Greetings and Shabbat Shalom,
I have been in recent dialogue with many people on the what lies ahead for the Remnant and what to make of the coming Kingdom of Yahweh, the "Rapture Doctrine" and a lot of other End Time Prophecy questions. Below is a short email response with attachments that I sent a friend today about the Feast of Yahweh and the significance. The included lessons below give the teachings of the wonderful plan has for His people in the days ahead.
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In regards to the rapture and what to expect of things to come we have to keep it all in perspective. The one thing that will keep it in perspective is the Holy Scriptures itself.
To understand Yahweh's heart we have to look at what he commanded His people to do.
I often tell people you have to go to the beginning to understand the end. One of the biggest dis-services the modern church has been involved with is not teaching the biblical feast days to their various congregations throughout the generations of Protestantism. The Biblical feast explain what was, what is and what is yet to come. He instructed His people (Israel) to keep these feast as a remembrance and a reminder of His plan for Humanity.
We lose a lot of understanding of prophecy if we do not study and keep His Appointed Times or Feast (Mo'ed in Hebrew.)
The word mo'ed means "an appointment, a fixed time or season, a cycle or year, an assembly, an appointed time, a set time or exact time.
I am including a lesson from Brother Don in Israel on the appointed feast.
Lesson 9: Shavuot (Pentacost), Feast of Trumpets, Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) and Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot).
Lesson 8: Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread
Understanding these feast is key to having a greater knowledge of what to expect in the coming days and His coming Kingdom, Praise Yahweh!
Shalom,
Joshua
Lesson 8: Yahweh’s Holy Days - Passover &
Unleavened Bread
Why Believers Should Keep Yahweh's HOLY DAYS
Why did Yahweh institute the WEEKLY Sabbath and,
later, seven ANNUAL Sabbaths? What do they picture? Were Yahweh’s Holy Days for
ancient Israel only, or are they also for the New Testament Congregation of
Yahweh?
The annual Holy Days picture Yahweh’s Master Plan for
mankind, and His Son, Yahshua Messiah, plays the central role in Yahweh’s
little-known plan for man.
Yahweh’s plan is revealed by seven annual festivals.
These annual observances give a step-by-step outline of how Yahweh is working
out His Master Plan for man. Each vividly pictures a great event in Yahweh’s
plan. It was not until the Israelites were being delivered from Egypt that
Yahweh began to reveal His annual festivals.
As our Heavenly Father made the weekly Sabbath for man
when man was made, so He gave His people seven annual festivals, with their
annual Holy Days (Sabbaths), when He established the Congregation (or
congregation of Israel) in the wilderness. But Israel, under the covenant made
at Sinai, rejected the promise of receiving the Holy Spirit, and therefore
could not understand the spiritual meaning of these annual observances.
Regardless of carnal Israel's lack of understanding,
Yahweh's annual Holy Days were ordained to be kept FOREVER! Messiah kept them. The
New Testament Congregation, founded by Yahshua in A.D. 30, kept them.
And Yahweh's Congregation keeps them today!
Just as the weekly Sabbath is a "sign" between Yahweh and His
people, so are the annual Holy Days
Exo 31:13 And you speak to the sons of
Israel, charging them, only My sabbaths you shall keep; for it is a sign
between Me and you for your generation; to know that I am Yahweh your
sanctifier.
They are the "Feasts of Yahweh", "My
feasts," said Yahweh (Lev.
23:2, 4).
These feasts are, as the Elohim of the Old Testament
said in Leviticus 23:37-38, to be
kept as holy convocations "beside the [weekly] Sabbaths of
Yahweh"! Yahweh's festivals, which
are a part of Yahweh's law, were not done away with, when the Sinaitic Covenant
ceased to be in force at Messiah's death.
The whole story of Yahweh's marvelous plan is to be
reenacted year after year by Yahweh's Spirit-begotten children through the
keeping of Yahweh's Holy Days. The observance of these days reminds them of His
great Master Plan and their part in it. Lev
23:2 states that we are to have a Holy Convocation. One of the meanings of
this Hebrew word is a rehearsal. Each
time we commemorate one of Yahweh’s Holy Days we are rehearsing for His soon
coming Kingdom.
Yahweh's Spiritual Harvests
In the land settled by ancient Israel (and now
occupied by the modern State of Israel), there is a small spring grain harvest
followed by a much larger late summer-early autumn harvest. These yearly
agricultural harvests are symbolic of Yahweh's spiritual "harvests"
of mankind!
Today, we can understand from the teachings of Messiah
and the apostles that Yahweh intends the spring festivals to illustrate that
all those He has called to become His Spirit-begotten children before Messiah's
Second Coming are only the "firstfruits" harvest (James. 1:18) - only the relatively
small beginning of His spiritual harvest of individuals into His divine Family.
The festivals of the much larger autumn harvest season
picture Yahweh's calling of thousands of millions to salvation in His glorious
Kingdom after Messiah's return.
In Leviticus 23,
we find a summary of these annual festivals. The first three, beginning with
the Passover, are memorials of the first part of Yahweh's Master Plan. They
picture the first fruits of Messiah's labors. The last four festivals look
forward to the future and show how and when Yahweh will reap the great autumn
harvest of people into His Family!
Holy Days Preserved for Yahweh's Congregation
The next two lessons will present a brief OVERVIEW of
each of Yahweh's Holy Days, focusing on their symbolic meaning and specific
relevance to true believers today. Let's begin to understand the tremendous
meaning of these "Feasts of YAHWEH"!
The Passover
Most Bible commentators and scholars agree that the
many passing references to Yahweh's annual festivals in the New Testament
indicate that the observance in the early Congregation was known, accepted -
even taken for granted. More importantly Messiah and the Congregation of Yahweh
customarily kept the annual festivals:
"In the early Messianic Congregation celebrating the festivals together
with the whole of the Jewish people was never questioned, so that it needed no
special mention" (The New International Dictionary of New Testament
Theology, vol. 1, p. 628).
However, it is
obvious from a study of the New Testament that Yahweh's annual festivals took
on ~ new significance in the apostolic Congregation of Yahweh. Yahshua's
teaching and example gave new understanding about the meaning of these days and
how they are to be observed.
Notice
what The Encyclopedia Britannica says about the early New Testament
Congregation of Yahweh keeping the Biblical festivals in a new and different
way: "The sanctity of special times
[such as Easter and Christmas] was an idea absent from the minds of the first
Believers. . . [who] continued to observe the Jewish festivals [of Leviticus
23], though in a new spirit, as commemorations of events which those festivals
had foreshadowed" (vol. 8, p 828, 1lth edition, emphasis ours).
Who does the Bible say originated these annual
festivals, besides the weekly festival of the Sabbath?
Lev 23:1
And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
Lev 23:2 Speak to the sons of Israel,
and you shall say to them, The set feasts of Yahweh which you shall proclaim as
holy gatherings, shall be these: These are My appointed feasts:
Lev 23:3 Work is to be done six days,
and on the seventh day shall be a Sabbath of rest, a holy gathering; you shall
do no work; it is a Sabbath to Yahweh in all your dwellings.
Lev 23:4 These are appointed times of
Yahweh, holy gatherings which you shall proclaim in their appointed seasons:
Did Yahweh specifically state that His annual feasts
were to be observed in addition to the weekly Sabbath?
Lev 23:37 These are the set feasts of
Yahweh which you shall proclaim, holy gatherings, to bring a fire offering to
Yahweh, a burnt offering, and a food offering, a sacrifice, and drink
offerings, the thing of a day on its own day;
Lev 23:38 besides the Sabbaths of
Yahweh, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides all your
freewill offerings which you shall give to Yahweh.
COMMENT: Notice that these are not the
"feasts of the Jews" or
"feasts of Moses," as some
have thought. They are Yahweh's own feasts, which Yahweh instituted and gave to
His people to keep annually. Also notice that they are not separated from the
Sabbath day, but are all commanded to observe yearly with the weekly Sabbath.
