Beyond The Feast of Tabernacles
by George
Kirkpatrick
Vital Words to the Body of Christ
Freely We Have Received, Freely We Give
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Chapter One
Most Christians do not relate the feasts of Israel as having any meaning or purpose in their lives today. We know the feasts in the Old Testament were ordained in ancient times, and were under the law of Moses. So what do these feasts have to do with our walk with Christ today?
As we search out the truths God has hidden in His Word concerning His glorious feast days, we must truly rejoice. We must understand that everything God does, He does in perfection. Everything in His Word relates to this perfection. This is especially true concerning our relationship to Him.
The word feast is the Hebrew word HAG and means "holiday, a season of religious joy". All too often we look at the law as some foreboding set of rules God imposed upon His people to make their lives miserable. We feel He restricted their lives and made it so narrow that they could do nothing without committing sin. The exact opposite is true. All God ever wanted from His people was for them to love Him. If they loved Him, they would do those things that were pleasing in His sight. Jesus stated,
"If you love Me, keep My commandments." *** John 14:15
The Feasts were given by God to Israel for a time of festivity and rejoicing before their God. All feasts were at their appointed times, and those times were set by God. The two main purposes of the feast were:
1The assembling of God's people for fellowship
2The assembling for worship and Praise.
God has never changed His mind as to why His people should be assembled together. These are the same reasons we assemble today. God gave Israel many feast days to rest, refresh, and rejoice:
1. There were the Weekly Sabbaths. Sabbath means "rest". God set aside a weekly rest; a time when man was to cease from all his labor.
2. The Feast of the New Moon. This was celebrated at the appearance of the New Moon, marking the beginning of the month. This was a time of social gathering and much feasting.
3. The Feast of Passover which had 3 celebrations:
-1-Feast of Passover
This was when the sacrificial lamb was killed
-2-Feast of Unleaven Bread
This was when all leaven was to be removed from the people's lives. Leaven (yeast) was the symbol for sin.
-3- Feast of Firstfruits
This was the waving of the First Fruit Sheaf and was the foreshadowing of a bountiful harvest.
4. The Feast of Weeks or Pentecost.
This feast was only for one day and marked the beginning of the Harvest season.
5. The Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles also had 3 celebrations:
-1- The Feast of Trumpets
This celebration marked the blowing of trumpets
-2-The Feast of Atonement
This was the day the High Priest entered into the Holy of Holies
-3-The Feast of Tabernacles
During this celebration all Israel was required to live in booths.
The weekly sabbath, the Feast of the New Moon, The Feast of Passover, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles were Israel's main feasts. These were ordained by God at the time of the giving of the law. Israel added many other feasts after Israel returned from their seventy years of Babylonian captivity.
All of Israel's feasts were sabbath days. Again, the word Sabbath means "rest". It does not mean SEVENTH. Many are confused about the sabbath and the seventh day. As we study the feasts, it will become clear that most of Israel's feasts were to be celebrated on a particular day of the month, and not a day of the week.
God ordained Israel's sabbaths or days of rest. Everything pertaining to the sabbath had to be prepared the day before. Absolutely no labor was to be performed on the sabbath, even the lighting of fires was prohibited.
There were sabbaths when no servile labor was to be performed. The word servile means "menial, or unnecessary labor" such as building, repairing or agriculture work. Some feasts God allowed labor necessary for daily existence. These menial tasks could be performed on these sabbaths.
God gave Israel the feasts. These seven feasts had seven special days called Holy Convocations. The word convocation is the Hebrew word MIGRA and means "called out, or assembly". It also means "reading". These were special times of assembling when the law was read as part of the celebration. These seven special days of Holy Convocations were:
1 The weekly sabbaths
Leviticus 23:3
2 The first day of the Feast of Passover
Exodus 12:16
3 The seventh day of the Feast of Passover when they were to
wave the sheaf of firstfruits Exodus 12:16
4 Blowing of Trumpets
Leviticus 23:24
5 Day of Atonement
Leviticus 23:27
6 The first day of the Feast of Tabernacles Leviticus 23:34-35
7 And the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles Leviticus 3:36
On these special days, no work of any kind could be performed. Of all the feasts God gave to Israel, the most controversial is the "weekly sabbath". There are two distinct areas of thought concerning keeping the weekly sabbath (rest):
1Those who keep the sabbath to fulfill the law of Moses.
2And those who do not keep the sabbath because they are free from the law.
Unfortunately, well-meaning, well-intended, ill-informed people, organizations, and denominations have missed the whole purpose of the weekly sabbath. God never intended the sabbath to be bondage, nor did He intend it to be ignored. The sabbaths were ordained by God strictly and totally as days of rest, days when the family could come together, and be a blessing to one another. All who dwelt in their household could be refreshed. Jesus stated it very clearly:
"The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath," *** Mark 2:27
The Amplified Bible states that the sabbath was made on account of, and for the sake of man, not man for the sabbath. Moses recorded God's Words:
"But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou." *** Deuteronomy 5:14
It was a day of cessation from all labors for everyone in the house, as well as the animals. The question then arises: Was it a day to worship God? Yes, but not in the assembly. It was a day to worship and praise God in the home, by all members of the home. It was a time of blessing for all.
As we search out the beginning of this commandment, we discover it was given under the law. Did the commandment to keep the sabbath precede the law? No! Moses related to the people:
"The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day." *** Deuteronomy 5:3
The covenant God made with Israel at Mount Sinai was for those who were there and were alive at that day. It was not made with their fathers. Those who lived before the law were not commanded to keep a sabbath. When God commanded Israel to keep the sabbath, He told them to keep their sabbath on the seventh day. Yet today many denominations use Genesis 2:2...
"...And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made." *** Genesis 2:2
Was Genesis 2:2 our example to take our sabbath on the seventh day? The answer is No, again. Keeping the seventh day sabbath was under the law. Those under the law were justified by works in the keeping of the law. This was the old covenant. But Paul writes we are no longer under the law:
"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin." *** Romans 3:20
Paul went on to say,
"We are justified by His blood. We shall be saved from wrath through Him." *** Romans 5:9
Israel was under the law and justified by the law. They rested from their labors on their seventh day and gave thanks to God for His past goodness of the week.
We, who have been justified by Jesus' blood under grace, are people of faith. We ask, expecting to receive. Therefore we assemble to worship and give thanks on the first day of the week in faith as to the goodness God will bestow on us during the new week.
Many call Sunday the Christian Sabbath. When we consider that sabbath means "rest", Sunday, for many families is anything but a day of rest. To many, it is the busiest day of the week. Generally, Sunday means rising early to get breakfast over so the children may be readied for church, making sure all the clothes are acceptable and presentable. This usually brings strain between the husband, wife, and children all needing in the bathroom at the same time. By the time this ritual is over, all are tensed up in the car, heading for church. After an accident or two concerning the children's clothing, a few unkind words and the unfavorable traffic, the family arrives at church where, in five to ten minutes, they must be ready to worship God.
After church they must rush home to have lunch and maybe company will drop in for the afternoon. After a quick dinner, it is once again, time to go through the same process of the morning, and back to church for the evening service. After service, they must rush home, get the children in bed because there is school the next morning, and as we collapse into our chairs, we proclaim, "Thank God we survived another day of rest."
Was this what God intended when He stated He made the sabbath for man, a day of total rest? We need to realize God did not design the sabbath for the assembling of His people, but He designed it as a day of total rest in the home with the family.
When God instituted the sabbath, Israel had no public meeting place. The tabernacle had not been constructed, and would not be constructed for some time yet. When the Tabernacle was constructed, it was not for public meetings. It was a place of sacrifice to atone for Israel's sin. This was performed every day of the week; not just on the sabbath. God's people were to worship God in their homes (tents) on the weekly sabbath. They only came together to worship God as an assembly on the Feast days.
The typical sabbath in the ancient's homes began the day before, on the Day of Preparation. We must keep in mind that Israel's day began at sundown, approximately 6:00 p.m. in the evening, not at midnight as we are accustomed. Their Day of Preparation was from Thursday evening to Friday evening. Their Sabbath was from Friday evening until Saturday evening. All was prepared for the sabbath the day before. This meant the wife and mother would have no labor to perform on the sabbath. It was a total day of rest for her as well.
The husband was to dedicate this day totally to his wife and family. When the sabbath began, it was to begin with prayer. The father would pray for and bless his children. Then he would pray for and bless his wife. The wife would pray for and bless the children. Then she would pray for and bless her husband. Each of the children would pray for the other children; then pray for their father, and then their mother. When the time of prayer was over, they would sit around the evening meal that was prepared before time. The father would then read from the Word. After dinner was served and the table cleared, the evening was spent talking and sharing until bedtime. The day was spent together as a family. The father and mother spent time with the children, sharing the stories that had been passed down from their fathers to them, and they were to pass them down to their children.
The sabbath was the time God gave to Israel to come out of the world and to spend time with their families. It was a time of rejoicing, rest and refreshment. It was also the time when the family unit was strengthened and nothing from the outside could touch or interfere with it.
Today, because we have not known the ways of our God and we live in such a busy world, little or no time is allowed for the family. Because of this, the family has disintegrated, the divorce rate is over 50%, and the best of Christian homes are losing their children to all the worldly deceptions.
Should Christian families have a sabbath? That question must be answered by each individual who desires to have a Christian home. When we take the responsibility of rearing our children according to God's Word, then we must each them the meaning of living Godly. We must teach our children to assimilate God's wonderful blessings in their lives as God has shown them through His Word.
Like so many other blessings of God, the sabbath has been grossly perverted by legalistic and Pharisaical teachings. There are those who hold God's people in bondage to a moral code that is supposed to produce righteousness in a person's life. These teachings proclaim that all that is needed to stand pure before God is their fleshly adherence to precepts and doctrines prescribed by man. They totally misunderstand God's intended purpose for man.
Jesus spoke much about the sabbath. As we study God's Word, we must understand Jesus was born under the law.Jesus lived His whole life under the law, was tried and convicted under the law, and was put to death by the law. Under the law Jesus was commanded to keep the sabbath. Yet, there were many instances when the Pharisees conspired to kill Him because He broke their sabbath. They misunderstood what God's Word taught about the Sabbath and what the law prescribed concerning the keeping of the weekly sabbath. Many times, Jesus' miracles were not looked upon as mighty works of God because they were considered as breaking the law of the sabbath.
There are 26 healing miracles attributed to Jesus in the Bible. Of the 26 miracles, only eleven inform us as to what day they were performed. Of the eleven, ten were on the sabbath.
1 Healing a blind man John 9:16
2 Healing an invalid John 5:9
3 Healing Peter's mother-in-law Mark 1:29-31
4 Healing the withered hand Matthew 12:9-13
5 Delivering a child of a demon spirit Matthew 17
6 Healing a blind man Matthew 12:9, 14-15, 22
7 Healing the centurion's servant Matthew 8
8 Restoring a demon possessed man Mark 1:23-26
9 Restoring a woman Luke 13:10-14
10 Healing a man with dropsy Luke 14:1-4
Each time Jesus healed on the sabbath, He was accused of profaning the sabbath. Mark recorded a healing Jesus performed in the synagogue. There was a man who had a withered hand. The people watched Jesus to see if He would heal the man on the sabbath day, looking for something of which to accuse Him, *** Mark 3:1-2. Jesus asked the question:
"Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or kill?" *** Mark 3:4
This question Jesus asked still stands unanswered in most people's minds. Today, they ask, "What do we have to do with the law?"; and. "Should we be keeping the sabbath?" Many completely ignore the weekly sabbath because Christ has freed us from the law. When we ignore the sabbath, we completely miss all the blessings God intended for His people concerning the sabbath.
