Sounding the Shofar - Faithfully Waiting for the Return of the King!

Faithfulness. I love that word. I love all it represents. Yahweh's faithfulness is precious to me! I know He keeps His Word and keeps His promises.....always. I never have to wonder or second guess or be afraid that maybe He will forget about me or not do what He says He will do. That's shalom and resting in Him. Priceless.

I too want to be faithful. I am betrothed to Him so I am watching how I can be faithful to Him. A man or woman who is engaged in our culture, hangs on every word the person they are engaged to be married to says, looks for little hints of the slightest kind as to how they can please their future husband or wife. Not out of some kind of obligation mind you. No, it is out of the incredible intensity of love for that person that we seek to do whatever pleases him or her. I feel the same way about my soon coming King, Yeshua.

Are you sensing in your spirit that we are in the last days and the time is approaching soon when Yeshua will come again? I am! The "Arab Spring", earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, droughts, all the nations turning against Israel, signs in the sun, moon and stars...it all is pointing to a soon return of Yeshua the Messiah and this is what all the fall feasts of Adonai are all about! If you are pretrib, midtrib, postrib or pre-wrath, either way you are looking forward to His soon return. (If you want my view on it read What Could Be the Greatest Deception of Our Time).

In thinking about what celebrating the Feasts of Adonai mean to me, especially the fall Feasts of Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur and Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot, I think of celebrating His faithfulness. That may seem strange to some considering these days represent so many things.  But when it comes down to it, I am, through my actions in keeping these moedim (appointments) being faithful because I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that HE IS FAITHFUL and HE will keep these appointments! In keeping these appointments with Adonai, I am telling Him, "I believe you. I believe your Word is true and you are coming again when you said you would come." What we believe shows in our actions and what we don't believe shows too.

Yom Teruah is of course the next feast to be fulfilled in the future, so it is this feast that excites me the most of all of them! In great anticipation, each year I look forward to celebrating and blowing the shofar, knowing my Bridegroom is coming for me to take me to the Wedding celebration!

These feasts are rehearsals of things to come and remembrances of what he has already done. If you're wondering what I mean by that, see my post "Why Celebrate Passover or Any Biblical Feast", as it explains all the feasts and what they each represent. These feasts are not "Jewish Feasts" as in Leviticus 23 it clearly states these are Adonai's Feasts for all His people (yes, even the grafted in Gentiles as Romans 11 says) and are to be kept forever, throughout your generations no matter where you live (not just those in the land of Israel). I'd encourage anyone new to these Feasts to read Leviticus 23 in it's entirety and notice how many times Adonai also says these are to be kept throughout your generations or forever. It is my firm belief that the restoration of these biblical Feasts of Adonai to ALL of  Yahweh's people, Jew AND Gentile, is a move of the Ruach haKodesh in getting His Bride ready in these last days. We are repenting of our pagan holidays and returning to those that Yahweh has ordained for us and in obedience we are finding incredible blessings!

The Feast of Trumpets or Yom Teruah this year (the dates change from year to year) is Sept 28-30, depending on the sighting of the new moon. These feasts are all connected together with Yom Kippur coming 10 days after Yom Teruah followed by Sukkot 5 days after Yom Kippur. If you want to celebrate but don't know how and don't have a shofar, come join us at Sar Shalom if you are local, where we will be celebrating at 7pm on Sept 28th followed by a midrash into the wee hours and also a service on the 29th at 11am. Click here for details.

If you don't know much about a betrothal or the ketubah or a Jewish wedding celebration, then when Messiah says in Yochanan (John) 14:2-3, "In my Father's house are many places to live. If there weren't, I would have told you; because I am going there to prepare a place for you.  Since I am going and preparing  a place for you, I will return to take you with me; so that where I am, you may be also", it won't make much sense.  Yeshua spoke these words to comfort His disciples after he celebrated Pesach (Passover) with them because He was preparing them for His death. What does Passover have to do with the Feast of Trumpets? What is not commonly understood is that in a Jewish wedding the prospective bride and groom are betrothed to each other which is much different in many ways to the Western way of engagement. During this betrothal ceremony (which is actually much more serious and more like a wedding ceremony as they are considered husband and wife at this point) a cup is shared and the moment the woman drinks the cup she accepts the man as her husband. The ketubah is the written and signed agreement between the husband and wife listing their commitments and responsibilities to one another. When the Israelites said to Yahweh before Mt Sinai that they would obey whatever He commanded, they were entering into that covenant agreement or ketubah with Adonai. Similarly, in the New or Renewed Covenant with Yeshua, we enter into covenant with Him and come under His headship. When the disciples drank the cup with Yeshua that is exactly what they were doing.

