Our Torah portion this week is Exodus 6:2-9:35.
As we have seen, God has provided sign posts along the way to point us in what direction the future will take us. These examples are called the feasts of God. Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, and the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) physically occurred during the days of Moses, but alluded to the days of our Messiah Yeshua. He died on Passover, was in the grave during the first part of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, He rose on the Feast of First Fruits, and the Holy Spirit was given on the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost). However, the fall feasts have yet to be fulfilled by Messiah. They are the Feast of Trumpets, the Feast of Atonements, and the Feast of Tabernacles. (Messiah was born on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, so this one is actually partially fulfilled.) As believers we need to pay close attention to when these feasts occur each year. Is it possible that this is the year when we will hear the shout of the archangel and the trump of God on the Feast of Trumpets?
From our reading of Exodus this week we see that the Exodus is meant as a kind of sign post as well. A summary of what God was accomplishing can be found in Exodus 6.
Exodus 6:6-8 (KJV)
6
Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:
7
And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
8
And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD.
Notice the number of times that God has said, "I will ...." These are the things that God would accomplish by the Exodus. They are:
I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
I will rid you out of their bondage.
I will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great judgments.
I will take you to me for a people.
I will be to you a God.
I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage.
Often we read these statements without realizing how they apply to believers today. Just like the feasts of God, these "I wills" have been and will be fulfilled by our Messiah Yeshua.
Yeshua will bring us out from under the burden of sin.
Yeshua will rid us out of the bondage of sin.
Yeshua will redeem us with a stretched out arm and with great judgments.
Yeshua will take us for a people.
Yeshua will be to us a God.
Yeshua will bring us in unto the land.
When Yeshua died on the cross and rose from the dead, He defeated sin and death. When we trust in Yeshua He saves us from the burden and bondage of sin. We become free to follow and obey Him. One day Yeshua will return and will redeem us with a stretched out arm and with great judgments against Satan and the systems of the world. We will be His people and He will be our God. Finally, He will bring us into our eternal home in the new earth where we will experience everlasting life with Him.
This should bring us great joy!!! But are there other lessons and examples in the Exodus that point to Messiah Yeshua? Let's not treat the Exodus as only a good Bible story, but let's dig down deep and discover the riches that God has for us there.
Showing posts with label Feast of Trumpets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Feast of Trumpets. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Let's Celebrate!
It's getting to be that time of year again. We will soon be in the midst of all the hype, decorations, store displays, and sales that surround the coming of Christmas. Although there are some who despise the commercial aspects of the season, most are truly excited to enter into the special peace and joy that Christmas represents. We love the traditions, the smells, the gifts, the sounds, and the time of family sharing that come with the holiday. God made us that way!
But God didn't give us Christmas to satisfy those cravings. Christmas developed around a date that was traditionally celebrated as the birth date of a number of pagan deities. The date of December 25th was specifically chosen in order to co-opt a pagan holiday and somehow turn it into the celebration of the Son of God's birth. Unfortunately, no matter how you dress up and change the language of pagan idolatry, that day remains corrupted.
But God didn't leave us without days of celebration! In His Word He gave us many feast days to celebrate over the course of the year. All we need to do is turn to Leviticus 23. Here we find the days that we are commanded to observe.
Leviticus 23:1-2 (KJV)
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.
The following are listed: the seventh day (Saturday) Sabbath, Passover, the feast of Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, the feast of Weeks (or Pentecost), the feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonements, and the feast of Tabernacles (booths).
But God didn't give us Christmas to satisfy those cravings. Christmas developed around a date that was traditionally celebrated as the birth date of a number of pagan deities. The date of December 25th was specifically chosen in order to co-opt a pagan holiday and somehow turn it into the celebration of the Son of God's birth. Unfortunately, no matter how you dress up and change the language of pagan idolatry, that day remains corrupted.
But God didn't leave us without days of celebration! In His Word He gave us many feast days to celebrate over the course of the year. All we need to do is turn to Leviticus 23. Here we find the days that we are commanded to observe.
Leviticus 23:1-2 (KJV)
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.
The following are listed: the seventh day (Saturday) Sabbath, Passover, the feast of Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, the feast of Weeks (or Pentecost), the feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonements, and the feast of Tabernacles (booths).
Each one is unique and serves various purposes for celebration. But it is the feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot in Hebrew) that reminds us most of the joy and peace of Christmas.
Leviticus 23:34,40-43 (KJV)
34 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD.
40 And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.
41 And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.
42 Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths:
43 That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
This week of celebration comes on the heel of the days of repentance, which is culminated by the Day of Atonements. We are confronted by our failures, our sin, and our wretchedness before God. But then we put up our sukkot (our tent-like booths with branches for roofs). We truly and joyfully celebrate that God forgives His people. We gather with family and friends. We eat and maybe even sleep in our sukkot, watching the stars overhead through the roof. We party and thank our dear God for His blessings and love.
And guess what? It is very likely that Yeshua was born on the first day of the feast of Tabernacles (which falls in September or October). Isn't this when we should celebrate His birth? Plus, when we look to God's future fulfillment of the fall feasts, we find that the feast of Trumpets represents Yeshua's return, the Day of Atonements represents the day of judgment, and the feast of Tabernacles represents the wedding feast of Yeshua and His bride (Israel).
Compare this with Christmas and we find it a poor substitute for the celebrations that God has commanded in His Word. God wants us to celebrate, but let's celebrate what He has provided for us!
34 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD.
