104 Preparing for Messiahs Memorial Pass

Preparing for Messiah’s memorial Passover.

The Tanach is full of prophecies regarding Yahshua’s sacrifice for His people. The first prophesy about Yahshua’s suffering is found in Genesis 3: 15, as follows: ‘And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.’ Here YHVH is talking to Satan, telling him that Yahshua will succeed him as leader over the earth, but prophesying that he will bruise Yahshua’s heel, when the nails were driven through His feet during His execution on His impalement stake. But as the body of Messiah, the congregation of called out believers living during the latter days, is a picture of Messiah’s feet and the last part of the body of Messiah being brought forth, will also be the ones who will live during the time of the great tribulation, and Satan will again bruise Messiah’s heel. Yes, some of us are going to be persecuted like Messiah foretold in John 15: 20, saying: “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.” When Yahshua our Messiah returns to earth one day, He will bruise Satan’s head when He imprisons him in the bottomless pit as witnessed in Revelation 20: 1 - 3, as follows: ‘And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. (2) And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, (3) and threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he should not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.’

The prophet Isaiah also foretold Yahshua’s sacrifice for the sins of His people in Isaiah 53: 5 & 6, saying: ‘But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. (6) All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but YHVH has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.’ We see further from Psalm 22: 6 & 14 – 18 where King David depicted Messiah’s death, as follows: ‘But I am a worm, and not a man, a reproach of men, and despised by the people. (7) All who see me sneer at me; they separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying, (8) “Commit yourself to YHVH; let Him deliver him; let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.” (14) I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; it is melted within me. (15) My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; and Thou dost lay me in the dust of death. (16) For dogs have surrounded me; a band of evildoers has encompassed me; they pierced my hands and my feet. (17) I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; (18) They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.’ These prophecies about what happened to Yahshua the Messiah at the end of His life on earth happened exactly as these two prophets of Elohim foretold. It is because such prophecies came to fruition, that we can be absolutely certain that all of the prophecies about the latter days will occur. It is therefore very important for us to take to heart Yahshua’s prophecies about what is going to happen to those of us following Him.

As returnees from the lost ten tribes of Israel, we re-enter the covenant relationship with YHVH, which we made with Him together with the house of Judah at Mount Sinai, accepting Yahshua as our Redeemer and personal Passover. We repent from our sins of disobeying Elohim’s Torah teachings in the past and return to full Torah obedience, whereas He promises to give us a portion of His Set Apart Spirit as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to salvation, as Rav Shaul wrote in Ephesians 1: 13 & 14, saying: ‘In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Set-apart Spirit of promise, (14) who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of Elohim’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.’ The Set-apart Spirit (transliterated as the ‘Ruach HaKodesh’ in Hebrew) also helps us in our walk with Father YHVH to continue to obey His Torah. However, because at our immersion we are relatively new to Elohim’s way of life, we need to grow in grace and knowledge of our Master and Savior Yahshua the Messiah, as Rav Kepha admonished us in 2 Peter 3: 17 & 18, saying: ‘You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard lest, being carried away by the error of unprincipled men, you fall from your own steadfastness, (18) but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Master and Savior Yahshua Messiah. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amein.’ When we are immersed, we should stop practicing sin and replace our previous habits, by practicing righteousness. The only way that we will be able to do so, is by gaining more knowledge about Elohim and His Torah. Since we know that sin is lawlessness according to 1 John 3: 4, righteousness being the opposite of lawlessness is obedience to Elohim’s commandments or Torah.

When we repent and are immersed in the name of Yahshua Messiah, we accept that His death paid the penalty for our sins, as Rav Shaul taught in Colossians 2: 12 – 14, saying: ‘Having been buried with Him in immersion, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of Elohim, who raised Him from the dead. (13) And when you were dead in your transgressions and the un-circumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, (14) having cancelled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.’ The decrees against us, is the punishment due to us due to having broken Elohim’s commandments. But, this is specifically talking to the lost ten tribes, who come from other religions, since we were part of the united Israel with whom YHVH entered into a marriage covenant at Mount Sinai, but was scattered into the world because of idolatry. Our immersion marks the time when we came out of slavery of sin, similar to when our forefathers came out of slavery in Egypt. It is for this reason that we read from Romans 6: 23, ‘For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of Elohim is eternal life in Messiah Yahshua our Master.’ Yes, we earned death by disobeying the Torah commands of Elohim, but if we accept that Yahshua’s death paid the penalty due to us for our sins and are immersed in His saving name, we will be given a portion of the Set-apart Spirit, after the laying on of hands by a teaching elder in Elohim’s congregation of called our believers as witnessed in Acts 8: 12, 14 - 171. It is the Set-apart Spirit that assures us of eternal life, as is confirmed in Romans 8: 11, in this way: ‘But if the Spirit of Him who raised Yahshua from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Messiah Yahshua from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.’

