Nwsltr-09-12-10-Fall, The Harvest of Blessing

“The greatest blessing is the redemption of all men through the atonement provided for us in the coming of the Son of God, Yeshua and his works, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to the Father. Then finally his coming again to this earth to bring full redemption and glory to those who are his own.”

Traditional Rams Horn

By the Watchman
Dana G Smith
Keywords: fall, feasts, blessing, redemption, atonement, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Tabernacles. Believers, Yeshua Ha Massiach, Jesus Christ
Words: 2532

The summer has faded into fall, of sorts. As I write this the weather warning for our neck of the woods was for a frost that could kill gardens etc. So the one who is observant to these kind of warnings and who has a garden, will thus cover up their produce for the night to ensure a longer growing season.  Even now the temperature is having a hard time reaching 65 degree’s. The sun now has a short time span. We can clearly see the sun moving farther south as its rays tend not to shine through certain windows as it did just a month ago. The daylight is shortening up, the seasons are changing, and now is fall hunting. Fall fishing is also in the works just as those who love the snow are preparing their skis and other equipment for that time of the year.

The long and short of it is this, winter is much to long and summer much too short. That is, in these parts, anyway! But then, the weather doesn’t get as hot here as in other places. This year it reached triple digits for a very short time. Nothing like down south. The economy here for the most part  is growing, howbeit some aspects are definately slowing up! Even so, many new out of staters are seen arriving as they come for jobs!

As we enter September we find ourselves in the fall feasts. This month is Rosh Hashanah, and is connected to the ‘New Year’,  ‘seeking of the LORD’ and to the ‘Torah’. This starts ten days of ‘awe’ where many Jews prepare themselves for the day of repentance and fasting known as Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashanah is a time of celebration and of seeking the Lord for his blessing and guidance for the coming year. It is a time of reflection back at the previous year, thanking God for his provision. It is a time of enjoying a traditional feast along with ‘apples and honey’, which both represent the goodness, and sweetness of knowing our Savior Jesus Christ and his Father.

Thus Rosh Hashanah leads to the most holy day of the year for observant Jews who fast 26 hours during this time of Yom Kippur seeking God  to put their names in the ‘Book of life’. They still have no atonement for their sins through Yeshua Ha Massiach, but they seek God none the less.  We thank God for the work of the Cross, the blood of Christ, and the Love of God which has made our redemption possible. It is at this time, we seek the Lord for we have found that these feasts actually enhance and bring to the forefront the work of our God and his Christ, our Savior Yeshua.

Galatians 3:22  But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
23  But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
24  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
26  For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
27  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
29  And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

For us, Jesus Christ literally became our fulfillment of all we do and are. Yet as followers, we are obedient to the faith and his call. In keeping these feasts, we do so out of love and in respect to the commandment and the early church who kept these also. Nevertheless, these bring a fulfillment in Christ Jesus. Jesus fulfilled the permanent redemption needed for all men and women who seek it on Yom Kippur. Christ already, permanently paid the price. On this day of Yom Kippur, we thank God for this redemption, pray, and seek him that all men, especially the observant Jews, would find Christ Jesus and the atonement he provides.

Towards the end of the month is ‘Feast of Tabernacles’, which in itself is a feast waiting to be fulfilled. In that, the Son of David, Jesus Christ will come and dwell or Tabernacle in Zion during the Millennial Kingdom.

1 Corinthians 3:16  ¶Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1 Corinthians 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
1 Corinthians 6:19  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own

Today we rejoice in this as “we are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in us.” But this body will be put off, for it must die. Then we shall have a permanent tabernacle, made without hands. So as we rejoice during the ‘Feast of Tabernacles’, it reminds us of what Christ has done for us and in us. Yet he shall bring in a kingdom, a Throne, and will dwell or Tabernacle with us.  This is one prophetic aspect of Tabernacles.

2 Corinthians 5:1  ¶For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2  For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:
3  If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.
4  For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.

Yet it also is a reminder for many Jews and observant believers in Yeshua as well. They build a ‘suka’, a ‘tabernacle’, or ‘booth’ to remind themselves of dwelling in booths when the Lord God brought them out of bondage in Egypt.  Some believers at this time spend the time camping out and rejoicing in the Lord. This time of the Feast of Tabernacles is for rejoicing, giving thanks, and looking to what the Lord is going to do. He will bring in his Kingdom!

