Genesis chapter 1
Today we are walking in: Twelve Keys To Discovering Personal Authority
Today we look to the word-LEADER- H5057 nagiyd-- leader, ruler, captain, prince; excellent thing, (chief) governor, leader, noble, prince, (chief) ruler.
The Torah Testifies.............................
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The prophets proclaim...............
Isaiah 55:4 - Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader H5057 and commander to the people.
The writings bear witness.............
2Chronicles 32:21 - And the LORD sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders H5057 and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword
Twelve Keys to Discovering Personal Authority
To Exercise Personal Authority, You Must Know Yourself
Millions of people use the social networking Web site Facebook. On it, they maintain profiles with details about their lives, as well as photos of family and friends, lists of their favorite books, the results of popular culture quizzes they have taken, and much more. Yet, with all that information, I wonder how many of those millions still do not truly know themselves and the personal authority Yah has placed within them. The world is filled with unauthentic people, doing the unauthorized. They may be sincere and well- meaning in their endeavors, but one can be sincere and unauthentic at the same time.
I encourage you to take the time to make sure you truly know yourself, because it is impossible to exercise personal authority until you do. Since the Creator has placed your authority inside you, to be exercised through the guidance and power of His Spirit who resides within you, you will learn much about yourself by examining your thoughts, ideas, and personal passions.
Your personal authority can be described using various terms, such as your life’s vision or purpose, your realm of leadership, and your gifting. It can be identified through your natural desires and what you sense as your inherent assignment in life. All these words are helpful for understanding the concept of personal authority as it manifests itself in various ways in your life.
Develop a Personal Authority Profile
This teaching includes questions for you to reflect on and answer in what I believe will be a fun and inspiring exercise for you. Thinking about these questions is going to awaken in you some hidden dreams. You will be drawing from your inner desires and passions and imagining possibilities generated from ideas that reside deep within your heart. In this way, you can move from just thinking about personal authority or wishing you could exercise it to actually operating in it.
To summarize your “research,” I suggest that you develop a Personal Authority Profile. This profile should generally be reserved for yourself to help you understand your authority. People can run into problems when they start consulting other people to discover themselves because they may succumb to another person’s opinion instead of pursuing what is truly authentic about them. You have to protect yourself from that. On the other hand, you may want to show your profile to your spouse or one or two close friends because sometimes others who know us well can help us to see aspects of ourselves that we are not able to see, such as gifts, talents, and interests that we may take for granted or abilities we may have forgotten that we exercised in the past. They may say, “Remember when you loved doing __________ as a child?” or “I recall how good you were at __________.” Use discretion and don’t share too much until you have come to many of your own conclusions, so that you won’t be unduly influenced by others. Then, share your findings with two or three others, if you wish.
How Well Do You Know Yourself?
Ask yourself the following twelve key questions, taking time to remember the past, to evaluate your current gifts, abilities, and preferences, and to envision the future. Record your conclusions in a notebook or on a computer file after you use the sample profile form to discover your personal authority. Also consider what might be preventing you from fully realizing your personal authority—or realizing it in the first place—such as fear, complacency, and so forth, and use the suggestions in this book for overcoming them.
Here, then, are twelve keys to discovering your authority. The following questions are meant to help you to hone in on your personal domain. Some of the questions are similar, but their purpose is to confirm what you were designed to do in life. If you give totally different answers to each question, then you will need to continue refining your answers. You also may not have a clear response to every question, but focus on the ones that you do have specific answers to.
Key #1: What Is My Deepest Desire?
Write down what you profoundly feel you would like to do with your life using your gifts, and what you would like to do to impact humanity in your lifetime. These will not be things that you have a general or passing “interest” in but rather a deep yearning or aspiration to do.
Through the years, you may find two or three things that you are meant to do in different seasons of your life, but you have to distinguish between what you might like to do and what you feel you must do. It is too easy to spread ourselves thin and then never fulfill our purposes. Remember that although you may experience stages in your life in which you engage in various endeavors, and though you may manifest your personal authority in several ways using one or more gifts, these manifestations will be centered around a particular area or theme that reflects Yah’s specific purposes for you.
Key #2: What Am I Truly Passionate About?
What do you really care about? What gifts and abilities do you especially enjoy using? Once you find the answers to these essential questions, you can tap into your passion to help fulfill your personal authority.
Yah set each one of us apart and said, “You were born for this assignment. You have the authority to be free within this domain of life.” Again, authority is the freedom to be who you are. Authority doesn’t restrict; it releases. Authority doesn’t hinder you; it helps you. Authority doesn’t stop you; it provides momentum and access. Authority is the most awesome experience of freedom anyone can have. It is incredibly satisfying to be doing what you know you were born to do, and to be doing it without limit.
Yahusha stated, “With Yah all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). He was saying, in effect, “With Yah, all things you were called to do are possible.” Nothing is impossible if you were born to do it. It may take twenty, forty, or even sixty years, but you will get it done. Think of Noah, who was born to build the ark so that he and his whole family would be safe when the earth was destroyed by the great flood. No one could build a boat better than Noah did! He built a huge structure that would house him and his family, as well as all the animals they took with them, and that would be completely watertight —and it worked! (See Genesis 6:5–8:22.)
I imagine that people laughed at him, because the ark took him nearly one hundred years to build, and it had never rained on the earth prior to this time.
They probably criticized him, abandoned him as a friend, and talked about him behind his back. If he had built the ark during our times, he would have been the brunt of mockery on all the television talk shows and Internet blogs. Pictures of him and his ark would have been on the front pages of the major newspapers. The media would have said he was crazy, demented, nuts. But despite the immense challenges, Noah kept on building.
When someone is authentic, when he is passionate about his purpose, he can’t be stopped; he won’t be discouraged for long. No matter what people throw at him, he still says the same thing: “I’m going to do it.”
What do you have that kind of passion about?
Key #3: What Makes Me Angry?
There is constructive anger, and there is destructive anger. Most of us think of the destructive kind when the word anger is mentioned. Yet some anger is legitimate, such as anger directed at the wrongs in this world. Paul wrote, “‘In your anger do not sin’: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give HaSatan a foothold” (Ephesians 4:26–27). He was quoting Psalm 4:4, which reads, “In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent.”
Anger can be legitimate, but misdirected anger makes us vulnerable to being tripped up by HaSatan and weakens our authority. For example, when Cain became angry because his brother’s offering was accepted by Yah but his was not, Yah told him, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it” (Genesis 4:6–7).
In another example, Moses desired that his people be released from the oppression of slavery in Egypt, but he took matters into his own hands and killed an Egyptian overseer who was abusing an Israelite. As a result, he had to flee the country for forty years until he was ready to follow Yah’s way of setting the people free. (See Exodus 2:11–15, 23–3:22.)
Anger that is selfishly or rashly motivated is destructive, but anger that is based on a desire for people to be treated right, that is based on compassion for others, and that is grieved by injustices is constructive if it leads to positive action to remedy the problems instead of being allowed to fester into resentment, bitterness, unforgiveness, or violence against the perpetrators. “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody” (Romans 12:17).
What is it in life that makes you angry enough to take action on behalf of those who are mistreated, abused, or oppressed? What plans do you have that could alleviate the suffering of others? What ideas do you have for communicating positive values and mind-sets to people? The answers to these questions will lead to your personal authority.
Key #4: What Ideas Are Persistent in My Heart and Mind?
Is there something specific you would like to accomplish? What recurring dreams do you have for your life? I believe that the thoughts, ideas, plans, and dreams that remain consistent within you were put there by your Creator. We will talk about timing in a later teaching, but you should realize that your consistent thoughts and dreams can come to pass even if they don’t manifest right away.
I often refer to Key #4 as “the idea that never leaves you.” Perhaps you have become preoccupied with other things, but this idea always returns to your thoughts. It is a passion that won’t subside, a persistent desire or tug at your heart.
Joseph had Yah-given dreams of being put in a position of authority over his family. Not understanding at first that this position was for the purpose of helping his family survive rather than for feeding his ego, he went through a series of extremely humbling experiences—including being sold into slavery and being imprisoned because of a wrongful accusation—before he was ready to fulfill his personal authority in life. He eventually became the second most powerful ruler of Egypt under the pharaoh and saved the lives of his family during a time of severe famine. (See Genesis 37, 39–47.)
What long-standing aspiration do you have? What vision, idea, or dream is tugging at your heart today? Is your motivation for doing it positive or selfish? Are you willing to do it to honor Yah and build up others?
Key #5: What Do I Constantly Imagine Myself Doing?
What do you imagine yourself becoming? What do you really want to do that you may not have told anyone else about?
It may be something you think about while you’re at your workplace and wish you could be doing instead of your current job. It may be something you see others doing, and you say to yourself, I’d like to do something like that! Only I would do it in this way.... Perhaps it is something you lie awake at night and imagine yourself building, writing, drawing, constructing, or performing. You may have dreamed about doing this thing ever since you were a child.
Ask yourself, “What would I prefer to be or to do? What gifts or skills would I use and develop in order to be or do this?
Key #6: What Do I Want to Do for Humanity?
What do you wish you could accomplish for humanity? Is it the creation of a new invention or a groundbreaking medicine? Do you want to fix a specific problem or bring about a certain reform in society? Do you want to provide a haven where people can obtain much-needed rest and relaxation in the midst of their busy lives? You might not desire to build a physical structure, such as an architect or building contractor would, but you may want to build up the social structures of your nation, and that may be the gifting and area of your personal domain.
Key #6 could also take the form of these questions: “What kind of impact would I like to have on my community?” or “What do I want to pass along to the next generation?” or even “What would I like to be remembered for?”
What positive thing do you have a passion to leave as a heritage to those who will come after you in life?
Key #7: What Would Bring Me the Greatest Fulfillment?
To answer this question, begin by thinking about your activities and accomplishments in the past—at your school, at your job, with your favorite hobby, or with any other involvements. Pinpoint three endeavors or achievements that have given you the greatest satisfaction and fulfillment in life so far. What is it about these things that gave you satisfaction and fulfillment? Are you currently involved in these activities? Why or why not? Would similar activities, projects, or endeavors bring you the same measure of personal pleasure? If so, what might they be?
Try to evaluate what motivates and gratifies you the most in life, and then imagine the possibilities of how you could incorporate it into your life as your vocation or life focus.
Key #8: What Would I Do for No Money or Other Compensation?
Is there something you would find so rewarding that you would do it even if you weren’t paid for it and received no other type of compensation, even the thanks or praise of others?
Perhaps you are already doing something like it on a volunteer basis at a nonprofit organization, at your church, or as your hobby. What is it, and what is the nature of it? For example, does it involve working with children? Teens? Adults? Helping people recover from addictions? Spending time with elderly people in nursing homes? Fund-raising for medical research? Teaching people to read? Visiting veterans in the hospital? Does it involve community projects, such as planting gardens, recycling, cleaning up graffiti, and so forth? Do you like to volunteer at your local library or a nearby historic site? Or, do you enjoy music or another art form?
Your answers to the above questions may well determine your area of authority, especially since we have seen that many people are much happier working at their hobbies than at their jobs, so that their hobbies reflect their true purposes in life.
The Key #8 question leads to a paradox, however. The very thing that you could do for no money usually becomes the endeavor that will pay you. You do it so naturally and become so good at it that it attracts compensation from people who recognize its value. Or, you are so fulfilled in doing it that you would be infinitely happier taking a job related to that area than you would be at your current job, even though the current job pays more.
The issue is attaining quality of life and fulfilling your true contribution to your generation. Would you rather be paid a little more and experience lifelong frustration and dissatisfaction, leading to mental and physical stress and nagging feelings that your life isn’t counting for anything? Or, would you rather accomplish your purpose, serve others, and live a happier, healthier, and more balanced life? I believe that by living in their personal authority, many people would solve their mental health, physical, or relational problems.
Therefore, ask yourself what activities you are currently receiving satisfaction from that you aren’t being paid for, what you are so dedicated to that you would continue to do it even if you stopped receiving money for it, and what you would do for no compensation at all.
Key #9: What Would I Rather Be Doing?
Are you are always thinking about something else you’d rather be doing than what you are currently involved in? That “something else” is probably your area of authority. As long as you continue to think you would rather be doing something else, then you shouldn’t be doing what you’re presently doing. It’s not a difficult thing to figure out.
Another way to look at this question is based on our earlier discussion about our personal authority being our true home, habitation, or abode. Ask yourself, “What would I feel ‘at home’ doing? What seems natural and comfortable to me?”
When you find your authority, you don’t really go to a job; you go “home.” In fact, many people who are functioning in their authority physically work at home because their authority is connected with who they are and their entire lifestyles. If people are happy to leave their jobs, they’re not at home in them. And when they don’t feel at home, they end up being competitive with others. They fight for resources they perceive to be scarce, thinking there are not enough positions, assets, or praise to go around. In contrast, a person who knows and exercises his own authority compares himself only with himself and knows that everything he needs will be provided. He periodically reviews his life by asking himself, “Am I doing what I should be doing to fulfill my authority?”
People who are causing problems on their jobs perhaps need to be relocated to a different department or area of their companies that they are better suited for. Or, perhaps they need a totally different environment. If you are not functioning in your true position of authority, you can destroy an organization through complaining and conflict. Finding and living in your authority protects you and others because, as we have seen, authority brings order and peace.
You are at home when you are working in your authority and gifting. What would you rather be doing with your life? What makes you feel most at home when you are doing it?
Key #10: What Would I Do If I Knew I Could Not Fail?
If you could do anything in the world and know that it would succeed, what would you do?
First, eliminate superficial answers to this question! Some of those would be winning the lottery, getting back at everyone who has ever insulted you, and so forth. Instead, this question is designed to help you to eliminate the fear and doubt that can crowd into your mind and block your thoughts when you begin to think about what you would really like to do in life. Forget the fear and doubt and consider nothing to be impossible.
What endeavor, enterprise, creative work, project, or plan would you engage in if it were risk-free? If it would be a success, no matter what obstacles tried to prevent it? If money were no object? If you didn’t worry that you had the wrong background, the wrong looks, the wrong job experiences, or whatever else you would normally think of as a roadblock?
I encourage you to take extra time on this question. Fear can be a powerful inhibitor to thinking clearly, and it may take you a little while to get past any feelings of fear so that you can think and dream without hindrance. Then, when you are able to write down your answer, evaluate it in light of your other answers and what you are beginning to learn about your personal authority.
Key #11: What Is the Most Important Thing I Could Do with My Life?
Discovering personal authority usually comes when we evaluate what is most important to us in life. This is often not what is most pressing on our calendars or what would make us look the most successful in the eyes of others, but what is truly the most significant contribution we could make, along with the best choice of lifestyle that is prioritized to reflect our foundational values and beliefs.
Another way of putting this key question is, “What will I wish I had done when I look back on my life?” or “What will I regret not having done when it comes time for me to die and meet my Creator?”
You therefore have to consider what, above all other things, is the most significant thing you could do with your life, what you want to occur in your life, and how you want to live your life.
Key #12: What Endeavor or Activity Would Best Connect Me to My Creator?
An essential final question to ask yourself is what vocation would keep you connected to the Creator and faithful to His authority, laws, and life principles. Personal authority comes from Yah and would never involve any activity that is contrary to His nature and ways.