Exactly what is lawful and acceptable to God concerning His sabbath? Jesus is our example of perfection. Yet, on many occasions, He was accused by the religious system of profaning the sabbath.
Jesus and His disciples went through the wheat field on the sabbath and were hungry. They picked some of the heads of wheat, crushed them out in their hands and ate the wheat, *** Matthew 12:1. The Pharisees were following Jesus to find something of which they could accuse Him. They saw when He plucked the heads of wheat, they accused Him of harvesting on the sabbath. When He loosed the grains of wheat in His hand, they accused Him of threshing out the grain on the sabbath. This was considered as labor, and therefore Jesus was accused of breaking the law of the sabbath. *** Matthew 12:2
Jesus began to teach the religious order of His day the true function of the sabbath. Jesus asked,
"Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungered, and they that were with him;
How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him to eat, but only for the priest?" *** Matthew 12:3-4
David entered the tabernacle and asked Ahimelech, the priest, for some bread. All the bread Ahimelech had was the hallowed bread, the shewbread. It was the day of the changing of the bread, or the sabbath day, *** I Samuel 21:1-6. David and his men were given the shewbread that only the priests of God were ordained to eat, *** Lev. 24:8-9.
Jesus was revealing the True Seventh Sabbath unto the religious system of His day. His seventh day of creation is when we all will eat of the Hallowed Word, words God has preserved down through the ages to be revealed in His true day of rest; the seventh day of His creation, the 1000 year millennial reign of Christ. Jesus went on to relate to the religious system,
"Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?" *** Matthew 12:5
The priests were commanded to perform their priestly duties on the sabbath, *** Numbers 28:9-10. By God's law the priests were to circumcise the child on the eighth day. If a male child was eight days old on the sabbath, then the priest was to profane the sabbath to keep the law. Jesus was trying to show the religious system it was impossible to keep the law as they had interpreted it. The priests were to cease from all labors on the Sabbath. Since the act of circumcision was labor, then the priests had to break the law to keep the ordinance of circumcision which God had commanded for all newborn male children.
As the Pharisees interpreted the law, they demanded that all labor cease. For example, they instituted a sabbath mile; a person could only walk about 1700 feet on the sabbath. As many today, they had taken a time of rejoicing and rest, and made it bondage. They followed people around to see if they would break their sabbath laws that they might accuse them.
Jesus told the religious system:
"In this place is one greater than the temple, *** Matthew 12:6.
Jesus was speaking of Himself. They were worshiping the temple more than the one the temple was erected for. Jesus asked the Pharisees if they knew the meaning of the scripture, "I will have mercy and not sacrifice."? He stated that if they had, then they would not have condemned the guiltless. "For the son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day," *** Matthew 12:7-8. So many times the religious system, in their zeal to serve God, condemn the guiltless. They condemn those who are guiltless before God because they do not understand the scriptures.
Many today, because of their self righteousness, believe that because they follow some religious code this gives them a right standing before God. They feel no need to show mercy because they are so righteous before God. They believe being baptized in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, going to church and holding a position in the assembly is all God requires of them. Therefore, they have a right before God to condemn and belittle those who are less fortunate than they deem themselves to be. Today there is a very great need for God's people to be taught the meaning of the scripture: "I will have mercy and not sacrifice."
Matthew recorded the healing of the withered hand. When the man with the withered hand stepped forward, all watched to see if Jesus would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus asked,
"What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?" *** Matthew 12:10-11
Jesus wasasking, "Would you not expend labor to save that which is yours?" All that stood before Jesus was His creation, and that creation was His to heal or correct. His desire was not to condemn the Pharisees. It was His desire that they be convicted and corrected so they could come to the knowledge of the truth. God's desire has not changed toward His people. Jesus stated for all to hear:
"How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath day." *** Matthew 12:12
The Pharisees, like so many, had made the Sabbath a bondage. Jesus exclaimed, "It is lawful to do well on the sabbath days." God judges the thoughts and intents of the heart. When David and his men ate of the shewbread, they were not trying to replace the priesthood. David and his men were hungry and the shewbread was the only food available. So the shewbread was given to them to satisfy their hunger.
When Jesus stated the priests profaned the sabbath, He was speaking of their violating the sanctity of the sabbath according to man's interpretation of God's law. When the priest performed labor on the Sabbath to keep God's law, they were profaning God's law as man, in his narrowness, understood God's intended purpose.
When we are obedient to the voice of God our obedience supersedes all law. When we save our sheep from the pit, we are simply being good stewards of that which God has given us. None of these actions violate the sabbath as God intended the sabbath to be celebrated.
If the families in America, or any nation, had the concept of rest and renewal as God intended, the divorce rate would not be better than 50%, child abuse would cease, teenage crime would stop, and the home would be a place of protection for the whole family. It is because we have violated the statutes that God has given us, that we suffer heartbreak while rearing children.
The True Seventh Sabbath
When God gave Moses the law, His commandment was to remember the sabbath and keep it holy, *** Exodus 20:8. God went on to say,
"For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it." *** Exodus 20:11
A close examination of this scripture reveals God rested on the seventh day. He took His sabbath on the seventh day. Under the law God blessed the Sabbath Day and hallowed it. The word blessed is BARAH, which means "to endue with power, to succeed". God hallowed the Sabbath day.
The word hallowed is the Hebrew word QADESH and means "to set apart into the sacred realm". God endued the sabbath rest with power, and set that day apart for man to rest and renew his strength. God's day of rest for His people is set apart in a sacred realm. Man is not only to be renewed in his physical strength but also in his Spiritual strength. He is to come into a new relationship with the Father. We must remember Jesus' words:
"The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:" *** Mark 2:27
When God rested from all His labor on the seventh day, He informed us:
"God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made." *** Genesis 2:3
When God rested on the seventh day, He blessed and sanctified the seventh day. The words "blessed" and "hallowed" are again the word QADESH, the same word used when He blessed and hallowed the Sabbath.
As we begin to view the book of Genesis with Spiritual understanding, we discover God was not speaking of blessing and sanctifying the seventh day of the week, He was speaking of the seventh day of His creation.
God endued the seventh day of creation with power and set it apart in the Spiritual realm unto Himself. The seventh day of His creation is the 1000 year millennial reign of Christ (the Holy Spirit). The writer of Hebrews spoke of the seventh day when man would enter into the seventh day rest with God.
"For He (Jesus) spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise (in this way), And God did rest the seventh day from all His works." *** Hebrews 4:4
"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His." *** Hebrews 4:9-10
The Genesis record of creation reveals the Seventh Day Sabbath unto those who will enter into it. When God gave Moses the law, He used the creation to reveal when God entered into His rest. This was a foreshowing of those who would also enter into His rest on the seventh day of His creation. The writer of Hebrews records:
"The works were finished from the foundation of the world," *** Hebrews 4:3
We, as God's people, are to enter into rest with Him. There are those who would try to bring us into bondage. These teach that Saturday is God's seventh day. If this were true, then God would have had to start His creating process on Sunday and end it on Friday, and rest on Saturday. What if He started creation on Wednesday? Then the sabbath would be on Tuesday. God is not bound by man's calendar.
A close study of creation reveals that a full day of creation could not have been twenty-four hour days. The duration of time for each day was more likely 1000 year days based upon the revelation in *** I Peter 3:8 that one day is with the Lord as a 1000 years, and a 1000 years as one day."
The Word reveals that God created man on the sixth day, *** Genesis 1:28. God ended His creation and rested on the seventh. The question then arises, on what day was Eve created? Eve was also created on the 6th day. God ended His work on the sixth day. The creating process ended on the sixth day. Therefore, the creation spoken of in the third chapter of Genesis, was the explanation of what God created the first six days. Thus, Eve as well as Adam, was created on the sixth day. Adam was given the task of naming all the cattle, the fowls, every beast of the field, everything God had created, *** Genesis 2:20-22. This would have been an impossible task for man in a twenty-four hour day. There is another interesting fact which eliminates the 24 hour day theory:
"And the Lord planted a garden eastward in Eden and there He put man whom He had formed." *** Genesis 2:8
Did God plant full size trees or did the garden grow from seeds? We are informed,
"And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. *** Genesis 2:5
"And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil." *** Genesis 2:9
"And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it." *** Genesis 2:15
God planted a garden of seed that had to mature. When that garden matured, God placed man in it. We must not try to limit God, for He does not violate His creation. God did not mature the garden in six twenty-four hour days from seed. It took Him 6,000 years; again, a day is as a thousand years. It took God six days, or 6000 years to finish His creation.
It has also taken Him six days (6000 years) to complete His creation, man. As we begin to be enlightened as to God's intention for His creation, we begin to understand that the Seventh Day in God was the first day for His creation, man. When man has come to completeness, maturity or perfection, we will then enter the Seventh Day rest with the Father. This is when man has finished the work in God's creation, and will enter into rest with the Father. We are about to embark on God's Seventh Day of power. We need to begin to look up for our redemption draweth nigh, *** Luke 21:28.
As God reveals the Spiritual meaning of His Feasts, we can all rejoice as He reveals the greatest feast of all, and that is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
For Further Discussion
***Cessation of our own Labors
***Sabbath Blessings in the Home
***Healings on the Sabbath
CHAPTER ONE
Questions
1. What were the two main purposes for the feasts?
2. Name Israel's five main feasts which were ordained by God?
3. What is the purpose for the Sabbath Day?
4. Was Genesis 2:2 our example to take our sabbath on the seventh day? Explain:
5. For what purpose was the Tabernacle constructed.
6. What does the True Seventh Sabbath day represent?
7. What happens when we are obedient to the voice of God?
8. Mark 2:27 states, " The sabbath was made for _____, and not ______ for the sabbath."
9. When will we enter the Seventh Day with the Father?
10. What is the greatest feast of all?
FEAST OF PASSOVER
Chapter Two
The Feast of the Sabbath was Israel's weekly feast. The Feast of the New Moon was Israel's monthly feast. Israel had no calendar system at the time the feasts were instituted so all feasts were recorded from the New Moon, or the first day of every new month. The time from one new moon to the next is 29 days, 12 hours and 44 minutes. Israel's months were alternated between 29 and 30 days. Their year consisted of 354 days, and every three years a twenty-nine day month was added between Adar and Nisan. One important fact to remember is that all Israel's feast days were on the day of the month, and not the day of the week.
Every New Moon was a feast day in Israel; a time of feasting and blowing of trumpets, *** Numbers 10:10 and Numbers 28:11. Israel had three yearly feasts: the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles. There are three feasts, consisting of seven celebrations. The Feast of Passover was fulfilled in Jesus. The Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, was fulfilled by the Holy Spirit, and the Feast of Tabernacles will be fulfilled in us, His people.
All the men of Israel were to appear before the Lord 3 times in a year, during these feasts.
"Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which He shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the Lord empty." *** Deuteronomy 16:16
Israel was not to appear before the Lord empty. They were to come with an offering in their hand. We, too, are not to appear before the Lord empty. First, we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit, *** Ephesians 5:18. Then we must come with the sacrifice of praise on our lips and in our hearts, *** Hebrews 13:15. We must then offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable unto God, *** Romans 12:1. When we meet these conditions, we are ready to appear before the Lord for we will not be empty.
