Be Stirred, Not Shaken

"We ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled..." ~ II Thes. 2:2 *** "But stir up the gift of God that is within you by the laying on of hands..." ~ II Tim. 1:6

Category: Holy Days Page 1 of 3

Walking Through The Fall Feasts: A 22-Day Devotional In The Psalms of Ascent

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On September 12, 2026

In Christian Living, Holy Days, Old Testament, The Writings, Verse Studies

Psalms 120–134 are the Shir HaMaalot—the “Songs of Ascent”.  Every year in ancient Israel, the males (and sometimes the full family) headed toward Jerusalem three times for God’s feasts.  These fifteen short psalms were sung by the pilgrims while literally climbing the road up to Jerusalem, a journey that typically took seven to ten days.

The Psalms of Ascent have themes that overlay beautifully onto each of God’s holy day seasons, and this study focuses on how they can prepare us for, and walk us through, the fall feasts.

We begin with the Feast of Trumpets, then the eight days leading toward the Day of Atonement, four days catching our breath and anticipating, then seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles built entirely around the idea of God dwelling with His people—capped by the Eighth Day picturing a new eternal beginning.  This study will go slightly out of order on some of the psalms, focusing more on the themes and how they prepare us for, or connect us to, the day.

We recommend the S.O.A.P. approach for this devotional study series.

  • Scripture: Read the passage first in your own bible.
  • Observation: Consider what jumps out to you as you read, what themes you notice, or how it connects to your life.  This will be different for each person.
  • Application: Read the devotional notes and prompt questions, and actually answer them (out loud or on paper) to consider how to apply them in your life.
  • Prayer: Conclude with prayer, asking God to embed these words and the application in your heart and mind, and meditate on them through the day.

PHASE 1 — THE WAKE-UP CALL

The Feast of Trumpets opens the fall holy days with a blast designed to wake us up—an alarm and call to war.

Day 1 (Feast of Trumpets):  Psalm 120, the wake-up call

“In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and He heard me.” (Psalm 120:1)

The shofar is a call to attention, not comfort. Psalm 120 starts the ascent with a cry from someone living among “a people of unclean lips,” aching to get out of the turmoil and violence of their current circumstances.

The Feast of Trumpets is a wake-up call and a warning—yes, to the world announcing Jesus Christ’s return as the conquering King, but also to each of us eagerly waiting for it today.  Jesus asks a question that we should not gloss over as rhetorical:  “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8).

I have to ask myself, have I gotten too comfortable in this world?  Does my heart cry out to God in the way the psalmist shows us, or do the evil, pain, and suffering of the world no longer affect me in the same way?

This day commands God’s people to take stock of where we are before we start climbing…our distress and failings, our fears and where we may be drifting from God.  But at the start of this pilgrimage we must not only look at what we’re coming out of, but also have a clear vision of where we’re going—to dwell with God.

We, too, are pilgrims and sojourners in this physical life, and this psalm is a farewell to worldly strife and trouble as we (re-)commit our feet to the path that leads toward a place of eternal peace and safety with God.

But this psalm is not only a wake-up call.  It also carries a promise for us that we can claim today and every day.  The NLT renders Psalm 120:1 as, “I took my troubles to the Lord, I cried out to Him and He answered my prayer”.  Whether it’s pre-holy day trials or the regular distresses of life, God promises that He is present, that He is listening, and that He is faithful to answer our prayers.

Reflect:

→ What is God trying to wake you up to, specifically—about your heart, your thoughts, or where you’ve gotten too comfortable in this world?

→ What’s the place you’ve settled into—a habit, a relationship, a way of thinking—that is at odds with the character and fruits God wants to build in you?

→ Where are you chasing your own solutions and desires, instead of taking your troubles to the Lord and trusting Him to handle them?

PHASE 2 — THE EXAMINED ROAD

Eight ordinary days fall between Trumpets and Atonement. No holy day lands anywhere in here, no big inflection point.  This is the road, the journey through the wilderness.

Day 2:  Psalm 121, Where do I look for help?

