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I finished writing this on Saturday as the sun was setting and the Sabbath was ending and the first day of the week after Passover is beginning. It is the Feast of First Fruits!
2000 years ago sometime between now and before sunrise our Savior conquered death and rose from the grave!
The miracle of Passover in Exodus 4000 years ago pointing to the ultimate miracle of the real Passover Lamb 2000 years ago. - So important, so much to know and realize and understand.
"May we all come to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth ,and to know the love of our Savior which surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled to all the fullness of God." Eph 3:18-19
Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread/Celebration of First Fruits and Easter
It all starts with choosing the Lamb and slaying the Lamb and a Passover meal eaten at twilight on the 14th day of the first Hebrew month.1 It commemorates the night of the fifteenth that YAHWEH’s destroyer passed over any home that put the blood of the Lamb on their doorposts and He rescued His people out of Egypt.
Pharaoh is a cruel, insecure and scared tyrant. He plots against the Israelites and slanders them and oppresses and enslaves the Israelites, Pharaoh then commands midwives to kill Hebrew boys at birth, when that fails, he commands all Hebrew baby boys be thrown into the Nile River. It’s a terrible oppression and then great sadness as babies are stolen from families and drowned.
YAHWEH has been more than patient and now it’s time for judgement against Egypt’s cruel ruler and citizens who show no mercy towards the Israelites. YAHWEH turns nature over against the Egyptians, it is a visible manifestation of YAHWEH’s sovereignty over the gods of Egypt, and therefore, over Egypt itself. And the final plague is judgement for all the killing of the firstborn and the terrible oppression of Israel that Egypt has done.2
Select the Lamb of God
"Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, 'On the tenth of this month they are, each one, to take a lamb for themselves, according to the fathers' households, a lamb for each household. Exo 12:3
Jesus rides into town on the 10th and the crowds selects Him ((John 12:1,2; Zech 9:9, Math 21)3
The Lamb is inspected
'Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 'You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to slaughter it at twilight. Exo12:5-6
Between the 10th day and the 14th Jesus clears the temple of blemishes and has several run ins with the religious leaders as they “inspect” question Him, but they can find no fault in Him.
Tuesday night, (the beginning of the 14th day, the day of preparation) He has a meal with His Disciples. He sends Judas away. The Disciples think Judas is going to buy things. *(see Note and Chart)
Afterwards they go to the garden of Gethsemane to pray.
Later in the night soldiers come to arrest Jesus.
The Lamb is Slaughtered
Jesus’ overnight and early morning trial is over and he is crucified on Wed the 14th and He dies during twilight (in between the evenings) at the same time the lambs are being slaughtered for the Passover meal.
You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to slaughter it during twilight. Exo 12:6
Sometime after 3pm on Tuesday he dies (John 19:31) and is buried as the Passover starts, the beginning of the 15th day, the Feast of Unleavened Bread begins, a Sabbath, and the Passover meal is eaten.4
The Lamb becomes the Conqueror
In Exodus all the lambs had been slaughtered on the 14th day and their blood put on their doorposts and at Sunset and the 15th day started as YAHWEH went through the land to destroy evil.
'For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and fatally strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the human firstborn to animals; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments--I am YAHWEH. Exo 12:12
And [Jesus] having despoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Col 2:15
Jesus is in the tomb from Wednesday night , all day Thursday and Thursday night, All day Friday and Friday night, All day Saturday and rises as the 18th day which starts at sunset Saturday night and the first day of the week begins. - 3 nights and 3 days
Passover, as describe in Deuteronomy was memorialized by each family sacrificing a lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month, and then eating that lamb as part of a meal.
Observe the month of Abib and keep the Passover to YAHWEH your God, for in the month of Abib the YAHWEH your God brought you out of Egypt by night. And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to YAHWEH your God, from the flock or the herd, at the place that YAHWEH will choose, to make his name dwell there. Deuteronomy 16:1-2
Two very important things about this Deuteronomy passage:
One, I no longer need to offer sacrifices for purification or forgiveness because The Lamb of God, that all of these things pointed to, was slaughtered at the place and time YAHWEH chose. The Lamb, the Son of God, Yahshua (YAHWEH Saves), Jesus, was the final sacrifice that once and for all purified and cleanses me from all unrighteousness.5 Therefore, there is no need for me to keep offering animal or plant sacrifices for purification or forgiveness. I can now go directly into the Holy of Holies.6 I still offer spiritual sacrifices: of obedience; of praise; of thanksgiving; my body as a living sacrifice, “which is my spiritual worship”.