I am not an expert on Jewish weddings (and I am thinking this is in Messiah's day, not the typical Jewish weddings taking place today in the 21st century), but have found what I do know to be absolutely fascinating as it relates to Yom Teruah. Traditionally, after the betrothal, the groom takes off! Yes, you read that right. Not what most brides would like to see happen! Yeshua went away as well when He died, rose and then ascended to heaven, didn't He....hmmmm. Let's keep going as it gets better. During this time, the bride and groom are considered married, but not together and not to be physically intimate with each other. The bride prepares herself during this time, making herself ready, and keeps watch for the bridegroom to come and get her and take her to the wedding chamber.  She keeps her eyes and ears peeled, because, yep, you guessed it....she is waiting for THE SHOFAR to sound alerting her that the bridegroom is coming for her, which is known as "the day and the hour that only the Father knows". Okay, this should be blowing you away by now if you know your Scriptures!!!  This is known as the day and the hour that no man knows, only the Father, because it is the FATHER that tells the Son to go get His Bride!!! All the time they have been separated from each other, the bridegroom is preparing a place for his bride in his father's house. For believers, it's been about 2,000 years, but hey, who's counting? Well, that's 2 prophetic days, so that makes me feel better. I digress....What typically was done is adding on to the father's house (remember when Yeshua said, "in my Father's house are many rooms") and when that was ready, the Father would make sure all the preparations were done and tell the son, "Go get your bride!"Then and only then, the son would go get his bride and bring her to the place prepared for her in his Father's house.

Mattityahu (Matthew) 24:36 says concerning when Yeshua is coming back for His Bride, "But when that day and hour will come, no one knows - not the angels in heaven, not the Son, only the Father." 

A few verses later in Mattityahu 25:1-13 Yeshua says this:  "The Kingdom of Heaven at that time will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went out to meet the groom. Five of them were foolish and five were sensible. The foolish ones took lamps with them but no oil, whereas the others took flasks of oil with their lamps. Now the bridegroom was late, so they all went to sleep. It was the middle of the night when the cry rang out, 'The bridegroom is here! Go out to meet him!' The girls all woke up and prepared their lamps. The foolish ones said to the sensible ones, 'Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.' 'No', they replied, 'there may not be enough for both you and us. Go to the oil dealers and buy some for yourselves.' But as they were going off to buy, the bridegroom came. Those who were ready went with him to the wedding feast, and the door was shut. Later, the other bridesmaids came. 'Sir! Sir!' they cried, 'Let us in!' But he answered, 'Indeed! I tell you, I don't know you!' So stay alert, because you know neither the day or the hour."

Is it some kind of coincidence that Yeshua is using this as an illustration for His second coming to get His Bride? I don't think so at all. Now, before you say we can't know the day or the hour because the Word just said so, I will say, "Yes and No!". We do not know the EXACT day or hour, but we can know the season, and we can know which Feast represents His coming. Interesting that Yeshua uses 10 bridesmaids to illustrate this idea of watching and being ready, knowing the season. Oil can represent the Ruach haKodesh. So the wise virgins/bridesmaids are listening to His voice and know when the time of His coming is near enough to not be asleep when He comes!

Listen and consider seriously what Paul writes to the concerned Thessalonians about the Lord's coming and the rapture/resurrection here in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6:

"But you have no need to have anything written to you, brothers, about the times and dates when this will happen; because you yourselves well know that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When people are saying, 'Everything is so peaceful and secure,' then destruction will suddenly come upon them, the way labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there is no way they will escape. But you brothers, are not in the dark, so that the Day should take you by surprise like a thief; for you are all people who belong to the light, who belong to the day. We don't belong to the night or to darkness, so let's not be asleep, like the rest are; on the contrary, let us stay alert and sober."

