This being a time of year when Babylon cries from the dust with celebrations like Ishtar, I find it very relevent to discuss a holy-day which the Lord set apart.  The observance of which has much to do with coming out of Babylon, waiting on the Lord and bringing Zion.    Enjoy and God Speed

Guest Author:  Jeff Ostler

COME YE UNTO THE FEAST OF THE LORD

The Apostle Paul wrote that the 7 Feasts of the Lord, which the Lord established Himself among Israel, the 7 special Sabbath days, were a shadow of things to come to teach us about our salvation by Jesus, our Saviour.  Yeshua, which is Jesus’ name in Hebrew, means “salvation”.

The first four of these feasts, are 1^st Passover, 2^nd Unleavened Bread, 3^rd First Fruits, and 4^th Festival of Weeks or Shavuot – also known as Pentecost in Greek.  These four primarily teach about the first coming of Messiah and His redemption of man.  The last three feasts or Sabbaths, are 5^th, the Feast of Trumpets, also known as Rosh Hashanah,  6^th, the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur, and 7^th, the Feast of Tabernacles or SUKKOT.  These last 3 are given to draw our minds toward and teach us about Messiah’s Second Coming.

There are two good reasons for studying about the feasts and learning from His purpose in gifting us the Feasts.  Although most of us love God and seek to serve Him, most of us do not have an in-depth understanding of His scriptures and the resulting depth of personal relationship He desires us to have with Him.  Through some hard experiences, God began to show me deeper things concerning my relationship with Him.  That deeper relationship is brought out by a better understanding of the Feasts of the Lord which culminate finally, we hope, in actually attending His Wedding Feast, not just as guests, but more importantly, as His bride.  Listen, today with an open heart to see if you can discover, that deep personal intimate relationship that the Lord desires you have with Him and why the Sacrament is an even deeper symbolism of that relationship.

The feasts are a shadow of things to come that teach us about Messiah. (Colossians 2:16-17, Hebrews 10:1).

The feasts are prophetic types of events in God’s Plan of Redemption. (1 Corinth. 10:1-6, 11)

God gave the feasts so we can learn of His redemption and our personal relationship with Him. (Romans 15:4)

The feasts are part of the schoolmaster given to Moses for Israel, when they rejected the higher understanding that will lead us to Messiah and what He has done for us. (Galatians 3:24)

The feasts point to Messiah in ALL things. (Ps 40:6-8, Heb 10:7)  ALL THINGS TESTIFY OF ME!

Jesus came to fulfill all that was written of Him in the Old Testament; which consists of the Torah, the Prophets and other writings such as Proverbs and Psalms concerning Him. (Luke 24:26-27,44-45; John 5:46-47)

The feasts set forth the pattern of heavenly things on earth (Hebrews 8:1-2,5; 9:8-9, 23 Exodus 25:8-9, 40; 26:30; Numbers 8:4; Ezekiel 43:1-6, 10-12)

God gives the natural to explain the spiritual; such as He did with His parables. (1 Cor 15:46-47)  But, of course, the natural man cannot understand spiritual things, and only those who are willing to receive spiritual eyes can see. By studying the natural symbols God has given, we can better understand the Spiritual meaning.

The meaning of “Feast” in Hebrew is “a fixed appointment for assembly”, to be done as a cycle or yearly event.  He is telling us that He set certain fixed times to fulfill certain events in His redemption of man.  As you will learn by the Feasts, He has fulfilled exactly on the appointed days, His redemptive acts, and sometime in the appointed future He will come again according to appointment and take those who are ready into His great Wedding feast.

Although God gave the feasts to cause us to remember Him, He did not give the feasts so we would think we could earn or obtain salvation by going through the motions of observing those feasts.  Salvation does not come from the things WE do, but from the things He does.  They are given to point us to Him, and away from Self.

Not only did God appoint a time, but also He appointed a place to observe, which is significant.  Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles were to be observed in Jerusalem (2 Kings 21:4).  Jesus wrought out His atonement for us in Jerusalem; He was crucified, was buried, and rose from the dead in Jerusalem. And the endowment of Power from on High by the Holy Spirit took place exactly 50 days later in Jerusalem on that very Day of Pentecost.  And moreover, Christ will return and set His foot on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem on the Day of Atonement shortly after the Day of the Trumpets, sounding in our ears in an unmistakable way, and then we will observe a millennial feast with the Lord Himself, which is what the 7^th Feast of Tabernacles (or Temples) is all about.

God established His calendar by starting the first month of His new year with Nisan, which is the Roman month March/April, denoting Spring or New Life.  God’s calendar is spiritual in nature, and the Roman calendar is civil or physical in nature.  Every one of us has a civil or physical birth day, and all of us should look forward to that spiritual birth day when we choose to be born again into spiritual Life.

There are three major feasts or festival seasons.  The first three feasts occur in the first month of the Hebrew year, called Nisan, which begins on Spring Equinox (usually March 20).  They take place during a seven day period and are: Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits. Then on the Third Hebrew month of Sivan, which is the Roman month May/June, is Pentecost, meaning 50 days.  Pente-cost in Greek literally means 50  Re-Pent-ance has the word Pent as its root, having something to do with 5.

The last three “Feast” are observed in the month of Tishrei or the Roman September/October.  Three seasons!  Three is the number denoting God, the number of perfect testimony and three witnesses for a perfect, complete witness and testament.  The Spirit testifies of the Father and the Son, and they all testify of each other.  The feasts are a perfect witness of God’s divine plan and the role of Messiah in fulfilling that plan.  These are the festivals of the Lord.  The Lord Himself is the Host of these festivals and all those who believe in Him are His Guests.

