This week, I examine keeping the Feasts in Jerusalem. It seems not exactly news related, but what we do about the Feasts, where we keep them, has everything to do with Bible prophecy and, ultimately, the news.
SEE BELOW FOR THE FULL TEXT OF THIS SHOW!
Thank you for listening!
Kimberly Rogers-Brown
BeastWatchNews.com
Theme music by Mishkanim.
Feasts: The Lies, Distortions and Misinterpretations
By Kimberly Rogers-Brown
A recent disclaimer I placed on TheMessianicMessage.com and emailed has caused confusion regarding the Feasts of YHVH to some who received it. The confusion is because some of you have not heard the latest controversy about going to the Feasts in Jerusalem. I did not give enough background information on this new and “very hot” and controversial subject: “Should we Keep the Feasts in Jerusalem?”.
I have been engaged in this new controversy for several months. There are teachers saying that believers should NOT go to Jerusalem for the Feasts. Statements from “you are deceived if you go to Jerusalem” to “God doesn’t want us going there now” to “we must wait until Yeshua gathers us again before we start going to Jerusalem” and other similar statements are being made in fellowships around the earth.
Then there those who teach that the Torah is clear about requiring us to go to Jerusalem for the Feasts, but since we are in exile, YHVH allows us to do them anywhere – as if He doesn’t care WHERE we do the Feasts as long as we are doing them somewhere. This was what I taught until last year.
It was not my intention to cause confusion, but I see that is what happened because a friend pointed it out to me. This man and wife emailed me for clarification and said, “…We have been getting questions from friends who are responding to your original email announcement about renouncing false statements in your teachings. They are very confused! It seems they are not aware that you are responding to a specific teaching or practice you have seen.” This man had more to say, but I got his point in the first sentence.
Another friend wrote to say this after hearing my discussion with Teresa Casalino on this subject on the Cuppa Shebrews show (listen to the podcast), “The main point in your show is something I was not aware of. People are actually saying and teaching [these things]!?!?!? I have to say that the excuses given are adding to the apostasy I am seeing happening in the scattered Hebraic tribes. …Yeshua’s blood was spilled in Jerusalem when He was crucified. Since the life is in the blood… that means that His life is in Jerusalem and He will be coming back to claim that which is His. It’s like He left His “I’ll be back” calling card as a sign of hope. He left that sign of hope in Jerusalem to show us something else… Jerusalem will be His point of return and His seat of government. All …of those excuses just don’t jive when we see Yeshua’s blood spilled there.”
Yes, with my own ears I have heard people say we are to NOT go to Jerusalem for the Feasts. Then there are those who say it is “not necessary” to go to Jerusalem as long as we keep the Feasts “somewhere”. I was in this latter category. Some of my teachings on the website have this mistake in them. My understanding of this at the time came from a misinterpretation of Deuteronomy 12:21.
Deuteronomy 12:21 If the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to put his name there be too far from thee, then thou shalt kill of thy herd and of thy flock, which the LORD hath given thee, as I have commanded thee, and thou shalt eat in thy gates whatsoever thy soul lusteth after.
I took that scripture out of context and taught that if the place of His name is too far, then just do the Feasts where you are. This was a grave error on my part.
We must look at Deuteronomy 12 in context, but before we do, let me list the objections to observing the Feasts in Jerusalem:
- The Land is dangerous
- It is defiled. There are evil people in the Land
- The Muslims have placed their god there
- Israel is not the Messiah’s Kingdom because it was created by the United Nations, not Yeshua
- YHVH’s presence is not in Jerusalem. He is not dwelling there now
- We should not go to Jerusalem now. Yeshua did away with this in John chapter 4.
