Month: April 2017

Midweek Mannabite – Secrets Of The Seder Plate

This is an extra post continuing the focus on the week of Passover as part of the Spring Feasts Series.

https://www.minimannamoments.com/palm-sunday-nisan-the-appointed-time-of-the-lamb/

https://www.minimannamoments.com/unleavened-bread-matzot-week/)

https://www.minimannamoments.com/not-passing-over-passover-week/

As there is so much information to be found on this season, the following merely scratches the surface and is in no way all encompassing. Its purpose is to whet your appetite for more of God. 

Lest we forget as we hurry forward after the Holy days of Passover week, (holidays) it was a little over 2000 years ago, that 12 men celebrating the Passover Seder in Jerusalem were told by their Rabbi/Teacher and Master, Yeshua (Jesus), that this would be their last Seder together.  He also explained that it had prophetic significance.

Pesach is Hebrew for Passover and has been celebrated faithfully for the last 3,300 years. The name of Passover derives from the fact that during the final plague,( the slaying of the firstborn) God passed over the Jewish homes.

The first night of Passover is celebrated with a Seder meal, meaning order. Because there are so many details to remember (there are 15 steps which will be listed later on their own page for easy reference.) The ‘order’, ‘Seder’, is set by a book called the Haggadah (The Telling).

Haggadah

huh-gah-duh ;

Sephardic Hebrew hah-gah-dah;

Ashkenazic Hebrew hah-gaw-duh

It refers to a book containing the order of service of the traditional Passover meal. It contains the narrative of the Exodus from Egypt that constitutes the main part of that service.

God’s deliverance of the Hebrew children of Israel from slavery under the Egyptians (Ex 5:12:42) is a very important Jewish festival and marks the establishment of Israel as a nation. God commanded His people to celebrate the Passover each year with the sacrifice of a lamb and the eating of only unleavened bread for eight days.

The present form of the celebration includes many symbols and traditions designed to help each generation of Israel’s children remember and understand this important part of their history.

Through narration and participation in the Seder, which is meant to be celebrated by each family in their own home as a participatory remembrance of the event, this helps them to understand the long term meaning of the exodus.

Modern table laid out  below

Passover feast included three symbolic elements:

lamb,

unleavened bread,

and

bitter herbs.

These elements were the essence of the Lord’s prescription for recalling the deliverance with the Lamb He had provided.  The means by which He may consider a household worthy of relationship with Him.

The Unleavened Bread symbolized the way in which His people should live their lives – “quickly following” His voice as they immediately left “without waiting for the bread to rise”, and “without sin”, since yeast (leaven) is a symbol for sin throughout the Scriptures.

Bitter herbs provided a reminder of the bitter life of slavery to anyone other than the Lord Himself, therefore causing them not to “look back” from whence they had come.

It seems that on the night before He died, as Messiah partook in the Last Supper, it was most likely a Passover Seder. In the middle of the meal He began to speak of His death, ‘one of you will betray Me’ He said. Then He gave them a sign, ‘He who dips his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me.’

The sign also revealed that it would be Messiah who freely gave Himself over to suffering and death and why the use of the word dipping was significant. The word in Greek is linked to the word baptism, which means to submerge or to overwhelm. This signified that Messiah’s life would be submerged in suffering, in our suffering, submerged in the cup of our judgment.

In this process He would be overwhelmed, but He willingly and deliberately submerged Himself in the cup of our judgment. The cup of our suffering and bitterness, so that our judgment, our tears and our punishment that should end in hell (eternal separation from the Father), would be taken away.

 

He dipped the matzah into the cup so that we would never have to.

Exodus 12:8  Matthew 26:20–25  Isaiah 53:4

“Do this (Passover meal) in remembrance of Me”

Jesus was adding to the already understood remembrance of God’s deliverance from physical bondage, an appreciation and remembrance of the spiritual deliverance He would soon offer mankind on the cross.         

He had previously explained in John chapter 3 that “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so too must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life”.

Passover, the feasts and other commandments serve to remind us in this life of how God delivers us physically and spiritually. In this  feast, we look back at how obedience to God delivered His people in the past.

He identified Himself as the Lamb (John 1:29).

Not only was the lamb of the Passover the element that provided the blood that caused the angel of death to “pass over” God’s people in Egypt, but Jesus’ blood shed on the cross is the mark that every believer trusts will deliver them from punishment and death in the lake of fire.

 

One of the foods you need for the Passover Seder is called charoset or kharoset. On the night of Passover the Jewish people eat the kharoset with bitter herbs as they commemorate their deliverance from Egypt. He used the bitter herbs as a sign of turning back to sin and the bitterness of such a turn. Judas was the one who “dipped” the bread in bitter herbs and then betrayed the Lord.    In like fashion, the same element was to remind those coming from Egypt of the bitterness of turning back to the life from which they had been delivered.

On Passover the Jewish people dipped a piece of matzah, unleavened bread, into the kharoset. No doubt that it was into a bowl such as this that Messiah and the disciple named Judas Yehuda dipped their bread that night.

It was then that the disciple named Judas Yehuda dipped his hand in the dish.

It is significant because the kharoset and bitter herbs represent bondage and suffering.  The betrayal was the delivering of the Messiah over to bondage and suffering. This sobering sign revealed that it would be Judas who would deliver Him to His suffering and death and yet Messiah also dipped into the cup acknowledging and accepting the prophetic fulfillment of His Fathers will.

