Feast Days
Spring Feasts
Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread Feast of First Fruits, Pentecost. Salvation
in humility, Consecration, Empowerment. Brazen Altar, Laver, Passage beyond into the inner courts. These are the four feasts of the Lord in the Spring. Of them First Fruits and Pentecost carry
a mandate of required attendance by Jewish males at temple in
Pesach (Passover)
This is the only festival of celebration where the blood is not offered in
the
This is also the only feast where the fat of the animal is eaten by the offerer.
Now the priest will take and slit the throat and pour out the blood at the base
of the altar but, the carcass is then trussed with a cruciform brace and thus
spitted for roasting. Now then, the animal is also the only one where save for
the blood itself the carcass is semi offered in the fire. What do we mean by this?
Simply that the carcass is cooked for human consumption rather than being fully
burned whole, however, the leftovers are completely consumed in fire the following
day. With this meal comes the Megillah or story. This is a long drawn out
process for it is the retelling of the Exodus. There are several things that come
into play as the Megillah is read. First off the story of the
interpersonal struggle between Moses and Pharaoh. Then the interaction of God on the land and the people, which includes
the point of separation where the distinction is made between that which is God's
and everything else. Then there is the night of the killing of the First
born of
In the Messianic, home the analogy of the death of the cross is also shown in this Megillah thus adding to the length. Each of the Seder elements is introduced and a Kaddish or prayer is said several times though out the meal.
The Matzah(a flat perforated and striated baked square bread used specifically for this event) represents the Lord who is the bread from heaven and since there is no Temple there is said to be no lamb but the Zro'ar which the shank of the lamb.(most Seders use chicken, however since in the inception of the feast there was no Tabernacle or priesthood I feel free to use lamb) The Maror(bitter herbs usually endive or radishes and ground horseradish ) represents the bitterness of the bondage. When the Matzah and the Maror are before us we remind ourselves that there is even bitterness of bandage remaining due to the sinful world in which we live but He is there with us in it. The Charoset ( a delightful mixture of apple almond and date which is blended to a coarse ground texture) represents the mortar for brick or that which every joint supplies (let the reader understand) is also a part of the plate. There is the votive offering of the egg. Which typifies the commandment in Roman 12:1-2 to become living sacrifices in out tripartite beings, which mirror the commandment to love with each aspect of our tripartite being respectively spirit, soul and body. It is also the reminder that what we commit to God to do we must fulfill. Then Charpas (parsley) or hyssop eaten with salted water represents the tears shed in the pain of bondage and the salt of the covenant in the water of the Word. The Charpas itself is reminiscent of the hyssop, which was used to apply the blood that night which is also used in certain instances by the priests to "sprinkle" for cleanness from defilation.
Within the Megillah is the consideration of the four sons in which the wise is taught the law in its detail. The rebellious is made to know his own folly. The simple is taught the basics, and the one who doesn't know what to ask which represents the goyim or gentile is instructed in the event at hand. There is a parallel parable in the Gospels that this speaks to.
In the New Testament, the parable of the four soils gives greater light to the ceremonial parable of the four sons. Recall the soils the good soil or wise son or covenanted believer who is Spirit filled and able to learn the greater spiritual truths of the kingdom which is bound up in the Torah. To this one the Torah is taught, or rather to this one the revelation of scripture and Spirit are given; that they may have eternal life. Eternal life as defined by our Lord in the seventeenth chapter of john's gospel as being the state of knowing God the Father of our Lord Jesus and Jesus Himself whom the Father sent. This of course is accomplished through the Holy Spirit whom the Father and Son sent to be in us as a substitute for the personal presence of the Lord. For the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. (1 Cor. 3:17.)
Next we have the pavement who hears and the Word or Logos but it is immediately
taken away. because there is no root of the message or
of salvation within the person when adversity tests them they "shrink back"
and God has no pleasure in them and they fall away thus they have become rebellious!
