Walking Therein

Posted By Jacque on October 2, 2009

Leviticus 23:4
“‘These are the designated times of ADONAI, the holy convocations you are to proclaim at their designated times.

Yehovah has designated Shabbat, and particular feasts and holy days in Scripture that his people are commanded to observe. Several times in the Torah he tells his people, “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. That is why I am ordering you to do this.” (Deuteronomy 24:22)
He tells us in Deuteronomy chapter 6 that we are to teach these words, these commandments to our children for the same reason.

Why would 21st century followers of Yeshua(Jesus) have to remember that he delivered his people from bondage in Egypt?

For a couple of reasons:
One, because he has also delivered us when we were in a desert and did not know him.
Two, because they are remembrances and foreshadows of important events he wants us to live out and know about.

Numbers 10:10
“Also on your days of rejoicing, at your designated times and on Rosh-Hodesh, you are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; these will be your reminder before your God. I am ADONAI your God.”

Then why are these not in the New Testament as ‘commandments’?

This is such a common question. I really don’t have an answer to it, because I do not separate the New and Old Testaments as for different types of Believers. If you believe the Word, you believe the whole thing. We do not place any precedence on the New because it includes the birth, death and resurrection of the Messiah. The entire Scripture is about Yehovah God and the Son and the Holy Spirit. We cannot separate it into specific bits that are more important than others. The Old Testament is the foundation. We must work from the foundation up. The Messiah was sent after thousands of years of promises and hope for him. It was built on the foundation of the Torah, the Prophets and books of Wisdom. It cannot be counted as more important. We must look to the foundation of our faith, as he did: the written Scriptures, which at his time, were all of the Torah. It only makes sense that because the Torah commandments were given at Mount Sinai as the foundation of our relationship with our GOD, they are in the Old Testament.

There is no reiteration of all the commandments in the New Testament of how we are to live to be his people, because it would have been a repeat of the Torah commandments he gave us in the Torah. Yeshua did clarify several of the Torah commands, because the Pharisees and Torah teachers of his time had burdened the people down with man-made laws. He did not have to re-write anything, as it was already perfect in how it was written in Torah.

What Am I To Do Then?

The commandments to observe Shabbat and the Feasts are not to be taken lightly.Yehovah, who gave these times, does not take them lightly. Just as he does not esteem one sin worse than another, a command from HIM is a command. He destroyed Israel many times for their disobedience. He CAUSED them to forget things which allowed them to go blindly into sin and captivity because of their willful pride and stubbornness.

Lamentations 2:6
He wrecked his tabernacle as easily as a garden, destroyed his place of assembly. ADONAI caused Isra’el to forget designated times and Shabbats. In the heat of his anger he rejected both king and cohen.

As I said, these are given as specific remembrances and also as specific foreshadowings of future events. Many Christians do not know that the Feasts are set up in an order and with meanings that describe specific
events relating to the Messiah. As a matter of fact, there are seven commanded feasts, and they are in an order that correlates with the End Times.

As Christians, so many are so concerned with the End Time events, but without these ‘clues’, they are sorely lacking much of the understanding of the purposes and the times. The fact is that of the seven feasts, four of them have already been fulfilled. There are only three to go. They have been fulfilled in the order of the celebration of the commanded feasts. That means that the next ones are in order. The times may not be predictable, but the order and events are.

To read which feasts have already happened by Yeshua(Jesus), and which ones are yet to happen, go to Refiner’s Fire, Importance of the Biblical Feasts, and read the section entitled, “Please Note“.

One thing to note also, is that many of what is perceived to be “the Law” in Jewish holidays and beliefs are not necessarily commandments, and not for all. there is a difference between the Jewish holidays and the holidays Yehovah gave to his people. there are also discrepancies in some of the definitions. We MUST go to the Scripture and not just believe what a site says about this.

This should be the baseline for ALL of our faith, though, should it not?
The Scriptures are the FINAL authority!

Not ALL of the Jewish celebrations each year are commanded. Some are just celebrations. This is a misunderstanding we have, because, frankly, we do not know the Scriptures well enough. Just as not all of the 613 Commandments are for all people, some are for priests, some are for men, some are for women, and some are for all.

These are the order of the Feasts:

* Passover – Pesach – the death and Resurrection took place during this time, which includes the following 2 Feasts also:
* Unleavened Bread – Hag HaMatzot
* Firstfruits – Yom HaBikkurim
* Feast of Weeks Shavuot, known by Christians as “Pentecost”
* Feast of Trumpets – Rosh Hashanah
* Day of Atonement – Yom Kippur
* Feast of Tabernacles – Sukkot

Each of these Feasts has a Biblical importance in reference to the End Times. They are a Biblical picture of Yehovah God drawing His people in to the Messiah’s return -with the blowing of the Shofar, the judgment, and the Dwelling with him. They are remembrances of times promised to his people, just as the stars and planets are to be signs set in the sky for his people. (Genesis 1:14)

We are, at this time, in one middle of the High Holy Days commanded by Yehovah God to recognize and celebrate. The Fall feasts are as follows:

Rosh Hoshana – Feast of Trumpets

Aseret Yemei Teshuva – Ten Days of Repentance

Yom Kippur — Day of Atonement

Sukkot – Succoth is a 7-day festival, also known as the Feast of Booths, the Feast of Tabernacles, or Tabernacles. It is one of the three pilgrimage festivals mentioned in the Bible. The word sukkot is the plural of the Hebrew word sukkah, meaning booth. Yehovah’s people are commanded to “dwell” in booths during the holiday. This generally means taking meals, but some sleep in the sukkah as well. There are specific rules for constructing a sukkah. The seventh day of the holiday is called Hoshanah Rabbah.

Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah – Simchat Torah (שמחת תורה) means “rejoicing with the Torah”. It actually refers to a special ceremony which takes place on the holiday of Shemini Atzeret. This holiday immediately follows the conclusion of the holiday of Sukkot. In Israel, Shemini Atzeret is one day long and includes the celebration

Robin Sampson has created a website so that we can know about these commanded feasts at Biblical Holidays.com. You will find the holidays of this season here:

http://biblicalholidays.com/tabernacles.htm
http://biblicalholidays.com/rosh_hashana.htm
http://biblicalholidays.com/yom_kippur.htm

On her blog, she has posted: The Prophetic Fall Holidays

This evening, we start Sukkot. We are just learning of these things, and I am sorry that I have been so busy doing so much that I really do not know as much as I should about it. However, I am thankful for the training we are receiving through the Spirit’s leading in all things. All things we are doing at this time are appointed of Yehovah. I am thankful to have time to read the Scriptures and find out about Sukkot this weekend and look forward to honouring Yehovah and Yeshua in it.

Blessings on your home~

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Read More:

Leviticus 23

This post on Sukkot will only be up for this week on Torah Portions: Sukkot

All Scriptures taken from The Complete Jewish Bible by David Stern.

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Categories: Biblical Feasts and Holy Days, In These Last Days, Oh LORD, Help Me Live Biblically, Wisdom from the WORD
Tags: Appointed Feasts, Bible, Biblical, Day of Atonement, Deuteronomy, Easter, education, Feast of Tabernacles, Feast of Trumpets, Feast of Weeks, Firstfruits, Hag HaMatzot, Living Learning Moments, New Testament, Old Testament, Passover, Pentecost, Pesach, Rosh Hashanah, Sabbath, Scripture, Shabbat, Shavuot, sin, Sukkot, Training Hearts ~ Parenting, Unleavened Bread, Yeshua, Yom HaBikkurim, Yom Kippur