God’s Prophetic Calendar

Calendars:  We all have one, and we really don’t realize that we work off of so many simultaneously.  We have tax or fiscal year calendars, school calendars, work calendars, sports calendars, etc.  All starting and ending after different times, and overlapping one another. 

We have appointments on all of them, and some calendars trump others.  Right?  If Chad and I both have plans, then mine trumps his. 😊  Joking.  But April 15th trumps us all. 

But I’ll never forget when I realized that God has His own calendar too.  And what’s more is that He also has standing appointments with us on His calendar. _______________________

And it was absolutely a dreadful feeling when I realized that God had made an appointment with me and I was standing Him up.  Do you know what it is like to stand up God?

It was a terrible yucky, sad remorseful feeling.  But it absolutely changed my life from that point forward. _____________________________________________________________________

Scripture tell us that everything in the Bible points to Jesus, our Messiah.  Romans 10:4 says that “For Christ is the “telos” of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”

The Greek word telos means “the point aimed at” or “the goal.”  Just as a telescope points us to the stars, the instructions in our Old Testament was given so that we would be pointed to Him.  The picture that I normally use in this presentation is that of an archer or bowman.  She is looking through her scope or site, aimed at her target.  And I find that to be the perfect representation of what the scriptures are trying to tell us. 

Jesus is the target. He is the goal. He is what we are aiming for; to be with Him, to be like Him.  Our eyes should be fixed and focused on Him.  We should be looking out towards Him and looking forward to Him.

In Luke 24:44 it says:  These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me (Luke 24:44). 

 It didn’t surprise me that the prophecy would be fulfilled, but what about fulfilling the law of Moses……..

For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me (John 5:46).

The Law of Moses, or the books of Torah, tell us about these special days in God’s calendar, days when He wants to meet with us. You can find all of the feasts mentioned in Leviticus 23, but they are also mentioned in hundreds of other places, in both the Old and New Testaments!________________________________________________________________________

So let’s start in the most logical place - In the beginning…. 

Before telling us about the lights in the heavens that Yahweh created on the fourth day, the book of Genesis begins by telling us why He created them.

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years” (Genesis 1:14).

1.  Divide the day / night.

2. Signs & Seasons – for seasons there is Moed, Moediem, Holy Days, Appointments

3. Days & Years

________________________________________________________________________________

Genesis 1:5 God called the light day and the darkness He called night. And the evening and morning was the first day.  --That’s why you see the Jewish people and those who keep these days - begin their celebrations/ observances at sundown and end at sundown.  Evening / darkness came first.  Then light.  Evening then morning = the first day.

But let’s focus for just a second on Gen1:14

There are specifically two words I want to pause at:  signs & season.

Sign = H226 ot; sign or signal, a distinguishing mark, miraculous sign, omen, warning, ensign, proof

Seasons = H4150 Moed / Moediem; appointment; sacred season, set feast,

Leviticus 23   

•        Weekly Sabbath

•        14th/15th Passover/Begins Unleavened Bread (

•        Morrow after the Sabbath – First Fruits

•        50 days later – Pentecost

•        1st day of 7th month – Trumpets

•        10th day of 7th month – Day of Atonement

•        15th day of the 7th month – Tabernacles for 7 days

•        Great 8th day

These are all about Yeshua!  And point toward Yeshua.

So let’s think about every other important event in our lives.  We plan for them. We plan for weddings and births and even death when we can.  But do we plan for the most important event in history?  The second coming of Yeshua?

Well, most don’t.  But we can.  Last night, we were at my son’s wedding rehearsal, walking through the motions, getting ready for the big day -  Today!

In that same manner, every year we are told do observe these times, and in observance (going through the motions) we are simply doing a dress rehearsal for the real thing when that time comes.

