Battle for the minds of men

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Another sacred law is "thou shalt not bear false witness" which is another way of saying thou shalt not lie. The Ten Commandments is the foundation of morals that we are to live by. There are many sins not mentioned in detail but in the summary of the Ten they are included just like lust is included under adultery.

 

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"Thou shalt not commit adultery" This Law is dealing with adultery is also dealing with the sacredness of marriage. How does God view the marital arrangement? The answer is found in his Word, "Let marriage be honorable among all." The Greek word translated "honorable" carries the thought of something that is precious and highly esteemed. When we value something, we take care to preserve it and not to lose it, even accidentally. The same should be true of the marriage arrangement. Believers are to view it as honorable as in something precious that they want to protect.

Obviously, God created marriage as a sacred arrangement between a husband and wife. But how can we show that we share his view of the sacredness of marriage? by not lusting as Yeshua pointed out, by not committing adultery.

Love and Respect is honoring the marital arrangement and requires that marriage mates to hold the relationship as sacred. The apostle Paul wrote "Let each one of you individually so love his wife as he does himself; on the other hand, the wife should have deep respect for her husband."

A good intention has to be looked at from the heart of the matter. Does the appearance of the good intention have an evil ulterior motive? Well that doesn't work with the Lord because He sees everything from the heart of the matter and there is no end that justifies the means. So lying is always immoral; and if we treat telling the truth as sacred duty we would be fulfilling the Law.

And that is how you enter into the eternal life. Live the sacred life. Our capacity to enter into sacred relationships depends in great measure upon our heart's awakening to a sufficient degree so that we feel grateful for all encounters with others who cross our path. Gratitude may be seen as a signpost of the heart's opening, and an indication that the self is no longer willing to act out of unconsciousness, indifference, or motives that are less than respectful of the sacred life of others.

 

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In all of this we can see God's reasoning for telling us to consider Him as sacred, like a marriage relationship, with Him only as our Husband. We can see the reasoning to also not use His name flippantly, or irreverently as it has been set aside for Him only, and this is a sacred trust that He reveals Himself to us. We are not to make any image with our hands but are to be transformed into His image and this He will do in us. We are to meet with Him at the time He has set aside for us. He sets the time on His calendar, and appointed time, and He will keep His end of the bargain. You can trust God to be there. He holds this to be very sacred time. As Peter says, “It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.”

Part of that transformation into His image is also into keep His sacred Laws perfectly like Him. For the Law of God is spiritual and comes from our Lord who is Spirit. We will not veil our faces because others can not stand to be in the presence of such glory. For we will be with those who also are glorious with His glory just like it is in us. Yeah that glorious stone tablet with His Sacred Commandments is written on our heart. We have joined in a sacred relationship with Him.

 

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The commandment to honor one's human parents is compared to honoring God and a sacred obligation. As God says. “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?" says the LORD Almighty. "It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name. "But you ask, 'How have we shown contempt for your name?” Yeshua stands up for the sacred importance of honoring one's father and mother. Paul quotes the commandment in his letter to the church in Ephesus. In his letters to the Romans and Timothy, Paul describes disobedience to parents as a serious sin.

For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the DOERS of the law shall be justified. That is the power of the Holy Sacred Laws of God; they are spiritual and have the power to bring to light that which is done in the dark. The Law when the Holy Spirit lights upon it, brings enlightenment to the mind, and if there is no rebellion of that mind against what the Law says, it will convict, convert, and transform the person into a person who obeys God’s Laws. Do you know the difference between working the law for justification, and living in the spirit and intent God intended the Law to be lived in our hearts, minds, thoughts, words and deeds?

Letter obedience is when you do right up to the letter of the Law. Spiritual obedience is when you go above and beyond the letter and do it in the spirit of love and in the intent which God wrote the Law of God. Love God and love your neighbors. As Yeshua said, “For I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

Love would not violate the spirit or intent of the Law of God; that is why they are sacred. That is why they are to be meditated upon, so that we pray about not coming even near breaking them. So that we can see what Yeshua is saying about even lust is breaking "thou shalt not commit adultery". How much more of the training God has in store for those who look for His Way, His Truth, and His Life to live?

 

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Another sacred issue with God is the use of His name. "Do not swear falsely by the name of the LORD..."

