The Truth Will Make You Free – Time For Some Truth

In Israel/Yisrael/יִשְׂרָאֵל and wherever Jewish people are around the world, they are often heard saying: The holidays are late this year or The holidays are early this year. However, the holidays never are early or late; they are always on time, according to the Hebrew calendar. Why? Because it is based on our Heavenly Fathers Word. He is the Creator of all things and King of the Universe/ Melek HaOlam.

Unlike the Gregorian (civil) calendar, which is based on the sun/solar, the Hebrew/Israelite calendar is based primarily on the moon/lunar, with periodic adjustments made to account for the differences between the solar and lunar cycles. Therefore, the Jewish calendar might be described as both solar and lunar.

The moon takes an average of twenty-nine and one-half days to complete its cycle; twelve lunar months equal 354 days. A solar year is 365 1/4 days. There is a difference of eleven days per year. To ensure that the Hebraic/Jewish holidays always fall in the proper season, an extra month is added to the Hebrew calendar seven times out of every nineteen years. If this were not done, the fall harvest festival of Sukkot, for instance, would sometimes be celebrated in the summer, or the spring holiday of Passover/Pesach would sometimes occur in the winter.

Hebrew/Israelite days are reckoned from sunset to sunset rather than from dawn or midnight. The basis for this is biblical. In the story of Creation Genesis 1, each day concludes with the phrase: And there was evening and there was morning. . .

Since evening is mentioned first, the ancient rabbis concluded that in a day, evening precedes morning.

A List of Our Heavenly Fathers’ Appointed Times/ Moedim for this year.

There are four Spring moedim and three Fall moedim. 

מועדים   pronounced: Mo-ahd-eem,

Spring Moedim:

Passover – Pesach

Feast of Unleavened Bread – Hag HaMatzot

First Fruits – Yom Habikkurim

Festival of Weeks (Pentecost) – Shavuot

Fall Moedim:

Feast of Trumpets – Yom Teruah (Rosh Hashanah)

Day of Atonement – Yom Kippur

Feast of Tabernacles – Sukkot

A brief review of the Moedim with dates for this year; for those new to this understanding of the Biblical Calendar.

The Spiritual New Year always begins with the

Spring Appointed Times which in some lists include other events/minor festivals, as well as the 7 Moedim:

In 2022, 14th day of Adar 5783

Purim  פּוּרִים ; “lots”, from the word פור, “pur”

Also (plural) Puwriym {poo-reem’}; or Puriym {poo-reem’}; from puwr; a lot (as by means of a broken piece) 

Strong’s Hebrew: 6332. פּוּר (Pur) — “a lot,” a Jewish feast

Upcoming Purim dates include:

2022, Mar 16 – Mar 17

2023, Mar 06 – Mar 07

2024, Mar 23 – Mar 24

Purim is an unusual holiday in many respects. First, Esther is the only biblical book in which God is not mentioned. Second, Purim, like Hanukkah, is viewed as a minor festival according to Jewish custom, but has been elevated to a major holiday as a result of the Jewish historical experience. Over the centuries, Haman has come to symbolize every anti-Semite in every land where Jews were oppressed. The significance of Purim lies not so much in how it began, but in what it has become: a thankful and joyous holiday that affirms and celebrates Jewish survival and continuity throughout history.

The main communal celebration involves a public reading of the Book of Esther (M’gillat Esther)

Strong’s Hebrew: 4039. מְגִלָּה (megillah) — a scroll

This book tells the story of the holiday: Under the rule of King Ahashverosh, Haman, the king’s adviser, plots to exterminate all of the Jews of Persia. His plan is foiled by Queen Esther and her cousin Mordechai, who ultimately save the Jews of Persia from destruction.

 For those new to mmm, a very warm welcome and there is more information on each of the moedim, click on  links below each one.

https://www.minimannamoments.com/who-was-hadassah/

https://www.minimannamoments.com/double-take-and-casting-lots/

https://www.minimannamoments.com/if-i-perish-i-perish-remembering-purim/

https://www.minimannamoments.com/what-has-a-flower-got-to-do-with-a-servant-heart-salvation-and-a-bridegroom/

In 2022, Passover – פסח

starts on Friday April 15th. 15-22 Nisan

Upcoming Passover dates include:

2022, Apr 15 – Apr 22

2023, Apr 05 – Apr 12

2024, Apr 22 – Apr 29

Passover פסח

Strong’s Hebrew: 6453. פָּ֫סַח (pesach) — passover

Pesach in Hebrew is a major spring festival celebrating freedom and family as the Exodus from Egypt more than 3,000 years ago is remembered. The main observances of this holiday center around a special home service called the seder, which includes a meal, the prohibition on eating chametz, and the eating of matzah.

Chametz (also spelled “hametz” or “chometz”) is any food product made from wheat, barley, rye, oats or spelt that has come into contact with water and been allowed to ferment and “rise.”. In practice, just about anything made from these grains—other than Passover matzah, which is carefully controlled to avoid leavening.““““““

 

On the 15th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, people gather with family and friends in the evening to read from a book called the Haggadah, meaning “telling,” which contains the order of prayers,  scripture readings, and songs for the Passover seder. The same that Jesus/Yeshua celebrated with His disciples.

הַגָּדָה, pronounced hah-GOH-doh;

The Haggadah helps to retell the events of the Exodus, so that each generation may learn and remember this story that is so central to Hebrew/Jewish life and history.

Passover/Pesach is celebrated for either seven or eight days, depending on family and community custom. In Israel and for most  around the world, Passover is seven days, but for many others, it is eight days. This includes the days of Unleavened Bread.

Immediately following is

the seven-week period between Pesach/Passover and Shavuot/pentecost, a period of time is known as the Omer.

The Omer has both agricultural and spiritual significance: it marks both the spring cycle of planting and harvest, and the Israelites’ journey out of slavery in Egypt (Passover) and toward receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai (Shavuot). An omer (“sheaf”) is an ancient Hebrew measure of grain. Biblical law forbade any use of the new barley crop until after an omer was brought as an offering to the Temple in Jerusalem.

The Book of Leviticus (23:15-16) also commanded: “And from the day on which you bring the offering…you shall count off seven weeks. They must be complete.”

This commandment led to the practice of the S’firat HaOmer,

or the 49 days of the “Counting of the Omer,”

which begins on the second day of Passover and ends with the celebration of Shavuot on the 50th day.

 

Hag HaMatzot First Fruits – Yom Habikkurim Festival of

Links below for more posts on:

Passover, First Fruits, Seder Meal, Unleavened Bread, Afikomen & Omer…

https://www.minimannamoments.com/revealing-the-overcoming-resheet-of-bikkurim/

https://www.minimannamoments.com/midweek-mannabite-secrets-of-the-seder-plate/

https://www.minimannamoments.com/afikomen-mysterious-and-hidden/

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

https://www.minimannamoments.com/first-fruits/

https://www.minimannamoments.com/13-for-supper-and-only-4-cups/

https://www.minimannamoments.com/counting-our-blessings-with-omer/

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

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

https://www.minimannamoments.com/a-lot-can-happen-in-a-week/

SHAVUOT

In 2022, Shavuot Pentecost starts on Saturday June 4th. : 6 Sivan

Upcoming Shavuot dates include:

2022, Jun 04 – Jun 05

2023, May 25 – May 26

2024, Jun 11 – Jun 12

Shavuot (שָׁבוּעוֹת)

is the Hebrew word for “weeks,”

and the holiday occurs seven weeks after Firstfruits/Passover/Unleavened Bread.

Shavuot, like many other Jewish holidays, began as an ancient agricultural festival that marked the end of the spring barley harvest and the beginning of the summer wheat harvest. In ancient times, Shavuot was one of three pilgrimage festivals during which Israelites brought crop offerings to the Temple in Jerusalem. Today, it is a celebration of

the giving of Torah (Matan Torah – מַתַּן תּוֹרָה)

to the Israelites in the wilderness. It also marks the culmination of the experience of redemption, sometimes called Atzeret Pesach, the Gathering of Passover.

https://www.minimannamoments.com/50-days-later-an-earthly-and-spiritual-harvest-pentecost-shavuot/

https://www.minimannamoments.com/shavuot-2-x-3000-a-marriage-made-in-heaven-conclusion/

ROSH HASHANAH

Hebrew: רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה

1 Tishrei, 2 Tishrei

In 2022, Rosh HaShanah starts on Sunday September 25th.

Upcoming Rosh HaShanah dates include:

2022, Sep 25 – Sep 27

2023, Sep 15 – Sep 17

Rosh HaShanah (literally, “Head of the Year”) is the Jewish New Year, a time of prayer, self-reflection, and repentance/ t’shuvah.

It is an appointed time in which we can review our actions during the past year, and look for ways to improve ourselves, in the coming year. The holiday marks the beginning of a 10-day period, known as the Yamim Nora-im /Days of Awe or High Holidays, ushered in by Rosh HaShanah and culminating with Yom Kippur/the Day of Atonement.

Rosh HaShanah is celebrated on the first day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei, which – because of differences in the solar and lunar calendar – corresponds to September or October on the Gregorian or secular calendar. Customs associated with the holiday include sounding the shofar, eating a round challah, and tasting apples and honey to represent a sweet New Year.

The Fall Moedim • Yom Teruah (Trumpets)

Date Of Moed: 1st Day of 7th Month (Tishri – September / October) 

https://www.minimannamoments.com/returning-to-your-first-love/

https://www.minimannamoments.com/apocalypse-of-the-teruahs-cry/

https://www.minimannamoments.com/midweek-mannabite-the-sound-of-the-trumpet/

https://www.minimannamoments.com/blowing-your-own-trumpet-2/

 

YOM KIPPUR

Day of Atonement – יום כפור

In 2022, Yom Kippur starts on Tuesday October 4th. Tisrei 10 9 days after the first day of Rosh Hashanah.

Upcoming Yom Kippur dates include:

2022, Oct 04 – Oct 05

2023, Sep 24 – Sep 25

Yom Kippur means Day of Atonement and refers to the annual observance of fasting, prayer, and repentance. It is part of the High Holidays, which also includes Rosh HaShanah /the Civil New Year in Israel, Yom Kippur is considered the holiest day on the calendar.

Yom Kippur is the moment in time when our mind, body, and soul are dedicated to reconciliation with our Heavenly Father and our fellow human beings. As the New Year begins, we are called to commit to self-reflection and inner change.

https://www.minimannamoments.com/at-one-ment-with-the-one-you-love/

 

 

SUKKOT

סֻכּוֹת ‎

In 2022, Sukkot starts on Sunday October 9th. 15-21 Tishrei 5783

Upcoming Sukkot dates include:

5783 2022, Oct 09 – Oct 16

5785 2023, Sep 29 – Oct 06

 

Sukkot is one of the most joyful festivals on the Hebraic calendar. Sukkot is a Hebrew word meaning booths or huts and refers to the Appointed Time of giving thanks for the fall harvest. The holiday has also come to commemorate the 40 years of the Israelites wandering in the desert after the giving of the Torah atop Mt. Sinai.

Sukkot is also called Z’man Simchateinu /Season of Our Rejoicing/time of our joy, as it is the only festival associated with a specific commandment to rejoice. Sukkot is celebrated five days after Yom Kippur on the 15th of the Hebrew month of Tishrei, and is marked by several distinct traditions. One, which takes the commandment to dwell in booths literally, is to build a sukkah, a small, temporary booth or hut. Sukkot, the plural of sukkah, are used for eating, entertaining and even for sleeping during the seven-day festival.

They have open walls and open doors, and this encourages a welcome to as many people as possible, inviting family, friends, neighbors, and community to rejoice, eat, and share with each other.

Another name for Sukkot is Tabernacles and another is Chag HaAsif/Festival of the Ingathering, representing the importance of giving thanks for the bounty of the earth, as well as future prophetic meaning when Messiah will tabernacle/make His home with us forever.

https://www.minimannamoments.com/sukkot-the-promise-of-a-permanent-dwelling-place/

https://www.minimannamoments.com/sheltering-presence-god/

https://www.minimannamoments.com/the-sheltering-presence-of-god-cont/

As we are about to begin the

Spring Moedim/Appointed Times….

it is important for us to have some insight into our calendar and its holidays/holy days.

Each year in the springtime, the mainstream Christian world celebrates a holiday called Easter. Many assume that the name of this holiday easter, originated with the resurrection of Messiah Jesus Christ/Yeshua HaMashiach but as the information provided here will reveal, this spring tradition of men is actually an older and far less ‘holy’ day than one would think. 

This post is not in any way negating the season and appointed time of Jesus/Yeshuas’ sacrificial, substitutionary death and resurrection; rather an eyeopener to the truth behind the name easter which so many of grew up with and no one told us what it really stands for!

The truth about the name Easter is that we can get so caught up in traditions of men that have grown over time connected to that which is behind the name, that we miss the crucial point of it all. Jesus/Yeshua and His disciples didn’t have eggs, rabbits or a pretty basket.

