Join us this April 17th-23rd* for the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We will have a full week of worship, music, study, food, and fun! Register below! (Passover will be observed the evening of April 15th.)
See Schedule for FUB 2022 (Schedule is subject to change)
* Projected Date
Check out this years Feast of Tabernacles photos! It was such a blessing to have you all with us! Yahweh be with you all until we see you again in the spring.
This article was written in 2014, so the dates stated in this article are from that year!
Many believe that our Creator Yahweh’s plan of redemption was finished when Yahshua was impaled on Passover day. They assume that His death marked the end of the old Jewish system, including the laws of the Old Testament.
His ascension and the Feast of Pentecost of Acts 2 also allegedly marked the start of a new faith called Christianity, which replaced Israel as the chosen of Yahweh. Consistent with this notion is the belief that Christianity has little use for the Old Testament or its commanded observances.
The facts tell a far different story, which show that the church lost its way early on.
The truth is, Yahshua as the Passover Lamb holds the key role in a continuation of Yahweh’s design for His human creation.
The Passover is the first of the annual observances of Yahweh and is the starting point for the rest of Yahweh’s design for salvation.
Granted, the original hopes that Yahweh had of an exclusive, special people who would follow and worship Him, had now changed. Because of Israel’s continual rebellion, Yahweh opened up His calling to all who would repent and turn to Him. Not only is Israel still included in His plan, but they are still central to it. Romans 9:27 says a remnant of Israel shall be saved.
When we look at the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread that follows, we see a progression – and not an end – of a salvation plan that was established at creation itself.
Passover is a memorial of an actual event that occurred long ago in Egypt. Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread that follows also foreshadow events to occur later in the New Testament and into our own future. What Yahshua did by becoming the Passover Lamb was realized only in part. He spoke of another fulfillment of Passover yet to come. He said just as He was taking Passover with His disciples that He would keep it anew in His Father’s Kingdom, Matthew 26:29.
We see the importance of this special observance throughout history. From ancient days to the Kingdom, the Passover is key to Yahweh’s blueprint for the salvation of His creation and the establishment of a coming Kingdom on earth.
When in chapter 12 of Exodus as one Egyptian firstborn died after another, Yahweh was sending a clear message to all of mankind. It was to the firstborn that twice the family inheritance was given, which was known as the birthright. With the death of the firstborn, Yahweh demonstrated a salvational fact that those not covered by the blood of the lamb will have no life – meaning no inheritance in His Kingdom.
The other lesson we learn is that we can be covered by that blood only if we follow Yahweh’s instructions explicitly. If anyone in Israel had not done exactly as Yahweh commanded by putting the lamb’s blood on all sides of the doorpost then he would have faced the same consequences as the Egyptians. Yahweh had to see the blood of protection at each home, Exodus 12:23. The entire door frame had to have a blood covering, symbolic of His people’s being completely surrounded by the blood of the Lamb.
Without the blood of Messiah covering for our sins, we face everlasting death. Rather than having little meaning for us today, the Passover and Feast have much more serious implications. The immediate physical consequences that came anciently for disobedience translate today into serious spiritual ramifications if we are not in total compliance.
Looking back in history, we see that Yahweh began a recalling of His people at the Passover, ultimately to take them out of Egypt and unto Himself through their worship and devotion.
He does the same today in the New Covenant observance of the Passover. It is an annual memorial and lesson for all who would be His elect to come clean and not get involved in the sin of the world. The world can easily enslave us, just as Israel was enslaved in Egypt for repeatedly refusing to obey their Heavenly Father.
Passover was an opportunity to re-dedicate their lives to Him, to turn back to Him again in truth.
The Passover was also Yahweh’s judgment on the false religion of Egypt, and figuratively on the false religions of the world. Lest we think that this is just an ancient judgment on ancient people, think again. In today’s world the Passover is a lesson in True Worship as well.
The Passover, which gets its name from the passing over of the death angel, was the last of 10 plagues unleashed on Egypt and the finishing stroke that finally freed Israel.
Note that each plague was directed against a certain deity worshiped by the pagan Egyptians (see Ex. 9:14-16 and chapters 7-11):
1) River to blood (against Hapi, spirit of the Nile, who had life-giving waters)
2) Frogs (Hekah, frog-headed deity who symbolized fertility)
3) Lice (against the earth deity Geb)
4) Flies (Beelzebub, lord of the flies)
5) Murrain or disease on the cattle (against Apis, the bull deity, and Hathor, a cow deity)
6) Boils (ashes from the altar of Typhon, to whom human sacrifices were offered)
7) Hail (against Isis and Osiris, the deities of crops, v. 25, and Nut, female deity of the sky)
8) Locusts (Seth, deity of storms and chaos)
9) Darkness (RaAmon, the sun god)
10) Firstborn (because Pharaoh him-self was worshiped as a god, his own son and heir to the throne would die).
In Revelation 6 we learn that some of the same plagues that Egypt suffered will be unleashed on earth in the last days.
With the opening of the third seal we see famine and disease; famine because of the locusts and disease from the murrain. Next is darkness. Then devastating hail will also fall, Revelation 8:7; a third of the seas will become blood, v. 8, followed by a plague of locusts, 9:3.
Just as Israel was protected from the latter plagues but felt the effects of the initial ones, so Yahweh’s people who obey Him now and faithfully keep His appointed days will be protected after the first several plagues are unleashed (Rev. 7:3). They will be sealed in their foreheads and safeguarded through Yahweh’s Name, Revelation 9:4 and 14:1.
Yahweh will even have two witnesses testify of Him (11:7), just as He did in the persons of Moses and Aaron who witnessed against the Kingdom of Egypt.
To keep the Passover is a deadly serious matter. Many think of Yahweh not as a Heavenly Father but as a kindly old grandfather who puts up with spoiled children who disobey Him. Not so.
Yahweh punished even believers in the New Testament with sickness and death for observing Passover carelessly, 1Corinthians 11:27-31.
This year the Passover will be observed on the night of the 13th of April, which is the 14th day of Abib, the first biblical month.
The Jews keep it a day later, on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, thus making Passover a High Day.
John 18:28 shows that in Yahshua’s day, after Yahshua had observed the Passover and was arrested around midnight, the Jews still hadn’t kept it.
But from John 13:27-30, among many other passages, we see that the Passover is a memorial. It is not a High Day where no buying or selling or work may be done. Therefore the Passover is called the preparation day, a preparation for the Feast that follows, John 19:14, 31. One could not do any preparation work if it were a High Day, nor would it be called a preparation for the Feast of Unleavened Bread if it also fell on the first day of the Feast.
Exodus 12:19-20 is a warning against anyone who would not take the Feast of Unleavened Bread seriously enough to avoid eating leavening. “Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.”
Each time we participate in the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we undergo a renewal with Yahweh. Our obedience to these commanded times resonates with Him and carries untold blessings. No other observances of the world do that. That is why it is necessary to keep these annual set times and forget the empty holidays.
Most important of all, He calls them “My feasts.” They honor Him. And they are central to the redemption of His people.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread is a time to rededicate our lives to the Father as we recount the sacrifice of His Son, and remove leaven from our lives in the seven-day Feast that follows Passover.
“For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to Elohim, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living Elohim?”
Suppose you took a survey and simply asked, “What is leavening?” More women than men would probably know, by virture of their experience in the kitchen. Most who know would probably answer, yeast. But yeast is only one substance that we are to refrain from having or consuming during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Other leavening agents include cream of tartar, baking powder, baking soda, and calcium phosphate. Any chemical that causes a puffing up of a cereal grain would be classified as leavening. (See p. 19 for more.)
Of course, it is what leavening symbolizes that is important for the Truth seeker.
Leavening in the Scriptures pictures hypocrisy, false teachings, and wickedness. When leaven is removed, the evils that it represents are symbolically removed as well. Yahweh’s people are called “peculiar” in Titus 2:14 (KJV): “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
This verse speaks directly of Yahshua’s sacrifice at Passover and what it does to renew our dedication to Him. “Peculiar” means a people who are His possession. Additionally, if you are not seen as “peculiar” by the world around you, then you need to reassess your walk with Yahshua.
Yahweh’s people should be an exceptional beacon of righteousness to those around them. And the further this world sinks into darkness, the more your light should stand out as a witness.
Yahweh’s people should be vastly dif-ferent from the world and distinct from churchianity. Churchianity sets its standards and values mostly by public opinion, just as the world does. If the masses don’t like a certain stand the church may take on a moral issue, today’s church will water it down to be less offensive and more inclusive.
But Truth doesn’t change with the times. If you harbor sin in your life, the Word will offend you because it opposes sin in its many manifestations.
Today’s appalling lack of right Biblical counsel from those who are supposed to represent the Word is throwing the floodgates wide open to self-destruction. If more who claim to teach the Bible had the backbone to speak out against sin, the less we would find sin acceptable today. Look back only 50 years to see the difference in the culture when the Word was preached with authority and less compromise.
Come the judgment, Yahshua isn’t going to take a public opinion survey to determine the worthiness of an individual. His standards are right and true forever. And if we don’t meet them, we face His judgment. We answer to the supreme Judge and no one else. He doesn’t come down to our level, we rise up to His.