- The Feast commandments are for the future when Messiah is ruling and reigning on earth
- Israel is not at peace with her enemies
- There is no Temple, no Altar and no sacrifices
- Jerusalem is the synagogue of Satan
- The currently functioning Cohen are heathens because they do not believe in Yeshua
- The Torah is not being read at the Feasts in Jerusalem
- We can’t fulfill every requirement of Torah at the Feasts in Jerusalem, so we should not go at all
- We can’t take our offerings, tithes and sacrifices, so our men are not required to go to Jerusalem right now
- We should not go to Jerusalem for the Feasts because it would be like we are submitting to Jewish authority
- We don’t have to keep the Feasts in Jerusalem because we are not in the Land.
- YHVH’s name is everywhere now, not just in Jerusalem
- Messiah will be in our midst when we celebrate the Feasts in our own towns and cities around the earth, therefore it is not necessary to be in Jerusalem for us to be in His presence
- We are only supposed to keep the Feasts in Jerusalem once we have “entered His Land” like that second generation who crossed over Jordan
- We should wait for Yeshua to gather us before we start doing the Feasts in Jerusalem
- The calendar is wrong so people keeping the Feasts in Jerusalem are doing it at the wrong time
- Deuteronomy 12 says we can keep the Feasts in our own towns
- The commandment never mentions Jerusalem by name
Some of those excuses listed here are said in different ways, but you get the point no matter how we say these excuses.
Now let’s look at Deuteronomy 12, starting at verse 5. This entire chapter, as well as some of Deuteronomy 14, starting at verse 22, and chapter 16, from verse 1 – 17, and Exodus 23:14-19, explains what, how, when and WHERE we are commanded to keep the Feasts:
Deuteronomy 12:5 But you must seek only the place he chooses from all your tribes to establish his name as his place of residence, and you must go there.
At the time when this instruction was spoken, Jerusalem was not yet the capital of Israel. For the people standing before Moses that day, Jerusalem was a future place and time. For everyone after Jerusalem was established, it is in our past.
12:6 And there you must take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.
12:7 Both you and your families must feast there before the LORD your God and rejoice in all the output of your labor with which he has blessed you.
12:8 You must not do like we are doing here today, with everyone doing what seems best to him,
12:9 for you have not yet come to the final stop and inheritance the LORD your God is giving you.
The reason we must go to Jerusalem is because we are commanded to stop doing our own thing. The ‘final stop’ is more likely a reference to the FINAL Kingdom during the 7th millennium than to the initial establishment of Jerusalem as YHVH’s capital of Israel.
12:10 When you do go across the Jordan River and settle in the Land he is granting you as an inheritance and you find relief from all the enemies who surround you, you will live in safety.
12:11 Then you must come to the place the LORD your God chooses for his name to reside, bringing everything I am commanding you — your burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, and all your choice votive offerings which you devote to him.
12:12 You shall rejoice in the presence of the LORD your God, along with your sons, daughters, male and female servants, and the Levites in your villages (since they have no allotment or inheritance with you).
Another misconception in the Body about the Feasts is that only the men are required to go to Jerusalem. Everyone in our households are to go to Jerusalem. More on this in a minute.
12:13 Make sure you do not offer burnt offerings in any place you wish,
12:14 for you may do so only in the place the LORD chooses in one of your tribal areas — there you may do everything I am commanding you.
12:15 On the other hand, you may slaughter and eat meat as you please when the LORD your God blesses you in all your villages. Both the ritually pure and impure may eat it, whether it is a gazelle or an ibex.
Now we are beginning to see what appears to be an exception.
12:16 However, you must not eat blood — pour it out on the ground like water.
This is very important because pouring the blood on the ground means we are not doing a sacrifice in our gates. The only place we are permitted to sacrifice is in Jerusalem. There is more:
12:17 You will not be allowed to eat in your villages your tithe of grain, new wine, olive oil, the firstborn of your herd and flock, any votive offerings you have vowed, or your freewill and personal offerings.
12:18 Only in the presence of the LORD your God may you eat these, in the place he chooses. This applies to you, your son, your daughter, your male and female servants, and the Levites in your villages. In that place you will rejoice before the LORD your God in all the output of your labor.