This is not an attempt to try and spoil our joy but rather an effort to open our eyes to what we have now become accustomed to and as a tradition of men, it is making the word of God of no effect. We need to ask ourselves, where in scripture is the word Easter to be found? Where are we told to celebrate Easter? It is not in there because it is called Passover/Pesach in Hebrew. It is the commemoration of the passing over of the death angel before the children of Israel, the Hebrews made their Exodus from Egypt. The reason they were Passed over was

because of the blood of the Phascal/Passover lamb

placed on the doorposts and lintel of their homes. There was no rabbit, no eggs, or other decorative motifs of western easter decor.  it was life or death and depended on their

trust/faith in the blood of the lamb!

We are mixing holy thing with unholy things when we incorporate the worldly easter traditions and iconography. Can we really believe this is pleasing to our Heavenly Father? Where in the Word of God are any instructions of such easter celebrations? Did the disciples and apostles follow the easter traditions that are not based on any scriptural instruction?

It’s Time For Some Truth

because

The Truth Will Make You Free –

There is so much truth contained in the 7 Appointed times that our Heavenly Father set in His calendar and Jesus /Yeshua is the central focus in them ALL! The old covenant/testament fulfilled in the new.

The following extensive list of quotes have been compiled from researching valid and scholarly sources and it would not take but a few clicks on the internet for any reader to confirm them:

The purpose is to reveal the truth about the origins of this spring ‘Christianized’ pagan holiday.

The point is not so much the hidden meanings of the symbols and story but that of how our hearts are before our Creator, Savior and soon returning King.

Do we decide and choose what days to observe and celebrate, or does Our Heavenly Father? The Bible tells us that a little leaven leavens the whole lump. After reading though them and discerning the truth hopefully it will be helpful information for use in explaining to others the roots of our ‘christian traditions’; and for us to follow His lead – away from non-biblical holidays.

What are we really saying and referring to and paying homage to when we say the word easter? Lets find out….If you have never considered this before let the Fathers Spirit of Holiness prepare your heart, some of the following may be a shock! Its not always easy to admit we have been misled for most of our lives; but I for one, would rather throw away all I have thought was right in exchange for the WAY the TRUTH and the LIFE. 

“The English word Easter is derived from the names ‘Eostre’ – ‘Eastre’ – ‘Astarte’ or ‘Ashtaroth’. Astarte was introduced into the British Isles by the Druids and is just another name for Beltis or Ishtar of the Chaldeans and Babylonians. The book of Judges records that ‘the children of Israel did evil …in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, …and forsook the LORD, and served not Him.’ Easter is just another name for Ashteroth ‘The Queen of Heaven.’ Easter was not considered a ‘Christian’ festival until the fourth century. Early Christians celebrated Passover on the 14th day of the first month and a study of the dates on which Easter is celebrated will reveal that the celebration of Easter is not observed in accordance with the prescribed time for the observance of Passover. After much debate, the Nicaean council of 325 A.D. decreed that ‘Easter’ should be celebrated on the first Sunday after the vernal equinox.

Why was so much debate necessary if ‘Easter’ was a tradition passed down from the Apostles?

The answer is that it was not an Apostolic institution, but, an invention of man! They had to make up some rules. History records that spring festivals in honor of the pagan fertility goddesses and the events associated with them were celebrated at the same time as ‘Easter’. In the year 399 A.D. the Theodosian Code attempted to remove the pagan connotation from those events and banned their observance. The pagan festival of Easter originated as the worship of the sun goddess, the Babylonian Queen of Heaven who was later worshipped under many names including Ishtar, Cybele, Idaea Mater (the Great Mother), or Astarte for whom the celebration of Easter is named. Easter is not another name for the Feast of Passover and is not celebrated at the Biblically prescribed time for Passover. This pagan festival was supposedly ‘Christianized’ several hundred years after Christ.” (Richard Rives, Too Long in the Sun)

“There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament, or in the writings of the Apostolic Fathers. The sanctity of special times [i.e., aside from the Holy Days appointed by God] was an idea absent from the minds of the first Christians, who continued to observe the Jewish [i.e., God’s] festivals, though in a new spirit, as commemorations of events which those festivals had foreshadowed. Thus the Passover, with a new conception added to it of Christ, as the true Paschal Lamb and the firstfruits from the dead, continued to be observed, and became the Christian Easter. The name Easter (Ger. Ostern), like the names of the days of the week, is a survival from the old Teutonic mythology. According to Bede (De Temp. Rat. c.xv.) it is derived from Eostre, or Ostara, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, to whom the month answering to our April, and called Eostur-monath, was dedicated. This month, Bede says, was the same as mensis pashalis, ‘when the old festival was observed with the gladness of a new solemnity.’ The name of the festival in other languages (as Fr. paques; Ital. pasqua; Span. pascua; Dan. paaske; Dutch paasch; Welsh pasg) is derived from the Lat. pascha and the Gr. pascha. These in turn come from the Chaldee or Aramaean form pascha’, of the Hebrew name of the Passover festival pesach…” (Encyclopaedia Brittanica, 11th edition, vol. 8, p. 828, article: “Easter”)The Origin and History of Easter

“The term ‘Easter’ is not of Christian origin. It is another form of Astarte, one of the titles of the Chaldean goddess, the queen of heaven. The festival of Pesach/Pasch [Passover and the Feast of Unleavens] was a continuation of the Israelite Hebrews [that is, God’s] feast….from this Pasch the pagan festival of ‘Easter’ was quite distinct and was introduced into the apostate Western religion, as part of the attempt to adapt pagan festivals to Christianity.” (W.E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger, William White, Jr., Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, article: Easter, p.192)

Ish·tar : Mythology The chief Babylonian and Assyrian goddess, associated with love, fertility, and war, being the counterpart to the Phoenician Astarte. (The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000)

The fact that Ishtar was connected to fertility and reproduction gave rise to the springtime renewal of natural birth cycles and in time developed into using images of newborn spring lambs/chickens and rabbits and of course the symbolic egg.

Tammuz: ancient nature deity worshiped in Babylonia. A god of agriculture and flocks, he personified the creative powers of spring. He was loved by the fertility goddess Ishtar, who, according to one legend, was so grief-stricken at his death that she contrived to enter the underworld to get him back. According to another legend, she killed him and later restored him to life. These legends and his festival, commemorating the yearly death and rebirth of vegetation, corresponded to the festivals of the Phoenician and Greek Adonis and of the Phrygian Attis. The Sumerian name of Tammuz was Dumuzi. In the Bible his disappearance is mourned by the women of Jerusalem (Ezek. 8.14).(The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001)

“There is no warrant in Scripture for the observance of the Christmas date  nor Easter as holydays, rather the contrary…and such observance is contrary to the principles of the Reformed faith, conducive to will-worship, and not in harmony with the simplicity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. ” (Morton H. Smith, How is the Gold Become Dim, Jackson, Mississippi: Steering Committee for a Continuing Presbyterian Church, etc., 1973, p.98)

“EASTER (AV Acts 12:4), An anachronistic mistranslation of the Gk. pascha (RSV, NEB, “Passover”), in which the AV followed such earlier versions as Tyndale and Coverdale. The Acts passage refers to the seven-day Passover festival (including the Feast of Unleavened Bread). It is reasonably certain that the NT contains no reference to a yearly celebration of the resurrection of Christ.” (International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, edited by Geoffrey Bromiley, Vol 2 of 4, p.6, article: Easter)

“The term Easter was derived from the Anglo-Saxon ‘Eostre,’ the name of the goddess of spring. In her honor sacrifices were offered at the time of the vernal equinox. By the 8th cent. the term came to be applied to the anniversary of Christ’s resurrection.” (International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, edited by Geoffrey Bromiley, Vol 2 of 4, p.6, article: Easter)

In primitive agricultural societies natural phenomena, such as rainfall, the fecundity of the earth, and the regeneration of nature were frequently personified. One of the most important pagan myths was the search of the earth goddess for her lost (or dead) child or lover (e.g., Isis and Osiris, Ishtar and Tammuz, Demeter and Persephone). This myth, symbolizing the birth, death, and reappearance of vegetation, when acted out in a sacred drama, was the fertility rite par excellence.(The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001)

Attis, in Phrygian religion, vegetation god. …Like Adonis, Attis came to be worshiped as a god of vegetation, responsible for the death and rebirth of plant life. Each year at the beginning of spring his resurrection was celebrated in a festival. In Roman religion he became a powerful celestial deity. (The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001)

“The festival, of which we read in Church history, under the name of Easter, in the third or fourth centuries, was quite a different festival from that now observed in the Romish [and Protestant] Church, and at that time was not known by any such name as Easter. It was called Pasch, or the Passover, and though not of Apostolic institution [It was instituted by God and by Jesus–Lev 23; Matt 26:17-29; Mark 14:12-25; Luke 22:7-20; I Cor 11:23-30], was very early observed by many professing Christians in commemoration of the death and resurrection of Christ [It is a memorial of His death, not His resurrection–I Cor 11:26]. That festival agreed originally with the time of the Jewish [i.e., God’s] Passover, when Christ was crucified …. That festival was not idolatrous, and it was preceded by no Lent” (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, p.104)

“The name Easter comes from Eostre, an ancient Anglo-Saxon goddess, originally of the dawn. In pagan times an annual spring festival was held in her honor.” (Compton’s Encyclopedia and Fact-Index. Vol 7. Chicago: Compton’s Learning Company, 1987, p.41)

“Easter. [Gk. pascha, from Heb. pesah] The Passover …, and so translated in every passage except the KJV: ‘intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people’ [Acts 12:4]. In the earlier English versions Easter had been frequently used as the translation of pascha. At the last revision [1611 A.V.] Passover was substituted in all passages but this…The word Easter is of Saxon origin, the name is eastra, the goddess of spring in whose honor sacrifices were offered about Passover time each year. By the eighth century Anglo-Saxons had adopted the name to designate the celebration of Christ’s resurrection.” (New Unger’s Bible Dictionary, article: “Easter”)

“It is called Easter in the English, from the goddess Eostre, worshipped by the Saxons with peculiar ceremonies in the month of April.” (Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol II, Edinburgh: A. Bell & C. Macfarquhar, 1768, p.464)

“The name of a feast, according to the Venerable Bede, comes from Eostre, A Teutonic goddess whose festival was celebrated in the spring. The name was given to the Christian festival in celebration of the resurrected Eostre, it was who, according to the legend, opened portals of Valhalla to recieve Baldur, called the white god because of his purity and also the sun god because his brow supplied light to mankind. It was Baldur who, after he had been murdered by Utgard Loki, the enemy of goodness and truth, spent half the year in Valhalla and the other half with the pale goddess of the lower regions. As the festival of Eostre was a celebration of the renewal of life in the spring it was easy to make it a celebration of the resurrection from the dead of Jesus. There is no doubt that the church in its early days adopted the old pagan customs and gave a Christian meaning to them.” (George William Douglas, The American Book of Days, article: Easter)

“EASTER: This is from Anglo-Saxon Eostre, a pagan goddess whose festival came at the spring equinox.” (Joseph T. Shipley, Dictionary of Word Origins, New York: Philosophical Library, MCMXLV, p.131)

“The word Easter comes from the Old English word eostre, the name of a dawn-goddess worshipped in the Spring.” (Oxford Junior Encyclopaedia, London: Odhams, 1957, p.123)

“When Christianity conquered Rome: the ecclesiastical structure of the pagan church, the title and the vestments of the pontifex maximus, the worship of the Great Mother goddess and a multitude of comforting divinities, the sense of super sensible presences everywhere, the joy or solemnity of old festivals, and the pageantry of immemorial ceremony, passed like maternal blood into the new religion,–and captive Rome conquered her conqueror. The reins and skills of government were handed down by a dying empire to a virile papacy.” (Will Durant, Caesar and Christ, p. 672)

“Satan, the great counterfeiter, worked through the ‘mystery of iniquity’ to introduce a counterfeit Sabbath to take the place of the true Sabbath of God. Sunday stands side by side with Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Holy (or Maundy) Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Whitsun day, Corpus Christi, Assumption Day, All Souls’ Day, Christmas Day, and a host of other ecclesiastical feast days too numerous to mention. This array of Roman catholic feasts and fast days are all man made. None of them bears the divine credentials of the Author of the Inspired Word.” (M. E. Walsh)

“The {Roman Catholic] church took the pagan philosophy and made it the buckler of faith against the heathen. She took the pagan, Roman Pantheon, temple of all the gods, and made it sacred to all the martyrs; so it stands to this day. She took the pagan Sunday and made it the Christian Sunday. She took the pagan Easter and made it the feast we celebrate during this season. Sunday and Easter day are, if we consider their derivation, much the same. In truth, all Sundays are Sundays only because they are a weekly, partial recurrence of Easter day. The pagan Sunday was, in a manner, an unconscious preparation for Easter day.” (Willliam L. Gildea, D.D., Paschale Gaudium, in The Catholic World, Vol. LVIII., No. 348., March, 1894, published in New York by The Office of The Catholic World., pp.808-809)

“In ancient Anglo-Saxon myth, Ostara is the personification of the rising sun. In that capacity she is associated with the spring and is considered to be a fertility goddess. She is the friend of all children, and to amuse them, she changed her pet bird into a rabbit. This rabbit brought forth brightly colored eggs, which the goddess gave to the children as gifts. From her name and rites the festival of Easter is derived. Ostara is identical to the Greek Eos and the Roman Aurora.” (Encyclopedia Mythica, article: Ostara)

