Keep The Day of Atonement & Other Feasts of The LORD
Keep The Day of Atonement and Other Feasts of The LORD
Earlier this year, following my previous Words regarding Passover, Pentecost and other Feasts of The LORD, a sister emailed me with disagreement about celebrating them.
But Passover, Pentecost and the other Feasts are actually called “The Feasts of The LORD” in The Bible; Indeed, The LORD says “these are My Feasts.” And He commanded that they are to be celebrated FOREVER! (Please see Leviticus 23).
As a matter of Truth, we will be celebrating The Feasts of The LORD throughout eternity in The Holy City, New Jerusalem.
The Holy Spirit announced this through Isaiah the prophet in this G-L-O-R-I-O-U-S Scripture:
“Your eyes will see The King in His Beauty; They will see The Land that is very far off. Look upon Zion, The City of our Appointed Feasts; Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet home, a tabernacle that will not be taken down; not one of its stakes will ever be removed, nor will any of its cords be broken. But there The Majestic LORD will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams, In which no galley with oars will sail, Nor majestic ships pass by (For The LORD is our Judge, The LORD is our Lawgiver, The LORD is our King; He will save us);” Isaiah 33:17, 20-22.
The above Scripture says that we will see Jesus in His Beauty then. For now, by faith we will see The Land, The Holy City, that is very far off. (“For here we have no continuing city, but we seek The One to come.” Hebrews 13:14).
The Holy Spirit specifically commands us to “Look upon Zion [The New Jerusalem], The City of our Appointed Feasts…” (Set your heart, your mind on It).
Look at that! Our Eternal Home is called “The City of our Appointed Feasts”!
This Jerusalem (The New Jerusalem) is described as A QUIET HOME, a Tabernacle (unlike the Tabernacle in the wilderness), that will not be taken down; Not one of its stakes will ever be removed, Nor will any of its cords be broken.
The Book of Revelation calls our Eternal Home “The Tabernacle of God… with men”
“Then I, John, saw The Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from Heaven saying, “Behold, The Tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.” Revelation 21:2-3.
And Isaiah says further:
“But there The Majestic LORD will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams, In which no galley with oars will sail, Nor majestic ships pass by [no more warfare; no more troubles and tribulations].”
Why? The LORD our Judge, The LORD our Lawgiver, The LORD our King will have saved us from this present evil age!
So WE WILL be celebrating The Feasts of The LORD forever in our new, peaceful home in The New Heavens (space) and New Earth in which righteousness dwells, (2 Peter 3:13).
In the meantime though, The Feasts of The LORD….. are for the children of God, not just Jews.
The God of Israel is “The God of The Jews” and “The God of The Gentiles,” (Romans 3:29).
Thus, although celebrated by Jews historically, The Feasts of The LORD are actually for the children of God in Christ Jesus — Jew or Gentile.
Above all, our LORD Jesus Christ Himself celebrated The Feasts of The LORD, (See John 2:13; 5:1; 7:11 and other accounts in The Gospels).
As He did, so we must do, with obedience and reverence.
God especially visits us during The Feasts of The LORD. It was at a Feast that The LORD Jesus Christ SPECTACULARLY healed a man who had an infirmity for thirty-eight years.
Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever.
It was at a Feast that The LORD announced The Supply of The Holy Spirit to those who believe in Him.
The Father SACRIFICED His ONLY Son for our sins at Passover, the first Feast of The LORD.
And during The Feast of Firstfruits, God, by the greatest show of the exceeding greatness of His Mighty POWER, raised Jesus Christ from the dead for our Justification before Him.
On the same Day, our Great High Priest, Jesus Christ, WITH HIS OWN BLOOD, entered The Most Holy Place once for all.
And by This Event of the greatest importance, reverence and thanksgiving, we can now enter The Holiest in Heaven, anytime!
(Remember, Aaron the high priest could not go into the earthly Tabernacle just at anytime time, but WE get to go into The Heavenly and True Tabernacle, where The Holy God Almighty is, every moment).
