THE FEASTS OF YHWH

THE FEASTS OF YHWH

 

 

    WHY DID YHWH GIVE NATIONAL HOLIDAYS TO ISRAEL?

    ·  The Feasts of YHWH are Moadim meaning, “set times” or “seasons.” The Feasts were agricultural (Lev.23:2).

    ·  The Feasts of YHWH are Miqra Kodesh or “holy convocations;” they are holy assemblies. God wants His people to come together -like family!

    ·  The Feasts of YHWH are Zikhronot or “remembrances.” The Feasts are memorials (Lev.23:24).  

    ·  The Feasts of YHWH, each one is a Skia (Grk) or a “shadow.” The Feasts are Representations of someone [coming] (Col.2:17).

    ·  The Feasts of YHWH, each one is Poieo (Grk) meaning “drama” (1 Cor. 11:24). The Feasts are for “doing” that reveal the mysteries of our great God.

    ·  The Feasts of YHWH are also Messianic. They hallmark the Messiah (Luke 24:27-44); they are all about Him!

 

    WHAT are THE BIBLICAL FEASTS OF YHWH?

    ·  The WEEKLY Festival is Shabbat, a weekly holiday of rest (Lev.23:3).

    ·  The MONTHLY Festival is Rosh Chodesh, a monthly holiday recognizing the new moon (Num.28:11).

    ·  The ANNUAL and Agricultural Feasts are the following: 

    1. Pesach/Passover (Lev.23:5), the 14^th day of the first month of the year (not January, but March/April).

    2. Chag HaMatzot/Unleavened Bread, the 15^th of the first month (Lev.23:6).

    3. Bikkurim/First Fruits (Lev.23:10-12) the 1^st day of the week following Passover, thus always on Sunday.

    4. Shavuot/Weeks or Pentecost/Harvest, fifty days following Passover (Lev.23:15-21).

    5. Yom T’Ruach/Trumpets (Lev.23:24), the first day of the 7^th month.

    6. Yom Kippur/Atonement (Lev.23:27), the tenth day of the 7^th month (following Trumpets), the most solemn feast of the year.

    7. Sukkot/Tabernacles (Lev.23:33-36), the 15^th day of the 7^th month (following Yom Kippur); it is the last of the seven annual Feasts of YHWH.

 

    ·  The 50-YEAR JUBILEE Festival, the Feast of Yoval or the Ram’s Horn (shofar) called Jubilee (Lev.25:10). It is the Feast of Release!

    ·  The POST EXILIC Festivals

    1. Purim/Lots (Esther 9:26-32) which is the feast remembering the seed of woman Judah, was saved by a woman, Queen Hadassah or Esther. It is held on the 14th day of Adar (early spring).

    2. Chanukah/Dedication (2 Maccabees; Yochanon 10:22) which is the Feast commemorating the cleansing of the Temple by the Maccabees and Israel in 165 BC. It is held on 25th day of Kislev (corresponding to 25th of December).

    Modern Israel has also inaugurated modern holidays.

    ·  Yom HaShoah/Day of the Burning (Holocaust Memorial). This is a national remembrance of the 6 million Jews who died in the ovens of Nazi Germany.

    ·  Yom HaAtzma’ut/Day of Independence (May 14). This is Israel’s Celebration of Independence.

WHERE WERE THE BIBLICAL HOLIDAYS OF YHWH TO BE observed?

    ·  God Desired Israel to make three pilgrimages to see Him in Jerusalem (Exo.23:14-17).

    ·  The Seven Annual Feasts of YHWH (above) were compartmentalized into three pilgrimages to Jerusalem: 

    1. The First Pilgrimage was to observe the first three Feasts of YHWH, Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits.

    2. The Second Pilgrimage fifty days later was to observe the Feast of Pentecost/Harvest.

    3. The Third Pilgrimage was for the celebration of the last three Feasts of YHWH, Trumpets, Yom Kippur, and Tabernacles.

the fall feasts of yhwh

Why did Elohim command Israel to obey feasts or festivals every week, every month, seven times every year, and every fifty years? Why did Elohim command Israel to aliya or “go up” to Yerushalayim three times each year, once in the spring, again in early summer, and the final journey up in the fall to keep His feasts? That's much time away from their vocations, it was/is a lot of expense, and an abundance of packing, walking, riding, and exposure to weather and exposure to many dangers?

The Feasts of YHWH were Moadim or set times or seasons (Lev.23:2). The Feasts of YHWH were also Miqra Kodesh or Holy Convocations, meaning holy “get-togethers” for fellowship. The Feasts were for assembling. The Feasts of YHWH were also for Zikhron or remembrances (Lev.23:24), and they were Skia (Greek) or “shadows” although obscure. According to the Apostle Shaul (Paul) they were representations (Col.2:17) of the Messiah. 

In the book of 1 Corinthians Shaul wrote that the Feasts of YHWH were Poieo (poy-eh-o) or “doings;” the Feasts were drama (1 Cor. 11:24). Finally, the Feasts of YHWH were Messianic. We know this to be true since Yeshua said similar when He gave us His hermeneutic of the Holy Scriptures as recorded by the good physician Luke (Luke 24:27-44). At home where Jews lived they were to keep the weekly feast of Shabbat (Lev.23:3), the monthly holiday of Rosh Chodesh or “First Moon” (Num.28:11), and the fifty-year Feast of Jubilee (Lev.25:10). However, His seven annual Feasts were to be observed in His Holy City, Yerushalayim. In Exodus 23:14-17 God compartmentalized those seven Feasts into three aliyas or “goings up” to Yerushalayim. In the spring He requested to see Israel for Pesach (Passover), Matzot (Unleavened Bread), and Bikkurim (First Fruits), all three happening within seven days. In the summer He requested to see Israel for the Feast of Shavuot or Pentecost meaning “Harvest,” and in the fall the Jews were to visit the Holy City to see Holy God for Yom T’Ruah, the Feast of Trumpets, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. 