The spring festivals teach about the first coming of Messiah. This denotes New Life in Christ.  And the Fall Festivals teach about His 2nd coming during the time of Harvest.  The time of Harvest – do you get that?

The Passover appointment is always given to be on the 14^th day of Nisan and begins at 6 PM on the 13^th day. The Feast of Unleavened Bread occurs for seven days starting on the day of Passover, and goes until the 21^st day of Nisan.  The Feast of First Fruits, sometimes called Barley Harvest, is observed during the week of Unleavened Bread, and is appointed as a special Sabbath to occur on the 17^th day of Nisan.  Anciently, on this day, sheaves of barley were waved before the Lord in a prescribed way.  Paul said that Jesus was the first fruits of them that slept, and He arose from his sleep of death on that Sunday morning on the exact day of First Fruits. Then from the day of First Fruits you count 50 days to get to Pentecost meaning 50 days.   The Hebrew word for this feast is Shavuot meaning Feast of Seven Weeks.  This feast occurring on Pentecost, day 50, is the culmination or completion of the Passover.

Passover begins in Egypt, a type of “the world we live in today”, where Israel had become slaves to the “worldly masters”.  When Israel cried out in their sufferings (we usually don’t cry out in our prosperity), then God called forth a type of deliverer named Moses.  God told Moses that He, God, would bring the children of Israel out of Egypt (the World) to the Promised Land (Zion).  When God sent Moses to Pharaoh, God did NOT tell Moses to ask Pharaoh to allow the children of Israel to leave Egypt and go to the Promised Land.  Instead, God instructed Moses to ask Pharaoh to allow the children of Israel to take a 3 day journey into the wilderness to make a sacrifice to God.  Moses stated that exactly to Pharaoh.  Pharaoh’s first defiance of the Almighty was his refusal to allow the people of God to observe a feast and sacrifice to Him.  Incidentally, the word sacrifice in Hebrew, (which is what is left over from the Pure Adamic language) means personal intimate relationship.  We don’t understand “sacrifice” today, because we think it means “doing a ritual” or giving of something we want or would rather not give up to someone else.  It really means giving our Self to someone else completely in a personal intimate relationship; as the Bride gives herself to the Bridegroom.

Because of Pharaoh’s vanity in thinking that he should be the God of those under him, his slaves, plagues were poured out upon Egypt, or the World.  The last plague was the Passover of the Destroying Angel on the 13^th night of Nisan, who passed over those who had marked themselves on their doors with the Blood of the Passover Lamb.  Those who did not choose the Passover Lamb, and His redeeming Blood, suffered a most horrible death.  The children of Israel left the next day in a big hurry, not even having time to wait for their bread to raise because of the leaven they normally put in the bread, but made unleavened dough to take in their haste so they would have a little bit to eat on the journey into the wilderness to find their God who desired to talk with them. The children of Israel came to the banks of the Red Sea, on the 17th day of Nisan, which is three days after the Thursday, the day they left Egypt – a Sunday.  When Pharaoh saw the children of Israel trapped against the Sea, in his anger he foolishly decided to pursue them with his army.  The children of Israel feared greatly, as we always do when we see our predicament of not always being able to provide for our own safety and deliverance. But Moses said: “Stand still and see the Salvation of the Lord.  Yeshua in Hebrew means “Salvation” or “Saviour”.  Jesus is the Salvation of the Lord that Moses was talking about.  Exodus 15 says that the Right Hand of the Lord destroyed the Egyptians.  The Right Hand in Scripture refers to Messiah or Yeshua.

It is important to note that God at no time ever violated His love for all of His children in what was done.  Pharaoh caused the death, by drowning, of himself and his army by his own pride.  The children of Israel went down to Egypt voluntarily and gave themselves voluntarily to rulership under Pharaoh so that they could have some food.  They chose their status under Pharaoh.  Because of this, Pharaoh had legal ownership over the people of Israel. This ownership could be broken only by the death of Pharaoh, thus freeing the children of Israel to go to the Promised Land of Zion.  God only asked Pharaoh to let his people go for 3 days to the wilderness to talk with Him.  When Pharaoh died of his own accord, his rulership over the children of Israel was legally broken and the people were free to go to Zion.  For this reason, the Passover is sometimes referred to as “the Feast of Our Freedom”.

Until we Children of Israel understand who our Deliverer is, we will remain in the condition of slavery we have placed ourselves in this world of Egypt.  Isaiah said, the children of Israel in the last days will sell themselves into bondage for nothing, but they will be redeemed without money. (see Isaiah 53)   And I might add, it will be without violating our agency and without violating the agency of those under whom we are in bondage.  You might want to take a look at the way in which God fairly and lovingly delivered Alma’s people out of bondage from the 50% tax they owed to the Lamanites, under whom they had voluntarily placed themselves.  Our bondage is both physical and spiritual.  A certain spiritual analogy or parallel is made concerning our bondage under Satan today in this World.  The point is that the Atonement or purchasing power of Yeshua releases the legal ownership that Satan has over us and we are made free by, and only by, His Blood, thereby to walk into the Promised Land and receive all His precious promises.  His atoning purchase of your soul from Satan occurred on that third day after Thursday as He rose from death and Hell.  And He Himself ascended to God His Father to see Him once again face to face where He was embraced by the Father back into His Loving Presence.   Speaking of this purchase of our souls, referred to by Paul the Apostle in several scriptures, the Hebrew word “peculiar” is defined as a purchase of something extremely valuable (such as a Bride).  The Lord has often referred to Israel as a “peculiar” people, meaning his most valuable purchase, His Bride, whom He has purchased with His Blood.

