Sunset, Wednesday, September 4, 2024 begins the first day of the month of Elul for 2024.

For some Elul is just the name of a month on the Hebraic calendar.

For those who know God and appreciate His Fall Holy Days; it is so much more!

UNDERSTANDING THE SIXTH MONTH OF THE HEBRAIC CALENDAR

Do you understand that Elul is the sixth month of the Hebraic calendar?

It is an important time in the land of Israel for many reasons.  One thing that is notable is that it is the time of the harvesting of the fig and the grape crops.  Vineyards become very active and happy places.  It is the time-appropriate season for making wine!

THE BEST WINES ARE MADE BY GOD

You may have picked up on the fact that I love anything to with vineyards.  If you walked into my house right now you might think you had crossed over to a Mediterranean country and entered the home of a vineyard keeper.    I think this growing of a vineyard is all so wonderful that it often spills over into my home’s decor.

Figs and grapes are two of my favorite fruits.  This is the time of year that God brings them into a “ripe” state.  We are now entering the times of the last harvest of the year.

It is the time of the year that the most desirable fruits become useful.  In delicious foods and wines they fulfill their intended purpose.  The keeper of the vineyard always leads everyone in the fermentation process, then he takes joy in sharing the bounty of his house.

This metaphor is a way of seeing what God does with Elul.

SEEING WHAT GOD DOES IN THE SEASON OF ELUL

Picture this; God is out in the fields working with His people.  He is sending out word that He is seeking a bride for his Son.  This special Bride will be one who is ready and waiting patiently for His Son’s return.  She is one that will not be surprised if the Groom should appear in the middle of the night.  This ture and patient Bride will be waiting with oil in her lanterns.  Her wedding garments will be packed, pressed and clean.

She will be ready!

Like a faithful Father-In-Law (think about those words a moment) God is doing all that He can do right now to remind that Bride to get ready!

He is going to have a wedding feast in his vineyard.  God wants this carefully planned wedding to be perfect for the whole family.

What the Bride does in the time leading up to the wedding is critical.  Her actions, decisions and preparation matter so much.

This time is very important.

The time before the arrival of the wedding day should never be ignored.  It isn’t THE event of the year; but THE event of the year will not be as great if this time isn’t spent first.

It is a time to be meditating on God’s love and writing His commandments (His 10 best ways to live) upon hearts and minds and spirits.

The Bride of Christ must be fully instructed in His Father’s ways.  She must know the protocol; and she must have taken every step possible to be an honored member of the family.

It is also such an important time for God in relation to loving His people. He WANTS to be there with us during this time of preparation.  He wants us to become closer during this time.  God is out in the field looking for this Bride, coming closer and closer to her, so that He can instruct her and prepare her for this big day.

After this day, she steps into eternity.  This isn’t a matter to be taken lightly.

Have you ever noticed in the time leading up to a wedding that all of the wedding party gets to know one another in a special way?

The Groom’s parents and the Bride’s parents may not have been familiar with each other before. This time of wedding preparations introduces them to one another.  The time brings out each member of the wedding party’s best.  The families become more acquainted.  Together they begin to ask God’s blessings over those that they love so much.

THE TIME IS SACRED AND APPOINTED

Have you heard of this?

Do you understand that God has set aside sacred and appointed times for all of us both individually and also as a corporate nation of the Kingdom of Heaven’s Christ followers?

These days are the same days that were taught to Jesus when He was a child beginning to grow up in a human’s body.  We too are God’s adopted children.  We too; get to have the blessing of the time of Elul before the coming of the Fall Holy Days.

It is a time to be getting ready!

If you still feel that you do not have a full understanding of sacred and appointed times; here is one link that might help you to understand: SEASONS – SACRED APPOINTED TIMES AND SEASONS .

This is the time of the year when the Fall Season begins to become “full” and a lot comes into play during this, yet another of  God’s appointed seasons.

Elul is the month leading up to the times of God’s Fall Holy Days.

It is a time full of blessings and teachings from God.

The Hebraic people have always followed God’s appointed dates and times.  That is why I love observing their calendar and joining in with the awesome events of the season.

MUST YOU BE JEWISH?

Oh….but don’t you have to be Jewish?

This might surprise you a bit.

Let me give you a FURTHER definition of the term “born again.”

