where we’ve come from which in turn helps us to understand where we’re going.
  • They can be something physical that helps us to wrap our minds around difficult-to-understand spiritual principle. Continue reading →
 

Prepping for Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread

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It’s that time of year again! Passover will be on the evening of Monday, April 14, and the  first high holy day (it’s a Sabbath day of rest) of the Feast of Unleavened Bread will be on Tuesday, April 15 with the last day of Unleavened Bread (also a high holy day Sabbath) will be on Monday, April 21.

Passover Header

To help you to understand the significance of these days and to learn how to properly celebrate them, here are some links for with further instructions on this.

Below is a link to the Hoshana Rabbah website where you’ll find practical instructions on celebrating Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Included is a free downloadable Passover haggadah and tips on how to deleaven your house among other things.

http://hoshanarabbah.org/pesach.html

The following link will take you to a number of teaching articles that I’ve written on Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. After you’ve  read them, you’ll have an excellent understanding about the historical and future prophetic implications of these special observances as well as how they relate to the believer’s life presently.

http://hoshanarabbah.org/teaching.html#feast

This is a link to the Hoshana Rabbah YouTube channel. Scroll down through the 120 some videos and you’ll find a number of video teachings on Passover and Unleavened Bread.

https://www.youtube.com/user/HoshanaRabbah?feature=mhee

Enjoy getting your mind and heart ready to walk out these divine, appointed times of YHVH when he meets with his people in a special way!

 

New Video: Out With Leaven For the Feast of Unleavened Bread

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What is leaven? Why does YHVH command his people to deleaven their homes for Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread? What are the important spiritual lessons to be learned from this physical exercise? How will this help you in your walk as a follower of Yeshua the Messiah? This video answers these questions and more.

 

Are you ready for Passover? Here’s some help.

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Passover is coming soon. Now is the time to prepare to meet Yeshua at Passover. Here are some points to consider that will help get you ready for Passover.

  • As the children of Israel applied the lamb’s blood to the door posts and lintels of their house, so we must apply the sin-cleansing and Satan-defeating blood of Yeshua afresh to our lives (i.e., to your thoughts as represented by the door lintel and actions and to our hands as represented by the door posts).

Passover 2

  • In ancient Israel, YHVH judged all those who weren’t under the blood of the lamb. Unrepented sin has a death claim on us all. To the degree that one has sin in their life is the degree that the spirit of death as a hold on one’s life. Now is the time to repent of sin by confessing it and seeking Elohim’s forgiveness under the blood of Yeshua.
  • Pass on to the next generation by telling your children the Passover story. Explain how the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt (the world) to Pharaoh (Satan), and how YHVH delivered them from the judgment of the destroyer (YHVH’s judgment against sin) because they put the blood of the lamb on their doorposts (a picture of Yeshua’s sin-atoning death on the cross).
  • Prepare your heart and mind to obey YHVH by keeping his appointed times of Passover and Unleavened Bread. Are we going to obey his commands pertaining to these observances? How much do we love him (John 14:15)? How much do we want to know him (1 John 2:6–7)? Celebrating these feasts help us to love and to know him better. Continue reading →