FOUR IMPORTANT QUESTIONS
#1 It is written that spiritual things are spiritually discerned
1 Cor 2:14. And, that the spirit of God is given to those who obey Him Acts 5:32. Daniel was told that the wicked shall
not understand Dan 12:10. If we take the time to look up the festivals in almost any commentary, bible dictionary or
other bible help, we will see that the teachings of the Church of God were taken almost word for word from these publications.
This material was written over one hundred years ago. WHY THEN, are we RELYING on the writings of Commandment Rejecting,
Law Hating; MEN! MEN who CANNOT DISCERN Spiritual Things! MEN who utterly refuse to obey their Heavenly Father?
#2 Paul tells us that the sabbath and holy days are shadows of things to come. They are prophetic
in nature Col 2:16-17. WHY THEN do we spiritualize away the Feast of Unleavened Bread, declaring that it has only
to do with a Christian's walk with Christ and ignoring it's prophetic significance?
#3
It is self evident that the festivals are harvest festivals, intimately related to the harvests in Judea. We declare
that the spring festivals picture a spring harvest of first fruits, while the fall festivals picture the fall harvest.
WHY THEN, are meanings assigned to most of the fall festivals, which have nothing to do with the fall harvest and everything
to do with the spring harvest? Even declaring that the spring harvest of first fruits itself, comes on a fall festival,
the Feast of Trumpets.
#4 WHY are we told that the Feast of Tabernacles represents a one thousand year
period, when scripture says that; one day is as thousand years and a thousand years is as one day with God 2 Pet 3:8?
Either this festival has NO time frame meaning or it MUST represent Seven Thousand Years.
THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS
under construction
For those interested in observing these festivals according to the calendar that God reveals
in the Holy Scripture (see CALENDAR article). The first light of the new moon of the seventh month, should become visible
immediately after sunset, ending the 13th day of Sep 2007, and beginning the 14th day of Sep 2007. Making 14 Sep 2007
the Feast of Trumpets. This is SUBJECT TO CONFIRMATION BY OBSERVATION. We will report the observation of New Moons
on our CURRENT EVENTS PAGE.
24 sep 06
James David Malm copyright 2006
The Feast of trumpets MUST always fall on a New Moon. Num 29:1-6.
THE
DAY OF
ATONEMENT
The Day of Atonement features four things; Fasting, Sacrifice, the Scapegoat and the Jubile.
Have you ever
been so occupied in what you are doing, that you forgot something important, or even forgot to eat? The act of fasting
is and should be a single minded effort to establish a proper relationship with God. To the exclusion of all other activities,
including eating and drinking, therefore absolutely NO WORK should be done. To fast is to humble oneself before God
but it is also an all out, whole hearted effort to remove the heavy burden (of sin) Isaiah 58:6. Fasting is about REPENTANCE.
The fasting of Atonement is about the repentance of all those brought up in the Feast of Trumpets resurrection
and the cutting off of all those who will not fast, the fast of repentance. But it does not stop there, we also need
to fast. First, it is necessary for our own relationship with God, to whole heartedly, single mindedly, seek Him
through the fasting of repentance. For who has not sinned? Second, we fast to remind ourselves of the incredible
plan that God is working out for all men. It is not enough to spend the day, going without food or drink, simply fasting
without REPENTANCE, complaining of our discomfort and dreaming of what we will do when it is over. The day should be
spent in self examination and actively seeking God's forgiveness through genuine heartfelt REPENTANCE. Only in this
way, can we even begin to remove the barrier of sin that separates us from God. We must REPENT, which means not only
being sorry for what we have done, it means being sorry enough to CHANGE, to STOP DOING THOSE THINGS THAT SEPARATE US FROM
GOD! Only then can the next step take place.
Which is the application of the atoning sacrifice.
On this day each year the High Priest entered the Most Holy Place with the blood of atonement, to make atonement for all the
people. The sacrifice of the goat here pictures the sacrifice of Messiah and it's atoning power applied to all men,
even as the Passover sacrifice pictures the sacrifice of Messiah and it's atoning power applied to the ones called out
of Egypt, the first fruits. With repentance and atonement comes reconciliation to God and FORGIVENESS. The day
will come, on some future Fast of Atonement that, the true High Priest of God, the only true Mediator between God and man,
will remove the Vail of sin separating the majority of mankind from God and apply His sacrifice making atonement for all men,
even as He atoned for the sins of His called out first fruits on the day of PASSOVER!