Two, the place that YAHWEH chooses for “His Name to dwell” is a very interesting phrase because there has not been only one place that He has done that. Scriptures tell me that He chose for His Name to “Dwell’: in the Garden; Mt Sania; in Shiloh; at the Tent of Meeting; at Jerusalem, at the Temple; . Then Jesus tells us He is the Temple. (John 2:19-21).7Then amazingly Jesus says YAHWEH will choose for His Presence/Name to “dwell” in us.
"If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and dwell with him. John 14:23
And when 2 or 3 of us gather together we become the Temple (Mat 18:20, Eph 2:19-21)8
So, If I do not need to offer sacrifices, do I celebrate the Passover. I know that Paul and the Apostles did. They kept the Sabbath and all the appointed feasts.12
This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to YAHWEH; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. Exodus 12:14
How do I hold a memorial? The Scriptures don’t really say. They just say to have a memorial. Many people have a memorial by getting together for a meal in which there is teaching and discussion of the events of the Exodus. A popular way of doing this is a Jewish tradition called a Passover Seder. Seder means “order,” and the Seder is a meal that is eaten in a particular order. The elements of the meal are designed to remind people of the first Passover. The Seder is a way, though certainly not the only way, to memorialize the Passover. The only thing the Scriptures say is to have a memorial. I personally enjoy following the Exodus menu of Lamb , bitter herbs and unleavened bread and then add a few sides, like charoset.
Feast of Unleavened Bread
Passover memorial commemorates when God passed over the houses that were covered by the blood of the lamb. The seven days that start at Passover are called the Festival or Feast of Unleavened Bread, in which no leaven is to be eaten.11
While Passover commemorates God’s judgment passing over Israel, the Feast of Unleavened Bread commemorates the departure of Israel from Egypt. Unleavened bread eaten during this because that’s what the Israelites ate when they left Egypt:
“Leaven” is an additive that causes dough to puff up and expand. At the time of the Exodus their leavening agent was yeast. In order to make bread that would rise, a sourdough starter containing yeast had to be added to their bread dough, and the dough had to be kneaded, and allowed to sit for several hours, to give the yeast a chance to grow. This growth of the yeast would cause the dough to rise, and once that dough was baked, it would produce a familiar puffed-up loaf of bread. When the Israelites hurried out of Egypt, they did not have enough time to knead their dough and let it rise. As a result, the bread they made was not light and fluffy, it was unleavened; it was dense and flat. During the week of this festival, unleavened bread is eaten to remind me of the bread that the Israelites ate when they were freed from Egypt.
The symbology of Unleavened Bread.
Once I’ve been saved by Christ’s blood, which is symbolized in the Passover, I am then free from slavery to sin and death, just like the Israelites were freed from their slavery to the Egyptians. Paul speaks about this in Romans 6: 4-119
Now that I have gone through this spiritual Passover and have been freed from sin and death, I strive to keep myself unstained by the world (James 1:27)10, to consider myself “dead to sin.” Paul also refers to this as symbolically being “unleavened” in 1 Corinthians:
Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 1 Corinthians 5:7-8
Once I’ve been redeemed from my old ways, of malice and evil and sin, I don’t want to return to those ways. I want to stay pure and true, “unleavened” like Paul says. I want to walk in obedience to God, not in disobedience as I did before I was saved. When I eat unleavened bread during this festival, it’s a yearly reminder for me to stay free from sin, and not enslave myself to the ways of the world again.
Passover and Unleavened Bread are not just celebrations of God’s salvation of Israel during the Exodus, they also symbolize the salvation and life I have in Christ/The Messiah.
The Scriptures have seven basic instructions regarding the Festival of Unleavened Bread.11
1) Keep it for seven days, starting on the fifteenth day of the first month (Leviticus 23:6).
2) Eat unleavened bread during those seven days (Exodus 13:6).
3) Avoid eating leavened bread during those seven days.
4) Remove the leavening agent used to make bread from your house when the festival begins. (few people today keep a leavening agent for bread in their house)
The first four can all be found in this one verse: Exodus 12:15
5) Rest from your work on the first day and the seventh day (Leviticus 23:7-8).