“My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.  He will not let your foot slip—your Guardian is not asleep” (Ps. 121:2-3, CJB)

You know that feeling when you’re hiking on a steep downhill, and you hit a patch of loose dirt or rocks?  You start to slip and slide downward in a freefall, your heart jumps into your throat, not sure where or how you’ll land.  You flail about for a branch, and try to catch your feet on something firm.  But you realize in that moment that you have little control over how things end.

What is your immediate reaction when “the ground” in life starts crumbling and sliding under your feet?  Do you start flailing wildly about, desperately trying to catch hold of something on your own?  Or do you cling to your Savior, who called this world into existence with His words, walked through a physical life without sinning, and now sits at the Father’s right hand advocating for you?

In this psalm, God promises that He’s not asleep.  He never loses focus or gets distracted.  And He’s right there to catch our hand and steady us whenever the ground starts to crumble under us…in losses and temptations, in fiery trials and the spiritual wilderness.  If we are looking to Him for help (v. 1-2).

In the Complete Jewish Bible translation, the language used throughout this psalm is that of a guardian.  He is the bodyguard at our side as we traverse the wilderness, scanning for danger, ensuring our safety and peace, providing shade and sustenance, and protecting us from attack in the dark of night.  But it requires that we trust Him in that role.

Psalm 121 ends by promising us “The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life.  The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever” (Ps. 121:7-8, NLT).

Reflect:

→ Where have you been tempted to look for help recently, rather than God?

→ Name one specific thing you need Him to “keep” right now where you feel your feet are slipping or stumbling.  How can you grab your Father’s hand and allow Him to steady you?

→ Is there somewhere in your life—if you’re truly honest with yourself—that you feel God has been “asleep” or not paying attention?  Talk to Him about it in prayer and ask Him to show you how He’s been guarding and guiding you.

Day 3:  Psalm 122, Rejoicing in godly community

“I was glad when they said to me, Let us go to the house of the LORD.” (Psalm 122:1)

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Did You Burn the Ships?  Reflections Coming Out of the Spring Holy Days

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On May 17, 2025

In Christian Living, Holy Days, Topic Studies

There’s a famous story about the conquistador Hernán Cortés who, upon landing in Mexico, ordered all his ships to be burned, to ensure his troops would have no other option but to conquer or perish.

It’s given rise to the phrase “burn the ships” (or “burn the boats”), signaling an irreversible commitment to a course of action—by eliminating the possibility of retreat.

You’ll often hear it in the business world to describe making a decisive choice, leaving no safety net or Plan B, but it is just as relevant in many aspects of life.

This idea has been on my mind as we’ve come out of the Passover season and headed toward Pentecost.  We’ve been purged of leaven (sin), we took in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (picturing Jesus Christ) for seven days, we’re a new lump.

But did you burn the ships?

We often read the story of Israel’s deliverance from Pharaoh’s bondage and the exodus out of Egypt during the spring holy days.  God worked amazing miracles and we’re told that the Israelites, loaded down with the gold and silver of Egypt, “went out with boldness” (Ex. 14:8).

Yet as soon as they saw Pharaoh pursuing them—faced their first trial—they panicked and regretted that they’d started along this path (Ex. 14:10).  This pattern repeated over and over throughout their desert journey.  No water?  Let’s go back to Egypt.  No meat?  We had plenty to eat in Egypt.  God provides the same food every day?  Boy, wasn’t the food in Egypt great?!

They were always looking back, trying to turn back.  Spiritually, they’d moored their boats along the coast just in case they needed to make a quick escape back to their old life if this “God’s chosen people” thing didn’t pan out.

I don’t know about you, but I tend to look at the Israelites and be like…”Seriously?!  You had piles of miracles, a pillar of fire leading you, God parted the sea to deliver you.  How are you not getting the message??”  But the fact is, we’re often not much better.

What does it mean to burn the ships, spiritually speaking?

To spiritually burn the ships symbolizes our forceful and decisive commitment to our chosen path, leaving no room for doubt or hesitation.  It means giving ourselves COMPLETELY to God—without reservations, without holding anything back.

