Yesterday was Yom Kippur according to the Creator's Calendar. I would like to make a distinction here between the Creator's Calendar and the Rabbinic Jewish calendar, although I know many believers in Yeshua do go by the traditional Jewish, or rabbinic one.
The Creator's calendar goes according to the written scriptures, the TANAKH (or Old Testament) and is dictated by the moon cycles and the state of ripeness of the barley called "aviv". YHVH gave this calendar so that we, His creation, could easily and discernably know His moedim (or feasts), even before the age of technology, the internet, or even telescopes. The average farmer could look at the sky and discern which season it was and also when the feast days were. Our Elohim did not want us to be ignorant, nor did He want us to miss our appointments (moedim) with Him.
The rabbinic calendar was established by the last Sanhedrin to convene in Israel before Israel would once again go into exile, after the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 A.D. The rabbis established a calendar which all of world Jewry could participate in the festivals while they were in exile because they would not be in the Land of Israel to declare the onset of the New Year in the spring with the "aviv" barley harvests and the sighting of the New Moon. This system worked while Israel was in exile.
However, Israel is now no longer in exile. She is established back in her own land and can once again follow the Creator's calendar the way He prescribed it in the scriptures. How else will she be able to discern the times and seasons of YHVH, especially at and near the end of the age? Yeshua chastized the pharisees for folowing man's traditions instead of rightly discerning the times and seasons (specifically Yeshua's first coming) according to the written Word, the Torah, which they had been custodians of for centuries. How much more will He chastize those who, now that we have the restoration of His calendar, are willfully ignorant or neglectful?
Despite the fact that Israel is back in the Land and can observe the onset of the new year according to the state of the barley and the moon cycles, they continue, for the most part, to follow the rabbinic Jewish calendar. This calendar is usually off from the Creator's calendar by as much as a week or 2. "So what?" You may say. As long as we are all doing the festivals, who cares on which days we actually do them, right? Wrong!
No word in scripture is put in there by accident. There is not ONE idle word. Every command, every instruction is put there for a reason and you bet our God has a plan for every one of them. When it comes to the fall feasts in particular, our Father in Heaven has a very specific purpose He will fulfill with them (including the fall feasts prior to and leading up to the second coming of Yeshua). That is why Yeshua was always telling parables about servants who were watching and waiting for their master to return. Likewise, our Elohim has a very specific timeline He will follow during this time. Guess who else will have a specific plan to fulfill during the time of the end? That is right- ha satan (the devil)and his false, or counterfeit messiah, also called the son of lawlessness, the son of perdition, and the antichrist. Knowing when YOUR Messiah is expected to show up is crucial. Whoever heard of a bride who did not know when her wedding would take place? What's worse, the bride does not want to show up for the WRONG WEDDING!
Is that possible? Matthew 24:24 seems to think so. It says: For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect-if that were possible.
In the Greek language of this manuscript of Matthew, the implication seems to be that it WILL be possible that the elect could be deceived. Remember Yeshua said see to it that NO MAN deceives you! He would not say that if it were not possible, for He knows it is written in Jeremiah that the human heart is deceitfully wicked above ALL ELSE and who can know its contents? So the human heart can even be deceitful above all that is created....including the devil himself. And he will decieve with false and lying signs and wonders in the last days.
Therefore, we must look diligently at the fruit of anyone claiming to be His in these last hours. This is something that is a continual learning process for me. However, I know for sure there are three criteria which are ESSENTIAL in order to detect the real from the fake:
#1 Does the (person being considered) follow the Torah? The Torah is the plumbline for all who come in the Name of YHVH and with His authority. If they are torahless or lawless in their attitudes concerning Yah's instructions, that person IS NOT sent from Elohim and is false or in the least, in error. Oftentimes a person or ministry will simply be in error, following man-taught false relgion and simply needs to be corrected and warned. Doing the correcting or warning does not make one popular to say the least, but it is necessary. Giving the message they need to hear in order to turn around (repent) is crucial.
#2 Yeshua of Nazareth IS the Son of God, and the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Period. If teaching or people attempts to negate this fact or minimize or erase it, ditch that teaching. We do not have forgiveness for our sins apart from Messiah. He came and fulfilled every spring feast of YHVH to the tee. Our righteousness is as filthy rags in His sight, and, contrary to what rabbinic judaism may teach, righteous works or deeds (mitzvot) will not get you forgiveness or entry into Heaven. This goes for Jews as well as for Gentiles. I know some believers who have renounced Yeshua in order to fit in to Judaism or even to imigrate to Israel.
