or the sparing of the firstborn of the Israelites,
when the Lord “smote the land of Egypt”
on the eve of the Exodus.
People wish each other a
kosher and joyous Passover.
In Hebrew it is:
chag Pesach kasher vesame’ach
pronounced:
CHAG PEH-sach kah-SHER ve-sah-MAY-ach.
This is the beginning of the spiritual new year/
the cycle of
Appointed Times of the Lord
His Moedim
moe-eh-DEEM
מועדים
Firstfruits (ום בכורים),
also called
Reishit Katzir.
Now we are headed into
seven weeks/49days of
counting the Omer
before
Shavuot/Pentecost/שָׁבוּעוֹת
Counting of the Omer (ספירת העומר)
Pentecost (Koinē Greek: Πεντηκοστή)
Also known as the
Feast of Weeks or Shavuot – שָׁבוּעוֹת
This is a time of preparation to be ready to receive the impartation of His Spirit of Holiness/Ruach HaKodesh.
Following His מועדים / Moedim/
Appointed Times /feasts, helps us to stay close to the understanding of their meaning and of how Yeshua/Jesus fulfilled them and also how it affects us in our individual lives.
Traditional Christianity focuses more on Palm Sunday and Resurrection Sunday. Not that there is anything wrong with this, however, there is so much more that we have missed because of a lack of teaching and the lack of understanding of what the Scriptures are really saying to us. (See links at end for more.)
2 Corinthians 3:16 – 18 tells us this.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.
16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate[ a] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Now that we are in Messiah, we have complete and total freedom because the veil is removed.
This is not the freedom to simply do whatever we please; it is freedom from the penalty of sin, which is death.
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In Messiah we are free to live in the ways of
life /chaim which are:
holiness kedushah קדושה
purity ṭaharah טָהֳרָה
and truth emet אֱמֶת
.
We are free to be alive in Him because
sin and death no longer bind us.
This scripture also says that,
we are in the process of being transformed
into the same image,
the image of the glory of the Lord.
The process of going from glory to glory is increased every year as we follow the cycle of His Appointed Times.
They are there for us to take the opportunity to annually examine ourselves and to recommit ourselves and allowing Him to bring us higher, into maturity of His spirit by understanding the truth of the abundant life He has provided.
The significance of His Appointed Times becomes clear in the life of Messiah and its purpose is for our growth in the Lord.
During the days of
Unleavened Bread/ Chag ha Matzot,
the book of Acts 12:3-11
recorded a miraculous incidence
involving Peter/Keifa/Kefa/קיף.
In Hebrew Peter’s name is kef, קיף
spelled kaf-feh meaning rock.
The Jewish tradition regarding Shimon Keifa (his name in Hebrew/Aramaic) can be found in various Medieval sources.
According to these sources his name was Shimon Keifa, which means Shimon the Rock because he was a type of Nazarite (nazir, in Hebrew) who sat for many years on the same rock, praying and learning Torah.
Peter/Keifa was thrown into prison by Herod who thought he could gain a political advantage by persecuting Jewish believers in Yeshua/Jesus.
3 And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also.
Now it was during the Days of Unleavened Bread.
4 And when he had apprehended him,
he put him in prison, and delivered him to
four quaternions/squads of soldiers to keep him;
intending after Passoveer/Pesach
to bring him forth to the people.
He secured Peter/Keifa in the prison under heavy guard until the time of his sentencing.
Not only was the prison door being watched by guards but his hands were bound with chains as he slept with a soldier on either side of him. His fate seemed certain for there was no obvious escape from this prison.
However Herod had not counted on the fact that there was one who would have no trouble getting inside the prison.
This scripture tells us that was a sudden burst of light
and a messenger/angel/ appeared before Peter
and within seconds the chains fell off his hands.
The soldiers were still asleep and although Peter was still in prison he was no longer chained up, his reality has changed.
But as long as he stayed where he was, he was a free man but still inside the prison.
The only thing holding him back was himself. He needed to get up and go.
For those of us in Messiah our reality has also changed, we have been set free and the chains of sin and death no longer bind us. Some of the change in our lives is up to us because even though He can make the chains fall off from our hands; and even though He can make gates to open before us of their own accord; if we do not rise in haste, gird ourselves, bind on our sandals and put our garments around us and follow Him, we can never be truly free.
Let us rise in haste and be following Him who entered the prison from which no man could escape, that we might be set free. He led us into our deliverance so that we can follow in the way of His salvation.
As disciples of Messiah our identity is also reflected in what was the defining moment for Israel remembered at Passover/Pesach. They left Egypt/Mitzrayim /מצרים and so have we Egypt/Mitzrayim /מצרים is our past.
The Exodus: Hebrew:
יציאת מצרים, Yeẓi’at Miẓrayim
literally: ‘Departure from Egypt’
As the children of Israel saw the way through the sea open up before them leading to their salvation; we trust that He will make a way where there seems to be no way in our own lives.
