The Definition of True Repentance

Sincere regret/remorse leading to genuine, heart-felt grief for sins against God, and a turning around, running the opposite direction from sin … which is toward our Holy God.

Repentance is accompanied with humility that produces a heart hungry to change, running away from wrong doing and becoming more thirsty to know Him.

Repentance is not only feeling regret and honest sorrow for past wrongs; it involves strong commitment to our holy God…asking forgiveness for sins committed and also ready to change our wrong ways and follow Him with all of our hearts.

Repentance produces great desire to let the Lord take over all of your life and change you for His glory.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:8.9

And He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

1 John 2:2

God’s Calendar, His Festivals, and Replacement Theology are all important.

The Lord says, “I am watching over My Word to perform it.” (Jeremiah 1:2) And, in Ecclesiastes 3:15 He says, “That which has been is now; and that which is to be has already been; and God requires that which is past.”

God’s Calendar

Nisan. March/April. Tishri. September/October
Iyar. April/May Cheshvan October/November
Sivan. May/June. Chislev. November/December
Tammuz June/July. Tebeth. December/January
Av. July/August. Shebat. January/February
Elul. AugustSeptember. Adar. February/March

God’s Appointed Festivals

Tishri 1,2. Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah means “head of the year” in Hebrew. It is considered the Jewish New Year. On this day the Jewish people remember the creation of the world, “God’s Sovereignty”, as the Shofar summons all to prayer. Rosh Hashanah begins the a period of repentance which culminates with Yom Kippur, a time to reflect on all wrong doings throughout the year and to repent and reconcile with others you have wronged or have wronged you. Rosh Hashanah is a time for lots of feasting without end. Apples are dipped in honey symbolizing hope for a sweet year. Rosh Hashanah also represents the miraculous creation fo the first humans, Adam and Eve.

Blowing of the Shofars. The Shofar is sounded to remember, to repent, and think about the coming year. The Shofar is a ram’s horn blown like a trumpet. It is blown in the synagogue. It is a call to repentance. We will all pass before the Creator. The righteous will be written in the book of life. The call of the Shofar is known as a “wake up call”, awakening our hearts to prepare for His coming. The Jews want to be written in the Book of Life; they know God atones for all confessed sin. This ram’s horn is sounded to remind people to repent and change their lives. It is blown over 100 times during the ten day period leading up to Yom Kippur, but blown only once on Yom Kippur to end the 24 hour fast. It is also believed the Shofar will be used to announce the Second Coming of the Lord.

Scriptures:

Leviticus 23:23-25 The Lord said to Moses, “Tell the people of Israel in the seventh month, the first of the month is to be for you a day of complete rest for remembering, a holy convocation announced with blasts on the shofar. Do not do any kind of ordinary work, and bring an offering made by fire to the Lord.”

Numbers 29:1 “On the first day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a day for you to blow the trumpets….”

1 Corinthians 15:52 “We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last Shofar, for the shofar shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”

Numbers 29:1 “And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no work; it is a day of blowing the trumpets unto you.”

1Thessalonians 4:16-18 “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words.”

Tishri 10 Yom Kippur/Day of Atonement

Yom Kippur is a 24 hour period of complete fasting and prayer. Jews ask God and others to forgive and cleanse them of the sins they have committed i the last year. The Jews also pray their names will be written in the Book of Life so they can go to heaven. There is no work performed on Yom Kippur. It is a complete fast from the evening, beginning before sunset until after sunset, on You Kippur. The High Priest could only enter into the Holy of Holies once a year for his sins and the sins of the people. Then a goat was led out to die, as the sins were placed upon him, just like Jesus was crucified outside the walls of the city. Leviticus 17 teaches that atonemnet is in the blood. Jesus’ blood is our atonement. The Temple veil was torn in two, showing He opened the way into the Holy of Holies! Yo Kippur shows us our need for sin offering for our sins and the sins of the nation. Jesus became that sacrifice.

Scriptures:

Leviticus 17:11 “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for i is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.”

Leviticus 16:29 “It is to be a permanent regulation for you that on the tenth day of the 7th month you are to deny yourselves and not to do any kind of work, or the citizen and the foreigner living with you. For on this day, atonement will be made for you to purify you; you will be clean before the Lord from all your sins. It is a Shabbat of complete rest for you, and you are to deny yourselves.”

Philippians 2:7 “But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Himself the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men.”

Matthew 27:51-53. “And behold the veil of the Temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose and came out of the graves after His resurrection and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.”

Tishri 15-22 Tabernacles/Sukkot

Sukkot is a reminder of God’s majesty. He is the all knowing, all powerful, everywhere present God! We need to remember His glory and splendor and all He has done for us. Sukkot provides us with this time of remembrance. We need to always remember our own frailty and our complete need of Him. Tabernacles is a week long autumn harvest festival. It occurs in September/October. This holiday is about the wanderings in the desert (the children of Israel) when they came out of Egypt on their way to the promised land. They were wandering because of their disobedience and yet God still cared for them and provided for them. He divinely protected them and provided for their needs. In remembrance of this holiday the Jews were commanded to build tabernacles (booths) and live in them for a week each year to remember God’s presence and faithfulness. This festival has not been fulfilled and remains a festival of the future. Sukkpt is a time of joy and rejoicing. The Sukkot booth is a temporary structure…the building begins on the night after Yom Kippur. the Sukkot is four-sided with an opening on one side. The top is loosely covered with branches, leaving room to see the stars. This festival signifies the ingathering of all the fruit of the earth which make it a festival of the end-times. It is a picture of returning from a life of bondage and sin to freedom in Jesus. We are all sojourners on our way home to the promised land. We must move when God moves. We must be sensitive to the Holy Spirit living in us. We must have pure, simple faith and “only believe”.

