Yeshua’s Passover — The Means to Our Salvation, Redemption, and Covenant Relationship with God

by | Apr 21, 2024 | Blog, Podcasts

by Rod Thomas | The Messianic Torah Observer

As I am recording and posting this installment of TMTO, many observant Jews and Messianics will celebrate Pesach tomorrow evening, April 22. We who keep the observational calendar will observe Pesach on Tuesday, April 23, as well as observing the night of our Master’s Last Supper tomorrow evening, April 22nd.

 

I’ve chosen to title our discussion here today “Yeshua’s Passover — The Means to our Salvation, Redemption, and Covenant Relationship with God.”

 

 

A great deal of confusion, ambiguity, misunderstanding, and misinformation swirls around the events of Yeshua and the Passover of 28 CE. Twenty-eight CE being the year Rood’s Chronology assigns to our Master’s Passion.

 

Much of the chaos stems from either unintentional, or, dare I say, intentional scribal errors that were inserted into the Holy Spirit inspired Apostolic records.

 

This chaos is perpetuated by a pervasive biblical illiteracy — specifically illiteracy of the Torah — that has blinded generations of bible believing souls to the essentials of the true faith once delivered.

 

The confusion that hangs over Yeshua’s Passover story can be easily worked through simply by coming to terms with a few basic realities:

 

  1. Yes, although our bibles were written by men inspired of Yehovah to write that which they knew and witnessed (2 Tim 3.16) — of which their testimonies are perfect and undeniable — the bevy of translators and scribes that took to the work of producing the various bible translations over the centuries that we rely on does in fact have inserted errors. This, however, doesn’t mean that the foundational elements of scripture are false. Yah has protected His Words, even against the foolish ambitions of unsavory men. However, it requires us on the receiving end of biblical knowledge to become, even more so, Bereans.

 

Of the Bereans, Luke wrote that “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Act 17.11; KJV).

 

We today have a much greater advantage over our Berean cousins. Abba Yah has blessed us with a treasure trove of bible resources and helps that would have sent our Berean cousins into a tizzy. And more and more resources and research is being added to that treasure trove of biblical knowledge just about daily. The problem is that people are not interested in studying and searching out a matter in scripture. They much prefer to be told what to believe. However, that is not what Yah’s people are called to do when it comes to learning about Yah and His Ways. For the wisest man to have ever lived wrote this about this matter: “It is the glory of Yehovah to conceal a thing: But the honor of kings is to search out a matter” (Pro 25.2; KJV).

 

  1. The would be student of scripture must come into a clear understanding of Yah’s reckoning of time: That being gaining a crystal clear understanding of the Hebrew Calendar. For without such knowledge, the timing and sequence of events, especially as they relate to the Feasts of the LORD, will make no sense to the uninformed bible reader.

 

  1. Last, the same student must study Torah. Without knowledge and understanding of Torah, events such as the Passover of our Master Yeshua can be easily misread and misunderstood. Brethren must unshackle themselves from churchianity and religiosity that discourages their adherents from the study of scripture on their own. Furthermore, Yah’s people must resist the pervasive urge to be lazy in the study of scripture.

 

Of this the Psalmist wrote:

 

(1) “Blessed is the man who shall not walk in the counsel of the wrong, and shall not stand in the path of sinners, and shall not sit in the seat of the scoffers. (2) But his delight is in the Torah of Yehovah. And he meditates in His Torah day and night. (3) For he shall be as a tree planted by the rivers of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and whose leaf does not wither, and whatever he does prospers. (4) The wrong are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind blows away. (5) Therefore, the wrong shall not rise in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. (6) For Yehovah knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wrong comes to naught” (Psa 1; The Scriptures ISR).

 

(97) “Oh, how I love Your Torah! It is my study all day long. (98) Your commands make me wiser than my enemies; for it is ever before me. (99) I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your witnesses are my study. (100) I understand more than the aged, for I have observed your orders. (101) I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I might guard Your word. (102) I have not turned aside from Your right-rulings, for You Yourself have taught me. (103) How sweet to my taste has Your word been, more than honey to my mouth! (104) From Your orders I get understanding; therefore, I have hated every false way” (Psa 119; The Scriptures ISR).

 

These two passages we could spend countless hours extolling the wisdom of effective and meaningful study of the Word. But suffice to say, for the sake of time, that the bedrock of recognizing and understanding the Torah being the shadow of good things to come (Heb 10.1), we must become one with the Word.

The Passover Sequence

 

The sequence of Passover events is in Exodus/Shemot 19, Leviticus/Vayiqra 23; and Deuteronomy/D’varim 16. (Yes, there are other important passages where the sequence is mentioned, but these are the main chapters of scripture that hold the key to the sequence that spells out the events of our Master’s Passion.

 

  1. Passover (aka Pesach) always occurs in the Month of the Aviv. The Month of the Aviv (aka Month of Nisan) is the first month of Yah’s biblical calendar year. (Read or listen to my many teachings on Guarding the Month of the Aviv.)

 

  1. We select a perfect yearling male Passover or Pesach [lamb] on the 10th Day of the Month of the Aviv. Yah commanded us to hold on to this lamb, in our dwelling places, for four-days.

 

  1. Four days after we took into our dwellings the Pesach, in the afternoon of the 14th Day of the Month of the Aviv, we slaughter it and consume it that evening. (Note, on the very first Passover during our sojourn in Egypt, we applied the blood of the slaughtered Pesach on the door-posts and lintels of our homes to signal to the destroyer to pass over our homes. However, this was a onetime instruction. Once we entered the land, we came together as a nation to the place where Abba Yah placed His Name, sacrificed the Pesach and ate its flesh along with bitter herbs and unleavened bread.)

 

  1. We eat unleavened bread from the time of our Passover/Pesach meal (on the evening of the 14th on into the beginning of the 15th day) until the 21st day of the Month of the Aviv. This seven-day feast is called the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

 

  1. On the S-nday that falls within the week of Unleavened Bread (i.e. this day floats about the calendar, depending on days when Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread falls — that being the “morrow after the weekly Sabbath), we take an omer or sheaf of barley, present it to a Levitical Priest at the Tabernacle or Temple, who will wave it before Yehovah on our behalf. This sheaf of barley represented the very best of the firstfruits of our harvest or increase.

 

Now, the entire eight-days of Passover was kept in ancient times as a pilgrimage feast, which meant that we packed up our families and journeyed to and stayed in Jerusalem during the feasts. When we look at Yeshua’s Passover and recognize the press of people that were in Jerusalem at the time of His Passion, if we are knowledgeable that Passover was in fact a pilgrimage feast, we can understand why these things are so.

 

We established in previous installments of this program that Yeshua was in fact the Passover Lamb that we took unto ourselves on the 10th of the Month of the Aviv and Who we would crucify on our behalf on Passover Day, the 14th Day of the Month of the Aviv.

 

Working Through the Biblical Sequence of Events Related to our Master’s Passion

 

If you’ve read or listened to my very last post entitled “Choosing Yeshua as our Pesach: Shadows of Pesach 2024,” you should recall that Yeshua’s Triumphant entry into Jerusalem was a fulfillment of the Torah regarding the selection of the Passover Lamb. In that post, we examined the intense challenges that our Master endured from the Jerusalem religious leaders over the ensuing four days and how He passed those challenges with perfect marks.

 

Now, as our story progresses, the elements of His sacrifices fall into place.

 

During our Master’s inspection by the religious leaders at the Temple, He and His talmidim (aka His inner core disciples) lodged in a home in Bethany. However, as the Day of Passover loomed before them, the disciples were pressed to prepare for the Passover with their Master, Yeshua. So, in obedience to Exodus/Shemot 23.17 and Deuteronomy/D’varim 16.16, the group left their Bethany lodging and rented a room in Jerusalem proper (Mat 26.17-19; Mar 14.12-16; Luk 22.7-13).

 

Now, this is where we run into problems with some of our Biblical texts.

 

The KJV reads the following:

 

“Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto Him, ‘Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover (lower case “p” for passover)?’ (18) And He said, ‘Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, the Master saith, ‘My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with My disciples.’ (19) And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover” (Mat 26).

 

“And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, His disciples said unto Him, ‘Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover?’ (13) And He sendeth forth two of His disciples and saith unto them, ‘Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him. (14) And, wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the good man of the house, the master saith, where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover (passover with lower case “p”) with My disciples? (15) And he will shew you a large upper room furnished and prepared (i.e. the very room the disciples will dwell in up to the day of Shavuot, aka Pentecost, 50+ days hence): there make ready for us.’ (16) And His disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as He had said unto them: and they made ready the passover” (Mar 14).

 

“Then came the day of unleavened bread (unleavened bread with lower case “u” and “b”), when the passover must be killed. (8) And He sent Peter and John, saying, ‘Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat.’ (9) And they said unto Him, ‘Where wilt thou that we prepare?’ (10) And He said unto them, ‘Behold when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in. (11) And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, the Master saith unto thee, where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with My disciples? (12) And he shall shew you a large upper room furnished: there make ready. (13) And they went, and found as He had said unto them: And they made ready the passover” (Luk 22).

 

Now, if you are careful in your studies of the Torah passages I mentioned near the start of this discussion, and if you believe that our Master and His disciples were indeed devout, uncompromising Torah Observant Jews (which they were), then you will immediately recognize glaring problems with these three accounts of Yeshua’s Passover preparations as recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Sadly, most English translations of our bible have pigtailed off of the KJV’s rendering, even some of the popular specialized Messianic translations of our day such as “The Scriptures,” “The Holy Scriptures-Tree of Life,” and “The Complete Jewish Bible,” all have chosen not to address the glaring discrepancy found in these passages.

 

So, let’s address the most glaring discrepancies.

 

All three passages note Yeshua sent His disciples to make preparations for them to observe the Passover by leasing a room in Jerusalem proper, not a couple days before, or even a day before, but on the day of Unleavened Bread!

 

Two enormous problems present themselves in these records as they have been written. First, the texts declare that Yeshua and His disciples went about making preparations for their keeping of Passover, which always falls on the 14th day of the month, on the first day of Unleavened Bread, which always falls on the 15th day of the month. Riddle me this batman: Why and how would Torah observant Jews prepare to receive the Pesach/Passover on the day after Passover/Pesach was to occur? Passover is always without exception the day before the first day of unleavened bread. On the 14th, we kill our Pesach as a community, at the place that where Yah has placed His Name; not sequestered in a rented room somewhere in Jerusalem. Which means, if Yeshua and His disciples were Torah observant Jews, they either would have brought with them a Pesach from Bethany or elsewhere, or procured their Pesach on Lamb Selection Day four-days prior. There is no mention whatsoever that they did so. The absence of such an important thing in the text does not entirely rule out that they did not have a properly procured Pesach, it just seems a bit off that it is not mentioned.

 

Second, Torah instructs that the first day of Unleavened Bread is a holy day. Thus, no work is to be done on that day, nor is commerce conducted, which means that the disciples would have been in violation of the Torah of the first day of Unleavened Bread when they set out to secure the upper room for their Passover observance.

 

These two things, besides some other nagging elements, and based upon our understanding of the Torah of Passover and Unleavened Bread, scream that some unsavory fellows compromised these texts at some point in time. I know, it takes guts to make such an assertion, especially given that religiosity has indoctrinated us into believing that our Bibles are pristine and devoid of errors of any kind. Again, the truth of scripture still shines through/past the errors. And if we are true to our understanding of Torah and knowledge of Yeshua — who He was and is and what He stood for — we can demolish those errors with little to no effort.

 

Now, some who hold to the utter pristine state of the biblical text have gone out of their way to defend these passages as they are presently written. I won’t spend any time picking apart those defenses today. Suffice to say, however, that some of these defenders contend Yeshua kept the Passover in accordance with Torah on the correct day and that the Jews — the religious leaders and all the Israelis who were present that year in Jerusalem — were not keeping the feasts on its proper day. The problem with this perspective is that the focus is on the circumstances surrounding the exact timing of when Yeshua and His disciples kept the Passover instead of focusing on the day when Yeshua, who is our Pesach (1 Cor 5.7), was crucified. If we truly believe that Yeshua is our Korban Pesach, it must stand to reason that He would have been crucified on Passover Day, in according with Yah’s Torah. Just saying. If we are okay with Yeshua being crucified on any other day besides Passover Day, then this discussion is a moot point. But as far as we are concerned here on TMTO, the shadow of that is the Torah of the Spring Feasts of Yehovah, Yeshua was crucified on Passover Day, the 14th of the Month of the Aviv, His remains placed in a borrowed tomb before sundown on the 14th so as to permit those who took care of His remains, to keep Passover and conform to the holy day of Unleavened Bread; and our Master was resurrected on the day of the Wavesheaf-Firstfruits Offering. It’s a beautiful, awe-inspiring portrait and lovestory that, unfortunately, religiosity and churchianity have neglected to fully grasp because of their wholesale rejection of Torah.

 

So, how do we reconcile this confusion? Simply put, we break down the text and see what it may tell us, especially as it relates to the concerns we have as it relates to the Torah of Pesach.

