Shalom, shalom, peace, in the name of Yeshua. This is Crystal Sharpe and welcome to the Ancient Scrolls program. Today is the first day of the week, it is Sunday September 2nd.
Today we are going to take a look at the Lord’s fall feasts in Leviticus 23, and how these feasts are visuals to prepare us for the end of days. I will point out some passages in Revelation that I think would be relevant to the fall feasts.
Let’s pray so we can get started:
Father,
Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the universe; King over heaven and earth. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof; the world and those who dwell therein. The joy of the Lord is our strength.
Shema O, Israel, (Hear O America), the Lord our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength.
We ask you to cleanse us all from unrighteousness so that our prayers will not be hindered. We pray for a release of Your Spirit of repentance on our loved ones and the nation.
We pray against abortion, child molestation, human trafficking, adultery, idolatry, fornication, homosexuality, gender confusion, zoophilia, witchcraft, charismatic witchcraft, pharmakia, suicide, hatred, greed. The land is polluted with blood of the innocents, and the land is defiled with our sexual sins. We pray that every twisted and crooked way will be taken out of this nation; out of our Senate, our Congress, our agencies like the NSA, FBI, CIA, the military, and the Supreme Court. We pray the fear of the Lord would saturate every heart in our government. We thank You, Father, that there will be no politicians in the New Millennium of Yeshua the Messiah.
We pray that You would protect president Trump from every device, strategy and plan of the enemy. We pray every weapon formed against him will not prosper. We pray Your wisdom, knowledge, understanding, Your Spirit of might, counsel, discernment and the fear of the Lord will permeate his life.
We pray Your favor upon Israel. I pray they would receive Yeshua as their Savior. I pray for the peace of Jerusalem. I pray for the Arab nations to know Yeshua, because they will not have peace until they do, nor will Israel. We pray Your wisdom, knowledge and understanding will saturate their government officials and that they would know to fear the Lord.
Amen.
Before we get started on the message, a couple of weeks ago, my husband and I had spent some time fasting and praying to hear from God. So, my husband, Quen, received a word from the Lord and this is what he heard: “We need to tell people, tell them the truth—we are in the last days.” Then He said: “If they (the hearers) do not respond to it—move on.” After this my husband was shown what we interpreted to be a stock market crash. So, we have a desire to obey his voice and I told my husband I would announce it on the program. We make every attempt to sound the alarm that we are in the end of days, and that people ought to repent and stay in continual repentance; and importantly also to make physical preparation for the breakdown of society as it blunders along to destruction.
California is passing laws to ban the Bible from being used in ministries for those who want deliverance from sins. Several billboards were erected by Greg Laurie to advertise his harvest crusade in southern California; because of serious complaints all the advertisements were removed by the Irvine Company whom he had contracted for his crusade announcements.
California is on fire, hmmm. They have been in a drought for five years, hmmm. Governor Brown declared state of emergency because of the Hepatitis A outbreak, hmm, imagine that. The earth is polluted with blood and our land defiled because of our perverse sexual sins in spite of those who have said over the years that sins do not affect society as a whole.
However, open faced rebellion and hatred of God is not working for them. I would suggest repenting of their blatant transgressions, and stay in repentance.
Our basic rights of freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom to possess firearms, these fundamental rights that were once guaranteed are now perishing.
A friend called me the other day and he asked what to do in times of persecution. I was taken aback a little because I thought only my husband and I were aware and a couple of friends knew that persecution was here. So, I quoted Matthew 10:23, when Yeshua said: “When they persecute you in this city (talking about Jerusalem), flee to another.” A person can run until persecution finally catches up.
My thinking, and not just mine, others are seeing the social structure and order that we were accustomed to disintegrate in America; and people are preparing in various ways for the next ten years of persecution. Unless there are going to be sweeping changes in our laws to conform to the Constitution once again, life in America will become increasingly difficult for genuine Christians.
The time is now to truly repent of our sins against God, and to prepare for persecution, and the second return of Yeshua. He did say it would be like in the days of Noah, meaning the wicked were destroyed by the flood and the righteous ones were saved to reproduce and fill the earth again.
Now, on with the teaching . . .
We are going to go over an introduction of the feasts of the Lord so that you will become familiar with His feasts.
All the feasts are about Yeshua, because Yeshua is written in the volume of the book (Bible), Psalm 40:7 and Hebrews 10:7. The Torah and the prophets speak of Yeshua Luke 24:24-26 all scripture point to Yeshua John 5:39, all the law, the prophets and this includes the feasts prefigure Yeshua. They are visuals that not only teach us salvation historically (Israel, its supernatural deliverance from slavery in Egypt at the time of passover), but future salvation as well. For instance, Passover was not only fulfilled by Yeshua at His death on the tree in 30AD, but it will ultimately be fulfilled in the kingdom of God according to Luke 22:16. This is what Yeshua said to His disciples: “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you I shall not eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
The feasts tell us what God has done, what He is doing and what He will do in the future. He is the God of yesterday, today and tomorrow. All the major redemptive accomplishments of Christ pass in review perennially during the course of the year through the feasts of the Lord.