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The Long, Dark Night (Passover Study)

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On April 6, 2025

In Holy Days, New Testament

When it comes to bible study around the holy days, I usually love delving into different themes, connections, and the infinitely-rich meanings that we can glean from God’s word and His plan for mankind.  The holy days are like a cut gemstone, with dozens of facets that reflect light differently as you examine them.

As the Passover approached this year, however, I was led in a slightly different direction.  For whatever reason, I found myself meditating on Jesus’s actual experience in the hours leading up to His crucifixion.  It became visceral and REAL to me in a way it hadn’t been before.

Have you ever really considered what it was like, knowing what awaited Him in terms of the torture, humiliation, pain, and abandonment?  What if you knew something like that was awaiting you?  Would that make it easier to bear, or harder?  Personally, I think it would be much harder.

I’ve never watched “The Passion of the Christ”, Mel Gibson’s movie about Jesus’s crucifixion.  Honestly, I know I don’t have the stomach for it.  But after spending some time really sitting with it, I thought I’d share with you a more personal, intimate, raw consideration of Jesus’s experience in His last hours before dying for our sins.

I think we often don’t really grasp what it meant in this moment for Jesus to be a physical man.  Even though we know “the Word became flesh”, we tend to focus on Him as our perfect, sin-less Savior, who could see the heart of a person and always reacted in a Godly way.

The gospel accounts are fairly dry, so it’s easy to keep an emotional remove from what we’re reading.  Artistic renderings tend to show His face as serene and mournful, peaceful and accepting of His role.  And while He was not only accepting but lovingly offered Himself for us, that doesn’t diminish what He actually was experiencing as a human being.

In the garden of Gethsemane, He told His closest friends how sorrowful and weighed down He was feeling, and asked them to watch with Him.  But they failed Him, and later deserted Him.  These men that he’d spent practically every moment with for years ran at the first sign of trouble.  He was abandoned and alone.

Though a full moon illuminated the landscape, this was, for Jesus, the darkest night.  As He knelt for hours and prayed to the Father, asking for courage and strength and comfort—likely marveling that this moment They had envisioned for thousands of years had finally come—He contemplated what He was about to go through.  I can’t begin to imagine what was running through His mind.

Do you think He was scared?  I do.  Not bone-deep mental fear, because He was still connected to the Father and knew what would happen to Him and why.  But the human body can’t help it.  It reacts physically even when our brains try to tell it otherwise.  The heart jackrabbits until it feels like it will come out of our chest.  Our adrenaline floods with the “fight or flight” instinct, muddying our thoughts.  Our hands tremble and our breath comes in gasps.

He fell on His face before the Father multiple times, praying fervently that if there were any other way for Their plan to be accomplished, He would not have to go through with it.  When we really think about this, it’s astonishing, and gives us a tiny glimpse of how truly horrific Jesus knew the coming hours would be—if our perfect Savior would go so far as to ask if there was even a miniscule chance that there might be another way?

Luke tells us that Jesus’s prayers were full of agony and struggle, and He was pouring sweat that fell to the ground like huge drops of blood.  God even sent an angel to comfort and minister to Jesus at this time, to help strengthen Him for what was to come.

We know but rarely truly comprehend that He was ENTIRELY human, as far as His body is concerned.  His flesh and brain and nerve endings and bones were completely physical, just as frail as yours and mine.  He bled from dozens of raw wounds.  He almost certainly cried.  He poured sweat, His breathing was labored.  He was dizzy from being struck on the head repeatedly.

And while He knew WHY He was doing it—He had waited eternity as a spirit being and then 30+ human years in a physical body to be able to offer Himself in the place of YOU, to pay the ultimate price for MY sins—He also knew that there would be a moment when He would be completely cut off from the Father for the first time ever, and He dreaded that moment.

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What the Fall Holy Days Teach Us About Impermanence

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On October 16, 2024

In Holy Days, Prophecy

“So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen.  For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever” (II Cor. 4:18)

The fall holy day season is rich with themes to meditate on…God’s final judgment, bringing both wrath and mercy.  Humility, reconciliation, and redemption.

But there’s another theme that God clearly wants us to dwell on during this time, one that’s kind of “baked” into many of the other topics we talk about, but doesn’t often get the focus it deserves—the idea of impermanence, of the transitory and temporary status of EVERYTHING in our current frame of reference.