The Red Sea is nothing. He has cleared the path for you through the valley of death or the drowning in the depths of the Sea of this world.  We must someday choose to let go of our fear and come over to the other side of things, which will require trust in Him and a sure knowledge that He has already overcome ALL things that stand in our way.  He is our Deliverer, He is not our destroyer. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should have ETERNAL LIFE.  He sent NOT His Son into the world to Condemn the world, but that the World through Him might be Saved – ALL THOSE WHO BELIEVE AND TRUST IN HIS REDEEMING, DELIVERING POWER.

From the crossing over of the Red Sea on day 3 of Passover season, to the day that Moses talked again with God on the Mount Sinai, was 47 days. God instructed Moses to ask the people to prepare and sanctify themselves for three days and then He would visit with them.  7 is a holy number and 7 times 7, or 7 weeks, is a completion of a holy period of time after which God always told Israel to celebrate the 50th time as a special spiritual holy day or year.  The fiftieth Year among true Hebrews is always called a Jubilee year.  God sanctified it as such.  In this case, the 50^th day of Passover came to be known as the day of Revelation of God – the revelation of His Face to those who would receive Him.  It was the completion and the whole purpose behind all that had occurred in Egypt and their travel into the wilderness and preparing themselves for a magnificent Spiritual feast in the Presence of God, being taught by Him face to face.  Such is the day of Pentecost.  And some of you know that the day of Pentecost which occurred 50 days after the Resurrection of Jesus, was literally the fulfillment of the complete meaning of that day, the day of the Revelation of God in the pouring out of the Holy Ghost to those who were in attendance with Peter and the Apostles in Jerusalem that day, just as Jesus had promised that once He was gone, He would send them another Comforter that would teach them all things and bear witness to the world of His Infinite Sonship and Atoning sacrifice and also the fact that He is our Bridegroom.  And it may interest you to know, that a day of Pentecost occurred for the members of the Church on this continent after Jesus appearance to them, as recorded in 3^rd Nephi.  Remember that Jesus asked these people what it was that they desired the most and they pleaded with Him that they might receive the Holy Ghost, which as you recall, then happened in a marvelous outpouring of Fire from Heaven encircling the children and miracles and so forth.  Study it, because it describes your day of Pentecost.   This is the day that we, too, are Born again unto God and as Nephi so clearly said the remission of your sins comes by the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and by Fire (which is an indication of what the Holy Ghost is).

Unfortunately and sadly, for the earlier children of Israel, that day became known as the Day of Provocation, because the Children of Israel as a whole were so full of their own fears and so faithless, that they ran away from the Presence of God and told Moses to go talk to God for them.  They even went so far as to say that they wanted Moses to be unto them as God, because, of course, Moses was a man and was not so frightening, and they could do what Moses would say to them, but they did not choose to let go of their fears of God, their true Father, enough to come unto Him and be taught by Him, and receive of His very personal intimate Love.  The refusal of the Israelites to come into the Presence of God is elaborated upon by Paul in Hebrews and in D&C 84 where it explains that because they did not want a personal relationship with their Father, they were left to themselves with a preparatory gospel, a gospel of laws and carnal commandments, and a lesser priesthood of physical ordinances and rituals, and a schoolmaster law – to break their hearts and bring them to a contrite spirit so that they could some day, if ever they chose to, actually receive the experience of what the Prophet Joseph also pleaded with his people to receive. Joseph said over and over again, “the First Principle of the gospel is to KNOW the true character of God, and that we may talk with Him face to face as one man does with another.  Eternal life is to KNOW HIM!”   Most of the Children of Israel have always been hardhearted, content with remaining in grade school, never submitting themselves to God, never actually receiving the fullness of Love that He chooses to pour out upon them, but merely plodding along in the thick of thin things and never receiving a fullness of the mysteries of God.  And even today, a prophet of God who has pleaded with us to seek the Face of God, has reminded us that ALL the children of Zion are under condemnation. Why? He says, in our vanity (pride) and unbelief, we have not received and remembered the Covenant of Love that He has sent forth amongst us.

The fall festival season is a 40 day period (a type of 40 years in the wilderness before entering the Promised Land of Zion.  In our case in these latter days, it has already been 4 times 40 years that we have been stumbling in the wilderness.  This 40 day period is called Teshuvah, which means to “repent and return to God”.  If we are able to turn ourselves to God during this 40 days, then He promises to pour out His blessings and covenant of Protection and Deliverance for another year, OR, if we so choose, for an eternity of years, but only if we will receive that protection from Him and that Deliverance that He offers so freely.  This fall festival begins in the Roman month of Caesar Augustus, and ends on the Day of Atonement (or deliverance and freedom in Christ), which is Yom Kippur, meaning purification or sanctification.  You see, it is the blood of Christ that purifies and sanctifies us.  That is what His Atonement does and it brings us back to His Presence in At-One-ment.