 

When we break down the Greek text of Matthew 26:17 into its purest state, absent the inserted, sometimes inflated English interpretations of translators, it reads thusly:

 

“To de protae ton azumon proserchomahee hoi matetes to yesou lego…” (Byzantine Text). A direct word-for-word translation is thus: “But before [the start] of unleavened bread the disciples Yeshua said…”

 

Nowhere in the original Greek text is “the first day of the feast of unleavened bread” found. Seems pretty clear that translators took liberties with the Greek term “protos” which means “first in time” or “first in rank.” There is no mention of day in the Greek text either. If anything, it is an eisegesic (if such a word exists) reading into the Greek text. 

 

Mark 14:12 reads: “Kai te protae hemera ton azumon hote to pascha esthio thoo’o legosin auto oi mathetai…(Byzantine Text). A direct word-for-word translation is thus: “And before the start of the day of Unleavened Bread when they kill the Pesach His disciples said…”

 

In this context, a key clue to the confusion is seen that the Greek wording order of “protae hemera ton azumon hote to pascah” has lead interpreters to translate the passage “on the first day of Unleavened Bread” when if left alone, the Greek order stipulates before the start (i.e. protae) of the day when they kill the Pesach. Again, the Greek text is not screwed up, but rather, its the liberal translation of the English translation that’s left lacking.

 

Lastly, Luke 22:7 reads: “erchomai de hay hemera ton azumon en hay edei (necessary) thoo-thai to pascha” (Byzantine Text). Again, a direct word-for-word translation is thus: “But then came the day or time of Unleavened Bread when the Pesach must be sacrificed.”

 

As in Mark’s text, the problem with the English translation of the Greek is that the English translators associate “hemera ton azumon en hay edei thoo-thai to pascha” is emphatically stating that the disciples came to Yeshua to inquire about preparations for keeping the Feast of Unleavened Bread on the day in which the Pesach was sacrificed. Such a translation is flawed in that it bastardizes the Torah order for the Feast in which the sacrifice of the Pesach precedes the first day of Unleavened Bread, and it affirms that the disciples and Yeshua were violating Torah by preparing for the Feasts on the first day of Unleavened Bread and having missed the Passover Observance on Passover Day altogether.

 

The bottomline, beloved, is that the Gospel writers were conveying to the reader that Yeshua and His disciples set about their preparations for the Feast one or two days before the start of Passover and Unleavened Bread. 

 

If my explanation of these translation errors is not convincing to you, consider this shocker. The English translators failed to mistranslate Yochanan the Revelator’s (aka the Apostle John’s) account on the timing of the Yeshua’s and the disciples’ Passover preparations, culminating into what the world refers to as the Last Supper. Let’s look at it:

 

Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. 2 And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him; 3 Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; 4 He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. (Joh 13:1-4 KJV)

 

Here, we clearly see from John’s accounting that Yeshua’s and His disciples’ Passover preparations were completed “before the feast of the Passover” (13.1). Why the disparity with the other three accounts? I believe it’s the Greek terms that are attributed to the pen of Yochanan whereby it is written: “Pro de tas heortay tow pascha” or “before the Feast of the Passover…”

 

So, here we have it. Everything, when we take it back to the vise of Torah and break things down into the original text (as best we can), we arrive at the truth. However, we’re not done, for there is yet another elephant in the room that needs to be addressed: Was the so-called Last Supper of Yeshua Messiah a Passover Meal or Passover Seder or was it a super special parting meal that Yeshua shared with His talmidim/disciples? This is a critical question demanding answers, especially considering the likely errors that the Synoptic Gospel English renderings casts upon our parade.

 

Again, we come upon similar issues relating to the timing of this meal. If the meal occurred before Passover, and Yeshua and His disciples were in fact Torah observant Jews, how could the meal be a bona fide Passover Meal? Most importantly, if Yeshua is indeed our Korban Pesach, as we’ve discussed at great length in our last posting, He could not have partaken in a true Passover Meal, or as some may call it, a Passover Seder.

 

Well, for the sake of time, I will tell you I, along with others within our Faith Community, believe that the famous Last Supper was just that: A Last Supper. Yeshua did not partake in a Passover Meal with His disciples the night before His Passion. And there are several clues to help us determine the validity of this claim. We’ll only examine a couple of those clues.

 

We’ve already addressed the first clue: The meal took place the night BEFORE His crucifixion (Joh 13.1-2).

 

The second clue has to do with the make-up of the meal. We find in Matthew 26.26-29; Mark 14.22-25; and Luke 22.17-20 that Yeshua reclined with His disciples before a meal in the rented upper room the disciples procured earlier in the day (Mat 26.17-19; Mar 14.12-16; Luk 22.7-13).

 

At the start of the meal it is recorded that Yeshua took bread, the texts say that He blessed it (which from a Hebraic perspective is more likely that He blessed the Almighty with thanksgiving for the bread), broke it, and gave it to His disciples. He instructed His disciples to take and eat of the pieces of bread He had broken and passed to them.

 

Yeshua likewise took a cup of wine, blessed the Almighty for it, and passed it to His disciples with instructions for them to drink of it as it represented or was symbolic of it being His blood that is of the renewed covenant which is to be shed for many for the forgiveness of sins (Mat 26.28; The Scriptures ISR).

 

But I want to take just one step back to the bread. The bread that Yeshua broke, blessed and gave to His disciples to eat was not unleavened bread, believe it or not. There are two Greek terms used in the Brit HaDashah (aka the New Testament) for bread: One is “azymos” which is unleavened bread, which is not used in any of these texts. The other term Greek term is “artos” which is bread made from either wheat or barley grains, which is more times than not, leavened.

 

The bread that Yeshua gave to His disciples was “artos,” or leavened loaf bread, which, if it were served for a true Passover meal, would have violated Torah. Again, Yeshua is the walking, talking Torah, as well as He and His disciples were devout Torah observant Jews. To serve leavened bread or “artos” would have transgressed the Torah of the Passover meal (Exo 12.8; Num 9.11; Deu 16.2-3).

 

So, it turns out that the Last Supper was a very super special last meal, and Yeshua, being the head of the group, in His sharing of the bread and wine, was engaging in what we in the Messianic Community would know as the Kiddish that precedes our special meals. Today, the bread that is consumed for the Kiddish is challah, which is truly leavened, to say the least.

 

It is widely held that the Kiddish ceremony dates back to Avraham and Melchizedek, who came and dined together after Avraham’s victory over Kedorlaomer’s confederacy over the kings of the plain. It was then and there that Avraham rendered unto Melchizedek, the King of Shalem, a tithe of His increase from the battle (Gen 14.20). And Moshe records Melchizedek brought out bread and wine and blessed Avraham of the Most High El, who is the Possessor of the heavens and earth (Gen 14.19).

 

I get it. It’s kind of a liberal extrapolation that the Kiddish ceremony is derived from this auspicious, divinely appointed meeting and dinner and blessing, but traditions run strong with our ancient Jewish brethren.

 

Nevertheless, the Kiddish blessing beautifully matches what we read Yeshua doing with the bread and wine at the start of the Last Supper. The blessing to Yah is as follows:

 

For the bread: “Baruch ata Yehovah, eloheinu melek ha olam, ha motzi lechem (or leaven bread or artos) min ha aret.” Blessed are you, Yehovah, King of the Universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.

 

For the wine: “Barachu ata Yehovah, eloheinu melek ha olam, boray pririe ha gaffen.” Blessed are you, Yehovah, King of the Universe, creator of the fruit of the vine.”

 

So many traditions have emerged from this ceremony. In the Christian tradition, we get communion, which is held on a monthly or so basis. Then in the Catholic tradition we get what they call the sacrament of communion, which is held more frequently, often as part of regular services. In the Messianic tradition, we get the Erev Shabbat meal and the weekly Kiddish, which closely matches the frequency of our Jewish brethren.

 

In Christian and Catholic circles, the communion ceremony has all but replaced the Passover Meal, since neither religion celebrates Passover, but Easter.

 

The bottom line, beloved, is that the Last Supper was not a Torah-based Passover Seder as so many within our faith community believe and teach.

 

Many, however, push back on this idea that the Last Supper was not a Passover Meal or Seder. These cite Luke 22:15, where Luke records Yeshua stating to His disciples: (15) “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. (16) For I tell you, I will never eat it again until it is fulfilled in the Malchut Elohim (aka the Kingdom of God)” (Tree of Life).

 

There is no problem in matching the English with the Greek in this verse. Indeed, Yeshua expressed His heartfelt desire to share that Passover with them. But this statement in no way is an admission that He was in fact having a Passover Seder or meal with them. The whole point of the disciples securing this apartment was for the group to share in the Passover meal. At least that is what the disciples believed when they secured the room.

 

However, for this to be a bona fide Pesach Seder, there had to be unleavened bread, bitter herbs, and most importantly, the roasted pesach that could not be eaten until going into the evening after the 14th day, obviously after the selected lambs are slaughtered at the Temple proper during the afternoon of Passover Day.

 

So, what was Yeshua really saying to His disciples? He was simply saying that He truly desired to share in the Passover Meal with them, but this year it doesn’t look like that will happen as His suffering was at hand. Unfortunately, He could not share in a Passover meal with them until the Malchut Elohim/the Kingdom of God comes.

 

After the Kiddish, Yeshua instills to His disciples several valuable Kingdom principles:

 

  1. Possessing and demonstrating the heart of a servant. This was demonstrated and explained in Yeshua’s washing of the disciples’ feet (Luk 22.24-30; Joh 13.1-22). Few modern day disciples of Yeshua practice this commandment that was given by Yeshua to wash one another’s feet. We obediently continue this tradition in our home each Passover season, at the start of the 14th day at sundown, along with the eating of bread and drinking of the wine (Kadeem Juice). Let us understand that the concept of servitude that is a prerequisite to entering the Kingdom goes well beyond the simple washing of another’s feet. It must encompass the complete character trait of the Netzer which that seeks to serve instead of being served. This is what this season is all about: Selflessness and sacrifice.

 

  1. With the revealing and dismissal of Judas as the betrayer of our Master, the tradition of removing the last traces of leaven from our presence is powerfully and prophetically fulfilled (Exo 12.19). It is a Jewish tradition that during the meal on the night preceding Pesach Day, the last vestiges of leaven are searched out Jewish homes and is carefully removed. According to chabad.org: “In preparation for the festival of Passover, in which even the possession of any form of leavened food (“chametz”) is strictly forbiddeen, a final search is conducted after nightfall (on the 13th) to remove every last crumb of chametz from our homes and property.” It must be understood that leaven (aka yeast) in scripture is often symbolic of sin. Leaven is an agent used in bread dough to cause it to puff up and give the bread its desirable fluffy and soft texture that makes lechem such a joy to consume. And it doesn’t take much yeast or leaven to cause even a large lump of dough to puff up. Likewise, sin has the same potential that if it is not removed from our midst, will spread and cause even greater problems and incidents of sin. That’s why the apostle emphatically stated to both his Corinth and Galatian readers that it only takes a little leaven to leaveneth the whole lump. In other words, when even one individual’s sin is left to fester in the congregation, not addressed and not purged from the congregation’s midst, that permitted sin will inevitably spread throughout the entire assembly. Judas’ dismissal, in a dramatic sense, was symbolic of Yeshua purging His inner core of disciples of devastating leaven.

 

  1. As disciples of Yeshua Messiah, we are subject to sifting or testing. As Yeshua cautioned Kefa (aka Peter) not to think too highly of himself and give himself more credit than he should (Luk 22.31-34; Joh 13.36-38). Despite Kefa’s insistence that he would lay down his life for the Master, there would come in the immediate future, a testing or sifting that would prove him wrong. Master revealed to Kefa that, embarrassingly, he would deny Him three times before the cock crow. The point Yeshua was making was that it’s only human to fail in our faith. But when we fail in our faith, it teaches us something about our faith and about ourselves. We are to learn from our failures and use it to strengthen one another.

 

  1. As disciples of Yeshua Messiah, there may come a time when we may have to fight for the cause of the Kingdom. The Master instructs His disciples to have at their disposal a sword, most likely to send a message to them that the Kingdom of Elohim is, at times, purchased through violence, despite Yah doing much of the heavy lifting for us most of the time (Luk 22.35-38). We know that back in the day, our ancient Hebrew cousins had to fight in order to receive and enter the Promised Land. This despite Yah having taken them out of Egyptian slavery through miraculous wonders. Sometimes, and this may be as relevant, if more relevant, to us today than at any time in the history of our Faith. There may come a time when we may need to protect ourselves and our families and assemblies in order to advance the Malchut Elohim.

 

  1. Yeshua has gone to prepare a place for His disciples and will return to take them unto Himself. We are to know that He is the way, the truth, and the life and no one can come to the Creator but by Him (Joh 14.1-4).

 

  1. Yeshua declares that in His disciples having been with Him during His year of training, teaching and modeling the behaviors that are necessary for receiving and entering the Malchut Elohim, they’d witnessed firsthand the Father/Creator (Joh 14.5-15). Everything that He taught them came directly from the Father. All the miraculous works He’d performed in their presence were manifestations of His Father’s power and authority. So, it becomes imperative that they recognize that He and Yehovah are united and inseparable in spirit, truth, and authority (aka echad). And because of their relationship with Him, and He being in them in Spirit, they would do even greater works than He did in the course of their respective ministries. And whatever they, like Him, ask of the Father in His Name, He would do it for them.

