God’s Calendar - The Month (New Moon) of Shevat 2022 (5782)

Welcome, friends, to this special live service for the Feast of Yom Kippur, better known as the Day of Atonement, one of God's divine appointments found in Leviticus 23. This is an incredible day to examine — both personally and prophetically — as we culminate a journey that began on the Feast of Trumpets ten days ago, continuing through a season of repentance until we arrive at the redemption we remember at Passover: individual redemption, and also the final redemption when Messiah Yeshua will come at his second coming (Revelation 19:11–16), clothed in white garments, winning the final victory, redeeming the nation of Israel, and then establishing his millennial kingdom five days from now on the Feast of Tabernacles.

There is something profound about the six-month journey between Passover and Yom Kippur and how they are related. At Passover we celebrate our individual salvation — he was crucified for us, rose on the third day, and poured out his Holy Spirit fifty days later on the Feast of Pentecost, or Shavuot. Looking at the template of the children of Israel coming out of Egypt, the counting of the Omer over fifty days points to Jubilee, to receiving the Torah, and to the coming of the Holy Spirit — all on the same day, as recorded in the Gospels and the book of Acts. Then this journey continues to Yom Kippur, which symbolizes the national redemption of Israel. Understanding God's calendar and his divine appointments as outlined in Leviticus 23 is therefore essential.

On this day we afflict our souls as the scriptures instruct, and we give thanks and praise to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. We give him all credit, glory, and honor — he is the name above every name, and every tongue will confess and every knee will bow that he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is the Holy One of Israel, the King of Israel, who will redeem Israel at the end of the age on this very day, as we will see in the scriptures tonight.

If you are not familiar with the feast days of the Lord — more precisely called the divine appointments of the Lord — we welcome you. Open your heart, open your soul, receive the teaching, and then ask the Holy Spirit to confirm it. We will present the scriptures and read them together. These are the second-coming events of the Messiah: the Feast of Trumpets ten days ago, when the last trumpet sounds and he comes and wars for ten days; then the final victory at Yom Kippur (Revelation 19:11–16); and five days later, the Feast of Tabernacles, the rejoicing feast — the honeymoon feast, because after the wedding there is a honeymoon, just as we have on earth. Just as Yeshua fulfilled the first four appointed times — Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, and Shavuot — he will fulfill the three fall feast days at Trumpets, Yom Kippur, and Tabernacles.

Everything begins with God's calendar. In Genesis 1:14–16 God established his calendar based on both the sun and the moon. Most of us operate by the Gregorian calendar for work and daily activities, which is fine, but it is based on the sun alone. God's calendar, by contrast, uses both luminaries. Many people call it the Jewish calendar or the Hebrew calendar, which it is — but we must remember that God created the sun and the moon, not mankind. It is his calendar, which he gave to the Jewish people to pass on to us, so that we could understand the appointed times, the moadim.

Genesis 1:14–16 reads: "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day and the night, and let them be for signs and seasons and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth. And it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also." These two great witnesses — the sun and the moon — are appointed for signs, for seasons, for days, and for years. The "seasons" here are not winter, spring, summer, or fall. The "days" refer not to ordinary days but to the Sabbath days and the holy feast days of the Lord. The "years" refer to the Shemitah year and the seven-year Shemitah cycle. And the "signs" — consider the sign of the Son of Man referenced in Matthew 24.

The Hebrew word translated "seasons" in this passage is moed, which means a divine appointment, a fixed time, an appointed time set by the Father for his Son to intersect with human history — both at his first coming and at his second coming — so that we can understand the time of our visitation. Yeshua wept over Jerusalem in Luke 19 precisely because the people did not understand the time of their visitation at his first coming. We must not repeat that error. The foundation of everything related to God's calendar begins in Genesis 1:14–16 and builds from there.

From there we move to Leviticus 23. In verses 1–2 the Lord spoke to Moses saying, "Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: the feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are my feasts." He states it twice — these are his feasts, his feast days. The word for "feast" in Leviticus 23 is also moed — a divine appointment, an appointed time, a fixed time. Genesis 1:14 and Leviticus 23 are therefore directly connected: Messiah Yeshua is going to fulfill the calendar. He made his divine appointments at his first coming, and he will make his divine appointments at his second coming, in precise fulfillment of both the calendar and the appointed times of Leviticus 23. He set them up for his Son to intersect with human history at these exact times.

As someone born a Gentile who is now grafted into the commonwealth of Israel — as Paul describes in Ephesians 2, Romans 11, and Galatians 3 — I understand that once you are saved by Messiah, you are grafted into that commonwealth. Many people refer to the feast days as "the Jewish feasts," but they are God's feasts. He is the one who created the sun and the moon, and he gave the calendar and the feast days to the Jewish people to give to all of us. If you love Yeshua and you are grafted into the commonwealth of Israel, and he is the King of Israel and the Holy One of Israel, then it is important to worship him on his divine appointments.

Think of it this way: if your employer tells you to meet at noon and you decide to go to lunch with friends and return at three o'clock, you probably will not be working for that employer much longer. In the same way, the Father has established his appointed times. We want to be obedient children, and I believe there is a season of discipline and correction occurring in the church right now, with many people opening their eyes to errors that have crept in. The calendar and the feast days of God — because they are his days — are part of what is being restored.

Returning to Leviticus 23:1–2, the word moed appears right at the opening, meaning divine appointment, appointed time, fixed time. The connection between Genesis 1:14 and Leviticus 23 is unmistakable. God set these times for his Son to intersect with human history, and that is a beautiful and essential truth. You can look this up yourself in Strong's Dictionary — it is entry number 4150.