Comments on: An Ezra Moment: Returning to Our Story during COVID-19 https://wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com/nlt/2020/07/01/an-ezra-moment-returning-to-our-story-during-covid-19/ Just another STANDALONE WPMU2 Sites site Wed, 08 Dec 2021 09:19:15 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.1 By: Lindsey https://wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com/nlt/2020/07/01/an-ezra-moment-returning-to-our-story-during-covid-19/#comment-868 Wed, 08 Jul 2020 11:37:15 +0000 https://wpmu.azurewebsites.net/nlt/?p=4880#comment-868 I’m excited to see what positive changes we can make and thank you for the download!
However, the references to Nehemiah have a lot more of a story behind them. Nehemiah starts reading to the people in chapter 8:2, which clarifies that this is the day of the feast of trumpets. This is one of God’s 7 high holy days, of course he didn’t want them fasting and mourning! They commanded to be celebrating a memorial (Leviticus 23:24) (and now we know this day also celebrates the prophesized 2nd coming of Christ at the seventh trumpet Rev. 11:15 & ).
Then a few days later on the tenth, they would have fasted, humbled themselves, and repented and sought atonement with God, as he instructed them in Lev 23:26-32.

Then finally, one of the most joyous times of the year, on the fifteenth of the month they celebrated Sukkot, or the feasts of booths/tabernacles for 7 days straight, then had an eighth day of another special holy day celebration. They did it just as it was commanded in Lev 23:39-42 (Neh 8:18) and built booths (temporary dwellings) all over with the branches they had gathered. They shouldn’t have fasted and mourned now since they were told by God to rejoice with Him during this time. This is basically an eight day picnic with God after the fall harvest. It’s a party in all the best ways!
Leviticus repeatedly mentions that these are statues FOREVER, we should still be excited as they were to be keeping the Lord’s feasts today (Lev 23:41)! What a blessing it is!

Now don’t be fooled, when all these celebrations of the fall holy days are over in Nehemiah, the people do mourn and weep and fast in sackcloth and ashes over their behavior and lack of knowledge about what they should have been doing in exile (Nehemiah 9:1). They read the Bible (at that time, it was just the first five chapters known as the Torah), confessed their sins, and worshipped God. And they sign contracts and pronounce curses upon themselves if they don’t follow through with God’s law now that they know (Nehemiah 10).
Think of all the blessings we could experience having the same revival to follow Him, grow in His character, and follow His commands as a way of showing Him love just like he asks us to repeatedly through the old AND new testament.
As Jesus says himself in John 14:21, “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” That is one COVID-19 that would be awesome!

]]>