“Vernal Mysteries (spring heathen rites) like those of Tammuz, and Osiris and Adonis flourished in the Mediterranean world and farther north and east there were others. Some of their rites and symbols were carried forward into Easter customs. Many of them have survived into our own day, unchanged yet subtly altered in their new surroundings to bear a ‘Christian’significance.” (Christina Hole, Easter and its Customs)

“…Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon name of a Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility, to whom was dedicated a month corresponding to April. Her festival was celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox; traditions associated with the festival survive in the Easter rabbit, a symbol of fertility, and in colored easter eggs, originally painted with bright colors to represent the sunlight of spring, and used in Easter-egg rolling contests or given as gifts.” (Funk and Wagnall’s Encyclopedia, article: Easter)

“EASTER: from Old English eastre, name of a spring goddess.” (The Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1995)

“The pagan festival held at the vernal equinox to honor Eastre, the goddess of dawn, was called Eastre in Old English. Since the Christian festival celebrating Christ’s resurrection fell at about the same time, the pagan name was borrowed for it when Christianity was introduced to England, the name later being changed slightly to Easter. ” (Robert Hendrickson, The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, New York: Facts on File, 1987, p.177)

“EASTER: West Germanic name of a pagan spring festival.” (Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield: G. & C. Merriam Company, 1976)

“The English word Easter comes from the goddess Eastre, whose festival was celebrated at the vernal equinox, and who presided over the fertility of man and animals.” (Betty Nickerson, Celebrate the Sun, Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1969, p.38)

“The story of Easter is not simply a Christian story. Not only is the very name “Easter” the name of an ancient and non-Christian deity; the season itself has also, from time immemorial, been the occasion of rites and observances having to do with the mystery of death and resurrection among peoples differing widely in race and religion.” (Alan W. Watts, Easter: its Story and Meaning)

“Before Christ was born the people living in northern Europe had a goddess called Eostre, the goddess of the spring. Every year, in spring the people had a festival for her. The name of our spring festival, Easter, comes from the name Eostre.” (The Easter Book, Milan: Macdonald Educational, 1980, p.5)

“The Venerable Bede, (672-735 CE.) a Christian scholar, first asserted in his book De Ratione Temporum that Easter was named after Eostre (a.k.a. Eastre). She was the Great Mother Goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe. Similar Teutonic dawn goddess of fertility [were] known variously as Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Eostra, Eostre, Eostur, Eastra, Eastur, Austron and Ausos.” (Larry Boemler, Biblical Archaeology Review, Vol. 18, Number 3, 1992-May/June, article: “Asherah and Easter”)

“Eostre: Saxon and Neo-Pagan goddess of fertility and springtime whom the holiday Easter was originally named after.” (Gerina Dunwich, The Concise Lexicon of the Occult, New York: Citadel Press, 1990 p.54)

“EASTER: Bæde Temp. Rat. XV. derives the word from Eostre (Northumb. spelling Éastre), the name of a goddess whose festival was celebrated at the vernal equinox; her name…shows that she was originally the dawn-goddess.” (The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989)

“Astarte: a Phoenician goddess of fertility and sexual love who corresponds to the Babylonian and Assyrian goddess Ishtar and who became identified with the Egyptian Isis, the Greek Aphrodite, and others.” (Oxford Dictionary of English)

“Ishtar: ancient fertility deity, the most widely worshiped goddess in Babylonian and Assyrian religion. Ishtar was important as a mother goddess, goddess of love, and goddess of war. Her cult spread throughout W Asia, and she became identified with various other earth goddesses (see GREAT MOTHER OF THE GODS). Great Mother of the Gods: in ancient Middle Eastern religion (and later in Greece, Rome, and W Asia), mother goddess, the great symbol of the earth’s fertility. As the creative force in nature, she was worshiped under many names, including ASTARTE (Syria), CERES (Rome), CYBELE (Phrygia), DEMETER (Greece), ISHTAR (Babylon), and ISIS (Egypt). The later forms of her cult involved the worship of a male deity (her son or lover, e.g., ADONIS, OSIRIS), whose death and resurrection symbolized the regenerative power of the earth.” (www.encyclopedia.com)

When we reflect how often the Church has skilfully contrived to plant the seeds of the new faith on the old stock of paganism, we may surmise that the Easter celebration of the dead and risen Christ was grafted upon a similar celebration of the dead and risen Adonis, which, as we have seen reason to believe, was celebrated in Syria at the same season. ( Sir James George Frazer (1854–1941).

“Thus much already laid down may seem a sufficient treatise to prove that the celebration of the feast of Easter began everywhere more of custom than by any commandment either of Christ or any apostle.” (Socrates, Hist Ecclesiates., lib. v. cap. 22)

“Just as many Christian customs and similar observance had their origin in pre-Christian times, so, too some of the popular traditions of…. Easter dates back to ancient nature rites… The origin of the Easter egg is based on the fertility lore of the Indo-European races…The Easter bunny had its origin in pre-Christian fertility lore. Hare and rabbit were the most fertile animals our forefathers knew, serving as symbols of … new life in the spring season.” (Jesuit author Francis X. Weiser, The Easter Book, pp.15,181,&188)

“As with the other Christian holidays, there was also a holiday in ancient times that was celebrated at about the same time. In this case, it was the celebration of the vernal equinox-the tribute to the goddess of spring, Eastre. Eastre was an Anglo-Saxon goddess who is reputed to have opened the gates of Valhalla for the slain sun god, Baldrun, thereby bringing light to man. Easter also refers to the rising of the sun in the east.” (Carole Potter, Encyclopedia of Superstition, London: Michael O’Mara Books, 1983, p.69)

“Then look at Easter. When means the term Easter itself? It is not a Christian name. It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven, whose name, as pronounced by the people of Nineveh, was evidently identical with that now in common use in this country. That name, as found by Layard on the Assyrian monuments, is Ishtar.” [The Two Babylons (Or The Papal Worship), Alexander Hislop, 1916, Neptune, NJ, Loizeaux Brothers, Inc., p.103]

“About the end of the sixth century, the first decisive attempt was made to enforce the observance of the new calendar. It was in Britain that the first attempt was made in this way; and here the attempt met with vigorous resistance. The difference, in point of time, betwixt the Christian Pasch, as observed in Britain by the native Christians, and the Pagan Easter enforced by Rome, at the time of its enforcement, was a whole month; and it was only by violence and bloodshed, at last, that the Festival of the Anglo-Saxon or Chaldean goddess came to supersede that which had been held in honour of Christ.” [The Two Babylons (Or The Papal Worship), Alexander Hislop, 1916, Neptune, NJ, Loizeaux Brothers, Inc., p.107]

“Many of the customs associated with Easter are derived from various spring fertility rites of the pagan religions which Christianity supplanted.” (Encyclopedia International, China: Lexicon Publications, 1973, p.190)

“Easter is connected in many ways with early pagan rituals that accompanied the arrival of spring.” (Merit Students Encyclopedia, New York: P. F. Collier, 1983, p.167-168)

“Both of these festivals [Easter and Christmas] have roots in old pagan rituals that they have superceeded.” (G. MacGregor, Dictionary of Religion and Philosophy, New York: Paragon House, 1991, p.207)

“Even though it [Easter] has stood for over fifteen hundred years as the symbol of the resurrection of Jesus to members of the Christian Church, it is not entirely a Christian festival. Its origins go far back into pagan rites and customs.” (Charlotte Adams, Easter Idea Book, New York: M. Barrows and Company, 1954, p.11)

“Many of the customs associated with Easter originate in pagan celebrations of spring.” (New Standard Encyclopedia, Vol 6. Chicago: Standard Educational, 1991,pE-25-E-27)

“There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament, or in the writings of the [so-called] apostolic Fathers. The sanctity of special times was an idea absent from the mind of the first Christians.” (The Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed., Vol VIII, Cambridge: The University Press, 1910, p.828)

“Around the Christian observance of Easter as the climax of the liturgical drama of Holy Week and Good Friday, folk customs have collected, many of which have been handed down from the ancient ceremonial and symbolism of European and Middle Eastern pagan spring festivals brought into relation with the resurrection theme.” (The New Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th ed. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 1992. p.333)

“When Christians first spread across Europe, believers in the new faith changed many of the older rites and ceremonies, adapting them to fit with the life and teaching of Jesus. They did not try to stop people from having a great spring festival for their old pagan goddess, Eostre.” (Julian Fox, Easter, Vero Beach: Rourke Enterprises, 1989, p.11)

About 200 B.C. mystery cults began to appear in Rome just as they had earlier in Greece. Most notable was the Cybele cult centered on Vatican hill …Associated with the Cybele cult was that of her lover, Attis (the older Tammuz, Osiris, Dionysus, or Orpheus under a new name). He was a god of ever-reviving vegetation. Born of a virgin, he died and was reborn annually. The festival began as a day of blood on Black Friday and culminated after three days in a day of rejoicing over the resurrection.” (EASTER: ITS ORIGINS AND MEANINGS by The Religious Tolerance Organization Web site http://www.religioustolerance.org/easter.htm)

Easter Eggs

“Eggs were a primitive symbol of fertility; but Christians saw in them a symbol of the tomb from which Christ rose, and continued the [pagan] practice of coloring, giving, and eating them at Easter. “(New Age Encyclopedia.,Vol 6. China: Lexicon Publications, 1973, p.190)

“The custom may have its origin in paganism, for a great many pagan customs, celebrating the return of spring, gravitated to Easter. The egg is the emblem of the germinating life of early spring.” (Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol.5, article: Easter)

“Eggs were hung up in the Egyptian temples. Bunsen calls attention to the mundane egg, the emblem of generative life, proceeding from the mouth of the great god of Egypt. The mystic egg of Babylon, hatching the Venus Ishtar, fell from heaven to the Euphrates. Dyed eggs were sacred Easter offerings in Egypt, as they are still in China and Europe. Easter, or spring, was the season of birth, terrestrial and celestial.” (James Bonwick, Egyptian Belief and Modern Thought, pp. 211-212)

“…the egg as a symbol of fertility and of renewed life goes back to the ancient Egyptians and Persians, who had also the custom of colouring and eating eggs during their spring festival.” (Encylopaedia Britannica, article: Easter)

“Eggs were sacred to many ancient civilizations and formed an integral part of religious ceremonies in Egypt and the Orient. Dyed eggs were hung in Egyptian temples, and the egg was regarded as the emblem of regenerative life proceeding from the mouth of the great Egyptian god.” (Anon, Easter: The Pagan Origins of Common Easter Traditions)

“The egg has become a popular Easter symbol…In ancient Egypt and Persia, friends exchanged decorated eggs at the spring equinox, the beginning of their New Year. These eggs were a symbol of fertility for them….Christians of the Near East adopted this tradition, and the Easter egg became a religious symbol. It represented the tomb from which Jesus came forth to new life.” (Greg Dues, Catholic Customs and Traditions, 1992, p.101)

“The origin of the Pasch eggs is just as clear. The ancient Druids bore an egg, as the sacred emblem of their order. In the Dionysiaca, or mysteries of Bacchus, as celebrated in Athens, one part of the nocturnal ceremony consisted in the consecration of an egg. The Hindoo fables celebrate their mundane egg as of a golden colour. The people of Japan make their sacred egg to have been brazen. In China, at this hour, dyed or painted eggs are used on sacred festivals, even as in this country. In ancient times eggs were used in the religious rites of the Egyptians and the Greeks, and were hung up for mystic purposed in their temples. From Egypt these sacred eggs can be distinctly traced to the banks of the Euphrates. The classic poets are full of the fable of the mystic egg of the Babylonians; and thus its tale is told by Hyginus, the Egyptian, the learned keeper of the Palatine library at Rome, in the time of Augustus, who was skilled in all the wisdom of the native country: ‘An egg of wondrous size is said to have fallen from heaven into the river Euphrates. The fishes rolled it to the bank, were the doves having settled upon it, and hatched it, out came Venus, who afterwards was called the Syrian Goddess’–that is, Astarte. Hence the egg became one of the symbols of Astarte or Easter; and accordingly, in Cyprus, one of the chosen seats of the worship of Venus, or Astarte, the egg of wondrous size was represented on a grand scale.” [The Two Babylons (Or The Papal Worship) , Alexander Hislop, 1916, Neptune, NJ, Loizeaux Brothers, Inc., pp.108-109]

“Christians adapted the symbols, ceremonies and name of the spring festivities of Ishtar-Esther-Eostre to create Easter. Jesus breaks through the hard, cold coffin shell of death to be reborn every spring. In the resurrection of Christ, we witness the vernal rebirth of the soul.” (D. Henes, Celestially Auspicious Occasions: Seasons, Cycles and Celebrations, New York: Perigee Book)

“The Persians and Egyptians colored eggs and ate them during their new year’s celebration, which came in the spring.” (The New Book of Knowledge, Danbury: Grolier, 1991, p.44)