But a lot of people will still say “Why?”, “Are these for me?  I thought they were only for the Jews?”  “Why is this significant?”  So I want to go ahead and address these questions. _________________________________________________________________________________

•        Are these for the Jews only?  Let’s look to see who the commandments were given to at Sinai.  When were the commandments given?   Pentecost @ Mt Sinai

•        Who to?

Read Exodus 12: 37-42 37 Then the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. 38 A mixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks and herds—a great deal of livestock. 39 And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves. 40 Now the [a]sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in [b]Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. 41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years—on that very same day—it came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. 42 It is a [c]night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.

•        Mixed Multitude

•        All children of Israel (12 tribes; not just Judah)  (Can you imagine the Levites – saying wait these are just for Jews?  Just as the Christians 3000 years from now.)  That’d be silly.

•        So it was all of the people who believed in God and followed him (pillars of smoke/fire)

•        So it is today, if you are a follower of God then these are for you as well.

•        Numbers 15:15 One ordinance shall be for you of the assembly and for the stranger who dwells with you, an ordinance forever, throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the stranger be before the Lord.           (Could we say strangers (gentiles) were grafted into Israel?)

•        Eph 2:12 12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. – We are those strangers.  This is for us.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Do these apply now?  How long is forever?

•        2 Chronicles 2:4 “Behold, I build a house to the name of the LORD my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before him sweet incense, and for the continual shewbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God. This is an ordinance forever to Israel.”

•        So we’ve established the Children of Israel addressed at Mt Sinai was made up of a mixed multitude of the 12 tribes and those that joined themselves with them.  So we’ve established these are for us as followers of God, but for how long?  Did forever stop at Jesus’s first coming?  Not at all. 

And they’re still going during the millennial reign…..

Zechariah 14:16-17 KJV And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.

So if these feasts are still being celebrated even after the return of Jesus, then I propose that forever, literally means forever.

But even if you disagree, since we know we’ll be celebrating in the future, what does it hurt to begin practicing these things now?

Now let’s look at the why.

Why do we celebrate our traditional holidays? (thanksgiving, birthdays, anniversaries)

•        Spend time with family

•        Honor/celebrate a person or event / memorial

•        Fellowship / create memories

•        Express love

HOW MUCH MORE DOES GOD WANT TO SPEND HIS HOLYDAYS WITH US!

These are designed for all the above; family get together; unity; community; the value is so deep.  But there is so much more!

The repetition of these creates rhythm / cycles.

7 Holy Days – repeated annually, year after year. 

In a similar fashion, seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years, even our solar system, all of time and space work on a repetitive cycle or pattern. 

These holy days creates habits, creates unity, = an opportunity to walk in the same rhytem as God.  To be on the same page, at the same place as God. Think about the walls of Jericho, how they walked in around it, encircling it, walking this cycle 7 times before the walls came down at the shout of a trumpet.  Are you hearing what I’m saying?  Walking this this pattern of 7 holy days, until our Messiah returns at the shout of the trumpet?

So for all those reasons, we participate in these rehearsals.  And just like last night at Johnathan’s….

•        It’s not the real thing, and sometimes not even in the real place……but it is PREPARATION.

•        It’s practice.  It’s okay to mess up.  

The entire Bible is a love story.  About a people, a land and covenant or marriage.

Just as we take our own wedding rehearsal, marriage and covenant seriously.  We need to take our wedding rehearsal and covenant with God seriously as well.

Are you ready? 

We have already discussed how we plan for Weddings, birthdays, moving, having a baby, retirement, etc.  You even prepared to come here today.

But are we prepared for the since most important event in our life, in all of history?

If you knew that He was coming back in the next few days, would you change anything about your life?

Preparation – Common Hebrew Terms for Prepare

Asah – H2633 To make, produce, observe, celebrate, to bring about, to put in order, to ordain, to press or squeeze

Kadosh – H172 – Holy, Set Apart; to consecrate, dedicate or to observe what is Holy.

               Jer 51:28 Prepare against her the nations with the King of the Medes, the Captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion.

