Sunday, April 10, 2011

Spring... beauty... renewed life... Christ is risen and alive!

Spring this year is moving me unlike any other.  As I prepare to celebrate Passover and as I see Spring burst forth, I am simply captivated and renewed.  We are entering a beautiful and holy week.

This will be our first year to not celebrate Easter.  It, again like Christmas, is such a relief.  It's hard to explain.  It's just different... and in such a wonderful way.  I have to mention it... it's a huge part of what God is doing in our life and there is no way I can not share it and give God the glory.  Here are two sites you can look at for information on Easter.  


There is so much beauty and life in learning about the Passover Feast.  Walking through the Passover of the Old Testament while walking through it in the New Testament is so beautiful. 

When the people of Israel (while in slavery in Egypt) chose a spotless lamb, it was the prophesy of the lamb of God being chosen... Christ.  God told them to choose it on the tenth day of Nisan... Christ entered Jerusalem to be set aside as the lamb on the tenth day of Nisan.  The Israelites had to examin it for five days to make sure it was without blemish and without fault.  Christ was examined for five days by the religious leaders... trying to find fault.  None was found. (Matthew 23 and John 19:4)   The lamb sacrifice of the Israelites was on the 14th day of Nisan.  Christ was crucified on the 14th day of Nisan.   Jesus came and fulfilled every aspect of the Passover Feast that God's chosen people had been doing for hundreds of years... down to every hour and every detail.  As God told His people to not break a bone in the lamb they were sacrificing, Jesus also had no broken bones. (Ex. 12:46; Numbers 9:12; and Psalm 34:20 and John 19: 30-37)  There are many more exact fulfillment's of Christ and the Passover Feast.  I encourage you to read, "Celebrating Jesus in the Biblical Feasts," by Richard Booker.  It is one of the most amazing books I have ever read!

This year, the tenth of Nisan is April 14th... and the 14th of Nisan is April 18th.

When the people applied the blood of the lamb to their door posts and threshold, they were inviting God to pass over the threshold and into their home as their protector from the angel of death.  God... who came in the flesh as Jesus Christ, came and stands in the doorway protecting His people from death.  Isn't that beautiful?  By accepting and embracing Christ as our Passover lamb, God enters our house... our life and is our protector and provider.  And we have crossed over from darkness into light... from slavery to sin to liberty and life!

The "last supper" was actually the Passover meal... also known as a Seder meal.  It was during this meal, appointed feast, that Christ brought light to the disciples of what the Jewish people had been practicing for hundreds of years. 

The "Lord's Supper" at church is actually part of the Passover meal.  And it is not separate from the Passover meal, nor was it ever intended to be separate. You have four cups at this meal.  One cup represents sanctification, one cup represents deliverance, one cup represents redemption, and one cup represents acceptance.  It was when Jesus picked up the third cup that He told His disciples that when they took this cup, the cup of redemption, that it represented His blood and to remember Him.  It was during this meal that He took the unleavened bread, that they had eaten before a hundred times, and explained it was His body.  It was not something He was just showing them, they had been partaking in this Passover meal for their entire lives.  He simply was fulfilling it... bringing to light that HE was the cups and the bread... and His death was the third cup.  This is also why in the Garden of Gethsemane He asks, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."   Matthew 26:39 ~

Everything they ate during this meal also was symbolic of Jesus.  I'll share more on that in my next post.

But simply said, THIS is what we should be centered on right now.  THIS is where our hearts should be.  THIS is how we should be celebrating.  And THIS is what the enemy has blinded people to, Christians to, and tried to keep from them.  But God is bringing TRUTH into light and people are coming back to Him... back to learning about, understanding, and even celebrating His holidays and feasts.  "Feasts" in the biblical Hebrew language means "appointments".  God set aside HOLY APPOINTMENTS... or Holy Holidays.  God gave the day and month for these times.  God declared them "His".  They are God's appointed times to celebrate Him and Christ and Salvation and they are for His people.  And they are to be separate from the world (paganism) and holy.  God and paganism don't mix.  Now when I see Easter eggs during this time of year I just cringe... what a slap in His face.  And the enemy couldn't be happier.  And so many people have no clue... that's what makes me so sad.  And that is why I am posting this.  It is our responsibility to know what we are doing and why. 

My prayer is that one person will be moved to read and research about how "Christian Holidays" are being celebrated and WHY?  We are so many years removed from Constantine who implemented most of this stuff for the power and promotion of Rome and the Catholic Church... that you have to look for it to find it. God says that those who seek Him and knowledge will find it... that wisdom and insight will be given to those who search for it... and He blesses you more than you can ever imagine when you do.  

We are entering a beautiful and holy week.
  

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