First, of course, anything illegal or immoral would not be a legitimate domain for personal authority.
Second, personal authority won’t be found in endeavors that are pursued selfishly or for the purpose of boosting one’s ego or showing off.
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of HaSatan. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. (James 3:13– 17)
Working in your personal domain will promote the “fruit of the Spirit” in your life: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). Yah- given authority is always a positive force; it helps or builds up humanity in some way.
Third, there are certain activities and areas of life that you will know are not the domain of your personal authority because they consistently get you into some kind of trouble—whether that trouble is overt or involves bad attitudes or an unhealthy or unproductive lifestyle. We must seriously ask ourselves, “What types of activities and areas present unhealthy temptations to me? In contrast, what activities and endeavors draw me closest to Yah and His ways when I engage in them?” The answers to these questions will not be the same for every person. We all need to adhere to the clear principles of Scripture. Yet each person also has his own areas of weakness about which he must be on guard. There may not be anything intrinsically wrong with a certain activity, but if you always feel pulled away from Yah because of it, then something about it isn’t right for you. “Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:14–15).
Your personal authority will be positive and uplifting to you. Through it, you will be able to honor the Creator who made you and reflect aspects of His character and purposes.
Summarize Your Findings
The above twelve questions are worth taking the time to think about and answer for yourself so that you can move forward with your authority. When you have fully answered the above questions, asking Yah to guide you in them, and you feel that your answers have revealed your personal authority, write a summary statement of what you believe you were put on this earth to do.
Then, answer the questions for each of the following headings:
Documenting Your Personal Authority: In what specific ways have I exercised this authority in the past? How can I build on this in the future?
Exercising and Refining Your Personal Authority: In what ways will I develop and apply my personal authority now that I know what it is?
Releasing Your Personal Authority: Who has the knowledge, skills, and commitment to help me to release my authority?
Print your summary statement and/or your full profile, as well as a list of the benefits to living in your personal authority, and tape them where you will see them often to help you to focus on living in your personal domain on a daily basis.
Yah wants all of us to be active participants in His purposes on earth through our personal authority. The Scriptures are the only book that says Yah created us to have dominion over and to rule the earth. They are the only book that says about Yahusha, “You...have redeemed us to Yah by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our Yah; and we shall reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:9–10 nkjv).
A king is someone who is authorized to rule. There is a domain of life in which you were born to rule. You’ll never be fulfilled until you discover that area, and you’ll always be trying hard and struggling in some way until you find it. But when you do find it, working in it will seem like operating a well- oiled machine. All of a sudden, you’ll connect with life. That ability is what Yahusha came to reclaim for you.
Will you determine to be authentic? Will you seek to discover, by the help of Yah’s Ruach HaQadesh, who you truly are? I am excited at what you will find when you answer the twelve key questions in this teaching.
IN the beginning Elohiym created את the heavens and את the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Ruach Elohiym moved upon the face of the waters. And Elohiym said, Let there be light: and there was light. And Elohiym saw the light, that it was good: and Elohiym divided the light from the darkness. And Elohiym called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And Elohiym said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And Elohiym made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse: and it was so. And Elohiym called the expanse Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. And Elohiym said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And Elohiym called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and Elohiym saw that it was good. And Elohiym said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and Elohiym saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day. And Elohiym said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for appointed feasts, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And Elohiym made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And Elohiym set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and Elohiym saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. And Elohiym said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that has life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open expanse of heaven. And Elohiym created great dragons, and את every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and את every winged fowl after his kind: and Elohiym saw that it was good. And Elohiym blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. And Elohiym said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And Elohiym made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and את everything that creeps upon the earth after his kind: and Elohiym saw that it was good. And Elohiym said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. So Elohiym created man in his own image, in the image of Elohiym created he him; male and female created he them. And Elohiym blessed them, and Elohiym said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. And Elohiym said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and את every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creeps upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given את every green herb for food: and it was so. And Elohiym saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. BERE'SHIYTH (GENESIS) 1:1-31 את CEPHER
The Divine destiny connection, the chain that links us together.
Thursday, April 6, 2023
Wednesday, April 5, 2023
THE NEW COVENANT PASSOVER
Exodus chapter 12
Today we are walking in: The New Covenant Passover
Exodus 12:11
And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD'S passover. H6453
PASSOVER
Today we look to the word-PASSOVER-H6453 pecach--passover, sacrifice of passover, festival of the passover; appears in the King James Bible 46 times
The Torah testifies...............
Exodus 12:48
And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover H6453 to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.
Numbers 9:2
Let the children of Israel also keep the passover H6453 at his appointed season.
Deuteronomy 16:1
Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover H6453 unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.
The prophets proclaim..................
Ezra 6:19
And the children of the captivity kept the passover H6453 upon the fourteenth day of the first month.
Ezekiel 45:21
In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover H6453, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.
Joshua 5:11
And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover H6453, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day.
The writings bear witness...........................
2 Kings 23:21
And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover H6453 unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant.
2 Chronicles 30:2
For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem, to keep the passover H6453 in the second month.
2 Chronicles 35:11
And they killed the passover H6453, and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hands, and the Levites flayed them.
The New Covenant Passover
The Bridegroom has made an offer of Betrothal to the Bride. He has given her the Covenant promises, and He is now waiting for the Bride, to accept — or not accept — His Betrothal offer.
According to Scripture, how does the prospective Bride accept the Bridegroom’s offer?
The Bride’s acceptance of the Bridegroom’s offer of Betrothal is to be made by drinking of the same Covenant cup from which the Bridegroom drank, both literally and figuratively. Let’s look at the Scriptures, to see what this Covenant Cup is.
The Bridegroom has stated very clearly:
And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples…. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. (Matthew 26:18-28 )
And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples?…. And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. (Mark 14:14-24)
And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer…. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you. (Luke 22:19-20)
The above passages clearly reveal that the Body and Blood of Yahushua were eaten and drunk at the Passover meal with Yahushua and His Disciples. We then note that the apostle Paul gives us a summary of the above, in the following passage:
For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night [at sunset was the start of the fourteenth day of the first month, known as the day of ‘Passover’] in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come. (1Corinthians 11:23-26) [note in brackets is in reference to Lev 23:5]
In the above passage, Paul reminds us that Yahushua has said, regarding the eating of the bread, and drinking of the cup, that we are to “Do this in remembrance of me.”
Have the followers of Yahushua, the Believers of today, accepted the offer of Betrothal given by the Bridegroom? That is, have the Believers of today drunk of Yahushua’s Betrothal cup — of “this” cup — the same cup of the New Covenant of which Yahushua told us to drink? Let’s look at the Scriptures.
This Cup of the New Covenant
When someone gives a demonstration, and then says, “Now, you do this…” what is the meaning of the pronoun “this?”
In the above Scripture passages, does “this” bread refer to just any bread, perhaps a piece of toast eaten for breakfast each morning, or even a jelly sandwich eaten for dessert?
Does “this” cup refer to any cup of wine, or perhaps a cup of tea — to be taken as often as one chooses?
No, the word “this” refers us to what is being demonstrated, concurrent with the words being spoken — and the demonstration is that of eating the bread of the Passover meal, and of drinking the third cup of wine (the cup of ‘Redemption’) after the Passover meal.
Let us re-examine our understanding, and our practice, in light of what the Scriptures actually say.
Let this truth sink in for a moment — let us remember what Yahushua was doing when He said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” He was eating the Passover meal, and was having the unleavened bread of Passover; and He was drinking the third cup (the Cup of Redemption) of the Feast of Passover! And this we know to be true, for Yahushua’s own words confirm this as the Passover meal (Matthew 26:18-28; Mark 14:14-24; Luke 22:15-20).
Yahushua then tells His Disciples that He expects them to do the same, but with a renewed understanding of the meaning of Passover. He now expects us to keep Passover in a new way — in remembrance that the Lamb sacrificed at Passover represents Him; and that the unleavened bread eaten at Passover is His body, and speaks of Him as the Bread of Life, and of every word that proceeds out of the mouth of Yah; and that the cup of wine speaks of His Blood of the New Covenant, that was shed or spilled for us, as the purchase price of our redemption.
This is the remembrance of the true meaning of Passover, and is what Yahushua’s Disciples now remember, as they rejoice together, and as they eat the Passover meal together with a renewed understanding.
So we see that in each of the above passages, Yahushua is revealing to His Disciples the prophetic meaning (the ‘now’ meaning) of the well-known Passover meal, practiced for centuries by all of Yah’s people. Yahushua did not institute anything new, or change anything. He merely revealed the true meaning of Passover.
In the Passover supper, Yahushua simply revealed to His Disciples that He is the Passover Lamb Sacrifice, and that He would bring about the redemption of His people, and the sealing of the Everlasting (New) Covenant by His Blood (Hebrews 13:20).
But why is the Passover necessary for New Covenant believers? Lets look at Yah’s Covenant requirements.
The Blood Sprinkles the Tabernacle
The great importance of our participation in the Passover meal can be seen in the following passage:
For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. (Hebrews 9:20-21)
First, we see that the original offer of Betrothal came at Mt. Sinai, where the Covenant Promise of Betrothal was sealed in the ‘Blood of the Testament’ which prefigured the Blood of Messiah. Most importantly, the Blood of the Covenant was sprinkled on the Book (His Words), the people, the Tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.
Beloved, this action of sprinkling the Blood of the Covenant pictures the physical Blood touching the physical items of the tabernacle, and relates them all to Yah’s Everlasting Covenant with His people. We recall that every Covenant between Yah and His people must be confirmed or sealed by blood (Ex 24:8; Heb 13:20).
We are His people, and we are also now in the Tabernacle of this fleshly body, the dwelling-place of Yah (1Co 6:19). Thus we are required to be ‘sprinkled’ by the physical Blood of the Covenant, by that which represents Messiah’s Blood. This covenant sprinkling is done when we participate in the Body and Blood of the Passover meal.
When we drink of the Passover cup, the representation of the Blood of Yahushua goes down into this tabernacle of our body (2Cor 5:4). Our drinking of the Passover cup, just as the Bridegroom did, becomes ‘our half‘ of the Betrothal agreement. When we eat of His flesh (the Passover unleavened bread, or matzo), and drink of His Blood (the Passover cup of Redemption), we are in effect saying, “I do” to the Bridegroom’s offer of Betrothal!
Our participation in the New Covenant Passover is so important, that Yahushua tells us a frighteningly important bit of news:
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:53-54)
Beloved, let us ask this question. Why is Yahushua here telling us that unless we participate in His Body and Blood, we have no Life in us?
It is because Messiah-in-us is our Life! And it is Messiah who, when living within us, prompts us to participate in the Passover!
It is likewise the lack of Messiah-in-us, that would cause us to reject participation in Messiah’s true Passover supper. Perhaps the rejection of the True Passover by Rome is the origin of the counterfeit Passover, called by the Biblical name of ‘communion’ and ‘Lord’s Supper,’ which most in the Evangelical world have embraced as a substitute for the True. It is time we put away the decrees of Rome — and the many counterfeits and Doctrines of Men that promote these false practices — and receive only the True!
But what is the significance of Passover? Let’s look.
The Significance of Passover
When Israel was in Egypt, it was the Passover blood on the doorposts that saved the firstborn of Israel from death (Heb 11:28). From that time onward, all of Yah’s people are commanded to observe the Passover as a memorial forever, so they might remember that Yah saved them through the Blood of the Lamb (Exodus 12:13-14).
When Yahushua was on earth, He participated in the Passover meal with His disciples. Since Yahushua was to be the ‘Firstborn of many’ brethren, His participation in Passover was also a part of the pattern for the ‘many brethren’ (Col 1:18; Rom 8:29).
Yahushua has told us that the Blood of the Passover is His Blood, and is represented in the Passover wine (Luke 22:20). His Blood that was spilled 2,000 years ago is the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant, and it was through this spilled Blood that Yahushua was brought back from death as the Firstborn of many Brethren (Col 1:18; Rom 8:29; Heb 13:20). This same Blood spilled 2,000 years ago likewise saves us from death (Heb 13:20), as we too are a kind of firstfruits unto Him (James 1:18; Heb 12:23).
Our participation in the Passover meal is both a memorial, and a personal agreement to the terms of the New Covenant. It is a memorial of Messiah, who is the fulfillment of the Passover Lamb (John 1:29, 36). It is also a memorial of our redemption by the Blood of the Lamb, in that by His Blood alone, we are redeemed, and set free from the bondage of sin.
Passover is also the occasion in which our personal ratification, or ‘signing on’ to the terms of the New Covenant, takes place. This ratification by Blood is a Biblical requirement for all covenants (Exodus 24:8; Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25; Hebrews 12:24). As often as we keep Passover (once each year), we keep it in remembrance of Yahushua Messiah (Luke 22:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:24-25).
The keeping of Passover includes the eating of the Passover meal, the representation of eating of His Flesh (the flesh speaks of His ‘Life’ according to John 6:51,53), and the drinking of His Blood (the blood speaks of His ‘Life’ according to Leviticus 17:11).
When we become Born-Again, Messiah becomes birthed within our spirit. When His life is in us, we have a growing, inward desire to walk in obedience to all His Word, and to be a “DO-er” of all that He did when on earth. It is His life in us that moves us to keep the Passover, in obedience to His Word, and according to His example, given to us in the Scriptures!
If we do not keep the Passover, we must question whether His Life is truly in us. Yahushua tells us (John 6:53): “No Passover, no Life.”
The Passover may be symbolic in some ways, but is a practical matter for the Bride, who must formally agree to the Bridegroom’s offer of Betrothal. The keeping of Passover reveals the heart of obedience, and the heart of yieldedness, of the Bride to her Bridegroom. The heart of yieldedness willingly begins to learn to keep the Passover — and all the other Feasts (‘moedim’) of Yah, according to the Scriptures. The heart of obedience has the Life of Yahushua living within, for that heart is a “DO-er” of every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of Yah (Deut 8:3; Matt 4:4).
Moreover, the Passover meal is a Scriptural Passover meal only if it is done at the time of Passover, as prescribed by Yah in the Scriptures — on the 14th day of either the first or second Biblical month (Lev 23:5; Num 9:10-11). A ‘passover’ at any other time, is not according to scripture, and so is a counterfeit passover.
The Final Opportunity
The Feast of Passover is such an important event for Yahushua’s Born-Again children, that He gives us two distinct dates each year, and two opportunities to keep the Passover. The First Passover of the year occurs on the fourteenth day of the First Biblical month. The Second Passover of the season is the final opportunity for the Bride, and it occurs on the 14th day of the Second Biblical Month. The calendar dates are determined in mid- to late- March of each year when the new moon is seen.
Beloved, the Bridegroom wishes you to become Betrothed!! Find several others, or have the Passover alone. Let us keep the Feast! (1Co 5:7-8).
Conclusion
Unless the Bride Candidate takes the Flesh and Blood of Passover, she demonstrates she has no Life in her. Participation in the True Passover demonstrates the presence of the Life of Messiah-in-us, who gives us Grace for the obedience (Rom 1:5; 1Pet 1:2) necessary to enter into the presence of the King.