6) Teach your children the reason you are celebrating this festival: (Exodus 13:8)
7) Do this where YAHWEH has placed His name to Dwell: (Deut. 6:1-2) (2 or 3 gathered in his Name)
Jesus is the First Fruit
The celebration of the First Fruit is observed the day after the weekly Sabbath (which is the first day of the week) that occurs during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. So, it will always be my Saturday evening to the following Sunday evening. It just so happened in Jesus’ time the days worked out that First Fruits occurred 3 nights and 3 days after he was buried, as prophesied.*(see Chart)
Jesus rises from the grave after the Sabbath is over (some time between Saturday night before Sunday sunrise), the first day of the week, having conquered sin and death and the satanic powers of this world. He is the First Fruit.
But the fact is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 1Corinthians 15:20
Mary goes to the tomb on early on the first day of the week before the sun is up and the rock is already rolled away and she discovers the tomb is empty.
Recap
• God gave His people mo’edim—appointed times—for me to keep as a reminder of His great works.
• Passover is an appointed time during which I remember God saving the Israelites from the plague of death in Egypt, when death passed over every house that was covered with the lamb’s blood.
• I can keep Passover today by memorializing the Exodus from Egypt on the beginning /evening of the 15th day of the first month.
• Passover is also a memorial of the salvation I have in Y’shua, because that’s the day on which He was crucified. Jesus blood saves me from death, just like the lamb’s blood did during the Exodus.
• Unleavened Bread is a seven-day festival which memorializes Israel going free from their slavery.
• The first and seventh days of Unleavened Bread are days of rest (Sabbaths). There are 3 Sabbaths during the Feast: The First Day of the Feast, the 15th day of the month; The weekly seventh Day Sabbath, Friday night to Saturday sunset; The last day of the Feast, the 21st day of the month. The whole week is a time to avoid leavened bread and eat unleavened bread. The unleavened bread reminds me of the bread the Israelites ate when they went free.
• Unleavened Bread also reminds me of the freedom from sin that I have in Christ. The leavening of malice and evil has been removed from me, and now I can be “unleavened,” full of sincerity and truth.
*(Note – the best I can understand the “Last Supper” did not happen at Passover and was not a Passover Meal. Mat 26:7 English versions say on the first day of the Feast but Greek word for “first” also means “before”. Better translated “before the First Day” because the Last supper was not a Passover meal i.e. no lamb, no unleavened bread and no bitter herbs. Greek word for unleavened bread not used to describe bread and the Apostles thought Judas was sent out to buy something, Jhn 13:29, which would not be done on a Sabbath and Passover is always a Sabbath. Passover has always pointed to Jesus, He is the Lamb of God and was sacrificed at the appointed time. It seems to me that Jesus followed the exact timeline God laid out thousands of years before for the sacrificial lamb. The Apostle John confirms that Jesus was buried on Passover a special Sabbath John 9:144)
*Chart of the Passover Week during Jesus Time.
Keeping up with what day it is confuses me sometimes because I am not use to the way the Bible counts days. The new day always starts at sunset not at midnight. For instance the weekly Sabbath, the 7th day of week, starts at Sunset on Friday and ends at Sunset on Sunday
Exodus 12 says to kill the lamb on the 14th and at Twilight and as the 4th is ending and the 15th is beginning eat the Passover meal. John says that 6 days before the Passover Jesus was in Bethany , that would be the 9th day of the month. John also says that on the next day, the 10th, Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem. The 10th is the day Exodus says to choose the lamb. The attached calendar starts on that tenth day
Exodus 12:6-8, Leviticus 23:5, Numbers 9:3
John 12:1 - Therefore, six days before the Passover, (Passover is the 15 day {evening} of the first month) Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
(Passover Lamb is killed on 14th and Passover starts on the evening, the beginning of the 15th. )
John 12:12 - On the next day (the 10th Day of the Month, also the Sabbath ) when the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and [began] shouting, "Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, indeed, the King of Israel!" Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: "DO NOT FEAR, DAUGHTER OF ZION; BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING, SEATED ON A DONKEY'S COLT."