The response commanded in the Megillah is very unusual and harsh " well God
saved us from Pharaoh which is thing that is not to be taken lightly but if your
were there He might not have bothered to save you. (
I paraphrase the Megillah’s intent in the statement for as many Megillahs
as there are there are wording differences.) The idea of a pavement person is
in itself intriguing. Pavement has no real gaps no room for anything else but
itself and such a one has no tolerance for things that fit outside their box or
plan for life. They are their own epicenter and they in this thinking rob God
His due glory and He is less interested in having them in the kingdom than say
a thorny or rocky soil. Pavement people are by nature rebellious and self absorbed
and just as actual physical pavement must be smashed to uncover the earth beneath
so to the Word becomes a hammer and an axe on such people and they quickly see
the pain they will endure and wanting no such discomfort they immediately tune
out the gospel and turn away.
Next is the one who is simple or choke up. Simplicity concerning spiritual things usually denotes a lack of wisdom and discernment. These happen to the "worldly" Christian because they have broken the first commandment and though redeemed they never have true fellowship with God till they "put away their idols". Such a person needs to be instructed with great patience and prayer so that the teacher and God act together to effect the hammer and axe to expose the sin and remove it. Notice that the response includes teaching for the simple but a rebuke for the rebel.
The we have the one who has no clue. This is clueless
in any state
The Meggilah itself is interwoven with songs of praise telling the story annually thus fulfilling Torah Law for it is a perpetual statute.
Today the modern Jew celebrates this as the first day of the feast of unleavened bread when in reality the Passover or Pesach, is a separate day.
The Feast of Matzah is prepared for before the Passover because the Passover is a Shabbat and in keeping with the fourth commandment, no work is done on a Shabbat. So the ceremony of removal of Chametz or bitter or leaven is done prior to Passover but, Passover is a separate day. Now the first day of matzah which is an seven day event commences on the following evening with the feast of first fruits celebrated on its second day. But because the Passover and matzah feast run concurrent and it is easier to celebrate them as one festival, hence the dual name, the Feast of First Fruits will fall on the third day. Interestingly enough we know of a major resurrection which took place on a third day don't we? The Passover is celebrated perpetually as an ordinance for the one SEDER or order of the night. For what God did, He did in the single night. This method of observance then brings the combined Pesach Matzah observance to Eight days. Eight being the number of deliverance. First, the Spirit come to remove the "bitter" of offence and "plow" the ground to receive the full word of the Megillah or message and Seder or order consumed. Then as unleavened and sincere filled with the gospel message and the Word we become partakers of the resurrection as "first fruits" of those who were formerly dead in transgression. We were the walking dead. Then we live out our five remaining days the number of grace in the unleavened state telling us that by grace alone can we truly sincere before God and man. In this sincerity, comes an integrity such as Job possessed which equates as righteousness in Christ and thus holiness unto the Lord.
Now what exactly is this order? Matzah and Maror were to eaten together and
usually matzah was dipped into the horseradish as a
sop however in the passage of time Rabbi Hillel or the Hillel School of rabbinical
thought came up with a clever thought; why not have a "sandwich" of
Matzah, Charoset, and Maror top be eaten together! The idea caught on and
today it is called the Chorech. (But I show you a more excellent way. Matzah,
Maror, Lamb, and Charoset together!) For He is our High priest and
we are His combined
Some may see this as bending the Law so let the Judge be Judge and the mouths of all other silent before Him. However even if the Lamb is not included in the Seder and the Chorech is eaten as is still the major element of the Bread the encompassing the bitterness and the supply of the joints of the body proclaims powerfully that Jesus is Lord over sin and His own body. He removes sin's bitterness in Himself by taking sin away and making the sting a joy. He is also Lord over the supply which is in the Holy Spirit who is the agent connecting the whole body together. First the charpas or hyssop is eaten with the water salted. Hyssop to apply the blood and water of the Spirit to "regenerate to life" and salt to seal to the day encovenanted unto God. As possession forever which is why the Hebrew 6:4 clause is so devastating for it breaches covenant in a manner that can never be renewed for the salt has been made of no account or savor and thrown out. Additionally there is another aspect to the salt in the water and that is Mikvah or baptism by which the covenant is fulfilled for the salting it would appear from scripture takes place in the water of death which is the symbol of the Word and the Spirit. For both the Word and Spirit will kill and quicken again to everlasting life.