Kuwn – H219 To be firm or established, to setup or fixed, firmly established.

               How do we become firmly established by repletion, by observing, we are preparing.

Matthew 3:1-3  (KJV)3 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

Compare to Isaiah.  Isaiah 40:3 A voice of one calling: "Prepare the way for the LORD in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.

Panah (H135) To turn toward to, or away from; to turn and do; to turn around.

If you’re familiar with Hebrew what does that definition make you think of?  Teshuva.  Repentance.   Which is exactly what these holy days will remind you to do.  This is how you prepare for End Times. ______________________________________________________________________________

These are a rehearsal that would point to when the Bridegroom would actually come. Yeshua died on Passover, was put into the grave during the feast of Unleavened Bread (when every Jew was removing leaven (sin) from their houses), rose at exactly the same moment that the high priest was waving the first fruit barley offering and asking Yahweh for a great harvest in the fall, and the Holy Spirit came down on Shavuot (which just so happened to be the same day 1200 years earlier on which all of Israel received the Torah on Mount Sinai).

Coincidence? Nope.

He is fulfilling His prophetic Word on His calendar. Learn the calendar, you learn more about Him and His ways. Ignore the calendar and just follow the traditions of men and you will be left guessing.

The first feast day of Lev. 23

•        Weekly Sabbath. – This is the first cyclical pattern.  It was set in motion at creation. 

•        Ex 20:8-11 Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.  (At Mt Sinai- the 4th commandment)

This commandment, this pattern is repeated not only for the weekly sabbath but counted at the Omer, and for smittahs and for jubilees. This day unlike any other day, is the day that God himself set apart, sanctified and made holy.  Even before we committed the first sin, knowing what we would do, He made an allowance.  That even after we sinned, and we were cursed to work.  He made a way that we could taste His kingdom, without the burden of work, to have an opportunity to commune with Him, just as we did in the garden.  Hallelujah!

•        Sabbath in the millennial reign: Isaiah 66 22 “As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the Lord, “so will your name and descendants endure. 23 From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the Lord.

•        Here we see that all flesh is worshipping Him on his Sabbath in the millennial reign.

•        We know God doesn’t change.  So if he established a law at creation, tells us it is forever, and tells us that it still in effect at the end, then do you think it would apply today?

•        Mal 3:6 For I am the Lord, I do not change; Heb 13:8  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Isaiah 56:6-8 Also the sons of the foreigner, Who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, And to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants—Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, And holds fast My covenant—7 Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices Will be accepted on My altar;For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.”8 The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, “Yet I will gather to himOthers besides those who are gathered to him.”

This is more prophetic proof text that still supports one law in the millennial reign, like we read in Exodus 12:49.

# 2 Signs – Remember earlier how we read in Genesis the sun, moon and stars were to be used for both signs and seasons.  Marks & Moediem.

•        Exodus 31:16-17 KJV Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

•        Ex 13:9 9It shall be a sign for you on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that the Law of the LORD is to be on your lips. For with a mighty hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt. 10Therefore you shall keep this statute at the appointed time year after year.…

The Sabbath IS the Millennial Reign

2 Peter 3:8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

Psalm 90:4 For a thousand years in Your sight, Are like yesterday when it is past, And like a watch in the night.

3 And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive[a] with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” (120 Jubilees, or 120x50 =6000)

Due to these scriptures and many more, there is a well known Jewish teaching that each day of creation was equal to the 1000 years of life on our earth.  The 6 days of work are equal to the 6000 years man will have dominion on the earth.  The 7th day of rest is the 1000 year millennial reign of Christ. 

1000 year reign scriptures:  Rev 20:1-7 20 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.

The Saints Reign with Christ 1,000 Years

4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

To recap: 

God has appointments with us.  Set in motion from creation. 

They are not without purpose.  They point us to Jesus.  The prepare us for Jesus.

So next week, we’ll dive into more specifics and get into the holy days themselves.