There are many Sabbath observers today who wrongly believe that we only need to
keep the Seventh day Sabbath and not the annual Holy day Sabbaths. This
scripture clearly shows they are mistaken and that all the seven Holy Days are
to be kept as well as the weekly Sabbath.
What is the first festival to be observed each
year?
Lev 23:5 In the first month, on the
fourteenth of the month, between the evenings is the Passover to Yahweh.
When did Yahweh institute the first Passover? Read and
summarize Exodus 12:1-14, 21-27
COMMENT: The Passover, the first of
Yahweh's commanded annual festivals, pictures the beginning very first step-in
Yahweh's great Master Plan of salvation for mankind.
The Passover was to be a yearly reminder of Yahweh's
intervention in delivering the Israelites' firstborn from death.
It also pictured, in advance, the great sacrifice of
Yahshua Messiah, "our Passover" lamb (1 Cor. 5:7; I Pet. 1:1819), for the sins of mankind. The sparing of
the Israelites' firstborn from the death angel, through the shed blood of lambs
on that first Passover, is a symbolic type of our being spared today from the
eternal penalty of sin (Rom.
6:23)
through Messiah's sacrifice.
After Yahshua' death, the Passover, celebrated with
the new symbols of unleavened bread and wine, became a yearly memorial of His
sacrifice and our covenant relationship that we started at baptism. Yahshua became the reality that the Passover
lamb had foreshadowed.
Did Yahweh command, before Sinai, that the Passover be
kept forever?
Exo 12:14 And the day shall be a
memorial for you. And you shall celebrate it as a feast to Yahweh, for your
generations. You shall celebrate it as a law forever.
Exo 12:24
And you shall observe this Word for an ordinance for you, and for your
sons forever.
Did Yahshua Messiah observe the Passover?
Joh 2:13
And the Passover of the Jews was near. And Yahshua went up to Jerusalem.
Joh 2:23 And as He was in Jerusalem, at
the Passover, at the Feast, many believed into His name, seeing the miracles
which He did.
COMMENT: Yahshua kept the annual
festivals. All of these Holy days point to His redemptive work that He is doing
through His Sacrifice for our sins. Was He truly the real Passover lamb?
1Co 5:7 Then clean out the old leaven
so that you may be a new lump, just as you are unleavened. For our Passover is Messiah who was sacrificed for our sake.
What was one new command He gave them regarding the
observance of the Passover?
Joh 13:1 And before the Feast of the
Passover, Yahshua knowing that His hour had come that He should move from this
world to the Father, loving His own in the world, He loved them to the
end.
Joh 13:2 And supper having occurred,
the Devil having put already into the heart of Simon's son Judas Iscariot that
he should betray Him,
Joh 13:3 Yahshua knowing that the
Father has given all things into His hands, and that He came out from Yahweh,
and goes away to Yahweh,
Joh 13:4 He rose up from the supper and
laid aside His garments. And taking a towel, He girded Himself.
Joh 13:5 Then He put water into the
basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples, and to wipe off with the
towel with which He was girded.
Joh 13:14-15 If then I washed your feet,
the Master and the Teacher, you also ought to wash the feet of one another. For
I gave you an example, that as I did to you, you also should do.
What completely new way of observing the Passover did
Yahshua institute shortly before His death?
Luk 22:19-20 And
He took bread and gave thanks and broke it and gave it to them and said, This is My body, which for your
sake is given. Do this for My memorial. And in like manner the cup, after having supped,
saying, This cup is the New Covenant in My blood, which is being shed for your
sakes.
Were they to teach this to the world?
Mat 28:19-20 Then having gone, disciple all
nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all things, whatever I commanded you. And, behold, I am with you all the days until the
completion of the age. Amen.
COMMENT:
Yahshua did not abolish the Passover; He merely
changed the symbols used. Instead of annually shedding the blood of a lamb and
eating its roasted body, we are now to use unleavened bread and wine.
The New Testament Passover is commanded to be kept as
an annual memorial of Messiah's suffering and death. It is through eating His
flesh and drinking His blood, symbolized by partaking of the unleavened bread
and wine, that we may be granted eternal life (John 6:32-33, 35, 50-51, 53-58). The Passover reaffirms year by
year "till he come"
1 Co 11:26 For each time that you may eat this bread, and drink this cup,
you solemnly commemorate the death of the Master, until His coming.
The Passover is not to be taken every day or every
week as some Christian sects do, but is a yearly memorial of the sacrifice of
the Son of Yahweh.
Exo 13:10
And you shall keep this ordinance in its season from year to year.
364 days a year
we proclaim a living Messiah; Yahshua HaMashiach. People should see Him in our
lifestyle and we are to be living sacrifices to Him daily (Rom. 12:1-2). But one day a year on the 14th day of the
first month Aviv, according to Yahweh’s calendar, (this is usually in April) we
commemorate a dying Messiah and we remember the sacrifice that He made so that
our sins may be forgiven.
The true
believer’s faith is expressed in the blood of "Messiah our Passover" (1
Cor. 5:7) for the remission or forgiveness of sins, as symbolized by the
drinking of wine.
Eating the broken bread symbolizes our faith in the
body of Messiah, which was brutally beaten and scourged by the Romans. It
demonstrates our total commitment to Yahweh and His way of life and our
willingness to partake of Messiah's sufferings, to suffer as a disciple for
righteousness' sake (Rom. 8:17; I Pet.
2:19-25).
Messiah suffered this torture and subsequent death on
the tree so that we, through faith in His broken body and shed blood, may have
the forgiveness of our sins, and that He may live in us and we in Him through a
new and consecrated way of life (Heb.
10:19-20; John 6:53-58).
COMMENT: The Congregation Yahshua built
kept the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread-not Easter.
("Easter" in Acts 12:4 in
the King James Version is a flagrant mistranslation of the Greek word Pascha.
It should be rendered "Passover," as it is in all modern
translations.)
Will the
Passover be kept by Messiah and others after He establishes the Kingdom of
Yahweh on earth?
Mat 26:29 But I say to you, I will not
at all drink of this fruit of the vine after this until that day when I drink
it new with you in the kingdom of Yahweh.
Also read Luke
22:15-16. In the mean time, was it to be kept as a yearly memorial of
Messiah's suffering and death? Review I
Corinthians 11:25-26.
COMMENT: Yahshua commanded His disciples
to keep the Passover in remembrance of Him until He returns. The apostles did
keep it, and today, Yahweh's true Congregation still keeps the Passover!
If a baptized covenant believer in Yahshua does not
partake in the yearly Passover symbols he is cut off from his covenant
Relationship.
Num 9:13 But the man that is clean, and is not on a
journey, and has failed to prepare the Passover, even that person shall be cut
off from his people, because he did not bring the offering of Yahweh in its
appointed season, that man shall bear his sin.
Feast of Unleavened Bread
The Passover, the first of
Yahweh's annual festivals, pictures the beginning, the very first step, in
Yahweh's great Master Plan of salvation for mankind. It was Yahshua Messiah,
"our Passover" (I Cor. 5:7),
who suffered and died fo our sins. But accepting Messiah's sacrifice to pay for
our sins is not enough.
Once we have repented and been forgiven by Yahweh, we
must strive to forsake sin completely. We must come out of this world's ways of
sin (Rev. 18:4) - just as Israel
left Egypt, a type of sin (Heb. 11:25-26).
We must be striving to put all sin away from us. That is our part in Yahweh's
Master Plan.
To help keep us in the knowledge of the second step in
Yahweh's plan, Messiah gave His Congregation the second annual feast. The
observance of this feast impresses upon us that we must strive not to return to
the sins Yahshua paid for with His shed blood. Let's understand.
What feast did Yahweh command the Israelites to keep
immediately after the Passover?