We need to make that step of faith into the sea to see our Savior; and not be tempted to return to Egypt…
We have a choice…
Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
and Messiah has made us free.
Exodus 14:13 fear not and still yourselves and see the salvation of the Lord which he does for you today
for as you have seen the Egyptians/Mitzrayim today you will never see them again.
If we will go forward, this is true for us too.
This last week has reminded us all that Messiah accomplished…
Let us rejoice in the freedom then
with which Messiah has made us free and
stand fast.
Galatians 5:11 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Having done all, to stand Ephesians 6:13
and
Luke 19:13
We were not brought to the edge of the sea to be drowned, or to be dragged away in chains like Peter/קיף/ Keifa.
We are to get up as he did,
and to go forward
out of the prison.
He has delivered us.
In Messiah, our reality has changed.
Let’s not yearn for the things of Egypt/ Mitzrayim that had us bound, but leaving behind the former things, forgetting the past and pressing on towards the future and stay under the Blood of Messiah.
Philippians 3:13-14 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Let’s not ponder on things of the past.
This is the spiritual new year
and as we begin
the new cycle of life/chaim/חים;
Chai חי
is a Hebrew word and symbol that means
life, alive, or living.
It is spelled with the Hebrew letters
Chet ח and Yud י.
Adding the letter m/Mem/ם
gives the plural chaim
let’s press forward to the prize of the high calling …
looking unto Jesus/Yeshua the author and finisher of our faith. Hebrews 12:2
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.
Where We Are Right Now As The Appointed Times Of The Spring Feasts Continue To Unfold…
Coming to the end of the week of the Feast Of Unleavened Bread (Chag HaMotzi)
Chag HaMatzot חג שמח
From 14th Nisan and at evening, that is, between 3:00 pm to sundown, and continues through Nisan 15. Strictly speaking, then, Passover always begins on Nisan 14 and is followed immediately by The Feast of Unleavened Bread (Chag HaMotzi) and continues through and beyond Nisan 15 for 7 days and includes First Fruits within that week.
Here is a brief summary of the feasts of
Nisan 14 = Thursday sundown the first day, which is the start of Passover and also the day of the Seder. Jesus/Yeshua was arrested and the mock trial was held, (also called Maundy Thursday which remembers when Jesus/Yeshua washed the feet of the disciples.
The next morning was the crucifixion and that afternoon was called Preparation Day (as they were preparing for the weekly Sabbath). Jesus was taken down from the cross and buried.
Nisan 15th, which was the Friday sundown and a weekly Sabbath day began the second day. It is also the first day of Unleavened Bread and Jesus was in the tomb the entire day.
Nissan 16 began the third day at Saturday sundown, during the night Jesus/Yeshua was resurrected.
Passover is the celebration of the release of the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage and celebrated with a meal called Seder, which means ‘order’ and tells the story, (or Haggadah which means ‘the telling’), of the miraculous deliverance. Jesus and all the disciples and New Testament/Brit Chadashah authors celebrated Passover.
First: Seder is the name of the Passover meal and includes what we call and understand as communion,
it puts Paul’s writing of one Corinthians 11:17–26 into perspective.
Second. Unleavened bread begins 15th Nissan the day after Passover. (Nissan also spelled Nisan.)
In Exodus 12:15-20 God instructed the Jews to eat unleavened bread for seven days, beginning on the first day of Passover, from Nisan 15 through Nisan 22. Chag HaMatzot therefore represents a Holy week spent without leaven in our lives, a time to ‘clean house,’ removing and sweeping away all signs of sin.
It’s a picture of our deliverance from the corrupting influences of the world in response to the redemption of the LORD (Matt. 16:12; Mark 8:14-15; Luke 12:1; Rom. 6:13-22; 1 Cor. 5:6-8).
To the Christian, the Festival of Unleavened Bread is a celebration of what Jesus, the true Passover Lamb has done for us, in that He has delivered us from bondage to sin and it’s penalty by His blood. Paul told the congregation, -“You are in fact, unleavened”, that is, without sin because the blood of the Lamb has washed them all away.
The prophetic and symbolic lesson of ridding your life of the leaven of Egypt is that you get rid of sin and replace it with purity and humility. Upon redemption, we are to become a sanctified, “unleavened people.”
Chag HaMatzot, or the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when no Chametz may be eaten or possessed for a full seven days: Chametz is considered a corrupting influence, a hidden uncleanness that manipulates purer elements. Like the influence of a lump of leaven in a batch of dough, ‘spiritual’ leaven functions as an evil impulse within us that corrupts and sours our soul. As such chametz is considered a metaphor of sin which we are commanded to put away from us. The removal of chametz is a metaphor of our sanctification.
We are to undergo our own inward ‘bedikat chametz’ and become a ‘new lump’ that is untainted by the sour and rotting influences of our past life. Since the Mashiach has been sacrificed as our Passover lamb, we are a new creation made unleavened by the power of Holy Spirit. Therefore we put away from us the old nature – the yetzer ha’ra – and purge from us the old leaven of Egypt, (a type for sin), that inwardly cankers us and makes us sick.
