Shalom!
 
What topic can you study that will help you understand the things that YHWH has planned for the world, end-times events as they relate to Messiah, the people of Israel, the Land of Israel, and the ultimate future that has been laid out by the Creator? The answer is, of course, the feasts of YHWH. The feasts lay out Yah's master plan to restore humanity. The prophecies are difficult to understand without a knowledge of the feasts. You really can't make sense of the book of Revelation without the feasts. The book of Hebrews certainly can't be understood without knowing about Yom Kippur. Rav Shaul (Paul) assumed his readers knew about Pesach (Passover) when he wrote 1 Corinthians. Of course, without Shavuot (Pentecost), you wouldn't understand the significance of the events of Acts 2. The Gospels are replete with Yeshua fulfilling appointments according to the cycle of the feasts.
 
Vayikra/Leviticus 23:2 "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'The feasts of YHWH, which you shall proclaim to be sacred assemblies, these are My feasts.
 
Two times in the above verse, YHWH claims the feasts as "His." His feasts are a part of His great plan in bringing about redemption to Israel. The Hebrew word for "feast" is "moed." It is further defined as an appointed time, a season, or a set time. It is an "appointment" when our Father asks His children to stop what they're doing for themselves, come to His Temple and meet with Him.
 
The Hebrew word for "assemblies" is "miqra." It can also be defined as "rehearsal," i.e., a practice session for a later event. Combining together the two words we have learned, we get the understanding that His feasts are "holy rehearsals of future appointments with YHWH." Each festival was a partial shadow of the Messiah who "was and is and is to come." Shadows and realities go together. This is how Sha'ul/Paul describes them:
 
Colossians 2:16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the reality is of Messiah.
 
Isn't what Sha'ul saying, the same as what is said in Vayikra 23? Are not the Feasts a "shadow" or an outline of something that is coming in the future? Yet we learn one more thing from Sha'ul. That is, that which is casting the shadow...the reality is Messiah. The festivals are prophetic shadows of events that Messiah is going to accomplish in the world.
 
Rabbi Farr (www.rabbiyeshua.com) describes a shadow like this:
 
If I would put my hand up in front of a projector, if you are looking at the screen, all you would be able to see is a shadow. And if you are just looking at the shadow, you would not be able to tell if it's a right hand, left hand, black hand, white hand, a male hand or a female hand. If you move forward and see that it is my hand, all would become clear to you. That's what Paul is saying. The festivals were yearly gatherings when the Israelites met with YHWH. They are vague outlines of what God is going to do in the world. But if we look to the One who is casting the shadow, we find much more. We find teachings of the Messiah. We find that the Passover was a rehearsal of the death of Messiah down to the exact day and hour....there's nothing new under the sun. There's at least a shadow of what is going to occur. The Lord has left a shadow of everything that will happen in the future. In the history of Israel, you can see the same thing happening over and over.
 

 
For example, the 17th of Nissan...the ark came to rest on the Mount of Ararat, the Israelites crossed the Red Sea and the people were delivered from the Egyptians, Hamon was hung and the Jews were delivered from an edict of death. Yeshua rose from the dead on this very day. The 17th of Nissan marks the deliverance from death! If you want to know what is going to happen, you just have to look at the shadows of the feasts of YHWH. The festivals are shadows and history repeats itself. That makes the history of the Bible the future!
 
In Jewish thought, a shadow is the evidence of a reality that needs to be sought out. This is the purpose for the feasts of YHWH. They are shadows with the reality in Messiah Yeshua. How is the Sabbath a shadow?
 
Hebrews 4:4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: "And Yah rested on the seventh day from all His works"...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. 11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.
 
The 7th day Sabbath becomes a shadow picture of the millennial reign of Messiah. The Sabbath Rest equals the Millennial Reign of Messiah. Every week we enter into the shadow, the picture of what is to come.
 
Like the festivals, the tabernacle was also a shadow of a heavenly reality:
 
Hebrews 8:1 Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which
Adonai erected, and not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. 4 For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; 5 who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as
Moshe was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, "See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain."
 
The offerings, the priests, the vessels...everything was a "shadow" of something in heaven. Even Moshe was a "shadow" of the Redeemer who was coming:
 
Devarim/Deuteronomy 18:15 " YHWH your Elohim will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear
 
In fact, all of Torah is said to be a "shadow":
 
Hebrews 10:1 For the Torah, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.

People pour over the book of Revelation to look for clues concerning end times events. But Revelation is not written in outline form. Where the future is foreshadowed, is in the festivals. And sadly, most people pay no attention to these. Why don't most believers celebrate them? Who wants us to remain in ignorance?

2 Thessalonians 2:5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness (Torahlessness) is already at work
 
The lawless (Torahless) one wants to strip the Torah away from Yah's people. If the Torah is a shadow picture, a revelation of Messiah Yeshua, and if the feasts teach us and prepare us for the future, why wouldn't the evil one do everything to prevent us from the feasts and all obedience to the Torah? He can fool you if you pay no attention to the "shadows."
 
Those who are part of a wedding party go to the rehearsals followed by a rehearsal dinner. There are always some guests who make excuses and do not even attend the wedding celebration. We read something similar in one of Yeshua's parables. Yeshua told a story about the kingdom of heaven. A certain king was giving a wedding feast for his son. He sent out his servants to call those who had been invited:
 
Matthew 22:1 And Yeshua answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: 2 "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, 3 "and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. 4 "Again, he sent out other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding." ' 5 "But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. 6 "And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. 7 "But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 8 "Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 'Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.' 10 "So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 "But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. 12 "So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. 13 "Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' 14 "For many are called, but few are chosen."
 
The servants who had been sent out had two critical pieces of information - they were to declare the appointed time and the appointed place of the banquet. Likewise, the Almighty declared the appointed place as the Tabernacle, and the appointed times are the Biblical Feasts of YHWH. Who will come to the banquet?
 
The One who casts the "shadow" is Yeshua! Don't you want to learn all you can about His reflection, through studying and application of His Word? The festivals provide an outline that the Almighty will continue to follow. It's what will keep us from deception during very difficult days ahead. Near the end of his life, Sha'ul wrote:
 
Acts 20:29 "For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 "Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. 31 "Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.
 
If you are a Bible believer and you desire to understand YHWH in a greater way than you do today, the festivals will reveal to you the deeper things. The festivals will teach us about the death, burial, and resurrection of Yeshua, the empowering of the believers by the Holy Spirit, the resurrection of the dead, coronation of Messiah, wedding of Messiah, the tribulation, the 2nd coming of Messiah, and the millennium.
 
2 Corinthians 4:18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
 
We honor our Heavenly Father by taking time on the days of His moedim and focusing upon the lessons He intends to teach us. When we do so, we are able to place our Messiah at the center of our lives, reflecting His awesome glory.
 
Now, for a bit of Israel news. If you haven't watched Prime Minister Netanyahu's ​speech, including the physical evidence of Iran's nuclear program, you should take the time - Iran Lied Big Time
 
And finally, a short video on "why protect Israel's border with Gaza?" - The Truth About the Gaza Border
 
Shabbat Shalom!

Ardelle