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 1st Passover, 2nd Unleavened Bread, 3rd First Fruits, and 4th 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 5th, the Feast of Trumpets, also known as Rosh Hashanah, 6th, the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur, and 7th, 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 7th 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 14th day of Nisan and begins at 6 PM on the 13th day. The Feast of Unleavened Bread occurs for seven days starting on the day of Passover, and goes until the 21st 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 17th 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 13th 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 50th 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 3rd 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 30th 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 22nd. 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 13th 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 14th 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 10th 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 13th day of Nisan.
He is the Passover Lamb who was brought into the house (of Israel) on the 10th 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 13th 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 10th 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 13th 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 10th 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 2nd 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.
Awesome post thanks! now if i can only find the best way to follow the lamb in todays day and age
thank you, Jeff.