Shalom-shalom. peace, in the name of Yeshua. This is Crystal Sharpe and welcome to the Ancient Scrolls program you sons and daughters of Abraham. This is Sunday, the first day of the week, March 18, 2018.
Father,
I am truly grateful and I thank You forever for Your mercy. Thank You for being God and there is no other but You. You are the only consistent being in my life. You love me at all times. I do not merit Your love in any way at all, but You choose to love me and sometimes in spite of myself.
Thank You for being the King of the universe, over heaven and earth, and over kingdoms and over nations.
I ask You to cleanse us from all unrighteousness so that our prayers will not be hindered.
I confess the sins of this nation before You, and ask that You would convict this nation of its sins, and iniquities. We are guilty of abortion, child molestation, child sacrifice, human trafficking, homosexuality, beastiality, adultery, fornication, idolatry; our land is full of sexual addictions; drug addictions, greed, and self-gratification.
Remove from us anger, fear, frustration, hatred, bitterness, jealousy, pride, and arrogance. Help us to love one another. We ask You to dethrone principalities, powers, rulers of darkness and spiritual wickedness in high places.
We pray for President Trump today that You would cleanse him from all unrighteousness, to take out every crooked way in him. We pray Your wisdom, knowledge, and understanding will saturate him, along with Your Spirit of might and counsel, and the fear of the Lord. We pray protection over him, over his wife, children and grandchildren.
I pray for Malania, I know that she is deeply hurt and humiliated that her husband has been exposed for extracurricular activities. I know that this has crushed her self-worth, and she feels rejected. This is a trying time for her, and I ask that You would help her through this and heal her deep wounds. We ask You to blow on her a fresh wind of renewal.
Thank You for Your mercy and love for us. Amen
What I am going to today is introduce you to one of the 7 feasts of the Lord found in Leviticus 23, namely Pesach, which is Hebrew for Passover. When I was a kid the big movie for us every year on TV was “The Ten Commandments” with Charlton Heston as Moses and Yul Brenner as Pharaoh.
Pesach, or Passover, begins on March 30 of this year, and converting that to the Jewish calendar, that day March 30th will be the 14th day of their lunar month Nisan, and the more ancient month called Abib. More ancient than that God just numbered the months from 1-12, and the days 1-30.
The Semitic people observe the lunar cycles for the function of their religious feasts, or rather, I should say– the Lord’s feasts.
Now, I know that many today in our churches still observe the traditions of those decrees set forth by the Emperor Constantine and the Catholic Church concerning Easter, Halloween, Christmas, and the veneration of images and icons, the saints, Mary—which is idolatry. These decrees established by the Emperor Constantine removed those Biblical practices the early church had adopted and practiced from Yeshua and the apostles. Constantine commanded death to anyone who practiced those observances of the early church.
What we know from the word is that Rabbi Yeshua observed the feasts of His Father from Leviticus 23; and I will give some examples from the gospels and show that Yeshua functioned under the Torah and prophets
Rabbi Yeshua observed Passover with his family in Luke 2:41 it says: His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of Passover.
The gospel of John records three Passovers where Yeshua was ministering and on the fourth Passover He was killed: John 2:23; 6:4; 11:55; chapter 18.
Yeshua went to the feast of dedication, which is Chanukkah, in John 10:12, and attended synagogue on Sabbath. In John 5:1 Jesus went to Jerusalem to attend a feast, doesn’t say which one, then John 7:2 records the feast of Tabernacles which is also called the feast of Booths or the feast of the nations; while attending this same feast Yeshua stood and cried out on the last day, the great day of the feast John 7:37 that if anyone was thirsty to come to Him. To understand fully what He was saying you would have to understand the feast of tabernacles that on the last day was the water drawing and the libation of water being poured out at the Temple. This signified the pouring out of the Spirit.
And Paul, his Hebrew name is Sha’ul, observed the Torah also. In my youth I was taught that Paul was able to abolish the Torah, the teachings of God. In my young mind I could not figure out how a man born in sin like everyone else could over rule God, yet that was what I was taught. Later in life, when I got out of church was I able to understand, for myself, a different Paul.
Here are couple of examples, in Acts 20:16 Paul was pressing to go to Jerusalem in time for the late spring feast of Pentecost, or in Hebrew this would be Shavuot and another place I Corinthians 16:8.
In Acts 21:23 Paul would spend a whole year’s wages on sacrifices at the Temple in Jerusalem to support some Jews who had made some Nazarite vows. Then in Acts 27:9 Paul was talking about “the fast” and no one in my church knew what Paul was talking about, but he was referring, in his Jewish way, the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, found in Leviticus 23.