Why may we not eat our grain, wine, olive oil, firstborn animal or anything else set aside for the Feasts? Because we are not to do this kind of worship in our own gates, our own towns.
12:19 Be careful not to overlook the Levites as long as you live in the Land.
12:20 When the LORD your God extends your borders as he said he would do and you say, “I want to eat meat just as I please,” you may do so as you wish.
We are permitted to eat as much meat as we wish. This meat, however, is not sacrificial meat. YHVH will tell us in the next verses what to do with sacrificial meat.
12:21 If the place he chooses to locate his name is too far for you, you may slaughter any of your herd and flock he has given you just as I have stipulated; you may eat them in your villages just as you wish.
12:22 Like you eat the gazelle or ibex, so you may eat these; the ritually impure and pure alike may eat them.
It is permitted for us to re-purpose an animal that has been set aside as a sacrifice for the Feasts in Jerusalem. How does that work?
Deuteronomy 14:22 Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year.
14:23 And thou shalt eat before the LORD thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the LORD thy God always.
14:24 And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it; or if the place be too far from thee, which the LORD thy God shall choose to set his name there, when the LORD thy God hath blessed thee:
14:25 Then shalt thou turn it into money, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose:
14:26 And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household,
14:27 And the Levite that is within thy gates; thou shalt not forsake him; for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee.
Three times in the space of seven verses YHVH tells us to go to the place of His name and He even makes it easy for us to get there by allowing us to sell what we cannot carry or take with us easily.
Now watch this. It is so important for YHVH’s people to be at the Feasts in Jerusalem, the place of His name, that we are commanded to make it possible for the widows, the poor, the orphans, and the Levites to get there at least every 3rd year of the increased tithing time!
Deuteronomy 14:28 At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates:
14:29 And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest.
The commandment about the tithe that gets laid up in our gates is included in YHVH’s instructions about going to the place of His name. Part of that tithe is for those who may be unable to go to Jerusalem in other years, but at least in the 3rd year of increased tithing they will be able to go.
This also becomes an answer for those who do not have the means to attend all three pilgrimages in any given year. The implication is that everyone should want to go to the place of YHVH’s name, Jerusalem, even if they cannot. But they should know that He will make the provision for them to go at least every third year.
There will be more on this later. Let’s finish Deuteronomy chapter 12:
12:23 However, by no means eat the blood, for the blood is life itself — you must not eat the life with the meat!
12:24 You must not eat it! You must pour it out on the ground like water.
12:25 You must not eat it so that it may go well with you and your children after you; you will be doing what is right in the LORD’s sight.
This is a strong prohibition against attempting to sacrifice in our own gates. Remember that the difference between a slaughter for meat and a sacrifice to YHVH has to do with how we handle the blood. The blood manipulation determines its purpose. If it goes in the ground, it is a slaughter and we may do this anywhere. If it goes on the Altar, it is a sacrifice and we can only do this in Jerusalem.
12:26 Only the holy things and votive offerings that belong to you, you must pick up and take to the place the LORD will choose.
12:27 You must offer your burnt offerings, both meat and blood, on the altar of the LORD your God; the blood of your other sacrifices you must pour out on his altar while you eat the meat.
12:28 Pay careful attention to all these things I am commanding you so that it may always go well with you and your children after you when you do what is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God.
Notice that:
- The commands to attend the Feasts have several parts.
- The whole family goes
- The men appear with the family’s tithe before the LORD
- The Cohen do the specified sacrifices
- Individual may, if necessary, do sacrifices of their own will while in Jerusalem such as peace and thanksgiving offerings. Of course, everyone is required to sacrifice a lamb at the Temple for Pesach.
The objection is raised against going to Jerusalem because the Temple is not there at this time. I ask you to consider that we should be doing all that we are able to complete in the way and in the place that YHVH specified.