The Feast of Passover was the first feast God ordained in Israel, and was initiated the night before God freed them from their Egyptian slavery. Israel had come to Egypt at the time of a severe drought in the Land of Canaan. Joseph, Abraham's great-grandson, the son of Jacob, had been made second ruler in Egypt during this time. The Word records that after Joseph's death there arose up a new king over Egypt which knew not Joseph," *** Exodus 1:8. This king brought Israel into slavery. Israel remained in this slavery for 430 years. This great bondage caused Israel to cry out, and God sent them a deliverer in the person of Moses, the lawgiver. At the time of Israel's deliverance, God had proven Himself through the nine plagues He sent on Egypt. Before the tenth plague, the killing of all the first born, God instructed Israel to take the blood of a lamb, dip a hyssop branch in it, and apply the blood on their door posts and lintel. All Israel was to remain in their homes that evening. The death angel would pass over all that had the blood properly applied. Thus God instituted the Feast of Passover. God gave Moses very specific instructions on how the Feast of the Passover was to be kept.
The Feast of Passover was to have three celebrations: The Feast of Passover, The Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Feast of Firstfruits. All of Israel's feasts were only shadows of the real thing. Paul wrote,
"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an Holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days; which are a shadow of the things to come but the Body is of Christ. *** Colossians 2:16-17
A shadow is not the real thing, but a silhouette of the real thing. The feasts were only a shadow of what God is going to do by Jesus through the Holy Spirit in us, His people. The feasts were celebrated 1450 years before the coming of Jesus. When the real thing happened through the coming of Jesus, they failed to recognize Him.
Everything in the Feast of Passover relates to Jesus Christ. The Passover was fulfilled in the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Egypt is a type of the world. The Exodus is a type of our deliverance from the world and slavery of sin through the blood of Jesus.
When God instituted the Passover, He started a new calendar for Israel. He spoke to Moses, "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you," *** Exodus 12:2. Passover occurred in the first month. The first month was known as NISAN and ABIB. Nisan means "their flight" and Abib means "a green ear of corn".
The Passover was to be celebrated in the first month. The number one signifies the beginning and is the number of God. Jesus spoke, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the First and the Last", *** Revelation 22:13.
When Jesus Christ the Lamb of God came to earth, the world started a new calendar system. All time is measured BC, Before Christ, or AD After Advent; the advent of His birth. The whole Bible is about Jesus Christ, not just the New Testament. The Old Testament is alive with direct prophecies and revelations about Jesus. There are also many types and shadows in the Old Testament that relate to Jesus.
The Passover is the foundation of our whole relationship with God. Israel was told to take a lamb without spot or blemish of the first year. They were to take it from the sheep or goats. Every household was to take a lamb on the 10th day of the month, *** Exodus 12:3-5. The lamb was to be of the first year, mature and of breading age, but undefiled. This speaks of Christ, the firstborn. Jesus was the firstborn of the virgin Mary. The virgin birth is very important. Jesus, the undefiled Lamb, was born into the world in an undefiled vessel.
Jesus was the firstborn of many brethren, *** Romans 8:29. He is referred to as our Older Brother. Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, *** Colossians 1:15.
"In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made." *** John 1:1-3
All creation was resident in Jesus before it was created. So all creation has the touch of Jesus on it. Paul wrote:
"The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world, are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, *** Romans 1:20.
Everything in creation is signed by Jesus as Master Designer and Creator. Jesus was the firstborn from the dead, *** Colossians 1:18. The resurrection of Jesus Christ was the most monumental event in the history of mankind, and yet many treat it as some insignificant, ancient fact that has little or no meaning in our lives today. Paul addressed this in his letter to the Corinthians:
"Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some of you that there is no resurrection of the dead?" *** I Corinthians 15:12
Paul went on to say that if there was no resurrection, his preaching was vain (worthless), and our faith is vain. Then he concluded,
"If Christ be not raised your faith is vain. Ye are yet in your sins." *** I Corinthians 15:17
If Jesus is not the firstfruits from the dead, then our faith is worthless, and we are yet in our sins. But praise God for the Lamb of the first year. The lamb had to be without spot or blemish. The word blemish is TAMIN and means "whole, upright, perfect, mature, and blameless". The word spot is associated with leprosy which represents sin in our lives. Jesus is our Passover Lamb. John the Baptist proclaimed Jesus to be the Lamb of God:
"The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him and saith
Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world." *** John 1:29
Jesus was the Lamb without spot or blemish. Peter wrote that we were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold... "But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot," *** I Peter 1:19. Jesus was the Lamb of God, mature, whole, upright, perfect, and blameless.
The religious system of Jesus' day condemned Him but could find no fault in Him. He stood before Annas, *** John 18:13. Annas found no fault in Him. Annas sent Him to the high priest, Caiaphas, *** John 18:24. Caiaphas could find no fault in Him, so he sent Him to Pilate. Pilate, who represented the Roman Government, could find no fault in Jesus. Pilot's words were, "I find in Him no fault at all," *** John 19:37. Pilate sent Jesus to Herod. Herod and his men of war mocked Him and sent Him back to Pilate. They, too, could find no fault, *** Luke 23:11. Even Judas, the betrayer, declared Him innocent. When Judas returned the money to the chief priest, He declared, "I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood, *** Matthew 27:4.
The thief on the cross knew Jesus was blameless. After admonishing the other thief for questioning if Jesus was the Christ, he said, "We, indeed justly. For we receive the like reward for our deeds, but this man has done nothing amiss," *** Luke 23:41. The centurion at the cross, after witnessing the earthquake at Jesus' death stated, "Truly this was the son of God," *** Matthew 27:54. Jesus was declared blameless by all who knew Him: without spot (sin), the perfect Passover Lamb of God. Jesus is our example and we are to walk after His example. As Peter, who was given the keys to the kingdom proclaimed,
"We look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness and because we look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot and blameless." *** Peter 3:13-14
We are to stand blameless before God without spot, not in some far off place called heaven, but here in this life and in this existence. John wrote,
"Herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgment because as He is, so are we in this world." *** I John 4:17
Jesus was without spot and blameless as the Lamb of God. We are to be without spot and blameless in this life. Jesus is returning for His church that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, (flawless) or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish, *** Ephesians 5:27.
God's redemption plan for man is foretold in the Feast of Passover. The Lamb was to be a male. Female lambs were not acceptable before God. It could be from the sheep or the goats, but it had to be a male. Many today have done away with Christ's masculinity. They have removed all reference to Him, He or man from their Bibles, songs, and sermons. They want to make God an "IT" with all reference to sex having been removed. This is in spite of the fact that every reference to God, the Son, or the Holy Spirit, is masculine in the Scriptures. The Lamb that Israel was to sacrifice had to be male. Israel was to take the lamb on the 10th day of the month, *** Exodus 12:3.
"And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening," *** Exodus 12:6.
When Israel selected the lamb, the lamb's fate was sealed. It would die four days later on the evening of the 14th. As we read in *** II Peter 3:8:
"A day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day."
It was four thousand years from Adam to Jesus. The Lamb was hidden four days, then when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His son, made of a woman, made under the law, *** Galatians 4:4. Jesus came into the earth at the exact time pre-ordained. Jesus revealed to John on the Isle of Patmos that He was slain from the foundation of the earth, *** Revelation 13:8. Israel was to keep the lamb hidden just as God had kept His Lamb hidden until the time of restoration of all things. Jesus was the Lamb for every household, the Passover Lamb of God.
The lamb was to be killed on the evening of the 14th, in the month of Abib, *** Exodus 12:6. There was a time before every feast called the Day of Preparation when everything concerning the feast was to be prepared. Much controversy surrounds when Jesus, the Lamb of God, was crucified and how long He laid in the tomb. This is disclosed in the Feast of Passover in the killing of the Lamb. The lamb was killed on the 14th day of the month of Abib. There is much confusion as to what day Jesus was crucified. Because of erroneous religious beliefs, many believe Jesus died on Friday. They incorrectly put the time of His death before the weekly sabbath, and do not relate His death to the Feast of Passover which is celebrated on a day of the month, not a day of the week. Scripture proves Jesus was crucified on the Day of Preparation, the day before the feast. John records:
"And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he (Pilate) saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!" *** John 19:14
"The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (FOR THAT SABBATH DAY WAS AN HIGH DAY,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away." *** John 19:31
"There laid they Jesus therefore, because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand." *** John 19:42
In these three scriptures, John, the beloved disciple, stated that Jesus' judgment, death, and burial was on the Day of Preparation, before the Feast of Passover which was a feast sabbath, not a weekly sabbath.
The world celebrates Good Friday as the day Jesus was crucified because they know Israel celebrated the Sabbath on Saturday. Therefore Jesus must have been crucified on Friday. When speaking to the Scribes and Pharisees, Jesus said,
"For as Jonas (Jonah) was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." *** Matthew 12:40
Jesus stated He would be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. If Jesus was crucified on Friday, and resurrected on Sunday morning, it would have been only 2 days and 2 nights in the tomb. This becomes confusing because we try to understand the death of Jesus without considering the Feast of Passover.
In the year Jesus was crucified, Israel had two sabbaths in a row: the Passover sabbath and the weekly sabbath, the following day. The question arises: How could that be, since the feasts were reckoned from the new moon? In Jesus' time, Israel had adopted a calendar system where their months began and ended by a calendar much like ours today, no longer beginning and ending their months by the new moon. The feast no longer fell on the weekly sabbaths. Therefore the Sabbath Israel was keeping at the time of Jesus' death was the Feast of Passover, not the weekly Sabbath which they would have celebrated on Friday.
Under the law Israel was to keep the lamb four days, and specific instructions were given as to how the lamb was to be killed, cooked, and eaten. All of which alluded to the death of Jesus. Israel was told in the killing of the lamb, and in the preparation of the lamb, they were not to break any of the bones, *** Exodus 12:46. No bones of the lamb could be broken in the killing, cooking, or eating of the lamb. The Psalmist David prophesied of the time Jesus spent on the cross when he wrote:
"I am poured out like water and all My bones are out of joint: My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of My bowels." *** Psalm 22:14
David proclaimed all Jesus' bones were out of joint. Jesus was crucified the third hour which was 9:00 A.M., *** Mark 15:25. He hung on the cross until the ninth hour, 3:00 P.M. It was the ninth hour when He cried out, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabach thani, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me," *** Mark 15:34. They ran and filled a sponge with vinegar and put it on a reed and gave Him to drink. Jesus cried with a loud voice and gave up the ghost, *** Mark 15:34-37.
John records the Jews came to Pilate and asked that Jesus and the two thieves be killed by breaking their legs so the bodies could be taken off the cross before the Feast of Passover, *** John 19:31.
"Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with Him.
But when they came to Jesus, and saw that He was dead already, they brake not His legs." *** John 19:32-33
"For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of Him shall not be broken." *** John 19:36
The scriptures were fulfilled that no bone would be broken. But, as David recorded, all his bones were out of joint. The Passover Lamb and the Body of Christ that hung on the cross are examples of His body in the earth today. The thieves on each side of Jesus reveal unto us the two days that proceed the day of the Body of Christ. The first thief represents law. The law rejected Christ, proclaiming, "If thou be Christ save Thyself and us," *** Luke 23:39. The law operated by works and without faith. "Without faith it is impossible to please God, *** Hebrews 11:6. The other thief was granted grace.
"And he said unto Jesus, Lord remember me when thou comest into Thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, To day shalt thou be with Me in paradise." *** Luke 23:42-43
The second thief recognized Him as Lord and was guaranteed a place in the Kingdom. God's perfect grace was afforded the second thief. He did not ask for forgiveness of sins nor was he baptized. It was only through God's perfect grace that the promise Jesus made the thief was fulfilled.