Now, I can hear some of you muttering, “But of course we talk about impermanence!  It’s in the Feast of Trumpets when Jesus returns to earth, in Atonement when Satan is bound, and in the Feast of Tabernacles in the idea of temporary dwellings!”  And you’d be right.  So let me explain what I mean a bit more.

A lot of what we focus on during this time is the absolute destruction that will be inflicted on a rebellious and sinful world at the end of the age, during the time when Jesus Christ will return to take back dominion of the world.

As we meditate on the seals, the trumpet plagues, and the bowl plagues in Revelation, on the statue of Daniel, and other prophetic passages that give us a shrouded glimpse of what’s to come, it’s hard not to dwell on the devastation that must occur before God’s kingdom is set up.  It’s easy to equate the theme of impermanence with this physical and societal destruction.

But what I’ve been meditating on this fall holy day season goes beyond that.  Specifically, the fall holy days help us start to understand that this is about the impermanence of ANYTHING that is not directed by—and toward—God.  It goes so far beyond just “who’s in charge”.

And in focusing on the physical downfall of the nations, we may be missing some of the deeper, lasting implications…ones that renew our hope and excitement for the eternal kingdom God has planned for us.

We’re told that even though God has “planted eternity in our hearts”, He also designed it so that we “cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end” (Eccl. 3:11).  But we yearn, and we study, and we imagine.

As we walk through the fall holy day season this year, I’m meditating on the impermanence of this world—not in the abstract, but on how fully God and Jesus Christ will tear down everything that keeps us from being at one with Them.

So here are some of the temporary things that will be utterly destroyed…

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“Abba, Father” & An Eternal Inheritance:  Adoption Into the Family of God (Pentecost Study)

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On June 16, 2024

In Holy Days, Topic Studies

God’s holy days are a beautiful annual reminder of His plan for mankind, detailing the steps He is taking to bring all of humanity into His family.  And perhaps nowhere is that more explicit than in the Feast of Weeks, or Day of Pentecost.

Let’s quickly rehearse what we know about the Feast of Weeks, to set the stage.  Most of these references are from Leviticus 23, and this study on the wave sheaf and wave loaves may be helpful if this is new ground for you.

  • It was the conclusion of the spring harvest season, which began during the Days of Unleavened Bread with the wave sheaf offering.
  • To get to Pentecost, we count 50 days from when the “wave sheaf” was offered, picturing the resurrected Jesus Christ ascending to the Father to be accepted.
  • It was on Pentecost in 31 AD, 50 days after the resurrected Jesus ascended to the Father to be accepted, that the holy spirit was given to the church (Acts. 2:1-4; John 20:17, 27).
  • Two leavened loaves were offered and elevated on Pentecost, comprised of grain gathered throughout the harvest. They are “firstfruits to the Lord” and are “holy to the Lord for the (High) Priest”.

Most of the messages I’ve heard about Pentecost tend to focus on the historical event of the church receiving the holy spirit, the founding of the church, and how we can use the holy spirit in our lives.

That’s all great and important.  However, I believe that the bible very clearly outlines a much greater future fulfillment that brings the spring (firstfruits) harvest season to a close—when the saints are resurrected, changed to immortal spirit beings, and brought before God’s throne for the marriage supper of the Lamb.  In other words, the two “wave loaves” being elevated before God, holy and acceptable.

With the holy day calendar being very late this year (2024), the Feast of Weeks very unusually falls on Father’s Day.  This coincidence provides a perfect opportunity to explore one of the themes of the holy day perfectly—the time when our Father in heaven will bring many sons and daughters to glory.

In our society today, there are two ways you can become a legal family member if you’re not born into that specific family—adoption and marriage.  I believe the Feast of Pentecost pictures both of these for God’s elect (including the marriage supper of the Lamb in Revelation 19).

But I want to focus in this study on our heavenly Father’s plan to bring us into His family as sons and daughters.  With the giving of the holy spirit, we celebrate the promise of being adopted into the family of God and receiving our future inheritance…and it’s worth exploring what that really means.