Exo 12:17 And you shall observe the
unleavened bread for on this very day I
brought your armies from the land of Egypt. And you shall observe this for your
generations, a statute forever.
Exo 12:18 In the first month, on the
fourteenth day of the month, at evening you shall eat unleavened bread, until
the twenty-first day of the month, at evening.
Exo 12:19 For seven days no leaven shall
be found in your houses. For anyone eating any leaven, that soul shall be cut
off from the congregation of Israel, among the foreigners, and among the natives
of the land.
Exo 12:20 You shall not eat anything
leaven. You shall eat unleavened bread in all your dwellings. Exo 12:24
And you shall observe this Word for an ordinance for you, and for your
sons forever.
COMMENT: Notice that the Feast of
Unleavened Bread was given by Yahweh before the people reached Mt.
Sinai-before they even left the land of Egypt. It was also to be kept by all their
succeeding generations - forever! The first month of the Hebrew calendar, which
Yahweh inspired the Jews to preserve for New Testament disciples, was called
Aviv or, later, Nisan. It falls sometime during the months of March and April
of the Roman calendar today. The Feast of Unleavened Bread begins on the 15th
of Aviv, the day after the Passover. It continues for seven days until the 21st
of Aviv. Both the 15th and the 21st are special Sabbaths-annual "holy
convocations"-days of rest and worship of Yahweh.
Leaven as it
relates to the Feast of Unleavened Bread is any substance used to cause dough
or batter to rise by the formation of carbon dioxide gas. Leavening agents in
this category are yeast, baking soda and baking powders.
Is leaven
clearly a symbol for sin?
Mat 16:6 And Yahshua said to them,
Watch and take heed from the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
1 Co 5:8 Therefore, let us perform the
feast, not with old leaven, nor with leaven of malice and of evil, but with
unleavened bread of purity and holiness.
COMMENT: Leaven is often referred to in
the Bible as a type of sin. Leaven puffs up - and so does sin. Unleavened bread
is a flat bread that contains no leavening agent, and therefore typified the
absence of sin. And since seven is Yahweh's special number signifying
completion and perfection, the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread
remind us that Yahweh wants His people to strive to put sin completely out of
their lives.
Does Yahweh specifically command His people to eat
unleavened bread during this festival?
Exo 12:15 You shall eat unleavened bread
seven days. Indeed, on the first day you shall cause leaven to cease from your
houses. For anyone eating any leaven, that soul shall be cut off from Israel,
from the first day until the seventh day.
COMMENT: The Israelites were not merely to
remove all leavening and leavened foods from their property. That would have
only symbolized putting away sin. They were commanded to eat unleavened bread
during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Eating unleavened bread symbolizes the opposite
of sin - active obedience to Yahweh! It is also interesting that first we take
the Passover symbols on the evening portion of the 14th of Aviv, and
then we take the leaven out of our homes the next day on the daylight portion
of the 14th. This signifies that until we take the symbols of the
body and blood of Messiah, we cannot on our own strength remove the leaven
(sin) from our lives. Upon repentance and baptism, Messiah's sacrifice blot out
all of one’s past sins. When Paul asked if we should continue in sin, what did
he answer? Rom. 6:15-16. What was his apostolic command? Verses 11-13.
COMMENT: Messiah died so that we would not
have to pay the penalty of death ~ Rom.
6:23). After repentance and baptism, Yahweh expects us to strive to obey
His law - to "unleaven" our lives. Yahweh does not want us to
continue in sin, for Messiah is not the minister of sin (Gal. 2:17). Did Paul, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, say New
Testament believers should keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread?
1Co 5:8 Therefore let us perform the feast, not with
old leaven, nor with leaven of malice and of evil, but with unleavened bread of purity and holiness.
In the Greek this is written in command form from
Paul. What did Paul say that clearly shows the Congregation of Yahweh at
Corinth was, at the time he wrote, keeping the Feast of Unleavened Bread? Verse
7. Notice the words ''as you are
unleavened."
COMMENT: The Apostle Paul was telling the
Corinthian Congregation members to put out spiritual leaven, just as they had
already put out all physical leaven in preparation for this festival. They were
to keep the Feast not only with unleavened bread, but also with the spiritually
"unleavened" attitude of sincerity and truth. Does Yahweh want true Believers to forsake
this world's way of sin? Are we to
continually strive-to expend effort and energy-to put sin out of our lives as
it crops up? Heb. 12:1, 4. If we are
to become Spirit-born members of Yahweh's Family, we must prove that we will
obey Yahweh here and now by striving to get the spiritual leaven of sin out of
our lives and keep it out! This is our part in Yahweh's great Master Plan.
Hence, every spring the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread specially reminds
Spirit-begotten believers of their continual need to keep Yahweh's
commandments. It is a time when they symbolically renew their resolve to live
in harmony with Yahweh's law - to rededicate their lives to continual spiritual
growth and overcoming.
The Jews’ Passover And Nisan 14
There are some
today who have wrongly started to keep the Passover on the beginning of the 15th
of Aviv according to the custom of modern Rabbinical Jews instead of keeping it
according to the Biblical mandate of the beginning of the 14th day
of Aviv. When Yahweh gave the Israelites a law to kill and eat the Passover on
the 14th day of Aviv (Exodus
12), He did not tell them to kill the lamb late in the afternoon and finally
get it roasted to eat after the sundown beginning the 15th – after
the Passover day was ended. (Remember that a Biblical day begins with a dark
half, and then concludes with a light half – see Leviticus 23:32; Genesis
1:5, 8, 13). He told them: “In the first month, on the fourteenth of the month,
between the evenings is the Passover to Yahweh. And on the fifteenth day of
this month is the Feast of Unleavened…” (Lev. 23:5-6). (Note that Passover was IN the 14th day, not
after it)
The Jews for
many centuries have made the eating of the lamb the same as the Feast of
Unleavened Bread (how can it be a feast
of “unleavened bread” when it is the feast of the “lamb”?). Thus they have
confused the two festivals, making them one. But it is obvious, from Yahshua’s
own “last supper” example, that the originally commanded time to slay the lamb
was early in the beginning of the 14th – as Exodus 12:6 puts it, “between
the two evenings” – between sunset and darkness.
Yahshua clearly kept the Passover with his disciples
early 14th as Scripture states.
Luk 22:7 And the day
of the Unleavened Bread came, on which the Passover must be slaughtered.
(The Passover was
killed before the last supper or Passover according to Scripture)
Luk 22:8 And He sent Peter and John,
saying, Having gone, prepare for us the
Passover, that we may eat.
Luk 22:9
And they said to Him, Where do You desire that we prepare?
Luk 22:10
And He said to them, Behold, when you enter into the city, you will meet
up with a man carrying who is bearing a skin of water. Go after him and where
he enters, Luk 22:11 And you will say to
the housemaster of that house, Our Master says to you, Where is the guest room where I may eat
the Passover with My disciples?
Luk 22:12
And that one will show you a large upper room which he has furnished.
Prepare there. Luk 22:13 And having gone,
they found as He had told them, and they
prepared the Passover. (clearly this was
the Passover)
Luk 22:14
And when the hour came, He reclined, and the twelve apostles with
Him.
Luk 22:15 And He said to them, I have
greatly desired that I eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
Clearly this was the day the PASSOVER MUST BE KILLED! (Luke
22:7 early 14th of Aviv as Yahshua did) There are also 12 other
references calling this the Passover. Why must men trying to outwit Yahweh try
to change the Passover to the 15th as the Jewish rabbi’s incorrectly
did? Should we follow the Rabbi’s or scripture?
There was the early 14th Passover meal with the slain lamb,
and then late in the 14th, going into the 15th was the
night to be much observed.
Exo
12:42 It is a night of celebration
to Yahweh, for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. This night is a
celebration for all the sons of Israel to their generations.