The legs of law were broken. Law cannot stand in the day of the Lord. The legs of grace were also broken. Grace will not stand in the Day of the Lord. In the beginning, God proclaimed, "My Spirit will not always strive with man," *** Genesis 6:3. It is only the True Body of Christ that will stand in the day of the Lord because, not one bone of the Body of Christ was broken.
Although not one bone will be broken in the Body of Christ, at this time the Body of Christ is out of joint, with many schisms and separations and divisions. But God will bring His body together and it will stand in the last days, full of grace and truth.
After Israel killed the lamb they were to catch the blood in a basin, take a bunch of hyssop and dip the hyssop in the blood, applying it to the lintel and the two side posts of the door. No one was to leave that house until morning, *** Exodus 12:22.
Solomon stated, "...the lowly hyssop springeth up out of the wall," *** I Kings 4:33. It was an uncultivated, unwanted plant. Today we would call it a weed. And yet, this unwanted plant was used to apply the blood at the time of the Passover. The Psalmist wrote,
"Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean," *** Psalm 51:7
The hyssop was used for ceremonial cleansing under the law. It was used to purify the leper, *** Leviticus 14:4-7; to cleanse the leprous house, *** Leviticus 14:48-53; and to cleanse those who touched the dead, *** Numbers 19:1.
Hyssop was also used at Jesus' crucifixion. When Jesus knew all things were accomplished, He spoke, "I thirst." They filled a sponge with vinegar (bitter herbs) and put it upon a branch of hyssop and put it to His mouth. When Jesus received the vinegar, He proclaimed, "It is finished." He bowed His head and gave up the ghost, *** John 19:28-30.
The hyssop, tied to a reed, would minister to Jesus' last request. God used this lowly, uncultivated plant as a sign of purity. Only that which God had cleansed could touch the blood of the Lamb. There was no defilement in the blood of innocent animals and there was no defilement in the blood of Jesus. It was not tainted by sin, nor the old, Adamic nature. It was pure. Only innocent blood could redeem man and reconcile him back to the Father.
When the blood was applied to the door post and lintel of Israel's homes, there was a complete covering over that house. Those in the house had come under the covering, protection, and security of God Almighty. When we enter into God's house by accepting the shed blood as the forgiveness of our sin, we enter into God's family. As long as we stay under the blood, we are in His care. Any time we come out of that house, we are no longer under His covering, protection, and security; and we will receive the judgment that will come upon the whole earth. In the world, death resides in every household. Only in the blood of Jesus is there life. Jesus said,
"I am the way, the truth and the life," *** John 14:6
Without the applied blood, a complete covering in our lives, death is resident in our house. Those Israelites in Egypt, who did not believe in the blood of the Lamb suffered the loss of the firstborn. It is the same with our walk in God. The applied blood is not determined by who we are, but what we are. Many believe, because they belong to this church or that group, they are OK with God, but without the blood covering, they will perish with the world. The applied blood of the Lamb is our security in the days that lie directly ahead.
God gave Israel detailed instructions on how the lamb was to be prepared to be eaten. Why was so much attention paid to the body of the lamb? The Lamb had been slain and the blood applied. In the thinking of many Christians, the applied blood and water baptism are the whole salvation plan of God. Israel's baptism would be taken care of in the Red Sea. So why did God give Moses such specific instructions concerning the body of the Lamb? The writer of Hebrews proclaimed,
"Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared Me." *** Hebrews 10:5
The writer of Hebrews was not referring to the physical body that Jesus inhabited while He ministered on earth. The body that is being prepared for Him is the Body of Christ. When this Body is prepared, He will set His head upon that Body. Then the body that hung on the cross will be complete. All the joints will have come back together and will be connected to the head.
After killing the lamb, the skin had to be removed. The skin of the lamb had to be broken. Jesus' skin was broken because of the scourging. Jesus' skin was practically taken off His body. The prophet Isaiah recorded,
"I gave My back to the smiters, and My cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not My face from shame and spitting." *** Isaiah 50:6
They pulled handfuls of beard from His face. He was slapped and He gave His back to the smiters, or whippers. Isaiah went on to say:
"As many were astonied at thee; His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men." *** Isaiah 52:14
The word visage is MAREH and means "outward appearance". Jesus outward appearance was marred more than any man's. The Psalmist David recorded,
"I may tell all My bones. They look and stare upon Me," *** Psalms 22:17
They could see Jesus' bones. They were exposed because of the severe beatings. Isaiah said they were astonied at Him. They had never seen any man so beaten, and He hung on the cross with every joint out of place. His appearance was as though He had been skinned as a slaughtered animal. Jesus was laid to open shame before His creation, just as the lamb without its skin.
With us, nothing is hidden. We, too, as His Body, stand naked before Him. All things are open to Him. The writer of Hebrews spoke:
"Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." *** Hebrews 4:13
We stand naked before the Lord. There is no facade, no covering. The Body of Christ is laid open before the Father. We have no covering for our sin except the shed blood.
God told Israel how to cook the lamb. It had to be roasted with fire. They were not to eat it raw, nor were they to boil it in water, *** Exodus 12:8-9. Fire is symbolic of cleansing and purifying. When we are being chastised, many times we will proclaim, "God is turning up the heat." We have God's assurance that He only chastises those He loves, and He is simply dealing with us as sons, *** Hebrews 12:6-7. He is bringing us into obedience to His will just as Jesus learned obedience by the things He suffered, *** Hebrews 5:8.
The lamb had to be roasted. Jesus was brought through the fire. So must the Body of Christ be put through the fire to purify and cleanse each one, and bring them into the obedience and the will of the Father. God is chastening and correcting, sitting "as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He shall purify the sons of Levi (the priesthood) and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness," *** Malachi 3:3. Our offering unto God is to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, *** Romans 12:1.
The Passover Lamb was put through the fire as Jesus was put through the fire. They could not eat the lamb raw. Raw indicates unprepared. Those unprepared will not be part of His Body.
They were not to boil the lamb in water. Water is the symbol of the Word. Many desire to be immersed in the Word. They desire to have all understanding and possess all knowledge, but they deny the fire. Their desire is to enter into the kingdom by knowledge. But they need the cleansing fire of God to complete His work in their lives.
If the shed blood of the lamb does not bring forth a Body, then the death of Jesus was in vain. But we are assured by God that the shed blood will produce a Body, and that Body will be whole and complete in Him.
Israel was told to roast the lamb, "his head with his legs and purtenance," *** Exodus 12:9. The word purtenance is QUEREB and means "inner parts". The lamb was put through the fire whole. The head was on the body and was complete. The head of God's Body is Christ, the Holy Spirit. He came as the cloven tongues of fire on the Day of Pentecost, to cleanse and purify His Body by the fire. Then the Body is cleansed and purified by the washing of the water of the Word. When this process is complete, then He will set His head on His prepared Body, and the Lamb will be complete.
After the skin of the lamb was removed, God directed Moses to draw particular attention to three parts of the Lamb: the head, legs and inner parts. This made reference to the parts of Jesus' body that would be pierced in His crucifixion: His head, by the crown of thorns; His legs, by the nails through His hands and feet; His purtenance, (inward parts) when the Roman spear was thrust in His side. We, too, must come into fellowship with Christ's suffering. Paul stated,
"That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death." *** Philippians 3:10
We must be willing to come into fellowship with His suffering and death if we are to know the power of His resurrection.Just before his death, Paul stated:
"If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him: if we deny Him, He also will deny us." *** II Timothy 2:12
If we are not willing to suffer with Him, we will not reign with Him. Jesus was sent as the Lamb of God. His death was foreordained by God before He laid the foundation of the earth.
Israel was to eat the lamb with unleaven bread and bitter herbs. Jesus told the multitudes, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, ye have no life in you", *** John 6:53.
We must eat the flesh of the Lamb and drink His blood if we are to have His life in us. We do this when we partake of the communion. Jesus stated that we are to do this until He returns. The bread we take must be unleavened bread made without yeast. Yeast is a fungus that makes bread rise or be puffed up. Leaven represents sin in our lives; that which puffs us up and makes us believe that we are something when we are nothing. We deceive ourselves, *** Galatians 6:3. (More will be discussed about leaven in the next chapter)
The bitter herbs were to afflict the soul. Jesus' soul was afflicted in the Garden of Gethsemane when He sweat great drops of blood. At this time, He was lamenting before the Father, seeking another way. The sponge dipped in vinegar, attached to hyssop, and raised to Jesus' lips just before His death, was the last affliction that man could minister to Him on this earth.
The bitter herbs in our lives are when we afflict our soul before the Father and our only desire before God is to be pleasing in His sight. We cry out, "Not my will, but Thine be done in my life." And we allow the old, Adamic, sin nature to be consumed by the Spirit of God. This is the cleansing fire of God in our lives.
Israel was told to kill the lamb at sundown, in the evening at the end of the day. Jesus was crucified at the end of the day. This also marked the end of an age; the age of law. The law began when Israel came to the end of their day of captivity in Egypt. They would receive the law 3 months later at Sinai, *** Exodus 19:1. The day of law would stand for approximately 1450 years until Jesus came to fulfill the law.
"Think not that I come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy but to fulfill." *** Matthew 5:17
Jesus fulfilled not only the law, but He also fulfilled the prophets. Jesus was the fulfillment of the Old Testament in its entirety. When Jesus came as the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, He ended the law.
"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." *** Romans 10:4
The law has ended for those who are walking in the Holy Spirit realm. Those who have refused Christ, the Holy Spirit will be judged by the law, because the law has not come to an end in their lives.
When Jesus, our Passover Lamb, was killed at sundown, the age of law was coming to a close and the Day of Grace was dawning. For the past 2000 years, God's grace, by the Holy Spirit, has been guiding and directing man's lives in the ways of God. But the age of grace is fast coming to an end. Jesus revealed to John,
"He that is unjust, let him be unjust still, and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still, and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still, and he that is holy, let him be holy still." *** Revelation 22:11
We are witnessing the end of the age of grace. It has been approximately two thousand years, or two days, since Jesus departed His earthly existence and we are about to enter into the third day, a new age. As Jesus' fleshly existence ceased at the sundown of Law, so will our fleshly existence cease at the sundown of Grace. We face a glorious new day for the Body of Christ when His Body will rule and reign on the earth.
None of the Passover Lamb was to remain until morning. That which was not eaten was to be burned, *** Exodus 12:10. The old, flesh body that was changed by the fire cannot enter into the New Day. The old body must be destroyed. It will be destroyed through death or changed into a Spiritual body. Paul wrote:
"Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is Spiritual." *** I Corinthians 15:46
"And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly (Spiritual)." *** I Corinthians 15:49
Nothing of the old body will be part of that New Day.A new day for the Body of Christ is about to dawn. Those who are a part of His Body will enter into His presence (His kingdom). These will enter into the high place that God has planned for His people from the beginning. But before that day, there is a Day of Judgment.
In Egypt, God's people were set free by God through Moses, the law giver. We are freed from the law by the blood of Jesus. In the age to come, God's people will be totally freed from all governmental law. It is by and through the Holy Spirit anointing that we will come into total obedience to the voice of God. The Kingdom will come after God's judgment has been poured out upon the house of God,
"For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?" *** I Peter 4:17.
Judgment on the house of God will cleanse His Body from all unrighteousness. Only through this process will we be prepared to enter into His presence. In that day, those who are a part of His Body will make up His True Church.
After Israel killed the lamb and roasted it, they were given special instructions on how they were to eat the lamb:
"And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord's passover." *** Exodus 12:11
They were to eat the passover with their loins girded. In the time of the Exodus, both men and women wore robes. When they worked or ran they took the hem of the robe and tucked it into their girdle or belt around their waist. The robe then became as pants and did not restrict the movement of the legs. They were to be ready to flee when Egypt demanded them to leave. They were to leave immediately, not looking back, or going back for anything they might have left behind.