All three of the Fall Feasts of YHWH were/are centered on the phases of the moon and in the 7th month of the Jewish year, the seventh month being the holiest month of the twelve months. 

This year, 2019 the Feast of Trumpets occurs on September 29-30, the Feast of Yom Kippur on October 8-9, and the Feast of Sukkot or Tabernacles is October 13-20. The days encompassing these three fall feasts are “High Holy Days” for Israel, and the ten days between Trumpets and Atonement are called “the Days of Awe,” sobering days for self-examination. But, examination according to what point of reference? What was/is the grading scale of the examination? Our answer is, of course, Yeshua! He has always been the plum line!

On the 14th day of the 1st month of God’s calendar year, the month of Nisan or Aviv Yeshua fulfilled Passover as the Lamb of God dying for the sins of the world. Only by application of His blood is one redeemed! On the 15th day of the 1st month of God’s calendar year Yeshua fulfilled Unleavened Bread. His sinless body broken for us which is why we eat the unleavened bread of the Lord’s Supper or Communion. Then, on the 1st day of the week following Passover, Yeshua resurrected from the grave and He brought with Him His “firstfruits” of a resurrection, OT saints resurrected with Him and walked through Yerushalayim (Matthew 27:52), a small remnant of the harvest coming later. Fifty days later Yeshua blew in to the Upper Room and He possessed 120 persons who were waiting for the promise of His ghost. They were inhabited by Him; they became His kodesh kodeshim or “Holy of Holies.” With stammering or “jumpy” non-Hebraic lips, the Galilee boys became supernatural linguists speaking sixteen tongues that Luke records for us in Acts Chapter 2. The unbelieving Jews marveled, saying “aren’t these boys red-necks from the lake?” (Lisemby Paraphrase of Acts 2:7).

Yeshua HIMSELF fulfilled the first four of the seven Feasts of YHWH. How will He, then, fulfill the last three [Fall] Feasts of YHWH? On Yom T’Ruah the Feast of Trumpets 100 shofar blasts are heard -all day. It was a day of gathering and LeShanah Tova Tikatevu or roll-call. Will Yeshua Himself gather His people? Will there be a roll-call? On Yom Kippur the High Priest would enter the Kodesh Kodeshim or Holy of Holies to make atonement upon the Mercy Seat, then reappear to portray God having accepted His sacrifice. Yeshua has gone behind the veil, but He has not reappeared! No fear! Yeshua was the azazel or “scape goat” Who took away our sins never to be remembered/considered again. It is only by His blood that sins are forgiven and eradicated; outside His remission there is no forgiveness, and all unbelievers will experience His wrath -eternal punishment in ghenna fire. Yeshua is presently waiting for His Father to give Him the nod to return for His people. He is the High Priest soon to return. Following the Day of Atonement is the Feast of Tabernacles when Jews would make booths of branches and live in them for an extended period of time. This is reminiscent of man tabernacling with God in Gan Eden, and also reminiscent of OT High Priests dwelling with God in the Tabernacle and then the Temple. Sukkot also foreshadows man dwelling with God in the millennial kingdom. Yeshua perfectly and transparently fulfilled the first four Feasts of YHWH and He will fulfill the last three fall Feasts of YHWH. He is about to do so! Be ready!

WHY EVANGELIZE THE JEWISH PEOPLE?

Why Evangelize Jewish People?

 

The Church has a command to be a witness to EVERYONE. We often call this mandate, the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). Jewish people and in particular “Israel” are included in the “all nations” that are to be reached. All nations means, all people groups, all ethnicities. 

 

The Church also has a biblical protocol of missions which is to begin in Jerusalem, then go out to Judea (that is, the land of Judah), on outward to include Samaria (and we are still in Israel), then to the uttermost (Acts 1:8). However, Satan corrupted that mandate by deceit. “Jerusalem” came to be interpreted as the place where Christians live and gather on Sunday. Your home town is your Jerusalem. What? Think of the myriad Jerusalems that exists if we all adopt that contorted interpretation of Jerusalem. That demonic confusion was promoted by Rome and the Catholic church. Rome became the analogous new Jerusalem, the Papacy was interpreted as the new priesthood, and the Vatican became the new Temple. Baptists churches and others soon adopted the disregard for biblical prophecy and the preeminence of the geographical place, the Holy City, Jerusalem, and today your backyard if you are a Christian is your Jerusalem that you are to reach for Jesus (and the auditorium of your church is called the sanctuary).

 

Third, the Church has been given the biblical mandate of mission-izing the Jewish people. The Apostle Shaul/Paul in Romans 1:16 suggests that the power of the Gospel to all who believe, includes the Jews foremost. 

 

Fourth, the Church being a witness to the Jewish people is (in a spiritual sort of way) a Prophetic Ministry. There has always been, there now is, and there will always be a remnant (Rom.11:25,26; Rev. 7:4-8; Zechariah13:9). Reaching the remnant is to bring those whom God has given to Yeshua into His sheepfold. Amen!

