Category Archives: Feasts

Why Does the New Testament Emphasize the Death of Yeshua More Than His Resurrection?

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The Testimony of Yeshua (or New Testament) has more than twice as many references to the death of Yeshua (more than 99 references) than to his resurrection (approximately 49 references). Why is this? Why did the apostolic writers emphasize the death of Yeshua the Messiah more than his resurrection? This fact has perplexed some of us for years. We now will briefly explore why this may be.

To be sure, the resurrection of Yeshua is a momentous event in the history of the world not to be minimized or understated in any way, and is not sub par to the importance of his incarnation, life or death. Furthermore, had Yeshua not resurrected from the dead, there would be no hope of the resurrection of the saints, for as Paul writes,

And if Messiah is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of Elohim, because we have testified of Elohim that He raised up Messiah, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Messiah is not risen. And if Messiah is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Messiah have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Messiah, we are of all men the most pitiable. (1 Cor 15:14–19)

Adding to the perplexing fact that the Testimony of Yeshua emphasizes the death of Yeshua over his resurrection is that notable fact that of the seven biblical feasts mentioned in Leviticus 23 and elsewhere in Scripture, there no feast that specifically points to the resurrection of Yeshua. The day of Passover addresses Yeshua’s death and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the next biblical feast completely skips past the resurrection altogether. This is the Feast of Weeks, which corresponds to the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two, which also occurred fifty days after Yeshua’s resurrection. 

So why is there no biblical holiday, contrary to popular but ill-informed opinion, specifically portraying the resurrection of the Messiah? In answer to this question, some Bible students will point to the so called  “Feast” of First Fruits (Lev 23:9–13) as the biblical holiday that answers to the resurrection of Yeshua. While First Fruits Day (the correct biblical name for this occasion) does definitely point prophetically to Yeshua’s resurrection and ascension to heaven, this day, according to the Torah, was neither a biblical feast or miqra kodesh or a high holy day Sabbath. Rather, it was a moed or divine appointment (all biblical feasts are moedim [the plural of moed], but not all moedim are feasts) on which the Levitical priest performed the ritual of offering up a sheaf of the barley first fruits before Elohim. But for the rest of the Israelites, First Fruits Day was not a Sabbath-day of rest or holy or sacred assembly (Heb. miqra kodesh). Rather it was a common work day when the Israelites went into their fields to harvest the newly ripened barley. (I discuss this subject at length in my 23 page article on this subject available at https://www.hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/firstfruits.pdf.) To call First Fruits Day a feast is a misreading, if not a twisting, of Scripture. Facts are stubborn things for some people to deal with, but facts are truth, and truth is still truth regardless of people’s opinions to the contrary.

So now let us attempt to answer the question of why there is no biblical feast that specifically commemorates the resurrection of our Master and Savior, Yeshua the Messiah, and why the apostolic writers of the Testimony of Yeshua emphasized the death of Yeshua more than twice as much as his resurrections. First, it is the death of Yeshua and the shedding of his blood that saved humans from their sins, not his resurrection. Scripture is clear on this in both the Tanakh or Old Testament and the Testimony of Yeshua, for the Word of Elohim teaches us that the shedding of blood atones for man’s sin (for scriptural proof, see my article on this at https://www.hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/atone.pdf). The New Testament Scriptures clearly state that Yeshua’s shed blood and not his resurrection is what redeemed or saved man from sin’s death penalty. One passage that specifically states this is Romans 4:25,

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Theosis: The “Deification” of Man and the Tabernacle of Moses and the Biblical Feasts

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The Tabernacle of Moses from its entrance to the its innermost room represents one’s progression in their spiritual journey starting with initial salvation progressing to the glorification of the physical body and eternal life in YHVH’s eternal spiritual kingdom. 

Entering through the front door of the tabernacle and progressing to the holy of holies is from the human perspective as one moves toward Elohim; it is the perspective of moving from the human to the spiritual plane of existence or that of the earthbound looking heavenward. However, from YHVH Elohim’s view from the glory cloud that has hovering over the holy of holies just above the ark of the covenant, the perspective was different. It was from the inside looking out, or from heaven looking downward. We will discus the contrasting viewpoints between the human and divine in a moment.