These same instructions have been given to God's people today. Paul wrote that part of our armor was having our loins girded about with truth, *** Ephesians 6:14. Our loins are the regenerative parts of our body. If we are to bring forth life, it must be by and through the truth of the Word. God is truth and in Him is no lie. Truth must be our girdle. Peter also confirmed this "girding up" by proclaiming,
"Gird up the loins of your mind. Be sober and hope to the end. For the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." *** I Peter 4:13
We are to gird up the reproductive portion of our mind, and be ready and prepared, being sober and having hope to know that, at the end of this age, Christ Jesus is going to be revealed unto His people. Now is the time we are to prepare our lives for this revelation.
On that day, Israel was to have their shoes on their feet. Again, this is part of the armor of God. Our feet are to be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, *** Ephesians 6:15. The gospel of peace is yet to be proclaimed throughout the whole earth. Jesus proclaimed this everlasting gospel to John!
"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." *** Revelation 14:6
The gospel of peace and the everlasting gospel is the gospel of the Kingdom. Jesus stated:
"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." *** Matthew 24:14
At Jesus' birth the angels proclaimed, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men," *** Luke 2:14. There has been no peace on earth, nor has there been goodwill toward men since Jesus came the first time. God has not been given glory in the highest. Jesus, Himself, proclaimed,
"For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law." *** Matthew 10:5
There can be no peace on earth, no goodwill toward men, nor can we praise God in the highest until the Prince of Peace sets up His everlasting Kingdom in the hearts of His people. We need to have our feet shod with the gospel of peace, ready for God's service in that day.
Israel was told to have their staff in their hands. The staff, or sceptre, is a sign of authority. Israel was to have God's authority in their hands. God intends His people to operate in His authority. It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit and the authority we have in His name that we can overcome. The weapons of our warfare are Spiritual, not carnal, *** II Corinthians 10:4.
Another part of our armor God has endowed us with is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, *** Ephesians 6:17. As God's children, we have the right and authority to use His Word:
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." *** II Timothy 3:16
We have God's full authority to say, "Thus sayeth the Lord" and "As it is written". Just as Israel was to have their staff in their hands, we must know our authority in God and how we are to operate in that authority.
When Jesus sent out His twelve, He gave them power and authority over all devils (demons) and to cure diseases, *** Luke 9:1. God has empowered His people for the times ahead. We need to begin to move in that power.
When the death angel passed over Egypt at midnight, all the first born of Egypt died. The first born were considered the strength of the house. They were the double portion heir. Jacob proclaimed, "Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might and the beginning of my strength." *** Genesis 49:3
When the father died, the first born became the head of the family. Jesus was the only begotten of the father, or the first born of the Father. He was the strength and the power of the Father in the earth.
After God had judged Egypt by poisoning their waters, He afflicted them with pestilence (diseases). There was sickness in their animals and the people had boils (skin diseases). There were many attacks by insects, lice, flies, and locust which consumed their crops. There were plagues on the people. Judgment came also in severe storms. Frogs and darkness covered the land.
All these plagues are on the earth today. But the last plague was the taking away of the strength and power in each household. God is preparing this judgment. This judgment will bring forth the firstfruit sons, the strength and power of the Father, *** Revelation 14:4.
As the world's (Egypt's) strength and power fails, God's strength and power will be manifested in His firstfruit sons. The midnight hour is fast approaching upon all mankind. The judgment of God upon the earth will set His people free from the governmental slavery that Egypt (the world) has brought upon His people.
God set His people free in the month Abib, *** Exodus 13:4. Abib means "a green ear of corn". The word corn would better have been translated wheat. So he was referring to a green head of wheat. A green head of wheat will not allow itself to be separated from the chaff that holds it in place. When we were freed from our bondage to sin, we were still green heads of wheat refusing to be separated from the chaff in our lives. But when we come to the light of the everlasting Gospel of peace, then our green heads are matured by the heat of summer through trials and tribulation that mature us and bring us again into His image and likeness. These have been separated from the chaff of this life, and are becoming the pure seed, suitable for the master's use.
Many Christians are desiring the things of this world. They refuse to be separated from the chaff which leads to rebellion and judgment. Those who desire to hold on to the things of Egypt will not enter into their promise land. They will die in the wilderness of rebellion and rejection. Only the heat of the summer (tribulation) will bring the immature to maturity that they may be usable by God.
The green heads will not enter in when God takes His winnowing fan in His hand to purge His floor, *** Matthew 3:12. The green heads will be blown away by the wind, the Holy Spirit.
Those who refuse to be matured are destined to go through the wrath. This will be the final judgment that will destroy the old, Adamic nature in those green ears of corn. In this day, God will bring the strength and power of His firstborn for all the world to see. Those who have applied the Passover experience to their lives will be part of this great company.
Israel would celebrate the next Feast of Unleavened Bread after they fled Egypt, when they were to eat unleaven bread for seven days.
For Further Discussion
***Jesus, Our Passover Lamb
***The Three Crosses
***God's Redemption Plan
***Two Applications of the Blood
***Christ, the End of Law
***The Everlasting Gospel
CHAPTER TWO
Questions
1. Were Israel's feast days on the same day of the week? Explain
2. Unlike the first six feasts which were fulfilled in ancient Israel, which feast will be fulfilled in us, His people?
3. In the Bible what does the word Egypt represent?
4. In the Bible what word represents a type of our deliverance from the world and slavery of sin?
5. What was the most monumental event in the history of mankind?
6. How are we to stand before God? II Peter 3:13-14
7. What gender was the lamb that Israel was to sacrifice to be?
8. What was hyssop used for in the Bible?
9. What does God's fuller soap represent?
10. What happened when Jesus came as the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost? Romans 10:4
FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD
Chapter Three
When the blood of the Passover lamb was applied in Israel's life, God freed them from the bondage of Egypt. There were no more taskmasters in their life. They would go out free.
Jesus, our Passover Lamb, proclaimed, "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed," *** John 8:36. He also related that if we know the Truth, the truth will make us free, *** John 8:32. The Truth is the Holy Spirit of God. We need the blood and the Spirit to be truly free from sin, the world, and the government.
Israel would celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread after they were freed from slavery. No longer would they, as free people, operate in the clay pits of man. "They were free to follow the Lamb wherever He goeth," *** Revelation 14:4. They would no longer be directed by man, but by the Word of the Living God.
The clay pits of Egypt reveal our position in the world before we apply the blood of the Passover Lamb. Clay represents the flesh. The pit represents our condition as being slaves to sin and the corruption of the world; always serving the desires of the flesh, giving into every whim of man. We lived our mundane lives, day after day, with no hope until someone showed us the way, the truth, and the life. We were shown the way back to the Father through the Son's shed blood and the Holy Spirit of God.
Israel was free, but it would be many years before they would enter into their promise land. When we are freed from the bondage of sin, there is still a long way to go to enter into our promise land, the Kingdom of God. (See "Repentance to our Promise Land" by G. Kirkpatrick)
Israel was to celebrate the Feast of Unleaven Bread on the 15th day of Abib.
"And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread." *** Leviticus 23:6
Many teach, and would have us believe, God intended His people to worship Him on the Saturday Sabbath. They proclaim there is no basis for the Christian Church to come together on Sunday. As we examine the feast, we find ample proof that God exalted the eighth day, or the first day of the week.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread was on the 8th day, the day after the Sabbath. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was to be celebrated on the first day of the week. Israel was to eat unleaven bread for seven days. Seven is God's perfect and complete number. The word seven means "to be full and satisfied, having enough". The number of man is six and the number of God is one. When man adds God, he becomes seven and is "filled, satisfied, and has enough", being complete in God.
Eating the unleavened bread for seven days was a complete and perfect cleansing of the body of all leaven. Leaven in the Bible is what we call yeast. The leaven in the Bible is different from the yeast of today, although the purpose and end result are the same. We know yeast mostly as a purchased substance which is added to bread or fruit juice to induce a fermentation process. In ancient days they used wheat or barley bran mixed with water, added vetch, and allowed it to stand until it soured. This was called sour dough by our ancestors. When added to bread it produced gas bubbles, and the bread dough would rise. After adding the leaven, the dough puffed up. It added nothing to the loaf. In order for this process to take place, the right temperature and moisture had to be present.
When added to fruit juice, the fermentation process produces gas bubbles, an effervescence, and a mildly violent reaction takes place. This is called "working". The fermentation process turns the sugar in the fruit juice to alcohol, thus producing wine.
What leaven does in bread and other substances is to make a general change in the mass by causing corruption. This process expands, or puffs up, whatever it touches by expanding the mass. In the Bible, leaven is generally used as a symbol of corrupting influences in our lives. Israel was to have no leaven in their camp for seven days. This not only pertained to leavened bread, but to all leaven in the house.
"Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel." *** Exodus 12:15
When Israel left Egypt, they had all the wealth of the Egyptians. They had all the building materials needed to construct the tabernacle in the wilderness. They used their animals and wagons to carry all that was needed in their lives. The only thing they were to leave behind was leaven. God not only sent them out free, but clean from the corrupting influences of Egypt. When we come to Jesus and are forgiven our sin, then all corrupting influences must be removed from our life.
Israel would celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the wilderness. The Feast of Unleavened Bread began the first day of the week and lasted the whole week. Israel was to begin to eat unleavened bread on the Feast of Passover. Throughout the Word, the Feast of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were used interchangeably. These were separate celebrations in Israel.
Jesus is our Passover Lamb. He is also the Unleaven Bread. Jesus is that bread that came down from heaven, undefiled, uncorrupted, and sinless, the Unleavened Bread from God.
After Jesus fed the five thousand, the Jews came to Him and wanted Him to show them a sign to prove He was who He said He was. They proclaimed, "Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat", *** John 6:30-31.
Jesus began to expound on their statement, informing them it was not Moses that had given them manna to eat, but His Father. His Father also gave them the True Bread from heaven (the Spiritual realm). And that bread of God cometh down from heaven to give life unto the world, *** John 6:32-33.
Jesus was speaking of Himself as the Bread of Life. The Jews wanted this bread. As many today, they thought the things of God were physical. They wanted natural bread to satisfy the flesh. Jesus states emphatically,
"I am the Bread of Life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst." *** John 6:35
The Jews murmured because they could not comprehend that He was the bread that came down from heaven, *** John 6:41. In the natural, bread is called the staff of life. Jesus is the life of the world. Those who believe on Him have everlasting life.
When Jesus declared, plainly, "I am that Bread of Life," *** John 6:48, He continued to explain:
"The bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world," *** John 6:51
"Except ye eat of the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you." *** John 6:53
Jesus was the unleavened bread. He gave His unleavened (uncorrupted) flesh for the life of the world. When we partake of that bread that came from the Spiritual realm and drink His blood, which is life, we are becoming part of His body. We are becoming an integral part of the life of God. We are to partake of this communion in Him until He comes to be glorified in His saints, *** II Thessalonians 1:10.
John recorded that Jesus was the Bread of Life. He also recorded that He was without sin.
"And ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin." *** I John 3:5
There was no sin in Jesus' life. The word for sin is HAMARTIA and means "missing the mark or target". Webster says that mark means "target, goal, or intended purpose". We are running on a course predetermined by God with a set goal or target at the end. When we get off course, we miss the intended purpose of God in our lives. That becomes HAMARTIA, or sin, in our lives. Paul stated, "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus", *** Philippians 3:14.