Raymond Brown is perhaps the most respected and preeminent among twentieth-century Catholic scholars of the New Testament. In his exhaustive, two-volume commentary entitled The Death of the Messiah, he explores the views of virtually all of his contemporaries (of all denominations) on issues related to the narratives of Jesus’s final days and death. With regard to dating, Brown cites the 1969 study of German scholar Josef Blinzler,23 in which 53 of 100 noted scholars maintain that AD 30 must be the date of Jesus’s death. Brown summarized those scholars’ views: “Between one and three respectively have opted for the years 26, 27, 28, 31, 32, and 36. Thirteen opted for AD 29, fifty-three for 30, and twenty-four for 33.”24 In this observation, it is clear that an absolute majority of the scholars surveyed support AD 30, and there is a more than two-to-one preference for AD 30 over AD 33, as noted earlier. The preference rises to four to one for AD 30 over AD 29. Brown notes Pierre Benoit (a fellow Catholic scholar), Bruce Metzger (a prominent American Presbyterian scholar), Joachim Jeremias (the famous German Lutheran scholar), and David Flusser (the preeminent Jewish scholar on early Christianity) as “among the more famous or knowledgeable authorities who have opted for AD 30.”25 To Blinzler’s list must be added scholars whose works appeared after his study was published and who favored AD 30, such as Catholic scholars Jerome Murphy O’Connor,26 Joseph Fitzmyer, and Bargil Pixner,27 as well as the prolific but idiosyncratic Bart Ehrman,28 who is of no current religious affiliation.29)
20. F. F. Bruce, New Testament History (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1980), 188.
21. F. F. Bruce, The Gospel of John (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1983), 252.
22. F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? 6th ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1981), 6.
23. Josef Blinzler, Der Prozess Jesu (Regensburg, Ger.: Verlag Friedrich Pustet, 1969), 101–2.
24. Raymond E. Brown, The Death of the Messiah, 2 vols. (New York: Doubleday, 1994), 2:1375.
25. Brown, Death of the Messiah, 2:1375 n. 50.
26. Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, The Holy Land, 4th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 3.
27. Bargil Pixner, With Jesus in Jerusalem: His First and Last Days in Judea (Rosh Pina, Israel: Corazin Publishing, 1996), 181.
28. Bart D. Ehrman, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, 5th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), xxxiv.
29. Bart Ehrman is identified as an agnostic and no longer a Christian in his own Wikipedia article, available at http://en.wikipedia.org/
Scriptures Referenced
1. YAHWEH said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Ex. 12:1-2
2. And YAHWEH said, "I have certainly seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their outcry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. Exo 3:7
"And now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. Exo 3:9
3. Therefore, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. John 12:1
Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is righteous and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Zec 9:9
Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. Now the crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David; BLESSED IS THE ONE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF YAHWEH; Hosanna in the highest!" Mat 21:8-9
A stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of YAHWEH; We have blessed you from the house of YAHWEH. Psa. 118:22,26
4. 'In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. For seven days there shall be no dough with yeast found in your houses; for whoever eats anything with yeast, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land. You shall not eat anything with yeast; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood, which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning. For YAHWEH will pass through to strike the Egyptians; but when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, YAHWEH will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.
And you shall keep this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever. When you enter the land which YAHWEH will give you, as He has promised, you shall keep this rite. And when your children say to you, 'What does this rite mean to you?' then you shall say, 'It is a Passover sacrifice to YAHWEH because He passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians but spared our homes.'" And the people bowed low and worshiped. Exo 12:18-27
Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about [six am]. And he said to the Jews, "Look, your King! John 19:14
"Now then, since it was the day of preparation, to prevent the bodies from remaining on the cross on the Sabbath for that Sabbath was a high day{"Passover" NLT}, the Jews requested of Pilate that their legs be broken, and the bodies be taken away. Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred litras weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. John 19:,31,39-40
5. This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1John 1:5-9
6. Therefore, let's approach the Mercy Seat with confidence, so that we may receive steadfast lovingkindness and find grace for help at the time of our need. Heb 4:16
7. Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
The Jews then said, "It took forty-six years to build this temple, and yet You will raise it up in three days?" But He was speaking about the temple of His body. John 2:19-21
8. "For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst." Mat 18:20
So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. Eph 2:19-22
9. We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus [Messiah Y’shua]. Romans 6:4-11
10. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of [our] God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. James 1:27
11. 'Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to YAHWEH; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. Lev 23:6
"For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to YAHWEH. Exo 13:6
'Now this day shall be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to YAHWEH; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance. 'For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove dough with yeast from your houses; for whoever eats anything with yeast from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. 'And on the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another]holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except for what must be eaten by every person--that alone may be prepared by you. 'You shall also keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your multitudes out of the land of Egypt; therefore, you shall keep this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance. Exo 12:14-17
'In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is YAHWEH’s Passover. 'Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to YAHWEH; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 'On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. Lev 23:5-7
"For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to YAHWEH. "Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; and nothing with yeast shall be seen among you, nor shall any dough with yeast be seen among you in all your borders. "And you shall tell your son on that day, saying, 'It is because of what YAHWEH did for me when I came out of Egypt.' "And it shall serve as a sign to you on your hand, and as a reminder on your forehead, that the law of YAHWEH may be in your mouth; for with a powerful hand YAHWEH brought you out of Egypt. "Therefore, you shall keep this ordinance at its appointed time from year to year. Exo 13:6-10
"Observe the month of 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. "You shall sacrifice the Passover to YAHWEH your God from the flock and the herd, in the place where YAHWEH chooses to make His name dwell. Deut. 16:1-2
12. Appointed Times
In addition to the seventh Day to be a Sabbath and Holy Assembly – (Every weekly Sabbath Day there is to be a Holy Assembly Lev 23:3) - I have found 7 more Appointed Times
Holy Assembly/Convocation H4744(mikra) –
1. First Day of Unleavened Bread (the 15th) Passover there is to be a Holy Assembly Lev 23:7
2. The Day of First Fruit, (resurrection day) is always the first day of a week, day after the weekly Sabbath in the week of Unleavened Bread. The Priest was to wave a sheath and the Priest was to sacrifice a lamb. Is a Sabbath and A Holy Assembly. First fruits of new growth Lev 23:11 and Numb 28:5-26
3. The Seventh Day of Unleavened bread (the 21st of first month) is to be a Sabbath and a Holy Assembly Lev 23:8
4. Shavuot/Pentecost 50 days from end of Feast of Unleavened Bread, is a Sabbath and a Holy Assembly. The Priest shall make offerings of Harvest Lev 23:15-22
5. Day of Trumpets (Yom Teruah in the 7th month) is a Sabbath and a Holy Assembly Lev 23:24
6. Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur in the 7 month) is a Sabbath and a Holy Assembly Lev 23:27-28
7. Festival of Tabernacles (Sukkot in the 7 month) is a Sabbath and a Holy Assembly Lev 23:33-43
Thoughts on Easter Celebrations
There are lots of people who argue for or against Easter celebrations and where it originated. There are many scholars who now say that the word derives from the Christian designation of Easter week as in albis, a Latin phrase that was understood as the plural of alba (“dawn”) and became eostarum in Old High German, the precursor of the modern German and English term meaning dawn.
However even if old cultural symbols are reinvented, there is a deep power that comes from taking a piece of an older idea and using it in a new one. It gives the new idea ‘cultural standing.’ It makes it seem both exciting but also familiar. In some ways it’s just easier to get people to act mostly in the same way under a new label. In time, with enough practice, their original beliefs fall away.
There are people who with a sincere heart and no reference in their mind or heart to anything pagan that celebrate the death burial and resurrection of Jesus on Easter and have assigned Christian non pagan values to naturally occurring things like flowers, eggs even bunnies as a sign of Gods goodness and provision. “The earth is YAHWEH’s and everything in it” and “Praise YAHWEH all wild animals and all livestock and all small creatures and all flying birds” Psalm 148:10
One person values one day over another, another values every day the same. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and the one who eats, does so with regard to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and the one who does not eat, it is for the Lord that he does not eat, and he gives thanks to God. Rom 14:6 (while this passage is addressing Jewish traditional Fast days I think it applies)
In the Old Testament YAHWEH took pagan traditions like circumcision, animal sacrifice and reintroduced and used them in totally different ways and values.
Traditions of men are wrong when they replace or nullify God's Word. But shared traditions, that are not prohibited by God and that promote good values strengthen a community
Easter is wrong if you let it replace the Passover. I believe it’s not wrong if you celebrate the Passover and want to celebrate Easter also.
Christmas and Thanksgiving and Birthdays are not wrong as long as they do not replace or nullify God's instructions. Whatever we do in word or deed, we do in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Col 3:17
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