“God’s calendar” has 7 appointed Feast Days, and Israel had to meet with God on these days every year. It was a rehearsal of the coming of their Messiah, laid out like a prophecy. So God gave Moses the exact observances for these Feast Days. You can read all about it in chapter 23 of the book of Leviticus.
Leviticus 23:2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, these are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts.”
“Moedim” is the Hebrew word translated into English as “seasons.” So the “moedim” has nothing to do with our summer, winter, etc. No, it refers to the appointments God made with His people. He showed them how to calculate the days with the help of the lights in the expanse.
Genesis 1:14 Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons.
“Pesach” is Passover
“Chag Matzah” is the Feast of Unleavened Bread
“Yom HaBikkurim” is the Day of First Fruits
“Shavuot is the Feast of Weeks/Pentecost
“Yom Teruah/ Rosh HaShanah” is the Day of Trumpets
“Yom Kippur” is the Day of Atonement
“Sukkoth” is the Feast of Tabernacles
Passover, the lamb of the blood, was first instituted when God was moving to bring about the Exodus. They applied the blood of a lamb so that they may live, so the rehearsal goes. Many years later, God used the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, so that we may live.
Exodus 12:3, 5-6 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, in the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month.
Leaven, in the Bible, typifies sin. So the Jewish people rehearsed and removed all leaven from their homes on this day. Finding loaves of bread is one thing, but hunting for cookie crumbs under the sofa cushions becomes increasingly tricky. It is impossible and was the pointer to a coming Savior.
It started on the day after the crucifixion when Jesus, who had no sin, was in the tomb.”
Leviticus 23:3 On the fifteenth day of that month the Lord’s Festival of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast.
It is the day the Jewish people waved the first fruits of the barley harvest before God. A blessing of the first 10% would benefit the rest of the harvest.
Jesus rose from the grave as the first fruit on this day, blessing the rest of humanity. He rose from the dead that we may live.
Acts 26:23 That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should show light unto the people, and to the gentiles.
Fifty days after Passover, every Jewish male attended “Shavuot.” The Jews could eat leavened bread on this Feast Day, unlike all the others. It pointed to the day Jews and Gentiles would be in “the Church.”
Leviticus 23:15 From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord.
Many years later, the Holy Spirit came down to fulfil this prophecy on this specific day.
Acts 2:2-3 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire.
Note!
It is essential to notice that Israel did not acknowledge Jesus as their Messiah. Therefore, they are celebrating these Feast Days, to this day, awaiting their Messiah.
Leviticus 23:24 On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of sabbath rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts.
When the trumpet sounded every Jew dropped his work, and came in, for worship. On this day the trumpet is blowing 99 times, and then one more time, the last trump.
Many Bible scholars believe this points to the time of the Rapture. See more The Rapture
I Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first
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Leviticus 23:27 Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be a holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.
To this day, it is a sad time for the Jewish people. It’s a time of fasting and repentance. The High Priest, under the law, used to enter on this day the Holy of Holies to atone for the sins of Israel.
The Day of Atonement coincides with “the Day of the Lord” in future — specifically the last 3.5 years, known as the Tribulation. Then, Israel will accept Jesus Christ as their High Priest, who atoned for their sins at the cross.
Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”
Leviticus 23:34 On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Lord’s Festival of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days.
A time to rejoice! To this day, the Jewish people move out of their homes into tents, called “Sukkah,” in the back garden. There is plenty to eat and drink, and they celebrate.
Deuteronomy 16:13-15 “You shall celebrate the Feast of Booths seven days after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and your wine vat. And thou shalt rejoice in thy feasts. Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the Lord thy God.”
The Feast of Tabernacles is the rehearsal of the day when they will live, tabernacle, with their Messiah in the Millennium. See more here End Times, Israel.
God has seven appointments with humanity. He gave it to the Jewish people to write it down for generations to come. It is relevant today and matters as much to the Jews as the Gentiles.
We are awaiting the second coming of Christ when He will fulfil every outstanding promise He made, outlined in the last three Feast Days.
THE END.
Sources for GOD’S 7 APPOINTED FEAST DAYS:
https://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Introduction/introduction.html
https://firmisrael.org/learn/feasts-of-the-lord-biblical-holidays-and-hebrew-calendar/