Someone emailed to ask how we keep the Feasts in Jerusalem since there is no Temple there now. The answer is that we do it like Ezra did when the Jews returned from Babylon before the second Temple was built, which took an additional twenty (20) years. They quickly built an Altar which we still don’t have, but even that is not required to be in the presence of YHVH. The specific sacrifices for each Feast are only one part of the commandment to go up.
We are commanded to take our tithes to the Temple, but short of that, we can take the money that we use to tithe and send someone in our place or give it to those institutions that are working on getting the Temple rebuilt.
The Feasts, our attendance at the Feasts in Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the Temple are connected. The House of Israel has been for away 2,700 years. We are looking for the Temple to be rebuilt. May I remind everyone that YHVH uses people to build His Temple? Rebuilding the Temple requires the presence of His people in Jerusalem. The Jews are only three (3) of the tribes. We are now in the time of the return of the House of Israel and we will help to rebuild the third Temple. How do I know?
Ezekiel 48:31 And the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel: three gates northward; one gate of Reuben, one gate of Judah, one gate of Levi.
48:32 And at the east side four thousand and five hundred: and three gates; and one gate of Joseph, one gate of Benjamin, one gate of Dan.
48:33 And at the south side four thousand and five hundred measures: and three gates; one gate of Simeon, one gate of Issachar, one gate of Zebulun.
48:34 At the west side four thousand and five hundred, with their three gates; one gate of Gad, one gate of Asher, one gate of Naphtali.
Never in the history of Jerusalem have the gates to the city been called by the names of the Tribes. Few understand this, but it is common knowledge among those who understand the Temple, that the walled city of Jerusalem is actually an extended area of the Temple itself. Thus, the gates to the Temple will be named for the Tribes. The New Jerusalem that comes from heaven at the end of the millennium will have gates named after the Tribes.
Therefore, all twelve (12) Tribes will participate in the Temple’s rebuilding. That, my friends, is happening right now. There are non-Jews already involved in planning for the rebuilding. Part of the rebuilding of the Temple has to do with the House of Israel showing up to stand side by side with the House of Judah at the Feasts.
Before there can be a continuation of sacrifices, there must be people who appear in Jerusalem just as in Ezra’s time and before there was an Altar. We are praying for the return of the Messiah and the ingathering, so we must appear where YHVH’s eyes and heart are forever. Step by step, He will give us back our Altar, the Temple, the ingathered people and the Messiah to reign in Jerusalem. But we must make the first attempt. The principle of return is that when He calls, we have to answer. We take a step toward Him and then He moves toward us.
The principle of this comes from the time when the Children of Israel were trapped in Egypt.
Exodus 3:9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.
The people first must cry out, then He will answer. We first must bear the pain of the loss of everything we were given in our covenant with YHVH – the Land, the government, the priesthood, the Temple, the Feasts. We who are from the House of Israel lost the right to return to Jerusalem until Yeshua died for us. We lost the liturgy and our inheritance.
We must return in repentance on behalf of our ancestors for rejecting the Land, the Feasts, the Temple, the Priesthood, and Jerusalem as Jeroboam led us:
Leviticus 26:40 If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me;
26:41 And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the Land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity:
26:42 Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the Land.
THAT is what our calling is right now. Repent and return to Jerusalem. Return to the place that Jeroboam led us away from 2,700 years ago. The rebuilding of the Temple is associated with repentance before we can rebuild it.
Ezekiel 43:10 Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern.
43:11 And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them.
43:12 This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.
So, what happens when we go to Jerusalem now since we cannot sacrifice or present tithes to the Temple? While we are in Jerusalem, the Cohen do the Temple liturgies at the Western wall. They put the Aaronic Blessing on the people. We do activities such as taking tours and eating in the wonderful restaurants in Jerusalem. There is much to do outside the walled city, as well. Most important is that we go to the Wall to pray.
