Tag Archives: Biblical Holy Days

Are YOU Child of the Light?

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As we celebrate the new biblical year and prepare to celebrate YHVH’s biblical feasts starting with Passover in just under two weeks, I’m reminded of several important things that the children of light would be wise to reflect upon.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. (Phil 4:8)

Even though the world around us is like a full swirling toilet bowl about to be flushed in light of all the economic, political and terrorist woes not to mention the most recent imminent threat of plague and pestilence, it is time for the children of light to look up!

Yeshua said, “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” (Luke 21:28)

As children of the light, we are neither to be ignorant of the times and season in which we are living (geo-politically) nor of YHVH’s appointed times and festival seasons as well. In fact, we’re to comfort ourselves and others with this truth!

You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.  But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing. (1 Thess 5:1–11)

Why are YHVH’s feast so important to celebrate? To answer this question, let’s ask another question. Why are anniversaries, birthdays, national holidays and the like important to people and cultures worldwide from time immemorial? Because they commemorate important events in people’s lives. This being so, let’s ask another important questions: Why doesn’t the Christian church do the same by celebrating YHVH’s appointed times or biblical festivals? If anniversaries, birthdays and national holidays are so important to most people, then how much more important are YHVH’s seven biblical festivals for the following reasons:

  • They reveal the seven steps in YHVH’s plan of salvation.
  • They commemorate important events in the past, present and future of the lives of the people of Elohim.
  • They are commanded by the Creator for his saints to observe.
  • They were celebrated by the saints that went before us including Yeshua, the apostles and the saints of the early book of Acts church.
  • They will be celebrated again in the thousand year long millennial reign of King Yeshua the Messiah after his second coming.

So what unbiblical reasons (i.e. excuses) do you have for not celebrating YHVH’s seven biblical feasts, or are you ready to take the to take the bold next step in knowing Elohim and to walk as Yeshua walked?

Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of Elohim is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He [Yeshua] walked. (1 John 2:3–6)

Onward and upward for the glory of YHVH Elohim!

Hoshana Rabbah has numerous FREE resources including calendars, study guides and other materials to help you to celebrate YHVH’s biblical feasts. We sell nothing (financial donations are appreciated though)!

Articles: https://www.hoshanarabbah.org/teaching.html#feast
Biblical calendars: https://www.hoshanarabbah.org/calendars.html#may20
Additional resources on how to celebrate the biblical feasts on your own or with a group: https://www.hoshanarabbah.org/moedim.html

 

Reasons for Celebrating YHVH’s Biblical Feasts

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silhouette people jumping at sunset

The biblical pilgrimage or aliyot (singular: aliyah) festivals are Passover (Pesach) and Unleavened Bread (Chag haMatzot) and the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost (Shavuot) in the spring and the Feast Tabernacles (Chag haSukkot) in the fall. At these feasts, the Torah, the Word of Elohim, commands all of YHVH’s his people Israel to come up (or make aliyah) to the place where YHVH has chosen to place his name. There they are to worship and serve him as they fellowship with joy with their Israelite brothers from far and near.

What are the reasons and benefits for YHVH’s people to faithfully and obediently celebrate his holy or set-apart feasts as he has commanded in is Set-Apart Word?

  • The biblical feasts are a prophetic shadow-picture of things to come (Col 2:16–17; Heb 10:1). When they were given to ancient Israel they pointed forward to future events that would occur to the nation of Israel including redeemed believers. The spring feast days, for example, point to Yeshua the Messiah’s first coming, while the fall feast days point to his second coming leading into the Messianic Age (Millennium) and into eternity beyond.
  • All the biblical feasts point to Yeshua. Yeshua is the Hebrew name for Jesus and means “salvation.” All the biblical festivals point to the various stages or steps of the path of salvation that believers find themselves on. 
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Why Study About and Celebrate YHVH’s Biblical Feasts?

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It’s Time to Take Off the Blindfold!

The biblical truths presented below you have NOT heard in your Sunday churches. If you had, you would have been observing or celebrating YHVH Elohim’s biblical feasts in those churches! Yet these truths have been in your Bible all along. The problem is that most people have been blinded to them, and until YHVH opens their eyes and they express willingness to hear and obey YHVH’s truth, they will remain spiritually blind!

An Introduction to the Biblical Feasts

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 the first humans chose to listen to the lies of the serpent and to rebel against YHVH by giving in to sin at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil at the very beginning, our first parents chose the path of separation from their Heavenly Father. Sin causes man to be separated from our totally holy, righteous, sinless and loving Creator.

Since that time YHVH has been endeavoring to reconcile man to himself. He has laid out the criteria for this to occur—for man to once again have a loving and intimate relationship with his Heavenly Father as did Adam and Eve before they sinned.