In the outer court of the tabernacle, all the rituals and furnishings therein pointed to death and judgment, as well as to washing or cleansing. These prophetically foreshadowed salvation through Yeshua’s atoning death on the cross, with Yeshua being the door to salvation, and one’s need to accept his death on the cross for one’s sins followed by the need of baptism for the remission of sins. 

In the set-apart (kadosh or holy) place inside the tabernacle, everything pointed to life, light, food, fragrant incense, the fruits and gifts of the Set-Apart Spirit—or life in a spiritual relationship with Elohim subsequent to one’s taking the beginning steps in the salvation process. 

In summary, the outer court speaks of basic salvation for the redeemed believer in Yeshua, while the holy place speaks of spiritual growth and maturity, and of moving from spiritual babyhood and then growing into spiritual adulthood or maturity. 

To understand this process of growing in spiritual maturity, it is necessary to comprehend the tripartite composition of the human being. Paul speaks of man being subdivided into three parts—body, soul and spirit (1 Thess 5:23). The tabernacle’s outer court seems to relate more to the physical or bodily realm of the person, while the holy place speaks more of the soul or intellectual, volitional and emotional aspects of one’s inner or psychological makeup. Finally, the holy of holies portrays man approaching YHVH through the realm of a person’s inner or personal spirit. 

As one progresses into the tabernacle, it is as if YHVH is drawing a person into an ever deeper relational walk with him starting at the most basic level progressing upward until one is finally communing with YHVH on a Spirit-to-(human personal)-spirit level (in the most holy place). It is the Father’s desire that his children progressively grow until each of us is communing with him at the highest spiritual level (see John 4:23–24). 

As noted earlier, this forward progression from the tabernacle’s entrance to its innermost room is but one way to view a person’s spiritual progression into the realm of the Spirit of Elohim. From YHVH’s perspective, looking from the inside of the tabernacle outward, the view changes. Although one has to enter the tabernacle through the outer gate and then go through various rites and rituals relating to a cleansing process before being allowed into the tabernacle itself, at the same time, we see YHVH starting to work with the person from the inside out. That is to say, when a person initially comes into a spiritual relationship with his Creator, YHVH first regenerates the person spiritually by putting his Set-Apart Spirit in the spirit of the person. In a sense, if the tabernacle is a picture of the tripartite subdivision of a person’s life (body, soul and spirit), then YHVH starts working from the inside out in one’s personal spirit, which is one’s personal holy of holies that is inside of them, if you will. From there, the Set-Apart Spirit goes to work on the person’s soul (mind, will and emotions) to transform it spiritually into the mind or image of Yeshua (Rom 8:28–29). This process will last a person’s lifetime. Finally, at the resurrection at Yeshua’s second coming, the saint’s will receive their redeemed and glorified or god-like body (1 John 3:1–2). At this time, they will become full-fledged, immortal spirit-children of Elohim (John 1:12). Though the Bible teaches that humans can become sons of Elohim and be like him as part of his divine family, man will never be equivalent to Elohim in a full sense (Isa 45:5, 6, 12, 18–19, 21–23). Only Elohim is the Creator, is without a beginning, and is all powerful, all knowing and all present. Man will never attain to this level.

The process of man going from being a physical and human creature to becoming an immortal and glorified child of the Most High, in theological terms, is called theosis, a Greek word meaning “deification or the act of becoming like deity.” This is an ancient Christian concept that is still held by the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church and refers to the spiritual process that occurs resulting in the deification of man. The goal of theosis is to become “like” (though not equal to) Elohim and to become eventually united with him spiritually. Theosis is the biblical concept of a redeemed or spiritually regenerated individual “becoming a partaker YHVH’s divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4), and being adopted into the family of Elohim (see the verses below). It is about man becoming like Elohim—becoming part of the family of Elohim as a child of Elohim (John 10:34; Ps 82:1; 1 John 3:1–3).

This is our theosis, that as the Ruach haKodesh (the Set-Apart or Holy Spirit) identified Yeshua as the Son of Elohim at his baptism, so we take the first steps of becoming a son of Elohim at our baptism when we become a new creation through Yeshua and the work of the Set-Apart Spirit (Gal 2:20; 2 Cor 5:17). At that time, one is begotten into the family of Elohim, and when one receives one’s glorified body at the resurrection one will be fully born or adopted into the family of Elohim as a full-fledged son of Elohim, for, as the Scripture says, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is (1 John 3:1–3).

