Yearly Feasts of Yahweh
2024-04-22 | Passover 2024
2024 Passover Haggadah: The Telling | From Anointing to Resurrection | Video Part 1 | Video Part 2
Welcome to the Passover with Kingdom Embassy Ministries
When your children ask, what will you tell them? What happens when an entire generation separates from its roots, forgets their heritage, and has no recollection from where they came?
Yahweh built reminders into the culture of His people to deter that from happening, but unfortunately it has. God’s people have disconnected from the roots of their faith, surrendered to common culture, and adopted the traditions of the world around them. “Do not love the world or the things of the world,” John warned. Are you guilty of committing the same atrocities, of which Y’shua accused the religious hypocrites in His day, “making the word of God of no effect through their traditions which they have handed down?” I fear, if asked, like those religious hypocrites, too many Christians could offer no defense!
“How so?” you might be thinking. Look around, especially during the holiday seasons, and you will see the majority of Christians flocking to celebrate manmade holidays, steeped in pagan traditions. But when their children ask, “What do you mean by this service?” or, “What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded us?” They will have no legitimate answer. Instead, they “make the word of God of no effect through their traditions,” which they are now handing down to their children. If Y’shua walked the earth today, He’d ask the same question of religious leaders that He asked two thousand years ago. “Why do you transgress the commandment of God because of your traditions?”
John warned us about loving the things of the world, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life…” May the Body of Christ run from such things. And the next time your children ask, “What do you mean by this service?” you will say, “It’s the Passover; we were slaves and now we are free; may your children tell their children, and their children the next generation. It is a memorial forever.” Or, you can say, “ These are our pagan roots; go find your painted eggs and chocolate Easter bunnies. Fill your baskets; this is now how we remember the death, burial and resurrection of our blessed Savior.” Oh, how far we have fallen from the truth! I don’t know about you, but when my children ask, I will say “As for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh!”
2024-04-19 | John 13-17 | Preparation Day
Sermon Notes | From Anointing to Resurrection | Sermon Video
Asking questions is one of the most effective ways to engage the mind on a deeper level. Paul and Y’shua used this rabbinic style often and it has continued to stir the imagination of Christians for two thousand years. A quick review of Romans, Paul’s Magnum Opus, and you will discover that ninety-two times he asked a question—each used to stitch together the fabric of the greatest theological treatise ever written—the canvas on which was painted the masterpiece of Christian doctrine. Y’shua was a skillful artist when asking provocative questions. “Who do men say that I am?” challenged Peter to confess, ”You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And, what might be His most alluring question of all, is one that Y’shua left blank—the conclusion for you to discover.
“Who is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his estate, to feed the people at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom, upon his return, the master finds so doing.” And there is one other variation of this teaching style to consider. At times, Y’shua used incendiary statements to inspire critical prophetic inquiries from His disciples, or from anyone else with ears to hear. “Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” This disturbing image of the crumbling temple later induced His disciples to ask privately, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” One such directive prompted a question from His disciples that you too might ask yourself. And coming from a modern-day Christian makes it even more flammable than His disciples’ urgent appeal 2000 years ago! “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.” Their expected reaction, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?” Now ask yourself the same question… “How will I prepare for the Passover that we may eat?”
2023-10-06 | Leviticus 23:36-39 | Wedding Day
It was a betrothal and today we have all but lost the dense significance of such customs. Once the image was diluted it did not take long before the tradition was replaced by something much less meaningful. Marriage today is most often preceded by engagement, an offer of marriage and loose promise between two people, if accepted, to get married one day. And why would that event be anything significant when all the benefits of marriage are readily available outside of marriage and shared already—including sexual intimacy and cohabitation. Gone are the binding commitments and isn’t that most obvious by how often marriages end, as if they are disposable inconveniences that have run their useful course. Why own when you can rent? Why buy when you can use someone else’s property for a while and just walk away when something breaks or upkeep becomes too much work?
Betrothal is different, but in order to even begin to grasp why, you must learn to see marriage differently. Marriage was the one institution, the only institution, designed by God to indicate mankind was created in His image. Adam was created and even before Eve was pulled from his bones, Adam already had within him everything that represented God—man, woman, and child. But we could not see the woman and child, so God extracted the woman and presented her to Adam, really to all of us. That is when we recognized the family that was inside of him all along—God’s image. And then came marriage. God instructed, “Let Me assure you that even though I took her from you, she is still one with you.” Marriage is simply, but profoundly, God’s way of telling us, we are one with Him, created in His image, forevermore.