The seven biblical feasts of YHVH (please note, the Bible calls them YHVH’s feasts, not men’s feasts, Lev 23:2, 4; Exod 31:13) prophetically represent the steps man must take to be reconciled to his Heavenly Father. They are the complete plan of salvation or redemption rolled up into an easy-to-understand ­seven-step plan. 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. The biblical feasts are literally the skeletal structure upon which the truths of the entire Bible Continue reading →

 

The 7 and 8 Steps in the Tabernacle as They Relate to Biblical Marriage and the Feasts

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The Tabernacle of Moses is a giant gospel tract that explains the entire Bible—YHVH’s plan of salvation from Genesis to Revelation—in a simple child-like way, so that our human pea brains will be able to understand that which is, in reality, way beyond our comprehension.

This post contains A LOT of info, so grab a cup of coffee (or two or three) and get the coffee “anointing” and sit down and learn some things about the Tabernacle of Moses that you’ve probably never heard anywhere else. I promise that you will be blessed (and I don’t make promises that I can’t keep). This is because YHVH gave me these revelations many years ago, so I give him all the glory and credit.

First, the Tabernacle is YHVH’s plan of salvation or redemption for humans. Here’s a quick outline of this. We won’t cover this part in great detail here, since we’ve gone over these things previously on this blog over the past few weeks. (Please review each of the furnishings in the tabernacle to see how they relate to the seven and eight steps in YHVH’s plan of salvation.)

The Bible Is the Story of Reconciliation Between Two Lovers—The Tabernacle Contains the Outline of that Love Story

Love and romance has captured the imagination of man since time immemorial. Today we see this fascination evidenced in music, movies, literature and numerous other ways including modern man’s obsession with sexuality and even, sadly, in rise of pornography and the societal acceptance of sexually perverse lifestyles.

The Creator of the universe, the Set Apart One of Israel, the Author of the Scriptures, is captivated by the concept of love and romance as well. He is the Creator of marriage and sex. In fact, his first command to man was to be fruitful and to multiply and to fill the earth with humans (Gen 1:28). To accomplish this involves sexual relations in marriage. The writer of Hebrews declares that marriage is honorable and the marriage bed is not to be defiled (Heb 13:4). Much of the Bible is devoted to the subject of love and marriage. Love and marriage at a human level is merely a shadow of something much deeper: love and marriage at a spiritual level. John 3:16, the most popular verse in the Bible, talks about Elohim’s quintessential love for mankind and alludes to this higher spiritual level.

Most people understand that poetry and poetic prose is the language of love, yet few realize that much of the Scripture is poetry (or poetic prose) in Hebraic style. Much of this poetic style is lost in the translation from Hebrew into other languages like English. For example, all the books of Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes and most of the writings of the Hebrew prophets are written in a poetic style. Many of Continue reading →

 

Preparing Ourselves for Passover

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Repent of Sin and Get Under the Lamb’s Blood. 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 our thoughts as represented by the door lintel and and to our hands or actions as represented by the door posts). This occurs as we repent of our sins, and pray for and receive YHVH’s forgiveness. He will then cover our sins over or wash away our sins by Yeshua’s blood (1 John 1:9; Rev 1:5).

In Egypt at Passover time, YHVH judged all those who had failed to put the lamb’s blood on the door posts of their houses. In other words, they weren’t under the blood of the lamb, but were still under the penalty of sin, which is death (Ezek 18:4; Rom 6:23). Any unrepented of sin in our lives brings the curse of death on us. To the degree that one has sin in their life is the degree to which the spirit of death has a legal claim on us. Now is the time to repent of sin by confessing it and seeking Elohim’s forgiveness under the blood of Yeshua and then forsaking that sin through YHVH’s grace (1 John 1:9).

Here are some things of which to repent.

Pride. Do you always think that you’re right? Your opinion is what matters the most? Do you have a hard time with those who don’t see it your way, when you don’t get your way? Do you have a fit when people disagree with you? Do you criticize others and put others down (especially those who are closest to you)? Do you belittle, mock, scorn and ridicule Continue reading →

 

Feast Date Information for 2017

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For a list of projected dates for the spring and fall 2017 biblical festivals (and other biblical calendar information and resources), go to:

http://hoshanarabbah.org/calendars-info.html#feast_dates

For the record, our projected calendar dates are based on the visible new moon sliver as viewed from the land of Israel. The beginning of the new year is based on the barely being aviv in land of Israel.

For those of you who are unclear about the biblical calendar or confused about such things as conjunction vs. visible sighting, or rabbinic vs. first-century biblical calendar, I invite you to read the articles on the page at the link above.  For additional information not contained in these articles, you can scroll down through the posts on this blog to pick up articles and videos on the subject. To access this information quickly, in the search box at the top of this page, you can also type in the key search word “biblical calendar” or something similar and all the posts on this subject will come up in the search results.