#3 Does the (person, teaching, or ministry being considered), follow the timeline of YHVH as evidenced in the Torah?? Only YHVH and His representatives will do according to His commanded feasts. The false Messiah, as the prophet Daniel foretold, has CHANGED the times and seasons to seek to deceive the elect. The solar calendar by which the world goes by today was changed many years ago. The anti-messiah knows this is a very important step in tripping up those who have responded to the Good News. Yeshua was not born on Dec 25th and crucified on Good Friday with an Easter Sunday resurrection. That is counterfeit. He was crucified on Passover and raised on Firstfruits. Anything else is a false Yeshua, no matter what name they call him by, and the author is satan. Flee from such a counterfeit.
In the TANAKH, a prophet of Elohim was determined by if what he said came to pass, AND if he followed the Torah. If a prophet came, prophesied future events ACCURATELY, and yet said, "Come, let us follow other gods...." that person was a FALSE PROPHET and you were not to follow or obey him. In fact, that person would be taken outside the camp and stoned.
So it is no surprise NOTHING has CHANGED! We are still to hold up teaching to the Torah to see if it be a counterfeit fake, or if it be the real deal from YHVH.
That is why it may have been a non-deal-breaker-issue to follow the rabbinic calendar in the past, but why it is oh-so-important to be not only learning about the appointed times of YHVH in these last days, but to be WALKING IN THEM. For the whole Hebrew concept of "To hear" (Shema Yisrael....) is TO DO. We receive deeper and clearer understanding of His instructions AS WE DO THEM.
I ALMOST MISSED THE APPOINTMENT!
In the sixth month, I missed the sighting of the new moon. I was devastated. In fact, I had a holy envy when I had heard that the beloved believers had gathered the night prior and sighted the new moon, blowing the shofar and enjoying felowship on this feast when I had forgotten. I had been looking forward to it, but because we had had a really busy week and I was exhausted, I let my focus drift. It is so easy to do! I knew this was an important month to be "watching" for, for it led up to the seventh month, the first day of which THIS YEAR declared a very important season on Elohim's prophetic calendar (the beginning of Daniel's 70th Week-see article entitled Season of Sorrow Season of Joy). I was grieved in the way a lover is grieved about missing a date with her beloved. I felt like I really missed out. And knowing that it is oh so easy to get into drift mode in this day and age, I did not want to start slacking and falling back asleep. Yeshua warned against becoming weighed down with drunkeness, debauchery, and the cares of this life. I don't know one person who can say their life is not full of cares right now. Even if they habitually give them over to Elohim. Joblessness, finances, children running amok or in danger of doing so, sickness, sleeplessness (hello-that's my achilles heel!). And yet, in all of His parables, Yeshua made clear that it is the faithful servant who seeks.
Fortunately for me, I have brothers and sisters in the faith who help to keep me on track, encourage me, and keep in touch, sharpening me. Thankfully, I was ready for Yom Teruah the following month. Also, thankfully, the instructions for finding the Creators calendar are clear in the Word. And despite all the spiritual warfare onslaught which sought to distract me and prevent me from making my appointment (family sicknesses, and cooties, teething baby, exhaustion, and husband's work schedule), I was there to sight the new moon of the seventh month with my husband and children in a nearby soccer field. My husband blew the shofar and my 3 year old son blew his toy shofar. We had some fellow believers from the Sonora fellowship on speakerphone with us who were blowing the shofar at the same time, making it a holy convocation sponsored by T-Mobile. No, just joking. But it was joyful and I'm sure we gave the soccer players and their parents quite a show they had not anticipated!
Ten days later came Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement- a day of no work, of denying oneself, and reflecting on the sacrifice atonement of our Messiah, Yeshua. He paid for it ALL, once and for all (see Hebrews 7:27 and 9:12).
PERSONAL REFLECTIONS ON THE FALL FEASTS
This fall was the first year I had stopped giving lip service to observing the Sabbath days and festivals and actually started doing them. In the spring, it was the first time I had actually observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread, abstaining from foods containing yeast, and this fall was the first time I observed Yom Teruah as prescribed on the correct date.
