Does God have a favorite season of the year? For you, it may be the fall or spring. Yes, Father God has an appointed time. As Creator, God has revealed his name to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yet, to Moses, God revealed his personal name as YAHWEH.
God’s name reveals his character. In Exodus, God revealed his character as compassionate (Hebrew name womb). How do you imagine God to be? As an angry God, a punisher, or an uninvolved God?
God’s appointed feast for the Jewish New Year is Rosh Hashanah, or the Feast of Trumpets, as written in Leviticus 23:24. How would you react to a thunderous trumpet blast? Remember, the trumpets will sound again when Jesus as King returns to the earth. Will you be ready?
The Feast of Yom Kippur, or day of atonement, is also called ‘covering’ because the blood of the sacrifice was spread on the ark and on the people to signify God covering their sins. Jesus, as the sacrificial lamb, died for our sins, and his blood has redeemed the world. Jesus was crucified for us. Are you cruciformed to Jesus? Or put another way…. Have you surrendered your problems or illness to Jesus? The cross of Jesus can transform my problems into his beauty. God has promised to change our ashes into beauty.
The Feast of Tabernacles or Succor in Leviticus 23:34-42 celebrates our thanksgiving to God for his provisions. Imagine being given pairs of sandals for 40 years! God’s presence was in the tent as a fire by night and a cloud by day. To celebrate God’s caring, booths made of palm branches are rejected for seven days in each household. There, families can eat their meals and sleep. During this festival, the Jewish priests carried a pitcher of water from the Siloam pool to the temple altar and poured it on the altar. This practice prophetically depicted that God’s world poured out His Spirit at the coming of the Messiah. In Joun 7:37-38, Jesus cries out on the same day, calling Hashana Rabboh, “If anyone is thirsty, let them come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scriptures said, from His innermost being will flow rivers of living water.” In 1 Corinthians 3:6, we are called “God’s Tabernacle”. Do you show yourself to others as fir (angry), cloud (peace), or water (kindness)? Our identity as followers of Jesus is located not in Constantinople, London, or Rome but in the God of Israel and His constant care and concern for us.
May the Hebrew year 5785 (2024) be celebrated this fall, and may you and your families be blessed.
Feast of Trumpets – October 2nd (sunset) – 4th
Day of Atonement – October 11th (sunset) – 12th
Feast of Tabernacles – October 16th (sunset) – 23rd