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It has always been God's intention to break down the middle wall of partition separating Jew and Gentile, thus uniting both Jew and Gentile as one with Him. It is God who is to be the Savior of the Gentiles (Isaiah 11:10, 42:6; Acts 2:39; Ephesians 2:11-18).
Isa. 11:10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious. {glorious: Heb. glory}
Isa. 42:6 I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
Acts 2: 39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, [even] as many as the Lord our God shall call.
Eph 2:11 (KJV) Wherefore remember, that ye [being] in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; 12 That at that time ye 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 ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition [between us]; 15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, [even] the law of commandments [contained] in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, [so] making peace; 16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: {thereby: or, in himself} 17 And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. 18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Following the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E., the assembly of Gentile Messianic Believers (Church) became more "Gentilized," thus Jews and Christians began to go their separate ways. It wasn't long before the synagogues in both Israel and Asia, Minor, were flooded with Gentile unbelievers who embraced the "Jewish faith" but never had a background in the Jewish faith. It is these Gentile "converts" who lacked the foundations of Torah and who at first saw the "customs of the Jews" as foreign. These Gentile "converts" would forget one important thing: Jewish often meant BIBLICAL! Because of this lack of understanding of the Jewish faith, and distrusting things that are often different, these Gentile "converts" brought their hatred and bigotry against the Jews with them into this new Jewish faith. About the same time, some of the genuine Gentile Christian leaders developed a faulty theology that created an anti-Semitic mentality in the Gentile Church that further divided the Christian world from the Jews. These early anti-Jewish declarations laid the foundation for the tragic future of Jewish Christian relations that would see the Gentile Church lose sight of its Jewish roots and persecute the Jews down through the centuries.
But in these last days, God is doing a marvelous thing. He is breaking down the walls of hate and misunderstanding that have divided the Jews and Gentile believers. He is sovereignty pouring out His Spirit on thousands of Jews to prepare them for the coming of the Messiah. At the same time, God is stirring in the hearts of Christians a holy love for the Jewish people and awakening them to the Jewish roots of their Christian faith.
Many Christians are realizing that the origin of our faith is Jerusalem, not Athens, Rome, Geneva, Wittenberg, Aldersgate, Azusa Street, Springfield, Nashville, Tulsa, etc.
As a result, Christian Churches around the world are reaching out to the Jewish people in their communities, singing songs from the Old Testament, rediscovering their Jewish roots and celebrating the Jewish Feasts as fulfilled in Yeshua. It is clearly God's appointed time to reconcile Jew and Gentile, binding us together by His Spirit.
Because of the prophetic season in which we are living, many Christian Churches are realizing that it is proper, good and pleasing to the Lord to celebrate the Jewish Feasts of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles (Romans 14:5-6).
Rom 14:5-6 5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. 6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. (KJV)
Not only that but when we study the original languages of the Bible, both Greek and Hebrew, we find that these Festivals are not merely suggested for the Gentiles to observe, but expected and commanded! [see Have We Misunderstood Paul and The Law].
Some of these are:
Answer for yourself: What Church that desires more of God would not want these benefits!
You can realize them in your own congregation by celebrating the Feasts.
Historically, the Passover marks the national liberation of the
Hebrews from Egyptian slavery. Pesach, the Hebrew name of the feast
literally means "the lamb". God instructed each family to take
an unblemished year-old male lamb to their home on the tenth day of the
first month, Nisan. This corresponds to the months of March and April.
They were to examine the lamb for four days to see that it was perfect. On
the fourth day at twilight (the beginning of the fifth day), they were to
kill the lamb and take some of the lamb's blood and place it on the two
doorposts and the lintel of their house. On the first Passover, according
to the Biblical text, the avenging angel of God killed every first born
male throughout the land, from Pharaoh, to slave, to camel. The angel
would "pass-over" those homes that protected themselves by
placing the blood of a lamb on their doorposts and lintels.
Today the Feast of Passover is celebrated by Jewish people and "many"
Christian churches around the world with a Passover Seder which
commemorates the liberation from Egyptian slavery. This is a picture of
the salvation provided by God to those who believe His Word and respond to
it in faith and works. The Passover Seder is a meal with special foods,
practices and Scripture readings. The Passover Seder commemorates the
liberation from Egyptian slavery, in accordance with God's instructions
(Lev. 23:1,4, Exodus 12:14,24-27).
The Feast of Pentecost is celebrated on the sixth day of the Hebrew
month of Sivan. This corresponds to the months of May and June on the
Gentile calendar.
