The Seven Jewish Feasts Commanded by G-d (2)

It seems appropriate that if I am going to talk about Jewish feasts, I should write G-d, as the Jewish faithful do.   The reason for that is that G-d written without the 'o' represents the unspeakable Name of G-d.  We on the New Testament side of knowing G-d, are most familiar with His grace, but historically, the Jewish faithful were poignantly aware of G-d's power and majesty, and acutely aware of His justice.  While we freely print the English symbols of the Tetragrammaton, YHWH, in as carefree a manner as we would write any other name, to them that name was unspeakable - - and held in absolute reverence and awe.

It was the name that we came to write as Yahweh, and later, Jehovah.  G-d in all His power and glory.   Acknowledging that we are finite and He is infinite is part of honoring writing His name as G-d.  Having explained that - I won't continue doing it.  Because of Calvary, where Jesus' became the final sacrifice for sin separating man from God, the veil in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, welcoming us to have a personal relationship with God.  God in all His magnificence and glory wants a relationship with man, and came in the form of a man to earth, paying the price himself for our sin to restore the relational level He had with man in the Garden of Eden - - close, intimate, walking with His created....  That, too, is awesome!

So - - I've been diverted from writing and need to finish what I started!  That brings us to the second feast commanded by God.  It is connected to the first feast, but very specifically commanded as an entity of its own:  The Feast of Unleavened Bread.  The origination of this feast commemorates the unleavened bread that the Hebrew children had to bake to prepare for their flight from Egypt immediately after that very first 'Passover'.

The first feast - Passover - was to be celebrated annually on Nisan 14 (formerly called Abib) and the Feast of Unleavened Bread began the next day, on Nisan (aka Abib) 15.  That was the month they were brought out of the land of Egypt - - which became the first month of their year - - and it falls in March or April annually, as their calendar is a lunar calendar, so the correlating date they celebrate according to our calendar varies according to the cycle of the moon.

That is a bunny trail opportunity I just can't avoid commenting on....  Jesus had to die on Passover to be the fulfillment of that feast - - and He did!  Now, as we will see, He fulfills or will fulfill every other commanded feast as well.   That is what makes this study of the feasts so exciting.  Everything that happened in the Old Testament foreshadows what will happen in the New Testament....and we see the pattern clearly from our vantage point!

Anyway - - back on task!

Unleavened bread didn't deteriorate.  It was the leaven that made it spoil; therefore leaven was a symbol of sin.  The Feast of Unleavened Bread lasted for 7 days.   No leaven was allowed in the house.  'Sin' was banished.

Jesus fulfilled this feast when He was buried.  Just as sin deteriorates, decays and destroys lives, death deteriorates, decays and destroys the body - - but not Jesus' body!  He overcame death by rising again on the third day, unharmed, unscathed.  There was no sin in Him to cause decay - - just as there was no leaven in the bread of the feast.

He clearly stated on numerous occasions that He is the Bread of Life.   When we eat of His body spiritually by ingesting His Word and investing ourselves in learning more and more of who He is, we, too, are protected from eternal decay - - from the sting of sin, which is eternal death, eternal separation from God.

Those of us who are alive now may not escape the first death - - but that death is just a transition that admits us to eternity  - - either to eternal life (which we begin here by accepting Jesus and what He did for us at the cross) - - or to an eternal 'death', referred to in the Bible as the second death, which is an eternity away from God and all that is good.  Even without flames, it would be hell...knowing that the decision made to turn away from all God so freely offered was a horribly bad decision.

Too often I am reluctant to risk personal rejection, so keep the best 'good news' ever offered to myself....  That is something I need to work on!  I need to remember that I'm offering the greatest opportunity for making a good choice anyone will ever have to make.  People don't mind a head's up on other good information.  For instance, I recently learned that there is a specific cancer that is caused solely by breathing the fumes of microwave popcorn.  Apparently to keep the popcorn from sticking in the bag, they spray a teflon coating on the inside - - and when the bag is first opened, breathing in that teflon-infused aroma causes lung cancer....   That's something that inquiring minds would want to know!  It is news welcomed with "Thanks for telling me that!"  Yet, the best good news ever is that Jesus died for man's sins - - and some people don't want to hear it!   In fact, they don't want to hear it so badly that they reject the messenger....  That doesn't mean we should stop proclaiming the truth - - in love - - always in love!   Jesus is THE WAY, THE TRUTH and THE LIFE.  No man comes to the Father except through Him!  (John 14:6)

Romans 6:23 states that the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  That isn't the first death it is talking about - - but the second death, the one that follows judgment. 

I know my eternal destiny - - and I want everyone I know and love to be there, too!  And I don't want people I know to stand before God that day and accuse me of never telling them about the One who is Truth and Life and Eternal Joy!  I will not force the conversation, but it is one I love to have!

For further reading on the Feast of Unleavened Bread:  Exodus 12; Exodus 34:18, 12:15, 13:4; Leviticus 23:4-8; Numbers 28:16-25; Deuteronomy 16:1-8; Romans 6:4; 1 Corinthians 5:6-8; 2 Corinthians 5:21

The Seven Jewish Feasts commanded by G-d (1)

The first of the seven feasts commanded by God was the Passover Feast or Pesach.  It celebrates the deliverance of the Hebrew slaves from 400 years of Egyptian bondage.  In (c.1446 B C), the final plague against Egypt was the death of all the firstborn of both people and animals of all the households that didn't have the blood of the lamb sprinkled over the doorpost as instructed.  The angel of death 'passed over' those households who had the blood of the lamb.  

That night the Hebrews were instructed to have their bags packed, and to prepare unleavened bread - and to eat the meat of the lamb they had slain.   (Exodus 12:1-13)  They were obedient, and they were saved. 

God commanded the Passover be an annual celebration of remembrance in Leviticus 23:4-5.

Jesus was the fulfillment of the significance of the Passover Lamb.  When He died on the cross, it was for our sins.  As the Lamb of God, His blood was poured out for all of mankind - - we just have to appropriate His sacrifice by asking Him to live in us and take charge of our lives...His blood over the door of our hearts.

When Jesus was with His disciples celebrating His final Passover feast on earth with them, He changed Passover forever.  He told them, ""As often as you do this, do it in remembrance of me."  No longer about the Hebrew children and their escape from Egypt - - about Him being the Lamb and us being saved from the slavery of sin by the shedding of His blood.

Every one of the seven feasts God commanded the Jewish people to keep have either already found fulfillment in Jesus - - or will find fulfillment in Jesus....which makes for some interesting observations.  My pursuit of doing some research on that was triggered by comments made by our Jewish guide in Israel on our tour in 2011.