The fall festivals point to the coming of the Messiah as King of Kings. This glorious coming of the Messiah has been the longing of Israel. When Jesus came as the sacrifical lamb, He was fulfilling the spring festivals. However, the arrival of a submissive Messiah did not reflect the expectations of a waiting nation. Israel believes that the only application of the spring festivals was and is to remind them of their miraculous delivery from bondage through the leadership of Moses. During the spring festivals Israel celebrated Moses without consideration of the Messiah. Sadly, they did not know the time of their visitation.
Moses did a mighty work under the power of the Holy Spirit, but the Messiah must fulfill all of the requirements of all the biblical holy days. This humble lamb shamefully crucified on the cross for all the world to see was not the vision the Jewish nation held of their Messiah. Therefore, in bitter disappointment they turned from this man rejecting Him as a potential candidate as Israel's redeemer. This rejection will challenge Israel's preparation to receive their Messiah when He comes in all His glory. However, God has a plan for Israel and the rest of us since we will all be challenged by delusion. He is not willing that any should perish; therefore, He will send the same Spirit that dwelt in Moses and Elijah to final generation prophets to deliver God's message during the Days of Awe.
While the spring festivals demonstrate God coming in humility, the fall festivals describe Him coming in all His glory--the manner expected from Israel. The fall festivals also describe the vast opportunity that Heaven affords the earthly inhabitants. Finally, these feasts also demonstrate that there will be a great resistance to God's invitation. Many who practice the faith will be discouraged, deceived and unwilling to seize the moment. If believers struggle with belief during the Days of Awe, what of the world?
The fall festivals represent a final altar call to the whole world during a time of great duress and deception which occurs right before the coming of God. The coming of God is like a thief in the night because the world is blind and deaf to the presence and voice of God. However, it is not His desire to sneak up on us. Instead, He will exercise all His mighty power during the final Days of Awe to wake us up to the sounds of the shofar. WARNING: This waking will include some shaking!
The Levitical priesthood entered the holy place to attend their priestly duties which included keeping oil in the menorah, partaking of the shewbread, etc. However, once a year in the fall on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), the Great High Priest went behind the veil (the one that was ripped at the crucifixion of Christ) into the Holy of Holies or Most Holy Place. The other priests were not allowed behind the veil. When the Great High Priest went behind the veil after offering much incense and wearing special garments, the burning incense would fill both compartments with smoke shielding the Great High Priest from the glory of God. The priests were not allowed back into the holy place until the smoke was cleared from the temple.
The atonement process was to provide Israel with at-one-ment with their God removing the enmity between them and God. The at-one-ment was a cleansing procedure that cleansed both the temple and the people, but the Great High Priest had to offer the atonement first for himself and the priesthood. The Great High Priest had to first be found worthy to offer the atonement for corporate Israel.
He would offer a bullock for himself and his household. Two goats would then be brought and by lot one would be chosen as a sacrifice. The other goat would serve as Azazel. The blood of the sacrifice would be placed upon some of the furnishings in the holy place and sprinkled upon the mercy seat in the Most Holy Place. This symbolically removed all the sins of Israel that had been confessed during the past year. The Great High Priest would come out of the tabernacle and rub his blood stained hands upon Azazel. Azazel was then led out into the wilderness.
This ceremony illustrates Satan suffering the wrath of God for my sins at the end of the ages. This is your merciful God taking the consequences of your sins (God's wrath) and applying that wrath to the one that is the father of lies and was a murderer from the beginning, Ha Satan. Indeed, this is the most amazing opportunity known to mankind. We deserve to suffer God's wrath for our sins, but when we profess our sins, they are held in the Heavenly courts until the end of time.
God is not our accuser, but Satan is. God knows that without Satan's influence, our planet would be a better place because the inhabitants would be better. NOTICE: This does not mean the Devil made you do it! As free agents God gave each of us the right of resistance and expects us to seek the power from Him to do so. We have free will and make choices, but because the flesh is weak, we are all vulnerable to the temptations of Ha Satan. Therefore, God provides a way that allows Him through confession and the forsaking of our sins to remove our guilt and place it right on the head of our accuser! It is amazing to me that God would make us this offer, it is even more astounding that we do not all jump on this opportunity. Ha Satan is actively seeking to discourage, dissuade, deceive and destroy because it is his great desire that you turn from this privilege.
