Rabbi’s Reflections – Sunday, October 6, 2019
Shavuah Tov *|FNAME|*,
Thank you, Dr. Raymond Finney for yet another excellent RR.
The Feasts of Israel – Model of A Baby’s Development Before Birth?
October 6, 2019
IMPORTANT NOTE– END ANY GUILT TODAY: This RR discusses abortion. Almost every congregation contains women who have had an abortion and men who have fathered a pregnancy that was aborted. Shomair is probably no different. God’s grace is sufficient to forgive. Just ask Him to forgive you. Once you repent… 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Ongoing guilt is an emotion from Satan, not God. The purpose of ongoing guilt is to separate us from God and each other. If you continue to experience guilt because of your past involvement in abortion, you have not understood God’s grace– His plan is to forgive and forget any sin, if He is approached properly.
We write this RR not in judgment, but in empathy and love. If you feel guilty because of past involvement in an abortion, today is the day to ask God’s forgiveness and accept Yeshua’s sacrifice for all of us. You need never feel guilt again, because God loves you and is willing to understand more than you might think possible.
INTRODUCTION: I have taken courses in embryology (study of the intrauterine development of a baby) in college and medical school. (It is medically correct to call a developing baby a fetus. Abortionists use “fetus” or “tissue” as part of word games to obscure the nature of their practice, but I prefer to think of this gift from God as a “baby,” whether born or unborn.)
One of my favorite Bible prophecy/ apologist teachers was a Messianic Jew, Zola Levitt. Zola died in April, 2006. I miss his clear thinking and sound teachings. Our good friend, Eitan Shishkoff, continues to write on behalf of Zola’s ministry. https://www.levitt.com/
When the Levitts were younger, his wife became pregnant. Zola accompanied her to her obstetrician’s visit. The obstetrician explained the stages their baby would undergo until birth. Zola’s quick mind thought the obstetrician was reciting the timeline for the feasts of Israel.
He compared his baby’s developmental stages with the seven feasts of Israel, adding Hanukkah to fill out the length of gestation (280 days, give or take). He wrote his observations in a book, “The Seven Feasts of Israel.” I cannot find my copy of his book, which apparently has been raptured. I will try to present Zola’s thoughts from memory and poorly scribbled, almost unreadable notes from Zola’s talk I heard many years ago. He was as eloquent in his presentation, as I am awkward in trying to tell you his thoughts. Sorry, Zola. Sorry, reader.
Rabbi’s note: The book is available on Kindle for $1.99 here… https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Feasts-Israel-Zola-Levitt-ebook/dp/B00A7UPJ7M/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=The+Seven+Feasts+of+Israel+book+Levitt&qid=1570140539&sr=8-1
Understand that Zola presented a generalized view of a baby’s development. An organ is not absent one day and suddenly present the next day. Please consider his thoughts about the sequence of a baby’s development and its relation to the feasts of Israel’s timing. Why might God do such a thing? Is it His love for Israel and His children, whether Jew or Gentile?
As you well know, there are seven feasts of Israel: three Spring feasts (Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits); one Summer feast (Shavuot); and three Fall feasts (Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot). There also is a Winter feast (Hanukkah).
I refer to reproduction as a “miracle” in this RR. While technically not a “miracle,” perhaps, the events occurring from conception to birth display a plan from the mind of a Divine Creator. As I studied in my embryology courses, I marveled that cells divided, migrated, folded, assumed complex functions, and formed tissues to create a unique baby– a child of God. And, this plan is encoded in microscopic ribbons of DNA housed in a cell’s nucleus, a nucleus much smaller than the period at the end of this sentence. I am grateful I had the opportunity to study this process. Thank You, God, for Your master plan and Your love for us.
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PASSOVER:
>>> FEAST SUMMARY: Passover is Israel’s first feast of the religious year, occurring on the fourteenth day of the first calendar month. This feast commemorates the release of Israelites from Pharaoh’s Egypt. The old life in Egyptian bondage ended, and the Israelites faced new life as a free people.
>>> YESHUA’S MINISTRY (YESHUA’S CRUCIFIXION– NEW LIFE): Yeshua came to earth to die for mankind’s sins. Every person sins, for which he/ she should die, but God’s grace and Yeshua’s love provide a pardon for anyone who accepts through faith this pardon provided by Yeshua’s sacrifice. A Believer’s new, eternal life could not occur until Yeshua forfeited His life.