 Calendars:  We all have one, and we really don’t realize that we work off of so many simultaneously.  We have tax or fiscal year calendars, school calendars, work calendars, sports calendars, etc.  All starting and ending after different times, and overlapping one another. 

We have appointments on all of them, and some calendars trump others.  Right?  If Chad and I both have plans, then mine trumps his. 😊  Joking.  But April 15th trumps us all. 

But I’ll never forget when I realized that God has His own calendar too.  And what’s more is that He also has standing appointments with us on His calendar. _______________________

And it was absolutely a dreadful feeling when I realized that God had made an appointment with me and I was standing Him up.  Do you know what it is like to stand up God?

It was a terrible yucky, sad remorseful feeling.  But it absolutely changed my life from that point forward. _____________________________________________________________________

Scripture tell us that everything in the Bible points to Jesus, our Messiah.  Romans 10:4 says that “For Christ is the “telos” of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”

The Greek word telos means “the point aimed at” or “the goal.”  Just as a telescope points us to the stars, the instructions in our Old Testament was given so that we would be pointed to Him.  The picture that I normally use in this presentation is that of an archer or bowman.  She is looking through her scope or site, aimed at her target.  And I find that to be the perfect representation of what the scriptures are trying to tell us. 

Jesus is the target. He is the goal. He is what we are aiming for; to be with Him, to be like Him.  Our eyes should be fixed and focused on Him.  We should be looking out towards Him and looking forward to Him.

In Luke 24:44 it says:  These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me (Luke 24:44). 

 It didn’t surprise me that the prophecy would be fulfilled, but what about fulfilling the law of Moses……..

For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me (John 5:46).

The Law of Moses, or the books of Torah, tell us about these special days in God’s calendar, days when He wants to meet with us. You can find all of the feasts mentioned in Leviticus 23, but they are also mentioned in hundreds of other places, in both the Old and New Testaments!________________________________________________________________________

So let’s start in the most logical place - In the beginning…. 

Before telling us about the lights in the heavens that Yahweh created on the fourth day, the book of Genesis begins by telling us why He created them.

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years” (Genesis 1:14).

1.  Divide the day / night.

2. Signs & Seasons – for seasons there is Moed, Moediem, Holy Days, Appointments

3. Days & Years

________________________________________________________________________________

Genesis 1:5 God called the light day and the darkness He called night. And the evening and morning was the first day.  --That’s why you see the Jewish people and those who keep these days - begin their celebrations/ observances at sundown and end at sundown.  Evening / darkness came first.  Then light.  Evening then morning = the first day.

But let’s focus for just a second on Gen1:14

There are specifically two words I want to pause at:  signs & season.

Sign = H226 ot; sign or signal, a distinguishing mark, miraculous sign, omen, warning, ensign, proof

Seasons = H4150 Moed / Moediem; appointment; sacred season, set feast,

Leviticus 23   

•        Weekly Sabbath

•        14th/15th Passover/Begins Unleavened Bread (

•        Morrow after the Sabbath – First Fruits

•        50 days later – Pentecost

•        1st day of 7th month – Trumpets

•        10th day of 7th month – Day of Atonement

•        15th day of the 7th month – Tabernacles for 7 days

•        Great 8th day

These are all about Yeshua!  And point toward Yeshua.

So let’s think about every other important event in our lives.  We plan for them. We plan for weddings and births and even death when we can.  But do we plan for the most important event in history?  The second coming of Yeshua?

Well, most don’t.  But we can.  Last night, we were at my son’s wedding rehearsal, walking through the motions, getting ready for the big day -  Today!

In that same manner, every year we are told do observe these times, and in observance (going through the motions) we are simply doing a dress rehearsal for the real thing when that time comes.

