Did you also know that it all started yesterday, on March 13th? But forget the pagan calendar, Leviticus 23, verse 4 states:
Lev 23:4 'These are the appointed times of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them.
Lev 23:5 'In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the LORD'S Passover.
Lev 23:6 'Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.
The word "convocation" in Hebrew is, "ma'qra". It means "rehearsal", so these feasts are Holy Rehearsals to be kept forever. And yes, I believe Christians should be keeping (celebrating) the LORD's Feasts instead of the pagan ones.
(Note: "Keeping" the Feasts is a legal term meaning we are doing everything as listed concerning the Feasts: slaughtering animals, placing blood on our door posts, etc. Obviously, we are not doing that nor should we. We are simply celebrating the Feasts)
The remaining Feasts are presented as Leviticus Ch. 23 continues. The problem becomes, when does the New Year start?
Exo 12:1 Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,
Exo 12:2 "This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you.
... and
Psa 104:19 He made the moon for the seasons; The sun knows the place of its setting.
The word "seasons" means "Mo'adim" or "appointed times", the same word in Lev. 23:4.
Volumes have been written about God's calendar, which one to use, do you follow the Rabbinic calendar, etc, but that is not the object of this entry. A great study on this is presented here.
To make a long study short here's how I know the New Year has started. In Israel Nehemiah Gordon and others have observed the first sliver of the New Moon. This must be observed after the barley crop has been seen to be aviv, that is, almost ready to be harvested. This is how we know the first of the year is here. The date was declared as Wed. March 13th, 2013. So, last night at sundown, the biblical New Year started. This means it's the first day of the New Year, even though it's not the first day of the week. In other words, the Sabbath is still on Saturday, the 7th day of the week.
The point here is OBEDIENCE to YEHOVAH'! Even though biblical exactness of day is strived for, the real lesson is that we observe His Feasts - NOT SOME PAGAN CALENDAR or PAGAN CELEBRATION!
What follows is an abbreviated synopsis of why this is important to Christians and not just Jewish folk:
Passover (Pesach) ! Yeshua (Jesus), Our Passover Lamb
… to be celebrated
Lev 23:4 'These are the appointed times of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them.
Lev 23:5 'In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the LORD'S Passover.
… when it happened first
Exo 12:13 'The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
Exo 12:14 'Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance.
… when it happened again … there was a "sign"
Mat 12:38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You."
Mat 12:39 But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet;
Mat 12:40 for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
… Last Supper on Tuesday night (Wednesday, biblically), arrested later that night, persecuted and crucified during Wednesday, body taken down and placed in the tomb around sundown because Passover (a High Sabbath) was coming on Thursday - in the earth Thursday, Friday, Saturday (He rested on the weekly Sabbath even in death, as well as Passover) - arose around sundown Saturday night - empty tomb discovered early Sunday morning.
… read Matthew Ch. 27, read Mark Ch. 15, read Luke Ch. 23, read John Ch. 19
John 19:31 Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. John 19:32 So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him; John 19:33 but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. John 19:34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. John 19:35 And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. John 19:36 For these things came to pass to fulfill the Scripture, "NOT A BONE OF HIM SHALL BE BROKEN." John 19:37 And again another Scripture says, "THEY SHALL LOOK ON HIM WHOM THEY PIERCED."
John 19:31 Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. John 19:32 So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him; John 19:33 but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. John 19:34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. John 19:35 And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. John 19:36 For these things came to pass to fulfill the Scripture, "NOT A BONE OF HIM SHALL BE BROKEN." John 19:37 And again another Scripture says, "THEY SHALL LOOK ON HIM WHOM THEY PIERCED."
The Feast of Unleavened Bread
Lev 23:6 'Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. (Note: Leaven [yeast] represents Sin)1Co 5:6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?
1Co 5:7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.
1Co 5:8 Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (Leaven can also be Man’s teaching)
Mat 16:6 And Jesus said to them, "Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." . . .
Mat 16:12 Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. . . .
Mat 15:9 'BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'"
(We have such teachings still today - it's called Churchianity!)
The Feast of First Fruits
Lev 23:9 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Lev 23:10 "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. Lev 23:11 'He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.
Lev 23:12 'Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without defect for a burnt offering to the LORD.
(the Lamb is Yeshua [Jesus])
1Co 15:20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.
1Co 15:21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
1Co 15:23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming . . .
The Feast of Shavuot (Pentecost)
Lev 23:16 'You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the LORD. Lev 23:17 'You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of a fine flour, baked with leaven as first fruits to the LORD. Lev 23:18 'Along with the bread you shall present seven one year old male lambs without defect . . .
(7 unblemished Male Lambs - hmmm, 7 days of the week, rest on the 7th day, 7 Feasts, 7 thousand years?)
Act 2:1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.
Act 2:2 And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
Act 2:3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them.
(“Pente” (penta) means fifty)
I hope you very much consider celebrating the Feasts. After all, Yehovah commands it and Yeshua says to do it. It is man who says don't do it!
There are 7 Feasts of the LORD during the year,
4 in the Spring:
Passover (Pesach)
Unleavened Bread (Chag HaMatzot)
First fruits (Reishit Katzir - Yom HaBikkurim)
Pentecost (Shavuot)
3 in the Fall:
Trumpets (Yom Teruah)
Atonements (Yom Kippurim)
Tabernacles (Sukkot)
Remember, these Feasts are commanded by God and also by Jesus. To say they are strictly Jewish is to be wrong. They are for ALL men and will be celebrated forever. The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. The 4 Spring Feasts were “revealed” by Yeshua already.
The 3 Fall Feasts will be “revealed” at His Second Coming!
The Observer
No comments:
Post a Comment