Trumpets

God’s Calendar

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the sky to separate the day from the night. They will be signs and will mark religious festivals, days, and years.
(Genesis 1:4, God’s Word Translation)

God’s Calendar – Introduction

Like most Messianic disciples I always believed the Hebrew lunisolar calendar the Jewish religion uses was God’s calendar. After all, they’ve been using it for thousands of years. But, while driving home after eight days of Sukkot camping I listened to Dr. Michael Heiser’s podcast teaching on Revelation chapter 11. Paraphrasing, he concluded that:

‘If you want to understand the numbers in Daniel (i.e., 1260, 1290, 1335, 2300) you must use the Zadokite solar calendar. It’s the only calendar that fits.’

Until I heard this statement I’d never seriously questioned the validity of the traditional Hebrew lunisolar calendar. A few months ago someone mentioned the Enoch solar calendar, but after looking into it I quickly dismissed it because it didn’t keep the weekly Sabbath day on Saturday, the 7^th Day… I wondered how the Zadokite solar calendar was different.

Of course, I know of many minor lunar calendar disputes that constantly brew within Jewish/Messianic communities. For example, in my local fellowship there is a discussion concerning what constitutes the new moon?

Is the new moon when the moon totally disappears at conjunction? Or,
Is the new moon when the first sliver is sighted by two witnesses?
The answer determines when each month begins, which controls the dates for Passover, Pentecost, Atonement, etc., on the lunar calendar.

And so, Dr. Heiser’s statement was revolutionary, a potential paradigm shift, sending me on an investigative journey that resulted in this article.

The result of my investigation is that I’m now convinced the solar Zadokite calendar is God’s calendar.

From Noah’s flood in 2348 BC until Antiochus IV Epiphanes (who is the prototype for the final Antichrist) changed it in 167 BC, the evidence clearly proves (to me) the Zadokite calendar was the calendar of God’s covenant people.
If that’s true, it is still the calendar God uses—regardless of whether mankind uses it or not.

Ancient Witnesses to God’s Solar Calendar

Here is the body of evidence that convinced me God’s calendar is the solar Zadokite calendar. This evidence is from Genesis, Daniel, Enoch, Jubilees, Solomon’s Temple, and the Dead Sea Scrolls showing (explicit and inferred) proofs that—for thousands of years—YHWH’s ancient disciples used a solar 364-day calendar…not a lunar 354-day calendar.

Genesis

The Book of Genesis says the flood waters prevailed 150 days over exactly five months. Since the lunar calendar has both 29 and 30-day months, it won’t tally 150 days in five months. Therefore, we can deduce from Genesis that Noah used a solar calendar with 5 months of thirty days each. Here are the details:

The rain started on the 17^th day of the 2^nd month. (Genesis 7:11)
The waters prevailed on the earth for 150 days. (Genesis 7:24)
After 150 days the waters had gone down. On the 17^th day of the 7^th month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. (Genesis 8:3-4)

Daniel

Dr. Michael Heiser states that to understand the prophetic numbers in Daniel (i.e., 1260, 1290, 1335, etc.) you must use the Zadokite solar calendar. Heiser states, ‘If you want to make sense of the numbers, historically and eschatalogically, the only way it makes sense within a Jewish/Old Testament/Second Temple Jewish context is if you use this calendar.’ NB-381 Transcript, see page 13
Dr. Michael Heiser (MH) quotes Dr. Boccaccini, “Daniel 7:25 blames the iniquitous king, Antiochus Epiphanes, for “changing times” in Temple worship. According to A. Jaubert and J. C. VanderKam [MH: who are two experts on this chronology], this marks the occasion on which the Hellenistic lunar calendar definitively replaced the old Zadokite solar calendar, which Jubilees and [MH: the people at] Qumran would seek in vain to restore after the Maccabean revolt. (The Book of Daniel, Composition and Reception, Vol II, Pg 311)

1 Enoch

Blessed are all the righteous, blessed are all those who walk in the way of righteousness and sin not as the sinners, in the reckoning of all their days in which the sun traverses the heaven, entering into and departing the portals for thirty days, with the heads of thousands of the order of the stars, together with the four which are intercalated, which divide the four portions of the year, which lead them and enter with them four days.

Owing to them men shall be at fault and not reckon them in the whole reckoning of the year: yea, men shall be at fault, and not recognize them accurately.

For they belong to the reckoning of the year and are truly recorded (thereon) for ever, one in the first portal and one in the third, and one in the fourth and one in the sixth, and the year is completed in three hundred and sixty-four days. (1 Enoch 82:4-6)

Note: A solar calendar produces a 364-day year, while a lunar calendar produces a 354-day year. Therefore, the reference to 364 above is solar, and 354 (“ten days too soon” in the following ‘Book of Jubilees’ quote) is lunar.

Jubilees

“And all the children of Israel will forget, and will not find the path of the years, and will forget the new moons, and seasons, and sabbaths, and they will go wrong as to all the order of the years. For I know and from henceforth shall I declare it unto thee, and it is not of my own devising; for the book (lieth) written before me, and on the heavenly tables the division of days is ordained, lest they forget the feasts of the covenant and walk according to the feasts of the Gentiles after their error and after their ignorance. For there will be those who will assuredly make observations of the moon–now (it) disturbeth the seasons and cometh in from year to year ten days too soon.

For this reason, the years will come upon them when they will disturb (the order) and make an abominable (day) the day of testimony, and an unclean day a feast day, and they will confound all the days, the holy with the unclean, and the unclean day with the holy; for they will go wrong as to the months and sabbaths and feasts and jubilees. For this reason, I command and testify to thee that thou mayest testify to them; for after thy death thy children will disturb (them), so that they will not make the year three hundred and sixty-four days only, and for this reason they will go wrong as to the new moons and seasons and sabbaths and festivals, and they will eat all kinds of blood with all kinds of flesh.” (Jubilees 6:34-38)

Solomon’s Temple Designed for God’s Calendar

The Jewish Talmud tells us Solomon architected YHWH’s temple to reveal the exact times of the sun’s equinoxes and solstices at Jerusalem. This is because the vernal (spring) equinox controls the beginning of the year on the Zadokite calendar.

“The East Gate into the temple used to be called the Sun Gate or Sunrise Gate. The Sun Gate was used to record the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. Before the exile into Babylon, it was held to be of imperative necessity that on two days of the year the sun shone directly through the Eastern Gate and through all the Eastern Gates of the Temple arranged in a line, directly into the very heart of the Temple proper. The Eastern Gate, also called the Sun Gate, served not only to check the equinoxes, when the sun rises exactly in the east, but the solstices as well: a device on the Eastern Gate was designed to reflect the first rays of the sun on the summer and winter solstices, when the sun rises in the southeast and the northeast respectively.”
The Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Erubim 22c

Dead Sea Scrolls

“The Qumran sect believed that God had entrusted them with the innermost secrets of the structure of the universe, including the secret of the true calendar and the exact dates of the festivals. They used a solar calendar, with the year consisting of 364 days. It was divided into twelve months of thirty days, with the exception of the third, sixth, ninth, and twelfth months, which had thirty-one days each. According to this calendar, the festivals always fell on the same day of the week: Passover on a Wednesday, the Festival of Weeks of a Sunday, and the Day of Atonement on a Friday.” (Pg34, The Bible in the Shrine of the Book, From the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Aleppo Codex, Adolfo Roitman, The Israeli Museum, Jerusalem, 2006.)
“The lunar calendar, which Judaism follows to this day, requires a large number of human decisions. People must look at the stars and moon and report on their observations, and someone must be empowered to decide on the new month and the application of leap years. By contrast, the 364-day calendar was perfect,” they write in the Journal of Biblical Literature. “Because this number can be divided into four and seven, special occasions always fall on the same day. This avoids the need to decide, for example, what happens when a particular occasion falls on the Sabbath, as often happens in the lunar calendar. The Qumran calendar is unchanging, and it appears to have embodied the beliefs of the members of this community regarding perfection and holiness.” (TheGuardian, 26 Jan 2018)
The Zadokite calendar was ‘the official temple calendar up to the Maccabean period.’ (The Book of Daniel, Composition and Reception, Vol II, Pg 326)
Dr. Heiser said, “Do you realize that the calendar used today by Judaism (the lunar calendar) was viewed as an apostate, awful thing by the Jews who wrote Jubilees and who lived at Qumran (the Essenes) and the book of Enoch as well. Those are solar calendars. And those are the calendars they believed originated at the time of creation. Everything else was an inferior system…This is what led to the split that created the Qumran community. This was a big deal for them. Because now you’re using a human calendar, one that you have to adjust by arbitrarily adding a month every now and then, as opposed to God’s perfect mathematical calendar. This is an abomination. They never won that fight…Antiochus Epiphanes “changes the times” in the temple worship. They go back to the lunar calendar. They replace the solar calendar.” (NB-381 Transcript, see pages 8-9)

A Dead Sea Scroll in Jerusalem’s ‘Shrine of the Book’ Museum

Book of Revelation

Dr. Heiser said, “The only ancient text that explicitly elaborates on the figure of Daniel [MH: this numerical figure] is the Revelation of John, and it is strikingly straightforward. The time of persecution is a period of “42 months” [MH: Revelation] (11:2; 13:5), or [MH: it’s described as] “1,260 days” (11:3; 12:6), or “a time, two times and a half time” (12:14).

According to the book of Revelation, therefore, Daniel would have known a solar calendar of twelve 30-day months, which makes a year of 360 days. In fact, such a calendar allows us to establish a sensible relationship among the three calendrical references in Daniel 12. A consistent and proportioned series links the “half week” (1,260 days) to the 1,290 days ([MH: by virtue of] the addition of one 30-day month), which in turn becomes 1,335 days with the further addition of one 30-day month and a half [MH: 30-day month]. (NB-381 Transcript, see page 10)

HOW Israel Transitioned from God’s Solar Calendar to a Lunar Calendar

In view of the clear evidence that the Zadokite solar calendar was (and is still) God’s calendar, what caused the Jewish religion to change from the solar calendar to a lunar calendar?