To those who are in darkness, He will come like a thief in the night. These are like the foolish virgins without oil in their lamps. To those who belong to the light in Yeshua and have an intimate relationship with Him, He will NOT be coming as a thief in the night...because they will be busy watching, staying alert and making themselves ready!  That is what Shaul (Paul) is saying here, yet most take the verses out of context to say that we cannot know the timing of His return. We cannot say what exact year or exact day He will be coming, but we can know when the season is, and that season is now!

So many passages of scriptures make more sense when we understand the Hebraic culture and context in which they were written! This whole Pesach celebration was like a betrothal ceremony and what Yeshua said totally mirrored the Jewish wedding customs of the day. When He said He would come again, He is speaking of Yom Teruah as the exact day in which He would come. It is the FEAST OF YOM TERUAH that we anticipate Him coming to get His Bride...or what we would call His second coming/rapture/resurrection depending on your eschatology! It is the day and hour that only the Father knows! Yom Teruah is the ONLY feast that can be called "the day or the hour that no one knows" because it is the only one on a "new moon" where the sliver of the moon has to be cited and seen before it is even declared.  So, this feast is known by that same description.

This will be my 4th year celebrating Yom Teruah and I learn more each year. This year we are blowing the shofar in the morning and reading Psalm 27 each day during the month of Elul. Elul is the Hebrew month (30 days) leading up to Yom Teruah, then there are 10 days (the Ten Days of Awe)  between Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is also called the Day of Atonement which is a fast day, a very solemn day when historically the High Priest would (once a year) make atonement for the sins of Israel. This is a season of time where "the King is in His field". Elul is a time of reflection, repentance and reconciliation where we examine our hearts and make ourselves ready. Of course, we should be doing this all the time. But isn't it true that there are seasons for certain things? Isn't it true that when we get closer to an appointed time, a "deadline" if you will, that we start to get more serious about preparing and getting ready for it? I know I definitely feel that way with all the the prophetic shaking going on in the world today. Time is short!

One of these Yom Teruah's in the future, when the shofar sounds and we are rehearsing, it will turn into the real deal! Do you hear the sound of the shofar? The shofar says the King is coming! The shofar says repent, and shema (hear and obey) the Word of Yahweh! The ram's horn is a symbol of our faith and the ram Yahweh provided in place of Isaac (who is said to be 37 by the way) when Abraham went in obedience to sacrifice his only son. The shofar says....WAKE UP Bride of Messiah!

Here is an incredibly gifted shofar player.....

Elul is an Hebrew acronym for "I am my Beloved's and my Beloved is mine" straight out of Song of Solomon! I have this very inscription on a purity ring I wear on my wedding finger. It proclaims that I am betrothed to Him, I belong to Him alone.  I may not have an earthly husband any longer, but I have a Bridegroom who is Faithful and True and He is El Shaddai, the One who is all sufficient. This is a time of intimacy with Adonai, not a sad time, but a time to be sober minded and hear Him speaking to us about where we are in our walk with Him. If there are areas of our lives that need addressing, it is the time to do it. If there are relationships that need to be restored, now is the time to make things right if you can.

I don't know about you, but I am rehearsing this very important day when Messiah comes for His bride, the remnant. Just like a wedding rehearsal here on earth, we need to be prepared for what it will be like and what will be happening. That is one of the purposes for this wonderful feast day!!!  The day of the Wedding is coming soon because we are prophetically at the end of the 6th day and soon the 7th day Shabbat, the Millennium reign of Messiah will commence. Are you ready to meet your King and Bridegroom? It isn't too late to enter into that covenant with Him and be betrothed to Yeshua! Soon the door will be closed and the foolish virgins who didn't keep oil in their lamps will not be invited to the wedding celebration. Those are some of the saddest words in all of Scripture. The time for repentance or teshuvah is NOW before it is too late!

May you be ready for the soon coming King! Blessings to all of you celebrating the Feasts of Adonai!

