Saturday, March 17, 2007

ISRAELI FEASTS DAYS AND PROPHECY P 1

FULFILLED PROPHECIES ON FEAST DAYS. PART 1 OF 2
From Grant Jeffries Book. Armageddon Apointment with Destiny. Pages 44-64 (Selective
)

SIGNS OF THE END OF THE AGE (NOT THE WORLD) THE WORLD GOES ON FOREVER.

GENESIS 1:14
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:(ISRAELS HOLY DAYS AND SABBATH STARTS AT 6PM) And for SIGNS (PROPHECY SIGNS TO HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE, OUR DAY)

COLOSSIANS 2:16-17
16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

WE SEE RIGHT OFF GOD WILL FULFILL PROPHECY ON THE ISRAELI FEAST DAYS. SO KEEP WATCH ON THE FEAST DAYS OF ISRAEL FOR PROPHECY TO BE FULFILLED.

NOW LETS GET STARTED OF HOW PROPHECY WAS FULFILLED ON THESE FEAST DAYS IN THE PAST AND FUTURE.

THE ISRAELI BIBLICAL CALENDAR


01-Nisan or Abib-March/April
02-Zif or Iyar-April/May
03-Sivan-May/June
04-Tammuz-June/July
05-Ab or Av-July/August
06-Elul-August/September
07-Tishri-September/October
08-Bul-October/November
09-Chisleu-November/December
10-Tebeth-December/January
11-Sebat-January/February
12-Adar-February/March
Ve-Adar (the Intercalary Month)


LEVITICUS 23:44
44 And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD.

NUMBERS 10:10
10 Also in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; that they may be to you for a memorial before your God: I am the LORD your God.

In giving the laws for his people, God set several appointed feasts of the Lord for Israel to observe at specific times during the year (Leviticus 23). These feasts were to be celebrated from that time in the wilderness when God gave the law and would carry on into the future. The first feast day God set aside is the Sabbath day, which is to be observed every week. The following seven feasts in Leviticus 23 were to be celebrated annually: Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Penticost, Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles.

Each feast commemorated a specific event. But that is not all. Looking back from the vantage point of our history, we discover also that additional specific prophesied events were fulfilled on the exact feast days that God instituted to commemorate the events. For example, the feast of Passover commemorated the deliverence of the Hebrew people from the destroyer that passed over their blood sprinkled homes as he visited the homes of the Egyptians, taking the lives of the firstborn of every
family-human and cattle.

The blood that the people were told to put on their doorposts was from a sacrificial lamb. The event that was prefigured, of course, was the offering of the lamb of God on Calvary. Four of the seven feasts have already been fulfilled, each one on the same day of the month on which God commanded that the feast should be commemorated.

Therefore, because of this phenomenon, we can expect those prophecies which are still in our future to also be fulfilled on the exact calendar day these feasts are to be celebrated.

4 FEASTS FULFILLED, 3 TO GO

The first four of the feasts-Feast of Unleavened Bread, Feast of Passover, Feast of First Fruits, and Feast of Penticost-were fulfilled at the first advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. The final three feasts, the feast of trumpets, the feast of atonement and the feast of Tabernacles-will be fulfilled, it is believed, at our Lord's second coming. We will study each of these feasts and the prophecy it symbolizes, as well
as the events that have occured already in Israel's history on the exact calendar day of the feast.

On Rosh Hodesh, the first day of each month of the Jewish calendar, the appearence of even a tiny sliver of the new moon signaled the beginning of the month. This first day was announced through the blowing of the Shofar, the ram's horn, in the cities and by signal fires on each mountain top which fanned out the news to the most distant villages in Israel.

PSALMS 81:3-5
3 Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.
4 For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob.
5 This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not.

During the first temple period, in King Solomon's day, the high priest announced the appearence of the new moon. Later, the Sanhedrin (the highest legal authority) announced the first day of the first month to set the calendar for the new year and set the dates for the seven feasts.

FIRST DAY OF NISAN (MARCH/APRIL)
CLEANSING AND NEW BEGINNINGS


The theme of the first day of the month of Nisan was a time for ritual cleansing and new beginnings for the Jews. From the time of the Exodus, God declared that Israel would change their New Year's day from the fall to a new system where the first day of Nisan, in the spring (MARCH-APRIL) became the beginning of the calendar year. Nisan, then, became the first month in the Jewish calendar.

Four events have already transpired in Israel's history on this first important biblical anniversary that have to do with cleansing and new beginnings. One still remains to be fulfilled.

1-The dedication of the tabernacle during Exodus.
EXODUS 40:17
17 And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up.

