Let me begin by saying this is not meant to be an exhaustive study on the Biblical Feast days. This section should serve as an overview, which will introduce you to each Feast Day. Independent studies regarding the practice of each day is up to you- I feel it’s important to leave out this information so you may be sucked into the Messianic fold and truly learn why it’s so important that we celebrate these days instead of those rooted in paganism.
Understanding the Feasts
God gave the festivals of the Lord found in Leviticus 23 to us so His people could understand the coming of the Messiah and the role that the Messiah would play in redeeming and restoring both man and the earth back to God following the fall in the Garden of Eden. Although most non-Jewish Bible believers have heard of the feasts, the deep meaning and the importance of these feasts is universally misunderstood.
The apostle Paul wrote to the Gentile believers in Colossae that the feasts of the Lord, the new moon, and the Sabbath (Shabbat) days were a ‘shadow of things to come’ to teach us about the Messiah (Colossians 2:16-17). We in the west often think of our shadow as behind us, therefore we think of these days as also being behind us; however to the Jewish mind this means an outline or a blueprint of things to come. Yeshua (the Hebrew name for Jesus, which means “salvation”) was the substance or fulfillment of the greater plan that God revealed and foreshadowed in these seven important festivals. To all the readers who are familiar with the festivals, you will be fascinated to discover that the first four feasts or festivals, which are Passover (Pesach), Unleavened Bread (Hag HaMatzah), First Fruits (Bikkurim), and Pentecost (Shavuot), primarily teach about the significant events from the first coming of the Messiah and why these events were an important part of God’s redemption of man. In addition, you will discover that the last three feasts, which are the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles (Sukkot), give fascinating insight concerning important events that surround the second coming of the Messiah.
The festivals are God’s feasts days, not Israel’s or the Jews. They are His appointed times that we are to observe (Leviticus 23:1-2,4). God gave the festivals to teach about the death, burial, and resurrection of the Messiah; the empowering of believers by the Holy Spirit; the resurrection of the dead; the coronation of the Messiah; the wedding of the Messiah; the tribulation; the second coming; and the millennium age or thousand year reign on the earth.
The Bible provides many powerful reasons for studying and understanding the seven festivals of the Messiah:
- The feasts are in the Bible, and the entire Bible is inspired by God. (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
- The feasts are a shadow (blueprint) of things to come that teaches us about the Messiah (Colossians 2:16-17; Hebrews 10:1).
- The feasts are prophetic types and examples foreshadowing significant events in God’s plan of redemption (1 Corinthians 10:1-6,11).
- God gave the feasts so we could learn and understand His plan of redemption for the world and our personal relationship to Him (Romans 15:4).
- The feasts, as part of the Torah (which means “instruction”), and is as a schoolmaster or tutor that leads us to the Messiah (Galatians 3:24).
- The feasts will point to the Messiah and God’s plan for the world through the Messiah (Psalm 40:6-8; Hebrews 10:7).
- Jesus came to fulfill all that was written in the Old Testament, which consists of three parts: the Torah, the prophets, and the writings personified by the Psalms, concerning Him (Luke 24:26-27, 44-45; John 5:46-47).
- The feasts set forth the pattern of heavenly things on earth (Hebrews 8:1-2,5; 9:8-9,23; Exodus 25:8-9,40; 26:30; Numbers 8:4; Ezekiel 43:1-6,10-12).
- God gives the natural to explain the spiritual (1 Corinthians 15:46-47).
- By studying the natural, we can understand the spiritual (1 Corinthians 2:9-13; 2 Corinthians 4:18).
What does feast mean in the Bible?
Two important Hebrew words appear in Leviticus 23, and each word is translated as feast in English. In verse 2, the word for feast is the Hebrew word mo’ed, as it is written, “Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, concerning the feasts [mo'ed] of the Lord….” 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. By understanding the Hebrew meaning of the English word feast, we can see that God is telling us that He is ordaining a “set or exact time or an appointed time” when He fulfill certain events in the redemption. In fact, Jesus came to earth at the exact time ordained by God (Galatians 4:2, 4), and God has an exact time when, in the future, He will judge the world (Acts 17:31).
