Category Archives: Holy Days

To Feast, Or Not To Feast.

The general consensus today is that the feasts of God are not for the New Testament church. The most common reasons cited are that they are Jewish feasts and that Jesus fulfilled the feasts so we don’t have to observe them. But are either of those reasons true? Scripture has the answer.

Leviticus 23:37 “These are the appointed feasts of YHWH, which you shall proclaim as times of holy convocation, for presenting to YHWH food offerings, burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day.”

God declared that they are HIS FEASTS. To call them Jewish feasts is to dishonor God and His declaration. And if they are God’s feasts, then that begs the question of who are the feasts for? The answer is simple. God gave them as gifts for His people. Notice that He called them the APPOINTED feasts of YHWH. An appointment is an arrangement to meet someone at a particular time and place. In this case, it’s a time to meet with God. Why wouldn’t His people want to meet with God at the appointed times?

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The Feast of Tabernacles

I find this picture to be amusing. But accurate.

For all of those who are participating in the Feast, have a very blessed eight days.

Leviticus 23:33-36 “And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths to the LORD. On the first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. For seven days you shall present food offerings to the LORD. On the eighth day, you shall hold a holy convocation and present a food offering to the LORD. It is a solemn assembly; you shall not do any ordinary work.'”

Happy Yom Kippur!

Leviticus 23:27
“Now on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves and present a food offering to the LORD.”

Leviticus 23:32
“It shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict yourselves. On the ninth day of the month beginning at evening, from evening to evening shall you keep your Sabbath.”

Yom Kippur begins at sundown on October 4, 2022.

What about the Day of Atonement?

The Day of Atonement is upon us. Also known as Yom Kippur, it begins at sundown on Tuesday, October 4th, and ends on Wednesday, October 5th.

Everyone knows that Yeshua (Jesus) was crucified on Passover as our Passover lamb. John the Baptizer called Him the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The interesting thing is that the Passover Lamb doesn’t take away sin. It’s a substitutionary sacrifice. In the Exodus account, the blood of the lamb was put on the doorposts so that the death angel would pass over the house instead of killing anyone inside. But not everyone was in danger of dying. It was only the firstborns that would be taken by the death angel. The lamb was slain so that the firstborns would not be. No atonement of sin took place on Passover. The whole family of Israel (they were not a nation yet) was spared any mourning of death because the lambs were substitutes for them.

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It’s Yom Teruah!

Happy Feast Day Sabbath!!!

It’s the Sabbath in the middle of the Feast. I hope you all are having a great time. Unfortunately, this Sabbath means the Feast will be ending soon, but it also means that the Torah portions begin next Sabbath.

There’s something that I think I forgot to mention, and that is the haftarah. Each Torah portion includes a passage or passages from the Old Testament that are connected with the Torah portion for the week. Those passages are called the haftarah. So now, if you see that word, you’ll know what it is about. The Torah portions also include passages from the New Testament that link to the readings, but they are simply called the New Testament passages. Sorry, no fancy name for those.

So, let’s look at what Torah portion will be for next week, October 2nd.

Torah portion #1 is called B’reisheet, which means “in the beginning.”

Torah reading:
Genesis 1:1 – 6:8

Haftarah:
Isaiah 42:5 – 43:10
1 Samuel 20:18-42

New Testament:
John 1:1-18

Throughout the week, the posts will cover the sections of the readings, but the actual reading of the Torah, haftarah, and New Testament passages will be up to you. If you keep up with the readings and the posts, then you’ll be ready for a discussion of Torah Portion #1 on October 2nd.

Enjoy the rest of the Feast, and let’s get ready for Bible Study!

The Day of Atonement

If the Messiah paid the price on the cross once and for all, why should we care about the Day of Atonement?

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THE BIRTH OF THE MESSIAH!!!

It’s that time of year again when people start talking about when the Messiah really was born. Most theologians will agree that the December 25th date is not accurate, but there are still disagreements trying to settle on a new date. Some will argue that since the actual birth date cannot be determined, we should just leave it alone. Those that want to distance the birth from the Christmas season will still debate whether the birth happened in the spring or the fall. But does any of this matter?

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How Do You Return to a Place You’ve Never Been?

The Days of Teshuva, Part 4

In part 2, we learned that teshuva means to return to the paths of righteousness as written in the Torah. But what if you’ve never been taught the Torah? What if you were taught that Christians don’t need the Torah? Do we really need to do teshuva in that way?

Torah simply means instructions. The Torah is God’s instructions for how He wants us to live. What follower of God doesn’t want to live the way He designed for us? Maybe you’ve been taught that the Torah was just for the Jews and not for Gentile believers. Is it possible that God gave instructions to one group of people that He didn’t expect the rest of humanity to follow?

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To Lent or Teshuva, That is the Question

The Days of Teshuva, Part 3

So far, we’ve learned that the Days of Teshuva have begun and vaguely why they are at this time of year, and we’ve also learned what teshuva means. You may be able to see how Teshuva is similar to Lent. What I haven’t mentioned yet is that the days of teshuva are forty in number, just like Lent. One has to wonder, if the Days of Teshuva already exist, then why do most people celebrate Lent? I’ll get to that in a moment, but first I want to tell you about some observations and traditions about the 40 Days of Teshuva.

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