REMEMBER THE PASSOVER
There is so MUCH that God wanted Moses to remind the people of Israel about BEFORE they crossed on over to their inheritance in the Promised Land.
I’m sure there are many leaders out there today getting messages from God to remind his people on earth even right NOW of the things they need to remember before they cross over into eternity.
When we all cross-over to that place where time is no more and we are able to behold the face of God; it will be the blood of Jesus that blots our sins out of God’s Book of Remembrances.
It will be His blood that covers our sins and makes us holy-unto-The -LORD.
GOD CHOSE MOSES TO INSTILL THE SHADOWS OF TIME INTO THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE
If someone needs to become holy in order to eventually behold The Face of God; it is good to have some ritually observed concepts to rehearse right now while we are still on planet earth and have to remain in our un-holy state.
MOVING ON TO MORE JOYFUL THINGS
There are things that we can do, once we have the covering of Christ, which will help us move closer to God. We need to be reminded of those things just as the people of ancient times were being reminded by Moses in our scripture passages of Deuteronomy 16 today.
Moses has told them so many things to remember already, and some of those things have been hard things.
Today he speaks of some joyful things that we must always remember to do. He begins to remind God’s people of the days that God has sanctified, appointed and made holy; days that God wishes to celebrate with us as special family traditions; set-aside Holy days that are not to be forgotten.
LET HEBAIC HEARTS BE STIRRED
If you have followed the things I teach for very long; you know my Hebraic heart is about to be stirred even as we speak of these amazing days that God has given to us as a gift, which make our time on earth more valuable and more fully alive with God’s goodness.
The very first day that Moses mentions to the people is The Passover.
Everything about the Passover speaks to us of salvation, and salvation speaks to us of a full and abundant life. King Solomon once summed up the whole meaning of life; (Ecclesiastes 12:13) when he said; “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man”
Moses knew he was approaching death. He was now only mere hours away from that time He could have been looking back and thinking of the significant things that he knew mattered in life.
One of the things he brings up is Passover.
As Moses was about to cross-over into eternity; he was preparing the people for another crossing-over; a time that was called Passover where men had been given the opportunity to obey God and live or to disobey God and die.
If we do not understand the deep significance of Passover (past, present and future) we are lost to the whole worth of the sacredness of the Gospel.
A VERY SIGNIFICANT TIME
Moses is again, teaching the significance of this time and requesting that the people NEVER forget to observe the Passover.
Solomon pointed out to us that fearing God and keeping His commandments is vitally important. You could say that the whole duty of man is to obey the commandments of God. Moses is going to point out to Israel that the Passover is one of those laws that God has commanded which should be remembered and observed forever
Should this Old Testament passage concern us today though?
It should!
RELEVANCE FOR TODAY
A long time ago Yeshua told us that the law has never ceased and it will not cease until the heavens and the earth are passed away. So; yes I believe the things that Moses was reminding Israel here still do and will forever apply to us.
If we belong to Christ; we have been grafted into Israel. We have NOT replaced Israel; we have simply joined Israel by becoming circumcised in our hearts.
In Deuteronomy Chapter 16, Moses starts the conversation by stating the proper time for observance of Passover.
Deuteronomy 16:1-5 says: Observe the month of Aviv and celebrate the Passover of the LORD your God, because in the month of Aviv he brought you out of Egypt by night. Sacrifice as the Passover to the LORD your God an animal from your flock or herd at the place the LORD will chose as a dwelling for his Name. Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left Egypt in haste – so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt. Let no yeast be found in your possession in all your land for seven days. Do not let any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until morning.
NEW THINGS ARE HAPPENING
Passover is now celebrated in the Hebrew month of Aviv. Aviv means “new ears of grain.”
The Passover happens in the spring when the new ears of grain are just showing up in the fields. In the agricultural cycle; new things are happening.
In the world at the time of that first Passover; God was doing something new too. God was planting the first seed for his own harvest of souls. He was bringing about the formation of a new nation.
Israel had been in slavery for hundreds of years, and now God was giving them a new beginning! They were being brought out and set-apart from the pagan nations. Aviv marks the beginning of the nation of Israel.
God used the sacred time called Passover to do this wonderous thing.
PASSOVER MEANS PROTECTION
At that first Passover, those who wished to be saved from the curse of the plagues simply had to obey the warning and brush the blood of a lamb over the door-post of their homes.
The Hebrews usually refer to Passover as Pesach. Our tendency to understand in English makes us imagine that this means “passing over something.” We have actually used that in our teachings and related the word to the fact that the Angel of Death “passed over” all who obeyed God and sprinkled the blood of the lamb over their doorposts.
In reality; the Hebrew verb “pasach” means “to protect.” The Passover was how God showed protection to his people from the deadly plagues of Egypt. They were “passed-over” as a result of that Godly protection.
So since ancient times, Passover has been observed by those who are faithful in a one day feast on Aviv 14 of the Hebraic calendar. The Babylonians used the word Nisan In their language during that time of captivity years later; so Aviv and Nisan often are interchangeable and often mean the same thing in the scriptures. (One is speaking of the Hebrew calendar and one is speaking of the Babylonian calendar.)
THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD
Immediately following the Passover on Aviv 14 comes a 7 day biblical feast called The Feast of Unleavened Bread. Right in the middle of that feast is another biblical festival called Bikkurim or in English – Firstfruits.
FIRSTFRUITS
Firstfruits happens on the 16th day of Aviv on the Hebrew Calendar. These three springtime biblical feasts are tightly interwoven in meaning and they all celebrate Israel’s coming out of Egypt.
Moses is reminding the people of how they should celebrate when they move into the land of Canaan and take possession of the land. We know the progression from the days of Egyptian slavery into life in the days of living in the wilderness, then on into the days of living in the Promised Land of a new nation.
In each phase of the life of the nation of Israel; the Passover was to be observed. Today we can add the dispersed lot of peoples who have settled throughout the gentile nations of the world. They too are required by God to observe The Passover.
THE FIRSTBORN AND PASSOVER
In the last lesson we studied we brought out the importance and significance of the first-born of each family.
In Egypt these were the ones who died from the plague.
However; in Israel; these first-born sons who had brushed the blood of the lamb over the doorposts of their homes were spared. They had been protected by God.
PASSOVER CELEBRATIONS THROUGHOUT HISTORY
In the original Passover celebrations things took place in the homes of slaves and the first-born sons (those who needed to be spared) were the ones in charge of the ceremony.
As the people moved through the wilderness under God’s guidelines the first-born sons were redeemed and the Levitical priesthood presided over the Passover at the Wilderness tabernacle.
When the days of the Temple came; the Levitical priesthood presided over the Passover at the Temple.
Then came the days of Jesus; when every ancient ritual was fulfilled in the Passover and salvation became the way that we related to God through the temples of our bodies where God’s Holy Spirit came to dwell.
In all of these phases of history it was important for mankind to remember God’s Passover and observe it. Moses was carefully reminding and instructing Israel who would set the everlasting pattern of telling God’s story in time through the observance of God’s Holy Days.
Note to our readers: Here is a copy of the book that came from our Genesis Study in this every Thursday bible study called COME AS A CHILD. Why not order your copy today? It is a very handy review.