In verse 6 is another Hebrew word translated as feast, as it is written, “And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast [chag] of unleavened bread….” The Hebrew word chag, which means a “festival,” is derived from the Hebrew root word chagag, which means “to move in a circle, to march in a sacred procession, to celebrate, dance, to hold a solemn feast or holiday.” By this we can see that God gave the festivals as cycles to be observed yearly so that, by doing them, we can understand God’s redemptive plan for the world; the role that the Messiah would play in that redemption; and our personal relationship to God concerning how we grow from a baby Bible believer to a mature Bible believer. Although God gave us the festivals to observe, God never gave the festivals so we would obtain salvation from Him by observing them because salvation only comes by faith; however, God did give the festivals for the purpose of teaching and instructing His people concerning His plan of redemption and our personal relationship to Him.
The Appointed Place
The feasts are not only God’s appointed times, but they were also to be observed at God’s appointed place. God said that He would choose a place and that it would be a set place where His redemptive plan would be accomplished. Passover, the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles were to be observed at an appointed place (Deuteronomy 16:2, 6, 9-11, 13-16). This place was Jerusalem (2 Kings 21:4). From this we can see that Jerusalem was appointed by God to be the place where important events surrounding His redemptive plan would be accomplished. Jesus died, was buried, and resurrected in Jerusalem. The empowering of the believers by the Holy Spirit took place in Jerusalem. Messiah will return and set His foot on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:4) and Jerusalem will be the center of world attention and controversy before the coming of the Messiah (Zechariah 12:2-3; 14:2-4).
Overview of the weekly feast day, Shabbat
In the first centuries the Sabbath had been kept by all Jewish-Christians and the vast majority of Gentile- Christians due to their understanding of believing in a Jewish Messiah. But with great subtlety Satan worked through his agents to bring about his object of worship so that the attention of the people might be called to the day of the Sun, Sunday.
Sunday was called the Christian Sabbath formally established in about the fourth century, but practiced before this time. To prepare the way for the work which he desired to accomplish, Satan had led the Jews, before the advent of Christ, to load down the Sabbath with the most rigorous exactions, making its observance a burden. Now, taking advantage of the false light in which he had thus caused it to be regarded, he cast contempt upon it as a Jewish institution.
In the early part of the fourth century the emperor Constantine issued a decree making Sunday a public festival throughout the Roman Empire. The day of the sun was reverenced by his pagan subjects and was in turn honored by Christians under Roman rule; it was the emperor’s policy to unite the conflicting interests of heathenism and Christianity.
He (Constantine) was urged to do this through a vision he is said to have had which showed him a cross with a serpent wrapped around it. Obviously a mix of paganism and Christianity…
The newly appointed bishops of the Roman Church, who, inspired by ambition and thirst for power, perceived that if both Christians and heathen observed the same day, it would promote the nominal acceptance of Christianity by pagans and thus advance the power and glory of the church.
WHAT SAITH THE LORD
1. Which day, according to the Bible, is the Sabbath?
Exodus 20:10 “But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:”
Exodus 31:15 “Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.”
Exodus 35:2 “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the LORD: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death.”
Deuteronomy 5:14 “But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.”
2. What, according to prophecy, was to be Christ’s attitude toward the law?
Isaiah 42:21 “The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honorable.”
3. What did Christ say of the law? Matthew 5:17.
Matthew 5:17 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.”
4. How enduring did He say the law is? Matthew 5:18.
Matthew 5:18 “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”
5. What did He say of those who should break one of the least of God’s Commandments, and teach men to do so?
Matthew 5:19 “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
6. What did God, through the prophet Daniel, say the power represented by the “little horn” would think to do?
Daniel 7:25 “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”
7. What did Paul say the “man of sin” would do?
2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4 “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4.