Overview of the Jewish Transition from Solar to Lunar Calendar

Onias III was the last faithful high priest in Israel. He was a son of Zadok, descended from both Aaron and Levi. His tenure ended in 175 BC.
When the gentile Antiochus Epiphanes assumed Seleucid rulership over Israel in 175 BC, he replaced Onias III with Onias’ brother Jason. Unlike Onias, Jason was a hellenist who favored Greek culture.
Within three years Antiochus replaced Jason with the totally corrupt Menelaus, of the tribe of Benjamin, who sold precious temple vessels to purchase the position of high priest. He then murdered Onias III after Onias exposed him.
- Antiochus and Menelaus changed the calendar from solar to lunar (The Book of Daniel, Composition and Reception, Vol II, Pg 326)
- In 167 BC Antiochus defiled the temple with pig blood, erected a statue of Zeus, forbade the Sabbath, circumcision, etc.
- These abominations caused the Maccabean revolt, which the Maccabees won
Following their victory over Antiochus in 164 BC, hellenist Jewish leaders compromised with their Seleucid (Greek) rulers by (1) keeping Menelaus as high priest, and (2) keeping the Gentiles’ lunar calendar.
- As a result of this compromise, from 167 BC until today the Jewish religion still uses the lunar calendar.
From Menelaus (172 BC) until the Romans destroyed the temple in 70 AD, Gentile rulers sold the high priesthood to the highest bidder.
The Jewish religion is without temple or priests since 70 AD, fulfilling Yeshua’s prophesy, “Your house is left unto you desolate.”

Details of the Jewish Transition from Solar to Lunar Calendar

This section expands on the summary version above, providing more details and dates.

Onias III, 199-175 BC

Before Antiochus Epiphanes became king, Onias III was the last faithful Aaronic ‘son of Zadok’ to serve as Jewish high priest. Second Maccabees chapter 4 chronicles the betrayal and intrigue of his downfall.

Jason, 175-172 BC

In 175 BC, the new Seleucid ruler, Antiochus Epiphanes, forced Onias III to yield his office to Jason, his brother. Jason was a hellenist sympathizer who only occupied the position three years until 172 BC, when Menelaus deceptively ousted him.

“Jason forthwith brought his own nation to Greekish fashion.”
2 Maccabees 4:10

Antiochus IV Epiphanes, 175-163 BC

After more than 7 years as ruler over the Jews, in 167 BC the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes did two things: he

Desecrated the Jewish temple in an ‘abomination of desolation,’ and he
Changed the Jewish calendar from solar to lunar, thereby changing God’s moedim–His ‘appointed times.’ (1 Maccabees 1:41-50)

Antiochus polluted the temple with pig’s blood on God’s altar and erecting a statue of Zeus, whose face resembled Antiochus’ own likeness. Antiochus also outlawed circumcision and Sabbath observance, making violations punishable by death.

These abominations resulted in the Maccabean revolt in 166 BC. The Maccabees finally defeated Antiochus’ army, cleansing and rededicating the temple in 164 BC.

According to 2 Maccabees 5:14-15, Antiochus (guided by Menelaus) killed 80,000 Jews and sold 80,000 others into slavery.

Antiochus Epiphanes died horribly in 164 BC, with every bone broken in a chariot accident and his flesh swarming with worms.

Menelaus, 172-161 BC

In 172 BC Antiochus put the high priest’s office up for auction and Menelaus, a Benjaminite, outbid Jason, deposing him as high priest.

Menelaus didn’t have the money he bid for this sacred office, so he stole sacred temple vessels to raise the sum he needed.

When Onias III heard of this, he publicly accused Menelaus of robbing the temple. To quiet him, Menelaus sent assassins who killed Onias III.

Menelaus was high priest during the Maccabean revolt against Antiochus Epiphanes.

According to II Maccabees, Menelaus is responsible for persuading Antiochus to hellenize Jewish worship, including changing the Jewish calendar from solar to lunar in 167 BC.

After the Jewish Maccabee victory over Antiochus and the recapture of Jerusalem in 164 BC, Maccabean leaders made a political decision to keep the corrupt Menelaus as high priest in the restored and cleansed Jewish temple.

“Despite their firm opposition to the Hellenists, the Maccabees retained the newly-introduced lunar calendar.” (The Book of Daniel, Composition and Reception, Vol II, Pg 327)

The corrupt Menelaus occupied the high priest office for 11 years, from 172 BC until his execution by Antiochus’ successor in 161 BC.

Divided Jewry, from 164 BC to 73 AD

Following the Jewish Maccabees’ victory over Antiochus in 164 BC, Jewish leaders compromised with their Seleucid rulers, keeping the lunar calendar. This compromise caused a split between Hellenistic and traditional Jewish religious groups.

Hellenist Jews mixed Greek culture with Jewish traditions. As a result, they adopted the lunar calendar, liberalized Torah observance, elevated ‘oral traditions,’ and cancelled God’s requirement that high priests be descendants of Aaron, i.e., Menelaus.
In contrast, traditional Jewish leaders believed in keeping the solar calendar, following the Torah, and restricting the priesthood to the sons of Levi/Zadok.
- But, with Judah under Seleucid rulership, this party lacked any political support to exist.
- As a result, they left Jerusalem, ‘shaking the dust from their feet’ to form a monastic community in the desert wilderness at Qumran.
- In Qumran the ‘Zadokites’ saw themselves as the ‘sons of Zadok’ in Ezekiel’s apocalyptic temple prophecy.

The ‘Sons of Zadok’ Prophecy in Ezekiel

The Zadokites in Qumran considered the Hellenists in Jerusalem to be apostate from YHWH, while they considered themselves to be the prophetic ‘sons of Zadok’ in Ezekiel’s prophecy.

The prophet Ezekiel lived 400 years before the events of 167 BC. Within his end-time temple ministries Ezekiel prophesied explicitly about apostate priests versus the sons of Zadok, “who kept charge of My sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from Me.” (Ezekiel 44:15)

About the apostate priests Ezekiel wrote:

Surely the Levites who wandered away from Me when Israel went astray, and who wandered away from Me after their idols, will bear the consequences of their iniquity. Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, having charge of the gates of the temple and ministering there. They shall slaughter the burnt offerings and other sacrifices for the people and stand before them to minister to them.
Because they ministered before their idols and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I swore with an uplifted hand concerning them that they would bear the consequences of their iniquity, declares the Lord GOD. They must not approach Me to serve Me as priests or come near any of My holy things or the most holy things. They will bear the shame of the abominations they have committed.
Ezekiel 44:10-13

Ezekiel then proceeded, writing:

But the Levitical priests, who are descended from Zadok and who kept charge of My sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from Me, are to approach Me to minister before Me. They will stand before Me to offer Me fat and blood, declares the Lord GOD. They alone shall enter My sanctuary and draw near to My table to minister before Me. They will keep My charge…In regard to their inheritance, I am their inheritance. You are to give them no possession in Israel, for I am their possession.
Ezekiel 44:15-16, 28

The Zadokites in Qumran applied Ezekiel’s ‘sons of Zadok’ prophecy to themselves, believing the Jerusalem hellenizers were “the Levites who wandered away from YHWH.”

The Zadokites dwelt in Qumran more than 100 years, until the Romans destroyed their community between 68-73 AD.

The Jewish Religion from 73 AD to Today

For more than 1800 years after the Romans destroyed the Qumran community (until a boy discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1946) the world forgot everything about the Zadokites’ beliefs, their writings, and God’s calendar.

In the meantime, since 167 BC all Jewish religious sects continue using the lunar calendar. That is, each month starts with a ‘new moon’ and when this calendar gets ‘out of sync’ with the four seasons a 13^th month is added to compensate.

The Bible, Talmud, Mishnah, etc.

As Winston Churchill famously said, “History is written by the victors.”

Regarding God’s calendar, the historical victors (so far) are the proponents of Hellenistic Judaism.

The Zadokites fled from Jerusalem in 167 BC, becoming a marginalized Jewish sect in the desert under the Seleucids. Then, the Romans completely destroyed them around 67-73 AD and they disappeared from history—until a boy discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1946.
Meanwhile, Hellenistic Judaism continued in the Jerusalem temple under the Seleucids and then the Romans, until the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and exiled surviving Jews from their land in 70 AD. But, even as exiles among the nations for almost two millennia, their version of Hellenistic Judaism still survives today.

Therefore, since before the Pharisees and Sadducees existed, and 1600 years before Gothenburg invented the printing press, the world has only known the Hellenistic version of Judaism—which uses the Gentiles’ lunar calendar.

Fast forward to today… all Jewish and Christian writers, Bible translators, and publishers assume the Jewish religion’s 2100-year-old lunar calendar is correct. Since it’s so ancient, all our Bible translations and seminaries have this perspective.

What is God’s Calendar?

This section briefly describes the Zadokite calendar and its benefits. Use the hyperlinked resources at the end of this article for more-detailed study.

Description

In the Zadokite calendar the year always contains 364 days.
Each year consists of twelve months of thirty days each, plus four additional days, one of which is intercalated (added, inserted) at the end of each three-month period.
- For example, the first and second months are 30 days long, while the third month totals 31 days; then the pattern repeats.
- Each three-month period is 91 days long.
- Four 91-day quarters combine in a 364 day year.
New Year’s Day and the first day of each quarter always falls on a Wednesday.
- Wednesday is the day mandated as the first day by the creation order, since the heavenly lights – sun, moon and stars, the basis of all calendars – were created on the fourth day (Gen. 1:14-19).
A particular day of any given month will always fall on the same day of the week every year.
Festivals occur on the same day each year, and never on a (Saturday) Sabbath, thereby avoiding conflicts about sacrifices.

Benefits

A great advantage of the Zadokite solar calendar over the lunar calendar is that it results in fixed dates for the major festivals.
This calendar guarantees that a particular day of any given month will always fall on the same day of the week every year.
The 364-day year is divisible by 7, which fits God’s pattern of time keeping.
- God created the heavens and earth in 7 days
- 7 days x 52 weeks = 364 days in a year
- 7 years in a shmitah period
- 7 x 7 years in a 49-year Jubilee cycle
- There are 7000 years in God’s plan for this creation (2 Peter 3:8)

God’s Calendar Template

Sabbath Days on God’s Calendar

In God’s calendar the 7^th-day Sabbath repeats on the same days each year. For example, in the diagram below read across from left to right to see the red Sabbath dates are the same in months 1, 4, 7, and 10. Then, read across to find the blue dates are the same on months 2, 5, 8, and 11, and they’re the same for green months 3, 6, 9, and 12.

You can verify this pattern in the calendar template on the next page.

Image from Part 1 of the Asherit Dead Sea Scrolls video series

Since God created the sun, moon and stars on the 4^th day of creation, the Zadokite solar calendar starts on the 4^th day of the week (Wednesday) after the spring equinox.

Sorry for the small text; please zoom-in to see the details more clearly.

