305 Why do we keep feast days of Elohim

Why do we keep the Feast days of Elohim?

We find the reason for keeping the Feast Days of Elohim from Leviticus 23: 1 – 4, in this way: ‘YHVH spoke again to Moses saying, (2) “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘(YHVH)’s appointed times which you (Moses[1]) shall proclaim as holy (set-apart) convocations— My appointed times are these: (3) For in six days work may be done; but on the seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation (a set-apart time to meet together for services). You shall not do any work; it is a Sabbath to YHVH in all your dwellings.’”’ Up to verse 3, YHVH is talking about the weekly Sabbath, but continuingon in verse 4 to the end of the chapter, He instructs Moses to teach the Israelites about His other Set-apart Days or annual Sabbaths, saying specifically in verse 4: ‘These are the appointed times of YHVH, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times (or seasons) appointed for them[2].’Even though this informs us that we must come together to celebrate (YHVH)’s Feast Days, it does not tell us the reason for doing so. To find the answer to this important question, we turn to Deuteronomy 14: 22 & 23, where we read: “You shall surely tithe all the produce from what you sow, which comes out of the field every year. (23) And you shall eat it in the presence of YHVH your Elohim, at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the first-born of your herd and your flock, in order that you may learn to fear YHVH your Elohim always.” We see here that we keep the Feast days of YHVH so that we may learn to fear Him always.

Mankind does not want to be prescribed to as to what they should or should not do, even if it is for their own benefit. Tell most human beings not to eat pork and they will make a point of it to eat it in all its different forms, namely; bacon, ham and gammon steaks. Satan has indeed deceived the whole world as it states in Revelation 12: 9; he wants us to be rebellious like he was. He knows that his time is short and continues to deceive mankind daily. This is perhaps why some like-minded believers who keep the Sabbath at home by themselves, tell fellow believers that the Feast Days are ‘not that important’. I know they say that out of ignorance and not to be rebellious.However, even with our best intentions we cannot and will not obey our Father, as we read from Jeremiah 17: 9, in this way:“The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately wicked; who can understand it?” By their disobedience to the commandments of Elohim in the Garden of Eden, our forefathers implied that they wanted to decide for themselves what is right and wrong. We are no different today, even knowing what is right and what is wrong.But, we need to decide: Do we want to be in Elohim’s Kingdom or not? If we want to be in His eternal Kingdom, we need to further ask ourselves: What does YHVH expect of us? The answer to this question is given in Deuteronomy 10: 12 & 13 as follows: “And now, Israel, what does YHVH your Elohim require from you, but to fear YHVH your Elohim, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve YHVH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul, (13) and to keep (YHVH)’s commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?” Yes, brethren(YHVH)’s commandments are for our own good. We need to remember that when our Messiah returns, He will reward each one of us according to our works; the fruits resulting from a positive attitude and righteous character developed over time will be rewarded with a better position – rulership over more cities.

But, what is the fear of Elohim? How do we learn to fear YHVH our Elohim? Let’sfind the answers to these questions, by reading from the relevant scriptures in the word of Elohim. To start with, let’s turn to Hebrews 11: 7 where we read about the faith and fear of our fathers in the faith, as follows: ‘By faith Noah, being warned by Elohim about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of righteousness according to faith.’ Noah had a fear of YHVH and translated his fear into action, through faith. He feared when YHVH told him to build an ark, despite his neighbor’s mocking him and trying to persuade him to disobey YHVH. Other than most people today, he was not concerned with what the people think or say – He carried on doing what YHVH told him to do.We read further from Genesis 22: 10 -12 how our father Abrahamtranslated his fear of Elohim into faith, as follows: ‘And Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. (11) But the angel of YHVH called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” (12) And he said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear Elohim, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.’We see from Hebrews 11: 17 that this fear of Abraham came through faith, in this way:‘By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac; and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son.’We all know that true fear involves trembling – almost like we shiver on a very cold day, or when we are cornered by a fearsome dog, we shake like paper in the wind. But, we see YHVH declaring in the second part of Isaiah 66: 2, saying:“But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite, and who trembles at My word.”Yes brethren, fear for YHVH our Elohim involves trembling: Fear and trembling at the thought of disobeying Elohim. In Psalm 147: 11 we see that: ‘YHVH favors those who fear Him,’ We need to stand in awe of Elohim; we need to have a finely tuned conscience; we need to have fear that will motivate us to change for the better.

We know that YHVH is patient towards us, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance (as per 2 Peter 3 the second part of verse 9), but we are also warned in Hebrews 10: 26, in this way: ‘(For) if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.”A second witness to this is found in Acts 17: 30 &31 as follows: “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, Elohim is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent, (31)because He has fixed a dayin which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” We also know that there will be two resurrections after Messiah’s, as is confirmed in first Corinthians 15: 23, in this way: ‘But each in his own order, Messiah the first fruit(s), after that those who are Messiah’s at His coming(first Resurrection), then comes the end (second Resurrection), when He delivers up the kingdom to Elohim the Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.’It is true, each person who has ever lived has a day fixed, when they will get their chance to repent; those who have never heard or known about Yahshua during this age, will get their only chance after the second resurrection. But, those of us called during this age need to know that this is our only chance, and we are being judged now as recorded in first Peter 4: 17. This tells us that we need to be very careful how we live, because we could because of reckless living, still lose our salvation.

