Growing up in traditional Christianity, I was unaware of the Feasts of the Lord. In fact, I was taught that the New Testament had replaced the Old Testament, and “we follow the New Testament.” But these Feasts are appointed times. These are Feasts that God instituted. They are His Feasts. God gives us instructions about them in Leviticus 23. They are eternal because Yeshua said He came to fulfill them.
In fact, the truth of the Feasts permeates throughout the entire Scripture if you have eyes to see. I pray that He will open the eyes of our hearts more and more so that we can see His glory in the Feasts, so that we can truly know Him. He said this is eternal life, to know Him (John 17:3).
The first time you read about them, it may seem irrelevant to your spiritual life, but when His Spirit begins to shine His Light, He reveals the fulfillment of all of them in Yeshua, the Messiah. It is truly breathtaking. It will change your life.
This reflection is not a teaching on the Feasts, but just some grateful meditations on my heart today. The study of the Feasts of the Lord is very vast and beautiful, and many times, very intricate. Over the years, I have written many articles on the different aspects of the Feasts. There are many wonderful Messianic teachers who have written studies or books on each one of them, which you can access. It has been one of the joys of my life to study the Feasts, and it has been a constant growth in intimacy with Yeshua.
To study the Word for myself and let His glorious Spirit reveal what He desires for me to understand as I celebrate each Feast over and over again keeps me so aware of His Presence. It’s so amazing because the depths of God are eternal. We will never “finish” discovering Him. We will only go deeper and deeper. Every single time I celebrate each Feast, He shows me more about Himself. I so love Him for that.
It’s an on-going journey on the highway of holiness (Isaiah 35:8). It’s a way of life. Every year, I learn more by His grace and through His Ruach. In my life’s journey to His heart, these Feasts have become the road map to the Kingdom, ultimately leading to the return of Yeshua, where He will reign forevermore from Zion, from Jerusalem.
Embracing the Feasts and walking in them as He leads us is not some strange new religion. This is the Word of the Lord, and His heart bids us to come and let Him teach us of His great plan.
Many followers of Yeshua resist the “Jewishness of the Gospel”, but once we see who He truly is, we honor Him and embrace the way He chose to reveal Himself. We realize that we know Him better and we understand His plan better, and best of all, we love Him more and want to be part of everything He is doing on this planet.
We want to prepare the way for His return. Understanding and celebrating the Feasts is the key to preparing the way for His return.
Connecting the dots between God’s Original Covenant (Old Testament) with Israel and His New Covenant (New Testament), also with Israel (Jeremiah 31:31-34), opens wide our eyes. Both covenants were made with Israel. It’s not correct to believe that the Old Testament is for the Jews and the New Testament is for the Gentiles.
Both covenants were originally made with the Jews. Their following of Yeshua and spreading the message of the eternal Messianic Kingdom have brought the nations to salvation. They are the fulfillment of God’s Word to Abraham, that through them, because of Messiah Yeshua, all nations on earth are blessed (Genesis 12:1-3).
As Gentiles, people in the nations, we are grafted into His promises through Messiah Yeshua. Seeing the fulfillment of the Feasts in our Yeshua ties us to our roots, the foundations of our faith in God’s choice of Abraham, the people of Israel, and the Messianic line of His tribe, the tribe of Judah.
How marvelous are His ways. With each piece of revelation in the treasure of His Word, we become more and more one with Him, one together, and growing towards the oneness of Jew and Gentile who worship the God of Israel together (Ephesians 2:12-16).
Without this unity of Jew and Gentile, which is the fullness of Jew and Gentile united together in Yeshua, there will be a blockage of the highway for our God. We cannot prepare the way with this separation of His people continuing to block the truth of His identity.
This huge blockage keeps the fulfillment of the Word from happening. The Scriptures says, “remove the stones”. This is definitely a stone that must be removed.
I so believe that for both Jews and Gentiles who are at this time not aware of God’s desire and His plan for our unity, there is coming a day when the revelation of God in His Feasts will shine His light. I believe both Jew and Gentile will see it first at Passover – Yeshua, the Lamb of God, and we will follow the revelation of Him until His return. Jew and Gentile alike will see Him in each of the three pilgrimage Feasts, at Passover, the Salvation of our souls, at Shavuot, the power of His Spirit, and at Succot, one with the eternal King of Glory on this earth.
Following the pattern God gave us by celebrating the Feasts and experiencing Him, living with Him in this way, releases us from striving to live the way He wants us to live. We understand what we are to do. We obey Him by celebrating Yeshua in His Feasts, and each Feast takes us closer, until we are totally one with Him and in Him in the eternal Kingdom on planet earth. We are one people. We are the people of the God of Israel. We will serve Him and find our joy in Him throughout the endless ages. His Kingdom will never end. His Kingdom will continue to increase, and our joy in Him will never end. This is His plan – and it is revealed in His Feasts.
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Thanks for sharing. Blessings on your head from the Lord Jesus, Yeshua HaMashiach.
Steve Martin
Founder
Love For His People
Charlotte, NC USA