Download calendar at https://zadokway.com/calendar

‘Appointed Times’ on God’s Calendar

God’s appointed times (see Leviticus 23) are highlighted in yellow or green in the template above. These appointed times occur on the same days each year:

Passover – 14^th of 1^st month
Unleavened Bread – 15^th to 21^st of the 1^st month
Firstfruits of Barley – 26^th of 1^st month
Shavuot or Pentecost (firstfruits of wheat) – 15^th of 3^rd month
Trumpets – 1^st of 7^th month
Day of Atonements – 15^th of 7^th month
Sukkot (Tabernacles) – 15^th to 21^st of 7^th month, and the 8^th Day on the 22^nd of 7^th month

Resolving My Own Arguments Against the Solar Zadokite Calendar

Before accepting the Zadokite solar calendar as God’s calendar I had to overcome these three major objections.

1. Doesn’t the Bible talk about the new moon, including a new moon celebration?

Here are the only verses that mention “new moon.” Quotes are from the Aramaic Bible in Plain English:

Numbers 10:10 And in the day of your joy and of your meetings and of the beginnings of your months, sound with the trumpets for your burnt offerings and for your peace offerings and they shall be to you for a memorial before your God; I AM YHWH your God.”
Isaiah 1:13 You shall not continue to bring to me worthless savor offerings. It is disgusting to me. At the first of the months and on the Sabbath you assemble an assembly.
1 Chronicles 23:31 And to offer up sacrifices to YHWH on the Sabbaths, and on the first of the months, and at feasts by their number, according to what is right for them constantly before YHWH.
2 Chronicles 2:4 Even now I am building a house for the name of YHWH my God, to hallow it and to bring before him censers of sweet incense and to light a lamp constantly, and to bring sacrifices at dawn and in the evening, and on the Sabbaths in the first of the month, and at the feasts of YHWH our God for eternity; this they decreed for all Israel.
2 Chronicles 31:3 And the King gave some of his slaughtered ones, sacrifices of oxen of the dawn and of the evening, and offerings of Sabbaths and of the beginning of the month, and of the feasts, and he spoke to the people just as it is written in the Torah of YHWH.
Nehemiah 10:33 For the bread of the offering, for the continual offering and for the continual sacrifice of the Sabbaths, and of the beginning of months, and of the feasts, and of holy things, and of the forgiveness of the sin of Israel, and all the work of the house of our God.

I chose quotes from the Aramaic Bible in Plain English because it consistently translates ‘new moon” to mean the 1^st day of the month, or the 1^st day of the year, without any reference to the moon. Here are the underlined portions from the six references above:

the beginnings of your months
the first of the months
the first of the months
the first of the month
the beginning of the month
the beginning of months

The Hebrew word chodesh can either mean moon or month, so most translators assume that more than 2100 years of rabbinic tradition is correct when they choose to translate chodesh as ‘new moon’ instead of ‘beginning of the month.’

As you see on the image below, the Hebrew word for moon ‘yarach’ isn’t found anywhere in the Hebrew manuscripts where it says, “new moon.”

Also, the image below shows another possibility for ‘new moon’ events mentioned in scripture. Perhaps they were the first days of the months following the quarterly ‘intercalary’ days. Asherit explains this concept starting at the 5:36 minute mark in this video. To better understand these technically complicated topics, click the hyperlinks I’ll provide at the end of this article.

Image from Asherit Dead Sea Scrolls video #1

2. Why is Firstfruits of Barley on Aviv 26 in God’s Calendar?

Most Messianic disciples believe the ‘Firstfruits of Barley’ should be celebrated on the Sunday within the week-long Feast of Unleavened Bread. This is the Sunday when Yeshua appeared to Mary and the disciples after His resurrection as the ‘firstfruits of the dead.’

On the Zadokite calendar image below, this Sunday is the 19th day of the 1st month. However, the Zadokite calendar places the Firstfruits of Barley event on the following Sunday, the 26th day of the first month. What’s up with that?

I emailed Asherit from the YouTube Asherit Dead Sea Scrolls channel, asking this question:

“I recently listened to a podcast by Dr. Michael Heiser in which he asserted that the Zadokite calendar is the only one that fits the numbers in Daniel’s prophecies. As a result, in researching the Zadok calendar I discovered your YouTube series. I’ve watched all 5 parts, and they’re very good, but I have a hang-up about the dating of Firstfruits that (I see) others have also asked you.
Basically, I don’t understand why Firstfruits can’t be on the Sunday within the feast of Unleavened Bread (ULB). Why does it need to be after ULB?
In your YouTube Discussion page (2 years ago) Anne Fallible asked you about this and you said you’d email her a lengthy response. If you can find it, please send me this response. Or you can send me a more current explanation if that’s more convenient.”

Asherit gave me this response the same day:

‘So, this was a source of debate among my group of friends before I discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) and the First Fruits of Barley date on Abib 26 and it actually served as confirmation that whoever wrote the DSS knew the Torah very well.

When we read Leviticus 23 it was clear that the First Fruits of Barley could not occur within the 7 days of Passover and Unleavened Bread because the 7 feasts were divided into separate sections and First Fruits was not within the section for Passover and Unleavened Bread. First Fruits of Barley and the 50-day count to Shavuot were together but separated from the earlier 7 days of Passover and the later feast of Yom Teruah/Trumpets. There were basically two different camps: 1) First Fruits must be the day following the first Sabbath after the 7 days ends and 2) After the weekly Sabbath during the week of Passover you must count 50 days to the Barley harvest and then another 50 days to the Wheat harvest.
Option 2 never made much sense to me but I thought option 1 was the best answer. After I found the DSS and saw that over 2,200 years ago they wrote it was the 26th which is the Sunday following the first weekly Sabbath after the end of Passover/Unleavened Bread I was thrilled to have a definitive answer instead of just a guess.
Then when I read in Jubilees that the feast of Shavuot was in the middle of the 3rd month, it was another confirmation that it lined up with Torah. I had always argued that starting the 50-day omer count during the 7 days of Unleavened Bread would never get you into the middle of the 3rd month when Israel arrived at Mt. Sinai according to Exodus, the closest you could get was a full week BEFORE the middle of the 3rd month…so how could Shavuot commemorate arriving at the holy mountain of Yah?
(Here she inserted the text of Leviticus 23:1-22, which I’ve removed. It’s available in your Bible.)
So, I understand that a lot of people have been taught that Yeshua had to be resurrected on First Fruits of Barley because He is called the First Fruits of the resurrection later and if He didn’t rise from the dead on First Fruits then He didn’t fulfill the feasts properly. This has been a popular Torah movement teaching which was based more on the lunar calendar tradition of the Rabbi’s who routinely mix and overlap their feast days and Shabbats.
So where did the idea come that He would be the First Fruit if He didn’t resurrect on that feast day? Isaiah 53. This is also where we get the understanding the He was to be our Atonement as it states in Hebrews although He didn’t die on Day of Atonement. Yeshua was the first to resurrect to ETERNAL life out of land that was dry, devoid of the living water needed for life. Because He was the first to resurrect with eternal life, He can now impart this to us as the Day of Atonement sacrifice.
If you will recall the part of His trial when Barabbas (Son of the Father) was placed next to Him and the people chose Yeshua as their sacrifice and that Barabbas would be set free.
The first Adam destroyed eternal life and until Yeshua there was no eternal life imparted to anyone, only the expectation of eternal life in the future Messiah which it says that Abraham saw and rejoiced over. This is why Yeshua is called the 2nd Adam/the Last Adam. But the association doesn’t dictate that He must be resurrected on the feast of First Fruits to be the First Fruit, just as He didn’t have to do it all over again in the 7th month just so He could be called our Atonement. It simply means that He fulfilled or filled up with meaning, those specific roles during His ministry.
I hope this helps…Shalom!’

3. A year isn’t 364 days, it is 365.25 days!

Yes, that’s correct. So, just as in our ‘leap year,’ where we add a compensating day (February 29^th) to our calendar every 4 years, the Zadokite solar calendar adds days to the end of a year after every five or six years, depending on the vernal (spring) equinox.

Intercalation Rule

Simply put, the Zadokite calendar’s calendar-adjustment rule is that whenever the spring equinox would extend past day 364 at the end of a year, add up to seven days to start the next year’s cycle on the following Wednesday.

For example, look at the diagram below:

The calendar numbers the days of the year from 1-364. In the Zadokite calendar Day 1 is always on a Wednesday, Pentecost (Day 75) is always on a Sunday, and Yom Kippur (Day 192) is always on a Friday, etc.
Red dates are Biblical festival dates, which never vary.
Solid Red boxes are equinoxes and solstices
Green boxes are Sabbath days (Saturdays)
Blue boxes are the 91^st day of each quarter, and intercalation days at the end of the year.

As you can see, the Spring equinox at the top beginning of the year (solid red box) was on the 3^rd Day of the week (Tuesday), but at the end of the year the Spring Equinox falls on Wednesday, which would be day 365. Therefore, add seven days (after day 364) to start day 1 of the the following year on the next Wednesday (after Day 7 in the blue box). This resets the Zadokite solar calendar, just as adding February 29th resets the Julian calendar during a leap year.

Image from Asherit Dead Sea Scrolls video #5

Then, at the end of the year following the year depicted in the diagram above, the Spring equinox will occur on day 359, so that year can end on Tuesday, day 364 and the year after that can start the next day. Another intercalation adjustment won’t be necessary again until the spring equinox occurs after day 364, after five or six years.

4. Does Psalm 104:19 support a lunar calendar?

Psalm 104:19 says, “He made the moon (yarach) for times (moedim, appointed times) and the sun knows the time of its settings.” This verse seems to support a lunar calendar for setting the dates of YHWH’s ‘appointed times.’

I emailed Asherit about this, writing:

Asherit, I have a quick question that you might be able to help me with. Psalm 104:19 says, “He made the moon (yarach) for times (moedim, appointed times) and the sun knows the time of its settings.”
This verse explicitly says God created the moon for the moedim. However, in the Zadokite calendar the moon is not associated with the moedim, so how should we understand this verse?

Asherit emailed her response to me, saying:

I believe that this verse is referring to the appointed times of the vernal and autumnal equinoxes when the moon serves as a witness to the season as established by the sun alone.
Enoch 1 tells us that two times a year the moon changes its course to set with the sun through the same gate. I have a video on my YT channel of the sun and moon setting together through the same gate on the equinox. In other words, the sun knows it’s going down, it precise location through the new gate, and the moon acts as a faithful witness.
I believe that because we are so far removed from understanding the motion of the heavens like the ancients knew them that we don’t understand references that would have been clear to them at the time it was written. I hope this helps!

Her response makes sense to me. Here’s how I now understand Psalm 104:19:

The psalmist wasn’t endorsing the lunar calendar. He was referring to the two times per year when the moon synchronizes with the sun in an equinox. They are the ‘two witnesses’ of each equinox.
The Spring equinox (when the moon passes through the same ‘gate’ as the sun) is used to establish all 364 dates for the entire year that follows, including the dates for all the ‘appointed times’ in Leviticus chapter 23.
The image below is from her YouTube video demonstration of the moon serving as a witness to the sun during the Spring and Autumn equinoxes. It starts at the 14:38 minute point in Zadok Calendar In The Dead Sea Scrolls Part 3.