“In northern Europe, Eostre, the Teutonic-Anglo-Saxon goddess of dawn, evolved from Astarte in Babylon and from Ishtar from Assyria. Eggs, dyed blood-red and rolled in the newly sown soil at spring equinox, ensured fertility of the fields. The Moon Hare, sacred animal totem of Eostre, laid more colored eggs for children to find. From the name, Eostre, Astarte, and Ishtar, we derive the scientific terminology for the female hormone and reproduction cycle: estrogen and estrus. Easter also derives from Eostre.” (D. Henes, Celestially Auspicious Occasions: Seasons, Cycles and Celebrations, New York: Perigee Book)

“Since man’s earliest time, the egg, symbolizing the universe, figures in creation mythologies including those of China, Japan, Finland, Siberia and parts of Africa. …When today’s children hunt for Easter eggs they are re-enacting one of man’s oldest rituals. ” (Betty Nickerson, Celebrate the Sun, Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1969, p.38)

“This [Easter egg hunting] is not mere child’s play, but the vestige of a fertility rite” (Funk & Wagnalls’ Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend, Volume 1, pg.335)

“The egg, as a symbol of New Life is much older than Christianity and the coloring of it at the spring festival is also of very ancient origin. The Egyptians, the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans used it this way. Eggs were eaten during the spring festival from very early times. Children are told that the rabbit lays the Easter eggs in a garden for the children to find. This is an adaption of the pagan custom of regarding the rabbit as an emblem of fertility, that is, of new life.” (George William Douglas, The American Book of Days, article: Easter)

“The exchange of Easter eggs, which symbolize new life and fertility, is one of the oldest traditions. Rabbits and flowers are also pagan fertility symbols.” (New Standard Encyclopedia, Vol. 6, Chicago: Standard Educational, 1991. pE-25-E-27)

Easter Lilies

“The so-called ‘Easter lily’ has long been revered by pagans of various lands as a holy symbol associated with the reproductive organs. It was considered a phallic symbol!” (A. J. Dager, Facts and Fallacies of the Resurrection, p.5)

Easter Bunny (i.e., rabbits/hares)

“Nobody seems to know precisely the origin of the Easter bunny, except that it can be traced back to pre-Christian fertility lore. It has never had any connection with Christian religious symbolism.” (Priscilla Sawyer and Daniel J. Foley, Easter the World Over, Philadelphia: Chilton Book Company, 1971, p.104)

“Little children are usually told that the Easter eggs are brought by the Easter Bunny. Rabbits are part of pre-Christian fertility symbolism because of their reputation to reproduce rapidly.” (Greg Dues, Catholic Customs and Traditions, 1992, p.102)

“The Easter Rabbit lays the eggs, for which reason they are hidden in a nest or in the garden. The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility (Simrock, Mythologie, 551).” (Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol.5, article: Easter)

“The Easter hare was no ordinary animal, but a sacred companion of the old goddess of spring, Eostre.” (Julian Fox, Easter, Vero Beach: Rourke Enterprises, 1989, p.11)

“Like the Easter egg, the Easter hare, now an accepted part of the traditional Easter story, came to Christianity from antiquity. The hare is associated with the moon in the legends of ancient Egypt and other peoples.” (Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol 7. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 1955, p.859)

“The hare, the symbol of fertility in ancient Egypt, a symbol that was kept later in Europe, is not found in North America. Its place is taken by the Easter rabbit, the symbol of fertility and periodicity both human and lunar, accredited with laying eggs in nests prepared for it at Easter or with hiding them away for children to find.” (The New Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th ed. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 1992, p.333)

“The white rabbit of Easter, beloved of small Americans, comes hopping down to us from eras when the sun and the moon were gods to men.” (Marguerite Ickis, The Book of Religious Holidays and Celebrations, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1966, p.133)

Sunrise Services

“The custom of a sunrise service on Easter Sunday can be traced to ancient spring festivals that celebrated the rising sun.”(The New Book of Knowledge, Danbury: Grolier, 1981, p.41)

“Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD’S house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east. (Holy Scripture, King James Version, Ezekiel 8:15-16)

“Cults of the sun, as we know from many sources, had attained great vogue during the second, third, and fourth centuries. Sun-worshipers indeed formed one of the big groups in that religious world in which Christianity was fighting for a place. Many of them became converts to Christianity . . . Worshipers in St. Peter’s turned away from the altar and faced the door so that they could adore the rising sun.” (Gordon J. Laing, Survivals of Roman Religion, p. 192)

“A suitable, single example of the pagan influence may be had from an investigation of the Christian custom of turning toward the East, the land of the rising sun, while offering their prayers…” (F.A. Regan, Dies Dominica, P. 196)

“Others, with greater regard to good manners, it must be confessed, suppose that the sun is the God of the Christians, because it is a well-known fact that we pray toward the east, or because we make Sunday a day of festivity.” (Tertullian [155-225 AD.], Ad Nationes, i 13, in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. III, p. 123)

Easter Parades & Wearing of New Clothes

“The Easter Parade which is held after church services in many cultures is another survival from long ago. Before there were courtiers or fashion pages there was a lively superstition, dear to princesses and peasant maidens alike, that a new garment worn at Easter meant good luck throughout the year.” (Marguerite Ickis, The Book of Religious Holidays and Celebrations, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1966, p.133)

“For centuries, even in pagan times, it had been the custom to put on new clothes for the spring festival.” (Priscilla Sawyer and Daniel J. Foley, Easter the World Over, Philadelphia: Chilton Book Company, 1971, p.134)

Hot-cross buns

Jeremiah 7:18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces? (The KJV Bible)

“The hot-cross bun, for example, is pagan in origin. The Anglo-Saxon savages consumed cakes as a part of the jolity that attended the welcoming of spring. The early missionaries from Rome despaired of breaking them of the habit, and got around the difficulty at last by blessing the cakes, drawing a cross upon them.” (Marguerite Ickis, The Book of Religious Holidays and Celebrations, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1966, p.134)

“The ‘buns,’ known too by that identical name, were used in the worship of the queen of heaven, the goddess Easter, as early as the days of Cecrops, the founder of Athens–that is, 1500 years before the Christian era. ‘One species of sacred bread,’ says Bryant, ‘which used to be offered to the gods, was of great antiquity, and called Boun.’ Diogenes Laertius, speaking of this offering being made by Empedocles, describes the chief ingredients of which it was composed, saying, ‘He offered one of the sacred cakes called Boun, which was made of fine flour and honey.’ The prophet Jeremiah takes notice of this kind of offering when he says, ‘The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven.’ The hot cross buns are not now offered, but eaten, on the festival of Astarte; but this leaves no doubt as to whence they have been derived.” [The Two Babylons (Or The Papal Worship), Alexander Hislop, 1916, Neptune, NJ, Loizeaux Brothers, Inc., p.108]

“It is quite probable that it [the word bun] has a far older and more interesting origin, as is suggested by an inquiry into the origin of hot cross buns. These cakes, which are now solely associated with the Christian Good Friday, are traceable to the remotest period of pagan history. Cakes were offered by ancient Egyptians to their moon goddess; and these had imprinted on them a pair of horns, symbolic of the ox at the sacrifice of which they were offered on the altar, or of the horned moon goddess, the equivalent of Ishtar of the Assyro-Babylonians. The Greeks offered such sacred cakes to Astarte [Easter] and other divinities. This cake they called bous (ox), in allusion to the ox-symbol marked on it, and from the accusative boun it is suggested that the word ‘bun’ is derived.Like the Greeks, the Romans eat cross-bread at public sacrifices, such bread being usually purchased at the doors of the temple and taken in with them,a custom alluded to by St. Paul in I Cor. x.28. At Herculaneum two small loaves about 5 in. in diameter, and plainly marked with a cross, were found. In the Old Testament are references made in Jer. vii.18-xliv.19, to such sacred bread being offered to the moon goddess. The cross-bread was eaten by the pagan Saxons in honor of Eoster, their goddess of light. The Mexicans and Peruvians are shown to have had a similar custom. The custom, in fact, was practically universal, and the early church adroitly adopted the pagan practice, grafting it on to the Eucharist. The boun with its Greek cross became akin to the Eucharistic bread or cross-marked wafers mentioned in St. Chrysostom’s liturgy. In the medieval church, buns made from the dough for the consecrated Host were to be distributed to the communicants after mass on Easter Sunday. In France and other Catholic countries, such blessed bread is still given in the churches to communicants who have a long journey before they can break their fast.” (Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed., article: “bun”)

Easter Bonfires

“Pagan festivals celebrating spring included fire and sunrise celebrations. Both later became part of Easter celebrations.” (The New Book of Knowledge, Danbury: Grolier, 1991, p.44)

“….every year, at Beltane (or the 1st of May), a number of men and women assemble at an ancient Druidical circle of stones on her property near Crieff. They light a fire in the centre, each person puts a bit of oat-cake in a shepherd’s bonnet; they all sit down, and draw blindfold a piece from the bonnet. One piece has been previously blackened, and whoever gets that piece has to jump through the fire in the centre of the circle, and pay a forfeit. This is, in fact, a part of the ancient worship of Baal, and the person on whom the lot fell was previously burnt as a sacrifice. Now, the passing through the fire represents that, and the payment of the forfeit redeems the victim. If Baal was thus worshipped in Britain, it will not be difficult to believe that his consort Astarte was also adored by our ancestors, and that from Astarte, whose name in Nineveh was Ishtar, the religious solemnities of April, as now practised, are called by the name of Easter–that month, among our Pagan ancestors, having been called Easter-monath.” [The Two Babylons (Or The Papal Worship), Alexander Hislop, 1916, Neptune, NJ, Loizeaux Brothers, Inc., p.104]

“The Easter Eve bonfires predate Christianity and were originally intended to celebrate the arrival of spring.” (Merit Students Encyclopedia, Vol 6, New York: P. F. Collier, 1983, p.167-168)

“The Easter Fire is lit on the top of mountains (Easter mountain, Osterberg) and must be kindled from new fire, drawn from wood by friction (nodfyr); this is a custom of pagan origin in vogue all over Europe, signifying the victory of spring over winter. The bishops issued severe edicts against the sacrilegious Easter fires (Conc. Germanicum, a. 742, c.v.; Council of Lestines, a.743, n.15), but did not succeed in abolishing them everywhere. The Church adopted the observance into the Easter ceremonies, referring it to the fiery column in the desert and to the Resurrection of Christ; the new fire on Holy Saturday is drawn from flint, symbolizing the Resurrection of the Light of the World from the tomb closed by a stone (Missale Rom.). In some places a figure was thrown into the Easter fire, symbolizing winter…” (Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol.5, article: Easter)

“Fire, once part of the pagan spring festival, is now a Christian Easter symbol.” (The New Book of Knowledge, Danbury: Grolier, 1981, p.41)

“Spring fire rites to honor the sun god were forbidden until the year 752 A.D. By that time the pagan fires had changed into Easter fires.” (Edna Barth, Lilies, Rabbits, and Painted Eggs: The Story of the Easter Symbols, New York: Seabury Press, 1970, p.15)

“Bonfires on Easter Eve are particularly common in Germany, where they are lighted not only in churchyards but upon hilltops, where the young people gather around and jump over them, dance, and sing Easter hymns. These are remnants of pagan and sacrificial rites in which quantities of tar-soaked barrel staves, branches and roots of trees were burned.” (Priscilla Sawyer and Daniel J. Foley, Easter the World Over, Philadelphia: Chilton Book Company, 1971, p.103)

ALL over Europe the peasants have been accustomed from time immemorial to kindle bonfires on certain days of the year, and to dance round or leap over them. Customs of this kind can be traced back on historical evidence to the Middle Ages, and their analogy to similar customs observed in antiquity goes with strong internal evidence to prove that their origin must be sought in a period long prior to the spread of Christianity.( Sir James George Frazer (1854–1941). The Golden Bough. 1922.)

The essentially pagan character of the Easter fire festival appears plainly both from the mode in which it is celebrated by the peasants and from the superstitious beliefs which they associate with it. ( Sir James George Frazer (1854–1941). The Golden Bough. 1922.)

Lent

“The word Lent is of Anglo-Saxon origin, meaning spring.” (Marguerite Ickis, The Book of Religious Holidays and Celebrations, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1966, p.114)

“The celebration of Lent has no basis in Scripture, but rather developed from the pagan celebration of Semiramis’s mourning for 40 days over the death of Tammuz (cf. Ezek 8:14) before his alleged resurrection—another of Satan’s mythical counterfeits.” (John MacArthur, Jr., The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: 1 Corinthians, Chicago: Moody, 1984)

‘It ought to be known,’ said Cassianus, the monk of Marseilles, writing in the fifth century, and contrasting the primitive Church with the Church in his day, ‘that the observance of forty days had no existence, so long as the perfection of that primitive Church remained inviolate.’ Whence, then, came this observance? The forty days abstinence of Lent was directly borrowed from the worshippers of the Babylonian goddess.” [The Two Babylons (Or The Papal Worship), Alexander Hislop, 1916, Neptune, NJ, Loizeaux Brothers, Inc., p.104]

Pagans Still Celebrate Easter

“Sabbats in Modern Witchcraft–Spring Equinox–A solar festival, in which day and night, and the forces of male and female, are in equal balance. The spring equinox, the first day of spring, marks the birth of the infant Sun God and paves the way for the coming lushness of summer. Dionysian rites are performed. The Christian version of the sabbat is Easter. (Rosemary Ellen Guiley, The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft, New York: Facts On File, 1989, p.289)

“Witches celebrate eight major festivals or sabbats each year. The sabbat is a religious ceremony deriving from ancient European festivals celebrating seasonal and pastoral changes. The first is Yule, 20 or 21 December, celebrating the winter solstice. The next is 1 or 2 February, Oimelc, Imbolc, or Candlemas, at which initiations often take place. 20 or 21 March, Eostre, the vernal equinox, is a fertility festival. 30 April is Beltane.” (Jeffery B. Russell, A History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Heretics, and Pagans, London: Thames and Hudson, 1980, p.167)

After reading these facts, the choice to reject using the name “easter” should be weighing on our conscience as the right thing to do..