But a lot of people will still say “Why?”, “Are these for me?  I thought they were only for the Jews?”  “Why is this significant?”  So I want to go ahead and address these questions. _________________________________________________________________________________

•        Are these for the Jews only?  Let’s look to see who the commandments were given to at Sinai.  When were the commandments given?   Pentecost @ Mt Sinai

•        Who to?

Read Exodus 12: 37-42 37 Then the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. 38 A mixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks and herds—a great deal of livestock. 39 And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves. 40 Now the [a]sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in [b]Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. 41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years—on that very same day—it came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. 42 It is a [c]night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.

•        Mixed Multitude

•        All children of Israel (12 tribes; not just Judah)  (Can you imagine the Levites – saying wait these are just for Jews?  Just as the Christians 3000 years from now.)  That’d be silly.

•        So it was all of the people who believed in God and followed him (pillars of smoke/fire)

•        So it is today, if you are a follower of God then these are for you as well.

•        Numbers 15:15 One ordinance shall be for you of the assembly and for the stranger who dwells with you, an ordinance forever, throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the stranger be before the Lord.           (Could we say strangers (gentiles) were grafted into Israel?)

•        Eph 2:12 12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. – We are those strangers.  This is for us.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Do these apply now?  How long is forever?

•        2 Chronicles 2:4 “Behold, I build a house to the name of the LORD my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before him sweet incense, and for the continual shewbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God. This is an ordinance forever to Israel.”

•        So we’ve established the Children of Israel addressed at Mt Sinai was made up of a mixed multitude of the 12 tribes and those that joined themselves with them.  So we’ve established these are for us as followers of God, but for how long?  Did forever stop at Jesus’s first coming?  Not at all. 

And they’re still going during the millennial reign…..

Zechariah 14:16-17 KJV And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.

So if these feasts are still being celebrated even after the return of Jesus, then I propose that forever, literally means forever.

But even if you disagree, since we know we’ll be celebrating in the future, what does it hurt to begin practicing these things now?

Now let’s look at the why.

Why do we celebrate our traditional holidays? (thanksgiving, birthdays, anniversaries)

•        Spend time with family

•        Honor/celebrate a person or event / memorial

•        Fellowship / create memories

•        Express love

HOW MUCH MORE DOES GOD WANT TO SPEND HIS HOLYDAYS WITH US!

These are designed for all the above; family get together; unity; community; the value is so deep.  But there is so much more!

The repetition of these creates rhythm / cycles.

7 Holy Days – repeated annually, year after year. 

In a similar fashion, seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years, even our solar system, all of time and space work on a repetitive cycle or pattern. 

These holy days creates habits, creates unity, = an opportunity to walk in the same rhytem as God.  To be on the same page, at the same place as God. Think about the walls of Jericho, how they walked in around it, encircling it, walking this cycle 7 times before the walls came down at the shout of a trumpet.  Are you hearing what I’m saying?  Walking this this pattern of 7 holy days, until our Messiah returns at the shout of the trumpet?

So for all those reasons, we participate in these rehearsals.  And just like last night at Johnathan’s….

•        It’s not the real thing, and sometimes not even in the real place……but it is PREPARATION.

•        It’s practice.  It’s okay to mess up.  

The entire Bible is a love story.  About a people, a land and covenant or marriage.

Just as we take our own wedding rehearsal, marriage and covenant seriously.  We need to take our wedding rehearsal and covenant with God seriously as well.

Are you ready? 

We have already discussed how we plan for Weddings, birthdays, moving, having a baby, retirement, etc.  You even prepared to come here today.

But are we prepared for the since most important event in our life, in all of history?

If you knew that He was coming back in the next few days, would you change anything about your life?

Preparation – Common Hebrew Terms for Prepare

Asah – H2633 To make, produce, observe, celebrate, to bring about, to put in order, to ordain, to press or squeeze

Kadosh – H172 – Holy, Set Apart; to consecrate, dedicate or to observe what is Holy.

               Jer 51:28 Prepare against her the nations with the King of the Medes, the Captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion.