Ya know, something wonderful happened. Even amidst all the hindrances the enemy tried to bring. Our Father is wise and knows if we diligently seek Him, if we really invest in finding Him, that it will be all the more rewarding for us. And we will be permanently changed. Perhaps this is one of the reasons He allows us to come across hindrances to the truth in the first place. Still, I felt for the first time in my life, like I was truly in the middle of the will of the Father, because it was there in plain sight in the scriptures, regardless and in spite of "evidence" in the natural to the contrary, and in spite of my feelings, because it was important for me to obey no matter what happened. Like it was practice for obedience when true adversity comes. I feel like something was added to my character. Moreover, I felt like the Father was giving me insight into how as Creator He has ordered everything in His will perfectly. Even the bad stuff that happens in life. He wants the gold in us. He wants to refine us according to His image, rather than the image of the world.
And El Shaddai has even provided for us in giving us His moedim. If you subscribe to the last days scenario, as many of you do, which says that Elohim will treat the remnant as He did our forefathers bringing them out of Egypt by bringing them out of Babylon, through the wilderness during the time of the great tribulation (last three and a half years prior to Messiah's return), and care for the "woman" in the desert (see Revelation 12), then there must be a plan of sustenance, and even provision for her. These are the things that have occured to me this fall that I have never realized before. YHVH has provided for His people in His appointed feasts, as they are meant to be rehearsals to ready us for the time of trial ahead:
* Yom Teruah- The sound of the shofar opens our ears (awakens us) to His feasts/appointments, which we need to be paying attention to in the last days. "Hear O Israel..."
*Yom Kippur- in addition to turning our attention to the hideousnes of sin in the eyes of Abba, and Yeshua's atoning sacrifice for all of our sins, the fasting itself prepares the remnant for times of dying to self, and maybe even times of literal hunger and thirst. When His people who have come out of the great tribulation and have washed their robes and stand before the throne, Revelation 7:16 says "Never again will they hunger. Never again will they thirst...." Surely there must be some hungering and thirsting ahead of us (next year's famine perhaps?) and so having been prepared spiritually for this must be important.
*Sukkot, or the Feast of Tabernacles, in addition to being the Festival of Joy and the wedding feast to be fulfilled when Yeshua returns for His thousand year reign, also prepares the people of YHVH to live in tents, literally, to live in tents as the children of Israel did in the desert. The remnant will be preserved in the wilderness once she "Comes out of.." Babylon prior to Yeshua's coming. It is there YHVH meets with her face to face in the wilderness. There the Bride's garments will be made spotless; He will protect her and provide for her. If she has already been obeying Elohim by walking in His ways (observing His moedim), then she will be used to doing this at this time every year. It will not seem like such a major adjustment.
What a kind and merciful God! He has already provided (centuries) before we even had the need! NOW I SEE THAT HIS FEASTS WERE MEANT TO PROVIDE FOR US DURING THE TIME OF THE END, THE TIME OF GREAT TRIBULATION DURING WHICH IS THE TIME OF GREATEST SORROWS AS THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN.* I never saw this truth before I started being obedient, truly obedient to walk in His ways.
Up until fairly recently, I had been looking forward to this coming season with dread and fear. When I had heard that Elohim provided such a plan for His people and that this scenario was possibly painted in the scriptures, I suddenly had total peace. In fact, brother Don shared this with one of the Torah groups recently and I went home and exclaimed to my husband, "I'm not scared anymore!" My husband was so thankful to hear that! Even if I do not make it to that point in Abba's plan, I am rest assured that no matter what, His plan is supreme and it is sovereignly perfect.
While the earth will be reaping the judgement for what it has sown for all of its sin, lawlessness, murders, witchcrafts, and defilements, our Father God will be providing and protecting a remnant of people as His own and teaching them His ways, meeting with them in love and mercy. Although I do know there will be great persecution against the saints when the anti-messiah will be given power "to make war against the saints and to overcome them" (Revelation 13:7) and many followers of Yeshua will be asked to follow literally in the footsteps of the Savior and give their lives as martyrs, the fact remains that YHVH has set aside a remnant to preserve and keep during this time who will also give Him glory. And this so encourages my faith.
Shalom!
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