Three Times A Year!

“Three Times A Year!”

Festivals and Dedicated Days—There is a Difference!

Chapter 19 Preview, PART 2: Anciently, it was crucial to attend Our Father’s “Feasts”: Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. Are they relevant today? Should these three Feasts still be “Pilgrimage Feasts”. Does Father expect us to celebrate these appointments? Should we celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread with the same solemnity as we do the Feast of Tabernacles—from beginning to end? What about the days from Leviticus 23 other than these three “Pilgrimage Feasts”? Is there a the distinction between a “Festival” (or “Holy Day”) and a “Feast”? What is required to celebrate a Feast? Even tho the issues in this chapter are a bit technical, due to translational considerations, there will still be a test at “the end”.

What Does the Future Hold?

Soon enough, just before Father returns all twelve of His tribes of Israel to His land, He will be forced to stop the Feasts and Festivals of many, because they were being dedicated to a false religion! Those who survive will be “called” to live on in the flesh into the Kingdom as the restored Bride of Yeshua! (While those who served in spirit and truth will be instantaneously born into the spirit realm!)

Hosea 2:11, 13-16 I will bring an end to her celebrations; her Pilgrimage Feasts [Chag], her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her Festival Assemblies [Moedim]. ... 13 I’ll come and punish her for the times when she burned incense to the Baals, when she adorned herself her rings and jewelry, and chased her lovers, and forgot Me”, declares Yehovah. 14 “But I’m going to allure her back. I’ll bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her there. 15 I’ll give her back her vineyards beginning there, and the valley of Achor [trouble] as a doorway of hope. She’ll respond there, as in the days of her youth, like when she came out of the land of Egypt. 16 Yehovah says, “That is when you will call Me ‘My Husband’ instead of calling Me ‘My Master’. WE

The Day of Yehovah (the Lord) is approaching. Who will Father spare? The following Scriptures provide some insight into His insistence that everyone on earth will ultimately be properly celebrating His Feasts. When Yeshua and His Father come back to earth, they will be quite angry with the people who have opposed their ways. Would you want to be lukewarm toward Father’s Festivals and Feasts when they return?

Isaiah 34:4-6, 8 The entire array of heavenly lights will disappear. The sky will roll down like a scroll, and all of its lights will fall, like leaves fall from a vine or a fig tree [1]. 5 My sword has drunk its fill in the sky. It will come down on Edom, and on the people of My curse, for judgment! 6 Yehovah’s sword is filled with blood. It is covered with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; because Yehovah has a sacrifice in Bozrah; a great slaughter in the land of Edom [where Petra is]. ... 8 Yehovah has a Day of Vengeance [the Eighth Day], the Year Compensation for the cause of Zion. WE

[1] I believe that top heavy New Jerusalem will shift north and become the new north pole, allowing for a stable rotation. Were this to happen slowly the stars would appear to be rolling south. As the motion accelerates they would seemingly disappear; just as stars disappear from the image of a moving camera.

Isaiah 26:19-21 Your dead will live, along with my dead body they will arise. Awake and sing, you who live in the dust; because your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth will push out her dead. 20 Come, My people, enter into your chambers, and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself for a little moment, until the anger is past. 21 Yehovah is coming out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their depravity. The earth will also disclose her blood, and will no longer cover her slain. WE

This is one of scores of Scriptures that describe the coming captivity of the modern nations descended from ancient Israel.

