Daily Bible Portion (Monday)
Daily Bible Portion – 6 of 7
"SAY"
Leviticus 21:1 to 24:23 - Ezekiel 44:15-31 - Galatians 3:26-29
A true priest or prophet of the Lord today is to teach the people about clean and unclean, holy and unholy and God's moedim – His Feast Days, Sabbath and New Moon. This is the Gospel of the Kingdom of Yeshua (Ezekiel 22:26; 44:23-24).
As a royal priesthood and holy nation we are to keep the eternal order and universal pattern of God's Feasts - the Sabbath being the first feast - and to teach His people to honor them perpetually. Doing what He has asked us to do is our praise offering before the Lord (1 Peter 2:9).
The Sabbath
God says for us to do all our common work for six days and then set aside the seventh day. This Sabbath day is holy unto Him. There are blessings that flow for keeping this day holy and undefiled.
We can shabbat with the Lord any day of the week, but there is only one Sabbath day, which is the seventh day. The word day can also be counted as years in Scripture and prophetically this Sabbath day represents the seven thousandth year period of time called the millennial – the restoration of the House of David. Today we are in the 7000-year period of time where Messiah is restoring His people to rule and reign as priests in the order of Melchizedek. The reunification and ingathering of the whole House of Israel (the House of Judah and the House of Israel) back to the Garden has begun (Psalm 90:4; 1 Peter 3:8).
The Passover – Pesach
The Called Out Ones – The Firstborn
The first month is called Nissan. It is also called Aviv or Abib. The Passover is a memorial commemorating the Lord's firstborn flight from slavery and oppressive rule. Lambs were to be slaughtered at twilight (the 9th hour/3 PM) on that day and the blood smeared on the doorposts and lintels of the Israelite homes. This protected them from the angel of death who passed over the homes marked with the blood of the lamb allowing those Israelites to flee from slavery into freedom.
The Passover is also prophetic of the coming of the Messiah who became our Passover Lamb. Jesus died at exactly the same time as the Passover lambs were being slaughtered in the Temple on the fourteenth day of the first month. When Christ's side was pierced and His blood shed, the curtain in the Temple tore in two from top to bottom. Through this torn veil (or, through Christ) the House of Israel and the House of Judah have been given access to the Father, obtaining forgiveness and the direction to eternal life. With the sprinkling of His blood and the Living Torah now written on the believer's heart we are now given the ability to be delivered from the power of sin and death (Jeremiah 31:31-33; Hebrews 8:8-10, 1 Peter 1:2).
The memorial of Passover is only for believers. It is to be remembered throughout each generation at its appointed time by eating lamb, and bread made without yeast. That evening the story of the Exodus is to be recited with our children – the next generation – so they will never forget to walk in the Gospel of Jesus(Yeshua). Passover is a prophetic meal, a rehearsal for the Wedding Supper of the Lamb to come (Revelation 19:9).The Feast of
Unleavened Bread - Chag Ha Matzah
The Seven-Day Consecration of the Priesthood (Bride) of Messiah
Right after the Passover, after the sun sets is the beginning of the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Lord's people are to come together to celebrate the first day of the feast and on the last day of the feast. Those two days are to be kept as High Holy Sabbaths where believers are not to do any common work but instead rest in His Presence. We are to eat only bread made without yeast during those seven days. Seven, in Scripture, is a reference to spiritual completion. Yeast represents the teachings of man which result in sin and dishonor. When dishonor is removed there is a consecration of God's people, the priesthood especially. This seven-day period is a time of purity and holiness before Yahweh.
What happened in history to the Israelites when they kept this seven-day feast? It is referenced that on the seventh day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread the Red Sea parted and Pharaoh's army was defeated. Also on this last day of this Feast the walls of Jericho fell. If we are struggling with challenges in our lives and praying for a break through, keeping this Feast of Unleavened Bread can bring blessings of deliverance and freedom into our lives.
The Feast of Firstfruits - Yom Ha Bikkurim
Easter
The celebration of Easter came from worship of the Babylonian pagan worship of the fertility goddess Ishtar. Man chose to celebrate this as a way of separating themselves from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Easter is a blending of a pagan celebration with Messiah's death and resurrection believing this to be an acceptable worship before a Holy God. Mixing idolatry with holiness led the children of Israel into captivity. Hot cross buns, Easter bunnies and colored Easter eggs are all fertility symbols of the goddess Ishtar. The tradition of painting eggs and egg hunts came from the practice of coloring the eggs by dipping them into the blood of babies sacrificed live by fire to Ishtar. The eggs were then hidden for children who would later hunt for them. This all seems like innocent fun today but how many believers realize the background of Easter traditions have nothing to do with Jesus and can harm us? May we be a people who keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread in holiness and righteousness (Matthew 12:40). (For a fuller study on Easter please refer to the study: Passover and the History of Easter and Bo/Leviticus.
continues tomorrow...
"SAY"
Leviticus 21:1 to 24:23 - Ezekiel 44:15-31 - Galatians 3:26-29
A true priest or prophet of the Lord today is to teach the people about clean and unclean, holy and unholy and God's moedim – His Feast Days, Sabbath and New Moon. This is the Gospel of the Kingdom of Yeshua (Ezekiel 22:26; 44:23-24).
Ezekiel 22:26 "Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them."
Ezekiel 44:23-24 "And they [the priests] shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the unholy, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. In controversy they shall stand as judges, and judge it according to My judgments. They shall keep My laws and My statutes in all My appointed meetings, and they shall hallow My Sabbaths."