Society’s moral collapse is an example of Biblical leavening. It permeates every-thing and works slowly to induce change. Spiritually, it is corruption of the heart.
When we were in grade school science we learned of the various changes to substances. The simplest was physical, like water to ice or steam. A physical change leaves the molecular structure intact. Then there are chemical changes that change the very nature of the substance.
Leavening induces a chemical change. It symbolizes changes that alter our spiritual constitution.
To be constantly exposed to the leaven of hypocrisy, false teachings and wickedness of the world will eventually create a dynamic spiritual change in a person not unlike the substance change brought on by leavening.
The lesson of the Feast of Unleavened Bread makes us aware that we live among influences that can alter our behavior and the way we live if we are not careful. To be unaware of leaven is to be unaware of the Satanic influences that can destroy us spiritually.
You can’t continually be bombarded daily by trash and not get any on you. You may even come to accept it as normal. That is what we see today. People are not recognizing sin for what it is.
The evil of the 1960s was in its iconoclasm. At no other time in history have so many bedrock traditions and societal authority come under such attack and held up to ridicule.
The fallout today is an unending stream of perversion and iniquity that is force-fed families through many powerful conduits. Each year the Evil One pushes more limits and tramples more moral barriers until what would never have been tolerated even 10 years ago is now acceptable.
The masses are preconditioned and, like leavening, their thinking and behavior have been permeated with corruption.
No wonder Yahshua asked that when He returns, would He find faith on the earth? Luke 18:8.
Many are searching for meaning in all the wrong places.
It is a testimony to Yahweh’s power that at the beginning of our world’s intense moral decay that Yahweh was calling believers to begin a restoration of the truth of His Name and Sabbaths. It is during a time of great decline that Yahweh is raising up a people who would stand for His truth and challenge not just the corruptions of the pop culture but also years of false teachings.
Yahweh tells us here is the way, now walk in it. But most will accept anything so long as it isn’t the Truth. People thirst for the latest dead-end craze. But to go back to the foundation of all teachings for life itself, the Old Testament? Not on your life!
For 2,000 years churchianity has been ignoring the Bible’s true teachings, that were first established with ancient Israel, in favor of empty traditions mixed with ancient mystery worship.
Discover the real thing. Forget hollow traditions of man. Learn the teachings that Yahshua and His disciples taught from the Old Testament and gain insight you never had before. When you do, the Bible will finally start to make sense.
For more info on the Passover and Passover Day check out our 2020 LIVE Passover service.
Here is another great article on the Passover and Passover Day: Passover and Salvation.
For more great articles be sure to check out our articles page.
To understand the seven annual feast observances of the Bible is to grasp the plan of salvation. These appointed times offer a wealth of “insider” knowledge that includes keys to when Yahshua will return and who will be saved.
Even more, these days represent a covenant between Yahweh and His people. They teach a coming heavenly Kingdom on earth where the chosen will have positions of authority as priests under Yahshua.
The life of a believer is all about preparation to rule with the Messiah in that Kingdom when He returns. His annual feasts are a time of gathering to rejoice and celebrate the blessings Yahweh has given us. By keeping them we focus on the awesomeness of eternity with the King.
The Feasts more than any other biblical teaching unlock Yahweh’s plans. The seven yearly appointed times reveal seven phases in the salvation design.
Passover Marks the Beginning
Yahweh’s holy times start off with Passover in the first month, Abib, when green ears of barley develop and this first of the grains is harvested. In the seventh month are four high Sabbaths, which complete the harvest season and end with the Last Great Day of the Feast – picturing the Great White Throne judgment of humanity, Revelation 20:5, 12-15; Ezekiel 37:13-14.
On a higher level Yahweh’s plan of redemption is all about spiritual harvesting, starting with the all-important firstfruits.
Yahshua is the first of the firstfruits in the resurrection sequence. His death and resurrection opens the way for other firstfruits by removing the penalty of death that all sins have earned: “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures,” James 1:18.
Those in the first resurrection are called firstfruits because they come first, before others who will be resurrected later. They also receive greater rewards. “…and all the assemblies shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works,” Revelation 2:23. The firstborn received the greater inheritance in Scripture.
On the physical level Passover commemorates the deliverance of His people Israel from the bondage of the Egyptians. The Feast of Tabernacles, with a week of temporary living, reminds us that Israel lived in tents or booths before they were brought into the Promised Land. It also reminds us that this life is temporary.
As with Israel’s servitude, we face virtual slavery to this world and much tribulation because of it. Yahshua steps in with His death to deliver His people from this world of bondage.
Pharaoh as a type of haSatan had enslaved the Israelites. They depict Yahweh’s people in every age. Moses, typifying our Savior, was sent to release His people enslaved by a despised ruler. When he told Pharaoh to let His people go so they could serve Yahweh in the wilderness, the metaphor was complete and remarkably transparent.
Truth Involves a Coming Out
Satan is in charge of this sinful world. Through His Passover death, Yahshua released His people from the penalty of sin and Satan’s grip to worship Yahweh in spirit and Truth. They could not do so while in Egypt but had to come out to keep Yahweh’s Feast, which was their first step in redemption.
A similar pattern is true today.
We cannot be lukewarm with one foot in the world and the other in Scripture. We must come completely out of error as we cannot serve both Yahweh and the world.
Once Israel was on its way out of Egypt on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Egyptian army marshaled in hot pursuit to bring them back.
Leavening that is removed for a week from homes and diets represents error that leads to sin and must not be brought back in.
This is another metaphor of what the true believer usually faces when he or she makes the decision to leave popular falsities and come to Yahweh’s covenant.
Family and friends typically oppose the move and want them to give up and go back, owing mostly to their lack of knowledge and understanding of truth.
Duality of the Harvest
Pentecost or Feast of Firstfruits seven weeks later points to the harvest of those called out of the world now to help Yahshua rule for a thousand years.
Also known as the Feast of Weeks, this apppointed time commemorates the giving of the law at Sinai, which Israel ratified under the Old Covenant. In the New Testament the Holy Spirit was sent wholesale to help the truth seeker be obedient to the Father and His laws.
In Acts 2: 39 Peter confirms that the chosen are heirs to the Kingdom. The ekklesia (improperly rendered “church”) is being called out of the world now to become a kingdom of priests under the coming rulership of the Messiah.
We are not yet in the Kingdom, but those in the ekklesia are joint heirs of the Kingdom and are training now to help rule in the righteous government of the heavens soon coming to earth. They are learning obedience and righteousness that will dominate in that future government.
Many prophets were given visions of the latter days and the future deliverance of Yahweh’s people, just as 2-3 million Israelites were delivered from Egyptian bondage. Jeremiah says why:
“Wherefore has Yahweh pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our sin that we have committed against Yahweh our Elohim? Then shall you say unto them because your fathers have forsaken me, says Yahweh, and have walked after other deities, and have served them, and have worshiped them, and have forsaken Me, and have not kept my law and have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, you walk everyone after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto Me,’’ Jeremiah 16:10-12.
The ‘Easy Way’ Mindset
When many today read Jeremiah’s prophecy, they think it refers in the modern context to someone else. Most self-professing Bible believers do not realize this prophecy is directed against perverting Scriptures today and forsaking Yahweh by walking a different path and serving mighty ones called G-d and L-rd (Baal, Jer. 23:27).
When clear and explicit verses are presented – such as Exodus 23:11-17 commanding Yahweh’s people to keep the Sabbatical years; to keep the seventh-day Sabbath; not to utter names of pagan deities; to keep the annual holy days –almost to a person they will shrug it off and say that it does not matter today.
Seeking shortcuts is a common human trait and following the path of least resistance is typical. Preaching an easy road to salvation is a pastime of many ministries and the people eat it up.
“The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?” Jeremiah 5:31.
When it comes to pure worship, Yahweh offers no shortcuts. His is a doctrine of self-discipline, of overcoming our sinful nature. The firstfruits individual views life from His perspective, no matter what the obstacles.
“Therefore thus says Yahweh. Elohim of hosts. O my people that dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite you with a rod. and shall lift up his staff against you, after the manner of Egypt,” Isaiah 10:24.
Hebrews 12:22-24 clearly shows that the true people of Yahweh are referred to as those dwelling in Zion. These saints will undergo future persecution and tribulation but they will be delivered with a mighty hand just as were the Israelites from Egyptian bondage.
It is at this time that the saints will be living in tabernacles just before Yahweh intervenes.
“And it shall come to pass in that day, that Yahweh shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth,” Isaiah 11:11-12.
And now verse 16. “There shall be a highway for the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria: like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt,” Isaiah 11:16. Note that it will be but a vestige of His people that will be left as He sets His hand to recover them a second time. He will be known as the One who saved His people from the north country, not as the Elohim who saved His people from Egypt. This series of events will surpass anything that the world has ever seen before.
Disobedience Carries a Price
The world is not obediently keeping the feast days as Yahweh commands. One cause is ignorance about the great plan of salvation. The consequence is serious: judgment.
