The Annual Jewish Feast Days.........

[eve]

The Annual Jewish Feast Days Are the Prophetic Plan of God

By Roy A. Reinhold

There is a deep reservoir of knowledge inherent in the feast days of ancient Israel. On the surface, they reenact the story of a people brought from slavery in Egypt, through the establishment of a covenant between God and Israel, through the wanderings in the desert, to the ultimate goal of life in the promised land. Jewish mystics and Christians have believed that these annual holy days symbolize and teach man's journey from slavery to sin, sickness, and death, toward the goal of forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life. Yet there is another aspect to the feast days of ancient Israel, that of a prophetic object lesson given by God to show mankind the ultimate outworking for His plan of salvation, and the soon coming of Messiah to establish the kingdom of God on the earth. And yet there is another prophetic aspect to the feasts, namely, the specific events foretold in the prescribed celebrations.

This article will reveal those specific aspects of the feasts fulfilled by Jesus in His earthly ministry, and those to be fulfilled at or near the Second Coming. The unfulfilled feast days reveal the key to an accurate analysis of prophetic events and the key to dating of end time prophetic events. Dated not to a particular year, but a table of dates tied into the annual dates on which the feasts occur.

The feast days of ancient Israel are comprised of the spring feasts of Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, and Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks (Shauvot). Also, the fall feasts include the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles (Sukkot or the Feast of Ingathering). All of these feast days are laid out in Leviticus 23.

Passover tells the story of the blood being shed to allow the Angel of death to pass by, and was fulfilled by Jesus when He died on the cross for our sins. If we believe and are born-again, His shed blood allows us to pass from death to life with our names written in the Lamb's Book of Life. And yet the Feast of Unleavened Bread shows that although set free from slavery, we must still be vigilant to get the leaven out of our lives (sin) and that the free person must live in this world and although set free (salvation), must strive to live a holy life (sanctification).

Firstfruits is the wave offering of a sheaf of the spring grain harvest before God, and was also fulfilled as Jesus ascended to heaven as an offering for all mankind, to establish the eternal covenant of the blood between Jesus and God our Father. Finally, Pentecost which was celebrated as the loaves of the spring harvest were waved as an offering, was fulfilled as the Holy Spirit was poured out on the early church as a mighty rushing wind. This pouring out continues throughout the church age in spite of those churches who teach that those things passed away or were only for the early church. This attitude on their part intimates that somehow God had changed His mind, but we are reminded that He is God and changes not.

In hindsight, we can all easily recognize that Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, and Pentecost were prophetic in that they foretold specific events that would take place in the early spring harvest. And not only that, but they were fulfilled on the exact days of the year on which they were celebrated by the Jews. Therefore, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that the main harvest feasts are themselves prophecies of specific end time events, and that they will be fulfilled on the exact day of the year as celebrated by the Jews according to the Jewish calendar!

Most Christians are entirely ignorant of the fall feasts of ancient Israel, Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and Booths (Sukkot). Ignorant in that they do not know the way in which these feast days are celebrated, which reveals specific information on the way in which they will be prophetically fulfilled. In fact, you cannot get this information from Bible study alone, since the details are not specified there, but are in the Gemara or Talmud.

In outline form, the Jews start the celebration of the fall feasts 30 days prior to Rosh Hashanah which falls on the 1st day of the 7th month. For 30 days the shofar is blown every morning in the Synagogue to remind the people that the holy days are approaching, in order that they may prepare themselves. Their preparation consists of confessing their sins and seeking forgiveness along with a change in life if needed. The Jews earnest prayer is that their name may be written in the Book of Life. They too believe as Christians do, that Angels record all the actions and words of the people on the earth in a set of books, while another book is kept by God called the Book of Life, in which are the names of those who have eternal life with God. So, the 30 days preparation before Rosh Hashanah is to become a righteous person and have their names written in the Book of Life in heaven.

On Rosh Hashanah, a series of 100 trumpet blasts are sounded for a specific reason. They announce the setting up of the eternal court, with the trumpets heralding God as the all-seeing, all-knowing Judge of the Universe. Inherent in the court proceedings, is the knowledge that this court date is only for open and shut cases, for those who are righteous and have their names in the Book of Life. All other people are a mixture of good and bad, and God in His mercy will delay their court date for a period of time to allow them to try and prepare a proper defense. The second court date is on Yom Kippur.

The Christian believes the same thing as the Jew, except may not know as much detail on why Rosh Hashanah exists in God's prophetic plan. Rosh Hashanah will be fulfilled when the Messiah comes on the clouds, the dead in Christ rise to meet the Lord in the air, then those who are alive are changed in an instant in the blinking of an eye to an eternal, immortal body. All of those whose names are in the Lamb's Book of Life have open and shut cases and are righteous, not by their own deeds, but by the blood of the Lamb. Thus the fulfillment of Rosh Hashanah is the resurrection of dead believers and rapture of living believers, all whose names are written in the Book of Life. The court process of Rosh Hashanah is shown in 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, where the works of a believer's life will be tested by fire for the determination of rewards at the Bema Judgment Seat of Christ.(Emphasis mine)

As I said earlier, all other people of the earth are a mixture of good and bad and will be remanded over for court on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. However, between Rosh Hashanah on the 1st day of the 7th month, and Yom Kippur which falls on the 10th day of 7th month, are the Days of Awe or also known as the 10 Days of Repentance. Here is a prophetic tidbit, the fulfillment of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur will occur in a different year in the prophetic calendar. Or as we might state, the rapture of believers does NOT immediately precede the Second Coming. The Days of Awe correspond to the period of time that the people of the earth are tested in the Day of the Lord. [Me here: God in His mercy, allows a period of time for the people left behind to repent of their sins. But note Rev 9:20,21).