This is a prohibition against making false oaths in the name of the God, specifically those which are pointless, insincere or never carried out. I think we can also include swearing using the Lord name asking Him to curse this or that, not even realizing what we are asking for. If God granted the words out of our mouth, wouldn't our world be what we would call a very bad case of "bad luck" and the sad thing is we wouldn't even realize why.

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour."

"Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;" Our world is FULL of falsehoods because people are not taught the sacredness of the Ten commandments. If fact, some feel that lying is an ART form to be developed. Many of you who have been in the work force or have encounter the way the sales market is handled know what I am saying when I say that Merchants lie to get sales, Politicians lie to get votes, and sad to say but some preachers lie. What a better world we would live in if we could trust what we have been told; when people's words were as good as gold. But not even your world is of much value because we no longer hold the Ten as sacred.
That law of ten precepts of the greatest love that can be presented to man is like the voice of God from heaven speaking to the soul in promise, “This do, and you will not come under the dominion and control of Satan.” There is not a negative in that law, although it may appear thus. It is DO and Live.

 

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Right from the very beginning, God had an established kingdom with Laws and that was before He even created earth. The condition of eternal life is now just what it always has been obedience to His Laws. Just like it was in the Garden of Eden before the fall. It is perfect obedience to the law of God, perfect righteousness which Yeshua showed can be done. Not as man sees it but as God intended it. If eternal life were granted on any condition short of this, then the happiness of the whole universe would be imperiled. The way would be open for sin, with all its train of woe and misery, to be immortalized. And that is not going to happen. It all stands or God is wrong. And God is not wrong. Therefore the Laws of God are sacred and will last for all eternity.

Yeshua does not lessen the claims of the law but told the lawyer that if he wanted eternal life, he must keep the commandments. In unmistakable language He presents obedience to it as the condition of eternal life, the same condition that was required of Adam before his fall.

The requirement under the covenant of grace is just as broad as the requirement made in Eden, it must be in harmony with God’s law, which is holy, just, and good.

The standard of character presented in the Old Testament is the same that is presented in the New Testament. This standard is not one to which we cannot attain. In every command or injunction that God gives there is a promise, the most positive, underlying the command. God has made provision that we may become like unto Him, and He will accomplish this for all who do.

The sacred law of God will maintain its exalted character as long as the throne of God stands. This sacred law is the expression of God’s character. Types and shadows, especially the offerings and sacrifices section written on parchment, are found in Yeshua's death on the cross; but God’s law was not crucified with Christ. The law of the Ten Commandments lives and will live through the eternal ages. God did not make the infinite sacrifice of giving His only-begotten Son to our world, to secure for man the privilege of breaking the commandments of God in this life and in the future eternal life.

 

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The cross speaks to the hosts of heaven, to worlds unfallen, and to the fallen world, the value which God has placed upon men, and of His great love wherewith He has loved us. It testifies to the world, to angels, and to men, the immutability of the divine law. The death of God’s only begotten Son upon the cross in the sinner’s behalf is the unanswerable argument as to the changeless character of the sacredness and holiness of the Law of God.

In God's world it has only been a few days. The blessings of the new covenant are grounded purely on mercy in forgiving unrighteousness and sins. The Lord specifies, I will do thus and thus unto all who turn to Me, forsaking the evil and choosing the good. As scripture says “I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” All who humble their hearts, confessing their sins, will find mercy and grace and assurance.

 

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Some things never change, but become clearer. Has God, in showing mercy to the sinner, ceased to be just? Has He dishonored His holy law, and will He henceforth pass over the violation of it? God is true. He changes not. The conditions of salvation are ever the same. Life, eternal life, is for all who will obey God’s law.

Perfect obedience, revealed in thought, word, and deed, is as essential now as when the lawyer asked Yeshua, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Yeshua said to him, “What is written in the law? how readest thou? .... this do, and thou shalt live” “Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.”

 

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Spiritual Feasts for Believers
The most important aspects of Yeshua’s ministry in heaven is found in the fall feasts. Because of their prophetic nature, as seen in the spring time feasts fulfillment in Yeshua’s first coming, we will need to understand the fall feasts in the same light. We will start with the spring time feasts and then continue with the fall feasts.

Yeshua brought it to the disciples attention, which all followers of Him should heed... “And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.”