>>> BABY’S DEVELOPMENT (OVULATION): The release of an ovum (egg) occurs on the fourteenth day of the mother’s menstrual cycle. A baby cannot be conceived until ovulation.
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UNLEAVENED BREAD:
>>> FEAST SUMMARY: This feast occurs one day after Passover.
>>> YESHUA’S MINISTRY (YESHUA’S BURIAL– THE SEED): Any plant’s seed must be planted in soil before it can sprout, create a new plant, and bear fruit. Yeshua died and was buried, that we may bear fruit and eventually have a new, eternal life
>>> BABY’S DEVELOPMENT (FERTIIZATION): The ovum from the mother unites with (is fertilized by) a spermatozoon (sperm cell) from the father. Because of this miracle, a baby can now begin his/ her development (that is, pregnancy occurs). Absent this miracle, the ovum dies, is absorbed by the mother’s body, and no baby is produced (pregnancy does not occur).
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FIRSTFRUITS:
>>> FEAST SUMMARY: This feast occurs on the first Sunday after Passover (that is, two to six days after Passover). A sheaf of wheat waved before God demonstrated confidence that He, Jehovah-jireh, would provide for the needs of His people and as thanksgiving to a good God.
>>> YESHUA’S MINISTRY (YESHUA’S RESURRECTION): Yeshua is the Bread of Life. He rose to life from His tomb on the third day after His crucifixion. By His resurrection (by life arising from the planted Seed), He became the Firstfruit of God’s New Covenant harvest. Hundreds of millions of His brothers and sisters would follow Him to life eternal because of God’s grace and Yeshua’s sacrifice.
>>> BABY’S DEVELOPMENT (IMPLANTATION): After fertilization, the fertilized ovum travels two to six days through the mother’s oviduct (Fallopian tube), until it reaches her uterus (womb). The uterus is lined by a highly vascular (blood vessel-rich) and glandular layer– the endometrium. The fertilized ovum must implant (burrow into) the endometrium in which it can be protected and nourished while it develops.
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SHAVUOT, WEEKS, PENTECOST:
>>> FEAST SUMMARY: This feast occurs fifty days after Firstfruits. [Word study: English Pentecost from Greek pentecoste = fiftieth day.] Originally, new grain was offered to God as thanksgiving for the grain harvest. The Day of Pentecost is historically significant. On this calendar day, God gave Moses the Torah on Mt. Sinai and the New Covenant Body of Believers was created through the Ruach HaKodesh (recorded in Acts, chapter 2). Thus, both Judaism and Christianity in its various forms were founded on this calendar day, many centuries apart.
>>> YESHUA’S MINISTRY (HARVEST): The Body of HaMashiach’s Believers (the Church, continuing to our Shomair Yisrael) was founded on the Day of Pentecost. (Read Acts, chapter 2.) The purpose of this event was the harvest of souls for the Kingdom of God. Since that Day, many hundreds of millions of persons have been harvested for the Kingdom!
>>> BABY’S DEVELOPMENT (NEW CREATURE = FETUS): After fertilization and implantation, the ovum continuously divides (one cell > two cells > four cells > eight cells, and so forth), until a baby– God’s miracle of reproduction! – is born with billions of cells. Fifty days after Yeshua’s resurrection, a ragtag group of dispirited Yeshua followers was transformed into a recognizable Body– the Body of Believers, holding that Yeshua is Messiah. After fifty days in the mother’s womb, this mass of cells– cells abortionists, with cunning lies and misrepresentation, claim that have no meaning, no value– now has recognizable human features. Yeshua’s Body of Believers continued to grow and change features over centuries until it has achieved its present appearance throughout the world. The fetus will continue to grow over the next months until birth, when it will become the adorable, little baby we all should love.
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YOM TERUAH, TRUMPETS, SHOUTING, ROSH HASHANAH:
>>> FEAST SUMMARY: This feast occurs on the first day of the seventh Jewish month (Tishri). Trumpet (shofar) blasts and shouting announce and acknowledge God’s presence in the land, mark the beginning of High Holy Days, and signal God’s finality for the harvest.
