Our God is a God of purpose and order. Everything He does is in accordance with a carefully planned timetable, referred to in Scripture as appointed times. All of these appointed times revolve around Jesus the Christ—His birth, His ministry, His sacrificial death, His resurrection, and His return as King of kings and Lord of lords. In Leviticus 23, all of God's festivals are called the appointed feasts. God is faithful to His Word, and the seventy years of captivity for Judah was an appointed time that He set, marked by the decree of Cyrus for them to return to the land, preparing for the later coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. This prophecy reveals that God has an appointed time for Israel to restore them to the nation He intended them to be from the beginning, a holy and righteous nation.

There is a profound significance in the appointed time for God's plan to unfold. Timeliness was essential as it was required by prophecy, establishing Christ's credentials as the promised Messiah. This precise timing also proves how reliable God is in fulfilling His promises. It was the appointed time to rescue mankind, who, after eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, had been cut off from God and condemned to a life of enmity and hostility toward Him. Furthermore, it was the right time to remove the curtain of separation for those whom God calls, restoring human access to Himself through the sacrifice of our sinless Creator. Time was also running short, with only the final third of the allotted period for man's rule remaining, signaling that the end was near. As Jesus declared in Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.' Finally, it was the appointed time to bring hope to a hopeless world, fulfilling the purpose for which He came.

The Lord's appointed times, referred to as "moed" in Hebrew, literally mean appointments or festivals, commemorating significant events in Israel's history and revealing the truth of God's great plan of salvation for mankind. These holy days, observed by the early church in both Testaments, hold deep significance, looking back to miracles God performed and forward to the work of our Lord Jesus Christ during the spring and fall harvests. God dictates how we worship Him, establishing these appointments as specific times to meet with Him, not allowing us to choose our own days of worship. These appointed times occur throughout the year on the Hebrew lunar-solar calendar, which differs from the Gregorian solar calendar, aligning months with the phases of the moon and seasons through leap months. The primary markers in the Hebrew calendar are God's appointments, such as Passover on the 14th day of Abib, the first month, coinciding with a full moon, and fall holy days like Trumpets, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Last Great Day often beginning on the Sabbath in certain years. This calendar structure underscores the prophetic significance of these days, with Jesus' death and resurrection fulfilling the spring holy days and His return and establishment of His Kingdom tied to the fall holy days. Historically, God's actions often took place at these appointed times, giving the days their meaning and names, such as the Passover, which became significant not merely because Israel was delivered from Egypt on that day, but because it was already one of God's appointed times. Similarly, Christ died on the Passover because He was the Passover Lamb, fulfilling an appointment with history established before the foundation of the world. Even events like Abraham's near-sacrifice of Isaac may have occurred on such a moed, foreshadowing the Father's sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, on the same appointed day generations later. From the creation account in Genesis, the term "seasons" translates to "moed," suggesting that these divine appointments were set from the very beginning as signs and times to meet with Him, marked out for special events not just for Israel or the church, but for all of humanity. Everything God does has an appointed time, as seen when He told Abraham of the appointed time for Sarah's son, demonstrating that His plans and interventions in history are precisely timed according to His divine calendar.