We have just exited the fall Feast days. This time of noise, reflection, and flat out rejoicing! I have been engaged in an in depth study of seed/seeds, fruit, harvest, etc. Low and behold, the under shepherd in my congregation is bringing the same messages.
Each day of the Feast of Sukkot, a processional was led from the Temple Mount to the Pool of Siloam, where a priest filled a pitcher with water and then made his way back to the Temple accompanied by hundreds of priests waving willow branches and shouting Hosheannu! At the alter, the water was poured from the pitcher into a basin that drained to the base of the alter. This was done as a thank offering for the coming rains without which there would be no harvest the following year. It was at this very time on the last great day of the Feast that Yeshua proclaimed Himself to be the Living Water.
We were challenged this last Shabbat to be deliberate about what is next. This is the season of the early rains. The early rains soften the ground for the plow to be able to break it up in order to be planted. This is not a time to sit back and rest. This is the time to break up the fallow ground to prepare it to receive the seed that will produce fruit for harvest at the next festival. One thing does not start and end. The end is always the beginning.
One of the revelations that came out of the Isaiah passage that my friend and I discussed had to do with what we were "continually plowing". See Isaiah 28:24. The previous verses are clear about the problem of disobedience and not paying attention, of doing things our way instead of YHVH's. I give you the following examples.
I am involved in a Bible study that meets on friday mornings. I am the only one who follows the Scriptural Holy days. The last time we met, I shared - again - how amazing this time is and how impossible it is to keep these appointed times without recognizing YHVH's hand in setting them up and how Sukkot goes on for eight, yes, count them, eight glorious days. Their response was to talk about how christmas needed to be extended to twelve days. You need to understand that these women know the origins of christmas and feel that what they do is not like it used to be and is somehow honoring to YHVH. I care for my aunt and take her to church on sundays. Last week, the children's minister did a segment with the children that made it clear the way of the Old Covenant only allowed one man to come into the presence of YHVH one time a year, while Jesus opens the way for anybody. My heart was sickened at the level of misapplication and lack of understanding regarding the sacrificial system and YHVH's word in general. Then the pastor prayed and said that as we came to be in the presence of YHVH, she hoped that He would bless us with His presence. Hellooooo!!! YHVH established appointed times to meet with us. He shows up whether we do or not, but He shows up when He said He would, not when we hope he will because we like sunday better than Shabbat.
So, what is the "continual plowing." I believe in context, it is that "we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception." Isaiah 28:15 "The church" continues to plow the same ground over and over and if there is anyone out there that sees or believes that there is fruit being produced, I would like to know. You must realize that one of the laws of the harvest is that you reap what you sow and another is that you reap more than you sow. It has just been published that for the first time in US history, protestants in this country are not in the majority. This continual plowing of falsehood and deception is producing a harvest of falsehood and deception and the harvest is always more than what was sown. The Word is the seed. The Seed is Yeshua. Yeshua is life. He is the living TORAH! In the beginning was the WORD/TORAH and the WORD was made flesh and tabernacled/tented/Sukkah'd with us. You cannot separate the seed/Yeshua from the Word and get results because they are the same!
I am not singling out "Christians" here. The same problem exists with religious Jews. Rather than taking away from the Torah, which is what Christians have done by deleting 2/3 of the Scriptures from their life and practice, the Jews have added to it with their commentaries, traditions, and explanations based on oral tradition. We are both in deep doo doo. We have been commanded not to add to or subtract from the Word of YHVH.
One of the amazing graces of the cycles of the appointed times is that you are continually given another chance to get it right. Is our God not awesome?!?!? Each day at sunset, a new day begins, a new start. Each week, each month at the new moon, each Pesach, Unleavened Bread, Shavuot, Yom Teruah, Yom Kippurim, and Sukkot, all times of renewal and beginning.
Our western Greek mindset insists on having endings. In YHVH's economy, nothing ever ends, everything continues and we have the choice as to what we move on to. Will it be eternal life with Him... or without Him? Are you continually plowing or are you plowing and planting and harvesting so that you can have more seed to plant next season?