And on The Day of Pentecost, a Feast of The LORD, Jesus poured The Holy Spirit out abundantly on us.
The Feasts of The LORD, in actuality, prefigure The Schedule of Salvation. The Feasts of The LORD are, in fact and in truth, The Calendar of Redemption (I will discuss this Truth further in a moment).
Before doing that, I need to tell you about The Days of Awe, ten days of celebrations of the next two Feasts of The LORD in 2020 – from 18th – 28th September.
These celebrations happen in the Biblical seventh month (called Tishrei in Hebrew), which, I gather, always fall between 14 September and 14 October every year on the non-Biblical calendar.
The Days of Awe (Yamim Nora’im) or High Holy Days, start with The Feast of Trumpets — joyful ccelebrations of blowing of trumpets (shofar – ram’s horn).
Biblically speaking, it is called Yom Teruah, literally meaning “day of shouting or blasting”. It is popularly known today as Rosh Hashanah (which means “head of the year”) because it marks the beginning of the new agriculture year,
The High Holy Days end with The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur in Hebrew).
In Leviticus 23:26-32, God commanded that we should fast and have “a Sabbath of solemn rest” (absolutely no work!) on this Day.
“And The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: “Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to The LORD. And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before The LORD your God. For any person who is not afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people. And any person who does any work on that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. You shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath,” Leviticus 23:26-32.
Brethren, these are unprecedentedly exciting times in The Spirit and the world. And we must press in and press on with much prayer and fasting for the visitations of God, to move in His Glory and Power so as to prevail.
God is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. These specific days (18th – 28th September 2020) are High Holy Days for God and for us His children — to seek Him.
Let us therefore fast and pray before Him. (If you can’t fast on all days, then fast on some of them, and DEFINITELY on the last two – the 27th and 28th).
(See here how to fast like Jesus. And here for some prayer and fasting guidelines).
Now, in fact and in truth, God’s Plan of Salvation for man (His Calendar of Redemption) is marked and REHEARSED by The Feasts of The LORD, all of which our LORD and Saviour Jesus Christ fulfills.
As aforementioned, The LORD says “these are My Feasts.” They are our God’s “Appointed Feasts” which we are to “proclaim at their Appointed times,” (Isaiah 33:20; Leviticus 23:4).
There are seven Feasts of The LORD, as He commanded in Leviticus 23. Again, they are rehearsals for The Salvation Plan of God fulfilled by Christ Jesus our LORD.
Let’s look at them.
1 The LORD’s Passover
Our LORD Jesus Christ celebrated The Passover and established The New Covenant in His Blood for us, (Matthew 26). Hallelu-YAH!
And then, later that night, He offered Himself for us as “Christ our Passover Lamb,” (1 Corinthians 5:7) exactly as according to Exodus 12.
He did it all for us by The Will of God!
Oh, GLORY to God, “By THAT Will we have been sanctified through The Offering of The Body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10:10).
By His Blood, The Son of God ransomed us from the power of the grave. By His PRECIOUS Blood, Jesus Christ redeemed us from death, eternal death, (Hosea 13:14).
WORTHY is The Lamb Who was slain! PRAISE The LORD!
2 Unleavened Bread
When Jesus Christ died on The Cross, He was The Unleavened Bread.
Leaven symbolises sin, (1 Corinthians 5:6-8). Jesus Christ was and is WITHOUT SIN, (2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15; 7:26).
Also, as our Unleavened Bread, He was hurriedly taken down from The Cross (John 19:38), just as the children of Israel hurriedly ate the unleavened bread at the first Passover in Egypt because there was no time to put leaven in it before The Exodus the next day.
Our Exodus to Heaven is near. We have ABSOLUTELY no time for sin.
“Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” 2 Corinthians 7:1.
“And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.” Romans 13:11.
“Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says The LORD. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.” “I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, Says The LORD Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:17-18.
3 The Feast of Firstfruits
The LORD Jesus Christ IS RISEN! And He is alive FOREVERMORE! Glory to God!