On this day the Scape
Goat is chosen by lot. Lev 16:8. This means that God decides which goat to take, for man is unable to discern between
good and evil. We must follow God and not attempt to define good and evil for ourselves. We simply do not have
the experience, knowledge or wisdom to know for ourselves. Doing what we think is right, is self-righteousness.
Doing what God says is right, is true Godly righteousness. All the sins, of all the people, are confessed over the scape
goat and it is led into the wilderness. Thus signifying forgiveness and the total removal of all sin forever.
As the sacrificial goat represents the atoning power of Christ's sacrifice applied to the majority of mankind, the scape
goat represents the responsibility for sin being placed upon the originator of sin, satan, who is then removed from the presence
of God and man forever.
OFFERINGS
We are commanded to come with offerings three times each
year. There is no specific command to bring an offering on the Day of atonement. For persons to make offerings
and for church officials to spend time counting and banking money on the Day of Atonement, demeans the dignity and sanctity
and desecrates the spirit of this occasion. It is IMPROPER to be concerned with money on the Day of Atonement.
On this Coming Day of Atonement, 30 Sep 09, let us fast the fast of REPENTANCE
and seek to be enfolded in the
tender embrace of our loving and merciful Father. Let us turn our hearts to Him and His heart will be turned toward
us, as the heart of a loving parent to His cherished and beloved children. Let us turn toward Him so that we may go
forth rejoicing, knowing that we passionately love and are loved by the most magnificent Being in the universe.
THE JUBILE
The JUBILE occurs every fiftieth year and is declared on the Day of Atonement Lev 25:1-14.
This day pictures the restoration of all things. It represents FREEDOM for all people, LIBERTY is PROCLAIMED and all persons
may return to their own lands and families. This ever so clearly demonstrates FREEDOM FROM THE HEAVY BURDEN OF SIN,
brought about through REPENTANCE and FORGIVENESS! It shows the removal of Sin and the suffering it brings. It
shows the atonement made for sin, now applied to a REPENTANT HUMANITY, giving ALL PERSONS, LIBERTY from the enslavement of
sin and from the influence of satan.
Coming on the fiftieth year, The Jubile, is very much a counterpart of
the Feast of First fruits, in the spring. As fifty is the first year after the completion of seven times seven years
or forty nine years, thus revealing A NEW BEGINNING. It shows the bulk of humanity, resurrected on the Feast of Trumpets,
now entering into a new relationship with God, entering A NEW COVENANT! Even as the New Covenant will be extended to
all flesh then living Joel 2:28, when the Kingdom of God is established on the Feast of First fruits shortly after the Spring
harvest The main body of mankind will also enter a New Relationship with God on the Day of Atonement. Thus readying
the fall harvest for reaping and gathering into God's family, His temple.
Some have tried to calculate
the year of the return of Christ, assuming it will be on a Jubile year. This is an error. The Jubile lands on the Fast
of Atonement, a Fall Holy Day; it therefore pictures an event connected to the Fall, or main harvest and not to the Resurrection
of First fruits in the spring. The establishment of God's Kingdom will fall on the Jubile of Days; Pentecost. Atonement
pictures the repentance of the fall, or main harvest. The Jubile of years pictures the restoration of all things for
the Fall, or main harvest.
Friends, whether we will ultimately qualify to be first fruits or if we will be
in the latter harvest, it is absolutely imperative that we repent and turn from sin, which is the transgression of the
law 1 Joh 3:4, in order to have a proper relationship with God. Let us therefore, zealously examine ourselves, so as
to remove any thing that might come between us and God, so that we might someday enter the FAMILY OF GOD!
The
Feast
of In-gathering
and the Great Day
The Feast of In-gathering or Tabernacles begins
on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. The first day is holy. Holy means, of or pertaining to God. Therefore the first
day pictures something that God is doing or going to do. Being a fall festival it also pictures the autumn or main harvest.
