WRITINGS
It is impossible to understand God’s festivals (His feasts) and the Lord’s high holy days without knowing God’s Hebrew calendar and prophecies. We must have the heart to understand God’s Kingdom’s purposes for the nation of Israel. Many Christians have asked me: “Why should I celebrate the feasts in the Old Testament? Are we not under a New Covenant?” Yes, we are. However, our understanding of these feasts is essential to the church.
Ever since we returned from Israel a few weeks ago, everyone has been curiously asking how was our trip? As I have been processing all that transpired, I have decided to write down my personal and spiritual reflections of the journey.
“Now it shall come to pass in the latter [last] days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain [Kingdom] of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob [Israel]; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:2-3, NKJV).
“There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12 & 16:25, NKJV). Yeshua affirmed this when He said, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).
The Exodus from Egypt and the liberation of the Jewish people from slavery marked the birth of the nation of Israel, and is considered by the Jewish people to be the single most important event in their history. The delivery itself was both miraculous and divinely orchestrated entirely at His hand. The Lord had sent Moses to Pharaoh to deliver this message; “Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness” (Exodus 5:1, NKJV).
The Latin word “Ex Nihilo” (yesh me-ayin in Hebrew), means out of nothing, and is used to describe God’s creation of the universe and His forming of life from nothingness. Let us therefore ask this question: Can something actually be created out of nothing? Rationally, our minds would tell us no. But if we believe—by faith—that God created the universe ex nihilo, which is both irrational and seemingly impossible to comprehend, then we can also conclude that the universe cannot continue to exist apart from the One who created it.
On Friday, January 20, 2017, my son and I attended the inauguration for President Donald John Trump. Truth be told, I would have preferred to watch it from the warmth and comfort of my living room, and with our new high definition television, the details of the ceremony would have been far more visible. Still I felt there would be something magical about actually being there.
It is said by the Jewish rabbis that parents receive a glimmer of divine inspiration when they give their child a Hebrew name. We can clearly see evidence of this in scripture, “But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins’” (Matthew 1:20-21).
I find it interesting how the church has reached a place where the mere expression ‘we are no longer under the law,’ has somehow erased God’s moral standards as a prerequisite for living a holy and sanctified Christian life. In fact I believe it has led some into apostasy due to a lack of accountability, and has begun to present the world a church that looks very much the same.
“For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ [Yeshua] for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen” (Romans 9:3-5).
Much has been written about the Old and the New Covenants. Clearly from scripture we find the new is a better covenant. However, does the Old Covenant still serve a purpose in the life of a Christian today? There are many arguments on both sides; some claiming the law has been completely superseded by the New Covenant—called supersessionism—while others within the Messianic Community still follow the Law of Moses, claiming the law is an eternal statute given to the Jewish people.
The year was 2002, and our family was living in Merrimack, New Hampshire. We began attending a conservative Baptist Church just down the street, a traditional New England church building with a white steeple and bell tower.
I was a new believer in Jesus, but I was confused about Christianity. Did my Jewish heritage mean anything? After all, I knew that Jesus was a Jewish man. And wasn’t His actual name Joshua, pronounced Yehoshua in Hebrew?