“Howl ye: for the day of Yahweh is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty … Behold the day of Yahweh comes, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine,” Isaiah 13:6.9-10.
Yahshua Himself spoke of this time in the Olivet prophecy in Matthew 24:29. Notice that He begins in verse 21 stating, “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” Verse 24 shows that the elect, or chosen people, will still be on the earth, as he speaks of false messiahs, and false prophets who will show great signs and wonders that will be so astounding and real that if it were possible, even the elect would be deceived.
Our Savior goes on to say in Matthew 24:29, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven…”
This prophecy is also seen in Joel 2:31. It is a time of Yahweh’s wrath upon a lawless and defiant world that refuses His ways and teachings.
Many times Isaiah refers to the end of the age when Yahweh’s anger is poured out on a sick, sin-filled world. Isaiah 59:18 shows that Yahweh will repay the sins of His adversaries with fury.
“So shall they fear the name of Yahweh from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of Yahweh shall lift up a standard against him. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith Yahweh,” vv. 19-20. Yahweh promises deliverance to His people who overcome now and live for him.
Fall Festivals Unfulfilled
At His return, Yahshua will gather His people from around the world. He promises untold glory for those who remain steadfast. In Isaiah 61 we find the verse Yahshua quoted when He began His public ministry.
“The Spirit of Yahweh is upon me. because he has anointed me to preach The Good News to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. To preach the acceptable year of Yahweh,” Luke 4:18-19.
Yahshua stopped in the middle of the second verse. But it is obvious that He was speaking of the sabbatical year in this prophecy.
Yahweh always brings events about according to His timetable.
Passover has been fulfilled twice, as has Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks. But the Feasts of the seventh month have never been fulfilled. Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles are awaiting fulfillment and Yahweh undoubtedly will be right on schedule.
His feast days help us remember His plan of redemption, which we are reminded of at three harvest times during the year. The fall moedim begin a time of tribulation and foreshadow the deception of the false prophet and the iron grip of the man of sin.
These festivals go on to remind us of the coming Kingdom of Yahweh where His law and government will rule the world.
Looking Toward a Far Greater Future
Temporarily staying in succoth or shelters, as we are commanded by Yahweh at Tabernacles, reminds us that we are but sojourners and travelers in this world. Our real goal is to be in the future Kingdom wherein is righteousness and where the entire world will be keeping His Sabbaths and His laws, Isaiah 66:23.
We are pilgrims merely passing through this fallen world, revealed in the temporary dwellings, as we focus on a far greater world to come.
We have the greatest opportunity ever to worship Yahweh in spirit and in truth. There are more study resources to prove the truth of the Bible than in any generation before us. We are without excuse.
Knowing and loving Yahweh means doing what He asks, just as a child shows love and respect to his or her parents by obeying them – and they love them all the more in return.
By obeying Yahweh’s commands, which include the observance of the seventh-month festivals, we show that we desire His awesome blessings. We truly want the promises of rulership with Him in His Kingdom that come only by proving that we first will obey Him.
John wrote, “But whoso keeps His word, in him verily is the love of Elohim perfected: hereby we know that we are in Him,” 1John 2:5.
The Feasts teach the Kingdom coming to earth. You can have a foretaste of that joyous Kingdom today.
Decide right now to be closer to your Heavenly Father. Discover the deep-down happiness and fulfillment that comes in living for Yahweh by observing His special days.
Want to know more? Check out our article on the prophecy contained in the Passover and Unleavened Bread!
If you could know what is coming in the days and years just ahead, wouldn’t you be very interested? The Scriptures show that future events are revealed in proper worship, especially in the days Yahweh commanded for His people.
The Apostle Paul in the second chapter of Colossians explains the prophetic significance of our Father’s days of worship. “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body [is] of Messiah,” vv. 16-17.
Along with some of the other Old Testament commandments, Paul is refer-ring here to Yahweh’s days of worship, His Sabbath and Feasts. Now before exploring the prophetic meaning, we will first dispel a common misconception about this passage.
Many interpret Paul as saying that we are no longer obligated to observe these days. In other words, we’re not to be judged on our freedom from these old and archaic obligations.
Is this the message Paul is conveying to the people at Colossae? The answer is no. What he is saying is that we must not allow those outside the body of Messiah, the assembly, to judge us on the worship of our Father in heaven. In verse 17 the word “is” was added by the translators; take it out and the meaning is clear. Those qualified to judge Feast keeping are those in the body who are honoring these days. Only they are well-versed in why, how, and when to celebrate them.
In verse 17 Paul also says that these days are a shadow of things to come. He recognizes the prophetic nature of our Father’s moedim, His annual appointments. Understand that the Feasts given in the Old Testament were more than simply times of worship. Each of these days prophetically foreshadows a special event in our Father’s plan of salvation for mankind.
‘But That’s Old Testament!’
One of the most common misconceptions about the Feasts is that they belong just to the Jews and those people of the Old Testament. They are inconsequential to those in the New Testament.
In Leviticus 23 we find a summary of these Feasts. In verse 2 Yahweh begins by explaining to whom these days belong. He declares, “Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of Yahweh, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.”
Does Yahweh tell us that these days belong only to the Jews and are irrelevant to those in the Messiah? No! He says that these are “MY feasts.” Our Heavenly Father clearly says that these holy convocations belong not to man, but to Him. For believers this is an important point.
You see, if we ignore these days we’re not ignoring what belongs to mankind, but something very special belonging to our Creator. In essence, when we ignore these days we tell Yahweh that His worship is of little or no value. So the belief that these times belong only to those in the Old Testament could not be further from the truth.
Passover’s Release from Sin
Let’s now consider the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread to better understand their relevance to us and Yahweh’s prophetic plan of salvation.
Even though the Passover is tech-nically not a Feast (Hebrew chag), it is nonetheless one of the most sacred times in Yahweh’s worship. We find a description of this time in Leviticus 23:5: “In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is Yahweh’s Passover.”
The Passover is to be observed on the 14th day of the first biblical month at sunset. The word “even” is the Hebrew ereb and means “dusk” or “sundown.” In Exodus 12:6, the word “even” is from the Hebrew ben ha arbayim.
As noted in the Restoration Study Bible, “The timing of the word ‘evening’ has been a matter of debate for millennia. It is derived from the Hebrew phrase ben ha arbayim, which literally means, ‘between the two evenings.’ While rabbinical Judaism and Pharisaic and Talmudic tradition define ben ha arbayim as ‘between noon and sunset,’ it became a period of time that expanded over the centuries.
“The Sadducees…and the Samaritans define this phrase as between sunset and complete darkness. See Numbers 9:3-5, 11 and Leviticus 23:5. Based on scriptural evidence and modern scholarship, the latter interpretation is favored.
“According to The Interpreter’s Bible, the latter definition is the older of the two views: ‘The usage of the time referring to that after sunset and before darkness is the older practice’” (p. 919).
The name of this first month is Abib. This is more a description than a name. Strong’s defines this word as “…from an unused root (meaning to be tender); green, i.e. a young ear of grain; hence, the name of the month Abib or Nisan.” The Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew Lexicon calls it a “month of ear-forming, of greening of crop, of growing green Abib, the month of the Exodus and the Passover (March or April).” As established above, the first month is dependent upon the maturing of the Abib grain. Exodus 9:31 establishes that the grain used is barley.
It was on Passover night that the death angel went through the land of Egypt and killed the firstborn in those homes that had not applied the blood to their door frames. Even in the Old Testament it was through blood that redemption was found. Now this also marked the night to be much observed, as it was on this night that Israel won their freedom from slavery.
Fulfillment in Yahshua’s Death
In 1Corinthians 5:7 the Apostle Paul sheds light on the prophetic meaning of the Passover. He says, “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Messiah our passover is sacrificed for us.”
Paul focuses here on the Passover and the role that the Messiah had in its fulfillment. Through His death He became the Passover sacrifice. “Fulfill” does not mean “obliterate.”
As confirmed by the prophets, the Feasts are an everlasting command that will be observed in the coming Kingdom, e.g. Isaiah 66:23; Ezekiel 44-46; Zechariah 14:16-19.
According to John the Baptist in the New Testament, Yahshua represents the Passover lamb as found in the Old Testament. John 1:29 reads, “Behold the Lamb of Yahweh, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
The main purpose for Yahshua’s coming to this earth was to shed His blood for the sins of mankind. He also came to set an example to follow in our lives. If not for His sacrifice we would all still be condemned in our sins.
Only through our Savior do we find forgiveness and a complete washing away of our sins. Without His act of reconcilement we would be alienated from our Heavenly Father. Paul confirms in Romans that only through our Savior’s death are we reestablished with Yahweh.
Yahshua will make the reconciliation permanent at His coming, when He will gather His faithful from this earth to serve in His Father’s kingdom. “And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other,” Matthew 24:31. Paul adds, “and so shall we ever be with the Master,” 1Thessalonians 4:17.
Leavening and Worldly Corruption
The next annual appointment is equally important and that is the Feast of Un-leavened Bread, the first of the three annual pilgrimage Feasts. We find the command for this holy convocation in Leviticus 23:6-8: “And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto Yahweh: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto Yahweh seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.”