You will find Yeshua and His ministry spoken of prophectically in the law of Moses [that which is written on parchment] and in the prophets and in the psalms. There fore let no man therefore judge you in how you obey God whether it is in the food or drink, or in respect of a holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days which the Lord has commanded His people to do.; which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

 

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Prophetic time and its various calculations have been used to understanding Bible prophecies, but there are problems. The Bible is full of prophecies concerning things that are susposed to happen at future times, but only rarely do those prophecies include dates or time periods which would allow the reader to know exactly when the fulfillment time has actually arrived. This is where the importance of being under the influence of the Holy Spirit indwelling, guiding you through the Word of God, turns you into another person, one whose mind can understand the mind of God and sees things the way that the Lord sees things. “And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and you shalt prophesy
with them, and shalt be turned into another man.”

Many a believer gets frustrated with the task of trying to connect ambiguous prophetic statements with the proper historic events only to find a weakness in the theory later. Since a given prophecy is itself often subjected to various interpretations, there is typically a lot controversy about which, if any, historic events, organizations, religious groups, political parties, governments are the correct ones relating to the prophecy. The problem is compounded when attempts are made to explain ancient Bible prophecies in terms of new future fulfillments. Do the terms that the prophets use, change with the times to mean something different that what was the prophet understood at the time when they wrote it down? Yeshua understood this difficulty when He spoke about the prophecy of Isaiah.

 

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By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive. For those that are the fulfillment of the prophecy, they will not see that if they do not understand, see or perceive, then they will become the fulfillment and it will not be in a good way. Sometimes it is hard to imagine, and sometimes it is extremely easy to see prophecies given could really be relevant to our day, all depending on the depth of experience with the Lord and the gift of discernment he has given.

Past attempts to make such connections have usually proven to be false as popular religious fevers over new light have caused disillusionment. It ends up adding to even greater skepticism by the old guard in the faith regarding any future attempts. Problems like these have caused many people to hold the study of prophecies in an attitude of “it is not meant to be understood” or “it is beyond me” type of despair or disgust, yet the Paul said, “Do not despise prophecies.”

 

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So here we are and must go back to the Bible for answers.

Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nothing: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory. Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.

In other words, if it was something that could be seen which the Holy Spirit, the princes of the world would have destroyoud this information in any manner possible especially in the Word of God as found in various translations of Holy Scriptures. It is only revealed to his holy apostles and prophets, the true believers, by the workings of the Holy Spirit, and therefore there remains a blindness upon the unbelievers for our salvation. God has, from the beginning, moved forward with His plan and each step must be gone over by us in prayerful study so that we may understand God’s Will. In these last days of earth’s history, it will be revealed in its fulness and glory.

It is for the salvation of the human race. Yeshua will finish this work according to the Will of God which is known as our true predestination.

God has had a plan, from the beginning which is the fulness of Yeshua Christ’s ministry, that He has worked out and it is now in its final phase. The final phase is to have a people who are conformed to the image of His Son.

 

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The mystery of God has been made up of all the individual mysteries found in God’s Word. When our hearts are being knitted together in truth that is found in the Word of God under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we will have the mystery of God revealed in its fulness and glory. God’s last call is known as a Holy Calling.

Good works that are not ordained of God are like filthy rags. Only God-ordained works contribute to His purposes. All that God will do is move His purpose closer to completion. It is Holy and Perfect lasting for eternity. What does it take for us to fully understand that God wants to adopt us as His Own, and we are to be like His only Begotten Son.

God's people have forgotten that God and His Word are found in the entire Bible. We need to "feast upon" the roots and branches of God's Word as they are found in the old testament and find the harmony that is in the new testament. Because of our lack of feasting upon all the available spiritual knowledge contained in His Word, people think that there is nothing more that what they have already heard and known but it is not so and God is soon change all that so that we wake up,

 

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This “her” in Hosea is the whore and harlot’s changing the truth and the way that God wants His people to see and understand His Word and many have accepted it while the Lord turns up His nose. God warns, “If you will not hear, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto My name, said the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: Yet, I have cursed them already, because you do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it.”

