Yahweh told Israel that the month during which Passover fell was to be the first month on our calendar. The feast of Unleavened Bread then begins at sundown and lasts seven days (in case you were wondering why the background of this page looked like a saltine cracker).

The day after the Sabbath that follows Passover is called the Firstfruits of the Barley Harvest. But how can we know that the barley will be ready by that time every year? It is important that the set times given by Yahweh line up with the agricultural cycle. With months actually based on the moon, they do not always line up with the lunar cycle, as we see on the Islamic calendar in which the months with the same name, like Ramadan, actually move around to different times of the year.

But Yahweh planned for that. The name of the first month (Aviv) gives us the clue. The year begins at the the new moon when the barley crop has reached a stage of ripening called aviv. At creation (Gen. 1:14) Yahweh had said the sun, moon, and stars were created for signs and "appointed times", this same Hebrew term for the festivals. So we must watch the signs He gave in the heavens to know when the festival seasons begin. And studying Yahweh's patterns in agriculture teaches us about bearing spiritual fruit as well. Once these two signs converge, Passover will fall at the next full moon, the 14th of the month also called Aviv.

Firstfruits begins a countdown of seven weeks, culminating in the "Feast of Weeks" (Shavuoth), when the wheat crop would be ready, and, by tradition, when the ten commandments were given.

But there is a second cluster of Festivals that come after a long gap in the calendar:

FALL FESTIVALS:

The fall festivals all come in one cluster within three weeks of one another. Yom T'ruah (often called Rosh haShanah) is a day to be awakened to the fact that Yom haKippurim (often shortened to Yom Kippur), the Day of ATonement, is only nine days away, so that one may remember to repent in preparation for the "high holy days" if he has not already been doing so. (The entire month prior to this is dedicated to repentance, or T'shuvah, but the last ten days are especially intense. Sukkoth then follows only five days later, a time to built and dwell in temporary shelters to recall the time we lived in the Wilderness under Moses and to recall that it is YHWH who is our true protection all the time. It is also a celebration of the harvest He has brought and a time to pray for the rain we need for the next growing season.

The New Covenant includes these festivals in the "milk"--the most basic teachings we must understand before we can get to the "meat"--the deeper meanings of Scripture. (1 Cor. 3:2; Heb. 5)

Paul told non-Jewish believers to celebrate Passover as well. (1 Cor. 5:8) Yet most are busy with a whole different festival calendar that is actually based on the dates of pagan feasts. Many of their customs were also carried over into the church.

Adding non-prescribed commemorations is not in itself sinful, for Purim seems endorsed by the Book of Esther, and the Messiah participated in Hanukkah (the Feast of Dedication, John 10). But Yahweh wasn't pleased when Jeroboam changed the time in which the festivals were observed. This is a characteristic of the Counterfeit Messiah, the Prince of Rome who is to come. (Daniel 7:25)

Most Christians realize that Yahshua was not really born in December, but haven't known what to replace it with. Now that there are so many knowledgeable Jews believing in Him, and those who have long known Him are awaking to the fact that all of Scripture, not just part of it, is for us, an answer is finally coming to light. David's schedule for priestly service (1 Chron. 24) clues us in on when John the Baptist's father was serving in the Temple and was told he would have a son.(Luke 1:5) From there we can calculate Yahshua's birth, six months after John--and it comes out at Sukkoth. It was one of the three pilgrimage festivals when every able-bodied male was required to come to Jerusalem. The city was just over a square mile, so many would spill over into the suburbs, including Bethlehem, only five miles away. This explains why there was no room in the inn; Joseph would combine the trip to Bethlehem for the census with his necessary journey for the festival.

Sukkoth also means "stables" in Hebrew (as used in Gen. 33:17). It's fitting that the "Word became flesh and lived temporarily among us" (John 1:14) right during this feast of dwelling in temporary structures. A sukkah (singular) is traditionally to have gaps in the roof big enough to see stars through--foreshadowing the "star of Bethlehem". Shepherds would not have sheep out in their fields during December, but would still have them there during Sukkoth, just after the harvest. The angel told them he had good news of great joy. Sukkoth is nicknamed "the season of joy", and emphasizes atonement for all nations.