Brethren this should make us fear enough to change our evil ways and start obeying YHVH for our own good. But, fear does not mean a lack of faith, or to be fearful, cowardly or insecure. Being fearful is certainly not the fear that Elohim requires, as we read from James 2: 19 as follows: ’You believe that Elohim is one, You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.’ We read further from Revelation 21: 7 & 8:“He who overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be his Elohim and he will be My son.(8) But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”The fear of Elohim stirs to action – it inspires us to want to obey YHVH from the bottom of our hearts. King David tells us in Psalm 60: 4, saying:‘Thou hast given a banner to those who fear Thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth.’ But, according to Psalm 36: 1, ‘Transgression (or active sin) speaks to the ungodly (sinner) within his heart; (saying) there is no fear of Elohim before his eyes.’The process of sinning starts with Satan. (Isaiah 14: 12). Satan lost the fear of Elohim and therefore sinned. Satan weakens the people – by getting them to lose their fear of Elohim. We see from Genesis 3: 1 - 3 that Eve feared Elohim at that time. Satan’s tactic is to destroy that fear of YHVH our Elohim, and by the time we get to verse 6 of Genesis 3, we see that he destroyed Eve’s fear of wrongdoing. We need therefore be very careful of Satan and his human agents, who want to destroy our fear of wrong actions.

We see further from Genesis 3: 9 & 10 that the result of sinning lets a different type of fear enters us, as follows:‘Then YHVH Elohim called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” (10)And he said, “I heard the sound of Thee in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” This is the exact opposite of what the fear of Elohim will get us to do. The fear of Elohim encourages us to be brave. However, every man is tempted when he draws away from Elohim, as witnessed in James 1: 13 & 14 in this way:‘Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by Elohim”, for Elohim cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. (14)But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.’As we have already seen, the opposite of the fear of Elohim is being fearful – an attitude which gives up before it starts, as also witnessed in first Samuel 3: 11 – 18 as follows: ‘And YHVH said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. (12)In that day I will carry out against Eli all that I have spokenconcerning his house, from beginning to end.(13) For I have told him that I am about to judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves and he did not rebuke them.(14) And therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.” (15)So Samuel lay down until morning. Then he opened the doors of the house of YHVH. But Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. (16)Then Eli called Samuel and said,” Samuel my son.” And he said. “Here I am.”(17) And he said, “What is the word that He spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. May Elohim do so to you and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the words that He spoke to you.”(18) So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, “It is YHVH; let Him do what seems good to Him.”A very good example of right fear can be found in Matthew 25: 14 – 16 as follows; “For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves, and entrusted his possessions to them. (15)And to one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey.(16) Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents.” In verse 18 of Matthew 25, we see an example of wrong fear (fearfulness), as follows: “But he who received the one talent went away and dug in the ground, and hid his master’s money.” Right fear brings about happiness and the wrong fear brings about unhappiness.

Continuing on this subject, we read from Hebrews 4: 1&2:‘Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it.(2)For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.’We also read about the condition of the world in Romans3: 18 as follows: “There is no fear of Elohim before their eyes.”The world lacks the fear of Elohim and the fear of any authority today. Do we also lack the fear of Elohim? I put it to you that we do. Every time that we lose our temper, we show a lack of fear of Elohim. The way we talk show our fear or lack of fear of YHVH our Elohim. Holding on to grudges is indicative of a lack of the fear of Elohim. The way in which we keep the Sabbath shows how we fear YHVH our Elohim. In John 4: 18 we see paraphrased, that love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment and the one who fears is not perfected in love. Perfect love casts out fear and results in obedience to Torah and commandment keeping - the fear of Elohim never involves torment. No, it is just the opposite, as recorded Proverbs 2: 5, as follows: ‘Then you will discern the fear of YHVH, and discover the knowledge of Elohim.’ We read similarly from Ecclesiastes 12: 13, in this way: ‘The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear Elohim and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.’The fear of YHVH does not come naturally to us, as it is something we have to be taught, as witnessed inPsalm 34: 11, as follows: ‘Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of YHVH.”If we study the Psalms and indeed the entire Word of YHVH we will learn to fear YHVH our Elohim.

If we fear YHVH enough, each one of us will individually examine the Scriptures for ourselves to determine what YHVH requires of us. Yes, we will listen to what our teachers say, but also do what the Bereans did, as recorded in Acts 17: 10 & 11, in this way: “And the brethren immediately sent Shaul and Silas away by night to Berea; and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. (11)Now these were more noble minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so.”Let’s make that our motto for this feast! Baruch HaShem YHVH!

[1] Moses or the ones who are today sitting in Moses’ seat as Yahshua said in Matthew 23:2 & 3 – the Pharisees or Rabbinical Jews of today are to proclaim the timing of the Feast Days of Elohim, as indicated in Romans 9: 4 and Romans 3: 1 – 4.

[2] However, Moses or those who sit in his seat, must proclaim (YHVH)’s Set Apart Times during the correct seasons.