The 30^th day of this 40 days of Return to God season is called Rosh Hashanah or Feast of the Trumpets, which means, “the day of the Awakening Blast”.  It is on the first day of Tishrei and usually falls somewhere around September 22^nd.  God gave this day to teach us about the resurrection of the dead, the coronation of the Messiah, His Grand Wedding Day with His Bride, and the resulting 1000 years of Honeymoon known as the Millennial Zion.  This day is the Jewish New Year and begins a 10 days period of soul-searching known as the High Holy Days, culminating, as I have said on Yom Kippur, the Day you are Purified — and the world too.  The last seven days of the High Holy Days are called the Days of Awe or Tribulation or Refining, given to teach us of the last seven years of tribulation and refining before His coming upon the Day of Atonement.  In Hebrew, these last seven days or years are known as “the Birth pangs of the Messiah”, given to teach us of the Woman or the Church which delivers or brings forth, after a painful labor, the man child known as “Zion”.  Yom Kippur teaches about the literal coming of Messiah as the Bridegroom.  Do you ever wonder who His Bride is?    Well, the Bride, must go through His purification before the Wedding.

After Yom Kippur, the next seven days speaks of the joy of the Messianic age or Kingdom, meaning, from the Hebrew, the Millennial reign.  This is called Feast of Tabernacles (or Temples if you will.  Temples or Tabernacles are not so much stone buildings as they are Tabernacles of Clay See D&C 93:).  It is also known as the time of “rejoicing in the Torah”, which is another Hebrew word meaning “the Holy One of Israel”, the Word of God.

So you see, that all of these Feasts or Festivals point to Christ, teach of Christ, testify of Christ, prophesy of Christ, and bring us TO Christ so that our children may know to what source they must look for their salvation and deliverance.  The Book of Mormon church learned much from what God was choosing to teach us through the Feasts of the Lord.  And every one of these types were, or have been fulfilled in events in the Saviour’s work for us, or His work yet to be seen and received.

The Lord says in Exodus: And ye shall observe this (Passover) for an ordinance to thee, and to thy (children) forever.”   God declared it to be a celebration for FOR-EV-ER.  Historically, Passover celebrates God’s deliverance from bondage in Egypt, and how the Lord passed over those who took the Blood of the Passover Lamb upon them.  The spiritual Application is that Egypt is a type of the World and the world’s Roman/Babylonian system of corporate bondage.  Pharaoh represents a type of Satan, and the bondage is to sin, which happens when we are focused on anything other than upon God.  Do we really believe that the Blood of the Lamb can deliver us from Sin and death and the rule of Satan?  Yeshua is the Lamb of God, our Passover.  Those who believe in Him are the House of God. The doorposts where we place the Blood that is shed IS OUR HEARTS, which Blood then redeems us and sanctifies us as it says in Moses 6:59.  As we understand from His instituting the Sacrament to remind we Israelites of latter-days to remember that it is His blood, and ONLY His blood, that can deliver and redeem us.  Salvation and Eternal Life cannot come to us in any other way.  We must stop looking to ourselves for Salvation and look to Him, and only Him, as our Lord and our Bridegroom to “Re-Ceive” us into the covenant of Eternal Life.

During Passover, the head of each house is to take an unblemished Lamb on the 10th day of Nisan and bring it unto his house, hiding it from the world, and keep it safe until the 13^th day when at exactly 3 PM it is to be killed and then the Blood of the lamb is sprinkled on the doorpost of the house.  The Lamb is then to be roasted with fire, and with bitter herbs and unleavened bread; the entire household was to feast upon the body of the Lamb.  Jesus said; “This is my body which is given for you, take, eat in remembrance of Me.”  The Lord then said to eat the Lamb in haste and be ready to leave at the Midnight hour on the 14^th day of Nisan.  There are two points made here.  The Lord is our Passover from sin and death into Life in Him.  Faith in His redeeming blood offers us His watchful care over our lives and protection from the destroying one.  He came into the children of Israel’s home, Jerusalem, on the 10^th day of Nisan and then was crucified at 3 PM (the scripture says at the ninth hour- it is the ninth hour of the day because the day begins at 6 AM) on the 13^th day of Nisan.

He is the Passover Lamb who was brought into the house (of Israel) on the 10^th day of Nisan (Palm Sunday) by the waving of the Palms while he rode in on a donkey, and then killed as an emblem or token to redeem and purchase those who take upon themselves the blood of the Passover Lamb.  He was killed at exactly 3 PM that 13^th day of Nisan as God reminded the Israelites every year on that day. The crucifiers had to hurry and get Him in the tomb before the Holy Sabbath day of Passover began at 6 PM that day.  Then three days later on the morning of the Day of First Fruits, He arose from the dead and literally became the First Fruits of them that slept and He broke the chains of Death and Hell for all of us.  Then 50 days after His resurrection, just as He invited the Israelites to come to Him and see His Face on that day in the wilderness at Mount Sinai, He fulfilled His promise to pour out the Revelation of God upon those who believed in Him.  This He did by granting those blessed people their marvelous miraculous day of Pentecost.

Passover is the first of the feasts to teach us about the Passover Lamb.  Likewise repenting, or turning our hearts and minds to Him as our Passover, instead of focusing on something other than Him, is our first step in receiving the divine gift of His At-One-ment, His deliverance, His protection, and His outpouring of the Revelations of Him.