Zadok Calendar in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Part 3

Conclusion: the Zadokite Priestly Calendar is God’s Calendar

The solar Zadokite calendar is God’s calendar.

For more than 2000 years, from Noah’s flood in 2348 BC until Antiochus IV Epiphanes changed it in 167 BC, historical evidence proves God’s covenant people used the Zadokite calendar.
If that’s true, it is still the calendar God uses—regardless of whether mankind uses it or not.

To Learn More About God’s Calendar

Videos

1. Calendar Dead Sea Scrolls by Professor Rachel Elior of Hebrew University This fascinating 2-hour 20 minute video includes three parts.

From the start to 1:06:15 The Dead Sea Scrolls, the Zadokites and the Essenes, the covenant and the sacred calendar, Enoch, angelic priestly ministries, angelic Melchizedek
Question and Answer period: 1:06:18 to 1:22:55 includes the history of how the ancient rabbis forbid Jewish people from reading books outside the Old Testament canon, such as Enoch, Jubilees, etc.
From 1:23:00 to the end: The Zadokite Solar Calendar is God’s calendar. Rosh Hashanah isn’t a legitimate Jewish New Year; how the lunar calendar displaced the solar calendar.

2. Asherit’s Zadok Calendar in the Dead Sea Scrolls 5-part series on YouTube:

Part 1 Introduction and Overview of the Zadokite solar calendar
Part 2 How the Zadokite solar calendar operates from year to year; intercalary days, vernal equinox
Part 3 The luminary cycles of the sun, moon and stars; how to observe the equinox
Part 4 Comparison of various lunar and solar calendars. Intercalation. How the solar calendar changed to lunar.
Part 5 Continuation of Part 4. Why the Zadok calendar is superior to other calendars, and how to establish Day 1.

Websites

Measure the Temple of God and the Altar | Revelation 11:1

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Why did God tell the apostle John to measure the temple and the altar, and to count the number of worshipers there? The key is in the words temple and altar.

Image from Preceptbiblestudy.wordpress .com

Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers there. But exclude the courtyard outside the temple. Do not measure it, because it has been given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months.”
Revelation 11:1-2

So, why did God tell the apostle John to ‘measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers?’ To understand why, you must dig deeper into the words temple and altar.

The ‘temple’ (Greek, naos) only includes the ‘Holy Place’ and the ‘Most Holy Place.’ God told John to count the worshipers because when the full number of ‘living stones’ is attained, God’s Naos in heaven will be complete. These living stones are God’s kingdom of priests who worship at the spiritual ‘altar of incense’ within the Naos–the holy place within our heart.

Continue reading for a complete explanation of these concepts.

Measure the Temple of God, the Naos

What is Included in the Naos?

In the diagram below, the Naos of God only includes the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. (The Holy of Holies is also called the “Most Holy Place.”)

God said the Outer Court is not included in the temple, the Naos of God.

Spiritual Application

Spiritually, you can think of the Outer Court as your body; your heart is the Holy Place; and your spirit is the Holy of Holies, where God wants to dwell.

Most Christians Choose to Remain in the Outer Court

Most professing Christians in the world think they are placating God through their busyness in many religious activities in the Outer Court. They convince themselves that God must be pleased with them because they sacrifice so much for Him. Their sacrifices are real, but they’re on the brazen altar in the Outer Court.

They want salvation, but they don’t want God to change them. They don’t allow God’s Spirit permission to confront their carnality by writing His words on their heart.

this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD. I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people.
Jeremiah 31:33

Every believer must make this choice–stay carnal or follow the Lamb into holiness. Our carnal, selfish nature doesn’t want to change, and most people submit to their carnal nature’s dominance in their life. As a result, they do outwardly-religious activities, but unless they crucify their carnal nature they cannot become a priest and enter the Naos.

The Holy of Holies

The Holy of Holies is the innermost sanctum, the place where God wants to dwell–in your spirit.

God’s Glory Filled the Temple

Whenever Israel completed building a tabernacle or temple, (according to the pattern of God’s heavenly temple that God revealed to Moses), the Spirit of God filled that tabernacle or temple with His glorious presence. Here’s an example:

And Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and the altar, and he hung the curtain for the entrance to the courtyard. So Moses finished the work. Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Moses was unable to enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
Exodus 40:33-35

Chapters 5 to 7 in the book of Second Chronicles details the exact same pattern on a much grander scale when Solomon dedicated ancient Israel’s most beautiful temple and God filled it with glory.

“And Count the Number of Worshipers There”

God told John to “measure the temple and the altar, and count the number of worshipers there.“

Today, God’s temple is built with ‘living stones.’ When this living temple is complete God will fill it with His glory in an event called “the manifestation of the sons of God.” This is why God told John to “measure the Naos and the Altar, and count the number of worshipers there.”

The Holy Place

A Kingdom of Priests

Ancient Israel included millions of people but God only allowed priests to go inside the ‘Holy Place’ of the Naos. The people of Israel could bring their sacrifices to the Outer Court and they could participate with the priests in making sacrificial offerings on the Bronze Altar. But non-priests couldn’t enter the Naos. In Israel’s tabernacle and temple, only the sons of Aaron could perform priestly duties in the Naos.

However, God’s desire (and His original plan) was always for all of Israel to be a holy kingdom of priests.

And unto Me you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to speak to the Israelites.
Exodus 19:6

In the living temple God is building today, YHWH will see this desire fulfilled. YHWH’s living stones will be a kingdom of priests.

You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign upon the earth.
Revelation 5:10

Three Items In the Holy Place

The Holy Place within the Naos is where God gave priests illumination and bread. The Holy Place is also where priests continually burned incense that wafted over into God’s presence in the Holy of Holies.

Priests saw three furniture items in the Holy Place: the Golden Menorah or Candlestick, the Golden Table of Showbread, and the Golden Altar of Incense.

Notice that every piece of furniture in the Holy Place is made of gold. This symbolizes the requirement for holiness and godliness in God’s presence.

The Golden Menorah

The Menorah’s 7 lamps continually provided light inside the Holy Place.

Today, the Holy Spirit gives the light of spiritual revelation within our hearts.

The Golden Table of Showbread

According to the verses below, on every Sabbath the priests placed 12 loaves of fresh leavened bread onto the Golden Table of Showbread. They also placed pure frankincense near the loaves. Later, they ate the previous week’s 12 loaves.

You are also to take fine flour and bake twelve loaves using two-tenths of an ephah for each loaf and set them in two rows—six per row—on the table of pure gold before the LORD. And you are to place pure frankincense near each row so that it may serve as a memorial portion for the bread, an offering made by fire to the LORD. Every Sabbath day the bread is to be set out before the LORD on behalf of the Israelites as a permanent covenant. It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in a holy place; for it is to him a most holy part of the offerings made by fire to the LORD—his portion forever.”
Leviticus 24:5-9

Meaning of the Table of Showbread?

Table of Showbread
from ChurchLeaders.com

Exactly what the showbread represents is a mystery. Even the famous Jewish rabbi Maimonides confessed, “I do not know the object of the table with the bread upon it continually. And up to this day I have not been able to assign any reason to this commandment.”

I believe the 12 loaves represent the 12 tribes of Israel, and the bread represents Yeshua. He is the living Word of God, the bread of life, the Living Manna who came down from heaven (John 6:32-51).

Frankincense on the table of Showbread?

As I’ll show in the next section, frankincense represents the prayers of the saints, ‘an offering made by fire’ on the Golden Altar of Incense. I believe God commanded the priests to place it on the Table of Showbread for two reasons:

To show the relationship between prayer and the bread of God’s word:
- God said to “place pure frankincense near each row, so that it may serve as a memorial portion for the bread.” So, for our prayers to be effective we must hear God’s voice, His rhema.
Practicality:
- The Table of Showbread was the only surface available in the Holy Place to lay the frankincense for the Altar of Incense.

Today’s Application

Only the priests (Aaron and his sons) who ministered in the Naos could eat this bread. In the same way, only those who minister within the Naos of their heart today receive the living manna of God’s living Word.

Measure the Golden Altar of Incense

God told John to measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers there.

In the diagram below, the Golden Altar of Incense was the closest a priest could get to the physical presence of YHWH, who dwelt in the Holy of Holies. A thick curtain, or veil, prevented priests in the Holy Place from seeing anything inside the Holy of Holies.

When the priests burned incense on the Golden Altar, the smoke wafted into the God’s presence behind the veil. In the same way, our fiery prayers rise up to YHWH whom we cannot see.

Golden Altar of Incense
from templestudy.com

The Golden Altar of Incense Represents Fervent Prayers

These two passages in Revelation prove the correlation between the Golden Altar and our prayers:

When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
Revelation 5:8

When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and they were given seven trumpets. Then another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer along with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne. And the smoke of the incense together with the prayers of the saints rose up before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it to the earth; and there were peals of thunder, and rumblings, and flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. And the seven angels with the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.
Revelation 8:1-6

Access to God Opened

Finally, in the diagram below, notice the words in the upper-left where it says “The Veil (taken away in Christ).”

The thick veil (that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies) no longer hides YHWH’s presence from us. This is because YHWH tore the veil in two (from top to bottom) at the moment when Jesus died for our sins.

The New and Living Way Into God’s Presence

As a result, as priests of YHWH we’re no longer limited to ministry in the Holy Place like the sons of Aaron. We can now confidently enter God’s presence by a new and living way:

Therefore, brothers, having confidence for entering the Holy of Holies by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He dedicated for us through the veil that is His flesh, and having a great priest over the house of God, we should draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, our hearts having been sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our body having been washed with pure water.
Hebrews 10:19-22

Therefore, since God opened the veil that separated them into two spaces, the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies are now one room. Spiritually, this means when YHWH’s kingdom of priests enter the Naos (in their hearts), they enter God’s presence.

Ordination to Enter God’s Presence

Before a priest enters the Naos he must undergo an ordination ceremony (Leviticus 8).

In the ordination ceremony Moses put a sacrificed ram’s blood on the priests’ right earlobe, right thumb, and right big toe. This symbolized a covenant of consecration regarding the priest’s whole life: his hearing, his works, and his daily walk. Paul wrote,

Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Romans 12:1-2

In like manner, before you can enter the spiritual Naos in your heart you must wholeheartedly commit your hearing, works, and daily walk to YHWH. This is required to become ordained as a living stone in YHWH’s Naos.

