Exodus 10:1-13:16
Jeremiah 46:13-28
Introduction
The children of Israel are to be marked for delivery from the plague of death to the first-born through the paschal sacrifice, blood of the lamb, to be out on the doorposts and lintels of the houses. It is called a Passover offering (Hebrew, Pesach) referring to God’s passing over the homes so marked.
Exodus 12:1-14 1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 "This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. 7 "Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10 And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD's Passover. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. 14 "This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. (ESV)
Twilight is defined as: The twilight of Palestine is of short duration, owing to the low latitude, there being scarcely more than an hour between sunset and complete darkness. It is a distinct boundary between daytime and the darkness. The people of Palestine still give the time of an event as so many hours before or after sunrise or sunset: "David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day" (1 Sam 30:17), and "They rose up in the twilight to go" (2 Ki 7:5). The word is evidenly used in the sense of darkness in "the stars of twilight" (Job 3:9) and "The adulterer waiteth for the twilight" (Job 24:15). the King James Version has "twilight" in Ezek 12:6 ff, but the Revised Version (British and American) has "dark." (ISBE Encyclopedia)
According to this definition twilight is defined as the time between sunset and darkness. So the Passover lambs were killed at twilight and their blood was placed upon the doorframe of the homes they lived in so the angel of death would not strike down the Hebrew firstborn. As you notice the only things required for the Passover Seder or meal is the lamb, unleavened bread and bitter herbs. In today’s Seder meals there are other items added by the rabbis of old for various reasons and while we are doing our best to try to return to the Biblical ways or the ancient paths sometimes traditions are good and sometimes not so good. We need to learn to check out everything as closely as we can but the end result is we do the best we can in the situations we find ourselves in. Having just completed the Christmas season does this mean we should celebrate Christmas because the majority is doing it? We need to examine the origins of Christmas and make a decision. In our home we do not celebrate Christmas and we do not endorse it in our congregation. Many of those who are coming out of the church are having a difficult time leaving church ways behind and Christmas is one of them. Sometimes they find is easier to leave celebrating Christmas by replacing it with something else like Chanukah. Chanukah is mentioned only in the book of John and the books of the Maccabees, an extra- Biblical group of books. It is a distinctly Jewish holiday not required by the Holy One and many new Messianics are joining in its celebration as a way to identify with their Jewish brethren or Messianic Jewish brothers and sisters. Make sure you are celebrating it for the right reasons and not simply because you feel a hole in your life because you have stopped celebrating Christmas. It is a bit different with Passover because this is one of the Moedim or Appointed Times of the Lord and we are required to keep this day and the Seder but this also requires us to keep the seven day festival of Unleavened Bread another of the Moedim that begins at sundown of the beginning of the fifteenth right on the heels of Passover. Many do not realize that Unleavened Bread or Chag HaMatzah is a separate festival in its own right but finds life due to the Passover offering. On that first Passover all those millennia ago the Israelites were required to kill their own lambs at twilight and have them ready to eat by dark. Once the Tabernacle was built and later on the Temple the offering of the Passover lambs were done there because that was where the Almighty had chosen to place His name.
There are some today who believe we can offer our own sacrifices of lambs, etc. but without a Temple how do they justify this? Our rush to try to be “Biblical” is causing turmoil within our Movement as everyone is pointing a finger as everyone else for doing something “unbiblical.” My friends we must be students of the Word and look to what the Holy One has to say on the subject.
Acts 17:10 The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. (ESV)
They tested what they were being taught by the Scriptures. We must be like the Bereans of old and do the same thing today but do not use the Bible as a hammer against your brother or sister. Share in love but the most important thing is to be a living example or light to others. They must see the Word living in you not just what it is you are saying. Too many taught a good fight but when you get down to the brass tacks their lives tell a different story. They may be charismatic and have a smooth way of sharing but the fruit is in their lives. Pay attention and remember to test the teachings against the Word and the teacher’s lives.
