Keeping the Feasts

Like the farmer who has a yearly cycle of sowing and reaping, the same is true with the biblical feasts that God has set into place. In Leviticus 23 it clearly lays out for us the 7 feasts that the Lord wants us to continually celebrate. According to verses 14, 21, 30 and 41 the Lord mentions that these feasts are to be kept throughout all generations. Not only does he tell us to keep it ongoing, but he also tells us when he wants us to celebrate it.

There are 4 words that the Lord uses when talking about these times in reference to the feasts:

1. Appointed (Mo-ahd)
2. Convocations or gatherings (Mik-rah)
3. Feast or festival (Chag)
4. Holy (Ko-desh)

Mo-ahd: an appointment or a meeting at a set time. Yet however, its root meaning is to repeat. In other words, it is a meeting that is to be repeated every time that appointment comes up at a set time.

Mik-rah: a calling together for a meeting as an assembly. The root meaning is to call together for an event or a reading such as from a scroll. The King James describes it as a dress rehearsal.

Chag: an outside gathering together for a festival. This is usually in the form of a circle for dancing and feasting. It can also represent that the festival is to be cyclic as if to be kept yearly.

Ko-desh: to be set apart for a special purpose. It is also translated as holy and precedes the word convocation throughout the 23rd chapter.

Putting these four words together in context with the scriptures, they reveal to us that God wants us to come together and meet at the same time every year for a holy gathering. We are to have lots of feasting, rejoicing and dancing at them. Then, when Yehshua returns we will know how to celebrate the great Passover meal with him in a very festive way.

In Daniel 7:25 the Lord is talking about how the devil wants to change these appointed times. Which we see has already happened with Christmas and Easter. If we keep the yearly cycles of celebrating the biblical feasts then there are blessings for us in doing so. The other feasts only give us the blessing of seeing family and friends. In Zechariah 14:17-19 we see how the blessings will not follow the people if they do not honor God on His holy appointments. This was not just for the Jewish people, but He said nations. The Hebrew word for nations is goyim, which refers to the gentiles, or the non-Jewish people.

In Deuteronomy 28 we see the blessings and the cursings. If we diligently obey His voice and His commandments then all the blessings shall follow us.

Until next time shalom.