Why the unblemished male Lamb is hidden for 4 days is to teach us of the 4000 years from the day of Adam and Eve until the day of His first coming.  One day with the Lord is 1000 years with man.  The Lamb must be examined to determine the He is without spot or blemish.  During the four days leading up to His crucifixion, Jesus was indeed examined by the High Priests and the elders of the church, and the Chief High Priests Annas and Caiaphas and Judas and the Centurion and the repentant thief.  We too must examine Him, but be ever so careful to understand why HE is without spot or blemish.   Also He is hidden from us until we choose Him as our Passover and we willingly choose to partake of His body and His blood.

The Passover is to be celebrated by each household and there must be a Lamb for each Household, giving us to understand that we experience His salvation as a Household, personally for each family, for ourselves and that He is not just someone who is far away and untouchable, impersonal, aloof, and corporate in nature.  Much more, He is our personal Saviour – well, at least He is mine. You may choose for yourself.  The House or Church of the Lamb are those who actually take upon them His Name and who become His Sons and His Daughters by covenant.

In Exodus, the Lord said that the Lamb should be killed at 3PM outside the gates of the city, by each household who planned to be part of the Passover.  Jesus suffered the end of His great sacrifice at 3 PM that day, but more than being crucified outside the gates of he city, by Jews or Romans, He actually gave His own life at that point.  No man could take it from Him.   He willingly and voluntarily gave Himself for our sins, because of Love, that we might have Eternal Life.

The whole body of the Lamb must be eaten with bitter herbs and unleavened bread and the blood of the Lamb must be applied to the door of the House.  If we are only going to accept a part of Him, then we can only expect partial deliverance, and partial redemption — which is a lot like partial marriage, partial pregnancy, or like a house with no doors, or no foundation.  OR it could be like marrying a husband but having a part of our hearts on something or someone else.  This is, according to the Prophet Joseph, the Lord’s definition of Adultery – to have our hearts somewhere else than on our Husband.

Bitter herbs also remind us of the bondage and burdens that we experience in life, until we come unto the Passover Lamb and He says: “Come unto Me, ye who labor and are heavy laden (or burdened), for I will give you rest, for My yoke is easy and My burden is Light.”  Life in Christ truly offers peace, joy and the completely new perspective of Love.  But not until we Come unto Him and “receive” Him (and all that He offers).

Leaven in scripture speaks of sin.  During the days preceding Passover, Israelites are to search diligently throughout their house to find and rid the house of all Leaven. Likewise, a good searching of our hearts to discover what is keeping us from Him, although a fearful thing for most of us, would allow us to give ourselves completely to Him in a contrite spirit, which is what it will take to find Him. This is the meaning of “bringing the Lamb into the House” – bringing the Lamb of God into our hearts.

Unleavened bread signifies giving up our sins to Know Him.  The blood of the Lamb cannot do us any good until we apply it to the House, which, of course, IS us.  D&C 93 says that Man is the tabernacle of God, (the House of God) yea, even temples of God.  Let us be sure that we apply His atoning blood to this temple.

The Lamb must be roasted in fire, not sodden with water (or watered down) – speaking of refinement and purification that must occur for those who believe in Him, especially the refinement of our faith in Him from something merely spoken but dead and lifeless, to something real and full of life-giving power.

You see, there really are at least two kinds of faith.  If our faith is just words, or if with our lips we honor Him but our hearts are far from Him, then our hearts will be purged in the refiner’s fire of the Spirit.  It is the Spirit which purifies and refines and sanctifies us.

The Lamb must be eaten in haste with our loins girded and shoes on our feet.  We must be ready to go with Him when He says “Come”.  When the door of the Bridegroom is opened, we’d better have oil in our lamps and ready to go in to the Marriage Supper of the Lord.

Not a bone of the unblemished Lamb is to be broken, which, as you know, was literally fulfilled in the Lamb of God.

The Lord said that each family must provide an explanation of the Passover for their family during the feast, ending with the singing of a Song of Rejoicing unto the Lord.  When we understand the Passover Lamb by being taught of Him, we have infinite reasons to Rejoice in Him and Praise Him in Song and worship, experiencing a New Heart and a New Life in Him.

Passover was to be a holy celebration and NO WORD was to be done. True rest in the Lord is only found by ceasing from our own “works” and resting in the delivering, redeeming power of that Lamb of God.   God said that there is Healing Power in the Passover Lamb and that the Passover delivers all those who are the Firstborn.  We should know by now, that all healing occurs because of the Light of Christ.  Paul said that those who “Come unto Christ” are the Firstborn of God, who are delivered from the Law of sin and death, and of dead “works”.

In the real Passover feast, such as the one which Jesus celebrated with His disciples just before He suffered for us in the Garden, there is the Passover Lamb and the Unleavened Bread and the four cups of Wine or Fruit of the Vine in a memorial service.  The word “Memorial” tells us to remember.  All of these things are present in the Lord’s Supper, which we typically refer to as the Sacrament, which is a Roman term referring to a personal intimate communion with Him.  He is, of course, the Bread of Life, and the True Vine of which we must drink fully in the Lord’s supper, if we so choose to partake with Him in His Kingdom.  Today, we not only are bidden to the Lord’s supper once a year but each week – in memorial – to Remember Him – and to make choice as to whether we really would take His Name upon us, and seek His Face, and “Re-Ceive” Him as our Bridegroom.  That choice that we are offered is the true nature of the Sacrament.  It is not the ritual, but rather it is the choice that we make that is the true sanctifying nature of the Sacrament.  It is the Spirit, not the law, that sanctifies.

