Written by: Damien Powell
Our Father YHWH has given us 7 Feasts/Fasts/Appointed times that He commands us to celebrate to Him as believers. He also says that we are to celebrate these Moedim, which means (Appointed times) as a lasting ordinance forever because it is His time to meet with us. Think of it as setting up an “appointment” to see the doctor and how important it is for you to meet him for your health. The same goes for YHWH! He sets appointed times to meet and interact with and to set us apart from all the nations around us. YHWH’s Moedim are important for our spiritual health.
These feasts also remind us of the wonderful things that He has done and what He plans to do, and they also point to the first and second coming of our Messiah Yeshua. The Spring Feasts, for example, are associated with the first coming of Yeshua because He died on Passover, was in the tomb on Feast of Unleavened Bread, then resurrected on First Fruits, and The Ruach HaKodesh (Roo-ach Ha-ko-daysh) The Holy Spirit was poured out on His disciples on Shavout also known as Pentecost.
The Fall Feasts point to the second coming of Yeshua, which are Yom Teruah (Trumpets), Yom Kippur (Atonement), Sukkot (Tabernacles), and The Last Great Day. These Holy Days will be fulfilled when Yeshua comes back to reign on earth. So the question is, should we celebrate these days that YHWH commanded us to?
The answer is Yes! The word Miqroa (Mik-raw) means something “called out” which is what the word “church” means. It means a public meeting, an assembly, a holy convocation, a reading, or rehearsal. So not only does He want to meet with us, He wants us to gather together as an assembly and REHEARSE these feasts days forever because they do not end on earth. YHWH has commanded His people to observe and practice these Feasts because they are “dress rehearsals” for the coming of our King Yeshua and we must be ready. We know that a rehearsal is the practice of something in order to perfect it before the “real event” or finale and that is what He expects from us. In the Book of Judges 5:11 YHWH tells us we are to:
“Rehearse the righteous acts”
The Scriptures always give us the answers that we seek because it is the truth and 2 Timothy 3:16 says:
“All Scripture is Elohim-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”
So now that we know that ALL Scripture is Elohim-breathed, let us take a look at some examples of why we should be “rehearsing” these feasts while we are on earth now:
In Leviticus 23:2 YHWH tells us:
“Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of YHWH, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are MY feasts.”
Notice how YHWH says these are HIS appointed times and feasts we are to proclaim. In other words, these are personal feasts that belong to our Creator and He expects us ALL to celebrate as believers. Nowhere does He say these are the Jewish feasts as we have been led to believe and nowhere does He say replace them with man-made traditions and celebrations such as Christmas, Easter, Halloween, etc. Those days are counterfeits to the true days we are to proclaim.
Zechariah 14:16-19 says:
“Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, YHWH Almighty, and to celebrate the FEAST OF TABERNACLES (Sukkot). If ANY OF THE PEOPLES OF THE EARTH do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the king, YHWH Almighty, they will have no rain. If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. YHWH will bring on them the plague He inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate The FEAST OF TABERNACLES. This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the FEAST OF TABERNACLES (Sukkot).”
The scripture from Zechariah is a prophecy of what will occur when YHWH sends Yeshua back to earth to reign in Israel and when He does come to reign ALL NATIONS AND PEOPLE of the earth will celebrate The Feast of Tabernacles or be inflicted with plagues and have no rain. Sounds serious doesn’t it? As we can see YHWH has made it clear that this isn’t just a Jewish celebration as we have been taught to believe. This feast is for all believers and even for those who don’t believe, so wouldn’t it make sense to start this practice of celebrating The Feast of Tabernacles before Yeshua returns, since we all will have to participate or have no rain? The Feast of Tabernacles is the celebration of the harvest that YHWH has provided for us throughout the year and when we gather in all of the produce. The TRUE THANKSGIVING or Feast of in-gathering. It also reminds us of how YHWH protected the Israelites when they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years and how He had them to dwell in Sukkahs/booths/tabernacles. We today are commanded to dwell in temporary booths for 7 days as a reminder of our ancestors.
Mark 9:4-5 correlates with the Zechariah 14 prophecy by showing the importance of The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) which says:
“And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Yeshua. Peter said to Yeshua, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three Sukkahs/booths/tabernacles----one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
Sukkah/booth/tabernacle all mean a temporary dwelling or movable habitation. The disciples that walked with Yeshua got to witness a great sight of Yeshua, talking with Moses and Elijah who were already dead, but were righteous men of YHWH, which is why they were seen with Yeshua. They knew the importance of this sight and wanted to build a Sukkah/tabernacle/ booth for the three of them, which shows that we will be dwelling in booths and celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles because what the disciples witnessed was a glimpse of heaven.
How do we know this? Yeshua tells His disciples in Mark 9:1 before speaking to Moses and Elijah saying:
“I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the King of Elohim come with power.”
In the blog last month I stated the importance of Passover and explained the pagan origins of Easter, but also quoted a scripture from the words of Yeshua that fits in perfectly with the rehearsal topic. Mathew 26:27-28 which says:
“Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
Yeshua just confirmed the words of Father YHWH in Exodus 12:14 that the Passover is to be kept forever; and Yeshua tells us that we will celebrate the Passover with Him when He drinks the fruit of the vine with us in Heaven. So, as believers we need to begin rehearsing the true feast of Passover since Yeshua says we will be celebrating it in YHWH’s kingdom. Yeshua Himself ate the Passover meal, when we read Luke 22:15 He says:
“I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”
Paul tells us in Colossians 2:16-17
“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of any holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Messiah.”
Most Pastors and scholars use this scripture as a means to break the law of YHWH, His feast days, and weekly Sabbaths and it’s a huge misconception. Paul was saying the opposite in this scripture. Paul is saying the Sabbath and all the Holy Days commanded in Leviticus 23 were not only celebrated by the Colossians, but are also a foreshadow of future events, things that are yet to come.
Paul was telling the Colossians to keep celebrating and rehearsing these days and to not stop celebrating because others were judging them. Paul was telling them that they knew the truth; therefore to keep living in the truth because of what will occur in the future. The feast days signify the fulfillment of YHWH’s master plan to offer salvation to all mankind through Yeshua.
Hebrews 8:5 says:
“They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”
Moses in Exodus 35:21 took offerings from the children of Israel to begin building a tabernacle to YHWH, but as we see from Hebrews 8:5, Moses was instructed to build it based off what he saw on the mount by the command of YHWH because it was to be a shadow or copy of the one that is in heaven. Now we know why the specifications of the tabernacle were so precise because the earthly one was to look like in heaven.
As we can see from the scriptures above, we are learning how to serve YHWH through Yeshua by rehearsing all of His feast days/fasts/Sabbath days while we are on earth because they will continue even when Yeshua returns. Take a look at YHWH’s prayer (The LORD’s prayer) that Yeshua taught while He was on earth and tell me if it now has a deeper meaning after learning about us rehearsing now for the kingdom of heaven.
Our Father who art in heaven
Hallowed be thy Name
Thy kingdom come
They will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
I figured I would stop right there to show how we recite the words to the prayer but they hold a deeper meaning than we once thought. Let us stand up and fight for the Elohim of Israel and show Him that we are His people by rehearing the feast days while anticipating His future kingdom.