Karpas – a Green, Spring vegetable could be a slice of onion celery boiled potato or sprigs of parsley, it symbolizes Springs bounty And a sign of new life. The Karpas is dipped into the salt water at the beginning of the seder representing the salty tears that were cried when they were slaves in Egypt and it also represents rebirth and growth.

Matzah – as the Israelites were fleeing Egypt/Mitzrayim, they did not have enough time to let the bread dough rise. They carried the unfinished dough on their backs and the hot sun baked it into a hard, flat matzah. For the eight days of Passover, no leaven (chametz) of any kind is eaten, in memory of their hasty flight.

Maror – Horseradish root. bitter herbs symbolizing the harsh suffering and bitterness of the hard times of oppression endured as slaves. For believers, it is a reminder of bitterness for being in bondage and in slavery to sin.

Chazeret or Korech the matzah and maror (Romaine Lettuce) this is the second portion of bitter herbs which is eaten during the Seder in a Matzah sandwich together with Maror reminding of atrocities. This reminds us of our Egypt days or worldly experience, first it is fun and exciting and lately we realize the error of our ways and begin to feel the bitterness in the ground without water, (which is without the Word of God) and speaks of spiritual dryness in our lives.

 

Reclining at a meal was symbolic of being free,no longer a slave.

Shulchan Orech (the meal is eaten).

Z’roah – strong arm – a roasted shank bone. The shankbone, or the z’roah זרוע , is one of the three basic requirements as a reminder of the Pesach offering used to bring to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem remembrance of Lamb which was slain symbolizing the sacrifices offered. It was the sacrifice on the last night.

What is the mystery of the Zeroah?

On virtually every Passover Seder plate there is something called the Zeroah . It just sits there on the plate and is never touched or rarely mentioned. What is it?

The Zeroah is the roasted shank bone of a lamb.  

The Zeroah is the full and almighty power of a Holy God.

In Isaiah 53 mystery is revealed. For it is written, “to whom has the Zeroah of the Lord been revealed?” The translation will read ‘Alm’, but the Hebrew is Zeroah, same word as the lambs bone. The Zeroah is Messiah, who is wounded for our sins, scourged and crushed for our punishment, and he goes to his death as a lamb.

By the Zeroah we are saved.

This is the true full power of the Almighty, the loving, gentle, merciful, giving and beautiful one who bore all things to save us. This is the Zeroah, the arm that saved your life. Trust in it, rest in it, reach for it, rejoice in it, and live by it, and nothing will be impossible for you. Today take some time to thank the Lord for the many blessings he has given you commit this day to rejoice in the Zeroah of your life.

Beitzah – A hard-boiled egg symbolizing the cycle of life representing a new life after Egypt and also. a reminder of the festival offering used to bring to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at Pesach. It is also a reminder of the additional lamb called the haggigah.

( note on haggigah: Yeshua ate the Passover (Luke 22:15). This Scripture passage refers specifically to the Lamb. Frequently, there were two sacrifices during the Feast of Passover. One lamb is the Passover lamb and the other lamb is called the haggigah or peace offering.

These sacrifices are referred to in Deuteronomy (Devarim) 16:2 where G-d required that the sacrifice be from both the flock and the herd. This was interpreted to mean that two sacrifices were needed. The Haggigah (the additional lamb) was offered in addition to the Pesach (the Passover lamb). The Pesach was required, but the Haggigah was not because it was a freewill offering. )

Charoset – a mixture of chopped apple walnuts, and red wine ground up together charoset resembles and therefore symbolizes the bricks and mortar Israelite slaves were forced to use to lay bricks in Egypt.  Of their toil and hard labour and reminds us that if we press on with God during your difficult times you will eventually begin to taste the sweetness of God in your life.

Tzafun (the afikomen that was hidden is found, ransomed, and then eaten).

The Passover element of Unleavened Bread is broken, hidden away, and brought back later, much as Jesus was at His death, burial and resurrection. This is the same bread we use at the communion table.

The Lord in instructing His disciples how to “Do this (Passover meal) in remembrance of Me” was to add to the already understood remembrance of God’s deliverance from physical bondage, an appreciation and remembrance of the spiritual deliverance He would soon offer mankind on the cross.  He had previously explained in John chapter 3 that “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so too must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life”.

In the Passover, our Lord shows us that what was previously true for people’s physical salvation would now be true in Him for their spiritual salvation.

It is equally important to recall that unleavened bread is called the “bread of affliction” (i.e., lechem oni, literally, “bread of humiliation” or “bread of humility”). Partaking of this bread means humbly identifying with the suffering and afflictions that Jesus/Yeshua performed

on our behalf…

Eating unleavened bread — the “bread of affliction” — is really to eat the bread of HIS affliction – and therefore testifies to our own powerlessness to effect righteousness.  It is eaten “in haste” – not the result of human ingenuity or planning. It is a commemoration that salvation is of the LORD – rather than a work of our own.

