Jewish Feasts
From this evening to the evening of 15th October the feast of Sukkot is celebrated. Also known as the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths and is the day in the Jewish Calendar where there is a transition from the sombre period of Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur into the joyous time. We describe more details in our article The Biblical Feasts and Jesus Christ. This feast provides the climax of the other feasts and Jews were to erect a booth/tabernacle and dwell within it during this period. Haaretz has an interesting article on the history of this feast –
The history of Sukkot, once the most important Jewish holiday… Continue reading
This year, Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) begins this Friday evening, October 3 and ends Saturday evening. As we cover in our Biblical Feasts and Jesus Christ article, this would be the only day of the year that high priest will enter the Holy of Holies in the temple to make a sacrifice for his sins and the sins of the people. For Christians, Jesus Christ entered the heavenly Holy of Holies with a one time sacrifice of His blood for all of our sins. This is why believing in Jesus is our only way into heaven, we cannot earn our entry, it is through faith alone!
Many people believe… Continue reading
The Jewish new year, 5775 in the Jewish calendar, starts this year at sundown on September 24th and is the first of the 2014 fall feasts. We cover more details in our Biblical Feasts article and Chabad – What is Rosh Hashanah? has more information.
Compared to the last few months the year is ending relatively peacefully, but is has been a very turbulent 3 months! Over 4000 rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza during this time. In Europe, we have also seen a significant rise of antisemitism to worse levels since Nazi Germany.
So what will the new year bring? It is difficult to say, but scripture… Continue reading
Pentecost is celebrated this Wednesday, 4th June this year, also known as Shavuot or the Feast of Weeks. It is the 4th feast in the Jewish calendar being between the 3 Spring feasts and 3 Autumn feasts.
This is the day that Christians recognise as Pentecost – ironically, Jews have been celebrating this very same day for much longer in the form of the Feast of Shavuot. In fact, the day that the Lord gave Moses the law in written form (instituting Shavuot) after the exodus in the same way the Lord gave believers the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. Just as the Lord gave the Israelites the law written on… Continue reading
If you were to explore many of the traditions of Easter, you would have trouble linking them to the death and resurrection of Christ – for example, what does an Easter egg have to do the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Where does the word “Easter” even come from? In fact, Easter originally had nothing to do with the death and resurrection of Christ and was a pagan festival that was hijacked by the early church and “Christianized”. The important question that remains is whether or not Christians should observe such a festival today? The article addresses this in a well balanced way – Should Christians celebrate Easter?
Pastor Jeff points… Continue reading
The feast of Firstfruits this year is celebrated tomorrow on 17th April, this should be the most important day in the Christian calendar. God has instituted a feast day to commemorate the resurrection of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ – Firstfruits!
The feast of firstfruits occurs very soon after Passover feast (which symbolizes the crucifixion of Christ) and is described in Leviticus 23:9-14. It is very important to remember that the account of Jesus Christ does not end with His sacrifice on our behalf. On the day after the first “weekly” Sabbath after the Passover, the Israelites were instructed to take part in the offering of “firstfruits”.
The Israelites… Continue reading
This year Passover starts in the evening of 14th April. It marks one of the most important dates in the Jewish calendar and this should also be the case for the Christian. The way in which this Jewish feast is observed provides a solemn reminder of the circumstances preceding and including the crucifixion of Our Saviour Jesus Christ. The sacrifice of the Passover lamb in the OT is a virtual “dress rehearsal” for Jesus Christ in many striking details.
Jesus Christ precisely fulfilled every stipulation of the Passover lamb and was sacrificed on our behalf to deliver us from the penalty of sin. Read more of the intimate link between… Continue reading