For Pastors and Leaders
Pastors, direct yourself and your people toward the Scriptural practices, and away from the counterfeit passover created by the decrees of Rome, and away from practices and Doctrines of Men that you may have picked up in your Theological Seminary, Bible School or Denomination. We will each be held accountable for our respective works! (Rev 2:23).
AND Yahuah spoke unto El-Mosheh and El-Aharon in the land of Mitsrayim, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the assembly of Yashar'el, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house: And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole multitude of the assembly of Yashar'el shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and matstsah; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remains of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is Yahuah's Pecach. For I will pass through the land of Mitsrayim this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Mitsrayim, both man and beast; and against all the elohai of Mitsrayim I will execute judgment: I am Yahuah. And the blood shall be to you for a mark upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Mitsrayim. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to Yahuah throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever. Seven days shall ye eat matstsah; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eats chamets from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Yashar'el. And in the first day there shall be a holy assembly, and in the seventh day there shall be a holy assembly to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. And ye shall guard the Feast of Matstsah; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Mitsrayim: therefore shall ye guard this day in your generations by an ordinance forever. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat matstsah, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. Seven days shall there be no chamets found in your houses: for whosoever eats that which is with chamets, even that soul shall be cut off from the assembly of Yashar'el, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. Ye shall eat nothing with chamets; in all your habitations shall ye eat matstsah. Then Mosheh called for all the elders of Yashar'el, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the Pecach. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For Yahuah will pass through to smite the Mitsriym; and when he sees the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, Yahuah will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. And ye shall guard this thing for an ordinance to you and to your sons forever. And it shall come to pass, when ye are come to the land which Yahuah will give you, according as he has promised, that ye shall guard this service. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of Yahuah's Pecach, who passed over the houses of the children of Yashar'el in Mitsrayim, when he smote the Mitsriym, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped. And the children of Yashar'el went away, and did as Yahuah had commanded Mosheh and Aharon, so did they. And it came to pass, that at midnight Yahuah smote all the firstborn in the land of Mitsrayim, from the firstborn of Phar'oh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. And Phar'oh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Mitsriym; and there was a great cry in Mitsrayim; for there was not a house where there was not one dead. And he called for Mosheh and Aharon by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Yashar'el; and go, serve Yahuah, as ye have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also. And the Mitsriym were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men. And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. And the children of Yashar'el did according to the word of Mosheh; and they borrowed of the Mitsriym jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: And Yahuah gave the people favor in the sight of the Mitsriym, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Mitsriym. And the children of Yashar'el journeyed from Ra`amcec to Cukkoth about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children. And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle. And they baked matstsah cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Mitsrayim, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Mitsrayim, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual. Now the sojourning of the children of Yashar'el, who dwelt in the land of Mitsrayim and in the land of Kena`an, they and their fathers, was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of Yahuah went out from the land of Mitsrayim. It is a night to be much observed unto Yahuah for bringing them out from the land of Mitsrayim: this is that night of Yahuah to be observed of all the children of Yashar'el in their generations. And Yahuah said unto Mosheh and Aharon, This is the ordinance of the Pecach: There shall no stranger eat thereof: But every man's servant that is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof. A foreigner and a hired servant shall not eat thereof. In one house shall it be eaten; you shall not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof. All the assembly of Yashar'el shall keep it. And when a stranger shall sojourn with you, and will keep the Pecach to Yahuah, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof. One Torah shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourns among you. Thus did all the children of Yashar'el; as Yahuah commanded Mosheh and Aharon, so did they. And it came to pass the selfsame day, that Yahuah did bring the children of Yashar'el out of the land of Mitsrayim by their armies. SHEMOTH (EXODUS) 12:1-51 את CEPHER
Today we are walking in: The New Covenant Passover
Exodus 12:11
And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD'S passover. H6453
PASSOVER
Today we look to the word-PASSOVER-H6453 pecach--passover, sacrifice of passover, festival of the passover; appears in the King James Bible 46 times
The Torah testifies...............
Exodus 12:48
And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover H6453 to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.
Numbers 9:2
Let the children of Israel also keep the passover H6453 at his appointed season.
Deuteronomy 16:1
Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover H6453 unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.
The prophets proclaim..................
Ezra 6:19
And the children of the captivity kept the passover H6453 upon the fourteenth day of the first month.
Ezekiel 45:21
In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover H6453, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.
Joshua 5:11
And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover H6453, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day.
The writings bear witness...........................
2 Kings 23:21
And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover H6453 unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant.
2 Chronicles 30:2
For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem, to keep the passover H6453 in the second month.
2 Chronicles 35:11
And they killed the passover H6453, and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hands, and the Levites flayed them.
The New Covenant Passover
The Bridegroom has made an offer of Betrothal to the Bride. He has given her the Covenant promises, and He is now waiting for the Bride, to accept — or not accept — His Betrothal offer.
According to Scripture, how does the prospective Bride accept the Bridegroom’s offer?
The Bride’s acceptance of the Bridegroom’s offer of Betrothal is to be made by drinking of the same Covenant cup from which the Bridegroom drank, both literally and figuratively. Let’s look at the Scriptures, to see what this Covenant Cup is.
The Bridegroom has stated very clearly:
And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples…. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. (Matthew 26:18-28 )
And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples?…. And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. (Mark 14:14-24)
And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer…. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you. (Luke 22:19-20)
The above passages clearly reveal that the Body and Blood of Yahushua were eaten and drunk at the Passover meal with Yahushua and His Disciples. We then note that the apostle Paul gives us a summary of the above, in the following passage:
For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night [at sunset was the start of the fourteenth day of the first month, known as the day of ‘Passover’] in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come. (1Corinthians 11:23-26) [note in brackets is in reference to Lev 23:5]
In the above passage, Paul reminds us that Yahushua has said, regarding the eating of the bread, and drinking of the cup, that we are to “Do this in remembrance of me.”
Have the followers of Yahushua, the Believers of today, accepted the offer of Betrothal given by the Bridegroom? That is, have the Believers of today drunk of Yahushua’s Betrothal cup — of “this” cup — the same cup of the New Covenant of which Yahushua told us to drink? Let’s look at the Scriptures.
This Cup of the New Covenant
When someone gives a demonstration, and then says, “Now, you do this…” what is the meaning of the pronoun “this?”
In the above Scripture passages, does “this” bread refer to just any bread, perhaps a piece of toast eaten for breakfast each morning, or even a jelly sandwich eaten for dessert?
Does “this” cup refer to any cup of wine, or perhaps a cup of tea — to be taken as often as one chooses?
No, the word “this” refers us to what is being demonstrated, concurrent with the words being spoken — and the demonstration is that of eating the bread of the Passover meal, and of drinking the third cup of wine (the cup of ‘Redemption’) after the Passover meal.
Let us re-examine our understanding, and our practice, in light of what the Scriptures actually say.
Let this truth sink in for a moment — let us remember what Yahushua was doing when He said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” He was eating the Passover meal, and was having the unleavened bread of Passover; and He was drinking the third cup (the Cup of Redemption) of the Feast of Passover! And this we know to be true, for Yahushua’s own words confirm this as the Passover meal (Matthew 26:18-28; Mark 14:14-24; Luke 22:15-20).
Yahushua then tells His Disciples that He expects them to do the same, but with a renewed understanding of the meaning of Passover. He now expects us to keep Passover in a new way — in remembrance that the Lamb sacrificed at Passover represents Him; and that the unleavened bread eaten at Passover is His body, and speaks of Him as the Bread of Life, and of every word that proceeds out of the mouth of Yah; and that the cup of wine speaks of His Blood of the New Covenant, that was shed or spilled for us, as the purchase price of our redemption.
This is the remembrance of the true meaning of Passover, and is what Yahushua’s Disciples now remember, as they rejoice together, and as they eat the Passover meal together with a renewed understanding.
So we see that in each of the above passages, Yahushua is revealing to His Disciples the prophetic meaning (the ‘now’ meaning) of the well-known Passover meal, practiced for centuries by all of Yah’s people. Yahushua did not institute anything new, or change anything. He merely revealed the true meaning of Passover.
In the Passover supper, Yahushua simply revealed to His Disciples that He is the Passover Lamb Sacrifice, and that He would bring about the redemption of His people, and the sealing of the Everlasting (New) Covenant by His Blood (Hebrews 13:20).
But why is the Passover necessary for New Covenant believers? Lets look at Yah’s Covenant requirements.
The Blood Sprinkles the Tabernacle
The great importance of our participation in the Passover meal can be seen in the following passage:
For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. (Hebrews 9:20-21)
First, we see that the original offer of Betrothal came at Mt. Sinai, where the Covenant Promise of Betrothal was sealed in the ‘Blood of the Testament’ which prefigured the Blood of Messiah. Most importantly, the Blood of the Covenant was sprinkled on the Book (His Words), the people, the Tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.
Beloved, this action of sprinkling the Blood of the Covenant pictures the physical Blood touching the physical items of the tabernacle, and relates them all to Yah’s Everlasting Covenant with His people. We recall that every Covenant between Yah and His people must be confirmed or sealed by blood (Ex 24:8; Heb 13:20).
We are His people, and we are also now in the Tabernacle of this fleshly body, the dwelling-place of Yah (1Co 6:19). Thus we are required to be ‘sprinkled’ by the physical Blood of the Covenant, by that which represents Messiah’s Blood. This covenant sprinkling is done when we participate in the Body and Blood of the Passover meal.
When we drink of the Passover cup, the representation of the Blood of Yahushua goes down into this tabernacle of our body (2Cor 5:4). Our drinking of the Passover cup, just as the Bridegroom did, becomes ‘our half‘ of the Betrothal agreement. When we eat of His flesh (the Passover unleavened bread, or matzo), and drink of His Blood (the Passover cup of Redemption), we are in effect saying, “I do” to the Bridegroom’s offer of Betrothal!
Our participation in the New Covenant Passover is so important, that Yahushua tells us a frighteningly important bit of news:
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:53-54)
Beloved, let us ask this question. Why is Yahushua here telling us that unless we participate in His Body and Blood, we have no Life in us?
It is because Messiah-in-us is our Life! And it is Messiah who, when living within us, prompts us to participate in the Passover!
It is likewise the lack of Messiah-in-us, that would cause us to reject participation in Messiah’s true Passover supper. Perhaps the rejection of the True Passover by Rome is the origin of the counterfeit Passover, called by the Biblical name of ‘communion’ and ‘Lord’s Supper,’ which most in the Evangelical world have embraced as a substitute for the True. It is time we put away the decrees of Rome — and the many counterfeits and Doctrines of Men that promote these false practices — and receive only the True!
But what is the significance of Passover? Let’s look.
The Significance of Passover
When Israel was in Egypt, it was the Passover blood on the doorposts that saved the firstborn of Israel from death (Heb 11:28). From that time onward, all of Yah’s people are commanded to observe the Passover as a memorial forever, so they might remember that Yah saved them through the Blood of the Lamb (Exodus 12:13-14).
When Yahushua was on earth, He participated in the Passover meal with His disciples. Since Yahushua was to be the ‘Firstborn of many’ brethren, His participation in Passover was also a part of the pattern for the ‘many brethren’ (Col 1:18; Rom 8:29).
Yahushua has told us that the Blood of the Passover is His Blood, and is represented in the Passover wine (Luke 22:20). His Blood that was spilled 2,000 years ago is the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant, and it was through this spilled Blood that Yahushua was brought back from death as the Firstborn of many Brethren (Col 1:18; Rom 8:29; Heb 13:20). This same Blood spilled 2,000 years ago likewise saves us from death (Heb 13:20), as we too are a kind of firstfruits unto Him (James 1:18; Heb 12:23).
Our participation in the Passover meal is both a memorial, and a personal agreement to the terms of the New Covenant. It is a memorial of Messiah, who is the fulfillment of the Passover Lamb (John 1:29, 36). It is also a memorial of our redemption by the Blood of the Lamb, in that by His Blood alone, we are redeemed, and set free from the bondage of sin.
Passover is also the occasion in which our personal ratification, or ‘signing on’ to the terms of the New Covenant, takes place. This ratification by Blood is a Biblical requirement for all covenants (Exodus 24:8; Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25; Hebrews 12:24). As often as we keep Passover (once each year), we keep it in remembrance of Yahushua Messiah (Luke 22:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:24-25).
The keeping of Passover includes the eating of the Passover meal, the representation of eating of His Flesh (the flesh speaks of His ‘Life’ according to John 6:51,53), and the drinking of His Blood (the blood speaks of His ‘Life’ according to Leviticus 17:11).
When we become Born-Again, Messiah becomes birthed within our spirit. When His life is in us, we have a growing, inward desire to walk in obedience to all His Word, and to be a “DO-er” of all that He did when on earth. It is His life in us that moves us to keep the Passover, in obedience to His Word, and according to His example, given to us in the Scriptures!
If we do not keep the Passover, we must question whether His Life is truly in us. Yahushua tells us (John 6:53): “No Passover, no Life.”
The Passover may be symbolic in some ways, but is a practical matter for the Bride, who must formally agree to the Bridegroom’s offer of Betrothal. The keeping of Passover reveals the heart of obedience, and the heart of yieldedness, of the Bride to her Bridegroom. The heart of yieldedness willingly begins to learn to keep the Passover — and all the other Feasts (‘moedim’) of Yah, according to the Scriptures. The heart of obedience has the Life of Yahushua living within, for that heart is a “DO-er” of every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of Yah (Deut 8:3; Matt 4:4).
Moreover, the Passover meal is a Scriptural Passover meal only if it is done at the time of Passover, as prescribed by Yah in the Scriptures — on the 14th day of either the first or second Biblical month (Lev 23:5; Num 9:10-11). A ‘passover’ at any other time, is not according to scripture, and so is a counterfeit passover.
The Final Opportunity
The Feast of Passover is such an important event for Yahushua’s Born-Again children, that He gives us two distinct dates each year, and two opportunities to keep the Passover. The First Passover of the year occurs on the fourteenth day of the First Biblical month. The Second Passover of the season is the final opportunity for the Bride, and it occurs on the 14th day of the Second Biblical Month. The calendar dates are determined in mid- to late- March of each year when the new moon is seen.
Beloved, the Bridegroom wishes you to become Betrothed!! Find several others, or have the Passover alone. Let us keep the Feast! (1Co 5:7-8).
Conclusion
Unless the Bride Candidate takes the Flesh and Blood of Passover, she demonstrates she has no Life in her. Participation in the True Passover demonstrates the presence of the Life of Messiah-in-us, who gives us Grace for the obedience (Rom 1:5; 1Pet 1:2) necessary to enter into the presence of the King.
For Pastors and Leaders
Pastors, direct yourself and your people toward the Scriptural practices, and away from the counterfeit passover created by the decrees of Rome, and away from practices and Doctrines of Men that you may have picked up in your Theological Seminary, Bible School or Denomination. We will each be held accountable for our respective works! (Rev 2:23).