Paul refers to theosis in several places when he uses the term adoption.

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Chag Sameach (Joyous) Feast of Unleavened Bread!

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Here are some free resources from Hoshana Rabbah to make your celebration of the biblical Feast of Unleavened Bread (Chag haMatzot) more meaningful:

 

Combat the Religion of Antichrist Called Wokeness—Celebrate Passover!

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Make no mistake. The political correctness of Wokeism is a religion for those who either hate or cavalierly dismiss Elohim, Yeshua the Messiah and the Bible—the Word of Elohim. This religion, which is that of the Babylon the Great New World Order, is sweeping across the planet and devouring all those who have little or no faith in Yeshua the Messiah. It will gobble you up also if you don’t stay strong in your faith. This will happen little-by-little without your even knowing it if you aren’t locked and loaded for Yeshua the Messiah and strongly know and adhere to biblical capital T truth. This video is a practical guide on how to stay strong in your faith and not fall to the lies of Satan the devil as embodied by the latest permutation of his religion of rebellion against YHVH Elohim called (leftist) Wokeism.

 

Combatting the Religious Wokeness Spirit of Antichrist By Celebrating Passover

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Dealing With Truth Issue—What Is Capital T Truth?

A cosmic struggle between light and darkness, error and truth has been going on in this earth ever since the snake in the tree made his debut and deceived the first humans into giving up the Truth of Elohim for the lie of the devil. How is this struggle between the forces of light and darkness manifesting itself on planet today, and what can the saints do about it?

Two categories of people exist in this cosmic struggle. Those who adhere to Truth who will pay a high cost—they will lose their lives and gain the world. Then there are those people who reject Truth will pay even a higher cost—they will gain the world and lose their lives, so says Yeshua who lost it all for us.

Capital T Truth is at the epicenter of this struggle. Every human is confronted with a choice with regard to Truth. Will he or she seek and follow that Truth or reject it? To not make a choice is to reject Truth. 

What is that Truth?

Yeshua the Messiah, the Living Torah-Word of Elohim, was the Light of Truth personified who came to pierce the darkness of this world.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1, 14)

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (John 1:4–5)

That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of Elohim, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of Elohim. (John 1:10–13)

Sadly, nearly everyone around Yeshua totally rejected him including his own disciples and brothers up to his crucifixion. This is because each person has to face their own dark night of the soul: will they adhere to the Truth no matter what, or will they cave in to the extreme pressures of the world, the flesh and the devil that will be exerted against them?

Each person faces their dark night of the soul at different times. It may be the lure of money, the need social acceptance and the need to be recognition, peer pressure (family, friends, job, school), lust for sexual fulfilment and need for “love”, or whatever, the fear of death—of losing something important, of rejection, social ostracization. No one knows when their dark night of the soul will come when they will be forced to stand for Truth. Jacob experienced his when facing with death, and he had to wrestle with himself and Yeshua. Moses spent forty years in the wilderness being tested, then had the burning bush experience, then had to circumcise his sons. His wife left him over this and his ministry calling. He had to make the choice to follow YHVH or his wife. Yeshua faced his dark night in the Garden of Gethsemene (the olive press), and the disciples faced theirs at Yeshua’s arrest. When our time comes, will we stand for Truth, or will we cave or acquiesce to the pressure? 

The events surrounding the crucifixion revealed the metal of each person with regard to Yeshua. Either people flat out opposed Yeshua, the Truth (the Jews and Romans), or abandoned the Truth when forced to make the hard decisions requiring to stand for the Truth (the disciples).

The Jewish mob was opposed to Yeshua and yelled, “Crucify him” , while the Pilate, the Roman, was indifferent. He caved in to the pressure of the mob for political expediency. It was advantageous for him and his position to keep the peace no matter the cost. For him, it was about maintaining power and prestige in the eyes of Rome. The godless mob screaming, “Crucify him!” was the beginning of the modern manifestation of wokeism and its bastard child, cancel culture. Kill the truth that is a is a threat to your own subjective, feeling-based truth.