Paul had a goal, a target, an intended purpose in His life. He related it to being in a race. A race has a finish line. No one finishes the race before they cross the finish line. In a race there is also a well-defined course. If we are to qualify as the winner of the race, we must run within the confines of the course.
We have been taught that moral deficiencies such as drinking, smoking, drug use, homosexuality, adultery, stealing, cursing, lying, etc. are sin. These are only the result of sin. The sin was when our minds were allowed to dwell on these things until they became manifested in the flesh. Jesus related,
"But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." *** Matthew 5:28
The sin is committed when we look upon a woman to lust after her. The predetermined mark God had set in our lives was missed at that moment. The sin of lust must be repented of, and adjustments made in our thinking, so those thoughts go no further. Those thoughts must not enter in again. This is dealing with the old man, the old, Adamic, sin nature. Peter spoke of the hidden man of the heart.
"Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;
But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." *** I Peter 3:3-4
Peter was speaking of women adorning themselves outwardly. He was relating the adorning should be the hidden man of the heart. The hidden man is incorruptible. Incorruptible means "will not pass away". All the clothes, the gold, and the braiding of hair will pass away. But what will not pass away is the meek and quiet spirit, which is the sight of God of great price. Isaiah stated,
"Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee," *** Isaiah 26:3
Sin originates in our mind. If our mind is on God and the things of God, we will not miss the mark, and a meek and quiet spirit will be our reward. Our bodies will not suffer the effects of manifested sin. Paul stated that with his mind he served the law of God; with the flesh, the law of sin (HAMARTIA), *** Romans 7:14-15. Paul was still dealing with the old sin nature. In Paul's later writings, we witness that he had become victorious over the old, Adamic nature.
"Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." *** Philippians 4:11-13
"...For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.
Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." *** II Timothy 1:12-13
Paul had become content with his status and calling in Christ. When the desires of the flesh and the allurement of the world has been dealt with in our lives we, too, can come into this place. When we hit the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, we will have a changed mind, no longer serving the sin nature, but serving the living God with our whole being. Jesus revealed,
"Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," *** Matthew 12:34
We speak what is in our mind. Our mouths speak what is resident in our hearts. We talk about what is most important in our lives. It might be our job, possessions, accomplishments, or God. If our mind is stayed on God, then His Word and what He is doing in our lives, and the lives of others, will be all we talk about. In Proverbs, Solomon recorded,
"Death and life are in the power of the tongue." *** Proverbs 18:21
We can speak life, or we can speak death. What is in our heart is what we speak. James records:
"Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be." *** James 3:10
James states, "These things ought not to be..", because blessings and cursings, life and death are in the tongue. If we speak death or cursing, we are walking in HAMARTIA or we have missed the mark of God, and are dwelling in sin. If we speak life and blessings, we will be in perfect peace, and the hidden man of the heart will have a meek and quiet spirit. He or she will be great in the sight of God.
John related there was no sin in Jesus:
"And ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin." *** I John 3:5
Peter related:
"Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth." *** I Peter 2:22
Jesus did no sin and no guile was in His mouth. The word guile is DOLOS and means "a snare, a bait, deceit, or subtlety." Having no guile means being free from deceitful ways and perverseness in our actions. Jesus was the sinless one. He was morally perfect because He was pure in His heart (mind). Sin was not conceived in His heart; therefore, it was never manifested in His flesh.
Jesus was the unleaven bread that came down from heaven to give life unto the world. When Israel partook of the unleaven bread, they were foretelling the coming of the sinless one who would take away the sins of the world. Many have failed to apply this unleavened bread in their lives. Peter proclaimed, "Hereunto we are called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow His steps", *** I Peter 2:21.
Jesus was the bread without leaven, so should our lives be without leaven. In explaining our communion with the Lord, Paul wrote, "For we being many are one bread and one body. For we are all partakers of that one bread," *** I Corinthians 10:17. When we partake of that one bread, we have become part of the Body of Christ.
The unleavened bread not only portrays the sinless life of Christ, but also the sinless perfection of the Word; the Word being Jesus, the Son. Israel did not recognize the Unleaven Bread when He walked among them. We must not make the same mistake.
God is being made manifest in the earth today through His Body. Those in the Body of Christ must be completely separated from leaven. They must overcome all the corrupting influences of the world, religion and government. They will no longer be puffed up in their own importance. Paul wrote,
"That ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written. That no one of you be puffed up for one against another." *** I Corinthians 4:6
Paul went on to relate that he was coming to the church at Corinth, not to know the speech of them which were puffed up, but the power, *** I Corinthians 4:19. Many today are speaking great, swelling words, but they do not possess the power. They speak of God with leaven in their hearts (puffed up in self) but they do not have the power (Holy Spirit) in their lives.
In Paul's letter to the Colossians, he spoke of those vainly puffed up in their fleshly minds, *** Colossians 2:18. Jesus warned about leaven, the corrupting influence in our lives. Jesus told His disciples:
"Beware of the leaven of the Pharisee and of the Sadducees," *** Matthew 16:6
Jesus clarified that He was not speaking about the leaven of bread. The disciples then understood that He was speaking about the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees, *** Matthew 16:11-12.
The Pharisees and Sadducees were the two main religious groups of Jesus' day. Both the Pharisees and Sadducees were of the Jewish religion. At the time Israel returned from the Babylonian captivity, Israel had one religion. Beginning in the time of Ezra, a split began to develop between the priests and scribes. The priests became the Sadducees and the scribes became the Pharisees. (UNGER'S pg 854). They began to interpret the law to suit their own purposes, and brought the people under bondage to themselves. Jesus said the scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat, *** Matthew 23:2.
Moses was called the lawgiver. The scribes and Pharisees had become the lawgivers in Israel. All knowledge of the law and all interpretation of the law was in their hands. The name Pharisee means "the separated, the expounders". They separated themselves from all who did not keep the law as they interpreted it. They also separated themselves from all they considered defiled so they, themselves, would not be defiled. Jesus related,
"Do not after their works. For they say and do not," *** Matthew 23:3
This is so like the religious system today. They sit in Moses' seat, putting rules and regulations on God's people that they, themselves, do not keep, nor can they keep. It is the old, hypocritical saying, "Do as I say, not as I do." The word hypocrite means "play acting". Jesus was the only one to use that word in the Bible. He is the only one who knows the heart. Jesus stated of the Scribes and Pharisees:
"For ye shut up the heavens (Spiritual realm) against men. For ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in." *** Matthew 23:13
Jesus called the Pharisees and Scribes hypocrites seven times in Chapter 23 of Matthew. Jesus spoke plainly and completely that they were hypocrites. They were only play-acting in their religious roles. This is certainly true today in the religious system. Jesus warns us:
"Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees"
Beware of the play acting of the religious system, who operate by the precepts and doctrines of men. Jesus revealed,
"This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me.
But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." *** Matthew 15:8-9
We are warned to "Beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees", the separatists who proclaim, "We are the only ones. What we do and say is the only way, the only truth and the only life." They teach their precepts and doctrines of man, corrupting the innermost part of man instead of bringing forth life. Jesus told them,
"Ye blind guides which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel," *** Matthew 23:24
Their emphasis is on the external and not the Spiritual. They are more interested in clothes, what they drive and where they live, than the condition of the heart; worrying more about the outside of the platter than cleaning up the inside, *** Matthew 23:26. Jesus went on to say,
"Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity (sin)." *** Matthew 23:28
Paul wrote:
"For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
And no marvel; for satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. *** II Corinthians 11:13-15
Paul spoke of those who transformed themselves into ministers of righteousness, but are ministers of satan:
"Beware of the leaven, (doctrine) of the Pharisees"
The Pharisaical system is not dead. It flourishes in the world under the name of Christianity. Luke recorded,
"Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy (play acting)." *** Luke 12:1
Those who are serving God after the flesh are only going through the motions. Those who have not the Spirit of God directing their lives cannot possibly know the will of God, nor the direction of God. They are only playing a part; hypocrites in the sight of God. Jesus also recorded,
"Beware of the leaven of the Sadducees"
The word Sadducee means "the righteous". Their whole religion is based on holiness in the flesh. They also are more interested in the outward appearance than their Spiritual hope in God. These represent worldly religions.
The Sadducees came from the priesthood. They served God because it was profitable. The priest was the highest paid profession in Israel. There were 11 tribes tithing to the Levitical priesthood. So the priest received 110%: 11 x 10 = 110. This was God's plan to support the priesthood order because they had charge of the tabernacle.
Today, many of the priesthood, the pastors, preachers and heads of churches are ravished with greed, never having enough. We do not include all in this group. We need to understand there are many, many sold out men of God who have a close relationship with the Father, who are True Shepherds of God's sheep. These do a wonderful job. These are not the ones Jesus said to "Beware of", but those who are filled with greed, lust, and self esteem. Isaiah spoke of these shepherds:
"His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.
Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant. *** Isaiah 56:10-12
These are the Sadducees who expound a doctrine of self and self exultation. Because they do not have the Spirit, they deny all the Spiritual revelation of God, and refuse to accept anything they cannot understand with their carnal reasoning.
The Sadducees state there is no resurrection, neither angels, nor spirit, *** Acts 23:8. Everything they taught or believed was from a natural understanding, what they could see, feel, or touch. Jesus told the Sadducees, "Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God, *** Matthew 22:29. The Sadducees could not know the power of God because they did not know the scriptures. They depended on the senses. They were fleshly, charismatic, and sensual. In Paul's second letter to Timothy, he addressed the Sadducean type Christian:
"...having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away," *** II Timothy 3:5
Paul admonishes us "from such turn away", get away, and stay away from those who have religion, but deny the Spirit. Jesus knew the dangers of the leaven of the Sadducees in their so-called worship of God. Their sensual, fleshly expression of godliness was a stink in His nostrils.
"Beware of the leaven of the Sadducees"
Jesus, speaking to His disciples, told them to "Beware of the leaven of Herod," *** Mark 8:15. Herod was a family name. The Herod name began with Herod the Great. He was a descendant of Esau, Jacob's brother. There were six different Herods spoken of in the New Testament; most were mentioned only as Herod:
1.Herod the Great ordered all the children, two years old and younger, killed at the time of Jesus' birth. Herod the Great was a friend of Rome. He was appointed Procurator, or overseer of Galilee. Mark Anthony befriended Herod and had him appointed Tetrarch (governor) over one fourth of the province of Palestine. Later, Mark Anthony persuaded the Roman Senate to make Herod the Great a king. The Herod rule was established. Although all Herods were not kings, they had much power with Rome.
2.Herod Archaelous ruled when Mary and Joseph returned from Egypt with Jesus.
3.Herod Antipas. Jesus referred to this Herod as the "fox". He was Herod at the time of the crucifixion.
4.Herod Philip II was the son of Herod the Great and Cleopatra. It was Philip's wife, Herodias, that eloped with Herod Antipas. During Herod Antipas rule, John the Baptist said that it was not right he should have his brother Philip's wife. Salome, Philip's daughter, demanded John the Baptist's head at the urging of her mother, Herodias.
5.Herod Agrippa was the Herod that allowed Paul to speak for himself after he had demanded to be heard before Caesar and who told Paul, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." *** Acts 26:28
6.Herod Agrippa II was Herod at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
Jesus stated:
"Beware of the leaven of Herod"
Beware of the mixing of the righteous with the unrighteous; mixing the government of God with the governments of the world. The Herods represent the pride and arrogance that comes with position and power. It corrupts and puffs up. Many today desire to control people's lives and have power over them. This power is exerted from the pulpit, from the mouth of the prophet, or by financial influence in the lives of God's people. This corrupting influence is the leaven of Herod. Jesus said, "Beware" that their pride and arrogance do not enter in and destroy our walk with God.