YHVH said HIs eyes and heart are in Jerusalem forever and perpetually (1 Kings 9:3, 2 Chronicles 7:16). Therefore, when we are there, He sees and feels our presence just as we are aware of His. I would like for someone to explain how it is possible for YHVH’s heart and eyes to be in Jerusalem if His presence is not there.
There is something else to remember for the sake of getting this understanding. YHVH said to go to the place of His name. His name is on Jerusalem, not on the Temple. His name was not on the first Tabernacle either. He puts His name in 2 places only: On Jerusalem and on His people. So, His people are connected to Jerusalem through His name. This is why YHVH will never ask HIs people to stop coming to Jerusalem. And it is one of the reasons why teachers who instruct people to NOT go to Jerusalem are in error.
This issue is of the same magnitude and importance as the Sabbath. It is fundamental to our faith and heritage. Do you remember when you “got it” about the Sabbath? Did you, like me, feel robbed by the lies, distortions, and misrepresentations of the church about it? I know I did. The Sabbath was the starting line of our walk toward Yeshua’s Kingdom.
All of us understand more about our King and His Kingdom as we proceed on our walk. We understand that we have been called to this walk. This is not something that comes from within ourselves. YHVH calls each, and everyone, of us and He opens our eyes to greater understanding as we continue walking in the light that He gives us.
I have been in heated arguments with people over this issue. Jerusalem is a heavy stone for everyone, even for those who believe in YHVH. And I now understand that the issue of the Land is closely connected with Him putting us under the rod in the wilderness to separate out the rebels. In fact, the most intense disagreements are coming from those who are in the wilderness now.
Ezekiel 20 tells us about going under the rod in the wilderness and then YHVH says “they won’t go into my Land”.
KJV
Ezekiel 20:37 And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant:
20:38 And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the Land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
NET Bible
Ezekiel 20:37 I will make you pass under the shepherd’s staff, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.
20:38 I will eliminate from among you the rebels and those who revolt against me. I will bring them out from the Land where they have been residing, but they will not come to the Land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
He will put, and already is putting, HIs people under the rod. Immediately after going under the rod is YHVH’s pronouncement about whether they enter the Land or not.
The rod and the Land. They are connected. The issue that YHVH must put people under the rod for is the Land.
The Ezekiel passage can be read two ways. First, it can be that YHVH won’t let the people who have passed under the rod, and that He has judged to be rebellious, to go into the Land. Or, secondly, it may be that even when YHVH passes those people under the rod, they still refuse to go into the Land like the ten (10) spies. The issue that is rearing up among YHVH’s people at this time is the issue of the Land. It was the last test in the wilderness. We must decide whether to agree with the ten (10) spies who rejected the Land or the accept the gift YHVH has given us and go to the Land.
Let’s revisit the objections I gave in the beginning of this teaching. These are some of the statements being made to stop people from attending the Feasts in Jerusalem. Some of them are exactly like the reasoning of the ten spies:
- The Land is dangerous
- It is defiled. There are evil people in the Land
- The Muslims have placed their god there
- Israel is not the Messiah’s Kingdom because it was created by the United Nations, not Yeshua
- YHVH’s presence is not in Jerusalem. He is not dwelling there now.
- We should not go to Jerusalem now. Yeshua did away with this in John chapter 4.
- The Feast commandments are for the future when Messiah is ruling and reigning on earth
- Israel is not at peace with her enemies
- There is no Temple, no Altar and no sacrifices
- Jerusalem is the synagogue of Satan
- The currently functioning Cohen are heathens because they do not believe in Yeshua
- The Torah is not being read at the Feasts in Jerusalem
- We can’t fulfill every requirement of Torah at the Feasts in Jerusalem, so we should not go at all
- We can’t take our offerings, tithes and sacrifices, so our men are not required to go to Jerusalem right now
- We should not go to Jerusalem for the Feasts because it would be like we are submitting to Jewish authority
- We don’t have to keep the Feasts in Jerusalem because we are not in the Land.
