Fidelity and the Feasts of the Lord

Posted Feb 17, 2016 by Frank Klin in Statutes and Judgements

Fidelity and the Feasts of the Lord

Part 2 of a Scripture Study

by Frank Klin

Come now, let us reason together. We are challenged to be Bereans. Test the spirits and search the Scriptures preserved and handed down by the church in the wilderness to see if these things are so. Study with a friend and pray for discernment because we are promised that wherever two or three are gathered in Jesus’ Name, He is there. May you be richly blessed as you study His Word.

In part one of our study we discovered that each of us are feast keepers whether we realize it or not.  People are keeping feasts dedicated to saints and occasions of all kinds. We were then introduced to the seven “feasts of the Lord” as identified from Scripture.  We learned of the weekly seventh day Sabbath feast, and the timepiece that monthly helps identify seasons for the annual feast convocations.

We read that the special appointed times were part of the commandments, statutes, judgments, laws and precepts that were spoken by God to Moses and written in a book. This Book of the Law was placed in the side of the Ark of the Covenant that also contained the two tables of stone upon which the Ten Commandments were written by the finger of God.

Though the chosen people promised to do all that our Heavenly Father asked, the majority were attempting to keep His laws, statutes and judgments in their own strength and were unable to because they had not allowed the Spirit of Christ to write them in their hearts. This eventually caused the people to rebel against their Creator, follow their own desires and go after other gods.  It is no different today.

Thinking to change times and laws by what authority?

In 1521 Dr. Johann Eck represented the Catholic Church against Martin Luther. He states in his book ‘Enchiridio…’,  “Concerning the Authority of the Church.— The Scripture teaches ‘Remember that you sanctify the day of the Sabbath; six days shall you labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.’, etc. But the Church has changed the Sabbath into the Lord’s by its own authority, concerning which you have no scripture, without doubt under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.”

Concerning Holidays and Fast-Days.— The Sabbath is commanded many times by God; neither in the Gospels nor in Paul is it declared that the Sabbath has ceased; nevertheless the Church has instituted the Lord’s day through the tradition of the apostles without Scripture.”

“If, however, the church has had power to change the Sabbath of the Bible into Sunday and to command Sunday keeping, why should it not have also this power concerning other days, many of which are based on the Scriptures–such as Christmas, circumcision of the heart, three kings [Epiphany], etc. If you omit the latter, and turn from the church to the Scriptures alone, then you must keep the Sabbath with the Jews, which has been kept from the beginning of the world.” [Quoted by J.N. Andrews, “History of the Sabbath”, 1912 edition, p. 587]

“We know, dearly beloved, that God established different laws in different generations which were in force as long as it pleased him. Afterward they were made obsolete. In the words of the apostle: In former times the kingdom of God existed in each generation under different signs.”  (Bishop Aphraates, “Lent with the Fathers”, Catholic Online)

It’s interesting what some will say about God.  Who wants to serve a God who contantly changes according to His own pleasure? Scripture declares, “For I am the Lord, I change not;”- (Malachi 3:6) And in another place it is declared of the Son of God, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” - (Hebrews 13:8)

In our previous Scripture study we read about king Jeroboam who pleased himself by setting up his own counterfeit feast and gods to worship.  A prophet of the true God visits Jeroboam at one of his idolatrous altars and puts the king under condemnation prophesying that “a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name”, who would return the people to worship of the one true God. Three hundred years later the prophecy is fulfilled. The name Josiah means “founded-set; fixed; established; begun and built-by Jehovah.”

Do you know of another prophesied child born unto the house of David who was to be King?  “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” - (Micah 5:2; Isaiah 9:6)

Cleansing the Land and the Temple

During the reign of king Josiah the Book of the Law spoken by God and written by Moses is found. Upon hearing the words Josiah rends his clothes in an act of repentance and submission. Revival and reformation sweeps through the kingdom as he sets about turning the heart of the people back to their Heavenly Father and His eternal Son. He cleanses the land of anything related to false worship and re-establishes true government and right worship, including the appointed feasts of the Lord.

Do you remember one of the very first things Jesus did when He began His ministry? “And the Jews’ Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: and when He had made a scourge of small cords, He drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; and said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not My Father’s house an house of merchandise.” – (John 2:13-16)

Jesus cleansed the temple just like Josiah because what the people were doing was related to the leaven of false worship. That may be why the apostle John in his gospel account of this event referred to the Passover as, “the Jews’ Passover.”  We will have a better understanding of that thought as we continue to study.