The Feast of Unleavened Bread im-mediately follows the Passover. The Jews eventually combined these observances, yet the Bible teaches that they are separate observances. As the Encyclopaedia Judaica states, “The feast of Passover consists of two parts: the Passover ceremony, and the feast of Unleavened Bread. Originally, both parts existed separately; but at the beginning of the [Babylonian] exile they were combined” (vol. 13, p. 169).
Another important fact about the Feast of Unleavened Bread is its duration. Scripture tells us that it is seven days long with the first and seventh days being called “holy convocations.” The word “holy” comes from the Hebrew qodesh and refers to something sacred. The word convocation derives from the Hebrew miqra and literally means something that is called out, as in a public meeting. Therefore, the phrase “holy convocation” refers to a sacred calling out or a sacred meeting.
The command that makes this Feast different from all others is that Yahweh commands that we abstain from leavening or yeast for all seven days. What’s the issue with leavening? you might be wondering.
First, the Israelites left Egypt in haste and were unable to leaven their dough. This Feast commemorates their exodus from the corruption of Egypt while they ate unleavened bread.
Second, leavening symbolizes sin or what leads to sin through wickedness, malice, false beliefs, and corrupt politics. As Israel left the land of Goshen they were not only leaving physical leavening but also spiritual leavening, which was the corruption of Egypt.
Salvation Plan Pictured in the Feast
Also significant is that this Feast has a strong connection to agriculture. It was during this time that Israel offered the wave sheaf or firstfruits of the barley harvest to Yahweh.
From the New Testament we know that the wave sheaf has prophetic meaning. In 1Corinthians 15:20-22 Paul explains what this time prophetically represents. “But now is Messiah risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Messiah shall all be made alive.”
Here we learn that the Messiah rep-resents the first fruits of those who would be resurrected. As the wave sheaf during the Feast of Unleavened Bread was the first of the grain offerings, Yahshua was the first fruits of those who would rise from the grave.
As we delve into the Feasts we see an amazing harmony between the Old and New testaments. The same principles we find in the Old are alive and well in the New. Contrary to popular belief, it was never the Messiah’s intent to begin a new faith. Even Paul said of himself in Acts 24:14 that he “believed all things written in the law and in the prophets.”
Paul said in 1Corinthians 15:22, “For in Adam all die, even so in Messiah shall all be made alive.”
Only through Yahshua the Messiah do we find everlasting life, which He will grant at His Second Coming to all those immersed into His Name. Understand that this promise had been foreshadowed by the wave sheaf that was offered during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
The New Testament is clear that the Messiah and His apostles observed these days. As we’ve also seen, these observances will be kept in the coming Kingdom.
These times foretell Yahweh’s plan of salvation for mankind. They reveal truth found nowhere else. Therefore, not only do we break our Father’s commandments when we ignore these days, but we disregard vital truth pertaining to Yahweh’s plan of salvation for His chosen.
More info on the Biblical Feasts can be found in our FREE booklet: The Amazing Biblical Feasts
For more info please check out this video on Yahweh’s Feasts!
Check out some of the photos taken at the 2019 Feast of Tabernacles!
Science is discovering that resting one day out of seven is key to physical and mental rejuvenation, good health, and productivity. A cyclical rhythm of sevens is embedded in physical creation, clearly linking Yahweh as the Creator through the significance He places on the sequence of sevens.
As science is learning, living cells operate by a rhythmic clock. This regularity keeps the cell synchronized with other cells, just as it was designed at creation. Scientists in this discipline called chronobiology say seven is the major rhythm in human biology. Many plants, insects, and animals also have biological cycles based on seven.
We humans have at the cellular level internal seven-day clocks regulating and orchestrating our biotic activities like metabolism, maintenance, growth, and reproduction. These sevens, or “septans” lie deep in our neural, metabolic, and hormonal systems.
A seven-day factor is also at work in our immune systems. Polio, small pox, and tetanus each begin to show symptoms after seven days. Chickenpox symptoms typically appear 14 days after exposure to the virus, the same with mumps. Ebola has a three-week, 21-day incubation time. All of these immune-defense clocks are built on a time element of seven.
And there’s more. The defense response to malaria infection and pneumonia peaks at seven days. In organ transplants like kidneys there is a span of about seven days when the body’s immune system may reject the new kidney. It takes seven days for a newborn to fully develop the blood clotting mechanism, and that’s why biblical circumcision is practiced on the eighth day (Philippians 3:5).
The sequence of seven is embedded in the very building blocks of life. Almighty Yahweh wound up the clock of creation and by the time He rested on the seventh day He had left His divine imprint, including the Sabbath, on living systems everywhere. It’s powerful proof of an intelligent Creator.
From the seven days of creation in Genesis to the seven seals of Revelation, the number seven also permeates Scripture.
The Apostle Paul’s observation in Romans 1:20 of the miracle of creation is confirmed. For those who deny a Creator, all they need to do is look at the complex design of creation itself.
Paul writes, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and majesty; so that they are without excuse.” King David wrote, “Only the fool says in his heart, ‘There is no Elohim’” (Psalm 14:1).
Seventh Day Reigns Supreme
The number seven is, hands down, the most significant number in the Bible. The seventh day is the grand finale of the creation week. Seven is at the center of the weekly Sabbath and annual Feasts. These observances will be celebrated in the coming Kingdom.
But that isn’t all. There are Sabbath years called Sabbatical years in the Scripture, and they are key to knowing when the Messiah Yahshua will return in the not-too-distant future.
Yahshua said in Mark 2:27 that the Sabbath was made FOR man. Does that mean we can ignore it or change it? If I say, here, this gift is for you, do I expect you to throw it in the trash?
The Sabbath commandment is the only one of the Ten that says to “remember.” It’s a throwback to creation week and the special status Yahweh endowed the seventh day with from the beginning of creation.
Beyond telling us that Sabbath rest is an obligation, the Greek indicates that it is also something imprinted in our being. In the next verse, 28, we read, “Therefore the Son of man is Master also of the Sabbath.” John 1:3 says all things were made by Him. He was the active agent that created the universe.
Consider this: maybe He not just created the Sabbath by resting on it, but in the process of creation He also embedded the seven-day rhythmic cycle of rest into our DNA and behavior. That gives new meaning to His being the master of the Sabbath, while fashioning the Sabbath literally for mankind.
Psychological studies have shown that we humans don’t function well without a day of rest every week. Without it we are more prone to error, suffer more stress and irritability, we don’t rest as well, and live shorter lives.
We read in Genesis 2:3 of that first Sabbath rest: “And Elohim blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which Elohim created and made.” Clearly, the Sabbath is more significant than just a day to stop working. The seventh day is firmly infused into creation itself.
Even Land Must Rest
The spiritual benefits of the Sabbath are even more profound. The Sabbath was given to keep us spiritually synchronized with our Maker and His design. He blessed it, and that blessing is passed on to us when we keep it by ceasing from work as He did.
Our understanding of the importance of the number seven really opens up when we trace some of its uses through the Bible.
We learn early on that the rhythm of seven is a pattern not just for the weekly cycle but also for annual obligations.
Most people are familiar with the term Sabbatical, a time when professors take a leave of absence traditionally every seven years to do research or travel. This concept of taking time off for rest comes right out of the Scriptures. There we find Yahweh’s command for a Sabbatical year, when planting and tilling the fields is to stop, thereby giving the soil a rest every seven years.
This land rest rejuvenates the soil and gives nutrients. Exodus 23:10-11 commands: “And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof: But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy olive yard.”
If today’s agriculture followed the Bible’s Sabbatical year land rest, the soil would be much healthier and the use of chemical fertilizers could be reduced or eliminated. Notice that the Sabbatical year is also a system of welfare, where the poor could go out to the fields at harvest time and gather whatever the spontaneous crops had produced. What was left over the wild animals could eat.
Financial Relief
There is another important component of the Sabbatical: financial relief. Every seventh year debts were canceled. Any loan was prorated for the time remaining of the seven years.
Deuteronomy 15:1-2 says, “At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called Yahweh’s release.”
Borrowers would not be burdened by heavy debt from a lifetime of financial strain at high interest fees. Throwbacks to the Sabbatical still exist today in the world of finance, where banks hold certain records accessible for seven years while certain financial instruments have a seven-year depreciation clause. Copyrights are good for the life of the holder plus 70 years.
A person is considered an adult with adult privileges at 21 years of age (3 x 7 years).
Anciently, Hebrew slaves were to be freed on the seventh year, Deuteronomy 15:12 tells us.
Jubilant Seven Sevens
It goes even deeper. Every 50 years, after seven Sabbaticals of 49 years, is another great Sabbath year command known as the year of Jubilee. Look up the word jubilee and Webster’s will tell you it’s a special anniversary of an event, especially one celebrating 25 or 50 years.
Have you ever felt “jubilant”? Maybe you attended a diamond jubilee celebration. These terms are based on the biblical Jubilee. There’s even an apocryphal Book of Jubilees.
You find many Jubilees observed around the world at any given moment. And the concept comes right out of the Bible.
