By Terance Clark     March 22, 2025      8 Minute Read

There are Appointed Times to Meet with God

In Genesis 1:14 it says, “God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to divide the day from the night; let them be for signs, seasons, days and years;”.  The word translated seasons is the word mo’a’dim (plural) or mo’ed (singular) and a better translation would be sacred times or appointed times.  One of the reasons God created the sun, moon and stars is to help establish his sacred or appointed times to be with His people.  Throughout scripture a mo’ed time was a scheduled event by God.  It wasn’t random or coincidental it was a specific event or occurrence that God had planned and scheduled to happen.  When God was creating things He also planned in advance what I’ll call a sanctuary of time to meet with us.

The tabernacle and later the temple were sanctuaries of space.  The structure provided within it a place that was holy and transparent to the fact that God dwelled there and those that came into that space were coming into His holy presence.  People traveled to get into that space where they could meet with God, but as we know only the priests were allowed in that space and just to perform the necessary functions on behalf of the people and that is why God also created sanctuaries of time.  The Bible tells us when God created the world that He called it six days of organizing the chaos and when He finished He created one last thing, He created another day that did not have any chaos to organize or fix.  It was a mo’ed, a special day to meet with His people.  Remember He was finished with His work and didn’t need a seventh day.  He created the seventh day for one purpose and that was to be a sanctuary of time.  There are six days to organize the chaos but there was one day when there was no chaos and therefore would be honored as a day to meet with God.  It’s a specific scheduled day on God’s calendar when He shows up to be with us in a special way.

“Regardless of what some have said, we don’t get to alter

or change Gods appointed days and times“

Let’s clear up a misunderstanding.  We have been told that God rested from His work on that day, that is how the word is translated, but the Hebrew word melachah really doesn’t have anything to do with physical or vocational labor as we know it.  The word really means creative production or bringing chaos into order, as humans in Gods image we enjoy creativity and organizing, but God set aside His focus of creating and organizing in order to meet with us and He has asked us to do the same.  So that we can be in a sanctuary of time alone with Him.  One important note, regardless of what some have said, we don’t get to alter or change the appointed days and times the Lord has made.

In Genesis 2:3 it says that God separated the day as holy, let me once again share a better translation of the Hebrew word kadosh. Holy means transparency in that normally in life God’s purposes are often clouded, but beginning with this day and the other appointed sacred days they provide transparency for everyone to see God’s true purposes on the earth.  His real purpose is you and me.  He has always wanted to be in close relationship and fellowship with us and so all these sacred days that He created fulfills His desire.  There is one problem, the enemy stepped into the picture and changed God’s times and seasons through pagan leaders so that we would not recognize them and His purposes for people would be hidden.  They changed the name of the days of the weeks so that we wouldn’t see that one day was special and they changed all the appointed times so that we wouldn’t know they existed.  But, guess what?  God is once again revealing his truth and opening our eyes to see the wonderful plans He has always had for us and our times with Him.

God has a Yearly Cycle that He Walks Us Through

Our journey with God is a yearly cyclical process in which His plan has always been to take us into a deeper understanding and closeness with Him.  It starts with four seasons not winter, spring summer and fall but they are repentance, victory and joy, deliverance and preparation.  Each season has three months that correspond to a tribe of Israel, each month also a theme that God is teaching us to draw us closer to Him and to learn about our lives and how to live.  Within the year are several holy days where we are taught to celebrate them as a time to be with one another and with Him.  The goal is community and the purpose is that all of them point to Gods redemption for us and the Lord Jesus.  Each year more and more Christians are realizing that they have missed these and are returning to their roots in the Lord.  There is much to learn and much to be restored, but the scriptures teach we will spend a 1000 years with the Lord celebrating these special times.  I will teach more on these mo’a’dim in future lessons.

“Each year more and more Christians are realizing

that they have missed these“

In closing, what we need to understand is that God created times in which we would go about living life and then times when we would come together as community and times when we come alone with Him.  His desire is that in living life we would not forget Him and His ways and that is why the appointed times are so important.  They keep us linked to Him and His ways.  If you remember, it was while He was away that Adam and Eve forgot Him and were deceived.  The Lord does not want you to forget Him and He doesn’t want us just going through religious rituals.  He wants us to live life to its fullness while enjoying one another and life and then becoming impassioned for Him through special moments called, a sanctuary of time.