Now as it pertains to all of Israel – the High Priest of all the people would also go on the 10^th day of Nisan outside the city to somewhere like Bethany to find that special Unblemished Lamb and lead that lamb into the city of Jerusalem through the streets, where the pilgrims who had come to Jerusalem specifically for Passover would shout and sing praises and wave palm branches at the Lamb being led by the High Priest, who would lead or carry him to the Temple where on the 13^th day of Nisan the Lamb would be slain by the High Priest upon the altar of the temple at 3 PM for a great sacrifice for all the people, after which the High Priest would say “It is finished”.

You must see that this was fulfilled in every way as the true Passover lamb came into Jerusalem on that 10^th day of Nisan riding (or being carried) on a donkey (ass) and the pilgrims waved palms at him on Palm Sunday and shouted praises to Him. He then celebrated Passover Feast with his disciples a day early so that then He could perform that greatest sacrifice to end all sacrifices in the Garden and then was taken by the High Priest and condemned to die for all the people, and on Wednesday at 3 PM this great sacrifice was slain, at which point He, the Greatest High Priest of all said:  “It is finished!”

It is interesting to note what Jesus was doing on each of the three Passovers he was celebrating during his 3 ½ year (42 month) ministry.  On the first one, He was cleansing the Temple – which signifies what He does for each of us personally (not by anger, but by His Perfect Love). On the 2^nd one, he was going through the city healing all manner of afflictions, both body and soul. He does that for us, too.  On the 2nd one also, He proclaimed Himself to be the Bread of Life, the True Manna sent from Heaven, (which is another type witnessing of Him in the wilderness), and on the 3rd and final Passover, Jesus, or Yeshua, is the complete and final Passover Lamb of God slain for the sins of the whole world in perfect fulfillment of every aspect of that which God had taught Israel to look for in the celebration of the Passover memorial every year for over 1500 years.  This, my brothers and sisters, is not only my witness of Him, but my attempt to show in a small way that “ALL THINGS TESTIFY OF CHRIST!”  That means ALL scriptures, all true prophets and apostles, ALL ordinances, all gifts of the spirit, all things present around us in this world, – yes, ALL creation testifies of Him!  All things are given to bring us to Christ.

I’ve recently had an interesting experience that I think engrained something into my head I thought I already knew.  Be careful.  Be careful what you hear, be careful what you feel, etc…

In the paradoxical story of Adam and Eve Satan appears to Eve and presents himself essentially as God, and as Christ.  HE offers fruit that he should not offer, when it should not be offered.  HE proclaims himself the God of this world, and being the emotional person she is, Eve follows.  Also, we are told in scripture that the Devil can appear as an angel of light.  In section 129 we are even given a non-emotional, empirical, method of detecting if he is an angel or just the devil in disguise.  Jesus told us to beware of wolves, in sheeps clothing.  They will look the part, act the part and say the part of the sheep, but inwardly they are wolves in deceit.  Indeed it has been said that if Satan where to come to you today he would flatter you, look very nice in his very nice clothes with very trim hair and a beautiful smile.  He’d say all the right things in the right ways, and win over the crowd.  When he spoke truth, you would feel the spirit, and thus could fool all but the very elect who took the holy spirit to be their guide.

The fruit of a man of God however is different.  they don’t flatter, they don’t fit in, they are not welcome in the world.  By their fruits ye shall know them, not by their appearance.  They stand out.  Their words divide like a two edged sword.

In this world of appearance, when men are vying ever so strongly for your attention, I’d just offer a short warning to trust not in the arm of flesh.  Follow Christ, take the holy spirit as your Guide.  when HE speaks, listen, comprehend, what he is saying, the whole message. Beware of wolves in sheeps clothing who feed themselves but talk a very good game.  His people, his israel, his Zion are watchmen on the tower.  Humbly not setting themselves up, they are set apart from the world and lift their voice in warning.

There’s a husky at the end of my road who has done exactly what his owner wanted him too, lived a long while, never wandered off, and was not an imposition.  To keep him cool during the day and safe from pests his owner shaves his beautiful coat, leaving him naked.   Since the owner feeds himself first, the dog is very thin.  Often he eats so little that he has to rely on his own vomit or his owners trash to get by.  The owner doesn’t believe in over feeding him, for fear that he might get fat, get a disease or cancer or become too strong fast or energetic to be kept within the yard.  The Dog is kept on a very short leash tied to a heavy metal chain that has almost become unbearable to carry, but the owner keeps it on him to have him safe, so he can’t escape and run away. As result, the dog doesn’t move much, but when he does he drags the chain in a circle around the yard, completely stripping it of the grass that once made it so pretty. The collar is a bit tight too, out of fear that it might slip off, so it rubs and chafes his bare skin around his neck.   The dog is quite lethargic, having no energy from food and carrying that heavy chain in the hot sun.  He’d prefer to do nothing, would rather sleep than explore, rather ignore things than bark a warning to his owner.

There is a time when he makes an exception though.  If a person walks on the sidewalk and hits a certain point where he must consider it his turf, he suddenly jumps up and runs all the way to the end of his leash like a rocket, only to be choked and jerked back to earth.  despite the choking, he does it over and over, defending the spot.  He’ll ignore cars, kids, people, birds, cats and the whole world.  But if someone steps on the spot that he thinks is his, that he has to protect, things change fast.  As a result of his treatment, the animal has developed quit a temperament.  When he attacks it comes out in barks, quick short ones, always saying and relying on the same thing to get his point across.  He sounds the exact same as other dogs who are treated this way, yapping and yapping, barking and barking nonsensically, never really saying anything.   I’m sure you  know the sound.  This dogs bark sounds very familiar to me,  since I walk past this him on my way to church.