"Behold He comes, riding on the clouds, shining like the sun, at the trumpet call! Lift your voice, it's the year of Jubilee! Out of Zion's hill salvation comes!"   - Days of Elijah by Robin Mark

Why Celebrate Passover or Any Biblical Feast?

I feel like I live in exile in a foreign pagan land most days. I'm thinking Babylon fits the description. My feelings match reality unfortunately. The more I study Yahweh's Word, the more I want to live according to His ways, His holy days, His calendar and celebrate those days that He has specifically ordained. It is amazing how pagan most of our traditions are, yet we often continue to celebrate them because tradition is comfortable and familiar. Everyone loves a well worn shoe and I am no different.

While I was aware of the pagan origins of the names of our months of the year and days of the week, it took a lot more time (uh, 20 years give or take) for me to seriously examine the origins of my most favorite holidays (Christmas and Easter). Mostly because I felt I could not possibly fight against something so ingrained into the very fabric of not only my culture but also my family. But also because I was convinced in my own mind and heart that I celebrated these in a way that truly honored Yahweh and eliminated all the secular stuff like Easter bunnies and Santa Claus. We did our best to avoid all of that and concentrate on Yeshua's resurrection at Easter and Messiah's birth on Christmas. So, what could be wrong with that?

 But often when we find the real deal, the genuine article, we are then more willing to give up that which is artificial. Kind of like the difference between margarine and butter, or skim milk and whipping cream! When I started studying and celebrating Passover, Firstfruits, Unleavened Bread, Shavuot, Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur and the Feast of Tabernacles, I began to see the beauty, depth and richness of HIS holy days and everything else just paled in comparison. My thought is that Yahweh really knows how to celebrate! Everything He is and does is beautiful and meaningful and His Feasts are no different. Why mess with the Creator of the Universe and try to make our own holidays when He has already given us such meaningful celebrations that ALL point to Messiah?!

What really shocked me as well was when I read about all the pagan traditions of these days I thought were "christian". I will give a few links and things here to read about the pagan origins of Christmas and Easter as that would take up too much room here to explain. These will just get you started and if you want more, just google the topic and you will be shocked and amazed. There are no spiritually neutral traditions! They are all rooted and grounded in either the Bible or paganism, whether we want to recognize that or not.

Pagan origins of Christmas :
 www.seedofabraham.net/christmas.html    www.hope-of-israel.org/cmas1.htm    www.lasttrumpetministries.org/tracts/tract3.html

Pagan origins of Easter:   www.yeshuahamashiach.org/origin_easter.htm   www.lasttrumpetministries.org/tracts/tract1.html  www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-t020.html   http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=127864

Here is an interesting short 6 minute youtube clip on some of the pagan origins of Easter:

A few years ago I decided our family would stop celebrating Easter and celebrate Passover instead. I could no longer ignore the occultic name of this goddess (astarte) and what she stood for as well as all the traditions of egg dying and try to make it something it just wasn't. I cannot think of one incident in the Scriptures where Yahweh commended or praised His people for turning a pagan holiday into a Hebrew  or biblical celebration. Over and over I see Elohim commanding His chosen ones to be set apart and that included being set apart from the pagan holidays of the nations around them. I heard Him asking me to do the same. He hasn't changed and will never change, He still wants His people following HIM alone and not even saying the name of other gods. Sh'Mot (Exodus) 23:13 says, "And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth." Being the very name Easter is a name for another god, I am not to use it or let it come out of my mouth.

It really wasn't until I started studying Leviticus 23, the Feasts of Yahweh and how they related to biblical prophecy that it even occurred to me that Elohim did indeed have His own calendar.  Lev 23:2 says, "Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, concerning the feasts of the L-RD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts." One thing that now really catches my attention is when I see books or comments regarding the "Jewish Feasts". Over and over in Leviticus 23 and elsewhere we see Elohim declaring that these are HIS feasts! Why is this an important distinction? Well, to me it seems that these are appointments on His calendar that are important to Him and for Him and for His people. To say that these are "Jewish Feasts" also implies that gentile, grafted in wildbranches (see Romans 11) are excluded from these celebrations and appointments. But if the truth of the matter is that these are called Adonai's Feasts, then ALL His people (Jew and Gentile alike) are to celebrate them! More importantly, as I embrace these feasts, there is more unity between Jewish and Gentile believers in Yeshua as Messiah and I am then living out the spiritual reality of our "oneness" and unity in the faith. I can only think of Yeshua's heartfelt prayer in Yochanan (John) 17 to Yahweh when He asked that we would be one as He and the Father are one. How can we be that example in the world when there seems a world of difference in our celebrations? Is this really what Yahweh wants?

