Christmas in July: Part 10
Good to be with you again Friends, for what will be the final Christmas blog in this series. I want to begin today by sharing with you what I believe the entire Bible is about. Ready?
Getting Back to Eden
Everything that we do in this walk, is all about our journey through this imperfect world back to The Garden of Eden.
I hear a lot of talk about the book of Revelation lately.
Take a moment to scan through Revelation 22.
What do we find there:
- the river of the Water of Life
- the Tree of Life bearing 12 kinds of fruits
- the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations
- no longer will there be any curse
- no need for lamplight or sunlight...why?
- because YHVH Elohim will shine!
This is where we are going Friends! Are you getting excited? I am!
Most of my readers are familiar with Revelation 22, but I want to introduce you to an almost parallel passage found in the book of Ezekiel.
Take a moment to scan through Ezekiel 47.
Now, let's see what we find there:
- a river - wherever it goes, everything will be healed
- every kind of tree for food
- trees bearing new fruit every month
- leaves of the trees will be for healing
Sound Familiar?
You see, we seem to know the Revelation scripture portion better than the Ezekiel portion largely because we are more familiar with the New Testament scriptures. The Ezekiel portion, however spans several chapters and gives us A LOT more information about THE SAME topic AND time period. I highly highly highly (you get the picture, right) recommend you read Ezekiel 40 through 48 to get the full picture of just exactly what is taking place here. It's fairly amazing!
So Deb, what does this have to do with Christmas?
Not much! And that's the point!
The point I am trying to make here is that the parallel Ezekiel portion of scripture...that speaks of a time that has not yet come...includes MUCH information about how we will worship YHVH. It tells us about The Temple (Ezekiel 40), and how it will only be open on Sabbaths and feast days (Ezekiel 46:1-3). It tells us about the Waters that will heal (Ezekiel 47:1-9). It tells us about the trees for food and leaves for healing (Ezekiel 47:12). It tells us that the 12 tribes of Israel will once again inherit tribal portions of land (Ezekiel 47:13-14). It tells us that "outsiders" (i.e.: gentiles) will dwell among Israel and inherit land (Ezekiel 47:22-23). But it does not tell us anything about Christmas, Easter, or Sunday.
It does not tell us anything about
Christmas
Easter
or
Sunday
It would appear that those things are irrelevant in the kingdom to come. And if that is the case, and that kingdom is our goal, let me ask you a hard question:
Why Would We Consider Pursuing Them Now?
And perhaps an even harder question...
is The Kingdom really our goal?
As I have become a Bible reader, my approach has transitioned from pursuing traditions to pursuing YHVH. My goal has been to find out (knowledge) what He thinks and what He likes and do (action) those things. I have been surprised by what I have learned, and my entire world view has been shaken to its foundation. I told you from the very beginning that I did not start out to question Christmas.
I began by questioning, in light of the great importance that the Bible gives the feasts of YHVH:
- why didn't I know about them...and
- why doesn't the church celebrate them?
Throughout this blog series, it has been my goal to share the evidence I have found with you. It is my desire for followers of Yeshua to ask these hard questions and seek the answers.
Some of you know better than others that my journey away from these holidays is not complete.
I am eternally grateful, however, that the feasts of YHVH are allowable and practiced in my home. Each year, it seems, we gain a deeper understanding of the feasts and their prophetic importance in YHVH's plan. And we GET to be part of that plan! I can barely contain myself when I think of that!!!
Thank you Dear Readers and Friends for coming on this journey with me. I know it has had some difficult parts. I encourage you to read the Bible cover to cover, and I hope that you will be tempted to learn more about the feasts of YHVH and perhaps even begin celebrating them. If this series has impacted you, I would be encouraged to know. Please leave me a comment on the blog or on the FB post.
With that, I will draw this series to a close. I hope to be back in the future with more encouragement on how to begin celebrating the feasts. And if so, you certainly will be invited to...
Come Seek With Me!
Need to Catch Up:
Your series has answered some questions I had about God's continuing love for Israel. I have asked people about that for years, including some Jews who recognize the Messaiah. The consensus seemed to be that if a Jew doesn't recognize Jesus, he will not enter heaven. To me, that made the Father's love for Israel inconstant, which is not His character. I look forward to talking with you more. Thank you for sharing what you learned. Logic is lovely.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that this series has been beneficial to you. Thank you for reading!
ReplyDeleteDebbie! This series is SO VERY READABLE! YHWH has given you a wonderful gift of clarifying the seemingly complicated. Beautifully written and makes me so happy to be on this journey of believing and practicing the whole counsel of God's Word that He has given for our instruction from cover to cover! Rom 15:4 & I Cor 10:6
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'm reading The Two Witnesses next.
Thank you for that encouragement Nancy. The 2 witnesses began in my mind while still in your living room. :) --I'm not sure how it will end, but eager to continue the journey. Glad to be walking with you!
DeleteLarry and I just finished this series. Larry agrees... this certainty has cleared up a lot of questions that have been lingering about the traditions we have followed all our lives. I am amazed that for 63 years I have been led to believe things that are not in the Bible. Moving forward I want to understand more about the feasts.
ReplyDeleteThat is exactly how I feel. I want to know more about the Feast Days and transition away from all the rest. For me, it has been and continues to be a slow process...but there are beautiful baby steps all around me. So glad you and Larry are of one accord. What a blessing! Thank you for reading and for being my "Feasting Friend!"
DeleteThank you Debbie for a wonderful and in lighting blog on Christmas, I now have your Christmas series to point them to when speaking to my friends and family, I'm working on getting them to sign up for Seeking Scriptures starting in January and I want them to also sign up with you, have a blessed day, I can't wait for more of your teachings. Since I started in Jan this year with Christy and began keeping Sabbath, I just can't get enough of Yehovah's Word into my life.
ReplyDelete