40 And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.
41 And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.
42 Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths:
43 That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
This week of celebration comes on the heel of the days of repentance, which is culminated by the Day of Atonements. We are confronted by our failures, our sin, and our wretchedness before God. But then we put up our sukkot (our tent-like booths with branches for roofs). We truly and joyfully celebrate that God forgives His people. We gather with family and friends. We eat and maybe even sleep in our sukkot, watching the stars overhead through the roof. We party and thank our dear God for His blessings and love.
And guess what? It is very likely that Yeshua was born on the first day of the feast of Tabernacles (which falls in September or October). Isn't this when we should celebrate His birth? Plus, when we look to God's future fulfillment of the fall feasts, we find that the feast of Trumpets represents Yeshua's return, the Day of Atonements represents the day of judgment, and the feast of Tabernacles represents the wedding feast of Yeshua and His bride (Israel).
Compare this with Christmas and we find it a poor substitute for the celebrations that God has commanded in His Word. God wants us to celebrate, but let's celebrate what He has provided for us!
Sunday, September 13, 2015
Will it Be Today?
Matthew 24:27 (KJV)
27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Matthew 24:30-31 (KJV)
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Matthew 24:36 (KJV)
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
Matthew 24:42 (KJV)
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (KJV)
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Could this be the day in which Yeshua returns?
Devout believers have been patiently (or maybe not so patiently) waiting for His return since His ascension back into Heaven roughly 2000 years ago. What, exactly, are we expecting to see? Some of the sights and sounds that will accompany His return are:
Hearing a shout from the archangel.
Hearing a trumpet from God.
Seeing Yeshua coming from the clouds.
Seeing dead believers rising up to the clouds.
Seeing alive believers rising up to the clouds.
Won't this be amazing!
The difficult part is that we do have to wait for this event. Matthew 24:42 says that we are to "watch." This indicates that we are to actively be on the lookout for Yeshua's return. Yet, no one knows the day or hour when this will happen as it says in Matthew 24:36 and 42. But do we have any clues?
Did you know that God's calendar presents us with some very strong evidence? The Bible points to Yeshua's birth being on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles (Succot). Yeshua was crucified on Passover. He was in the grave during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. He rose from the dead on the Feast of First Fruits and the Holy Spirit was given on the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot). However, there is no event that corresponds to the Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah or Rosh Hashanah) or the Feast of Atonement (Yom Kippur),
Doesn't it seem likely that these feasts will also be accompanied by events? And did you notice that the name of the next feast is the Feast of Trumpets? (Actually in Hebrew, it is called the Day of Blowing.) Oddly, enough, there is a Jewish idiom that describes that day as "The day that no man knows." This has to do with the fact that the feast day cannot really be known until the first sliver of the moon appears to indicate that the seventh month of the Biblical year has arrived. That first day of the seventh month is the Feast of Trumpets.
Leviticus 23:23-25 (KJV)
23 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.
25 Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
If God is consistent something wonderful will happen on a Feast of Trumpets. Yeshua will return! Will it be this year? We don't know, but it behooves us to be watching!
(Many who follow the traditional Jewish calendar will begin celebrating Yom Teruah this evening, Sunday, September 13, 2015. Others wait for the moon's appearance in Jerusalem. That could place the beginning at sundown on September 14 or 15th.)
27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Matthew 24:30-31 (KJV)
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Matthew 24:36 (KJV)
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
Matthew 24:42 (KJV)
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (KJV)
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Could this be the day in which Yeshua returns?
Devout believers have been patiently (or maybe not so patiently) waiting for His return since His ascension back into Heaven roughly 2000 years ago. What, exactly, are we expecting to see? Some of the sights and sounds that will accompany His return are:
Hearing a shout from the archangel.
Hearing a trumpet from God.
Seeing Yeshua coming from the clouds.
Seeing dead believers rising up to the clouds.
Seeing alive believers rising up to the clouds.
Won't this be amazing!
The difficult part is that we do have to wait for this event. Matthew 24:42 says that we are to "watch." This indicates that we are to actively be on the lookout for Yeshua's return. Yet, no one knows the day or hour when this will happen as it says in Matthew 24:36 and 42. But do we have any clues?
Did you know that God's calendar presents us with some very strong evidence? The Bible points to Yeshua's birth being on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles (Succot). Yeshua was crucified on Passover. He was in the grave during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. He rose from the dead on the Feast of First Fruits and the Holy Spirit was given on the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot). However, there is no event that corresponds to the Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah or Rosh Hashanah) or the Feast of Atonement (Yom Kippur),
Doesn't it seem likely that these feasts will also be accompanied by events? And did you notice that the name of the next feast is the Feast of Trumpets? (Actually in Hebrew, it is called the Day of Blowing.) Oddly, enough, there is a Jewish idiom that describes that day as "The day that no man knows." This has to do with the fact that the feast day cannot really be known until the first sliver of the moon appears to indicate that the seventh month of the Biblical year has arrived. That first day of the seventh month is the Feast of Trumpets.
Leviticus 23:23-25 (KJV)
23 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.
25 Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
If God is consistent something wonderful will happen on a Feast of Trumpets. Yeshua will return! Will it be this year? We don't know, but it behooves us to be watching!
(Many who follow the traditional Jewish calendar will begin celebrating Yom Teruah this evening, Sunday, September 13, 2015. Others wait for the moon's appearance in Jerusalem. That could place the beginning at sundown on September 14 or 15th.)
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