Nevertheless, we should be fully aware of Yahshua’s words in John 6: 44, in this way: “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.” It was also for this reason that Rav Kepha, speaking specifically to the house of Israel in Acts 2: 36 – 39, saying: ‘“Therefore let al the house of Israel (meaning all from the lost ten tribes) know for certain that Elohim has made Him both Master and Messiah—this Yahshua whom you crucified (because of your sins).” (37) Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” (38) And Kepha said to them, “Repent, and let each of you be immersed in the name of Yahshua Messiah for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Set-apart Spirit. (39) For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, as many as YHVH our Elohim shall call to Himself.’’’ Reading this carefully, we see that we should only immerse Israelites from the lost ten tribes, who are part of those who are ‘far off’2 or away from Elohim’s worshippers (the Jews), but also only those whom YHVH calls to himself – not the ones from our families and friends that we would like to have saved. Continuing in verse 47 - 69 of John 6, we read: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. (48) I am the bread of life. (49) Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. (50) This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. (51) I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread also which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh.” (52) ‘The Jews therefore began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”’ (53) ‘Yahshua therefore said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. (54) He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. (55) For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. (56) He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. (57) As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me. (58) This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate, and died, he who eats this bread shall live forever.” (59) ‘These things He said in the synagogue, as He taught in Capernaum. (60) Many therefore of His disciples, when they heard this said, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?” (61) But Yahshua, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble? (62) What then if you should behold the Son of Man ascending where He was before? (63) It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. (64) But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Yahshua knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him. (65) And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father.” (66) As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew, and were not walking with Him anymore. (67) Yahshua said therefore to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” (68) Simon Peter answered Him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. (69) And we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of Elohim.”’ Yahshua told His disciples that they must eat His flesh and drink His blood in order to have eternal life. They did not know what He meant at that time and it was indeed a hard saying, but in hindsight it is clear to us today that Yahshua was referring to the symbolic act of renewing the covenant with Him annually, by partaking of the Passover symbols that He established in the night during which He was betrayed.

The reason why many of Yahshua’s disciples found His statement difficult to accept is because it is forbidden for Jews and returning Israelites to drink blood in Deuteronomy 12: 23 & 24, as follows: “Only be sure not to eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh. (24) You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.” YHVH commands that no blood from an animal shall be eaten with the flesh, because the blood is the life of the animal, or put differently, the nature of the animal. YHVH does not want us to partake of the blood or nature of the animal that we eat, but that we pour it out upon the ground. By consuming the Passover wine, as a symbol or shadow of the blood (or life) of our Messiah, we partake of the very nature and spiritual form of Yahshua - A pure nature without sin. We read about Yahshua changing the symbols of our Passover in first Corinthians 11: 23 – 25, as follows: ‘For I (Rav Shaul) received from the Master that which I also delivered to you, that the Master Yahshua in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; (24) 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.” (25) In the same way He took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”’ This is a once a year memorial of Messiah’s death, not a weekly or three monthly event, as some in Christianity interprets these verses. This is how we renew the covenant, which we entered into with Yahshua at immersion annually, on the night during which He was betrayed; the evening of the 14th of Aviv. If we are not washed in the blood of Messiah, we do not belong to Him.

Our ancient forefathers the Israelites put the blood of a lamb on the door posts and lintels of their homes and partook of the Passover lamb. At midnight YHVH passed through to smite the Egyptians; and when He saw the blood on the doorposts and lintels of the Israelite homes, He passed over the doors marked with the blood of a lamb and did not allow the destroyer to go into their homes to smite them. We as first fruits eat the unleavened bread symbolizing Yahshua’s broken body and apply His blood to the door posts and lintels of our hearts and minds as Rav Kepha explained in first Peter 2: 24 & 25, saying: ‘and He himself bore our sins in His body on the cross (tree), that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. (25) For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.’ In addition we read in Ephesians 1: 7, ‘In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.’ Continuing on in Ephesians 2: 11 - 13 and 19 we read: ‘Therefore remember, that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Un-circumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands – (12) remember that you were at that time separate from Messiah, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise (given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but also to David), having no hope and without Elohim in the world. (13) But now in Messiah Yahshua you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Messiah. (19) So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens (Israelites) with the saints, and are of Elohim’s household.’ Similar to the way in which the blood of the first Passover lamb protected the first born children in ancient Israel, Yahshua’s blood as the Lamb of Elohim will protect the first fruits (who will after qualifying become first born children of Elohim at Messiah’s return), from the second death.

Yes, brethren it is as we read in John 3: 16, “For Elohim so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” However, there is more to believing in Yahshua as may be seen from John 3: 36, as follows: “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of Elohim abides on him.” As the Israel of Elohim, we have now become what YHVH always wanted us to be. We read accordingly in Revelation 1: 5 & 6, ‘and from Yahshua Messiah, the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood, (6) and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His Elohim and Father; to Him be the esteem and dominion forever and ever. Amein.’ This is exactly what YHVH told Moses about the children of Israel in Exodus 19: 6, as follows: “‘and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a Set-apart nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel” But, we know that He took away their priesthood, because of the sin of the golden calf. It is therefore very important that we do not reject our priesthood at this time, by idolatry or any other sin, and like Esau sell our inheritance because of the lust of the flesh. If we fully realize what Yahshua’s sacrifice meant for us, we will come before Him in a humble and repentant attitude. Whilst we are flesh and blood human beings we will never be righteous enough of ourselves. It is for this reason that we need to appreciate Yahshua’s body, understanding what His death and resurrection has done for us. We need to examine ourselves at this time before the Passover, as we read in 2 Corinthians 13: 5 ‘Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Yahshua Messiah is in you – unless indeed you fail the test?’ We also read in first Corinthians 11: 26 – 29: ‘For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Master’s death until He comes. (27) Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Master in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Master. (28) But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. (29) For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly.’