>>> YESHUA’S MINISTRY (RESURRECTION AND RAPTURE OF BELIEVERS): We are promised that Yeshua will return in the clouds (importantly, will not yet set foot on earth) for the purpose of calling His Believers/ Followers to Him for eternity. God’s shofar blasts and shouts of “Come up here!” will cause dead and living Believers to be instantly transported to the presence of Yeshua and the Heavenly Host. The harvest of souls begun in Shavuot is nearing completion.
>>> BABY’S DEVELOPMENT (HEARING): At approximately the seventh month of gestation, the baby’s hearing is developed. The significance of this developmental stage is that the unborn baby could hear the blast of God’s trumpet and the archangel’s shout.
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YOM KIPPUR, ATONEMENT:
>>> FEAST SUMMARY: This feast occurs on the tenth day of the seventh Jewish month (Tishri). Yom Kippur, the most solemn day of the Jewish year, was set aside for Jews to atone for (seek forgiveness of) their sins. Goats were originally sacrificed as a sin offering, relying on God’s promise to hear confession and judge repentance.
>>> YESHUA’S MINISTRY (REDEMPTION): Zion (Israel) will be saved– will accept Yeshua as their Savior and Messiah– during the Tribulation through the work of 144,000 Jewish evangelists and the Two Witnesses. In the ancient Jewish Yom Kippur ritual, two goats were sacrificed– one for the LORD and one for Azazel. The High Priest laid his hands on the forehead of the goat for Azazel. [“Azazel” = unclear, but thought to be “the goat of (sin) removal.”] He instructed the people that he transferred their sins to the goat, which would, then, be killed. Thus, the sins of the people were thought to have been extinguished at the goat’s death, and they could start the next year sin-free. This goat was the scapegoat. Yeshua became all mankind’s Scapegoat, because He took our sins upon Himself and His death could remove sins from us (through faith).
>>> BABY’S DEVELOPMENT (HEMOGLOBIN A IN RED BLOOD CELLS): Early in gestation, a baby has red blood cells filled with hemoglobin F (F = fetal). Hemoglobin F is well-suited for carrying the low level of gases (oxygen) in the womb, but not ideal when atmospheric air is breathed after birth. After birth, a person is better served by red blood cells with hemoglobin A (A = adult). The change from hemoglobin F to hemoglobin A begins in the seventh month of gestation. The baby is being prepared to live outside of the mother’s womb (when the mother breathed for the baby) and to live in atmospheric air (with the new creature doing his/ her own breathing). The baby is preparing to be redeemed from the uterine “prison” in which he/ she has existed for seven or more months and to live as a free person in the world.
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SUKKOT, TABERNACLES, BOOTHS:
>>> FEAST SUMMARY: This feast occurs on the fifteenth day of the seventh Jewish month (Tishri). Sukkot is as joyous as Yom Kippur is somber. During the days of Sukkot, Jews celebrate with joy and thanksgiving the time God lived with their Israelite ancestors in the wilderness– people living in booths and worshiping God in a tabernacle.
>>> YESHUA’S MINISTRY (KINGDOM): After Yeshua’s Second Coming as King of kings and Lord of lords along with the Heavenly Host (Believers and angels), He will live with His people (Believers, saved Jews, angels, and the Tribulation “sheep”). He will establish His Millennial Kingdom on earth. For one-thousand years, we will finally be free! We will all live in shalom!
>>> BABY’S DEVELOPMENT (LUNGS): During pregnancy, the mother breathes for her baby. Toward the end of pregnancy, the baby begins to mature enough for him/ her to breathe atmospheric air. If born too soon (before the lungs are sufficiently mature), he/ she may develop infant respiratory distress syndrome, which requires intensive hospital treatment or may result in death. Obstetricians and pediatricians take great care to determine whether an unborn baby’s lungs are sufficiently mature to support life outside of the womb.
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HANUKKAH, CHANUKAH, DEDICATION, LIGHTS:
>>> FEAST SUMMARY: This feast is held ten lunar cycles (approx. 280 days) into the Jewish calendar. The Jews (the Maccabeans) overthrew the evil Seleucid Greco-Syrian King Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who died in 164 BC. Antiochus was the ancient model for the future Antichrist. Upon regaining entry to an Antiochus-defiled Temple, Temple cleansing began. A top priority was to re-light the seven-branched menorah. Only enough oil was available to burn the menorah one day, and it would take a week or so to prepare more oil. To everyone’s amazement, a miracle occurred at that time. The menorah burned much longer than the expected one day. It burned eight days, giving time to prepare more oil. Now, the Hanukkah menorah, the hanukkia, contains nine candles– eight representing the eight days of the ancient miracle and a central servant (shamash) candle. We Believers understand the Servant (Shamash) candle represents the Light of the world, Yeshua HaMashiach. The Shamash transfers His Light to us. Yeshua observed Hanukkah in the Temple (see John 10:22-23).