Doing religious things doesn’t earn any credit with God. Rather, His living word judges every thought and intention in your heart:

The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12

The Courtyard Outside the Temple

God told John,

Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers there. But exclude the courtyard outside the temple. Do not measure it because it has been given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months.
Revelation 11:2

The courtyard outside the Naos (‘the Outer Court’) includes the bronze Altar of sacrifice and the bronze Laver of sanctification. The bronze Altar and Laver are symbols that represent the initial steps of our salvation. Our consciousness of sin requires sacrifice and sanctification before a person can enter YHWH’s sacred space–the Naos.

But, unfortunately most professing Christians choose to remain in the Outer Court rather than making the priesthood’s ordination commitment of their hearing, their works, and their daily walk. That is, they choose to remain carnal, molded by the thinking of this world rather than becoming a living stone in God’s Naos.

Deceive Even the Elect?

Who are the elect? The elect are disciples who follow the Lamb wholeheartedly, in the Naos of their hearts.

For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders that would deceive even the elect, if that were possible.
Mark 13:22

Jesus warned that ‘false Christs’ will powerfully deceive almost everyone. Unfortunately I believe this deception will include those carnal believers who choose to remain in an ‘outer court’ relationship with YHWH.

Conclusion

Measure The Temple of God and the Altar

God told the apostle John to measure the Temple (Naos) of God and the Golden Altar of Incense and count the number of worshipers there.

In the Old Testament the Naos included the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, but it excluded the Outer Court.

Today God is building His temple with ‘living stones.’ When this living temple is complete, God will fill it with His glory in an event called “the manifestation of the sons of God.”

A Kingdom of Priests

Today God is building a kingdom of priests, who commune with YHWH at the spiritual ‘Altar of Incense’ within the Naos–the Holy Place within their heart. The Veil in the Naos is opened; we can directly commune with YHWH, ‘face to face’ within our spirit–our Holy of Holies.

The Outer Court

Unfortunately most professing Christians choose to remain in the Outer Court (of carnality) rather than making the ‘priesthood ordination’ commitment of their hearing, their works, and their daily walk.

Since the Outer Court is not part of the Naos, people who choose to remain in an Outer Court relationship with God decline the opportunity to be ‘living stones’ in God’s Naos. As a result, Jesus warned that false Christs will deceive them and the nations will trample them during the 42-month ‘Great Tribulation.’

Christian Passover

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What is Christian Passover? Even after being a dedicated Christian for over 45 years, I didn’t understand Passover; and, like most Christians, I believed that Easter replaced Passover. But in the last few years I’ve discovered Passover’s spiritual importance and how Christians should celebrate it.

Most Christians know God fulfilled Passover about 2000 years ago when the Lamb of God voluntarily sacrificed Himself for our sins. That’s true, but the ongoing, Christian meaning of Passover is that disciples are to follow the Savior’s example, themselves becoming lambs of God, “living sacrifices.” How?

In this article you’ll learn:

Past: How Jesus physically fulfilled Passover. This includes how He fulfilled the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits, both of which directly result from His sacrifice as our Passover Lamb.
Present: How God calls His disciples to celebrate Christian Passover in their own lives, with purity, obedience, and sacrifice.
Future: Since God fulfilled the Spring feasts (Passover, Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits) exactly as prophesied, what can we expect concerning the Autumn feasts in our future?

“Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”
1 Corinthians 5:7

1. Past: How Jesus Fulfilled Passover

Terminology: Jewish Passover vs Christian Passover

Jewish Passover

Since the exodus from Egypt, God commanded Israel to annually celebrate Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Christian Passover

Starting at the Last Supper on the evening before His crucifixion, Jesus fulfilled the symbolism of the Jewish Passover and instituted a New Covenant version–Christian Passover.

Christian Passover doesn’t replace the Jewish Passover. Rather, it builds on the original Passover’s foundation and adds expanded meanings onto it.

When to Celebrate Christian Passover?

According to Leviticus 23:5-8, we determine the Christian Passover season dates according to the monthly cycle of the moon. The Christian Passover preparation begins on Nisan 14, and the festival runs from Nisan 15-21, with Sabbath days on Nisan 15 and 21.

The Hebrew Calendar

Nisan? For centuries many doctrinal misunderstandings and errors occurred because our Gregorian calendar is different from the Hebrew calendar, so (trust me) it’s important for you to briefly understand the Hebrew calendar before proceeding.

From Sunset to Sunset

Ever since the first day of creation in Genesis chapter one, days in the Bible go from sunset to sunset—not from midnight to midnight as we’re accustomed.

(example above from Hebrew4Christians.com)

God’s Appointed Times

Explanatory Note About God’s Names

First (because it’s a stumbling block to some people) this section is a quick side-note to explain why I use the names YHWH and Jesus in this article.

YHWH

In Exodus 3:14 we learn that “YHWH” is Almighty God’s personal name. There are many opinions about how to pronounce YHWH, with Yahweh or Yehovah being the most popular.

In this article, rather than referring to Him using the generic word ‘God,’ which allows people to imagine whatever their concept of God is, I’ll often use the specific name of YHWH. YHWH is the God who covenanted with Israel. He is the Father of Yeshua the Messiah.

Yeshua

There are almost as many opinions about how to correctly say our Savior’s name. He is called Yeshua, Yahushua, Issa, Iesue, and Jesus. In this article I’ll refer to the Lord by the name Jesus, not because it’s more correct, but because this article’s target audience are Christians who know Him by this name.

The Seven Moedim (Appointed Times)

In the Bible (Leviticus 23) YHWH ordained seven ‘moedim’ for His people. YHWH’s appointed times, or ‘Moedim’ (pronounced mo-a-deem) are sacred assemblies for His people (Leviticus 23:2).

The 4 Spring moedim teach us about God’s plan for redeeming mankind from sin and death through the Messiah. Christian Passover is a spring moedim; we celebrate it to remember (and personally identify with) Jesus’ sacrifice as the Lamb of God. The other 3 Spring moedim are:

The 3 Autumn moedim promise how YHWH will resurrect His saints and establish the Messiah’s kingdom on the earth.

Here are the 4 Spring and 3 Autumn moedim:

The 7 Moedim from holyimpactministries.com

God fulfilled the Spring moedim in the past; He will fulfill the Fall (Autumn) moedim in our future.

Lunar Month of Nisan

Passover is in the lunar month of Nisan, which is the first month in the Hebrew calendar. Nisan always coincides with March/April.

The first day of each Hebrew month starts at sunset when Israel sights the first sliver of the new moon. Then, two weeks later, the full moon is on the 15^th of each month. Here’s a depiction of one lunar cycle; one Biblical month.

Passover on Nisan 14

From the following verses we learn Passover occurs ‘between the sunsets’ on Nisan 14. The Feast of Unleavened Bread follows immediately afterward, for the next 7 days, from Nisan 15-21:

These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you shall proclaim at their appointed times. The Passover to the LORD begins between the sunsets on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the fifteenth day of the same month begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread.
Leviticus 23:4-6

Every year, the Jewish Passover Day (Nisan 14) is when the lambs are killed. But, it is not itself a Sabbath Day.

Rather, Nisan 14 is a preparation day, to prepare the lamb (and vegetables, etc.) for the Passover ‘Feast of Unleavened Bread.’ This feast begins after sunset, as the ‘high Sabbath’ begins on Nisan 15.

The Passover feast is the ‘Feast of Unleavened Bread,’ and Nisan 15 is a ‘high Sabbath’ day.

Events on Christian Passover Day – Nisan 14, from Sunset to Sunset

This is a brief, chronological summary of events that happened on Nisan 14, Christian Passover Day, in the year Jesus died on the cross:

Jesus and His disciples met for the Last Supper at the beginning of Nisan 14, just after sunset. This was a Tuesday evening.
After dinner, Jesus and His disciples went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. Judas led a a mob there to arrest Jesus.
Pontius Pilate convicted and condemned Jesus to be crucified early on Wednesday morning.
By 9am Jesus was crucified. At about 3pm (still on Nisan 14) He died on the cross.
His disciples hastily laid His body in a nearby tomb before Nisan 14 ended at sunset. This was before the Feast of Unleavened Bread began at sunset, the beginning of Nisan 15. (John 19:31, 42)

The Last Supper

Jesus and the 12 disciples met in an upper room for (what Jesus knew was) His last meal. During this meal He emphasized to them (and demonstrated) the Christian Passover concepts of purity, obedience, and sacrifice.

Purity: Mikveh and Foot-Washing

Before entering the sacred temple area for Passover, Jews ritually purified themselves by immersion in a mikveh, a ritual bath. Archaeologists discovered hundreds of mikvehs around Jerusalem for this purpose.

Whoever has already bathed needs only to wash his feet, and he will be completely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.
John 13:10

From this verse (John 13:10) we know Jesus and His disciples bathed to cleanse their bodies before walking to the upper room for the Last Supper.

Another Ancient Stepped Mikveh in Jerusalem

Obedience:

Jesus didn’t want to die on the cross. Even so, knowing He was going to be crucified as the Lamb of God within just a few hours, Jesus said,

I do exactly what the Father has commanded Me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.
John 14:31

Sacrifice: Bread and Wine

At the Last Supper, Jesus used leavened bread (artos, Strong’s #740) and wine to symbolize His body and blood.

The Melchizedek Priesthood

The symbol of bread and wine wasn’t new in Hebrew history. In the book of Genesis, Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He ‘brought out bread and wine’ when he blessed Abraham in Genesis 14:19.

According to Hebrews 5:10, 6:20, and 7:1-28, Jesus is our High Priest ‘according to the Order of Melchizedek.’

So, what did it mean when Jesus ‘brought out bread and wine,’ and how does it relate to Christian Passover? Months before, in Galilee, Jesus told His followers:

I AM the Living Bread of Life

Truly, truly, I tell you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that anyone may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And this bread, which I will give for the life of the world, is My flesh.”
“Unless you eat My flesh and drink My blood you have no life in you…”
Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is real food, and My blood is real drink.
Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your fathers, who ate the manna and died, the one who eats this bread will live forever.”
Aware that His disciples were grumbling about this teaching, Jesus asked them, “Does this offend you? Then what will happen if you see the Son of Man ascend to where He was before? The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. However, there are some of you who do not believe.
John 6:53-63

So, what did it mean when Jesus ‘brought out bread and wine,’ and how does it relate to Christian Passover? The bread and wine in the Last Supper were elements of an ancient blood covenant ritual. It is a ‘New Covenant in His blood.’

The New Covenant

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant they broke, though I was a husband to them, declares the LORD.
But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD. I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people.
No longer will each man teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD.
For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more.
Jeremiah 31:31-34

Who Are the Parties Making the New Covenant?