 

Fifth, the Church indwelt with the love of God and for love of God is always reaching out to those who are lost. The Jewish people are lost! There is no one, Jew or Gentile who is righteous. Not one soul will enter eternity in good standing due to the sanitation of their soul and body by their own good works. We are ALL dirty, unclean, filthy, nasty, wretched, demonized at birth with the adamic nature crouching at the door ready to have us, and WE MUST -JEW AND GENTILE- master it! (Romans 3:10). The Jewish people like everyone else have a salvific need. The only remedy is a new heart!  

 

Finally, we can also say that witnessing to the Jewish people is a way (and it’s about time) to show our indebtedness and appreciation to them for spiritual things, in particular, the Gospel. This is biblical (Romans 15:27). The Apostle Shaul was soon to leave for Spain, and he was hopeful to ‘drop in’ on the believers in Rome, to enjoy their company and to be helped by them financially on his trek to Spain. But, at the moment Shaul was going to Jerusalem to help the saints there. Believers in Macedonia and Achaia had made contributions for the saints in Jerusalem who were destitute, and now Shaul writes in his letter to the Roman believers, that they as Gentile believers enjoying spiritual things, that is, the blessings from the Jews, are indebted to the Jewish believers, and should therefore minister back to them with physical things, that is, financial help!  

 

Can you, beloved, think of any spiritual blessing that you are enjoying that came to you from the Jewish people? Do you feel any indebtedness to the Jewish people? Shaul inspired by the Holy Spirit of God says you are indebted! Read it, Romans 15:27.

·  Salvation is of the Jews (John 4:22).

·  The oracles and precepts of God are from the Jews (Romans 3:1,2). Every book in the bible was written by the Jews, with [maybe] the exception of Luke, but many consider him to be Jewish.

·  The patriarchs, prophets, priests, kings, all twelve disciples were Jewish.

·  The tree to which you are grafted is Jewish (Romans 11).

·  The richness of the roots which bear you are Jewish (Romans 11:17).

·  The new covenant that saves you is totally Jewish (READ Jeremiah 31:31).

Christianity is Jewish: the prophecies; the genealogy; Bethlehem, the first Church, the first missionaries, the authors of Holy Writ, YESHUA, the Messiah, the twelve disciples, even the kingdom where you are going is Jewish!  Time to pay up, don’t you think? Please consider supporting CMI.

 

 

GARDEN IN EDEN ...YOU!

Gan גַּן “Garden”

Summation: Gan is a proper name of a location. Not just any garden or orchard is in view when Moshe was inspired to write the Torah and include the Hebrew noun, Gan (Gen 2:8), and when Ezekiel wrote of Gan Elohim that was hosted by the Cherub, Lucifer (Ezekiel 28:13). An exact real estate was in view.
Gan means an enclosed garden or orchard, and not anyone outside may stroll into the garden at their whim without an invite, nor may the tenants remain if they disobey the Land's Lord. Exile is a certain reality of mistreating the property of the owner.

Study: One morning in August of 2016 I received a message from my niece, Brooklyn. She was praying about "going up" with us to Israel in March of 2017. I told Brooklyn, "I can't wait to show you the Land, the Garden of Eden!" Brooklyn did go with and what a grand trip the thirty of us had. Is it true? Is Israel the Garden of Eden? 

Gan comes from ganan meaning "enclosure" or "fenced orchard."  The word occurs about 130 times in Holy Writ, and is first used in Genesis 2:8, "and YHWH Elohim planted a garden from the east, in Eden, and there He placed the man whom He had formed. " Gan is a proper name of a location. YeKhek'el (Ezekiel) uses the same word when he writes of the history that predates Adam and Eve; he writes of "Gan Elohim" located on the holy mountain of God, which from context we know is Mount Zion, in Israel (Ezekiel 20:40).

The fundamental meaning of gan is "to cover over, to protect/shield." Well, that is interesting, isn't it, that Gan foremost is about a plot of ground protected by a hedge, fortress, or wall. One Hebrew dictionary says the meaning of gan is "to surround, defend, and protect." A man plants a garden, his intent being to grow veggies and fruits for eating, and flowers and trees for beauty, and he intends to erect a fence to guard that plot, the work of his hands and the means of his family's sustenance and survival. He is a fool if he does not border in and fence out for his gan. One definition of gan says, "a garden locked up" (NET Bible, 1st Edition). Ganan, from which Gan is derived is used eight times in the Word and in context of the guardianship of God.

Gan Eden was a paradise and real estate provided for God's first tenants, our parents, Adam and Havva. It was a land area given them for their protection. They were soon exiled because of disobedience, but their posterity were invited back inside, and Jerusalem was and is that plot of earth that God esteemed to be His land. He calls Yerushalayim "my land" and the Bible calls it, the Garden of the Lord.  For those who travel with me to Israel (go with us; we "go up" every spring or fall) we see the remains of the garden ZecharYah calls, "the Holy Land" (Zechariah 2:12), that land promised, Avraham, Ytzack, Yaaqov, Yehudah, and David, God’s image, the Sons of God, is Israel! 

Here is another beautiful consideration, YOU are Gan Eden! Why sure you are! Elohim once lived in His garden in Eden. He then dwelt in the Tabernacle, a guarded estate, and then He dwelt in the Temple. And, now, He abides in you! You are His Temple, His estate, His dwelling, you are His garden! And, He covers you, He hedges you, He defends and protects YOU! Listen to what the prophet Y'ShaYahu (Isaiah) says, YHWH will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered gan (garden)" (Isaiah 58:11). YirmeYahu (Jeremiah) says similar, "and their life shall be like a watered garden" (31:12). In Shir haShirim or "Song of Songs" Shlomo writes, "YOU are a garden spring, a well of living water... (Jeremiah 4:15).

