No Passover, No Resurrection Day. Know Passover, Know Resurrection Day.

[Jacob Ben Avraham]

No Passover, No Resurrection Day.  Know Passover, Know Resurrection Day.  

Play on words you might ask?  Well, not really.  But can you just imagine if the first Passover had not taken place?  What would have happened? Would Messiah Yeshua/Jesus been born?  

Let's see.  If God had not listened to the cries of the Children of Israel.  If He had turned a deaf ear to their pleas, He wouldn't have selected Moses to set His people free from the bondage of slavery.  Perhaps, Moses would have been thrown into the Nile River with the rest of the Hebrew male infants by order of Pharaoh.  He would have perished.  

The Hebrews would have continued to be enslaved.  Would they had been annihilated by the Egyptians?  Maybe not.  Why would you wipe out your workforce?  That wouldn't have made sense.  Perhaps, in time, they would have intermingled with the Egyptian populous, and their Hebrew identity would have disappeared.  With the disappearance of the Hebrews, would Yeshua/Jesus had been born? if yes, then the prophecy of Him being born in Bethlehem would not have been fulfilled.  If He hadn't been born, there would not have been a Savior to pay the price of our sins, and we would ALL be in a world of hurt. No Savior crucified would mean no resurrection, no resurrection would mean the curse of death would still be active.  We would be without hope.....So, there we have it...No Passover sacrifice of the Lamb of God would have meant No Resurrection on the 8th day. 

HOWEVER

Since the first Passover DID happen, and the Hebrews were set free from their bondage of slavery, They all eventually got to the promised land, and once in the promised land, they settled in and there, the Nation of Israel thrived (until they were kicked out for a time because of rebellion and idolatry).  However, because our God is a God of compassion and has an "I'll give you another chance" attitude.  Israel came back with Nehemiah and Ezra.  Eventually, Yeshua was born in Beit-Lechem (The House of Bread) only fitting that the "Bread of Life" be born in the "House of Bread."  He lived a sinless life as "God-In-The-Flesh" taught Torah, healed the sick, and raised the dead, Took upon himself our sins on the Cross of Calvary, died and was buried. (Kind of hard to imagine our immortal God dying) the third day He arose from the dead, and that means  RESURRECTION. The curse of sin dealt with once and for all time.  So, if we know the First Passover, that pointed to the Passover Lamb of God giving himself up as a sacrifice for sin on the Passover (Nissan 14)  of year 30 C.E. (approx.) and then, we know the Resurrection which occurred three days later (Nissan 17).  So, if we Know the Passover, we know the Resurrection.  Flat Statement! as our EMT instructor used to say when he taught us anatomy.  (Flat statement, this question will be on your state board exam!) Yes, I was a medic in the Army.  

The death and resurrection of Messiah Yeshua were the most important events in the history of mankind!  

12 common and ordinary men were filled with joy, happiness, and hope.  This blessed hope continues to be the hope of the whole world PROVIDED
that we lay claim to this hope and accept it personally in our lives.  It is the hope that awaits us beyond the gates of death   (1 Peter 1:3) 

The Resurrection is a historical fact which is even written about outside the Bible;  

Flavius Josephus, a Jewish Historian wrote the following:  

    "There was a wise man named Yeshua who was of good conduct and full of virtue.  Pontius Pilate condemned him to death by crucifixion.  His followers reported that this same Yeshua had appeared to them three days later his crucifixion and was alive.  Maybe, according to these events, he was the Messiah."  (Antiquities of the Jews  18:63)

Cornelius Tacitus, a Roman historian wrote the following:  

    "Nero punished the guilty ones and condemned them to horrible tortures.  These were the ones called "Kristianos" and "Kristos" (Christ) was the one who many followed in his doctrine. This one suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius Caesar by one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate. (Crucifixion) and afterwards, a tremendous superstition commenced, not only in Judea, but even here in Rome."  

  Might we ask what the "tremendous superstition" was?  Yes, it was the "Resurrection!" Many did not believe in it, as the "rumor" was spread that the disciples stole the body while the guards slept.  Really, seriously? sleeping on guard duty had the death penalty!  The guards probably fainted with fear once seeing the angel as he took away the stone.  NOT to let the Messiah out, but to show that He had already LEFT!  He went right through the stone in His resurrected body.  (We'll be able to do the same in our new bodies made for eternity)

The Apostle Paul gives visual testimony of the resurrected Messiah when he wrote his letter to the church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 15:3-55) 
He gives account of his own conversion, from "persecutor to preacher" in Acts 9:1-6.  He had to have seen the resurrected Messiah Jesus, even as a  bright light to have made such a change in him.  He was thus blinded and was lead to the house of Ananias.  The first thing he saw was the "Grace of God" when Ananias touched him.  Why is that?  The name "Ananias" in Hebrew is  "ChananYah" (Chanan or Chanun or Chen) = "Grace, and "Yah" is a shortened version of "YHVH"  (the "Ch" is pronounced as a hard "h") like "Bach" so, the "Grace of God" opened Paul's eyes. 

Yeshua was risen from the dead for our justification and righteousness (Romans 4:24-25)  The resurrection of Messiah Jesus brings us hope, because we too will be resurrected from the dead.  Once we die, and our bodies buried in the ground, we will go on to be with the LORD, and later, our bodies will be reconstituted and changed from corruptible to incorruptible.  This is the blessed hope, that we will have new bodies to join our soul/spirit beings in Heaven.  (Maybe in heaven we will have some temporary body until that event happens)       (John 11:25) 

So, be of good cheer, we will live....forever.  New bodies, no sin, joy, happiness, no taxes, no cockroaches, no loud stereos with boom boxes, peace, and more shalom...FOREVER.  Now, go to sleep with these thoughts.  

Ben Avraham

 

Summer time in Jaffa 

[JohnD]

Yeshua Jesus explained the Passover Seder (particularly the third cup the cup of redemption, and the meaning of the afikomen).

All other elements of Seder also point to the Messianic office and mission. In fact all the Jewish feasts point to Messiah.

Man's traditional attempts to add to or improve upon God end up with pagan symbolism and even names Astarte / Easter or yule logs

at Christ MASS... pagan symbols of fertility eggs and bunnies... dressing trees which was forbidden in Jeremiah...

We throw Jesus a bone at Christmas and Easter and call ourselves religious. 

We mock the LORD's Seder table with crackers and cool aid. 

Oy, the shame of it all.

[branchesofHim]

On 4/23/2022 at 9:17 PM, Jacob Ben Avraham said:

The death and resurrection of Messiah Yeshua were the most important events in the history of mankind!  

Amen and amen! Great point. Shalom

2 Corinthians 5:[14] For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
[15] And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
[16] Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
[17] Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
[18] And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
[19] To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
[20] Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
[21] For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.