Why Tabernacles but NOT Christmas
September 30, 2013 at 6:44am
As we enter the Great 8th Day, we remember that eight is the number of eternity and new beginnings, and we celebrate the fact that on some future day when the feast of Tabernacles is completely fulfilled, we will be spending eternity with Yahweh Almighty God, and our bridegroom Yeshua the Messiah. We also finished, the week long feast of Tabernacles, which is the practice rehearsal for the Wedding Supper of the Lamb!
It is also the week long Biblical celebration of the birthday of Messiah!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BELOVED SAVIOR. Thank you for coming to be made flesh and choosing to TABERNACLE among us! (John 1:14).
I DO in fact celebrate the birthday of Jesus (Yeshua the Messiah). I simply do so at Yahweh Almighty God's appointed time, during the biblical feast of Tabernacles. It's a biblical fact that can easily be verified in less than 15 minutes of Bible study.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w3MNZQXlrs
By honoring Messiah's birth during the biblical feast of Tabernacles, we also accomplish one other critically important task:
We keep this most unique and important birthday holy and set apart from all other gods.
You see, almost every other pagan celestial sun god or fertility deity has also been said to have been born or reborn on December 25th. This can also be easily verified in most reputable encyclopedias. The problem with trying to commemorate Messiah's birth during December 25, is that you allow Jesus' birth to be lumped in all together with these other false gods, and make Messiah's birth just one more among many gods celebrated on that day. It's almost as though one were sending the message that Jesus is simply one more option within the divine smorgasbord which one could choose to worship, and it makes no real difference which one you choose, just as long as we worship SOMETHING. Such a message is popular in our day, but it is NOT true gospel.
We MUST SEPARATE from the worship of all other "gods." (1 Corinthians 10:14; 2 Corinthians 6:17; 1 John 5:21)
As it is written:
“These are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth. You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. You shall not worship the Lord your God with such things.” (Deuteronomy 12:1-4, NKJV)
“You shall not at all do as we are doing here today- every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes-” (Deuteronomy 12:8, NKJV)
“When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.” (Deuteronomy 12:29-32, NKJV)
"You people of Israel, listen to what the Lord has to say to you. The Lord says, “Do not start following pagan religious practices. Do not be in awe of signs that occur in the sky even though the nations hold them in awe.” (Jeremiah 10:1–2, NET)
Remember that according to Messiah, THE COMMANDMENT OF YAHWEH IS ETERNAL LIFE (John 12:49-50).
So therefore, by MESSIAH'S OWN DEFINITION, NOT mixing pagan practices with the worship of Yahweh, it is a part and parcel of being saved. It is REQUIRED for eternal life, because the COMMANDMENT OF YAHWEH IS ETERNAL LIFE, according to Yeshua the Messiah (John 12:49-50). Also, KNOWING Yahweh and KNOWING Messiah is also part of the definition of eternal life (John 17:3). So what is the PROOF that we KNOW HIM??
As it is written:
Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not KEEP His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” (1 John 2:3-6, NKJV)
- Jesus HONORED Yahweh's Feasts
-Jesus OBEYED the Commandments of the Father and did not sin
-Jesus DID NOT MIX pagan religious customs with the worship of Yahweh, because that would have been a clear violation of Yahweh's law and it would have been a sin (1 John 3:4; Deuteronomy 12:1-4, 8, 29-32; Exod. 23:34; Daniel 9:11; Hosea 8:1; Jeremiah 10:1-2; Lev. 18:3-5, 24-30; Deuteronomy 18:9; 2 Kings 17:7-8; 1 Chronicles 5:25; Ezra 20:7-8; James 4:4; 1 John 2:15-17; Revelation 12:17-18; Revelation 14:12; Revelation 18:1-4).
"See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.” (Colossians 2:8, NASB95)
THE BOTTOM LINE: the practice of SYNCRETISM (mixing pagan practices with godly worship is 100% FORBIDDEN according to SCRIPTURE.
Anything that was involved in the worship of other gods is not permitted to be brought into the worship of Yahweh. If you look throughout Israel's history one of the many reasons they were often brought in to captivity by their enemies was because they mixed the customs of godly worship with the customs of pagan worship, and such mixing has always been forbidden since the beginning of Yahweh's people as a nation.
As devout Bible believing Christians who understand that Messiah is the ONE and ONLY way to salvation, we simply cannot afford to even subconsciously send the message to the world that Jesus was just one option among many and it makes no real difference which option people choose. We cannot afford to send such a message, because that is the whole shooting match. Messiah is NOT one among many OPTIONS we could choose, He is the ONLY option which leads to eternal life (John 14:6; Acts 4:11-12; John 3:36; 1 Timothy 2:5). By keeping Messiah's birth (and everything else about Messiah's life), intentionally separate from the celebration of all other gods, we are staying true to this all-important fact of the gospel message.Thank you so much for taking the time to read and understand, and may you be richly blessed in the coming months.Brother
R. Michel Lankford
