We have just completed the week of

Chag ha Matzot/

Unleavened Bread/ חג המצות

which began with

Passover/Pesach/פסח.

Exodus 12:13

Passing over into new year and

commemorating the Hebrews’ liberation

from slavery in Egypt and the

passing over

of the forces of destruction,

or the sparing of the firstborn of the Israelites,

when the Lord “smote the land of Egypt”

on the eve of the Exodus.

People wish each other a

kosher and joyous Passover.

In Hebrew it is:

chag Pesach kasher vesame’ach

pronounced:

CHAG PEH-sach kah-SHER ve-sah-MAY-ach.

This is the beginning of the spiritual new year/

the cycle of

Appointed Times of the Lord

His Moedim

moe-eh-DEEM

מועדים

Firstfruits (ום בכורים),

also called

Reishit Katzir.

Now we are headed into

seven weeks/49days of

counting the Omer

before

Shavuot/Pentecost/שָׁבוּעוֹת

Counting of the Omer (ספירת העומר)

Pentecost (Koinē Greek: Πεντηκοστή)

Also known as the

Feast of Weeks or Shavuot – שָׁבוּעוֹת

This is a time of preparation to be ready to receive the impartation of His Spirit of Holiness/Ruach HaKodesh.

Following His מועדים / Moedim/

Appointed Times /feasts, helps us to stay close to the understanding of their meaning and of how Yeshua/Jesus fulfilled them and also how it affects us in our individual lives.

Traditional Christianity focuses more on Palm Sunday and Resurrection Sunday. Not that there is anything wrong with this, however, there is so much more that we have missed because of a lack of teaching and the lack of understanding of what the Scriptures are really saying to us. (See links at end for more.)

2 Corinthians 3:16 – 18 tells us this.

Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.

16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate[ a] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Now that we are in Messiah, we have complete and total freedom because the veil is removed.

This is not the freedom to simply do whatever we please; it is freedom from the penalty of sin, which is death.

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death,

but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In Messiah we are free to live in the ways of

life /chaim which are:

holiness kedushah קדושה

purity ṭaharah טָהֳרָה

and truth emet אֱמֶת

.

We are free to be alive in Him because

sin and death no longer bind us.

This scripture also says that,

we are in the process of being transformed

into the same image,

the image of the glory of the Lord.

The process of going from glory to glory is increased every year as we follow the cycle of His Appointed Times.

They are there for us to take the opportunity to annually examine ourselves and to recommit ourselves and allowing Him to bring us higher, into maturity of His spirit by understanding the truth of the abundant life He has provided.

The significance of His Appointed Times becomes clear in the life of Messiah and its purpose is for our growth in the Lord.

During the days of

Unleavened Bread/ Chag ha Matzot,

the book of Acts 12:3-11

recorded a miraculous incidence

involving Peter/Keifa/Kefa/קיף.

In Hebrew Peter’s name is kef, קיף

spelled kaf-feh meaning rock.

The Jewish tradition regarding Shimon Keifa (his name in Hebrew/Aramaic) can be found in various Medieval sources.

According to these sources his name was Shimon Keifa, which means Shimon the Rock because he was a type of Nazarite (nazir, in Hebrew) who sat for many years on the same rock, praying and learning Torah.

Peter/Keifa was thrown into prison by Herod who thought he could gain a political advantage by persecuting Jewish believers in Yeshua/Jesus.

3 And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also.

Now it was during the Days of Unleavened Bread.

4 And when he had apprehended him,

he put him in prison, and delivered him to

four quaternions/squads of soldiers to keep him;

intending after Passoveer/Pesach

to bring him forth to the people.

He secured Peter/Keifa in the prison under heavy guard until the time of his sentencing.

Not only was the prison door being watched by guards but his hands were bound with chains as he slept with a soldier on either side of him. His fate seemed certain for there was no obvious escape from this prison.

However Herod had not counted on the fact that there was one who would have no trouble getting inside the prison.

This scripture tells us that was a sudden burst of light

and a messenger/angel/ appeared before Peter

and within seconds the chains fell off his hands.

The soldiers were still asleep and although Peter was still in prison he was no longer chained up, his reality has changed.

But as long as he stayed where he was, he was a free man but still inside the prison.

The only thing holding him back was himself. He needed to get up and go.

For those of us in Messiah our reality has also changed, we have been set free and the chains of sin and death no longer bind us. Some of the change in our lives is up to us because even though He can make the chains fall off from our hands; and even though He can make gates to open before us of their own accord; if we do not rise in haste, gird ourselves, bind on our sandals and put our garments around us and follow Him, we can never be truly free.

Let us rise in haste and be following Him who entered the prison from which no man could escape, that we might be set free. He led us into our deliverance so that we can follow in the way of His salvation.

As disciples of Messiah our identity is also reflected in what was the defining moment for Israel remembered at Passover/Pesach. They left Egypt/Mitzrayim /מצרים and so have we Egypt/Mitzrayim /מצרים is our past.

The Exodus: Hebrew:

יציאת מצרים, Yeẓi’at Miẓrayim

literally: ‘Departure from Egypt’

As the children of Israel saw the way through the sea open up before them leading to their salvation; we trust that He will make a way where there seems to be no way in our own lives.

We need to make that step of faith into the sea to see our Savior; and not be tempted to return to Egypt…

We have a choice…

Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

and Messiah has made us free.

Exodus 14:13 fear not and still yourselves and see the salvation of the Lord which he does for you today

for as you have seen the Egyptians/Mitzrayim today you will never see them again.

If we will go forward, this is true for us too.

This last week has reminded us all that Messiah accomplished…

Let us rejoice in the freedom then

with which Messiah has made us free and

stand fast.

Galatians 5:11 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Having done all, to stand Ephesians 6:13

and

Luke 19:13

We were not brought to the edge of the sea to be drowned, or to be dragged away in chains like Peter/קיף/ Keifa.

We are to get up as he did,

and to go forward

out of the prison.

He has delivered us.

In Messiah, our reality has changed.

Let’s not yearn for the things of Egypt/ Mitzrayim that had us bound, but leaving behind the former things, forgetting the past and pressing on towards the future and stay under the Blood of Messiah.

Philippians 3:13-14 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Let’s not ponder on things of the past.

This is the spiritual new year

and as we begin

the new cycle of life/chaim/חים;

Chai חי

is a Hebrew word and symbol that means

life, alive, or living.

It is spelled with the Hebrew letters

Chet ח and Yud י.

Adding the letter m/Mem/ם

gives the plural chaim