I was reading and reading and reading and found this:
..."in Vayikrah (Leviticus) 23:4, notice the phrase, "holy convocation". The phrase in Hebrew is mikraw kodesh, better translated, "holy convocation and rehearsal". In other words, God's appointed times are actually "holy rehearsals" set apart to reflect events in the Messianic era. God said to the people, "Pay attention! On this day I am going to do something! Wake-up! The Jews were to know and practice all of God's mikraot or holy convocations. This is the essence of [Paul's] words that the Shabbat, new moons and festivals, "are a shadow of things to come; the body of Messiah." (Colossians 2:17). (copied from hebrewroots.org)
So convocation in Hebrew is "mikraw". It is found in Strong's at 4744. The Hebrew word mikraw - or miqra, means rehearsal.
The word rehearsal is defined as “the act of practicing in preparation for an event”. It also means to “read and understand/obey -- i.e. shema!!!” .... as in shema the laws of YHWH.
I gather then that when I read the words commanding a "holy convocation", that YHWH is commanding His people to practice the feasts in preparation for a [future] event.
This was the best, real-life, put-it-in-context explanation I could find about why YHWH wants us to PRACTICE the feasts for the things which are to come, those things alluded to as shadows.
Assume that you are an officer in the army. It is a well-known fact that every week and many times every year you have normal trainings and special advanced trainings. Even though you have never been to war, it is important that you train yourself as per the army training schedule every week and also on appointed days. This training goes on every year, even though you have never been to war. The whole purpose of the training is to equip you with all the skills necessary so that you can use them when that day (war) comes. The important thing is to train and prepare yourself whether war comes in your life time or not.
When we apply the above army principle, that same principle applies in the convocation. The weekly training that you have in the army is compared to the Sabbath training that you do to learn the laws (Torah) of God. The appointed advanced trainings that you have in the army are compared to the training (rehearsal) that we do during the Feasts/Festivals of God. We all know that we are all waiting for the Kingdom of God to reign on earth. But we do not know when exactly that will happen (precise day/month), even though we can decipher the times which we live in. The important thing is to prepare our self for that day, so that when God’s kingdom finally arrives, we can use our skills that we learned in His kingdom. (excerpts copied from www.messianicjews.com)
WOW!!!
It is so sad that churches and seminaries and pastors don't teach any of us Torah. They don't teach us YHWH's law or feasts. In fact, many claim we don't need to know these things at all, and say that Christ did away with it all. Some go so far as to say that if we do need it in the future when the Messiah returns, He will suddenly begin teaching Torah to those who followed him. NO! The Bible doesn't say that at all. All of the time that we have been here on this planet we should have been learning his Torah, practicing His feasts and learning His ways, not practicing and learning the ways of the world.
Yeshua, the Messiah, clearly said, “Do not think I came to destroy the Torah or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to complete. For truly, I say to you, till the heaven and the earth pass away, one yod or one tittle shall by no means pass from the Torah till all be done. Whoever, then, breaks one of these least commands, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the reign of the heavens; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the reign of the heavens." Matthew 5:17-20
Great summary:
On every Sabbath and on YHWH’s festivals, people during the time of Moses used to rehearse (practi[c]e) the laws of YHWH so that a day would come in the future when they could use these laws to teach others. That is why in Hebrew the word “convocation” means rehearsal. In order to rehearse something, we need to learn, then practi[c]e and wait for that day when God will fulfill His covenant that He made with us.
What was the covenant that God made with [his people], us? “And now, if you diligently obey My voice, and shall guard My covenant, then you shall be My treasured possession above all the peoples – for all the earth is Mine and you shall be to Me a reign of priests and a set-apart nation” (Exodus 19:5-6).
Convocation is a shadow picture of good things to come during the reign of Yeshua the Messiah on earth. Colossians 2:16-17 says, “Let no one (man/churches/ministers) therefore judge you in eating or in drinking or in respect of a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths which are a shadow of what is to come – but the body of the Messiah”. The word “body” refers to “soma” in Greek (Strong’s concordance number 4983). It means the instrument of life. What this means is that we should let the laws (the instrument of life) of the Messiah judge you. We should not allow men/ministers judge us in these matters, as there is only one righteous judge and that is Yeshua.
In conclusion, we need to learn the Torah and prepare our self, so that when our Master and King Yeshua returns as King of Kings we can [perform what we have been rehearsing] for many years during His reign on the earth... (excerpts copied from www.messianicjews.com)
AMEN!!!