In the Scriptures the word “jubilee” is derived from the Hebrew teruah, which means “a sound of joy or alarm.” It was the ram’s horn or shofar trumpet that announced the beginning of the Jubilee year.
Leviticus 25:9 says: “Then shall you cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall you make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.”
The biblical Jubilee comes after seven cycles of seven and was a time when the land was to go back to its original owner. This ensured that the tribes of Israel did not lose their promised inheritance.
The law of the Sabbatical and Jubilee years is one of the more intriguing subjects in Scripture.
Important events of history and prophecy are tied up in these specially sanctified times.
Feasts Rest on Sevens
Yahweh’s days are universally overlooked, in the same way the first day of the biblical month is ignored today, even when the thin new moon crescent appears visibly in the sky and shouts to all the earth, “This is the first day of the month.”
This natural phenomenon goes right over most heads today because the moon has been factored out of our Gregorian solar calendar.
Much more significance remains with the number seven. We find throughout the year seven sacred observances that Yahweh commanded His people to celebrate as part of His covenant with us.
These Feasts or holy days are the only annual observances given in the Scriptures. Holiday is a contraction of the words “holy day.” Each is tied firmly to the number seven either by when they occur or by their length of observance. The Feast of Unleavened Bread in the spring and the Feast of Tabernacles in the fall are each seven-day observances.
Four of these observances are in the seventh biblical month. They are: the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles, and the Last Great Day.
Prophetic Keys in Feasts
If you want to understand the prophetic plan for this earth and the return of the Savior, important keys are in the Feast days. Each reveals facets of the Messiah’s coming and the setting up of His kingdom on earth in the future Messianic age. Each gives insight into what’s ahead for this world. Yahweh’s Feasts are the only holidays sanctioned in the Bible. They were all observed by Israel in the Old Testament, kept by the Savior and His apostles in the New Testament, were taught by the apostles, and will be enforced in the coming Kingdom (see RSB chart).
As critical to Yahweh’s Truth as these days are, the vast majority of Bible believers are ignorant of them, just as 2Peter 3 describes most people in a different context.
Along with the seventh day of the week, these seven annual observances have been neglected or mostly ignored through the centuries by the vast majority of Bible believers and self-confessed followers of Scripture.
In every key aspect of our existence, we see a prominent rhythm of sevens. We see it in Yahweh’s physical creation, in His command to pause and worship, in His salvation plan, in the prophetic timetable – sevens are everywhere.
Unlike our months and years, our seven-day week has no astronomical basis; you can’t look to the sky or out into space and determine the starting and ending of a week. There is no planet, star, sun or moon that sets the weekly Sabbath. The Sabbath is based totally on what Yahweh put into effect at creation when He rested on the seventh day. It was Yahweh alone who gave each week a starting point and an ending point. The week is divine.
Like the institution of marriage and family, Yahweh Himself established the Sabbath in Eden. That is why He is called the master of the Sabbath.
Sabbath Unchangeable
Even the calendar on your wall continues this biblical institution of ending the week on the Sabbath. Our week that begins on Sunday and ends on Saturday is the same consecutive order of days in effect for thousands of years. The Sabbaths that Abraham, Moses, and King David observed are in the very same weekly sequence that still operates today.
None of the days of the week have gotten out of the weekly order.
Some have argued that the Sabbath sequence was altered in the switchover from the Julian to today’s Gregorian calendar, named after Pope Gregory XIII. The problem was that by 1752 the Julian calendar, named for Julius Caesar, had drifted out of sync with the seasons as it moved slower than today’s calendar.
To catch the calendar back up with astronomical reality, 11 days (dates) were dropped in the new Gregorian calendar, creating an irregular month. But even with the loss of dates, the Sabbath cycle didn’t change.
The seven-day week has been in force worldwide from creation, although some countries have tried to alter it, France and Russia being two of them. Both of their secular attempts to change the week failed.
Deuteronomy 5:15 in the restatement of the 4th commandment, gives some additional insights into the larger concept of “Sabbath.”
“And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that Yahweh thy Elohim brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore Yahweh thy Elohim commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.”
Why does He bring the issue of slavery in conjunction with the Sabbath? Because on specific Sabbath years slaves or bond servants were set free. That is, on the Sabbatical every seventh year, and on the Jubilee, which falls every 50th year. The Jubilee is also a Sabbath year. On this 50th year Sabbath, slaves were given their freedom.
Israel was taken into captivity for 70 years for not keeping the land Sabbath. The lesson is that not keeping the Sabbath, either weekly or annually, leads to slavery in various ways. By not keeping the weekly Sabbath, slavery to the world and all its pressures and enticements is fortified. Observing the Sabbaths frees us from slavery to this world.
Yahweh took two key actions with the Sabbath at creation: “He blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it,” Genesis 2:3. In doing these, He established its significance throughout the rest of Scripture and history. He sanctified it or set it apart as completely given over to Him. This is the essence of the Fourth Commandment, which mandates the complete cessation of all mundane work and the total devotion to Yahweh Himself.
Now, the trumpet call of the Jubilee directly parallels the trumpet that will announce the return of the Messiah Yahshua to this earth, which prophecy and Yahshua Himself indicated will occur on either a Sabbatical or a Jubilee year. Returning on the Jubilee could explain why Yahweh let Israel lose track of the Jubilee so that no one would determine the time of the Savior’s return.
In Luke 4:18 we read that on a weekly Sabbath in Nazareth, Yahshua went into the synagogue and read from Isaiah 61:1-2:
“The spirit of Yahweh is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the glad tidings to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of Yahweh.”
“Preach” here means to proclaim after the manner of a herald, always with the suggestion of formality, gravity, and authority. It is more than just talking; more than just teaching. The terminology fits perfectly the significance of the trumpet sound proclaiming the Jubilee at Atonement.
In quoting Isaiah 61, Yahshua stopped in the middle of verse 2, which demonstrates that as the fulfillment of this prophecy that He was now calling people out of the world to become His followers. The end of the verse refers to the Day of Judgment, which at that time obviously was far into the future.
Here we can see how Yahshua rightly divided the word. The “acceptable year” refers to the beginning of the Jubilee year as the welcome year. Another translation refers to it as Yahweh’s amnesty year.
Note what the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary says, “Acceptable year – an allusion to the Jubilee year (Lev. 25:10), a year of universal release for person and property.”
Wesley’s Notes adds, “The acceptable year – plainly alluding to the year of Jubilee, when all, both debtors and servants, were set free.”
Yahshua came to preach the Good News to the meek and humble, those whose hearts were soft and teachable, to give them the truth to set them free.
The Jubilee is couched in the middle of a directive in Leviticus 25 to keep the Sabbatical year. The Jubilee is marked by:
• land rest
• land going back to the original owner
• Israelite slaves freed
In quoting Isaiah 61, Yahshua said, “This day is the Scripture fulfilled in your ears.” It indicates that He was speaking on the Jubilee year and that He Himself would accomplish this. It hints that He began His ministry on the Jubilee.
Death Penalty Paid
The Jubilee is all about freedom. He frees us by releasing us from the death penalty if we repent and follow Him.
The universal mantra in religious venues everywhere is that obedience to the Word is unnecessary and even a bad thing. The reasoning is that if you try you are rejecting what your Savior did for you. But what did Yahshua tell the young man in Matthew 19:17? “If you will enter into life, keep the commandments.” He said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments,” John 14:15.
What did He mean by “His” commandments? Was He changing what His Father had already given?
If you are concerned that becoming obedient will take away the forgiveness Yahshua offers for your sins, you have nothing to worry about. We are all sinful enough that we cannot achieve sinlessness on our own. We will always need Yahshua’s blood to cover our disobedience. At the same time we are to strive to walk in Yahshua’s footsteps of obedience.
John 12:49-50 in the NIV reads, “For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”
Yahweh insisted on obedience to the law throughout the Old Testament, and Malachi 3:6 says He does not change. Yahshua simply took those commands and lived them as an example of righteousness for everyone to follow. He kept the Sabbaths, Feasts, Ten Commandments, moral law – everything commanded by Yahweh His father.
He did it all for a reason, not just to prove that He could. He was without sin. Even the law of sacrifice He adhered to and ultimately satisfied with His own blood.
He led His life to show you and me that this is what His Father expects of us. He applied His Father’s statutes in all aspects of life as He experienced them. That way we could use His example in our own lives and experiences.
If you buy into the notion that obedience is wrong, then you are not following the law-keeping, law-loving example of your obedient Savior who as the judge has the power to grant your salvation.
Just as He was cut off (meaning died) in the middle of the week as He foretold, so Yahshua left unsaid the rest of Isaiah 61:2, which tells of the vengeance that would follow His return. Note the latter part of this verse: “And the day of vengeance of our Elohim; to comfort all that mourn” (Isa. 61:1-2). He’s not returning with smiles and hugs all around. He’ll be swinging a sword against the unrighteous, Revelation 1:16.
A Key Lost and Found
There is no record that Israel or Judah faithfully kept all the Sabbaticals and Jubilees, and therefore we have little to go on in determining the year they should be kept. Regardless, Yahweh knows our desire to do the best we can in obedience. These times will be enforced when His Kingdom comes to earth.