We should have Yahshua’s attitude in us as we read in Philippians 2: 5 – 8: ‘Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Messiah Yahshua, (6) who, although He existed in the form of Elohim, did not regard equality with Elohim a thing to be grasped, (7) but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. (8) And being found in appearance as a man. He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross (stake).’ This is not saying that Yahshua became a man. It is saying that He was found in appearance as a man – in other words He looked like us, but He was still Elohim in the flesh. We read about Yahshua in Hebrews 10: 5, in this way: ‘Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “SACRIFICE AND OFFERING THOU HAST NOT DESIRED, BUT A BODY THOU HAST PREPARED FOR ME.”’ This is a direct quote from Psalm 40: 6. Yes, Yahshua took on the form of a man, but his flesh and blood was not human. This is why we read in Acts 20: 28, “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Set-apart Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the congregation of Elohim which He purchased with His own blood.” YHVH shed His blood for us, so that our past sins could be forgiven, but also, so that He will be able to remarry both houses of Israel at His return as Jeremiah prophesied in Jeremiah 31: 31 – 33, saying: ‘Behold, days are coming, declares YHVH, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, (32) not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them, declares YHVH. (33) But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares YHVH, I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be My people.’ It’s true, we have quoted this section of the Scriptures many times in the recent past; the reason being that we as human beings can only learn by repetition. But it is also vitally important that we become familiar with the truth that YHVH is going to remarry both houses of Israel again, but will only have to write His Torah on the hearts and minds of the house of Israel, since we have even forgotten what sin was, whilst the house of Judah knew His Torah all along.

We need to be mindful of what is recorded in Romans 5: 9 & 10 (paraphrased): much more than being justified by the blood of Messiah, we shall be saved by His life. By following Yahshua’s way of life, He lives His life in us, as an example to the world. Let us therefore not be found wanting; let us examine ourselves, spending extra time studying, praying and even fasting, as the annual Passover is fast approaching. Picture in your mind’s eye, Yahshua on His impalement stake shedding His blood for us and finally dying alone and forsaken, to pay the penalty for our sins. However, He did not stay dead; He was resurrected from His grave, three days and three nights after His burial, exactly as He said. He is now the first-born (from the dead) among many brethren as is confirmed in Colossians 1: 17 & 18, in this way: ‘And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. (18) He is also Head of the body, the congregation; and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything.’ The question is: What are we to do after renewing the covenant at the Passover? Rav Shaul tells us in first Corinthians 5: 7 & 8, as follows: ‘Clean out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Messiah our Passover also has been sacrificed. (8) Let us therefore celebrate the feast (of unleavened bread), not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.’

After the Israelite’s first Passover in Egypt, they left Egypt in haste. Since Yahshua has freed us from our sins and has justified us before YHVH, we must get away from sin in haste. Messiah’s body is represented by unleavened bread, meaning that He did not sin whilst He lived on earth. Likewise the wine having been fermented to its purest form is a type of the pure blood of Yahshua Messiah shed for the forgiveness of our sins. The seven days of unleavened bread, pictures us coming out of sin completely. By performing the physical, we learn a spiritual lesson: We de-leaven our homes in preparation for the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, as a reminder to putting sin out of our lives. But we also start counting the Omer as commanded from the day after the annual Sabbath (or First Day of Unleavened Bread), on the evening of the 16th Aviv. In counting the Omer we remember the steps our ancient forefathers took when they left the oppression of the land of Egypt behind, until they received the Torah on Shavuot. But the counting also reminds us of each day the disciples waited in Jerusalem, until they received the gift of the Set-apart Spirit on the first Shavuot or Pentecost after Yahshua’s death, resurrection and ascension to heaven. Each step that we take transforms us from called out people who at Passover become physically free, into people who at Pentecost are spiritually free. Halleluyah!

1 Acts 8: 12, 14 – 17: ‘But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of Elohim and the name of Yahshua Messiah, they were being immersed, men and women alike. Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of Elohim, they sent them Kepha and Yochanan, who came down and prayed for them, that they might receive the Set-apart Spirit. For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been immersed in the name of the Master Yahshua. Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Set-apart Spirit.’

2 The phrase “Far off” refers to the house of Israel who were scattered into the nations of the world because of idolatry, as used by the prophet Daniel in his prayer for all Israel when the house of Judah’s exile came to an end after 70 years of captivity in Babylon, in Daniel 9: 7, saying: “Righteousness belongs to Thee, O Adonai, but to us open shame, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which Thou hast driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against Thee.”