- YHVH’s name is everywhere now, not just in Jerusalem
- Messiah will be in our midst when we celebrate the Feasts in our own towns and cities around the earth, therefore it is not necessary to be in Jerusalem for us to be in His presence
- We are only supposed to keep the Feasts in Jerusalem once we have “entered His Land” like that second generation who crossed over Jordan
- We should wait for Yeshua to gather us before we start doing the Feasts in Jerusalem
- The calendar is wrong so people keeping the Feasts in Jerusalem are doing it at the wrong time
- Deuteronomy 12 says we can keep the Feasts in our own towns
- The commandment never mentions Jerusalem by name
There are over twice as many excuses given as there were spies who rejected the Land. Let us stop reading the commands to interpret them, but rather to simply obey. Stop interpreting the commandments to determine whether we have a duty to Yeshua’s Kingdom. Read the commands as requirements for citizenship in the Commonwealth of Israel Kingdom.
Let’s return to the email I received from a friend who spoke of Yeshua’s crucifixion. An innocent man’s blood was spilled in Jerusalem. The city is defiled for that reason alone, even without the defilement that was present when He walked there. His blood stain is still in the soil of Jerusalem. We claim His blood that defiled the Land so long ago for our own salvation. Is His blood defiled because it is in a place that people say is defiled? Why would anyone not want to be close to where Yeshua died so that He could bring us back to that very place? The place where His Name is and where His people should want to be?
That most of the exiles cannot get to Jerusalem is a punishment that we must bear because our ancestors in the House of Israel defied YHVH and walked with Jeroboam instead. He did not allow the House of Israel to attend the Feasts in Jerusalem any longer. Therefor,e Jeroboam set up the golden calves in Bethel and Dan. It is time for the House of Israel to defy Jeroboam!
Those that can go are blessed beyond measure. And we have a charge to call the other sheep! We also have a reason to be sorrowful at all of the Feasts.
Zephaniah 3:18 I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden.
YHVH needs people who will feel this pain, who will cry out every day and, especially during the Feasts whether we are in Jerusalem or mourning over them in the diaspora. Even while we rejoice in Jerusalem, there is also a sense of grieving because everything is not as it should be. The biggest heart break is that our brethren are not yet standing beside us to show YHVH, whose eyes are upon us and whose heart knows that we are there, that we want His Temple to return. We want everything that is our heritage.
YHVH will gather us when we are grieved that the only Feasts we can attend are those we do in the diaspora. There is grace for extenuating circumstances of the poor, the widows, and the orphans – circumstances like finances, health, and other problems. YHVH knows we are still slaves and subject to much difficulty in our respective countries of exile. But if you can make provision to go to Jerusalem, then go there. If you have the resources to fly halfway around the earth to attend a Feast in a diaspora location like America, Australia, Italy, Germany or anywhere else, fly to Jerusalem instead. Set your face like flint toward Jerusalem. YHVH will get you there.
In conclusion, let me share my journey of coming into this understanding. The burden of this issue has been growing within me since Sukkot 2014. In August 2014, YHVH told me to be in Jerusalem for Sukkot “next year”, 2015. His instruction came a couple of months after someone offered to pay for my trip to Israel with Rico Cortes. The knowledge that YHVH was beginning to turn me in a new direction was becoming clear, but I had no idea how much my life would change over the next two years.
YHVH dealt with me differently on this subject than in everything else He has shown me. Either that, or I was as resistant to going to Jerusalem for the Feasts as many people are right now. The realization and understanding about the Feasts did not come suddenly and with force like the understanding of the Sabbath. It has come slowly, painfully, with great effort and over a longer period of time.