Daniel 9 begins with a reference to the 70 years of Judah’s Babylonian captivity. The reason they were sentenced to a captivity of 70 years is that they had not kept 70 Sabbatical years and had to catch up (Lev. 26:34-35, 43; 2Chr. 36:21-23).
The chapter begins with a reference to the missed Sabbatical years in 70 Sabbatical cycles, and ends with a discussion of another 70 Sabbatical cycles.
The weekly Sabbath every seven days, the Sabbatical year every seven years, and Jubilees coming after every 7×7 years as well as the 1,000-year reign following 6,000 years of man are each a part of Yahweh’s design.
Yahweh marks weeks, holy days, years, and millennia in bundles of sevens. The word ‘week’ in Hebrew is the same as the number 7, shabua. It literally means “sevened.” Shabua has a dual meaning as well, and also connotes oaths. Yahweh is telling us by this word with two meanings that a powerful relationship exists between the number seven, representing Sabbaths, and an oath.
Is it any wonder then that the Sabbath is a sign between Yahweh and His people? It is a sign of the oath or covenant.
We can go even further. You could say the Feast of Weeks or Shabuot is a feast of oaths. His law by most accounts was given on the Feast of Weeks as well as the Holy Spirit in the New Testament to enable obedience to that law. You become eligible for that spirit when you obey Him, Acts 5:32. With both His Spirit and His laws working in you, you become a part of a sacred oath or covenant as His people.
Sevens in the Feasts
The feasts of the biblical calendar are also marked by seven days, which is the length of both the Feast of Unleavened (bread) and of the Feast of Tabernacles. Pentecost (seven times seven days plus one), or the Feast of Weeks, is celebrated seven weeks from unleavened bread.
The commands for these days are found in Exodus 12 and 23, and Leviticus 23.
With many important meanings and lessons, Yahweh’s Sabbaths are also great equalizers. On the 7th day, for example, both the powerful and the weak become irrelevant, as even the ox is liberated and given the same day of rest.
To counter any greed in the 7th year, debts are forgiven. And to counter over-farming and depletion of the soil, the land rests in the 7th year. After 7×7 years, all debts are forgiven and lands are then returned to the original owners. That ensures that property rights remain in a family and the land especially given by Yahweh to the various tribes remained with them.
Today some Torah-observant Jews will lease their land to a gentile for the year, thinking they can skirt the Sabbatical Law. Biblical laws were not given to appease Yahweh but are for the benefit of the individual, family, and community (1John 5:3). We defeat their purpose when we evade them and look for loopholes.
Yahweh’s Laws for Our Good
Yahweh says don’t eat fat. We now know that fat contributes to all kinds of health problems.
Yahweh says don’t eat swine. Science has learned that the omnivorous pig is a garbage disposer and natural incubator, allowing viruses to jump the species gap between beast and man.
The Bible has been proven invaluable by modern science when it says let the land rest and renourish for a year to rebuild the soil naturally. Many enlightened farmers today allow their fields to lie fallow for the same reason.
These are only a few ways that Yahweh’s laws benefit us physically. But the spiritual benefits are far greater. Paul told Timothy, “And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Messiah Yahshua,” 2Timothy 3:15.
We can’t take Yahweh’s commands lightly, thinking they were made only for someone else, like the Jews. They apply to all ages and all people.
The magnificent number 7 is a profound key to Yahweh’s design in the universe and in His faith.
In Conclusion
The number 7 (the number of perfection) is not just related to the reoccurring of the Sabbath and Sabbatical cycles but by sequences of seven it reckons the counting of the calendar. Yahweh’s seven biblical appointments, as seen on the cover of this booklet, demonstrates a symbolic representation of Yahweh’s perfect order, typified with the Feast of Trumpets in the center, designating Yahshua’s return at the last trump. Most miss the fact that the Last Great Day (the eighth day as it is called because it follows the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles, Leviticus 23:34-36) is a separate observance in the Feast cycle. Those who do not understand the first fruits offerings to Yahweh try to account for this by inserting a made up “Feast of Firstfruits.” Unleavened Bread and Pentecost both include the firstfruits by their very nature, as they are harvest festivals, which include firstfruits offerings to Yahweh through the barley and wheat harvests. The firstfruits, and more specifically the Abib barley harvest, which sets the yearly calendar, are key to understanding the Holy Day cycle, revolving around the harvest and the future spiritual harvests at Yahshua’s return. Reckoning the calendar with the firstfruits barley as Scripture shows, will align us with Yahshua’s return as He reaps His firstfruit harvest of the faithful.
Scripture gives us instruction in Exodus 12 & Numbers 9 for those baptized who were unable to keep the Passover due to being unclean by contact with a dead body or on a long journey. (Hopefully, only the latter.)
Either way, YRM will be rebroadcasting this year’s Passover service online the evening of April 19th at 8 p.m CT. Those who need to partake of the emblems will be required to get themselves some matzo (unleavened bread) and grape juice (not wine). Simply follow the service and partake when the time comes. If you are with someone else, remember that we are commanded to partake in the foot washing as well. If you are by yourself, this is not a requirement. We pray that this is a blessing to those few who need it.
May Yahweh bless everyone on their journey to deeper understanding and appreciation of Him and His Word.
The rebroadcast will be linked on Youtube and Facebook.
Yahweh sounded a trumpet to gain the people’s attention whenever He wanted to speak to them. The first time the Bible speaks of Yahweh’s sounding a trumpet was in offering His covenant to Israel. “And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled” (Ex. 19:16).
The trumpet continues to play an important part both in Israel’s history and in our future. The trumpet warns of danger and is a call to arms.
The trumpet was sounded as Israel broke camp and began their march. Blowing the trumpet felled the walls of Jericho, Joshua 6:4-13.
The trumpet sounded at the coronation of King Solomon (1Kings 1:39-40), pre-picturing Yahshua the Messiah.
The Messiah will return at the trumpet blast and bring in the greatest Jubilee, the ultimate and highest Jubilee of gladness, joy, plenty, healing, peace and righteousness.
The Victorious Blast
The seventh biblical month begins with the day of Trumpets, one of the annual holy days. Notice: “And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have an holy convocation; you shall do no servile work: it is a day of blowing the trumpets unto you” (Num. 29:1).
The trumpet blast heralds an important event that is to take place, the greatest of which Yahweh foretells in biblical prophecy. We must pay special attention to the trumpet’s role in the prophecies of the latter days. Perhaps the functions of the trumpet will be brought forth again in the latter days.
That Conquering Sound
Joshua and his band of 300 sounded their trumpets to bring the downfall of Jericho: “And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day you shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat,” Joshua 6:4-5.
Whether there was an earthquake to flatten the walls of Jericho we are not certain. Jericho was devastated and Joshua conquered by the blowing of the trumpets as Yahweh had prescribed.
A similar circumstance will take place in the future. Notice what happens when our Savior returns: “For Yahshua himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of Yahweh: and the dead in Messiah shall rise first” (1Thess. 4:16).
The sounding of the trumpet and the shout of victory heralds the Savior’s return to this earth. Yahshua takes vengeance upon those who destroy the earth while gathering those who have died believing in Him, 1Thessalonians 4:14.
Evidence shows that our Savior may return on the day of Trumpets when the last trumpet is blown. This first day of the seventh biblical month is in the Jewish calendar the first day of the civil year, which they call “Rosh Hashana,” meaning the “head of the year.” According to the Bible, the religious year begins in the spring on the first of Abib (Nisan).
Trumpet Marks Solemnity
It is in the spring of the year, in the month of Abib (meaning “green ears of grain”) that Passover occurs. This is the start of our spiritual trek to the Kingdom when we accept the shed blood of the Lamb that takes away the sins of the world.
We then straighten out our beliefs, making sure they are in accord with the Bible as we feast upon the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Following that, we celebrate the Feast of Weeks, which commemorates the giving of the Law at Sinai and the coming of the Holy Spirit to enable us to keep the law.
Then comes the Feast of Trumpets on the first day of the seventh scriptural month when the trumpets are blown, followed by the day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles. Trumpets begins the most solemn part of the scriptural year, for the next holy day is the day of Atonement, which is followed by the joyous Tabernacles.
Sabbatical Rest Cycle
Dedicated believers rightly keep the weekly scriptural Sabbath which Yahweh blessed and set apart for mankind’s worship in Genesis 2:2-3. We know the seventh-day Sabbath will again be kept when the Kingdom of Yahweh is set up on this earth, according to Isaiah 66:23, and which has not been changed or abrogated in spite of the teachings of churchianity.
A most ignored part of the covenant made with Israel at Mount Sinai was the observance of the seventh or Sabbatical year, Exodus 23:10-11. It is a year to let the land lie fallow and not to prune the olive tree or the grapevine, Leviticus 25:4. Note that this verse says that it is a Sabbath rest unto the land and a Sabbath for Yahweh! The Sabbatical-Jubilee cycle is an extension of the weekly Sabbath and also of the annual Sabbaths.