After the Second Coming, after the vanquishing of the armies of the earth on the Great Day of the Lord God the Almighty, all the people of the earth will be summoned to Israel for judgment. This judgment will be the fulfillment of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. First, all Israel will be judged in the Fat Sheep and Lean Sheep judgment of Ezekiel 34, their sins will be forgiven, and the two sticks of the house of Judah and the house of Israel will be combined forever in the hand of the Messiah as they are made again into one nation. This judgment will be a merciful judgment as the people of Israel acknowledge their sin, confess their guilt, and fall on the mercy of the court.

After the judgment of Israel on Yom Kippur, then the Messiah, the Son of Man will judge all the people of the nations in the Sheep and Goats judgment shown in Matthew 25. Finally, on the 15th day of the 7th month, the Feast of Booths or the Feast of Ingathering (Sukkot) will be celebrated by all alive on the earth judged worthy to live on in the Millennium. This first celebration of Sukkot will be fulfilled in the same year as Yom Kippur is fulfilled. Messiah will celebrate with all people of the earth and there will be joy and gladness and no tears. The Lord will pour out the Spirit of Gladness and spread the tabernacle of peace over them.

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Rosh Hashanah Is the Rapture

By Roy A. Reinhold

A proper understanding of the fall feast days of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Succoth, provide clarity to God's plan for the prophetic fulfillment we call the end-times. They reveal much more detail than has been thought possible. Israel was commanded by God, to keep the annual feast days forever as a witness to all the nations. Even in the diaspora, faithful Jews celebrated the feast days as God our Father mercifully enabled them to survive as a distinct people in the midst of worldwide dispersion. They have been faithful in providing a witness to the world through the annual celebration of the feast days which are on calendars everywhere.

The Jewish understanding of these feast days, rather than Christianized understanding, is the key to a full revelation. It starts with the blowing of the shofar every morning in synagogues around the world, starting with the 1st day of the 6th month up until the day prior to Rosh Hashanah. On the day prior to Rosh Hashanah, the shofar is not blown. Why blow the shofar every day during the 6th month? The Jews blow the shofar to announce the imminent arrival of judgment on Rosh Hashanah. Announcing to all the world that judgment is imminent, the people are to prepare themselves to meet God, the King of the Universe, the Judge of all Creation, and to be prepared they must excise all sin from their lives and repent of their sins.

In order to prove that Rosh Hashanah will be fulfilled as the coming judgment of the righteous, the rapture of the church, I'd like to go through the historical significance, then the Jewish understanding of Rosh Hashanah as prophecy, and finally the Christian understanding of the catching away of believers.

After Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt, they traveled to Mt. Sinai, where God our Father made an eternal covenant with mankind. I say mankind, because the Jews believe that they were standing in for all the nations of the earth. Moses went up on the mountain for 40 days going up on the 7th of Sivan & descending on the 17th of Tammuz, where God gave him the Torah and the 10 commandments on stone tablets. He came down from the mountain and saw Israel worshipping the golden calf idol which Aaron had fashioned, and in anger, Moses broke the stone tablets on the rocks. In Jewish tradition, Moses went up on the mountain a few days later to plead for mercy towards Israel. Coming down again, Moses set things right among the people. Moses later went up on the mountain again for 40 days, going up the 1st day of the 6th month (1st of Elul), and coming down again with a second set of stone tablets of the 10 commandments on the 10th day of the 7th month on Yom Kippur (10th of Tishri/Ethanim). Since Rosh Hashanah falls on the 1st day of the 7th month, there was no apparent historical basis for that day, other than it being the 1st day of the new year.

The annual feast days of the Bible are festivals, called "moed," an appointed time and a sacred assembly for the purposes of rehearsing. They are rehearsals because the way in which the feast days are fulfilled is in accordance with the rehearsal, and because the fulfillment will occur on that exact day. We know that the fulfillment of the spring feast days has already occurred, when Jesus was on the earth nearly 2000 years ago. The lamb for the Passover celebration is selected on the 10th day of 1st month, and Jesus was hailed as Messiah on His triumphant entry into Jerusalem on the exact day of the 10th of Nisan. The day of the preparation (Passover), is when the lamb is killed, the 14th of Nisan. Jesus was crucified for our sins as the Lamb of God on the exact 14th day of the 1st month. On the day after the weekly Sabbath during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Firstfruits offering is made before God as a wave offering of a sheaf of the spring harvest. Jesus was raised from the dead and ascended to heaven on the exact day of Firstfruits, 3 days after being crucified. Finally, 50 days later on Pentecost (Shauvot), the two loaves of bread made from the spring harvest are waved before God at the altar. You know the answer, exactly on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out on born-again believers, the result of the shed blood of the Lamb and the accepted offering on Firstfruits. Just as the spring feast days pinpointed the exact days of fulfillment of God our Father's eternal plan, so the fall feast days are rehearsals which will pinpoint the next steps in His plan, and they will be fulfilled on the exact days of the feasts. Now, let's dive into what the rehearsal of Rosh Hashanah, the form and words of the services, shows as the future fulfillment of Rosh Hashanah.

