Easter? Lent? Christmas? Do we find these in the Bible? If not, are any Holy Days mentioned? If there are, what do they commemorate or celebrate? If they remember events that took place 2,000 or more years ago, does God still expect us to observe them? And if he does, how do we do that?
Are the aforementioned holidays commanded by God to be observed in His honor? Let's take Christmas for instance . . . can you find anywhere in scripture where God says "Thou shalt observe my son's birth on December 25th?" Or better still, that Jesus' birth is to be observed at any time?
In a recent article about Christmas, we asked what fir trees, wreaths, yule logs, mistletoe and snow had to do with the birth of Jesus. Now, we ask, what do hard boiled eggs and rabbits have to do with the resurrection of Jesus?
IS EASTER ONE OF GOD'S FEAST DAYS?
Is there anywhere in the Bible that tells us we are to observe the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday?
Do you know that the word Easter in Acts 12: 4 is a flagrant mistranslation of the Greek word "pascha", and that it is translated as "Passover" in every other place that it is recorded in the New Testament?
If we read Acts 12: 3, it states "Then were the days of Unleavened Bread". The scriptures tell us, in both the Old and New Testaments, that Passover is to be observed one day prior to the days of Unleavened bread, or the feast of Unleavened Bread. You will not find a single word that commands the church to observe Easter.
Do you know that Easter is actually the same deity as the pagan goddess Ishtar or Astarte, the ancient goddess of fertility and rebirth? That sheds some light on why eggs and Easter bunnies play such a big part in a holiday that is supposed to represent the resurrection of Christ.
These holidays were not observed by the early New Testament church, but were introduced by the Catholic church to make their pagan converts happy. To make the transition easier and thus increase the number of converts, they grafted supposedly Christian names onto pagan holidays and activities. Everybody was happy!
Well, no, not everybody.
ARE THERE SPECIFIED HOLY DAYS IN YOUR BIBLE?
Do you know that God has listed all of the "times and seasons" that He wants people to come before Him to worship? He calls them "my Feasts".
In our article on the weekly Sabbath, we read in Leviticus 23 where all seven of God's annual Sabbaths (Holy Days) are to be observed in their separate seasons.
We are told the Sabbath was to be observed as a weekly Holy convocation, to be observed on the seventh day of the week, a time made holy by God at creation.
Lets turn to our Bibles and read about the Holy Days that God tells us are His Feast Days.
In
Lev. 23: 1 - "And the Lord spake unto Moses
saying,
v 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say
unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim
to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.
WHAT DOES GOD MEAN, "MY FEAST DAYS"?
When we think of the word "feast", our thoughts are of huge, lavish banquets, with an abundance of food and drink and laughter -- a festive atmosphere.
In Strong's Exhaustive Concordance we find the word Feast #4150.
FEAST = MOWED = an appointment. Fixed time or season, a festival, conventionally a year, an assembly, a signal, a solemn feast.
God's Feasts are "Holy Convocations" or "commanded assemblies", a time when God commands us to come before Him in worship.
It is interesting that the weekly seventh day Sabbath, is a Feast Day, a mowed and a fixed time, as well.
We read in Leviticus 23:3:
"Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings."
God makes it clear, that in six days we are to work, but the 7th day is a feast (a "mowed"), it is an appointed time, that we are to come before the Lord to worship Him.
v
4 These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations,
which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.
As we continue in the Book of Leviticus, chapter 23, we find another Holy Convocation, held once a year as a memorial, called The Passover.
The first month of God's sacred calendar is the month of Abib or Nisan. That is the equivalent of our March or April, in the spring of the year.
Leviticus
23: 5 - "In the fourteenth day of the first month (c.m.
Heb Abib, approximately our March/April)
at even (dusk) is the LORD's passover.
Let's take some time to identify this day. It is a separate feast day, or mowed, that is observed once a year as a memorial. However it is not an annual Holy Day.
We find two separate types of Passover being reviewed here. One is the Old Testament Passover, that was held on the night before Israel left Egypt.
Let's go to the book of Exodus in the Old Testament and read about this newly appointed day, as to why, how, and when it was to be observed.
In Exodus 12: 2 - "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you."
(this was not observed in January, rather in March/April, depending upon a 12 month or 13 month calendar used by the Hebrews.)
Then the Lord God instructs Moses on what He would have them do, while still in Egypt, in the first month, and why He wants them to observe this day.
WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF BLOOD ON THE DOORPOSTS?