Historically, the main activity on the Feast of Pentecost was the
presentation of a wave offering to the Lord, two loaves of baked bread
with leaven (Lev. 23:15-21). The wave offering expressed the Hebrews'
dependence on God for the harvest and their daily bread. This was a
thanksgiving offering.
Later when the Jews were dispersed among the nations, the Feast of
Pentecost lost its primary significance as a harvest festival and was
celebrated as a memorial to the time when God gave the law at Sinai. This
is because the Jews have traditionally believed that God gave the law to
Moses on the Day of Pentecost (Ex. 19:1,11).
The Day of Pentecost did not originate with Christianity, but it is
the day when the Jews would be in Jerusalem to celebrate
the Feast and the giving of the Law of God to Moses and the nation of
Israel.
From Luke's account in Acts 2 we see the marvelous timing of God. Thousands of Jews had journeyed to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. The New Testament texts inform us that it was then that many Jew, waiting in the upper room, were filled with the Holy Spirit. They then began to worship God and a miracle occurred; foreign pilgrims from all over the world who had made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to keep this commanded Feast, has their "ears" and "understanding" opened and they were able to understand Peter speaking in the Hebrew language although they had not prior understanding of the Jewish language. This is in reality the reverse of the curse of Babel when God confused the languages of man. This marked this event and the commemoration of God giving his Laws and Torah to both "Jew" and "Gentile". There was such a loud noise accompanying this experience, that it attracted the attention of the Jewish visitors who went to see what the commotion was all about. Peter then stood up and preached a bold sermon to this Jewish crowd.
This outpouring of the Holy Spirit was taking place on the very day when the Jews were offering the two wave loaves to God and celebrating the law symbolizing their dependence on God.
Answer for yourself: Why were there "two" loaves and what it their significance?
One wave loaf symbolized the "Jews" and the other the "Gentiles" who would also receive the Holy Spirit in like manner as recorded in Acts 10 when we see the "Second Pentecost" when God performed this "same" miracle to a "non-Jew" named Cornelius.
Answer for yourself: What was the significance of that? It was momentous. Now, in spite of the "anti-Gentile" teaching and preaching of the major Pharisee School in Israel led by R. Shammai, God had performed this "same" miracle once performed among "Jews only" and not God was teaching the whole of Israel that God loved the "non-Jew" as He did the "Jews" and that God made no distinction between the two peoples and neither should the Jewish nation. That is when Peter had the biggest revelation of his whole life; namely, he saws that there truly was no division between all the peoples of God, Jew or Gentile, and:
Acts 10:34-35 34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: 35 But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him (God) (KJV)
No longer, once this event was informed of the spiritual leaders of Israel, could bigoted Jews like Shammai and his followers enforce circumcision upon adult "non-Jewish" males and full conversion for them to be accepted in the "Israel of God". This revelation would come to a head in Acts 15 when James would give his ruling that the "non-Jews" who were turning to God from idols are no longer required to make full conversion to Judaism as had been done before but were only required to adhere to their Covenant of Noah which God had originally given them in the beginning of time. But Israel would yet remain divided between the followers of R. Shammai and R. Hillel on this issue. This was a major, major event in the history of Israel and Israel's failure to turn from the dictates of R. Shammai and his "anti-Gentile" philosophy would later be one of the major reasons for the judgement of God falling upon the nation in 70 A.D. when they lose their Temple and are scattered into the "nation" that they had previously "detested". Israel failed to obey the Second Tablet of the law and this lack of love for their "non-Jewish" brothers will be their downfall.God always judges the sins of the Second Tablet of the Law much harsher that failure and sins of the First Tablet of the Law.
The last major feast on the Jewish calendar is Tabernacles. It is
celebrated in the Fall in the Jewish month of Tishri, which corresponds to
the month of September/October on the Gentile calendar.
The Feast of Tabernacles came at the final ingathering of the harvest season. The fruit of the land had been reaped so the people could rest from their labors. It was a time of great rejoicing and was celebrated from the fifteenth to the twenty-first. Then on the twenty-second (the eighth day), there was a special Sabbath which was a day of rest characterized by further rejoicing (Lev. 23:33-41).
Levi
23:33 (KJV) And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 34 Speak unto the
children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month [shall
be] the feast of tabernacles [for] seven days unto the LORD. 35 On the
first day [shall be] an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work
[therein]. 36 Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the
LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye
shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it [is] a solemn
assembly; [and] ye shall do no servile work [therein]. {solemn...: Heb.
day of restraint} 37 These [are] the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall
proclaim [to be] holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto
the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink
offerings, every thing upon his day: 38 Beside the Sabbaths of the LORD,
and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your
freewill offerings, which ye give unto the LORD. 39 Also in the fifteenth
day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land,
ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day [shall
be] a Sabbath, and on the eighth day [shall be] a Sabbath. 40 And ye shall
take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm
trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye
shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days. {boughs of goodly
trees: Heb. fruit of, etc} 41 And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD
seven days in the year. [It shall be] a statute for ever in your
generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.