On Rosh Hashanah a series of Trumpet blasts are blown to announce the arrival of God, the King of the Universe, the Judge of all Creation, for judgment of the people of the earth. However, this judgment is not for all people, only for the righteous whose names are written in the Book in heaven. The righteous are sinless and blameless before God. Their judgment is then not a punishment judgment, but a reward judgment. What of all the rest of the people? The vast majority of people on the earth are not righteous, but a mixture of good and bad, and will not be judged on Rosh Hashanah. God, the King of the Universe, remands over the majority of people to an additional period of time to repent and become part of the righteous. This second judgment will be after the Days of Awe or 10 Days of Repentance. During the troublesome time of the Days of Awe, the rest of the people of the earth can prepare themselves for the sure judgment of all people of the earth on Yom Kippur. They can change their ways and repent of their sins.

On Rosh Hashanah (Yom Teruah) trumpets are sounded, although it is really the shofar blown as a trumpet. The four sounds of the shofar are Tekiah, Shebarim, Teruah, and Tekiah Gedolah. As at any of the new moon celebrations on the first day of each month, Rosh Hashanah is also Rosh Chodesh, or the festival of the new moon. However, Rosh Hashanah is also a special day when the destiny of each year is foreordained for each Jew. As an annual celebration, the Jews believe that it is the degree to which they repent and excise sin from their lives during the previous 30 days (month of Elul when the shofar is blown every morning), which will determine God's blessings on them for the upcoming year. Although we know that there is only one day of the new moon, Rosh Hashanah is celebrated as two sacred days. This adjustment is to ensure that Yom Kippur does not fall on the 1st or 6th days of the week. In the prophetic fulfillment of Rosh Hashanah, God our Father has likely appointed the fulfillment on the exact day of the new moon.

In our Christian understanding, the blowing of the shofar every morning during the 6th month, corresponds to the birthpangs period, Tribulation, and Great Tribulation periods. The period of silence where the shofar is not blown on the day before Rosh Hashanah, corresponds to the period of silence in heaven (Revelation 7) before the start of the Wrath of God - 7 Trumpet Judgments and 7 Bowl Judgments. We as Christians believe that all believers who have ever lived, in addition to those alive at Jesus' coming, will be taken up in the rapture. Why?, because our names are written in the Lamb's book of life. The rest of the people are remanded over for future judgment on Yom Kippur, when all the people of the earth will be judged. However, their lot is to live through the Days of Awe during which the Trumpet and Bowl Judgments will take place in the Day of the Lord. These judgments increasing in severity are pressure for a short time for people to repent and become part of the family of God. On the fulfillment of Rosh Hashanah, Jesus as King of the Universe will judge the righteous. This rapture of believers and the Bema Judgment will occur on the exact day of Rosh Hashanah, the 1st day of the 7th month.

After the rapture, all the remaining people of the earth must go through the Days of Awe where the Trumpet and Bowl judgments are poured out. In the Jewish understanding of the feast days which are celebrated annually, but viewed as rehearsals of God's plan of the ages, the people view the coming judgment of Yom Kippur with trepidation. Judgment is sure and people have been given additional time to get things right with God.

Prophetically, Yom Kippur is the long-awaited judgment, where Messiah will take the stick of Judah and the stick of Israel in His hand, He will forgive their sins, and He will make them one nation again forever. On Yom Kippur, the High Priest intercedes for the people before God in order that their sins might be forgiven. We know that Jesus our Messiah is the High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek; and He will intercede for all the people left on earth after the terrible time of the Day of the Lord. After Messiah judges Israel, He will judge all the rest of the people of the earth. Yom Kippur is that blessed time that Jews have looked forward to, when Messiah will rule and reign in Jerusalem. From the 10th to the 14th of Tishri, Messiah will judge Israel and all the nations. Then on the 15th, Succoth starts, where Messiah will spread the Tabernacle of Peace over the earth and celebrate for 7 days with the people of the earth. This will usher in an annual celebration of Succoth where all nations must be represented for humbling themselves before Messiah in Booths (Sukkahs). Those nations who will not celebrate Succoth will receive no rain during the next year.

[Guest hummingbird]

This is a great post! Even though I have studied this many times in the past, I don't care how old it (this post) is or gets...We all need to understand this, or at least a "refresher" course occasionally!

Saved it, to read again and again...I love this kind of thing! I want MORE like this!

:hug: :hug: :hug:

Judy (hummingbird)

[AllforJesustheLord]

Can someone please help me to understand, why some people say YeHSHua was born at the time, feast of Tabernacles?