After Josiah cleanses the land and Jesus cleanses the temple there is a glorious celebration of the feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread, but the priests of the apostate church in Josiah’s day refused to go up to the altar at Jerusalem with their brothers and sisters who had repented of their evil. These priests ate the unleavened bread, but refused to do the heart work. They were leavened with malice and wickedness The Pharisees, merchants and moneychangers in Jesus’ day were no better. They went right back to their corrupt system of worship not recognizing that the very Son of God was in their midst to be an example and bring them back to His Father. They refused to recognize Jesus as a higher authority claiming they did not know Him. This brings to mind what took place between Pharaoh, Moses and Aaron just before the Exodus.

“Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice?” Exodus 5:2

Moses had received instructions from the I Am what to tell Pharaoh.  That request involves a feast.  “And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let My people go, that they may hold a feast unto Me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the Lord our God; lest He fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword.” – (Exodus 5:1-3)

This wasn’t just some picnic our Heavenly Father wanted Pharaoh to let the people attend. It was one of His appointed times. If Pharaoh had let the children of Israel go, what feast do you think they would have held in the wilderness?

We know the outcome of the story. Because Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not allow the Hebrews to leave and hold a feast unto the Lord the judgments of pestilence and sword fell upon Pharaoh and his people while the children of Israel came out of Egypt and received none of her plagues. What a blessing to be free from Egyptian bondage.

Moses later declared to the people, “Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons;” - (Deuteronomy 4:5-9)

Would we receive a blessing by following the instructions of our Heavenly Father and allowing Him to free us from the bondage of our sinful nature through the indwelling of the Spirit of His Son Jesus Christ? “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” - (2 Corinthians 7:1)

 

King Hezekiah, another example of cleansing the Temple.

Read 2nd Chronicles chapter 29 and 30 for the beautiful story.

Eighty-six years before the reign of Josiah, his great-great grandfather Hezekiah was king in Judah. His name means, “strengthened of Jehovah.”  The people were already doing evil in the sight of our Heavenly Father by worshipping false gods and neglecting the house of the Lord to the point of disrepair. They even corrupted themselves by making holy, venerating and burning incense to a relic from the days of Moses during the exodus.

  “And he [Hezekiah] did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did. He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan. - (2 Kings 18:3-4)   “He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and repaired them. And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the east street, And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place. For our fathers have trespassed, and done evil in the eyes of the Lord our God, and have forsaken Him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord, and turned their backs. Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel. Wherefore the wrath of the Lord was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes. For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.” - (2 Chronicles 29:3-9)  

“Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that His fierce wrath may turn away from us…So the service of the house of the Lord was set in order. And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly.” - (2 Chronicles 29:10, 35-36)   Hezekiah sends an open invitation to a feast of the Lord to continue the season of Repentance, Revival and Reformation.   “And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel… So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem: for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written.” – (2 Chronicles 30:1, 5)  

“So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel, turn again unto the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and He will return to the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria. Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into His sanctuary, which He hath sanctified for ever: and serve the Lord your God, that the fierceness of His wrath may turn away from you. For if ye turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away His face from you, if ye return unto Him.” - (2 Chronicles 30:6-9)  

Unfaithful feast scorners and mockers do not hinder those who truly humbled themselves in a renewed commitment to God.   “So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun: but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them. Nevertheless divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem. Also in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of the Lord. And there assembled at Jerusalem much people to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great congregation. And they arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense took they away, and cast them into the brook Kidron. Then they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the second month: and the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought in the burnt offerings into the house of the Lord.” - (2 Chronicles 30:10-15)  

And the children of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness: and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, singing with loud instruments unto the Lord. And Hezekiah spake comfortably unto all the Levites that taught the good knowledge of the Lord: and they did eat throughout the feast seven days, offering peace offerings, and making confession to the Lord God of their fathers.” - (2 Chronicles 30:21-22)  

Such a beautiful description of what can happen when hearts and minds are fully turned in repentance and submitted to the Father.  Sadly, it didn’t stay that way as we learn from Scripture. The people of their own accord established different laws in different generations, which were in force as long as it pleased them, thus making the laws of the Lord obsolete. Would this be pleasing to our Heavenly Father, the One True God?   Continual Transgression   “Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: and madest known unto them Thy holy Sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses Thy servant: and gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them. But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to Thy commandments, and refused to obey, neither were mindful of Thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage:…” - (Nehemiah 9:13-17)   “As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly”. - (Proverbs 26:11)