Clearly this
was the night after the Passover when they left, as the night of the Passover
the Israelites were commanded not to leave their homes until morning (daybreak Ex. 12:22). Also the night of the
Passover was a night of mourning and death not a night of celebration. The
celebration did not come until the next evening when they had gathered to
Raamses (8 miles from Goshen where they
lived) during the daylight portion of the 14th of Aviv and left
the beginning of the evening of the 15th of Aviv. This was the night
of celebration when they actually left Egypt. What the Jews did was to combine
these 2 events (slaying of Passover/ night to be observed) into one festivity
on the beginning of the 15th against scripture. The meal in the book
of John that the Jews were afraid they could not eat so not to go into the
Pratitorium was not the eating of the Passover lamb, but was what was called
the 2nd Haggidah, or night to be observed sacrifice. If it was the
Passover lamb being mentioned in the book of John, they would have only been
defiled until that evening for entering the Pratitorium and could have eaten it
after sunset.
Yahshua
kept the Passover with His disciples early on the 14th of Aviv
according to scripture, and then was crucified on the daylight portion of the
14th of Aviv and then was buried before sunset of the start of the
fifteenth and the Holy day.
Joh 19:31 Then, since it was
Preparation, that the bodies not remain on the tree on the Sabbath, for that
Sabbath was a holy day, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken
and they be taken away.
Yahshua was not crucified on a Friday as most assume,
but on the preparation day of the Holy Day of the first Day of unleavened
bread. All the Holy days are also called Sabbaths.
Lev 23:6-7 And on the fifteenth of this
month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to Yahweh; you shall eat unleavened
things seven days. On the first day you
shall have a holy gathering; you shall do no laborious work;
As Elohim of the Old Testament, Yahshua foreknew He
would change the emblems of the Passover to the bread and wine, and He knew
what day and hour He wanted it to occur. Therefore He told the Israelites to
slay the lamb in the evening, put its blood on the doorposts, roast and eat it
and stay indoors till morning (Ex.
12:6-8, 22). Why?
Because only those firstborn humans who were within
such already marked and protected houses would be spared at midnight. Yahweh
would “Passover” that house – at
midnight, still in the first and dark half of the 24-hour day – and that
“passing over” was to give that day – the 14th – its name, Passover
(verses 12, 23, 29).
Lev 23:5 In the first month, on the
fourteenth of the month, between the evenings is the Passover to Yahweh.
If the death
angel (representing Yahweh Himself) had not “passed over” until the midnight of the 15th, that day –
the 15th – would have been the Passover, and not the 14th.
There may be some confusion because a day has two evenings, a beginning and an
ending evening, but a day only has one midnight, and clearly Passover was named
for the death Angel passing over the Israelite homes on midnight of the 14th
day of the first month Aviv.
The great
symbolism of the Passover is this; that our lives, just as the beginning night
of the 14th are dark, due to the sin in our lives. It also shows
that our lives only get darker just as the darkness of midnight without
Yahweh’s spirit, but that spirit can only come by the blood of Yahshua on the
doorpost of our hearts. Then and only then after accepting this (the blood of
the Son of Yahweh for forgiveness of sins) can there be the morning light of
the next day and the celebration of life that comes with our sins forgiven. If
they had slain and eaten the Passover lamb at the same time of day as the Jews
later came to do, their firstborn would not have been spared, just as our sins
would not have been forgiven.
Points
to remember:
1) Yahshua
is the true Passover Lamb
2) The
Passover is a yearly memorial of our covenant relationship from baptism
3) Passover
must be kept by covenant believers or they will be cut off from the covenant
4) Only
by taking the Passover symbols early evening on Aviv 14th can we
take the leaven (sin) out of our lives the following morning
(Write for a gift tape called “When is the Passover, and the Passover
Lamb)
Correspondence Course Lesson
9:
Yahweh’s Holy Days – Shavuot, Yom Kippur, Sukkot
Pentecost-Feast of Firstfruits
All of Yahweh’s Holy Days point
us to the revelation of Yahshua being the Messiah. He is revealed in each and
every one of them to His true followers. The third Holy day in Yahweh's Master
Plan is the day of Pentecost, or Shavuot, also called the Feast of Weeks or
Feast of First fruits.
What were Yahweh's instructions
regarding this festival?
Lev 23:15
And you shall number to you from the next day after the Sabbath, from
the day you bring in the sheaf of the wave offering; they shall be seven complete
Sabbaths;
Lev 23:16
the next day after the seventh Sabbath, you shall number fifty days; and
you shall bring near a new food offering to Yahweh;
Lev 23:17
you shall bring in bread out of your dwellings for a wave offering, two
loaves; they shall be of two tenth ephah of flour; they shall be baked with
leaven; firstfruits to Yahweh
Lev 23:21
And you shall make a proclamation on this same day; it is a holy
gathering to you. You shall do no laborious work of service. It is a never
ending statute in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
COMMENT: The first thing that
we must make clear is the timing of this Holy Day. This is the only Holy Day
that is not given a specific day of the month on the Hebrew Calendar, but you
are told that you must count 50 days from the starting point of the day after
the weekly Sabbath during Unleavened Bread. The day of this offering was called
the day of Firstfruits.
Since this ceremony pictured
Yahshua so perfectly, as He even told Mary Magdalene not to touch Him as He had
not ascended to the Father in
Heaven to be accepted as the firstfruit on the first day of the week after His
crucifixion, Jews in the late first century early second century started to
keep this ceremony by starting their count not on the day after the weekly
Sabbath but the day after the Holy Day Sabbath of Unleavened Bread. But if we
look at Leviticus 23 again it is clear the start of counting must be on the
first day of the week, because 7 complete Sabbaths later, the Holy Day is
falling the DAY AFTER the 7th Sabbath. This can only be the first
day of the week. What kind of offering
had to be presented to Yahweh before the spring harvest could begin?
Lev 23:9
And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
Lev 23:10
Speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them, When you come in
to the land which I am giving to you, and have reaped its harvest, and have
brought in the sheaf, or the beginning of your harvest, to the priest,
Lev 23:11
then he shall wave the sheaf before Yahweh for your acceptance; on the
morrow of the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.
Lev 23:14
And you shall not eat bread, nor roasted grain, nor fresh ears, until
this same day, until you have brought the offering of your Elohim; it is a
never ending statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
COMMENT: Yahweh established His festivals in
conjunction with the two annual agricultural harvests in the land of Israel.
Yahweh uses these harvests as a pattern for the two spiritual
"harvests" of His great Master Plan. Yahweh intends the spring
festivals to illustrate to His Congregation yearly that His Spirit-begotten
children are the "first fruits" of salvation (Jac. 1:18) - the relatively small beginning of His spiritual
harvest of mankind into His divine Family.
The spring harvest began in the
following manner: On the morning of the first day of the week during the Feast
of Unleavened Bread, the flour ground from the grain of a sheaf of newly cut
barley, cut the night before, was brought to the priest, who waved it in the
air to be accepted by Yahweh. This was called the "wave-sheaf
offering" and represented the first of the first fruits harvest.
Once the wave sheaf was offered,
the harvest could begin. The spring harvest culminated at the time of the Feast
of First fruits, which occurred on the first day of the week commonly called
today Sunday, the 50th day of the harvest season that began with the wave-sheaf
offering. (The New Testament name for this festival, Pentecost, literally means
"fiftieth [day].") The people gathered on this annual Sabbath to give
Yahweh thanks for the first fruits of the year's crops He had given them.
Now let's see the interesting
connection between the wave-sheaf offering and Yahshua Messiah.
Yahshua was the first to be resurrected from
the dead into Yahweh's Family. Was He therefore the first of the first fruits
of Yahweh's spiritual harvest?