Now the Chorech becomes the Lordship of Jesus in the believer. Lord over sin as faithful and just to forgive the sin and cleanse from the iniquity which causes the sin. And Lord over the supply and common Lord of the entire body as whole. Thus it is rightly said of Paul that we are "baptized" into one body. We then are One even as He is One.
The cups are also important and there are four. First the cup of sanctification where in the kiddush for the meal will be said thus rendering both meal and night as consecrated to God. This speaks of the chosen-ness of the believer in the sense of the predestination.
Next is the cup of remembrance where in the megillah is read and the story told so we remember from where we have come and perhaps if we have lost the first love we are reminded from where we have fallen as well. In this second cup part of the Hallel or praise is given up.
Then we have the cup of redemption where in the meal has concluded and the Chorech has been consumed not the redemption can be celebrated with the breaking of the bread. For the child has found the bread broken for us and introduced the "kingdom" One we must enter into as children. The child with the afikomen(the afikomen is the part of the middle Matzah which was broken and hidden and it means I have come) will receive a prize and a promise from "the Father" which is indicative both of the Spirit and the earnest. As this afikomen is distributed and the cup drunk the honest reflection of the cross stands in stark contrast for before the institution of a partaking of the afikomen there was only the gift and the promise given. But, now we become partakers of the broken body itself. After this cup is drunk the child will go to the door and open it to see if Elijah has come. Elijah will always have a seat at every Seder table for there is an type of the Elijah always present. You see the clue to this riddle is presented in the one liner Jesus made concerning His cousin John the last Old Testament Prophet. He came in the Spirit and power of Elijah. But, the answer lies in the meeting of two women, one day. For John was filled with the Spirit simultaneously to his mother Elizabeth upon the shalom greeting of Mary. Who purveyed the presence of the Jesus as His first vessel in fleshly terms. In fact if you would receive this then I say that she is arch typical of the co-union we enjoy today. As carrying the physical person of Jesus in her she was in fact outworking in flesh the greater blessing of our infilling with the Holy Spirit. She was the first temple of the Spirit as the "mother" of the Son. Mother meant not in deification or co-redemptrix but as a Mother in terms of pregnancy and caretaking till such time as the child is a man. Elijah then is the person of the Holy Spirit and it is His cup that is set into the Order of the meal and the heart's door is opened to Him that He may usher Christ into the heart and awaken the sleeper and raise the dead unto life everlasting. GLORY!!!!!!!!!
Then the fourth and final cup of acceptance or praise. Where the rest of the Hallel is sung out. This is the cup that Jesus does not drink for it is also called the cup of glorification. The Hallel reflects the current and future Praise of the people in their flesh unglorified and then glorified on the day.
The wine is symbolic of the Love of God and the Blood of Jesus. Wine will be drunk through out the entire meal or the fruit of the vine will be drunk throughout the entire meal. Why? The Love of God and the Blood of the sacrifice of Jesus are the twin foundations of the beginning of all things. In the beginning Jesus was the Word who made all things and now He becomes the Word in flesh offering His blood an atonement for all things He made. For He loved the world who came and died for it and not the Father only who sent Him. For is it not written Lo, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me? (Psa 40:7) The book is Torah the book of Moses. This is doubtless Jesus speaking. Jesus voluntarily, we are told, laid aside His own personal glory the one He had with the Father before all things existed and submitted to a dive restraint of His power as God the Son to be fully as a man in perspective God-ward dependence and frailty of the flesh. For as a man He had to obey the law which orders that we lean not on our own understanding even a perfect all encompassing omniscience. But in all our ways which is paths of life and action of life and decisions and thoughts of life we acknowledge Him or enquire of His counsel and listen for His word in the bible and prayer. Then He shall direct our paths and if anyone ever needed a directed path, it was Jesus!