Lets call it Passover/Pesach, and keep the same days that Yeshua/Jesus Himself kept.

We should pray that our Heavenly Father grant us forgiveness and repentance and that His spirit of Holiness comforts and encourages us to step out in faith and “be separate” from the world. We really need to reject the holidays of men and learn about the genuine Holydays of our Heavenly Father and know that in the His word prophetically He says through Zechariah in chapter14:16.

And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.

So it is certain they are not done away with…..

שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם‎,

Shalom aleikhem

chaverim and mishpachah!

Shavua Tov, Have a blessed week, you are greatly loved and prayed for daily. Please don’t leave here without assurance of your salvation or without our Heavenly Fathers’ shalom ENVELOPING you and the deep inner knowing that you are sealed to the day of redemption by the Blood of Messiah Jesus/Yeshua.

Not sure ..you can be…

Make certain Messiah Jesus/Yeshua is your Redeemer, Savior, Lord and soon returning King and that you have a personal relationship with Him.

It’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.

You are very precious in His sight.

SIMPLY SAY THE FOLLOWING MEANING IT FROM YOUR HEART..don’t delay one more minute, SAY IT RIGHT NOW…

Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.

I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name.

Seeds And Seasons

מוֹעֵד

moed

Strongs #4150

Phonetic Spelling: mo-ade’

Today as disciples/believers in Jesus/Yeshua as Messiah; we learn about, observe and celebrate the Appointed Times of God as if they were something just recently discovered, a new trend, the latest thing; when in fact they have been followed since Moses was instructed concerning them.

It’s only new to us, not to the children of Israel; and even they were more aware of their significance in earlier times.

In truth God set things in sync. in Genesis:

It is most probable that in Genesis 1:14, where ׳ מ אֹתֹת, the reference is to the sacred seasons as fixed by moon’s appearance; and so also ׳ עשׂה ירח למ he made the moon for sacred seasons Psalm 104:19, although many Lexicons & Commentaries refer these to the seasons of the year.

The word translated as seasons

in the Hebrew Masoretic Text (MT) is

moedim (H4150),

which means

appointed times.

Let Them Be…For Feasts?

Many folks associate the word seasons in Genesis 1

with the feasts of YHVH outlined in Leviticus 23

because it is the same Hebrew word moedim used in that text:

The Hebrew noun מועד moed,

Strong’s #4150

is translated as

appointed time, meeting, or season.

It literally means an appointment.

Genesis 1:14 
HEB: וְהָי֤וּ לְאֹתֹת֙ וּלְמ֣וֹעֲדִ֔ים וּלְיָמִ֖ים וְשָׁנִֽים׃
KJV: and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years

Read that verse again replacing seasons with appointed times or festivals and it takes on a much richer meaning. Considering that God/Yahweh/YHWH, made the sun, moon, and all the stars for not only days and years and signs (something else to consider), but also for appointed times.

The plural moedim (מועדים), refers to any of the 3 mandatory Pilgrimage Festivals of Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot

Shavuot (חג השבועות), also called Weeks or Pentecost.

This marks the climax of the Passover Season,

the giving of Torah at Sinai

and the

giving of the Ruach (Spirit) at Jerusalem.

It is the genesis/beginning

of the Re-New-ed Covenant

for all nations, tribes, and tongues…

Centuries and millennia ago the Lord’s seasons and appointed times were critical to daily life.

For them it was crucial to watch the sun and moon and stars and fix their eyes on the heavens.

Why?

Because they had to be sure when to plant,

when to wait,

when to harvest and

when to let the land lie follow.

In Luke 21:25 Jesus/Yeshua said there will be signs and they that see them would know.

This was also His accusation towards the religious leaders of the day, the fact that they did not recognize Him, that the signs should have confirmed His coming to them but they did not see them, or worse, chose to both ignore and deny them.

Matt 16:3 and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.

His disciples asked Him what they should be looking for..

Matt 24:1-51

Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

Matthew 24:1-51, Mark 13:1-37, Luke 21:5-36

Destruction of the Temple,

Signs of the Times and End of the Age

For the people, the waiting between events was just as important and as anticipated as the appointed times on certain days.

And they simply lived in harmony with the natural cycles of life and of the heavens and met with God when He said it was time.

Every farmer/ gardener knows, we plant and watch and wait for the fruits and crops to be declared ready and ripe before reaping the harvest.

Wrong timing means a poor harvest; which is why He waits patiently for the precious fruit of the earth. James 5:7,

In Luke 6:37 it is implied throughout these verses, that God acts as we are exhorted to act. They give a picture of the gracious spirit of God.—καὶ.

Give — Liberally to those that need your assistance; and it shall be given unto you

For your kindness and liberality will naturally gain you love and respect; and God also, by His supernatural grace, will influence men’s hearts in your favour.

Good measure,

pressed down,

shaken together,

and running over

Messiah makes use of these 3 phrases to express all the different kinds of good measure, according to the different nature of the things measured.

Some of them, to make the measure good, must be pressed down and trodden, like grapes and olives;

some of them must be shaken, as the several kinds of grain;

and some of them must be running over, such as all sorts of liquids.

The meaning of giving this

good measure into one’s bosom,

is an allusion to the eastern dress, which were long pieces of cloth wrapped round their bodies, and girded up with a girdle.

Their garments being of this kind, they could receive into their lap or bosom a considerable quantity of such dry goods as they sold by measure.

Μὴ κρίνετε, μὴ καταδικάζετε,

judge not, condemn not.

By judging, we decide as to the goodness or badness of an action: by condemning, we determine as to the person, what (punishment) the guilty has deserved.

Proverbs 10:5

In this the son is not wise because he stops to wonder if the correct time for harvesting has come. Is he not following events closely, so he doesn’t know what time it is?

However the son is wise because he gathers in Summer which is the appointed time, God’s timing.

Regardless of his understanding, he is to respond wisely and gather because the season has arrived.

The second part says he who sleeps in harvest time is a son who causes Shame.

There are many reasons God’s children fall asleep during a time of harvest.

It may be because we are sick, distracted, lazy or just think we know better than what God is telling us.

Whatever the reason we sleep, the outcome is that we miss the harvest because we weren’t paying attention to the time, to the season, to the Kingdom of the heavens, to the cycle of life and His/our appointed time.

This is why the children of Israel were instructed to Count the Omer because they were commanded to Count the days from Passover/Pesach to Pentecost/Shavuot.

Jesus/Yeshua kept and fulfilled the Appointed Times – Precisely.

It was crucial because they needed to know where they were according to Gods’ timetable. His schedule, His calendar; for the simple reason they would be ready to reap when it was time.

The reason we have a problem following Gods calendar, and the reason we fail to observe and do; is because we are keeping our own calendar, our own schedules, and our own plans and purposes, and our own important dates – those that are not on His calendar/ annual rhythm of life.

We need to remember that God’s calendar is

His will and His way..

and it has not changed since He initiated it with Moses.

It is men who have changed it and obscured the biblical rhythm of lifecycles. Instead of looking up we have our heads buried in busyness and business and miss even the most obvious things going on around us..

Here is a back handed compliment, in that, if you are under assault/attack in various ways then we are causing problems for the adversary/ha satan because we are keeping His commands.

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 1Peter 4:12,13

Nevertheless it is time to

wake up

stay alert

be on guard

and watch

so that our Heavenly Father’s seasons will not pass us by un-noticed any longer.

We are to be wise children and keep in sync. with our Heavenly Father, so that we will be ready for His gathering of the harvest when the summer arrives.

It was fulfillment prophetically, and as are all things pertaining to the coming of Messiah, this is a time to both reflect and prepare. The harvest of Shavuot/Pentecost may be more significant than we realize.

When He told them in Matthew 24 Mark 13 Luke 21, to wait in Jerusalem until the promise came, He was referring to Daniel 9:27 7:1311:31 and Joel and Isaiah 13:10 Ezekiel 32:7

It was not an enforced, all-restricting, lock-down; they were fully cognizant of the Time of the Omer and its significance. Pentecost/Shavuot, was waiting for the first fruits harvest, however the coming of the Holy Spirit/Ruach HaKodesh on Shavuot was a new experience and it initiated a spiritual harvest – the first fruits of Messiah’s resurrection.

3000 Jewish individuals were converted to Messiah in one day. We  often miss the significance because we do not know His seasons.

3000 perished were Lost in the wilderness.(Num 26:10)

and it is not coincidence that 3000 was the number SAVED at shavuot/pentecost!

They were not new prophecies. He was reiterating prophecies already in the Torah, prophets and writings, which they were familiar.

Certain events have occurred in past generations however, the key is Matthew24:33 when all these things happen at the same time…

This is the generation that will not pass until all be fulfilled.

A harvest season may be the season of His return but He said we do not know the day nor the hour but be assured,  the Bridegroom WILL COME for His Bride.

Paralambano – Greek: παραλαμβάνω 

Strong’s #3880: paralambano 

(pronounced par-al-am-ban’-o) from 3844 and 2983; to receive near, i.e. associate with oneself (in any familiar or intimate act or relation); by analogy, to assume an office; figuratively, to learn:–receive, take (unto, with)

verse 40 and 41. At the midnight hour which is more accurately: the mid of night.

 

Immediately before the washing of his feet in John 12:26/7  He said,

A short time is light among you walk in the light while you have it so you can become the children of light.

So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” John 12:35

While you have the Light, believe in the Light [have faith in it, hold to it, rely on it], that you may become sons of the Light and be filled with Light.

Verse 36b When Jesus had said these things, all these things he left and HE HID FROM THEM they would not be able to find him.

There is a time coming when He is not going to be found by those seeking.

The DOOR of grace will be closed as in was to the ark…. and the flood came and took them all away. Door/dalet I AM the Dalet/Door. Messiah is our ark.

Harvesting The Crop of SEEDS.

Mark 4:26, 29


How to succeed in sowing a seed

Everything Yeshua/Jesus taught them was in parables.

Examples of truth are enveloped in a simple story that gave a clear meaning to the listeners, that is; if they had ears to hear and eyes to see.

Secrets of the kingdom of the Heavens/Shamayim, hidden since the foundation of the world

That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world. Matthew 13:35

We are living in the days the prophets spoke of and whatever we choose to believe will not change the truth our personal opinions are of no value unless they precisely echo the words of Yeshua/Jesus.

He said every word will be fulfilled, that means the bad as well as the good.

In Gods ways,

death initiates life….

and darkness is dispelled by light;

forward and upward are His directions

and we leave as we came  – with nothing…

The kingdom of God, the kingdom of the heavens; Jesus/Yeshua said it has come. He told us to pray for it to continue to come; so it is a critical element in our individual walk.

There are many references to it and what it is like what its composition is and how to recognize it.

Here in Mark it is likened to a person who cast seed on the earth.

This is all the individual does

and as the days pass,

the seeds spring up and grow.

Although the man does not know how it grew.

God is the supplier of all seed (Nun/Noon) and we need to have faith to turn over our hands, so that the seed might fall to the ground and become a great harvest in our lives.

For by it self the earth brings forth fruit.

It doesn’t need our help it’s not even the seed or the one who sows that produces the crop but the soil by it’s self with no help from humans.

Truly this is a mystery

 

What proof do we have that the seed we sowed is the same seed that sprouts and grows?

First the stalk after that the head and after that the full grain in the head

As soon as the crop is ready to yield itself, immediately the man sends forth the sickle because the harvest has become.

The evidence is all circumstantial we think that since something grows where we put the seed it has grown from our seed that we planted.

The truth is that from the moment it leaves our hand and is covered with soil we do not see the seed again. We just trust that the seed we sowed is the same seed that will grow is and is the one that pushes up through the earth.

We wait,

sleep at night,

awake in the day

but how it grows we just don’t know

and our work was done at the sowing

 

This seed once nestled into its womb

and place of birth,

the earth,

then Life springs forth –

that life comes from the soil of the earth.

Another verse of this parable says the

seed is the word of God

and the

earth is the life of the individual

and the type of ground/ Life.

Here He is giving the progress of the seed both as how it is received and then what is produced.

 

First the stalk

This is the framework the structure that is planted deep in the life-giving soil and will support the plant.

To understand the parable is the mystery of the seed and despite all of our knowledge of science and biology, we still cannot explain why/how seeds sprout and grow.

The first point is:

that the seed is like the grace/chen of God which is an essential part of the process of becoming a disciple. We have to pray and realize that if God is not in it all of our efforts will come to nothing.