Several times in Leviticus (Vayikra) 23, Yahweh states that these feasts of His are to be kept FOREVER and that they are permanent regulations "throughout your generations, no matter where you live" (vs 14, 21, 31, 41). Now, I am a simple person. I like to read the Word of Elohim pretty straightforward. I am not sure how we can define ourselves out of "forever" in all your generations. At this point in my journey with Adonai, I am going to take His Word at face value and keep the Feasts because it clearly states this is a command for all His people, in all generations, no matter where they are scattered throughout the nations. I do not see Yeshua rescinding that command in any way, shape or form. Yeshua kept the Feasts of the Lord and we are to be like Him! What I have found in doing so, is an intimacy with the Messiah I never knew I could experience before. It's like becoming apart of His Hebrew family and traditions on a deeper level. It is in these celebrations and the study of them that has drawn me to discover spiritual truths previously unearthed. I am so grateful and each year, it just gets better!

The word for feasts in verse 2 is mow'ed and is one of my favorite Hebrew words. It means an appointment; a fixed time; to meet at a stated time. The word convocations in Hebrew is miqra and means something called out; a REHEARSAL.  So, inserting these definitions of these Hebrew words back into Lev 23:2 it would read something like this:  Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, concerning the mow'ed (fixed appointment) of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy miqra's (rehearsals), even these are my mow'ed's (fixed appointments). WOW! Two things stand out to me and that is that these are appointments between Elohim and His people Israel. Now I include myself in that because I am grafted into Israel. I feel so very, very blessed to have the Creator of the universe and the Holy One of Israel even make an appointment with me. The last thing I want to do is to miss it, ignore it or forget it exists! Above all things in life, I want to meet with Him and spend time with Him but I don't want it to be just when I feel like it or when I say I am going to do it, but also when Elohim wants me to, when He calls me and desires to have this time with me. He is the boss. He sets the appointments. While I know I can pray, worship and meet with Him at any time, these are fixed appointments on His calendar and He is faithful to keep them. I want to be faithful too.

Secondly, these are rehearsals. Rehearsals for what? Yeshua fulfilled the spring feasts perfectly and on the very day of these fixed appointments. He was inspected and questioned by the leaders as the Lamb going to the slaughter on the 10th of Nisan as the passover lambs were being inspected to see if they met the requirements for being unblemished. Of course Yeshua passed that test. He was crucified on Nisan 14th or Passover as the lambs were being sacrificed in the temple. On Firstfruits He rose from the dead as Israel was offering the firstfruits (barley) of the land. Then on Shavuot (also known as Pentecost), as the firstfruits of the wheat harvest were being offered and also the time in history when Moses received the Torah as Yahweh came with fire on Mt Sinai, the fire of the Ruach HaKodesh came on the disciples with a rushing mighty wind. The Word of Yahweh is so beautifully consistent from beginning to end and when you see how these feasts are fulfilled in multiple ways and significant events happen on these days over and over again, you can only say, "Truly He is awesome and He indeed keeps a calendar!". Great is His faithfulness!

Well, if the spring feasts have been fulfilled by Yeshua and were rehearsals of things to come, then what about the fall feasts? Are they not rehearsals as well for things to come? YES AND AMEN! The Feast of Trumpets or Yom Teruah is the time of the New Moon when it is completely dark. It is a time of repentance and will be when the time of Jacob's Trouble begins, the Great Tribulation. On this day the shofar or ram's horn is blown 100 times and the final blast is known as "the last trump"! It consists of 2 days based on the sighting of the new moon and so it is known as the feast wherein they didn't know the day or the hour. Any scriptures ringing a bell here?!

Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement and is a very solemn day, a day of fasting and introspection. It was this day that the High Priest would go into the Holy of Holies to make atonement for Israel, once a year only. This could be the day that Yeshua returns and all Israel recognizes and mourns as they realize He is was the long awaited Messiah after all. It is also on this day that the Jubilee shofar is blown! The last Jubliee year was celebrated in 1967, the next one will then be (counting 49 years after) Yom Kippur and fall of 2016. If Elohim keeps His appointments and these days are always fulfilled, what event do you think the next Jubilee will fulfill? Could it be the time when Yeshua establishes His Kingdom on earth in the 1,000 year reign specifically mentioned in scripture? If you have read about what the Jubliee year is in scripture, you already know this is a time of great restoration, cancelling of debt, and much rejoicing! Isn't that representative of what Yeshua will do when he comes to rule and reign on the earth? That day is coming. Could it be in the next Jubilee year? I believe it absolutely could be. Why? Because Israel is the "supersign" of the end times. The prophecy concerning Israel being born in a single day (Isaiah 66:7-8) is in 1948 and Yeshua in the fig tree prophecy (www.prophecynewswatch.com/2010/December11/1186.html) tells us that in THAT GENERATION is when Messiah will come again! Well, okay....what is a "generation". What is the average life span? Several scriptures give this to be around 70 years. What is 1948 +70? Hmmm....interestingly it is 2018.( If you want to read more about the significance of Israel becoming a nation and the prophecies that were fulfilled, go to www.watchmanbiblestudy.com/Articles/1948PropheciesFulfilled.htm ) Okay, before anyone gets the wrong idea, I am not setting dates here, just looking at the calendar, Yahweh's in particular, and noticing that there are some key Feasts and dates to watch. We certainly are in the season to be watching as the fig tree has budded.  No one knows the day or the hour (reference to Yom Teruah or the Feast of Trumpets again) except the Father. So, I don't know, but I am watching and wondering in great anticipation!

The Feast of Tabernacles which comes 10 days after Yom Kippur and 15 days after Yom Teruah is a 8 day celebration of His birth when He came to tabernacle among us and represents the wedding feast to come! A time to remember that Israel tabernacled in the wilderness in tents for 40 years and Elohim provided for ALL their needs. A time to remember that Yeshua came and tabernacled among us and commemorate the time of His actual birth. Yes, Messiah was born in the fall (not on December 25th) and that can be determined based on the courses of the priests and when Zechariah was chosen. During the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths, we set up a Sukkah, a temporary outdoor dwelling in our yard, we eat, sing, have campfires and sleep under the stars in a rehearsal and anticipation of the great wedding feast soon to come. This is a wonderful rehearsal and is one of my children's favorites as they built the Sukkah themselves and love to decorate it (especially the girls). Shouldn't we be rehearsing these times as He is coming soon? Besides Passover, this is my favorite Feast celebration.

How many times are we told by Yeshua to be watchful, ready? Well, how can we be watchful when we don't even have these feasts on our calendar and on our "radar screen"? He said he would only come as a thief to those who were not watching. The wise virgins were obviously watching and ready with their oil, unlike the foolish virgins who were not. 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6 says this, "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober." Wow, how many times do I hear people say, "we can't know when He is coming again, as He said he is coming like a thief". Yes, we don't know the exact day or hour, but we can know the season!!!  But did you hear the Word in bold print? Who does Yeshua come as a thief to? Those who are in the darkness, asleep, not watching, oblivious to the times and the seasons right in front of them! We are not as believers children of the darkness, we are children of the day, of the light!

Passover is coming soon on April 18th of this year. I love remembering the Exodus story as it reminds me of another exodus to come and is also a picture of redemption out of a time of tribulation. Something I need reminders of! We will celebrate with friends in our home and I cannot wait to make up the Seder plate, taste the bitter herbs and rejoice in my redemption from the bonds of sin and death, my Egypt. I never get tired of remembering that story whether it is the Hebrews or my own.