(Yetzer also spelled Yetser means the evil inclination.) )
For our souls sake we should walk in the truth of the love of God without hypocrisy.
But what is the connection with Jesus/Yeshua?
First, unleavened bread is a picture of His holiness, purity and sinlessness. His life and sacrifice was ‘unleavened’ without the taint of the curse of death, and therefore He was considered ‘a lamb without spot or blemish’ for the ultimate Passover sacrifice (1Pet.1:19).
Moreover, after He was buried, Yeshua did not suffer the natural process of corruption (i.e., decomposition of the body). His body did not “return to dust” which was the very curse given to Adam and Eve in Gen.3:19; Psalm 16:10. As the last Adam (Adam haSheni), His death ‘killed the power of death’ by putting away sin through the sacrifice of Himself (Heb 9:26).
Jesus was resurrected during Unleavened Bread on FirstFruits.
Thirdly: First Fruits. According to Deuteronomy 8:8, Barley was the harvest. Then according to the Scripture in Leviticus 23:15, verse 6 puts the second feast on the next night: “On the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread unto the Lord; seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.”
The Confusion over the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Passover being called Unleavened Bread occurs because amongst the Israelites, the first day that they ate unleavened bread was on the Passover feast. So while Leviticus 23 mentions that the Feast of Unleavened Bread started on the 15th day, they interchanged the day of Passover as the first day of Unleavened Bread.
Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying and to him, where will thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover? Matthew 26:17 Also called the day of unleavened bread
After two days was the feast of the Passover, and of another wrote: and the chief priests and scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death. Mark 14:1
Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover. Luke 22:1
The feast of the first fruits Leviticus 23:10–14
The Unleavened Bread was due to the haste of their departure from Egypt and it had no time to rise. As leaven represents sin so unleaved was again the sinless sacrifice.
Leaven or yeast in the Bible symbolized sin and evil. Unleavened bread, eaten over a period of time, symbolized a holy walk, as with the Lord. Unleavened bread, in the B’rit Chadashah [New Testament] is, of course representative of the Body of our Lord.
He is described as ‘the Bread of Life’ (Lechem haChayim).He was born in Bethlehem, which, in Hebrew, means, ‘House of Bread’ (Bet Lechem).
Unleavened Bread is called the “bread of affliction” (i.e., lechem oni, literally, “bread of humiliation” or “bread of humility”) it is not “of affliction” because it is unleavened but it is unleavened because it had been born out of affliction. In other words, since the Israelites had no time to prepare their bread on account of their affliction, the bread had no time to rise.
~
The matzah, then, is not so much the remembrance of bondage as of the deliverance from bondage, and that which had originally been of affliction now became, on account of God’s deliverance, the token of freedom.
Partaking of this bread means humbly identifying with the suffering and afflictions that Yeshua performed on your behalf... As the prophet Isaiah wrote about the Messiah, our Suffering Servant
Look at the matzah and see that it is covered in small holes,
“They shall look upon me whom they’ve pierced,”
He was pierced for our sorrows which includes our grief sadness and broken hearts
See the dark brown areas that resemble bruises. He was bruised for our iniquities sins and transgressions
He was sinless and pure, without any leaven, as His body was without any sin.
Finally see how it is striped: “By His stripes we are healed”.
~
There is the Passover custom of burying, hiding and then resurrecting the second of three pieces of matzot (the middle piece), which represents the Gospel and is called (Afikomen).
To the Israelite, the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread commemorates being delivered from bondage to Egypt
for the purpose of worshipping God, as they left so quickly their dough didn’t have time to rise/leaven.
The elements of wine and unleavened bread are the original root and beginning of what we call our communion and are part of a weekly service for the Christian congregations. It is rooted in the weekly Sabbath service held in synagogues worldwide where the remembrance of the exodus is recalled for the Jewish population that has not yet accepted Jesus/Yeshua as their Messiah.
For Messianic Jews those who have accepted Jesus as their Messiah Yeshua, they now have a full revelation of His sacrificial atonement.
Leaven and the Sacrifice of Yeshua
Traditionally ‘the leaven package’ is burned at the time of morning prayer on Nisan 14 during the Bi’ur Chametz ceremony.
That is the exact day in which the Mashiach Yeshua was crucified, removing our sin and spiritual leaven forever.
Of course Jesus’ crucifixion and subsequent resurrection are the most focused on aspects of this season. This post is not ignoring them but rather trying to highlight other happenings both lesser known and some forgotten which reveal deeper meanings behind the order of prophetic events that God had set in place millennia ago.
Below are some more Hebrew words
connected to this feast
one of His
Yom Tov Holy Day
(The origin of our word holiday, it is interesting to note how the use of the word vacation has replaced the reference to it being a Holy Day.)
We have just completed the week of 
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