AND Yahuah spoke unto El-Mosheh and El-Aharon in the land of Mitsrayim, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the assembly of Yashar'el, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house: And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole multitude of the assembly of Yashar'el shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and matstsah; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remains of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is Yahuah's Pecach. For I will pass through the land of Mitsrayim this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Mitsrayim, both man and beast; and against all the elohai of Mitsrayim I will execute judgment: I am Yahuah. And the blood shall be to you for a mark upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Mitsrayim. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to Yahuah throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever. Seven days shall ye eat matstsah; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eats chamets from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Yashar'el. And in the first day there shall be a holy assembly, and in the seventh day there shall be a holy assembly to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. And ye shall guard the Feast of Matstsah; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Mitsrayim: therefore shall ye guard this day in your generations by an ordinance forever. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat matstsah, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. Seven days shall there be no chamets found in your houses: for whosoever eats that which is with chamets, even that soul shall be cut off from the assembly of Yashar'el, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. Ye shall eat nothing with chamets; in all your habitations shall ye eat matstsah. Then Mosheh called for all the elders of Yashar'el, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the Pecach. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For Yahuah will pass through to smite the Mitsriym; and when he sees the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, Yahuah will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. And ye shall guard this thing for an ordinance to you and to your sons forever. And it shall come to pass, when ye are come to the land which Yahuah will give you, according as he has promised, that ye shall guard this service. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of Yahuah's Pecach, who passed over the houses of the children of Yashar'el in Mitsrayim, when he smote the Mitsriym, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped. And the children of Yashar'el went away, and did as Yahuah had commanded Mosheh and Aharon, so did they. And it came to pass, that at midnight Yahuah smote all the firstborn in the land of Mitsrayim, from the firstborn of Phar'oh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. And Phar'oh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Mitsriym; and there was a great cry in Mitsrayim; for there was not a house where there was not one dead. And he called for Mosheh and Aharon by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Yashar'el; and go, serve Yahuah, as ye have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also. And the Mitsriym were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men. And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. And the children of Yashar'el did according to the word of Mosheh; and they borrowed of the Mitsriym jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: And Yahuah gave the people favor in the sight of the Mitsriym, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Mitsriym. And the children of Yashar'el journeyed from Ra`amcec to Cukkoth about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children. And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle. And they baked matstsah cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Mitsrayim, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Mitsrayim, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual. Now the sojourning of the children of Yashar'el, who dwelt in the land of Mitsrayim and in the land of Kena`an, they and their fathers, was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of Yahuah went out from the land of Mitsrayim. It is a night to be much observed unto Yahuah for bringing them out from the land of Mitsrayim: this is that night of Yahuah to be observed of all the children of Yashar'el in their generations. And Yahuah said unto Mosheh and Aharon, This is the ordinance of the Pecach: There shall no stranger eat thereof: But every man's servant that is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof. A foreigner and a hired servant shall not eat thereof. In one house shall it be eaten; you shall not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof. All the assembly of Yashar'el shall keep it. And when a stranger shall sojourn with you, and will keep the Pecach to Yahuah, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof. One Torah shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourns among you. Thus did all the children of Yashar'el; as Yahuah commanded Mosheh and Aharon, so did they. And it came to pass the selfsame day, that Yahuah did bring the children of Yashar'el out of the land of Mitsrayim by their armies. SHEMOTH (EXODUS) 12:1-51 את CEPHER
Tuesday, April 4, 2023
BENEFITS TO LIVING YOUR PERSONAL AUTHORITY
Genesis chapter 1
Today we are walking in: Benefits To Living Your Personal Authority
Today we look to the word-LEADER- H5057 nagiyd-- leader, ruler, captain, prince; excellent thing, (chief) governor, leader, noble, prince, (chief) ruler.
The Torah Testifies.............................
*****
The prophets proclaim...............
Isaiah 55:4 - Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader H5057 and commander to the people.
The writings bear witness.............
2Chronicles 32:21 - And the LORD sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders H5057 and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword
Benefits to Living in Your Personal Authority
The Freedom to Be Who You Were Created to Be
In this teaching, I provide an overview of the tremendous benefits you experience as you exercise your personal authority, which allows you the freedom to be who you were created to be. Then, in the next teaching, I show how you can discover your personal authority to ensure that you begin receiving these benefits.
You Are an Original
Everybody was born an original, but most people end up being copies. The world has so many duplicates that it’s hard to find an original walking around. The “normal” people are the copies.
When you manifest your personal authority, you are not just a variation of someone else. You know who you truly are, and that is the key to your originality. There’s only one of you, and you make the most of it, expressing your unique design. You put into effect your Yah-given vision and goals for your life, even though they may be different from those of the people around you.
You Know Your Intrinsic Value
While many people struggle to find a sense of personal significance for their lives, you understand that your significance comes from your inherent personal authority and from the love of the One who made you. Because you are aware of your intrinsic value, your life is filled with hope and purpose. You don’t succumb to uncertainty about your worth because you recognize that you are of tremendous importance to your generation, and this insulates you from any arrows of undue criticism and negativity that may come your way.
You Experience Personal Fulfillment
As you live according to your personal authority, you experience the contentment and gratification that come from serving the world through your natural gifts and inherent purpose. You have the certainty that you aren’t wasting your life but are using your time, talents, experience, and energy in the best ways possible.
You Have Genuine Confidence
Because you know you are authorized by your Creator, you move forward with confidence so that you are able to fulfill what you were born to accomplish on earth. You have courage, take risks, and express your creativity, but you never “experiment” with your life. You have a specific reason for living, and you purposefully pursue it.
In addition, you don’t wonder if what you are pursuing is going to work; you know it is going to work because you are meant to do it. First, you are confident in your inherent natural abilities. Even if what you are trying to do fails twenty times, you know it will eventually have to succeed. You interpret failure as only a temporary school that teaches you lessons in character, skill, and perspective. You never quit; you only rest before you begin again.
Moreover, you are confident that the resources you need will be available. Why? You believe that everybody is supposed to be prosperous—having more than enough for himself—through the exercise of his gifts, so that his resources can be reinvested in his purpose and also given to those who are in need: “One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed” (Proverbs 11:24–25).
You Are Free from Competition with Others
By exercising your personal authority, you establish yourself as unique and genuine, and this reality counteracts any momentary thought that you have to compete with others to confirm your own worth and place in the world. Because you know who you are, you can’t be easily manipulated by those who want to use you. You aren’t looking to boost your ego, beat out the competition, or put anyone else down. You want only to manifest who you truly are in fulfillment of your Yah-given purpose.
Likewise, you are not intimidated by others. No one can threaten your true authority—even though some people may try to—because you’re not trying to outrun them; you’re just being yourself.
You also know that if you try through manipulation or force to compel other people to conform to your ideas for them, you will be working against the Creator’s purposes. You have learned that the Creator wants you to awaken to your own ability and calling and to keep out of others’ business so that you can eliminate any perceived need to be in open or subtle rivalry with them. As you do this, it enables you to work according to your own authority.
You Are Free from Comparing Yourself with Others
Because you recognize that you are distinct from all others in your authority, you don’t compare yourself with anyone else. You don’t keep checking your progress in life in relation to others and judging whether they are ahead of you or behind you, and you don’t compare the results of your work against theirs.
You may learn new skills and techniques from observing other people who have gifts and abilities that are similar to yours so that you can grow in effectiveness in your personal domain. But this observation is not for the purpose of comparison; it is a form of mentorship. You are blessed as you exercise personal authority because you don’t feel a need to mold other people to be like you, and you don’t feel a need to mimic other people in order to measure up to them. Your style, your focus, your perspective remain yours. You know you have an audience of One, your Creator, and that He is cheering you on.
You Are Free from Jealousy
Since you know your intrinsic value and distinctness and are free from competition and comparison, you don’t feel jealous of others. If other people can do certain things better than you can, this doesn’t make you feel second- rate. Why not? Again, it isn’t any of your business. You can do things that other people cannot do. You understand that according to the way the Creator designed the world, everyone’s authority complements everyone else’s authority, and that problems begin when people feel others have something that is greater than they have but that they should have.
You never lose the genuine you for the sake of jealousy because you know it is the only “you” that has real authority. Whatever you were born to do, no one else can do as you can, with your personality, perspective, and experience. You recognize that being jealous of someone who was born to do something you can’t do, or who was born to do it in a different measure than you were, is a total waste of time. Instead, you tap into your own authority and get to work!
You Don’t Have to Be Afraid
Because you know you were born to do something specific and are trusting in your ability to fulfill it, you are not afraid of failing or of anyone who may criticize you or attempt to prevent you from doing it. You have such conviction about your calling that you move forward with anticipation and purpose, no matter what.
As a person operating under authorization, you find that fulfilling your personal authority is enjoyable and not anxiety-producing. Even with the inevitable pressures, struggles, and responsibilities of life, you sleep well at night because these difficulties ultimately aren’t your problem. You are functioning under the delegated authority of your Creator, and He will make a way for you to do what you are meant to do. Your job is to do what you were designed to do, and the Authority above you is responsible for everything else, including the results of your efforts.
You Have Internal Motivation and Passion
Your authority automatically produces in you a passion for life because it operates in the midst of your deepest desires and vision for the future. This gives you tremendous internal motivation to act on your purpose and gifts and to see your vision become a reality. As you function in your personal domain, you exhibit qualities of a self-starter. You don’t wait for someone to prompt you to use your gifts or to work toward your goals; instead, you can’t wait to get up in the morning and continue working on them.
Your internal motivation and passion also foster a persevering attitude within you. No matter how long it takes to develop your natural abilities, put your plans into action, or see results, you keep going and keep believing and keep moving forward.
You Are Authentic
The combination of all the above makes you authentic, which means you express your true self, reflecting your dreams, ideas, and creativity. You know yourself well and consistently act on that knowledge, using your gifts to manifest the treasure that Yah has hidden in your inner being and wants you to serve to the world. And, you maintain your authenticity, because you are aware that it is vital for exercising true authority and keeping it effective.
Are you ready to receive all the above benefits in your life? In the next teaching, we will look at some specific and practical questions that will help you to confirm your own personal authority.
Today we are walking in: Benefits To Living Your Personal Authority
Today we look to the word-LEADER- H5057 nagiyd-- leader, ruler, captain, prince; excellent thing, (chief) governor, leader, noble, prince, (chief) ruler.
The Torah Testifies.............................
*****
The prophets proclaim...............
Isaiah 55:4 - Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader H5057 and commander to the people.
The writings bear witness.............
2Chronicles 32:21 - And the LORD sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders H5057 and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword
Benefits to Living in Your Personal Authority
The Freedom to Be Who You Were Created to Be
In this teaching, I provide an overview of the tremendous benefits you experience as you exercise your personal authority, which allows you the freedom to be who you were created to be. Then, in the next teaching, I show how you can discover your personal authority to ensure that you begin receiving these benefits.
You Are an Original
Everybody was born an original, but most people end up being copies. The world has so many duplicates that it’s hard to find an original walking around. The “normal” people are the copies.
When you manifest your personal authority, you are not just a variation of someone else. You know who you truly are, and that is the key to your originality. There’s only one of you, and you make the most of it, expressing your unique design. You put into effect your Yah-given vision and goals for your life, even though they may be different from those of the people around you.
You Know Your Intrinsic Value
While many people struggle to find a sense of personal significance for their lives, you understand that your significance comes from your inherent personal authority and from the love of the One who made you. Because you are aware of your intrinsic value, your life is filled with hope and purpose. You don’t succumb to uncertainty about your worth because you recognize that you are of tremendous importance to your generation, and this insulates you from any arrows of undue criticism and negativity that may come your way.
You Experience Personal Fulfillment
As you live according to your personal authority, you experience the contentment and gratification that come from serving the world through your natural gifts and inherent purpose. You have the certainty that you aren’t wasting your life but are using your time, talents, experience, and energy in the best ways possible.
You Have Genuine Confidence
Because you know you are authorized by your Creator, you move forward with confidence so that you are able to fulfill what you were born to accomplish on earth. You have courage, take risks, and express your creativity, but you never “experiment” with your life. You have a specific reason for living, and you purposefully pursue it.
In addition, you don’t wonder if what you are pursuing is going to work; you know it is going to work because you are meant to do it. First, you are confident in your inherent natural abilities. Even if what you are trying to do fails twenty times, you know it will eventually have to succeed. You interpret failure as only a temporary school that teaches you lessons in character, skill, and perspective. You never quit; you only rest before you begin again.
Moreover, you are confident that the resources you need will be available. Why? You believe that everybody is supposed to be prosperous—having more than enough for himself—through the exercise of his gifts, so that his resources can be reinvested in his purpose and also given to those who are in need: “One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed” (Proverbs 11:24–25).
You Are Free from Competition with Others
By exercising your personal authority, you establish yourself as unique and genuine, and this reality counteracts any momentary thought that you have to compete with others to confirm your own worth and place in the world. Because you know who you are, you can’t be easily manipulated by those who want to use you. You aren’t looking to boost your ego, beat out the competition, or put anyone else down. You want only to manifest who you truly are in fulfillment of your Yah-given purpose.
Likewise, you are not intimidated by others. No one can threaten your true authority—even though some people may try to—because you’re not trying to outrun them; you’re just being yourself.
You also know that if you try through manipulation or force to compel other people to conform to your ideas for them, you will be working against the Creator’s purposes. You have learned that the Creator wants you to awaken to your own ability and calling and to keep out of others’ business so that you can eliminate any perceived need to be in open or subtle rivalry with them. As you do this, it enables you to work according to your own authority.
You Are Free from Comparing Yourself with Others
Because you recognize that you are distinct from all others in your authority, you don’t compare yourself with anyone else. You don’t keep checking your progress in life in relation to others and judging whether they are ahead of you or behind you, and you don’t compare the results of your work against theirs.
You may learn new skills and techniques from observing other people who have gifts and abilities that are similar to yours so that you can grow in effectiveness in your personal domain. But this observation is not for the purpose of comparison; it is a form of mentorship. You are blessed as you exercise personal authority because you don’t feel a need to mold other people to be like you, and you don’t feel a need to mimic other people in order to measure up to them. Your style, your focus, your perspective remain yours. You know you have an audience of One, your Creator, and that He is cheering you on.
You Are Free from Jealousy
Since you know your intrinsic value and distinctness and are free from competition and comparison, you don’t feel jealous of others. If other people can do certain things better than you can, this doesn’t make you feel second- rate. Why not? Again, it isn’t any of your business. You can do things that other people cannot do. You understand that according to the way the Creator designed the world, everyone’s authority complements everyone else’s authority, and that problems begin when people feel others have something that is greater than they have but that they should have.
You never lose the genuine you for the sake of jealousy because you know it is the only “you” that has real authority. Whatever you were born to do, no one else can do as you can, with your personality, perspective, and experience. You recognize that being jealous of someone who was born to do something you can’t do, or who was born to do it in a different measure than you were, is a total waste of time. Instead, you tap into your own authority and get to work!
You Don’t Have to Be Afraid
Because you know you were born to do something specific and are trusting in your ability to fulfill it, you are not afraid of failing or of anyone who may criticize you or attempt to prevent you from doing it. You have such conviction about your calling that you move forward with anticipation and purpose, no matter what.
As a person operating under authorization, you find that fulfilling your personal authority is enjoyable and not anxiety-producing. Even with the inevitable pressures, struggles, and responsibilities of life, you sleep well at night because these difficulties ultimately aren’t your problem. You are functioning under the delegated authority of your Creator, and He will make a way for you to do what you are meant to do. Your job is to do what you were designed to do, and the Authority above you is responsible for everything else, including the results of your efforts.