Yeshua said he did not come to destroy the law, that is, the teachings of the Torah, or the prophets: “I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.” Matthew 5:17. He came to make full the meaning of what the Torah says and the ethical demands that God through the prophets required. Yeshua came to complete the understanding of the Torah and the prophets.
So, I and my husband observe those things our Lord, Rabbi Yeshua, observed, so that we will learn of Him. The feasts of the Lord are prophetic rehearsals of future events that God has planned from the beginning of creation. They are blueprints, just like the heavenly temple and furniture served as a blueprint for the earthly tabernacles and the temples in Hebrews 8:5, Exodus 25:9, 40.
Ok, so first off the feast of Pesach, or Passover, is the Lord’s feast, it is not a Jewish feast, Jews just happen to observe them.
This is what Yeshua knew from Leviticus 23, and I am going to go over just a couple of verses
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, THESE ARE MY FEASTS
- On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover.
The Jewish nation calls Pesach, or Passover, the “Season of our Freedom” and the “Festival of Redemption” because the angel of death passed over those homes marked by the blood of the lamb on the upper lintels and door posts of their homes of Israel. In Egypt, the first born of the Jews were saved by the blood of the lamb on the door posts and upper beam of individual houses.
The whole nation of Israel is considered the firstborn by God in Exodus 4:22, here we have God speaking to Moses concerning a message to be given to Pharaoh: “Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Israel is My son, My firstborn. So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn.” ‘”
God is a just God—whatever injustices a people or nation metes out is reciprocated—eventually but suddenly. This is not karma, it is called justice by God.
The blessings God declared over Abraham in Genesis 12:3 is repeated by Balaam in Numbers 24:9, “Blessed is he who blesses you, and cursed is he who curses you.” The blessings issued in Genesis 12 to Abraham had not expired in Numbers 24, but had extended to include the descendants of Abraham, and the blessings are still current today. How the nations act toward Israel matters to God.
In Exodus 1, Pharaoh and Egypt cursed Israel by throwing their newborn sons in the Nile River. Two Jewish midwives named Puah and Shifrah were opposed to Pharaoh’s decree to drown the newborn sons and lied to Pharaoh that the Hebrew women were more vigorous and delivered their children before they would get there to assist them.
Who were these two women? Puah was Miriam, the prophetess sister of Moses/Moshe, and Aaron. Shifrah was Miriam’s mother Jochebed.
Exodus 1:21 says: “And so it was, because the midwives feared God, that He provided households for them.” These midwives feared God more than Pharoah, and God made distinquished houses for them.
Now, someone would think that underneath the nose of Pharaoh these women received lots of lands and houses for their having to disregard his edicts to murder the male newborns of Hebrew women.
Instead it means that God provided distinguished houses that would last generations. Jochedbed’s son, Aaron, was the progenitor of the office of High Priest—the high priest that could go into the holy place once a year on Yom Kippur.
Jochebed’s daughter Miriam would be the ancestor of Kind David, and from Miriam would come the house of kings too. From these two women issued these distinguished houses of kings and priests.
The ancient Hebrews thought more about the future of their people. They saw themselves as a large community underneath the loving authority of God. But like every nation there were those who thought and acted on a temporal level—namely “it’s about me, my and mine.” The true followers thought about not just themselves, but others, and their survival as a nation that would advance the kingdom of God that His righteousness and justice would cover all the earth and the nations. These women thumbed their noses at Pharaoh, and the male children lived this round of persecution. Then Exodus 1: says this: “so Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying: ‘Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, the river Nile, and every daughter you shall save alive.” The Egyptians had a deity over the river Nile called Hep or Hap. These deities of the waters would also act as judges. And in a sense one can this because Pharaoh commanded the male newborns to be thrown in the river Nile and it is reciprocated when another Pharaoh and his military was drowned at the Red Sea.
The ancients viewed bodies of water as unpredictable, they were dark and chaotic. There are those nations in the middle east that had recorded the account of the flood during Noah’s time on clay tablets and cylinders. Those nations were not ignorant concerning the flood. They knew the flood destroyed the very wicked, the reprobate, and saved alive the righteous NoaH and 7 souls with him.
This Pharaoh is following the ancient belief that the god of the water becomes the final judge of who lives and who dies. In the exodus story Pharaoh’s daughter goes to the Niile to wash herself and she finds Moses (his name in Egyptian would be Monios), his name means “drawn from the water.”