James 3:1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 2 For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. (ESV)
2 Peter 2:1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. (ESV)
If someone desires to be a teacher you had better examine why based on James 3:1 because teachers will be judged at a higher level of accountability for what they have taught and if they have transgressed Scripture and caused others to fall as well what do you think the end result will be? James or Yaakov says not many should become teachers but teachers proliferate all over the place and each one believes they are teaching the truth. Perhaps they are teaching a small part of it because none of us have all of the truth because we are so far removed from our Master we can only look to the writings of old to see what was taught and over the ages were there things added or removed from the Word which the Torah forbids us to do? There are some who teach Yeshua shared a Passover Seder with His disciples but did He based on what the Torah tells us in this week’s portion? How could He have participated in a Passover Seder if He was the Passover Lamb sacrificed at the same time the ceremonial lamb was being offered in the Temple at twilight as Torah requires? Think about it my friends? What about the lunar Sabbath or celebrating the Moedim based only on the lunar cycle? If we were to do this as some do we would be celebrating the Moedim in the summer and winter at various times? This is why they are linked to the Fall and Spring harvest cycle to keep them anchored where the Holy One of Israel wants them to be. If we keep a lunar Sabbath we will be celebrating the Sabbath all over the place and the Almighty is not the creator of confusion the Adversary is. He took the Lord’s calendar and made up one of his own causing confusion among the Body of Believers who once again are claiming each one has the truth when once again we all have a bit of the truth and unfortunately some have no truth at all. Some teachers are trying to feed their flock with what they say are deep spiritual teachings when all they are doing is leading these sheep down a primrose path to denial of Messiah and all He is.
Hebrews 5:12 For although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the very first principles of God's Word all over again! You need milk, not solid food! (CJB)
We are like this chasing after this, that, and whatever! People please wake up and smell the roses before it is too late. You need to seek out teachers who are teaching milk where it is needed and meat as you mature in your understanding of the Word. It is not how much you know but your understanding of what you know. We all teach one another but the Lord called some to be shepherds for a reason because He knew His sheep needed shepherds to guide the flocks. Sheep tend to follow where they want to and goes this way or that way without a care in the world winding up a meal for some wolf that is waiting to pounce on them. This is how some teachers behave and it will be their fate to have to stand before the Almighty in the Day of Judgment and give an accounting of what they have done leading His flock astray. As we grow closer to the end, and I do not believe it will be December 21, 2012, we will see more false prophets and false teachers rising up. Look for the signs. Are they humble, truly humble, or do they desire to teach to the exclusion of all else in their lives? Some can be humble but it is a false humility. You must look under the surface to see what lies beneath. Ask the Holy One for the gift of discernment. It is a very powerful gift to have and with it comes much responsibility as it does with any gift or calling of the Holy One of Israel. Keeping the Moedim of the Lord is step in the right direction – the right direction for you and your loved ones.
Jeremiah 46:19-23 19 Prepare yourselves baggage for exile, O inhabitants of Egypt! For Memphis shall become a waste, a ruin, without inhabitant. 20 "A beautiful heifer is Egypt, but a biting fly from the north has come upon her. 21 Even her hired soldiers in her midst are like fattened calves; yes, they have turned and fled together; they did not stand, for the day of their calamity has come upon them, the time of their punishment. 22 "She makes a sound like a serpent gliding away; for her enemies march in force and come against her with axes like those who fell trees. 23 They shall cut down her forest, declares the LORD, though it is impenetrable, because they are more numerous than locusts; they are without number. (ESV)
The Holy One of Israel promises to hold Egypt accountable for how they treated His people Israel. As the Lord promises to do this He will also hold accountable all those who have stood against Israel and tried to destroy them as so many nations and people have over the centuries. Today Islam stands at the front of the pack frothing at the mouth as they try to wound Israel and tear it down and turn the world against the Jewish people so the state of Israel can be wiped off the face of the world. They think they have a start by not showing the country of Israel on their maps but the only ones they are fooling are themselves. The Mighty One of Israel fights for His people and will stand by them and bring them back to Him. So many do not follow the ways of the Torah or believe in the Holy One but He is waiting for all of that to change. The day is coming when Judah will look to the heavens and see the Messiah Yeshua returning as He left. He will return to judge mankind as their King as promised in the books of the prophets and in the Apostolic Scriptures.
Luke 24:50 And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. 51 Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. (NKJ)
Matthew 24:30 "And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY [Daniel 7:13] with power and great glory. (NAU)
Daniel 7:13 "I was watching in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. 14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed. (NKJ)
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