Final thought: is God still concerned about real estate? Yes! He was at the beginning and He never changes! At the end, the Scriptures say, "In that day, a vineyard of song; I, YHWH am its keeper; I water it every moment lest anyone damage it. I guard it night and day (Isaiah 27:2,3). The context here is His millennial rule in His kingdom, in His land, after He has put away Leviathan the serpent, the dragon, Lucifer. 

MESSIAHMAS (CHRISTMAN) IN ISRAEL

MESSIAHMAS/CHRISTMAS IN ISRAEL

THE FIRST CHRISTMAS IN ISRAEL

Israel is the land of Christmas. The prophets of Israel prophesied that God was to come to the land of Israel, to be born here, live here, die on the cursed tree planted in Yerushalayim, to be resurrected in the land of Israel, and to reign over the earth as King of Kings. God chose Yerushalayim in Israel as His seat of authority over all the earth (Zechariah). The Holy Land is truly a holy land (see, “Discovering the Holy Land from the Garden in Eden to the New Jerusalem” by Dr. Reginald K. Lisemby).

The geographic land of Israel was the stage for the events of God’s redemption of Adam and Eve and their children. Yet, not only the redemption of man, but the establishment of the kingdom of God in heaven on earth is the final chapter of His redemptive plan, and that place on earth that will be heaven on earth, is the land of Israel.

Yeshua was Israeli in every sense of the word, prophetically, culturally, and religiously. The “child born to us” was to be a child born to Israel, an Israeli! That Jewish child “born to us” was also to be a king, a king to whom “every knee will bow;” an Israeli King for the world! The magi knew this, and they studied God’s Word written in the heavens, they saw His kingly star, and they came to Israel, the land of Christmas. They came to worship the king, unknowing that the King was a Jewish baby.

The land of Israel and the kingdom of Messiah are biblically in concert. The biblical prophecies of Christmas all state that the stage of Christmas is to be the land of Israel (e.g. Isaiah 7:1-16; 9:2-7; 11:1-10; Micah 5:2). Christmas is about the towns of Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Jerusalem? Interestingly, Egypt was also a part of the Christmas story and prophetically Egypt is exempt from the everlasting curse of other nations in prophecy, and is to be blessed by God in the future.


THE GRANDMOTHERS OF CHRISTMAS
Mattityahu (Matthew) when writing his gospel was all about the Jewishness of Yeshua. He was also inspired to remember and record Yeshua’s Arab babushkas or grandmothers! 

*Tamar – a Hamite, Tamar preserved the seed of Judah (Genesis 38). God’s son was coming from the tribe of Yudah and she preserved that line, and God established her line (Matthew 1:3).
*Rahav – a Hamite/Canaanite, Rahav hid two of Israel’s dozen spies when they came to her home on the wall of Yericho. She was saved by the scarlet cord hung in her window and married the Jew, Salmon. Together, they birthed Boaz who was the great grandfather of David. Rahav was the great, great grandmother of King David (Joshua 2; 6:25; Matthew 1:5).
*Ruth –an Arab Moabitess from the descent of Lot, married Naomi’s son who died with both his brother and their father. Ruth later married Boaz, a kinsman redeemer of Naomi. Ruth and Boaz birthed Oved, the grandfather of King David (Ruth 4:21; Matthew 1:5).
*BatSheva – possibly a daughter (Bat in Hebrew means “daughter”) of Sheva, an Arab sheik (Sheva is a Semitic word for “oath”). Bethsheba married King David, and they birthed Shlomo who is in the lineage of Messiah, Yeshua (Matthew 1:6).

Yeshua was and is the Good Samaritan, not only by being the antitype or fulfillment of the good Samaritan and his good deeds, but also by His multicultural and international DNA.


HARK THE HERALD ANGELS SING

 *An Angel appeared to ZecharYah in the Temple as he burned incense (Luke 1:11).
 *An Angel spoke to ZecharYah to name his son, Yochanon, and conversed with him about the character and ministry of his son who was to be Elijah-like, the forerunner of Messiah (Luke 1:13-19).
 *An Angel [Gavriel] pronounced rebuke upon ZecharYah for his unbelief (Luke 1:19).
 *An Angel [Gavriel} appeared to the virgin, Miriam saluting her as favored and blessed six times (Luke 1:26-38).
 *An Angel appeared to Yoseph concerning Miriam’s impregnation as from the Lord God (Matthew 1:20-23).
 *An Angel appeared to the Shepherds in the fields of BeitLechem announcing to them the birth of a savior (Luke 2:9-12).
 *An Angelic invasion appeared to the shepherds, then they returned to heaven (Luke 2:13-15).
 *An Angelic vision of prophecy concerning the virgin, her child, a red dragon with its seven heads, ten horns, and seven diadems, and its tail sweeping one-third of heaven’s stars/angels was given Yochanon about Christmas (Revelation 12:1-9). A [fallen] Angel, a former Cherub was in the shadows to destroy the babe in the manger (Revelation 12:4).
 *An Angel, Michael and his angels was waging war with the dragon and his angels (Revelation 12:7-9).
 *An Angel-Star appeared to the Magi leading them to BeitLechem (Matthew 2:9).
 *An Angel appeared to Yoseph warning him to flee BeitLechem to Egypt (Matthew 2:13).
 *An Angel appeared to Yoseph saying return from Egypt to Israel (Mathew 2:19-21).


