FOUR  IMPORTANT  QUESTIONS


#1  It is written that spiritual things are spiritually discerned 1 Cor 2:14. And, that the spirit of God is given to those who obey Him Acts 5:32.  Daniel was told that the wicked shall not understand Dan 12:10.  If we take the time to look up the festivals in almost any commentary, bible dictionary or other bible help, we will see that the teachings of the Church of God were taken almost word for word from these publications.  This material was written over one hundred years ago.  WHY THEN, are we RELYING on the writings of Commandment Rejecting, Law Hating; MEN!  MEN who CANNOT DISCERN Spiritual Things! MEN who utterly refuse to obey their Heavenly  Father? 

#2  Paul tells us that the sabbath and holydays are shadows of things to come.  They are prophetic in nature Col 2:16-17.  WHY THEN do we spiritualize away the Feast of Unleavened Bread,  declaring that it has only to do with a Christian's walk with Christ and ignoring it's prophetic significance?

#3  It is self evident that the festivals are harvest festivals, intimately related to the harvests in Judea.  We declare that the spring festivals picture a spring harvest of firstfruits, while the fall festivals picture the fall harvest.  WHY THEN, are meanings assigned to most of the fall festivals, which have nothing to do with the fall harvest and everything to do with the spring harvest?  Even declaring that the spring harvest of firstfruits itself, comes on a fall festival, the Feast of Trumpets.

#4  WHY are we told that the Feast of Tabernacles represents a one thousand year period, when scripture says that; one day is as thousand years and a thousand years is as one day with God 2 Pet 3:8?  Either this festival has NO time frame meaning or it MUST represent Seven Thousand Years. 


THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS

There are at least six points about the Feast of Trumpets that become evident with some thought.

1 God told Moses that the Passover month, in the spring, was to be the beginning of the year for Israel Ex 12:2. The Feast of Trumpets is not the new year as determined by God. Only by beginning the year in the spring as commanded by God can one come to an understanding that the spring harvest of firstfruits is the first harvest of the year and comes in the spring. It should not go unnoticed however, that this Feast of Trumpets speaks of resurrection, which is a kind of new beginning for those people who rise on this day. Yet this does not speak of the first harvest or resurrection, which occurs, at the beginning of the year, in the spring, the ABIB month. Rather it speaks of the resurrection of a fall or main harvest of lives, even as the main grain harvest occurs in the fall.

2 The Feast of Trumpets begins the seventh month. Seven, gives us the idea of the sabbath rest and as months are bigger than days, gives the appearance of a bigger rest. The weekly rest, is a memorial of creation and is a type of the millennial rest awaiting the firstfruits. The monthly seven, pictures a complete victory by God over satan and a rest for the MAIN HARVEST, from the burdens placed by satan. I emphasize here that the month, is the seventh, but the day is the first day. The first day speaks of the beginning of a spiritual creation, which must start with the resurrection, proceed with repentance and atonement and end with a gathering of this harvest into God's family, all pictured beautifully by the festivals of the seventh month. Finally, being capped off by a new beginning, going forward into eternity, in perfect peace and harmony among men and God!

3 This festival is in the fall and is grouped among the fall harvest festivals. Clearly then, it has nothing to do with the harvest of firstfruits, the first harvest, which is in the spring. This festival also has nothing to do with the seven trumpets of Rev. which immediately precede the harvest of firstfruits or first harvest. Those who claim that the Feast of Trumpets represents the first harvest, or HARVEST OF Firstfruits have not thought the matter out. They have taken this belief directly from commentaries and bible dictionaries written by commandment hating, law breakers, who cannot possibly understand the things of God, because of their rebelliousness.  Brethren, the first harvest IS NOT reaped in the FALL!  It IS reaped during the SPRING!

4 Trumpets are commanded to be blown throughout the day. A loud sound is made by blowing or forcing air through the trumpet. This very thought of physical air reminds us of the raising to physical life of all Israel by the blowing of air or wind in Ezek 37. We know that this is physical life, for only the physical need air to live and only the physical have bone, flesh and sinew.

5 A trumpet makes a very loud sound. Perhaps of alarm or rejoicing, but it most certainly commands attention! It is an ATTENTION GRABBER! Any sleeping person would be instantly STARTLED, SHOCKED into wakefulness. The sounding of trumpets vividly portrays God awakening people from the sleep of death. But when and what people? Remember this is in the fall and so represents the fall or main harvest and it is to physical life. This then must picture the resurrection of both Israel Ezek 37 and all others Rev20:12 to final judgement and their opportunity to be reconciled to God.