Yeshua’s disciples, on the other hand, faced their own dark night of the soul. How would they respond to Truth issues? Their initial response, like many Christians in our day, was to grow weary in the face of adversity. The disciples fell asleep in the garden, then they eventually abandoned Yeshua. Peter even denied him.

In our day, Truth is crying aloud in the streets for those who have ears to hear. Most people stop their ears from hearing the Truth because it is to disturbing and life-changing. The mass media, our educational systems, civil government, the societal culture in general is not only stopping its collective ears, but yelling and screaming like petulant children throwing a tantrum trying to drown out the voice of Truth originating from our Father in heaven. The mob is yelling, “Crucify him” or, in reality, “Crucify Truth!”

Questioning Truth

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When is Passover?

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When to celebrate the upcoming biblical feast of Passover is currently the big question on the minds of biblically astute, Hebraically-minded followers of Yeshua. We keep his commandments because we love and want to know him, right? Right!

What follows will be a simple step-by-step guide on how to determine the date of Passover. It’s as simple as one, two, three or A-B-C, if you prefer. Once you have done this, you can figure out the times of the other biblical feasts for the rest of the year.

Step one: Determine when the barley in the land of Israel is abib (or ripe).

Step two: Once there is enough barley that is ripe, sight the new moon in the land of Israel. The next new moon that falls after the barley is ripe, will be the first day of the new biblical year.

Step three: Once you know the first day of the new year, then count forward 14 days to Passover, which is on the fourteenth day of the new year.

It’s that simple.

Once you know Passover, you can calculate the rest of the biblical feasts.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread is on the fifteenth day of the first month or the next day after Passover day. The Feast of Weeks or Pentecost is on the fiftieth day after First Fruits Day (always on a Sunday). In other words, between First Fruits Day and Pentecost there are 49 days or seven full weeks with Pentecost falling on the fiftieth day—always on a Sunday.

Once you know when the first day of the first month is for the biblical year, it is also easy to calculate when the fall biblical feasts are.

The Day of Trumpets falls on the first day of the seventh month.

The Day of Atonement occurs on the tenth day of the seventh month.

The Feast of Tabernacles falls on the fifteenth day of the seventh month and lasts for seven days. The seventh day of this feast is called, by ancient Jewish tradition, the Last Great Day or Hoshana Rabbah.

The Eighth Day falls on the twenty-second day of the seventh month immediately after the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Important: The biblical new month always begins when the first crescent new moon is visible to the naked eye from the land of Israel. Sometimes is it impossible to predetermine on which day Passover or Day of Trumpets will fall, since this is contingent upon seeing the new moon. A biblical month can have 29 or 30 days. So if one doesn’t see the new moon at the end of the 29th day, then that means that the new month will begin at the end of the 30th day. This marks the first day of the new month. Therefore, it is impossible to know ahead of time the exact day of Passover or Trumpets. You have to wait until you see the new moon or don’t see it, depending on the situation.

Not knowing the exact day for Passover and Trumpets ahead time frustrates and irritates many people, since they can’t plan ahead of time when to take time off from work, or plan to rent a building when planning for a large gathering. For this reason, many people choose to follow the calculated traditional or rabbinic Jewish calendar (aka the Hillel 2 calendar). The problem is that this calendar was not the original calendar used by the Jews of Yeshua’s time, but was invented by the Jews of the dispersion and approved by the Emperor Constantine in the fourth century A.D. It is no longer an accurate calendar in that it usually does not fall on the days that the Torah tells us to keep YHVH’s biblical feasts. That’s why we reject this calendar as being biblically inaccurate.

We reject other calendars as well. These include the spring equinox calendar which is another unbiblical calendar. Neither the Bible nor the ancient Jews uses/used the the spring equinox to determine the biblical feasts. In fact, the Bible never even mentions the spring equinox.

Then there are other calendars such as the Noah calendar, the Enoch calendar, several Qumran calendars from the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the list goes on and on. People who, for whatever reason, do not want to follow the simple truth of the Bible keep coming up with new calendars to make themselves feel special as if they have discovered some hidden, esoteric knowledge that no one else has. The problem is that all of these calendars are all man-made and unbiblical, so we reject them as well.