“If you meet the Buddha, kill him.” — Linji

This may sound a bit frank for you, but a great and real principle it is.  A doctrine of the Tao to go with this is ““The Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao.”  Or perhaps, In the Kalama Sutta Buddha says, “Do not accept anything because it comes from the mouth of a respected person. Rather, observe closely and if it is to the benefit of all, accept and abide by it.”

How in the world does this apply to me?   The way of Buddhism is really undefined, meaning it is individual.  A person must seek truth and find unattachment by themselves.  The actions and ethos and enlightenment of others do not serve to raise someone else, unless the person purposefully takes them into their own heart.  The path of truth is not found in being like or believing in other men.  IT is found in finding yourself, recognizing who you are and changing to better fill your eternal role.

Basically, in walking down the path, finding a great teacher, a priest in white clothing, a verbose preacher, or enlightened sage whom you hang your hat on and adore, only serves to hinder your own progress.  A man can never progress to eternity when he sets Idols up in men who are imperfect themselves.   If then you meet that symbolic man who seems to hold all the answers, a great teacher such as Abraham or Isaiah and are tempted to latch onto him and become him, remember that they did not get to such enlightened status by following or walking in the footsteps of a Man.  They did so by listening and following eternity within them.  Enlightenment and At oneness come from being one with the Father, seeing as he would have YOU see, not as he would have Joseph Smith see.  These men have been there and shared their experience and have given us more than enough light to walk our own paths to the tree.

The path to eternity cannot be seen or beheld in a man, no matter the teacher.  The illusion of eternity found in finite men is merely a doctrine of reliance on fallible flesh.  The fencing of all men to certain bounds only confines people to earthly existence.  Only be seeking and hearing the voice of the Eternal father that all these men have found can a man find for himself the reality of infinite existence.

Thus, if you are walking a path, finding yourself looking forward to Growth, meeting a man who has the answers, who proclaims himself to be the answer, kill him (symbolically of course, lest I find myself in a lawsuit).  HE is only a roadblock to your path of eternity.  Even Christ invited all men to not call him holy when only the father was.  Christ asked men to pray to the father, to not worship him, etc.  The reason?  That is not our Goal.  Christ is our mediator, our exemplar, etc.  He provides the way, helps clear the path, gives us strength when weary, but we must walk the path. He told us that he is the gate keeper, something to come to and be passed, to be gone through.  The father is the destination, eternal oneness with eternity.

Nephi demonstrated this path well.  In hearing his fathers dream, he hungered and thirsted for his own, and thus received far more than he would have relying on his fathers verbal explanation.  Peter did the same by receiving his doctrine of Christ form His father, not the master in front of him.  Abinadi found his strength in the personal commandment to testify against priesthood.  Joseph Smith found his path by hearing Gods word and following.  He received commandments and followed them, and is still decried as fallen today in light of them.  He followed no organization, he sought the word of God and followed it.

Find that definition of doctrine, that explanation of God, whatever knowledge it may be, then once you do it is merely something to be stepped on to reach greater heights.  To become different, to be separate, to be one with eternity, requires us to come out of worldly attachment and sameness and into the doctrine of individuality that Zion embraces.

The doctrine of and reliance on men will never provide true spiritual nourishment and rest.  Our symbolic last supper served by boys today provides a stark example of the vain striving to eat and drink we see in the church and world around us.  The Last Supper performed by the savior Anciently too provides a perfect illustration of what a person will be fed when they rely on God for bread and nourishment and not Babylonian attainment and base understanding of men.

In John 6 our Lord makes an interesting statement;

Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, ^anot because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the ^bSon of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father ^csealed.

Throughout scripture, in an astonishing amount, eating and drinking are linked literally and symbolically to physical and spiritual well being.  For instance, the meat given above is given by the Son of Man and produces eternal life.  This is the opposite effect of the very first thing that mortal man did, eat and produce mortal life.  In Isaiah 28 we see the opulent heads of Ephraim who are full of food too, and throw it up repeatedly for the people to eat at the tables.  These are of course not full people, or even satisfied, though they are rich in the worlds decor.  The wicked sons and daughters of Zion who yell “all is well in Zion” also cry, eat drink and be merry!  At the same time Christ commands, come to these waters and never thirst.

To the point, who provideth the bread and water that gives us sustenance, and therefore for what and to whom do we eat?  Is the food we eat spiritually continually enriching our souls, is it filling us with joy and HUNGER or desire for more?  An odd paradigm about the truth seeker, he seeks and receives bread and water that he may no longer hunger or thirst.  Yet, that very bread and water demands continual consumption to be effective.  It enables itself.

The vomit filled food of the Babylonian theologian however leaves one ever learning and never able to come to the truth.  He reads and he studies at the tables of his ‘teachers’, hungering and hungering, never getting full.  A person who relies on the learning of other men entirely, on the same sources repeatedly, on the direction and fences of the arm of the flesh, will always find himself searching, hungry but never full

Christ however intends a person to seek, search, apply  and learn from the fountain of truth, HIM (not a man) .  A person who does this finds himself eating, and being full, with endless capacity to eat.  This is the person who has things of this world provided.