As the prophet Isaiah wrote about the Messiah, our Suffering Servant:
 Isaiah 53:4-5:

“Surely he has taken up our sicknesses and has carried our sorrowful pains;
yet we regarded him as stricken, beaten by God and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our perversions;
upon him was the correction that brought our peace, and by his blows we are healed

אָכֵן חֳלָיֵנוּ הוּא נָשָׂא וּמַכְאבֵינוּ סְבָלָם
וַאֲנַחְנוּ חֲשַׁבְנֻהוּ נָגוּעַ מֻכֵּה אֱלהִים וּמְעֻנֶּה
וְהוּא מְחלָל מִפְּשָׁעֵנוּ מְדֻכָּא מֵעֲוֹנתֵינוּ
מוּסַר שְׁלוֹמֵנוּ עָלָיו וּבַחֲבֻרָתוֹ נִרְפָּא־לָנוּ

a·khen · cho·la·yei·nu · hu · na·sa · u·makh·o·vei·nu · se·va·lam
va·a·nach·nu · cha·shav·nu·hu · na·gu·a · mu·keh · E·lo·him · u·me·u·neh ve·hu · me·chol·lal · mi·pe·sha·ei·nu · me·du·kah · me·a·vo·no·tei·nu · mu·sar · she·lo·mei·nu · a·lav  · u·va·cha·vu·ra·to · nir·pa · la·nu

Notice that the word translated “blow” (i.e., חַבּוּרָה, “wound” or “stripe”) comes from the same root as the word “friend” (חָבֵר), and therefore we can read this as “in His friendship we are healed.” Yeshua gave up His life for us so that we could become His friends… As He later told us regarding His sacrifice: “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends”( John 15:13) Indeed of Yeshua it may truly be said, Yesh ohev davek me’ach – “there is a friend who sticks (davek) closer than a brother”(Prov.18:24)

We do not become sanctified, in other words, by afflicting ourselves, but rather by sincerely trusting in the afflictions that our Friend Yeshua endured on our behalf.  Just as we are saved by God’s grace through faith, so are we sanctified. Sanctification is a work of the Holy Spirit in our lives just as miraculous as regeneration itself (1 Cor.6:11). We do not earn merit before the LORD through performing “good deeds” (Titus 3:5-6), but rather by humbling ourselves and trusting in the Messiah for righteousness. (John 6:28-29).

The idea that we can merit our own righteousness before God, that we are self-sufficient and do not need a Savior, is something Jesus/Yeshua regarded as a form of “spiritual leaven.” It is only when the ego is deflated (i.e., “unleavened”) that we are able to discern the truth of our inward condition.

Unleavened bread, then, signifies our identification with the Lord in His humility and afflictions, but it does not mean attempting to effect our own sanctity by means of self-styled affliction. We are sanctified by God’s grace, not by outward shows of religion. Remembering that all the “oughts” (i.e., commands) of the New Covenant are directed to the truth of who you are “in the Messiah,” that is, by virtue of His connection to you, and not to your former life and identity as a slave in Egypt…

During the celebration of Pesach, three cakes of unleavened bread (matzot) are placed one upon another, with a napkin between each cake.

At a certain point in the Seder service, the middle cake, known as the afikomen, or “that which come after,” is broken in two.

One piece is distributed among the people present, and the larger piece is hidden in a napkin. Toward the end of the Passover Seder, the hidden portion is brought to light and eaten by those surrounding the Passover table.

The Messianic understanding is that these three pieces of matzot represent G-d the Father, the Messiah Jesus/Yeshua, and the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh). The central piece, the afikomen, is broken, a portion is eaten, and the remainder hidden and then brought forth to testify of the death, burial, and resurrection of Yeshua.

The Bread and Cups of the Passover Seder

During the course of the Seder, the four cups of wine that are served and drunk at a specific point to the people present at the Seder are used in the following manner, and are called:

First The Cup of Blessing

(Luke 22:17; 1 Corinthians 10:16).

This cup is called the cup of sanctification, or the Kiddush. 

The Second is for Maggid,    The Cup of Wrath

(Luke 22:42-44).

This cup is not drunk, but is poured out on the table as the plagues of Egypt are recited. Jesus/Yeshua drank of this cup for us in the Garden of Gethsemane and when He died on the tree.

The Third is for Birkat Hamazon –   The cup of Blessing, Salvation, or Redemption.

(Psalm [Tehillim] 116:13)

This cup is filled to overflowing, symbolizing an overflowing salvation.

And the fourth is for Hallel – The cup of the kingdom

(Luke 22:18,20; Matthew [Mattityahu] 26:28-29).

Jesus/Yeshua spoke of eating and drinking afresh in the Messianic age with His disciples after His resurrection.

In addition to the four cups of wine served to the people, another cup, called the cup of Elijah (Eliyahu), is also a part of the Seder. This cup is poured out at the end of the Seder. Only Elijah (Eliyahu) himself, or one coming in the spirit and power of Elijah, or the Messiah, was allowed to drink of this cup. When Jesus/Yeshua referred to Himself drinking of this cup, He was saying in no uncertain terms that He was the Messiah.

The cup used was more likely to have looked like this one below, rather than an ornate silver goblet we are used to seeing.

The 4 cups represent the four expressions of deliverance promised by God as found in Exodus 6:7

I will bring you out

I will deliver

I will redeem

I will take

and these promises are still true for every believer today.

Unleavened Bread of Matzot Week

Where We Are Right Now As The Appointed Times Of The Spring Feasts Continue To Unfold…

Coming to the end of the week of the Feast Of Unleavened Bread (Chag HaMotzi)

Chag HaMatzot   חג שמח

From 14th Nisan and at evening, that is, between 3:00 pm to sundown, and continues through Nisan 15. Strictly speaking, then, Passover always begins on Nisan 14 and is followed immediately by The Feast of Unleavened Bread (Chag HaMotzi) and continues through and beyond Nisan 15 for 7 days and includes First Fruits within that week.