So there's no need for a half-biblical, half-pagan "Christmas". If we need a time to celebrate his birth, we already have a pure, prescribed festival at that time. Why not stick with what's trustworthy and sure?

Sukkoth is both a reminder of the temporary dwelling in the wilderness and a foreshadowing of the thousand-year Messianic Kingdom, when we will dwell in safety even without walls. An eighth day has been tacked on after the seven to extend the feast longer, which depicts the New Heaven and New Earth which extend Y'shua's 1,000-year Kingdom even longer--into eternity. The "eighth day", the same day a baby is circumcised, represents an enclosure or sealing up of what came before it.

It was on the final day of Sukkoth, during a special ceremony in which water was poured over the Temple altar, that Yahshua offered living water to any who were thirsty. (John 7) There were four great lights in the Temple used only on this occasion. They were called "the Light of the World"--a title Yahshua specifically applied to himself.

Clearly everything he said and did was set by this calendar. If we return to the feasts Yahweh prescribed, not only do we lose nothing of any value that was in the half-pagan holidays; rather, we learn much more than ever about Yahshua. These feasts put everything we've known about him back into its original context, and make more sense out of so much of what he said. We were short-changed when Constantine removed them from the church! But in His mercy Yahweh is restoring them in these last days so we can prepare for the Kingdom, when Zechariah 14 says all nations will be required to come to Jerusalem for Sukkoth or forfeit that year's rains.

When we look at Yahshua's life, we see that something significant took place on each of these very days. His crucifixion was on Passover.

On the day after the Sabbath following Passover, Yahshua was resurrected. Paul even calls him the "firstfruits of those who slept" (I Cor. 15:20), because the day of firstfruits was when he came out of the ground. And since we know he was in the grave for three days and three nights, that day had to be the 17th of Aviv, the day Yahweh had accomplished those other momentous examples of deliverance mentioned above.

The Passover itself held a special fulfillment on its very day that year. With the unleavened bread, which represents sinlessness, and wine which represented his blood, he renewed the covenant and made it possible for Yahweh to "pass over" the Northern Kingdom of Israel's sins against the covenant we had broken.

On the 40th of the 49 days of counting, he ascended into heaven. Shavuoth is the same as Pentecost (which means "50" in Greek), the day the Spirit of Holiness was poured out on his followers in a special way. It is significant that by Jewish tradition, it was on Shavuoth that the ten commandments were given, and we read that 3,000 people fell in one day for the sin regarding the golden calf. Acts 2 tells us that 3,000 were added on that Shavuoth on this year--a repair of this breach! They were endowed with great fruitfulness, also after a period of waiting.

So Yahshua kept every one of the first set of appointments on its very day. So whyt should we not expect the same for the later ones? Jewish scholars have long associated the Feast of Trumpets with the resurrection of the dead. So there is another "season of fulfillment" that will occur upon His second coming. The Day of Atonement foreshadows "judgment day", and Sukkoth is a forestaste of the Messianic Kingdom.

We mustn't overlook the first of Yahweh's appointments with us: the Sabbath, established all the way back at creation as a way to share in Yahweh's rest. How can people who live for the weekend view a day when no one is ALLOWED to work as legalism?!

The Sabbath and the Festivals were given as a "statute forever". (Ex. 31:13; Lev. 23) Yes, they are in a sense only "shadows" of what's to come (Col. 2:17), but a shadow does give an accurate outline of what cast it!

The gates in the Temple were only open on the Sabbath and Festivals. This tells us that these are times when a special doorway is opened to the heavenlies that will enable us to know Him in an unusually unobstructed way. These appointments are a hands-on way Yahweh offers to learn many things He wants us to know about Himself. What more reason do we need?

In fact, the Festivals are part of the Gospel, because right after Nahum says, "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings glad news", he urges Judah not to forget to "keep the feasts!" Yahshua said He would again celebrate that feast with us upon His return. Don't we want to be in practice so we know what's going on when that time comes?