SEASONS AT-ONE-MENT

CHRISTIANS OBSERVING THE DAY OF ATONEMENT
(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood,

and I have given it for you on the altar to atone for your souls,

for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.  (Lev. 17:11)

At sunset on Tuesday, October 11, 2016,  we will come to the holiest day of the sacred year, Yom Kippur, or The Day of Atonement. 

One of the scriptures that compells me to observe this day is found in Leviticus 23:27-32.  

Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.   And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God.   For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.  And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.   Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.  It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your Sabbath.

As Christians and faithful followers of Jesus Christ, we serve a God who was willing to give up His kingly status and become like us.  He loved us so much that He was even willing to die for us.  What other god out there in all of the religions of mankind has ever done such a thing?  This is evidence that The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is The One True God. 

So how does this tie in with Yom Kippur traditions? 

Isn’t the Passover more symbolic of Atonement? 

In some ways, for the Christian, the answer is yes, Passover is more about Atonement for sins, but Yom Kippur is more about realizing that time is drawing short for everyone to receive that atonement. 

Passover is more about our individual sins, and Yom Kippur is more about the sins of our nation and the world as a whole. Has there ever been a more urgent time for this?

Passover is more about mercy and forgiveness, Yom Kippur is more of a statement that Judgment Day is coming, and a warning sound to help us to get ready. 

The Lord is going to return soon!  

There are many out there who do not know Him.  They do not yet have atonement; not because it is not available and freely offered to them, but simply because they have not believed that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and repented of their sins.  This is especially true of our nation, America.  

Satan has been very busy deceiving people because He too has a clue that the time is short.  He is on his usual favorite subject; himself.  He is worried that his time is coming to be put away forever.  He enjoys being loose and wrecking havoc on our world.  He has deceived the world with materialism, false doctrine, churches that want to entertain instead of worship, and “buy” their congregations, luke-warm worship, false worship, evil, death and lust.  His tools are always the same.  He rarely changes his techniques,

 yet the world falls for his tricks constantly. 

In the traditions of the Fall Holy Days it is said that on Rosh Hashanah the doors of heaven are opened.  This is God communicating with mankind saying, “Come closer to me.” 

In order to come closer to God you must be clean.  Those of us who have The Holy Spirit working in us are continually being led to come before God and confess our sins.  We have long ago repented and turned, trying to imitate Him more and more.  We have the good sense to realize and be constantly aware that we are not perfect, and that Jesus must keep us covered with His righteousness.  Yet, there are those who have not yet repented.  I am continuously shocked these days to find those who have never been taught the basics of repentance.  God is listening for them, waiting on them to begin a conversation, waiting on them to say “I repent of my sins, please blot them out of your book.” 

As a Christian I know my sins have been blotted out.  I totally understand that Christ died on the cross once for all.  But this is a time period when I am praying more for the souls of those who have not yet repented.  

As the ordinary priests, ordained after the Order of Melchizedek when we came to Christ, we Christians, as a holy nation and a divine priesthood, have the opportunity, just as the Old Testament Levitical priests did, to intercede for the sins of our people and our nation daily. 

The ordinary priests took the sacrifices of the people daily and offered them up to God.   Once a year the High Priest went into the Holy of Holies and offered up the sacrifice for the sins of the whole nation.  Our High Priest, Jesus Christ STILL carries these intercessions into The Holy of Holies for us and God hears and receives our prayers.  Unlike the high priests of Levitical descent, our High Priest, Jesus Christ, is perfect in every way. 

So can you see how I have come to relate that Yom Kippur should be a strong time of intercession by Christians for the souls of the world?  

Judgment Day is coming.  

It is said that after Yom Kippur the doors of heaven are closed.  On Yom Kippur whatever God has written for the year is sealed.  It is finished.  It is done.  You will either be a sheep or a goat when you enter into judgment after the final seal is sealed.  

If you know Christ, you are covered by the blood of the atonement.  You are separated into the fold of the sheep; and you will be allowed to go into the Marriage Supper of The Lamb.  

