While the message of the Bible is timeless, its language is bound by culture and time. The Almighty chose to anoint and inspire a particular people living at a particular time to be the channels through which His Word would be revealed to all nations.

These people spoke a particular language, the Hebrew language, and their culture was that of a desert people, a tribal people living thousands of years ago.

Feast of Passover - Pesach

The word Pesach means to leap over and show mercy, this provides us with a beautiful picture of this first feast in the yearly feast cycle... "This month shall be to you the beginning of months, the first month of the year to you." Exodus 12:2)

The children of Israel had been in Egypt for 430 years, just as the Lord had told their forefather Abraham (Genesis 15:13,14). A King arose who "did not know Joseph", and they were enslaved and forced to build the treasure cities of Pithoi and Rameses (Exodus 1:8-11).

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Feast of Pentecost - Shavuot

Seven weeks after the feast of Pesach comes the feast of Shavuot or Weeks, called Pentecost in the Greek, meaning fifty days.

Just as Pesach marked the beginning of the barley harvest, so Shavuot marked the end of the wheat harvest.

It is significant that all the feasts have agricultural applications as God is involved in harvesting the Jewish people back to the land of Israel and back to himself, while also harvesting the Gentiles, grafting them into the olive tree of Israel through faith in Yeshua.

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Feast of First Fruits - Chag Bikkurim

The word Pesach means to leap over and show mercy, this provides us with a beautiful picture of this first feast in the yearly feast cycle... "This month shall be to you the beginning of months, the first month of the year to you." Exodus 12:2)

The children of Israel had been in Egypt for 430 years, just as the Lord had told their forefather Abraham (Genesis 15:13,14). A King arose who "did not know Joseph", and they were enslaved and forced to build the treasure cities of Pithoi and Rameses (Exodus 1:8-11).

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Feast of Unleavened Bread - Chag Matzot

This feast is held to commemorate the fact that the Israelites were in such a hurry to leave Egypt that they didn't have time to let their bread dough rise.

At a deeper level of course it speaks of the the need to remove sin (leaven) from our lives. A tradition practised by jewish families today provides us with a beautiful picture of the need to constantly be searching our hearts for evidence of wrong attitudes and actions which contaminate our lives and relationships. .

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Day of Atonement - Yom Kippur

Following on from the Ten days of Awe, with their theme of repentance and self evaluation, which begins on Rosh HaShana, comes the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur, which falls on the 10th of Tishri.

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Delight in the Sabbath

Some of our family's most precious memories of our visits to Israel are centered in those special times between sunset Friday and sunset Saturday ...Shabbat....unique to Israel and to the Jewish people.

As the sun begins to set on Friday evening, a beautiful silence seems to settle over the land. Buses and cars stop running, all Jewish businesses close and the land itself seems to gently enter into the Sabbath rest. Families stop in the midst of their busyness to fellowship with the Lord and with each other.

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Feast of Dedication - Chanukah

This is not a biblical feast although it is mentioned in the New Testament as the Feast of Dedication (John 10:22-23). I have included it in this series because it commemorations the victory of faith in the one true God over Hellenistic humanistic thought and culture and therefore it is very important to Christians.

In the 4th century BC Alexander the Great conquered Israel (Daniel 8:21-22). He had a dream to unite the known world and see it embrace the Greek Hellenistic culture. He did not live to see his dream fulfilled however and after his death at the age of thirty, his empire was split amongst his four generals, with Israel coming under the control of the Seleucids.

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For Zion's Sake

There has never been a time when prayer for Israel was so vital. Those who have been called to this often hidden and unappreciated ministry have a high calling indeed.

During the Second World War, the Lord called a group of people in an obscure part of Wales to pray and pray they did. Not only concerning the War but also for Israel. Only eternity will reveal how the prayers of this faithful little band affected the affairs of nations. Certainly they interceded during the crucial hours when Israel's fate hung in the balance while the U.N. debated about whether to allow the state to come into being. As the scales tipped back and forth, they prayed and they did not stop praying until the battle was won and the nations had voted in favour of a Jewish State.

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The Church's Roots in Israel

It has been a tragic fact that the church, while lauding the book of Romans as the very foundation of the christian faith, has generally chosen to ignore the teaching contained in Chapters 9 through 11.

Many wonderful sermons have been preachedon Romans 1 to 8 and chapter 12 of the same epistle, but few preachers ever use the material contained in the chapters concerning Israel as the basis for a sermon.

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Jerusalem The Burden Stone

Few bible believing Christians would dispute that the world has entered that period of history known as the `last days'. The increase of wars and rumours of wars, of famines, earthquakes and increasing worldwide apostasy are all pointers to the soon return of Messiah to set up His throne in Jerusalem.

Along with these pointers to the lateness of the hour has come a change in the focus of world attention away from America, Britain and Russia to the Middle East. It is here that all the great end time events take place, rather than in New York, London or Geneva.

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This Land is My Land

The ownership of the land of Israel has been the subject of much controversy down through the ages. In Abraham's day it was known as Canaan and various tribes made their home there. Despite this the Lord told Abraham that He would give the land to him and his descendants for an everlasting possession..

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I Have Chosen Jerusalem

Just as the Lord chose a people to be His own, out of all the peoples of the earth (Deuteronomy 7:6) and just as He said that the Land of Israel was His land (Leviticus 25:23), so too, He chose a city out of all the cities and said that this was where He would place His name.

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The Latter Rain

The Middle East faces a continuous battle in providing enough water for its people and the situation has worsened over the years as the population has grown. Israel, particularly has been very concerned as she faced the enormous task of absorbing the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who have flooded into the country in recent years.

Concerning spiritual issues, we know that the natural always prefigures the spiritual and precedes it. This is true in a period of drought as well as of abundant rain. We must pray that God will bring rain to this thirsty land as well as a spiritual outpouring.

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