When God comes in all His glory, it will be all consuming to those that are still under the influence of sin. However, those that have confessed and forsaken their sins in the Name of The Way provided by God will be saved. Before God comes, He will do all that He can to warn us of His impending arrival and plead with us to prepare for His coming because He is longsuffering and unwilling that any should perish. This time of warning is represented by the Days of Awe (Feast of Trumpets) during the fall festivals as celebrated by Israel.
I invite and encourage you to study these feasts. There is much understanding delivered through the mysterious actions of the Israelites as commanded by God during the fall festivals that will prevent discouragment and deception during the last days. Studying these festivals through prayer and repentence will fill your vessel with oil so you will be like the five wise virgins with ample oil in your vessel. Therefore, when the bridegroom delays, you will not be dismayed. Why does the bridegroom delay? Because He wants everyone to receive the warning and make preparation. Disaster comes when the first trumpet sounds on day one of the Days of Awe. The whole world will suddenly find itself in the proverbial foxhole and will hope there is a God. Even those that do not want to go to a Heavenly Home, will want to go to some other place. Many in the faith will lose it right here and become very vulnerable to the deceptions of Satan, but those that know their God will wait for Him.
As our Great High Priest, Christ must enter into the Most Holy Place to be declared worthy to provide atonement for the final generation. This act will prepare a people to deliver the final altar call during the Days of Awe. Revelation will remain a very mysterious book until you align the message with the meaning behind the festivals. Revelation 4 & 5 describe a throne room scene with an open door. This open door represents that The Way into the Most Holy Place is open and available. We can with confidence enter into the presence of God because The Way has been busy preparing a place for those that desire to serve in the temple of God. This is a grand and lofty position in the universe because those that choose this service will co-reign with Christ. At the end of the ages, Jesus will return to get us in physical form and present our changed and renewed bodies at the throne of grace so we can be where He is.
He greatly desires that all people of every nation and notion join Him in Heaven. The Days of Awe are designed by God to prepare us to meet our Maker. Satan will use the time alloted to him during the Days of Awe to destroy and deceive. Therefore, we need an intercessor with feelings like ours since He has been tempted and tried in all manner just like we have been. However, Heaven requires this intercessor be found blameless and declared worthy.
Heaven looks high and low for this intercessor and none among humanity can be found. Moses, Daniel and Abraham are not worthy. David ruled over Israel, but is unworthy. Joseph ruled as second in command over Egypt, but he too is unworthy. Think of the one person that you would consider more righteous than any other--that individual is also unworthy. Heaven searches for this individual and does not find even one worthy person. John weeps in despair until the angel declares that the Lamb of God was found worthy. He is declared worthy by the twenty-four elders as priestly representatives of earth's inhabitants. 1 Chronicles 24 He is also declared worthy by all of Heaven's inhabitants. Hallelujiah, the atonement process for the world God loves can begin.
Take a peak at the following pages and learn of your final days on this planet. Discover the challanges that wait for you and other believers. Consider that God will not ask of us what He can not deliver. Contemplate the scriptures that desibe the deceptions of the last days and rejoice that the Truth will prevail. Learn of all these things by studying the fall festivals and their application to last day events.
1 Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” 3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. 4 I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. 5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. 9 And they sang a new song, saying:
“You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased for God
persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth.”
11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12 In a loud voice they were saying:
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!”
13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!”
14 The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.
Revelation 5:1-14
The fall festivals describe the coming of the King of Righteousness as a day of destruction and wrath. It is not His desire that anyone suffers the wrath of God. Man is not appointed to wrath, but to salvation. The fall festivals describe God's great opportunity for each and every individual living at His coming to prepare for His appearance. They describe God's right to claim the people that claim Him. The prince of this dark world will resist and will not willingly let God's people go. However, God will redeem us. In addition to redeeming mankind, Christ will also redeem the planet.
The Great White Throne judgment will occur on the 8th day after the Feast of Tabernacles. God will move Heaven to our planet and will dwell with mankind forever. It was always God's desire to dwell with humanity. We lost dominion in the garden, but the fall festivals describe Heaven's plan for restoring paradise lost. Humanity has been seeking a way to eternal life by seeking far away fountains, empty promises wrapped in mythical tales, and endless journeys to foreign lands. Finally, the gifts of God (Eden and eternal life) will be restored to mankind through Jesus, our redeemer kinsman.
Join me in studying this amazing story. You life will be forever changed when you discover the magnitude of God's love for humanity displayed through the intricate details established in the biblical festivals. The fall feasts describe mankind's final salvation opportunity, the last altar call. When you hear the shofar, respond as if your life depends upon your decision.