CHRISTMAS IN MODERN ISRAEL

*Bethlehem is usually visited by many tourists to the Holy Land in December, and many ministries will bring their recorders and iphones to do live broadcasts from Israel. However, Jews are unwelcome in Bethlehem and Yeshua is an unwelcome in Bethlehem as He was two-thousand years ago. Bethlehem is dominated by Muslim Arabs with who call to Allah in their prayers. The magi today would see myriad minarets in Bethlehem, rather than the roofs of Jewish synagogues on the highest hill of the town.

*Bethlehem is no longer a little town, and it is no longer a “house of bread” to Jews. There is no place for David, or Rachel the wife of Yaaqov, and not for Yeshua. There is nothing messianic about the village today.

*In Israel outside Bethlehem, Christmas is celebrated although usually in low profile. Palestinian Arab Christians may put up a tree and even some secular Jews may have a Christmas tree, although they keep it secret less their rabbi makes a call to share his forceful opinion.

*The Christian culture in Israel celebrates Christmas by sharing time and breaking bread rather than focusing on spending, buying, and gifts. Christmas is about time with family and friends, eating and conversation, fellowship and reminiscing.

*Muslims anticipate Ishmael to come and liberate the nation, Jews anticipate the Davidic-like messiah to liberate their nation, and Christians anticipate the return of Messiah Yeshua to set up His kingdom with His teachings, an offense to both Jews and Muslims.

*Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem says the aliya or “going up” Psalm 122. Its context is Christmas, that is, the throne of David being established.

WHY DARK SPIRITS BATTLE FOR THE GOLAN

WHY DARK SPIRITS BATTLE FOR THE GOLAN HEIGHTS

Today, people have no problem believing that old hotels, civil war hospitals, abandoned theme parks, or antique houses where people were once murdered, are haunted. We want to believe in the paranormal. But, speak of the seraphim, cherubs, archangels, angels, watchers, four living creatures, seven spirits, demons, powers of darkness, spiritual wicked beings in the atmosphere all battling against God and heaven and for the souls of men, and people think it all to be novel and sensational. The minds of the secular have been trained by our secular world to consider the Bible as religious literature and its characters as fairies or concocted characters for stories. However, for the true believer, the Holy Scriptures are an everlasting treasure that tells us the truths of the beginning, God, devil, man, Eden, life, death, heaven and hell, and eternity. We can and do know, that there are spirits, places can be and are haunted, although not by murdered victims or departed souls, but by deceiving spirits to distract the living from the biblical truth of dying, death, and eternity in one of two places. This being true, is it possible that wars are haunted? Are wars on earth caused by phantom powers in the atmosphere? 

Is there really a supernatural link to the battle for the Golan at the border of Israel and Syria and Lebanon?  Is the political and military struggle for the real estate bordered by the Sea of Galilee and the Hula Valley on the west, the Wadi Raqqad to the east, the Yarmouk River in the south, and Mount Hermon on the north a satanically inspired and sinister struggle set in motion from the dark spirits in the atmosphere? If so, why?

Israel regained the Golan Heights during the Six-Day War in 1967 with modern Israel’s victory and control of the Golan, the first time since one-thousand years before the days of Yeshua, over 3,000 years ago. That is amazing! And, how Israel won is miraculous. But, if we use the term miracle, we must include a consideration of angelic help for Israel, that is, God helped Israel -for some reason, which then suggests that if God helped Israel then dark powers were helping Egypt, Syria, Jordan and other enemies of Israel. Can that be true, especially since Israel is not a regenerate community of believers, a holy kingdom of saints.  

During the Six-Day War Israel tripled her land area, including the Sinai, all of southern Israel called the Negev, the West Bank, the Old City East Jerusalem, the Temple Mount, and the Golan Heights. The high place of the Golan is a 9,200 foot mountain called Mount Hermon, some think the mountain of the Transfiguration. Two-thousand years before Yeshua’s transfiguration on Hermon (if, that was indeed the place of His transfiguration), the mountain was considered by the Babylonians (who held the Jews captive in the land of Babylon) as the mountain of the divine assembly, their chief God being EL.  Near one-thousand years before the Babylonians, about 1450 BC Israel came to the land under the command of General Yehoshua and they were to take that land from the immoral Amorites. Living among the Amorites were the nasty giant-worshippers of Gezer where I recently participated in an archaeological dig (see pictures). Archaeology actually tells us more about these people and places than we get from the Bible, yet, archaeology agrees with the Holy Scriptures concerning the folk living at Gezer. The Gezerites were so dark and evil that neighboring peoples greatly feared the Amorites; one nation called Sumer in Mesopotamia (today, Iraq) built a wall 170 miles to keep out one family of the Amorites, called the Tidanu or Tidnim.  The wall was called bad martu muriq tidnim or “wall that keeps Tidanu away.” The wall was breeched and the Amorites came to rule the whole country, peoples that today are called Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and Egypt.