Here is a brief summary of the feasts of 

Nisan 14 = Thursday sundown the first day, which is the start of Passover and also the day of the Seder. Jesus/Yeshua was arrested and the mock trial was held, (also called Maundy Thursday which remembers when Jesus/Yeshua washed the feet of the disciples.

The next morning was the crucifixion and that afternoon was called Preparation Day (as they were preparing for the weekly Sabbath). Jesus was taken down from the cross and buried.

Nisan 15th, which was the Friday sundown and a weekly Sabbath day began the second day. It is also the first day of Unleavened Bread and Jesus was in the tomb the entire day.

Nissan 16 began the third day at Saturday sundown, during the night Jesus/Yeshua was resurrected.

Passover is the celebration of the release of the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage and celebrated with a meal called Seder, which means ‘order’ and tells the story, (or Haggadah which means ‘the telling’), of the miraculous deliverance. Jesus and all the disciples and New Testament/Brit Chadashah authors celebrated Passover.

First: Seder is the name of the Passover meal and includes what we call and understand as communion,

it puts Paul’s writing of one Corinthians 11:17–26 into perspective.

Second. Unleavened bread begins 15th Nissan the day after Passover. (Nissan also spelled Nisan.)

In Exodus 12:15-20 God instructed the Jews to eat unleavened bread for seven days, beginning on the first day of Passover, from Nisan 15 through Nisan 22. Chag HaMatzot therefore represents a Holy week spent without leaven in our lives, a time to ‘clean house,’ removing and sweeping away all signs of sin.

It’s a picture of our deliverance from the corrupting influences of the world in response to the redemption of the LORD (Matt. 16:12; Mark 8:14-15; Luke 12:1; Rom. 6:13-22; 1 Cor. 5:6-8).

To the Christian, the Festival of Unleavened Bread is a celebration of what Jesus, the true Passover Lamb has done for us, in that He has delivered us from bondage to sin and it’s penalty by His blood. Paul told the congregation, -“You are in fact, unleavened”, that is, without sin because the blood of the Lamb has washed them all away.

The prophetic and symbolic lesson of ridding your life of the leaven of Egypt is that you get rid of sin and replace it with purity and humility. Upon redemption, we are to become a sanctified, “unleavened people.”

Chag HaMatzot, or the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when no Chametz may be eaten or possessed for a full seven days: Chametz is considered a corrupting influence, a hidden uncleanness that manipulates purer elements. Like the influence of a lump of leaven in a batch of dough, ‘spiritual’ leaven functions as an evil impulse within us that corrupts and sours our soul.  As such chametz is considered a metaphor of sin which we are commanded to put away from us. The removal of chametz is a metaphor of our sanctification.

We are to undergo our own inward ‘bedikat chametz’ and become a ‘new lump’ that is untainted by the sour and rotting influences of our past life. Since the Mashiach has been sacrificed as our Passover lamb, we are a new creation made unleavened by the power of Holy Spirit. Therefore we put away from us the old nature – the yetzer ha’ra – and purge from us the old leaven of Egypt, (a type for sin), that inwardly cankers us and makes us sick.

(Yetzer also spelled Yetser means the evil inclination.) )

For our souls sake we should walk in the truth of the love of God without hypocrisy.

But what is the connection with Jesus/Yeshua? 

First, unleavened bread is a picture of His holiness, purity and sinlessness. His life and sacrifice was ‘unleavened’  without the taint of the curse of death, and therefore He was considered ‘a lamb without spot or blemish’ for the ultimate Passover sacrifice (1Pet.1:19).

Moreover, after He was buried, Yeshua did not suffer the natural process of corruption (i.e., decomposition of the body). His body did not “return to dust” which was the very curse given to Adam and Eve in Gen.3:19; Psalm 16:10. As the last Adam (Adam haSheni), His death ‘killed the power of death’ by putting away sin through the sacrifice of Himself (Heb 9:26).

Jesus was resurrected during Unleavened Bread on FirstFruits.

Thirdly: First Fruits. According to Deuteronomy 8:8, Barley was the harvest. Then according to the Scripture in Leviticus 23:15, verse 6 puts the second feast on the next night: “On the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread unto the Lord; seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.”

The Confusion over the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Passover being called Unleavened Bread occurs because amongst the Israelites, the first day that they ate unleavened bread was on the Passover feast. So while Leviticus 23 mentions that the Feast of Unleavened Bread started on the 15th day, they interchanged the day of Passover as the first day of Unleavened Bread.

Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying and to him, where will thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover? Matthew 26:17 Also called the day of unleavened bread

After two days was the feast of the Passover, and of another wrote: and the chief priests and scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death. Mark 14:1

Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover. Luke 22:1

The feast of the first fruits Leviticus 23:10–14

The Unleavened Bread was due to the haste of their departure from Egypt and it had no time to rise. As leaven represents sin so unleaved was again the sinless sacrifice.

Leaven or yeast in the Bible symbolized sin and evil. Unleavened bread, eaten over a period of time, symbolized a holy walk, as with the Lord. Unleavened bread, in the B’rit Chadashah [New Testament] is, of course representative of the Body of our Lord.

He is described as ‘the Bread of Life’ (Lechem haChayim). He was born in Bethlehem, which, in Hebrew, means, ‘House of Bread’ (Bet Lechem).

See https://www.minimannamoments.com/may-this-be-a-shannah-of-shalom-a-year-of-peace/ for more information on House of Bread

 

The Meaning of Unleavened Bread

Unleavened Bread is called the “bread of affliction” (i.e., lechem oni, literally, “bread of humiliation” or “bread of humility”) it is not “of affliction” because it is unleavened but it is unleavened because it had been born out of affliction. In other words, since the Israelites had no time to prepare their bread on account of their affliction, the bread had no time to rise.