Happy studying.

 

 

25 Reasons Why I Celebrate YHVH’s Biblical Feasts (instead of man’s non-biblical holidays)

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  1. The biblical feasts are a prophetic shadow-picture of things to come (Col 2:16–17; Heb 10:1). When they were given to ancient Israel they pointed forward to future events that would occur to the nation of Israel including redeemed believers. The spring feast days, for example, point to Yeshua the Messiah’s first coming, while the fall feast days point to his second coming leading into the Messianic Age (Millennium) and into eternity beyond.
  2. All the biblical feasts point to Yeshua. Yeshua is the Hebrew name for Jesus and means “salvation.” All the biblical festivals point to the various stages or steps of the path of salvation that believers find themselves on.
  3. Many of the feasts point back to and commemorate historical events that occurred in Israel’s history. By studying and celebrating these feasts, we can learn valuable historical spiritual lessons that are, at the same time, representative of our own spiritual journey (1 Cor 10:1–6, 11).
  4. YHVH Elohim commands his people to keep what the Scriptures calls his appointed times or biblical festivals. They are times when he makes an appointment to meet with his people (Lev 23:1–2, 4). It is at these festivals or commanded assemblies that YHVH teaches his people about his wonderful plan of salvation or the redemption of the world through Yeshua the ­Messiah.
  5. The feasts are in the Bible and the whole Bible is the inspired word of Elohim (2 Tim 3:16). Yeshua commands his saints to live by every word that comes out of the mouth of Elohim (Matt 4:4). The feasts are in the Bible, and believers need to study and obey the whole Bible, which is the inspired word of Elohim (2 Tim 3:16).
  6. The feasts set forth the pattern of heavenly things on earth (Heb 8:1–2, 5; 9:8–9, 23; Exod 25:8–9, 40; 26:30; Num 8:4; Ezek 43:1–6, 10–12), and, therefore, reveal to us spiritual mysteries about things in heaven.
  7. We as physical beings need physical means and methods to help us understand spiritual mysteries. YHVH gives us the natural to help us to understand the supernatural or the spiritual (1 Cor. 2:9–13). The biblical feasts play an important role in our spiritual growth, development and maturation.
  8. Yeshua, the apostles and early believers celebrated the biblical feasts. The apostles walked as Yeshua walked, and instructed us to do the same (1 Cor 11:1; 1 John 2:6).
  9. The biblical feasts will be celebrated during the Millennium.
  10. Yeshua said that if you love him, you’ll be keeping his commandments (John 14:15). Elsewhere, Yeshua equated the commandments with the Torah (Luke 18:20), of which the biblical feasts are a part.
  11. If you want to know YHVH, you will be keeping his Torah-commandments of which the feasts are a part (1 John 2:3–6).
  12. YHVH’s Word commands us to appear before him three times each year at the three aliyot or pilgrimage feasts (Passover/Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks/Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles, Exod 23:14–17). If we’re going to be obedient to his instructions in righteousness, we must gather together in the place where he has chosen to place his name (Deut 16:2, 6, 11).
  13. The aliyot feasts are a time for all Israel to gather together to worship YHVH (Lev 23:2, 4).
  14. When we obey YHVH’s commands, we are blessed in wonderful and unexpected ways (Deut 28:1–14).
  15. When we come together at his appointed times (moedim) at the place where he has chosen to place his name, we show YHVH that we love him and want to meet with him. As a result, we will experience a special divine joy (Deut 12:5–7, 18).
  16. When we come together at his appointed times (moedim) at the place where he has chosen to place his name we show our fellow redeemed Israelites that we love them and want to fellowship with them.
  17. At the feasts, there is corporate worship, and when YHVH’s people praise him together, he inhabits the praises of Israel (Ps 22:3).
  18. When redeemed Israel comes together, YHVH camps in the midst of his people (Ps 34:7).
  19. When the disciples of Yeshua come together, he is in their midsts (Matt 18:20).
  20. At the aliyot feasts, people from outside of your local congregation gather together for a common purpose: to obey, worship and serve YHVH. This binds all the saints together in a common focus and purpose. In this atmosphere, new and lasting friendships are forged.
  21. At the aliyot feasts, one has the opportunity to hear new teachers with fresh teachings.
  22. The aliyot feasts give our young people and adult singles an opportunity to meet prospective spouses.
  23. The aliyot feasts give one an opportunity to visit new places and provides one with a great (and biblically-based) excuse to take a much needed vacation.
  24. The aliyot feasts are a place to not only meet new people, but to exchange ideas and to get your Bible questions answered.
  25. At the aliyot feasts, one is provided with extended times of anointed praise and worship.

For more on this subject, please go to http://www.hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/why_study_feasts.pdf.