“…the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us;” “They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.” “[A]nd they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the Lord. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.” - (Exodus 32:1; Psalm 106:19-20; Exodus 32:4-6)

  “Whereupon…king [Jeroboem] took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” “Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.” - (1 Kings 12:28; Hosea 13:2)   “But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; of the nations which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love…For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father. Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods.” - (1 Kings 11:1-2, 5-8)  

Manassehdid evil in the sight of the Lord, like unto the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. Also he built altars in the house of the Lord…And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever: neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from out of the land which I have appointed for your fathers; so that they will take heed to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses. So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel.” - (2 Chronicles 33:1-9)  

“And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.” - (1 Kings 18:17-18)   “[T]hey also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean. - (Isaiah 28:7-8)  

“Then said He [the Spirit of Christ] unto me [Ezekiel], Son of man, lift up thine eyes…and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry. He said…seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations. And he brought me to the door of the court…And He said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about. And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel…with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then said He unto me…hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The Lord seeth us not; the Lord hath forsaken the earth. He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do. Then He brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord’s house…and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. And He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east. Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke Me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose. Therefore will I also deal in fury: Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in Mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.” - (Ezekiel 8:5-18)  

I am the Lord your God; walk in My statutes, and keep My judgments, and do them; and hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God. Notwithstanding the children rebelled against Me: they walked not in My statutes, neither kept My judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted My Sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out My fury upon them, to accomplish My anger against them in the wilderness. - (Ezekiel 20:19-21)  

“I am the Lord, I change not” Does our Heavenly Father go against His own words and do away with His feasts, commandments, statutes and judgments?   We will see from Scripture that the feasts, commandments, statutes, precepts and ordinances the Lord established were not made obsolete. Because the bride our Heavenly Father had chosen for His Son no longer obeyed His word, did what was right in her own eyes, continually played the harlot and went after other gods, He then abhorred what He refers to as “her feasts, her Sabbaths, her new moons and her solemn feasts”, among other things. She, His people, is the one who changed. “Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but My people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.” “And she hath changed My judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and My statutes more than the countries that are round about her: for they have refused My judgments and My statutes, they have not walked in them.” “The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.” - (Jeremiah 2:11; Ezekiel 5:6; Isaiah 24:5)

“Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed against Me, saith the Lord. In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion. O generation, see ye the word of the Lord. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say My people, We are lords; we will come no More unto thee? Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet My people have forgotten Me days without number.” - (Jeremiah 2:29-32) “Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord. A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the Lord their God. Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings...” – (Jeremiah 3:21-22)

“I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.  Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.  But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?  But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, whose name is The God of Hosts.” - (Amos 5:21-27)   “I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. - (Hosea 2:11)   “Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto Me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of bloodHow is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water: Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.” - (Isaiah 1:13-15 & 21-23)  

“What will ye do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of the Lord? For, lo, they are gone because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them: the pleasant places for their silver, nettles shall possess them: thorns shall be in their tabernacles. - (Hosea 9:5-6)

“And He hath violently taken away His tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: He hath destroyed His places of the assembly: the Lord hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of His anger the king and the priest. The Lord hath cast off His altar, He hath abhorred His sanctuary, He hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn feast.” - (Lamentations 2:6-7)  

“And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto My name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it. - (Malachi 2:1-3)  

The following verse has such deep meaning when applied to the situation of the wayward bride.  “And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.” - (Hosea 13:2)

The word “kiss” can be defined as an act of submission to the one you are giving your fidelity to.    Even today we show our fidelity to the one we honour and serve spiritually or physically with a “kiss.” Scripture admonishes us to, “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him”- (Psalm 2:12). Will our fidelity be to the Bridegroom, the Son of God?

The betrothed people of God did not put their trust in the Son, “Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.” “Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Because ye have not heard My words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations. Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle. And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” - (Isaiah 1:4; Jeremiah 25:8-11)

The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness. Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the Lord hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into captivity before the enemy.” - (Lamentations 1:4-5)

The majority of God’s people chose, by their actions, to kiss the golden calves instead of the Son and both faithful and unfaithful went into Babylonian captivity. This is where this portion of our study ends. In part three we will continue to bring light to the feasts of the Lord as we learn what happens when a remnant of the bride chooses to come out of Babylon.

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