6 The Feast of Trumpets is called "holy time". Holy means, of or pertaining to God. It is also called a memorial of the blowing of trumpets. The purpose of a memorial is to remind us of something. A wonderful and awesome God has given us an annual reminder of His incredible plan to awaken the dead, to give hope to the hopeless. Each of us can observe this festival year by year, rejoicing in the knowledge that there is REAL, GENUINE HOPE for the whole of mankind. 

For those interested in observing these festivals according to the calendar that God reveals in the Holy Scripture (see CALENDAR article).  The first light of the new moon of the seventh month, should become visible immediately after sunset, ending the 13th day of Sep 2007, and beginning the 14th day of Sep 2007.  Making 14 Sep 2007 the Feast of Trumpets.  This is SUBJECT TO CONFIRMATION BY OBSERVATION.  We will report the observation of New Moons on our CURRENT EVENTS PAGE.

24 sep 06

James David Malm copyright 2006



THE
DAY OF
ATONEMENT

The Day of Atonement features four things; Fasting, Sacrifice,  the Scapegoat and the Jubile.

Have you ever been so occupied in what you are doing, that you forgot something important, or even forgot to eat?  The act of fasting is and should be a single minded effort to establish a proper relationship with God.  To the exclusion of all other activities, including eating and drinking, therefore absolutely NO WORK should be done.  To fast is to humble oneself before God but it is also an all out, whole hearted effort to remove the heavy burden (of sin) Isaiah 58:6.  Fasting is about REPENTANCE.  The fasting of Atonement is about the repentance of all those brought up in the Feast of Trumpets resurrection and the cutting off of all those who will not fast, the fast of repentance.  But it does not stop there, we also need to fast.  First, it is necessary for our own relationship with God,  to whole heartedly, single mindedly, seek Him through the fasting of repentance.  For who has not sinned?  Second, we fast to remind ourselves of the incredible plan that God is working out for all men.  It is not enough to spend the day, going without food or drink, simply fasting without REPENTANCE, complaining of our discomfort and dreaming of what we will do when it is over.  The day should be spent in self examination and actively seeking God's forgiveness through genuine heartfelt REPENTANCE.  Only in this way, can we even begin to remove the barrier of sin that separates us from God.  We must REPENT, which means not only being sorry for what we have done, it means being sorry enough to CHANGE, to STOP DOING THOSE THINGS THAT SEPARATE US FROM GOD!  Only then can the next step take place.

Which is the application of the atoning sacrifice.  On this day each year the High Priest entered the Most Holy Place with the blood of atonement, to make atonement for all the people.  The sacrifice of the goat here pictures the sacrifice of Messiah and it's atoning power applied to all men, even as the Passover sacrifice pictures the sacrifice of Messiah and it's atoning power applied to the ones called out of Egypt, the firstfruits.  With repentance and atonement comes reconciliation to God and FORGIVENESS.  The day will come, on some future Fast of Atonement that, the true High Priest of God, the only true Mediator between God and man, will remove the Vail of sin separating the majority of mankind from God and apply His sacrifice makeing atonement for all men, even as He atoned for the sins of His called out firstfruits on the day of PASSOVER!

On this day the Scape Goat is chosen by lot. Lev 16:8.  This means that God decides which goat to take, for man is unable to discern between good and evil.  We must follow God and not attempt to define good and evil for ourselves.  We simply do not have the experience, knowledge or wisdom to know for ourselves.  Doing what we think is right, is self-righteousness.  Doing what God says is right, is true Godly righteousness.  All the sins, of all the people, are confessed over the scape goat and it is led into the wilderness.  Thus signifying forgiveness and the total removal of all sin forever.  As the sacrificial goat represents the atoning power of Christ's sacrifice applied to the majority of mankind, the scape goat represents the responsibility for sin being placed upon the originator of sin, satan, who is then removed from the presence of God and man forever.


OFFERINGS

We are commanded to come with offerings three times each year.  There is no specific command to bring an offering on the Day of atonement.  For persons to make offerings and for church officials to spend time counting and banking money on the Day of Atonement,  demeans the dignity and sanctity and desecrates the spirit of this occasion.  It is IMPROPER to be concerned with money on the Day of Atonement.

On this Coming Day of Atonement, 23 Sep 07, let us fast the fast of REPENTANCE
and seek to be enfolded in the tender embrace of our loving and merciful Father.  Let us turn our hearts to Him and His heart will be turned toward us, as the heart of a loving parent to His cherished and beloved children.  Let us turn toward Him so that we may go forth rejoicing, knowing that we passionately love and are loved by the most magnificent Being in the universe.