 

  1. If we, His disciples, truly love Him, it is imperative that we keep His commandments (Joh 14. 15). And Master’s commandments are none other than His Father Yah’s commandments — Abba Yah’s instructions in righteousness — Yehovah’s Torah. When His disciples follow His example and teachings to the letter in Spirit and Truth, they are echad/one with Yeshua and He comes to take up residence within them (Joh 16.19-21). So many so-called believers in this world today claim they love Yeshua, but they refuse to obey His and His Father’s instructions in righteousness or follow His example. The true follower and disciple of Yeshua imitates Him in every conceivable way. This is how one shows that he or she loves the Father and the Son. Of course, this reality runs contrary to what religiosity teaches as it relates to what is needed for one to be saved and to be in a covenant relationship with the Almighty. To millions, the only element needed is God’s grace for salvation and a covenant relationship with the Almighty and His Messiah. This teaching and admonishment by Yeshua is proof that works are essential for one’s salvation and covenant relationship with Him and His Father.

 

  1. Yeshua promises to give His disciples a comforter (aka the Ruach Kodesh) whom He described as “the Spirit of Truth” (Joh 14.16-18). As He informed Him of His impending Passion, He recognized that His disciples’ hearts and spirits were broken. These were coming to realize, falsely of course, that all that they’d involved themselves in with Yeshua was coming to an abrupt end and all for them and the work of the Gospel would be lost. Man, were they wrong. Yeshua, in fulfillment of His cousin Yochanan’s the Immerser’s prophecy, would immerse them in the Ruach Kodesh and with fire (Mat 3.11; Mar 1.8; Luk 3.16). He would never leave them in that sense. The same holds true for us. He will come and commune with us in the form of His Father’s precious Holy Spirit. All we need to do to receive His comforter is to be water immersed and to ask the Father for it. With that infilling and indwelling of the Ruach Kodesh/the Holy Spirit comes a shalom that the world cannot comprehend nor imitate (Joh 14.27-31). Thus, we need not be concerned about anything. He will tend to all our needs. Most importantly, He will return for us in a little while. We just need to hold tight to our belief that He will do what He promises He will do.

 

The rest of the story is, of course, history. When I titled this discussion Yeshua’s Passover, it should not be understood as Yeshua needing a Passover. He was perfect and did not require a Passover. Instead, all that He went through leading up to and even into fulfillment of His Passion is the greatest love story ever told in the annals of human history. Yeshua’s Passover is really our Passover. It is our only hope for salvation and to enter into a covenant relationship with the Creator of the Universe. His Passover is the only efficacious Passover we can keep. It’s fine to dabble in some of the Passover traditions of our Jewish brethren. It’s not necessarily my cup of tea, but I get that many folks just want to get into the spirit of Passover by engaging in such traditions. My only point is this: Only Yeshua’s Passover can bring us and maintain us in a covenant relationship with Yehovah and also save us. It’s imperative we keep this in mind during this solemn time. 

 

This Passover of 2024 is the perfect time to reaffirm our relationship with the Almighty through Yeshua.

 

This is an appointed time. It’s a time that Yah has set aside to sup and commune with His people.

It’s a time for purification, renewal, and preparation so that we may sit at the LORD’s Table, both physically and spiritually.

If any of what I’ve mentioned in this discussion is a stumbling block for you, I implore you to do your own research and seek Yah’s face on those things. But above all, remain steadfast to the Torah instructions and endeavor every day to conform to the image of Yeshua.

 

I mentioned Pesach is a perfect time for renewal and reaffirming one’s relationship with the Almighty. How do we accomplish such a thing? Well, there are a few things that we can do to reaffirm that relationship:

  1. Yeshua was perfectly Torah obedient, which necessitates we also be Torah observant such that our righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees. Master declared that if we fail to walk in that exceeding righteousness that takes us from Passover to Sukkot, we shall in no case enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Mat 5.20).

 

  1. Since Abba Yah chose Yeshua to be our Pesach, and we accepted Him as our Pesach, we are mandated to trust Yehovah and our Pesach Yeshua for our justification and salvation, and most importantly, because it is the right thing to do.

 

3 Let us keep Passover, but give equal attention to Yeshua’s last supper event, examine ourselves, and follow explicitly the instructions that He gave His disciples. 

 

  1. Remove the chametz/leaven from our lives physically and spiritually in response to His cleansing from our impurities. Be holy as our Master and our God are both holy. We must be pure in order to sit at the LORD’S table. So, we must examine ourselves. Any chametz/leaven and or impurities that Yah’s Spirit reveals are lingering in our lives (i.e. our homes, within our families and friends, our beings) must be immediately removed so that we may walk uprightly before our God and be in His holy presence.

 

I pray you have a blessed and meaningful Pesach/Passover beloved. We will be away observing Pesach ourselves and thus I will not be publishing another installment of TMTO until after the Feast of Unleavened Bread. I’m estimating sometime in the middle of next month.

 

Until then, beloved, may you be most blessed, fellow saints in training. Take care.

 

 

 

Choosing Yeshua as our Pesach: Shadows of Pesach 2024

by | Apr 17, 2024 | Blog, Podcasts

by Rod Thomas | The Messianic Torah Observer

I’ve chosen to title our discussion here today “Choosing Yeshua as our Pesach: Shadows of Pesach 2024.”

 

If I could have you turn to Exodus 12.1-6, we will read the portion of Torah is directly tied to this special day on Yah’s set-apart calendar:

 

And Yahweh said to Moses and to Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “This month will be the beginning of months; it will be for you the first of the months of the year. 3 Speak to all the community of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month, they will each take for themselves ⌊a lamb for the family⌋, a lamb for the household. 4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, he and the neighbor nearest to his house will take one according to the number of persons; you will count out portions of the lamb ⌊according to how much each one can eat⌋. 5 The lamb for you must be a male, without defect, in its first year; you will take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 “⌊You will keep it⌋ until the fourteenth day of this month, and all the assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter it ⌊at twilight⌋ (The Lexham English Bible; Ex 12:1–6).

 

Take for Yourselves a Lamb

 

Few commentators give much attention to this somewhat nuanced instruction of taking unto ourselves a lamb on the 10th day of this Month of the Aviv and holding him in our homes for four-days until we as a community slaughter him, apply his blood to the doorposts and lintels of our homes, and eat its flesh. Indeed, we primarily focus on eating the Pesach (aka the Seder) on the 14th day each year during this time. But the prophetic shadows of this instruction are pregnant with spiritual significance that we would be sorely remiss to overlook. Yes, observing the Passover/Pesach on the 14th of every Aviv is a requirement, and we must keep the day in spirit and in truth. For as the writer of the cepher of Hebrews brilliantly described: The Torah has a shadow of the good things to come...(Holy Scriptures: Tree of Life Version; (Heb 10:1). (I’ve posted several teachings on Messianics keeping Passover that I humbly invite you to check out if you are so led).

 

 

Keeping Passover by Way of the Renewed Covenant-Part 3 of Keeping Passover and Unleavened Bread in 2022 (themessianictorahobserver.org)

 

Keeping Passover by Way of the Original Covenant-Part 2 of Keeping Passover and Unleavened Bread in 2022 (themessianictorahobserver.org)

 

Some Passover Basics-Keeping Passover and Unleavened Bread in 2022-Part 1 (themessianictorahobserver.org)

 

Post Passover-Feast of Unleavened Bread Thoughts and Reflections (themessianictorahobserver.org)

 

The Exceeding Kingdom Qualifying Righteousness That Takes us from Passover to Tabernacles-Part 2-Maintaining our Righteous Garments – The Messianic Torah Observer

 

The Exceeding Kingdom Qualifying Righteousness That Takes us from Passover to Tabernacles-Part 1 (themessianictorahobserver.org)

 

The command to take unto ourselves a perfect yearling lamb or goat and keep and inspect it for four-days was the first step in Yah teaching us to obey Him and, in so doing, secure our deliverance and redemption. This was one of the first commandments that we as individuals, families, and a nation were required to keep if we wanted to live.


The Torah of the Four Days of Inspection and Introspection

 

These four days served as a time to inspect the lamb and detect any defects which might diminish its efficacy; consider the ramifications of what we were doing in terms of our slaughtering it on the 14th of the month; and finally having the wherewithal to slaughter the animal that we as a household over those four days, grew to love.

 

Yeshua as the Lamb that Taketh Away the Sins of the World

 

Our Master Yeshua was crucified on the Passover of 28 CE in Jerusalem. According to Rood’s Chronology, Passover in that year fell on a W-dnesday. Master would have been in His 30th year, the age at which a Levitical Priest would begin service in the Tabernacle or Temple.

 

Just a few days shy of a year before His crucifixion, Yeshua had been water immersed by His cousin Yochanan in the waters of the Jordan, this being a few weeks before the Passover of 27 CE. (Mat 3.13-17; Mar 1.9-11; Luk 3.23-22).

 

Upon emerging from the waters of the Jordan, Yochanan witnesses the Holy Spirit (aka the Ruach Kodesh) fall upon His cousin. Besides witnessing the Holy Spirit fall upon Yeshua, Yochanan heard a clear affirmation from Yehovah that Yeshua was His beloved Son — His Yachid — of Whom He was well pleased (Mat 3.13-17; Mar 1.9-11; Luk 3.21-22). This historic and spiritually rich event marked the start of the Master’s earthly ministry.

 

The Multifaceted Earthly Mission of Yeshua Messiah

 

Most folks in the world today who are knowledgeable of the Greatest Story hardly ever told, see Yeshua as having but one mission, and that mission was to die for the sins of the world. But truth be told, Yeshua had more than one mission that he successfully packed into one year of service.

 

The same unction of the Spirit that fell upon Yeshua after he emerged from the waters of the Jordan drove him into the wilderness. He sojourned in the Transjordan region of Judea for 40 days, where he endured testing, fasting from food throughout. Where have we read of such an event? Why, the exodus story. According to the Apostle, during the Exodus, we were all “baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Cor 10.2).

 

We were made to go without food and water for a period as we traveled through the harsh and unforgiving wilderness. Yeshua repeats that which the forefathers endured (Mat 4.1-2; Mar 1.12-13; Luk 4.1-2). However, Yeshua successfully endured and navigated what the forefathers endured, but were unsuccessful in navigating. Our forefathers failed to come into strict obedience to Yah and to fully trust Him, despite Yah’s powerful presence having bore them on eagles’ wings out of Egypt to Mount Sinai. As it relates to Yeshua, Yah’s Spirit was upon Him throughout His wilderness sojourn. That Spirit no doubt helped Him endure and successfully navigate through His 40-days of fasting and His subsequent testing.

 

At the terminus of his fast and wilderness sojourn, the Master came face to face with the tempter, hasatan (Mat 4.3-11; Mar 1.13; Luk 4.3-13). The enemy crafted his temptation of Mashiyach (aka Messiah) such that it fell within three specific areas of the human experience: (1) The Lust of the Flesh, whereby hasatan egged the Master to prove He was the Son of Yah by turning the stones of the wilderness into bread to satisfy His hunger. (2) The Pride of Life, where Yeshua would tempt His Father to break His fall from a height to prove He was the Son of Yah. And (3) The Lust of the Eyes, whereby Yeshua would receive from hasatan the riches of the world for His worship of Him. 

 

As the story goes, the Master rebuffs each temptation with a recitation of his Father’s Torah.

 

Now, embedded within the third temptation, hasatan revealed a reality of his existence that few ever consider:

 

(5) Hasatan took Him (i.e. Yeshua) up into a high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, (6) and said, “All this authority will I give you and all the glory of these kingdoms, for all that has been delivered unto me — and to whomever I will — I give it” (Luk 4; Rood’s Chronology). 

 

Master identified hasatan (aka the devil) as a liar (Joh 8.44). However, as it relates to this temptation, Yeshua who is the Truth personified, did not dispute the tempter’s claim of possessing the kingdoms of the world and their glory and his wherewithal to deliver these things to Yeshua if the Master would but bow down and worship him.

 

Truth be told, at the fall, Adam lost the title deed to this world to hasatan. The apostle decreed to the Messianic Assembly in Corinth that he was the god of this world (2 Cor 4.4), at least for the time being. It thus fell to the Son of Yehovah to reclaim that title deed. And thus, by successfully rebuffing hasatan’s temptation, He – the second Adam (1 Cor 15.45) – qualified to reclaim the title deed from hasatan. He will officially and fully accomplish this when the seals are opened in the End Times (Rev 6.1-8.5).

 

Reclamation of the title deed to this world by Yeshua was a necessity if the Kingdom of God were to be established on earth. This was a secret mission that Yah assigned to Yeshua.

 

You see, beloved, our God is a God of righteousness and justice. He does everything according to the rule of Law that He established at creation. Yeshua would, then, restore creation to its rightful human caretakers. This was the reclamation and judgment portion to His ministry.

 

The timing of Master’s water immersion and temptation was roughly parallel to that of the Exodus story (in terms of the spiritual elements embedded therein) that was roughly 1,500 years prior. Yeshua’s Passion would take place about a year later.