~

The matzah, then, is not so much the remembrance of bondage as of the deliverance from bondage, and that which had originally been of affliction now became, on account of God’s deliverance, the token of freedom.

Partaking of this bread means humbly identifying with the suffering and afflictions that Yeshua performed on your behalf... As the prophet Isaiah wrote about the Messiah, our Suffering Servant

Look at the matzah and see that it is covered in small holes,

“They shall look upon me whom they’ve pierced,”

He was pierced for our sorrows which includes our grief sadness and broken hearts

See the dark brown areas that resemble bruises. He was bruised for our iniquities sins and transgressions

He was sinless and pure, without any leaven, as His body was without any sin.

Finally see how it is striped: “By His stripes we are healed”.

~

There is the Passover custom of burying, hiding and then resurrecting the second of three pieces of matzot (the middle piece), which represents the Gospel and is called (Afikomen).

 

To the Israelite, the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread commemorates being delivered from bondage to Egypt

for the purpose of worshipping God,  as they left so quickly their dough didn’t have time to rise/leaven.

The elements of wine and unleavened bread are the original root and beginning of what we call our communion and are part of a weekly service for the Christian congregations. It is rooted in the weekly Sabbath service held in synagogues worldwide where the remembrance of the exodus is recalled for the Jewish population that has not yet accepted Jesus/Yeshua as their Messiah.

For Messianic Jews those who have accepted Jesus as their Messiah Yeshua, they now have a full revelation of His sacrificial atonement.

Leaven and the Sacrifice of Yeshua

Traditionally ‘the leaven package’ is burned at the time of morning prayer on Nisan 14 during the Bi’ur Chametz ceremony.

That is the exact day in which the Mashiach Yeshua was crucified, removing our sin and spiritual leaven forever.

Of course Jesus’ crucifixion and subsequent resurrection are the most focused on aspects of this season. This post is not ignoring them but rather trying to highlight other happenings both lesser known and some forgotten which reveal deeper meanings behind the order of prophetic events that God had set in place millennia ago.

Below are some more Hebrew words

connected to this feast

one of His

 Yom Tov Holy Day

(The origin of our word holiday, it is interesting to note how the use of the word vacation has replaced the reference to it being a Holy Day.)

 

 

 

Not Passing Over

This time of the year is one of the 2 occasions upon which Christians mainly focus, and it deserves more than a casual glance. If we believe the confession of our faith then we need to understand its beginnings as best we can. This season is at the very core of our beliefs and without it there would be no resurrection and no hope.

In the Hebrew language Passover is

For some this may be a bit long, but the conviction that it was important to share outweighed the whispering to keep it short! So this is in case there are others out there who for many years have never seen the similarities of the sacrifices of the lambs and of Jesus in relation to the Hebrew Feast. If we’ve never really studied the Feast rituals and preparations before, the commonalities never dawn on us.

After all THIS IS THE VERY CRUX OF OUR FAITH and there should not be anything more important.

He gave His life for each one of us and its an indicator of the grateful attitude of our hearts when we take some time to remember why we call ourselves Christian Believers in Jesus the Messiah.

No condemnation or judgment here, only information and loving encouragement. Even the disciples had a hard time praying for an hour with Jesus. 

It’s true, Israel had been observing these Feasts for 1,400 years before Yeshua’s birth. The Appointed times of the Lord have been kept for some 3417 years although it seems ‘new’ to Christian believers in fact it’s not ‘new’ at all.

 

LEVITICUS 23 is the single chapter of the entire (Tanakh) Bible that sums up everything. God’s eternal plan – from chaos to eternity – is ingeniously revealed through the nature and timing of the Seven annual Feasts of the LORD.

In taking a fresh look we come to realize that the entire human race now exists between two of these feasts, and as sacrifice is the major feature of the feasts, our knowledge and understanding of them can only enhance our faith.

“The Lord’s APPOINTED TIMES which you shall proclaim as HOLY CONVOCATIONS – MY APPOINTED TIMES ARE THESE.  In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the Lord’s PASSOVER.” (Leviticus 23:1,5)

Here’s How The Week Unfolded

Passover (Pesach). Leviticus 23:5 specifies that the festival year begins with Passover on “the fourteenth day of the first month” (Nisan 15). Passover is the Feast of Salvation. In both testaments, the blood of the Lamb delivers from slavery – the Jew from Egypt, the Christian from sin.

Everything is connected.

Think about the tenth plague in Exodus 12:5, when Egypt’s first born sons died while the angel of death “passed over” the Israelites homes with the blood of the lamb on their door posts. In the New Testament/B’rit Chadashah, Jesus serves as the sacrificial lamb.

It is no coincidence that our Lord Himself was sacrificed on Passover.

The tenth of Nissan was the day that the lamb was chosen and taken to the house and family that would on Passover offer it up. The mystery is in what we call Palm Sunday, it is in reality the 10th of Nissan, the day of the lamb.    

  (see previous post)  https://www.minimannamoments.com/palm-sunday-nisan-the-appointed-time-of-the-lamb/

As the people of Jerusalem were leading the Passover lambs to their homes Messiah was being led from the Mount of olives into the city gates. The bringing in of Messiah to the city with palms and hosannas was actually the fulfillment of what had been commanded from ancient times.

The bringing in of the Lamb.