1Co 15:20
But now Messiah has been raised from the dead; He became the firstfruit
of those having fallen asleep
Col 1:18
And He is the Head of the body, the Congregation, who is the Beginning,
the Firstborn of the resurrection of the dead, that He be preeminent in all
things;
Therefore, are Spirit-begotten
Believers clearly the first fruits of Yahweh's great Master Plan?
Jac. 1:18
It is He who begot us from His own will, by the Word of truth, that we
should be the firstfruits of His creatures.
Rom 8:23
And not only so, but also we ourselves having the firstfruit of the
Spirit, also we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly expecting that
sonship, the deliverance from our body;
After Messiah was resurrected
from the dead, did He have to ascend to His Father in heaven?
Joh 20:17
Yahshua said to her, Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to My
Father. But go to My brothers and say to them, I am ascending to My Father and
your Father, and My Elohim, and your Elohim.
COMMENT: This was the first day
of the week (Sunday) during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It was on the very
same morning that the wave sheaf was offered that Yahshua Messiah was accepted
by His Father as the spiritual "wave-sheaf' offering in heaven! Did you
catch the statement Yahshua said that He was going to His Father and OUR Father.
Pentecost is such a wonderful Holy Day because it shows Yahshua as the first of
the firstfruits, but also that we will also be first fruits with Him and reign
with Him. This is the mystery of the gospel, that we will be kings and priests
and co-rulers as first fruits with the first of the firstfruits, Yahshua
Messiah.
Rom 8:16
The
Spirit itself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of Yahweh.
Rom 8:17
And if children, also heirs; truly heirs of Yahweh, and joint-heirs of
Messiah, if indeed we suffer together, that we may also be glorified together.
1Jo 3:1
See what manner of love the Father has given us, that we may be called
sons of Yahweh and made us. For this reason the world does not know us, because
it did not know Him.
1Jo 3:2
Beloved, now we are the sons of Yahweh, and it was not yet revealed what
we shall be. But we know that if He is revealed, we shall be like Him, because
we shall see Him as He is.
Messiah therefore fulfilled the
symbolism of the Old Testament wave-sheaf offering. He was the first
resurrected Son of Yahweh - the first harvested product of Yahweh's Master
Plan. He became the firstborn Son of Yahwehthe first human to complete the
process of salvation and be "born again." But Yahshua could not have
become the captain of our salvation and our elder brother without possessing an
all-important ingredient from Yahweh - something we all must have if we are to
be born again as He was.
Could Yahshua do any spiritual
works, including obedience to Yahweh, with just His human strength?
Joh 5:30 I
am able to do nothing of my desire; but as I hear, I judge and my judgment is
just, for I don’t seek my will, rather the will of He who sent me.
Where did He get the necessary
power?
Joh 14:10
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The
Words which I speak to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who
dwells in Me, He does the works.
COMMENT: The Father
"dwelt" in Yahshua through the Holy Spirit! Without the Holy Spirit
the work could not be done. Did Messiah promise the same spiritual help to His
disciples?
Joh 14:16
And I will petition the Father, and He will give you another one which
will end the curse, that He may
remain with you forever,
On what day did the disciples
actually receive Yahweh's Holy Spirit?
Act 2:1
And in the fulfilling of the day of Shavuot, they were all with one mind
in the same place.
Act 2:2
And suddenly a sound came out of the heaven, as groaning spirit along by
a violent wind! And it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
Act 2:3
And tongues as of fire appeared to them, being distributed, and it sat
on each one of them.
Act 2:4
And they were all filled of the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other
languages, as the Spirit gave ability to them to speak.
COMMENT: On the day of
Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples just as Yahshua had
promised.
It was on this day that Yahweh
sent His Spirit to begin His Congregation-to beget and strengthen the first
fruits.
The New Testament festival of
Pentecost is now a memorial that commemorates the founding of the New
Testament Congregation of Yahweh
through the receiving of the Holy Spirit. It was on the day of Pentecost in A.D.
30 that the initial first fruits of Yahweh's spiritual harvest began to be
prepared by His Spirit for "reaping" into Yahweh's divine Family. It
is also traditionally believed that the giving of the Torah was on the day of
Pentecost.
Feast of Trumpets – Atonement- Tabernacles
The number seven in Yahweh's plan
signifies completion and perfection. The seventh month of Yahweh's calendar
contains the final four festivals, picturing the completion of Yahweh's Master
Plan for mankind. The festival that occurs on the first day of this month marks
the beginning of the final events in Yahweh's plan. The Feast of Trumpets
portrays a pivotal event in Yahweh's plan of salvation. It not only pictures
the coming of Messiah to resurrect and change the first fruits, it also
pictures the terrible time of world war just ahead and the intervention of
Yahshua Messiah to save humanity from total annihilation, as well as to
establish the Kingdom of Yahweh on earth.
Was this festival to be a
memorial of blowing of trumpets?
Lev 23:24
Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first
of the month, a Holy Day Sabbath shall be to you, a memorial acclamation of the
resounding of trumpets, a holy gathering.
COMMENT: It is from this
ceremony that the Feast of Trumpets draws its name. There is a great deal of
symbolic meaning tied in with the blowing of these trumpets - especially with
regard to the end time in which we're living.
Trumpets were blown to announce
Yahweh's festivals, as well as to call Yahweh's people to assembly and to
announce the reigning of a new King. Trumpets were also used as an alarm of
invading armies and impending warfare. This terrifying sound filled the people
of ancient Israel with fear because they knew the horror of war was imminent!
It is this warning of war that sets apart the Feast of Trumpets from Yahweh's
other festivals.
Mat 24:3
And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him
privately, saying, Tell us, when will these things be? And, What is the sign of
Your coming and of the end of the age?
Mat 24:6
For you are bound to hear of revolutions and rumor of wars. Watch out
and do not be disturbed, for it is necessary that all these things happen, but
it is not yet the end.
Mat 24:7
For nation will be raised against nation, and kingdom against kingdom;
and there will be famines and plagues and earthquakes against many places. Mat 24:8 But all these are only a beginning of
sorrows.
What does the book of Revelation
say regarding the blowing of supernatural trumpets shortly before the return of
Yahshua Messiah?
Rev 8:1
And when He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in Heaven for
about a half hour.
Rev 8:2
And I saw the seven cherubs who stood before Yahweh, and seven trumpets
were given to them.
Rev 8:6
And the seven cherubs having the seven trumpets prepared themselves,
that they might trumpet.
COMMENT: The seventh seal that
covered the scroll (Rev. 5:1), when
opened, disclosed seven angels with seven trumpets representing seven
consecutive colossal world events. These are to be physical punishments from
Yahweh to warn the nations not to go further into national and personal sins.
The last three trumpets or
"woes" specifically picture three phases of catastrophic world war.
At the last trumpet, mankind will be saved from extinction by the Second Coming
of Yahshua Messiah!
Did Yahshua promise to send His
angels to gather together His elect at the blast of the last great
trumpet?
Mat 24:29
And immediately after the suffering of those days the sun will be
darkened and the moon will not give her light, and the stars will fall from the
heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Mat 24:30
And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the heavens. And then
all the tribes of the land will wail. And they will see the Son of Man coming
on the clouds of heaven with power and much glory.
Mat 24:31
And He will send His cherubs with a great sound of a large trumpet, and
they will gather His chosen ones from the four winds, from the ends of the sky
to the other.
Is the sounding of this trumpet
the time of the resurrection of the dead in Messiah?
1Th 4:15
For we say this to you in the Word of Yahweh, that we the living who
remain to the coming of our Master will not at all go before those who have
fallen asleep.
1Th 4:16 Because the Master Himself shall come down from Heaven with a
commanding shout of an archangel's voice, and with Yahweh’s trumpet. And the
dead in Messiah will rise again first.
1Th 4:17
Then we who remain alive will be caught up together with them in the
clouds to meet with our Master in the air. And so we will always be with our
Master.