The Babylonians who took Israel captive in 609, 597 and 586 BC were the most renown and infamous of the Amorite dynasty. “Bad boys” is too trite. The Amorites were cultic devil-worshipping humans devoted to pagan gods, their chief gods being Yarikh and Marduk dwelling on Hermon (Lipinski, Edward. El’s Abode: Mythological Traditions Related to Mount Hermon and to the Mountains of Armenia,” Orientalia Lovanien sa Periodica 2, 1971: 19). Ezekiel, Daniel, Shadrach, Mishach, Abednego, and other Jews in Babylon certainly knew of the evil Chaldeans. Later, Havvakuk wrote of the fierce and impetious Chaldeans. Even Moshe knew of the Amorite cultic practices for he wrote of King Og of Bashan who was left of the Rephaim, his bed of iron nine cubits long and four cubits wide (Duet. 3:11). The king's bed was a cultic one, where his cohorts engaged in ritual copulation to bless the land, and his bed the same dimensions as that of Marduk in his temple in Babylon. Moshe was suggesting that Og was one of the giants (Rephaim), related to the god Marduk, an inspired ‘god’ by the devils of Babylon. Joshua said the same, “Og king of Bashan, one of the remnant of the Rephaim, who lived at Ashtarot and at Edrei and ruled over Mount Hermon and Salecah and all Bashan” (Joshua 12:4,5 ESV).

More! While at Gezer I did more than dig; I listened. When the profs and archaeologists spoke I took notes and all of them without exception said that the tunnel we worked in, was for certain cultic, and with my own eyes I saw the high ceiling cut meticulously by its long-ago inhabitants, for giants? When I returned to Neve Shalom in the evenings I spent the remaining part of the day studying and I discovered Gezer was one of the places the Philistines (who had their giants) was repelled by the fighting forces of Israel. Did the Gezerites dig the shaft down, down, down to pay homage to the netherworld? The Amorites did! They lived in the region of Bashan and Hermon the high place, and they thought it to be the entrance to the netherworld. In fact, the Amorites believed they descended from the Titans, the gods of Greek mythology.

Let us fast-forward to Yeshua’s day, to the event when He wanted His disciples to discover for themselves just Who He was. Yeshua brought His talmidim to the foot of Mount Hermon, to a place in His day called Caesarea Philippi, to a mountain where Pan (today, called the grotto of Pan) the goat-god was worshiped -along with myriad other gods. On the shelves carved in that mountain sat idols of these gods. Here, in the presence of these Baals, Kefa/Peter made his great confession concerning Yeshua, "YOU are the Son of the Living God!" Lets fast-forward again to the transfiguration of Yeshua. No one knows the mount of Transfiguration since the Scriptures do not say, but entertaining the possibility of Hermon, Yeshua chose the mountain of Hermon on the Golan to be transfigured into a being of Light pronouncing Himself as God! The God of the mountain of gods. 

In Psalm 68:15-18 is a reference to the spiritual war that has to do with God and the gods, told speaking to Mount Hermon, the mountain of Bashan, and Zion, the Mountain of YHWH (much like Shaul/Paul did in Galatians of the two mountain, Sinai and Golgatha). "O mountain of gods, mountain of Bashan; mountain of knolls, mountain of Bashan! To what you watched O mountain of knolls, [at] the Mount that Elohim desired for His abode, also YHWH will dwell forever? The chariots of God are myriads of thousands and myriad of thousands; my Lord is among them; Sinai is in the sanctuary. You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men, even among the backsliders/rebellious, that YHWH Elohim may dwell there.

Hermon is the mountain of Bashan and is NOT the mountain of God. Zion is in the OT the mountain of YHWH. Figuratively speaking, Bashan with many knolls or peaks/hills is looking to Zion with jealousy. Zion is where God YHWH desired to dwell –since the beginning of time (Ezek.28). It is possible that in early history the chariots of God led by YHWH came against the gods of that mountain, or is the psalm prophetic of the end times. It is reasonable if only by exclamation that Yeshua may have been transfigured here since He is YHWH leading captives on high, even backsliders to Himself. 

Another interesting reference to Hermon on the Golan is in the antiquity Book of 1 Enoch, “And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto  them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them and said to one another: Come, let us chose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children And Semjaza who was their leader, said unto them, I fear ye will not indeed agree to do this deed and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin. And they all answered him and said, “Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations not to abandon this place, but to do this thing. Then sware they all together end abound themselves by mutual imprecation upon it. And they were in all two hundred; who descend in the day of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon and they called it Mount Hermon because they had sown and bound themselves by mutual imprecation sup it." It appears from the famous (although not inspired) book of Enoch that the titans, who may have been the "Watchers" began their rebellion on Mount Hermon before the flood of Noach, Mount Hermon where throughout history, the gods or demons of the Sumerians, Amorites, Arameans, Assyrians, Babylonians, Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans were worshipped. It is also probable that these gods are the ones behind Catholicism, Buddhism, and Islam, and the gods have their eyes fixed on the land YHWH has decreed for Spiritual Israel and their Messiah Yeshua.

In these last days, modern unbelieving Israel will come to anticipate a messiah like unto David, a geopolitical messiah, and they may welcome a god Raphim from Hermon. 

Sensational? Fiction? In the beginning was a holy land, Eden where YHWH dwelt in a pristine environment until evil was found in satan (Ezekiel 28). He was exiled from that land. YHWH made man in His image and placed His image in the garden in Eden. That man was beguiled by satan to sin, and man was exiled, although promised a messianic savior to come. YHWH later sought a man in the east and brought him back westward to His holy land and Abraham entered it. YHWH promised the land of milk and honey, His garden to Abraham, and a seed from Abraham to inherit the Holy Land. When Israel sinned both the northern confederacy and later the southern confederacy were exiled. Soon, the seed of Avraham came as YHWH replicated Himself into a human although with purposed limitations using Miriam’s genome. The messiah and son of God, the king of Israel was prophesied to sit upon the throne of David in a land, in a holy city, upon the Temple Mount, the Mountain of Zion. Will the chief of the gods do the same? Allowed by YHWH of course for His mysterious reason, will the gods of Hermon continue to fight in the heavenly realm for the Golan and its chief mountain, Mount Hermon, and produce another messiah-like person, the "instead of" messiah, or antichrist to deceive Israel, to cause Israel to flee the land “to the rock,” and possess the realm of the real estate where in the beginning satan cast his five “I Wills?” 