A New Testament command to keep the Sabbath even today is found in Hebrews: “There remains therefore a rest to the people of Yahweh” (Heb. 4:9). This “rest” is not limited to the seventh day. Verses 5 and 10 speak of entering into “His” rest, and “His” rest goes beyond even the Sabbatical every seven years and the Jubilee every fifty.
Many competent Bible scholars contend that Yahweh has allotted to mankind 6,000 years in which man attempts to rule himself by his own standards. Man is to work six days, and Yahweh says to Him a thousand years are as a day: “For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night” (Psalm 90:4).
Six is man’s number. He was created on the sixth day. Six days man is to labor and do all his work, but the seventh day is Yahweh’s day when we honor Him.
666 as Opposed to Seven
The ultimate fulfillment of all that represents the worst in man is bound up in the number 666, found in Revelation 13. It is the number of the beast, or the “man of sin.” Without Yahweh’s laws and precepts man will ultimately record 6,000 years of utter failure in trying to establish a man-made Utopia on this earth.
While a modicum observe the seventh-day Sabbath, even fewer keep the annual Sabbaths in today’s world. The seventh-year land Sabbath is hardly kept anywhere today. It has been ignored and forgotten and uncertainty marks its keeping. The land we have control over is to be given a rest to Yahweh, Leviticus 25:4. It was also a time of release for Israel.
The Jubilee every 50 years, however, was to be proclaimed to all inhabitants of the land. Certainly there is much here which is overlooked by churchianity today. Why Israel first and the rest of mankind later? Why the special promise to those who attain the first resurrection? (Rev. 20:6) Is Israel still singled out as the channel of blessings to all the earth?
Sabbatical Similarities
The similarity between the Sabbatical-Jubilee cycle and the anticipated return of our Savior should thrill the student of Bible prophecy. Many prophecies of the Messiah’s return and the Jubilee year could easily be mistaken for the other.
Perhaps this is the way Yahweh reveals to His obedient children a secret kept from the foundation of the world. Surely Yahweh Elohim will do nothing, but He reveals his secret unto His servants the prophets (Amos 3:7). If we are His children, His servants who obediently do what He has commanded, then the Scriptures will not be a mystery or an enigma to us.
By keeping His commandments, doing what pleases Him, we follow closely in the footsteps of His Son. We conform our minds and will to His, and continue to study to show ourselves approved, striving to have the mind of the Messiah.
Jubilee a High Point
Leviticus 25:9 reveals that the trumpet was to sound on the day of Atonement, the tenth day of the seventh month. This was to start the year of Jubilee, which came in the fall of the year just before the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast commemorated the harvest of the fruit, the oil, and the good things of the fall harvest. The Jubilee, we read in Leviticus 25:8, followed a Sabbath year. It was the seventh Sabbath year, following 49 years, and was held the fiftieth year, Leviticus 25:10-11.
The day of Atonement is a day of fasting and a very solemn occasion. No work is to be done. This was a hallowed time throughout the land. It was a time for proclaiming liberty to the captives. Every man was to return to his possession. Every man was to return to his family. No work was to be done in the fields for an entire year.
Because the Jubilee came every 50 years, the average Israelite would observe at least one Jubilee in his lifetime. If he celebrated his first one before he was 20, he would enjoy another when he lived his allotted three score and ten years (Ps. 90:10). A true blesing was to celebrate two Jubilee years. The year of Jubilee was a high point in the culture of Israel and was eagerly anticipated by Yahweh’s people.
We on this side of Golgotha should take a close look at the portent in the Jubilee year. The similarities to ancient Israel and to the Ekklesia are astounding.
Many analogies, types, and truths are found in the days that Yahweh has set apart for His worship. Keeping His Sabbaths as well as the annual holy days and becoming aware of the Sabbatical-Jubilee cycle keeps us in constant reminder of His great plan of redemption.
Keeping our hearts and minds on heavenly things helps correct our attitudes and behavior so that we forego worldly pleasures and allurements to seek the Kingdom and enter His rest.
Observing Yahweh’s Sabbaths helps us to keep His commandments as we walk in His truth. From the Saturday Sabbath we set apart a day each week to enter His rest. In fellowship with others of like faith, we joyfully study the Bible, reviewing and learning more of His way of life.
Yahshua’s Ministry a Sabbatical
Following His testing by Satan, Yahshua went into the synagogue and read a most poignant verse:
“The Spirit of Yahweh is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the evangel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of Yahweh. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him” (Luke 4:18-20).
The “acceptable year of Yahweh” is recognized by scholars as a Leviticus 25 reference to the Jubilee year. Every seventh year was a “year of release,” when a Hebrew who had become a bond servant could go free (Ex. 21:1-11). Possessions were returned to the original owner. At the Jubilee, freedom was restored to all.
In the Hebrew text of Isaiah 61, the “acceptable year” and the “day of vengeance” are combined. The first coming of Yahshua made available Yahweh’s favor and acceptance through His Son Yahshua. The second coming warns of coming judgment when the Messiah returns to judge the world and set up Yahweh’s Kingdom on earth.
That rest includes the preparation of this earth for the coming Kingdom as well as sanctifying a special people by releasing us from the cares of this mundane world. We become more attentive to things spiritual and walk on higher ground, seeking the refreshing of life to come.
Restoration of All Things
Before that happens there is to be a revival and turning back to Yahweh by a people who will seek to learn more of His ways and seek His truth in the Bible and apply it to their lives. This is our goal now, to seek His truth diligently and be guided thereby.
“Repent therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of Yahweh; And he shall send Yahshua Messiah, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which Yahweh has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:19-21).
It is our understanding that the year 2015-2016 will be the next Sabbatical year, beginning on Atonement and ending on Atonement. This is based upon the year 69-70 C.E. as the Sabbatical, the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Evidence indicates that Yahshua began His ministry in the year 27-28 C.E. when He “preached the acceptable year” (Luke 4:19).
Strangely, it works out that even using our secular calendar, the Sabbatical years are divisible by seven. The years 28, 70 and 2016 are evenly divisible by seven.
What Can We Do Today?
During a Sabbatical year we do not plant or prune, but allow the ground to yield self-seeding plants such as lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, and of course the perennials such as strawberries, rhubarb, and fruit trees. These we can pick and consume but not freeze or store, which applies to any food that grows of itself.
Not planting a garden may be a small thing in this busy, bustling country of plenty, but almost every day of the Sabbatical year we are reminded that this is a special year, the ground we rely on for our produce is to have rest, just as Yahweh’s people have weekly Sabbath rest.
During the Sabbatical we do not plow or till the soil.
Not planting a garden would take real dedication for ancient Israel when the entire nation was not growing any crops. Yet, Yahweh had made provision for this by commanding the sixth year to bring forth food for three years:
And if you shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase: Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. And you shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in you shall eat of the old store (Lev. 25:20-22).
Jubilee Year Question
Exactly when the Jubilee year falls in today’s calendar is an enigma. After the return of Ezra and Nehemiah, the people were so determined to be obedient to Yahweh that He would bless them and they would not have to sell any of their land to redeem it on the Jubilee.
They believed that Yahweh would not allow them to become impoverished, and therefore there would be no need for a Jubilee, a year of release. The exact day of the Jubilee, therefore, had been lost.
It is our goal to restore these truths, which will be the norm in the coming Kingdom. May you turn your heart in full obedience to Yahweh so that you will better understand the deeper truth of the Sabbaths and not be caught unaware when that last great Trumpet sounds and Yahshua takes control of this earth.
For more info on the feast days including Feast of Trumpets please check out our free booklet: The Amazing Biblical Feasts
Keeping Yahweh’s Feast Days
Yahweh specifically commanded Israel and all His people today to keep seven Feasts to Him throughout the year. These seven Feasts were in addition to the weekly Sabbath.
The purpose of the Feasts was to keep Yahweh always in the minds and hearts of His people so that they can align with Him. Observing the Feasts also brought people together as a family and helped unite them as a nation under Yahweh. The Feasts lay out the plan of salvation and show prophetically where we are in that plan today.
With all that the Feasts embody, and as central as they are in scriptural law, it is nothing short of stunning that they have been completely disregarded and ignored by churchianity for 2,000 years! Most churchgoers would never deliberately go break the Ten Commandments. Yet the Feasts, which were also commanded at Sinai along with the Commandments, have all been deliberately broken for millennia by denominational worship claiming an otherwise dedicated faith.
Feast Days : Key to the Future
It is as much a sin to break the Feast commands as it is to break the Ten Commandments. Each violates Yahweh’s law. The only defense is ignorance. But once you know you are then responsible to make them a key part of your life or else stand guilty of lawbreaking. “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin,” James 4:17.
It is time we learned more about Yahweh’s sacred Feasts. In addition to the Feast of Tabernacles, two other convocations are also known as “Pilgrim Feasts.” These are the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Weeks.
We are expected to leave our homes and travel to attend these “appointed times” (Hebrew moed, moedim, plural). These three Feasts depict our journey through life as pilgrims and travelers seeking a better country, the city Yahweh has prepared for us (Heb. 11:16).
We aspire to the Kingdom of Yahweh, which will come to this earth. His Feasts help us understand that future Kingdom and how it will be administered.
