Or The LORD s Passover Festival What is more important - Wisdom and understanding or knowledge? Moses, Yeshua and The Exodus The Book of Exodus known as Shemot The Names To celebrate the Feasts of The LORD Let us continue are you born-again? The Book of Numbers or B midbar in the wilderness The Torah, The Prophets and The Writings containing the Thread of Redemption Unity based on The Full Gospel of God The Truth and only The Truth Yeshua said, Remember My Death The Mark of The LORD a protection and provision for His people The Passover Festival is recorded for us in Leviticus 23 as The LORD s Passover together with details of the two other Pilgrim Festivals of the LORD and the LORD s Sabbath with their details. May the LORD give us wisdom, understanding and knowledge as we seek to study this subject? What is more important - Wisdom and understanding or knowledge? The Will of YHVH GOD, Our Heavenly Father, is for us to Hear and Obey His Word in the Fear of the LORD in order to reach the first rung of His ladder the ladder that takes us into intimate relationship with Him, as Jacob discovered. As Paul says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua (Jesus) who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Messiah. Our God requires wisdom, understanding and knowledge whereas the world believes that knowledge is the first requirement in order to understand so that we become wise and can exhibit our wisdom. This is a Greek mind-set which can bring forth hypocrisy, a characteristic Yeshua warns His people against. We need to cultivate a Hebraic mind-set in order to receive the fullest explanation from our Teacher, The Holy Spirit. The LORD has given us His Son, Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Christ), who made a Full, Final and Perfect Sacrifice for the Sin of Man so that we may receive our salvation and work it out with fear and trembling. The Scriptures are given to us to enable us to deal with ourselves and relate to Him in the most blessed way in order to receive His Blessings else, His Word says, there are Curses. YHVH s Word is black and white on the printed page and it is also black and white in the Truth of it; there are no grey areas. There is enough given to us by principle and explanation to 1
enable us to walk before Him and, like Abraham our father, have our Faith credited to us for righteousness. We are looking at this Festival which is recorded as the LORD s Passover, not Israel s Passover or the Jew s Passover. This Festival celebrates the LORD s rescue of a people His people called out following His Covenant relationship with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; a people who had been in slavery in Egypt. We are taught that Egypt is a type of the world, so we can see something of that picture today when we are unsaved and through worldly materialism seem to be slaves to the world. Moses, Yeshua and The Exodus YHVH had prepared a man, Moses, as the conditions affecting the slavery of His people became worse and worse. By the time that Moses was ready, the LORD s people were crying out to Him for help. Of course Moses is a type of Saviour and eventually the LORD sent His own Son, Yeshua, to perform an even greater Exodus than He had done with Moses. An even greater salvation for all souls crying out in their captivity to the world for a salvation that is so much better than that acquired by the blood of sheep and goats. Yeshua is the Lamb of YHVH God and as such He fulfilled every requirement of that original Passover Sacrifice and became the Full, Final and Perfect Sacrifice made once for whomsoever will come and seek salvation in His Blood. The Prophets speak of the importance of the First Exodus but the Second Exodus will overshadow the First. Before YHVH took Moses (start to read the Book of Exodus) He said to him, in Chapter 10, as He was instructing him regarding the strategy He was to employ, that you may tell in the ears of your son, and your son s son, what I have wrought upon Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, and you may know I AM the LORD. These requirements were to be remembered throughout all the generations to come. Paul tells us that we are to consider and remember these events as if they had happened to our fore-fathers and remember this was addressed to Paul s brothers and sisters who were the Gentile disciples at Corinth, not exclusively to the Jews. The Book of Exodus known as Shemot The Names The Jewish Community today continue to keep this Commandment of the LORD to Moses as they celebrate the LORD s Passover with their Haggadah Service and Seder. They continue today to tell their sons and their son s sons, all that YHVH did as He brought His people, their fore-fathers, out of Egypt and toward the Promised Land. The Book of Exodus, so-called by the Translators of the Septuagint, was actually called Shemot The Names by the Hebrew Writers. God actually asks us to lift up the head of every man but man should not just be a number. We may be reading the record of the Liberation of a Nation but they knew that names matter. 2