Lets fast-forward one more time to the year 1867 when General Sir Warren of the British Royal Engineers came to Israel and began to dig. Warren is best known for discovering the Warrens Shaft in Jerusalem, a channel cut into rock connecting Jerusalem’s old city to the Gihon Spring in the days of David (where, by-the-by, we always take our mission/tour groups). Warren also conducted the first archaeological dig under the Temple Mount. But his finds on Mount Hermon are also intriquing. 

ORIGIN OF THE NAMES OF MONTHS

ORIGINS OF NAMES OF MONTHS

 JANUARY – Roman god Janus, “god of beginnings.”

 FEBRUARY – Roman Februa, festival of “cleansing.”

 MARCH – Roman, Mars god of war.

 APRIL – Roman Apero meaning “second” was originally the second month; became fourth in Roman calendar shift.

 MAY – Greek goddess Maia daughter of Atlas and Hermes.

 JUNE – Roman goddess Juno wife of Jupiter.

 JULY – birth month of Julius Caesar, named for him.

 AUGUST – Roman Augustus 1^st emperor of Rome.

 SEPTEMBER – Latin Septem for “seven.”

 OCTOBER – Latin Octo for “eight.”

 NOVEMBER – Latin Novem for “nine”

 DECEMBER – Latin Decem for “ten.”

In 46 BC the Julian Calendar began which shifted all months forward to create the calendar we have today. We are still very much influenced by Rome -especially our government!

THE FEASTS OF YHWH

THE FEASTS OF YHWH

Why Did YHWH Give National Holidays and Command Israel to Observe Them?

·  First, the Feasts of YHWH are Moadim meaning, “set times” or “seasons.” The Feasts were agricultural (Lev.23:2).

·  Second, the Feasts of YHWH are Miqra Kodesh or “holy convocations;” they are holy assemblies. God wants His people to come together -like family!

·  Third, the Feasts of YHWH are Zikhronot or “remembrances.” The Feasts are memorials (Lev.23:24).  

·  The Feasts of YHWH, each one is a Skia (Grk) or a “shadow.” The Feasts are Representations of someone [coming] (Col.2:17).

·  The Feasts of YHWH, each one is Poieo (Grk) meaning “drama” (1 Cor. 11:24). The Feasts are for “doing” that reveal the mysteries of our great God.

·  The Feasts of YHWH are also Messianic. They hallmark the Messiah (Luke 24:27-44); they are all about Him!

What Are the Biblical Feasts of YHWH?

·  The WEEKLY Festival is Shabbat, a weekly holiday of rest (Lev.23:3).

·  The MONTHLY Festival is Rosh Chodesh, a monthly holiday recognizing the new moon (Num.28:11).

·  The ANNUAL and Agricultural Feasts are the following: 

1. Pesach/Passover (Lev.23:5), the 14^th day of the first month of the year (not January, but March/April).

2. Chag HaMatzot/Unleavened Bread, the 15^th of the first month (Lev.23:6).

3. Bikkurim/First Fruits (Lev.23:10-12) the 1^st day of the week following Passover, thus always on Sunday.

4. Shavuot/Weeks or Pentecost/Harvest, fifty days following Passover (Lev.23:15-21).

5. Yom T’Ruach/Trumpets (Lev.23:24), the first day of the 7^th month.

6. Yom Kippur/Atonement (Lev.23:27), the tenth day of the 7^th month (following Trumpets), the most solemn feast of the year.

7. Sukkot/Tabernacles (Lev.23:33-36), the 15^th day of the 7^th month (following Yom Kippur); it is the last of the seven annual Feasts of YHWH.

·  The 50 YEAR Festival, the Feast of Yoval or the Ram’s Horn (shofar) called Jubilee (Lev.25:10). It is the Feast of Release!

There are two Post-Exilic Feast of Israel. Although not given by YHWH, these are mentioned in the Bible.

·  The POST EXILIC Festivals:

1. Purim/Lots (Esther 9:26-32) which is the feast remembering the seed of woman Judah, was saved by a woman, Queen Hadassah or Esther. It is held on the 14^th day of Adar (late winter, early spring).

2. Chanukah/Dedication (2 Maccabees; Yochanon 10:22) which is the Feast commemorating the cleansing of the Temple by the Maccabees and Israel in 165 BC. It is held on 25^th day of Kislev (corresponding to 25^th of December).

Modern Israel has also inaugurated modern holidays.

·  Yom HaShoah/Day of the Burning (Holocaust Memorial). This is a national remembrance of the 6 million Jews who died in the ovens of Nazi Germany.

·  Yom HaAtzma’ut/Day of Independence (May 14). This is Israel’s Celebration of Independence.

Where were the Biblical Feasts of YHWH to be Observed?

·  God Desired Israel to make three pilgrimages to see Him in Jerusalem (Exo.23:14-17).

·  The Seven Annual Feasts of YHWH (above) were compartmentalized into three pilgrimages to Jerusalem: 

1.      The First Pilgrimage was to observe the first three Feasts of YHWH, Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits.