2-The cleansing of the Temple by King Hezekiah.
2 CHRONICLES 29:2-3,17
2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done.
3 He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them.
17 Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month came they to the porch of the LORD: so they sanctified the house of the LORD in eight days; and in the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end.

3-Ezra and the exiles begin their return from Babylon
EZRA 7:9,23
7 And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims, unto Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.
9 For upon the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him.
23 Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven: for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?

4-The decree is given to Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
NEHEMIAH 2:1-8
1 And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.
2 Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid,
3 And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?
4 Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.
5 And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it.
6 And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.
7 Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah;
8 And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.

FUTURE
5-The cleansing of the millennial Temple.

EZEKIEL 45:18
18 Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the first month, in the first day of the month, thou shalt take a young bullock without blemish, and cleanse the sanctuary:

THE TENTH DAY OF NISAN (MARCH/APRIL)
SANCTIFICATION


Sanctification is the theme associated with the tenth day of Nisan. It was the day connected with the setting apart of the Passover Lamb for a holy purpose. There are four major events associated with this special day.

1-The sanctification of the Passover Lamb during the Exodus.EXODUS 12:3-6
3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:
4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.

1 CORINTHIANS 5:7
7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

2-Israel Crossed the Jordan River and Entered the Promised Land.
JOSHUA 3:5,16
5 And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the LORD will do wonders among you.
16 That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho.

JOSHUA 4:19
19 And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho.

3-Christ our Passover Lamb was cut off on Palm Sunday.
On the tenth day of Nisan in A.D 32 Christ was cut off.
DANIEL 9:26
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

FUTURE
4-Ezekiels Vision of the Millennial Temple.

EZEKIEL 40:1-2
1 In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was smitten, in the selfsame day the hand of the LORD was upon me, and brought me thither.

THE FOURTEENTH DAY OF NISAN (MARCH/APRIL)
THE PASSOVER SUPER

LEVITICUS 23:4-5
4 These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.
5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD'S passover.

Passover always falls on a full moon, the first full moon of spring. All Jewish males were required by God to go to Jerusalem three times each year to commemorate these feasts - passover, Penticost and the Feast of Tabernacles. Passover was the first of these feasts.

The biblical calendar reckons the beginning of a new day from sunset as God did at creation.
GENESIS 1:5
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

The Haggadah, the Jewish liturgy, says In every generation , each person should feel as though she or he were personally redeemed from Egypt. In the sacred cycle of festivals, the Passover Supper on the evening of the fourteenth of Nisan, allows all Jews in all the generations since the Exodus to participate personally in the miracle of God's redemption of the enslaved Israelites. The Passover holds forth the promise of that final redemption when the Messiah will redeem all those who look to
him for salvation.

Passover is probably the most significant of all the festivals which Israel celebrates. For almost thirty-five hundred years, Jewish families have gathered to commemorate what God did for them when he delivered them from hundreds of years of slavery in Egypt.

Six times in their history on this day, the fourteenth day of Nisan, the evening Passover Supper has marked a milestone in the spiritual and national life of Israel.

1-God makes a Covenant with Abraham regarding the promised land.
GENESIS 15:13-18
13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.
18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

GENESIS 18:14
14 Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.

2-The Exodus Passover Supper.
EXODUS 12:41
41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.

3-The First Passover in Canaan.
GENESIS 17:10-11,23
10 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.
11 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
23 And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.

JOSHUA 5:3,8,11-12
3 And Joshua made him sharp knives, and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the foreskins
8 And it came to pass, when they had done circumcising all the people, that they abode in their places in the camp, till they were whole
11 And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day.
12 And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

4-The Book of Law was discovered.
2 CHRONICLES 34:2-3,14,31
2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left.
3 For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.
14 And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the LORD given by Moses.
31 And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book.

5-The dedication of the second Temple.
2 CHRONICLES 36:19
19 And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.

EZRA 6:16-19
16 And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy,
17 And offered at the dedication of this house of God an hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and for a sin offering for all Israel, twelve he goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.
18 And they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem; as it is written in the book of Moses.
19 And the children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month.

6-The Last Supper.
LUKE 22:19-20
19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

1 CORINTHIANS 11:26
26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.

THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF NISAN (MARCH/APRIL)
THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD.

LEVITICUS 23:6-7,10-11
6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
7 In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:
11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.

Although the Feast of Unleavned Bread (Hag-Ha-Matzot) is quite distinct from the Passover Feast, it occures at the same time and lasts seven days from the fifteenth day of Nisan (March/April) through the twenty-first. During these seven days, Israel was to eat bread without leaven (leaven symbolized sin) in rememberance of their baking unleavened bread in their haste to escape Egypt. The Jews in the Old and new Testament usually treated the first day of Unleavened Bread and the Passover as one,
due to its historical connection and proximity.

