The Fall Feasts of Israel are coming.  At sunset on Sept. 16th, 2012 Israel begins year 5773 on the Hebrew Calendar.

The fall is arguably the most important time of the year in Judaism. Three of Israel’s holiest days are celebrated then, and all in the space of 15 days. They are Yom Teruah, or Feast of Trumpets, followed 10 days later by Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and 5 days after that by Sukkot, the weeklong Feast of Tabernacles, ending with Hashanah Rabbah (the great praise), Shemini Atzeret (the eight day gathering), and Simchat Torah.(the joy of the Torah).

The eighth traditional Jewish feasts have been held every year, since fifteen hundred years before the Jewish Messiah. The feasts’ traditions foretell the major redemptive works of the Messiah; some having already been completed in Messiah’s first coming. Some of those works foretold in the Jewish feasts, however, are yet to be fulfilled.

The Haggim (festivals of HaShem) found in Leviticus (Vayikra) 23 were given to us by the creator of the world, so His people could understand the coining of the Messiah (Mashiach) and the role that the Messiah (Mashiach) would play in redeeming and restoring both man and the earth back to God following the fall of man in the Garden of Eden (Gan Eden). Although most non-Jewish Bible believers have heard of the feasts, the deep meaning and the importance of these feasts are almost universally not understood.

Rabbi Shaul (Paul) said in Colossians 2:16-17 said that the Biblical feasts and celebrations were a shadow of the things to come through Yeshua.

Rosh Hashanah or Jewish New Year is called the Feast of Trumpets in the Bible because it begins the Jewish High Holy Days and Ten Days of Repentance with the blowing of the ram’s horn, the shofar, calling God’s people together to repent from their sins. During Rosh Hashanah synagogue services, the trumpet traditionally sounds 100 notes. Rosh Hashanah is also the start of the civil year in Israel (it is the birthday of mankind and the universe). It is a solemn day of soul-searching, forgiveness, repentance and remembering God’s judgment, as well as a joyful day of celebration, looking forward to God’s goodness and mercy in the New Year.

The solemnizations continue for Ten Days of Repentance, culminating on Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement. On this final day of the High Holy Days, Jewish tradition tells how God opens the Book of Life and studies the words, actions, and thoughts of every person whose name he has written there. Depending of the teshuvah (repentance) that has been done, and the miss deeds that are not teshuvah, so are the rewards for that year for the individual, for the nation, for the world. This is understood to be the time when the judgments for the world are sealed. We say at the end of the service, who will live, and who will died, because it is the day that HaShem proclaims such things, HaShem proclaims, who will be healthy, who will be sick, who will get lots of money, or who will live on the negative, etc.

At the end of the service, the last shofar sound is sounded, and the end of those judgments is sealed. So it will be with the coming of the Messiah, at the last shofar sound. Again, Rabbi Shaul expands on this idea in his discussion of the body we shall have at the resurrection. "Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the shofar shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." (1 Corinthians 15:51-53)

Many non-Jewish Bible believers wonder why they should study and observe the feasts. I believe there are two good reasons. First, although all Bible believers love God with all their heart and seek to serve Him daily, most Bible believers do not have an in-depth understanding of the Bible and do not understand the deep depth of the personal relationship that God desires us to have with Him. Most Bible believers understand their personal relationship with God the same way I viewed my personal relationship with God for many, many years: Attend the local congregation of your choice faithfully and regularly, and be a good, moral, honest, and decent person in living your daily life. Because that was all I knew, that was what I accepted. However, God began to teach me and show me the deeper things concerning my personal relationship with Him, and a spiritual understanding of the festivals was a big key to unlocking this mystery. If you are a Bible believer and you desire to understand God in a greater way than you do today, the festivals will reveal to you the deeper things concerning your personal relationship with Him.