The holy spirit is the “down payment” on our inheritance

The night before His crucifixion, Jesus comforted His disciples by telling them, “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper…the spirit of truth…I will not leave you orphans” (John 14:16-18).

Just over seven weeks later, on the Day of Pentecost, a small group of disciples gathered in Jerusalem as He had instructed them, and they received the promised holy spirit (Acts 1:4).  Paul begins to deepen our understanding of this event:

“In Him also we have obtained an inheritance…in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the holy spirit of promise, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession” (Eph. 1:11-14).

Adoption confers a number of legal benefits, including a right to inheritance.  Paul says that God gave us the holy spirit as a promise—like a down payment or promissory note that will be redeemed for our future inheritance.  In other words, when the adoption “goes through”.

Who does this apply to?  Paul tells the Galatians that “we are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus…and if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Gal. 3:26, 29).

And this is that promise:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible [imperishable] and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (I Pet. 1:3-5)

Just what does it mean to be a son or daughter in the God family—what, exactly, is that inheritance?

Related study:  The Year of Jubilee & Pentecost — Inheritance & Freedom

What it means to be adopted by our heavenly Father

In our society, when someone is legally adopted they gain the exact same rights as any biological child would have, including the family’s name, a home, and inheritance rights.  They are seen under the law as exactly the same and equal with a family’s natural-born children.

There is also great emotional significance when a child is adopted.  It means that they are being fully and eternally accepted into someone else’s family.  There’s a security and trust that comes with that complete belonging—any foster child who has been adopted could tell you that there’s a world of difference between living with a family and actually becoming part of it.

And these same benefits apply to us as future adopted children in the God family.  A father’s job is to provide for his family’s physical and emotional needs.  To love his children, teach them, and sometimes discipline them.

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“Take Up Your Cross Daily”: How Should Christians Look at the Cross? (Passover Study)

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On April 23, 2024

In Christian Living, Holy Days, New Testament, Topic Studies

As the Passover approached this year, I found myself meditating on the question of the cross and what it should mean to God’s people today.

I grew up in a church tradition where “cross” was practically a dirty word.  We seriously avoided saying it, preferring to substitute “stake” when reading the bible aloud or in songs.  The word made people very uncomfortable, I think mostly because they saw mainstream Christianity putting crosses on everything in a way that felt like worshipping an image.

I’ve also heard many people say, “Why would you put a focus on something that was the torture and death device for our Savior?”  And I can certainly understand that perspective.

But the thing is…both Jesus Christ and the apostle Paul directed our focus there to some extent.  And they both referenced the cross plenty.  So while the idea of the cross may make us uncomfortable, we need to examine which of our concerns are actually biblical.

If you come from a similar tradition as I did, our study today falls into the category of a bit of a paradigm buster.  All I’ll say is, stick with me for a while…my goal isn’t to be deliberately provocative, but rather to wrestle with God’s word in order to winnow what’s biblical truth versus human feelings or manmade tradition.

It’s also important to remember that Christ’s death alone was not what accomplished our salvation.  He also had to be resurrected and ascend to the Father to be accepted as a perfect sacrifice on our behalf (this is what the wave sheaf ritual symbolizes, Lev. 23:9-14 and Heb. 10).  So myopically focusing on the cross at the expense of the complete sacrifice and resurrection process is also not biblical.

One thing I do feel confident in saying is that we should not hold the cross as some kind of icon or symbol of our faith.  We should not worship it.  I don’t believe it should be a visual representation in our walk with God.  That is another ditch, the opposite of the one I was brought up in, but veers away from biblical teaching just the same.

So whether you were brought up to avoid the topic of the cross, or grew up always wearing a cross, or don’t have any relationship to it all, let’s dive into what the BIBLE tells us.

Let’s get this out of the way…was it a cross?

The word translated consistently as “cross” is stauros (G4716), which basically means a stake, upright post, or cross as an instrument of capital punishment.  The Strongs dictionary notes that it also figuratively indicates exposure to death, self-denial, and the atonement Christ made for us.

What it looked like—whether it was a cross or a stake or a T-shaped pole—isn’t the point.  Historical records indicate all sorts of forms were used.  It’s kind of like us saying “fence” or “fencepost” today…that could look like a lot of different things.  It isn’t the focus of the bible’s narrative, nor should it be a semantical obsession for us today.