Nahum 1:1-2, 6-7, 12-15 An oracle about Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. 2 Yehovah is a jealous Elohim who avenges. Yehovah avenges and is full of wrath. Yehovah takes vengeance on His adversaries, and He maintains fury against His enemies. 6 Who can stand before His anger? Who can endure the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, even rocks are broken apart by Him. ... 7 Yehovah is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who take refuge in Him. ... 12 This is what Yehovah says; “Tho they are in full strength, and many in number, they’ll still be destroyed when he passes thru. Tho I’ve punished you, I’ll punish you no more. 13 Now I will break his yoke off of you, and burst your bonds apart”. 14 Yehovah has commanded concerning you; “No more descendants will bear your name. Out of the house of your gods, I will destroy the engraved image and the cast images. I’ll make your grave, for you are vile”. 15 Look, on the mountains the feet of the One [Yeshua] who brings Good News, who publishes peace! Keep your Feasts, Judah! Perform your vows, because the wicked one will no longer pass thru you. He is utterly destroyed. WE

Zechariah 14:16, 18-19 Then everyone who survives from all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, Yehovah, leader of Heavens army, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. ... 18 If the family of Egypt doesnt show up, they wont get any rain. This will be the plague that Yehovah will strike the nations with that dont come and celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. 19 This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of any nation that doesnt come to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. WE

Why do you suppose that Father mentioned the Feast of Tabernacles in the context of punishing the Nations of the world three times in one single chapter? Why doesnt it mention the other Feasts in connection with them? There is a reason for this. Father will be working primarily with Israel during the Tribulation. The nations of Israel will be the victims of the Tribulation/Holocaust. “The nations that came against Jerusalem” will have been responsible for plundering and enslaving Israel. Israel will learn to revere Father as a result of the Tribulation on Israel. Following this, the non Israelite Nations will begin to learn to revere Father during “The Great and Awesome Day of Yehovah”.

Matthew 24:29 Immediately after the time of Tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon wont shed her light, and shooting stars will fall from the sky, and the inherent power of the Heavens will be shaken. GV

The symbolic meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles, as it pertains to the nations, will be revealed to them in the very presence of Father, in Jerusalem at this time.

The Moed, (weekly and annual Days) remain as mandatory convocations of Father’s people, and so do Father’s three appointed times (chag) a year. In ancient Israel, it was mandatory that “all your males will appear”, during the three times a year Chag. This virtually insured that every family in Israel was represented. A woman’s attendance, if at all possible, is extremely essential as well. In ancient Israel, people were concerned with physical harvests of various crops. Ancient Israel was to be blessed for obedience. Today, we look at the Feasts and the Festivals and consider the spiritual applications of what the designated Chag and Moed represent in Father’s Plan. We are nearing the time when the promise, resulting from Abraham’s faithfulness, will finally be fulfilled:

Genesis 26:4-5 I’ll multiply your descendants like the stars in the heavens, and give your descendants all these lands. All the nations on earth will be blessed by your descendants. 5 because Abraham obeyed My voice, and obeyed My requirements, My Commandments, My statutes: My Torah instructions”. WE

Hebrews 4:4 & 9 As he said about the Sabbath, “Aloha ceased on the seventh day from all His works”. ... 9 It follows that a Sabbath-rest [sabbatismos] was left behind for the people of Yehovah. GV

The promise to us, if we obey the Commandments, is eternal life.

Revelation 22:14 Blessed are those who do His Commandments, so that they will have the right to the Tree of Life, and can enter thru the gates into the city. GV

1 Corinthians 5:7-8 Clean out your old leaven so that you can be a new mix of dough, as you are unleavened. The Messiah, our Passover, was sacrificed in our place. 8 So let’s celebrate the Feast, not with the old leaven, or with the leaven of wickedness and bitterness, but with the unleavened bread of purity and sanctity. GV

Be encouraged now to “celebrate the Feast” of Unleavened Bread for all seven days this year. Celebrating the Moed and Chag as Father designed them to be will lead to a better understanding of our duty to Father, country, and neighbor. It will lead to a better understanding of Scripture and the “Way” of life befitting a disciple. It will also bring about a fuller insight into the many prophecies of both the (Hebrew) Scriptures and the The Testimony of Yeshua that have come directly from Father’s mind.

One way or another, you’ll have your day to “stand before the Son of man”. Will you stand before Him “worthy”

Luke 21:36 So always be vigilant and prayerful; so that you are worthy to escape all of these things that are to take place, and to take your stand in the presence of the Son of Man. GV

Special thanks to Richard Fix for his input. [He now no longer believes the Bible.]