1Co 15:51
Behold, I speak a mystery to you: we shall not all fall asleep, but we
shall all be changed.
1Co 15:52
In a moment, in a blinking of an eye, at the last trumpet;
for a trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we
shall all be changed.
This is the seventh and final
trumpet, the last one of the seven introduced in Revelation 8.
COMMENT: Notice very carefully that all true believers
are on earth during this time of great trouble until the seventh trumpet. There
is NO pre-tribulation
rapture mentioned in Scripture, but is a lie of Christianity so that they will
not prepare for this terrible time that is just ahead of us.
At the sound of the seventh trumpet,
announcing the return of Yahshua Messiah, the firstfruits of Yahweh's plan will
be resurrected and changed - born as immortal spirit beings into the Family of
Yahweh! Yahweh will then have reaped the smaller spiritual harvest of
individuals into His Family. They will then begin to help Messiah rule the
earth (Rev. 20:6) and reap the much
greater spiritual harvest during and after the Millennium. The last three
festivals picture the details of how this will be accomplished.
Day of Atonement
How are we to observe the Day of
Atonement?
Lev 23:27
Also, on the tenth of this seventh month shall be a day of atonement;
there shall be a holy gathering, and you shall humble and weaken your bodies
and shall bring a fire offering to Yahweh.
Lev 23:28
And you shall do no work in this same day, for it is a day of atonement,
to atone for you before Yahweh your Elohim.
Lev 23:29
For any person who is not humbled in this same day shall be cut off from
his people.
Lev 23:30
And any person who does any work in this same day, I shall even cut off
that person from the midst of his people.
Lev 23:31
You shall do no work; it is a never ending statute throughout your
generations, in all your dwellings.
Lev 23:32
It is a Sabbath of rest to you, and you shall humble your souls in the
ninth of the month at evening; from evening until evening you shall keep your
Sabbath.
How does one” afflict his soul”
or "humble" himself on this day?
Isa 58:3
They say, Why have we fasted, and You did not see? We have afflicted our
soul, and You did not acknowledge. Behold, on the day of your fast you find
pleasure; and you drive all your labourers hard.
Ez 8:21
Then I called a fast there at the river Ahava, so that we might humble
ourselves before our Elohim, in order to seek from Him a right way for us, and
for our little ones, and for all our goods.
COMMENT: The Day of Atonement
is perhaps the most unusual Holy Day, as far as what Yahweh expects us to do.
It is the one day of the year on which Yahweh commands us to fast-to abstain
from food and water (Ex. 34:28; Est. 4:16) - for 24 hours, from sunset
on the ninth day of the month to sunset on the tenth day ("from even [ing]
unto even [ing]"-Lev. 23:32).
Fasting for spiritual reasons at any time of
the year should be for the purpose of humbling ourselves - to draw closer to
Yahweh and His righteous way (Isa. 58:6-11). Thus fasting on the Day
of Atonement is a vivid reminder of the state of mind necessary for salvation -
of humility, godly sorrow, earnestly seeking after Yahweh and His Torah, to
which this world will have been brought to by the catastrophic events
culminating in Yahshua Messiah's return!
What does the word atonement
mean? Webster says to atone means to "set at one." To join in one-to
form by uniting. This day actually symbolizes Yahweh and man being set at
one: literally the Day of At-one-ment!
The word sacrifice in English connotates giving something up, but in Hebrew
this word actually means to draw closer to through relationship. The day of at-
one-ment is about this relationship with Yahweh.
The 16th chapter of Leviticus details what
Yahweh told the Levitical priesthood to do on the Day of Atonement. These
rituals reveal much about the fifth step in Yahweh's plan to restore His
Kingdom on earth and to bring saving knowledge to everyone. Was the Aaronic
high priest to make a special sin offering once a year to atone for all the
sins of Israel?
Lev 16:32
And the priest whom He shall anoint, and whose hand He shall consecrate
to act as priest instead of his father, shall make atonement, and shall put on
the linen garments, the holy garments.
Lev 16:33
And he shall atone for the holy sanctuary, and for the tabernacle of the
congregation, and for the altar he shall atone; yes, for the priests, and for
all the people of the congregation he shall atone.
Lev 16:34
And this shall be to you a never ending statute to atone for the sons of
Israel, because of all their sins, once a year. And he did as Yahweh had
commanded Moses.
But before the high priest made this
atonement, did he take two goats and then cast lots to determine who each would
represent? Lev. 16:7 -8.
Was the goat representing Messiah
offered as a sin offering for all the people? Verses 15-16. Were the sins of the
people symbolically placed on the head of the other goat, which was then taken
into the wilderness? Verses 21-22.
COMMENT: Yahshua Messiah atoned
for our sins when He took the penalty of our sins (death - Rom. 6:23) upon Himself by sacrificing His sinless life for us. The
two goats actually both represent Yahshua the Messiah. The first goat that was
sacrificed, represents the dying Messiah, the one who had to become a guilt
offering for each one of us for our sins (Is
53:10).
The second goat represents the
living or resurrected Messiah who took the sins of His disciples upon himself
and the one that lives in each one of His disciples that has been baptized in
His name and had hands laid on them for the imparting of the Holy Spirit.
Remember our sins are forgiven by Yahshua’s death but we are saved by His life.
Rom 5:8
but Yahweh commends His love to us in this that we being yet sinners,
Messiah died for us.
Rom 5:9 Much
more then, being justified now by His blood, we shall be delivered from the
wrath through Him.
Rom 5:10
For if while being enemies we were reconciled to Yahweh through the
death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved
by His life;
Rom 5:11
and not only so, but also glorying in Yahweh through our Master Yahshua
Messiah, through whom we now received the atonement.
Although Passover and Atonement
are very similar in nature, there is one major contrast between them; Passover
is about forgiveness, but Atonement is about reconciliation. You can have
forgiveness to someone without reconciling the relationship. The Day of
Atonement or at-one-ment is about the
reconciliation of Yahweh’s people to Him due to the forgiveness of sin that was
accomplished by the sacrifice of Yahshua His Son.
When Yahshua was tried before
Pilate, the people had a choice to allow one prisoner to be released; this is
also very symbolic of the 2 goats for the Day of Atonement.
Joh 18:38
Pilate said to Him, What is truth? And saying this, he again went out to
the Jews and said to them, I do not find even one crime in Him!
Joh 18:39
But there is a common custom to you that I should release one prisoner
to you at the Passover. Then you decide: should I release the King of the Jews
to you?
Joh 18:40
Then all cried out again, saying, Not this One, but Bar-abbas! But
Bar-abbas was a robber.
Barabbas in Hebrew literally
means “son of the father”. How
interesting. Here was a choice; they could have chosen Bar-Abbas the human son
of the father, or Yahshua the Heavenly Son of the true Father in Heaven Yahweh,
and they chose Bar-Abbas. Interesting enough Bar-abbas was arrested for
insurrection against the Roman government for trying to overtake it and set up
an earthy kingdom and Yahshua was arrested for trying to set up a Heavenly
Kingdom. The parallel is striking, and just like the azazel goat of Leviticus
16, we, like Barabbas, can only truly be released from our sin, if the first
goat as the sin offering (Yahshua the Son of Yahweh) pays the penalty for our
sins.
Feast of Tabernacles
What Yahweh-ordained festival
occurs only five days after the Day of Atonement?
Lev 23:34
Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, In the fifteenth day of this
seventh month shall be a Feast of Booths, seven days to Yahweh.
What is the divinely set theme
for the annual observance of the Feast of Tabernacles?
Deu 16:14
And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son, and your
daughter, and your male slave, and your slave-girl, and the Levite, and the
alien, and the fatherless, and the widow that are inside your gates.
Deu 16:15
You shall keep a solemn feast seven days to Yahweh your Yahweh in the
place which Yahweh shall choose; (Jerusalem); for Yahweh your Elohim shall
bless you in all your produce, and in every work of your hands, and you shall
be altogether joyful.