The primary activity during this feast is the building of booths or
shelters (Sukkah). God commanded the Hebrews to build shelters to live in
during the Feast as a reminder of how He cared for them during their
wilderness wanderings and the fact that they were pilgrims passing through
this life (Lev. 23:42-44).
Levi 23:42 (KJV) Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: 43 That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I [am] the LORD your God. 44 And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD.
The shelters were loosely constructed and decorated and the roof covered with branches. This allowed the Hebrews to see through the roof into heaven and be reminded of an even greater rest and rejoicing when Messiah would rule on the earth. Thus, the Feast of Tabernacles symbolizes the Messianic age.
The Feast of Tabernacles has such universal significance in God's redemptive program, that He requires all nations to go to Jerusalem to celebrate this feast in the world to come (Zech. 14:16).
Zech.
14:16 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.
I rejoice to see the many thousands of Gentile believers which are returning to the Biblical Roots of their faith in this day and time as a sign of the prophetic season in which we are living.
I am aware that many teach that the Festivals were supposedly "spiritually" fulfilled in the life and ministry of the New Testament Jesus. Much of that understanding is taken from the Gospel of John and other passages in the New Testament. It is not my intent here to discuss such a matter, but when one undergoes a serious and intensive study of the New Testament as compared with the Old Testament and Hebrew Scriptures for accuracy one is saddened by the gross misapplication of Old Testament passages, mistranslation of Old Testament passages, and the hundreds of Old Testament passages taken out of context in the New Testament, let alone "invented" out of thin air, which are purposefully manipulated in such a manner to become supposedly "proofs" that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophetic passages and the Biblical Feasts. It would take a whole website to teach and show this purposeful corruption and misapplication of the Hebrew Scriptures in order to make the New Testament Jesus the Jewish Messiah and "fulfiller of supposed Messianic prophecies". I have studied this out in detail over the years and make, for the reader and student, detailed comparisons of these altered Hebrew Scriptures when compared with the later Greek and English translations which we, as Christians and followers of "the Christ", received in our New Testaments given us by Rome. A website awaits your study in this area when you find the time and courage to tackle this huge problem head on. This is no fun for the Christian who has been brought up with forged texts in his Bible but necessary if you ever hope to come to the truth about this Jesus and "the Christ" and how Rome "reinterpreted" everything in the 3-5th centuries in their attempt to give the world a "replacement" religion in their hatred of the Jews. All you will need to do these studies is a Hebrew Tanakh, Bible, and I strongly recommend the Stone Edition Tanakh (http://www.artscroll.com) or a JPS Tanakh (http://www.bibliofind.com), a Greek-English translation of the Old Testament, called the Septuagint, and a good KJV in order to trace the Hebrew texts and their corruption as they were fraudulently altered in both the later Greek and English versions of our Bibles (both Old and New Testaments). I strongly recommend as well that you try to find a book by Lillian Freudmann, entitled Antisemitism in the New Testament. It was while reading this book the "middle wall of partition" separating the Jew from the "non-Jew" crumbled before me. She is the one who opened my eyes to this great deception in my Christian Bible which had given me a false mission in the world to "convert" the Jew to Christianity and the Christian Jesus. Don't believe anything she says, but prove each thing she says, like I did, not wanting to believe anything she said for surely it "could not be true" I reasoned since in the middle of my very successful pastorate in my mega church in Dallas, Texas. Surely God would not have allowed me to arise to my position with my leather chain and seat on the platform before multitudes of people with a "false gospel". But He did. By doing the comparisons of these Hebrew, Greek, and English Old and New Testament texts, and personally tracing the corruption of the Hebrew texts down through the later Greek and later English versions of the Bible we were given by Rome I saw, as will you, "the truth" for myself for the first time in my life. If you do this long and involved study then you have the joy of knowing that no man can lie to you about God, His Message, and His true Messiah ever again! Besides that, you will have a greater appreciation for the "Jewish Roots" of the Christian faith which have been concealed and kept from you.
Answer for yourself: Why is this study so necessary and important for the Christian to do?
In so doing you are actively "breaking down this middle wall of partition" between the Jew and "non-Jew" which was artificially raised by Rome and which she maintains to this day by her false texts in the Bible she gave the world.