In
Exodus 12: 3 - "Speak ye unto all the congregation
of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every
man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:
v 4 And if the household be too little for the
lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the
number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count
for the lamb.
v 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male
of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
v 6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth
day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel
shall kill it in the evening."
v 7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike
it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they
shall eat it.
v 8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night,
roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat
it.
v 9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water,
but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.
v 10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until
the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn
with fire.
v 11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins
girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat
it in haste: it is the LORD's passover.
v 13 And the blood shall
be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood,
I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when
I smite the land of Egypt.
v 14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial;
and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall
keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
v 21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel,
and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families,
and kill the passover.
v 22 And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip
it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side
posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the
door of his house until the morning.
v 23 For the LORD will pass through to smite the
Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side
posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to
come in unto your houses to smite you.
v 24 And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance
to thee and to thy sons for ever.
v 25 And it shall come to pass, when ye be come
to the land which the LORD will give you, according as he hath promised, that
ye shall keep this service.
v 26 And it shall come to pass, when your children
shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service?
v 27 That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of
the LORD's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in
Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people
bowed the head and worshipped.
v 28 And the children of Israel went away, and
did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.
v 29 And it came to pass, that at midnight the
LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh
that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon;
and all the firstborn of cattle.
v 30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and
all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt;
for there was not a house where there was not one dead.
WAS THE ORDINANCE OF THE PASSOVER CHANGED?
An ordinance is something that can be changed. Cities and towns make ordinances to govern their communities, such as speed limits and parking laws. These can be changed as the need arises. And the need to change the Passover came about. For this change, let's turn to the New Testament.
Matthew
26: 2 - "Ye know that after two days is the feast
of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified."
(Translators obviously read Leviticus 23, and assumed that it was an annual Sabbath. But "feast of" is in italics. The scripture should read "Now the first of the unleavens the disciples came to Jesus.")
At that time the Passover was observed by eating a special physical meal commemorating it, a meal of roasted lamb, bitter herbs and unleavened bread.
Matthew
26:19 - "And the disciples did as Jesus had
appointed them; and they made ready the passover.
v 20 Now when the even was come, he sat
down with the twelve."
[We need to remember God begins each new day at sunset, not at midnight as is observed by much of the world today.]
This was after sundown of the thirteenth of Abib or Nisan, at the beginning of the 14th day of Nisan. Today some call this a subliminal Passover, because the Jews' Passover is observed on the beginning of the 15th of Nisan after the sundown on the 14th.
Jesus was not keeping a subliminal Passover. He was observing the Passover on the same night (the 14th) that Israel observed it in Egypt.
Jesus was keeping Passover at the correct time; the Jews do not. For further proof of the correct date notice:
Numbers 33: 3 - "And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians."
WHERE DID ISRAEL RESIDE WHILE IN EGYPT?
The Israelites lived in the land of Goshen within the borders of Egypt. They left Goshen on the daylight portion of the fourteenth of Nisan (after observing the Passover). They arrived in Rameses just before sunset on the fourteenth at the beginning of the fifteenth of Nisan. On Night to be Remembered at the beginning of the 15th, they began to leave Egypt as the first Holy Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread began, . . . they celebrated and traveled all night, and in the morning of the 15th they retired to their tents.[Again this is verified by Numbers 33:3.]
In Leviticus 23 we see the Passover is a separate holy convocation from the feast of Unleavened Bread. However it is not an annual Holy Day.
Why don't we observe Passover as the Jews do today? Was a change made in the observance of the Passover? Remember in Exodus 12, it was kept as an ordinance forever. We've already established that ordinances can be changed and Jesus changed the ordinance as to how the New Testament church was to observe Passover.
IN WHAT WAY DID JESUS CHANGE PASSOVER?
At this point, Jesus introduced new symbols for the Passover, thus introducing a new covenant, which replaced the old one.
In Matthew 26 as they were eating the meal of the old covenant, Jesus did something in v. 26 - And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it (c.m. gave thanks -- Mark 6:41) and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, take, eat; this is my body.
v
27 "And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying,
Drink ye all of it;
v 28 For this is my blood of the new testament,
which is shed for many for the remission of sins."
Jesus had changed the Old Covenant Passover with the New Covenant Passover, using only the unleavened bread and wine, which replaced the lamb and unleavened bread as a meal.
Notice Paul's words in I Corinthians 10:16 -"The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
v 17 "For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread."
The Catholic church and most Protestant churches observe what they call communion or the Lord's supper.
Have you ever wondered why one would celebrate the Lord's supper in the morning? The Catholic observance is not like the Protestant observance, as the members only eat a wafer, they do not drink the wine, only the priest does this. Most Protestants use white cubed leavened bread and grape juice.
Both religions take communions at various times in the year. Yet the Passover is a memorial. How many times a year do we observe Memorial Day? We observe a memorial once a year, and so it should be with the Passover.
In Strong's Concordance we see the word communion under #2842:
Communion=koinonia-partnership, fellowship, to participate with, to communicate with.
We read in 2 Corinthians 6: 14 - " Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?"
So it is sharing in something with someone else -- to commune with some one is to fellowship or participate with someone.
In this case, we commune or fellowship, with Christ Jesus, who became our Passover, replacing the physical lamb and bitter herbs.