Note: There is only one way by which any power could exalt itself above God, and this is by assuming to change the law of God, and to require obedience to its own law instead of God’s law. The Papacy claims the change of the Sabbath to the first day of the week was her act and is the mark of her authority in religious things according to the Doctrinal Catechism.
“Question: Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept?”
“Answer: Had she not such power she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her; she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no scriptural authority.”
“A Doctrinal Catechism”, by the Rev. Stephen Kennan, p.174.
“Question: Which is the Sabbath day?”
“Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day?”
“Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?”
“Answer: We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 336), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.”
“The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine,” page 50, third edition, 1913, a work which received the “apostolic blessing” of Pope Pius X, January 25, 1910.
Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act . . . and the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical authority in religious things.
“If Protestants would actually follow the Bible instead of the Roman traditions, they would find that they should worship God on the Sabbath Day. In keeping Sunday “holy” they are rejecting the commandments of God for the commandments of men.”
Albert Smith, Chancellor of the Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore, replying for the Cardinal in a letter of February 10, 1920.
Look up in any encyclopedia Saturday or Sabbath and it will tell you that it is the seventh day of the week, and that all Christians observed it up until the fourth century.
“Constantine the Great made a law for the whole empire (A.D. 321) that Sunday should be kept as a day of rest in all cities and towns; but he allowed the country people to follow their work”
Encyclopedia America, article “Sabbath.”
Lots of Christians today say that they worship on Sunday in commemoration of Christ’s resurrection. Let’s quickly examine this flawed logic.
Didn’t Jesus raise on a Sunday?
If you visit a mainstream Christian church and ask members why the day on which they and other people attend worship services is Sunday, a typical response might be that Jesus was resurrected on that day. But how well does this idea bear up under scrutiny?
Notice what Christ told the Pharisees, who were looking for a sign of the Messiah:
Matthew 12:39-40 “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth”
The only sign Jesus gave to prove He was the Messiah was that the grave would only hold Him for a limited amount of time “three days and three nights” (or 72 hours). But the Easter Sunday tradition maintains that Christ was buried just before sunset on “Good Friday” afternoon and resurrected early Sunday morning-only two nights and one day (or 36 hours)!
Some will argue the definition of “day.” But Christ clearly stated that there are 12 hours in a day, not including the night (John 11:9-10). Therefore, when Easter Sunday proponents take His remark and conclude that Christ was in the grave three days x 12 hours = 36 hours, we can see that they are leaving out the “three nights.” There are approximately 12 hours of daytime and 12 hours of nighttime in one 24-hour day. So three days and three nights is obviously 72 hours. But was it exactly 72 hours? Jesus said He would rise “AFTER three days” (Mark 8:31)-i.e. no less than 72 hours. But He also said He would rise “IN three days” (John 2:19, 21)-i.e. no more than 72 hours. This is absolutely clear-72 hours exactly as anything more or less would make Him a liar!
Also consider that, when the women came to His tomb Sunday morning, “it was still dark” (John 20:1) and He had already risen. How could this be? The Sunday-resurrection proponents contend that He had risen just moments before. If they are correct, then “three days and three nights” earlier would be just before sunrise on Thursday morning. Yet no one believes Christ was buried on Thursday morning-or any morning for that matter-and with good reason. When Joseph of Arimathea laid Christ’s body in the tomb, “the Sabbath drew near” (Luke 23:50-54). Biblical days, including Sabbaths, begin at sunset and end the following sunset (cf. Genesis 1:5-31; Leviticus 23:32)-a nighttime period followed by a daytime period.
Christ, then, was buried in late afternoon-before a particular Sabbath began at sunset. Three days and three nights later would be the same time of day-late afternoon! Now we have another problem. If we assume that Christ was buried on Friday afternoon, as the Good Friday tradition asserts, then His resurrection-72 hours later-would be Monday afternoon. Yet no one believes this either-again, with good reason. For remember that Christ had already risen before the women came to His tomb prior to daybreak Sunday morning! What, then, is the answer?
