Yeshua (Jesus) celebrated his last Seder with his disciples,then was arrested,run through a mock trial (and an illegal trial I might add,it was held at night when it was unlawful to do so) by the Sanhedrin,passed over for execution by the hands of the Romans,then cricified —all in accordance with the Messianic prophecies. The disciples were confused and discouraged,until they found the tomb their Master had been laid in was empty.
Yeshua had been raised up by His Father,death had been defeated. The Messiah,the Light of the World had given himself as the atoning sacrifice for all mankind,as one man brought sin into the world,so one man brought atonement for that sin. To complete His work of atonement and ushering in of a new era Yeshua was raised into incorruptible flesh and bone. As a result,sin and death were shown to be powerless over those who take part in the kingdom of G-d.
In the Scriptures we are given a map of sorts,in modern terms a sitemap,of the plan of redemption,G-d’s Festivals and Feasts as laid out in Leviticus 23. In the verses of Leviticus 23 the days and times The L-rd expected His People to observe,for all time —from generation to generation,were set forth. What we have in the Feasts are the main events or milestones of the roadmap to final redemption. First is the Sabbath (also number four on G-d’s top ten list) the day commemorating creation,then Passover,Firstfruits,Unleavened Bread and Feast of Weeks (Pentecost in the Greek).
In this list the Sabbath is like the beginning of a prayer,acknowledging the supremacy of G-d,having created the World and Man along with it. THe Sabbath as established by G-d Himself was to be observed every week,every year,forever. The Passover,Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits and the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot in Hebrew) have been fulfilled by Yeshua in His Death,Unblemished life,resurrection and ascension.
The other Festivals mentioned are in the fall of the year and have yet to be fulfilled,but do watch for them to be directly fulfilled. THe subject for this writing is the observance of the spring Festivals,so the others will be covered at a later date.
As G-d Himself commanded,these days and times were to be observed forever and from generation to generation. As followers of The Way we Christians are grafted into the rich olive root of Israel,not just when it is convenient,but at all times. This being the case,when we see a reference to Israel being responsible to uphold a precept,we the Church are responsible to do the same. To consider otherwise is to be out of balance with the whole of the Scriptures. To take advantage of the rich olive root for Salvation and not for responsibility to G-d’s Precepts is a lopsided walk.
In fact,the early Church in Ephesus,pastored by the Apostle John,was known to celebrate Passover according to the customs of the Jews and were not to be shaken from it for hundreds of years. Why would those in the Church today consider themselves better than John,Philip and James? Constantine,as he was given to doing,altered the days observed by the Church to conform to the Pagan world across the Roman Empire.
In an effort to remain Biblical in our act of Worship of The Holy One,we choose to observe as our forefathers,who walked,dined,taught,and lived with Yeshua so did. Tonight is the ushering in of Firstfruits,the day Yeshua was resurrected from the dead,according to the Hebrew Calendar. This year the day coincides with the Constantinian day of Easter,but,do not confuse the two. Easter is but a poor reflection of the original Feast established by G-d and is a genuine part of the plan of redemption that is played out in THe L-rd’s Feasts and Festivals.
I encourage everyone to look into the significance of the Festival of Firstfruits with its wave offering of the budding fruit of the harvest,pointing to Yeshua being raised from those who sleep. In this we have a promise of life eternal according to G-d’s design. Thanks be to G-d for His life provided through the atoning sacrifice on Passover and the proof of this life on Firstfruits. We look forward to Shavuot,the day commemorating the giving of the Torah and the outpouring of THe Holy Spirit on the Church.