Unless we take heed, we too, will be cursed. So think not that ignorance is bliss or you will be forgiven for not advancing in spiritual knowledge and can get away with having our own type of feasts and think it will be ok with God. Let us not get into our man made feasts, nor feasts that religious institutions make up, but follow God and do His feasts.

 

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The True Feasts of God
God’s plan for the salvation of humanity is shown by the seven feasts He gave to ancient Israel in Leviticus 23. God told the people of Israel to celebrate these feasts as "lasting ordinances." The seven feasts are patterns that describe the two comings of Yeshua. While most Jewish people still celebrate the feasts, it’s unfortunate that many don’t understand Yeshua’ fulfillment of them, and thus miss the Christ that was sent for their salvation. It is also unfortunate that most don’t study and learn about the feasts, let alone celebrate the feasts, for if they did then they would more clearly see how the feasts symbolize Yeshua’ work both for His first coming and His second. They could then better understand and praise God and rejoice in His plan for the salvation, for they would see His plan laid out in the feasts.

As we get into more detail, you will understand why so many of these ceremonial sabbaths are called "feasts"as they are truly wonderful spiritual food essential for the last days. Each feast is different and each are very beneficial for the body of the bride.

 

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If you understand the rehearsals, then you will know what is your role is in the last drama that will involve the whole world will be. You can learn the role that God wants you to have, or you will be caught up in the greatest deception this world has ever seen.

I will try to show the accuracy in which Yeshua fulfilled the spring feasts at His first appearance. It should lead you to believe the fall feasts will also have their fulfillment with His second coming. In understanding the rehearsals of the fall feasts and the implied implications of the reality involvement dealing with His second coming, we should then be better prepared for the end times, having a better understanding of where we are to spiritually be, spiritually better prepared for what is to come upon the earth, and truly closer to the Lord that He may protect us from what is soon to come upon the earth.

The Lord made a special announcement regarding three of the feasts in which there is a demand for everyone to attend and not miss. Three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles are we to gather. The basic meaning of the three festivals where it is mandatory for all men to appear before the temple of God are for the blessing contained within.

 

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Pesach or Passover is known as the festival of freedom from bondage. It is freedom from the bondage of the Pharoahs of our life. Through the sacrifice and blood of our Lord Yeshua on the cross, we have freedom from sin. Sin, the leaven that we are to no longer partake of and do.
Shavuot better known as the Feasts of Weeks or Pentecost is the festival of walking in freedom towards the Promised Land. At the first Pentecost people were given the Laws of God that are to govern our day to day life, as shown to Moses on Mount Sinai. This is also the time of the first fruits of the harvest of believers that received the Holy Spirit. Sukkot or Feast of Tabernacles is the festival of fellowship and union with God, a “God with us”, understanding. As was illustrated in the forty years in the wilderness, with God dwelling with his people in the tabernacle and latter in the temple at Jerusalem, it is the ultimate goal of God to be with us. In the great ingathering, at the end of time, believers are the wife of the Lamb. It is forever that God wishes to have this union with man.

As we have mentioned, the Sabbath is not included in the cycle of seven festivals. The weekly Sabbath runs through the year. The weekly Sabbath stand alone as one of the commandments that is written in stone, as immutable as the other nine commandments. It is the unifying underlying significant commandment that God tells His People to Remember because of its significant role in the ultimate plan of God’s salvation for His people.

 

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The Sabbaths are not called the Jewish Sabbaths, God calls them MY Sabbaths. We have significant reasons for studying the festivals as they are of God and are considered Holy Convocations. Convocations are like conventions where people are called to be at a certain time and place, and assembled with the understanding that they are to learn something that is important for their future health and welfare. All festivals are a memorial of the historical events, prophetic indicating they have a future complete fulfillment, teach about the Yeshua our Redeemer’s work, and are agricultural in content representing Yeshua’s crop from the planting of seed to the last great harvest. All of the festivals teach you about your personal relationship with God and how a believer should grow in the knowledge of Yeshua, growing into maturity and into His likeness. Working our way through the whole chapter of Leviticus 23, the sacred ceremonial Sabbaths along with the Weekly Sabbath of the Lord’s are presented in order. Chapter 23 of Leviticus covers all seven feasts.

Leviticus 23:1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'These are my appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of the LORD , which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.

The Lord’s Sabbath

3 'There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the LORD .

