Keeping the Fall Feasts & Holy Days: When are they and how are they relevant today?
The Lord’s Holy Days, Feast Dates, Jewish Feasts, Appointed Times, Mo’edim — whatever term you use, don’t miss these days!
Feast of Trumpets / Yom Teruah
Day of Atonement / Yom Kippur
Feast of Tabernacles/Shelters/Harvest / Sukkot
The Eighth Day / Shemini Atzeret
This year the Fall Feasts occur in September and October. (For specific dates, visit this page.)
As a Christian seeking more intimacy in my walk with Yeshua, learning about, experiencing and keeping these feasts (including the Sabbath) brought me not only into deeper intimacy with him, but God has showered me with new understanding, unexpected blessings, strengthened faith and fresh excitement. I highly recommend it!
Following are my posts about the Fall Feasts.
First of all, this quick reference guide shows the 2022 Hebrew and Gregorian dates, the Hebrew names, the purpose of the Feasts and Biblical instructions for observing them from a Messianic understanding.
Although for me, the first time through the Feasts was more learning than experiencing, with each passing year, they grow in richness and revelation of Yeshua. In the following posts I’ve attempted to share some of those insights in the hopes that you will be encouraged to start or continue your pursuit of your own journey into intimacy with him.
- Why celebrate all these Jewish holidays? Haven’t those been done away with?
- The Feasts of the Lord: Going Through the Motions
- Preparing for Yom Kippur: 40 Days of Repentance – Part 1
- Preparing for Yom Kippur: 40 Days of Repentance – Part 2
- The Feast of Trumpets & the New Moon
- The Feast of Trumpets: “A day of complete rest for remembering”
- Yom Kippur/The Day of Atonement: Yeshua Already Paid for That
- Thank Goodness for the Feast of Tabernacles!
- The 8th Day – The Last Feast is Just the Beginning
Why celebrate all these Jewish holidays? Haven’t those been done away with?
There are seven Feasts or Holy Days commanded in the Bible – four in the Spring, and three in the Fall. It’s true, Jews had been observing these Feasts for 1,400 years before Yeshua’s birth. But what if Yehovah set those dates as days He intends to fulfill specific prophecies in Yeshua’s lifetime and His second coming? Wouldn’t you want to know which dates those were? Let’s recount what happened on the Spring Feast dates during Yeshua’s lifetime. (more…)
Yeshua is Our Tabernacle
Reflecting on the topic of my recent blog series about our spiritual journey through the tabernacle, I find it impossible to overlook Yeshua’s portrayal of Himself. The parallels between His identity and the tabernacle are no coincidence.
The tabernacle the Israelites built and carried through the wilderness before entering the Promised Land includes ten pieces that God instructed Moses to arrange inside the courtyard – seven created by man with God’s specific blueprints, and three pieces created by God alone. The first thing we understand from this is that the tabernacle is a combination of God and man, a place where God and man come together, a foreshadowing of both God and man on earth – a foreshadowing of the Messiah, Yeshua. (more…)
Our Spiritual Journey Inside the Tabernacle – Part 3: The Bronze Altar
In Part 2 of this blog series, we looked at the first obstacle that separates mankind from a holy God – represented by the fence enclosing the courtyard of the tabernacle. The fence reminds us of how Yehovah gives us the faith to believe in Yeshua as the only entrance into His kingdom, so that we can accept His invitation of communion with Him.
But our sin keeps us from dwelling in his kingdom, keeps us from living in full relationship with Him. Once we’ve entered into relationship with Him through faith, we become aware of our sinfulness as compared to His righteousness. (more…)
A Messianic Perspective
In Leviticus and other sections of the Torah (the first five books of the Bible), we read about the myriad of offerings and sacrifices, the ceremonial cleansings, and the stipulations for coming near to a holy God. On The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), for example, the high priest would’ve prepared for weeks ahead of time to perform the duties prescribed for the one day — with all its garments, offerings, animals, his family and other priests involved and contingency plans in case something didn’t go as planned. Then on the actual Day of Atonement, it would probably take him all day to perform the list of duties.
Granted, The Day of Atonement was the most holy day of the year, but there were six other holy days equally as rigorous in their requirements, not to mention the daily and weekly procedures of the temple and the offerings and sacrifices brought in by the people of Israel that were also required.
In Yeshua, we see the fulfillment of all of these requirements. (more…)