Sid: You see the middle wall of separation has come down. The prayer of Jesus in John 17:21 is “That we might be one, that the world would believe.” Who? Jew and Gentile. The prayer of Paul that the middle wall of separation would come down between Jew and Gentile to form One New Man. God in His wisdom is restoring the Biblical festival that just happen to be Jewish festivals, but with a new wrinkle. The new wrinkle is the Spirit of God, and godly pastors are taking the scriptures and studying them. Having the Spirit of God breath on these scriptures about the festivals and making them the most joyous celebration of the year. I have Pastor Robert Heidler he has a Master’s degree from Dallas school of theology. He is pastor of Glory of Zion Outreach Center in Denton, Texas. We have featured his book “The Messianic Church” which is just ground breaking, and this new one is just as ground breaking; in fact, it is so new it is still in unpublished manuscript. God through a prophetic word told him and his church to start observing these Biblical feasts in freedom under the Spirit of God. He has found cycles of blessings that are happening as a result of this. We are talking about the feasts and how your church celebrates them, what they really mean prophetically. The Bible says Robert that “These are appointments with God.” Robert do you find that God really shows up when you celebrate these feasts in freedom?
Robert: Oh He does, I believe it’s a joy to God’s heart when we show up for our appointments when we choose to meet with Him. It’s real interesting to see the words that the Bible uses for the feasts because I think it’s an insight into God’s heart. One of the Hebrew words is “moed,” it means an appointed time; a divine appointment. Another word that’s used is the word “chag” which means to dance, and another is “chagog,” which is to rejoice; to dance; to have a celebration. It’s a picture of wild just joyful celebration.
Sid: You know what comes to mind is the story of the prodigal son. I see the youngest son that went and sunk so low, then the prodigal who came back and they had a celebration for him. I see the younger son is a type of the Jewish people that are believers, and I see the older son as type of the Gentiles. Isn’t it interesting in that parable what God is saying is that the older son was upset when the Jewish believers brought the singing and dancing and rejoicing; do you remember that?
Robert: I remember that. That’s a good picture of how a lot of the church responds when they see the joy of God.
Sid: I’ll tell you, we recently had a One New Man Shabbat celebration and the supernatural of God’s joy just burst on the scene, and the music and the dancing; I mean it’s wonderful. So tell me a bit about Pentecost, how does it play out in your church? What is the purpose of Pentecost?
Robert: Well it’s interesting each of the feasts it’s a time to celebrate what God has done, and each one has a different focus. In each one God wants to accomplish a different thing. You know Pentecost, if you look at it, it has 3 different levels of meaning. Each one is so significant, but what all 3 levels have in common is that Pentecost is a time for the heavens to open, and the goodness and the provision of God to be released in the earth. The original meaning of Pentecost it was the celebration of God opening the heavens to bring forth the rain and the crops. The hard working farmers would prepare the soil and plant the seasons, but unless the heavens opened and poured forth rain there’d be no crop. Pentecost initially was a celebration by praise in saying “Lord You have opened the heavens and poured out Your goodness in our physical provisions, You’ve met our physical needs.” Then there was a second level of Pentecost and it’s interesting when Israel came out of Egypt and went down to Mt. Sinai that it was on the day of Pentecost, on Shavuot the Hebrew name. That God gave Torah, that God revealed His law to His people; the word Torah means the teaching of God; it’s a revelation of who God is, and His love and His character.
Sid: So if we have the word of God, the Torah, and if we have the rain, a type of the Holy Spirit, that’s the whole package.
Robert: Well that’s the first 2, there’s the physical provision, then there’s the revelation, but when we move the New Covenant scriptures we there is the third. That is that it was the opening of the heavens to pour out the Spirit to release the authority and the power of God to His people in a fresh way.
Sid: How do you observe it in your church?
Robert: Well we observe it differently every year. We usually do it by the Spirit to say “Lord how would you want us to celebrate this this year in a way that would produce what you want to produce in our lives?” Biblically there are several things involved in celebrating Pentecost. First of all it was a time of praise and of giving just for the provision of God. It’s interesting the traditional way to celebrate Pentecost involves staying up all night the night before to study Torah.
Sid: Have you ever done that?
Robert: I have never done that.
Sid: [Laughing]
Robert: [Laughing] One of these days I will do that, but it was just receiving the word a fresh, it was saying “Lord we are so thankful.” Which… by the way it’s interesting to me is you go to Acts chapter 2 it says “When the day of Pentecost had fully come, the apostles were altogether in one place.” Why were they altogether in one place at the start of the day? I think it is very likely in the background for how the feast was celebrated they had probably gotten together the night before offered their thank offerings for God’s provision. Gone to the upper room and spent the night studying the word of God together. So when morning came they were filled with the word, they were filled with thanksgiving, and the heavens opened to pour out the Holy Spirit.
Sid: Let’s go on to Rosh Hashanah the Feast of Trumpets. What does that mean?
Robert: Well in the cycle of feasts you know Passover takes place in the first month, Pentecost is in the third month, and then there is a long hot summer, and you come into the fall feasts. Which are really a cluster of 3 different celebrations: Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles. The Feast of Trumpets it’s a wakeup call, it’s calling the people of God to prepare really to enter into His glory. That’s what Tabernacles is about it’s a time to experience and enter in to the presence of God and the glory of God…
Sid: You know the thing that the Spirit of God is saying through prophets throughout the land, that this is our season to push to intimacy, to walk in the glory of God, to walk in the miraculous. I mean it’s just so obvious that that’s what these feasts are pushing us towards.
Robert: It is, and when you’re in the cycle of the feasts, every year it just keeps you pressing in to the presence of God. You know if you look at the 3 feasts it’s like a picture, they’re pictured in the tabernacle. Passover is the outer court with redemption and cleansing, then you come into the inner court and that’s Pentecost the provision of God, the showbread, the Holy Spirit symbolized by the menorah. Then there’s like the veil, the long hot summer and you come into fall feasts and that’s the time to enter into the Holy of Holies, to enter in and experience God’s glory. I think that’s where the church is today it’s a time when God wants us to press through. I believe these fall feasts show us the steps to enter into the glory of God.
Sid: I believe this year and these fall feasts the glory is going to be stronger than it was in the Jewish scriptures where the high priests couldn’t even stand because of the glory was so tangibly heavy.
Robert: Exactly, exactly. It was interesting that was on the Feast of Tabernacles that that happened. The Spirit fell in such a display of glory that they could not even standup.
Sid: Tell me about the book we’re making available.
Robert: What we’re doing in this book is talking about the cycles of God; how so many of us have been caught up in cycles of destruction. People are caught up in things that take them lower and lower and they can’t break out of it. God wants us to know He’s given us a cycle of blessing that we can get into that will break the power of the old and break us into the new, to break us into the presence of God and the blessing of God. So it goes through the yearly cycle of feasts and shows how God wants to take us each year; and just through that process of breaking off more and more of the old things that have held us in bondage, and bring us into the freedom and joy of experiencing His presence and His power.
Sid: So you see these feasts, these cycles, as we observe them every year especially as we yield to the Holy Spirit as progressive blessings.
Robert: Definitely, definitely. The f all feasts starting with Trumpets really I think is the most crucial for the church today. It really shows the pattern for entering into revival for entering into the experience of God’s presence.
Tags: its supernatural, Sid Roth