Paul, in his long and important Letter to the Romans, ends with a chapter that lists the names of those important to him and to whom he wished to be remembered. To celebrate the Feasts of The LORD There are Two Feasts tied together in the LORD s Festival of Passover; there is the Passover Remembrance itself and then there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Of course the glorious sacrifice of Yeshua the Lamb of YHVH was the sacrifice of a Sinless Lamb there is no leaven (sin) in Him, consequently we celebrate with Unleavened Bread Matzah as we look to That Day when we too will receive our new and sinless bodies. We are told to keep this Feast of the LORD until He Returns to celebrate it again with us. We look forward as we endure the fight of The Faith to The End when the fullest expression of this Festival will be seen in our own translated bodies too! Rejoice Look up Watch and Pray your Redemption draws nigh! Let us go back, just a little, and re-read these wonderful Scriptures a shadow of all that was to come did come and is still to come. Let us see these words and in fear and trembling receive the wisdom contained in them that we may acquire revelation and understanding in order to receive knowledge. Intimate knowledge is being held out to us here, an intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father, as we seek Him with all our heart, mind, understanding, spirit and strength, because He is Jealous for us and His Name is Jealous. YHVH has done and given everything vital to our salvation and our walk before Him. The Feasts of the LORD do seem to be very profound and their keeping is full of wisdom, understanding and knowledge. All the LORD s Festivals are glorious pictures that foreshadow their fullest meaning, which will be realised when all the saints shall live - after the final celebration of the Festival of Ingathering also called Succot or Tabernacles - with YHVH and Yeshua in their midst, in the New Jerusalem for all eternity. The LORD s people are commanded to keep His Festivals for all generations they are perpetual Festivals. Therefore it would appear that they were never to be discontinued until they reached their fullest expression in His Own Timing. Yet what have the religious denominations done with this Instruction? It is not the LORD s Festivals that are being celebrated in these places today. In fact it was the Church of Rome who passed a number of Treaties at their different Councils, changing all the LORD s Festivals and His Sabbath, because of a growing hatred of the Jews, which has allowed Anti-Semitism with its Replacement Theology to infiltrate these places, whether we realise it or not. Let us continue are you born-again? 3
Let us continue to read and re-read these glorious passages of Truth in the Scriptures, under the Tutelage and Guidance of God s Holy Spirit. By the way are you Born-Again? You need to be born again to receive the baptism of the spirit because Yeshua said that unless we are baptised with water and the Spirit we will not see the Kingdom of Heaven. Without this baptism the Scriptures will find no resonance in our spirit and we will not understand or live in the glory that is promised to us today, the NOW promises of YHVH let alone the glorious promises yet to be received and enjoyed in the Glory that is to come. If you are concerned that you may not have received these baptisms then pray from your heart now and YHVH will do everything to lead you to the blessed assurance you desire; Yeshua s Peace that passes understanding! These beautiful promises are held out in abundance by His Grace and have to be taken by us in Faith. But by Faith the Holy Spirit speaks to our spirit and He brings us into the glory. He enables us to repent of all our uncleanness so that we may have our sins forgiven and forgotten by YHVH our Heavenly Father, so that we may start the walk of glory from glory to Glory and see this faith outworked in our behaviour, our thoughts, our words and our deeds. The Book of Numbers or B midbar in the wilderness The LORD desired a people to be set apart unto Him and chose the firstborn of the children of Israel, both of man and animal. However, the LORD changed this choice in the Book of Numbers (called thus by the Greeks because of all the counting and taking of census) but which was called B midbar - In the Wilderness by the Hebrew Writers. In chapters Three and Eight we see YHVH choose as His firstborn the Priestly Tribe of Levi. The Rabbis saw within the Hebrew title of B midbar the Hebrew root of dbr for word or to speak ; so they say that God takes His people into the wilderness to Hear Shema (Hear and Obey Hb) His Word. Thus He prepares The Way for Moses summing up of the Covenantal Lifestyle that is God s Will for His people contained in Deuteronomy or Devarim. The Levitical Priesthood were to be His sanctified and set apart people, receiving no lands or inheritance as the LORD Himself was to be their Provision. Today there is a Re-Newed Covenant for all who believe in Yeshua s Full, Final and Perfect Sacrifice, which Paul says continues to include the Torah of Moses but with the cancellation of the Sacrificial Offerings and the change of High Priesthood. Yeshua is of the Royal High Priesthood of Malki Tzedek of the Tribe of Judah, the same who met Abraham in the Book of Genesis U Malki-Tzedek Mellek Shallem or Melchizadek. The Re-Newed Covenant is for the Jews and the Gentiles, the One New Man IN Yeshua; the mystery revealed says Paul. When we move on into the writings of the Apostle Peter we are told that these are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who 4
called you out of darkness into His marvellous light, who once were not a people but are now a people of YHVH, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy (1 Peter 2:9-10 carry on reading here and be edified). The Torah, The Prophets and The Writings containing the Thread of Redemption We are learning great things in The Book of Exodus, part of the first five Books in our Bible which are called The Torah (Law) of Moses or The Pentateuch; this is our Foundation. Yeshua used these three sections of the Hebrew Scriptures The Torah, The Prophets and The Writings to explain about Himself to the disciples on the Emmaus Road. Everything contained in these Scriptures have wonderfully woven scarlet threads of redemption and truth that come together in glorious light in the Re-Newed Covenant and one needs to feed on The Word of God in order to receive the wisdom, understanding and knowledge needed to enter in to the fullest relationship possible with our Heavenly Father, for He wants us to call Him Abba, Father as we enter into His adoption of us into His Household of Faith.. Unity based on The Full Gospel