Notice Paul's analogy of physical sin and leavening. In I Corinthians 5, Paul is admonishing the Church of God in Corinth because they allowed a man who was having sexual relations with his step-mother to remain in the body of Christ, the church.
I
Cor. 5: 1- "It is reported commonly that there is fornication among
you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that
one should have his father's wife.
v 2 And ye are puffed up, and have not
rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among
you.
v 3 For I verily, as absent in body, but present
in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that
hath so done this deed,
v 4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when
ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
v 5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction
of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
v 6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not
that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
v 7 Purge out therefore the old leaven,
that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover
is sacrificed for us:
v 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not
with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with
the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
We see how bread, in this case unleavened bread, and is a type of Jesus' sinless body, and the wine a type of his blood. All this had a bearing on the New Covenant.
The analogy of John 6 and Christ's Passover with His Disciples:
Jesus was admonishing the people who were following Him simply for the food they received with the fishes and loaves.
John
6: 26- "Jesus
answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because
ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.
v 27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but
for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall
give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed."
v
31 "Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He
gave them bread from heaven to eat.
v 32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth
you the true bread from heaven.
v 33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down
from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
v 34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give
us this bread.
v 35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread
of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth
on me shall never thirst.
v
48 I am that bread of life.
v 49 Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness,
and are dead.
v 50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven,
that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
v 51 I am the living bread which came down from
heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread
that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
v 52 The Jews therefore strove among themselves,
saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
v 53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his
blood, ye have no life in you.
v 54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh
my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
v 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood
is drink indeed.
v 56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood,
dwelleth in me, and I in him.
v 57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live
by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
v 58 This is that bread which came down from heaven:
not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread
shall live for ever.
However, the unconverted Jews misunderstood what Jesus was telling them. They thought they were to eat his human flesh and drink His blood, they believed He was talking about human sacrifice, which was against the laws of God.
Notice
their words in v 60-" Many therefore of his
disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can
hear it?
v 61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples
murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?[Does
this cause you to stumble?]
v 62 What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend
up where he was before?
v 63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh
profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they
are life.
v 64 But there are some of you that believe not.
For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should
betray him.
v 65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that
no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
v 66 From that time many of his disciples went
back, and walked no more with him.
Jesus was telling them He came down from Heaven. He said, "I am the bread of life." This is what Jesus was doing at the last Passover with His disciples. This is what Jesus meant in Matthew 26: 26-29; Mark 14:22-25; and in Luke 22: 13-20.
However, some of the sect of the Pharisees (Acts 15: 1-5) had been teaching false doctrines to these new gentile Christians. They were trying to deny Christ as Messiah and the Son of God. These new Gentiles were confused as to what to do on Passover, and how to properly observe it.
The
apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth to get this confusion straightened
out. Notice his words to the Corinthians in I Corinthians
11: 18- "For first of all, when ye come together in the church,
I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.
v 19 For there must be also heresies among you,
that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.
v 20 When ye come together therefore into
one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper.
(which was the Passover meal.)
v
21 For in eating every one
taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.
v 22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink
in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? what shall
I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.
v 23 For I have received of the Lord that which
also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he
was betrayed took bread:
v 24 And when he had given thanks, he brake
it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in
remembrance of me.
v 25 After the same manner also he took the cup,
when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this
do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
v 26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink
this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.
This verse is not saying you can observe Passover any time you want to,but rather when you observe it, which was on the 14th day of Abib. Most Protestant churches take communion with white leavened bread and grape juice several times a year. The Catholic church does it differently with only the priest drinking the wine, neither way is correct if we read the scriptures properly.
Paul warned the Corinthians about not understanding what this new Passover observance meant, and what could happen if they observed it improperly.
I Cor. 11: 27 - "Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord."
v
28 - "But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that
bread, and drink of that cup.
v 29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily,
eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
v 30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among
you, and many sleep.
v 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should
not be judged.
v 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of
the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
v 33 Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together
to eat, tarry one for another.
v 34 And if any man hunger, let him eat at home;
that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order
when I come." [With these words it it is obvious
Paul was condemning eating the Old Covenant Passover.]
WHY WAS THERE A NEED FOR A NEW CONVENANT, AND A CHANGE IN THE PASSOVER SERVICE?
Why did Jesus usher in a new covenant? What was wrong with the old covenant? After all, it had been in effect for thousands of years.
We find the answer in the book of Hebrews.
Hebrews
8: 1- " Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum:
We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the
Majesty in the heavens;
v 2 A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true
tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.
v 3 For every high priest is ordained to offer
gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat
also to offer.
v 4 For if he were on earth, he should not be a
priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law:
v 5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly
things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle:
for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed
to thee in the mount.
v 6 - He is a mediator of a
better covenant, which was established on better promises.
v
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place
have been sought for the second.
v 8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house
of Israel and with the house of Judah:
v 9 Not according to the covenant that I made with
their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the
land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them
not, saith the Lord.
v 10 For this is the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws
into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God,
and they shall be to me a people:
v 11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour,
and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from
the least to the greatest.
v 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness,
and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
v 13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath
made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish
away.