You Have Internal Motivation and Passion
Your authority automatically produces in you a passion for life because it operates in the midst of your deepest desires and vision for the future. This gives you tremendous internal motivation to act on your purpose and gifts and to see your vision become a reality. As you function in your personal domain, you exhibit qualities of a self-starter. You don’t wait for someone to prompt you to use your gifts or to work toward your goals; instead, you can’t wait to get up in the morning and continue working on them.
Your internal motivation and passion also foster a persevering attitude within you. No matter how long it takes to develop your natural abilities, put your plans into action, or see results, you keep going and keep believing and keep moving forward.
You Are Authentic
The combination of all the above makes you authentic, which means you express your true self, reflecting your dreams, ideas, and creativity. You know yourself well and consistently act on that knowledge, using your gifts to manifest the treasure that Yah has hidden in your inner being and wants you to serve to the world. And, you maintain your authenticity, because you are aware that it is vital for exercising true authority and keeping it effective.
Are you ready to receive all the above benefits in your life? In the next teaching, we will look at some specific and practical questions that will help you to confirm your own personal authority.
Saturday, April 1, 2023
PASSOVER NOT EASTER
Exodus chapter 12
Today we are walking in: PASSOVER NOT EASTER
Exodus 12:11
And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD'S passover. H6453
PASSOVER
Today we look to the word-PASSOVER-H6453 pecach--passover, sacrifice of passover, festival of the passover; appears in the King James Bible 46 times
The Torah testifies...............
Exodus 12:48
And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover H6453 to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.
Numbers 9:2
Let the children of Israel also keep the passover H6453 at his appointed season.
Deuteronomy 16:1
Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover H6453 unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.
The prophets proclaim..................
Ezra 6:19
And the children of the captivity kept the passover H6453 upon the fourteenth day of the first month.
Ezekiel 45:21
In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover H6453, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.
Joshua 5:11
And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover H6453, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day.
The writings bear witness...........................
2 Kings 23:21
And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover H6453 unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant.
2 Chronicles 30:2
For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem, to keep the passover H6453 in the second month.
2 Chronicles 35:11
And they killed the passover H6453, and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hands, and the Levites flayed them.
AND Yahuah spoke unto El-Mosheh and El-Aharon in the land of Mitsrayim, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the assembly of Yashar'el, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house: And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole multitude of the assembly of Yashar'el shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take off the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and matstsah; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remains of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is Yahuah's Pecach. For I will pass through the land of Mitsrayim this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Mitsrayim, both man and beast; and against all the elohai of Mitsrayim I will execute judgment: I am Yahuah. And the blood shall be to you for a mark upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Mitsrayim. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to Yahuah throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever. Seven days shall ye eat matstsah; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eats chamets from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Yashar'el. And in the first day there shall be a holy assembly, and in the seventh day there shall be a holy assembly to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. And ye shall guard the Feast of Matstsah; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Mitsrayim: therefore shall ye guard this day in your generations by an ordinance forever. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat matstsah, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. Seven days shall there be no chamets found in your houses: for whosoever eats that which is with chamets, even that soul shall be cut off from the assembly of Yashar'el, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. Ye shall eat nothing with chamets; in all your habitations shall ye eat matstsah. Then Mosheh called for all the elders of Yashar'el, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the Pecach. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For Yahuah will pass through to smite the Mitsriym; and when he sees the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, Yahuah will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. And ye shall guard this thing for an ordinance to you and to your sons forever. And it shall come to pass, when ye are come to the land which Yahuah will give you, according as he has promised, that ye shall guard this service. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of Yahuah's Pecach, who passed over the houses of the children of Yashar'el in Mitsrayim, when he smote the Mitsriym, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped. And the children of Yashar'el went away, and did as Yahuah had commanded Mosheh and Aharon, so did they. And it came to pass, that at midnight Yahuah smote all the firstborn in the land of Mitsrayim, from the firstborn of Phar'oh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. And Phar'oh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Mitsriym; and there was a great cry in Mitsrayim; for there was not a house where there was not one dead. And he called for Mosheh and Aharon by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Yashar'el; and go, serve Yahuah, as ye have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also. And the Mitsriym were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men. And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. And the children of Yashar'el did according to the word of Mosheh; and they borrowed of the Mitsriym jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: And Yahuah gave the people favor in the sight of the Mitsriym, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Mitsriym. And the children of Yashar'el journeyed from Ra`amcec to Cukkoth about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children. And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle. And they baked matstsah cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Mitsrayim, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Mitsrayim, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual. Now the sojourning of the children of Yashar'el, who dwelt in the land of Mitsrayim and in the land of Kena`an, they and their fathers, was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of Yahuah went out from the land of Mitsrayim. It is a night to be much observed unto Yahuah for bringing them out from the land of Mitsrayim: this is that night of Yahuah to be observed of all the children of Yashar'el in their generations. And Yahuah said unto Mosheh and Aharon, This is the ordinance of the Pecach: There shall no stranger eat thereof: But every man's servant that is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof. A foreigner and a hired servant shall not eat thereof. In one house shall it be eaten; you shall not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof. All the assembly of Yashar'el shall keep it. And when a stranger shall sojourn with you, and will keep the Pecach to Yahuah, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof. One Torah shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourns among you. Thus did all the children of Yashar'el; as Yahuah commanded Mosheh and Aharon, so did they. And it came to pass the selfsame day, that Yahuah did bring the children of Yashar'el out of the land of Mitsrayim by their armies. SHEMOTH (EXODUS) 12:1-51 את CEPHER
Passover NOT easter!!!!
Yahshua the Maschaiach said in John 17:17, “Sanctify them in the truth your word is truth.” This powerful statement sets the standard for all who would be True Worshipers, those sanctified or set apart by the truth of Almighty The Most High’s pure Word. They know the truth and have been set free by it, John 8:32. It is their goal to follow the narrow pathway of truth and righteousness and leave the broad way of lawlessness, sin and error. They follow the instruction of the Apostle Peter in 2 Peter 3:17-18 where he said, “Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Sovereign and Savior Yahshua Maschaiach. To him be glory both now and forever!
As seekers of truth, we must constantly be on guard against the errors that have been put forth by law-loathing men. One such error that has caused many to lose their spiritually secure position is the doctrine of Easter.
Origin of Easter
Surprisingly, history is very candid about the origin of Easter. The ancient records clearly show that it originated from paganism and that it was substituted for the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread observances. Let’s take a look at some of the verifying evidence.
Nelson’s Bible Dictionary explains, “Easter was originally a pagan festival honoring Eostre, a Teutonic (Germanic) goddess of light and spring. At the time of the vernal equinox (the day in the spring when the sun crosses the equator and day and night are of equal length), sacrifices were offered in her honor. As early as the eighth century, the name was used to designate the annual Christian celebration of the resurrection of Christ. The only appearance of the word Easter (KJV) is a mistranslation of pascha, the ordinary Greek word for ‘Passover’ (Acts 12:4).”
This source agrees completely with the Catholic Encyclopedia, which states, “[Easter] The English term, according to the Ven. Bede (De temporum ratione, I, v), relates to Estre, a Teutonic goddess of the rising light of day and spring, which deity, however, is otherwise unknown, even in the Edda (Simrock, Mythol., 362); Anglo-Saxon, eâster, eâstron; Old High German, ôstra, ôstrara, ôstrarûn; German, Ostern. April was called easter-monadh.”
Why did Easter become a substitute for Passover and who had the authority to make such a drastic change? Certainly not the Apostles. The Apostolic congregation in Jerusalem and all other locations always observed Passover and never Easter. The Apostle Paul in his first epistle to the Corinthians wrote about the Passover observance, exhorting them to keep the feast.
“Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Maschaiach, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor. 5:7-8; NKJV).
Paul had instructed the Corinthian brethren in the proper observance of Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread that follow it. He never switched the Biblical observances to Easter or even intimated or envisioned such a thing for the future.
Eastern Bishops Disagree
A controversy developed in the 2nd century C.E. concerning when to observe Passover. A Catholic Encyclopedia article, “Easter Controversy,” quotes Eusebius, a 4th century writer on church history: “We read in Eusebius Hist. Eccl., V, xxiii): ‘A question of no small importance arose at that time. The dioceses of all Asia, as from an older tradition, held that the fourteenth day of the moon, on which day the Hebrews were commanded to sacrifice the lamb, should always be observed as the feast of the life-giving pasch.’”
The eastern believers were, at this time, still observing Passover on the 14th of Abib (the first scriptural month). In a letter from Polycrates (the head of the eastern bishops) to Victor the bishop of Rome, Polycrates insisted that they observe the ancient tradition that was passed on to them by a long line of bishops all the way back to the Apostles.
They refused to observe any day for Passover other than the 14th of Abib. For their refusal to break from keeping Passover and switch to the unscriptural Easter, Victor, bishop of Rome, excommunicated the eastern bishops.
The Roman Church had taken a sharp turn from the narrow way of truth and started down the slippery slope’s broad way to destruction. The church had no scriptural mandate or authority to make such a switch. The Most High Word tells us that the Passover observance is everlasting. “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to The Most High; throughout your generations you shall observe it as an ordinance for ever… You shall observe this rite as an ordinance for you and for your sons for ever” (Ex. 12:14, 24: RSV).
The correct opinion of the eastern bishops, as well as the truth put forth in the sacred Scriptures, had no effect upon those who favored the pagan Easter over Passover. The controversy continued for the next 135 years when, at the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE, Emperor Constantine imposed his view that all the various congregations should observe Easter, on Sunday, in opposition to the Jews whom he held responsible for the Maschaiach’s death.
Once again we read in the Catholic Encyclopedia, “The text of the decree of the Council of Nicaea which settled, or at least indicated a final settlement of, the difficulty has not been preserved to us, but we have an important document inserted in Eusebius’s ‘Life of Constantine’ (III, xviii sq.). The emperor himself, writing to the Churches after the Council of Nicaea, exhorts them to adopt its conclusions and says among other things: ‘At this meeting the question concerning the most holy day of Easter was discussed, and it was resolved by the united judgment of all present that this feast ought to be kept by all and in every place on one and the same day. . . And first of all it appeared an unworthy thing that in the celebration of the Jews, who have impiously defiled their hands with enormous sin. . . for we have received from our Saviour a different way. . . And I myself have undertaken that this decision should meet with the approval of your Sagacities in the hope that your Wisdoms will gladly admit that practice which is observed at once in the city of Rome and in Africa, throughout Italy and in Egypt. . . with entire unity of judgment,’” “Easter Controversy.”
At this time in his life Constantine was a sun worshiper. It is understandable that he would give his support for this “Sun”-day observance.
Why the break from thousands of years of tradition and embrace Easter over Passover? In a bid for new converts, Roman Church leaders integrated heathen customs of the masses with their worship. Their disdain for anything they deemed Hebrew was clear as well, making certain that the church calendar never had Easter fall on the same day as the Passover. Apparently they forgot that Yahshua the Maschaiach and all the Apostles were Hebrews who kept the Passover as an example for us. They had forgotten what Yahshua told the Samaritan woman in John 4:22, “You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.”
Easter’s Pagan Past
As shown, the Easter celebration was originally a heathen fertility rite for the worship of the female deity Eostre or Estre. The pagan celebrations attached to this deity were quite offensive to True Worshipers.
In chapter three, section two, we read, “Then look at Easter. What means the term Easter itself? It is not a Christian name. It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven, whose name, as pronounced by the people of Nineveh, was evidently identical with that now in common use in this country. That name, as found by Layard on the Assyrian monuments, is Ishtar. The worship of Bel and Astarte was very early introduced into Britain, along with the Druids, “the priests of the groves.” Some have imagined that the Druidical worship was first introduced by the Phoenicians, who, centuries before the Christian era, traded to the tin-mines of Cornwall. But the unequivocal traces of that worship are found in regions of the British islands where the Phoenicians never penetrated, and it has everywhere left indelible marks of the strong hold which it must have had on the early British mind. From Bel, the 1st of May is still called Beltane in the Almanac; and we have customs still lingering at this day among us, which prove how exactly the worship of Bel or Moloch (for both titles belonged to the same g-d) had been observed even in the northern parts of this island.”
Hislop links Easter to Astarte, Beltis (the queen of heaven), Ishtar and Bel (or as known to the Israelites, Baal). Astarte and Baal were two of the most reprehensible idols that the Israelites worshiped. These idols competed with The Most High as Elohim. In 1 Kings Chapter 18, the story of the Prophet EliYah and his competition with the priests of Baal and Asherah shows how serious a threat they were to the true worship of The Most High. Ancient Israel’s proclivity for leaving the worship of The Most High for the abominable worship of Baal and Asherah continues today in the rites of Easter.
Hislop describes how these ancient pagan traditions became part of the Easter celebration. “Such is the history of Easter. The popular observances that still attend the period of its celebration amply confirm the testimony of history as to its Babylonian character. The hot cross buns of Good Friday, and the dyed eggs of Pasch or Easter Sunday, figured in the Chaldean rites just as they do now. The ‘buns,’ known too by that identical name, were used in the worship of the queen of heaven, the g-ddess Easter, as early as the days of Cecrops, the founder of Athens—that is, 1500 years before the Christian era. ‘One species of sacred bread,’ says Bryant, ‘which used to be offered to the gods, was of great antiquity, and called Boun.’ Diogenes Laertius, speaking of this offering being made by Empedocles, describes the chief ingredients of which it was composed, saying, ‘He offered one of the sacred cakes called Boun, which was made of fine flour and honey.’”
The prophet Jeremiah took a strong stand against these abominations: “The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven (Jeremiah 7:18).” He then goes on to describe in more detail the pagan practices which have been attached to Easter. The Jewish people of Jeremiah’s and Ezekiel’s day had incorporated sun worship into the worship of The Most High. We have already read of their worship of the Queen of Heaven and Tammuz, but The Most High also showed Ezekiel other abominations that were going on.
After revealing the women weeping for Tammuz, The Most High said to Ezekiel, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Turn yet again, and you shall see greater abominations than these. And he brought me into the inner court of The Most High’s house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of The Most High, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of The Most High, and their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the sun toward the east,” Ezekiel 8:15-16.
As the sun rose in the east the Jewish leaders were turned to face the east, worshiping the rising sun. Judah was corrupting the true worship of The Most High by introducing false, paganistic sun worship into their fellowship.
The Most High’s temple was built facing eastward just as the tabernacle in the wilderness faced east. This positioning was for a purpose. Sun worshipers would begin their daily worship by facing the rising sun in the east. The Most High’s temple and tabernacle faced the east so that a True Worshiper would turn away from the rising sun in the east to face the temple or the tabernacle in the west. This was a symbol of repentance. One had to turn away from sun worship to the True Worship of The Most High.
Such is the status of those steeped in paganistic Easter sunrise worship today. One must turn, repent of such things, and shift to the True Worship of The Most High. “Rome, pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and Pagan festivals amalgamated.” The Two Babylons.
These revolting customs were ushered in by the Roman Catholic Church without even the slightest admission of wrongdoing. Once again we quote the Catholic Encyclopedia in the article “Easter.” “Because the use of eggs was forbidden during Lent, they were brought to the table on Easter Day, coloured red to symbolize the Easter joy. This custom is found not only in the Latin but also in the Oriental Churches.