More importantly, what did the cross MEAN in Christ’s day?  The cross was a death sentence.  It was a shameful, excruciating, and often protracted death, one typically reserved for slaves, disgraced soldiers, and foreigners.  The Romans would force convicts to carry their crosses (or, more likely just the cross beam) to their own execution, with crowds harassing them as they did so, as further humiliation.

While we don’t have the same level of cultural understanding, the bible speaks to the cross plenty.  And in this Passover season, it’s worth spending some time figuring out how it applies to your life and my life today.

“Take up your cross daily and follow Me”

Let’s start with what Jesus tells us about our relationship to the cross:

“Then He said to the crowd, ‘If any of you wants to be My follower, you must give up your own way [CJB: “Say ‘No’ to yourself”], take up your cross daily, and follow Me. If you try to hang onto your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for My sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?’” (Luke 9:23-25, NLT)

Matthew 10:38 is very similar, as are Matthew 16:24 and Mark 8:34.  The gospel accounts indicate that Jesus talked to the crowd and His closest disciples on this topic multiple times, usually in the context of trials they would suffer in this life, but particularly as He was trying to get them to understand what HE would suffer (it’s important to read the verses surrounding each account for context).

We don’t know if they “got it” at the time, if they truly understood what would happen.  Almost certainly not, or they wouldn’t have been so shocked, scared, and lost when it did.  They had a paradigm as well, that the Messiah would come as a powerful conquering ruler, to get rid of Rome and establish His kingdom on earth.

But regardless, the cross and the idea of having to carry your cross (or execution-stake, if you prefer) is a word picture they would have understood culturally.  As we saw a minute ago, the cross was a death sentence.  There was no going back from it—that was it.

Once we’ve committed ourselves to God’s way and risen from the waters of baptism, we have made a full, lifetime, unending commitment to follow Him.  It can’t be half-hearted, but must be a full surrender to His will and His ways.  Our previous life ended permanently, there’s no going back.

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“All Things Made New”:  The Eighth Day in God’s Holy Day Plan

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On October 10, 2023

In Holy Days, Prophecy, Topic Studies

“And on the eighth day, a sabbath rest…” (Lev. 23:39)

“Now I saw a new heaven & a new earth, for the first heaven & the first earth had passed away” (Rev. 21:1)

The holy day following the Feast of Tabernacles, simply called the “Eighth Day”, is perhaps the most meaningful—and yet least talked about or understood—holy day in God’s plan for mankind.  It often gets lumped in with the rest of the Feast of Tabernacles, or rushed through as everyone packs up their temporary dwellings and sets their minds toward home.

But we would be still majorly in the dark about God’s plan and His nature without the Eighth Day.  It is not just a tack-on, a bonus day of feasting before we go back to our regular lives.  Rather, it is the point of God’s holy days and His plan for mankind.

The spring holy days are quiet, personal, intimate.  They’re about salvation on a one-to-one level, focused on inward change.  But the fall holy days are about the whole of mankind, with dramatic and world-encompassing events that no one will be able to ignore.  And how He places those holy days on the calendar is very purposeful.

Across all of God’s created times and seasons, the number seven/seventh represents completion (or perfection), and the number eight/eighth represents the beginning of a new cycle.  We see this in the foundational seven-day week, to start with.

It’s also seen repeated in the Feast of Pentecost (the 50th day or “eighth day” after seven weeks, which beginning an eighth week).  And similarly, we see it in the Jubilee Year (the 50th year, or eighth year after seven “weeks” of years and beginning of the eighth “week”).  (If that felt a bit confusing, this study about Jubilee and Pentecost may help clarify a bit.)

In its most macro fulfillment, the Eighth Day represents the beginning of a new cycle after 6,000 years of man (six “days”) and 1,000 years (1 “day”) of Jesus Christ reigning on earth.

Placed right after the Feast of Tabernacles, the Eighth Day is the ultimate culmination of God’s plan, when sorrow and death cease to exist, mankind has been fully redeemed, Satan banished forever, the physical world destroyed and recreated as spiritual, and when God will dwell permanently with His children.