On the day when the Passover lamb was to be brought to the house, God brought the Lamb of God to his house, to Jerusalem, and to the temple. Just as the lambs of the tenth of Nissan had to be sacrificed on Passover by those who dwelt in the house, so too the Lamb of God would be sacrificed on Passover by those who dwelt in Jerusalem.

The Lamb of God had to come to the House of God that the blessings of salvation could count. So it is only when you bring a lamb home when you bring him into the place where you actually live your life, when you bring Him into every room, every closet and crevice only then can the fullness of the blessings of salvation begin. Exodus 12:3 Matthew 21:1–11

The lamb became a part of the family just as pets today are family members. This made the sacrifice very much harder to do but the meaning is clear. The love bestowed on an innocent lamb caused emotional response of remorse, guilt and sadness for the lamb they loved was to die in their place because of the need for a blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin. How much more should the tears of repentance flow from each of us as we remember the sacrificial death of the guiltless Lamb of God.

Living in this timeframe after Yeshua’s birth, death, resurrection and ascension, we get the bigger picture that the original instructions point to.  This makes the Feasts extremely relevant and exciting for us.  Not only do we get to remember the Exodus, but we also remember Jesus Yeshuas’ first coming during the Spring Feasts, and the Fall Feasts yet to be fulfilled, focus on His return.

APPLICATIONS OF THE FIRST 3 FEASTS

Passover (Pesach)

Unleavened Bread (Hag HaMatzah

First Fruits (Bikkurim)

FEAST                                                      HISTORICAL ASPECT

  1. Passover (Pesach)                    Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage
  2. Unleavened Bread (Hag HaMatzah)      The going out of Egypt
  3. First Fruits (Bikkurim)                               Crossing the Red Sea

FEAST                                                      MESSIANIC FULFILLMENT

  1. Passover (Pesach)                     Death of Yeshua on the tree
  2. Unleavened Bread (Hag HaMatzah)   The Burial of Yeshua
  3. First Fruits (Bikkurim)                            Resurrection of Yeshua

FEAST                                                  SPIRITUAL APPLICATION ( Halacha )

Passover (Pesach)      Repent (Teshuvah) and trust by (Emunah )in the shed blood of Yeshua

Unleavened Bread (Hag HaMatzah)   Sanctification and separation from evil represented by water immersion (Mikvah)

First Fruits (Bikkurim)                        Walking (Halacha) in newness of life

We have the benefit of hindsight, but the Israelites couldn’t see what was ahead. They had no idea they were foreshadowing God’s plan of redemption for all mankind but centuries of going through those motions helped them prepare for that future.  Consider that just by following the instructions with no other understanding, their faithful Israelite descendants were in Jerusalem for that very important Passover Week, which is when Yeshua was crucified, buried and resurrected. Deut 16:16  instructed them to be in Jerusalem for this week.

They would’ve missed these events if they hadn’t been observing the dates and location.

The Feasts are God’s appointed days for all time.  These are dates that He’s chosen to fulfill His plan for mankind – a plan He’s not yet completed.  These dates will still play a significant role in His timeline for the future.

The Spring Feasts are the exact days Yeshua fulfilled His mission for his first coming. The Fall Feasts are all about Yeshua’s second coming.

Typically we think of the Spring Feasts as a time to remember – the Exodus and Yeshua’s death on Passover, His resurrection on the Feast of Firstfruits, the giving of the Torah and the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

The first Passover occurred over 3500 years ago in Egypt and it is by far, the oldest celebration continually kept by any group of people in the history of mankind. Exodus 12:18-20 where He instructed the people to sacrifice a lamb, place its blood on the doorpost of the house, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Each part of the Passover meal was significant and symbolized something that was important for the people of God to remember about His plan of redemption.

To appreciate the background of the feast, read Exodus12:1-13:10. There you will find that Passover, which was an evening meal that took place as the sun went down on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Abib (also called ‘Nisan’), and Unleavened Bread, which was a subsequent week-long festival that began as the Passover meal was eaten. They were originally a commandment from God to mark and save His people from the death that would befall others who did not have a heart to heed His words.

As every man was to select for his household a lamb without spot or blemish and he was to select this lamb on the tenth day of the month. Then he was to observe this lamb for five days to make sure there was nothing wrong with him. There could be no fault (spot or blemish) found in this lamb.

On the fifth day, he was to bring the lamb to his doorstep and kill him.

As he killed the lamb he would catch the blood in the basin at the foot of the doorstep then using a hyssop branch to smear the blood on both sides of the doorpost and above the doorpost so the entire entrance into the house was covered by the blood of the lamb.

Hyssop is a weed – a lowly plant. It has spongy leaves and a woody stem.

Exo 12:22 Hyssop was used to dip and apply the blood to the doorposts at Passover.

Lev 14:4-52 and Num 19:6,18 Hyssop was used in the cleansing of lepers (a picture of judgment on human pride) and in cleansing the tabernacle.

Psa 51:7 David’s repentance: “Cleanse me with hyssop.” John 19:29 Jesus on the cross was given sour wine in a sponge on a stalk of hyssop.

Hyssop is a picture of humility.

This was done on the evening of the 14 day (twilight). Remember, the Hebrew day begins in the evening at approximately six o’clock in western time.

The Hebrews killed the lambs at three o’clock in the afternoon on the 14th in order to eat the meal by six before the day of Passover feast ended.

The family then entered their house through the blood-stained door where they were protected from the plague of death that was to move through the land.

Now here comes an interesting part.

