God commanded the children of Israel to honor the Lord seven times a year through His Feasts:

“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them; The Feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be ‘holy convocations,’ these are My feasts…..These are the Feasts of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times” (Lev. 23:2,4).

The Lord Himself referred to these Feasts days as  “Convocations;” which when translated, means “dress rehearsals.” He called them “Holy” and gave specific instruction for each dress rehearsal.

The word “feast” in Hebrew is “moed,” which means “divine appointment,” or in other words, God’s invitation to “go out on a date with Him.”

These “appointed times” were determined by the Hebrew Covenant Calendar that God established with Moses in Ex. 12:2:

“This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.”

The moon established this calendar, beginning with the New Moon of the month the Bible calls “Abib” or “Nisan.”  All of the Feast dates were set according to this calendar.

The importance of these “Feasts” dates that God established has NOT ceased, changed or become irrelevant, even though we now live in the Age of the New Covenant. On the contrary, as believers, the invitation is actually more relevant to us now since we can see through the lens of the Old AND New Testament of how Jesus fulfills the redemptive story found in celebrating these Feasts.

Honoring the Feasts aren’t a requirement for our salvation of course, but they do serve a kingdom purpose of a SIGN to the world of Christ as Savior and King.  In the years ahead, they will also be used as a measuring stick as to what nations are aligned with Christ in the Millennium:

“And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lordof hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. ¹⁷ And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lordof hosts, on them there will be no rain. ¹⁸ If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the Lordstrikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. ¹⁹ This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles” (Zech. 14:16-19).

The purpose of any dress rehearsal is to put into practice a production/show in its entirety before the “live performance.”  The children of Israel (representing those IN COVENANT WITH GOD) were chosen to be a part of the cast of what I am going to coin, the Lord’s “Redemption Production.”  In this production, the manuscript was written by the “finger of God,” and given to the children of Israel at Mt. Sinai (Lev. 23).  Their role was to follow each Feast as instructed so that WHEN Christ came many years later, there was no doubt of who the Lord was.

We can read about the whole blueprint of the Spring Feasts going “LIVE” in the Gospels when Christ became the Passover lamb, died, rose from the dead, and sent the Holy Spirit as a promise of His return.  As the Spring Feasts come around each year now, believers can celebrate the memory of that “live performance,” and thank God for sending Christ to fulfill the script.

Today, believers have been given the privilege of participating in the cast of the second act of the “Redemption Production;” preparing for the time when Christ will return as King.

The final three Feasts that we are waiting for the Lord to fulfill are celebrated in the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, Tishri, and are known as the “Fall Feasts.” The Fall Feasts consist of the Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles.  

Given that ALL Christians have great hope and expectation of Christ’s return, it serves us well to study the manuscript so we understand our role and participate in the “dress rehearsal” so that our hearts are ready!

For more info on the Feasts, you can go to http://www.momanna.org and click on the communications tab to review the roots magazine.  The Feast Book will be available shortly, but if you want more info now, search the 2018 blogs as I posted about each one.