His name hints at order being brought out of chaos, just like in Genesis 1 when darkness was on the face of the deep and the Holy Spirit brooded over the waters—to bring order out of the abyss. There are so many patterns here that a person could spend a year of Sabbaths revealing them. Exodus 2, we then read where Moses leaves Egypt and he locates a wife, and where does he find her–at a well in Exodus 2:16. Where was the wife of Rebecca found for Isaac? At a well. Where was Rachel found for Jacob? At a well. All the patriarchs dug wells. Yeshua made an engagement with a Samaritan woman—where? At a well.
God brings order from chaos, from waters and puts the water in wells and they become living waters, living libations for our souls. We are washed by the word of God in Ephesians 5:26. The Hebrews from ancient times ritually cleansed themselves from corruption and death of this life by immersing in Mikvahs, we would probably translate that to baptism pools. John the Immerser, or the Baptist preached at the Jordan and baptized the repentant Hebrews there in the waters of Jordan.
Revelation 13: 1
And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the SEA. Having seven heads and ten horns. And upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
Revelation 17:1
And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven bowls, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither, I will show you the judgment of the great whore that sits upon many waters.
Verse 15
And he said to me: the waters which you saw, where the whore sits, are peoples, and multitudes and nations and tongues.
In Revelation the waters represent chaos, and in the chaos a false messiah emerges. In the Exodus account a type of Messiah arose from chaos. Messiah did come among His people and He will return again at a time of great chaos. He will destroy His enemies like Pharaoh was destroyed in the sea. The nations will be restored to peace and healing. Yeshua will be the king of all the earth.
Ok, time has run out for this program. If God wills, see you next week.
Have a blessed week. Remember to walk by faith and not by sight. Keep your spiritual garments clean from spots, wrinkles and blemishes of the flesh, ask God to cleanse you from all unrighteousness every day, remain in His service, Love God and love your neighbor.
You also see this in Jonah when he was fleeing from God, he did not want the Ninevites to hear the message of repentance; so he fled from the presence of God toward Tarshish. Ships were all over the world in the ancient past and came to America as well. I do not know what the ancients called America back then, but the ancients already made maps of it thousands of years before Columbus.
So we have a fleeing disciple of God who pays for his passage out of town.
God was pleased that these women would not murder the Hebrew babies so He established future dynasties through them. Jochebed was a Levite and so was her husband, and Aaron her son was the head progenitor of the house of the Cohen that functioned as high priests; these were the only ones allowed into the most holy place once a year at Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement.
Miriam was the ancestor of King David, and Solomon, and their descendants.
Pesach is about the sacrifice for individuals. According to the word, each father of the house brought a lamb to the house on the tenth of Nisan.
Later we see from this flow of blood on the door posts of the homes to the altar in the Tabernacle and the Temples at the same season. Whomever was in the house was delivered from death. This could have happened for the Egyptians as well.
The Jews understand it to mean God reached down into Egypt to rescue and lift them from bondage with His outstretched arm and mighty hand.
Exodus 20:2
The first commandment is based on this freedom from Egypt: “I AM the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the abode of slavery.”
This is a revelation of God (this makes Him personal), He delivers us from the Satanic realm, from extreme darkness; from us serving our addictions, bondages that we are not able to free ourselves from.
The message from God that Moses had for Pharaoh was; “Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: And I say unto thee, Let my son go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.” Exodus 4:22-23
In Exodus 8:1, 20; 9:1, 13; 10:3, 7, 8
Let my people go that they may serve Me . . .
The whole theme of being released from Egypt was to serve the Lord. It is not to have freedom to do what you want, but to do/practice His ways. Freedom is an opportunity to serve the Lord.
jewish perspective is Pesach has a central theme of release
Freedom is the apprehension of God.
God was displaying all sorts of acts to have His son released from Egypt. It is His son, his firstborn and He wants the return of His son. Joseph was sold and his people were eventually sold to the Egyptians. They were slaves who had their sons killed by the Egyptians, thrown in the river Nile, it is they were starved and worked continually. God is moving to release them from a harsh taskmaster where the idols of that country killed them, to a God who had plans for good for them and not evil.
He was taking them to Mount Sinai to have a revelation of Him. This is true freedom.
Freedom to the Jew is apprehension of God, not just being released from the darkness, from the demonic taskmaster that seeks to steal us, kill us and destroy us.
The Hebrews cried out to God because of their great misfortune. Is there this singleness of heart to serve Him and Him only?
Exodus 3:7
And the Lord said I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows. And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land, and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey unto the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.
So they cry out to God, he hears them and is ready to deliver them. It is here I am thinking this people, they are broken, they have lost so much and now they cry continuously to be taken from this place of idols that have killed them.
They are going to use their faculty or their power of will to serve Him? Their dedicated enough in prayer to beg and cry for deliverance
