How Did You Get Here?

 Sometimes we find ourselves on a journey that we question the "whys" of everything.  

Why do I believe what I believe?
Why was I taught what I was taught?
Why have I never studied this out for myself?

I found myself on this journey almost 2 years ago. I was in a place where I was digging into the scriptures more on my own with an intense desire to learn as much as I could. 
It all began as I started to study out the feast days that are mentioned in the scriptures. I have always been fascinated with the feast days as I have seen them observed by the Jewish community. What they meant in the timeline of biblical prophecy.
The interest in them had been peaked, and I wanted to see how scripture laid them out as how they were to be observed. 

Little did I know the path that was going to place me on, one that I am still walking even today. 

I started in Exodus and worked my way through the mentions, the outlines, the rules for the feasts. I got to Leviticus 23, the chapter that lays out all of the feasts, and I read verse 2 and a light went on.

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.

I was always taught that the feasts belonged to the Jews. After all, its the Jews that observe them today. They belong to Israel, and that God gave THEM the feast days. I was surprised to see that this isn't what scripture says at all.  They are God's feasts. His appointed times. His calendar.

As I studied out the different feasts, what they meant when they were given and how they are used in God's timeline, things started to click into place like legos. 

The four Spring Feasts have been fulfilled. 

Passover - Jesus as our Passover Lamb
They were in captivity in Egypt, and God was giving the last plague in order to set them free from the bonds of slavery.  God gave instructions because the death angel was going to be passing over. A lamb was to be chosen for this special sacrifice. They were to pick their best, their firstborn, and their spotless. The blood of this lamb was to protect them from death. This would allow death to pass over them as it went about the camp looking for anyone that wasn't covered by the blood of the lamb.
Jesus lived a perfect, sinless, and spotless life. The firstborn of God, and his mother, Mary.  He was chosen before the foundation of the world that it would be his blood that would be placed on the doorposts of our heart, covering us from death.

Unleavened Bread - Jesus dealing with our sin
First Fruits - Jesus becoming the first fruits of the resurrection to come
Shavuot/Pentecost - The Holy Spirit coming to dwell in the believer

We are still waiting on the last four feasts to be fulfilled.  These last four have to do with Christ's second coming.

The Feast of Trumpets - Christ's Second coming
The Day of Atonement - Christ's judgement on the Earth
Sukkot/Feast of Booths - The Thousand Year Millennial Reign
The Eight Day - Eternity

Another thing that I have heard said is that the feast days are to no longer be observed because Christ did away with them when he died on the cross. As I studied this trying to find some sort of scripture to back that belief up, I came up empty handed. There was nothing to suggest that being the case.  I actually found the opposite. 

When God gave each one of these commands for the feasts, His feasts, he always added this statement: "a perpetual covenant", "a perpetual statute".

Perpetual: Never ending or changing

If the bible says, and God says that it is perpetual, never ending, and never changing, why is it taught that they have ended and are no longer to be observed? 
Why aren't Christians paying attention to the days that God has laid out for us to see what his plans are and to remember what his plans are? Why have we tossed them aside like an old t-shirt?

I believe its time that the church starts to wake up to what God has in the scriptures for us. Its time that we study our bibles and realize that some of what we have been taught is wrong. Not that we were deliberately deceived, because I believe what we have today is just the regurgitation of teaching that has been handed down for centuries. Tradition that was passed down without questioning.

Its time to start asking the questions.
Its time to start opening our bibles and let God speak for himself.
Its time to be open to hearing something from a new perspective and being willing to search the scriptures like a Berean. 

My family has begun to observe the feast days that God laid out.  Obviously, there are aspects that cannot be observed due to a couple of reasons, one being that there is not temple. But we honor the Lord as best we can by following what scripture has laid out in how to observe them for his honor, glory, and remembrance of his plan.  We observe them in preparation for the Kingdom to come.  The feasts will be observed during the Millennial Reign, and we will all be partaking in them WITH Christ himself! What a day that will be!

This study is what began my journey of studies in the scripture that has landed me to where I am currently am today. Some are going to disagree with me, but I plan to do my best to back up everything that I am going to share with scripture.  We are going to cover a lot of topics, and a lot of scripture. 
I hope and pray that it will be received with an open heart, and with a willingness to look for yourself.