The Fall Feasts are coming up!

The Fall Feasts are coming up! 

Unfortunately, many don't realize that ADONAI commanded HIS people to keep them, and He even set specific times for them. Whereas the Seventh Day Sabbath (which falls on Saturday on our Gregorian calendar) is our “weekly date” with God; the “mo’edim” (Appointed Times/Feasts) are our “yearly dates” with Him. 

YES – they are our specified DATES with our amazing Creator!

What’s more, Yeshua has so far fulfilled the first FOUR of the Seven.  (You can read about all seven on our website’s article outlining the feasts and their respective purposes:  https://www.therefinersfire.org/feasts2.htm)

In this article, however, we will concentrate only on the upcoming FALL Feasts:  Yom Teruah (Trumpets)/Rosh Hashana); Yom Kippur/Day of Atonement; and Sukkot/Tabernacles.  Each of YHWH’s Feasts are unique, designed for a special purpose.  Take a look:

Yom Teruah (Trumpets)/Rosh Hashana (A Shabbat/Holy Day): This Feast on Tishri 1, falls in the September/October timeframe. Leviticus 23:23-25 says: ADONAI said to Moshe, "Tell the people of Isra'el, 'In the seventh month, the first of the month is to be for you a day of complete rest for remembering, a holy convocation announced with blasts on the shofar. Do not do any kind of ordinary work, and bring an offering made by fire to ADONAI.'"

It is the Jewish Civil New Year; the creation of the world, according to tradition; the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve and their first actions toward the realization of man's role in the world; of the first sin that was committed and resulting repentance; a day when YHWH takes stock of all of His Creation, which includes all of humanity. It's a rehearsal for the day when the bridegroom will come to claim us, his bride, who are betrothed to Him.

Rosh Hashanah is celebrated not with fireworks and champagne but with family meals and introspection. During this Festival, the blowing of shofars (rams' horns) signifies the bringing together of God's people, warning them to repent during the coming "days of awe" (the 10 days between Trumpets and the Day of Atonement).

According to tradition, during this time YHWH's people are to concentrate all their efforts into making amends with their brethren and apologizing for past offenses. However, what most traditional Jews do not yet realize is that this Feast is the next one to be fulfilled by Yeshua, because when the trumpets will sound and the true believers in Messiah Yeshua will be gathered/resurrected (I Thess. 4:13-18, I Cor. 15:50-54).

This Feast also signals the call for repentance, for the time is short and Judgment is coming upon the Earth - whether people are read, or not! (See the Book of Revelation.)

Yom Kippur/Day of Atonement - a Shabbat/High Holy Day on which we fast, repent and bare our souls to YHWH, asking Him to forgive us anything we may have done throughout the year that was not pleasing to Him: This solemn day represents the need for the sacrifice/sin offering that must be made for the sins of the nation.

(Yeshua, of course, WAS that "Sacrifice" (actually, "Offering" is a better word, because no one "sacrificed" him; he martyred himself), and he will be recognized for it at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb which may (judging by how close together the Fall Festivals are) take place immediately after Rosh Hashana/the "catching-up of YHWH's people" just BEFORE we all return with Yeshua to fulfill the Feast of Tabernacles, wherein he will "tabernacle" among us for the next thousand years!)

Celebrated on Tishri 10, this mo'ed falls in the September/October time frame. Leviticus 16:29 tells us: "It is to be a permanent regulation for you that on the tenth day of the seventh month you are to deny yourselves and not to do any kind of work, both the citizen and the foreigner living with you. For on this day, atonement will be made for you to purify you; you will be clean before ADONAI from all your sins. It is a Shabbat of complete rest for you, and you are to deny yourselves. This is a permanent regulation."

This Festival represents the need for the sacrifice/sin offering that must be made for the sins of the nation. As the Bible tells us, Messiah shall descend to put to an end the sins of Israel. (Remember, "Israel" includes ALL who believe in and follow the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!)

At that time the Jews will mourn for the "One who was pierced" and FINALLY recognize that Yeshua was their Messiah, all along! This day will be fulfilled upon the Second Coming of Messiah to the Earth (Matt. 23:37-39, Hos. 5:15 thru 6:1-3, Zech. 13:8,9 Zech. 12:10, Zech. 13:1, Ezekiel 16:61-63).

This mo'ed signals the call for repentance, for the time is short and Judgment is coming upon the Earth - whether people are ready, or not! (See the Books of Daniel and Revelation.)

Tabernacles/Sukkot (Shabbats are on the 1st and 8th day): A week-long holiday that reminds of us the hardships of Israel's 40 years in the wilderness and provides us with insight into the correct birth date of our awesome Messiah who was born on the first day of Sukkot and circumcised on the eighth!

Sukkot, as seen in Leviticus 23: 33-37, is celebrated five days after Yom Kippur. It is a week-long holiday that reminds of us the hardships of Israel's 40 years in the wilderness and provides us with insight into the correct birth date of our awesome Messiah. Yeshua, our Savior was born during the Feast of Sukkot (not on the 25th of December, which is a Christian myth!) and circumcised on the eighth day.

Because there was no room at the inn because of the census (Luke 2:7), Miriam and Yosef (Mary and Josef) ended up in a "sukkah" - a temporary dwelling. Bethlehem is only about 5 miles from Jerusalem and so Yeshua was born there because was no room at the inn. The name Bethlehem means "House Of Bread". And as we all know, Y'shua is the Bread of Life" (see John 6:43-51).

Celebrated on Tishri 15, this Feast falls in the September/October timeframe. It is outlined in Deuteronomy 16:13 - 15, where YHWH tells the Israelites: "You are to keep the festival of Sukkot for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing-floor and winepress. Rejoice at your festival - you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, the L'vi'im (Levites), and the foreigners, orphans and widows living among you. Seven days you are to keep the festival for ADONAI your God in the place ADONAI your God will choose, because ADONAI your God will bless you in all your crops and in all your work, so you are to be full of joy!

Leviticus 23:39-43: "'But on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered the produce of the land, you are to observe the festival of ADONAI seven days; the first day is to be a complete rest and the eighth day is to be a complete rest. On the first day you are to take choice fruit, palm fronds, thick branches and river-willows, and celebrate it in the presence of ADONAI your God for seven days. You are to observe it as a feast to ADONAI seven days in the year; it is a permanent regulation, generation after generation; keep it in the seventh month. You are to live in sukkot for seven days; every citizen of Isra'el is to live in a sukkah, so that generation after generation of you will know that I made the people of Isra'el live in sukkot when I brought them out of the land of Egypt; I am ADONAI your God.'"

Did you notice that all Israel is to live in a sukkah for seven days? While some rabbis believe that only those who physically live in Israel need to live in temporary dwellings, the fact is, all are commanded to keep this Feast, and so the least we can do (unless the family is into camping and wants to live in a sukkah for the whole seven days) is build a sukkah in our back yards and eat a meal there at least once during this festival.

Sukkot serves as a reminder of the days in the wilderness when YHWH's people were forced to reside in tents/huts or temporary dwellings - a reminder of our temporary lives on Earth. It will be fulfilled by the ingathering of the "Final Harvest" of souls just prior to the setting up of the kingdom of the Messiah on Earth.

Philipppians 2:10-11 tells us in that day Yeshua will reign from Jerusalem and "every knee will bow in heaven, on earth and under the earth” – and “every tongue will acknowledge” him. His Kingdom is to last 1,000 years before the eternal order begins in the "new heaven and new earth (Revelation 21)!