I used to raise this middle wall of partition myself by preaching a "false gospel" and a "false salvation" message because my Bible taught me to by drilling into me my whole life purposefully forged and corrupted texts. I, like you, believed that the Festivals and Feasts, which are but a part of the "Pattern of Worship" given Israel had "passed away" with the "New" Testament of Rome. But now, after years of serious study, where I compared line upon line of Old Testament texts with New Testament texts, I see the error of my previous Christian religious belief system. I had put my faith in the wrong document. To twist the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures, and do great injustice to God's Holy Word in order to "force" an interpretation is no longer an option for me. Nor should it be for you as well!
Answer for yourself: Are you aware that in these Hebrew and Jewish Festivals and Feasts God has inscribed His "true message" of salvation for all of mankind; both Jew and "non-Jew"?
Most likely not but understand I am not referring to a "Christian-Messianic" reinterpretation of these Festivals and Feasts as done by Messianic Christianity today. We must not forget that we make such an erroneous interpretation, a Christian Messianic interpretation applied to these Festivals, by going off of forged, adulterated, manipulated, fabricated, and doctored texts to which most are not aware. Not only that in order for this to happen we have to "literalize" the Christ which the earliest Chrestians never did. Only later will Rome "literalize" and "carnalize" this Christ in the second century and afterwards.
Having said that, then let me explain the plan of salvation as seen in the Biblical Festivals in the Bible the Jews read in the first century. God makes His salvation available through faith as pictured in the physical salvation of Israel from Egypt. Words accompany such belief for had not Israel responded accurately to their faith and failed to apply the blood to their door "as commanded" then they would likewise had died. Salvation always has come and will always come by "faith in God". Faith without obedience and "works" we learn is a "dead faith". A "saving faith" always responds in obedience to God and His Word. Thus, once we are saved at our personal "Passover" one comes to Unleavened Bread as it is time to get the "leaven" (picture of sin in the Bible) or sin out of our lives. We must repent of the error of our ways when compared to this Word of God in the Hebrew Scriptures and the Torah. This involves the "sanctification" of one's life whereby we make ourselves, through repentance and obedience to the Word of God, acceptable vessels for God's Spirit to inhabit. We are to be experientially the Temple of the Holy Spirit. God's Spirit comes to such a one in the fulfillment of Pentecost. We then leave the first harvest season during the year and encounter the dry period between the Festival year as seen in the example of Israel. This is but a symbol for our life lived out on a daily basis. We have had the "mountain-top" experience and now it is time to live out "whom we have become" in God. This "dry" period is where the rubber meets the road in our daily lives. Once we are saved, cleansed, and filled with God's Spirit, we are equipped by God to live out our lives where we must deal with the good and the bad as we encounter them in life. Each day is an opportunity to grow in God as we further sanctify ourselves "in the Spirit" of truth and righteousness. Sometimes life is hard as seen in this "dry season" following our personal Pentecost; yet we have the Spirit of HaShem to comfort and sustain us in the valleys of life. Time marches on as we move through life. The next Festival given Israel by God is Rosh HaShannah which symbolizes our death at the end of our life and resurrection into a higher and new life following this one. It is appointed for man to once die and then the judgment which is also a second part of Rosh HaShannah. After the resurrection at Rosh HaShannah mankind is to experience the judgment and hopefully the reward for living a "God-centered" life whereby his Soul is elevated by continual repentance and obedience through that "dry period" of life, that daily walk from our personal Pentecost to our personal Rosh HaShannah. Following the judgment of God we experience our final atonement at Yom Kippur. Judaism, the religion of the "Jewish Christ" teaches that man makes atonement for his sins by obedience to the Second Tablet of the Law. There were no sacrifices in the Temple for sins of the Second Tablet of the Laws of Moses. This is not known by many but again stresses the importance for repentance in our lives; a repentance and restitution that provides atonement and prepares us for our final judgment at our personal Yom Kippur. Next, the only thing lacking is the eternal dwelling of the Spirit of God with mankind at the Festival of Tabernacles. This is the eternal Sabbath where God and man are one for all Eternity.
Now this is only a summary to say the least of what the Biblical Festivals reveal...the Plan of Salvation of God. If the "non-Jew" knew the truth about his Bible and the truth contained in God's salvation message given to Israel and which lies beneath the surface of the Biblical Festivals and Feasts then he can certainly make "his calling and election certain".
Answer for yourself: Something is missing here? Did you notice?
And if you noticed, this plan is very understandable to the Jew and non-Jew without trying to "force" a New Testament Jesus to fulfill passages that honestly yet remain unfulfilled according to the unforged Hebrew Scriptures
It is these Biblical Festivals, correctly understood as given above, which will further enable the Jew and the "non-Jew" to break down this middle wall of partition that separate them today.
Let us continue our studies in this series.