If you are born into one of the twelve tribes of Israel and have them in your heritage, then you are considered a part of Israel automatically.  You are a citizen by blood.

However; that doesn’t mean you do not need salvation – you DEFINITELY need to go through the salvation experience and know Messiah.

The people living in Israel in this present age are mostly descendants of only one or two tribes of Israel – Judah and Benjamin.  Much of the state has become in habited by other people groups as well.  There are ten other tribes that were scattered many, many years ago.  Most of these people of the ten lost tribes do not realize that they are also physically born into Israel by blood.  Some have done their homework though.  Many have traced their ancestors back in time and DO realize this.  That makes them part of the family of Israel by blood, but I speak of the blood of humanity, not the blood of God.

YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN

There are actually two times of birth in this life.

You can be born physically, and you can be born spiritually.

Our Messiah, who was a native of those physically born of Israel from the Tribe of Judah, has made this second-birth, or being born-again possible through the transition which comes from His free gift of salvation.

Remember how Jesus told Nichodemus that you must be born again?

Nichodemous was quite confused, but if you are a Christian living today, you should not be confused.  Experiencing the act of being born-again births you into God’s family.  The blood of Christ covers us; therefore we are also born of blood, though we often come to be children of God The Father through adoption.

God’s family started with Israel, not just the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin who make up most of the present-day people called “Jews” who are now living in the physical nation of Israel.  Spiritual Israel contains ALL of Israel; including the lost ten tribes as well as those children who have been adopted, or grafted into the nation.  If you are not of Judah or Benjamin or are not one of these known or lost tribes, you can still be adopted into God’s family through the experience of becoming “born-again.”

If you are born-again, you are part of Spiritual Israel.

Physical Israel was only the shadow of the spiritual creation of the Spiritual Israel that God was forming and bringing into the world.  One has slowly progressed into the other.  Physical Israel has now evolved into Spiritual Israel.  Our Messiah made this process complete by fulfilling the law with his birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection and ascention into Heaven.

CHRISTIANS ARE ISRAEL TOO

This all being true, most Christians of today who are practicing Christianity in spirit and truth have not yet realized that they ARE Israel.

To realize this changes everything.

It is all part of the beautiful process of being “born-again.”

Please don’t confuse what I just said with that old worn-out tool of the devil called “replacement theology.”  This rarely accepted or known theory IS NOT replacement theology.  Christianity doesn’t replace Isreal; Christianity is the process of the transition of a spiritual Israel into a nation of born-again, Holy-Spirit filled citizens who make up a transitioned by Messiah spiritual Israel.  This is the Israel who has now become God’s true Church.  It is The Kingdom of Heaven at work on this earth.  This is the transition of the physical nation of God into the spiritual nation of God.

THE BRIDE OF CHRIST IS BEING FORMED

This Church (The Spiritual Nation of Israel) is The Bride of Christ.

She is scattered all over the earth.

You will know her by the fact that God’s Holy Spirit lives within her.  She is totally defined by the ways of God.

So; no, I don’t have to be Jewish and neither do you (but it is certainly okay if you are)!  Anyone who believes upon Messiah can come into the Church which has evolved into the Spiritual Israel and The Bride of Christ today.

Many of us are adopted children, but we are just as much a part of the family as the birth children.

We have ALL been born-again!

DEFINITION OF GENTILE HAS NOT CHANGED

So who are the Gentiles?

The Gentiles are still the same as they have always been – they are the unbelievers.  They do not believe in God.  They have not yet found Messiah.

If you have become a Christian through repentance, belief on Messiah, baptism, and have received God’s Holy Spirit; you can no longer be called a Gentile.  You are citizen of God’s nation.  You have become grafted into Israel, the nation of the family of God.

Is that shocking to you?

If so; let this teaching sink into your spirit.

Pray about it.

Ask God to make it clear, because it is full of truth and revelation.  Typically this truth will not be presented to you in today’s churches.  Those who worship in spirit and truth however, will always follow this truth.

As adopted children of God, all born-again Christians can come into God’s appointed times and seasons.  They have every right to sit down with God and His whole family at His very own table!  This is something that we should never take for granted.  God wants all of His children around His table.

The Fall Holy Days we are now approaching are a very special season for God’s Children.  As a child of God please come into the family and celebrate with God The Father who will lead us in our family traditions which were established at the creation of our great gift from God called “time.”

