Coming Home for the Holy Days

Coming Home for the Holy Days 
Coming Home to Him
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He is our Home
Most days my heart can barely take the news. How thankful I am that Yahweh, the Eternally-Existent, Majestic Creator, and Sovereign One is our only Home. Although He has allowed the waywardness of humankind to run its course, He is full of hesed (His indescribable, undeserved, vast love) to those who seek Him. Our faith in Him is true and high and distinct from every other so-called “religion” because:

• He is personal. He knows every detail of our lives and loves us each uniquely. He came to earth to rescue, redeem, and restore us to Himself in loving relationship.
  
  
• He is a gift. There is nothing we can do to “get to heaven” or to be in His presence. Our access to Him is a sheer gift given to those who receive Yeshua (Jesus).
  There is no “working our way up” or “getting enough points from our good deeds.”
  There is no “karma” that repays us for our good or bad deeds… else we would all be doomed.
  There is no “finding ourselves” since we only see ourselves when we walk in relationship with Him.
  There is ONLY Yeshua – The Sacrifice. He paid our debt and set us free to love Him and others with no fear of the future. He is our Entrance into eternal life. This is, indeed, the Good News!
  
  
• He has been foretold. The Scriptures foretell this Gift of Messiah hundreds of years before His birth leaving us no doubt that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life!

Remembering His Provision
The holidays in Jewish life are numerous. However, Yahweh established only seven Appointed Times called permanent ordinances that call His people out of their routine to rest and remember Him. They occur in the Spring and Fall. (The list is found in Leviticus 23 and expounded upon throughout Scripture. I have included a brief list on the last page.) His people’s repeated observance of these Appointed Times would also make the Messiah’s coming obvious since He would be the final fulfillment of each one.

Today, He holds our faces in His hands and says, “Look up, my child!” In the Appointed Times, He invites us to rest, refocus, and remember His goodness. He knew we would keep working, working, working if He merely suggested these Times. Instead, He commands. Like a parent saying, “It’s time to come in out of the cold,” or “It’s time for supper,” His appointments are kind and inviting!

I have known about these Appointed Times for many years, but their significance did not register until 2016 when Rabbi and Cynthia Schneider of Discovering the Jewish Jesus commissioned me to create the art cards surrounding them. Although that intense year praying about the images and text for the cards was life-changing, each year since then has brought new and deepened warmth and joy in observing these Times. Their meaning seems to hold an inexhaustible and expanding treasure.

Sometime in the third and fourth century, church leaders separated us from our Jewish heritage by creating a new calendar and new holidays. I feel like I am coming home now every time an Appointed Time comes around. Like coming home for the holidays, Yahweh’s Appointed Times are a getaway in which we can saturate in the truth, beauty, and purity of Who He is and find rest for our souls.

Tabernacles
This past Sunday at sundown, we entered the last and happiest Appointed Time for the year – the week-long Feast of Tabernacles. During this week, we are commanded to rejoice! People around the world build sukkot or temporary shelters (also called booths or tabernacles) to remember how the Israelites learned to depend on God in the wilderness. Stripped of all but life’s necessities, His presence was all they needed… all we need.

My friend, Dorcas, gave me permission to share her family’s sukkat (the image for this post) that beautifully includes the full moon that appears during this special week. When I look at this picture, it causes me to worship my Savior, Messiah Yeshua, for coming to earth to tabernacle among us. It reminds me that He was here looking up to His Father.

The disciple John wrote, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) Stripped of His heavenly glory, Yeshua set up a temporary shelter with us to become the Perfect Sacrifice for all people for all time! (Hebrews 9:11-12) And He will come again to tabernacle with us in the New Heaven and the New Earth.

During this Appointed Time of Sukkot (ending at sundown on Sunday, October 16 this year), let us remember that His presence is all we need. Let us rejoice in the Lord, our Shepherd!

(Please continue reading to see the list of Appointed Times.)

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Yahweh’s Appointed Times including key Scripture references, key reasons for the observance, as well as the foreshadows of Yeshua. You may also read the synopses on the back of The Feasts of Israel Fulfilled Art Cards at FlowerGirlGreetings.com. (Shabbat is not currently included in this Collection.)

• Shabbat – One day each week of the year.
  (Leviticus 23:3; Genesis 2:1-3; Matthew 11:28-30; Ephesians 2:8-9)
  Rest – For six days work may be done, but on the 7^th day there is a Sabbath of complete rest.
  Foreshadows our continual and perpetual rest in Yeshua.

Spring

• Passover and The Feast of Unleavened Bread – One week each year beginning on the 14^th day of the 1^st month (the first full moon of Spring).
  (Exodus 12-13; Leviticus 23:5-8; Deuteronomy 16:1-8; John 1:29; 1 Corinthians 5:7-8; 1 Peter 1:13-19; Revelation 5:12)
  Rest, celebration of His deliverance, assembly on the last day
  Foreshadows Yeshua’s sacrifice and burial. He was killed when the lambs were killed.
  
  
• The Feast of First Fruits – One day each year (on the Sunday after the week of Unleavened Bread).
  (Leviticus 23:9-14; Deuteronomy 26:11; Proverbs 3:9-10; 1 Corinthians 15:20-23)
  Rest, Thanksgiving for the first Spring Harvest
  Foreshadows Yeshua’s resurrection. He was resurrected on this Day.
  
  
• The Feast of Weeks or Shavuot (Pentecost) – One day each year (on Sunday, 50 days after First Fruits).
  (Leviticus 23:15-22; Deuteronomy 16:9-12; Acts 2)
  Rest, Thanksgiving for the second Spring Harvest, Proclamation
  Foreshadows the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. The disciples were gathered to celebrate Shavuot when the Holy Spirit came.

Fall

• The Days of Trumpets (or Teruah) – Two days each year in the Fall on the 1^st day of the 7^th month (the new moon that ushers in the Fall).
  (Leviticus 23:23-25; Exodus 19:18-20; Isaiah 40:5; Matthew 24:29-31; 1 Corinthians 15:51-54; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 1:7; 11:15; 22:20; Acts 1:11; John 14:3; Song of Songs 8:14)
  Rest, Reminder by Teruah (Teruah is a massive noise either by shouting or trumpets).
  Foreshadows Yeshua’s return for His bride.
  
  
• The Day of Atonement – One day each year on the 10^th of the 7^th month.
  (Leviticus 23:26-32; 16:29-34; 17:11; Zechariah 12:10; Matthew 27:33-51; Hebrews 9:11-28)
  Rest, Fasting, contrition. The most holy day of the year.
  Foreshadows the Perfect and Final Sacrifice – Yeshua.

• The Feast of Tabernacles – One week each year on the 15^th of the 7^th month (the full moon).
  (Leviticus 23:33-36; Deuteronomy 16:13-17; John 1:14; John 7:2-39; John 14:1-3; Revelation 21:3-5)
  Rest, Rejoicing in God’s provision
  Foreshadows Yeshua’s living among us and His return when He will live with us forever.

The Feast of Tabernacles Art Card is in The Feasts of Israel Fulfilled Art Card Collection at Flower Girl Greetings.

Dorcas' Sukkat

Shale Fragments™ - devotionals by Beth Ann Phifer is a division of Flower Girl Greetings, LLC. ©2020, All Rights Reserved.
Blessings and love in Him,
Beth Ann