If you do not heed God's call and believe on the name of Jesus and repent, you will be separated into the group called the goats.  You will not be allowed to go into the marriage feast, because you are not “covered” by the blood atonement of Jesus.  You will be sentenced to eternity in hell.  The DOOR WILL BE SHUT, and anyone without a wedding garment will not be allowed inside.  

Do not let the doors of heaven close on you.  

Repent and be saved by the blood of Jesus.

In the traditions of Yom Kippur the “books” of God are often discussed.  The tradition is that the destiny of the righteous is written down into The Book of Life.  

The destiny of the eternally wicked is written down in The Book of Death.  

If you have come to Jesus Christ and accepted His blood atonement to cover your sins, you are written in The Book of Life.  Every sin you have ever committed will be blotted out of the heavenly records.  It is His blood that covers the sins.

It is ONLY all that Jesus did that allows you to stand clean before God on The Last Day.  It is nothing that you have done.  

There is a period of 10 days during The Days of Awe, from Rosh Hashanah until the end of Yom Kippur where you can be reassured (by talking to God) that your sins have been covered and you can pray for those that you love that do not have this blessing.  

The tradition says that many people are not yet written into either of the books of heaven.  This is because God gives us free-will and many have not yet made a final decision.  

You can plead with God for them, to do whatever it is that will change their hearts, open their eyes, help them to see the truth.  Our Jewish brothers and sisters fall into this category, but God has promised that many of them will one day wake up and believe.  There will come a day when their eyes will be opened and they will mourn for the One they have pierced.  This tells me they will repent and turn to Christ as The Messiah. 

Our prayers of intercession are important for everyone who has not made a decision to follow Christ.  This is an important time of intercession.  

The 10 Days of Awe are comparable to the period of grace that the church is living in today.  There will come an end to these times.  Judgement Day will arrive, whether the world is ready or not.  Yom Kippur is all about getting ready for Judgement Day.  It is a time to be purchasing oil for your lamp.   

Our High Priest, Jesus Christ, is returning to this earth.  When He does, there will be a great battle.  It is our place, as Christians to be ready to join in with Him.  All Christians will be right there with Him, riding on white horses into battle, riding by the side of our Groom.  We must be ready and prepared for that battle.  Yom Kippur is a reminder of this fact.  

When the last person that is going to repent has done so, the doors of heaven will be closed.  The writing in the books will be finished.  Christ will return for the final battle that will destroy all evil and usher in His 1000 year reign on earth. 

Are you ready? 

So many of my Christian friends are saying we MUST heed II Chronicles 7:14: If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 

Isn’t it ironic that we speak these words continuously in our congregations and sermons.  We clearly know the answers; yet many Christian churches still turn away from acknowledging or observing Yom Kippur, the very holy day that God, Himself set aside for all nations to do the very things that we are always so loudly proclaiming should be done?  

God doesn’t change.  He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.  If He said it to the nation of Israel, He meant it for everyone.  He isn’t just the God for the Israelites, He is God of ALL.  

If every Christian church in America would put aside their politics of the world for the period of time called The Day of Atonement and devote that time to prayer and fasting and intercession, as is the tradition for Yom Kippur, and begin praying for our nation and praying for the deliverance of our brothers and sisters who are still living in sin; we would fulfill the commandments of God.  

God would hear us, for this is the time that He has proclaimed that He will be listening with attention and deciding.  He would save us from ourselves and heal our land, just as He promised.

God says what He means and means what He says.

He always keeps His promises. 

As fall brings it's beautiful red covering to the trees across our land, it is my earnest prayer that  the people of our nation turn to Jesus and receive His precious atonement covering. 

May God heal our land and bring peace to the earth.

G’mar Chatimah Tovah!

SEASONS ELUL AND THE FALL FEAST DAYS OF 2016

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

We are now living in the time period of the Hebrew month of Elul.  It is the last month of the sacred year, just before the first month of Tishri when we celebrate The Fall Holy Days of God.  I am a Christian that wasn't born Jewish, yet I chose to  celebrate these Holy Days because I noticed in my bible that God called them HIS Holy Days.  He is my God.  I try my best to live like Him though I fail miserably; so I set aside and celebrate His days with Him.