The Apostle Paul was thinking of this unleavened bread when he told the church at Corinth to
1 CORINTHIANS 5:7-8
7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

There have been three notable anniversary events on the feast of Unleavened Bread.

1-The Exodus from Egypt.
EXODUS 12:41
41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.

DEUTORONOMY 16:3
3 Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.

2-The Crucifixion of Christ, our Passover Lamb.
JOHN 6:35
35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

JOHN 12:23-24,27-28
23 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
27 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.
28 Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.

3-The Final fall of the Jews Resistance at Massada.
For two years following the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, the remaining Jewish resistance, under the command of Eleazar, retreated to the mountain fortress of Massada. The impregnable fortress sits on a mountain top overlooking the Dead Sea. It could only be approached by a narrow snakepath which wound its way up the steep cliffs. A small group of Soldiers was able to bravely hold off the Roman Legions for almost two years until the Roman general Silva built a huge earthen
ramp up the western side to enable their battering rams to break through. When the ramp was completed, the Jewish defenders knew that the war was lost and that by early morning the Roman Soldiers would overcome the 960 men, women and children who were the last remnant of a free Israel. They knew, from grim experience, that their fate at the hands of the Romans included rape, torture and death for every last one of them.

Rather then submit their wives and children to the cruelties of Roman victory, the defenders decided to take their own lives and die as free men. Flavius Josephus states, This calamitous slaughter was made on the fifteenth day of the month Nisan (Feast of Unleavened Bread).

THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF NISAN (MARCH/APRIL)
THE FEAST OF FIRST FRUITS.

EXODUS 23:19
19 Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.

The third of the seven feasts is celebrated on the seventeenth day of Nisan, the Feast of firstfruits.

This was the time for the harvesting of the early crops of spring. God wanted Israel to acknowledge that they owed Him not only the firstfruits, but that all they had was from God, a daily gift from his gracious land.

Four historically important anniversary events have happened on the Feast of Firstfruits, the seventeenth day of Nisan.

1-Noahs Ark rested on Mountains of Ararat.GENESIS 8:4
4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

Most ancient nations, including Israel, began their calendar year in the fall (September/October). However God changed Israels calendar by rotating it six months so that, from the time of the Exodus, their New Year's Day began in the Spring on the first day of the month of Nisan (March/April). In order to commemorate Israel's miraculas deliverence from the bondage of Egypt in the month of Nisan. God instructed Moses to change the order of the month of Exodus, Nisan, which had formerly been their Seventh month of the year, into their first month of their year.

EXODUS 12:1-2
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.

Thus, when Genesis 8:4 describes Noah's ark resting on the mountains of Ararat on the seventeeth day of the ancient calendar's seventh month (Nisan-March), it is the same day exactly as the seventeenth day of the new calendar's first month (Nisan-March) which ultimately became the Feast of Firstfruits.

2-Israel Miraculously Crossed over the Red Sea.
EXODUS 14:11-14
11 And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
12 Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.
13 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.
14 The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

3-Israel Eats the Firstfruits of the Promised Land.
JOSHUA 5:10-12
10 And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho.
11 And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day.
12 And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

4-Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

As Jesus hung on the cross in death, Satan, the Romans, the Pharisees, those who called for his death, and even his followers looked at him and saw only defeat and death:; the death of a great vision. Yet, as Jesus himself had said,
JOHN 12:24
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
But when it falls to the ground and takes root it is soon transformed into new life. It was essential for Jesus to die in order to triumph over death, sin, and Satan.

The most significant event that took place on the seventeenth day of Nisan is the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the "firstfruits" of all future resurrections into eternal life.

1 CORINTHIANS 15:20
20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

Jesus celebrated this feast by first conquering death himself, then by offering the firstfruits to all future resurrections when

MATTHEW 27:52-53
52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

Christ proved that His power over death was not limited to Himself by resurrecting many of the Old Testament saints on this feast of Firstfruits. Other ancient writers, including Clement of Alexandria in his Stromata fefer to this miraculas resurrection of the dead which, together with more than five hundred eyewitnesses to the risen Christ, assisted in the rapid, early spread of the Christian faith

1 CORINTHIANS 15:4-6
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.

What an impressive way to present to God the firstfruits of the harvest. JESUS the FIRSTFRUITS,
1 CORINTHIANS 15:18
18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.

and finally all believers who are alive at His second advent at the Rapture, raised imperishable and immortal.

1 CORINTHIANS 15:54-55
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

TOMORROW WE WILL FINISH THE FINAL HAPPENINGS OF PROPHECIES FULFILLED ON FEAST DAYS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. PART 2

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