When Jesus Christ rose from the dead, He presented Himself with His PRECIOUS Blood to The Father in Heaven on our behalf, (John 20:17; Hebrews 9:11, 12), so that WE can now go to The Father through Jesus, by The Blood of Jesus! (Hebrews 4: 15,16; 10:19 – 22).
The Resurrection of Jesus and The Presentation of Himself and His PRECIOUS Blood to The Father, fulfilled The Feast of Firstfruits, during which one would bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of the harvest to be waived to The LORD.
As our LORD Jesus Christ rose from the dead and presented Himself to The Father, so shall we:
“Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.” 1 Corinthians 15:23.
The LORD Himself explained it so wonderfully with great insight and wisdom,
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain,” John 12:24.
See also 1 Corinthians 15:35 -38
“But someone will say, “How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?” Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain — perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body.”
4 Feast of Weeks
(Pentecost, meaning 50. Because this Feast is celebrated 50 days from Resurrection Day).
This Feast was fulfilled by Jesus when He poured out The Holy Spirit on us in Acts 2.
The Spirit and POWER of God was most dramatically received and experienced just as The LORD Jesus promised in Luke 24:49; Acts 1:5, 8.
5 The Feast of Trumpets
This Feast of The LORD REHEARSES the moment when
“The LORD Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with The Trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet The LORD in the air. And thus we shall always be with The LORD,” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.
“Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed — in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at The Last Trumpet. For The Trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 1 Corinthians 15:51-52.
My beloved brethren, of all the years a man may live on earth, this is the ONLY MOMENT that matters. It is one-millionth of a second.
We MUST partake in this moment without fail. This is only achieved by obeying Jesus. Love righteousness, hate and avoid sin. Always repent of sin. And, by The Grace of God, don’t go back to it.
And qualification for this moment is already decided the moment a man blinks for the last time.
We must live every moment of our lives to qualify for this moment. Hmm...
“Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before The Judgment Seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of The LORD, we persuade men…” 2 Corinthians 5:9-11.
Let us have grace to make it, (Hebrews 12:28,29).
6 The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur in Hebrew)
The celebration of this Feast of The LORD foreshadows the 1,000 year Reign of The LORD Jesus with us the saints on earth in absolute peace, yes, at peace with God forever.
7 The Feast of Tabernacles
The final Feast of The LORD points to when God comes to be with man on earth (The New Earth, 2 Peter 3:13) forever and ever.
“As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.” 2 Corinthians 6:16.
Again, The Feasts of The LORD are of GREAT importance with deep, eternal meaning for God and for us His children.
It is a very important spiritual understanding to have, that, The LORD shows up in special ways with special blessings at The Feasts of The LORD.
Paul understood the Divine significance of The Feasts of The LORD, and celebrated them, even saying at one point, “I must by all means keep this coming Feast in Jerusalem.” (Acts 18:21).
Furthermore, as written,
“Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he would not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hurrying to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on The Day of Pentecost,” Acts 20:16.
And, referring to The Passover and Life of Holiness in Christ, Paul COMMANDED:
“Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” 1 Corinthians 5:8.
Let’s celebrate The Feasts of The LORD with The LORD for The LORD.
Shalom!
“The LORD Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Grace be with you. Amen.” 2 Timothy 4:22.
“Farewell” Acts 15:29.
~ Jacob Awagah
“And having been perfected, He became The Author of Eternal Salvation to all who obey Him,” Hebrews 5:9.
Hello Brother
The Sabbath is to be kept, not out of legalism, but out of obedience to God.
Our God says to keep it because He Himself rested on it after He finished the creation in the beginning.
Some believers mistakenly keep Sunday as The Sabbath. This is a serious Biblical error. Error leads to deception by demons.
The Sabbath is the seventh day of the week. Sunday is the first day of the week.
We must not change God’s order.
Thanks for your comment and query. {:-)
Thank you for this excellent teaching on the feasts of the Lord. Few Believers (and that includes the 5-fold ministry) understand the importance of them, much less celebrate them!
Amen,amen,amen,amen,amen,amen. Thank you for this word, these feasts should never have been abandoned.