 

Yochanan the Revelator reports in his Gospel record that the day after He’d completed His 40-days of testing, Master emerged from the wilderness, being seen by His cousin, Yochanan the Immerser. The Immerser, operating under the authority and revelation of the Holy Spirit, confers upon the Master the redemptive appellation of “The Lamb of Yehovah which takes away the sin of the world” (Joh 1.29). And thus, in haste, our Master got to work to fulfill the redemptive portion to His ministry. This aspect of His ministry was to atone for the sins of Yah’s people (by extension all of humanity) and “redeem Yah’s people so that they may receive the adoption of sons” (Gal 4.5). And Yeshua had but one year to complete this complex but existentially vital task.

 

The Shadows of Pesach

 

I’ve expressed countless times on this platform that Yeshua is the walking-talking Torah. The writer of Hebrews described Torah as having a shadow of good things to come (Heb 10.1).

 

The Shadows of Torah are manifested in the Person and Ministries of Yeshua Messiah and in the Feasts of the LORD.

 

Both the Torah-side and Yeshua’s Passion side of Pesach is a masterpiece story and expression of Yehovah’s love for His people, and by extension, the whole of human creation. It is still about a covenant, a people, and the Land.

 

Fast-forward a year ahead to the Month of the Aviv, 28 CE (Rood’s Chronology reckoning). The Master would have spent a year grooming His disciples to continue the work of the Gospel and the Kingdom that He began a year prior.

 

Passover, in general terms, encompasses Passover Day (i.e. the 14th Day of Aviv) and the seven-day pilgrimage Feast of Unleavened Bread. Being a pilgrimage feast, Jerusalem of the first century, at the time of Passover, would have been bursting at the seams with thousands of Torah observant Jewish pilgrims. A few days prior to the start of the Feast, these pilgrims would have prepared themselves for the coming holy week by engaging in purification rituals via the many mikveh pools that were scattered in and around the city, as well as rendering unto Yehovah various offerings and sacrifices (Joh 11.55). At this time, Yeshua had become a marked and wanted man by the Jewish religious establishment and its leaders (Joh 11.56).

 

As the story goes, on or around the 9th Day of the Month of the Aviv, Yeshua and His disciples had arrived in the Jerusalem area. In a beautiful fulfillment of prophecy, Yeshua’s disciples secured for Him a colt (i.e. some English translations refer to the animal as a donkey). He would ride this colt into Jerusalem proper the next day, the 10th of the Month of the Aviv, in what Christians have labeled as His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem (Zec 9.9; Mat 21.1-7; Mar 11.1-6; Luk 19.29-34).

 

Thus would begin the shadow picture of us taking unto ourselves the Korban Pesach — that is, the Lamb that would serve as our Pesach on the 10th Day of the Month.

 

The day that the disciples secured the colt, Miriam, sister of the resurrected Lazarus (ref. Joh 11-12), while reclining at dinner at a home in Bethany, anoints the Master with costly ointment (Mat 26.6-13; Mar 14.3-9; Joh 12.2-11). This paints for us a beautiful portrait of our Master’s official title of Mashiyach, meaning the Anointed One. Yeshua asserted to His outraged disciples, who chided Miriam for wasting such a costly commodity on the LORD of Lords, that Miriam’s anointing was a preparation for His burial. Why? Because, by the time Yeshua would be taken down from His execution stake five days hence, His rapid burial in the borrowed tomb due to the advent of the first day of Unleavened Bread, would not permit His body to be properly prepared.

 

The next day, on the 10th of Aviv, Yeshua makes His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. As prophesied, He rode in on the colt that His disciples procured for him the previous day (Mat 21.7-16; Mar 11.7-11; Luk 19.35-44; Joh 12.12-16). Thus, the Lamb that taketh away the sins of the world — our Pesach/Passover — would begin His four-day period of inspection. During this time, He would undergo inspection by the nation’s religious leaders.

 

Now, Yeshua’s aptly named “Triumphal Entry” into Jerusalem, just four days ahead of His Passion, falls dramatically within the realm of divine orchestration. For there, on that day, the 10th Day of the Month of the Aviv, as commanded by Yehovah in Exodus 12, we were also selecting the lambs we would use for our Pesach observance for that year.

 

The 10th of the Month of the Aviv in first century Jerusalem became known as “Lamb Selection Day” (www.biblesearchers.com/hebrews/festivals/passover.shml#passoverlamb). According to the cited article along with several other similar articles on the subject, the high priest on this date went out of the city of Jerusalem through the Damascus Gate and headed north of the city to select the most perfect of the yearling lambs in Judea. And for the next four-days, the high priest would inspect the Passover Lamb daily on the Temple grounds. By the fourth day, if the high priest finds no fault in the animal, it will be sacrificed on the 14th, Passover Day afternoon.

 

Looking back to our Egyptian servitude, I came across some interesting information regarding lambs and the Egyptians. According to the Jewish scholar and commentator Rashi (commenting on Exodus 8.22), Yehovah induced irony was for us to take lambs unto ourselves and then slaughter them a few days later. Turns out that the lamb was considered a deity in Egypt. Our taking lambs into our homes and then slaughtering them would be considered an offense to the Egyptian overlords.

 

Our selecting of lambs on the 10th day of the Month of the Aviv was not symbolic of some form of symbolism on our part, but done out of thoughtfulness, ordered intention, and obedience (chabad.org; “Why Take the Pesach Lamb Days Before Offering It?”).

 

Circling back to Yeshua: It was the enemy’s plan to ensnare Yeshua by hook or crook, which would lead to their diabolical plan to destroy Him, which they believed further their efforts to promote the Kingdom of Darkness and stymie the advent of the Malchut Elohim here on earth. However, the enemy did not realize that it was Yehovah’s intention all along — from the foundation of the earth — for His Son to be sacrificed for the sins of Yisra’el, and by extension all of humanity (Rev 13.8). This is what we see taking place before us, as over a seven-day period, their efforts to destroy the King of Glory would prove to be an embarrassing failure on the enemy’s part. For had the enemy known that Yeshua’s execution was Yah’s plan from the beginning, and that it would be the nail in the enemy’s coffin, so to speak, they would not have crucified the Master of Glory (1 Cor 2.7-8).

 

Now, some have suggested that the Master’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem took place on Shabbat HaGadol that year. As an aside, Shabbat HaGadol, aka the Great Sabbath, is the Sabbath that precedes Passover Day. Interestingly, according to Rabbinic tradition, our Exodus out of Egypt took place on a Thursday, the 15th of the Month of the Aviv. This means that we would have selected our Pesach, the previous Shabbat, which would be the 10th of the Month of the Aviv. Thus, some people, including me, believe that the same week-day orientation occurred when Yeshua was crucified, with His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem happening on Shabbat, Aviv 10, 28 CE. You can’t make this stuff up, beloved. This being the case, then, Yeshua’s triumphal entry precisely symbolized the Torah regarding the selection of the Korban Pesach.

 

In Yeshua’s day, the nation, having gathered themselves in Yerushalayim before Pesach and the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread, would select a Korban Pesach for their family and hold on to him for four-days, in obedience to Exodus/Shemot 12.3-5, to be slaughtered on the afternoon of Aviv 14. On the day of the Master’s Triumphal Entry — the Lamb Selection Day — the Cohen Gadol in 28 CE, who would have been Caiaphas, accompanied by dozens of attending cohenim or priests, ceremoniously walked through the Damascus Gate. Throngs of attending cohenim lined either sides of Damascus street, waving palm fronds, while the Cohen Gadol exited Yerushalayim through the North Gate, heading for a nearby pasture to inspect the yearling male lambs. He would select what he believed to be the perfect lamb to serve as Korban Pesach on behalf of the nation. Caiaphas would have reversed his route and returned to the Temple with the perfect lamb in tow.

 

Awaiting Caiaphas were the throngs of palm frond waving priests who were positioned along the route, along with thousands of Jewish pilgrims who lined the streets of Yerushalayim, also waving palm fronds. As these awaited the Cohen Gadol and the Korban Pesach’s arrival with great exuberance and anticipation, Yeshua took advantage of the moment by riding into Yerushalayim on the colt that His disciples procured for Him the previous day. His disciples spread, as every Gospel writer noted, their garments and palm branches along His path. These, as if heralds of a triumphal king entering and traversing his realm, proclaimed ahead of Him: “Hoshia-na to the Son of Dawid! Blessed is He who is coming in the Name of Yehovah! Hoshia-na in the highest!” (Mat 21.9; LSB; cf. Psa 118.26; Mar 11.9-10; Luk 19.36-38).

 

The intense passion and exuberance of the disciples was contagious. The gathered crowds joined into the welcoming of their king. Word had spread amongst the multitude of the gathered and celebrated crowd that the great prophet from Nazareth of Galilee was in their midst (Mat 21.10-11). No doubt many within this multitude — Disciple and Passover Pilgrim alike — entertained in their souls that finally the prophesied kingdom and their King David incarnate had arrived. Indeed, Hoshia-na in the Highest — Blessed is He who comes in Yehovah’s Name!

 

The ruling cohenim were of course incensed at this spectacle. They bid Yeshua bring this disturbance to their lamb selection ritual to an abrupt end (Luk 19.39). But Yeshua’s classic response set the eternal tone of what was happening before their very eyes: I say to you [Prushim/Pharisees] that if these [rejoicing souls] Shall be silent, the stones of Jerusalem would cry out” (Luk 19.40; LSB modified).

 

Indeed, like the multitude that took part in the previous year’s Sukkot/Feast of Tabernacles’ “Water Libation Ceremony” (see my teaching on the Water Libation Ceremony), this crowd did not have the slightly clue that they were taking part in a divinely orchestrated shadow of good things to come, foretold by the prophets of old centuries before. There would be no stopping this divine appointment and Yehovah’s auspicious intrusion into the affairs of men!

 

Before I go any further, I want to advise you I could not put my fingers upon any credible historic references to this so-called first century Lamb Selection Ceremony/Ritual. I believe much of this reported ceremony to be true, given the widespread agreement among Jewish and Christian teachers alike, that this event actually took place as I’ve recited to you here in this post. But if you’ve been with me any length of time, you know I strive to provide you as many available proofs and references as I can access in relation to the various issues and topics that I present on this platform. I am a little frustrated at not being able to pinpoint viable references to this ceremony. But suffice to say, this is a popular historic tradition that has little to no proofs to support its telling. The lack of references or proofs, however, does not detract from the gospel and torah records’ story and its associated spiritual applications.

 

Back to our topic at hand. At this point in our Pesach story, the Jerusalem religious leaders were “hot.” These religious leaders believed their hands were tied. They reasoned: “You see that you are gaining nothing; look, the world has gone after Him…” the Him being none other than Yahoshua HaMashiyach” (Joh 12.19; LSB modified). 

 

Meanwhile, true to Zechariah’s prophecy, the master entered the temple complex where he not only embarked upon an intense 4 days of teachings but also began four days of inspection — which included entrapments that were meant to incite His arrest and ultimate crucifixion (Luk 19.47-48).

 

The enemy, still ignorant of the critical error he was bent on carrying out against the Master (that error being to kill Yeshua), took advantage of the tense politico-religious situation at play at this time by stoking the flames of hatred that burned within the Jerusalem religious leaders against Yeshua. The Prushim/Pharisees had no clue that they were being used by hasatan to further His interests, nor were they aware that they were blindly fulfilling prophecy, much to their detriment.

 

Of course, Yeshua knew what was going on behind the scenes. His Father openly certified that he, Yeshua, was indeed the Korban Pesach for his people. Several individuals standing near Him heard the third Bat-Kol from heaven. Yeshua explained to those who heard this Bat Kol that his heavenly father proclaimed it, not for his own edification, but for theirs (Joh 12.27-30). Yehovah had selected the perfect Korban Pesach for the sins of His people, ensuring the efficacy of the sacrifice that would be made on our behalf just four-days hence.

 

So, from this juncture in human history, the world would be “judged and the ruler of this world cast out “ (Joh 12.31; LSB). We’re not talking about a wrathful judgment from on high, mind you, but a judgment of the results the words and witness of our Master Yeshua would have on humanity. In other words, the world would now be judged according to their faith in the Person and ministries of Yeshua HaMashiyach.

 

A year previous to these events, Yochanan declared that the Malchut Elohim/The Kingdom of God was at hand (Mat 3.1-2). And indeed, in great part, the Malchut Elohim had arrived, although not in a manner that the patriarchs of old and the so-called first century sages could have ever imagined (Luk 8.56). Certainly not in any way envisioned by hasatan and the Kingdom of darkness. Hasatan was about to cash in his chips, but Yehovah was about to pull a check checkmate on him.

 

In this same scene, Master affirmed his destiny to those hanging on to his every word. He would suffer crucifixion, despite the traditional understanding that Israel’s prophesied Messiah could not die. Yeshua corrected the group’s understanding that he was fulfilling an eternal mandate to bring light to a darkened world and the opportunity for eternal life to those that would believe in him (Joh 12.44-46).

 

Over the course of the next four days, the master lodged in a friend’s home in Bethany at night, but returned to Jerusalem and the Temple grounds during the day.

 

The next day, Master cleanses the temple campus of the sketchy money changers who had set up shop at various temple access points, hoping to overcharge the Pesach-attending pilgrims who would look to purchase animals for their worship purposes (Mat 21.12-14; Mar 11.15-19; Luk 19.45-46). And like most things having to do with commerce, timing is crucial, and these slick salesmen were positioned to make a killing during the week of Pesach. Certainly, no money changer could ply his wares on the temple property without permission from the temple religious leaders, who no doubt got a cut of the daily sales receipts. Yeshua’s upsetting of the money changers’ kiosks further fueled the ire of the Prushim, who, by that time, were desperate to find a means to take him out. 