Notice He doesn't say "the Holy Days of the Israelites" even though He was speaking to the Israelites when He first commanded that these days be kept.  He chose the Israelites to be the first people who laid out the patterns of days that He created for feast and festivals.  Through them, the rest of us may come to know the fullness of truth. 

The first people of God (the Israelites) were great at preserving history, and preserving

His-story.     Anyone following God earnestly may study these observances and keep this beautiful intricate pattern of times He has so precisely sketched out in the scriptures.  Read about the end times and you will come to agree that these days do not belong to a certain people or group; they simply belong to the God of the Israelites.  This is the same God that I worship as a Christian.  He loves everyone.  He is not stingy.  God loves everyone and provides a way for everyone who desires to come into His Kingdom.  Don't get this backwards.  It is about you coming to Him and His ways, not Him changing to fit into your little world.  I am speaking of His Holy Days, not MY days or the Christian's days, or the Jewish days, or the Israelites's days; but God's days.

God did chose the Jewish people as the people who would live out the original pattern and keep and tell His story to the world.  He honored them by letting His Son who chose to be born of flesh to save the world share in their heritage.  What an honor they have been given!   What a loving task they have undertaken to preserve the days.  I have so much respect for how faithful they have been through every generation to honor God with the knowledge they have been given.  Also, what a blessing for Christians to be able to look upon the lessons of these days kept through generations and generations and see the story of Jesus Christ in each season and day.    

When you read about these days you eventually begin to understand that the Hebraic people use many different types of calendars for many different reasons for dates in each passing year.  One calendar is for recording sacred times, another is for recording civil dates.  The number and name of the month you are in  depends on which calendar you are reading.  For instance, the seventh month and the first month are the same period of time on two different calendars when you refer to the scripture passages; one month named is simply the calendar for measuring civil days and one month named is simply the calendar for measuring sacred time.  Both speak of the same time and days in different numerical sequences that start and end at different places.  

Leviticus 23:2 says: Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'These are my appointed festivals, the appointed festivals of the LORD, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.


God goes on in this passage to name seven feast and/or festival days that He desires to be kept.  Four of these special times are in the spring and summer, those four are Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, and Pentecost.  The other three days come in the Fall. 

Here are some of the scriptures that proclaim how we should keep these Fall Feast Days of God:  The times are calculated by the phases of the moon unlike the commonly used calendar which calculates time by the phases of the sun.

FOR ROSH HASHANAH/FEAST OF TRUMPETS: In 2016 - From sunset Sunday, October 2nd through sunset Tuesday, October 4th:


Leviticus 23:24:  "Say to the Israelites: 'On the first day of the seventh month (the first month if you are reading the sacred calendar) you are to have a day of sabbath rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts.

FOR YOM KIPPER/DAY OF ATONEMENT: 2016 from sunset Tuesday, October 11 through sunset Wednesday, October 12th.

Leviticus 23:26-28:  The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "On exactly the tenth day of this seventh month (it is the seventh month of the Hebraic civil calendar and the first month of the Hebraic sacred calendar) is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble your souls and present an offering by fire to the LORD.  Do not do any work on that day, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the LORD your God.

FOR SUKKOT/FEAST OF TABERNACLES: 2016 from sunset Sunday, October 16th through sunset Sunday, October 23rd, with the Great Last Day ( the eighth day) being on Monday, October 24th.  

Leviticus 23:33-37:  Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'On the fifteenth of this seventh month (the seventh civil month and the first sacred month) is the Feast of Booths for seven days to the LORD.  On the first day is a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work of any kind.  For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and present an offering by fire to the LORD; it is an assembly. You shall do no laborious work.  For seven days present food offerings to the LORD, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present a food offering to the LORD. It is the closing special assembly; do no regular work.

The official names for these days are not mentioned in the passage above, but they have come to be called Rosh Hashanah (The Feast of Trumpets), Yom Kipper (The Day of Atonement) and Sukkot (The Feast of Tabernacles.) 