We have to be willing to be discipled from the Grace/Chen of God and not our own egos. When God is not at the heart of our efforts to spread the good news, then we are simply witnessing and not making disciples. Initially we need to get rid of our pride, prayerfully humble ourselves and ask our Father to give us the grace/chen to both reach and make disciples in faith.

It is the foundation which must be stable, likened to the house built on sand or rock a sure foundation is essential or in any kind of storm it will not withstand the elements and be destroyed.

Next the head

wheat

This is the container for the fruit that will yield the fruit for the crop. The stalk must be strong to hold this head of fruit.

corn

It is like a house and within it is the precious new life/chaim.

We too are His House on the earth and since Jesus/Yeshua came, we are the containers, the precious fruit of the earth that He waits patiently for.

The second point of the parable is the slow progression of growth: first the blade,

then the ear,

then the full grain in the ear.

We mature in faith with baby steps and saints are not made in 24 hours. Developing faith is a life time project because we change and grow in stages. Discipling is the process of mentoring people from one stage of faith to another, and having the discernment to recognize when someone is ready for the next step. Unless grace/chen has done its work, a person cannot be rushed in their development – just like growing corn, it takes 90 days not 30.

It cannot be grow any quicker. We can plant, water, fertilize, but corn will take about 90 days to ripen. Some flowers like daffodils brought inside in the early spring forces them to open but we can’t force corn. Mentoring others in faith means: having patience and a discerning eye to know when someone is ready for the next challenge to their faith muscles being stretched. Sadly some never progress beyond a certain stage and even regress, it’s all a matter of choice and freewill.

 

The next is the full grain in the head or ear.

At this stage the fruit comes forth abundantly

 

It is to be noted that it takes a specific time to develop, it’s perfect in its time.

Ecclesiastes 3:11. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Everything in God’s creation tells us of His ways.

They are always in perfect time and in Godly order.

Life/nun gives way to fullness/chet/50/shavuot/pentecost, and the seed grows through its stages to full maturity the full corn in the ear.

It began as a seed in a human hand small and dormant not dead but sleeping in a kind of stasis, awaiting the perfect conditions predetermined by its creator.

When those conditions were applied from its humble origin in the seed realized it’s God assigned destiny and it reached its potential to the fullest extent.

So the third point of the parable is to recognize the harvest. When people are ready to be spiritually fruitful, they are ready to do whatever Holy Spirit leads them to do. If you have ever seen a field of corn or any crop that has reached its moment of glorious maturity it is a sight moving like the waves of the sea.

A grand Vista of proud growth pristine standing tall reaching for the sky and sunshine and yet it is not serving it’s true and final purpose it is failing to fulfill that which God has created it for. It has matured so it cannot grow anymore it is complete and ready but its final goal is not yet realized.

And the next verse 29, harvest has come, and the man sends forth the sickle. All that hard work: from birth to growing up, to establishing foundation and of maturing through life

and now

to be cut down in it’s prime?!

Life gives birth to death…and yet in that death,

finally it is now able to fulfill its’ God appointed destiny…

He grew up a shoot Isaiah 11:1
A shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.

Only to be cut down in His prime and yet from Him came such abundant seed which today is still multiplying from His death.

The seed the farmer sowed into the ground is a reference to us today, we like the seed, have being scattered on the ground…

and His call to us today is to sprout and grow

but like the seed we won’t know how.

But God….

as we are the containers of the seed we have within us His life/chaim. His Ruach/His Spirit and by it’s self/ Himself/His Spirit produces a crop;and with every Appointed Time of His Annual Life Cycle we are refilled and brought to fullness at Shavout/Pentecost ready to GO and Make Disciples of all nations sowing precious seed of our own for His Kingdom.

Matt 13:23; Mark 4:1-20; Luke 8:1-15.

Mishpachah/family and Cheverim/friends, Our Messiah Jesus/Yeshua is calling us to lay down our lives.

Come,

come now,

and don’t delay.

The kingdom of His heavens is at hand, even at the door

and the head is full of grain

and the crop is ready;

which means He will come with His sickle –

so let us willingly, humbly, yield ourselves,

because the time of harvest has come.

He grows us up to cut us down.

It is His way, He did it with His only begotten Son Jesus/Yeshua; so why would we think it would be any different for us.

He matures us to our fullest potential and then takes us for Himself and uses us for His purposes.

Let us gladly, jointly, surrender all, to the gatherer of His harvest because we cannot know how seeds sprout and grow – only the one who created every seed understands this mystery.

He plants us, gives us Life, makes us grow and be a ready crop..

Now He comes For His Harvest!

 

Aware that the mp4 below is obviously ‘out of season’ in its timing but be encouraged to listen in amazement to this presentation of HALLELUJAH sung by Kaylee Rogers who loves Jesus with all her heart.

What makes this talented singer even more special is, Kaylee is a challenged child, overcoming autism and ADHD. She is, in the truest sense, an OVERCOMER as the BIBLE speaks of and so are her many precious schoolmates at the wonderful KILLARD SCHOOL for special needs children in Northern Ireland.

https://youtu.be/Bmx–WjeN7o

These scriptures have never seemed more real! Matt 18:3 “Truly I tell you,” He said, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matt 19:14 But Jesus said, “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Oh my! How much we can learn from children such as these!

P.S. For those counting, today is day 32, which is 4 weeks and 4 days of the Omer; day 49 will be Wednesday night May 27th 2020.

Shalom shalom mishpachah and cheverim! You are loved and appreciated and prayed for daily.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read the posts. If they have been a blessing and if you haven’t already, please sign up for free email notification, like, share and subscribe, it all helps to freely spread the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth and reaches others with His Truths.

Important Note: For some unknown reason the email widget was removed?! Hmm! Apologies to anyone trying to become a subscriber. Hopefully now restored. MMM will continue to post as long as the web platform is intact… we are in His hands….

It’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.

You are greatly loved and precious in His sight.

NOT SURE?

YOU CAN BE..

SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…

Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.

I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name. Amen.

Are We in A Divine Pause?

40th day of the Omer on the Hebrew Calendar is 25 IYYAR, it was on Thursday, May 30th.

– Divine Gaps and Pauses – בהשהייה

The 40th day also marked the day of Yeshua/Jesus’ Ascension into the Heavens.

Shamayim – שָׁמַיִם

Strongs 8064: Phonetic Spelling: (shaw-mah’-yim)

Then Jesus blessed them, and as He gave the blessing, He began to ascend into heaven.

The account of Yeshua/Jesus’ Ascension is found in Luke 24:50-51 and Acts 1:9-11.

It is plain from Scripture that it was a literal, bodily return to heaven.

 The Ascension is a mystery of faith, just like Yeshua/Jesus’ Resurrection, with which it is closely associated. The event is mentioned briefly in Mark (16:19) and Luke (24:50-53).

“This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

Messiah, Ascension of, and as the forerunner of His people. Hebrews 6:20

He was the first fruit.

This event occurred 40 days

which is the 40th day of the Omer count to Shavuot (Total 50 days – Pentecost)

There is some significance to certain numbers in the Bible, however we should be discerning about trying to interpret their meanings. God did have reasons for using certain numbers over and over in the Bible, but only He may know the true reasons.

The number 40 is used 159 times. There is a general consensus among scholars that it is a number symbolizing trial, testing, or judgment. 40 also represents transition or change; the concept of renewal; a new beginning. The number 40 has the power to lift a spiritual state. This seems evident in a number of places in the Bible, however, it also is used for more than that.

Every time one finds the number forty in Torah, its inner meaning is the ascent from one level to the next higher one. (Ascension!)

The letter Mem is the thirteenth letter of the Hebrew Aleph-Bet, Alphabet. The letter Mem has the numeric value of forty (40).

The Mem represents the age, or time of completion.

The pictograph for Mem looks like a wave of water, whereas the classical Hebrew script (Ketav Ashurit) is constructed of a Kaf with a Vav beside it: Interesting note is that the gematria for these components equals the value for the Divine Name.

Below is a list of the ways it could be taken as a number signifying trial, testing, judgment, transition or change, the concept of renewal, or a new beginning.

Strongs #40 is Abimelek- Phonetic Spelling: (ab-ee-mel’-ek) – אֲבִימֶלֶךְ – meaning ‘father is king’!

When God destroyed every living thing on the Earth by flood, it rained 40 days and 40 nights (Gen 7:4,12,17).

Three men in the Bible fasted 40 days and 40 nights: Moses (Ex 34:28)(Deut 9:9,18,25)(Deut 10:10), Elijah (1 Kin 19:8), and Jesus (Mt 4:2)(Lk 4:2)(Mk 1:13).

Because Israel refused to enter the Promised Land, God condemned them to wander in the “wilderness” for 40 years (Num 14:33-34)(Num 32:11-13)(Deut 8:2)(Josh 5:6).
(God also kept their clothing and sandals from wearing out for the whole 40 years: Deut 29:5, Deut 8:4.)

The Israelites were given manna in the desert for 40 years to “test” and “humble” them (Ex 16:35)(Deut 8:3,16)

When scourging someone, they could not receive more than 40 lashes (Deut 25:3)(2 Cor 11:24).

The Israelites were in captivity to the Philistines for 40 years for doing evil (Judg 13:1). 

Goliath taunted Israel for 40 days and nights (1 Sam 17:16), until David defeated him.

Ezekiel laid on his right side for 40 days to “bear the iniquity” of Judah’s sins (Ezek 4:6).

God proclaimed judgment against Egypt, saying it would be desolate for 40 years (Ezek 29:10-12).

God gave Nineveh 40 days to repent or be overthrown (Jonah 3:4).

Other References:

After the flood waters had receded, and the tops of the mountains were visible, Noah waited another 40 days to open the window of the Ark (Gen 8:6).

Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah as his wife (Gen 25:20).

Esau, Isaac’s son, also got married when he was 40 (Gen 26:34).

Embalming took 40 days in early Bible times (Gen 50:3).

Moses was on Mt. Sinai for 40 days and 40 nights (twice!) (Ex 24:18)(Ex 34:28)(Deut 9:9,11,18,25)(Deut 10:10).

The spies that Moses sent to spy out the Promised Land were there for 40 days (Num 13:25)(Num 14:34).

One of those spies was Joshua, and he was forty years old when he went (Josh 14:7).

Moses died when he was 120 years old (Deut 34:7). His life can be divided into 3 sections of 40 years: (first 40) being born and growing up in Pharaoh’s house in Egypt (Acts 7:20-23), (middle 40) fleeing to Midian after killing the Egyptian, and living there for 40 years (Acts 7:29-30), (last 40) returning to Egypt, the exodus, and the events that followed (Acts 7:36)(Ex 7:7).

Aaron died 40 years after the Israelites had left Egypt (Num 33:38).

Three different times in Judges, the land had rest for 40 years (Judg 3:11)(Judg 5:31)(Judg 8:28).

Eli judged Israel for 40 years (1 Sam 4:18).

Ishbosheth became king over Israel when he was 40 years old (2 Sam 2:10).

Three kings reigned for 40 years: David (1 Kin 2:11)(2 Sam 5:4-5), Solomon (1 Kin 11:42), and Joash (2 Chr 24:1)(2 Kin 12:1).
(Saul may also be a part of this group [Acts 13:21], but this is controversial [1 Sam 13:1].)

The 10 lavers in the Temple each held “40 baths” (about 230 gal.) of water (1 Kin 7:38).

The time period between Jesus’ resurrection and ascension was 40 days (Acts 1:3).

The book of Exodus has 40 chapters.

The average length of a woman’s pregnancy is 40 weeks.

In other denominations observance of Lent is the 40 days before easter (not counting Sundays).

So the meaning of trial, testing, or judgment could be aligned with the Omer as days of self spiritual preparation. A gap in time, a season of a divine pause?

As a point of reference today, most technical equipment and those with Remote Control units often have a pause or hold button that will suspend action, the motor, the motion.

Or to stop the DVD video and/or replay the one we are watching. It is convenient and on our time schedule then when we are ready we continue to fit in with our plans.

We are often put

on the phone, which can be frustrating while music is played.

The Omer is like a spiritual pause.

When the disciples were

on hold – ( בהשהייה ) –

because He had said to them –

wait – שְׁבוּ־ – šə·ḇū- 

in Jerusalem

after the 49 days of the Omer, it was Shavuot and the Ruach HaKodesh came.

Then the pause was removed and the command to

go – לְכ֣וּ –lə-ḵū

replaced the command to . 

wait – שְׁבוּ־ – šə·ḇū- .

It was set in as an appointed time of preparation and an Annual rehearsal for all the generations prior to Messiah appearance.

This was a very long divine pause/gap, from it’s initiation and institution at Sinai to its fulfillment in Jerusalem. God’s timing and ways and thoughts are not like our human ones.

We often forget that after His resurrection, first fruits; the risen Messiah was seen by many. Was He with His disciples for all of the 40 days, almost 6 weeks?

Was He still teaching them in His resurrected body?

The first written reference to the resurrection is in 1Cor 15:3-12; Here is context:

 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter/Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

Read verse 6 again…..how many?

he appeared to Peter/Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

It is amazing that nowhere in the 4 gospels is there a record of an appearance to more than 500 brothers and sisters at one time. (The reference to brethren always included the women and children.)