Next day, the temple religious leaders challenged Master’s authority to chase the money changers away, which was a challenge to Prushim authority (ref. Babylonian Talmud, Baba Metzia 59). The Prushim had taken unto themselves full authority over temple operations. Ironically, the only authority to be had over temple operations was Yehovah. Yehovah had given that authority to His Son (Mat 28.18). The ruling religious leaders were disingenuous in their query of the Master, prompting the Master to refuse to reveal to them the source of His authority (Mat 21.23-27; Mar 11.27-33; Luk 20.1-8).

 

Master, through parables, exposed the unfit state of his religious challengers, warning them that “the Malchut Elohim shall be taken from you, and given to Gentiles who bring forth the fruits of the kingdom” (Mat 21.43).

 

The religious leaders’ rejection of Yeshua, Yochanan, and the Prophets of old would be their ultimate spiritual downfall. For these time and time again, because of their steadfast rebelliousness and self-serving evil hearts, they missed the time of their visitation. What they were witnessing was Yehovah’s doing. Tragically, they rejected Yeshua, John the Immerser, and the Prophets of old, which had the effect of placing themselves in spiritual and physical harm’s way. For it would be just 40 years later that most of them would end up dying in their sins amid the rubble of the Temple that they claimed full authority over.

 

These unfit leaders could not stop what had and what would come: “The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner …Whoever shall fall/stumble upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder” (Luk 20.17-18).

 

These religious leaders took personal offense to the Master’s judgment of them. Thus, he was blameless as it relates to his authority in doing that which he did. 

 

Next, ill-intentioned Pharisees and Herodians attempted to entrap the master by tripping him up on an issue related to the paying of taxes. These rationalized that if they could tap some masked resentment the Master may have had in relation to the bitter burden of Roman taxation over his brethren, they may get Him to speak against Israel’s paying taxes to Rome. For Yeshua to even suggest an Israeli not pay taxes would bring a death sentence upon His head. Conversely, for the Master to suggest that devout Israelis not tithe would make him eligible for punishment as well, since He would be seen as encouraging his brethren to transgress the Torah. Yeshua, however, saw through their devilish ploy, and responded to their entrapment question, instructing that Israelis must do the right thing: pay their taxes in accordance with Roman law and give tithes in accordance to Torah (Mat 22.15-22; Mar 12.13-17; Luk 20.20-26). Thus, he was blameless in his teachings and doctrine. The Prushim and the Herodians were left, according to Mark, “dumbfounded” (Rood’s Chronology; Mar 12.17; p. 203). 

 

Next inspectors and nefarious character bent on ensnaring Yeshua in either his words or deeds/actions were the Sadducees, otherwise referred to as Zadokim. This religious sect served in the Jerusalem Temple as priests/cohenim. The Prushim/Pharisees did not/could not operate as priests, although they took unto themselves much authority over Temple operations in general. The Sadducees, in general, were distinguished from the other sectarian Jewish brethren by their insistence that there is no resurrection of the dead. Their position on this issue would serve as their means of entrapping the Master. These postulated unto the Master the conundrum of a woman having died after having survived the deaths of seven husbands. These ill-intentioned Sadducees demanded of Master Yeshua give them His position as to which husband the woman would be reunited with in the resurrection. (Wait, I thought they didn’t believe in a resurrection of the dead.) Of course, Yeshua schooled these Sadducees on the foundational truths related to the institution and practice of marriage in the resurrection. That being that like the angels in heaven, resurrected humans will not marry.

 

And the master threw a barb at these Sadducees’ of there being a resurrection of the dead, citing that Yehovah was a God of the living, not the dead (Mat 22.23-33; Mar 12.18-27; Luk 20.27-39; Exo 3.5, 15; Dan 12.2; 4 Mac 7.19; Isa 26.19; etc). Yeshua chided them on their lack of spiritual understanding and belief in Yehovah’s ability to enact a resurrection of the dead. Thus, Yeshua proved he had mastery of the scriptures and was blameless in his understanding of the Scriptures.

 

Nevertheless, these Sadducees were astonished at His doctrine.

 

The next sectarian group to attempt an ensnaring of the Master was the so-called sages, known to most of us today as the Scribes.

 

Scribes were the learned lawyers of Torah.

 

One sage asked the Master what the greatest commandment of Torah is. Master responded with a recitation of the Shema (Deu 6.4-5) as being the greatest commandment. Yet, He said, there is an accompanying commandment that has equal import: Love of neighbor as one loves him/herself (Lev 19.18).

 

These querying scribes were impressed with the Master’s understanding and command of Torah. The religious leaders could find no fault in Him.

 

Having now passed the religionists’ inspection, the Master turned the tables, so to speak, and inspected them, judging them as wanting and lacking in their knowledge and understanding of the Person of Yeshua Messiah and His relationship with Yehovah (Mat 22.41-46; Mar 12.35-37; Luk 20.41-44; Psa 110 and Psa 2). Sadly, many within and without our beloved Faith are as many of the sectarian leaders of our Master’s day. These have no understanding of who Yeshua is and the role He plays in His Father’s grand plan of salvation, redemption, and restoration.

 

I published a couple of teachings which are titled “The Divinity of Yeshua” and “Who and What is Yeshua Messiah,” where I share my perspectives on this critical subject. I would humbly invite you to either read or listen to those posts if you are so led. Yeshua is the Son of Yehovah and the Son of Man: He is Yah’s right-hand.

 

For the remaining days leading up to his Passion, the Master taught daily on and around the temple grounds. He warned his disciples to be wary of the Jewish religious leaders who he revealed were hypocritical in their deportment and example as self-appointed spiritual leaders of the nation (Mar 12.37-40; Luk 20.45-47). He observed the souls who’d come up to the temple to worship during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, distinguishing between those who came and gave all they had to Yehovah from those who gave measuredly according to their abundance (Mar 12.41-44; Luk 21.1-4). He instructed his disciples to observe the Torah that Moses gave, but to reject the takanot and ma’asim of the Scribes and Pharisees: Those who falsely assumed to possess the authority of Moses to divide the Word of Truth to the Jewish nation (Mat 23.1-39).

 

From there, the Master criticized the dangerous/deadly hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees whom He described as “blind chairs or blind guides” (depending on the English translation you may be referencing) (Mat 23.16).

 

It was during this expose of these religious leaders that the Master sealed His fate and ensured that His crucifixion would take place just two days hence.

 

The culmination of the Master’s time of inspection as our Korban Pesach was His delivery of the famous Olivet Discourse, where He crams in some last-minute teachings to His disciples (Mat 24-25). (The Olivet Discourse is a monumental discussion all on its own. We’ll save such a discussion for another day.)

 

Meanwhile, the religious leaders completed their plans to dispense with the Master, choosing to use someone who was close to Him as the means of taking and ultimately executing Him. True to their evil make-up, these would not commit the crime against the Master themselves but use one of His own along with the might and resources of their Roman overlords to bring an end to the Rabbi Yeshua. But the end that these envisioned were in all reality, the start of the good things set to come to Yah’s set-apart people,

 

So, I conclude this discussion on Passover being a Shadow of Yeshua as the Lamb that takes away the sins of the world but encouraging all of us to take the fullness of Yeshua — His reality — into our thoughts and reflections on this 10th Day of the Month of the Aviv. And over the next four days leading up to Passover 2024, that we allow Yeshua to be as a mirror unto ourselves such that we identify the high calling of our Creator in Yeshua Messiah. He is our example, and we must endeavor to be like Him in every conceivable way. Are we willing to press toward the high mark that He has established in order that we may be called sons and daughters of the Most High Elohim? I say yes, yes, yes and Amein.

 

 

 

Aviv’s Prophetic Shadows of our Redemption and Salvation Through Yeshua Messiah

by | Apr 12, 2024 | Blog, Podcasts

by Rod Thomas | The Messianic Torah Observer

Why is the Month of the Aviv and its Embedded Feasts Important to us?

The Torah … a shadow of the good matters — good things — to come…(The Scriptures, 3rd edition. , Heb 10:1).

As I am recording and posting this installment of TMTO, we are heading into this week’s Sabbath on this beautiful Preparation Day in the DFW. And yes, we are in the midst of guarding the Month of the Aviv 2024. And as always beloved, it is our hope, trust, and prayer that this installment of TMTO finds you, your families, and fellowships well and blessed.

 

Setting the Tone

 

Understanding the significance of the Feasts of the LORD is essential in comprehending the depth of Yah’s Torah. These holy days, also known as Moedim, hold a profound symbolism that reflects the ongoing redemptive work of Yehovah for humanity. They are not merely religious observances, but a representation of the Creator’s continuous care and intervention in the lives of His people.

 

In exploring the rich traditions and interpretations surrounding the Moedim of Yehovah, there are various perspectives that provide valuable insights into the divine work in relation to humanity. However, for the purpose of this year’s focus on the Month of the Aviv and its embedded set-apart days, we will delve into the significance of these sacred occasions through the lens of the Plan of Salvation and Redemption, as revealed through the Person and Ministry of Yeshua Messiah.

 

An Outline of Yeshua as our Pesach

 

Passover, as recorded in the Exodus account, runs strikingly parallel to the historic Passion of our Master Yeshua in the Month of the Aviv in 28 CE (approximating using Rood’s Chronology).

 

Near the end of our harsh servitude in Egypt/Mitsrayim, Yah instructed Moshe that Aviv 1 would be our Rosh HaShanah — our New Year’s Day (Exo 12.1-2). Earlier this week I posted a discussion entitled “Welcome to Aviv 2024-A Brief Overview of the Month and a Discussion of What God Expects From Us This Month.” And if you’ve not had the opportunity to either listen to or read that post, I would humbly encourage you to do so as we went into reasons why the Month of the Aviv is so vitally important to us Messianics and what Yah expects from us during this month.

At that time, there remained one judgment plague Yah would strike our task-masters with. That plague would change the course of our destiny and put into motion our deliverance and redemption.

 

In gearing up for that final judgment-plague, Yah instructed that each of our households would select and take into our homes a perfect yearling lamb or goat on the 10th day of this Month of the Aviv (Exo 12.3-5). We were to keep that animal in our homes until the 14th of the month at twilight (Exo 12:6). At twilight (i.e. “ben,” in the afternoon of the 14th) we were to slaughter that animal. We were to take a portion of the blood of that animal and smear it upon the doorposts and lintel of our homes (Exo 12:7). We were to roast the carcass of the animal whole. Our entire household would eat that roasted animal along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs that evening, with our garments girded, our sandals on our feet, and our staff in our hands in haste (Exo 12:8-11). This was to be our Passover or Pesach.

 

In the interim of our taking part in this solemn ceremony on the eve of our deliverance, Yehovah wrought His final judgment against the gods and the pharaoh of Egypt — the killing of the entirety of Egypt’s firstborn (i.e. both man and animal). (Exo 12.12). As Yah passed through Egypt, He struck every firstborn. However, when He came upon dwellings where we’d earlier smeared the blood of the Pesach, He passed over and bypassed us (i.e. where we get the term Passover). In the early hours of the following morning, realization of the previous night’s devastation caused our taskmasters to urge us to leave their land. Our redemption and deliverance was at hand through the strong and mighty hand of Yehovah Elohim.

 

In like pattern, the story did not stop at the Month of Aviv and Pesach/Passover. Our deliverance from Egypt and trek across the Sinai wilderness would culminate in our historic arrival at the Mountain of God — Mount Sinai — some 50-days later. The timing of this coincides with the advent of Shavuot or Pentecost. Shavuot from an agricultural standpoint is the terminus of Yah’s Spring Feasts (i.e. the Wheat Harvest). Our arrival at Mount Sinai and Yah gifting us His Torah and covenant beautifully coincides with Yeshua fulfilling the tenets of the renewed covenant and gifting us His Father’s Ruach HaKodesh.

 

Every element of this historic event that Yah commanded us to rehearse each year at its appointed time in the Month of the Aviv, is brilliantly portrayed in the Person and atoning ministry of Yeshua Messiah. No detail of this solemn feast is wasted or missed in the redemption and salvation story that is our Master Yeshua.

 

Key Elements of the Spring Feast and their shadows

 

The following Passover elements feature prominently in both the original Passover Story and in our Master’s Passion:

 

  1. The Passover Lamb Enters our Lives on the 10th Day of the Month of the Aviv on the 10th day of the Month. And for four-days He underwent scrutiny by the religious leaders of the day. They found nothing lacking in Him. He was in every aspect of His being, the Perfect Lamb of Yah. He would be our Pesach. On the 14th day of the Month, He would be sacrificed on our behalf, having been found faultless. He was without sin. Thus, He who was without sin would become sin for us (2 Cor 5.21; Heb 4.15).

