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).

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!

The Sea of Forgetfulness

When I am tempted to beat myself up over some past sin, I gratefully remember God's great love and forgiveness.

 Psalm 103:8-14 (KJV)
⁸ The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
⁹ He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.
¹⁰ He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
¹¹ For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
¹² As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
¹³ Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.
¹⁴ For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.

For those who fear God, He has great mercy (verse 11). (To fear God means to reverence God or to have awe for Him, but it also means literally to fear God, if we think we can live in habitual sin!) He has removed our sin from us as far as east is from the west (verse 12). He pities us and knows that our human frame is weak (verses 13 and 14).

Although the phrase "sea of forgetfulness" does not appear in the Bible, the concept is.

Hebrews 8:12 (KJV)
¹² For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

When God forgives sin He no longer remembers it.

Micah 7:19 (KJV)
¹⁹ He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

And God does cast all our sin into the depths of the sea.

This may raise a question for some. If God no longer remembers our sins, how can we be judged at the end of the age?

Believers are "judged" when they come to saving faith and are born again.

The only other judgment that pertains to believers is the "judgment seat of Yeshua." We read about this in Romans and 2 Corinthians.

Romans 14:10 (KJV)
¹⁰ But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:10 (KJV)
¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

This judgment is not about whether or not the believer is saved, but about reward and loss. Once saved, forgiven sins will never haunt us again. God will not bring them up. It is the good and wonderful things that we have done that God will review. If there are many, our rewards will be great, but if there are few, we won't receive as many.

1 Corinthians 3:11-15 (KJV)
¹¹ For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
¹² Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
¹³ Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
¹⁴ If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
¹⁵ If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

So, dear believer, if you are saved and have trusted in Yeshua as your righteousness, don't dwell on those past sins. They are gone forever! They truly have been cast into the Sea of Forgetfulness!