Why Mourn For The Feasts Of YHVH?

Every year, hundreds of thousands of Hebrew Roots and Messianic believers in Yeshua gather together in about as many places to celebrate the 3 Feasts of YHVH – Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot. But they should not do this. Instead of celebrating, they should be in mourning! Why? YHVH said He will gather those who mourn for the moed.

Zephaniah 3:14  Sing, daughter of Zion! Shout, Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem. 

Who is YHVH talking about? The city – Zion. The people – Zion.

Zephaniah 3:15  Yahweh has taken away your judgments. He has thrown out your enemy. The King of Israel, Yahweh, is among you. You will not be afraid of evil anymore. 

This is the chapter of YHVH’s judgment against His own people and all the nations. When that is over, YHVH will have stopped judging His people and His city. And He will have thrown out Jerusalem’s enemies – the Antichrists and those who follow after the beast. How do I know? In the same verse, we read that YHVH is among us. Who is YHVH here? Yeshua. And “you”, people and city, will not fear any evil that might come ever again.

Zephaniah 3:16  In that day, it will be said to Jerusalem, “Don’t be afraid, Zion. Don’t let your hands be weak.” 

This happens “in that day”. “In that day” is a reference to the Day of the LORD. “The Day of the LORD is both His coming judgment and His Millennial Kingdom in the 7th “day”, the 7th Millennium.

Zephaniah 3:17  Yahweh, your God, is among you, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with joy. He will calm you in his love. He will rejoice over you with singing. 

YHVH, Yeshua, will now be among us. He is our mighty One and He will have saved us and He will be rejoicing over us.

And then, we read this about who He will gather when the Tribulation of His people is over:

Zephaniah 3:18  I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of you, to whom the reproach of it was a burden.  

He says He will gather those who have MOURNED for His Feasts. They have longed to go to Jerusalem for His Feasts but were not able to because of their exile. Here is an example of one who could not go to Jerusalem for Passover.

Daniel 10:2  In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three whole weeks. 

Daniel was mourning for something. What was it?

Daniel 10:3  I ate no pleasant bread. No meat or wine came into my mouth. I didn’t anoint myself at all, until three whole weeks were fulfilled. 

Daniel mourned for 3 weeks in the month of Passover, Aviv / Nisan. How do I know this time period was in the first month, the month of Passover?

Daniel 10:4  In the twenty-fourth day of the first month…

Daniel says this was in the first month. The first month is Aviv or Nisan and that is the month of Passover.

Why was Daniel mourning? He could not attend Passover in Jerusalem and He was mourning over that fact. Daniel had been in Babylon for many years at this point. We have only this one account of him mourning over the moed, the Feast of Passover. However, it should not be beyond our scope of understanding that he likely fasted for every Feast that He could not attend – Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot. Why would he have done that? Because he knew Zephaniah’s promise that YHVH would bring back to Jerusalem those that mourned over Jerusalem and, specifically, those who mourn for the Feasts in Jerusalem. (Zephaniah prophesied before the Babylonian captivity. Daniel was caught up in the raid of Jerusalem and was exiled to Babylon many years after Zephaniah prophesied this).

The Rabbis in Babylon had taught the Jews to do the Feasts in their own homes, particularly Passover. That is against YHVH’s express instructions that His people would memorialize Passover only at His gate and not from their own homes. Daniel did not do as the Rabbis did. He mourned during the 14 days running up to the time of the Feast and for the entire week of Unleavened Bread – at least 21 days or longer!

YHVH has a further promise for those who mourn over not being able to attend His Feasts in Jerusalem.  

Zephaniah 3:19  Behold, at that time I will deal with all those who afflict you, and I will save those who are lame, and gather those who were driven away. I will give them praise and honor, whose shame has been in all the earth. 
Zephaniah 3:20  At that time I will bring you in, and at that time I will gather you; for I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says Yahweh. 