>>> YESHUA’S MINISTRY (PROMISE OF ETERNAL LIFE): Yeshua is the Light of the world (compare the hanukkiah), who came to dispel the darkness of Satan’s sin. He came as the Suffering Servant (compare the Shamash candle). The Jews (and early Believers) attached significance to certain numbers, a practice known as gematria. For example, three (3) is the number for the Believers’ God (the Holy Trinity). Six (6) is the number for man (because man was created on the sixth day of the Genesis creation account). Seven (7) is the number for rest, or Shabbat, (because God rested from creation on the seventh day of the Genesis creation account). And, eight (8) is the number for “the eighth day of creation” (the eternity after Elohim’s creation of the world). NOTE: Do not let Bible deniers confuse you with mocking Genesis, saying, “Surely, God did not create the Universe in just six days.” That may be a King James Version translation, but it is not what the Hebrew text really says. A “day” of creation, in translated Genesis, uses the Hebrew yowm (yom), which may be translated “day” or “a time period of indeterminate length.” Darwin’s “Origin of the Species” has become “the Bible” for people who wish to deny God. In future RRs, I may discuss Godless evolution theory nonsense. If one reads the writings of Moses and Darwin, both may be saying the same thing, just in different ways. Moses wrote that Elohim (God) created everything. Darwin wrote that everything just magically appeared (over time, of course).
>>> BABY’S DEVELOPMENT (BIRTH– BEGINNING OF ETERNAL LIFE): The baby is born approximately 280 days after conception. A baby is certainly an eternal being. Whether he/ she lives a few minutes or more than a century, the baby has an eternal soul, a soul hopefully that will some day be gathered to Yeshua.
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A MIRACLE: I never think of reproduction without feeling thanksgiving for the God-given miracle of life. Thinking of the four times God blessed (surprised) Linda and me with babies, I thank Him. As I approach my eighth decade of life, I wish God had blessed us with a dozen children.
I am a retired pathologist. I spent a lifetime studying human diseases. I am amazed that “zillions” of body parts can come together and create a unique baby from two half cells– one-half cell from the mother, one-half cell from the father. (Most body cells contain 22 pairs of chromosomes plus a pair of sex chromosomes. Boys have 22 single chromosomes from each parent, an X chromosome from the mother, and a Y chromosome from the father. Girls have 22 single chromosomes from each parent, an X chromosome from the mother, and an X chromosome from the father. )
The psalmist David was equally amazed at God’s creation. Read his eloquent psalm, beginning with Psalm 139:13.
SHAME! The U.S. Supreme Court issued a shameful decision in Roe v Wade on January 22, 1973. Since that damnable decision, more than 60-million unborn babies have been killed– legally! –in America’s abortion clinics. And, we Americans (including Believers) say nothing.
You can read Justice Blackmun’s Roe v Wade opinion online. There are more important opinions you should also read– including those of God, as recorded in the Holy Bible. If God and Rabbi Weiner continue to permit me to write Sunday RRs, I will present many Scripture citations related to life in January, 2020.
Father: We call you Father for a reason. We thank you for our short lives on earth. We thank you even more for our eternal lives in Heaven. When we see a newborn baby and consider the miracle of reproduction, we have our faith in You renewed. What loving care you shower on a newborn baby, when we see such details as his/ her tiny eyelashes or fingernails. Forgive us, Father, that our nation permits abortions for the convenience of women… as a birth control measure. Father, when we encounter a woman who has had an abortion, guard us from being judgmental, but flood our minds with empathy, love, and a desire to help her heal any emotional and spiritual wounds that afflict her. Help us encourage any person who feels guilt from abortion to seek Your grace and be relieved of guilt. May we always be thankful for our children and grandchildren. May we never harm one of these little ones. Our nation is divided on the issue of abortion. May we, Your people, always recall Your words to Solomon, that if we humble ourselves, pray, seek Your face, and turn from our wicked ways, then You will hear from Heaven and heal our land. Amen.