 

  1. Yeshua as our Pesach is killed on the 14th Day of the Month of the Aviv 28 CE., a Wednesday. There was no leaven in Him. His sacrifice cleanses us from all unrighteousness and we are justified before a holy and righteous God. Yeshua is buried before sunset on the 14th of Aviv and before the start of the Holy Day of the 1st Day of Unleavened Bread on the 15th day of the Month. Indeed, our Pesach — Yahoshua HaMashiyach — taketh away our sins through His Person and His atoning sacrifice. The Feast of Unleavened Bread is all about the removal of sin from our lives. Sin separates us from our Creator Yehovah our Elohim. Thus, without Yeshua’s Passion, we would be hopelessly lost and eternally separated from Abba Yah. But praise be to Yah, the author and finisher of our faith, we have through our Master’s sacrifice, been gifted the opportunity for an imputed righteousness. We are through Yeshua justified before the court of heaven and a holy and righteous God. That just leaves us to be about the work of walking in an exceeding righteousness that is worthy of our calling and aspirations to receive and enter the Malchut Elohim. This, beloved, is the shadow that is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Seven-days where we deny ourselves the joy of leaven foods and where we’ve completely insulated ourselves from any and all leaven, representative of our lifelong sanctification through the work of the Holy Spirit. 

 

  1. Yeshua is Resurrected 3-days and 3-nights on the 18th day of the Month, which that year in history would have been on the Day of the Wavesheaf Offering. Recall that the Wavesheaf Offering takes place on the “morrow after the [weekly] Sabbath [during the holy week of Unleavened Bread] (Lev 23.11-16). He was the firstborn from the dead (Col 1:15-18). Our Master was the Firstfruits of them that slept (1 Cor 15:20-23). Upon Yeshua’s resurrection, many dead saints are raised from their graves and are seen walking in Jerusalem. Thus begins our 50-day trek towards Shavuot/Pentecost. We who are His chosen ones, therefore, are, as James wrote, a kind of Firstfruits of Yah’s creatures (Jas 1.18).

 

Beloved, this is just scratching the surface of the multi-faceted, variegated spiritual tones and shadows of the Month of the Aviv and its embedded Spring Feasts.

 

Concluding Thoughts and Reflections

 

The Spring Feasts provide us with a shadow picture of Yeshua as the Suffering Servant and our Vicarious sacrificial Lamb Who takes away the sins of the world. He is the basis of our redemption and salvation.

 

From a framework perspective, the Spring Feasts depict our salvation through the Person and Ministry of Yeshua, our Messiah (Passover/Pesach); the Sanctification (FOUB); we becoming members of Yah’s Firstfruits (the Wavesheaf Offering); leading to the gifting of the Holy Spirit (Shavuot/Pentecost).

 

Conversely, the Fall Feasts foreshadow the coming Kingdom of Yah where Yeshua will reign as the Righteous Judge and King. Yeshua is our hope and our destiny as Yah’s new creation.

 

From a framework perspective, the Fall Feasts depict the Return of our Master and Savior (Yom Teruah); the Great Tribulation and Yah’s judgment of this world (Yom HaKippurim); and our receiving and dwelling in the Malchut Elohim (Sukkot and Sh’mini Atzeret).

 

We’ll continue this discussion in the coming days. In the meantime, I would be honored if you check out the following teachings on the coming Spring Feasts Season:

 

 

Shabbat Shalom; shavuatov; until next time, take care.

Welcome to Aviv 2024-A Brief Overview of the Month and a Discussion of What God Expects From Us This Month

by | Apr 9, 2024 | Blog, Podcasts

by Rod Thomas | The Messianic Torah Observer

And Yahweh said to Moses and to Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “This month will be the beginning of months; it will be for you the first of the months of the year… “Observe the month of Abib, and you shall keep the Passover to Yahweh your God, for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you out from Egypt by night.

Semeach Rosh Chodesh and Rosh HaShanah! Welcome to Aviv 2024!

This is a special posting of TMTO. I’ve been led of Yah’s Set-Apart Spirit in this post to proclaim and expound upon this new Biblical Year and the advent of the Month of the Aviv 2024.

 

I won’t infringe too much on your valuable time this evening, which by the way, is T-esday, April 9, 2024 and by the time this is posted Aviv 1, other than to pass on to you some of the more important days, concepts, terms, and spiritual applications that are embedded in this set-apart month of Yah’s Biblical Calendar.

 

Calendar Update (Jot these down):

 

  • Wed 4/10-Biblical Rosh HaShannah – Aviv 1 (Depending on the sighting of the renewed moon). Yah, through Moshe, commanded us to Guard this Month (Deu 16.1-2).
  • Tue 4/23-Pesach/Passover – Aviv 14.
  • Wed 4/24-Tue 4/30-FOUB – Aviv 15-21.
  • Sun 4/28-Wavesheaf/Firstfruits – “the morrow after the Sabbath that falls within the week of the FOUB.

 

Please consult the Netsari–Messianic Calendar section of themessianictorahobserver.org website’s landing page for these dates if you can’t jot them down. As well as I invite you to go to The Essential Elements of the Messianic-Hebraic Faith (themessianictorahobserver.org) and scroll down to the calendar and orient yourself to this month’s essential moedim.

 

Key Terms and Concepts Embedded in the Month of the Aviv (aka Nisan)

  • Biblical Rosh HaShannah — Define

When we hear the phrase Rosh HaShanah, both within and without our faith community, depending upon our level of Torah understanding AND our religious affiliation (i.e. Christian, Rabbinic/Orthodox Judaism, Messianic, etc.), we most likely know it as a Jewish holiday. The more knowledgeable of us may even narrow that understanding to that of Rosh HaShanah being the phrase used to declare the Jewish or Hebrew New Year. But what most of the world, yea even many of our of Jewish brethren, don’t know about the phrase is its fuller meaning and implications to our redemption and salvation. For, as Jewish as the world has attempted to make the term Rosh HaShanah throughout the centuries, it in all actuality belongs to Yehovah. Rosh HaShanah, biblically, does not belong to the Jews. How and why, you may ask. Well, simply this: Yehovah establishes the times and seasons for humanity to follow and keep, based on His reckoning of time. When it comes to the things of Yehovah, it’s about His reckoning, not man’s. He determines when the start and end of a time will be. And with Rosh HaShanah, which by the way is not a phrase you’ll find in most English translations of your bible, unless we are in tune with what the Almighty has and is doing with His human creation, it certainly will mean nothing more than some type of Jewish holiday which has nothing to do with most of us.

 

But the truth of the matter is that Rosh HaShanah has everything to do with those of us who are called and who bear His holy and eternal Name upon our souls and spirits.

 

Along with the fact that Rosh HaShanah is NOT in and of itself a phrase found in most of our English bibles, SCRIPTURE DOES NOT give us a date or time for Rosh HaShanah. It’s the strangest thing you could ever imagine.

 

We find first-mention of a new year – aka Rosh HaShanah – in Exodus 12. Background-wise, we, the children of Jacob, had been enslaved in Egypt/Mitsrayim for four-centuries. Exodus 12 records that the time for our exile in Egypt had drawn to an end. Yah dispatched Moshe to lead us out of Egypt and deliver us to the Land of Promise. And after a series of devastating plagues Yah sent to judge the elohim/the gods of Egypt, the time came for our deliverance and redemption. It was time for us to emerge as a people wholly dedicated to Yehovah and His service: a kingdom of priest and a holy nation, set apart unto Yehovah to serve Him and His purposes. And what better way to kick-off this new beginning for the sons and daughters of Jacob/Ya’achov, and for that matter all humanity, than to declare our redemption be inextricably tied to the start of a new year? Consider the following:

 

Now Yehovah spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, 2“This month will mark the beginning of months (i.e. Rosh HaShanah) for you; it is to be the first month of the year for you (i.e. Rosh Chodesh HaShanah) (Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society, Holy Scriptures-modified: Tree of Life Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2015), Ex 12:1–2).

 

Why, thank you very much, LORD. This is wonderful. But for us who are 3,500+ years removed from this historic declaration, Moshe did not note the month we were in at the time Yah made this pronouncement. Well, if we are careful in our studies, Yah through Moshe provides us all we need to pinpoint the season and timing of this declaration. We find in Deuteronomy the following:

 

“Keep the month of Abib (et chodesh ha abib) and celebrate the Passover to Yahweh your God, for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you out of Egypt by night (Legacy Standard Bible (Three Sixteen Publishing, 2022), Dt 16:1).

 

Okay then, we now know the name of the month, Aviv or Abib, that we are supposed to keep as Rosh HaShanah. However, this still doesn’t show to us when we are to start every new year. Well, the clue to this is found in the name or descriptor Yah gave to the month. The month of THE ABIB/AVIV.

 

This, in all reality, is not the name of a month, but it is a descriptor. It is the month of the Aviv. Which begs the question: What is the Aviv/the Abib? HaAviv/HaAbib is defined as “ripe ears of grain” and is a direct reference to barley and the barley crop in the Land. We do have some biblical proof to this definition. Consider that after the plague of hail had ceased at the very tail-end of our Egyptian enslavement, Moshe made the following comment as recorded in Exodus 9:

 

31 And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear (i.e.”se’orah ‘aviv” or the barley was aviv), and the flax was bolled. 32 But the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they were not grown up (The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Ex 9:31–32).

 

So, at this period of time, the ripened (i.e. HaAviv/HaAbib) barley crop in the Land of Egypt had been destroyed by the plague of hail. The particulars of Aviv barley make it such that it could not survive a significant hailstorm as the Egyptians experienced in this judgment.

 

That still leaves the question of when during the Aviv barley season or month is Rosh HaShanah to occur. We already knew when a month begins and ends. It was common knowledge in our day throughout that region of the world. Therefore, Moshe did not need to stipulate when the precise day a month begins. But for us who are some 3,500+ years removed from this story, it should be understood that each month begins and ends with the sighting of the first sliver of the renewed moon each month. Otherwise referred to as Rosh Chodesh, aka renewed moon.

 

The Tanach attests to the importance of the renewed moon as it applies to Yah’s reckoning of time each month (1 Sam 20.5-24; 2 Kin 4.23; 1 Chr 23.31; 2 Chr 2.4; 8.13; 31.3; Ezr 3.5; Neh 10.33; Psa 81.3; Isa 1.13-14; 66.23; Eze 45.17; 46.1-6; Hos 2.11; Amos 8.5; and in the Brit Hadashah in Col 2.16).

 

It is indeed interesting that the renewed moon event is mentioned throughout scripture in context with the weekly Sabbaths and Feast Days. So, one is hard-pressed not to wonder why so many within and without our faith community reject calls for Yah’s people to return to keeping/guarding Yah’s sacred observational calendar. Yehovah created the sun, moon, and stars to serve as “signs, and … seasons, and … days and years” (The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Ge 1:14). I certainly get the necessity for Yah’s people to go to a calculated calendar during the extended time of their exile. But now that the exile has been partially lifted and we have full access to the Land, there is no reason NOT to return to Yah’s reckoning of time. And Yah’s reckoning of time is based on a luni-solar system — the luni or lunar, whereby we sight the renewed moon each month; the solar, whereby the barley crop germinates and ripens in the Land at the terminus of each biblical calendar.

 

So, there we have it in a nutshell. Rosh HaShanah, according to Yehovah, is on Aviv 1, or rather, it is on the first Rosh Chodesh (the first new moon sighting) of the month that the barley crop in the Land of Yisra’el is in an aviv-state of maturity. IT IS NOT, as our orthodox Rabbinic brethren have made it out to be. Biblical Rosh HaShanah IS NOT on Tishri 1 (aka on the first day of the 7th month).

 

 

 

  • Guarding the Month of the Aviv

The Command to Guard the Month of the Aviv is given in Deuteronomy/Devarim 16.1:

 

Observe (i.e. “shamar” which means to guard; to ensure that all aspects of the month are kept without fail) the month of the Abib, and keep the passover unto Yehovah thy Elohim: for in the month of the Abib Yehovah thy Elohim brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. (Deu 16:1 KJV)

 

Now, I don’t want to use our precious time together this evening to go over something as foundational as what Yah meant by His Torah to “Guard the Month of the Aviv.” I’ve posted a number of teachings over the years that address what it meant and what it means to us today to guard the month of the Aviv and I’m not led to reinvent that wheel this year. So, that being said, here are links to some of those teachings for your information and reference:

 

Guarding the Month of Aviv-Aviv’s Critical Importance to God’s Covenant Elect (themessianictorahobserver.org)

 

Rosh Hashanah Happy Biblical New Year and Guarding the Month Aviv (themessianictorahobserver.org)

 

How to Observe and Guard the Month of Aviv (themessianictorahobserver.org)

 

How to Keep (Guard) the Month of the Aviv–Replay (themessianictorahobserver.org)

 

Explaining the Current Calendar Confusion Among Observational Calendar Keepers (themessianictorahobserver.org)

 

 

  • What are the relevant elements of the Month of the Aviv that we are commanded to guard?

 

  1. Rosh HaShanah — The Biblical New Year. According to the JPS Torah Commentary on the Cepher of Exodus, Rosh HaShanah — the day we left and were redeemed from the gods and the pharoah of Egypt, according to Nahum M. Sarna, “visualized the start of a wholly new order of life that is to be dominated by the consciousness of God’s active presence in history. The entire religious calendar of Israel is henceforth to reflect this reality by numbering the months of the year from the month of the Exodus” (Nahum M. Sarna, Exodus, The JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1991), 54).