Some have said that this festival pictures the millennium of one thousand years of rule by the first fruits. We know that
this cannot be true, for we are told by Peter in holy scripture that one day is as one thousand years with God 2 Pet 3:8.
Since this feast is seven days long, it could not possibly picture a one thousand year event. Further, this is a fall festival.
Why would it picture events connected with the first fruits, which are part of the spring harvest?
We are
commanded to live in temporary shelters or booths for the full seven days of the festival. This is to remind us that God,
made Israel to dwell in tents when He brought them out of Egypt Lev 23:43. Notice that they did not dwell in booths in Egypt,
it was when they came out of Egypt that they dwelt in booths. In Egypt they had their own houses, it was their home, but when
they left, Egypt was their home no longer. They became strangers, travelers journeying to a far country and no longer having
a citizenship in Egypt. This pictures people, called out of the sin of this world. now having no part with this world, but
rather in transit, to a promised world.
We are commanded to cut, on the first day, branches of fruitful trees
and rejoice with them for seven days Lev 23:40. Some think that the booths should be made with these branches. Notice that
they are commanded to be cut on the first day. Either you are building your booth in the dark at the beginning of the first
day or you are not dwelling in those booths the whole seven days of the feast. In building a home on the first day you would
be breaking the command to do no work on that day. Finally, there is absolutely NO command to build booths out of branches,
rather we are told to rejoice with them the whole seven days. What then does this picture? The answer is given to us in John
15:5. Messiah said, "I am the vine, you are the branches". The branches are the people of the fall harvest. We rejoice
with these branches because they picture the bringing in of the fall harvest into God's family, His temple. In the days
of the temple, the people brought their branches into the temple rejoicing. So we also, should obey the command of God and
take a few sprigs of beautiful trees and rejoice with them. Acting out the in-gathering of the nations into the temple of
God. Let us therefore bring a small branch with us, into the festival services and truly rejoice. Knowing that each branch
represents a beloved child, parent or friend who could be graffed into the family of God Rom 11:23-25. This festival
is not about getting ours, it is not about selfish and dominating lordship. It is about loving service, it is about
saving humanity and bringing the harvest of mankind into the temple, the family of God. There is so very much to rejoice
about when we truly understand the meaning of this festival. In the past we were told that it was about lording it over
others for one thousand years. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is about SERVING others and bringing
them into the household of God Mat 20:25-28.
The question arises: Does the phrase; "as it is written"
Neh 8:15 mean that Moses actually commanded the people to build booths from the branches? Answer: The most exhaustive
search of the writings of Moses will NOT find any command to build booths out of branches, rather the people were commanded
to REJOICE with the branches. Lacking the knowledge provided by the New Testament writers, Nehemiah simply came to the
ONLY reasonable conclusion possible, in his circumstances. Did he do wrong? NO, there is absolutely nothing wrong
with building booths from branches and doing so does fulfill the command to live in temporary shelters for seven days.
Yet the term booth, can also mean hut or tent. Those who observe this festival at a location where it is not possible
to build booths out of branches, may simply dwell in travelers lodgings and fulfill this requirement. In colder or rainy climates
or because of age or illness it might even be more appropriate to stay in better shelter than simply shelters made from branches.
Dwelling in any type of temporary shelter, acts out the truth that we are no longer citizens of this world, but are journeying
to a new and better, Promised Land. While rejoicing with the branches, acts out the truth that the Festival demonstrates
the harvest of humanity being brought into the Temple, the Family of GOD! That is why, this Festival is called BOTH
the Feast of Tabernacles and the Feast of Ingathering!
In Numbers 29 Israel is commanded to sacrifice thirteen
bullocks the first day, twelve the second day and so on through the seventh day. This gives a total of seventy bullocks sacrificed
throughout the Feast of In-gathering. At the dividing of the families of man at Babel, mankind was divided into seventy families.
A bullock was sacrificed for each of the families of man at this festival clearly reflecting the ingathering of all the families
of man into the temple or family of God.
Deu 16:14 commands that we observe this feast with our entire families.
