Newsletter: 2011-03c On the 14th Day - Passover

Greetings from HomeWorship 101™

These are the feasts of YHWH,
Holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.
On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is YHWH’s Passover.
- Leviticus 23:4-5

On the 14th day of Abib/Nisan (April 18, begins eve of the 17^th), at dusk or twilight, begins the Biblically correct Passover, “the night to be much observed” (Exo.12:42). The Sabbath is the first official Holy Day, and YHWH’s Passover is HIS second most important Holy Day. Passover is mentioned 48 times in the Hebrew Bible and 28 times in the New Testament. The Passover observance is so important that it is the only Holy Day listed with a provision for observing it exactly one month later if you miss it the first time (Num.9:10-11). Passover is the oldest, continuously observed religious holiday on the planet. There are Biblical hints that Passover extends all the way back to the first family when Abel made an offering of firstlings of his flock of sheep (Gen.4:3-7). Today’s official Passover observance is a 3,500-year-old tradition that began in the time of Moses. The home Worship instructions for Passover are in Exodus ch.12-13.

In the Roman time of Yahshua, Jerusalem was a very busy place during the Holy Days, as it swelled to nearly five times its normal population of 125,000. The Jews were joined by many people, from many nations, some had journeyed great distances. The miles are long and hard in the desert, but they came, both Jew and gentile, from many lands to gather in Jerusalem to show their respect to the CREATOR at the Jerusalem Temple.

~ The Pre-Opera Lecture ~

Before the curtain rises, a little background. Lets go back in time to the time of the Angels. Our story picks up in the ancient times when Lucifer, one of YHWH’s Archangels, who was responsible for running this part of the galaxy became so filled with pride and vanity, he thought himself to be as knowledgeable and powerful as YHWH. Lucifer became envious of YHWH’s position and sought to overthrow HIM. Lucifer planned an interstellar governmental coup d’etat. He convinced a third of the angels to follow him in a sinful rebellion against the Government/Kingdom of YAHWEH (Eze.28:12-17; Luk.10:18; Jud.6). With Lucifer’s ambitious plans begins the titanic spiritual war of the Heavenly Powers for the control of the universe, including this part of the galaxy.

Lucifer’s plan was to invade YHWH’s Heaven, capture YHWH’s Great White Throne Room (the seat of power for the entire universe) and remove YHWH from the Throne of the Universe. He would then rule the whole universe including all the interstellar societies. The Prophet Isaiah calls Lucifer the “Son of the Morning” and describes this event in 14:12-14 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.”

YHWH’s loyal angels defeated the rebellious angels, but they were not destroyed. In the court of the Heavenly beings, Lucifer was called to appear and give account of his actions. Court is held in the Great White Throne Room and is the most miraculous and wondrous place in the entire universe. The greatest angels of wisdom and knowledge who oversee the clockwork of the universe are the Archangels. Troops of angels who guard the Throne are called the Cherubim and the Seraphim. YHWH is not a dictator and HE does not use HIS authority as a club, but HIS word is final; and for HIS council HE is surrounded by “four and twenty elders” all dressed in white (Rev.4:2-11; Book of Enoch, from the Lost Books of the Bible).

The Power of Light emanating from the Throne seems brighter than the sun and creates a rainbow around it. The voice of YAHWEH is like the thunder of the heavens and any mortal witness to such a spectacle would naturally become afraid and tremble with great terror. But Lucifer is no mortal and he has been here many times before in his long career of service to the Kingdom.

An eerie silence falls over the Throne Room as all are attentive to the proceedings, we can only imagine the presentation Lucifer made in his own defense (I would not attempt to describe what was said, in my current state of ignorance my feeble human version would only offend him - and I am cautious not to do that). His argument must have been brilliant and compelling, after all, he did convince a third of the angels to follow him and now he explains his point of view for all in the Kingdom to hear.

The Bible does not state that the angels ever repented after their rebellion. Possibly, once changed to evil characters, they cannot be changed back. Listening to the proceedings YHWH is not swayed, HE knows Lucifer’s approach to a different form of government will not work. But, there must have been some discussion by the Council of the Elders to allow Lucifer a limited time and limited area to test-market his program.

YHWH agrees and sets the ground rules, HE renamed Lucifer “Satan,” pronounced Saw-tawn, which means adversary (Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary #7854), and removes his bright and glorious nature. YHWH then ordains that Satan and his fallen dark angels still have limited powers and limited access to the heavenlies. Satan cannot create life of any kind or foretell the future; he can only twist YHWH’s creation into something dark and sinful. The Bible teaches their characteristics are based on: self-centeredness, vanity, pride, lust, hate, greed, envy, vengeance, violence, destruction, and rebel against any form of Divine authority.

YHWH created humanity beginning with Adam and Eve, and most know the story. From their son Abel in spite of all the temptations by Satan a righteous family linage always remained faithful to YHWH. This linage led to Noah, and on to Abraham.

Through Abraham the Israelites were born and they became the first nation to remain faithful to YHWH. In time the Israelites became slaves to Egypt and suffered a very hash life for hundreds of years. This was also a test by YHWH to find out if they would remain loyal to HIM in spite of the hardships, and they did. In spite of the great hardships of slavery they did not lose faith and they continuously prayed for deliverance (Gen.ch.49-50). There prayers reached YHWH’s Throne Room and HE raised up Moses to deliver them from their cruel bondage. It wasn’t easy to break their evil chains of bondage and YHWH preformed a series of miracles to convince Pharaoh the Egyptian leader to release them. The curtain rises on the last most horrifying miracle YHWH had to perform. YHWH instructed the Israelites to apply some blood of a lamb on their doorpost to protect them from the death angels that will kill all the first-born sons of Egypt that night.