These three great Feasts celebrated the three times fruits of the earth were gathered; the barley harvest at Unleavened Bread; the wheat harvest at Pentecost, and the oil, honey, and grapes at Tabernacles.
Just as Israel tabernacled in the wilderness, Yahshua the Messiah “tabernacles” with His people today. This is one of the many lessons we learn from the Feast of Tabernacles and other Feasts observed by True Worshipers.
The Feasts are also reminders of Israel’s historical events. Passover in the first month of the year (March or April) memorializes the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage. Fifty days later Pentecost marks the ratifying of the Law (making a Covenant) at Sinai.
Tabernacles and the Wilderness
Tabernacles on the fifteenth day of the seventh month commemorates Israel’s establishment in the Land of Promise. Now they were home and finally at peace under King Solomon. After 40 years of wandering in the wilderness they at last possessed the land.
Tabernacles was a thankful and a holy remembrance of past wanderings in temporary dwellings. At that time Israel took boughs of palm and willows of the brook and made temporary huts. They sat under these succoth just as did Joshua when settling the land: “And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness” (Neh. 8:17).
During the time of Solomon (Heb. “king of peace”), Israel was at home and enjoyed peace and quiet throughout the land of Judea. “And Judah and Israel lived safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon” (1Kings 4:25).
Tabernacles and the Ark
The last vestige of wilderness life ended when the Ark of the Covenant was taken from the portable tent and placed in the magnificent Temple of stone in the seventh month. The event was further celebrated by observing the Feast of Tabernacles on the fifteenth day of the seventh month: “Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto Jerusalem, to bring up the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh out of the city of David, which [is] Zion. Wherefore all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto the king in the feast which was in the seventh month. And all the elders of Israel came; and the Levites took up the ark” (2Chron. 5:24).
Finally, on the 23rd of the seventh month, Solomon sent the great congregation away, glad in heart for the goodness Yahweh had showed to David, Solomon, and His people Israel. Home at last! The Ark of the Covenant was now in the security of its Temple home. It was a wonderful event to associate with the Feast of Tabernacles. Take note, it was at the beginning of the seventh month after their return from Babylonian captivity that the Jews gathered under Ezra and Nehemiah.
Nehemiah 8:23 says, “And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the street that [was] before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people [were attentive] unto the book of the law.”
The returned captives were gathered in Jerusalem the second day of the seventh month to listen to Ezra the priest read from the book of the law. In it they learned that there was a convocation to be observed on the fifteenth of this seventh month: “And they found written in the law which Yahweh had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month: And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written” (Neh. 8:14:15). “Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of Elohim. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day [was] a solemn assembly, according unto the manner” (Neh. 8:18).
Just as the returning captives were unaware of the Feast of Tabernacles, many of our readers are unfamiliar with Yahweh’s Feast of Tabernacles. As soon as the Jews learned that they were expected to keep the Feast, they urged those in all their cities to prepare for the full eight days of the Feast.
Spiritual Meaning of the Feast Days
The Passover points to Yahshua as the true Passover Lamb Who was sacrificed for the sins of the world. Because we believe in the atoning work of His sacrifice, we are to keep the feast of Unleavened Bread: “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Messiah our Passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened [bread] of sincerity and truth” (1Cor. 5:7-8).
• Pentecost (Feast of Weeks) is a memorial of the giving of the Law at Sinai, and the descent of the Holy Spirit to enable us to keep the Law. Having the Law written on our hearts is more effectual than having it written on stone. His law within us guides us day by day and we make His law come alive as we obey and follow it day by day: “Forasmuch as you are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Messiah ministered by us, written not with ink, but with Spirit of the living Elohim; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart” (2Cor. 3:3).
• The day of Trumpets is announced by the thin crescent moon just after sunset, which ends the sixth and begins the seventh month, in our September or October. It is the beginning of the civil year in Judaism. However, the month of Abib in spring is Yahweh’s beginning of His religious year, usually March or April. The day of Trumpets calls our attention to the beginning of Yahweh’s seventh month. The sounding of the trumpet traditionally warned of an alarm, war or danger such as we find in Zephaniah: “A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers” (Zeph. 1:16). Trumpets is to prepare us for the return of the Messiah and His setting up the Kingdom. We keep our mind on heavenly things, being alert to signs of His return.
• Ten days after the day of Trumpets comes the day of Atonement. It is known in rabbinical writings as the holiest day of the year. From the day of Trumpets to Atonement is a time of deep introspection and self-appraisal.
It was the time when the High Priest emerged from the Holy of Holies to the people’s shouts of joy, knowing their sacrifice was acceptable. Atonement marks the day our High Priest Yahshua comes out from the heavenly Holy of Holies to assure us His atoning sacrifice for our sins was acceptable to the Heavenly Father.
You Shall Rejoice During the Feast Days!
There is much rejoicing at the Feast of Tabernacles, which starts on the biblical 15th of the seventh month, with the celebration ending with the Last Great Day on the 22nd (Oct. 10-17, 2014). “The voice of rejoicing and salvation [is] in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of Yahweh does valiantly” (Ps. 118:15).
The Jews of the captivity had not kept Tabernacles in their exile, but were now excited over the command to observe it: “And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Yahshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness” (Neh. 8:17).
Those Yahweh is calling out of this world to keep His Feast of Tabernacles and the Feasts of the seventh month should make every effort to do so. If Yahweh’s Spirit has sparked an interest in your heart to start keeping His Feasts, do not quench that desire. The entire family is expected to keep and enjoy the Feasts together. Once you do you will never go back to the superficial, empty, and pointless holidays of the world.
The Bible also speaks of a second tithe that we set aside throughout the year so that we have the means to keep the Feasts. This second tithe is to assure Yahweh’s people that if they are diligent they can enjoy the Feasts to the fullest. It is retained by the individual at home and is often called “the Festival Tithe.”
“You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your com, or of your wine, or of your oil, or the first-lings of your herds or of your flock, nor any of your vows which you vow, nor your freewill offerings, or heave offering of your hand: But you must eat them before Yahweh your Elohim in the place which Yahweh your Elohim shall choose, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite that [is] within your gates: and you shall rejoice before Yahweh your Elohim in all that you put your hands unto” (Deut. 12:17-19).
Of the three annual Sabbath celebrations known as “Pilgrim Feasts,” the Feast of Tabernacles still awaits complete spiritual fulfillment.
A Deeply Moving Time
Those who start attending Feasts of Tabernacles clearly remember their first time. Some newcomers arrive not fully knowing what to expect. But soon the experienced Feastgoers help their new neighbors get settled and ready for the eight wonderful days of fellowship, messages, and Bible studies. Friendships come easy as the brethren unite in purpose and goal, as Israel did.
Having once attended a Feast, one looks with great anticipation to the next one. It soon becomes a family reunion as spiritual brothers and sisters gather as Yahweh’s obedient to worship Him and study His Word.
The word feast is from the Hebrew moed, meaning appointment, a fixed time or season, specifically a festival. The sense or meaning is that these special times have been ordained by Yahweh and set aside for His worship.
Another word translated feast is chag (Strong’s No. 2282), meaning a festival and is from chagag meaning to celebrate, dance, keep or hold a feast and holiday. Chag is a joyful time.
We are reminded of Yahweh’s admonition as we at-tend these annual feast days, “And you shall rejoice before Yahweh your Elohim, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite that [is] within your gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which Yahweh your Elohim has chosen to place his name there” (Deut. 16:11).
We come to the Feast days with great expectations, with the intent and attitude that above all we are going to enjoy Yahweh’s special times. We look forward to the good things of this life, yet with a greater anticipation of better things and joys to come. Gathering with others of like faith, the anticipation is strengthened as it is built on better and better memories.
Join Us for the Feast Days!
Feasts of Yahweh are primarily centered on learning more of Him. Great fellowship, food and fun are an added benefit. The Feasts are an appointment we make with Yahweh. We meet where His Name is placed. Yahweh is the One Who reveals His Name to His people and places it in the hearts and minds of His people.
We are to gather in convocation as a body to worship Him and fellowship with others of like mind and heart. Staying at home alone in a backyard tent does not satisfy Yahweh’s command. We are expected to join with others wherever He places His Name and observe all the Feast Days, Deuteronomy 14:23.
Yahweh’s Restoration Ministry keep the Feast Days at our facilities. We do so for several reasons. First, we are commanded to “come out” and keep a Feast, just as Israel had to leave Egypt to keep a Feast to Yahweh “in the wilderness,” Exodus 5:1. Camping is inexpensive and we urge all to stay at the facility where families can enjoy the Feast days to the utmost. (Contact us for more information.)
We Seek Another Kingdom
We are thankful that Yahweh has shown us His Name that we may call upon Him as our Father. He has shown us His Feast Days and Sabbaths that we might be sanctified (set apart) and that we might know Him through His days set apart: “Moreover also I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I [am] Yahweh that sanctify them” (Ezek. 20:12).
We are but sojourners on this earth, seeking the coming Kingdom of Yahweh. All those of good will are invited to join us in observing the Feast Days. We hope that this year will be your year.