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Feasts in Israel

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I'm writing this study during the Passover season and the week of unleavened bread, which seems appropriate. It is the start of Yahweh's new year and the season when Yahushua, the Messiah won the victory over Satan and was resurrected to Life.

Yahweh, through His servant Moses, gave Israel specific instructions for observing His Holy-days (see Holidays or Holy Days also see The Seven Sabbaths). All Yahweh's Holy-Days, including the weekly Sabbath too, have been more or less observed at different times. Frequently, Yahweh's people moved far away from Him and "forgot" His instruction. At other times, they returned to Him and obeyed Him.

Some of His instructions concerned sacrifices. Sacrifices were explicitly "taken away" (removed) at the death of Yahushua, the Messiah. His sacrifice was the perfect sacrifice, once and for all, eliminating the animal sacrificial system (Hebrews 8-10, specifically Hebrews 10:9).

Yahweh gave NO instruction eliminating or ending His Holy-Days, not the Sabbath, not Passover, nor any of the other Holy-Day feasts. (see What Was Nailed to the Cross). Instead, Yahushua explicitly commanded us to remember Passover (Luke 22:19-20).

Yahweh's feasts in Israel are centered around the harvests (see Harvests Of Redemption). There are three main harvests (barley, wheat and grapes) and three related feasts (1. The feasts of spring harvest, 2. Shavu'ot or feast of weeks and 3. the feasts of fall). These three times each year, all men in Israel were to travel to Jerusalem to present themselves "before Yahweh".

Exodus 23:14-17
Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. Thou shalt keep the [1] feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:) And the [2] feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the [3] feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field. Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Yahweh Elohim.

Deuteronomy 16:16
Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before Yahweh thy Elohim in the place which he shall choose; in the [1] feast of unleavened bread, and in the [2] feast of weeks, and in the [3] feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before Yahweh empty: [note, these are different names for the same feasts]

Modern Israel has diluted and altered Yahweh's Word by changing their calendar and by observing seven feasts. Some of these extra feasts are actually part of Yahweh's three and a few (Purim and Chanukah) are new, but NOT requiring appearance before Yahweh.

Many Christians have gone the other way, and completely abolished Yahweh's three feasts by "nailing them to the cross", but without any direct instruction from Yahweh. Yahweh's feasts are as relevant today as they were before the cross. The sacrifice of the lamb is no longer necessary because Yahushua defeated Satan, but the feasts still celebrate the harvests, which have continued after the cross and look forward to Yahweh's final harvests when He restores His creation. They are also times, appointed by Yahweh for us to cease from our work, relax, enjoy family and friends, celebrate and consider what Yahweh has done and what He still plans on doing (see Holidays or Holy Days).

Yahweh's Three Feasts

(1) The spring feasts last approximately a week (actually eight days) and include Passover, the week of unleavened bread and the Feast of Firstfruits. It occurs in the middle of the first month of Yahwehs' year (April according to Roman time) at the time of the barley harvest (compare Ruth 1:22). Satan's counterfeit is "Easter".

(2) The Feast of Harvest or Feast of Weeks is also called Pentecost (7 weeks plus 50 days later) at the wheat harvest (Exodus 34:22). Satan hasn't counterfeited this Holy-Day, but has abolished it.

(3) The fall feasts also last about a week and include a couple other days close by. They include the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles (sometimes called the Feast of Ingathering) in the fall of the year (late September or October according to Roman time) during the grape harvest. Satan's counterfeit is "Thanksgiving".

This study is an introduction to Yahweh's appointed Holy-Days (feasts).


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