So, I keep Yahweh's wonderful appointments (Feasts) in great anticipation of their end time and soon fulfillment. Each one is a remembrance of the past, a celebration of Yeshua and the present in what He is doing,  but also a rehearsal of what is to come! With each passing Feast, we get closer and closer to seeing Him face to face! One day we will be gathered to Him in Israel where He will rule as King of Kings and L-rd of L-rds! And no celebration will be able to compare with that one!

Happy Pesach (Passover) my friends! Next year in Yerushalayim!

How I Began My Journey Into Hebrew Roots

A few people have asked me recently how this all started and why I am embracing my Hebrew roots. What does that even mean, right? Well, even though that is a long story, I will try to at least give a background, as in the preface to a good book. By the way, I read those prefaces and introductions! I personally love the story behind the story as it explains the motivation behind the author's writing. Here is my attempt.

The first Passover I observed piqued my interest in all the Feasts of the Lord described in Leviticus 23, as the celebration was so rich in symbolism and meaning. All of the elements of a Passover Seder have deep significance and it is a wonderful telling of redemption, one in which I enjoy remembering. I love how the story of Exodus parallels our spiritual birthing process and redemption.

The Hebrews were in slavery to Pharoah which parallels our slavery and bondage to sin. I love how God not only rescues them from slavery but in the process is wooing their hearts. Not only does He want them out of Egypt, but more so I think, He wants Egypt out of them! It is only then that they will follow Him out of bondage and into the wilderness. The first three plagues were experienced by both the Egyptians and the Hebrews and then in the 4th - 10th plagues He makes a distinction between them. By the way, as a side note, Isaiah 46:10 says God "declares the end from the beginning". That was a new revelation to me! Since then, I have been looking at the beginning to help me understand the patterns that may help interpret the end of the story. Most people would never dream of reading the end of the chapter of any book to understand the end, they would go to the first chapter and keep reading. I wonder how we could even think we could possibly understand the end of His story without a firm grasp of the beginning?  It is my opinion that Adonai already told the end of the story in these books and Exodus is particularly pertinent I would think.

So, getting back to my story. Passover is a retelling of this redemption story. All the elements are there. There is baptism (crossing through the Red Sea), redemption on the other side as new creations. Then as they traveled, both the homeborn (Hebrew) and the stranger (mixed multitude that also came with them), Adonai took them and gave them His Torah, His Laws at Mt Sinai. There is the pattern. Redemption first, instructions after. Most people think of Torah negatively, but it really means instruction or teaching, not just rules and law. There at the foot of Mount Sinai they entered into covenant with Adonai, which is a picture of the Ketubah, the marriage covenant written down describing each person's part in the covenant. There is so much detail and depth here that I could write pages and pages on just this story!

I have always been interested in end time prophecy. But more so in the last few years after receiving some dreams from the Lord. I really began studying the Feasts of the Lord:  Sabbath, Passover, Firstfruits, Weeks, Trumpets, Day of Atonement and Booths (Leviticus 23) in depth initially because of my interest in prophecy. As I studied I realized that these Feasts were described as "mow'ed" which are divine appointments and rehearsals for things to come. God has a calendar! That alone was revolutionary to me!!! And He is always faithful to keep His appointments. These appointments are not for the Jews alone as He says they are not "Jewish Feasts", but they are HIS Feasts and we are invited to join in and keep that appointment. He so wants to meet with us! He reveals so much to us through these Feasts. Yeshua completely fulfilled the spring Feasts of Passover (His death), Firstfruits (His resurrection) and Weeks (Pentecost) to the very day. As the passover lambs were led into the temple for slaughtering as they had done for thousands of years, Yeshua was being slaughtered and hung on a tree. So too, I have no reason to believe that God will not keep His other appointments and completely fulfill the fall Feasts to the very day. These fall Feasts are rehearsals of things to come in the end of days. That is another book in itself!

As I studied these Feasts and Hebrew words and meanings I began celebrating all of them and it was amazing all that I was learning! I was completely enthralled with it all. Sad too that I feel I had not been taught any of the significance of these in my 25 years of going to Bible believing churches. In a way, if I am to be honest, I kinda felt jipped! I felt like a huge amount of incredibly deep and meaningful celebrations and heritage was taken away from me because I was taught these were "Jewish" celebrations. If we are grafted into the Olive Tree of Israel as Romans 11 clearly says, then we too have that heritage! Abraham is our father and we are His children, if we have given our lives in submission to Yeshua and have been redeemed by His blood.