Matthew 22:1-14 And Jesus(Yeshua) answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants [prophets] to call those [believers] who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. Again, he sent out other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, see, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.' But they [believers] made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy [dishonorable]. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.' So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen [few choose]'"
Colossians 2:16 "So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths."
As a royal priesthood and holy nation we are to keep the eternal order and universal pattern of God's Feasts - the Sabbath being the first feast - and to teach His people to honor them perpetually. Doing what He has asked us to do is our praise offering before the Lord (1 Peter 2:9).
The Sabbath
Leviticus 23:3 "Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings."
God says for us to do all our common work for six days and then set aside the seventh day. This Sabbath day is holy unto Him. There are blessings that flow for keeping this day holy and undefiled.
Isaiah 58:13-14 "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and Yahweh's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in Yahweh, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob."
We can shabbat with the Lord any day of the week, but there is only one Sabbath day, which is the seventh day. The word day can also be counted as years in Scripture and prophetically this Sabbath day represents the seven thousandth year period of time called the millennial – the restoration of the House of David. Today we are in the 7000-year period of time where Messiah is restoring His people to rule and reign as priests in the order of Melchizedek. The reunification and ingathering of the whole House of Israel (the House of Judah and the House of Israel) back to the Garden has begun (Psalm 90:4; 1 Peter 3:8).
The Passover – Pesach
The Called Out Ones – The Firstborn
Leviticus 23:4-5 "The Lord'd Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month."
The first month is called Nissan. It is also called Aviv or Abib. The Passover is a memorial commemorating the Lord's firstborn flight from slavery and oppressive rule. Lambs were to be slaughtered at twilight (the 9th hour/3 PM) on that day and the blood smeared on the doorposts and lintels of the Israelite homes. This protected them from the angel of death who passed over the homes marked with the blood of the lamb allowing those Israelites to flee from slavery into freedom.
The Passover is also prophetic of the coming of the Messiah who became our Passover Lamb. Jesus died at exactly the same time as the Passover lambs were being slaughtered in the Temple on the fourteenth day of the first month. When Christ's side was pierced and His blood shed, the curtain in the Temple tore in two from top to bottom. Through this torn veil (or, through Christ) the House of Israel and the House of Judah have been given access to the Father, obtaining forgiveness and the direction to eternal life. With the sprinkling of His blood and the Living Torah now written on the believer's heart we are now given the ability to be delivered from the power of sin and death (Jeremiah 31:31-33; Hebrews 8:8-10, 1 Peter 1:2).
The memorial of Passover is only for believers. It is to be remembered throughout each generation at its appointed time by eating lamb, and bread made without yeast. That evening the story of the Exodus is to be recited with our children – the next generation – so they will never forget to walk in the Gospel of Jesus(Yeshua). Passover is a prophetic meal, a rehearsal for the Wedding Supper of the Lamb to come (Revelation 19:9).The Feast of
Unleavened Bread - Chag Ha Matzah
The Seven-Day Consecration of the Priesthood (Bride) of Messiah
Leviticus 23:6-8 "On the fifteenth day of that month [Nissan] the Lord's Feast of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. For seven days present an offering made to the Lord by fire. And on the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work."
Right after the Passover, after the sun sets is the beginning of the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Lord's people are to come together to celebrate the first day of the feast and on the last day of the feast. Those two days are to be kept as High Holy Sabbaths where believers are not to do any common work but instead rest in His Presence. We are to eat only bread made without yeast during those seven days. Seven, in Scripture, is a reference to spiritual completion. Yeast represents the teachings of man which result in sin and dishonor. When dishonor is removed there is a consecration of God's people, the priesthood especially. This seven-day period is a time of purity and holiness before Yahweh.
What happened in history to the Israelites when they kept this seven-day feast? It is referenced that on the seventh day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread the Red Sea parted and Pharaoh's army was defeated. Also on this last day of this Feast the walls of Jericho fell. If we are struggling with challenges in our lives and praying for a break through, keeping this Feast of Unleavened Bread can bring blessings of deliverance and freedom into our lives.
The Feast of Firstfruits - Yom Ha Bikkurim
Leviticus 23:9-14 "When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. He is to wave the sheaf before Yahweh so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to Yahweh a lamb a year old without defect, together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil - an offering made to Yahweh by fire, a pleasing aroma - and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine. You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live."
1 Corinthians 15:20 "But Yeshua has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep."
Jesus is our wave offering! During the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Jesus fulfilled the sign of Jonah and rose from the dead after three days and three nights in the tomb as our firstfruits from the dead. Easter
The celebration of Easter came from worship of the Babylonian pagan worship of the fertility goddess Ishtar. Man chose to celebrate this as a way of separating themselves from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Easter is a blending of a pagan celebration with Messiah's death and resurrection believing this to be an acceptable worship before a Holy God. Mixing idolatry with holiness led the children of Israel into captivity. Hot cross buns, Easter bunnies and colored Easter eggs are all fertility symbols of the goddess Ishtar. The tradition of painting eggs and egg hunts came from the practice of coloring the eggs by dipping them into the blood of babies sacrificed live by fire to Ishtar. The eggs were then hidden for children who would later hunt for them. This all seems like innocent fun today but how many believers realize the background of Easter traditions have nothing to do with Jesus and can harm us? May we be a people who keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread in holiness and righteousness (Matthew 12:40). (For a fuller study on Easter please refer to the study: Passover and the History of Easter and Bo/Leviticus.
continues tomorrow...