With Rosh Hashanah and the Days of Awe (the ten days leading up to Yom Kippur), we enter the new Hebrew month of Tishri, and we also enter a new year on the Hebraic sacred calendar.  Right now though, in Elul we are leading up to these very holy days.  It is a time of getting ready, a time to prepare, a time to think and meditate about the things in your life over the last year.  It is a time to be making amends with your fellow man and a time to be making repentance before God. It is a time for planning for both serious days and festive days to be spent with God.

You can't end a year properly in just one day.  Cleaning up the trail of sins of over a year takes a lot of time, meditation, thought, prayer, and asking forgiveness.  You've had a whole year to make mistakes, to sin, to offend your brothers and sisters.  It will take awhile to remember it all and confess it all. Yes, Jesus Christ has forgiven us for our sins, past, present and future, but He wants us to wash our feet from the journey.  He wants to hear the condition of our hearts as we go from one year of our lives unto the next.  He wants to atone our sins on The Day of Atonement and help us to stand before God lifting holy hands at The Feast of Tabernacles.  He has presented pattern of holy worship to be followed by showing us the feast days.

Of course you can go ahead and take care of this in YOUR OWN WAY and YOUR OWN

TIME every day of your life and keep short accounts with God.   That would be great, if we all were perfect, but honestly, have you done this?  I don't think many would be able to answer yes to that question.  You might have done SOME of it SOME of the time, but have you done a thorough job of it?  If you have, good, your a great exception to the rest of us sinners, but you MIGHT need to look into the subject of self-righteousness a bit.....  Even if you have done a perfect job of it, you still need to take time to stop and examine things GOD'S WAY in GOD'S TIME.  

During Elul we should all set the time aside to ponder and talk with God about where our lives are going and what God has in store for us in the future.  We should all learn to consider how we are living into that picture.  

Be especially sure to take this precious time to listen to God and consider what needs to change in your days.  If you simply take the time out to listen and pray you might be amazed at what you will hear God speaking to your heart.  Hebraic legend has it that God is walking the earth, searching out the hearts of those that He loves, watching, waiting on them to turn and return to Him and His ways. The scriptures speak of how He looks at each of us with loving eyes, because we are all beloved of Him.  He wants us to speak to Him.  He wants us to repent, to change, to turn, to see what is right and learn to follow those ways.  

Maybe you didn't intend to commit a certain sin, and maybe it is all a misunderstanding or a mistake, but you now have this whole month to consider the matter.  You can think it through.  You have time to reconsider what you COULD have done right and to examine the ways to do this right the next time in the year that is to come.  God is not looking to see that you are a perfectly oiled machine performing without missing a beat; No!  He is looking at your heart to see if it is willing to change for the good, to show love and compassion, to be willing to adjust for the good of the Kingdom.    Isn't that great?  

We have all of the month of Elul to get our thoughts straight and clean out the cobwebs

forming around our hearts from sins of the year gone by.   We can take this time to go to our fellow man and make amends, however that needs to be done.  Ask God, He will tell you.    We can go to God to ask forgiveness afterwards.  If we have approached your brothers with the right attitude and true apologies, we can be sure God will blot our sins out of His book and remember them no more.

Yom Kipper is coming.  By Yom Kippur we need to have confessed all of our sins and have spent time with God in communion listening for His sure instructions for our lives and getting ourselves back on track if we have taken a wrong turn or gone a wrong way.  By Yom Kippur, God will seal the state of our hearts for the year we have just past.  He will decide whether to let us go on, or whether we have reached the end of our heart's capacity for growth and maturity.  All Christians should be constantly renewing their spirits before God and participating in the process of rebirth and new life.  

