Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

Wishing all a blessed Sukkot as we rejoice in His great love and the many blessings He provides.

Sukkot is the last of the three annual biblical feasts of pilgrimage ordered by Yahweh, the great I Am, for the Jewish year, and it celebrates God´s provision with rejoicing and thankfulness. It is the only one of the annual feasts in which God commanded there be rejoicing!

Sukkot has a double significance. The one mentioned in the Book of Exodus is agricultural in nature a "Feast of Ingathering at the year's end" (Exodus 34:22) and it marks the end of the harvest time and thus of the agricultural year in the Land of Israel.

The more elaborate religious significance from the Book of Leviticus is that of commemorating the Exodus from Egypt and the dependence of the People of Israel on the will of God for their sustenance and survival (Leviticus 23:42-43).

God instructed His people to build booths (also called tabernacles) and to live in them for the week-long feast of Sukkot. Forsaking comfortable homes to dine and sleep in sukkot (booths) as a reminder of God´€™s provision for the Israelites during their forty years of wandering in the wilderness, and of all that He has provided in our own lives today. Coming at the end of the harvest season, Sukkot also celebrates God´s gifts from the bounty of the Earth.

I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty and Your wonders. They will speak of the might of Your awesome deeds, and I will proclaim Your greatness. They will pour out the renown of Your great goodness, and sing joyfully of Your righteousness.
€“Psalm 145: 5-7

He satisfies the thirsty soul and fills the hungry soul with what is good.
€“Psalm 107:9

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Messiah Yeshua.
€“Philippians 4:19

Sukkot 2016 falls on Monday, October 17, 2016

The Festival of Sukkot - "Booths" or "Tabernacles" is celebrated for seven days in Israel and eight days in the Diaspora, starting on the fifteenth day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei. It is one of the three annual festivals during which Jewish men were commanded to make pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the times of the Holy Temple.

In the present age, because there is no Jerusalem Temple service, the main focus of the holiday is to dwell in a sukkah (singular of "sukkot"), which is a four-walled booth topped with branches called schach.

For the purposes of the divine command, "dwelling" is defined as eating and sleeping, so Jewish men are required to sleep every night of Sukkot in this hut, and all meals are to be eaten within it. The only exception to the law of dwelling is if it is raining - not just any rain, but raining hard enough to affect the taste of the soup, at which point the meal is allowed to move inside.

These flimsy huts are meant to recall the tents in which the Israelites slept nightly for forty years as they wandered in the desert after leaving slavery in Egypt and before being allowed to enter the Promised Land.

The first and last day - or in the Diaspora the first and last two days - are a Sabbath-like holiday, called a yom tov, in which creative labor may not be done except for cooking as necessary for the holiday. Like most Jewish holidays, there are mandated feasts which include bread and meat and wine, and family and neighbors invite each other over to eat together in the sukkah.

At the same time that families are accepting physical guests into their sukkot, they are mindful of the presence of ushpizin, - spiritual guests, and on each night a different person from Jewish history is invited into the sukkah: on the first night the patriarch Abraham, then Isaac, next Jacob, then Moses, Aaron, Joseph, and David. Some also have the custom of inviting biblical women as well, or remembering rabbis or various deceased family members.

The last two days, during which sleeping in the Sukkah is no longer required (and is in fact forbidden), are called Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, and they are compressed into one day in Israel. Simchat Torah literally means "the joy of the Torah" and it is a time of much rejoicing, dancing, singing, and feasting.

The other highlight of Sukkos is reciting a blessing over the arba minim, the Four Species, in recognition of the agricultural aspect of this ancient harvesting holiday. Branches of willow, myrtle, palm, and citron are combined in a sort of bouquet and a blessing is recited before they are held up and waved in different directions.

During synagogue services, men walk in circles around the sanctuary while holding these Four Species, a process called "Hoshanot" (singular Hoshana) - supplications. The seventh day of Sukkot is called Hoshana Rabbah - the Great Supplication, where everyone pleads for Divine mercy for the coming year.

Sukkot marks the end of the month-long "High Holy Days", and is followed by more than a month with no major Jewish holidays, until Chanukah arrives in the winter.