 

  1. The weekly Sabbaths. Yah commanded us to “zakar HaShabbat yom” or remember the Sabbath Day (Exo 20:8). We zakar/remember the Sabbath Day each week by keeping it holy/set apart. And the reality of this command is this: If we fail in our keeping the weekly Shabbat holy, it’s pretty much a given that we won’t keep the Month of the Aviv nor the Spring Feasts that are embedded in the Month of the Aviv. So, we start by keeping the weekly Sabbath holy.

 

  1. Cleansing our homes of all leaven in anticipation of our keeping the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Yehovah, through Moshe, commanded us: “You shall not eat ⌊with it⌋ (i.e. the Pesach on Passover Day) anything leavened; seven days you shall eat ⌊with it⌋ unleavened bread of affliction, because in haste you went out from the land of Egypt, so that you will remember the day of your going out from the land of Egypt all the days of your life. 4 And leaven shall not be seen with you in any of your territory for seven days, and none of the meat that you will slaughter on the evening on the first day shall remain overnight until morning” (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Dt 16:3–4). The prophetic shadow picture that is embedded in this instruction is powerfully undeniable. Yet, few of us keep this command to eliminate all leaven from our homes and our diet for the duration of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This is something that we must do out of obedience.

 

  1. Passover Day (aka Pesach) to be kept at twilight on the 14th day of the month of the Aviv. Yah, through Moshe commanded us: “5 In the first month, on the fourteenth of the month at the evening is Yahweh’s Passover” (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Le 23:5). I’ve posted a number of teachings on Pesach/Passover that I invite you to listen to or read as you are so led. We’ll also discuss the significance of Passover from Yeshua’s perspective in the coming days.

 

  1. The Feast of Unleavened Bread to be kept from the 15th to the 21st of the month of the Aviv. Of this seven-day feast, Yah commanded us: “6 And on the fifteenth day of this month is Yahweh’s Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread” (Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Le 23:6). Thus, we are commanded to eat unleavened bread during this seven-day feast as well as not eat any foods containing leaven in it. Like Passover/Pesach that immediately precedes this feast, the shadow picture embedded in this Moedim of Yehovah is undeniable and we’ll discuss it in coming days.

 

  1. The Day of Firstfruits (aka the Day of the Wavesheaf Offering) is to be observed during the week of Unleavened Bread. Yah commanded us: “10 “…when you come to the land that I am about to give to you and you reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruit of your harvest to the priest. 11 And he shall wave the sheaf ⌊before⌋ Yahweh for your acceptance; the priest shall wave it ⌊on the day after⌋ the Sabbath” (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Le 23:10–11). This set apart day is rarely kept nor understood by folks in our faith community for various and sundry reasons. But the long and short of the issue is that it serves as a memorial – a reminder of our Master Yahoshua HaMashiyach, the Firstfruits of a new creation unto Yehovah. We keep this day by rendering unto those ministries that feed us, offerings that are representative of the first and best of our physical and spiritual increase for the year.

 

  1. The Prophetic Shadows of the Spring Feasts: The Spring Feasts of the LORD all foreshadow the Passion of our older Brother, Savior, Master, and King, Yeshua Messiah.

 

What’s Ahead for us here at TMTO in The Month of the Aviv 2024 — Setting the Tone?, which, Abba willing, shall guide our thoughts, hearts, and minds in coming posts.

 

I’m led this year to do something I’ve not done in previous posts for the Month of the Aviv. I would like to walk us through the Prophetic Shadows of Yeshua’s Passion, which is what the Holy Week of Passover/Pesach points us to. For us, who are redeemed of Yehovah, our focus is more on Yeshua and what He did and is currently doing for us, than what transpired in the Exodus. This, I pray, will be a memorable journey that I pray you will joyously join with me on.

 

I would humbly ask, if you’ve not already done so, consider reading or listening to my previous teachings on Guarding the Month of the Aviv and on Keeping/Observing Passover. This will provide those of you who are new to this walk with a detailed primer on what Pesach/Passover was about and how it was practiced back in the day. With that background in place, you will be raring to go with Yeshua’s Pesach presence.

 

  • Why do we Guard the Month of the Aviv? We guard it:

 

  1. Because Yah commanded us to do it.
  2. When we guard the of the Month of the Aviv, we will be blessed. Yah promises to meet us on His set apart days. And in our meeting Him on those set-apart days, which comes about only when we Guard the Month of the Aviv, we stand to be abundantly blessed. Those that know better are expected to do better.
  3. Like you, I want to make it into the Kingdom. Those who obey Yah stand a better than average chance of making it into the Kingdom. What is our whole duty unto Yehovah but to fear Him and keep His commandments (Ecc 12:13).
  4. In our Guarding the Month of the Aviv, we share in the knowledge of our Master’s ministry and sacrifice. This prepares us for eventually sharing in his sacrifice and in His glory: A Kingdom necessity for all those of us who love Him and earnestly seek His appearing (Tit 2:13; 2 Tim 4:8; 1 Pet 1:7).

 

And with that, beloved, let us reverence this precious month that the Creator of the Universe refers to as the Month of the Aviv, for it contains and embodies the fulness of our redemption and forms the foundation of our Faith. As Moshe instructed, let us then guard this month with everything that is in us. Blessed be the Matchless Name of our Heavenly Father Yehovah and our Older Brother/Master/Savior/King, Yahoshua Messiah.

 

Until next time. Take care.

 

Rod (TMTO)

 

Why do we Dislike the God of the Old Testament? Thoughts & Reflections on Torah Reading 127

by | Apr 5, 2024 | Blog, Podcasts

by Rod Thomas | The Messianic Tora Observer

Introduction to Reading 127

 

This week’s Torah Reading is contained in Deuteronomy 2.1-3.22. For all intents and purposes, it is a continuation of last week’s reading. It is the 127th Parashah of our 3-year Torah Reading cycle.

 

I’ve been led to title this week’s Sabbath Reading Discussion in the form of a question: “Why do we Dislike the God of the Old Testament?” No doubt a curious title to some, I feel this is a viable question, especially as it relates to the warrior side of Yehovah that is captured in our Torah, Haftorah, and Apostolic Readings for this Sabbath.

 

What do I Mean by God of the Old Testament?

 

Some may be confused by the title “God of the Old Testament.” Let me assure you, it is not a biblical title by any stretch of the imagination. But it is a title that many within and without our faith community have assigned to Yehovah our Elohim for various and sundry reasons. The primary reason people have assigned Yehovah this title is to make a distinction between Abba Yah and the Son Yeshua Messiah. Many distinguish the so-called God of the Old Testament from the so-called God of the New Testament because Yehovah is erroneously portrayed by spiritually myopic and misinformed teachers of scripture as a tyrannical, violent, angry, unforgiving, callous, harsh, uncompromising, war mongering, and murderous God, while His counterpart, Yeshua, is portrayed by equally uninformed teachers of scripture as a loving, forgiving, lifegiving, healing, longsuffering, giving, caring, and liberal God. Consequently, many so-called people of faith, and most if not all non-believing folks, dislike, if not hate the God of the Old Testament but like, if not love, the God of the New Testament for their respectively assigned character traits.

 

Embarrassingly, the distinction between the two is severely muddied when some of these same folks conflate the two Entities. Many God of the Old Testament haters, some of whom are self-professing Christians believe it or not, firmly believe that their much preferred God of the New Testament is also the God of the Old Testament. Indeed, there are several problems with this thinking which we won’t get into in this installment of TMTO. If you’ve followed me and this program for any length of time, you would know that I do not believe that scripture supports Yeshua and Yehovah being one and the same Person. The scripture clearly distinguishes them as two, distinct Persons.

 

Again, I don’t want to go down the rabbi-hole of defining who Abba Yah and Yeshua Messiah are as it will take us off-topic for today. But suffice to say that both the Son and the Father possess and exercise Warrior traits. Consequently, we will discuss the problems and misunderstandings that are associated with judging Yehovah’s warrior persona and intentions.

 

What do you say we get into Yah’s Word?

 

 

Go in and Possess the Land: Take Two

 

  • The punishment ends — the sins of our first-generation Exodus parents died with them over our 38-year wandering period. Therefore, Yah says to Moshe: Rav-lachem — (too much for you…head north) ‘Long enough you have been skirting this mountain; turn yourselves north, (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Dt 2:2–3).

 

  • We would return to Kadesh-Barnea, bypassing our cousins, the Edomites (sons of Esau), Ammonites, and Moabites (descendants of Lot). Their lands and possessions were not under the ban that the Canaanites were under. These lands were allotted to the descendants of Esau (son of Yitschaq/Isaac) and Lot. We were not to interfere with their Yah-given heritage (2.5, 9, 19).

 

  • However, Yah gave into our hands the lands held by Sihon and the Amorites (2.31 and 3.6) and Og of Bashan (3.1-3). These battles were the first tests of our strength, fighting skills, and obedience to Yehovah’s commands. These battles gave us street creds, so to speak, among the neighboring peoples’ nations. And these neighboring people nations grew to fear us greatly, as the fear of Yah and His people permeated the entire region.

 

  • Yehovah is our Mighty Warrior. His Will shall be done. Thus, we pray: Thy Kingdom come; Thy Will be done. Here on earth, as it is in heaven (Mat 6.10).

 

We of this second generation have experienced a miraculous turnaround in terms of our faith and obedience. One would think that we would have continued in the way of our parents: Being that of a rebellious, faithless, and disobedient people. But we didn’t. How this happened or came about, the record is silent. But Yah works in mysterious ways. His mercies are endless and renewed every day. Now, we as a nation, had a shining future ahead of us and we were poised to meet our destiny in the taking of the Land of Promise. No longer would the stain and stench of our parents’ stubbornness, faithlessness, and disobedience cause our nation to remain as wanderers under a perpetual death sentence. (This is indeed a prophetic shadow picture of unredeemed humanity. Wandering about the stark wilderness of this world and this life. Under a death sentence. No hope for a reprieve, save for Yah’s grace and mercies.) Hasatan’s plot to steal, kill, and destroy had been foiled. “Thus, acts of the fathers must be redeemed by the sons. Otherwise, the consequences for future generations grow, even as the sons harden by mindlessly embracing the sins of their fathers. History hardens when sin festers.” (Jeffrey Enoch Feinberg Ph.D. and Kim Alan Moudy, Walk Deuteronomy!: Words (Clarksville, MD: Messianic Jewish Publishers, 2003), 21.) Praise be to Yah! He prepared us for this a redo of the first botched fulfillment of our redemption:

 

“For Yahweh your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand; He has known your wanderings through this great wilderness. These forty years Yahweh your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing.” ’ (Legacy Standard Bible (Three Sixteen Publishing, 2022), Dt 2:7.)

 

  1. Yah blessed us.
  2. Yah was well aware of your situation.
  3. Despite our past failures, Yah remained with us. He did not abandon us.
  4. Yah provided for all our needs.

 

 

We Were Set for a Redo of the First Botched Redemption

 

Yah would perform a redo of our redemption from Mitsrayim/Egypt. This redo would be replete with our journey from the Mountain of Elohim to Kadesh Barnea, the gateway to the Promised Land, even down to a vicious, hateful King whose heart Yah would harden (cf. Deu 2.30; Exo 9.12; 10.20, 27; 11.10; 14.4). We would overcome, through Yah’s miraculous power and leading, what one might naturally presume to be nations that were superior to us in strength and fighting ability. Yah’s Name would once again become known by the inhabitants of Canaan as the God of Yisrael and as the One True God. This was our redemption redo:

 

16 And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. (The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Ex 9:16–18:4.)

 

 

Our reputation as a powerful and great people began to take shape when we, through Yah’s divine help, took possession of the lands once belonging to Sihon (2.24). Originally Yehovah instructed us to petition Sihon for permission to pass through his land peacefully. But the heart of Sihon was such that he denied our petition and went out to confront us. In response to Sihon’s aggression and hardened heart, Yehovah gave us the victory over Sihon as we devoted the people to destruction (these were put under the ban) (2.30-35).

 

In every advance we made towards achieving our destiny, we were careful to go and take possession of Land that Yehovah instructed us to. This shows that we were under Yah’s leadership. We were not under the leadership of some ambitious, greedy oligarch who destroyed, killed, and maimed haphazardly. Thus, when we are operating under Yehovah’s strict leading, authority, and direction, we acted under His perfect will and purpose and plan (and wherever Yahweh our God had commanded us–Legacy Standard Bible (Three Sixteen Publishing, 2022), Dt 2:37).

 

We repeated our conquest of the lands east of the Jordan when Og of Bashan came out to challenge us in battle (3.1-7). Like Sihon’s of Heshbon, we devoted Og and his people to destruction (3.6). (I’ve spoken a great deal about Yah marking certain Canaanite peoples for destruction. This was, to borrow a term used frequently in Islam, Yehovah directed Jihad, or Holy War in its truest and purest sense.)

 

After their defeat, Sihon’s and Og’s kingdoms were distributed among the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh (3.12-13; Num 32.32-38; Jos 3.8-13). (We discussed this in detail in our study of Reading 122 entitled “The High Expectations for God’s People to Fulfill His Will and Purpose—Thoughts and Reflections on Torah Reading 122.)

