Michael Norten - Unlocking the Secrets of the Feasts

Copyright 2012, 2015 by Michael Norten.

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2011962733

ISBN: 9780718037024 (sc)

ISBN: 9780718037031 (e)

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To the memory of my mother, Nadine Norten, who was very interested in the subject of the feasts of Leviticus and Bible prophecy.

CONTENTS

One
The Passover

Two
The Feast of Unleavened Bread

Three
The Feast of Firstfruits

Four
The Feast of Pentecost

Five
The Feast of Trumpets

Six
The Day of Atonement

Seven
The Feast of Tabernacles

I am very grateful to the late Dr. Roy Zuck, former senior professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, for the initial editing of the text, and Dr. John Reed, senior professor emeritus of pastoral ministries at Dallas Theological Seminary, for his advice and encouragement. I am also immensely grateful for the additional encouragement provided by my wife, Ann.

When I was a college student, I took advantage of an opportunity during the Christmas holiday to take a train ride to Mexico City with a number of other students. Some people warned me that desperadoes liked to rob people on trains in Mexico, so I needed to be on guard. Obviously for a young college student, that piece of information caused a great deal of imagination and concern. But by the time I was on the train, leaving Laredo, Texas, my concerns were mostly replaced by excitement and adventure.

The train ride took two very long days to get all the way to Mexico City, so by the second day those warnings began to weigh on my mind. I was very much on the alert, sizing up every stranger I encountered. I happened to notice a gentleman who looked a little rough around the edges, probably from the long ride. While thinking that he looked a little suspicious to me, I chuckled to myself, because I remembered an episode in The Lucy Show in which Lucy was on a train ride and thought she spotted a suspicious person. She caused all kinds of problems when she thought the innocent gentleman was a train robber.

As I was watching the man on my train and his stern countenance, several people started gathering around him with much interest. Being a curious young man, I decided to slowly move closer to the gathering to see if I could hear what they were talking about. I was startled to find that they were talking about the second coming of Christ! They were discussing the signs of the times and how things were lining up for Christs imminent return. I enthusiastically joined the discussion, spilling out loads of questions. As we finally pulled into Mexico City, I thanked this gentleman and introduced myself. He shook my hand and told me his name was Hal Lindsey. He later wrote the best seller The Late Great Planet Earth. Since that wonderful encounter, I have been studying Bible prophecy. And following Hals recommendation, I attended Dallas Theological Seminary. I became intrigued by how explicitly God orchestrated His plans for mankind and His itinerary for the ages.

One warm Sunday afternoon while I was still a seminary student, I decided to go for a pizza lunch after church with some of my friends. We entered a place called Shakeys Pizza. Little did I know that that lunch would set me up for a long and exciting journey of biblical discovery. The restaurant was designed so that everyone sat together, strangers and all, on benches at long tables. A nice baldheaded gentleman sat right across from me. I noticed an odd phenomenon about this man. It appeared that smoke was coming up from the back of his head. When I gently brought that to his attention, he turned as red as a beet and sheepishly brought out from behind his back a cigarette. He informed me that he was Jewish and had recently accepted Jesus as his Savior and Messiah. When he had seen our group of churchgoers come in, he had immediately tried to hide his cigarette, because he didnt know what Christians thought about smoking. We had a good laugh about it, and then we talked about the many evidences that convinced him that Jesus is the Messiah. Also to my delight, we talked about Christs impending return. He was so much fun to talk with because he was very knowledgeable and humorous. This wonderful Jewish man turned out to be Zola Levitt. Later, he became a prolific writer and teacher. He told me something that stuck with me for years. He said that many of the secrets of Gods plan for the ages were in the Levitical feasts. I kept thinking about that statement off and on for a long time before I finally acted on it. Ever since then, I have had a nagging curiosity about the feasts. So recently I decided to research all that I could about them.

I thought it would be a good idea to seek insight from Jewish rabbis. I made inquiry of both messianic and orthodox rabbis. They all gave me a similar observation: If you seriously study the feasts, you will experience a blessing that will be beyond your expectation. I appreciated the encouragement, and later I found out they knew what they were talking about. They meant what they said. I have been blessed beyond my wildest dreams. I have been totally stunned at how much information God has packed into the observances of the seven feasts in Leviticus 23.

God opened several opportunities for me to teach what I had discovered about His seven feasts. God emphatically said in Leviticus 23:2 that these were His feasts that He designed for the Jews to observe and learn about Him. I noticed that the teaching about the feasts had the same effect on the people that I taught as it did me. They were greatly blessed by what God revealed about Himself in the observance of the feasts. I found that the information encourages, comforts, motivates, and strengthens ones faith.

One evening I was having dinner at a caf in a hotel. To my delight I realized that Tim LaHaye, coauthor of the Left Behind series, was sitting at the next table. I took the opportunity to strike up a conversation with him and ask him some questions about prophecy. The conversation got around to the feasts. When I shared with him some of the things I had discovered from my visits with the rabbis and other sources, he was just as surprised at the information as I had been. He then encouraged me to write a book about my findings. As a result of his persuasion and encouragement, I decided to write this book, taking each feast one at a time and explaining them in terms of how I have discovered the mysteries unfold.