Why is Yom Kippur so holy and why do you need to be so ready?  Because the most precious blood ever was sacrificed to save us all, and this is the day that the atonement of that blood is made in the tabernacle of heaven for the sins of the year.  We have been SAVED by grace and we are ATONED every year, like washing your feet when you have been on a long dusty journey.  We must clean the parts of us that we have soiled on the journey.  It is the most important day in the Christian calendar.  It is when atonement is applied to our sins.  The perfect sacrifice of Jesus has been made once for all.  No more sacrifice is necessary.  You simply need to ask God to apply atonement for your sins this year before Yom Kipper.  God will apply the atonement for you if you have confessed your sins and taken all the steps possible to rectify your sins.  When Jesus saved you, He sent The Holy Spirit into your heart and the Holy Spirit will put this longing inside of you, to always be pure before God.  Through the sacrifice of Jesus and the working of God's Holy Spirit within you, God will continue to give you the gift of being clean before Him as you begin the next sacred year.

The perfect blood of Jesus will blot your sins out of the book of remembrance and they will

be remembered no more.  If you haven't accumulated sins on your account since last Yom Kippur, I would venture to say; you are not human.  God knows how we are; He made us.  He gives us a way to atone.  He gave us the greatest gift of all, His very own Son, Jesus Christ.   All you have to do is ask God with a true and sincere heart and believe in the miracle of the sacrifice of Jesus that has been offered freely for your atonement.  You can start the year out and stand clean before your maker on Yom Kipper. 

In the days before Jesus a new sacrifice had to be offered in an earthly temple every year for the sins of the people.  A High Priest, totally prepared in advance for the special day.  He would stand in the Holy of Holies, himself being totally clean, wearing clean and appropriate clothes and make atonement for himself and the people through the lighting of the menorah, the burning of the incense and finally the offering of 15 different sacrifices. He would sprinkle the blood of a red heifer on the altar.  If the sins of the people were forgiven the white cloth that was tied to the priest would turn red.  This is what Jesus does for us now, He intercedes with God for atonement.  This is the whole meaning behind Yom Kippur.  One day our Jewish friends who haven't discovered that Jesus is Messiah will believe and come to accept this.  Christians must accept it NOW.  This is the day that God has proclaimed that you come before Him with holy hands and thankful and humble hearts.  

Growing up Baptist, it took me years to get this.  I could read the scriptures and see the

words, but other words were screaming back to me and confusing my thoughts about them.  The words were not really confusing though, it was the author of confusion, that old devil that is always working against the kingdom of God that was causing the confusion.  He was using confused people to create chaos in the simple order that God laid out so long ago, preserved through the Israelites, and had faithful scribes record in the holy scriptures.  Today I find that many of the Baptist denomination have come to understand the significance of these days too!  As for me; I simply had to let God re-teach me.  I simply started keeping the fall holy days and honoring the once for all of Christ on The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur.)  Each year, layer upon layer, God taught me more and more of the concept straight from the holy scriptures until I came to the point of the journey I'm on today, where I set aside time to think, meditate, pray, confess and repent both to God and to my fellowman during the month of Elul. I am always confident of my salvation (salvation is not the issue at Yom Kippur; but confession of sins is a way to honor God and show that we hold the precious blood of Jesus as sacred and powerful to wash away our sins forever), at Yom Kippur I am simply washing my feet for the year, removing the sins of the dusty journey of 365 more days on the earth.  On the sacred day, I want to wear white robes that are not sin stained as I stand in holy worship.  Jesus did this for me.  I honor and respect this.  I do not take it for granted.  I want to have clean feet, this is accomplished with the washing of the days of Awe and Elul.   It is comparable to Jesus washing the feet of the disciples before the Passover meal.  I've found observing Yom Kippur in its fullness is refreshing and good for my soul.  I have more of an awareness of God's Kingdom constantly growing and working in the world.  Now, I see why God so wisely laid out these days for us to follow forever.       

So I observe Elul, The Feast of Trumpets, The Days of Awe, The Day of Atonement and finally The joyful days of The Feast of Tabernacles each year during the fall feast days of God.  I did not go into The Feast of Tabernacles here, but will save it for another blog.  It is the last and most joyful Fall Holy Day period.    It is an awesome way to end the sacred year, and keeping these other days first prepares my heart to receive all the joy it holds.

SEASONS - ELUL 2015 - TIME FOR PREPARING FOR THE FALL HOLY DAYS

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

God''s Fall Holy Days are coming up! 

We are in the last month of the Hebraic calendar, the month of Elul.  

