The eight days of Passover are very full days. The day we speak of today is the MOST important day!
Let your joy be full because He has risen!
We’ve did the Passover Seder Monday night and we have begun The Seven Days of Unleavened Bread. Today we observe the High Holy Day that is known as the Second Day of Unleavened Bread; or Early First Fruits.
In all the symbolism of the season; we have been waiting on a King to come. Now; (counting Passover) it is the third day of Unleavened Bread; the Day of Early First Fruits. (Passover added to two days of Unleavened Bread makes The Third Day of The Passover week.)
The ancient people waited on Him to come for the first time. It happened just as He said it would.
Now we wait on His soon coming return.
How are we so sure He will return?
He rose from the grave on the third day!
POSITIVE PROOF OF GOD’S POWER
Jesus has the keys to eternal life.
The greatest miracle of all is that He has offered them to us.
The Resurrection (on the third day of Unleavened Bread; if you count Passover as the first day) is proof of His power.
He promised us that the Kingdom which we hoped for during all of these thousands of years is coming!
The Resurrection of Christ assured us of all of these facts and so much more.
The ancients knew of a Messiah/King and they were waiting on him to arrive.
But no one really understood.
THE KING OF KINGS IS ALIVE!
Jesus Christ is alive and living in our hearts!
He rose from the dead on the 3rd day; totally defeating death and the grave.
After 40 days he ascended into heaven.
OUR RESURRECTED KING WILL RETURN FOR US
He is coming again as a King; but not that kind of King.
He refused Satan’s offer to be ruler of all the kingdoms of the earth if it meant bowing down to him.
Why would God’s very own Son need to bow down to anyone?
But; he was humble and meek and he came riding on a donkey symbolizing that he came in peace.
He came to come close to people.
Jesus came to love people.
He came to bring freedom from bondage, disease, sin and suffering.
Our Messiah came to us; and then He died for us.
On Resurrection Day, the Day of Early First Fruits; HE ROSE AGAIN!
THE DAY OF EARLY FIRST FRUITS
I don’t really use the word Easter.
I celebrate the Resurrection of Christ three days after The Passover on The Day of Early First Fruits. Rarely does that day ever fall on a Sunday. It is different every year.
Easter is a pagan word. You can’t find it in your bible anywhere. Constantine changed the celebration of Early First Fruits which the followers of God’s calendar had always kept and celebrated in the spring harvest. Constantine decreed this day to be called Easter; not God. As a matter of fact; the word Easter comes from the name of an Egyptian pagan god.
Changing the name was a political move to unite the people under Constitine’s rule; so that he could be known as the only ruler of the world.
He claimed to be a Christian; but he denied the true Sabbath. Also; he rearranged dates and times. His re-arrangements disregarded the scriptures that recorded God’s arrangements for all appointed times.
So this year as the time the calendar of the world turned to Easter Sunday; I was still be waiting on the third day of Passover Week on the second day of the seven Days of Unleavened Bread to celebrate the annual Day of remembering The Resurrection of Christ.
That day is today!
He is Risen!
Hallelujah!
CELEBRATING RESURRECTION WITH EVERY DAY OF LIFE
But the erroneous dates of the world do not really bother me too much. I’m a little funny about it because I DO believe it is just fine and dandy to celebrate Resurrection EVERY DAY of the year.
So; when the Easter people start celebrating Resurrection their way; I just jump right in there with them; because Resurrection power should be proclaimed every day of the year. I’m fine with a further celebration on any Sunday, or any other day of the year after; I just won’t call that day Easter. Instead I will be saying: “Happy Resurrection Celebration!”
I will celebrate THE OFFICIAL DAY OF RESURRECTION on the 2nd day of Unleavened Bread, or Early Firstfruits on the Hebraic calendar though.
Some years it is very convenient that the 7 Days of Unleavened Bread fall on God’s calendar and Resurrection Day is aligned so that the world’s Easter and Early First Fruits Resurrection Day are on or close to the same day. I love when that happens because we can celebrate Resurrection power in unity. This year; the world that disregards the calendar that God started when He created the world started their celebrating on a Sunday which fell way before Early Firstfruits and the 2nd Day of Unleavened Bread on the Hebraic calendar. The Hebrews have always used the calendar that God hung in the sky when He created the world. Those of us who follow it think of the moon as God’s clock. For us who DO observe God’s calendar, Early First Fruits Resurrection falls on this Thursday, April 25th at sunset; 3 days after the Passover took place.
I will be celebrating The Feast of Unleavened Bread long after all the Sunday people have enjoyed their celebrating of the Resurrection by eating those sweet hot cross buns and chocolate. At least we both will be focused on the Resurrection of Christ. We will continue to celebrate the positive aspects together.