The symbolic meaning of a new creation of mankind by J-sus risen from the dead was probably an invention of later times. The custom may have its origin in paganism, for a great many pagan customs, celebrating the return of spring, gravitated to Easter.” Concerning the Easter rabbit, the Catholic Encyclopedia says in the same article: “The Easter Rabbit lays the eggs, for which reason they are hidden in a nest or in the garden. The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility” (Simrock, Mythologie, 551).
How sad it is that mainstream Christianity has left the truth to follow the fables of ancient paganism. The Apostle Paul warns Timothy of such happenings in 2Timothy 4:3-4, “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” The facts speak for themselves. The Easter celebration has more to do with pagan fertility rites than it does with Yahshua’s death and resurrection as the Son of The Most High.
No Mandate for Resurrection Celebration
Nowhere in the Scriptures exists a command or example for observing the Savior’s resurrection. He indeed was slain, buried and resurrected, but it is not a matter to be celebrated after the ways of the pagans. The resurrection is not justification for devising our own observance, nor is it grounds for Sunday worship. There are, however, clear mandates for observing the day of His death.
The Scriptural way we remember the Savior’s resurrection is through our own baptism. Paul wrote in Romans 6:3-5: “Know you not, that so many of us as were baptized into Yahshua the Maschaiach were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Maschaiach was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.”
Paul repeats to the Colossians that the believer is “buried with him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of Yah, who has raised him from the dead,” (Col. 2:12). As we come up out of the watery grave into a new life in the Savior, we portray His rising from the tomb and changing to spirit.
Lent: Loaned from the Heathens
Another custom linked with Easter is Lent. The word is derived from the Old English lencten, meaning spring. Today it is the 40 weekdays from Ash Wednesday until Easter, reserved by churchianity for penitence and fasting.
Most of the self-denying practice of fasting during Lent has given way to giving up something—usually something that should be given up anyway, like tobacco or drinking to excess. But where did this custom of Lent originate?
The Two Babylons explains, “The forty days’ abstinence of Lent was directly borrowed from the worshipers of the Babylonian goddess. Such a Lent of forty days, ‘in the spring of the year’ is still observed by the Yezidis or Pagan Devil-worshipers of Koordistan, who have inherited it from their early masters, the Babylonians….Such a lent of forty days was observed in Egypt…held expressly in commemoration of Adonis or Osiris, the great mediatorial god,” pp. 104-5.
Osiris’s counterpart is the Greek Demeter and the Babylonian Tammuz—both deities of fertility and life. As Hislop observes, “Among the Pagans this Lent seems to have been an indispensable preliminary to the great annual festival in commemoration of the death and resurrection of Tammuz, which was celebrated by alternate weeping and rejoicing…To conciliate the Pagans to nominal Christianity, Rome, pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and Pagan festivals amalgameted, and, by a complicated but skillful adjustment of the calendar, it was found no difficult matter, in general, to get Paganism and Christianity—now far sunk in idolatry—in this as in so many other things, to shake hands,” p. 105.
The Most High’s Salvation Plan in His Observances
Observance of Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread holds the key to understanding The Most High’s plan of salvation. It was never Almighty The Most High’s intention to link His Son’s death and resurrection to a pagan festival in honor of a fertility idol. Instead, Almighty The Most High ordained the observance of Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread to point toward the salvation that comes through His Son.
By dying on Passover day and being resurrected during the Days of Unleavened Bread, Yahshua became the Savior of mankind. The Most High never tells us to observe the Savior’s resurrection. Nor is Easter commanded anywhere in the Scriptures. We never see Yahshua or His disciples coloring and hiding eggs, eating hot-cross buns, or worshiping the rising sun. Nor did it ever happen among the Savior’s apostles even after His death and resurrection. The simple, verifiable fact is that Easter is man-made, not The Most High inspired.
Yahshua’s death to pay the penalty for our sins is memorialized by the Passover, and this observance is explicitly commanded, honored, and kept throughout the Bible. The New Testament included. The Scriptures are the inspired Word, 2 Timothy 3:16. The words were breathed by The Most High as if He were talking face-to-face with us, which is the meaning of inspiration in this passage. If He commands us to keep certain days at certain times then we simply have no authority to do anything differently.
The Most High’s feasts fulfill their intended purpose of pointing to Yahshua’s redemptive work. As True Worshipers we must do as the Apostle Paul taught in 1Corinthians 5:7-8, “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Maschaiach, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (NKJV).
Choosing the Passover Lamb
As sanctified believers we must choose Yahshua as our Passover lamb. In order to find salvation we must recognize him as the Lamb of The Most High who takes away the sin of the world, John 1:29. Without Passover, Yahshua could not have fulfilled the Scriptures which pertain to His Messiahship. To reject Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread is to reject Yahshua as the Maschaiach. Let us look at some of the crucial scriptures that prove this point.
First, as the Lamb of The Most High, Yahshua fulfilled the scriptures regarding the first Passover observance in Egypt. The Passover Lamb of Exodus chapter 12 prophetically points to our Savior as the Lamb of The Most High.
Let us look at this passage and learn how Yahshua fulfilled it. “Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat” (Ex. 12:3-4).
Just as the lamb was selected on the 10th day of the month, so the Lamb of The Most High was selected by the Jews to be their offering on the same day. In Christianity this is referred to as Palm Sunday. This event actually took place on the weekly Sabbath that preceded the Passover. We read about this in Matthew 21:6-11, “The disciples went and did as Yahshua had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Yahshua sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of The Most High!
Hosanna in the highest!’ When Yahshua entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, ‘Who is this?’ The crowds answered, ‘This is Yahshua, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.’”
The people were totally unaware that they were in fact choosing Yahshua as their Passover Lamb. Four days after this occurred some of the same people who heralded Yahshua’s entrance into Jerusalem were crying out for His death. How ironic!
We next learn how the Passover lamb was to be killed on Passover day (Abib 14) and how its blood was to be applied to the lintel and side posts of the door of the house where the lamb was eaten (Ex. 12:5-7). Prophetically this points to Yahshua’s suffering and death on Passover day. Consider Yahshua’s suffering.
Yahshua began the day (scriptural days begin at sundown) by gathering with the Apostles to eat the Passover. “They left and found things just as Yahshua had told them. So they prepared the Passover. When the hour came, Yahshua and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, ‘I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.’” It was at this time that he humbled Himself as a servant and washed His disciples feet thereby giving us the example of humility (John 13:1-20).
Then Yahshua instituted the new Passover meal and emblems. He gave His disciples unleavened bread to represent His Body and the juice of the grape to represent His shed blood. “While they were eating, Yahshua took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take it; this is my body.’ Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,’ he said to them. ‘I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of The Most High’’ (Mark 14:22-25).
After discoursing and praying with His disciples, they all departed to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. Here is where His suffering as the Passover Lamb began. All of those events took place on Passover day. From the time that Yahshua began to sweat drops of blood in the garden of Gethsemane until His death on Golgotha, Yahshua shed His blood as atonement for sin. He fulfilled the scriptures regarding the Passover Lamb and proved Himself to be the Lamb of The Most High who takes away the sin of the world.
His blood was upon the torture stake just as the blood of the Passover lamb was placed upon the side posts of the Israelite’s dwellings. To separate Yahshua’s sacrifice from Passover and to relink it with Easter is a sacrilege of immense proportion and an insult to Yahshua. The observance of the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread was ordained by Almighty The Most High in perpetuity as the memorial of Yahshua’s death and resurrection.
“So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to The Most High throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance…So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance… And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever” (Exodus 12:14, 17, 24; NKJV). Through Yahshua’s sacrifice we are freed from the bondage of Egypt (sin—Heb. 11:25).
ALL PRAISES TO THE MOST HIGH YAH!!!!!!!
Yahshua ordained that His followers observe Passover with the new emblems of His body and blood. “For I received from the Master what I also passed on to you: The Master Yahshua, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Master’s death until he comes” (1 Cor. 11:23-26).
More Evidence Against Easter Sunday Resurrection
One of the main arguments put forth to support Easter is the erroneous belief that the Maschaiach was resurrected at sunrise on Easter Sunday morning. The truth is revealed by a close examination of Matthew 28:1-2. Here we read, “In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of The Most High descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.” (KJV)
Notice the underlined words in the passage. In Strong’s Concordance Greek Dictionary of the New Testament this is No. 2020— epiphosko (ep-ee-foce’-ko); a form of NT: No. 2017; to begin to grow light: It has been translated in the KJV as: begin to dawn, draw on. This word is used twice in the New Testament, here and in Luke 23:54. There we read, “And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on” (KJV). Again it must be pointed out that the scriptural (Jewish) day begins and ends at sundown. In Luke 23:54 the statement “and the Sabbath drew on” obviously means that it was close to sundown. The same can be said about Matthew 28:1, “as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week.” Once again, this would refer to sundown. That being the case, Yahshua was resurrected when the earthquake took place at the end of the weekly Sabbath and not Sunday morning at sunrise.
This is very significant because it further proves that we must observe the Days of Unleavened Bread. Concerning Yahshua’s resurrection, we read in 1 Corinthians 15:20-23, “But Maschaiach has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Maschaiach all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Maschaiach, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.”
The Maschaiach is the first of the firstfruits of the resurrection from the dead. As such, by being resurrected at the end of the weekly Sabbath, He was presented to Almighty The Most High as the firstfruit wave sheaf. The wave sheaf of cut barley was waved, as an offering, by the priest on the day after the weekly Sabbath which fell during the Days of Unleavened Bread.
Consider Leviticus 23:9-14, “The Most High said to Moses, ‘Speak to the Israelites and say to them: “When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. He is to wave the sheaf before The Most High so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to The Most High a lamb a year old without defect, together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil — an offering made to The Most High by fire, a pleasing aroma — and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine. You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your Elohim. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.’”
No Wave Sheaf on Easter
Yahshua the Maschaiach is our spiritual, firstfruit wave sheaf offering. After His resurrection from the tomb, He presented Himself to Almighty The Most High on the day after the weekly Sabbath and thus gave new significance to the wave sheaf offering. As the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:15-17; Psalm 110:4), Yahshua also would have offered a physical wave sheaf to The Most High. He must have still been holding it when He was met by Miriam Magdalene, as she assumed that He was the gardener.
“But Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Yahshua’s body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?’ ‘They have taken my Master away,’ she said, ‘and I don’t know where they have put him.’ At this, she turned around and saw Yahshua standing there, but she did not realize that it was Yahshua. ‘Woman,’ he said, ‘why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?’ Thinking he was the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.’ Yahshua said to her, ‘Miriam.’ She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means Teacher). Yahshua said, ‘Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my Elohim and your Elohim.’” Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: ‘I have seen the Master!’ And she told them that he had said these things to her” (John 20:11-18).
Yahshua would not let Miriam touch Him at this time because He had not yet ascended to His Father to present Himself as the first fruits offering.
Once again, the scriptures are very clear in showing the significance of Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. Yahshua, as our spiritual, first fruits wave sheaf, presented Himself to Almighty The Most High as our offering. Because He has been resurrected from the dead, we have hope for our own resurrection when Yahshua returns.
The Apostle Paul declared this in Romans 6:3-11: “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Maschaiach Yahshua were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Maschaiach was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was impaled with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Maschaiach, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Maschaiach was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to The Most High. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to The Most High in Maschaiach Yahshua.”
Obviously from these Scriptures Yahshua was not resurrected on Easter Sunday morning. He was resurrected at the end of the weekly Sabbath just before sundown. As the first day of the week began, He cut the firstfruits wave sheaf and, as The Most High’s High Priest, He offered it. Then, He ascended up into the heavens and presented Himself as our spiritual wave sheaf, the first of the firstfruits of the resurrection, before Almighty The Most High our Father. To reject the Days of Unleavened Bread, and especially the wave sheaf offering day, in favor of Easter is to reject Yahshua as our resurrected Maschaiach. Our hope of the resurrection lies in Yahshua’s fulfillment of the scriptures in regard to the Lamb of The Most High that takes away the sins of the world.
Three Days and Three Nights Mystery
It is truly ironic how mainstream worship has abandoned Yahshua’s Messiahship by embracing the observance of Good Friday and Easter. Despite all the great miracles that our Savior performed that showed that He was the Maschaiach, He stated that there was only one sign that would prove Him to be the Maschaiach. That sign was that He would spend three days and three nights in the grave. Let’s consider this as found in Matthew 12:38-40: “Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, ‘Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.’ He answered, ‘A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.’”
No matter how you count it, it is impossible to get three days and three nights from a late Friday afternoon death and burial to a Sunday morning resurrection. Appendix 144 of Dr. Bullinger’s The Companion Bible states the following: “The fact that ‘three days’ is used by Hebrew idiom for any part of three days and three nights is not disputed; because that was the common way of reckoning, just as it was when used of years. Three or any number of years was used inclusively of any part of those years, as may be seen in the reckoning of the reigns of any of the kings of Israel and Judah. But, when the number of ‘nights’ is stated as well as the number of ‘days,’ then the expression ceases to be an idiom, and becomes a literal statement of fact.”
This is a surprising statement in light of what is taught by most. All the confusion comes about because Christianity has mistakenly believed that the day after the Passover (Abib 14) was the weekly Sabbath. In fact, it was the first high holy day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This can be verified in John 19:31, “The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the torture stake on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.”
The error that the day after the Passover impalement was the weekly Sabbath disappears upon examining The Most High’s command concerning the Feast of Unleavened Bread in Leviticus 23:6-8, “And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to The Most High; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it. But you shall offer an offering made by fire to The Most High for seven days. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it” (NKJV).
How clear the sequence of days becomes when you understand that the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is a high holy Sabbath day like the weekly Sabbath. We have already learned that, according to Matthew 28:1-2, our Savior was resurrected at the end of the weekly Sabbath. Now, by counting backwards three days and three nights, we learn that Yahshua died on a Wednesday afternoon and was placed in the tomb just before sundown. Wednesday at sun down would have begun the first high holy day of the feast. Friday was the preparation for the weekly Sabbath and the weekly Sabbath was a holy day.
We count the three days and the three nights as follows: Wednesday just before sundown to Thursday just before sundown—day one, Thursday just before sundown to Friday just before sundown—day two, and Friday just before sundown to Sabbath just before sundown—day three. This completely agrees with what is found in Matthew 28:1-2. Yahshua was resurrected from the tomb when the earthquake took place toward the end of the weekly Sabbath.
When it comes to the question of Easter or Passover the simple facts speak for themselves. Christianity openly admits to having taken an ancient pagan fertility celebration and applied its meaning and customs to the resurrection of the Maschaiach. This is totally contrary to what is found in the Bible and opposes what was taught and observed by our Savior, the Apostles, and the saints of the New Testament.
After examining the Scriptures concerning Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, it is clear that Almighty The Most High intended for these days to be celebrated by all True Worshipers in remembrance of Yahshua’s death and resurrection as the Lamb of The Most High. The true meaning of the plan of salvation can only be fully understood by the observance of The Most High’s sanctified feast days. Yahshua is the first of the first fruits. Because He died and was resurrected according to the Scriptures we have a hope of being in the first resurrection when He returns at His second coming. The apostle wrote, “Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the good news I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this good news you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Maschaiach died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:1-4).