 

From there, Moshe takes us to where we were that day: Preparing to go in and take possession of the Land. Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh would fight alongside the rest of our nation until the land was ours and then they would return to their homes in the Transjordan: 21“And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, ‘Your eyes have seen all that Yahweh your God has done to these two kings; so Yahweh shall do to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross. 22 ‘Do not fear them, for Yahweh your God is the one fighting for you.’ (Legacy Standard Bible (Three Sixteen Publishing, 2022), Dt 3:21–22.)

 

_______________________________________________________________

Our Haftorah Reading is contained in Habakkuk 3:8-19: The key phrase being “Yet I Will Exalt in Yehovah,” despite the horrifying turmoil going on around me. The prophet clearly and fully trusted in His God to fight on his and remnant Yisra’el’s behalf.

 

Yehovah stands as the Mighty Warrior, if not Yisra’el’s Mighty Warrior.

 

 

Many sages believed Habakkuk 3 was a poetic, mystical retelling of Shavu’ot at Sinai. A poetically grand illustration of the revelation at Sinai. It extolls the unimaginable power of Yehovah concerning His people and all creation. It includes Yah’s recompence of those that tribulate His chosen ones. Indeed, Yah is Yisra’el’s Mighty Warrior! Thus the prophet ends his words with a commitment that transcends anything that may befall him:

 

Though the fig tree does not blossom, nor there be fruit on the vines; the yield of the olive tree fails, and the cultivated fields do not yield food; the flock is cut off from the animal pen, and there is no cattle in the stalls, 18 Yet I will rejoice in Yahweh; I will exult in the God of my salvation. 19 Yahweh, my Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer; he causes me to walk on my high places. (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Hab 3:17–19.)

 

________________________________________________________________

 

Our Apostolic Reading is contained in the Cepher of Revelation 19:11-21: The featured figure of this passage is a Rider on a White Horse. There is no mystery as to who this Rider is. It is Yeshua Messiah, returning to earth as the conquering King and Lord of Lords. His appearance pairs well with the imagery put forth by the prophet in our Haftorah reading. The One who rides the White Horse destroys the enemies of Yehovah and of Yehovah’s people.

 

Again, Yehovah is depicted here as the Mighty One/The Mighty Warrior of Yisra’el. But this time, Yah’s Warrior actions are enacted by His Right Hand – His Mashiyach – Yisra’el’s King.

 

The Warrior Side to Yehovah

 

The warrior side of Yehovah has and remains a point of contention among many within and without our faith community. Many individuals choose to use this attribute to advance their anti-God, anti-Bible, anti-Israel agenda. These contend that Yehovah is a hateful, vengeful, callous, murderous entity who cares little to nothing about his human creation. Such individuals delude themselves into thinking and promoting the foolish and patently false claim that the Almighty would just as soon destroy all who cross him and oppose his plans and purposes, then to show compassion, love, mercy, and grace to a race of beings that desperately need such things. I’ve heard some, yea, even some so-called Christians, go so far as to reject Yehovah on the basis of His Warrior Personna. They often label Him as the God of the Old Testament, no doubt meant to be a cheap jab at Him. These individuals are not ashamed to proclaim that they prefer the God of the New Testament to the God of the Old Testament. And of course, the God of the New Testament these are referring to is Jesus Christ.

 

I’ve recently heard of an elder of one of the Worldwide Church of God splinters, castigate the person of Yehovah. This self-styled social justice warrior, questioned Yehovah’s motives in leading us in war against the occupiers of Canaan and the Transjordan, marking them for destruction. This same soul even questions and challenges Yehovah’s motives in permitting various injustices go unaddressed in the world today.

 

It’s troubling to hear of such sadly misinformed and misguided individuals, many of whom claim to be born again Christians, believers, and followers of Christ. Clearly these individuals who claim to identify with the love and Person of the Son of God missed what the Son of God said about his relationship to the Creator of the Universe: “If you see me, you’ve seen the Father.” And “I and My Father are One (aka echad)” (Joh 10: 30; 14: 7- 9).

 

But here’s the irony to their thinking. Although Yeshua’s persona was one of love, kindness, sacrifice, and so forth during His earthly ministry, appealing to most as, let’s just say, their preferred God. Indeed, at that time, He was the suffering Servant; the Lamb that taketh away the sins of the world. However, our Apostolic Reading this week clearly points to Master Yeshua as a conquering, warrior King who will right all wrongs and establish His Kingdom headquartered in Yerushalayim. John the Revelator depicts Yeshua as the King who will rule with a rod of iron (Rev 2.27; 12.5; 19.15). The days of the suffering Messiah will have been long passed. This Messiah will tolerate no foolishness. He will be the righteous judge and the conquering warrior. He will be just like His Daddy! Halleluyah!

 

Indeed, Yeshua, along with the other Apostolic writers, contend that Master Yeshua possessed the exact character traits and personal attributes of his Father Yehovah.

 

To condemn Yehovah for his righteous actions, which often involved cutting short the lives of certain nations and people, is to operate in ignorance of the true nature of the Great I Am. It is to operate from a sinful place of self-righteousness and ignorance to the existence of evil and good in this world, and the simple fact that in Yah’s perspective, good and evil are incompatible bedfellows. At the end of the day, Yehovah requires the eradication of evil and all impediments and challenges to his irresistible sovereignty and plans.

 

Yah operates at a level that is far above our own. He is the Creator of all. So, who are we to challenge Him, His sovereignty, and the righteous actions he wrought to advance His plan to redeem and save humanity from the scourge of sin and death? Of himself, Yah declared through the mouth and pen of his holy prophet: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways, declares Yehovah. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa 55:8; LSB).

 

Who are we, indeed, to challenge Yehovah and question his righteous motives. The same prophet proffered: “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isa 64: 6; KJV).

 

When Job experienced his crisis of faith, which prompted his challenging of Yehovah, the Father asked him: “Where were you [Job] when I laid the foundation of the earth” (38:4)?

 

When we get to the place where we reduce and judge Yehovah according to human standards of righteousness which Yah declared was nothing more than filthy rags, it means that we either don’t know Yehovah, or we, like Job, are amid a “crisis of faith.” If we don’t emerge from that crisis of faith, we run the risk of estrangement from our Heavenly Father. Indeed, to possess such hostile thoughts and feelings toward our loving, gracious, holy, and righteous Creator is to instead be rebellious toward Him.

 

As it relates to our rebelliousness, Yehovah declared: “Rebellion is as the sin of divination” (Deu 18:10), and insubordination is as wickedness and idolatry. Because you, [King Saul], have rejected the Word of Yehovah, He has also rejected you from being king” (1 Sam 15:19; LSB).

 

I mentioned previously that to challenge Yehovah’s holy and righteous motives is often founded on anti-God and anti-Israel sentiments. Well, let’s consider, for a moment, what we’re seeing played out, in this nation related to the ongoing conflict between Israel and the evil terrorist organization Hamas. Despite the horrific event Hamas wrought upon the innocent citizens of Israel on October 7, 2023, which prompted Israel to act in her defense, many people in this nation, again acting from a place of self-righteousness, are aggressively promoting a violent agenda that calls for the destruction of Israel and the turning over of Haaretz – the Land — to the so-called Palestinians. Some of these are demanding that Israel cease defending herself and permanently turn over portions of the Land to their aggressors, in what they call a “two-state solution” to the conflict.

 

Those who engage in such foolish rhetoric are writing checks that they’re behinds can’t cash. For the land belongs to Yehovah. He has owned that Land from the beginning: “The earth belongs to Yehovah, and all that fills it” (Psa 24.1; The Scriptures ISR). Of Haaretz – the Land  of Yisra’el, Moshe revealed: 10“For the land which you are going in to possess is not like the land of Mitsrayim from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden, 11but the land which you are passing over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of the heavens, 12a land which יהוה your Elohim looks after. The eyes of יהוה your Elohim are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the latter end of the year. (The Scriptures, 3rd edition. (Northriding: Institute for Scripture Research, 2009), Dt 11:10–12.) Thus, Yah has every right to grant access and possession of the Land to whomever He chooses. And, by the way, Yehovah chose to gift the Land to the descendants of Jacob/Ya’achov. Neither the Godless world-leaders, nor the nation state of Israel, possesses the authority to change the arrangement that Yehovah set in place for the Land four or so millennia ago.

 

This whole question of Israel having rights to the Land is secondary to Yehovah’s will and plan of salvation, redemption, and restoration. Yehovah’s plan and purpose for all humanity is being worked through the Torah concept of a land – a people – and a covenant. And any who would desire to partake of Yehovah’s grand plan of salvation, redemption, and restoration must get on the same page that Yehovah is on. And to do that, is to believe and trust Yehovah and enter into and remain in a covenant relationship with Him through the Person and ministries of Yeshua Messiah. This has nothing to do with our personal feelings and perceptions of the modern nation of Israel, nor the humanitarian crisis that is happening in Gaza now. It’s about trust and faith in Yehovah and the resulting relationship we must have with Him in order that we enter His glorious Kingdom that operates within His beloved ones today, and that will come into the world tomorrow.

 

Yehovah is in control, and He is still on the throne. He owns us and we all are subject to His will and plans: “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die” (The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Eze 18:4.)

 

 

We, on the other hand, are required to trust and obey him:

 

13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. (The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Ec 12:13.)

 

 

Our God is truly a God of the living, despite the enemy’s claims to the contrary:

 

38“Now He is not the Elohim of the dead, but of the living, for all live to Him.” (The Scriptures, 3rd edition. (Northriding: Institute for Scripture Research, 2009), Lk 20:38.)

 

He has nothing but good intentions towards us, if we but only trust and obey Him:

 

9יהוה is not slow in regard to the promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward us, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (The Scriptures, 3rd edition. (Northriding: Institute for Scripture Research, 2009), 2 Pe 3:9.)

 

11‘For I know the plans I am planning for you,’ declares יהוה, ‘plans of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and an expectancy. (The Scriptures, 3rd edition. (Northriding: Institute for Scripture Research, 2009), Je 29:11.)

 

Behind the scenes of life, as portrayed in our readings over the last few weeks, and going forward to the end of our three-year reading cycle when the Fall Feasts of 2024 comes around, Yehovah is busy at work deconstructing the Kingdom of Darkness and bringing in its stead about the glorious Malchut Elohim/The Kingdom of God. This means that Yehovah’s will must be carried out, even though His will may at times infringe upon our misplaced sense of righteousness. Yehovah has a reason for doing everything He does. What we think or how we feel about that which he does means absolutely nothing when weighed against his unimaginable plans and will for those who are His.

 

During our second-generation exodus cousins conquering and taking possession of the land, it turns out that because it was Yehovah’s will that his bride takes possession of the Land, He was the one who defeated the Canaanites. Israel was simply the righteous tool He used to eradicate evil from the Land (cp. Gen 15:16).

 

So, what does any of this say to us today? It simply says that Yehovah has a plan that He is working out on a global and individual basis. Globally, Yehovah will personally right all wrongs and establish His Kingdom on this earth. His beloved Son will reign as king over His Kingdom. In so doing, righteousness and holiness will be restored to the Land and Yehovah’s people be made eternally whole. Yehovah will restore that which the devourer has taken (Joe 2:25). Paradise Lost will become paradise restored. Fallen humanity must be restored to its original, created state that Yah deemed as being very good (Gen 1.31). We must be redeemed and made whole as a people, as His new creation. Death must be erased. And Yehovah is going to do what He must do to make all this and so much more happen. From an individual standpoint, Yehovah simply invites us to get on the winning side. And that, again, requires our complete and unadulterated trust and obedience. We are His workmanship (Eph 2.10), destined unto good works. All that we have then belongs to him. Everything we have we receive through His grace, His mercy, His provision, and His strength, all of which He lavishes upon those of us, belongs to Him, not us. Yah just allows us access to and use of these blessed resources until He replaces those things with things that will be far better and greater (1Chr 29:12).

Links to Mentioned Teachings:

Shabbat HaChodesh Teaching

Explanation of Current Calendar Confusion Among Observational Calendar Keepers

 

 

 

TMTO Ministry Update

Greetings I'm back! Well, not quite. But almost.   History of Ministry QFC (2012) Blog (2012) Podcast (2014-11/2022) YouTube (2018-11/2022) QFC Affiliates with Feastkeepers (New York) and First Century COG (Baltimore) (2019-2021)   Why we ended the podcast...

read more

Thoughts and Reflections on Torah Reading 80

Shalom! We pray that you had a restful and meaningful Sabbath this past week. This past Sabbath’s Torah Portion was the 81st parshah of the 3-year Torah Reading Cycle. (If you are so led to participate in reading and studying the weekly Torah Readings, we have put the...

read more

We were Baptized into Moses in the Red Sea

Our Baptism in the Red Sea Was Illustrative of our Transformation into the People of God So, in our departure from Mitsrayim/Egypt, which was representative of a would-be child of Yah coming into a covenant relationship with Yah through the Person and Ministry of...

read more

Walking in God’s Divine Guidance and Protection

Introduction   This week’s Torah Portion/Parshah/Reading is the 56th Reading in our 3-year Torah Reading Cycle. And it is contained in the Cepher of Exodus/Shemot 13:21-15:18.   It is a continuation of last week’s reading which I entitled “The Key to Knowing...

read more