THE JUBILE

The JUBILE occurs every fiftieth year and is declared on the Day of Atonement Lev 25:1-14.  This day pictures the restoration of all things. It represents FREEDOM for all people, LIBERTY is PROCLAIMED and all persons may return to their own lands and families.  This ever so clearly demonstrates FREEDOM FROM THE HEAVY BURDEN OF SIN, brought about through REPENTENCE and FORGIVENESS!  It shows the removal of Sin and the suffering it brings.  It shows the atonement made for sin, now applied to a REPENTANT HUMANITY, giving ALL PERSONS, LIBERTY from the enslavement of sin and from the influence of satan.

Coming on the fiftieth year, The Jubile, is very much a counterpart of the Feast of Firstfruits, in the spring.  As fifty is the first year after the completion of seven times seven years or forty nine years, thus revealing A NEW BEGINNING.  It shows the bulk of humanity, resurrected on the Feast of Trumpets, now entering into a new relationship with God, entering A NEW COVENANT!  Even as the New Covenant will be extended to all flesh then living Joel 2:28, when the Kingdom of God is established on the Feast of Firstfruits shortly after the Spring harvest  The main body of mankind will also enter a New Relationship with God on the Day of Atonement. Thus readying the fall harvest for reaping and gathering into God's family, His temple. 

Friends, whether we will ultimately qualify to be firstfruits or if we will be in the latter harvest,  it is absolutely imperative that we repent and turn from sin, which is the transgression of the law 1 Joh 3:4, in order to have a proper relationship with God.  Let us therefore, zealously examine ourselves, so as to remove any thing that might come between us and God, so that we might someday enter the FAMILY OF GOD!

The Feast

of In-gathering

and the Great Day

The Feast of In-gathering or Tabernacles begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. The first day is holy. Holy means, of or pertaining to God. Therefore the first day pictures something that God is doing or going to do. Being a fall festival it also pictures the autumn or main harvest. Some have said that this festival pictures the millennium of one thousand years of rule by the firstfruits. We know that this cannot be true, for we are told by Peter in holy scripture that one day is as one thousand years with God 2 Pet 3:8. Since this feast is seven days long, it could not possibly picture a one thousand year event. Further, this is a fall festival. Why would it picture events connected with the firstfruits, which are part of the spring harvest?

We are commanded to live in temporary shelters or booths for the full seven days of the festival. This is to remind us that God, made Israel to dwell in tents when He brought them out of Egypt Lev 23:43. Notice that they did not dwell in booths in Egypt, it was when they came out of Egypt that they dwelt in booths. In Egypt they had their own houses, it was their home, but when they left, Egypt was their home no longer. They became strangers, travelers journeying to a far country and no longer having a citizenship in Egypt. This pictures people, called out of the sin of this world. now having no part with this world, but rather in transit, to a promised world.

We are commanded to cut, on the first day, branches of fruitful trees and rejoice with them for seven days Lev 23:40. Some think that the booths should be made with these branches. Notice that they are commanded to be cut on the first day. Either you are building your booth in the dark at the beginning of the first day or you are not dwelling in those booths the whole seven days of the feast. In building a home on the first day you would be breaking the command to do no work on that day. Finally, there is absolutely NO command to build booths out of branches, rather we are told to rejoice with them the whole seven days. What then does this picture? The answer is given to us in John 15:5. Messiah said, "I am the vine, you are the branches". The branches are the people of the fall harvest. We rejoice with these branches because they picture the bringing in of the fall harvest into God's family, His temple. In the days of the temple, the people brought their branches into the temple rejoicing. So we also, should obey the command of God and take a few sprigs of beautiful trees and rejoice with them. Acting out the in-gathering of the nations into the temple of God. Let us therefore bring a small branch with us, into the festival services and truly rejoice. Knowing that each branch represents a beloved child, parent or friend who could be graffed into the family of God Rom 11:23-25.  This festival is not about getting ours, it is not about selfish and dominating lordship.  It is about loving service, it is about saving humanity and bringing the harvest of mankind into the temple, the family of God.  There is so very much to rejoice about when we truly understand the meaning of this festival.  In the past we were told that it was about lording it over others for one thousand years.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  It is about SERVING others and bringing them into the household of God Mat 20:25-28. 

The question arises: Does the phrase; "as it is written" Neh 8:15 mean that Moses actually commanded the people to build booths from the branches?  Answer:  The most exhaustive search of the writings of Moses will NOT find any command to build booths out of branches, rather the people were commanded to REJOICE with the branches.  Lacking the knowledge provided by the New Testament writers, Nehemiah simply came to the ONLY reasonable conclusion possible, in his circumstances.  Did he do wrong?  NO, there is absolutely nothing wrong with building booths from branches and doing so does fulfill the command to live in temporary shelters for seven days.  Yet the term booth, can also mean hut or tent.  Those who observe this festival at a location where it is not possible to build booths out of branches, may simply dwell in travelers lodgings and fulfill this requirement. In colder or rainy climates or because of age or illness it might even be more appropriate to stay in better shelter than simply shelters made from branches.  Dwelling in any type of temporary shelter, acts out the truth that we are no longer citizens of this world, but are journeying to a new and better, Promised Land.  While rejoicing with the branches, acts out the truth that the Festival demonstrates the harvest of humanity being brought into the Temple, the Family of GOD!  That is why, this Festival is called BOTH the Feast of Tabernacles and the Feast of Ingathering!

