Passover - The First Annual Sign

I'll begin by mentioning something I read last night. There was a famous Seventh-day Adventist professor named Samuel Bakiyoki, who, because of a friendship he had with someone in our church, he actually attended the Garden Grove Church. He challenged Dr. Bakiyoki, who is a professor of church history, to study about God's holy days. Well, Professor Bakiyoki taught that basically the feasts were just symbols that had been done away, but he went ahead and studied it, and to his surprise, he found he was wrong, and he had to admit it to the person. And also, he wrote two books about God's feasts and just changed his whole mentality around. And it's interesting that in the newsletter that I read last night—this was years ago Dr. Bakiyoki passed away probably five years ago—but in that newsletter he said, it's too bad that we don't celebrate these feast days. And instead, we have these feast days that have to do with commercialism, with a lot of selling and buying of things, and they basically don't have to do with God's plan of salvation. And he just regretted it because he realized the importance of it. And here we are, we're able to know these wonderful feasts that are now just a few weeks away, and we are coming up to the first feast of the year. It is the first annual sign of God's sacred feasts. So I'd like to focus a bit on why I am saying it is a sign. And see if biblically we can call God's feasts signs as well as God's Sabbaths. Let's go to Leviticus chapter 23. Here the seven feasts of God are given by God as part of his law in Leviticus 23, starting in verse 1.

And although many have read, there's always something to be learned by studying a little deeper. This is what God said. This was what he established after being at Mount Sinai, giving the Ten Commandments, and then, of course, the other laws that he expected his people to follow. So this is what he said in verse 1. 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. Now twice here there's a word that is used for feasts. So it says, The feasts of the Lord. And then at the end, he says, These are my feasts. So this is not a manmade invention. This is not something that someone came up with. This is something that God establishes. The term in the Hebrew, he says, These are my mo-ods. It's M-O-E-D-E-S, but actually it's pronounced like an A here, mo-ods. And this is what Strong's Hebrew and Greek dictionary says about this word, feast. It says, properly, an appointment that is a fixed time or season, specifically a festival by application. An assembly has convened for a different definite purpose. Also, this word, mo-ad, is a signal as appointed beforehand, appointed. It's a sign.

So when God says, These are my feasts, yes, they are appointed times, but they're also signs between God and the person who keeps them. Notice, continuing on, it says in verse 3, Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it. It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. Doesn't matter where you are, you are to keep the Sabbath. And holy convocation means that you come to services during that day. The word Sabbath from Shabbat actually means to desist, seize, or rest. So it means to stop what you're doing, quit doing what you were doing as far as work, and the term means to rest. So you can actually say, These are the rests of the Lord.

Where does this term Moad first appear in the Bible? This wasn't something that God started giving to Moses when Israel came out of Egypt. In the first chapter of the Bible, we already have the term, feasts, and God anticipated that humans that he would call would keep these feasts. Notice in Genesis chapter 1, in verse 14, where God is placing all the different orbs in their place. So this is our solar system, which is so accurate that you can tell time by it. Everything is in its place. It says, Then the Lord said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night. That's where we get our daily cycle of 24 hours and let them be for signs and seasons and for days and years.

The term signs here from the Hebrew, auth, o-t-h, means something special, something that God considers important. Let them be signs. And then it says here, for signs and seasons. That's the first time we are familiar with Moads. And then here in the Good News Bible version, it says, Then God commanded, Let lights appear in the sky to separate day from night and to show the time when days, years, and religious festivals begin. So here he hadn't even created Adam and Eve. And God had established the purpose of all of these different astronomical bodies, placing them in such a way that we would be able to tell time and know when the appointed feasts of the Lord are. So this goes back even before the creation of Adam and Eve. God was going to establish feasts for His people, Moads. And so in Leviticus 23, where we read, it says, These are my feasts. We know in Genesis chapter 2, and actually it should be a continuation of chapter 1 because it has to do with the seven days of creation. But here they broke it up into six days. And then when they come to the seventh day, it's in chapter 2. But we know chapters are not established in the Bible. Those are just manmade segments that have been placed there. So it says here, verse 3 of chapter 2, Then God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, because in it he rested from all his work, which God had created and made. So this is one of God's Moads.