The method of determining when Father’s Dedicated Days has been a controversial issue in recent years. Here are some excellent articles on the topic:

PS (7/29/06)

Modern Judaism claims that Psalm 81 is a justification for their beginning their year in the seventh month. They also agree with some modern versions about rendering ‘aok kece’ as “full moon” and I believe it to be in error. That translation is based on similarities between the Hebrew word and the Assyrian and Aramaic words for full moon. Actually, the term full moon is not mentioned anywhere in the Scriptures aside from this one place in some modern versions.

Psalm 81:3 Blow the shofar at the time of the New Moon, the covered/conceiled [root word of 03677] moon [not the assumed full moon], on our solemn Feast [chag] day. WE

The KJV avoids the controversy:

Psalm 81:3 Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast [chag] day. KJV

Actually, the Jewish custom of beginning the year in the fall is an idea that they adopted from Babylon. They calculate their calendar from what they term “the Molad of Tishri” that isnt based on the crescent New Moon, or even the invisible conjunction or any other observation. Rather, it is a mathematically estimated or approximate “New Moon” popularized by Rabbi Hillel 2 in 358 AD.

The context of Psalm 81 itself seemingly indicates that it is the actual first lunation (spring) that is being referred to since it is all about the exodus:

Psalm 81:5 & 10 He established it as a testimony for Joseph, during the exodus from the land of Egypt, after he heard a voice that he didnt recognize. 6 “I removed the burden from their shoulders. Their hands were freed from the basket [their labor]. ... 10 I’m Yehovah your Elohim, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I’ll fill it. WE

Father made Aviv the beginning of months for Israel. In fact, calendar reform was among the first things that He restored to the former slaves. The Babylonian name for their first month is “Teshritu”. The Jews shortened it to “Tishri”. The Babylonian meaning is “the month of beginnings”. But what the Jews term Tishri is the seventh month on the Biblical calendar!

Exodus 12:1-2 In the land of Egypt Yehovah told Moses and Aaron: 2 “This new moon [lunation] will be the beginning of your new moons. It will be your first new moon of the year. WE

The Chag of Psalm 81 doesnt remotely justify beginning the New Year with the New Moon of the 7th month. Many normally excellent translation sources defer to Jewish rationalizations about the year beginning in the 7th month—a month allegedly containing a Dedicated “full moon”. Because a month is not 30 days long, the full moon will not consistently fall on the fifteenth day of every month. But for that matter, there is also a “full moon” Feast in the first month!

Leviticus 23:6 On the fifteenth day of the same lunation [lunation, Aviv] is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to Yehovah. For seven days you’ll eat unleavened bread. WE

Leviticus 23:34-35 “Speak to the descendants of Israel, and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh lunation is the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to Yehovah. 35 On the first day there will be a Dedicated Convocation; you wont do your regular work. WE

The term mistranslated as full moon in most modern versions is somewhat obscure, both usages simply being translated in the KJV as “appointed”. Yet the root word explicitly refers to something concealed and darkened! A new moon is mostly darkened and is very easily unseen by many observers.

I added this info because there are people using this mistranslation as the sole reason for starting their annual Festival Day cycles based on full moons—claiming that a new moon must be a “full moon” !

A friend of a friend made a very interesting observation. She noticed that the Hebrew word Chag sounds to her like the Arabic word Hajj, meaning “to make the pilgrimage”. In Arabic, the G and the J sounds can be interchangable depending on dialect. Also, there are three different H sounds in Arabic. The H in Hajj has a deeper sound, closer to the “ch” in Chag.

Another interesting point is that Hajj is a three letter Arabic word—Hjj (no vowels, as in Hebrew). If you change the third letter to b, you get Hjb, or Hijab, meaning “to hide, obscure, block off”. My friend asked: Could it be that some kind of word play is used in Psalm 81:3 that we dont understand?

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