Those who believe in Yahshua as the Maschaiach will remain in the truth of His Word and will be found worthy as His disciples. All sincere followers of truth will be in the first resurrection when Yahshua returns. They have gained freedom from the false teachings of this world. Because they have chosen to follow the teaching of Yahshua, they observe Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread rather than the pagan feast of Easter. “To the Jews who had believed him, Yahshua said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’” (John 8:31-32).
True Worshipers must hold to the teachings of our Savior. Yahshua’s life, death, and resurrection are based upon the truth of The Most High’s Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread and not upon the pagan customs of a fertility rite.
Today we are walking in: PASSOVER NOT EASTER
Exodus 12:11
And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD'S passover. H6453
PASSOVER
Today we look to the word-PASSOVER-H6453 pecach--passover, sacrifice of passover, festival of the passover; appears in the King James Bible 46 times
The Torah testifies...............
Exodus 12:48
And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover H6453 to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.
Numbers 9:2
Let the children of Israel also keep the passover H6453 at his appointed season.
Deuteronomy 16:1
Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover H6453 unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.
The prophets proclaim..................
Ezra 6:19
And the children of the captivity kept the passover H6453 upon the fourteenth day of the first month.
Ezekiel 45:21
In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover H6453, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.
Joshua 5:11
And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover H6453, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day.
The writings bear witness...........................
2 Kings 23:21
And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover H6453 unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant.
2 Chronicles 30:2
For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem, to keep the passover H6453 in the second month.
2 Chronicles 35:11
And they killed the passover H6453, and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hands, and the Levites flayed them.
AND Yahuah spoke unto El-Mosheh and El-Aharon in the land of Mitsrayim, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the assembly of Yashar'el, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house: And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole multitude of the assembly of Yashar'el shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take off the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and matstsah; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remains of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is Yahuah's Pecach. For I will pass through the land of Mitsrayim this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Mitsrayim, both man and beast; and against all the elohai of Mitsrayim I will execute judgment: I am Yahuah. And the blood shall be to you for a mark upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Mitsrayim. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to Yahuah throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever. Seven days shall ye eat matstsah; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eats chamets from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Yashar'el. And in the first day there shall be a holy assembly, and in the seventh day there shall be a holy assembly to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. And ye shall guard the Feast of Matstsah; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Mitsrayim: therefore shall ye guard this day in your generations by an ordinance forever. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat matstsah, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. Seven days shall there be no chamets found in your houses: for whosoever eats that which is with chamets, even that soul shall be cut off from the assembly of Yashar'el, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. Ye shall eat nothing with chamets; in all your habitations shall ye eat matstsah. Then Mosheh called for all the elders of Yashar'el, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the Pecach. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For Yahuah will pass through to smite the Mitsriym; and when he sees the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, Yahuah will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. And ye shall guard this thing for an ordinance to you and to your sons forever. And it shall come to pass, when ye are come to the land which Yahuah will give you, according as he has promised, that ye shall guard this service. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of Yahuah's Pecach, who passed over the houses of the children of Yashar'el in Mitsrayim, when he smote the Mitsriym, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped. And the children of Yashar'el went away, and did as Yahuah had commanded Mosheh and Aharon, so did they. And it came to pass, that at midnight Yahuah smote all the firstborn in the land of Mitsrayim, from the firstborn of Phar'oh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. And Phar'oh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Mitsriym; and there was a great cry in Mitsrayim; for there was not a house where there was not one dead. And he called for Mosheh and Aharon by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Yashar'el; and go, serve Yahuah, as ye have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also. And the Mitsriym were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men. And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. And the children of Yashar'el did according to the word of Mosheh; and they borrowed of the Mitsriym jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: And Yahuah gave the people favor in the sight of the Mitsriym, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Mitsriym. And the children of Yashar'el journeyed from Ra`amcec to Cukkoth about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children. And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle. And they baked matstsah cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Mitsrayim, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Mitsrayim, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual. Now the sojourning of the children of Yashar'el, who dwelt in the land of Mitsrayim and in the land of Kena`an, they and their fathers, was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of Yahuah went out from the land of Mitsrayim. It is a night to be much observed unto Yahuah for bringing them out from the land of Mitsrayim: this is that night of Yahuah to be observed of all the children of Yashar'el in their generations. And Yahuah said unto Mosheh and Aharon, This is the ordinance of the Pecach: There shall no stranger eat thereof: But every man's servant that is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof. A foreigner and a hired servant shall not eat thereof. In one house shall it be eaten; you shall not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof. All the assembly of Yashar'el shall keep it. And when a stranger shall sojourn with you, and will keep the Pecach to Yahuah, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof. One Torah shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourns among you. Thus did all the children of Yashar'el; as Yahuah commanded Mosheh and Aharon, so did they. And it came to pass the selfsame day, that Yahuah did bring the children of Yashar'el out of the land of Mitsrayim by their armies. SHEMOTH (EXODUS) 12:1-51 את CEPHER
Passover NOT easter!!!!
Yahshua the Maschaiach said in John 17:17, “Sanctify them in the truth your word is truth.” This powerful statement sets the standard for all who would be True Worshipers, those sanctified or set apart by the truth of Almighty The Most High’s pure Word. They know the truth and have been set free by it, John 8:32. It is their goal to follow the narrow pathway of truth and righteousness and leave the broad way of lawlessness, sin and error. They follow the instruction of the Apostle Peter in 2 Peter 3:17-18 where he said, “Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Sovereign and Savior Yahshua Maschaiach. To him be glory both now and forever!
As seekers of truth, we must constantly be on guard against the errors that have been put forth by law-loathing men. One such error that has caused many to lose their spiritually secure position is the doctrine of Easter.
Origin of Easter
Surprisingly, history is very candid about the origin of Easter. The ancient records clearly show that it originated from paganism and that it was substituted for the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread observances. Let’s take a look at some of the verifying evidence.
Nelson’s Bible Dictionary explains, “Easter was originally a pagan festival honoring Eostre, a Teutonic (Germanic) goddess of light and spring. At the time of the vernal equinox (the day in the spring when the sun crosses the equator and day and night are of equal length), sacrifices were offered in her honor. As early as the eighth century, the name was used to designate the annual Christian celebration of the resurrection of Christ. The only appearance of the word Easter (KJV) is a mistranslation of pascha, the ordinary Greek word for ‘Passover’ (Acts 12:4).”
This source agrees completely with the Catholic Encyclopedia, which states, “[Easter] The English term, according to the Ven. Bede (De temporum ratione, I, v), relates to Estre, a Teutonic goddess of the rising light of day and spring, which deity, however, is otherwise unknown, even in the Edda (Simrock, Mythol., 362); Anglo-Saxon, eâster, eâstron; Old High German, ôstra, ôstrara, ôstrarûn; German, Ostern. April was called easter-monadh.”
Why did Easter become a substitute for Passover and who had the authority to make such a drastic change? Certainly not the Apostles. The Apostolic congregation in Jerusalem and all other locations always observed Passover and never Easter. The Apostle Paul in his first epistle to the Corinthians wrote about the Passover observance, exhorting them to keep the feast.
“Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Maschaiach, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor. 5:7-8; NKJV).
Paul had instructed the Corinthian brethren in the proper observance of Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread that follow it. He never switched the Biblical observances to Easter or even intimated or envisioned such a thing for the future.
Eastern Bishops Disagree
A controversy developed in the 2nd century C.E. concerning when to observe Passover. A Catholic Encyclopedia article, “Easter Controversy,” quotes Eusebius, a 4th century writer on church history: “We read in Eusebius Hist. Eccl., V, xxiii): ‘A question of no small importance arose at that time. The dioceses of all Asia, as from an older tradition, held that the fourteenth day of the moon, on which day the Hebrews were commanded to sacrifice the lamb, should always be observed as the feast of the life-giving pasch.’”
The eastern believers were, at this time, still observing Passover on the 14th of Abib (the first scriptural month). In a letter from Polycrates (the head of the eastern bishops) to Victor the bishop of Rome, Polycrates insisted that they observe the ancient tradition that was passed on to them by a long line of bishops all the way back to the Apostles.
They refused to observe any day for Passover other than the 14th of Abib. For their refusal to break from keeping Passover and switch to the unscriptural Easter, Victor, bishop of Rome, excommunicated the eastern bishops.
The Roman Church had taken a sharp turn from the narrow way of truth and started down the slippery slope’s broad way to destruction. The church had no scriptural mandate or authority to make such a switch. The Most High Word tells us that the Passover observance is everlasting. “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to The Most High; throughout your generations you shall observe it as an ordinance for ever… You shall observe this rite as an ordinance for you and for your sons for ever” (Ex. 12:14, 24: RSV).
The correct opinion of the eastern bishops, as well as the truth put forth in the sacred Scriptures, had no effect upon those who favored the pagan Easter over Passover. The controversy continued for the next 135 years when, at the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE, Emperor Constantine imposed his view that all the various congregations should observe Easter, on Sunday, in opposition to the Jews whom he held responsible for the Maschaiach’s death.
Once again we read in the Catholic Encyclopedia, “The text of the decree of the Council of Nicaea which settled, or at least indicated a final settlement of, the difficulty has not been preserved to us, but we have an important document inserted in Eusebius’s ‘Life of Constantine’ (III, xviii sq.). The emperor himself, writing to the Churches after the Council of Nicaea, exhorts them to adopt its conclusions and says among other things: ‘At this meeting the question concerning the most holy day of Easter was discussed, and it was resolved by the united judgment of all present that this feast ought to be kept by all and in every place on one and the same day. . . And first of all it appeared an unworthy thing that in the celebration of the Jews, who have impiously defiled their hands with enormous sin. . . for we have received from our Saviour a different way. . . And I myself have undertaken that this decision should meet with the approval of your Sagacities in the hope that your Wisdoms will gladly admit that practice which is observed at once in the city of Rome and in Africa, throughout Italy and in Egypt. . . with entire unity of judgment,’” “Easter Controversy.”
At this time in his life Constantine was a sun worshiper. It is understandable that he would give his support for this “Sun”-day observance.
Why the break from thousands of years of tradition and embrace Easter over Passover? In a bid for new converts, Roman Church leaders integrated heathen customs of the masses with their worship. Their disdain for anything they deemed Hebrew was clear as well, making certain that the church calendar never had Easter fall on the same day as the Passover. Apparently they forgot that Yahshua the Maschaiach and all the Apostles were Hebrews who kept the Passover as an example for us. They had forgotten what Yahshua told the Samaritan woman in John 4:22, “You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.”
Easter’s Pagan Past
As shown, the Easter celebration was originally a heathen fertility rite for the worship of the female deity Eostre or Estre. The pagan celebrations attached to this deity were quite offensive to True Worshipers.
In chapter three, section two, we read, “Then look at Easter. What means the term Easter itself? It is not a Christian name. It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven, whose name, as pronounced by the people of Nineveh, was evidently identical with that now in common use in this country. That name, as found by Layard on the Assyrian monuments, is Ishtar. The worship of Bel and Astarte was very early introduced into Britain, along with the Druids, “the priests of the groves.” Some have imagined that the Druidical worship was first introduced by the Phoenicians, who, centuries before the Christian era, traded to the tin-mines of Cornwall. But the unequivocal traces of that worship are found in regions of the British islands where the Phoenicians never penetrated, and it has everywhere left indelible marks of the strong hold which it must have had on the early British mind. From Bel, the 1st of May is still called Beltane in the Almanac; and we have customs still lingering at this day among us, which prove how exactly the worship of Bel or Moloch (for both titles belonged to the same g-d) had been observed even in the northern parts of this island.”
Hislop links Easter to Astarte, Beltis (the queen of heaven), Ishtar and Bel (or as known to the Israelites, Baal). Astarte and Baal were two of the most reprehensible idols that the Israelites worshiped. These idols competed with The Most High as Elohim. In 1 Kings Chapter 18, the story of the Prophet EliYah and his competition with the priests of Baal and Asherah shows how serious a threat they were to the true worship of The Most High. Ancient Israel’s proclivity for leaving the worship of The Most High for the abominable worship of Baal and Asherah continues today in the rites of Easter.
Hislop describes how these ancient pagan traditions became part of the Easter celebration. “Such is the history of Easter. The popular observances that still attend the period of its celebration amply confirm the testimony of history as to its Babylonian character. The hot cross buns of Good Friday, and the dyed eggs of Pasch or Easter Sunday, figured in the Chaldean rites just as they do now. The ‘buns,’ known too by that identical name, were used in the worship of the queen of heaven, the g-ddess Easter, as early as the days of Cecrops, the founder of Athens—that is, 1500 years before the Christian era. ‘One species of sacred bread,’ says Bryant, ‘which used to be offered to the gods, was of great antiquity, and called Boun.’ Diogenes Laertius, speaking of this offering being made by Empedocles, describes the chief ingredients of which it was composed, saying, ‘He offered one of the sacred cakes called Boun, which was made of fine flour and honey.’”
The prophet Jeremiah took a strong stand against these abominations: “The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven (Jeremiah 7:18).” He then goes on to describe in more detail the pagan practices which have been attached to Easter. The Jewish people of Jeremiah’s and Ezekiel’s day had incorporated sun worship into the worship of The Most High. We have already read of their worship of the Queen of Heaven and Tammuz, but The Most High also showed Ezekiel other abominations that were going on.
After revealing the women weeping for Tammuz, The Most High said to Ezekiel, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Turn yet again, and you shall see greater abominations than these. And he brought me into the inner court of The Most High’s house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of The Most High, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of The Most High, and their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the sun toward the east,” Ezekiel 8:15-16.
As the sun rose in the east the Jewish leaders were turned to face the east, worshiping the rising sun. Judah was corrupting the true worship of The Most High by introducing false, paganistic sun worship into their fellowship.
The Most High’s temple was built facing eastward just as the tabernacle in the wilderness faced east. This positioning was for a purpose. Sun worshipers would begin their daily worship by facing the rising sun in the east. The Most High’s temple and tabernacle faced the east so that a True Worshiper would turn away from the rising sun in the east to face the temple or the tabernacle in the west. This was a symbol of repentance. One had to turn away from sun worship to the True Worship of The Most High.
Such is the status of those steeped in paganistic Easter sunrise worship today. One must turn, repent of such things, and shift to the True Worship of The Most High. “Rome, pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and Pagan festivals amalgamated.” The Two Babylons.
These revolting customs were ushered in by the Roman Catholic Church without even the slightest admission of wrongdoing. Once again we quote the Catholic Encyclopedia in the article “Easter.” “Because the use of eggs was forbidden during Lent, they were brought to the table on Easter Day, coloured red to symbolize the Easter joy. This custom is found not only in the Latin but also in the Oriental Churches.
The symbolic meaning of a new creation of mankind by J-sus risen from the dead was probably an invention of later times. The custom may have its origin in paganism, for a great many pagan customs, celebrating the return of spring, gravitated to Easter.” Concerning the Easter rabbit, the Catholic Encyclopedia says in the same article: “The Easter Rabbit lays the eggs, for which reason they are hidden in a nest or in the garden. The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility” (Simrock, Mythologie, 551).