Who did YHWH covenant with in the New Covenant? Contrary to popular opinion, the Church didn’t replace Israel as God’s chosen people when Jesus instituted the New Covenant.

According to Jeremiah 31:31 above, the New Covenant is between YHWH and the houses of Israel and Judah.

Spiritual Israel

New Covenant disciples are citizens of spiritual Israel.

Jesus is God’s High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek. He mediated the New Covenant between YHWH and the houses of Israel (10 tribes) and Judah (2 tribes). The apostle Paul revealed that Gentile believers are reconciled to God because they’re grafted-in to the ‘lost 10 tribes’ of Israel.

At the Last Supper Jesus revealed that His body and blood would be sacrificed to renew the covenant that God made with Israel at Mount Sinai—the covenant Israel had broken.

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, spoke a blessing and broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is My body.”

Then He took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (Matthew 26:26-28)

This is the Christian Passover ceremony.

The New Covenant Is A Blood Covenant

Bread and wine are ‘blood covenant‘ symbols. In ancient times, whenever two men made a formal covenant, they sacrificed an animal. They spilled its blood (its life) and then roasted and ate its body in a covenant meal. Eating this meal constitutes an unspoken agreement that whoever breaks the covenant will be cursed to die, just as the sacrificed animal died.

In like manner, when we eat the Christian Passover bread and drink the Christian Passover wine (in the Feast of Unleavened Bread) we’re symbolically eating the body and drinking the blood of the Christian Passover sacrifice, the Lamb of God.

When you eat the bread and drink the wine in the Christian Passover ceremony you are literally entering into a covenant with YHWH.

That’s why the apostle Paul warned:

Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Each one must examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.
1 Corinthians 11:27-30

Our Responsibility In the New Covenant:

Believe in the Messiah as our Christian Passover sacrifice
Have God’s law written in our mind and on our heart (and walk accordingly)
Know YHWH.

YHWH’s Responsibility In the New Covenant:

Reconcile believers to Himself—both Jew and Gentile. Reconciliation is available to anyone who believes. Belief in YHWH’s Christian Passover sacrifice is the only method of reconciliation with YHWH. (John 14:6)
Replace believers’ heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Make it possible for them to live according to God’s instructions.
YHWH now inhabits a spiritual house made from ‘living stones,’ making all stone temples obsolete.

As you come to Him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight, you also, like living stones, are built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 2:5

Arrest, Trial, Crucifixion, Burial

The themes of purity, obedience and sacrifice continue:

Purity

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot.
1 Peter 1:19

Obedience

“Not My will, but Thine be done.”
Luke 22:42

In His anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.
Luke 22:44

He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:8

Regardless of the cost and pain, Jesus completely obeyed the Father and submitted Himself to the Father’s will.

Sacrifice

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth.
Isaiah 53:7

Feast of Unleavened Bread, from Nisan 15-21

The Feast of Unleavened Bread is the actual Passover meal, when we eat the roasted, sacrificial lamb.

Historical Christian Passover Week Details

Note: the year 30AD is not certain, but the Nisan 14-18 details are correct.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread occurs every year after sunset, at the beginning of Nisan 15. This is about 4 hours after the lamb’s blood (its life) is taken.

Jesus died on the cross on Wednesday at about 3pm. This was exactly the same time as the Levitical priests in the temple were killing the Passover lambs to cover the nation’s sins. Just after sunset on that Wednesday, all families in Israel would be eating roasted lamb in Passover Seder meals. A ‘Seder’ (pronounced say-der) is the ritual feast commemorating the exodus from Egypt under Moses.

A bright, white full moon at the beginning of this feast on Nisan 15 represents the Messiah’s resurrected glory.

Why Unleavened?

Whereas Jesus and His disciples ate leavened bread at the Last Supper, this is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Why unleavened? There are two reasons:

In the exodus from Egypt they didn’t have time to leaven their bread. So this is a remembrance of their leaving in haste.
Leaven represents sin. While Jesus was in His mortal body, it was corruptible, like ours. In fact, in this sinful world Jesus suffered temptation in every way we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15) But after His body died, it was no longer possible to tempt Him to sin. He is forever incorruptible. His body has (symbolically) changed from leavened to unleavened.

In the New Covenant YHWH gives us a heart of flesh and writes His law in our mind and on our heart. So, unleavened bread also represents our changed nature, from sinner to saint. We can now walk in sincerity and truth…

Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with the old bread, leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and of truth.
1 Corinthians 5:7

Why is the Feast of Unleavened Bread 7 Days?

The Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles have many similarities:

Both feasts last 7 days (Tabernacles lasts 7 days, but adds an 8^th day)
Both begin and end with “a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work”

Ever since the 7 days of creation in Genesis, the number 7 represents the fullness, completeness, and perfection of YHWH’s creation. For example, every 7^th day speaks of complete rest; there are 7 colors in God’s rainbow, and 7 notes in the musical scale.

Why these feasts last 7 days is a mystery, but here’s my belief; the 7-day duration of these two holy feasts tells me that they have eternal significance.

Throughout all eternity we’re grateful to YHWH because He provided us the bread and wine of the New Covenant in the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We owe everything to YHWH’s love and grace, and to our Passover Lamb, Jesus.
For all eternity we’re the ‘tabernacle’ of YHWH; that is, He will dwell in us and we will be His temple, built of living stones.

Should Christians Celebrate Moedim?

In a word, yes. For Christians who don’t believe the moedim apply to them, Zechariah 14:16 tells us all nations will celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles annually in the millennial age to come–after the Battle of Armageddon.

Then all the survivors from the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
Zechariah 14:16

Think about it objectively…

God required Israel to celebrate His moedim in the past, and He will require require all nations to celebrate Tabernacles in the future Millennium.
It’s therefore highly unlikely that God thinks it’s okay for His people today to disregard His moedim, and to replace them with non-Biblical ‘Christian’ holidays.

Firstfruits, Nisan 18

Firstfruits celebrates the first portion of the harvest of mankind in the kingdom of God.

The Sign of Jonah

The Jewish leaders asked Jesus for a sign to confirm God sent Him. In response, Jesus told them,

A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.”
Matthew 12:39, 16:4, Luke 11:29

Now the LORD had appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the fish.
Jonah 1:17

The sign of Jonah is that Jesus would be in the grave three days and three nights.

His disciples placed Jesus’ body in the tomb on Wednesday afternoon, Nisan 14, before sunset. Three days and 3 nights later, Jesus arose from the dead on Saturday afternoon, Nisan 17, before sunset.

Timing

While fulfilling the sign of Jonah, Jesus also fulfilled the timing requirements for the Firstfruits moedim.

And the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘When you enter the land I am giving you and reap its harvest, you are to bring to the priest the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest. And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD so that it may be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath.”
Leviticus 23:9-11

After the Nisan 17 sunset, ending the Sabbath, Jesus ascended into heaven and waved the sheaf of firstfruits before YHWH on Nisan 18.

Firstfruits Offering in Heaven

As the spotless Lamb of God Jesus fulfilled Passover and Unleavened Bread. When YHWH resurrected Jesus’ body, transforming it into an incorruptible, heavenly body, Jesus ‘entered the land’ in the spiritual realm. As the resurrected High Priest according to the Order of Melchizedek, Jesus brought many resurrected saints with Him as the Firstfruits offering in the heavenly sanctuary…

At that moment the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split. The tombs broke open, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised. After Jesus’ resurrection, when they had come out of the tombs, they entered the holy city and appeared to many people
Matthew 27:51-53

Some believe these resurrected saints are the 24 elders John saw in Revelation 4:4.

2. Present: Christian Passover

How should Christians apply the spiritual truths of Passover?

Christian Passover – Purity

Just as Jesus and His disciples ritually purified themselves before Passover, we must purify ourselves before we can…

offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
Romans 12:1

How to Purify Yourself

The Passover sacrifice of Jesus makes it possible for us to overcome all shame and an evil conscience. This enables us to ‘have confidence’ to enter YHWH’s presence without guilt or shame…

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way opened for us through the curtain of His body. And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Hebrews 10:19-22

The Tabernacle

God told Moses to build the tabernacle “according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” (Exodus 25:40) God showed Moses the divine pattern that everyone must follow to enter YHWH’s presence.

Enter through the Door at the bottom. Proceed up to the Holy of Holies.

The Temple

Later, Israel’s temples followed this same pattern…

Christian Passover – Spiritual Application

First, enter through the Door. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. (John 10:7)
Sacrifice on the brazen altar. Jesus was offered once for all time as a permanent sacrifice for sins. (Hebrews 10:12)
Sanctification (mikveh) in the brazen laver (large tub) of water. We have been sanctified through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time. (Hebrews 10:10)
After sacrifice and sanctification you can enter the Holy Place to praise YHWH, receive revelation (the Word), and enjoy the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

In the same way, before we can enter YHWH’s presence we must partake of the Passover sacrifice by faith. Then, we can mikveh (cleanse) our mind and conscience through introspection, repentance, and prayer.

Other New Testament scriptures concerning our purification: Ephesians 5:27, Colossians 1:22, Hebrews 9:14

The ‘bottom line’ is that nothing impure or unholy may enter YHWH’s presence.

Christian Passover – Obedience

Jesus frequently said, “If you love Me keep My commandments.” He also warned,

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven. But only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 7:21

Similar verses include: 1 John 2:17, John 9:31, Mark 3:35, Matthew 7:24, 12:50, and Revelation 2:26.

Cheap Grace vs Costly Grace

Dietrich Bonhoeffer became a martyr for Christ after he opposed Hitler during WWII. He wrote “The Cost of Discipleship,” contrasting cheap grace with costly grace.

Cheap Grace

Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything they say, and so everything can remain as it was before…Well, then, let the Christian live like the rest of the world, let him model himself on the world’s standards in every sphere of life, and not presumptuously aspire to live a different life under grace from his old life under sin…. “Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. It is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession…Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
“The Cost of Discipleship” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Sadly, most of today’s visible Church wants ‘cheap grace.’ Its leaders merchandise the gospel for their own benefit, while ‘tickling the ears’ of large crowds on the broad way that leads to destruction. (Matthew 7:13-14)

Costly Grace

Costly grace is… costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life but delivered him up for us.
“The Cost of Discipleship” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

God’s grace was costly. We respect the price He paid by becoming morally pure according to His Spirit in us…

This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD. I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people.
Jeremiah 31:33

Don’t Tolerate Sin In Your Life!

If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins remains, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume all adversaries. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think one deserves to be punished who has trampled on the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Hebrews 10:26-31

Obedience to God isn’t always easy or pleasant…God’s will led Jesus to die on the cross. In like manner, God’s will may lead us to sacrifice our money, our property, and our lives. But following God’s will is the only path to success and glory in God’s eternal kingdom.

