Rabbi Schneider - The Themes of Redemption (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot)
Welcome and shalom, beloved friend. This is a very exciting and important time of year in conjunction with God's sacred calendar that's revealed to us in the book of Leviticus, we call it in Hebrew "Vayikra", chapter number 23. In Leviticus 23, the LORD has a calendar in which he lists what are known as his "moadim" or his appointed days. These are God's holy days or holidays, and these holy days or holidays are basically broken up into two main sections. We have the holy days that take place in the spring, beginning with Passover, and then we have the holy days that take place in the fall, beginning with what is known in Hebrew as Rosh Hashanah or the Feast of Trumpets.
And during these fall holy days, that begins in the fall, once again, with Rosh Hashanah or Yom Teruah, the Feast of Trumpets, followed by Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and then climaxing in the fall with Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles, during this time of year, there is kind of a transformative spiritual tune-up that takes place where, as we begin with the Feast of Trumpets on Rosh Hashanah or Yom Teruah, by recognizing that we're all going to stand before our Creator and be judged. That's a good thing to think about.
In fact, I believe that the LORD gave us these holy days to help us stay in alignment with the fundamental truths that keep us walking in fellowship with him. In other words, once a year we focus on the great themes of redemption as we look at what each one of these holy days is all about. So Yom Teruah, Rosh Hashanah, or the Feast of Trumpets is about recognizing that we're all going to stand, you and I, before our Creator and give an account for our lives. And so it causes us to take an inventory.
You know, what in my life is right? What in my life is wrong? What do I need to adjust? I mean, this is a really, you know, very completely secular example, but it is similar in concept to what happens in January when all of the sudden the membership in the gyms goes up because people are looking at their lives they're saying, I'm not eating healthy enough, I'm not exercising enough. They take an inventory in January and say, I got to change some things. Well, spiritually speaking, that's what we should be doing during the season of the Feast of Trumpets. From the Feast of Trumpets, we go to Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement.
Again, this is all in Leviticus 23, the fall holy days. And on Yom Kippur, we're reminded of the blood that is shed for the forgiveness of our sin. And of course, this is fulfilled in Messiah Yeshua, the one that knew no sin but became sin on our behalf, your behalf, on my behalf, that we could become the righteous of God. Through the blood of Jesus, your sins and my sins have been forgiven and we've been made whole and are now blameless in love before the Father in him. I love it. Then finally, the fall holy season culminates with what is known in Hebrew as Sukkot. You can say with me, "Sukkot," if you're not familiar with the word, which means "tabernacles," the Feast of Tabernacles.
Tabernacles is one of the three pilgrim feasts. By pilgrim feasts, I'm talking about the three times of year that are outlined in Deuteronomy 16:16, Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, in which God commanded all of Israel to come to Jerusalem to present him an offering. So Tabernacles is a very unique feast. This great day, which culminates the fall holy season, Tabernacles, is so critically important because it's one of the three times of year that God called all Israel to Jerusalem to present an offering to him.
Now, what is Tabernacles about in terms of its application for our life today? I could go on and share with you for quite a while, but let me just highlight a few main things. First of all, Tabernacles reminds us that even when we have nothing else, we still have God. Because during the Feast of Sukkot or Tabernacles, the Lord commanded Israel to build a sukkah, which is a temporary structure. It's a little kind of temporary tent, you could say, to build a tent each year, a temporary structure, and to live in that tent for seven days to remind them that when they were in the wilderness, they lived in these temporary structures made of just natural branches, tree branches and leaves, etc...
So it reminds Israel that when they were in the wilderness, they lived in these temporary structures, and even though they had no natural provision, God supplied all their needs. And so even today, Jewish people all over the world, myself included, we spend time in a sukkah during the Feast of Tabernacles to remind us that even if we had nothing else in the world, we would still have God and he would meet all our needs. And knowing that, Beloved, is so freeing, and I have a testimony in my own life in which I one year was in my sukkah at home, and I was just thinking about the fact that I thought I had to do this to survive and that to survive and this and that.
And I just said, Lord, I'm just trusting you. I'm going to stop thinking I've got to do all these things to meet all my needs. I'm just going to trust you to meet my needs, just like you supplied the needs of your people in the wilderness, in the desert for 40 years by supernaturally giving them manna on the ground every day of the week for 40 years, six days a week. God gave them manna on the ground and it was completely supernatural. And then he supernaturally sent the birds at night. And so I reminded myself as I was sitting in my sukkah alone one year, my beloved friend, that, you know what?
I don't have to think that my livelihood just depends on my efforts. I'm going to trust God to supply my needs. It was so freeing for me. It wasn't that I didn't keep working. It was just that I no longer felt that it all depended on me. I was now trusting in God to give the increase. And so once a year we can spend time recognizing during Sukkot especially that the Lord is our provider. And he has promised to supernaturally provide for the needs of his people. Secondly, on Sukkot, I want to remind us today, it was a time to focus on what God has done for us in our lives. This is so important. Don't tune out, because we need to hear this.
So oftentimes we can think about what we don't have. We compare ourselves to people's Facebook page or what being rich is supposed to look like or what being beautiful is supposed to look like, or what a perfect spouse is supposed to look like. And we have these images that make us focus on lack rather than instead being focused on what we already have and being thankful for it. As I've said many times, a truly rich person is not someone that has everything they desire, because desires are unending, but rather a truly rich soul is somebody that is content and thankful for what they already have.
And so every year we should just stop and thank God for what we have, because we don't know when it's going to be taken away. And which one of us wants to be in a position where a loved one that we took for granted suddenly is gone? And then what? How many times have you heard the story that somebody lost a father or a mother or a spouse? And they said to themself, I wish I would have told my mother, my father, my spouse more that I love them. We need to be thankful with what we have right now and not take it for granted.
And the feast of Sukkot reminds us to rejoice in all the blessings of God that are already surrounding our lives and to lift our soul out of the darkness and stop complaining and instead, Beloved, be grateful and thankful. And you can do that. It's possible. I've seen people that have very little in life and that they're happy, but they're happy souls. One man I knew was very not well-off at all and even had some health challenges. But every time I said to him, "How are you, Patrick"? he said to me, "Rabbi, I'm doing better than I deserve". And he just melted my heart. He was thankful for what he did have.
So Sukkot reminds us to be thankful. Every night in bed, I lie next to my beautiful wife, Cynthia Marjorie, and I recognize I don't know if Cynthia is going to be alive tomorrow, and she doesn't know if I'm going to be alive tomorrow. I don't take my wife for granted because we don't know how long we're going to have each other. So I try every night to thank God for my wife and to love her today, knowing that there's no guarantee of what tomorrow will bring.
Sukkot is a time, Beloved, to thank the LORD and be thankful and grateful for his blessing on your life. And finally, as I mentioned earlier, Sukkot or Tabernacles is a time when Israel came to Jerusalem, they were commanded to come in Deuteronomy 16:16 to present an offering to Yahweh. I want to give you an opportunity, because I know that my audience, many of you love the Hebrew roots of your faith and identify with God's truth taught in the Hebrew Bible, I'd like to give you an opportunity, as the Holy Spirit would touch your heart and move you, to present a special Tabernacles offering to the Lord through Discovering The Jewish Jesus.
If my life and ministry is touching you and helping you, if you're being nourished by the teaching of this ministry, and not just me, my entire staff, that makes this possible, would you present a special financial offering to the Lord through DJJ this year at this time during Tabernacles? It's only because of you, Beloved, that we can do what we're doing. God bless you. Thank you for your love. Thank you for your support. And I say a "chag sameach" to you. Happy holiday. I love you, in Yeshua's name. Shalom.