The Passover and Unleavened Bread

4 'These are the LORD's appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times: 5 The LORD's Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. 6 On the fifteenth day of that month the LORD's Feast of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made which Yetst. 7 On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. 8 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.

Firstfruits

9 The LORD said to Moses, 10 Speak to the Israelites and say to them: '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. 11 He is to wave the sheaf before the LORD so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. 12 On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the LORD a lamb a year old which defect, 13 together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil-an offering made to the LORD by fire, a pleasing aroma-and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine. 14 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.

Feast of Weeks (Pentecost)

15 'From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. 16 Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the LORD .17 From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two tenths of an ephah of fine flour, baked with Yetst, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the LORD . 18 Present with this bread seven male lambs, each a year old and which defect, one young bull and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the LORD , together with their grain offerings and drink offerings and offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the LORD . 19 Then sacrifice one male goat for a sin offering and two lambs, each a year old, for a fellowship offering. 20 The priest is to wave the two lambs before the LORD as a wave offering, together with the bread of the firstfruits. They are a sacred offering to the LORD for the priest. 21 On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly and do no regular work. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live. 22 When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.'

Feast of Trumpets

3 The LORD said to Moses, 24 "Say to the Israelites: 'On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. 25 Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the LORD by fire.

Day of Atonement

26 The LORD said to Moses, 27 "The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present an offering made to the LORD by fire. 28 Do no work on that day, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the LORD your God. 29 Anyone who does not deny himself on that day must be cut off from his people. 30 I will destroy from among his people anyone who does any work on that day. 31 You shall do no work at all. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live. 32 It is a sabbath of rest for you, and you must deny yourselves. From the evening of the ninth day of the month until the following evening you are to observe your sabbath."

Feast of Tabernacles

33 The LORD said to Moses, 34 "Say to the Israelites: 'On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the LORD's Feast of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days. 35 The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work. 36 For seven days present offerings made to the LORD by fire, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present an offering made to the LORD by fire. It is the closing assembly; do no regular work. 37 'These are the LORD's appointed feasts, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies for bringing offerings made to the LORD by fire-he burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings required for each day. 38 These offerings are in addition to those for the LORD's Sabbaths and in addition to your gifts and whatever you have vowed and all the freewill offerings you give to the LORD . 39 So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the LORD for seven days; the first day is a day of rest, and the eighth day also is a day of rest. 40 On the first day you are to take choice fruit from the trees, and palm fronds, leafy branches and poplars, and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. 41 Celebrate this as a festival to the LORD for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 Live in booths for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in booths 43 so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God. 44 So Moses announced to the Israelites the appointed feasts of the LORD .

 

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There are seven feasts; four in the spring and three in the fall. God gave these feasts, the set feasts or appointed seasons of the Lord to teach us about Christ’s ministry. Christ would come twice, as faithful as the rain in the spring and then later again the rain in the fall; once in the spring and once in the fall. The harvest that Christ is looking forward to is us, from the seeds he planted in our hearts, to the full mature plant bearing fruit of the Spirit.

Yeshua fulfilled the four spring festivals when He came the first time. The four spring time feasts that He fulfilled are the Passover, the Feast of Unleaven Bread, the Wave Sheaf or First Fruits and the Feasts of Weeks or Pentecost. Let us take a look at these four feasts as see some of the things that the Lord did to fulfill them.

 

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Passover
Passover (Exodus 12.5-11; Leviticus 23.5) The slaying of the lamb and Exodus out of Egypt are the symbolic type upon which the feast was first instituted. Historically before Christ, Passover marked the national liberation of the Hebrews from Egyptian slavery. (See Exodus 12:2-11) Passover literally means the lamb. God instructed each family to take an unblemished year-old male lamb into their home on the tenth day of the first month. They were to examine the lamb for four days to see that it was perfect. On the evening of the fourth day, they were to kill the lamb and take some of the lamb’s blood and place it on the two doorposts and the lintel of their house.

On this first Passover, the avenging angel of God killed every first born male throughout the land, from Pharaoh, to slave, to camel. The angel of death would pass over those homes which the homeowners believers protected themselves by placing the blood of a lamb on their doorposts and lintels. So are we today to place the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of our heart and mind to protect us from the final plagues that will be meted out in the end of earth’s history.