I heard a teaching about the requirement to go to Jerusalem many years ago, but made the excuses listed here. But thank YHVH that He would not let me continue in my error. He provided the way for me to get to Jerusalem and, little by little, opened my understanding. When I received the understanding about the Sabbath, it was like He opened my brain to be a bucket into which He could pour more knowledge. But the issue of the Feasts has not been like that. So now, I am revealing the hardness of my own heart so that others will soften theirs regarding observing the Feasts in Jerusalem. That was the purpose of the disclaimer on TheMessianicMessage.com.
YHVH has changed the direction of my ministry from seed-sowing to ingathering. My new job is to call people out of Babylon and to Jerusalem. It is probably the most difficult task YHVH has yet set before me. His Kingdom is coming and He is preparing a remnant who will do what Deuteronomy says in chapter 30, verses 1-3:
Deuteronomy 30:1 And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,
30:2 And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;
30:3 That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.
The instruction is that we must return to doing everything that is possible to obey. We cannot yet do everything stipulated in the Law. He only says that we must want to do everything in the Law. And might I add that we should be willing to do these things without hesitation? It will be only after He has gathered a willing remnant that He will gather the rest of us from the nations.
Each of us should want to be part of this remnant. Whether we have the means, the conditions in our life, the correct circumstances, and the proper situation to perform as much of His Laws as we can without a Temple, is not the problem. These things will be taken care of by YHVH if we turn our hearts back to Him with a desire to be in Jerusalem.
YHVH said that His face has been turned away from us, but it is turning back to us the more that we do to obey Him. The more we do to prepare for traveling to Jerusalem, the more we are showing Him that we want to be in His Land and in His Kingdom.
Consider this: Did YHVH set aside the Sabbath? No. Did He set aside His dietary laws? Has He set aside any part of the Torah? No. Has He set aside the requirement to come to Jerusalem for the Feasts? No. Does He use His Torah to judge who belongs in His Kingdom? Yes.
This teaching that you are listening to today is not a condemnation, but a call. It is intended to set right that which I taught incorrectly and to encourage you to set your face toward Jerusalem, to tithe the second tithe so that you will have the provision to observe the Feasts in Jerusalem as often as possible and to let your heart grieve for the horrible loss of not being able to go to Jerusalem. The Feasts, I now see, are central to the ingathering. Go under the rod and decide that you want to go into the Land before YHVH puts you under the rod with His wrath poured out as He says in Ezekiel 20.
If you cannot attend the Feasts, let your Fellowship combine a special tithe to send a representative. The principle is simple. YHVH attributes cooperation in the building of the Tabernacle and Temple as if we personally built them. The Children of Israel in the wilderness were all attributed as having built the Tabernacle.
Exodus 39:32 Thus was all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation finished: and the children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did they.
Did all two to three million Israelites participate in the building? No. Many of them did in offerings, gold and silver jewelry, but the artisan work was completed by specific people overseeing teams of workers. Yet, YHVH attributes the building of the Tabernacle to ALL of the Children of Israel.
Did King David build the Temple? No, but YHVH attributes the preparation for building it to David (1 Chronicles 28). This is why we connect the Temple with David as well as Solomon. David contributed to its construction. In fact, it was to David that YHVH gave the plans, the blueprint, and the liturgies, and the oral laws that the Priests still use today.
The principle is that simply by studying the Temple and supporting those who are actively working on its rebuilding, we are participating in its construction as much as those who actually do the job. Extend that to the commandment to make sure that the widows, the poor, and the orphans have opportunity to get to Jerusalem for the Feasts and we can see how YHVH will attribute our own attendance as if we had been there.
I will be doing more in-depth teachings on this issue in the future. In the meantime, I would like help from my audience to let me know when you hear this false doctrine within my teachings so I can remove that from the recording. Write down the teaching, the timing of my statement, and send it to me at admin@themessianicmessage.com. That way, I will get my website cleaned up.
Thank you for listening to this teaching. Feel free to copy and share it.
Be blessed!
Kimberly Rogers-Brown