Why have so many thought that Christ was put in the grave on Friday afternoon? Mark 15:42 states that “it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath.” Since the weekly Sabbath always occurred on the seventh day of the week (now called Saturday), the “Preparation Day” was normally on Friday. However, we have already seen the problem with this. The answer to the apparent dilemma is that the weekly Sabbath is not the only Sabbath mentioned in the Bible. Leviticus 23 lists seven annual Holy Days that occur in God’s Festivals. Each of these days was considered a Sabbath (or a “rest” from normal labor). All annual Sabbaths or “High Days” (except Pentecost) fell on particular calendar dates rather than set days of the week.
Now the mystery can be solved by reading John 19:31. The Jews wanted to remove the crucifixion victims “because it was the Preparation Day that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a HIGH DAY).” Christ kept the Passover with His disciples the night before His death (Luke 22:15). He died on the cross the next afternoon, which was still Passover (the 14th of Abib or Nisan according to the Hebrew Calendar-Leviticus 23:5). Leviticus 23:6-7 reports: the next day beginning the evening after His crucifixion, was not a weekly Sabbath, but an annual Sabbath-the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Now put together the facts. It is clear from the Bible that Christ died and was buried on Passover afternoon-and that the following day was an annual Sabbath. It is also clear that he was resurrected at the same time of day-late afternoon. But which afternoon? Since the women found Him already gone Sunday before dawn, it would be sensible to conclude that He had been resurrected the previous afternoon on Saturday! This would mean He had been buried three days and three nights earlier-Wednesday afternoon. It would also mean that Passover, Nisan 14, fell on a Wednesday that year. And, indeed, that is what happened in A.D. 31, a year that fits the time frame the Bible demands.
Scripture also provides further proof that there were TWO Sabbaths that week-an annual and a weekly one. In Mark 15:47, Mary Magdalene and her companion watched Joseph of Arimathea laid Jesus in the tomb near the end of the Passover. The next verse, Mark 16:1 tells us that after the “Sabbath,” Mary Magdalene and her companions bought spices with which to anoint Christ’s dead body. However, Luke 23:56 shows that they prepared the spices before the Sabbath. Naturally, they couldn’t have prepared spices before they were even bought! The only explanation that makes sense is that they bought the spices on Friday and prepared them the same day-after the annual Sabbath on Thursday and before the weekly Sabbath on Saturday!3 Then they rested on the weekly Sabbath-at the end of which Jesus was resurrected. The next morning, Sunday, they came to the tomb before sunrise and found him already gone.
But some will point out Mark 16:9, which says, “Now when He rose early on the first day of the week….” Yet how can this be? Remember days began at sundown the day before, this is called the “Eve” of the day. So he would have raised on the ‘Eve of/early the First day of the week’, which to us is Saturday evening!
So, is it okay to celebrate a Sunday Morning Resurrection? NO- He raised “Sunday Eve” or Saturday night, so teach the truth about the subject. When we gather on Sunday morning for the First Fruit Celebration we’re doing what Mary Magdalene did, showing up after He was risen.
In his book, The Story of the Christian Church, Jesse Lyman Hurlbut states, “As long as the church was mainly Jewish, the Hebrew Sabbath was kept; but as it became increasingly Gentile the first day gradually took the place of the seventh day” (1970, p. 36).
Notice that Hurlbut says the first day “gradually” replaced the seventh-day Sabbath. Why? Because Gentiles had always worshipped on Sunday because they worshipped the Sun God! Peer pressure and persecution no doubt where major factors in it’s phasing out, but the biggest factor was a growing hatred for the Jewish people. They eventually took the inherent Jewishness of Jesus away and replaced it with a Gentile likeness and theological disposition.
Jesus at Creation gave the seventh day Sabbath as a day of rest, did He afterwards give another?