All this He did He did out of a love He had for us before the world was. Before we were. You see He is the Word and His is the blood so those two foundations are set in Him. But the Love of God and the Blood of Jesus are what the wine celebrates and underscores.
This is the Pesach. This is the beginning of the Glory we long for. This is the hope on which we live our lives.
Feast of Matzah
The Feast of Unleavened Bread is preceded by the hunt for leaven. All yeast risen bread products are removed and they can be sold to a gentile or eaten or whatever before the feast of matzah. Then for eight days, there are only unleavened bread products in the house. Crackers, matzah, tortillas, pita breads, cakes that use no yeast, brownies et al are many little delicacies that can be consumed but no Holsom bakers bread or Bahama bread or any of that for it uses leaven. There is in this the idea of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is either; error, hypocrisy or fear of man. None of these should abide in our hearts.
The Feast of Matzah begins with the pre-Passover cleaning out of the leaven. Leaven in Hebrew is chametz which is also rendered sour. Leaven represents besides error hypocrisy and fear of man pride and presumption for it causes the dough of soul and spirit to rise when in the oven of adversity instead of being quickly and flatly seared as with matzah. The actual increase in time to cook a leavened bread versus the rapidity of unleavened is that the dough rising leaves for surface area to cook. Our personal pride when tested in adversity causes us to have to endure the "heat" far longer than we should. Therefore it ever so much more preferable to be unleavened. Additionally pride will always "sour" God's grace.
The chametz cleaning called Bedikat Chametz is accomplished with a candle a feather and a wooden spoon which are capable of being burned in fire. The Father goes from room to room by candlelight for the Word is that kind of light which illumines the immediate surrounding of the holder of it, and no more. Its is also done after sunset in the darkness that the light may stand out. After gathering the chametz the father wraps spoon chametz and feather in cloth tied with string to be burned the next day. Then one the next day this bundle with all the bread in the house is burned IN FIRE. This tells us that the fire of the jealous love of God is the purging agent burning from us the wood hay and stubble of leaven in the heart house of our temple.
After the Seder the next seven day will be observed in the leaven of sincerity as the Seder was so eaten. The flat bread is an unprideful clean issue of funerary. This is the time in His story when He lay in the tomb yet even after the rising on feast of first fruits there are still five more days of grace. He appeared to His own and tabernacled again with those five days and on into the "omer" of fifty leaving the disciples ten days alone bereft to await the gift. This is the time of the baptism of the soul when the eating of the Matzah reminds us of the covenant established in blood and water salted with the Holy Spirit of promise.
Oddly enough on the second day of the feast another feast takes place wherein
the barley loaf is brought unleavened of course for it is a time when no offering
would be made with leaven either. This is the idea of firstborn sons the Levites
of the new
There is ever so much more that can be said about this glorious time of dying but the bare facts suffice for the moment.
Feast of First Fruits
Perhaps the most overlooked and misunderstood era of time is the trilogy of feasts that surround the High Holy days in the spring. Starting with Passover, to usher in the feast of unleavened bread, and then the feast of unleavened bread with the feast of first fruits, and ending with the continued observance of the seven day feast of matzah (unleavened bread); this mini trilogy is the setting into which the Jewel of creation the corner stone of Moses which is rejected and replaced in His day with another who becomes the capping stone. The capstone is the top stone in an arch. Without this stone the whole arch collapses. For the arch is stacked stone on stone up the vertical until the arch stones are added which are wedge cut and produce a rounded leaning to the sturdy squared stack beneath it. All this is done with bracing as these arch way pieces are placed to prevent a collapse but if the supports were removed the entire thing would collapse in on itself until the very top and center stone creates a uniting wedge between the utmost leaning arches. Once successfully fitted in place the supports are removed and the weight of the stones and their exact fit holds everything in place even when leaned against! Jesus becomes the center stone uniting Jew and Gentile Circumcised and uncircumcised Judaism's fullest expression and the Law unto the gentiles. Without Him we have no place to be grafted into and they would have no redemption.