The location where Yeshua/Jesus met with the disciples in the last chapter of Matthew was in Galilee on a mountain top. 

The particular mountain was not specified, although according to tradition there were two possible locations, Mt. Tabor and Mt. Hermon.

Mt. Tabor (above) is in the Jezreel Valley in southern Galilee.

Mt. Hermon in northern Galilee rises to over 9,000 feet above sea level.  Either location would have provided a safe place away from the watchful eyes of the authorities for a group of 500 or more subversive (rebel lions!) peasants to gather.

Interesting to note that the base of Mt Hermon was known as the gates of hell, because it was a pagan altar to Pan.

The followers of Yeshua/Jesus climbed the mountain and the risen Messiah appeared to them, and what did the disciples see? 

Our scripture doesn’t give us much of a clue, just one verse 17:  And when they saw him they worshiped him; but some doubted.

Why did some doubt? Whatever His followers saw that day must not have been totally convincing because this indicates that despite His appearance there was still some room for honest doubt, enough to be recorded.  Maybe some of them simply couldn’t believe their eyes and ears; even though Yeshua/Jesus appeared to them and spoke to them, still they doubted.

There is not much written in the Scriptures of what he taught them or did during that one month in 10 days.

However He was bridging the gap, the pause, as they counted the Omer to Shavuot/Pentecost.

Was He with them daily in Jerusalem as they met in the upper room?

We do know He was seen in Galilee.

On the morning of the Resurrection, the angel tells the women to tell the disciples that Messiah would go before them into Galilee.

“Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.” (Mt 28:7)

After seeing the angel on their way to tell the men, the risen Messiah met them…

9 Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” They came to Him, grasped His feet, and worshiped Him.

Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me. 28:10

We might think that it would be better to remain in Jerusalem. Obviously in the city, He would have more witnesses to the resurrection.

Why did Yeshua/Jesus chose Galilee?

Maybe because Galilee served every purpose that Jerusalem couldn’t!

It was a call to faith.

Yeshua/Jesus had been warning them, prophesying that He would be killed but would rise from the dead (Mark 8:31, 9:31, 10:34, Luke 9:22).

This would be an act of faith for them to go to Galilee purposefully to meet Him there. They would of necessity have to believe the eye-witness testimony of the women who reported that they saw Yeshua/Jesus risen from the dead.

Furthermore, they would also have to believe that Yeshua/Jesus was really going to appear to them. The location away from Jerusalem, would help to separate them from that highly emotional environment which might be seen as a place where false identifications or hallucinations might proliferate.

Instead they had time to calm their emotions as they traveled the miles to Galilee because if they were really going to meet Yeshua/Jesus in Galilee it would be the real person and not be any mirage or trick.

Those who had made the pilgrimage for  Pesach/Passover would be returning home. A remote mountain in Galilee would be a good location to meet with His disciples without chance of interruption, because He wanted to show Himself openly to all His assembled disciples. The Jews would not have permitted them to assemble in Judæa. Another reason may have been that this location would allow Yeshua/Jesus to easily choose those who were to be witnesses of His resurrection.

We saw in a previous post that the Jews of that time believed that the soul of the departed hovered around the tomb for several days after death. If Yeshua/Jesus met the disciples in Galilee then there would be no suspicion that the post-resurrection appearances were of this kind. (Cf. Edersheim, Life, II, 631). Nobody could claim that the disciples only saw Yeshua/Jesus’ ghost hovering around His tomb.

This choice in location showed His wisdom because Galilee was home. He was well aware of the disciples emotional and psychological state. Just as the two on the Emmaus Road, they were broken and in despair, probably even frightened.

Judas had met a horrible end, Thomas was alone with his doubts and depression, many were confused.

His goal was to regroup them and help rebuild their faith, bringing the fulness of His shalom to their shattered hopes.

His choice of home is echoed in the prodigal sons return home and also today when young people mess up their lives and need to know some semblance of normality and hope, going back home is their best option. Here they will most likely find that security, love and a sense of belonging/family stability that they might live more safely among their own relations …

Yeshua/Jesus was aware that taking them back to Galilee would be a positive move because in Galilee, Yeshua/Jesus had preached, and performed very many miracles there.

This would help remind them of their time with Him, the miracles, casting out demons, healing the sick, preaching to the multitudes, the victories and the successes. Taking them out of the hostile environment of Jerusalem; which was a place of conflict, where the attacks of the Jewish leaders were relentless and it was the place of turmoil, suffering and death.

The meeting in Galilee would be a more calm and friendly place; which would make it easier for them to see their new apostolic calling: to take the gospel message of the kingdoms to the uttermost ends of the earth.

These may be some reasons why He chose Galilee, because He knew best and has always known what He is doing.

The most important question is, do we believe He knows what He is doing and will we trust Him?

He does not say they should not see Him before: for they saw Him – all but Thomas – that very evening. All of them saw Him eight days later; and both times were before they went into Galilee: but this He said, to put them in mind of what He had promised them, Matthew 26:32. Also to confirm the words of the angel; and which might serve for a confirmation of the truth of these things, both to the women, and to the disciples, when they observed the exact agreement between Jesus/Yeshua’s words, and those of the angel.

Go tell my brethren;

This was significant in that He was meaning those who were not His kinsmen according to the flesh, but His disciples, who were in this relation to Him, as all the elect of God are.

Not only through His incarnation, He being their “Goel”, their near kinsman, and Redeemer, and of the same nature, flesh, and blood with them, and like unto them in all things, excepting sin. This was rather on account of their divine adoption, to which they were predestinated, and which they received through His redemption, and under the witness of the Ruach:

“And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brothers! his disciples For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” Matthew 12:49,50

The disciples stood in an unique relationship to Messiah, who is the eternal Son of God, and heir of all things; and that relationship was in Him now He was raised from the dead, and had all glory given to Him. Here He declared this relationship, even when they had so recently forsaken Him;

Go, tell my brethren indicates His continued affection for them and their fellowship with Him in His glory.

It gives rise to the question did he visit His mother and brothers and sisters?? We know in 1Cor 15:7 Then he appeared to James,

But no reference to the family.

Mount of Olives –

A place of goings and comings.

Jesus/Yeshua explains that God has given Him all authority in heaven and on earth. “Go, therefore,” Jesus urges them, “and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you.” Matt 28:18-20.

While the disciples are still in Galilee, Jesus/Yeshua directs them to return to Jerusalem. When meeting with them in the city, He says: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but keep waiting for what the Father has promised, about which you heard from me; for John, indeed, baptized with water, but you will be baptized with holy spirit not many days after this.”​—Acts 1:4, 5. exactly 10 more days after His Ascension.

Later Jesus meets again with his apostles. He leads “them out as far as Bethany,” which is on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives. (Luke 24:50)

The apostles are on the Mount of Olives with the resurrected Messiah when He begins to rise heavenward.

Soon a cloud obscures him from their sight. After His resurrection, Messiah had materialized a supernatural fleshly body. But now He dematerializes the body He used on this occasion, and He ascends to heaven ‘bodily’ as a spirit creature. (1 Cor. 15:44, 50;1 Peter 3:18)

As the faithful apostles are gazing after him, “two men in white garments” appear beside them. These are materialized angels, who ask:

“Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky?

This Jesus who was taken up from you into the sky will come in the same manner as you have seen him going into the sky.”​ 

Acts 1:10, 11.

Yeshua/Jesus left the earth without a huge public display, His faithful followers being the only observers.

Does this indicate that He will return “in the same manner”​—without public fanfare, with only his faithful followers discerning his presence in Kingdom power?

Like the thief in the night? It’s the second coming that every eye shall see Him not when He comes for His Bride/Challah.

On the top of the mount of Olives are the Church of the Ascension and the Chapel of the Ascension, both claiming to be the spot from where Jesus ascended to heaven.

The Chapel of the Ascension is actually neither a chapel nor a church but a mosque run by Muslims and a myth was made up about finding on the two footprints, which they said were made when Jesus pressed into the earth before leaping into the air.

A building was built over it and Muslim men who concede that they are Muslim only when directly questioned, charge an entrance fee to unsuspecting Christians under a sign that labels their mosque, “CHAPEL OF THE ASCENSION.

What does the Bible say about the spot from which Yeshua/Jesus ascended to heaven?

The Bible simply says that it was on the “mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey.” 

Worth noting that “a Sabbath day’s journey” isn’t the distance to be covered by walking for a day. It is a specific distance of 2,000 cubits, equal to 3,000 feet, 1,000 yards or 914.4 metres.

So the location of Jesus’ ascension could be anywhere on the Mount of Olives, which is a mountain ridge that runs about 1,000 yards east of Jerusalem.

Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.

And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven?

This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey. (Acts 1:6-12)

It seems as if we really are in a divine Gap/ Pause that has lasted over 2000 years! They all thought, including Paul, that His return was imminent.

God’s pauses are longer than ours; many of His gaps are extended beyond our life times and even generations.

We are still

on hold

since the time of Jesus/Yeshua reading in the synagogue from the scroll of Isaiah.

When He paused, at 61:2 saying, today this is fulfilled in your hearing.

He rolled up the scroll never finished the portion….

At the end of this divine gap when the pause is removed, the heavens themselves will roll up like a scroll as the rest of the verse will be fulfilled.

Is His second coming connected in some way to Shavuot/Pentecost feast?… maybe?

What we do know is He is returning for His bride – כַּלָה – kallah

Phonetic Spelling: (kal-law’) Strongs 3618

we are to be ready looking for Him.

Our prime focus must be on being spiritually prepared. which is the message of the parable of the 10 virgins. Having our oil lamps filled. The Shavuot promise was completed; the oil, the spirit, the ruach was poured out. Be-being filled, we cannot afford to relax spiritually. We know not the day or the hour and when we least expect Him…..He will come.

The signs of the times, of the return of the King listed in Matthew and Luke, are all around us and are increasing.

The long gap almost complete?

Is the pause button on the age of grace, the times of the Gentiles being fulfilled and coming to an end?

In an hour we think not …. are we ready?

 

Completion…. Is the prophetic scripture in Isaiah 61 verse 3 about to resume?

The only reason the end of the age has gone on so long is due to the patience of God. Our heavenly father is waiting for the precious fruit of the earth James 5:7

Behold, the husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently until it receives the early and latter rain. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receives the early and latter rain.

Any unripe and premature fruit are bitter and hard, that’s exactly what James was referring to when he spoke of waiting for the precious fruit of the earth; except the fruit he spoke of was people. He is waiting for the ‘precious fruit of the earth.’

In the same way as a farmer patiently waits for the early and later rains to fall and for the harvest to ripen and be reaped, Yeshua/Jesus wants us to understand that He is waiting for ‘precious fruit.’ Every man, woman and child is precious to the Lord.

God’s promises are for us personally, but they are also for everyone who will believe. Because of this, God delays what all believers long for.

God is not slow, but patient.

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

God is not limited by hours in a day or by the number of days in a year. 2 Peter 3:8 says that to God, “A day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day.”

It is a beyond human patience – it’s the long suffering, compassionate love of a parent waiting for the child to grow up and do what they know to do. To fall in line with the program and stop being wayward children doing their own thing.

It’s time for us to grow up into the fullness of the likeness of the Son He said for us to emulate and until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.

Hebrews 6:1; Ephesians 4:13-15,

It’s time to make our heavenly father smile, as we wait eagerly watching for His return; for the pause is coming to an end and the end of Is. 61:1  and verse 2 is about to begin

And all through to verse 11… righteousness and praise will spring forth before all the nations.

Isaiah 53:6. We all like sheep have gone astray.

Isaiah 56:6 seek the Lord while he may be found call while he is near

The day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn Matthew 5:4

he will give beauty for ashes and oil of joy for mourning

The garment the prayer shawl/tallit, of praise instead of the spirit of infirmity.

This word in Strongs 3544 in Hebrew is KEHEH – כֵּהֶה

Phonetic Spelling: (kay-heh’)

that truly means to be pale, dull, faint or dim is used as an expression for feeling weak, sickly, so they could be called Oaks of righteousness the planting of the Lord so he would be glorified.

(They are called Oaks, as the opposite of weak and sickly.)

Luke 4:18, 19

 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

The spirit of the Lord is upon me to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor……..

There He stopped and declared it was fulfilled in their hearing.

Indicating that He was the substance of which the ritual had been merely a type foreshadowing His Coming.

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me “The Spirit of Jehovah is upon me” – The Septuagint, Vulgate, and St. Luke, ( Luke 4:18;), and a MS., and two old editions omit the word אדני Adonai, the Lord; which was probably added to the text through the superstition of the Jews, to prevent the pronunciation of the word יהוה Jehovah following.

The following is yet to be completed…

Isaiah 61:3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

Ver. 3. To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion. Isaiah 61:4-11 King James Version (KJV)

4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.

5 And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.

But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.

For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.

For I the Lord love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.

10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.

11 For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

While we wait and we are on HOLD…

So it would seem we are in a divine

 The anniversary of Messiahs Ascension has passed once again and the Gap to Shavuot is closing fast. One of these days the pause button will be released and the play will continue to the fulfillment of the end of this age.

What remains for us, is to be clothed in the armor of light and look up.. for our redemption draws nigh.