Hebrews 4:3-11 “For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” (Emphasis mine)
This verse proves Jesus did not give another Sabbath or change the day of rest from Saturday to Sunday. It also states that some did not enter into the Sabbath because of unbelief.
What kind of worship does the Savior call that which is not according to God’s Commandments?
Matthew 15:9 “But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”
What is the sign that shows the Lord to be your God?
Ezekiel 20:20 “And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.”
Exodus 31:13 “Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a SIGN between Me and you throughout your generations, THAT YOU MAY KNOW that I am the Lord who sanctifies you” (Emphasis Mine)
1 John 2:3-4 “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”
Overview of the Spring Festivals
The four spring festivals are Passover (Pesach), Unleavened Bread (Hag HaMatzah), First Fruits (Bikkurim), and the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot or Pentecost).
- Passover occurs in the first month of the religious calendar (Aviv, also called Nisan), on the fourteenth day, Leviticus 23:5.
- Unleavened Bread immediately follows the first day of Passover (Pesach). It is observed in the first month (Aviv/Nisan) from the fifteenth day to the twenty-first day (Leviticus 23:6-8).
- The Feast of First Fruits of the barley harvest is observed during the week of Unleavened Bread. Anciently, on this day, sheaves of barley were waved before the Lord in a prescribed ceremony. Today, this festival is not observed in traditional Judaism; most likely because it’s the day Jesus was resurrected.
- The Feast of Weeks is also known as Pentecost. Beginning on the Feast of First Fruits, we begin to count 50 days. This is called the counting of the omer. On the fiftieth day following the Feast of First Fruits the Feast of Weeks begins. (Leviticus 23:15-21). (Note: Pentecost is a Greek word that literally means “fiftieth.”)
These four spring festivals are joined together as an interrelated unit. The Feast of Weeks is considered the conclusion to Passover. The season of Passover is not considered totally over until Shavuot is completed.
The Exodus Story: From Passover to Pentecost
Passover begins in Egypt (a type of the world), where the children of Israel had become slaves. When the children of Israel cried out to God to remember the promises He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God called forth a deliverer named Moses. God told Moses that He was going to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt to the Promised Land (Exodus 3:8). When God sent Moses to Pharaoh, God did not tell Moses to ask Pharaoh to allow the children of Israel to leave Egypt and go to the Promised Land. Instead, God only instructed Moses to ask Pharaoh to allow the children of Israel to take a three-day journey into the wilderness to make a sacrifice to God (Exodus 3:18). Moses obeyed God’s instructions exactly, as can be seen in Exodus 5:1-3. Pharaoh’s first deviance of the Almighty One of Israel was his refusal to allow the people of God to observe a feast and to sacrifice to Him…
After a remarkable series of plagues inflicted on Egypt because of Pharaoh’s continued stubbornness, the children of Israel were finally released to leave Egypt laden with the spoils of the Egyptians. The children of Israel came to the banks of the Red Sea on the seventeenth day of Aviv/Nisan, which is three days after the day of Passover in the first month of the religious calendar. The Passover Lamb was slain on the fourteenth of Nisan and the people left Egypt before midnight in the evening of the fifteenth after the death angel struck the firstborn of Egypt.
When Pharaoh saw that the children of Israel were trapped against the sea, he foolishly decided to pursue them with his army (Exodus 14:1-9). The children of Israel became afraid, but Moses rose up and said, as it is written, “…Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord…” (Exodus 14:13). Jesus, Yeshua in Hebrew means salvation or Savior (Matthew 1:21).
At this point, the sea divided and the children of Israel crossed the floor of the Red Sea on dry ground while the Egyptian army, along with Pharaoh, pursued the Hebrews into the Red Sea and were drowned (Exodus 14:26-28; 15:4,19). The Bible says that the Lord’s right hand destroyed the Egyptians (Exodus 15:6,12). The right hand is a term for the Messiah, Jesus (Psalms 44:3; 48:10; 63:8; 74:10-11; 89:13; 98:1; 110:1; 118:16; 138:7; Isaiah 41:10; 53:1-5; 62:8; Acts 2:32-36; 5:31-32; Hebrews 1:3).