Leviticus 23:39  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.
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.
42  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.

Now as I write this, let me tell you this is not a theological paper to fully disclose all aspects of these feasts. Neither is it meant to tell anyone to keep these feasts. These feasts are kept in the heart and those who do these, keep them as they are led by the Spirit of God. These are about loving the Lord God our Father and Jesus Christ our Savior. It is about seeking and understanding what our God has done to bring redemption to us. The fact that the ‘Feast of Tabernacles’ will be kept in the millennium says volumes to the keeping of it.  For it will be in Zion that the Son of David, Jesus Christ, Yeshua Ha Massiach will be on the throne of David. It will be to his Tabernacle that all men will come to worship the King, the LORD of hosts and to keep the feast of tabernacles.

Zechariah 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.

For our household, the fall feasts celebrate the harvest. Here is both the physical harvest of gardens, fields, and all that it entails in this aspect of sowing seed and reaping the fruits of that labor.  They see God as the true and ultimate source of all blessing and even cursing. That in life, God is in charge. He gives men life to enjoy and also allows us to have fruit from our labors. In this, we can literally live in and enjoy what the Lord has given to us. These feasts look forward to the time when the “New Year”, or Rosh Hashanah celebrated will be the ‘millennial kingdom’ of our King Jesus Christ, Yeshua. It is the start of and not the ending of the life the Lord God has planned for all those who love him.  This also sees to the future when a permanent redemption and atonement is fulfilled when we become like our Lord and live in his presence. This will be the time when the ‘tabernacle of God’ will be with men. In its fulness and with the Son of David, Yeshua Ha Massiach who will rule and reign forever.

This is the time of the feasts, and the prophetic eye that I see these with. They thus are a time not of servitude nor obligation, but of love to obey.  It is an experience of joy and of reflection for what he has done for all of us. It is a time to see ahead with faith and understand no matter what comes, our reward is steadfast and sure, if we do not give up! It is in this that we all must steadfastly and resolutely cling too. For the Kingdom of God we are in and grafted into is one of Power, Redemption, Forgiveness, and most importantly of Love. While many other faiths claim to offer many things, they do not give nor can they give the Father. For only through Jesus Christ can you come to Him.  Faiths today such as Islam live in a conquering and steadfast slaughter of people everywhere to bring in their faith. We live by faith knowing that we are in the “Kingdom of God”, the only True God and Father and Jesus Christ his Son. We do not fear men, kingdoms, nor what is coming, because we know him, in whom is all truth!

1 Corinthians 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
24  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
27  For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
28  And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

As we close down the days of 2010, let us enter into the next one of 2011 with full faith in the Son of God who died for us. It is at this time, this New year, Rosh Hashanah, unlike the secular celebrations of the solar calendar, we look ahead and ask Gods blessings, richness, sweetness, and guidance to us. We do so knowing that God directed us to do so in his Word. It is the same feast our Lord kept, the Apostles kept, and the early church. Yet whether you keep them or not, the truth does not change, Jesus Christ died for all sinners, of whom, Paul said “I am chief”. Well if Paul the Apostle thought of himself as the “chief” of sinners, where do you and I stand?  Truth is, we stand, neath the power of the blood, the cleansing tide of redemption flowing from the Savior upon the cursed tree of calvary. It is this work and this work alone that separates us as people who have true hope and those who only think they have hope!  Our Hope rests in the work of Jesus Christ. It is here that this is indeed the stone the builders rejected.

1 Timothy 1:15  This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

John 1:10  He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11  He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13  Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
15  ¶John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.
16  And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
17  For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

For us at this time, it is the Fall, a harvest of blessing. To remember, thank God for, all he has done in us and in those of our family and friends and also literally for us. In this we find physical blessings combined with Spiritual blessings.  Yes, it is the time of the fall, winter approaches, but for now at this time, all is put on the back burner. We will seek the Lord, look to him, and find a time appointed in this season to worship him and seek his face. We do this at this time in the fall feasts, but not this time alone, for daily, we seek him. This is just a time appointed in the seasons of God and man to stop what your doing and look to the Redeemer and your God.