Scriptures:

Leviticus 23:39-43 “But on the 15th day of the month when you have gathered the produce of the land you are to observe the festival of the Lord seven days: the first day is to be a complete rest and the eighth day is to be a complete rest. On the first day you are to take choice fruit palm fronds, thick branches and river willows and celebrate it in the presence of the Lord your God seven days. You are to observe it as a feast to the Lord. You are to live in Sukkots for seven days so that generation after generation of you will know that I made the people of Israel live in Sukkots when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.”
John 7:2 “Now the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.”

John 6 “This chapter shows us He is our complete provider like He was when the Jews lived in Sukkots.

Nissan 14. Passover and Unleavened Bread

Passover celebrates deliverance of the Jews from Egypt. Passover is a picture of redemption. The blood of the Passover lamb was applied to the doorposts of the houses of the Jewish people. With this application of blood, the Lord spared the firstborn of the Jews. They were saved by the blood of this lamb. This is such a wonderful picture of Jesus, our Passover Lamb. When He died on the cross, His blood became our redemption. His sacrifice became life for us. Before Passover begins, the Jews clean all leaven out of their houses since leaven is a picture of sin. They want all sin out of their lives. Passover lasts eight days which includes the Feast of Unleavened Bread on the second day of Passover. The Jews were told to bring a lamb into their house from the tenth day to the fourteenth day. Then they had to kill the lamb and eat it around sunset. Jesus, in God’s timing, because our Passover Lamb to lead us to eternal life.

Scriptures:

Leviticus 23:5-8 “In the fourteenth day of the first month at evening is the Lord’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days you must eat unleavened bread. In the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no regular work on it.”

1 Corinthians 5:7 “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ out Passover is sacrificed for us.”

Nissan 16. First Fruits

First Fruits celebrates the bringing first of the winter harvest to the Temple.Jesus rising from the dead is fulfillment of this Feast. He is our First Fruits.

Scriptures:

Exodus 23:19 “You shall bring the choice first fruits of your soil into the house of the Lord, your God.”

1 Corinthians 15:20-23 “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the First Fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the First Fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming.”

Sivan Pentecost/Feast of Weeks/Shavuot

The Jews were to start counting seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath of the week of Passover, also known as First Fruits, so Shavuot would be celebrated on the right day, the 50th day. Pentecost means 50th Day. On the first Feast of First Fruits, during Passover week, barley was brought to the Temple and waved before the Lord. Barley ripens before wheat so two wave loaves of bread were offered as a second First Fruits Offering. This waving is just a foretaste of the Lord’s greater harvest to come. The Jews waved their offering in thanks as an act of faith. Shavuot is one of the three festivals (Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot) when the Israelites were to travel to Jerusalem to celebrate at the Temple. Shavuot is connected with the coming harvest…the promise to come. The harvest was brought in baskets to the Temple by the farmers of Israel to be presented to the Lord with much celebration. The Jews mark this festival by the giving of the Law to Moses at Mt. Sinai. The Lamb of God freed us from the penalty of the Law since we could never perfectly fulfill the Law on our own. Jesus gave us salvation. He took our punishment. We are set free in Jesus and able to obey the Law through Him. Also, this was the day when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Church. This Feast was fulfilled by the coming of the promised Holy Spirit on the disciples of Jesus. it represents the beginning of the Body of Messiah on Earth, in which all believers, redeemed through the blood of Jesus, are lifted up before Him and set apart as holy.

Scriptures:

Exodus 34:22 “observe the Festival of Shavuot with the first gathering produce of the wheat harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering at the turn of the year…”

Leviticus 23:15,16 “And you shall count to you from the day after Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete: even the day after the seventh Sabbath numbering 50 days and offer a new offering to the Lord.”

Acts 2:1-4 “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

Replacement Theology

“Replacement Theology placed the Church triumphant over the vanquished Judaism and Israel. Replacement Theology became one of the main foundations on which Christian anti-semitism was based to this day. But, the New Testament speaks of the Church’s relationship to Israel and her covenants as being ‘grafted in’ (Romans 11:17), ‘brought near’ (Ephesians 2:13), ‘Abraham’s offspring by faith’ (Romans 4:16), ‘and partakers’ (Romans 15:27)….not as usurpers of the covenant promises and a replacer of physical Israel. We Gentile Christians have joined into what God has been doing in Israel all along, and God did NOT break His covenant promises with Israel (Romans 11:29).”

Matthew 5:17 – “Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.”

Romans chapters 10,11,12

Ephesians 2

Lord, fill our hearts with all of You, all of Your truth, and all of Your wisdom.
1 Corinthians 2:16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him: But, we have the mind of Christ.”

Philippians 2:5 “let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus….”

Thank You Lord we will not be conformed to this world but we will be transformed each day by renewing our minds in You. We will follow hard after You and Your alive Word and prove what is good and acceptable and perfect in You, our Hope, our Glory, our Very Breath!