Kuwn – H219 To be firm or established, to setup or fixed, firmly established.

               How do we become firmly established by repletion, by observing, we are preparing.

Matthew 3:1-3  (KJV)3 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

Compare to Isaiah.  Isaiah 40:3 A voice of one calling: "Prepare the way for the LORD in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.

Panah (H135) To turn toward to, or away from; to turn and do; to turn around.

If you’re familiar with Hebrew what does that definition make you think of?  Teshuva.  Repentance.   Which is exactly what these holy days will remind you to do.  This is how you prepare for End Times. ______________________________________________________________________________

These are a rehearsal that would point to when the Bridegroom would actually come. Yeshua died on Passover, was put into the grave during the feast of Unleavened Bread (when every Jew was removing leaven (sin) from their houses), rose at exactly the same moment that the high priest was waving the first fruit barley offering and asking Yahweh for a great harvest in the fall, and the Holy Spirit came down on Shavuot (which just so happened to be the same day 1200 years earlier on which all of Israel received the Torah on Mount Sinai).

Coincidence? Nope.

He is fulfilling His prophetic Word on His calendar. Learn the calendar, you learn more about Him and His ways. Ignore the calendar and just follow the traditions of men and you will be left guessing.

The first feast day of Lev. 23

•        Weekly Sabbath. – This is the first cyclical pattern.  It was set in motion at creation. 

•        Ex 20:8-11 Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.  (At Mt Sinai- the 4th commandment)

This commandment, this pattern is repeated not only for the weekly sabbath but counted at the Omer, and for smittahs and for jubilees. This day unlike any other day, is the day that God himself set apart, sanctified and made holy.  Even before we committed the first sin, knowing what we would do, He made an allowance.  That even after we sinned, and we were cursed to work.  He made a way that we could taste His kingdom, without the burden of work, to have an opportunity to commune with Him, just as we did in the garden.  Hallelujah!

•        Sabbath in the millennial reign: Isaiah 66 22 “As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the Lord, “so will your name and descendants endure. 23 From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the Lord.

•        Here we see that all flesh is worshipping Him on his Sabbath in the millennial reign.

•        We know God doesn’t change.  So if he established a law at creation, tells us it is forever, and tells us that it still in effect at the end, then do you think it would apply today?

•        Mal 3:6 For I am the Lord, I do not change; Heb 13:8  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Isaiah 56:6-8 Also the sons of the foreigner, Who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, And to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants—Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, And holds fast My covenant—7 Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices Will be accepted on My altar;For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.”8 The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, “Yet I will gather to himOthers besides those who are gathered to him.”

This is more prophetic proof text that still supports one law in the millennial reign, like we read in Exodus 12:49.

# 2 Signs – Remember earlier how we read in Genesis the sun, moon and stars were to be used for both signs and seasons.  Marks & Moediem.

•        Exodus 31:16-17 KJV Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

•        Ex 13:9 9It shall be a sign for you on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that the Law of the LORD is to be on your lips. For with a mighty hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt. 10Therefore you shall keep this statute at the appointed time year after year.…

The Sabbath IS the Millennial Reign

2 Peter 3:8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

Psalm 90:4 For a thousand years in Your sight, Are like yesterday when it is past, And like a watch in the night.

3 And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive[a] with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” (120 Jubilees, or 120x50 =6000)

Due to these scriptures and many more, there is a well known Jewish teaching that each day of creation was equal to the 1000 years of life on our earth.  The 6 days of work are equal to the 6000 years man will have dominion on the earth.  The 7th day of rest is the 1000 year millennial reign of Christ. 

1000 year reign scriptures:  Rev 20:1-7 20 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.

The Saints Reign with Christ 1,000 Years

4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

To recap: 

God has appointments with us.  Set in motion from creation. 

They are not without purpose.  They point us to Jesus.  The prepare us for Jesus.

So next week, we’ll dive into more specifics and get into the holy days themselves.