~ The Curtain Rises ~

The curtain rises with one of the most horrifying and tragic events in ancient history. Screams can be heard throughout the city as the first-born sons of Egypt were dying by some type of supernatural cause. The Israelites were huddled together in their dwellings and praying. We all know the story, the Israelites survived their long night of death, and to keep this newsletter short I’m thinking most have seen Cecil B. deMille’s classic movie epic “The Ten Commandments” which brought to life the Bible’s best-known story about the man called Moses. In 1445 B.C.E. with YHWH’s help he delivered Israel from evil bondage as described in Exodus ch.1-18. It wasn’t easy to break the binding chains of evil and it took many great and dramatic miracles to deliver and protect the Israelites from the powerful Egyptians.

On the first public Passover night when YHWH freed HIS people from bondage in Egypt, HE showed the Faithful that the pagan rulers and their evil world have no future. Surviving the Passover night means one has been found 'justified and redeemed' (Exo.ch.12-13; Rom.5:12-18). Redeemed means that something has been bought back from the marketplace. Justification and sanctification mean that someone has been judged and found not guilty, and set apart. In other words, humanities sins are washed away in the sea of forgetfulness, and that is a good thing for the spiritual bank account. Sanctification means set apart from all the others. The faithful are set apart, your position before YAHWEH now changes - for the better!

~ Act One, Scene Two – YHWH’s Sacrificial Lamb ~

"The Son of Man did not come to be served,
but to serve,
and to give His life as a ransom for many."
- Matthew 20:28

The Temple picture of the sacrificial lamb speaks volumes for those who can see. In ancient times they did not understand the BIG picture of what the sacrificial lamb meant, but today we are blessed to fully understand this very important spiritual lesson that prophetically points to the suffering messiah who will be YHWH'S sacrificial lamb to redeem humanity from the curse of sin. The redeeming Messiah was the first prophecy given to Adam and Eve to give them hope (Gen.3:15), and now about 1400 years later, for those who can see, this is the first prophecy shown to all humanity in YHWH’s Passover.

In His final week on earth Yahshua was deliberately arranging His activities around the events associated with the selection, testing and death of the Passover lamb. The Essenes, and the Disciples knew the spiritual symbolism of the coming Holy Days - they were getting a bad feeling. Yahshua even warned them two days before that He was to be crucified - they were not happy (Mat.26:2). They knew the writings of the Prophets all too well, they had heard Isaiah’s prophecy of the suffering Messiah (ch.53) many times: “. . . He is despised and rejected by men . . ., He was wounded . . ., He was bruised . . ., He opened not His mouth . . ., He was led as a lamb to slaughter . . ., He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken . . ., His grave with the wicked . . .,” - they were worried.

The evening beginning the 14th day, on YHWH’s Passover (commonly called the Last Supper), was observed by Yahshua and the Apostles. In an effort to save space I will take it for granted that almost everyone has seen the movie classic King of Kings or something similar. It was late that evening, and after sharing His last Passover meal with His Disciples, Yahshua was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. There by the kiss of death, He was betrayed by Judas, His own Disciple, (he committed suicide a short time later Act.1:15-26). During the night and into the early morning Yahshua had a trial, was found guilty, was promptly tortured, and then crucified. While Yahshua was hanging on the cross, not too far away at the Temple, the Jews were killing their Passover lambs. (In error, mainstream Judaism keeps Passover on the fifteenth night.) They killed about 300,000 lambs for a normal Passover and they started early. It went on all day and it was not a pretty sight. At exactly the same time, Yahshua, the Lamb of YHWH, was slowly dying from His crucifixion - the spiritual symmetry could not have been more perfect, but sadly mainstream Judaism did not recognize it. Here one can plainly see the tragedy of missing YHWH’s appointed time. For those who can see, the spiritually symmetry of YHWH’s Opera could not have been more perfect – and there is not a dry eye in the house.

“As the Father has loved Me--so have I loved you!”
- John 15:9

Enjoy the journey of learning…

Ø Holy Day Dates: http://www.homeworship101.com/holy_days_calendar.htm
Ø Spring Holy Days: http://www.homeworship101.com/holy_days_spring.htm
Ø Spring Holy Days How To: http://www.homeworship101.com/holy_days_spring_observance.htm
Ø Christian Passover: http://www.homeworship101.com/NL_2006_05.htm

Please remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and for all those who stand with Israel (Ps.122).

Take care. Peace and blessings, Errol.
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Errol Mueller, chronicler extraordinaire
e-mail: errol@homeworship101.com
website: www.homeworship101.com
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WSC Newsletter 2011-03c, posted 04/16/11.

Copyright © 2011 Errol Mueller. All rights reserved. Short quotations, page copying, or redistribution for personal or non-commercial group study is permitted and encouraged, provided they are copied in total with no alterations or deletions. Author’s name, website address, and copyright notice must be included. If any other use is desired, written permission is required.

For information, email or call (334) 678-0913. White Stone Communications (Rev.2:17), Dothan, AL.
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Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version of the Holy Bible.

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