In similar manner the trilogy of the spring feasts set the archway of prophetic
events. The first is a cleaning out of the leaven before the day of the offering
up of the lamb and the meal of deliverance. The order runs like this. The first
day is the Passover the next day of the feast of matzah is observed the third day is the feast of first fruits. This feast always falls
on the third day. Now according to Jewish tradition there was also a traditional
feast fast and feast of the first born at this time. As best as I have had it
explained it goes something like this. The first born SON of the house will have
a ritual feast on the first night on the second he will fast
and on the third will be another feast. This ties in with how the Lord
had seder was crucified and seder was again conducted at sundown the third day.
You see in Judaism the day is called at the house of judgement or the Sanhedrin or the Bet Din. By observation of a moon and the twin lights
or stars of the sundown and because of the Diaspora the firelight signal is sent
down into the uttermost areas like old
Now similarly as Jesus was having His day before the courts the Sanhedrin in the early predawn and the procurator in the early morning with a stopover at Herod's, the men who had the night before as Jesus was in His hour of betrayal have gone through their homes with the goose feather by the light of a candle sweeping the crumbs onto a wooden spoon all this then with all the leavened bread in the house is burned in fire. Jesus Himself is getting "burned" by a unlawful false witness in an unlawfully convened Sanhedrin, at an unlawful hour of predawn. For Torah law shall always be decided and enforced in the hours of the light that the light may reveal justice. But the lawless love the dark for the courts and the law enforcement are not around then!
Then as the feast of matzah is ushered in with the Passover, the chametz or sourness or leaven and leavened products are removed first before the lamb may be eaten along with the unleavened bread of sincerity the manna of heaven the bread of life. Not leavened with sin which will kill. Now that the dwelling is clean of that which will hinder life the lamb of redemption and the bread of life can be ingested with the blessing of God.
As the remains of the feast are burned in fire on the next day the Lamb of
God is being judged and as they slay the lambs in temple the Lamb of God is being
slain on the mount where in it is said it should be provided. As the lambs are
being roasted in the fire the Lamb of God is in the place of fire to redeem the
captives and set the bound free. Now as this Passover has ended the Shabbat of convocation and
Now as the comfortable Jew is attending to the seder a divine order is taking place. A Son is rising in Hades and proclaiming the goodnews to the souls in the bosom of Abraham and extracting the keys of Hades where the ghosts were kept and of the power of death to unconditionally hold a mortal in its grip and render impossible any deliverance or resurrection that might lead the saints to God. This is the set of keys the First born took away. Now accomplishing this in the night of the grave He begins to release the bosom of Abraham and establish the void that hell itself would enlarge to fill. Now, the next day as the remains of the seder are burned the ban of leaven begins and the observant go to synagogue and temple to keep a Shabbat.
**In this according to my research the Rabin went from field to field where barley was being prepared. They were the reapers, a party of three who would go into the field to an area where three sheaves were set before reaping. Then they stand before the sheaves and ask "has the sun set?" "with this sickle into this basket?" "On this Shabbat?" "shall I reap?" and being given the go ahead they would reap till they filled a 2/3 of a bushel or an Ephah of sheave into the basket.
Next the grain would be taken with an unblemished male yearling lamb and the requisite drink offering. In Deut. 26:1-10 the rest of the ceremony is recorded.
The sheaves are threshed in the temple court with rods and then parched over fire and wind winnowed to de-chaff it. Finally the it is milled till it is so fine that one could sift through it and not retain any residue on their skin.