Then notice what Paul said about the blood in Hebrews 9:
v
8 The Holy
Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made
manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:
v 9 Which was a figure for the time then present,
in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that
did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;
v 10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and
divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of
reformation.
v 11 But Christ being come an high priest of good
things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands,
that is to say, not of this building;
v 12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves,
but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having
obtained eternal redemption for us.
v
13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer
sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
v 14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God?
v 19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to
all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats,
with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all
the people,
v 20 Saying, This is the blood of the testament
which God hath enjoined unto you.
v 21 Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the
tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.
v 22 And almost all things are by the law purged
with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
v 23 It was therefore necessary that the
patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly
things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
v 24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places
made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself,
now to appear in the presence of God for us:
v 28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins
of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without
sin unto salvation.
Lets read in chapter 10 of Hebrews: verse 1 "
For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of
the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year
continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
v 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered?
because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience
of sins.
v 3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance
again made of sins every year.
v 4 For it is not possible that the blood of
bulls and of goats should take away sins.
v 5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he
saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not,
v
6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
v 7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the
book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
v 8 Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering
and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure
therein; which are offered by the law;
v 9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O
God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
v 10 By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
v 11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes
the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
v
12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever,
sat down on the right hand of God;
v 13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies
be made his footstool.
v 14 For by one offering he hath perfected for
ever them that are sanctified.
v 15 Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to
us: for after that he had said before,
v 16 This is the covenant that I will make with
them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts,
and in their minds will I write them;
v 17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember
no more.
v 18 Now where remission of these is, there
is no more offering for sin.
v 19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter
into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
v 20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated
for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
v 21 And having an high priest over the house of
God;
Jesus with His death and shed blood, became the Passover lamb mentioned in I Corinthians 5:7. Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. This is why He is called the Lamb of God.
The apostle Paul wrote about the importance of knowing the meaning of Christ's sacrifice, and what it means to those who observe Passover, just prior to the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
In I Cor 11:25 we read that Christ is the mediator of the New Covenant. He is the one, who with His sacrifice, opened the door to the Holy of Holies , and gave us permission to come boldly before the throne of our Father (Heb 4:16).
None of us are worthy of the blood of the New Covenant Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. We must understand why we are observing this Christ oriented ritual once a year. In doing this, we observe His death until He comes.
Read
I Corinthians 11:28-30. Could this mean we are
not healed of our illnesses when we seek his healing? In I
Peter 2: 24 Peter quotes from Isaiah 53:5 -
" But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities:
the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are
healed.
Isaiah
53:6 - "All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all."
When ancient Israel smeared the blood of the slain Passover lamb upon their door posts, it was symbolic of the blood of Christ, our Passover lamb, which saves us from death. For those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior and received forgiveness for their sins, His blood takes away their sins and protects them from eternal death.
CAN CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE PAGAN RITUALS TO PLEASE GOD?
Today most of Christianity celebrates a pagan holiday in honor of the birth of Jesus, the Savior of mankind. When in fact, the scriptures tell us we are to observe His death, once a year, by eating the unleavened bread that represents his broken body, and drinking the wine (not grape juice) that signifies the blood He shed. For in fact, a God died for us.
Only Christ could die for the sins of all of mankind (Romans 5:6-8).
Today some people in the church of God eat the Old Testament Passover of lamb and bitter herbs prior to taking the bread and wine. In doing this, they nullify the salvation of Jesus Christ. It's like slapping Jesus in the face. Jesus said, "This is my blood, shed for the remission of sins. This is my blood of the new covenant. Why continue with the old covenant, which cannot forgive sin?
We need to understand why we observe the blood and wine at Passover. It is dangerous for us if we don't.
In I Cor 11:28 - " But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup."
Finally in 2 Corinthians 13:5 - "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?"
We are told to focus on and remember the death of our savior; nowhere does it say we should observe his birth or resurrection.
In upcoming articles, we will examine God's seven annual Holy Days, which He calls "My Feasts". By studying these feast days we can find God's plan of salvation. You will not find His plan in any of the mainstream Christian holidays.
My wife and I stopped observing Christmas and Easter 46 years ago, and began to observe the Passover and the seven annual Holy Days, of which God says "These are my Feasts."
The world believes these were done away with the old covenant. If they were, someone forgot to tell the Apostle Paul, as we read in Colossians 2:16-17 - " Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ."
Maybe it's time
you look into the doctrines of your church, as we did 46 years ago. We found
they were not compatible with the Holy Days of the Lord, nor did they picture
God's plan of salvation.