These feasts are holy days, and as the passages of the Word show us, these days are holy convocations, holy assemblies, they are holy days and are acquainted with God’s holy time. It is at the time of these feasts that He chooses to reveal Himself to us. I am going to have to move on . . .
An elementary way to look at the feasts is to see them as cycles. Us, in the western part of the world do cycles every day, but they are mundane—things that are common. For instance, our cycle usually begins with getting up, getting the kids off to school and going to work. We come home and cycle more mundane activities like cooking, cleaning, mowing grass and then going to bed. We cycle to the weekend if some of us are fortunate to have the weekend off.
We cycle through mundane holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, and cycle through our birthday and everyone else’s birthday. We cycle into life by being born and then we cycle out and die, we have an expiration date. The moon cycles through its phases and the earth cycles around the sun. These are common, earthly cycles, but what God does with His feasts causes holy time. His feasts are holy-days, instead of holidays. Holiday started out as holy day, and was observed with the suspension of work. God’s holy-days are observed with the suspension of work. Every week is Sabbath and it is a holy-day with the suspension of work so that we will meet with Him.
The fourth commandment: Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy, Exodus 20:8. God called the Sabbath holy in Exodus 16:23. The Temple doors in heaven are opened on the Sabbath and the feasts. In Revelation John sees a door in heaven opened. They are feasts days, new moon and Sabbath days. When we observe Sabbath, we close our businesses, send the employees home we enter into holiness. The door of the Temple opens for us and we touch a piece of eternity. Sabbath is an appointment to meet with God.
God has kept Sabbath holy for thousands of years since it was created. Man has desecrated it and treaded on it for thousands of years. Man is taught to do this, to have disdain and the preference to follow after the traditions of Constantine who threatened death to anyone who observed it. Sabbath is an example and I must move on.
The Lord’s feasts are called moedim, times of appointments; the word moed is used for seasons and the Lord’s feasts of appointments.
Genesis 1:14, I am going to read it from the New King James Version and then from the One New Man translation, so that you will be able to hear the difference with the translations. I know that some are rather militant in using the KJV translation for everything, but our translations are not scriptures. Our translations are from the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts, those are the scriptures. We possess the translations of those scriptures. Meanings are lost in translations and through people’s biases.
In the NKjv: 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.
And God said: “Lights, Be in the firmament of the heavens, to divide the day from the night! Be for signs (Owt) and for appointed times (moedim) and for days and years!
Signs in Hebrew is the word oth. “The Companion Bible” explains the Hebrew word oth to mean “things to come.” (In other words, it is saying those things that are yet future [what is in the future? The end, and what is at the end? The beginning] and says “oth” carries the connotation of something that connects the beginning and the end. The beginning and the end is the alpha and omega in Revelation 1:8; the beginning and the end in Hebrew letters aleph and tav; omega or tav meaning finished. Make a point and circle back to it. We are circling back to the one who created everything—Yeshua—the beginning and the end.
Now, let me say this; we are more familiar with the greek letters Aleph and Omega, and in Hebrew that would be aleph and tav. Alef and Tav spell the Hebrew word Owt. It has a connecting letter of vav. The Hebrew letter vav connects the beginning and the end. Yeshua said He was the alef and tav (alpha and Omega), so that He is also the sign, He is the owt.
Strong’s concordance says this: Owt (225) in the sense of appearing; a single (lit or figuratively), as a flag, beacon, monument, omen, prodigy, evidence, etc: mark, miracle, sign, token.
The moon for example is used as an ominous sign to the Jews when it is eclipsed, because the nation of Israel reckons time, their monthly calendar, the Lord’s holy-days (feasts) by the moon cycles.
Seasons in Hebrew is Moed, that is, appointed times. The appointed seasons are the signs set by God of those activities of His kingdom. Signs and seasons are the appointed times set by God for mankind to meet with Him.
In my One New Man Bible is a brief comment that says: the signs are miracles, the appointed times are for God’s appearances and for the seasons of the LORD.
King Heziekiah, let’s take a look at II Kings 20:9, Hezekiah has taken ill, and the sage-prophet Isaiah gives him a word from the Lord: “Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.” The king turned his face and prayed and wept bitter tears. Isaiah who was at this time in the middle court returns with a word from God that Hezekiah would recover and live 15 more years. There was this discussion on what the sign should be for his recovery. It was the agreed that the shadow of the sun would go backwards ten degrees. 10 degrees is about 40 minutes. So time went back 40 minutes. Then according to Isaiah 38, the sun’s degrees returned to it’s normal path. This would indicate to us that these celestial bodies will be used as signs at the end of the age.
