This is the week to reset our clocks again. If you are like me, you are very tired of this yo-yo way of keeping time. The change reminds me to be more thankful for our REAL clock and calendar. The one that God hung in the sky when he created the world.
Don’t you hate how the government and the world want to rule over our precious gift of time? They seem oblivious to the fact that God has His own ways of keeping time.
Don’t you love that He set us down inside this perfect plan? He had the perfect place for our time in his plan for mankind. In that calendar and clock we find our purpose. Daily we walk it out.
IGNORING THE WORLD
I can’t help but wonder what would happen if we all ignored the world and decided to set our clocks without their help.
Actually, many of us do this once a week as well as seven annual times each year. We leave the world and follow God’s clock. The Sabbath happens for us according to the commandments, every seventh day. We stop the clock’s ticking and rest. It is amazing how refreshing and restoring this time can be.
Then there are the appointed moedim which God commanded for us to observe. We call them “moedim” because they are oriented to the changing patterns of the moon. God created the rhythm that the planets use to move through space.
SPRING HOLY DAYS
Nissan begins our new year for the religious calendar. In that month, during the early spring, we experience Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Early Firstfruits/Resurrection Day.
PASSOVER WEEK
For those who observe these times, the clocks of the world stand still for a while. We remember and commemorate the way God brought Israel out of Egypt. This leads us into thinking of how Yeshua fulfilled these days when He came, died, was buried, rose alive from the grave after three days, blessed many on this earth and then ascended up into the heavens.
That first Passover in Egypt remembers how the death angel passed over the houses of those who were obedient. These were those who placed the blood of the Lamb over their doorposts. Today we know that Jesus has become our Passover Lamb. We realize how He is placing his blood over the doorposts of our hearts. This brings us out of the slavery of sin into a beautiful new life.
CLEAN HOUSES WITH UNLEAVENED BREAD
Cleaning the leaven out of our houses and eating unleavened bread symbolizes the removal of sin from our lives. This is possible because Yeshua has saved us. We eat the unleavened bread in honor of Him. This unleavened bread tells us the story of His crucifixion, burial and rising from the dead into eternal life. His story is hidden in each piece of unleavened bread we take into ourselves.
The observances we keep are the way we show God we wish to be obedient to His ways over our ways. These days are observed in His time over mankind’s definition of time.
EARLY FIRSTFRUITS/RESURRECTION
Three days after Passover, Jesus rose from the grave. He had been restored to new life. Three days after we remember the Passover, we celebrate Early Firstfruits. This third day hardly ever falls on a Sunday. It depends of the calculations of the Hebrew calendar which God gave to us. Early Firstfruits is the time when the seed that died springs into new life and grows into what we need to nourish our souls and live forever.
We celebrate all of these things during the Passover Season.
It isn’t Easter, that is mankind’s terminology. God called it Passover. We call it Passover too. Passover isn’t just one day, it lasts for 8 days. The way of the world celebrates resurrection and moves on. God’s Holy Days allow us time to meditate and savor what God has done for us.
To honor God we bring an offering of our first and our best unto Yahweh.
PENTECOST
The ancients have always kept a festival in which they brought the first of their crops to God before partaking of the food themselves. They knew to do this because God set His clock in the sky on the fourth day of Creation. He created man on the sixth day of creation. Before we were even created, God had these days all mapped out for us to follow. Adam and Eve knew them. They passed them on through their generations.
We know Jesus died on the cross, was buried, resurrected to life on the third day, then ascended to sit at the right hand of the Father in the heavenlies, He left instructions to the disciples He left behind. Yeshua told them to go to Jerusalem and wait. Those who were obedient received The Holy Spirit, the Comforter from God who came to lead and guide them until Yeshua could return to them again.
This Holy Spirit clarified everything that Jesus had taught as He walked the earth. Now it was easier for the disciples to receive good instruction and understand it. After receiving God’s Holy Spirit, they were able to pass God’s truth and love on to others in miraculous and powerful ways. It was through The Holy Spirit made possible by Jesus as a wedding gift to His Bride that the fire of God came to live within the hearts of His people.
Pentecost is the middle day of all the fest days. The three before it have already happened. Feasts after Pentecost stand for the things that are yet to come. Pentecost stands middle ways between the spring and fall holy days.
We love celebrating the appointed day called Pentecost. To honor God we bring our offerings on this day.
THE FALL HOLY DAYS
50 days after Pentecost, we celebrate the appointed time called THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS.
THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS/ROSH HASHANAH
This feast day of trumpet blowing starts the physical calendar over for us. We celebrate the creation of mankind and the fact that God has destined great things for His people who are obedient. Trumpets blow out warnings which say, get ready! Listen to God’s voice reminding all of us to be prepared for the second coming.
It is a time to remember judgement for sins is required. Only the blood of Yeshua can cover us and keep us from punishment. The trumpets warn that we need to get our lives in order before God. It is a time to walk and talk with Our King, Jesus; who is said to be walking among the common men, listening, beckoning for them to speak and do all they must do to come closer to Him and continue walking with Him. Now is the time to prepare for the coming day called THE DAY OF ATONEMENT, the day when all must have repented of any sins so that those transgressions can be blotted out of God’s books and not held against them.
DAY OF ATONEMENT/YOM KIPPUR
This appointed time is the most sacred day of the sacred year. It is when we humble ourselves, examine our souls and prepare to receive God’s precious gift of atonement.
THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES/SUKKOT
The last appointed day is actually a week. There are 7 days for Sukkot, and one Great Last Day at the end. In this time we celebrate the New Jerusalem to come. We rehearse for the millennial reign of Christ. For one whole week we live as we hope to be living in the future when Jesus rules the earth. It is an awesome and amazing celebration followed by the 8th day which celebrates the coming of the new heavens and new earth.
Wycliff give a lovely illustration of all the details of these days, times and seasons on God’s calendar. If you want you can read it here: https://www.wycliffe.org/feast/7-feasts-that-point-to-christ.
GOD’S CALENDAR IS SO MUCH BETTER
So what will it be for you?
How do you want to keep your gift of time?
Do you want to stay on the clock of the world, or turn your heart toward keeping these sacred holy days of God?
They are yours if you want to come into the family of God who choses to keep them annually. After one whole year of walking closer to God, you will come to appreciate the Season of Joy. Why not come into the sheepfold and keep God’s days with Him?
It is a decision you will never regret. All earthly glory fades in comparison to the spiritual blessings of keeping God’s Holy Days.