I began to read other books related to the Feasts and the King of the Jews (see Recommended Reading list on my blog). The more I read and researched the Jewishness of Jesus and the Hebrewness of the Bible, I was astounded at how it helped me understand passages that were fuzzy to me before. I also realized and had to repent, that while I never would have considered myself a "Jew hater" by any means, I had read the Bible through "anti-semitic glasses" which I didn't even know I had on and which really hindered my understanding of the text. This is hard to describe really. On another post, I hope to give some concrete examples from biblical texts. There were several passages that I unknowingly had an anti-Jew or anti-Pharisee bias that I didn't realize and it turned the meaning of these scriptures upside down. My theological boat was rocking. But I didn't mind since Yeshua was the one doing the shaking!

I have enjoyed reading and researching the history and culture of the pre-70 AD synagogues (before the destruction of the Temple and believers started to scatter). I wanted to understand how those believers operated and what they believed before they basically split into Jews going one way and Gentile believers going another. Many factors involved here. I also came to understand that there were heretical teachers (Marcion, etc) that did a lot of damage and helped to keep the split between Jew and Gentile going. Kind of like Darwin's influence, once the damage was done, it was basically irreversible. The Roman Emporer, Constantine, also helped by officially declaring Sunday the new Sabbath in "veneration of the Sun" and the decree of the Council of Nicea was very antiSemetic indeed. Understanding the history of this time period helped me to see how the present was shaped and by whom. I didn't like what I saw. The reformation didn't go far enough...but that is another post!

In the midst of this study, I completely fell in love afresh with my very Jewish Messiah and began to feel more a part of His family as I understood His traditions and celebrations. I began celebrating the Sabbath and doing other things which I am sure has totally confused my friends (!). I am not doing them in a legalistic way, but out of love and what I feel is obedience to what He is calling me to right now. I have begun to worship and call "home" a Messianic fellowship where Jews and Gentiles worship together as one in Messiah. I LOVE IT!

What I am finding is that as I chose to walk in these ancient paths, celebrating the Feasts, Sabbaths and walking in these ways others deem "Jewish", (I consider them biblical and God's Word doesn't change) I am hearing Him speak to me more clearly than ever before. I am experiencing His presence, His peace....His Shalom! The word Shalom doesn't just mean peace, it means blessing in every area of life, fullness, wholeness, completeness. There are abundant blessings to all those who walk in His ways as they truly are higher than ours. Yeshua took the punishment for our disobedience, but didn't take away the blessings for obedience.

Recently I learned that my maiden name is an actual Hebrew word which means "proven". There are indications that on the maternal side I may have some Jewish ancestry as well. Interestingly, and yet not surprisingly, many drawn to their Hebrew roots find out that there is such ancestry previously unknown to them until they started digging. Yahweh is doing an amazing thing in our day, which is the fulfillment of prophecy. He is drawing Israel, those dispersed among the pagan nations, the 10 northern tribes if you will, back to Torah, back to Himself. He is causing those to remember who and whose they are and shed the pagan practices they have adopted as their own and return (teshuvah or repent) to Yahweh and observe the commands. I was recently asked if I was Jewish. My response? Yes, I am in my heart. Living within me is my Jewish Messiah, Yeshua. He was a Torah observant Jew and He calls me to follow Him and walk in obedience, which is the demonstration of my love for Him. An apt response considering all He has done for me. Romans 2:29 comes to mind, "but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the HEART, in the Spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men but from G-d."

The New Covenant in Jeremiah 31 clearly states that the law would then be written on our hearts. That filling of the Ruach HaKodesh is what gives us the desire, knowledge and power to obey His Word. The ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy will take place in its fullness when Yeshua comes again but we can experience that now as we walk in the Spirit by faith which will never contradict His Law/Word.

Okay, there is your preface! I promise the next post won't be that long :) In any case, I hope that answers a few questions!