2.      The Second Pilgrimage fifty days later was to observe the Feast of Pentecost/Harvest.

3.      The Third Pilgrimage was for the celebration of the last three Feasts of YHWH, Trumpets, Yom Kippur, and Tabernacles.

THE FALL FEASTS OF ISRAEL

Why did Elohim command Israel to obey feasts or festivals each week, every month, and every fifty years where they resided, and commanded Israel to aliya or “go up” to Yerushalayim three times each year, once in the spring, again in early summer, and the final journey up in the fall? That's much time away from their vocations, a lot of expense, and a lot of packing, walking, riding and exposure to weather -exposure to many dangers!

The Feasts of YHWH were Moadim or set times or seasons (Lev.23:2). The Feasts of YHWH were also Miqra Kodesh or Holy Convocations, meaning holy “get-togethers” for fellowship. The Feasts were for assembling. The Feasts of YHWH were also for Zikhron or remembrances (Lev.23:24), and they were Skia (Greek) or “shadows” although obscure; they were representations, said the Apostle Shaul (Col.2:17) of the Messiah. 

In the book of 1 Corinthians Shaul wrote that the Feasts of YHWH were Poieo (poy-eh-o) or “doings;” the Feasts were drama (1 Cor. 11:24). Finally, the Feasts of YHWH were Messianic. We know this to be true since Yeshua said similar when He gave us His hermeneutic of the Holy Scriptures as recorded by the good physician Luke (Luke 24:27-44).  At home where Jews lived they were to keep the weekly feast of Shabbat (Lev.23:3), the monthly holiday of Rosh Chodesh or “First Moon” (Num.28:11), and the fifty-year Feast of Jubilee (Lev.25:10). However, His seven annual Feasts were to be observed in His Holy City, Yerushalayim. In Exodus 23:14-17 God compartmentalized those seven Feasts into three aliyas or “goings up” to Yerushalayim. In the spring He requested to see Israel for Pesach (Passover), Matzot (Unleavened Bread), and Bikkurim (First Fruits), all three happening within seven days. In the summer He requested to see Israel for the Feast of Shavuot or Pentecost meaning “Harvest,” and in the fall the Jews were to visit the Holy City to see Holy God for Yom T’Ruah, the Feast of Trumpets, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. All three of the Fall Feasts of YHWH were/are centered on the phases of the moon and in the 7^th month of the Jewish year, the seventh month being the holiest month of the twelve months.

This year, 2019 the Feast of Trumpets occurs on September 29-30, the Feast of Yom Kippur on October 8-9, and the Feast of Sukkot or Tabernacles is October 13-20. The days encompassing these three fall feasts are “High Holy Days” for Israel, and the ten days between Trumpets and Atonement are called “the Days of Awe,” sobering days for self-examination. But, examination according to what point of reference? What was/is the grading scale of the examination? Our answer is, of course, Yeshua! He has always been the plum line! 

On the 14^th day of the 1^st month of God’s calendar year, the month of Nisan or Aviv Yeshua fulfilled Passover as the Lamb of God dying for the sins of the world.  Only by application of His blood is one redeemed! On the 15^th day of the 1^st month of God’s calendar year Yeshua fulfilled Unleavened Bread. His sinless body broken for us which is why we eat the unleavened bread of the Lord’s Supper or Communion. Then, on the 1^st day of the week following Passover, Yeshua resurrected from the grave and He brought with Him His “firstfruits” of a resurrection, OT saints resurrected with Him and walked through Yerushalayim (Matthew 27:52), a small remnant of the harvest coming later.  Fifty days later Yeshua blew in to the Upper Room and He possessed 120 persons who were waiting for the promise of His ghost. They were inhabited by Him; they became His kodesh kodeshim or “Holy of Holies.” With stammering or “jumpy” non-Hebraic lips, the Galilee boys became supernatural linguists speaking sixteen tongues that Luke records for us in Acts Chapter 2. The unbelieving Jews marveled, saying “aren’t these boys red-necks from the lake?” (Lisemby Paraphrase of Acts 2:7). 

Yeshua HIMSELF fulfilled the first four of the seven Feasts of YHWH. How will He, then, fulfill the last three [Fall] Feasts of YHWH? On Yom T’Ruah the Feast of Trumpets 100 shofar blasts are heard -all day. It was a day of gathering and LeShanah Tova Tikatevu or roll-call. Will Yeshua Himself gather His people? Will there be a roll-call? On Yom Kippur the High Priest would enter the Kodesh Kodeshim or Holy of Holies to make atonement upon the Mercy Seat, then reappear to portray God having accepted His sacrifice. Yeshua has gone behind the veil, but He has not reappeared! No fear! Yeshua was the azazel or “scape goat” Who took away our sins never to be remembered/considered again.  It is only by His blood that sins are forgiven and eradicated; outside His remission there is no forgiveness, and all unbelievers will experience His wrath -eternal punishment in ghenna fire. 

Yeshua is presently waiting for His Father to give Him the nod to return for His people. He is the High Priest soon to return. Following the Day of Atonement is the Feast of Tabernacles when Jews would make booths of branches and live in them for an extended period of time. This is reminiscent of man tabernacling with God in Gan Eden, and also reminiscent of OT High Priests dwelling with God in the Tabernacle and then the Temple. Sukkot also foreshadows man dwelling with God in the millennial kingdom. Yeshua perfectly and transparently fulfilled the first four Feasts of YHWH and He will fulfill the last three fall Feasts of YHWH. He is about to do so! Be ready!