Then in accordance with the ceremony in Deut. The flour is offered up in an omer or about 5 pints will be mixed with about 3/4 cup of olive oil and then sprinkled with frankincense. Now this is waved according to the prescribed seder and a portion goes to fire with the lam and the drink. The rest goes to the Levites. Household by household basket of five pints treated thusly by basket with lamb and drink in hand they come and they recite the ritual affirmation.
Deut 26:3
"I declare this day to the Lord my God that have entered the land which the Lord swore to my fathers to give us" Upon this statement the offerer hands the basket the lamb and the wine to the priest to dispose of. Next comes the declarative ritual statement of Deut.26:5-10
"My father (forefather) was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to
During this time one this feast another event was happening.
In the predawn hours people who had been dead were being seen everywhere in the city and presumably even visiting old haunts and homes of relatives. But as the heads of the homes went with the offering three women went to a borrowed tomb with burial oils and spices to redo a burial which before the beginning of the feast of Passover had been hastily prepared. Men of the Sanhedrin who had taken Him to the tomb had the linen and the burial balm aloes and powdered myrrh. This mixture would be plastered to each strip of linen swaddling and then the swaddling would wrap the body till only the head showed. Finally the mixture would be slathered onto a cloth to lay over the face after the jaw was tied shut . Then they rolled the stone in place and a guard was dispatched to seal the tomb with the requisite thong of leather and a royal seal. Now three days have passed since a quake big enough to rend the partition of the veil in temple and open graves of a nearby cemetery has passed. This morning as the day is declared and the sun has set a quake again hits the tomb area and something so horrendous that the guards tell a tale of nameless fear and being rendered unconscious, takes place as the grave becomes empty and the stone is rolled back. Now the dead are walking and telling of the redemption and the glory they are to soon partake. Sheol is no more the Bosom of Abraham but they will now all see the Father after that a certain high priest has completed a certain offering.
Here the ceremonial atonement becomes real and Yom Kippur kisses feast of first fruits as the high priest who consecrates Himself and those who will be his first fruit offering offers the atonal blood and then with the visitation of the Talmudin He prepares to usher the redeemed into the presence of Father for the first time in 4000 years since Adam!
Unless I am dead wrong this is the understanding I now have.
Additionally this is the barley harvest and the first harvest. Uneaten till offered up this harvest represents the gentiles. For wheat represents the Jew. Now on Pentecost two loaves will be presented one barley one wheat. Two united in fire before God!
One more thing I need to say, is that we who have become partakers of the sufferings and the death of Jesus who will rise in newness of life and reign with Him are a barley harvest threshed by the sledge of adversity and tested for Abib in the fires of the Spirit.
Pentecost
The Feast of Weeks, the annual Jubilee wherein the
law of the Jubilee is enforced. The leavened loaves of wheat representing
the divided
Now the loaves themselves were significant and the primary address of the day was a service not unlike the feast of first fruits as the first fruits of a wheat harvest were to be brought in. The loaves however were two-tenths of an epah of fine flour not course but refined or finely milled and combined with yeast and honey to form the flattened loaves. Now these loaves were not offered to God on altar because of the honey, (Torah law is specific on this point that nothing containing honey may be placed on the altar before God), therefore they were waved and consumed by the priests. With the loaves came two lambs as a peace offering were brought. The loaves were waved at altar in a set motion forwards, backwards, up, then down seven times as any other waving or spilling of blood would be, and set aside.
Now the notable event of this season is the fulfilling of Joel when the spirit
came. But first understand that this is also the time when the Law3 was
given on Sinai. This is the day when the marriage contract of the nation
of
Consider if you will that in the temple courtyard the outer court the chanting
of Ezekiel and Habakkuk and or the Law was in full force and the people responding
in the sidur or order of the service on a cloudless day when the sound of a howling
storm wind begins to be heard from above. The sound is not accompanied by
black storm clouds nor is this wind truly felt. The sound makes its way down to
the west and the temple guards at that gate and the men in that area of the court
gather to look out the gate to see what if anything is going on. From a
house in the village to the west of