When you consider this idea, does it not make so much more sense now when we read in the Scriptures that marriage is about Christ’s oneness with His bride, the church? Yes, His bride but yet to have arrived at the altar of marriage. His bride, but presently His betrothed, bound in a covenant as strong as marriage, but not married. All the permanence minus two things, sexual intimacy and cohabitation. Think back when Joseph thought that Mary had been unfaithful, having been found with child. Did he not consider divorce, even though they were only betrothed? That is the binding nature of betrothal. Do you see how much more powerful this is than the idea of engagement? And do you see how harmful it is to engage in the things reserved ONLY for marriage, OUTSIDE of marriage? It cheapens marriage, weakens it. It has diluted the meaning of marriage so badly that we’ve arrived at a cultural crossroads; marriage is unnecessary. Marriage is an outdated institution, and by extension, so is the family. In other words, seeing the human family as the expressed image of God has become obsolete; it’s a relic best designated to the museum reserved for all things no longer needed.
And all of this is to bring us to one point. The Eighth Day of the Feast of Tabernacles, the Last Great Day, has been the rehearsal dinner for the marriage supper of the Lamb for thousands of years. The bride, that’s you, must make herself ready by putting on her pure white wedding garment because the wedding day is approaching and the Groom is on His way. It will be a holy convocation, a sacred assembly. It’s a day designated “The Joy of the Law.” Maybe that’s because when the Groom arrives and after He takes care of some much needed business, we will be legally transitioned from His betrothed to His wife. Could there be anything more joyful than that?
2023-09-29 | Leviticus 23:33-44 | Not of This World | Tabernacles
The Word became flesh and pitched a tent among us. He tabernacled with us and we beheld His glory. Yet He was here for what seemed like just a vapor of time and that is because He was never meant to stay. “I am in this world but not of this world,” He would say. Y’shua’s life bears the striking symbolism of God’s people after their exodus from Egypt, as they ventured into freedom and tabernacled in the wilderness. Pitch a tent, but be sure it’s built as a temporary structure because you won’t be staying very long. This is not your land; you are just sojourners passing through and your permanent home is elsewhere.
It was true for the Israelites in the wilderness; it was true for Y’shua when He was born into this world; and it is true even for you. This is not your permanent home and the body in which you live is not your permanent body. In this world you will have trials, but He has overcome this world. In your permanent body and in your permanent home there will be no more trials, no more tears, no more pain. There will be only righteousness, peace and joy.
The imagery in the Feast of Tabernacles is striking. But that should come as no surprise because that is what all the Feasts of the Lord offer. The stories are real and knowing about the historical events and their prophetic significance is both important and profitable. God makes promises and we should never settle for less than what He has guaranteed. Had Israel settled in the wilderness, built permanent housing and walled cities, they would have never inherited the fullness of God’s covenant; they would have fallen short of God’s destination. Do you do that? The implications for such are staggering, both personally and prophetically.
What does it look like personally? “This world and the things of this world are what I am after to satisfy my soul.” Yet, it is after those very things the Gentiles seek; don’t! For all that is in the world —the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—are not of the Father. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God will tabernacle forever. And that is precisely the prophetic implication, to tabernacle forever. This is not your land; you are just sojourners passing through; your permanent home is elsewhere. Your ultimate citizenship is in heaven; here on earth you have no permanent city, so you must seek the one to come. You are heading for a permanent place to dwell in permanent glorified dwellings! Knowing this is to your great advantage!
2023-09-22 | Leviticus 16 | Behind the Veil | Yom Kippur
“Once and for all means once and for all,” doesn’t it? If there is one Feast of Yahweh, more than any other, that Christians believe no longer has any relevance for them, it has to be Yom Kippur. “The blood of Christ has paid for our sins past, present, and future, so why do I need to pay attention to a holiday that foreshadowed the sacrifice needed to cover the sins of the world?” It’s a worthy question and one worth exploring, especially in light of these difficult to explain scriptures written decades AFTER the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. “The Feasts of the Lord are shadows of things to come.” “Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come.” And, “The Law, having a shadow of the good things to come.” The Feasts, the High Priest, and the Law, all shadows of things yet to come, even decades after Christ. These are mysteries worth unlocking; secrets with discoveries relevant to every Christian serious about the future of their faith.
2023-09-15 | Leviticus 23:23-25 | Sober and Watching | The Feast of Trumpets
“Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years.” It’s easy to miss. The cycles of the sun and the moon are given for seasons, and for days and years. But, what are the signs? Y’shua rebuked religious leaders for not knowing. “Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.” Can you discern the signs of the times? Paul assumed you could; “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night… We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober and watching.” For what signs should you be watching?
The yearly cycle of Biblical Feasts is precisely to which Yahweh, Y’shua, and Paul are referring. The Feasts are God’s prophetic calendar for mankind’s history and future. However, if you don’t prioritize their prophetic significance, tragically, you won’t be able to tell what time it is; you won’t be capable of recognizing the signs of the times. Worse yet, you won’t even know what signs to watch for. In the coming weeks we will look at the Fall Biblical Feast cycle by starting with the Feast of Trumpets. Synchronize your calendar and you will know perfectly well what time it is!