Sukkot is observed on the 21st day of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Jewish Calendar. It is only a floating holiday in respect to the Gregorian Calendar.

mcmlx

I'm glad you posted this. Hopefully you can answer a concern that I've had for a while.
JESUS observed the Festivals of the Lord.
I am a follower of JESUS. I was not born a Jew.
#1) Having accepted JESUS as my Lord and Savior, am I Jewish?
#2) Does Father GOD require that I observe His Holy Days?
Thank you,
MCMLX

Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

Do you have a Bible, mcmix?

Only the written Word of God can answer you satisfactorily.

The God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph puts great store upon His written word.

James 1:5 ¨If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.¨

For over two thousand years Christians have agreed that the Bible alone is God’s Word, and that it tells us everything we need to know about Him.

Why do we believe this? First because of the Bible’s testimony about itself. Hundreds of times in the Old Testament, the prophets declared that they were speaking God’s Word, not the words of men.

As the Apostle Peter wrote, “Prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21).

When tempted by Satan, three times in the wilderness, Jesus rebuked Satan each time by quoting God´s Word, as it was already recorded in the Jewish Tanakh - The Christian Old Testament, God´s Holy Scripture: ¨It is written...¨

Luke 4:4: Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’¨ Deut.8:3

Luke 4:8: Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’¨Deut.6:13

Luke 4:12: Jesus answered, "The Scriptures say, 'You must not test the LORD your God.'¨ Deut.6:16

My point is the answer to your questions are in your Christian Bible, Old Testament and New Testament.

#1) The answer to your first question is Galatians 3:2, 3:3, and 3:5, 3:9-11, and 3:18.

¨Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the gospel - message you heard about Christ.¨

¨How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?¨

¨I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the gospel - message you heard about Christ.¨

Galatians 3:9-11: ¨So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. All who rely on works of the Law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” And it is clear that no one is justified before God by the Law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.”…

Galatians 3:18
¨For if the inheritance depends on the Law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God freely granted it to Abraham through a promise.¨

Don´t confuse God´s eternal promise of the physical land of Israel, given to Abraham and his physical heirs, with the promise of eternal salvation from sin given to all who believe in Jesus Christ, who are the Body of Christ, the Ekklesia, meaning Congregation (those who are called out, - often translated ¨Church¨).

It is possible to be physically be born to Jewish parents, and have the blood of Abraham flowing through your veins, and become a believer in Jesus Christ, thus you would be Jewish by birth and a member of the Body of Christ, through faith, but not of the contemporary Rabbinical Jewish religion.

Genesis 13:15: God promised Abraham: ¨I am giving all this land, as far as you can see, to you and your descendants as a permanent possession.¨

Genesis 15:3-6: ¨And Abram said, ‘You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.’ But the word of the Lord came to him, ‘This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.’ ...Then he said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Abraham's faith was reckoned to him as righteousness (15:6). In response to Abraham's faith, God formally declares that Abraham is righteous. Abraham's righteousness refers to Abraham's right standing with God, which occurs by virtue of God's declaration to him in view of his faith. In later texts, righteousness will often mean doing justice to this relationship in which one already stands (for example, 18:23-26).

Your second question is answered by Galatians 5:1, 18; Colossians 2:4, 8, 11, 13, 16-18

#2) ¨It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.¨

¨But when you are directed by the Spirit (of grace), you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.¨

¨I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by well-crafted arguments.¨

¨See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.¨

¨In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ,¨

¨When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins¨

¨Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.

These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ.

¨Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you.
Such a person also goes into great speculation about what they have seen; they are puffed up without basis by their unspiritual mind.¨

That is a few verses, mcmix, that seem pertinent to me.

You may or may not observe any feasts, festivals or Sabbaths.

Godś only admonition is Not to worship as the heathens did... Think Christmas, Easter and their ungodly traditions, and pagan history.

In the final analysis, only you, Your God, and His Holy Word can satisfy your questions.

mcmlx

Thank you.
Yes, I have a well used Bible.
Thank you for all the references and I will dwell on those.

Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

mcmlx wrote:



Hi MCMLX (1960),

My original answer posted above this one is concentrated heavily on verses from God's Holy Scripture, because that is how I speak, and how I think... so I'm going to answer your inquiry again.

FYI, I posted the information about Sukkot, i.e., the Feast of Tabernacles, because it is an ancient literal, historic event, commanded by God at the time of Moses, ca 1450 B.C., to be observed by the Jewish people throughout their generations, and because Jesus who was born a Jew, celebrated it while physically on earth, and because I'm a student of Jewish, Christian and religious history.

As a Biblical Christian, I have no spiritual requirement to observe any of the Jewish feasts/festivals,Sabbaths/holidays, and certainly there is no Biblical commandment to observe the feast days or holidays invented and observed by much of contemporary Christendom. (I did not say Christianity.)

That, obviously was my answer to your second question.

My salvation is in no way dependent upon such observances, but God's grace in response to my faith in Jesus' completed work on Calvary's cross.

What you have hung your salvation upon, I have no way of knowing.

As to your 1st question, whether you are now a Jew, because you are saved by the propitiatory shed Jewish blood of Jesus Christ???

Are you not still the physical child of your earthly mother and father. Has your DNA changed?

A Jew is inseparably of the people of Israel; neither apathy nor even apostasy makes one cease to be a Jew.

The Jewish Tanakh - Old Testament of the Christian Bible cites case after case of both - apathy and apostasy. God dealt with his people but He never withdrew His promise or their personhood as a people from the descendants of Jacob.

What Is a Gentile? The word goy or gentile means "nation," and is usually used for non-Jewish nations. A goy (gentile) is anyone who is not a Jew. To say that a Jew who believes in Jesus is no longer a Jew is to say he or she became a gentile, which is impossible. To be a gentile, a person must be born a gentile.

Jews and gentiles are what they are because of their parentage, - to whom they were born, but people become Christians because of what and in whom they believe. One cannot be born a Christian since people aren't born believing in anything...

Ephesians 2:1- "As for you, you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience.…

Ephesians 1:7
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace,

Titus 3:5
He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

I had to use Scripture, His words are perfect.

1 Corinthians 12:13
"For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink."

Romans 11:16-17-18
"And since Abraham and the other patriarchs were holy, their descendants will also be holy - just as the entire batch of dough is holy because the portion given as an offering is holy. For if the roots of the tree are holy, the branches will be, too."

"Now if some branches have been broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others to share in the nourishment of the olive root,… do not boast over those branches. If you do, remember this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you."

Spiritually, we can be honored by considering ourself grafted into a Biblical Jewish olive tree of the God of Abraham's choosing.

Your thoughts?

mcmlx

That explains so very well.
My salvation is rooted and grounded in the blood of JESUS. I have no doubt.
I was brought up southern Baptist, my dad a minister of education. Ironically, I did not accept JESUS until I was 36.
I am probably more fortunate than most because I had to memorize the books and certain Scriptures, Bible drills, etc. But they never meant a thing until the Holy Spirit came into my life. The Word came alive!!
What a glorious day that was.
The reason for my questions is that I heard a preacher claiming that we had to observe all the Jewish feasts, festivals, Sabbath and holidays. I never listened to him again, but the question was always there.
I can't thank you enough for the time that you spent to help me! Now I have the tools, and I love working in the scriptures.
Maybe someone else on OPP will read and benefit also.
Thank you again.
MCMLX 1960

Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

MCMLX, you are most kind, - although all the illumination you receive is from the Holy Spirit, who resides within you, regardless of the human agency.

As to your experience with the preacher who suddenly deviated sharply from God´s written word; I too have listened attentively to ministers who seemed tightly aligned with the Word of God, only to have them suddenly swerve onto a path of their own choosing... and I have listened no more - for as Jesus told us, ¨His sheep know His voice.¨

¨I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me,...

My sheep respond to My voice, and I know who they are.

They follow Me, I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.

No one can snatch them out of My hand.¨

John 10:14, John 10:27-28

Thank God for His spirit of discernment, and His guiding hand.