Christian Passover – Sacrifice

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:1-2

How to Become a Living Sacrifice

Purity: partake of the bread and wine of the Passover sacrifice by faith. Then mikveh (wash, cleanse) your mind and conscience through introspection, prayer, and faith in the Messiah’s sacrifice for your sins. Do this until you can stand before God without any shame or guilt.
Obedience: having purified your conscience, don’t be defiled by allowing leaven (sin) in your life. Be holy, as YHWH is holy (1 Peter 1:16). Be sure to mix holiness with genuine humility; remember, pride is a sin.
Sacrifice: having cleansed your conscience by faith in the Christian Passover Lamb, put away all leaven in your life. Then you can offer yourself as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. God will mightily use you to advance His kingdom on the earth.

Job Openings in God’s Kingdom

All of these saints will be ‘living sacrifices’ unto YHWH during the years ahead:

3. Future: The Autumn Feasts in Our Future

At the exact moment the Levitical priests were killing the Passover lamb in the temple, our Christian Passover Lamb was dying on the cross. He arose from the grave after fulfilling the sign of Jonah, just in time to wave the sheaf of Firstfruits in heaven on the Sabbath following Passover.

God fulfilled the Spring feasts (Passover, Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits) exactly as prophesied. Since YHWH fulfilled the Spring feasts so exactly, what can we expect concerning the Autumn feasts which haven’t been fulfilled yet?

Obviously, (just like the Spring feasts) we can expect the Autumn feasts to be fulfilled on the exact dates when the Jews are celebrating them. The Autumn feasts all take place in the Hebrew month of Tishri, the 7^th month, which occurs in September/October on the Gregorian calendar.

Trumpets, Tishri 1, Leviticus 23:24-25

Many reputable teachers believe this will be the day when “the Last Trump” will sound and all dead and living saints will be resurrected or ‘snatched-up’ to heaven and changed in the twinkling of an eye. (1 Corinthians 15)

Day of Atonement, Tishri 10, Leviticus 23:26-32

Whereas Passover deals with personal redemption, the Day of Atonement is the national-level ‘covering’ of sin, with offerings for the priesthood, the nation, and the sanctuary.

I believe the Battle of Armageddon, when Messiah returns with the armies of heaven to defeat the armies of the Antichrist, will occur on a Day of Atonement.

Following the resurrection of Jesus’ disciples on Tishri 1, I believe this is the day when ‘all Israel’ will be saved, in fulfillment of Zechariah 12:10.

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you will not be conceited: A hardening in part has come to Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come from Zion. He will remove godlessness from Jacob. And this is My covenant with them when I take away their sins.
Romans 11:25-27

The Year of Jubilee, when all debts are cancelled and properties are restored, will begin on a Day of Atonement. (Leviticus 25:8-12)

Tabernacles, Tishri 15-22, Leviticus 23:33-43

Saints commanded to dwell in booths (tents or temporary shelters) for 7 days to remember how Israel dwelt in booths when they came out of Egypt
Joining ‘the camp of the brethren’ for a week every year is practical training for the ‘Greater Exodus,’ when believers will flee from the Antichrist (Revelation 12:13-17, Jeremiah 23:7-8)
Also known as the Feast of Ingathering (of the final harvest) in Exodus 23:16
Many reputable teachers believe the Wedding Supper of the Lamb occurs during this feast
God will require all nations to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem every year during the millennial reign of Messiah (Zechariah 14:16-19)
The 8^th day symbolizes the saints dwelling in YHWH’s presence for eternity

Christian Passover – Conclusion

Most Christians know Passover was fulfilled about 2000 years ago when the Lamb of God voluntarily sacrificed Himself for our sins. That’s true, but the ongoing, New Covenant meaning of Christian Passover is that disciples should not only partake of the bread and wine, but they should themselves follow the Savior’s example, becoming lambs of God, “living sacrifices.”

They can do this by:

Purity: partake of the bread and wine of the Christian Passover sacrifice by faith, and then mikveh (wash, cleanse) your mind and conscience through introspection and prayer. Do this until you can stand before God without any shame or guilt.
Obedience: don’t let any leaven (sin) defile you. Be holy, as YHWH is holy (1 Peter 1:16). Be sure to mix holiness with genuine humility; remember, pride is a sin.
Sacrifice: having cleansed your conscience by faith in the Christian Passover Lamb, and having put away all leaven in your life, offer yourself as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. God will mightily use you to advance His kingdom on the earth.

What Do You Think?

Did this article answer all your questions on this topic? Please leave a comment below and tell me:

Did this article satisfy you?
Or, did it leave you wanting more?

Q: Should Christians celebrate Old Testament festivals?

A: Yes. The New Covenant is between YHWH and Israel–sealed by the blood of Jesus. Jesus fulfilled the Spring festivals exactly according to their dates and prophetic patterns and He will likewise fulfill the autumn festivals in our future. God gave the annual festivals in Leviticus 23 to His people so that we’d understand God’s plan of redemption, and He commanded His people to keep these festivals. Christians are grafted into Israel (Romans 11:17-24), so let’s keep the Biblical festivals, not blindly and mechanically according to their letter, but intelligently, according to God’s spiritual intent, as I’ve illustrated in this article about how to spiritually observe Passover and the Spring feasts.

Q: This article doesn’t jive with the church’s Good Friday and Easter holidays. Why not?

A: Good Friday, Easter, Ash Wednesday, Lent, and all other ‘church’ holidays are both absent from and contrary to scripture. For any objective person, it’s easy to trace their evolution from Babylonian roots. Though many of these holidays seem harmless, and even reverent, they illegitimately substitute themselves for the truths that YHWH’s moedim provide. Thus, they deprive you of the moedims’ revelation and truth, and they deprive YHWH of the form of worship He commanded us to present to Him.

YHWH designed His moedim to teach you His plan of redemption, including how and when events will unfold in our future. Just as Jesus fulfilled the Spring feasts, so will He fulfill the Autumn feasts.

Therefore, instead of following the world in celebrating pagan holidays, Christians should follow YHWH’s appointed times (holidays) found in Leviticus chapter 23.

The First and Second Rapture of the Church

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The next big event in God’s plan is not the rapture of the church, at least not as it’s commonly understood. Something wonderful is about to happen in the worldwide Body of Christ. In fact, it will be the most glorious event in almost 2000 years. But the first rapture is not the resurrection event most Christians are expecting, which will occur a few years later.

Rapture of the Church: Victory or Escape?

Rapture = Harpazo

The word translated ‘rapture’ is the Greek word harpazo, which means snatched-up. The apostle Paul experienced ‘harpazo’ when he was ‘caught up’ to Paradise.

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of it I do not know, but God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or out of it I do not know, but God knows— was caught up to Paradise. The things he heard were too sacred for words, things that man is not permitted to tell.
2 Corinthians 12:2-4

As you know, Paul returned to his normal, bodily existence after this harpazo experience.

Therefore, harpazo means to be snatched up into the spiritual realm, whether your body is snatched up or not. It doesn’t necessarily mean bodily resurrection or transformation.

Two Harpazo Events Coming

The first rapture of the church will not result in our bodily resurrection. It will result in the glory of God radiating from our mortal body. It’s what Romans 8:21 calls ‘the manifestation of the sons of God.’

The second rapture of the church will be our bodily resurrection and transformation. This is our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” in Romans 8:23.

Victory – the Manifestation of the Sons of God

The most important spiritual event since 33AD is the first harpazo–the manifestation of God’s glory in 144000 mature sons of God. This world-changing event will signal three things:

The successful fruition of God’s plan for this age (which extends from Noah’s flood to Christ’s second coming)
The culmination of Christ’s work on the cross;
The approaching end of mankind’s suffering.

So, what’s About to Happen? There are two main things:

First, the glory of God will be unveiled in mature sons of God (yes, this includes female disciples). The glory of God will visibly radiate from them. When the nations see this, millions of rich and poor from all nations, including kings, will seek to learn the way of the Lord.
- This is like the transfiguration of Jesus, and Moses’ face that radiated the glory of God. But, both Jesus and Moses remained mortal and their bodies later died and were buried.
- This is not the second ‘rapture’ that people are expecting, during which we’ll receive our spiritual, immortal, and incorruptible bodies.
Secondly, the unveiling of God’s glory in His mature sons will catalyze end-time events in the spiritual realm, including:
- The greatest revival in history, producing a harvest of new believers that’s so large the Bible calls it an ‘innumerable multitude,’ and
- Satan will be cast down from heaven to earth, which will kick-off the Great Tribulation for 3.5 years.

Escape?

The sons of God will not escape this world like a thief in the night. No, they’re literally going to radiate the glory of God into every nation of Satan’s realm on earth. They’re going to plunder the strong man‘s house. They’re going to take an ‘innumerable multitude’ from the Devil, in victory.

The second harpazo, the catching-away of the saints (or rapture of the Church) will be on a future Day of Trumpets, at the end of Daniel’s 70th week. Therefore, Christian disciples will be on earth during the great tribulation, all the way up to this Day of Trumpets.

The apostle Paul wrote,

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must be clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
1 Corinthians 15:51-53

Rapture of the Church = Escape from Wrath?

People who believe in a pre-tribulation rapture of the Church often quote this verse:

God has not appointed us to suffer wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:9

It’s true–God’s disciples will not suffer God’s wrath.

The Devil’s Wrath

But, while God’s disciples will not suffer God’s wrath, they may suffer the Devil’s wrath and man’s wrath. Here’s one verse (of many) that clearly says Christians will be persecuted during this time:

the dragon was enraged at the woman, and went to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
Revelation 12:17

God’s Wrath

In contrast, God’s wrath is explained in Revelation chapter 16. In this chapter, 7 angels pour out 7 bowls of wrath onto the earth. This happens after the 7th Trumpet–‘the last trump’ in Revelation 11:15.

So, at the end of the great tribulation, the ‘rapture’ will happen on the Day of Trumpets when the angel sounds the 7th Trumpet of Revelation 11:15.

Afterward, God’s angels will pour out God’s wrath on Satan’s kingdom on earth during the 10 days between the the Day of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement.

Then, the Battle of Armageddon will be fought on the Day of Atonement, when the Messiah King returns with the armies of heaven.

Arise, Shine!

Regarding the first rapture, the manifestation of the sons of God, the prophet Isaiah wrote these promises more than 2500 years ago:

The glory of Yahweh will be revealed, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
Isaiah 40:5

Arise! Shine! for your light has come, and the glory of Yahweh has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; But the Lord will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your radiance.
Isaiah 60:1

Nations shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory.
Isaiah 62:2

The Glory of God Unveiled

The Apostle Paul taught us the glory of God is now hidden within our earthen bodies. But, in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecies, God is going to unveil this hidden glory that now resides in each of His sons and daughters, so that His glory will visibly shine out from them.