In Paul's letter to the Corinthians, he spoke of the leaven of the church at Corinth. Corinth was a very carnal, fleshly and Spiritually immature church. When Paul wrote to the church, he related,
"I could not speak unto you as unto Spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able." *** I Corinthians 3:1-2
Paul addressed this carnality and sin that had manifested itself as fornication in the church. Paul revealed that one of the men in the church was having a sexual relationship with his father's wife, probably his stepmother, *** I Corinthians 5:1. Paul wrote, "Ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you, *** I Corinthians 5:2. Paul goes on to warn them that their glorying is not good.
"Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?" *** I Corinthians 5:6
The Corinthians suffered from spiritual pride. They assumed because they were operating in some of the Spiritual gifts, they had come into a special place in God. They believed their actions were acceptable, and whatever happened in their midst was OK with God, because they called themselves by His name. How many today are puffed up in their religiosity and walking in sin that has been either ignored or accepted in their midst? Paul's letter to the Romans stated:
"...their thoughts, the meanwhile, accusing or else excusing one another, *** Romans 2:15
They judged themselves and accepted or rejected sin by whatever degree they chose. The Corinthians were aware of the sin in their midst, but they were puffed up. Many in the churches today believe fornication and adultery are "macho" and that it expresses their godly manliness. God called it sin in the Old Testament and He has not changed His mind. Jeremiah wrote:
"Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;
And come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?" *** Jeremiah 7:9-10
Israel became lifted up because they knew that all they had to do was sacrifice an innocent animal and they would be holy before God. Many, today, have this same mentality. All they need to do is confess their sin before the slain Lamb and they will be restored. They use forgiveness as an excuse to sin. Paul was very emphatic as to how to deal with the sin in their presence. He proclaimed,
"Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness.." *** I Corinthians. 5:7-8
The word malice means "undesirable character qualities, depravity". Wickedness is the Greek word PONERIA and has to do with moral degeneration that plots evil and sin. Our lives are to reveal unto the world the absence of the old leaven: the old corrupting influences of the world, and the old Adamic nature. We are to cry out against sin and lawlessness and not become a part of it.
When we purge out the old leaven, we become that new lump. If we fail to purge out the old leaven, then the whole lump will be leavened, or corrupted by the sin in our midst. The assemblies that fail to deal with sin in their midst will soon be leavened (corrupted) by that sin. They will begin to excuse their sin by saying God understands. But God does not understand. We are commanded in His Word to deal with the leaven in our midst. Leaven that is not dealt with corrupts everything it touches.
The word corruption means "death". The wages of sin is death. If we allow sin to exist in our midst, or our lives, that sin will bring spiritual death. The old leaven must be purged out if we are to be that new lump for which the Passover Lamb was sacrificed. Jesus was sacrificed that He may have a church without spot or wrinkle; a church that will be a praise in the earth, and an unleavened people that will be acceptable in the Beloved.
Paul spoke of leaven also in his letter to the Galatians. Many scholars believe the book of Galatians was the first book written in the New Testament. It differs from Paul's other letters because it was not written to a church or a person. It was written to all the churches of Galatia, *** Galatians 1:2. Perhaps it was written first because it deals with the first questions facing a new Christian, "Where do we stand in the law, and what is our relationship to the law?" Paul wrote,
"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." *** Galatians 5:1
Christ, the Holy Spirit, has set us free. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty, *** I Corinthians 3:17. Jesus came to fulfill the law, *** Matthew 5:17. Christ, the Holy Spirit, is the end of the law, for righteousness to every one that believeth." *** Romans 10:4
Then why do we need the law? For by the law is the knowledge of sin, *** Romans 3:20. The law is only a guideline to know what is acceptable and what is not acceptable in the sight of God. We are not to be entangled again with the yoke of bondage of the law. We are to exercise our liberty, yet not abuse the liberty we have in the Holy Spirit. Paul writes,
"For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace." *** Galatians 5:3-4
Those who want to keep the law, or any part of it, have not come to Christ, the Holy Spirit and have fallen from grace. Paul adds, "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump, *** Galatians 5:9. When we try to mix law and grace, they both become corrupted.
Those who try to keep the law by works, and try to operate in grace by faith, are corrupted and frustrated. This type of corruption permeates whole bodies of believers. They become legalistic and the people are brought again under the yoke of bondage. They become puffed up in their bondage because they believe, or have been taught, that self denial establishes them in the will of God. They reject and separate themselves from those who operate in the perfect law of liberty, *** James 1:25. This corrupting influence robs them of their inheritance in God.
We are admonished to become that unleavened bread, not having the corrupting influence of the Pharisees, Sadducees, Herods, Corinth, or Galatia in our lives. As leaven puffs up bread, so leaven will puff up and make God's people proud. So many times God tells us how He will judge pride. James states,
"God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble," *** James 4:6
The word resisteth means "to oppose or to set oneself in opposition to". God will oppose that which the proud tries to accomplish.
God gave the Feast of Unleavened Bread that we may understand the necessity of dealing with the leaven in our lives. He told Israel there could be no leaven in all their house. He is speaking the same to us today. We must deal with any leaven in our home and life. We must remove all the corrupting influences that are affecting our lives. This is speaking of our physical house, and our Spiritual house as well.
Paul said we were to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread with sincerity and truth, *** I Corinthians 5:8. The word sincerity means "purity; with a pure conscience". We must have a pure conscience before God in all we do. We are not to be distracted by any corrupting influences in our lives. We must deal with the sin nature and be totally separated unto God. The word truth has the meaning of "absolute"; not just being truthful, but becoming Truth itself.
Jesus stated, "I am the Truth," *** John 14:6. We must become that truth. No lies are to exist in our character or make up. We must become God's unleavened bread in the earth. We must operate our lives in sincerity and truth. There must be no leaven in our natural house or our Spiritual house.
For Further Discussion
***Clay Pits of Israel
***Cleansing of All Leaven
***Jesus, Our Bread of Life
***Missing the Mark
***Overcoming All Corrupting Influences
***Beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees
***Beware of the Leaven of the Sadducees
***Beware of the Leaven of Herod
FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD
CHAPTER THREE
Questions
1. What does the word seven mean?
2. What does the word sin mean?
3. What does the unleavened bread portray?
4. What was Moses called?
5. We are warned to beware of the leaven of the _________ and the ___________.
6. What does the word Sadducees mean?
Where did the Sadducees come from?
7. Spiritually speaking, what has permeated whole bodies of believers?
8. How many different Herod's are spoken of in the New Testament? What do each represent today?
9. What is the end of the law?
10. Why did God give the Feast of Unleavened Bread?
FEAST OF FIRSTFRUITS
Chapter Four
The Feast of Firstfruits was the final feast in the Feast of Passover. The keeping of this feast was different from the Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread. Israel celebrated the Passover in Egypt and the Unleaven Bread in the wilderness. But they would not celebrate the Feast of Firstfruits until they came into their promise land and had grown their first crop.
"Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest." *** Leviticus 23:10
They were to bring a sheaf of the firstfruit and the priest would wave it before the Lord. This was to assure a bountiful harvest. They were to wave the sheaf the day after the weekly Sabbath.
"And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it." *** Leviticus 23:11
The sheaf was to be waved on the day after the third sabbath of the first month, Abib. When God spoke to Moses and the new month began, there was no celebration on the first sabbath except the weekly sabbath. The Feast of Passover was on the second sabbath, the 14th of Abib. For the next seven days, they were not to eat any leavened bread, nor were they to have any leaven in their houses, until the third sabbath, the 21st of Abib.
Three is the number of completion. Israel was to celebrate the Feast of Firstfruits in remembrance of the promise God made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God had promised their forefathers a land flowing with milk and honey. They were to offer the first of firstfruits after they had entered into, and possessed their promise.Then, on the day after the third sabbath, the priest would wave the sheaf of the firstfruit. The firstfruits were waved on the first day of the week.
The Feast of Passover was on the Seventh Day of the week. The Feast of Unleaven Bread and the Feast of Firstfruits were on the first day of the week. All three feasts celebrated Jesus. The Passover was a shadow of His death; the Unleaven Bread was a shadow of His sinless life; and Firstfruits foreshadowed His resurrection.
Very little is written about the Feast of Firstfruits. It is the least mentioned of the three main feasts. Yet the importance of it and God's intended purpose for it, is profound when we understand it in our relationship to Christ. Special instructions were given concerning the Feast of Firstfruits. God spoke to Moses:
"And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings." *** Leviticus 23:14
Israel could not eat bread, parched corn, nor green ears until they brought the wave offering before the Lord. Bread is a symbol of life. Christ is our life. Parched corn is the symbol of the Word, tried by fire. Green ears are a sign of immaturity. The green, immature heads of grain cling to the chaff (symbol of worldliness) instead of being separated unto God.
The word firstfruit has two meanings. It means "the beginning, the best, and the choicest". It also referred to "the firstborn, the eldest son". The firstborns son receive a double portion inheritance and became the head of the family at their father's death.
The firstfruit sheaf was made up of the choicest of the first ripe grain of the barley. At the time of harvest the reapers went through the fields and found the fattest, choicest, and ripest heads. They severed the barley from the earth. The wave offering must be separated from the earth.
When the sheaf was prepared, it was given to the priest and he waved it before the Lord as an assurance of God's blessing on the balance of the harvest. No one could eat of the harvest until the wave offering was presented before the Lord. The first of every harvest and all firstborn sons and the firstborn of the animals belong to the Lord.
"Every thing that openeth the matrix in all flesh, which they bring unto the Lord, whether it be of men or beasts, shall be thine." *** Numbers 18:15
Jesus was the beginning. He was the only begotten Son of the Father, His firstborn, His Lamb without blemish, His sacrifice for all mankind. He had to be severed from the earth as the firstfruit to insure a bountiful harvest to bring forth many brethren into the kingdom.
"For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren." *** Romans 8:29
Jesus was the firstborn of many brethren. Jesus was the firstborn, the beginning strength of God. The Father gave the best He had as an example of the abundant harvest He would bring forth in the Day of Harvest. Jesus came as the Firstfruits of the Kingdom of God to bring forth a kingdom of kings and priests, *** Revelation 1:6. This, He accomplished when He became the firstfruits of the dead.
"And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood." *** Revelation 1:5
The resurrection of Jesus Christ was the single, most important event in the history of mankind. Paul records:
"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept." *** I Corinthians 15:20
Jesus Christ was the firstfruits to bring forth a bountiful harvest. When Paul was discussing the importance of the resurrection, he realized that many did not believe there would be a resurrection, as many today have questions about the resurrection of the dead. So he stated,
"If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen?" *** I Corinthians 15:13
The resurrection of Jesus is one of the basic tenets of our faith. Paul asked the question, "If there is no resurrection, then is the very basis of our faith wrong?" He goes on to answer:
"Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God: because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ: whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." *** I Corinthians 15:15-19
If Christ is not the firstfruits of the dead, then all mankind is yet in their sin and mankind has no hope, nor do those who have died in faith have any hope in God.
The word resurrection brings hope to all. The word resurrection means "to restore to life again". We get our word revival from this word. It has another meaning of "arising from sleep", or "to awaken out of sleep". When Paul wrote the Ephesians, he admonished them,
"Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." *** Ephesians 5:14
Before the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, all mankind was dead in their sins. In Paul's letters, he addressed our being dead in sin many times.
