Overview
FEAST
SEASONS |
UNLEAVENED BREAD |
HARVEST/WEEKS
PENTECOST |
BOOTHS/TABERNACLES |
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THE FEASTS
OF
THE LORD |
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UNLEAVENED
BREAD
(Hag Ha Matzah) |
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GOD'S WORK |
CREATION
OUTWORKING OF GOD’S CREATIVE & REDEMPTIVE WORKS |
REVELATION
GOD’S WORD & SPIRIT |
REDEMPTION
REST • REFLECTION • RESTORATION • RELATIONSHIP • REVIVAL |
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Getting in Sync with God’s Covenant Way
God operates and engages with mankind through an order and framework of a kind of relationship He calls covenant. He illustrated the nature of His heart and way of His covenant through a progressive series of covenants made with various individuals. He established a covenant with Noah, an everlasting one with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and a covenant and a law with Moses. He made an everlasting covenant with David, and as the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel proclaimed, God said He would seal a new covenant written on peoples’ hearts.
Through Isaiah, God specifically defined the two key components characterizing His covenant: His words and Spirit.
"As for Me," says the LORD, "this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants' descendants," says the LORD, "from this time and forevermore." (Isaiah 59:21 NKJV)
An important aspect of God’s covenant relates to the Feasts of the LORD. The Bible marks these feasts as appointed times and seasons. They serve as a cycle of ways God desires to engage with His people. He didn’t appoint these encounters to be legalistic rituals, but real ways to relate and interact with Him in a refreshing and dynamic way! Truly, God designed these events to be perpetual ways of engaging with Him in a very real and relevant manner. Scripture refers to them His feasts—the Feasts of the Lord.
God established seven particular feasts grouped into three feast seasons. Truly, they represent annual cycles of life with relevance to our spiritual and physical lives. Through these appointed times, we see God’s overall pattern of Creation, Revelation and Redemption.
It is a pattern He continuously works through. It is the pattern of His rhythm. It is the way He designed for our lives to be in sync with Him! They serve to help us relate and engage with God in a truly dynamic and fruitful way!
God’s Way and Rhythm: Creation → Revelation → Redemption
In his Star of Redemption demonstration, Rosenzweig viewed God’s people as “carriers of revelation.” He specifically saw in the feasts:
Unleavened Bread: Liberation as an experience of Creation; the outworking of God’s creative process
Weeks or Harvest: Revelation of God’s law and instruction
Booths or Tabernacles: Rest, Messianic deliverance, Settlement,Destiny, Redemption
God is always creating new things for His glory. His works find destiny in redemption. The first way, in fact, God revealed Himself was as Creator. He is the Creator. God is always creating new things. He spoke to Isaiah several times (chapters 42:9, 43:19 and 48:6) about the new things He creates. Through the cycle of feast seasons, we see the outworking of God’s process of Creation, Revelation and Redemption.
Through Unleavened Bread, we see God initiating His creative and redemptive process. He separates light from darkness, truth from lies, righteousness from sin—and people from bondage. God creates new things by speaking His Word and breathing His Spirit. The first fruits of what God creates serve as His testimonies and demonstration of His creative acts. In Unleavened Bread, God draws us unto Himself, reveals His plan of peace, and provides for a way to transition and grow a step closer to God.
Through the Feast of Weeks or Harvest—and evidenced in Pentecost—we see God’s Word and Spirit revealing and manifesting the knowledge of God, His truth, His power and His glory. We also see God preparing us for a deeper and more meaningful experience with Him.
Through Tabernacles, we see God’s process come to a state of rest and completion. We see His kingdom order established. We see trials come to a resolution in Messiah’s victory. We value God’s presence in a fresh way, and come to a place and state of rest, reflection, redemption and restoration.
Through the feast seasons, we see God connecting heaven with earth; His will being accomplished on earth as it is in heaven. We see God’s purposes work through the process of time, and God’s kingdom manifesting and revealing itself. We see a way that brings alignment and unification between man and God—our Creator. We see a path leading towards destiny. We also see the LORD in the feasts—in a multitude of ways! Seeing God’s pattern and process will help your relationship with God grow in a real, dynamic and refreshing way.
Dates, Seasons and Life’s Cycles
Two calendars are reflected in the Bible: a spiritual/sacred calendar and a civil/agricultural calendar. The fact that the 1st spiritual month parallels the 7th civil month and 1st civil month parallels the 7th spiritual month points to a relationship between the two cycles.
The spiritual cycle represents our relationship with God from a spiritual standpoint. The civil cycle was designed around agricultural seasons, primarily reflecting upon our work life.
Our focus, however, is engaging in relationship with God and keeping the big picture in mind; how Messiah Jesus has fulfilled the greater purposes of the feasts, making them relevant to our walk with God. Therein we find the manifold grace of God. It is the LORD who leads us through “paths of righteousness.”
Living Life in its Fullness: In the LORD
God introduced Himself to Moses as “I AM WHO I AM” or simply, “I AM.” What a name! He came as Messiah to the Jewish people as Yeshua, meaning in Hebrew, salvation; or as commonly known in the Greek, Jesus. So He became Lord and Savior to all humanity who will believe and place trusting faith in Him.
So, what is IN THE NAME? He in fact has many names. The LORD personally used seven names to describe who He is, and who He will be to those who believe:
I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE
I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
I AM THE DOOR OF THE SHEEP
I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD
I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE
I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE
I AM THE TRUE VINE
How to appreciate ALL HE TRULY IS? Believers are filled with the Holy Spirit. Therefore, “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) Our opportunity is to allow God to transform us as we grow in the Lord “to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13)
The Pathways Devotional will help you understand God’s purposes, grow in the knowledge of God and into the fullness of your likeness—or measure of your capacity—IN HIM.
Use the text, Questions and Scripture References as a starting point of your engagement with God on a particular topic. Allow the Holy Spirit to minister to you for personal relevance and application as you reflect on God's Word and truths. Keep in mind, there's grace at God's pace.
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