COMMENT: The Feast of
Tabernacles, picturing the sixth step in Yahweh's Master Plan, is a time of
great rejoicing! For ancient Israel, it was a time of rejoicing because the
abundant winter's food supply was taken in just before the Feast. But in the
Millennium, which this feast pictures, the happiness, joy and prosperity
portrayed by the Feast of Tabernacles will exist worldwide under the righteous
rule of Yahshua Messiah. Universal adherence to Yahweh's way of life will make
the world tomorrow a literal utopia!
The Feast of Tabernacles was also
called the Feast of Ingathering (Ex.
23:16; 34:22) because it celebrated the late summer-early autumn harvest.
Comment: This is symbolic of
the great re-gathering that will happen at Yahshua’s return. There is an early
rain and a latter rain in Israel depicting the two yearly harvests. The early
springtime harvest is a much smaller harvest than the greater ingathering at the
feast of Sukkot or tabernacles. We, now as firstfruits, represent the early
harvest, the one that started with the Passover sacrifice and the Feast of
Firstfruits already mentioned. Now at the feast of ingathering at the return of
the Messiah will be a great ingathering of all His people to a greater harvest.
Jer 31:1
At that time, says Yahweh, I will be the Elohim of all the families of Israel, and they shall
be My people.
Clearly at this great end time
harvest, Yahweh will re-gather all 12 tribes of Israel and not only Judah.
Eze 36:9
For behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be
tilled and sown.
Eze 36:10
And I will multiply men on you, all the house of Israel, all of it. And
the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be built.
Eze 36:11
And I will multiply men on you, and beast, and they will increase and be
fruitful. And I will make you dwell as you formerly were, and I will do better
than at your beginnings. And you shall know that I am Yahweh.
Eze 36:12
Yea, I will cause men to walk on you, My people Israel; and they shall
possess you, and you will be an inheritance to them and will not any more
increase their bereavement.
Eze 36:23
And I will sanctify My great name which was profaned among the nations,
which you profaned among them. And the nations shall know that I am Yahweh,
declares Adonai, Yahweh, when I am sanctified in you, in their eyes.
Eze 36:24
For I will take you from the nations and gather you out of all the lands
and bring you into your land.
Eze 36:25
Then I will sprinkle pure waters on you, and you shall be purified. I
will cleanse you from all your defilement and from all your idols.
Eze 36:26
And I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within
you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give to
you a heart of flesh.
Eze 36:27
And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My
statutes, and you shall keep My judgments and do them.
Eze 36:28
And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. And you
shall be a people to Me, and I will be Elohim to you.
Jer 16:14
So, behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that it shall no more be said,
As Yahweh lives who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of
Egypt.
Jer 16:15
But rather, As Yahweh lives who brought up the sons of Israel from the
land of the north, and from all the lands, there where He had banished them to.
And I will bring them again into their land that I gave to their fathers.
Jer 16:16
Behold, I will send for many fishermen, says Yahweh. And they shall fish
them. And after this I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them,
from every mountain and from every hill, and out of the clefts of the
rocks.
Isa 11:9
They shall not do evil, nor destroy in all My holy mountain. For the
earth shall be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the
sea.
Isa 11:10
And it shall be in that day, the Root of Jesse stands as a banner of His
people; nations shall seek to Him; and His resting place shall be
glorious.
Isa 11:11
And it shall be in that day, that Yahweh shall again set His hand, the
second time, to recover the remnant of His people that remains, from Assyria,
and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Ethiopia, and from Elam, and from
Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the coasts of the sea.
Isa 11:12
And He shall lift up a banner for the nations, and shall gather the
outcasts of Israel, and gather those dispersed from Judah, from the four wings
of the earth.
Isa 11:13
And the envy of Ephraim shall turn off; and Judah's foes shall be cut
off. Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not trouble Ephraim.
Eze 37:19
Say to them, So says Adonai, Yahweh: Behold, I will take the stick of
Joseph which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his
companions. And I will put them with him, with the stick of Judah, and I will
make them one stick, and they shall be one (echad) in My hand.
Eze 37:20
And the sticks shall be in your hand, the ones on which you write before
their eyes.
Eze 37:21
And say to them, So says the Adonai, Yahweh: Behold, I will take the
sons of Israel from among the nations, there where they have gone, and will
gather them from all around, and will bring them into their own land.
Eze 37:22
And I will make them one (echad) nation in the land, on the mountains of
Israel, and one King shall be for a king to all of them. And they shall not be
two nations anymore. And they will not be split into two kingdoms any
more.
Amo 9:14
And I will bring back the captivity of My people Israel. And they shall
build the waste cities, and live in them. And they shall plant vineyards, and
drink the wine of them. They shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of
them.
Amo 9:15
And I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be
pulled up out of their land which I have given to them, says Yahweh your
Elohim.
The feast of Sukkot or
Tabernacles is a yearly memorial of the reminder of the soon coming Kingdom of
Yahweh to this earth. What many Sabbath keeping and feast keeping brethren tend
to neglect is the fact that the feast of Sukkot is not only about the earthly
rule of Yahshua Messiah, but also the restoration of all 12 tribes of the
nation of Israel back to their land for this millennial reign. That is why it
is centered around the greater fall harvest, because now Yahweh is working with
His first fruits, a relatively small group of people, where then it will be the
whole nation of Israel.
Eze 37:11
Then He said to me, Son of man, these bones are all the house of Israel.
Behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is perished; we are cut off
to ourselves.
Eze 37:12
So prophesy and say to them, So says Adonai Yahweh: Behold, I will open
your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, O My people, and I
will bring you to the land of Israel.
Eze 37:13
And you shall know that I am Yahweh when I have opened your graves and
have brought you up out of your graves, O My people.
Eze 37:14
And I shall put My Spirit within you, and you shall live; and I will put
you on your own land. And you shall know that I, Yahweh, have spoken and have
done it, says Yahweh.
This is the work of Yahweh today.
He has never stopped working with the seed of Abraham, through Isaac and Jacob,
and His called out disciples should be helping in the worldwide work of
restoring the 12 Sons of Israel back into covenant relationship with Yahweh.
This is the primary purpose of Tabernacles. To look forward to Yahweh’s soon
coming wonderful Kingdom!
Are Yahweh's people to live in
booths - temporary dwellings-during the Feast?
Lev 23:42-43
You shall live in Sookkuhs for seven days; all who are native in Israel
shall sit down in Sookkuhs, so that your
generations shall know that I caused the sons of Israel to live in Sookkuhs,
when I brought them out of the land of Egypt; I am Yahweh your Elohim.
COMMENT: A
"tabernacle" or "booth" is a temporary dwelling. Yahweh
commanded the ancient Israelites to live in temporary shelters made of tree
branches (verse 40) while observing
the Feast of Tabernacles. For Yahweh's people who attend the Feast of
Tabernacles today, a tent, camper, motel or hotel room would certainly qualify
as a temporary dwelling.
Yahweh intends the Feast of
Tabernacles to separate and free His people from the world. Living in temporary
dwellings for an entire week - away from their everyday surroundings, jobs and
most negative influences - Yahweh's people enjoy a tiny foretaste of the
universal freedom, joy and peace that will exist in the Millennium when Satan
is gone and the Spirit of Yahweh is leading all of humanity (Joel 2:28, 32). Every year during this
week of Sukkot Yahweh wants His elect to come out of Satan’s system and keep
their focus on His work of restoring Israel and His soon coming kingdom.
Just as the Feast of Tabernacles is a physical
feast filled with rejoicing, it is also a spiritual feast of education and
preparation. Members of Yahweh's true congregations receive instruction from
Yahweh's servants through inspiring sermons to help them further prepare to
rule and teach with Messiah during the Millennium.