Besides this you know what [a critical] hour this is, how it is high time now for you to wake up out of your sleep (rouse to reality). For salvation (final deliverance) is nearer to us now than when we first believed (adhered to, trusted in, and relied on Christ, the Messiah). Rom.13:11

And He is NOT slack concerning His promises…

Shalom shalom…

Please don’t leave this site without knowing you are saved and assured that you belong to Him; with a deep conviction that you know where you will go, when your body can no longer sustain you in this realm. 

Make certain Jesus is your Redeemer, Savior, Lord and soon returning King and that you have a personal relationship with Him. 

You are greatly loved and precious in His sight.

Its all about Life and Relationship not Religion.

NOT SURE?

Then simply SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…

Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them and turn away from my past.

I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Revealing The Overcoming Resheet of Bikkurim

Who is The Overcoming Resheet of Bikkurim ביכורים

First Fruits – Reishit Katzir

Passover is always on 15th Nisan it begins at sundown on 14th.

Pesach is the first day of the celebration – Passover, that lasts for a week and is called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The day following the first day of Unleavened Bread is called Reishit Katzir the Day of FirstFruits.

It is the beginning of the harvest, sometimes confusingly called the Feast of Firstfruits.

Re’shiyth – ראשׁית

Strongs #H7225 re’shiyth, ray-sheeth’; from the same as 7218; the first, in place, time, order or rank (specifically, a firstfruit): — beginning, chief(-est), first(-fruits, part, time), principal thing. Pronounced ray-sheeth’

ראשׁית קָצִיר – Reishit Katzir

קָצִֽיר qasir

Strongs 7105 Katzir-קָצִיר – qâtsı̂yr

pronounced kaw-tseer’.

Of first fruits harvest, harvesting, crop, what is harvested or reaped.

קָצִיר – Katzir

In ancient times on this day, a sheaf, (an omer) of barley, (the first grain crop to ripen); was waived before the Lord in a prescribed ceremony.

This was to mark the start of the counting of the Omer, thereby initiating the 49 day countdown to the harvest festival of Shavuot – Pentecost. Lev. 23:9-12.

For the Passover Lamb to become the Sheaf of First Fruits and present Himself as the Omer, He had to give up/lay down His life and take it up again.

John 10:17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

Deuteronomy 26:1–11
Speak to the Israelites and say to them; “When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest.  He is to wave the sheaf before the Lord so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath.  On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the Lord a lamb a year old without defect together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah[a] of the finest flour mixed with olive oil— a food offering presented to the Lord, a pleasing aroma— and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin[b] of wine.  You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God.  This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.  Leviticus 23: 10-14

Temple plate and scythe for the first cutting.

On this day, the priest would waive a sheaf, an Omer of green barley before the Lord as a symbolic gesture dedicating the upcoming harvest to Him.

The day following the first day of Unleavened Bread, (the day after the Sabbath – the morning the women go to the tomb), is called Reishit Katzir – 

Reishit Katzir represents the resurrection of Yeshua our Mashiach Yom HaBikkurim) whereas Shavuot, (Chag HaBikkurim), represents the giving of the Torah at Sinai and the giving of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) at Jerusalem. Nisan 17 in the Old Testament – Torah.

A Note about Chag Ha-Bikkurim

Pronounced: Hahb-bik-koo-REEM

The Hebrew term bikkurim derives from the same root as bekhor – “firstborn.” A frequent synonym for bikkurim is reshit, “the first [fruits].”

Bikkurim ביכורים

literally, firstfruits

First ripe, Hasty fruit, the first-fruits of the crop

Hebrew: בִּכּוּר, bikkûr (H1061)

Pronunciation: bik-KOOR

Definition: The first-fruits of the crop.

In the torah, the general principle that the firstborn of man and beast belong to the Lord is also applied to the first fruits to ripen each agricultural season. Beginning with a sheaf of the new barley harvest, the omer on Reishit Katzir, and culminating in the celebration of PentecostShavuot. Also known as Chag HaBikkurim, which is the festival of first fruits representing the birth of the church/ecclesia; and our future glorious state as part of the coming harvest at the end of the age.

The Torah begins with the words:

Be-reishit bara Elohim et ha-shamayim ve-et ha-aretz,”.

The most popular translation of “be-reishit” is “In the beginning,” and the phrase would read, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

The Hebrew word for “in the beginning” in Bereishit 1:1, could have been reishit. However, the word used was bereshit. Pronounced: beh-ray-SHEET

It is possible that the use of Bereishit (reishit with the second letter, bet, at its beginning) is significant in that, by its inclusion it may indicate a second beginning, or a recreation?

Where there may be unknown time between  verse 1 and 2 in Genesis chapter 1.

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

and also where there seems to be a second reference to creation. The first story runs from Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 2:3; the second story picks up at Genesis 2:4 and runs to the end of the chapter at Genesis 2:25? Interesting thought!

The Beginning wraps the End

The End wraps the Beginning.

Isaiah 46:9-10

Genesis 1:3 God said let there be LIGHT and

John 8:12. Jesus said I AM the LIGHT.

He IS THE Beginning – 

He is the God of New Beginnings.

The Wave Offering is called Tenufat HaOmer and is performed the day after the Sabbath, (our Sunday), Yom Rishon.

Strongs 8573 – Original Word: תְּנוּפָה

Tenuphah: a swinging, waving, wave offering, offering

Part of Speech: Noun Feminine
Transliteration: tenuphah
Phonetic Spelling: (ten-oo-faw’)

Exodus 29:24  HEB: וְהֵנַפְתָּ֥ אֹתָ֛ם תְּנוּפָ֖ה לִפְנֵ֥י יְהוָֽה׃

KJV: and shalt wave them [for] a wave offering before..

ephah: an ephah (a measure of grain)

אֵיפָה   (ay-faw’)

Strongs: 374 ephah

HEB: וְהָעֹ֕מֶר עֲשִׂרִ֥ית הָאֵיפָ֖ה הֽוּא׃ פ

(Now an omer is a tenth of an ephah.)

6016 omer – a sheaf – עֹמֶרה

The Sheaf of firstfruits – the day after the Sabbath.

This is the day of firstfruits, the Resheet. Reishit Katzir. 

(Spelled both Reishit and Resheet)

The Wavesheaf Offering (Beginning of the Harvest/Reishit Katzir or Day of the Firstfruits/Yom HaBikkurim

The start, the beginning of the harvest. It is the time of the First grain, the first blossom of the first, new harvest. This firstfruits, the resheet, would represent all that would be reaped and gathered in during the rest of the harvest in the following days.

The first sheaf of the harvest in spring was lifted before the Lord and dedicated to Him on the day of Resheet.

How this applies to Messiah and resurrection day. They were to reap the harvest – and then bring, “THE sheaf of the First Fruits of your harvest to the priest” – notice here it does not say – “a sheaf” but rather – “the sheaf” – it is one marked off as the First Fruits of the harvest.

אֲלֻמָּה

Strongs #485

alummah: a sheaf

אֲלוּמָה   al-oom-maw’

(‘alummah, `omer, `amir)

Yeshua’s Resurrection was our FirstFruit wave offering that was pleasing to the Lord.

As He offered to the Father the early crops on what will be an overwhelming harvest at the end of this ageAcharit Hayayim.

We understand the fact that Messiah has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 1Cor.15:20-23

Total = 3 days and nights (Matt 12:40)

Yeshua raised on the 3rd day (Luke 24:45-6)

Yeshua/Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week, after being in the tomb three days and nights.

The disciples and then encountered the risen Lord on Nissan 14, a Sunday morning (Matthew 28:1 – 10).

This means He was crucified on Nissan 14 and resurrected on Nissan 17 (the corresponding Gregorian dates for these dates vary from year-to-year).

The women came to the tomb while it was still dark. Matt 27:61. Mark 16:1-8. John 20:1-2

Pesach/Passover represents all salvation and deliverance by the sacrifice of the Lamb of God.

Yeshua Ha Mashiach in whose blood we are trusting that we’ve been justified.

יֵשׁוּעַ  is a verbal derivative from “to rescue”, “to deliver”.

Its root word is yasha . עַשָׁי. H3467 yasha (below) which is also the root word of salvation. H3444: עַשָׁי H3467 yasha to save, be saved, be delivered (Blue Letter Bible).

 

mashiach: anointed מָשִׁיחַ

maw-shee’-akh strongs 4899

Anointed (1), anointed (34), anointed ones (2), Messiah

Chag HaMatzot represents our sanctification as we rid ourselves of the old – שׂאר, seor, Strong’s #7603 – leaven/sin

of Egypt/world and die to the carnal flesh nature of the old man. This is represented by the burial of Messiah Yeshua/Jesus and with us identifying with His death.

The Lords supper was a Passover seder the same meal that is celebrated every year. It is not simply a meal it is in fact a service.

The leader is the one who serves the Matzah/bread and all the other elements which are required.

It’s not about serving yourself at a buffet or a smorgasbord; it’s about being served and letting the leader serve you. This is clear that the Lords supper is not about serving self.

So when we sit at His table

He is the one who serves us the bread of life.

Sometimes even as believers we live to serve ourselves. However, in the Lords supper, Our Heavenly Father is saying, in effect, that He will take care of our needs. He will give us the bread of life and the new wine of joy. He wants us to sit at His table and allow Him to minister to us. Then in His love, we serve another, because it is the Lord’s supper, not a buffet.

The main focus of this post is that..

Yeshua the Messiah is our Firstfruit Bikoreem/Bikkurim

Chag Ha-Bikkurim

The Hebrew term Bikkurim comes from the same root as the word bekhor –first Born.

In the Torah there is a principle that the firstborn of both man and beast belong to the Lord. It is also applied to the firstfruits to ripen in each agricultural season.

Beginning with a sheaf of the new barley harvest (omer) on Reishit Katzir, and ends in the celebration of Pentecost Shavuot.

This is also called Chag Ha-Bikkurim – the first fruits festival, which bears repeating, also represents the birth of the ekklesia (church) the Called Out Ones.

They are not happening coincidentally, the wave offering and the resurrection of Jesus/Yeshua are linked together prophetically by the apostle Paul. 1Cor. 15:20-23

Which says that in fact Jesus Christ/Yeshua HaMashiach, has been raised from the dead, the first fruits all those who have fallen asleep.

For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.

Here Paul clearly links the first fruit offering with the resurrection of Jesus our Messiah Yeshua our Mashiach.

Yeshua/Jesus’ resurrection was like a wave offering presented before the Father, as the firstfruits of the harvest to come. Jesus/Yeshua, presented His firstfruits offering to the Father on this day.

Because it was representative of the entire harvest by it’s consecration, it encompassed every sheaf that would follow.

It took place that day after the Passover Sabbath. It was the day of new life. This was the day that also marked the beginning of spring and at the same time sealed the ending of the winter. This is a day that reveals a mystery.

This world is a fallen world. Everything is under the curse of sin and death, everything that lives also dies. It’s like the shadow of winter that hangs over it all year – but God’s will is to redeem that which is fallen; to give life in place of death.

The promise of this redemption is that one day the barrenness of winter will be broken, the cause of death will be destroyed once and for all.

The one thing that will break that winter and bring new life is the first fruits and that date HAS COME!

Some 2000+ years ago on the Day of Resheet He rose as THE first fruit, EXACTLY when the firstfruits are lifted up to the Lord.

Resurrection Day is the Day of the Resheet. And why? Because He is Resheet.

Day of the Resheet – the first fruits are raised up from the Earth.

It ended the winter of our lives and began the spring that gives new life.

Matthew 27:52 –53 the tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

Yeshua/Jesus is the first begotten of the father (Hebrews 1:6)

The firstborn of creation (Col. 1:15)

The first begotten of the dead (Rev. 1:5)

And is the firstfruits of those who are to be resurrected (1 Cor. 15:20-23)

Pesach/Passover represents our salvation and deliverance by the sacrifice of the lamb of God, Yeshua the Mashiach. We are justified by trusting in the blood of the Lamb of God.

Chag HaMatzot represents our sanctification as we rid ourselves of the old leaven of Egypt. (The type of the world) and die to the carnal nature. This is represented by the burial of the Messiah/Mashiach and our identification with his death.

The best part is that the Resheet/sheaf, stood for, and represented ALL that would follow. It means that as He overcame death unto life, so can we; and so can everyone who comes after the first.

Jesus the Messiah of New Beginnings. Yeshua the Overcoming Resheet of Bikkurim.

Messiah is our Passover Lamb, our Tamid. He is also our Bikkurim/the Firstfruit.  Be certain that He is in your life and heart as the days draw ever closer to the end of the age..Open the Door/dalet of your heart/lev and let the Resheet of Bikkurim in..

Make sure Messiah Jesus/Yeshua is your Redeemer, Savior, Lord and very soon returning King and that you have a personal relationship with Him.

NOT CERTAIN?

YOU CAN BE..

It’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.

You are greatly loved and very precious in His sight.

He longs to give you the Shalom He paid the ultimate price for..

SIMPLY SAY THE FOLLOWING MEANING IT FROM YOUR HEART..don’t delay one more minute, SAY IT RIGHT NOW…

Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.

I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name. Amen.