Unbelievers, who dwell in deep moral darkness, will be amazed. Millions of people—from every tribe, people, language, and nation—will come to their light, to learn how to know God. We know this because just after the 144,000 sons of God are sealed in Revelation chapter 7, the ‘innumerable multitude’ will wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb. I discuss these two groups in more detail in another post.

What will God’s glory look like?

When God’s glory is unveiled in the sons of God, I believe it will be a supernatural light emanating from the spirit of each member of the 144,000. It won’t be reflected light, like the moon; but the light will originate from within their bodies, like the sun. Its intensity will depend on how much a person has allowed the Spirit to transform them by the renewing of their mind into the likeness of Christ. One will have the faint light of a candle, while another’s light will be very bright.

Daniel wrote,

Those who understand shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and those that teach righteousness to the multitude as the stars in perpetual eternity.
Daniel 12:3

Paul wrote,

Star differs from star in splendor. So will it be with the resurrection of the dead.
1 Corinthians 15:41

Finally, since it’s a spiritual light, I believe it’ll communicate more than simple brightness… in its presence I expect we’ll also sense the indescribably beautiful peace, music, and aroma of heaven, ‘where the flowers bloom forever and the sun is always bright.’

Conclusion: the First Rapture of the Church

As we see the end of the age approaching it’s easy to fall under dread and negativity, thinking about the darkness, trials, and destruction coming to every nation that’s in rebellion against God.

But I see a very positive future for disciples of Jesus who follow Him with their whole heart. Their future will be glorious; full of light and life! They’ll be blessed and fruitful, like a tree planted by a river of living water.

Before the resurrection (second rapture) the glorious manifestation of the sons of God will be the first harpazo event that plunders Satan’s kingdom, resulting in the harvest of an innumerable multitude of souls for God’s kingdom.

The second rapture of the Church (the resurrection) will happen at the last trump, at the end of Daniel’s 70th week.

A Christian View of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread

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For Christians, what is the significance of Passover Week, which is the Feast of Unleavened Bread? I’ve studied God’s ‘appointed times’ for many years but recently I discovered some new information that greatly expanded my understanding and appreciation of this mandatory event in God’s annual calendar.

Table set for the Feast of Unleavened Bread

So, for Christians, what is the significance of Passover Week? During the Feast of Unleavened Bread Christians should:

‘Eat’ the Passover Lamb
Identify and remove all leaven from our household: i.e., man-made traditions and teachings
Prepare for the ‘Greater Exodus’ that’s coming in our future

In chapter 23 of the Biblical book of Leviticus, God commanded His people to celebrate seven ‘appointed times’ every year. These events are prophetic types that reveal God’s plan for mankind’s redemption and the re-establishment of His kingdom over all the earth. The 7 ‘appointed times’ are:

Passover (or Pesach)
Unleavened Bread
Firstfruits
Pentecost
Trumpets
Atonement
Tabernacles

Click the Passover link above to read my detailed article about Passover itself.

But in this article I’ll focus on the Week following Passover, and how the Feast of Unleavened Bread applies to Christians today.

Eat the Passover Lamb

For an excellent introduction to the Feast of Unleavened Bread, including the correct timeline for Jesus’ final week on earth, I recommend this video:

The Old Testament Passover Experience and Its Symbolism

Here is the Old Testament passage where God ordained the Passover Feast of Unleavened Bread, from Exodus 12:1-17:

“Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month is the beginning of months for you; it shall be the first month of your year.

Select a Passover Lamb

Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month, each man must select a lamb for his family, one per household. If the household is too small for a whole lamb, they are to share with the nearest neighbor, based on the number of people, and apportion the lamb accordingly.

Your lamb must be an unblemished-year-old male, and you may take it from the sheep or the goats. You must care for it until the fourteenth day of the month when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight. They are to take some of the blood and put it on the two sideposts and tops of the doorframes of the houses in which they eat the lambs.

Eat the Roasted Passover Lamb that Night

They are to eat the meat that night, roasted over the fire, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

Do not eat any of the meat raw or cooked in boiling water, but only roasted over the fire—its head and legs and inner parts. Do not leave any of it until morning; before the morning you must burn up any part that is left over.

Be Ready to Travel

This is how you are to eat it: You must be fully dressed for travel, with your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. You are to eat in haste; it is the LORD’s Passover. On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn male, both man and beast, and I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.

The blood on the houses where you are staying will distinguish them; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will fall on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

A Perpetual 7-Day Memorial

And this day will be a memorial for you, and you are to celebrate it as a feast to the LORD, as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day, you are to remove the yeast from your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.

On the first day, you are to hold a sacred assembly, and another on the seventh day. You must not do any work on those days, except to prepare the meals—that is all you may do.

So you are to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt. You must observe this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.

Passover and the Exodus from Egypt

If you’ve seen The Ten Commandments movie, starring Charlton Heston, you know the first Passover happened as the death angel killed all the firstborn children and animals of the Egyptians. The death angel ‘passed over’ each Israelite family that applied an innocent lamb’s blood to the doorposts of their houses.

That evening, the Israelites roasted and ate the sacrificial lambs, along with bread that didn’t have time to leaven, just before they hurriedly departed Egypt and miraculously crossed the Red Sea.

The Passover Commemoration

In Exodus 12 (above) and Leviticus chapter 23, God told Israel to commemorate their deliverance from Egyptian bondage every year by sacrificing a lamb on the 14th of Nisan (the first month) and eating it’s roasted flesh that evening.

In Jewish tradition this meal is known as the Passover Seder (pronounced say-der). It’s during this “Feast of Unleavened Bread” when the freshly-killed Passover lamb is eaten.

The 15th of Nisan began at sundown, a few hours after the lambs were killed. Unlike our days that begin at midnight, Biblical days start at sundown, as in this verse from Genesis chapter one.

“And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.“
Genesis 1:5

A Perpetual Feast

The Feast of Unleavened Bread is a permanent ordinance, for all time.

This is a day to remember. Each year, from generation to generation, you must celebrate it as a special festival to YHWH. This is a law for all time.
Exodus 12:14

God said for His people to celebrate this feast perpetually–for all time. The Roman church in the second and third centuries, especially under Constantine, had no authority to discard Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, or to replace them with Good Friday and Easter.

But thankfully, Christians today are re-discovering God’s appointed times and their spiritual application under the New Covenant.

Jesus Is Our Christian Passover

As you learned in the video above, Passover isn’t a day.

In the annual Passover commemoration, “The Lord’s Passover” is the actual sacrifice of our lamb for our sins, whether it’s a yearling sheep, or Jesus, the Lamb of God.

At 3 pm on the 14th of Nisan, the Passover lambs were killed in God’s temple. At exactly the same time, Jesus was dying on the cross as the Lamb of God. Thus, Jesus fulfilled the symbolism of the Passover lamb.

Christian Feast of Unleavened Bread Fulfills the Old Testament Symbolism

Get rid of the old yeast, that you may be a new unleavened batch, as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
1 Corinthians 5:7

Jesus not only perfectly fulfilled the symbolism of the Passover Lamb, delivering us from our bondage to sin and the fear of death, but He was sacrificed at exactly the same time as the Jewish priests were sacrificing the Jewish Passover lambs in the temple.

Then, Jesus was buried in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb just before sundown on Nisan 14. Sundown is the start of Nisan 15, which then begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

To Live You Must Eat My Flesh | I am the Living Bread

During His ministry Jesus totally astonished all of His followers when He said,

Truly, truly, I tell you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that anyone may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And this bread, which I will give for the life of the world, is My flesh. (John 6:47-51)

At the last supper He said,

“For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: that the Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” (1 Corinthians 11:24)

Jesus is our Passover sacrifice. Just as the Israelites ate their sacrificial lamb during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, so Christians must feed on the Lamb of God–who is now a life-giving Spirit.

“The first man Adam became a living being;” the last Adam a life-giving spirit.”
1 Corinthians 15:45

Identify and Remove Leaven: Manmade Traditions and Teachings

Many Jews and Christians struggle to understand God’s commandment to purge all the leaven from our houses for one week each year. For an excellent perspective on what leaven is, and what it symbolically represents, watch this video:

In light of the teaching in this video, during the annual Feast of Unleavened Bread God primarily wants us to introspectively examine our hearts to identify and remove any ‘leaven.’ That is, we need to remove every man-made teaching or tradition that contradicts or replaces God’s word.

Christian Feast of Unleavened Bread: Prepare for the ‘Greater Exodus’ in Our Future

Just as the children of Israel fled Egypt in ‘the exodus’ under Moses, the Bible tells us there’s a Greater Exodus in our future.

The ancient exodus from Egypt began during the week after Passover. Then God delivered one people; the people who became the nation of Israel.

But, in a future (Christian) Feast of Unleavened Bread week, God will begin to deliver His people out of all the nations of the earth in the ‘Greater Exodus’. This ‘Greater Exodus’ will totally eclipse and replace the ancient exodus from Egypt in the minds of all God’s people forever.

As Jeremiah prophesied,

Yet behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when men will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of Egypt.’ Instead they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and all the other lands to which He had banished them.’ For I will return them to their land that I gave to their ancestors.
Jeremiah 16:14-15

Timing of the Christian Feast of Unleavened Bread–the Greater Exodus

For reasons I explain in my End Time Events Sequence, the Greater Exodus will happen during the Christian Feast of Unleavened Bread, just after the great tribulation begins.

The ‘abomination of desolation’ will initiate the 3.5-year great tribulation. Since the 7th Trumpet at the end of the tribulation will certainly coincide with the autumn feasts of Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles, this means the abomination of desolation will coincide with the spring feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread, exactly 3.5 years earlier.

Just as God delivered Moses and the Israelites from Egypt on the 15th of Nisan, I expect God will initiate the Greater Exodus in our future on Nisan 15. Just as God told the Israelites the words below, so they will apply to us in the future.

“This is how you are to eat it: You must be fully dressed for travel, with your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. You are to eat in haste; it is the LORD’s Passover.“

To learn more about the Greater Exodus, here are two references:

The Sequence of End-Time Events
The video below from Lion & Lamb Ministries

Conclusion: Christian Feast of Unleavened Bread

The perpetual Feast of Unleavened Bread teaches us that we must always remember:

Our Passover Lamb’s sacrifice that gives us forgiveness and life
To cleanse our mind and heart from the leaven of every man-made teaching or tradition that contradicts or replaces God’s word
The deliverance God provides for our souls, as well as our bodies in the future, Greater Exodus.