According to the instructions, the entire lamb was to be roasted and consumed. Nothing could be left over for the next day.

In preparing the meal, not one bone of the lamb was to be broken. This instruction required that the lamb be roasted on a spit shaped like a crossbar so that its body could be spread open.

Although the family went inside the house and couldn’t see the blood covering, they had faith that God would save them because of it.

They were saved by grace through faith in the blood of the lamb which they could not see.

This should sound familiar to us.

Also notice the shape of the doorway and as Jesus said He was the Door notice the similarities to the Hebrew letter CHET

The prophet Isaiah spoke of the suffering this human lamb would experience. He wrote a very clear, graphic description, which is recorded in Isaiah chapter 53. We often skip over this as it tends to make us very uncomfortable.

Yeshua Se Tamiym – Yeshua Our Pesach Lamb – Jesus Our Passover Lamb

As the precise moment came in God’s timeline for the substitutionary human lamb to be sacrificed, the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary and God came to earth in the manifestation of Jesus to live among us, to go through everything we as humans have to endure and become the sacrifice for our sins. God sent one last prophet to help the people recognize Him, John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus. John introduced Jesus with these words:

“Behold the Lamb of God!”. (John 1:36)

It would have had a profound meaning to those who heard as they all understood the appointed time of the Passover Lamb and had been rehearsing it every year their whole lives.

In John 12:1 it says that Jesus came to the town of Bethany six days before the Passover. Since the Passover was celebrated on the 14th, this means that Jesus came to Bethany on the ninth. John also gives us more information to show that Jesus entered Jerusalem on the tenth according to John 12:12-13. He says that it was the next day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem.

 In other words, He came into Jerusalem on the exact day that God told the Jews to set aside their lambs back in Egypt.

Jesus was fulfilling in Himself the ultimate reality of the Feast of Passover.

As earlier mentioned the purpose of setting the lamb aside was to observe it to make sure that it was without spot or blemish. This lamb was to be offered to God. Since God is perfect, no lamb that was blemished (physically or with fault) could be sacrificed, so the Jews observed and tested the lamb for five days to make sure that it was faultless. The same was done to Jesus by the religious leaders.

They questioned His authority, they asked Him trick questions hoping He would somehow give a wrong answer that they could use against Him. They did everything they could to discredit Him so that He would not be an acceptable sacrifice.

Of course you know the story, Pilate said he could find no fault in Him. (John 19:4). This all happened in that five day period from the tenth to the 14th while the Jews were checking their lambs for the sacrifice.

Jesus was crucified on the 14th ( the same day as the lambs) and to be even more precise the same hour of the day. At the exact hour when the Jews were preparing their lambs for sacrifice, Jesus was nailed to the cross. (9:00 am, the 14th), they were killed at 3:00pm, so that Passover could be completed before six pm which would begin a new day.

To summarize this, Jesus gave His total self to be roasted and consumed in the judgment fires of God as He died for our sins.

The spit shaped like a crossbar on which the lambs were spread open pointed to Jesus hanging on the cross. All the other details concerning the death of the lambs happened to Jesus, the real Lamb of God. For example, His bones were not broken. Remember, God said not to break any bones in the Passover lamb (Exodus 12:46, Number 9:12; Psalms 34:20).

When a person is crucified, the body sags so that they cannot breathe. This causes them to push themselves up with their heels just long enough to take a deep breath.

To hasten a person’s death, a Roman soldier would break his legs; thus, he would not be able to push himself up to get air.

John records that the soldiers broke the legs of the two thieves , that were next to Jesus, but they saw Jesus was already dead, so they didn’t break His legs.

They also offered a combination of ingredients in a drink that would help to numb the pain Jesus refused as He wanted to remain alert to experience it fully.

God had specifically instructed the Israelites to consume the whole lamb. Nothing was to be left over for the next day. (Exodus 12:10). This was also the case with Jesus. The Jewish religious leaders, not realizing they were carrying out God’s plan, hurriedly had Jesus’ body taken down before six o’clock. 

The Passover lamb was a visual aid and dress rehearsal directing the Jews into the future when Jesus would come and establish the spiritual reality that the lambs could only symbolize. The blood of Jesus saves us from death and gives us the promise of resurrection.

“For Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate 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)

 The sacrificial blood of animals had no power to pay for our sins – they only served to remind us that we are sinners and that a divine sacrifice was still needed. Our text shows us that Jesus was that divine sacrifice which ended all other sacrifices.

In Jerusalem, on this Passover, the Lamb of God carried His cross and willingly laid down His sinless life to save all those who would receive Him as their Savior. Though He was without guilt, unlike the little Passover lambs who cried, He remained silent as He was falsely accused during His trial but for those who have received Him as their Savior and their Lord, there is a silence of the lambs.

But This As You Know Is Not The End Of The Story…..but for now…

To all 74 subscribers and to any visitors. Enjoy the Holyday weekend which without Messiah and the events above would not be on our calendar.

PALM SUNDAY – Nisan – The Appointed Time Of The Lamb

 In a recent post Aviv was referenced as the Hebrew season of spring.

The  name of the Month in Hebrew is called Nisan.

(There is a wealth of information contained in this season and it can be overwhelming if it’s all new to the reader, so the beautiful story is examined, slowly unfolding it in small bite-sized portions.)

This year it is in April on our calendar and according to scripture it is the time of the beginning of the Spiritual New Year in Israel.