Having said all of this, this year, Passover, based on the abib barley and the new moon in the land of Israel, will begin the evening of April 16 with Passover day being on Sunday April 17. The first high day the Feast of Unleavened Bread will fall on Monday, April 18.

If you are part of a Hebraic community that follows the traditional Orthodox Jewish calendar and will be celebrating Passover on a different day, we advise you not to cause division and strife over this issue. Celebrate with your community, but then follow Torah by keeping Passover quietly yourself on the exact day Scripture commands. This way, you are part of your community, but not violating the Word of Elohim.

If you want to know exactly when the biblical new month begins and when the barley is abib in the land of Israel, we cordially direct you to two of the reliable sources in the land of Israel that we use to obtain this information. They are:

https://www.facebook.com/datetree

https://www.hebrewinisrael.net/category/blog/

If you are still confused about the biblical calendar, I invite you to read my articles on the subject at: https://www.hoshanarabbah.org/teaching.html#feast or watch some of my videos on the subject at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5EzE5DQnrHfWWbczzkRo6IOnglxhbRfM.

 

The Biblical Feasts and Yeshua’s Wedding Prophesied in the Tabernacle of Moses

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Welcome to the World of the Tabernacle of Moses

If you were the Creator of the universe, what means would you use to communicate with those that you had created through love in your likeness and image? In a remote way, it’s like a human standing over an anthill trying to communicate with the ants. How do you do it? Similarly, how does an all powerful, Spirit Being, loving Father in heaven relate to his mortal children who are but mere specks of dust without vaporizing them with his raw power? The difficulty is compounded when fearful humans don’t want to hear the voice of Elohim, which is what happened when YHVH Elohim’s voice thundered from Mount Sinai. The children of Israel begged him not to talk to them, lest they die. They asked the Almighty One to speak to them instead through Moses (Exod 20:19).

When man sinned at the tree of knowledge, and YHVH kicked them out of the Garden of Eden, direct communications between man and his Maker were hampered, if not all but cut off. However, Elohim had a plan to restore the loving relationship he had with man before the rebellion. But if men refuse to hear you when you speak, what are you do?

To be certain, the Almighty doesn’t lack for ways to communicate with men. Man is without excuse when it comes to hearing Elohim, for even the heaven’s declare the glory of the Creator and the plans he has for mankind. The visible things of this creation shout loudly about the spiritual mysteries heaven desires to reveal to its earthly subjects. Furthermore, from time to time over the millennia, Elohim has chosen to speak directly to some select servants through dreams, visions, signs, wonders, angels, and even once through a donkey! But how does he speak to a whole nation, if that nation is plugging its ears and refusing to hear its Master’s voice?

Enter into the picture the Tabernacle of Moses, which was literally a three-dimensional gospel message tract. It is the visual demonstration of the whole message of the Bible in a building  —  the blueprint of the plan of redemption of wayward man. It was a functioning masterpiece of artwork demonstrating the Father’s love for his people, of his desire to commune and to communicate with Israel  —  his treasured possession, those he had hand picked and called out from the 70 nations of the world. Not only did the tabernacle involve the sense of sight, but the other four senses as well: sound, smell, touch, and taste. It also engaged and even challenged the heart, emotions, mind and spirit of man. The Tabernacle of Moses was a vehicle for the Creator of the universe to communicate with man using a panoply of communicative devices all of which pointed to the coming Messiah, the Redeemer of mankind who would die for the sins of the world to restore man into a loving relationship with his ever-loving, gracious, and longsuffering Father in heaven.

This is the story of the tabernacle, which, in every way, resembles a theatrical play, even a pageant, containing costumed actors each performing his carefully choreographed role on cue. Even a child can comprehend the message of this play, yet it contains mysteries and truths so deep that only in eternity itself will they be revealed to those who have been initiated into higher spiritual levels through the tabernacle’s spiritual paradigms of which its rites and ceremonies were mere prophetic shadows of things to come. To understand it, is to understand the message of the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

Let’s now enter into this world of the Tabernacle of Moses. Welcome!

The Seven Steps in the Tabernacle & the Biblical Feasts

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