Demonstrating that this feast is about family, the ultimate family of God.
The Feast of Tabernacles is seven
days long. Peter tells us that this must mean seven thousand years in fulfillment. The creation week pictures a six thousand
year plan capped by a one thousand year sabbath for all mankind resting in the presence of their Creator. The week of
Unleavened Bread pictures God calling out His first fruits for six thousand years, capped by a one thousand year millennium.
Even so, the Feast of In-gathering pictures the gathering into God's family of all mankind. Resurrected in their courses
on the Feast of Trumpets, repenting and being reconciled to God on the Day of Atonement and living their lives for a period
to prove themselves, they will then be gathered into God's kingdom. This festival is truly an occasion for REJOICING,
as we see the bulk of humanity, converted and given eternal life, a life without the pain, suffering and heartache of sin.
The in-gathering of the family of man into the Family of God.
Why have we not understood these things? Because
we have not kept the commandment regarding the festival, we have not observed it the way we were instructed. And because
we have not put God first in our lives, we have not asked for understanding. We were content to believe what we were
told without question. We accepted the word of men and did not study the word of God. Did you not return from
this feast in a state of letdown? Why? Because what you were taught was shallow, unsatisfying and empty. It was
simply acting contrary to scripture to rejoice over an opportunity to bully others for one thousand years. Now you have
something to truly REJOICE over. A deeply satisfying and encouraging hope for the ones that you love so much.
God will be victorious, satan doesn't stand a chance. Mankind will be saved and you will have a part in bringing
in the harvest of lives! How WONDERFUL how AWESOME is our GREAT GOD!
And Moses commanded them, saying,
At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, when all Israel is
come to appear before the Lord thy God in the place which He shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their
hearing. Deu 31:10-11. The law is the foundation of the covenant. If you break the law, you have broken
the covenant, whether old or new. For the covenant, whether old or new, is to keep the law, it is to obey our CREATOR
HUSBAND! If you are not familiar with the law, how can you obey it? I ask, In what Church of God has the book
of Deuteronomy been read at any Feast of Tabernacles? We do not understand because we do not obey the word of God.
Why are there no healing's? Why are our prayers not answered? Why do we lack understanding? Because
we do not keep the commandments and do those things that are pleasing to Him 1 Joh 3:22.
THE GREAT DAY
And finally comes the Great Day. As the eighth day in a cycle of seven this pictures a new beginning. A new heavens and
a new earth. Mankind, now in spirit, fully the children of God, going forward into eternity, in perfect peace and harmony
with God and with each other. No more sorrow or pain. No more tears, violence or sin. Just the perfection of the perfect love
of God.
PROPER OBSERVATION
Over the years, even as far back as the early nineteen sixties,
I have noticed an almost total lack of respect for the Last Day. People pack, they pay bills, they travel, they do last
minute shopping and they even eat out at restaurants (see our SABBATH page). And, to make matters worse, the ministry
do not instruct or reprimand them, the ministry even go so far as to accommodate this sacrilege by deliberately scheduling
early services, so people can get on their way! This ought not to be so! This day IS A HIGH HOLY DAY! Doing
these things shows utter contempt for the day that GOD has declared HOLY! This is NOT your time it IS GOD'S TIME!
This is a GREAT SIN brethren and is one of the reasons that your prayers have been hindered!
We are told not
to cook or prepare food on the Sabbath or on Holy Days Ex 16:23. The only instruction allowing the preparation of food
on a Holy Day was for the First Feast of Unleavened Bread when Israel was being driven out of Egypt EX 12:16. A very
special and unusual occasion, a true ox in the ditch. There is no instruction allowing the preparation of food on any other
Holy Day and there is no such allowance for food preparation in any subsequent commandment regarding the Feast of Unleavened
Bread, Lev 23, Deu 16. Indeed we admit that the Passover, the day of Christ's death, was a preparation day Mark
15:42 and that the First day of Unleavened Bread is a SABBATH, or we MUST admit to a Friday crucifixion!
James
David Malm
24 Sep 06 copyright 2006
Festival dates, based on the observation of the new moon may
be found on the BIBLICAL CALENDAR FESTIVAL DATES page.