What a blessing to be allowed to participate in God’s feast days and seasons.  What great fun to travel with Our Great God and Messiah through the times of transition and into the holy seasons they lead up to.

THE MEANING OF ELUL

In the Fall; the excitement all starts with Elul.

So what exactly does Elul mean?

We are going to publish some Elul meditations during the next 40 days that will explain more of the details involved during the season of time called Elul; but let’s just cover a few very basic facts first.

I wrote an informative article back in 2017 spelling out the significance of Elul.  I hope you will click into that article and review it for purposes of the upcoming season.

Keep in mind that the dates for the SEASON of Elul for that particular year began on the secular calendar dates of August 21st and traveled forward into the next 40 days.  The month of Elul is only 29 days.  At the end of the month of Elul we come to the new civil year and turn into the month of Tishri.  The first ten days of Tishri are known as the Ten Days of Awe which are included with the SEASONAL celebrations of Elul, making the whole season last 40 days (counting the Hidden day of Rosh Hashanah.)  In 2024, the dates for Elul start on September 4, 2024 and go 40 days forward, ending on The Day of Atonement.  

Here is the link from 2017 explaining Elul in detail:  LOVING THE MONTH OF ELUL – SEASONS .  The explanation is too important and too wonderful to get lost in the shuffle.  This month has to have it’s very own space.  Please don’t forget to take the time to read every detail.

You will be blessed.

THE ART OF GETTING THE HEART PREPARED

When I taught children’s church, we used to spend the first part of every lesson’s time getting the children “ready” to come into the teaching sanctuary that we used.

This task might at first seem unnecessary; but we noticed the difference in the way things went if we did this or if we left it out.

Getting ready was important.

It prepared your heart to listen.

Getting ready made you want to join in with the others in discovering and coming closer to God.

We taught the children how to become quiet and still.  They learned how to get ready to listen as we filled their hearts with anticipation for what they would learn next.

With all of this “getting ready” they then WANTED to participate.  We did not have to force or coerce them to join in with enthusiasm.  They considered the worship time a play time to meet with God.

They LOVED it.

We adults sometimes need the same thing.

We need to get ready to come before God.

The season of Elul is a lot like what we did in preparing those little children to come into the sanctuary for worship; only it is God preparing His people’s hearts for a time of deeper worship.

This season of anticipation is a time of reminding our hearts about what God wants and expects from us.  It is a time to participate in the art of wonder.  This season helps us to show respect for God’s teachings.  It gives us a chance to respond appropriately to God’s instructions for our lives.

40 WONDERFUL DAYS OF ANTICIPATION

40 days seems to be God’s magic number.

We have 40 days from the time of the Resurrection of Christ after Passover until the time of the Ascension.  Then we count ten more days of the omer  counting until we reach the 50th day called Pentecost.  After Passover season and counting the Omer; we come into the 40 days of the season of Elul, counting 29 days for the month of Elul and adding The Ten Days of Awe in Tishri as we make our way through The Feast of Trumpets and The Day of Atonement.

These are the appointed times in the Fall of the sacred year when God’s people get ready to prepare their hearts to come closer to God.  It is from the same Hebraic calculated calendar that Jesus used in His worship during the days He walked the earth.  He would have observed the same things we do during His growing up time as he lived as 100 percent God and 100 percent man inside a human body.

The next 40 days will be full of opportunities for all of us to come closer to God.

God is always looking after us; He never lets something important sneak up on us.  He gets our hearts ready for the Fall Holy Days with the seasonal/Hebraic month of Elul.

It is a time of great wonder!

Stop and take it all in.  Slow down and anticipate what God is going to do.  Journal, make notes, pray, meditate, sing, praise, worship and listen.

If you are unforgiven; repent.

If you must make changes, turn.

Welcome to the very first day of the rest of your life.

After Elul; it will never be the same.

Note to our readers:  You can purchase Gail Landgraf’s devotions for Elul called CHRISTIAN MEDITATIONS FOR ELUL from Amazon.com.  While you are there, you might also want to obtain a copy of her book called THE TEN DAYS OF AWE FOR CHRISTIANS.  Most of the profit made from the book sells help us to promote and pay for presenting this blog.  Thank you for all of your support.