And while there’s a LOT we don’t know about what it pictures and what that will be like, there are several key themes throughout the bible that can help us learn a bit more and give a clearer picture of the Eighth Day as the conclusion of God’s plan for humanity.

What does the bible say about the Eighth Day?

Of all God’s holy days, the Eighth Day is the most mysterious.  Explicitly, the bible doesn’t tell us a lot.  So I’ll mention the few verses here and some additional food for thought, but will try to keep this brief so we can dive into the themes.

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Do You Offer Your Firstfruits to God? (And No, I’m Not Talking About Money)

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On May 28, 2023

In Christian Living, Holy Days, Topic Studies

Something struck me the other day about the story of Cain and Abel (Gen. 4).  While we can’t know for certain why God honored Abel’s sacrifice and rejected Cain’s, it’s commonly believed that it was because Abel brought an animal, providing the required shedding of blood.  And that makes sense, given what we know.

But there’s an additional detail provided that I’d never noticed before.  The verse specifically states that Abel brought the firstborn of his flock, while it just says Cain brought something he grew.

So we know that Abel brought God the firstfruits of his labor, and it doesn’t mention the same of Cain.  That could just be an omission in the text, but I find that unlikely.

Throughout the bible, God makes it clear that the firstborn (of man and beast) and the firstfruits (of crops or produce) are set apart and belong to Him (Ex. 13:12, 22:29-30, Num. 18, Neh. 10:35-37, etc).

Because God is the sovereign Creator, technically everything belongs to God.  He owns it all.  When we bring the first yield of our labors and our lives to the (literal or figurative) altar, we are acknowledging that fact and asking for His continued blessings.

And God was very clear that His people should not be bringing merely what remains after meeting their own needs (leftovers), or bringing stuff that’s not quite “up to snuff” (flawed).

The true firstfruits in our lives

Today, WE are God’s firstfruits, spiritual Israel…those who have answered His calling, are keeping His commands, observing the sabbath and holy days, and striving to live a godly life (James 1:18, Rev. 14:4).

As we near the end of the firstfruits season this year, with Pentecost upon us, the Cain and Abel offering discrepancy got me thinking about the application in my own day-to-day life.

Our offerings today are different from those in ancient Israel’s sacrificial system, but the concept of setting apart the firstfruits of our labor to God is still applicable.

And perhaps even more importantly than material possessions or money, this should apply to our real resources—our time, our thoughts, and our energy. 

We acknowledge God to be the owner of everything that we are, and the giver of everything that we have.  Therefore, we should give Him our first and best.

So it’s worth each of us asking, is God getting my firstfruits?  Or does He get the dregs, what’s left over at the end of the day or week?

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Passover Ceremony Themes: The Bread

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On March 5, 2022

In Holy Days

Recently I found some of my notes from keeping the Passover as a small group a few years ago.  Rather than the very formal and consistent script that many of the corporate churches of God (COGs) use for Passover, the smaller groups often have a more interactive meeting where multiple people share speaking roles.

This post is adapted from my notes when I presented the portion of the service around the meaning of the Passover bread one year.  While a bit more perfunctory than many studies on the site, these are good themes to re-visit as we prepare for the Passover every year, and may be helpful for those keeping it in small, interactive groups.

If you want to download my speaking notes for your Passover night meeting, you can find that here: Passover Night Service: The Bread .  Also, here is a similar post on the Passover wine.

Themes of Keeping the Passover – Meaning of the Bread

During His ministry, Jesus Christ was already priming the disciples for His eventual institution of new Passover symbols.  We’ll start in John, where He said:

“I am the bread of life…the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world…Most assuredly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you…He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him” (John 6:48-56)

At the time, this was a hard and confusing statement, and it wasn’t until after their last Passover with Christ and His sacrifice that the disciples connected the dots.

Something that is often on my mind at this time of year is how we’ve historically approached deleavening.  (I realize we’re talking the Passover so this feels like a tangent, but stick with me here…)

In the past, so much of the way we’ve de-leavened was about us putting leaven (sin) out.  Sticking the vacuum back behind the stove, air canister-ing our toaster, obsessively reading food labels.