In Numbers 29 Israel is commanded to sacrifice thirteen bullocks the first day, twelve the second day and so on through the seventh day. This gives a total of seventy bullocks sacrificed throughout the Feast of In-gathering. At the dividing of the families of man at Babel, mankind was divided into seventy families. A bullock was sacrificed for each of the families of man at this festival clearly reflecting the ingathering of all the families of man into the temple or family of God.

Deu 16:14 commands that we observe this feast with our entire families. Demonstrating that this feast is about family, the ultimate family of God.

The Feast of Tabernacles is seven days long. Peter tells us that this must mean seven thousand years in fulfillment. The creation week pictures a six thousand year plan capped by a one thousand year sabbath for all mankind resting in the presence of their Creator.  The week of Unleavened Bread pictures God calling out His firstfruits for six thousand years,  capped by a one thousand year millennium. Even so, the Feast of In-gathering pictures the gathering into God's family of all mankind. Resurrected in their courses on the Feast of Trumpets, repenting and being reconciled to God on the Day of Atonement and living their lives for a period to prove themselves, they will then be gathered into God's kingdom. This festival is truly an occasion for REJOICING, as we see the bulk of humanity, converted and given eternal life, a life without the pain, suffering and heartache of sin. The in-gathering of the family of man into the Family of God.

Why have we not understood these things? Because we have not kept the commandment regarding the festival, we have not observed it the way we were instructed.  And because we have not put God first in our lives, we have not asked for understanding.  We were content to believe what we were told without question.  We accepted the word of men and did not study the word of God.  Did you not return from this feast in a state of letdown? Why?  Because what you were taught was shallow, unsatisfying and empty.  It was simply acting contrary to scripture to rejoice over an opportunity to bully others for one thousand years.  Now you have something to truly REJOICE over.  A deeply satisfying and encouraging hope for the ones that you love so much.  God will be victorious, satan doesn't stand a chance.  Mankind will be saved and you will have a part in bringing in the harvest of lives!  How WONDERFUL how AWESOME is our GREAT GOD!

And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, when all Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God in the place which He shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing.  Deu 31:10-11.  The law is the foundation of the covenant.  If you break the law, you have broken the covenant, whether old or new.  For the covenant, whether old or new, is to keep the law, it is to obey our CREATOR HUSBAND!  If you are not familiar with the law, how can you obey it?  I ask, In what Church of God has the book of Deuteronomy been read at any Feast of Tabernacles?  We do not understand because we do not obey the word of God.  Why are there no healings?  Why are our prayers not answered?  Why do we lack understanding?  Because we do not keep the commandments and do those things that are pleasing to Him 1 Joh 3:22.

THE GREAT DAY

And finally comes the Great Day. As the eighth day in a cycle of seven this pictures a new beginning. A new heavens and a new earth. Mankind, now in spirit, fully the children of God, going forward into eternity, in perfect peace and harmony with God and with each other. No more sorrow or pain. No more tears, violence or sin. Just the perfection of the perfect love of God.

PROPER OBSERVATION

Over the years, even as far back as the early nineteen sixties, I have noticed an almost total lack of respect for the Last Day.  People pack, they pay bills, they travel, they do last minute shopping and they even eat out at restaurants (see our SABBATH page).  And, to make matters worse, the ministry do not instruct or reprimand them,  the ministry even go so far as to accommodate this sacrilege by deliberately scheduling early services, so people can get on their way!  This ought not to be so!  This day IS A HIGH HOLY DAY!  Doing these things shows utter contempt for the day that GOD has declared HOLY!  This is NOT your time it IS GOD'S TIME!  This is a GREAT SIN brethren and is one of the reasons that your prayers have been hindered!

We are told not to cook or prepare food on the Sabbath or on Holy Days Ex 16:23.  The only instruction allowing the preparation of food on a holy day was for the First Day of Unleavened Bread when Israel was being driven out of Egypt EX 12:16. A very special and unusual occasion, a true ox in the ditch. There is no instruction allowing the preparation of food on any other holy day.  Indeed we admit that the Passover, the day of Christ's death, was a preparation day Mark 15:42 and that the First day of Unleavened Bread is a SABBATH, or we MUST admit to a Friday crucifixion!

James David Malm

24 Sep 06 copyright 2006