EACH MAN MUST BE FAITHFUL TO WHAT GOD SHOWS THEM
No problem; everyone has to answer to what God has chosen to show them. No one made me judge of the earth. I’ve just put a little chocolate on my Matzah and kept on anticipating today (Thursday of 2024) for the celebration of Resurrection Day this year.
Today it is here!
He has risen!
I’m busy celebrating what much of the rest of the world has already contemplated and forgotten. I’ll keep on celebrating Resurrection power for the rest of the year! They will not even notice I’m not agreeing with their date.
I’m not so blind as to not understand and recognize that the faithful are in every place and group of people on this earth. We all are simply at different places in our journey to God’s Kingdom. I’m never sure if any particular group of people have perfected the ways of God completely. I know I often fall short. The fact remains that we are all still human. I suppose that just proves the necessity of Resurrection power all over again. It is the blood of Jesus that saves us; all other things pale in comparison to that fact; so let’s rally around that truth together. At least most groups of Christians CAN agree that the Resurrection of Christ happened and it has saved us!
God has shown some people one thing, and He has chosen to wait to show others. We can’t know exactly why. I DO know He has his reasons; which are far above our finding out. I also know some of the most faithful are not looking at everything with open eyes. That is in God’s hands. The world is working toward God’s coming Kingdom within His perfect timing. There is nothing but certain joy for me to worry about.
WAITING ON THE KING OF KINGS TO BRING PERFECT UNITY
The good news is that after the final Resurrection of the dead has been completed and Jesus is our new King; we all will see everything the same.
Won’t that be wonderful?
Our Messiah will guide us together as The King of Kings.
There are many things I’m sure I can’t see right now which I will be able to know then. I do realize that in all humility. I am thankful that God in all of his wisdom reveals things as He sees fit. It is so comforting to be able to trust in that fact and not to stress over these differences in today’s worship groups.
EACH PERSON WILL ACCOUNT FOR THEIR OWN ACTIONS
The important thing is that each person follows as closely as possible to the things that God HAS revealed to them.
Each person will have to answer for their own actions in the end. We won’t be able to blame others for our mistakes of not following the path that God clarified to us. If God has revealed a truth to you; it is best to follow it completely. If you do this; you don’t need to worry.
There is a reason for it all.
Like most good Fathers; God isn’t explaining every little detail to all of us yet. He simply instructs each of us to be obedient to what we know that He told us to do. It is just that simple.
I’m all about unity; and I always try to find a way to find it. If it goes against God’s truth and I am aware of that fact; I will not participate. Sometimes though this works out for all of us at the same time. In the case of Resurrection Day – every day of the year is still not enough time to celebrate this mighty miracle that brings us eternal life! So when the world celebrates Resurrection Day earlier than I have; I just continue the celebration a little longer and celebrate again.
KEEP CELEBRATING RESURRECTION ALL YEAR
So; enough of the technicalities today; we are talking about celebrating Resurrection.
Resurrection power is our 24/7 gift from Jesus!
Today is my official day to recognize He is risen!
You might also notice me celebrating Resurrection Power with my friends and neighbors tomorrow too. You simply can’t celebrate this fact enough! I’m all about Resurrection power.
Also. I’m all about every follower of Christ recognizing the love of Christ which brings Resurrection power to all of us.
When Jesus arrived on earth the first time he came in the form of a child. The child grew into a man who walked the desert and crossed the Jordan River, just like the people of old.
He did such amazing things!
Jesus did his work well and completely as he walked on earth.
He healed people.
Jesus loved people.
He told people parables about The Kingdom of Heaven.
His final work was to die on the cross and to bear our sins.
He laid down his life for us and fulfilled this purpose.
REMEMBERING
In that day; no one could believe that the One they thought would be the King and Messiah had died on a cross.
They were all so sad.
But they loved him.
They took his body to the cave of a rich man for burial.
And they left him there until after the High Holy Day (The Second Day of Unleavened Bread just before The Day of Early First Fruits) was over; then the women went out to anoint His body (the day after the High Holy Day which was called A Sabbath); but He wasn’t there!
They told the twelve; and they looked for him everywhere.
Then Mary saw Him in the garden!
He was alive again!
She ran to tell the others.
THERE WERE MANY WITNESSES
Someone saw him on the road. They talked to him but did not recognize Him until He broke bread with them.
It was in the breaking of the bread that they recognized Him. As they broke bread with Him they suddenly knew that Jesus had risen from the dead.
Then He showed his nailed scared hands to Thomas. Any who had doubted before became a believer then.