Shemoth (Exodus) 12:1 And YHWH spoke unto Moses/Mosheh and Aaron/Aharown in the land of Mitzrayim (Egypt) saying, 2. This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.

The seasons are literally the appointed times of the Lord. They are the scriptural seasons that Jesus and all the New Testament authors celebrated.

This was to fall every year, 14 days before Passover (Pesach) in the month of the Abib (Aviv). In Nehemiah 2:1 & Esther 3:7, this first month on the Hebrew calendar began to be called “Nisan” while the House of Judah were in Babylonian exile.

Today, the rabbinic calendar still uses the Babylonian name of “Nisan” for the month of “Abib.”

The word “Abib” in the Strong’s Hebrew Concordance has the following definition: # 24 ‘abiyb aw-beeb’ from an unused root (meaning to be tender); green, i.e. a young ear of grain;

hence, the name of the month Abib or Nisan:–Abib, ear, green ears of corn (not maize).

Nisan The Appointed Time Of The Lamb BEGINS WITH

Jesus like all the sacrificial lambs had to be examined by the Priests. Luke 22:54

It was at the same time that the shepherds were herding the 1000’s of lambs into the Temple area ready for their examination over 4 days.

The seasons are literally the appointed times of the Lord, they are the scriptural seasons that Jesus and all the New Testament authors celebrated.

On Palm Sunday Jesus rode the donkey

in a procession from Bethphage, (the home of Lazarus),  and entered the Old City of Jerusalem,

through St. Stephen’s Gate (Lion’s Gate). 

The Lion’s Gate is located near Mount of Olives (seen through the gate in the picture above) and the Via Dolorosa.

This is one of the seven gates that were created in the wall of the old city,

and the only one that is open towards the east.

On  Palm  Sunday,

Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem at the SAME EXACT TIME the lambs were to be selected for the Passover sacrifice!

Matt 21:1-11 Mark 14:1,2 Luke 22:1,2 John 12:12

The crowd was loudly calling out Hosanna

Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord.

Ps 118:26

In John 12:13, we are told this crowd including the disciples, thought He was the reigning Messiah as they understood from the Old Testament book of Zechariah in chapter 9:9

“behold your king is coming being seated upon the foal of a donkey”

This is significant as Messiah was being associated with a donkey rather than a horse ready for battle, because He is not depicted as a warrior but as a man of peace Who represents spiritual prosperity, (as was shown in the metaphor of the vineyard). His wars will be won by divine power not through force of arms.

Hoshea-na as in (Ps 118:25) means ‘Deliver us now’ or ‘Save us now’.

This comes from the same root as Yeshua, the Hebrew name of Jesus.

The ending ‘na’, is something we do not have a translation for in English. It’s a demanding ‘NOW’, that is neither rude nor impertinent. It is properly translated ‘Please’ or ‘I pray you’ or ‘Behold’.

The greeting and waving of palm fronds and branches were traditionally done on the 6th day of the feast of sukkot welcoming the reigning Messiah to assume the throne in Jerusalem. All those shouting Hoshea-na knew this and believed Yeshua was the Messiah who had come to claim His throne then and there.

See Matt 21:8,9 Mk 11:8,9 Lk 19:37,38 Jn 12:12,13

From Luke 19:35, the Greek word used for ‘garment’ is ‘imatia’, meaning, ‘cloak or outer garment’, it is used here and in vs. 35 and 36. The ‘cloak’ of a Jewish man was his prayer shawl, as can be seen in the picture below.

These were the ‘garments’ laid on the road before Him as he passed by 1000’s of people gathered in Jerusalem for Passover. One of three annually appointed times, that every Israelite was expected to attend.

Jesus  wept   over  Jerusalem  on  Palm  Sunday

because  Israel  did  not  know  the   time   and   importance   of   that   day.

What   will   Jesus   find   when   He   returns  soon  on  the  next  scheduled  feast  day?

LEVITICUS 23 is the single chapter of the entire Bible /Tanakh that sums up everything. God’s eternal plan — from chaos to eternity — is ingeniously revealed through the nature and timing of the Seven annual Feasts of the LORD.

Why do we need to look at what the feasts are called, when they happen and why they remain significant?

Sacrifice is the major feature of the feasts and knowledge of them enhances our faith.

“The Lord’s APPOINTED TIMES which you shall proclaim as HOLY CONVOCATIONS- MY APPOINTED TIMES ARE THESE.  In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the Lord’s PASSOVER.” (Leviticus 23:1,5)

It was on Mount Sinai that God gave Moses the dates and observances of the seven feasts. Here are their names:

  1. Passover (Pesach) – Nisan 14

  2. Unleavened Bread (Chag Hamotzi) – Nisan 15-22

  3. First Fruits (Yom habikkurim) – Nisan 16

  4. Pentecost (Shavu’ot) – Sivan 6

  5. Trumpets (Yom Teru’ah) – Tishri 1

  6. Atonement (Yom Kippur) – Tishri 10

  7. Tabernacles (Sukkot) – Tishri 15

When do they happen? God’s calendar is based on the phases of the moon. Each month in a lunar calendar begins with a new moon.

Pesach falls on the first full moon of Spring.

The first three feasts, Pesach/Passover, Unleavened Bread and First Fruits fall in March and April.

The fourth one, Shavu’ot, Pentecost, marked the summer harvest and occurs in late May or early June.

The last three feasts, Trumpets, Yom Kippur and Sukkot happen in September and October.

The first 3 Spring Feasts occur all very close together. These are the ones that are happening right now and next post will shed a little more light on them.