It is important to note that Pharaoh, along with his army, drowned in the sea. In the days of Joseph, there was a famine in Israel and the children of Israel went down to Egypt and gave themselves to rulership under Pharaoh. Because of this, Pharaoh had legal ownership over the people. This ownership could be broken only by the death of Pharaoh, thus freeing the children of Israel to go to the Promised Land. Because of this fact, God did not violate His word to Pharaoh through Moses when he asked Pharaoh to let the people go on a three-day journey into the wilderness, but later continued to go to the Promised Land. When Pharaoh died, his rulership over the children of Israel was legally broken and the people were free to go to the Promised Land. For this reason, the season of Passover is called “The Feast of Our Freedom” by the Jews.
Spiritually speaking, Pharaoh is a type of Satan. Until you accept the Messiah into your life, Satan has legal ownership over you. By the death of Jesus, the legal ownership that Satan has over our lives is broken and we are free to enter into the spiritual promised land of God and receive all the promises that He has promised us.
Fifty Days from the Red Sea: Pentecost
From the crossing of the Red Sea (Nisan 17) to the day Moses met God on Mount Sinai were 47 days. For 47 days the children of Israel traveled through the wilderness before they came to Mount Sinai on the third day of the third month (Sivan) (Exodus 19:1). God instructed the people through Moses to sanctify themselves before He visited them three days later on Mount Sinai, which would be the sixth day of the third month of Sivan (Exodus19:10-11). This day would be the fiftieth day following the crossing of the Red Sea; it came to be known as the revelation of God at Mount Sinai. This day being the fiftieth day from the crossing of the Red Sea on Nisan 17 would be the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost.
Therefore, from the Exodus story, we can see that the Lamb was slain on the fourteenth of Nisan, the day of Passover. On the fifteenth of Nisan, the day of Unleavened Bread, the people left Egypt; on the seventeenth of Nisan the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea; and 50 days later on Pentecost, God gave the Torah (instruction) on Mount Sinai. In like manner Jesus died on Passover (Nisan 14), was in the sepulcher on the day of Unleavened Bread (Nisan 15), and was resurrected on the day of First Fruits (Nisan 17), and the Holy Spirit empowered the believers 50 days following Jesus’ resurrection on the day of Pentecost.
Overview of the Fall Festivals
The fall festival season begins with a 40-day period called, in Hebrew, Teshuvah, which means “to repent or return.” This 40-day period begins in the sixth month of the religious calendar, the month of Elul, and concludes on the tenth day of the seventh month, which is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Each morning in the synagogue following the morning prayers, a shofar is blown (except on Sabbaths and the day preceding Rosh Hashanah, the Feast of Trumpets). Psalm 27 is read every day. Rosh Hashanah, the Feast of Trumpets is the thirtieth day into this 40-day period of Teshuvah or repentance. The biblical name for Rosh Hashanah is Yom Teruah, which means “the day of the awakening blast.” It is observed on the seventh month (Tishrei) and the first day of the month (Leviticus 23:23-24). God gave us this day to teach us about the resurrection of the dead and much more.
This day is both the Jewish New Year and the beginning of a period of soul-searching known as the High Holy Days, culminating on Yom Kippur. Therefore, the last 10 days of the 40-day period of Teshuvah, beginning on Elul 1, is also called the High Holy Days.
The first and second days of the 10 High Holy Days (Tishrei 1-10) are collectively known as one day (Nehemiah 7:73; 8:1-2,13). The seven-day period from Tishrei 3 through Tishrei 9 is called the Days of Awe or the Awesome Days. God gave these special days on His calendar to teach us about the future tribulation period on earth. These seven days are called Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles and will correspond to the seven years of the tribulation known in Hebrew as the “birth pangs of the Messiah”.1
So while the spring festivals have been fulfilled by Jesus, the fall festivals have yet to be fulfilled! The fall festivals are rehearsals for what is still to come- by following them we will be prepared for the end of days.