After Yahshua Messiah subdues the
warring nations at His return and establishes Yahweh's government over the
earth, will the nations begin to come to Him for instruction in Yahweh's way of
life?
Mic 4:1
But it shall be in the end of the days, the mountain of the house of
Yahweh shall be established on the top of the mountains; and it shall be lifted
up from the hills; and peoples shall flow on it.
Mic 4:2
And many nations shall come and say, Come, and let us go up to the
mountain of Yahweh, and to the house of the Elohim of Jacob. And He will teach
us from His ways, and we will walk in His paths. For the Torah shall go forth
out of Zion, and the Word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.
Will the whole world finally come
to understand Yahweh's way to peace, happiness, abundant living and salvation?
Isa 11:9
They shall not do evil, nor destroy in all My holy mountain. For the
earth shall be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea.
Jer 31:34
And they shall no longer each man teach his neighbor, and each man his
brother, saying, Know Yahweh. For they shall all know Me, from the least of
them even to the greatest of them, declares Yahweh. For I will forgive their
iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more.
COMMENT: Once Satan has been
bound and the government of Yahweh set up, a 1,000-year golden age of world
peace and prosperity will begin. Messiah's re-education program for the entire
world will bring about a new civilization based on Yahweh's way of life - (His
law of love) - resulting in great physical and spiritual blessings.
But what will happen to those
nations that at first refuse to keep the Feast of Tabernacles and thus refuse
to be re-educated to Yahweh's way?
Zec 14:16
And it shall be, everyone who is left from all the nations which came up
against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, Yahweh of
Hosts, and to keep the Feast of Sukkot.
Zec 14:17
And it shall be, whoever will not go up from the families of the earth
to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of Hosts, there shall even be no rain
on them.
COMMENT: Messiah will
re-educate the people of the world through His annual festivals. The world will
come to know that Yahweh's Master Plan pictures the way to physical blessings
and spiritual salvation. Those who stubbornly refuse to keep the Feast of
Tabernacles will suffer from drought and plagues until they submit to Yahweh.
By the end of the 1,000 years,
the great Family of Yahweh will be ready for the final step in Yahweh's Master
Plan. Even greater joy and accomplishments lie ahead after the Millennium!
The Last Great Day
Just as the week is not complete
without the seventh-day Sabbath, Yahweh's Master Plan is not complete without
His seventh and final annual festival.
The number seven in the Bible
signifies completion and perfection. This seventh festival of Yahweh reveals
the perfection of Yahweh's great Master Plan-which Yahweh's love and mercy
toward mankind will extend beyond the Millennium.
Was there an eighth day of
worship immediately following the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles?
Lev 23:36
Seven days you shall bring a fire offering to Yahweh; on the eighth day
you shall have a holy gathering; and you shall bring the fire offering to
Yahweh; it is a solemn assembly; you shall do no laborious work of service.
Lev 23:39
Also, in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you gather the
increase of the land, you shall keep the feast of Yahweh seven days; on the
first day a Holy Day Sabbath, and on the
eighth day a Holy Day Sabbath.
COMMENT: The last annual
Sabbath or Holy Day is observed immediately after the Feast of Tabernacles. But
because of its close proximity to this seven-day feast, it was associated with
the Feast of Tabernacles and was called the "eighth day." This
festival came to be known among Believers as the Last Great Day. It is clearly
a separate festival and Holy Day.
The Last Great Day pictures the
completion of Yahweh's Master Plan.
Eight is the number of new
beginnings and that is what this eighth day represents. After the Millennium is
over and Yahshua sets down every enemy, the last enemy being death, then will
come the white throne judgment where all people that ever lived will be judged
for the things that they have done in this life, both good and bad.
2 Co 5:10
For we all must appear before the judgment seat of Messiah, so that each
one may receive the things done through the body, according to what he did,
whether good or bad.
Yahshua mentioned in Matt
12:41-42, the people of Tyre and Sidon, Sodom, Nineveh in Jonah's time and
finally the Queen of the South. All of these examples of people who lived in
different generations and shows that there will be a judgment day for every
single human who ever lived. Yahshua gave enough examples of people living at
widespread times to prove that most of humanity will be alive at the same time
on this earth. There will be pre-Flood men and women, all 12 tribes of Israel,
those who lived during the middle ages and the vast majority living now. Even
babies and children who died untimely deaths will be resurrected then. They
will all rise in the second resurrection because they were not firstfruits of
Yahweh and were not in the first or better resurrection. These people will be judged
by their works.
Rev 20:6
Blessed and holy is the one having part in the first resurrection. The
second death has no authority over these, but they will be priests of Yahweh
and of His Messiah, and will reign with Him a thousand years.
Rev 20:11 And
I saw a Great White Throne, and the One sitting on it, from whose face the
earth and the heaven fled; and a place was not found for them.
Rev 20:12
And I saw the dead, the small and the great, standing before Yahweh. And
books were opened. And another Book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged out of the things written in the books, according to their works.
The difference being since most
of these people died being blinded by the truth, Yahweh can lower the bar for
them and make their accountably much less than people who knew the truth and
willfully disobeyed.
Luk 12:47
But that slave knowing the will of his Master, and not preparing, nor
doing according to His will, will be beaten with many stripes.
Luk 12:48
But he who does not know and does the thing that is worthy of stripes
will be beaten with fewer stripes. For anyone who is given much to him, much is
required from him. And to he whom they have committed much to him, much more
they will require by his hand. Rom 11:32 For Yahweh shut up all into disobedience,
that He may show mercy to all.
These are the people described in
Romans 2 as gentiles who kept the Torah (Law) without even knowing it.
Rom 2:13
For not the hearers of the Torah are righteous with Yahweh, but the
doers of the Torah shall be justified.
Rom 2:14
For when pagans not having the Torah do by nature the things contained
in the Torah, they not having the Torah are a law unto themselves,
Rom 2:15
who show the work of the Torah written in their hearts, their conscience
witnessing with them, and the thoughts either accusing or even excusing one
another,
There are many good hearted
people out there who have not had there mind opened by our Heavenly Father to
His truth but their nature has been chosen by themselves not to lie or steal
and to be faithful to one spouse. Yahweh will reward these people with eternal
life as without even having His spirit they chose on their own to obey Him
without even knowing it. Look at when they will be rewarded.
Rom 2:16
in a day when Yahweh judges the hidden actions of men, as my gospel
teaches, through Yahshua Messiah.
This is the white throne judgment and the
meaning of the eighth day of the feast called the last great day. Yahweh will
not be mocked. All men will reap what they sow, that is why it is so important
today to try to show mankind the need to repent and have the blood of Yahshua,
the Eternal Son of Yahweh cover their sins. This is truly life and death.
Then the spirit-composed members
of Yahweh's great ruling Family can look forward to new heavens and a new
earth-and to new and wonderful opportunities in ruling the universe under
Yahweh our Father and Yahshua Messiah our elder brother! And then it will be
just the beginning of the rest of eternity. All these Holy Days focus around
the redemptive work of Yahshua Messiah. He truly is the Focus of Yahweh's Holy
Days
Points to Remember:
1) All
the Holy Days point to Yahshua’s redemptive work as Messiah
2) The
Holy Days are to be kept forever and are a yearly memorials of Yahweh’s
redemptive work through His Eternal Son Yahshua
3) The
Holy Days tell the story of the plan of salvation
4) The
Holy Days are Sabbaths and we should honor them as such by not working, and by
assembling with Brethren on these days.
5) Part
of the commandment of the three Pilgrim feasts was to appear before Yahweh in
Jerusalem at these set apart times to receive blessing for obedience or cursing
for disobedience.
6) It
is a great honor to be allowed to represent Yahweh at His feast in Jerusalem
Congregation of YHWH Jerusalem PO Box 832
Carteret NJ 07008 www.coyhwh.com
