YHWH'S FESTIVAL DAYS

(THE APPOINTED TIMES OF WORSHIP)

Why keep festival days that are not found in Scripture?

Is the word 'Christmas' found anywhere in the Inspired Word?

And if the Seventh Day Sabbath was set apart as the day of worship and rest at the time the world was created, then why would that have changed when Messiah first came?

When we search the Scriptures carefully, we do not see apostles going into separate 'Church' buildings on the 'Sun' day. Instead, what we find is that the apostles still went into the synagogues (and into the Temple) on the original Seventh Day Sabbath, and on the festival days. This was also the Messiah's custom (e.g., Luke 4:16.)

So, if the custom of the Messiah and His apostles was to keep the Seventh Day Sabbath and the original seven Hebrew feasts, then why would we do differently?

Modern Christianity teaches that the apostles abandoned the Sabbath in favor of the 'Sun-day.' This is a common error, based on a failure to recognize that the Scripture was written by Jews: And therefore, to properly interpret the Renewed Covenant, one must approach it with a Hebrew mindset (and not a Greco-Roman Western gentile one.)

The Hebrew day begins at sunset; so when we read that the apostles assembled 'on the first day of the week,' what this actually means is that when the synagogue service was over (after sundown, 'Saturday night'), the apostles got together at somebody's house in order to stretch out the day of worship and rest as long as possible. This was not a new practice, but has been the practice among devout Jews for many millennia.

Another curious 'Christian' phenomenon is to worship on Christmas, when 'Christmas' is not even found in the Renewed Covenant. Actually, neither 'Christmas' nor 'Easter' are found in the Renewed Covenant, in any of the source texts. The only reason the word 'Easter' appears in the King James Version (at Acts 12:4) is that the translators mistranslated the Greek word 'Pascha,' meaning 'The Passover.'

So since the Messiah and His apostles did not observe the Sun-day, Christmas or Easter, then why would we?

If the Messiah's apostles continued to keep the original seven festival days even after the Messiah's death, burial and resurrection, then why don't we?

The Messiah Yeshua ('Jesus') said that not the least thing would fall from the Law as long as heaven and earth existed (Matthew 5:18); and one of the commandments in the Torah Moshe (the Law of Moses) is that those who live in the Land of Israel should come up to Jerusalem to keep three annual pilgrimage Feasts (the Passover, the Feast of Weeks/Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot: Deuteronomy 16.)

While those living outside the Land are not required to come up for the pilgrimages, those who have been blessed with the opportunity to come up can attest that it is a life-altering experience.

The details of how the Scriptural-agricultural calendar is determined (and why it is worth the bother) can be found on our free studies page, and in our books.

Spring Feasts: (mm/dd/yy)

Aviv Barley: Found 3/23/08.

Rosh HaShanah (Head of the Year): First crescent sliver sighted on 4/7/08, making sunset 4/7/08 thru sunset 4/8/08 the Head of the New Year.

Passover: Afternoon of the 14th day of the 1st Hebrew month (afternoon of 4/21/08).

1st of Unleavened Bread: 15th day of 1st Hebrew month (sunset 4/21/08 thru sunset 4/22/08).

Wave Sheaf Offering: Day after the weekly Sabbath that either coincides with the Passover, or follows it (afternoon of 4/27). Begins the Omer count. Always on the first day of the week.

7th of Unleavened Bread: 21st day of the 1st Hebrew month (sunset 4/27/08 thru sunset 4/28/08).

Shavuot (Pentecost): Fifty days from the Wave Sheaf Offering (always on the first day of the week) (sunset 6/14/08 thru sunset 6/15/08).

Fall Feasts: (mm/dd/yy)

The exact timing of the fall feasts can shift a day or two, depending upon when the first crescent sliver of the new moon is actually seen from Israel. Based on the sighting of the new moon of the first month, the tentative dates are expected to be:

Yom Teruah (Day of Trumpets): First day of the seventh month. Anticipated sunset 10/1/08 thru sunset 10/2/08.

Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement): Tenth day of the seventh month. Anticipated sunset 10/10/08 thru 10/11/08.

First Day of Sukkot: Fifteenth day of the seventh month. Anticipated sunset 10/15/08 thru sunset 10/16/08.

Last Day of Sukkot (the Last Great Day): 22nd day of the seventh month. Anticipated sunset 10/22/08 thru sunset 10/23/08.

Hanukkah (Feast of Dedication): Starts the 25th day of the eleventh month, and lasts for eight days.

New Moon Days

These are the potential days of the sighting of the first crescent sliver of the new moon from the Land of Israel. We will announce the actual sightings to the email newsgroup when it is seen. Unless the first crescent sliver of the new moon is actually sighted, the month defaults to 30 days.

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