It is a time to prepare.

 

Do you know about these Holy Days of God that happen every Fall?

The word translated "festival" in Hebrew is "hag" or "moed" and it means "set times", or "appointed times."  These are times of sacred assemblies.  In the Hebrew language the words "sacred assembly" means "rehearsal" or "recital."  During these fall days that is exactly what we are doing; we are rehearsing the things to come and celebrating God's overall plans for mankind.  It is sort of like the time leading up to a wedding when you begin to remember the important things that have happened through your life in the past, but you are also looking forward to something even more special in the future. 

Thirty days before Rosh Hashanah comes Elul, a time which helps us to remember to be prepared and get ready.  It is a time of Teshuvah, or a time to repent, examine your life, restore your relationships both toward God and your fellow man.  You need to use this time to have those long talks with your Bridegroom from Heaven because the future of eternity lies before you.  Why?  Because the Messiah is going to return!  We must be ready for the wedding feast!  He has told us to be watching and waiting and preparing.  Teshuvah, during the days of Elul, is a reminder, almost like one of the "save the date" invitations you get long before a wedding date comes.   The shofar is blown to remind us to awaken to the season and repent and look up with anticipation.  Ezekiel 33:3 warns those who are not ready and are not paying attention. 

And he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows on the trumpet and warns the people, then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have delivered his life.…(Ezekiel 33:3-5)

We get ready in Elul by listening until we hear the sound of the shofar.  The shofar is a warning signal that reminds us to come before God and repent of our sin.  We are reminded by the shofar sounding again during Rosh Hashanah and the 10 days of Awe.  Everything leads up to Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year, The Day of Atonement. 

Without atonement, there is no hope for God's people.  

It is the most important day of all the sacred days.  

By the atoning blood of Christ our God shows mercy by blotting all of our sins out of His book of remembrance.  If you repent and turn from your sins, the blood of Christ is applied and the sins are blotted out forever.  If you do not, you go into another year of life with sin on your record.  The blood was given and the holy sacrifice was made once for all, past present and future; but every year when God searches His books and lays out His plans for the upcoming year, the atonement must be applied for new sins.  Salvation is forever.  If you are saved you will have God's Holy Spirit living within you and you will always seek forgiveness for sins.  You do this because if you are saved, God's Holy Spirit lives and works within you.  Salvation is a wonderful, perfect gift!  But, it is only the beginning of the Christian life, not the end.  Salvation leads us down the path to holiness.  Holiness opens our hearts to seek the ways of God that are good and true and right.  Salvation brings peace.  Holiness brings joy.

As long as we are living in earthly bodies, even after we receive salvation, we are all still human.  We all keep sinning despite our best efforts, we all fall short.  God knew this would happen.  He provided a way for sinners who sin after the sacrifice of the blood of Jesus has been applied and made them whole and completely clean.  This way is called atonement.  The sacrifice provides salvation, the atonement brings sanctification.  Both are a gift of God through His Son Jesus Christ.

It is comparable to a traveler who has bathed and is walking along a dusty road to attend a special event.  When he arrives he does not need to bath again, for he is clean, but he has picked up the dust of the road along the way, so he must wash his feet again before entering the special event.  

So many struggle with this concept saying "once saved always saved."  I just carry that concept a little further saying, "Once saved, always in need of confession."  In the end we all DO stay saved because we are clean because of the sacrificial blood of Christ, but we must do our part to grow in God.  We must continue to allow God to transform us and we must realize that we are all still sinners in need of God's forgiveness, even after we have become believers and step into the path that leads to The Kingdom.  There is always more transformation going on until we meet God face to face.  This is the process that prepares the Bride for the Groom.  This is the path of the wise virgin who keeps oil in her lamp until she sees the groom coming.  This is how God helps us each year in the Day of Atonement.  He saves us from our humanity and applies His grace that refines us and makes us more like Him.  If someone reaches the state of thinking that they do not need atonement anymore, they are simply living in a sin called "self-righteousness."  

So here we go into the beautiful Fall Holy Days of God:

Leviticus 23:2 says: Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'These are my appointed festivals, the appointed festivals of the LORD, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.