He was alive again!
He has risen from the grave!
HE WALKED WITH THEM FOR FORTY MORE DAYS
They all were filled with wonder and amazement.
For the next 40 days he walked with them and talked with them.
They began to remember the things that He had told them before.
Everything that he had said had happened.
This is what we are celebrating today, on this third day after the Passover on the day the ancients called Early First Fruits.
We are celebrating the fact of The Resurrection of Christ; who became the first of God’s harvest of mankind.
He was the Early First Fruits of the harvest.
Our Messiah; Jesus Christ, was the first One to become ripe with eternal life.
THEY FINALLY UNDERSTOOD WHY
The ancients had celebrated Early First Fruits for years and years before He arrived to explain the full meaning.
Until AFTER the Resurrection they did not fully understand.
Year after year, they had brought the first and the best of their crops to God. After the first harvest, they had counted for 50 more days until the wheat harvest would come.
Now, we are doing the same; we are counting the Days until Pentecost just as He asked us to do. We call it counting the Omer; but we are actually counting the days.
He wanted us to wait and count until something new happened.
So every year we do this all over again.
We notice the day in The Passover Week when He rose from the grave and gave us TRUE freedom; much more freedom than we received merely from the release of the bondage of slavery. This freedom lasts forever! We are so thankful and joyful that it does.
And guess what?
WE ARE THE WHEAT HARVEST
When the 50 days are up; at the time called Pentecost; WE ARE THE WHEAT HARVEST. That will be the time of the Resurrection of the faithful; on the day of Latter First Fruits. After His Resurrection; we continue to count the days until our own times of resurrection to new life.
The faithful and obedient to God are The Latter Harvest; which was the wheat harvest. We are the harvest that needs refinement. God will refine us before the day of our resurrection from the dead.
One day God will separate the wheat from the tares.
When Jesus was walking the earth and doing his work well; this story was one of the parables He told.
LATTER FIRST FRUITS WILL COME
All of the parable stories are true.
We are to learn from them.
One lesson we have learned is that God’s people are the wheat harvest! We are the LATTER First Fruits of Resurrection.
We too will rise from the dead one day; only our time has not yet come. We are not first; Jesus had to be the first of the whole harvest.
All of this has been made possible because He came before us. He was The EARLY FIRST FRUITS.
In harvesting their crops in olden days whenever the Early First Fruits harvest came in; the people began looking forward to the Latter Fruit harvest. If one season had produced well, chances were pretty positive that the next harvest of that year would also produce well.
So they counted the days with anticipation.
REMEMBER TO COUNT THE DAYS
We also count our days with great anticipation.
We praise God for sending Jesus to us.
Our praise goes up for Jesus loving us so much to become our Passover Lamb who was slain for the remission of our sins.
Now; we have turned the page onto a new and fresh sacred year. We came into a new sacred year when we saw Nisan appear on the calendar of God.
Spring has sprung in all of it’s bright colors and loveliness.
As Spring approached; we cleaned and cleaned our houses and gathered up the things that one needs to present a Passover dinner at home.
We journeyed to Egypt and out again with the Passover Seder. That showed us the Old Testament meaning of Passover. Without a Passover; there could not be a Resurrection Day. It is important to observe the proper order. Seder means “order” in Hebrew. It is a very appropriate meaning.
THE NEW TESTAMENT MEANING
Now as we come through these two days past the Passover, we have eaten unleavened foods and tried to remember all the reasons why we do so annually. This is our way of saying that a perfect Messiah has come and we believe in Him.
The First day of Unleavened Bread has been celebrated with many convocations all across the earth.
Now the third day of Unleavened Bread approaches (two days of the 7 days of unleavened bread plus The Passover.) It is the day of Early First Fruits, the sacred day of the first of the rising of the sacred souls of Heaven’s Kingdom. Jesus has risen from the grave!
The life of Jesus, his living and dying and coming again have shown us the New Testament side of Passover.
THE AMAZING POWER OF RESURRECTION LOVE
Now we can see the power of Resurrection.
Jesus Christ has risen from the grave!
Hallelujah!
We have been waiting for a King, and his going and his coming again.
This is the day in which He was risen from the grave!
This is the day we get to say:
Hallelujah! He is Risen;
He is risen indeed!
It is a day we can celebrate all year round. This is the great day that lasts forever and has no end. With every ending is a new beginning; and every beginning has its ending and beginning again. Life on God’s calendar is not linear; it goes around in a never-ending circle of holy times.
This is the most important day to remember out of all the counting of our days.
The Resurrection is true!
God always keeps his promises!
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