It looks like I am at the end of the program. If it is God’s will I will be here next program. Remember to walk by faith and not by sight. Do two things this week: love and forgive. Ask God to cleanse you from all unrighteousness every day. Keep your spiritual garments clean from spots, wrinkles and blemishes. Love God and love your neighbor
Another sign is the rainbow in Genesis 9:12-17
And God said: This is the sign of the covenant I am making with between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come; I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creature of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth. So God said to Noah, This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.
If it is God’s will I will be here next program. Remember to walk by faith and not by sight. Do two things this week: love and forgive. Ask God to cleanse you from all unrighteousness every day. Keep your spiritual garments clean from spots, wrinkles and blemishes. Love God and love your neighbor
The sages teach that the rainbow appears when God sees that the world deserves to be flooded, He then puts His bow in the sky to let people of that place know that they deserve to be destroyed by a flood. Thus the flood in Noah’s day came because the people were wicked. Thus the message of the rainbow sign is to encourage the people to repent of their wicked deeds.
Someone told me the other day, maybe I read it someplace, but in Washington state, sometimes they have several rainbows at a time.
Ok, I have to move on. Leviticus 23
And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, The appointed seasons of the LORD, which you will proclaim holy convocations, these are my appointed seasons.
So these are not Jewish feasts, they are the Lord’s feasts, Jews and messianic Jews just happen to observe them. There are a few churches in our area that are observing the feasts, mostly Passover and Yom Teruah (Rosh Hashannah).
Six days will work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation. You will do no work; it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.
Sabbath, the 7th day is a feast of the LORD from Friday evening to Saturday evening. All the days of the week are good, but the 7th day is the day that is blessed. Yeshua said he did not destroy the law or the prophets so this is still in effect that the 7th day is still the blessed day. It is the day that prefigures the Messianic age, where the earth will have its 1000 year rest.
All the feasts are visuals of God’s plans for mankind. When we observe them, we are practicing out what He plans to do. We receive understanding by doing it. So I have been practicing them for around 10 years. The feasts are cycles, the Sabbath is a cycle, every 7 years is a cycle—the sh’mita, jubilee is a cycle.
So the next feast listed in Leviticus is the feast of Pesach, or Passover. This visual explains what Yeshua did on the cross. Most churches today understand that Messiah fulfilled that feast of the LORD. The Hebrews practiced it for centuries until it became reality in the first century AD when the Son of God was put to death like the lamb at the Temple. The Pesach lamb was a sacrifice for individual sins, and the Jews also see this feast as a time to reflect on one’s spiritual condition and repent of behaviors that are displeasing to God.
Sometimes ministers when performing communion will encourage the assembly to examine themselves, and repent of any unacceptable behavior before they participate in the wine and unleavened bread ceremony, and it comes from the word.
I Corinthians 11:30, Thus whoever would eat the bread or would drink the cup of the LORD unworthily sins against the body and the blood of the LORD. But a man must habitually test himself and he must thus consistently eat from the bread and drinking from the cup: for the one who eats and drinks, when he does not first discern that it is the body of the Lord, is eating and drinking judgment for himself. Because of this many among you are weak and sick and many are dying. But if we were judging ourselves correctly, we would not be judged; but we are disciplined, being judged by the LORD, so that we would not be condemned with the world.
The fall feast of Yom teruah, or Rosh HaShanah focuses on repentance for the corporate body of Israel before Yom Kippur, which is the DAY of Judgment. They want to be spiritually cleansed before that day so the next year they will enjoy the blessing of rain on their crops, and the abundance of fruit on their trees. So, Pesach is for individual sins and Yom Kippur is the corporate body. Yeshua is the final atonement for those who desire to change, to repent of their rebellion, of their doing evil before the LORD.
The next appointment after Pesach is Unleavened Bread. Yeshua fulfilled this feast by having no evil in him, no misinterpretation of scripture, no rebellion, no vice, no sin; He was without spot and blemish.
Next is HaBikkorim, the first fruits, the very best omer of the field of the barley harvest that is lifted up in the Temple service to be accepted by the LORD. No one eats of the barley until it is offered first in the Temple. Yeshua fulfilled this at His resurrection. He was firstfruit of the dead offered before the LORD.
Then there is the late spring feast of Shavuot, Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came and baptized both Jews and Gentiles that day, bringing also a wonderful spirit of repentance on people. This feast was pThis feast of the LORD is at the time of wheat harvest and has connections with the gentile Ruth.