God goes on in this passage to name seven feasts and/or festival days that He desires to be kept.  Four of these special times are in the spring and summer, those four are Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits and Pentecost.  The other three days come in the Fall.  We are now in the month of  Elul and these Fall Days are fast approaching for 2015. 

Here are some of the scriptures that proclaim how we should keep these Fall Feast Days of God:  The times are calculated by the phases of the moon unlike the calendar commonly used today which calculates time by the phases of the sun. They all start at sunset and end at sunset.  Because they are calculated by the phases of the moon they do not always fall on the same calendar day each year.  This year, 2015, the days come in September and October.

ROSH HASHANAH/FEAST OF TRUMPETS: In 2015 this festival lasts from sunset Sunday, September 13th through sunset Tuesday, September 15.

Leviticus 23:24:  "Say to the Israelites: 'On the first day of the seventh month (the first month if your reading the sacred calendar) you are to have a day of Sabbath rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts.

(God, in these scriptures, was laying out the pattern for celebrating Rosh Hashanah, The Feast of Trumpets.)

YOM KIPPUR/DAY OF ATONEMENT:  observed in 2015 from sunset Tuesday, September 22nd to sunset Wednesday, September 23rd,   This is a fast day, not a feast day:

Leviticus 23:26-28:  The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "On exactly the tenth day of this seventh month (it is the seventh month of the civil calendar and the first month of the sacred calendar) is the Day of Atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble your souls and present an offering by fire to the LORD.  Do not do any work on that day, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the LORD your God.

(In these scriptures God has laid out the pattern for observing Yom Kippur - The Day of Atonement.  This day isn't a feast day or a festival, it is actually a fast day that God has commanded to be observed.  It is a day to be spent in fasting before The Lord.  It is a day for Christians to remember the most important sacrifice ever made for mankind, the life of Jesus Christ.  It is the day for repentance and remembering that his blood is offered up as atonement for our sins, a very serious and sacred day, a most holy day to be observed forever by all believers.)

SUKKOT/FEAST OF TABERNACLES: In 2015 this festival is celebrated from sunset Monday, September 28th through sunset Sunday, October 4th, with the Great Last Day ( the eighth day) being on Monday, October 5th.  

Leviticus 23:33-37:  Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'On the fifteenth of this seventh month (the seventh civil month and the first sacred month) is the Feast of Booths for seven days to the LORD.  On the first day is a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work of any kind.  For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and present an offering by fire to the LORD; it is an assembly. You shall do no laborious work.  For seven days present food offerings to the LORD, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present a food offering to the LORD. It is the closing special assembly; do no regular work. 

Here God is telling us to celebrate Sukkot - The Feast of Tabernacles, a joyful time of celebrating what the world will be like when Christ reigns as King of Kings and Lord of Lord's forever.   Many Jewish people so not celebrate these days unless they are in Israel because they now have no temple to go to .  Christians know that our bodies are now the dwelling for God's temple.  We can celebrate the feast anywhere, because God is always with us, unlike in ancient times before Christ brought salvation to all.

These awesome days known to many as The Fall Holy Days are a gift from God to His people.  Do you know Him?  Is He your God?  Then you are one of His people.  Are you keeping your Father's traditional days?    You do not have to be born Jewish to keep these days, they are God's days - it is a good thing for you to honor your Father, God, and keep the days He has planned for His family.

Think of your time growing up in the home of your earthly father.  Did he have special times that he would command that the family gather around and celebrate together?  

Do you not have fond memories of these family times that are priceless to you as you become older and look back on them?   

Perhaps your earthly father chose these days to say important things to the family while they were all together, relaxing and celebrating.  Maybe he knew that during these special gatherings you would be listening carefully to his words and paying close attention.  He knew you would be undistracted, because you had set aside this time just to be with him and your other family members. 

It is the same with our Heavenly Father.  

He has mapped out appointed days from the very beginning of time that He wished for His family to keep and observe together.  