How sad it is that mainstream Christianity has left the truth to follow the fables of ancient paganism. The Apostle Paul warns Timothy of such happenings in 2Timothy 4:3-4, “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” The facts speak for themselves. The Easter celebration has more to do with pagan fertility rites than it does with Yahshua’s death and resurrection as the Son of The Most High.
No Mandate for Resurrection Celebration
Nowhere in the Scriptures exists a command or example for observing the Savior’s resurrection. He indeed was slain, buried and resurrected, but it is not a matter to be celebrated after the ways of the pagans. The resurrection is not justification for devising our own observance, nor is it grounds for Sunday worship. There are, however, clear mandates for observing the day of His death.
The Scriptural way we remember the Savior’s resurrection is through our own baptism. Paul wrote in Romans 6:3-5: “Know you not, that so many of us as were baptized into Yahshua the Maschaiach were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Maschaiach was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.”
Paul repeats to the Colossians that the believer is “buried with him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of Yah, who has raised him from the dead,” (Col. 2:12). As we come up out of the watery grave into a new life in the Savior, we portray His rising from the tomb and changing to spirit.
Lent: Loaned from the Heathens
Another custom linked with Easter is Lent. The word is derived from the Old English lencten, meaning spring. Today it is the 40 weekdays from Ash Wednesday until Easter, reserved by churchianity for penitence and fasting.
Most of the self-denying practice of fasting during Lent has given way to giving up something—usually something that should be given up anyway, like tobacco or drinking to excess. But where did this custom of Lent originate?
The Two Babylons explains, “The forty days’ abstinence of Lent was directly borrowed from the worshipers of the Babylonian goddess. Such a Lent of forty days, ‘in the spring of the year’ is still observed by the Yezidis or Pagan Devil-worshipers of Koordistan, who have inherited it from their early masters, the Babylonians….Such a lent of forty days was observed in Egypt…held expressly in commemoration of Adonis or Osiris, the great mediatorial god,” pp. 104-5.
Osiris’s counterpart is the Greek Demeter and the Babylonian Tammuz—both deities of fertility and life. As Hislop observes, “Among the Pagans this Lent seems to have been an indispensable preliminary to the great annual festival in commemoration of the death and resurrection of Tammuz, which was celebrated by alternate weeping and rejoicing…To conciliate the Pagans to nominal Christianity, Rome, pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and Pagan festivals amalgameted, and, by a complicated but skillful adjustment of the calendar, it was found no difficult matter, in general, to get Paganism and Christianity—now far sunk in idolatry—in this as in so many other things, to shake hands,” p. 105.
The Most High’s Salvation Plan in His Observances
Observance of Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread holds the key to understanding The Most High’s plan of salvation. It was never Almighty The Most High’s intention to link His Son’s death and resurrection to a pagan festival in honor of a fertility idol. Instead, Almighty The Most High ordained the observance of Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread to point toward the salvation that comes through His Son.
By dying on Passover day and being resurrected during the Days of Unleavened Bread, Yahshua became the Savior of mankind. The Most High never tells us to observe the Savior’s resurrection. Nor is Easter commanded anywhere in the Scriptures. We never see Yahshua or His disciples coloring and hiding eggs, eating hot-cross buns, or worshiping the rising sun. Nor did it ever happen among the Savior’s apostles even after His death and resurrection. The simple, verifiable fact is that Easter is man-made, not The Most High inspired.
Yahshua’s death to pay the penalty for our sins is memorialized by the Passover, and this observance is explicitly commanded, honored, and kept throughout the Bible. The New Testament included. The Scriptures are the inspired Word, 2 Timothy 3:16. The words were breathed by The Most High as if He were talking face-to-face with us, which is the meaning of inspiration in this passage. If He commands us to keep certain days at certain times then we simply have no authority to do anything differently.
The Most High’s feasts fulfill their intended purpose of pointing to Yahshua’s redemptive work. As True Worshipers we must do as the Apostle Paul taught in 1Corinthians 5:7-8, “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Maschaiach, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (NKJV).
Choosing the Passover Lamb
As sanctified believers we must choose Yahshua as our Passover lamb. In order to find salvation we must recognize him as the Lamb of The Most High who takes away the sin of the world, John 1:29. Without Passover, Yahshua could not have fulfilled the Scriptures which pertain to His Messiahship. To reject Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread is to reject Yahshua as the Maschaiach. Let us look at some of the crucial scriptures that prove this point.
First, as the Lamb of The Most High, Yahshua fulfilled the scriptures regarding the first Passover observance in Egypt. The Passover Lamb of Exodus chapter 12 prophetically points to our Savior as the Lamb of The Most High.
Let us look at this passage and learn how Yahshua fulfilled it. “Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat” (Ex. 12:3-4).
Just as the lamb was selected on the 10th day of the month, so the Lamb of The Most High was selected by the Jews to be their offering on the same day. In Christianity this is referred to as Palm Sunday. This event actually took place on the weekly Sabbath that preceded the Passover. We read about this in Matthew 21:6-11, “The disciples went and did as Yahshua had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Yahshua sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of The Most High!
Hosanna in the highest!’ When Yahshua entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, ‘Who is this?’ The crowds answered, ‘This is Yahshua, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.’”
The people were totally unaware that they were in fact choosing Yahshua as their Passover Lamb. Four days after this occurred some of the same people who heralded Yahshua’s entrance into Jerusalem were crying out for His death. How ironic!
We next learn how the Passover lamb was to be killed on Passover day (Abib 14) and how its blood was to be applied to the lintel and side posts of the door of the house where the lamb was eaten (Ex. 12:5-7). Prophetically this points to Yahshua’s suffering and death on Passover day. Consider Yahshua’s suffering.
Yahshua began the day (scriptural days begin at sundown) by gathering with the Apostles to eat the Passover. “They left and found things just as Yahshua had told them. So they prepared the Passover. When the hour came, Yahshua and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, ‘I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.’” It was at this time that he humbled Himself as a servant and washed His disciples feet thereby giving us the example of humility (John 13:1-20).
Then Yahshua instituted the new Passover meal and emblems. He gave His disciples unleavened bread to represent His Body and the juice of the grape to represent His shed blood. “While they were eating, Yahshua took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take it; this is my body.’ Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,’ he said to them. ‘I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of The Most High’’ (Mark 14:22-25).
After discoursing and praying with His disciples, they all departed to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. Here is where His suffering as the Passover Lamb began. All of those events took place on Passover day. From the time that Yahshua began to sweat drops of blood in the garden of Gethsemane until His death on Golgotha, Yahshua shed His blood as atonement for sin. He fulfilled the scriptures regarding the Passover Lamb and proved Himself to be the Lamb of The Most High who takes away the sin of the world.
His blood was upon the torture stake just as the blood of the Passover lamb was placed upon the side posts of the Israelite’s dwellings. To separate Yahshua’s sacrifice from Passover and to relink it with Easter is a sacrilege of immense proportion and an insult to Yahshua. The observance of the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread was ordained by Almighty The Most High in perpetuity as the memorial of Yahshua’s death and resurrection.
“So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to The Most High throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance…So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance… And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever” (Exodus 12:14, 17, 24; NKJV). Through Yahshua’s sacrifice we are freed from the bondage of Egypt (sin—Heb. 11:25).
ALL PRAISES TO THE MOST HIGH YAH!!!!!!!
Yahshua ordained that His followers observe Passover with the new emblems of His body and blood. “For I received from the Master what I also passed on to you: The Master Yahshua, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Master’s death until he comes” (1 Cor. 11:23-26).
More Evidence Against Easter Sunday Resurrection
One of the main arguments put forth to support Easter is the erroneous belief that the Maschaiach was resurrected at sunrise on Easter Sunday morning. The truth is revealed by a close examination of Matthew 28:1-2. Here we read, “In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of The Most High descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.” (KJV)
Notice the underlined words in the passage. In Strong’s Concordance Greek Dictionary of the New Testament this is No. 2020— epiphosko (ep-ee-foce’-ko); a form of NT: No. 2017; to begin to grow light: It has been translated in the KJV as: begin to dawn, draw on. This word is used twice in the New Testament, here and in Luke 23:54. There we read, “And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on” (KJV). Again it must be pointed out that the scriptural (Jewish) day begins and ends at sundown. In Luke 23:54 the statement “and the Sabbath drew on” obviously means that it was close to sundown. The same can be said about Matthew 28:1, “as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week.” Once again, this would refer to sundown. That being the case, Yahshua was resurrected when the earthquake took place at the end of the weekly Sabbath and not Sunday morning at sunrise.
This is very significant because it further proves that we must observe the Days of Unleavened Bread. Concerning Yahshua’s resurrection, we read in 1 Corinthians 15:20-23, “But Maschaiach has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Maschaiach all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Maschaiach, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.”
The Maschaiach is the first of the firstfruits of the resurrection from the dead. As such, by being resurrected at the end of the weekly Sabbath, He was presented to Almighty The Most High as the firstfruit wave sheaf. The wave sheaf of cut barley was waved, as an offering, by the priest on the day after the weekly Sabbath which fell during the Days of Unleavened Bread.
Consider Leviticus 23:9-14, “The Most High said to Moses, ‘Speak to the Israelites and say to them: “When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. He is to wave the sheaf before The Most High so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to The Most High a lamb a year old without defect, together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil — an offering made to The Most High by fire, a pleasing aroma — and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine. You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your Elohim. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.’”
No Wave Sheaf on Easter
Yahshua the Maschaiach is our spiritual, firstfruit wave sheaf offering. After His resurrection from the tomb, He presented Himself to Almighty The Most High on the day after the weekly Sabbath and thus gave new significance to the wave sheaf offering. As the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:15-17; Psalm 110:4), Yahshua also would have offered a physical wave sheaf to The Most High. He must have still been holding it when He was met by Miriam Magdalene, as she assumed that He was the gardener.
“But Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Yahshua’s body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?’ ‘They have taken my Master away,’ she said, ‘and I don’t know where they have put him.’ At this, she turned around and saw Yahshua standing there, but she did not realize that it was Yahshua. ‘Woman,’ he said, ‘why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?’ Thinking he was the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.’ Yahshua said to her, ‘Miriam.’ She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means Teacher). Yahshua said, ‘Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my Elohim and your Elohim.’” Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: ‘I have seen the Master!’ And she told them that he had said these things to her” (John 20:11-18).
Yahshua would not let Miriam touch Him at this time because He had not yet ascended to His Father to present Himself as the first fruits offering.
Once again, the scriptures are very clear in showing the significance of Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. Yahshua, as our spiritual, first fruits wave sheaf, presented Himself to Almighty The Most High as our offering. Because He has been resurrected from the dead, we have hope for our own resurrection when Yahshua returns.
The Apostle Paul declared this in Romans 6:3-11: “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Maschaiach Yahshua were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Maschaiach was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was impaled with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Maschaiach, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Maschaiach was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to The Most High. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to The Most High in Maschaiach Yahshua.”
Obviously from these Scriptures Yahshua was not resurrected on Easter Sunday morning. He was resurrected at the end of the weekly Sabbath just before sundown. As the first day of the week began, He cut the firstfruits wave sheaf and, as The Most High’s High Priest, He offered it. Then, He ascended up into the heavens and presented Himself as our spiritual wave sheaf, the first of the firstfruits of the resurrection, before Almighty The Most High our Father. To reject the Days of Unleavened Bread, and especially the wave sheaf offering day, in favor of Easter is to reject Yahshua as our resurrected Maschaiach. Our hope of the resurrection lies in Yahshua’s fulfillment of the scriptures in regard to the Lamb of The Most High that takes away the sins of the world.
Three Days and Three Nights Mystery
It is truly ironic how mainstream worship has abandoned Yahshua’s Messiahship by embracing the observance of Good Friday and Easter. Despite all the great miracles that our Savior performed that showed that He was the Maschaiach, He stated that there was only one sign that would prove Him to be the Maschaiach. That sign was that He would spend three days and three nights in the grave. Let’s consider this as found in Matthew 12:38-40: “Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, ‘Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.’ He answered, ‘A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.’”
No matter how you count it, it is impossible to get three days and three nights from a late Friday afternoon death and burial to a Sunday morning resurrection. Appendix 144 of Dr. Bullinger’s The Companion Bible states the following: “The fact that ‘three days’ is used by Hebrew idiom for any part of three days and three nights is not disputed; because that was the common way of reckoning, just as it was when used of years. Three or any number of years was used inclusively of any part of those years, as may be seen in the reckoning of the reigns of any of the kings of Israel and Judah. But, when the number of ‘nights’ is stated as well as the number of ‘days,’ then the expression ceases to be an idiom, and becomes a literal statement of fact.”
This is a surprising statement in light of what is taught by most. All the confusion comes about because Christianity has mistakenly believed that the day after the Passover (Abib 14) was the weekly Sabbath. In fact, it was the first high holy day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This can be verified in John 19:31, “The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the torture stake on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.”
The error that the day after the Passover impalement was the weekly Sabbath disappears upon examining The Most High’s command concerning the Feast of Unleavened Bread in Leviticus 23:6-8, “And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to The Most High; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it. But you shall offer an offering made by fire to The Most High for seven days. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it” (NKJV).
How clear the sequence of days becomes when you understand that the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is a high holy Sabbath day like the weekly Sabbath. We have already learned that, according to Matthew 28:1-2, our Savior was resurrected at the end of the weekly Sabbath. Now, by counting backwards three days and three nights, we learn that Yahshua died on a Wednesday afternoon and was placed in the tomb just before sundown. Wednesday at sun down would have begun the first high holy day of the feast. Friday was the preparation for the weekly Sabbath and the weekly Sabbath was a holy day.
We count the three days and the three nights as follows: Wednesday just before sundown to Thursday just before sundown—day one, Thursday just before sundown to Friday just before sundown—day two, and Friday just before sundown to Sabbath just before sundown—day three. This completely agrees with what is found in Matthew 28:1-2. Yahshua was resurrected from the tomb when the earthquake took place toward the end of the weekly Sabbath.
When it comes to the question of Easter or Passover the simple facts speak for themselves. Christianity openly admits to having taken an ancient pagan fertility celebration and applied its meaning and customs to the resurrection of the Maschaiach. This is totally contrary to what is found in the Bible and opposes what was taught and observed by our Savior, the Apostles, and the saints of the New Testament.
After examining the Scriptures concerning Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, it is clear that Almighty The Most High intended for these days to be celebrated by all True Worshipers in remembrance of Yahshua’s death and resurrection as the Lamb of The Most High. The true meaning of the plan of salvation can only be fully understood by the observance of The Most High’s sanctified feast days. Yahshua is the first of the first fruits. Because He died and was resurrected according to the Scriptures we have a hope of being in the first resurrection when He returns at His second coming. The apostle wrote, “Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the good news I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this good news you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Maschaiach died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:1-4).
Those who believe in Yahshua as the Maschaiach will remain in the truth of His Word and will be found worthy as His disciples. All sincere followers of truth will be in the first resurrection when Yahshua returns. They have gained freedom from the false teachings of this world. Because they have chosen to follow the teaching of Yahshua, they observe Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread rather than the pagan feast of Easter. “To the Jews who had believed him, Yahshua said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’” (John 8:31-32).
True Worshipers must hold to the teachings of our Savior. Yahshua’s life, death, and resurrection are based upon the truth of The Most High’s Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread and not upon the pagan customs of a fertility rite.
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