But we can’t put sin out of our lives by ourselves.  Not one iota.  So if we’re approaching “de-leavening” that way, it’s hypocritical and pharisaical, and kind of missing the point.

As a result, we’ve sometimes co-opted the Days of Unleavened Bread into a time focused on ourselves and what we’re trying to put OUT of our lives, rather than orienting around taking IN Christ—the Bread of Life.

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“God Remembered…”:  Our Father’s Faithfulness in Action, & Future Fulfillment in the Feast of Trumpets

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On September 6, 2021

In Holy Days, Prophecy, Topic Studies, Word Studies

“Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.” (Gen. 8:1)

The verse above is just one of several passages where we’re told that “God remembered” one of His people, or a promise He had made.

And to us this may seem like a strange or disconcerting statement…does God forget about us from time to time, we might ask?  You know, He has a lot on His plate, many people have bigger problems, and maybe He “back-burners” us?

Or, maybe we read that kind of statement and just gloss over it as one of those weird old-timey language things in the bible that doesn’t translate in quite the same way today.

We’re used to humans forgetting things, it’s just in our nature.  Some of us forget facts and knowledge, others can’t remember names or birthdays, and most of us get distracted mid-task and forget what we were doing.

So we may read a verse that tells us “God remembered” someone and accidentally take away an idea about the nature of God that isn’t accurate, or dismiss the statement as an irrelevant ancient turn of phrase.  And in both cases we’d be missing something powerful.

Bible verses about God remembering

The statement “God remembered” (or Him stating “I will remember”) is a common theme through the Old Testament…here are the key passages, including one from the New Testament:

  • Gen. 8:1 – “Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.”
  • Gen.  9:15 – “(book-ending Noah’s story)…And I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh”
  • Gen. 19:29 – “And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow”
  • Gen. 30:22 – “Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb”
  • Ex. 2:23-25 – “Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and with Jacob”
  • Lev. 26:42 – (telling of future events)“…then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac, and my covenant with Abraham will I remember; I will remember the land”
  • Ex. 6:5 – “And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant”
  • I Sam. 1:19 “…And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her” (she had been crying out in anguish for a child)
  • Ezek. 16:60 – “Nevertheless I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth”
  • Rev. 18:15 “(of Babylon the Great) For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities”

It’s a lot!  This could be quite distressing if we believed this meant that God had forgotten and then remembered in all these examples.  But this phrase is a good example of where the English translation is a pale depiction of the Hebrew word’s intent.  So what does this actually mean?

Zakar ayth:  to bring to mind and act

In all those examples in the Old Testament, the word used is zakar (H2142), and specifically the compound phrase zakar ayth (H2142, H853).

Zakar means to bring to mind or recall, to remember, mention, recount, or think on.  It also means “to make a memorial” (more on that later).  It’s used a couple hundred times in the Old Testament, but only about 50+ of those include “ayth”.

Ayth is additive, used thousands of times in the bible, and basically provides a sense of entity, indicating the self and adding emphasis to what’s being remembered.  I’m not a Hebrew scholar in any sense, but the way that I think of is like “recalled to Himself” or “brought to His mind”.

Specifically, this “remembering” precedes acting on someone’s behalf—remembering with a purpose or intent.  It’s remembrance as a full-being activity, using mind and body rather than a simple head exercise.  When applied to God, it’s usually in response to a commitment He had previously made (Ps. 105:42, Ex. 6:5), or to the longing and pleading of His people (Gen. 30:22, I Sam. 1:19).

So we’re not talking “remembering” that’s simply the retention of information, the way you remember your spouse’s birthday, the family pancake recipe, or every lyric to “Bohemian Rhapsody”.

It’s not simply recollection or not-forgetting, like when you remember to pick up milk on the way home or remember that you’d promised to call a friend.

Instead, zakar ayth calls our attention to how God focuses on something or someone in a way that entails action or response.  When we’re told that “God remembered” in the bible, it’s to showcase an example of God’s consistent faithfulness to His chosen people…through ACTING on His promises.

So let’s go back to the original question…does God occasionally forget about us?

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