Secrets of Biblical Feasts! Unlocking God’s Prophetic Timeline

Nothing captures the restoration of the Jewish root today and the Kingdom to come, as the resurgence of the biblical feasts, the festivals of the Lord.

Yeshua Jesus observed them all! One could characterize the feasts as antidotal and prescriptive, and an introduction to such realities as sanctified time, rhythms of life, and God’s concept of time.

The feasts come not from the body of rabbinic literature or tradition, but from the enduring Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament. According to Timothy, this portion of the Bible is a vital part of the entire Word of God: “All Scripture is God-breathed…” (2 Timothy 3:16 NIV). Paul first wrote these words to Timothy when only the Torah was in view.

The feasts are commanded by God to be observed perpetually, “And ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days” (Leviticus 23:41 KJV). This brings us to the Hebrew word for “forever,” which is olam, which also describes God’s name (Exodus 3:14-15).

In Leviticus 23:1-2 (NKJV), the same idea is found: “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.’”

The writings of Heschel on the Jewish calendar are foundational. Abraham Heschel was a Polish-born Rabbi who lived from 1907-1972. He writes of the feasts and Sabbath in his book, The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man: “The Bible is more concerned with time than space, emphasizing generations and events more than things or lands. It speaks the language of history rather than geography.” Feasts like the Sabbath became a holy space in life, and a time to recall history and identity.

Heschel asserts, “Judaism can be characterized as a religion aiming at the sanctification of time…there are no two hours alike. Every hour is unique and the only one given at the moment.” More, “Jewish ritual is God’s architecture of time—observances are predicted on the phases and rhythms of time.”

A rabbinic explanation illustrates the richness of the feasts this way, “The feasts stand on two legs, one in heaven, and one on this earth, and it is impossible to divide them. Take God out of any festival or memorial and you take away one of its legs and it falls flat.” Being far more than celebrations, each feast was an inner spiritual activity for the Jew. So Judaism is always reinforcing the Jewish concept that He is the Creative Guiding Force or the Source of All That Is.

The Human Need for Memorials

When God ordered the Israelites to observe the biblical feasts, regularly, according to appointed times, they were to mark a holy time, purpose, and message. It was also a time for God to be worshipped and remembered. When God directed Moses to give to Pharaoh the plain reason he should let His people go, He said: “Let my people go that they may worship Me.” Pharaoh prevented the Israelites from remembering God at His appointed time.

Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) said a hundred years ago, “The Jew’s catechism is his calendar, when he called upon his contemporaries to count and live their days accorded to the hallowed order and rhythm of the Jewish calendar (which is of course the biblical calendar.)”

Any notion then of hallowed order and rhythms or numbering of our days and architecture of time, one is confronted immediately with an obvious nugget in the treasure of God; the feasts were given as memorials to be observed forever, from the age past and into the present age, and into the age to come. Even in the Kingdom to come, all humankind, Jew and Gentile, will be required to observe the Feast of Tabernacles. Recall that during this time, Yeshua Himself will be reigning upon His throne in Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:16).

What becomes evident is the human inclination to forget God and His principles. Out of Israel’s forty-two kings who reigned, only nine did right in the eyes of the Lord, yes only nine. The Psalmist in chapter 78:32 (NIV) answers this mystery: “In spite of all this they kept on sinning; in spite of his wonders, they did not believe.” Man’s tenacious bout with the same touches all. Man loses his way and must always be brought back to remembrance. An ancient Jewish sage sums it up this way, “As water and fire cannot coexist in the same vessel, so too, love of this world and love of the World to Come are like two wives of the same husband: please one, the other gets angry.” How much more for us in Messiah’s glorious truth!

The Calendar

Regarding the calendar, biblical rhythms need to be calibrated according to our modern civil calendar that Pope Gregory instituted in 1582. His calendar defiled the biblical calendar to its core.

The Gregorian calendar was purely solar, while the ancient Israelites calendar was luni-solar and followed closely the course of the moon to the next moon. Yet the lunar months corresponded to the season of the year, which is governed by the sun. Immediately one sees the close relationship to harvest and planting.

Our modern-day calendar year consists of 365 days. There are fewer than 100 Sabbaths, feast days, fast days, and holidays, and there are more ordinary days than special days.

Roman Days and Months

To grasp how completely the biblical calendar was defiled, consider our modern days and months. The month of January or Januarious was named for Janus, the god of doors. February or Briareus comes from the festival of forgiveness of sins. March or Martius was derived from Mars, the Roman god of war. April or Aprils is derived from the dedication to the goddess Venus. May or Maius is derived from the goddess Maia. June or Junius is named after the goddess Juna. July and August were named after Julius Caesar and Augustus. December was originally the tenth month on the Roman calendar.

When it comes to the days of the week, the Greeks derived their names from the sun, moon, and five known planets; these were in turn named after the Greek gods: Ares, Hermes, Zeus, Aphrodite, and Cronus. They called the days of week theon hemerai (days of the gods). The Romans substituted their equivalent gods for the Greek gods Mars, Mercury, Jove (Jupiter), Venus, and Saturn.

Contrary to the Romans and Greeks, the Bible designates Shabbat-Sabbath from all other days; six days we labor, but on the seventh is a Sabbath! Our modern days trace back to the following:

• Sunday came from Sun’s Day or the day of the sun.

• Monday from Moon’s Day.

• Tuesday was derived from Tiu’s Day for the English Germanic god of war and sky.

• Wednesday from Woden’s Day, the leader of the Wild Hun.

• Thursday, from Thor’s Day, named for the god of thunder. He is also represented as riding a chariot drawn by goats and is the defender of the Aesir.

• Friday comes from Freya or Fria, who is the Teutonic/Germanic people’s goddess of love, beauty and procreation.

• Saturday (the biblical Sabbath) came from the planet Saturn who was also known as the god of agriculture and harvest. Saturn’s wife Opis was the goddess of fertility, and the Greeks and later mythologists believed they ruled the earth during the time of happiness and virtue, which is ironic since holiness, happiness, and virtue are the qualities that the One True God intended for His people on Shabbat.

What the Spirit of God has initiated today is nothing short of redeeming time and restoring biblical rhythms. This defined not only ancient Israel and the early body of Jewish believers, it characterizes the Kingdom to come.