The man leaning on other men sees a doctrine of self reliance.  HE must labor at the sweat of his brow to provide food for the table.  He is taught that in this life one must provide for himself and his family.  He must prepare for the rainy day.  He must eat only the food that is approved for him to eat, for in the day that he eats of other fruit he will die, he does so out of fear (whereas Adam ate anyway, out of knowledge).  Yet, in doing so, living this doctrine of dependence, he never gets full.  He is simply led on from one fantasy idea to another, seeking the lusts of the world and never knowing that he is looking past the mark.  He labors for meat that perisheth.  A hard days work in the name of buying food.  A hard days studying the philosophies of men mingled with scripture.  You want religion do you?  I’ll get someone to preach to you.

The man leaning on the bread of life however is free.  He is provided for as the lillies of the field.  The more complete his submission and reliance on the source of strength the more he is adorned like the lillies.  The more he relies on the word that proceedeth forth out of the mouth of God, the more nourishing and filling are his meals.

When I go to church, we take snacks for the kids occasionally.  Crackers, raisins, etc.   These are snacks, they temporarily placate.  If I brought supper, a five course meal for them, it would likely be more effective.  So here we see the difference between the terms, snack and supper, which is supposedly provided for us there too.

The way of the world demands that we dabble with spiritual things, but never fully commit.  We must not find joy in gospel extremism!  WE must read and study all of the basics, have a broad foundation.  Seek the worlds employ, search hard high and low to provide for your family, stay busy with goals and attainment.  be distracted.

Jesus gave us the parable;

And when one of them who sat at meat with him, heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.

Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper and bade many; And sent his servants at supper time, to say to them who were bidden, Come, for all things are now ready. And they all, with one consent, began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it; I pray thee have me excused.  And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them; I pray thee have me excused.  And another said, I have married a wife, therefore I cannot come. So that servant came and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servants, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring hither the poor, and the maimed, the halt and the blind.  And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.  The Lord said unto his servant, Go out into the highways, and hedges, and compel men to come in, that my house may be filled;  For I say unto you, That none of those men who were bidden, shall taste of my supper. (luke 12)

Those who were gainfully employed, those who looked and dressed the part of success, those who were providing for themselves and families and were distracted by this worldy attainment, the lord declares; “none of those men who were bidden, shall taste of my supper.”  These men were invited to the supper!  They were supposed to be guests.  The were the rich, the men with seed planted in good soil, who had the comforts and luxuries.  When the time came for supper, a full meal being offered, they had better things to do.  The world called.  Their training, though it had brought them to the point of invitation, required the work and toil in the arms of men.  This training did not allow them time to sit at supper with the rich man, after all they were already providing their own!

The other group on the other hand lived simply.  The did not live in the houses and within the fenced courts of society.  They brought all their baggage to the meal and were indeed elated to do so.  These were the travelers on the highways, those who were outliers in the fringes, found in the hedges.  Societal paws had no choking grasp around their necks.  They did not look and act the part of the babylonian business world.  Because of this, those who lived free-er and more simply, came and filled the house.  They were not married to another to whose bidding they had to conform.  Their covenant was with the keeper of the Supper and they allow him to provide.

So then I ask you, if it is supper we are asked to come to, to eat and be full… If the Lord gave us his sacrament and all who were there called it SUPPER, why then is the Lords supper today so meek, so barren?  Barely a teaspoonful of chlorinated water and a token offering of enriched white bread represent this meal we are to partake of and be full!   All of the Lords symbols of sacrament are there, accepting this one.  WE take the body in the bread.  We eat it, remember him.  The same is done with water.  However, we are left wanting.  WE are not filled with a fullness to satisfy.  In the book of Mormon we get this account of how the Lord did it;

And when the Disciples had come with ^abread and wine, he took of the bread and brake and blessed it; and he gave unto the Disciples and commanded that they should eat. And when they had eaten and were filled, he commanded that they should give unto the multitude.  And when the multitude had eaten and were filled, he said unto the Disciples…he commanded his Disciples that they should take of the ^awine of the cup and drink of it, and that they should also give unto the multitude that they might drink of it.  And it came to pass that they did so, and did drink of it and were filled; and they gave unto the multitude, and they did drink, and they were filled.  (3 Nephi 18)

Make no mistake about it, the editor went out of his way, EVERY TIME, to point out that when they took the sacrament emblems they did so until full.  The effort to eat and drink of the bread of life is pointless, if we do not do so till our cup is brimming.  The symbolism is there in literalism when we  eat and drink of body and blood, however we now forget that very vital facet of the SUPPER of Christ, becoming full. And how does one do so?  How do we become full in the spiritual sense?  Through Christ’s baptism, becomes his sons and daughters, one with him and you will be filled;

And he said unto them: He that eateth this bread eateth of ^amy body to his soul; and he that drinketh of this wine drinketh of my blood to his soul; and his soul shall never hunger nor thirst, but shall be filled. (3 Nephi 20:8)

Today at church we will partake of our token emblems.  This is quite symbolic in my mind of the food we are now offered.  The doctrine of Christ has been relegated to an art of reliance on the arm of flesh.  There is truly vomit on our tables, and just as the sacrament today will never fill us, neither will the regurgitated gospel provide us the nutrients needed to support Life eternal.  We must take it on our self to rid ourselves of the Babylonian distraction of the world which so loudly beckons in our ears in order to hear the call of the master when he offers a Supper fit for and served by a King!  Then and only then will we be full and our cup made to  run over.