Rabbi’s Reflections – Sunday,July 30, 2023
Shavuah Tov,
Shalom faithful RR readers. Raymond Finney is having some technical difficulties this week with his internet connection, so he asked me to get by without his usual Sunday contribution. I decided to ask you to read an article I’ve written at the request of the editors of the Tikkun America Online Magazine, RESTORE. They wanted me to write something about the fall Feasts of the Lord. This is for the Tishre Edition coming out the middle of September. Please let me know what you think.
High Holiday Article for TA Magazine “RESTORE”
The Fall Feasts
In Anticipation of the Second Coming
by Rabbi H Michael Weiner
Tekiah! The first blast of the Shofar sounds on Yom Teruah, (the Feast of Trumpets) aka Rosh Hashana. What follows are 23 action packed days, the details of which are described in the final verses of Leviticus 23 (23-44). From that first Tekiah, we hear the call to an assembly, the reality of which we have not yet seen. So it is with all of the fall commanded gatherings of the Lord. They all speak of realities not yet experienced.
All the feasts, the spring feasts and the fall feasts, are actually appointed gatherings or assemblies that pepper the year as we mark time according to God’s plan for eternity. The spring feasts honor the events that have already taken place during the first coming of Yeshua, while the fall feasts signify events only prophesied, but not yet fulfilled. They will be fulfilled at the second coming of Yeshua.
Leviticus 23 is our “go to” text for understanding the feasts of the Lord. (Their biblical name is – מוֹעֲדֵי יְהוָה, Mo’adei Adonai, God’s meetings.) The weekly Shabbat is the first mentioned. It is a reminder of the Garden of Eden experience when there was no striving, only shalom. Weekly Shabbat is with us all year long, not only as a memorial to Adam and Eve, for it also speaks of the new heaven and new earth promised but not yet come.
Pesach, Yom HaBikurim, and Shavuot are the spring gatherings that have already been celebrated in reality at the first coming. They memorialize the crucifixion (Sacrifice Lamb), first fruits (first harvest – resurrection), and giving of the Holy Spirit on Shavuot (Pentecost). These are the major events of Yeshua’s first coming.
Now we advance the calendar six months to the fall of the year. First, the Feast of Trumpets to crown Him King. Secondly, only 10 days later, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement or Judgment Day. This is followed four days after that by Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. Let’s look at them through the liturgy and customs connected to each of these appointed meetings.
Yom Teruah (Day of the Shout, sound the shofar, Feast of Trumpets, Rosh Hashana)
The prayer book of Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur is called a Machzor. “Chozair” is God’s call for each of us to return to Him. The Machzor is full of prayers of repentance. The featured prayer of Yom Teruah is Psalm 24.
Rabbi Trail: Psalms 22, 23, and 24 actually form a trilogy that teach of Yeshua in three time periods: The first coming (Psalm 22, “They pierced my hands and my feet.”), followed by the time that is now, in between the first and second coming (Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd”). These are followed by the Psalm of the second coming (Psalm 24, “Lift up your heads, O gates,… that the King of glory may come in.”). Read them with this in mind and see for yourself. End RT.
Crown Him King! He is the King of glory! The prophetic ear can hear His coronation being proclaimed! It truly is a “Feast of Trumpets.” This coronation celebration is followed by ten days called the days of awe (Yomim Nora’im), awesome days. These ten days between Yeshua’s coronation and judgment day are spoken of in Revelation. The earth will be quiet with anticipation of the judgment about to come.
Revelation 8:1 Now when the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement, Yom HaDin, Day of Judgment)
The first words of the Yom Kippur morning liturgy go like this (translated into English), “The King sits on (His) throne high and lifted up.” And so it will be on Judgment Day.
The other major Yom Kippur prayer I want to highlight is called “The Avinu Malkenu,” (our Father our King). It is a series of one line prayers of contrition, petition, and repentance. Each one begins with those two words, “Avinu Malkenu.” They are 44 short prayers that are prayed in various ways in different traditions around the world.
Rabbi Trail: It is interesting to me that rabbis commonly pray, “Our Father, our King,” but Yeshua got in much trouble with them for praying, “My Father.” Instead of the collective “our,” Yeshua prayed personally. John 5:17 But Yeshua said to them, “My Father is still working, and I also am working.” 18 So for this reason the Judean leaders kept trying even harder to kill Him—because He was not only breaking Shabbat, but also calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. End RT.
Yes, Jewish people pray to be written in the Book of Life for another year, year by year. As followers of Yeshua, saved by grace, we have been written into the Book of Life for all eternity. Revelation 3:5 The one who overcomes thus will be dressed in white clothes; I will never blot his name out of the Book of Life, and will confess his name before My Father and His angels.
Yes, judgment day is coming. Revelation 20:11 Then I saw a great white throne, and the One seated on it. The earth and heaven fled from His presence, but no place was found for them…. 15 And if anyone was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles)
Only four days after Yom Kippur, we empty ourselves. We leave our “palatial estates” and move into humble, temporary dwellings called Sukkot. This command is given… Leviticus 23:43 “…so that your generations may know that I had Bnei-Yisrael to dwell in sukkot when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am Adonai your God.”
During these seven days of Sukkot, we wave the Lulav and Etrog together. The Lulav is three species representing Father (Palm, straight and tall), Son (Willow, bent by the brook) and Holy Spirit (Myrtle, with leave shaped like lips). The Etrog is citrus fruit chosen because it is the size and shape of a human heart. These four are held together and waved before the Lord in a prophetic gesture. We demonstrate that our destiny is to be united with God.
That is the point! We take a week to acknowledge our dependence on God. That’s also what we’re doing during every weekly Shabbat. We trust God can do more in six days than we can do in seven. We take a day of rest to honor His goodness toward us.
There is a little of every holiday in our weekly Shabbat and a little of our weekly Shabbat in every holiday. On Sukkot, we take the last week of all the annual holidays to get back to the Garden of Eden, where it all began. When Yeshua returns to establish His kingdom here on earth, every nation will come to Jerusalem on Sukkot.
Zechariah 14:16 Then all the survivors from all the nations that attacked Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, Adonai-Tzva’ot, and to celebrate Sukkot.
Summary
As we celebrate these fall feasts, let us be mindful of the future. These fall feasts are commanded by God to honor realities connected to the second coming of Yeshua that we have not yet experienced. The spring feasts memorialize the historical events of Yeshua’s first coming. Together the entire year celebrates the deliverance and restoration of the whole world.
God once judged the world,,,, Genesis 1:31 So God saw everything that He made, and behold it was very good. Once again, after He establishes the new heaven and new earth He will once again judge it to be very good. Revelation 21:3 I also heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the dwelling of God is among men, and He shall tabernacle among them. They shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them and be their God.
Until we have the expected reality in its fullness , let’s celebrate God’s feasts in the fall with anticipation of prophecy fulfilled.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarsson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Sun 30 July 2023 12th of Av, 5783
De 7:12-8:10 Ez 33 1 Ch 13 1 Th 5 (Jn 4:1-30)