of God The Truth and only The Truth The unity that Yeshua prayed for, in John s Gospel, for all those that His Father had given Him was a unity based solely and wholly on the Truth. Today there is a false unity being sought throughout the denominations which is not based on Doctrine or Truth. The Gospels and Epistles expound the Truth and the Doctrines that need to be outworked in one s life in order to walk in Truth; in order to be in The Spirit; in order to be fully the people YHVH seeks. Do not be deceived! Yeshua repeated this warning over and over and Paul said that deception would be everywhere in these Last Days; false teachers, false prophets. John, the Apostle, tells us that we do not need anyone to teach us when we have received the anointing that teaches us, the Holy Spirit who will lead us into more and more Truth. Even Yeshua said to His own disciples that there was SO MUCH MORE that He wanted to teach them but they were not ready. However, the Holy Spirit would come and teach them and lead them into Truth, more and more and greater and greater revealed Truth. The Truth is all there in the Scriptures. Truth will never be anything that is not contained in the Scriptures already. Don t be misled by those today who tell you that The Bible is obsolete and that we are educated people today and there are new things being revealed to us. No! All things are in the First Covenant Scriptures and are seen also in the New Covenant Scriptures. Anything not verifiable in either of these Covenants is a lie and not of YHVH. Yeshua said, Remember My Death Back to Exodus Thirteen; we are reading now, having learned that we are a chosen generation and a royal priesthood and we are still exhorted to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread as we look back to Yeshua s Full and Final Sacrifice and look 5
forward to the Glory still to come. Yeshua said, as He made the Seder Meal a Memorial Meal, Remember My Death whenever you take the Bread and the Cup. If we never take communion at any other time we can take it now on this Sacred and Holy Festival; remembering His Glorious Sacrifice for each one of us. Not transubstantiation we are not crucifying Him afresh each time we eat bread and drink wine. HE HAS DONE IT IT IS FINISHED! He just says remember, remember. When the LORD YHVH God gave His Instructions for the keeping and celebrating of His Sabbaths the Seventh Day and not the First Day of the week He said that His Sabbath was to be remembered because He is Creator God of all things seen and unseen. He also said His Sabbaths were to be observed because He is the Redeemer of those He has called and chosen from out of the world (Exodus 20:8; Deuteronomy 5:12). Remember, remember - because we, as Gentiles, are wild branches grafted into the Olive Tree of Israel and, thereby, subject to these Instructions, Directions, Teachings and Guidance contained within God s Will. Yeshua said that those not doing the Will of the Father would be told to Depart from Him. In this Paper we are considering Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The first night celebrates the Passover Festival when we enjoy a meal of Lamb, Bitter Herbs and Matzah we are not necessarily being asked to copy the Jewish traditions in our celebrations. Then the seven days of the Festival of Unleavened Bread when we continue eating Matzah as a memorial Feast, no bread or products with leaven may be consumed. It is a time to look forward to that Great Day to come and all that it will mean to us through our Salvation. Notice verses nine and sixteen of Exodus Chapter Thirteen, It shall be as a sign to you on your hand, and as a memorial between your eyes (on your forehead). We know that Judaism has taken this Torah instruction to be the binding of Tefillin on their hands and foreheads but let us forget that for a moment and think more deeply on this. The Mark of The LORD a protection and provision for His people The LORD is placing His Mark on those who, by obedience to His Command, keep this Feast of Unleavened Bread. YHVH is placing His Mark on our foreheads as we obediently comply with His Command to keep and remember this Feast. Now I ask you where is the Mark of the Beast? Let us move on to the days Scripture warn us will come, when men will reject Truth; when false teachers come as wolves in sheep s clothing ; when lies are the teaching of the denominations; when men s traditions have replaced YHVH s Commandments. When the Anti-Christ rules the world and we are not allowed to buy or sell without the Mark of the Beast. We are getting there; we have credit and debit cards and soon cash will be a thing of the past. The chip will be the master of the age, soon to be included in our mobile phones or even a chip implanted in our hand or our forehead even as we implant chips, for very good reasons, in our pets today; we have the technology. But, if we 6
are keeping the LORD s Feast of Unleavened Bread we should be in an intimate relationship with YHVH our Heavenly Father and will have His Mark of keeping on us. So there will be no way that we can become subtly ensnared and deceived into taking the Mark of the Beast will there? Or could we, by subtle deception, still fall away as Adam and Eve were subtly deceived in the Garden of Eden by Satan? We need to stay awake and alert and aware today for Yeshua says that even the very elect could be deceived. We must work out our salvation with fear and trembling. The Apostle Paul, in his Letter to the Romans, tells us that we did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of Elohim (God) (8:15-16). I leave you with what I pray may be food for thought. Don t take my word for that is not worth any more than the paper on which it is written Take His Word and be a Berean; seek and search out the Scriptures and see if it be true! May The LORD God of the Hebrews bless your every thought, word and deed. Amen. 2004 Penny Byrne 7