The Jewish calendar
Understanding the cycles of God is hard to do on our western calendar as our months do not coincide with the biblical months. For instance June, which is our sixth month, is the ninth month on the Jewish calendar. October which is our tenth month is the first month on the Jewish calendar. There are many bookstores that supply authentic Jewish Calendars; the best which I have found is from the Galilee Experience in Tiberias, Israel. Their calendar highlights all the feast days and even gives the Sabbath candle lighting time in Jerusalem. They can be purchased from www.thegalileeexperience.com4
The Signature of God
This is where the feast days of the Lord should really concern you, for they are His Signature, His Sign on the human mind. When a believer remembers God’s feasts days, including Shabbat (Sabbath), when he keeps them and bears them in mind; he is indeed declaring to the whole of society and the angelic host above, that the God of Israel is his choice, his God. We know that the Lords feast days constitute His sign (signature) from the following verses:
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Ezekiel 20:12
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“Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths to be a SIGN between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD, that sanctify them.”
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Ezekiel 20:20
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“And hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a SIGN between me and you that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.”
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Exodus 31:12
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“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
13: Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a SIGN between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you. …
16: Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.
17: It is a SIGN between me and the children of Israel for ever.” |
Where does God place His Sign or His signature? He inscribes it in the human mind and actions, figuratively referred to as “between the eyes” (in the forehead) and “in the hand.”
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Exodus 13:9
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“And it (The Feast of Unleavened Bread) shall be a sign unto thee upon thine hand and for a memorial between thine eyes (in the forehead) that the Lord’s law may be in thy mouth.”
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Deut.6:6
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” And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
7: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up
. 8: And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.” |
In the New Testament
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Hebrews 8:8
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” … Behold the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah….
10. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.
11. And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying ‘Know the Lord:’ for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.” |
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Hebrew 10:16
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“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
17. And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. “ |
God’s signature is the feast days in the Old and New Testaments! Thus, by simple way of contrast the Signature of Satan would be the false versions of God’s feast days which would be the Christian Sabbath (Sunday), Christmas, Easter, Halloween, etc.
And you my dear reader are now being given the opportunity to choose:
- Between God’s Mark and Satan’s Mark
- Between the Truth and the Lie
- Between the Feast Days of the God of Israel and the Festivals of the Heathen.
- Between obedience and disobedience
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1 John 2:3-4
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“And hereby, we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.
4 He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.”
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James tells us that faith without obedience is a dead thing, a spiritual corpse! (James 2:17-20). God expects His followers to demonstrate their faith in Him by endeavoring to keep His commandments. To remember the true Sabbath and Feast Days in God’s Instructions (Torah) is a vote for the one true God Almighty; a proclamation to the community and the universe at large that the God of Israel, the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is your God. It is standing up to be counted with God’s people Israel by being grafted in among them (Romans 11:17, Ephesians 2:14-15).2
There is supernatural healing and promises beyond our comprehension in following the scripture alone. The Bible is clear, we should not be celebrating our man made traditions or holidays, our testimony is just further evidence that by celebrating man made holidays, we miss out on the covenant promises our God has made available through His holy days.
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What is the story behind the making of the album? How did it all come about?
Yo let’s embark on this album called “The Chop Chop”. Huh? Yep it’s called ……. “The Chop Chop”. Named by one of the most recognized figures in Holy Hip Hop today. Hailed from one of the most long lasting crews of Christian Hip Hop The 
How and why did you decide to start your own label (Revolution Art)? Why the name “Revolution Art”? How did you come up with it? 
This special gift from the plant kingdom is best when served in community with friends, offered in a ritual of love and friendship for each other and our natural world. But even alone, the cup of maté in your hand as you begin a new day promises to leave you refreshed and with a great feeling of well being.