He wrote them down for us in His book so we have no excuse for not noticing them or overlooking them.  He spelled it all out, yet many people chose to blindly ignore these sections of their bibles.  Or they blame their nonobservance on the fact that these are "Old Testament" things.  Guess what?  The New Testament did not wipe out the Old Testament, it only fulfilled it.  

The days with their fulfilled meaning are even more precious than the days before they were fulfilled and completed by Jesus Christ.  

Trumpets still represents a coming time that has not yet been fulfilled.  We should be observing and anticipating!  

Yom Kippur, or Atonement represents a time that has been fulfilled by the blood of Jesus, yet also a future time that will come when we will know even more about how wonderful the love (hesed) and kindness and grace of our heavenly Father can be.  It will be a day when we will see Him face to face and stand before him covered with His blood, atoned and holy before Him.  It is something to anticipate and take seriously in the present.   

This will all culminate in a future Feast of Tabernacles and we can read of it in the scriptures where it speaks of a date in the future:

Zechariah 14:16:  Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.

Our present day celebrations are only a shadow of the things to come.  

These scriptures are our invitation from our heavenly Father to come gather around His table and celebrate that we are His family.  God chooses these times to speak specifically to His family about things that He considers very important.  God has called these times His "appointed" days.  Have you been keeping your appointments with your heavenly Father, or has the world led you aside and kept you busy with other things? 

The scriptures say these are God's days, not the designated days for the Jews or the Christians, or any other group.  They belong to God.  If you love God and serve Him and consider Him your Father, they also belong to you. 

The Israelites were honored and chosen to be the first to live out these patterns that God set for our special family celebrations.  They were also given the honor of being the people whose heritage would produce an offspring from God who would fulfill the meaning of all of the appointed times.  Jesus Christ was born of the tribe of Judah, a perfect man who was also The Son of God.  He fulfilled these days.   God used them as shadows to tell of His coming, His life and His leaving and returning to earth in the future. 

If you are a Christian you know these stories well, but your life can be enriched beyond belief when you know these stories as well as the stories of the Hebrews who so long ago began to celebrate these days with God.  The Jewish people have preserved these days for themselves and us, and the Christian people have proclaimed the end of the story through the preaching of the truth of the gospel and proclaiming the life of Jesus Christ for both themselves and the Jews.  It is true that they are a blessing for everyone and as Jesus so wisely put it "whosoever will may come."

I get excited every Fall as we begin to approach these very holy times!

God always shows me something new, or teaches me something vital to living out life in His Kingdom.  It all begins with the Hebraic month of Elul, that 30 day period of time leading up to these holy days.  The month of Elul is known as a time to be preparing, meditating, praying, pondering the last year of your life and asking forgiveness of God and anyone you have sinned against over the last year.  The whole idea is to use the month of Elul to sort out your sins, confess, repent, try to make amends and prepare to appear before God on Yom Kippur a holy and clean servant before a merciful God.  Elul is all about getting ready.

Are you ready? 

Rosh Hashanah (The Feast of Trumpets) is about realizing that time is short and soon we must all stand before God.  The trumpet blows out the warning signal to awake people from their sins and shouts out a warning to return to God. 

Yom Kippur is about judgment and atonement.  We are all guilty, but if we seek out the love of our merciful God, He will grant us the perfect atonement of the blood of Jesus.

Sukkot, or The Feast of Tabernacles is a time for proclaiming the reign of Christ, for knowing that He will return again and marry His Bride; (those who have The Holy Spirit dwelling inside of them.)  It is a wedding rehearsal every year for The Marriage Supper of The Lamb.  It is a time of joyous celebration for what God has done for his people.  It is a time of cheerful anticipation of the world that is coming because we have been given salvation and atonement that will last throughout eternity when we will ever be with God.

So join with me if you will in this time of  Elul, the beginning of the Fall Holy Day Season, in a time of careful consideration, faithful preparation and also anticipation of the day that we are fully clean and we will see The Face of God and live.    We are there right now, living in the days of Elul on our calendars.  What will you do about it? 

How will you speak to God of your own life?  What things do you need to consider and restore?

Right now - today - is your opportunity to do so.