YHVH will gather His afflicted, His lame people and His exiles, those whom He drove away because of their sins. Their children are still in exile today! But He will especially gather His afflicted who mourn, those lame who mourn and those exiles who mourn.

YHVH says He will “restore your fortunes before your eyes”. What does that mean in the context of the Ingathering? It means He will give Jerusalem back to those who mourn. He will make it possible for them to attend His Feasts in Jerusalem. You see, Jerusalem is part of our inheritance. When we do not mourn over the loss of our inheritance, YHVH regards it as if we do not care about our inheritance. Why would He return an inheritance to someone who does not care about it?

What does it mean to mourn? Mourning is associated with fasting and repentance. Those who mourn eat no food and sit in sackcloth and ashes. This is common throughout the scripture. Not being in Jerusalem for the Feasts, then, should be a time of mourning and repentance for Israel’s sins and our own.

Did you know that even the angels have to present themselves to YHVH?

Job 1:6  Now on the day when the sons of God came to present themselves before Yahweh, Satan also came among them. 

Interesting. The sons of God have come to present themselves to YHVH. This is after the fall of Lucifer. Who are these “sons of God”? This is an expression for the angels in scripture.

Genesis 6:2  The sons of God saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives. 

Back to Job 1:6.The angels of YHVH know they must present themselves on some kind of schedule He has made for them but we so-called believers in Him think we can present ourselves anywhere and everywhere WE decide and not where He decides? Think again!

It is part of our reproach, our shame, according to the prophet Zephaniah, for which we are to be sad like Daniel that the exiles cannot get to Jerusalem for the Feasts and there is no honor in celebrating them wherever we are on the earth, either. Rather, doing so is defiance, rebellion. The commandment is to go to Jerusalem. Not going is a sin, a crime against YHVH. Celebrating just anywhere is to follow in Jeroboam’s footsteps. He changed the place and times of YHVH’s Feasts and built two golden calves in two locations!

Explain what it must look like to YHVH when He sees His people celebrating His Jerusalem Feasts anywhere they want. Do you understand that He is about to unleash a beast to be worshiped all over the earth because of our rejection of Him and His commandments, including the commandments to present ourselves to Him as a righteous people 3 times a year? Us doing His Feasts just anywhere we choose is the same as Christians celebrating Christmas and Easter and calling those pagan holidays by His name!

Look at what happened to Vashti for refusing to present herself when called by Ahasuerus in the Book of Esther. The rebellious wife, Vashti, was divorced and exiled and Ahasuerus got himself a righteous wife, Esther. Oh wait! That’s exactly the story of ancient Israel! If Ahasuerus wouldn’t put up with that defiance, why will YHVH? Isn’t YHVH greater and more deserving, more glorious in every way than Ahasuerus?

Should we mourn for all the Feasts that must be attended in Jerusalem but to which we cannot go? Yes. Why? Each Feast is a summons to present ourselves. It will be at a future Sukkot when Yeshua will present His spotless Bride to His Father. If we don’t show up during our lifetimes in Jerusalem, where our future presentation will occur, will Yeshua even want us to be present? And if our practice has been to defy being sad over our exile, but instead we celebrate YHVH’s Feasts away from His capital city, will He even want us in Jerusalem in the future?

YHVH’s people are part of His Kingdom while the nations are not. And His people are required to appear, to present themselves, before Him 3 times a year. Even the angels present themselves to Him. If you are not willing to do what He says during your natural life, presenting yourself to Him in Jerusalem for the Feasts, why will YHVH believe you will do it in the future, in His Kingdom? And don’t say it is “because He knows my heart”. Here is what YHVH said about the human heart:

Jeremiah 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Those who expect to be Ingathered to Yeshua’s Kingdom will all have one thing in common: They will desire to be in Jerusalem, the capital city of their King (even though it is currently occupied by His enemies) and they will mourn and repent at those times in which they should be, but cannot be, present themselves in Jerusalem, the place of His name and where He said His eyes and heart would be forever.