Shalom
 

Last week in Parashat Kedushim, we were encouraged to "be holy as He is holy." This week the theme of holiness continues as Parashat Emor begins with many instructions for the priesthood concerning their personal life. YHWH wants to make it clear that He desires to be in the midst of both our ministry and our personal life. The priests of Israel must not only "talk the talk", but most importantly "walk the walk". Yeshua had something to say to those who lived in hypocrisy:
 
Matthew 23:25 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 26 "Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. 28 "Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and Torahlessness.
 
By far, the most well known chapter in Vayikra/Leviticus is chapter 23 covering the appointed times/seasons of YHWH. I believe that all of these times have a past, present, and future significance for us both as individuals and together as the nation of Israel. NONE of these gatherings are obsolete, but continue to declare the reality of Yeshua's return to the earth. For example, consider this prophetic verse in Isaiah concerning Jerusalem:
 
Isaiah 31:5 Like birds hovering overhead, YHWH Tzva'ot will shield Jerusalem; he will shield it and deliver it, he will 'pass over' it and will rescue it."
 

In the above verse, the Hebrew for "pass over" is pesach. Yes, that is the word for Passover, and the verse seems to imply that something very significant will happen for Jerusalem on this day on YHWH's timetable. It seems that once again, it will be necessary for YHWH to rescue His people. All of the appointed times, including the Sabbath are connected to the redemption of the Israelites from Egypt, yet still look ahead to the fulfillment of His plan to bring His salvation to mankind through Yeshua the Savior of the world.

 
Following is a short review that may be helpful for you to show others why these feast days continue to reflect the plan and the will of the Almighty:
 
1. Sabbath - the most important witness, as Sabbath is a forever witness of being in covenant with the Creator of the Universe:
 
Shemot/Exodus 31:16 'Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 'It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days YHWH made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.' "
 
YHWH brought the Israelites out of their labors in Egypt and commanded them to keep the Sabbath. The word Shabbat actually means "to cease" and points back to the 7th day of the creation week. On this day we remember that our Creator Himself rested. The feasts in the first and seventh months also have extra days of rest built into their week of observance.
 
The "rest" we find in Yeshua is like a Sabbath rest:
 
Hebrews 4:9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of Yah. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as Yah did from His.
 
Matthew 11:28 "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
 

It is important to grasp Yeshua's perspective on the Sabbath as He properly interpreted the intention (definitely not "breaking" it) of the Day:

 
Matthew 12:1 At that time Yeshua went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!" 3 But He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 "how he entered the house of Adonai and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 "Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? 6 "Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. 7 "But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 "For the Son of Man is Adonai even of the Sabbath." 9 Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. 10 And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" -- that they might accuse Him. 11 Then He said to them, "What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? 12 "Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." 13 Then He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other.
 
2. Pesach/Passover - Deliverance from slavery in Egypt. Yeshua delivers us from slavery to sin and worldliness. He is the Passover Lamb:
 
John 1:29 The next day John saw Yeshua coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of Yah who takes away the sin of the world!
 
3. Feast of Unleavened Bread - Pesach was celebrated with unleavened bread. Today, we also celebrate our freedom in Messiah by striving to live a life free from the leaven of sin:
 
1 Corinthians 5:7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Messiah, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
 
4. Wave offering of the First Fruits - The Israelites remember YHWH's faithfulness to provide life and sustenance for His people in the desert. The wave offering marked the beginning of a new season. The barley harvest could begin! First fruits testifies to the resurrection of Yeshua the Messiah who became the first fruits from the grave!
 
1 Corinthians 15:20 But now Messiah is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Messiah all shall be made alive. 23 But each one in his own order: Messiah the firstfruits, afterward those who are Messiah's at His coming.
 
5. Shavuot/Feast of Weeks - This feast is connected to Passover by the counting of the omer. It is a time of preparation for revelation! For the ancient Israelites, it was the Mount Sinai experience. For the 1st century believers, it was the time of the giving of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is given to us who believe to remind us that the full harvest is coming. Could the next revelation occur on a future Shavuot signalling the complete fulfillment of this promise given to His people Israel and Judah?
 
Jeremiah 31:31 " Behold, the days are coming, says YHWH, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah -- 32 "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says YHWH. 33 "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says YHWH: I will put My Torah in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be My people. 34 "No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know YHWH,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says YHWH. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."
 
6. Yom Teruah/Feast of Trumpets - The first day of the seventh month, this feast has been looked at as the beginning of the regathering. Since it is only ten days from Yom Kippur, it is also a time of repentance. Upon entering the Promised Land, the Israelites conquered the city of Jericho by the blowing of the trumpets. It is a day of resting in His victory over insurmountable odds! Yeshua's return and the regathering of His people will be accompanied by the blowing of trumpets.
 
Matthew 24:30 "Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 "And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
 
7. Yom Kippur/Day of Atonement - a day of judgment, forgiveness and purification for people and the sanctuary. A future atonement will occur when Messiah returns:
 
Zechariah 12:10 " And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn...13:1 "In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.

 
8. Sukkot/Feast of Tabernacles - the feast is declared for a remembrance of how the Israelites dwelt in booths in the desert when they came out of Egypt and how YHWH provided for them. It is also a reminder that Yeshua will again "tabernacle" with His people:
 
Revelation 21:1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from Yah, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of Yah is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. Yah Himself will be with them and be their Elohim.
 
We know that Sukkot will continue to be observed after Yeshua returns.
 
Zechariah 14:16 And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, YHWH Tzva'ot, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
 
Thus we see that YHWH has always and will always teach His people "in season". Yeshua not only celebrated the feast days, but all His major life events occurred on these days. Doesn't it seem likely that He will continue to use His calendar to bring about the fulfillment of all of His promises? Have you ever noticed that YHWH is not in a hurry? His promises don't happen overnight. There is a process and processes occur over time. We need to learn to move according to His rhythms as pictured in the feast days. This will help give us some clarity as He reveals His actions in our world. The following is a story that illustrates this, author unknown:
 
Lessons of Life - There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away. The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall.
 
The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted. The second son said no it was covered with green buds and full of promise. The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen. The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.
 
 
The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but only one season in the tree's life. He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up. If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall. Don't judge life by one difficult season. Persevere through the difficult patches and times will surely change. Trust in the promises and the plan of our Creator!
 
Ecclesiastes 3:1 To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven
 
Shabbat Shalom!
Ardelle