"And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins." *** Ephesians 2:1
"Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved)." *** Ephesians 2:5
"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses." *** Colossians 2:13
We were all dead in our sin. There is only one way to escape from death, and that is by resurrection. At the death of Lazarus, Jesus proclaimed:
"I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." *** John 11:25
When most people think of resurrection, they think of the Great Resurrection before the great white throne judgment. It is easy to see this resurrection as it is revealed in the Word. But the Spirit wants us to recognize the resurrection that is taking place all around us, as we witness those who are awakening out of their sleep, and are being resurrected to the newness of life. Hallelujah!
The early apostles taught the people that the resurrection from the dead was through Jesus. When Peter was speaking to the religious system, shortly after the Day of Pentecost, the Sadducees which did not believe in resurrection were "grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead," *** Acts 4:2. This is the way the King James Version recorded this scripture. But the Berry Interlinear Greek English New Testament, translated from the original Greek, records this scripture as:
"Being distressed because they teach the people and announce in Jesus the resurrection which is from among the dead."
These early apostles taught that, in Jesus, the people were resurrected from among the dead. The early converts, as we today, are a new creation in Christ. The world remains dead in their sin. Our resurrection to new life is from among the dead. Paul wrote to the church at Colosse:
"And He is head of the Body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence." *** Colossians 1:18
Jesus was the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, the resurrection, the firstfruits unto God, the wave offering of the firstfruit company that God is raising up in the earth. Those who have born the image of the earthy will also bear the image of the heavenly (Spiritual), *** I Corinthians 15:49. The firstfruit company are those who are part of the first resurrection.
"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years." *** Revelation 20:6
Many proclaim the first resurrection has already past. They believe it took place at the great earthquake, when Jesus hung on the cross and the graves were opened, and many of the saints that slept arose, *** Matthew 27:52.
"And came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many." *** Matthew 27:53
Even though these saints were restored to life at the death of Jesus, they did not come out of the graves until after the resurrection. These saints were alive in their tombs for three days. If they had come out of their graves before the resurrection of Jesus, these would have been the first begotten of the dead, not Jesus.
The resurrection of these saints confirmed the resurrection power in Christ Jesus our Lord. Some in the early church taught this was the first resurrection. Paul addressed this in his second letter to Timothy. Paul warned Timothy about two men, Hymenaeus and Philetus, who were teaching the first resurrection had already past. Paul spoke boldly against the teaching of these two men.
"Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some." *** II Timothy 2:18
The first resurrection is not past. The first resurrection is evident anytime someone comes to the newness of life through the shed blood of Jesus and the Spirit of God. The resurrection is evident when one begins to walk in Jesus' example of a sinless life. These are those who have been resurrected from among the dead, (the dead being those who are still dead in their sins).
This promise of a resurrected life in Christ, and the promise of a bountiful harvest was illustrated every time the priest waved the sheath of the firstfruits before the Lord. It not only revealed Jesus' acceptance by the Father, but it also illustrated our acceptance in the beloved.
"To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved." *** Ephesians 1:6
We have been made acceptable in the beloved. Jesus became the wave offering before the Father. Twice the Father proclaimed His acceptance of Jesus. He stated:
"This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."
Jesus was always pleasing in the sight of the Father. When we are pleasing in the sight of the Father we will be acceptable in the beloved.
When Jesus ascended off the earth, a cloud received Him out of their sight, *** Acts 1:9. The cloud was the glory of God, and Jesus returned to the glory He had with the Father before the world began. Jesus returned to the glory of the Father. We have received the promise of coming into this same glory.
To come into His glory, we must become part of the resurrection that is in the earth today. Jesus stated:
"I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in Me though he were dead, yet shall he live." *** John 11:25
Jesus was not referring to our physical death, but was referring to the spiritual death we were dwelling in while we were yet in our sin. When we were dead in our sin, we were dead spiritually. When our resurrection came, we were resurrected from among the dead. Those remaining in their sin were still dwelling in death. Paul explained the reason we were to be water baptized. Baptism is part of the resurrection process. We must be baptized if we are to be part of the harvest when it comes. Paul relates:
"For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection:
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." *** Romans 6:5-6
The old man is crucified. The old man of sin, or the old sin nature, must be destroyed if we are to walk in newness of life. We are put in a place of death (under the water) that we may be resurrected (brought out of the place of death) unto the new man, that we may be in the likeness of Jesus' resurrected life. The old man of the flesh (the Adamic nature) should no longer desire to serve sin. God ordained baptism that we be awakened out of our death sleep. Paul went on to say to the saints in Rome:
"And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed,
The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light." *** Romans 13:11-12
The night, the time of darkness upon the earth, is about over. Christ, the Light of the whole creation, is about to arise upon His resurrected ones, His wave offering before the Father. Isaiah spoke of the time coming upon the earth:
"The night is far spent." *** Romans 13:12
For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee." *** Isaiah 60:2
God is desiring a people who will awake, for their total salvation is at hand. Paul wrote to the Corinthians:
"Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame." *** I Corinthians 15:34
God is desiring a people to awake to righteousness and obtain the knowledge of God and of His kingdom. God is looking for His Firstfruit Company to come forth in the earth. These are His wave offerings to assure a bountiful harvest. James writes:
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above (the Spiritual realm) and comes down from the Father of Lights.
Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures." *** James 1:17-18
God has ordained He will have His Firstfruit Company that He has begotten through His Word. These are those who will have allowed the Word of God to change them and bring them to maturity before the harvest. The ones who are the first, ripe fruit unto God are His wave offering before the Father, the ones who have come to maturity before the time of Harvest. Paul relates,
"But every man in His own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His coming." *** I Corinthians 15:23
The Firstfruit Company will be the Christ (the anointed ones) at His coming. Jesus revealed this company to John on the Isle of Patmos when He showed him the 144,000:
"These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb." *** Revelation 14:4
The Firstfruit Company are those who have been redeemed (separated) from among men and are before the throne. They are the wave offering that was accepted by the Father before the time of harvest. These have awakened unto righteousness. They have been begotten through the Word, and are becoming the anointed of the Father. These will be the acceptable in the beloved. These will not be defiled by women, (the church). This Firstfruit Company will not be defiled by the church system, but will become part of the True Church of which Christ will be the head when He returns. Isaiah spoke of the time when God would arise in His people, and they would arise from the dead and live:
"Thy dead men shall live, together with My dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." *** Isaiah 26:19
The dead men are beginning to live. Those who are alive from among the dead are casting out the death they dwelt in because of sin. As Jesus arose from death, we are to awaken from our death. Those who dwell in the dust (the old, Adam nature) are beginning to sing praises unto God and the Lamb. It is a new song that only the 144,000 know, *** Revelation 14:3.
Isaiah admonished the captive daughters of Zion,
"Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion." *** Isaiah 52:2
The daughters of Zion are the True Church God is raising up in the earth. We are to loose ourselves from the bands the religious system has put on our necks. Paul called it the yoke of bondage which is the law; not Moses' law only, but the laws of man-made religious systems. God has set us free to go in and out from the presence of the Lord and find pasture (Spiritual food), *** John 10:9. When we are freed from man's law, the words of Isaiah will ring true in our life:
"Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." *** Isaiah 60:1
Arise, awake and come forth in the power and authority that God has planned for His firstfruit company. Then we, as Paul, will cry out,
"That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death;
If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." *** Philippians 3:10-11
We are made conformable unto His death when we cry out, "Not my will, but Thine." This will be the end of the flesh. The power of His resurrection will begin to work in our lives, and we will obtain the resurrected life of Christ where death has no more dominion. This is the power of an endless life, *** Hebrews 7:16. This is the Melchizedek order priesthood. This is when we will have become kings of righteousness unto God.
We must realize the feasts were only shadows of things to come, and that the firstfruit sheaf was not the harvest, but only the preparation for a bountiful harvest. The Feast of Firstfruits was not celebrated in the wilderness. God told Moses that Israel was not to celebrate the Feast of Firstfruits until they possessed the land. We cannot become the wave offering before the Lord until we possess the land, (our bodies). We must take control over the inward man, the man of the heart. We must have reaped a harvest in our lives. Then we will have a sacrifice to bring before the Lord. This is the sacrifice of praise. Our bodies are to become a living sacrifice acceptable and holy unto our God, *** Romans 12:1.
It is not just a matter of presenting our bodies a living sacrifice, but as the Father's sacrificial Lamb was perfect, holy and without blemish, so must our bodies be perfect, holy and without blemish to be acceptable unto the Father. This is not speaking of being perfect, holy and without blemish in the natural, but in the Spiritual; as God sees us, not man. When we come into this place in God, we are acceptable in the beloved. We become the wave sheaf worthy to be presented and accepted by the Father.
We must look, again, at the instructions given by Moses concerning the Feast of Firstfruits. God spoke that Israel was not to eat or partake of bread, parched corn, or green ears until after they had brought an offering unto their God. This offering was a type of their bodies, holy and acceptable unto God. After they had brought this offering, they could partake of these foods. They could partake of the bread; the Life of Christ. They could partake of the parched corn; the Word that has been tried in the fire (Baptism of the Holy Spirit); and the green ears coming into maturity through the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit. This must be accomplished before the Great Harvest of God. We must come to the place where the wave offering and the cleansing power of God is working to bring us to maturity.
This cleansing must be manifested in every life that will be accepted by the Father. Those who will not except this cleansing and maturity in their lives in this hour will be cast into the Great Winepress of the wrath of God, *** Revelation 14:19. This is the harvest of the earth.
It is not necessary to wait until the wrath, the great and terrible day of the Lord, for this to be accomplished in your lives. Christ is wanting to make up His wave sheaves that He may present them to Himself without spot or wrinkle, *** Ephesians 5:27 This will be the firstfruit company who will bring forth a bountiful harvest in the earth. These are the laborers who are set forth in the earth in the time of harvest. Jesus said,
"The fields are white to harvest but the laborers are few," *** Matthew 9:37
We can become the wave offering before the Father. We can become part of the wave offering, the first, ripe fruit in the earth; the choicest, the best the Father has. Only the best will be part of the Firstfruit Company God is bringing in the earth.
For Further Discussion
***God's Choicest Vine
***Jesus, the Firstfruit of Many Brethren
***The First Resurrection
***Resurrection and Restoration
*** The First Fruit Company
***Living Sacrifices
FEAST OF FIRSTFRUITS
CHAPTER FOUR
Questions
1. What was the final feast in the Feast of Passover?
2. The Feast of Passover was a shadow of what?
3. The Feast of Unleaven Bread was a shadow of what?
Jesus' sinless life
4. The Feast of Firstfruits foreshadowed what?
5. The word firstfruit has two meanings, what are they?
6. What did Jesus accomplish when He became the firstfruits of the dead? Revelation 1:6
7. What does the word resurrection mean?
8. What must be destroyed if we are to walk in newness of life? Romans 6:5-6
9. Who will make up the "Firstfruit Company"?
10. We are to loose ourselves from the bands of what?
FEAST OF WEEKS (PENTECOST)
Chapter 5
The second of the three main feasts is the Feast of Weeks. This was the feast the early saints were celebrating when the Holy Spirit came like a rushing mighty wind, *** Acts 2:2. We are informed when, "...the day of Pentecost was fully come."
The word Pentecost means "fiftieth". When we begin to understand the perfection in God's planning, and His revelation through the times and seasons, we can further understand the importance of the feasts. The Feast of Weeks is measured from the Feast of Firstfruits.
"And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete.
Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord." *** Leviticus 23:15-16
The time of the Feast of Weeks is very important. Israel was to count seven s