These are the specific times when there is this religious festival which God expects mankind to keep. And of course, the idea was with Adam and Eve that they would teach their offsprings to rest on the Sabbath day, that this would be universally kept. But with the rebellion, Satan got involved. And just like he started instructing man with lies and errors, pretty soon people were keeping all kinds of different days. And we see that throughout history up to today. People are confused. They don't know what the original teaching is, the original truth about this. But it wasn't just about the Sabbath days. Those are weekly convocations. We also have annual Sabbaths, which are religious festivals as well. And so we are coming up to the first of those religious festivals established by God. It's incredible to think that God took all that time to create the earth, to create our solar system, to also set everything up in such a movement that we could know when that first feast of God begins. Going back to Leviticus chapter 23, let's continue. Leviticus 23, it says in verse 4, These are the feasts, Moads, of the Lord, holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. Appointed times, again, when you have to keep an appointment, it's something that is set up, in this case, set up by God. That's why Rekha mentioned about being invited. God calls people. Now we have very few people. In Orange County, there are millions of people. How many are invited to God's feasts? Very few. God knows it's not easy to follow His way of life now. And so He chooses very carefully the people that He is calling. And this is what He says in verse 5, On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord's Passover. Now each day begins at twilight.

That is that period when darkness sets up that ends one day and then the next day begins. And so it says here that it'd be kind of ridiculous if you say, on the 14th day at twilight, which is the end of the day, that's when you do it. Because the Passover is something that takes place on the 14th. It doesn't take place on the 15th. The 15th has a symbolism and a meaning totally different from the Passover day. That's why we begin on the 14th at evening.

And then it goes on, and on the 15th day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord. Is it to man? Do you want to please man or different type of religion? No, these are the feasts to please God, the God of the universe, the only true God. And they're only these true feasts. All the others are just imitations and false teachings. So sad, but that's the truth. And that is shown in the Bible, as we will see further.

So then we see that these are signs which God expects us to keep, to observe. Just like the Sabbath is a sign between God and man, so are God's feasts. We are represented. Are you a follower of God? What are those signs? I keep the Sabbath. I keep the Holy Days. Those are the days that separate me from the rest of society.

Now, some people go to other churches and they have some truths, because it's always going to be where they're going to mix man-made and some biblical things, and they're going to put them all together, just like a big mixed salad. But the problem is that if they don't grow in grace and knowledge, they're going to be stuck there with that little bit of understanding, and they're not going to grow anymore. They're going to become stagnant. And what happens to stagnant waters? It becomes putrid. It rots. It gets contaminated. And so some of these churches are only halfway to the truth. They haven't cleaned up their act, and so they are still deceived by Satan. In John 16, verse 13, it shows that we are not to stay at the same level where we're at. We're supposed to grow in grace and knowledge. John 16, verse 13, if God's Spirit is in us and it is working and it is growing in us, we're going to understand more things because that Spirit is going to reveal more things. John 16, verse 13, Christ here talking about the Holy Spirit and actually in the Greek, which is the term for the Spirit is neuter. It's not masculine or feminine. It should be translated it. So I'm going to read it in that way. It says, however, when it, the Spirit of truth has come, it will guide you into all truth. So people, if they grow, they will eventually leave their churches and they will arrive with more and more of that truth to this church, to those that teach all of these precious truths and keep these signs of God. One of the things that Rekha mentioned in the scripture where Christ said, well, there will say in that day, Christ, we did these things in your name. And we actually had all kinds of different reactions and we had results here and we expelled people and demons and we did all of these things. And Christ said, you didn't do it through us, through God the Father and me. You did it through other false spirits, because if it was the true Spirit, you would recognize where you need to be. You're going to grow in God's Spirit and eventually you will not support nor stand anymore the falsehoods that you see being taught. You cannot stay at one level.

So let's look at how that first Passover was a sign of God's people. In Exodus 12, Exodus 12, verse 12, here there's going to be an important word that is used. Exodus 12, verse 12, it says, God talking here, it says, for I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord.

So it wasn't just punishing the Egyptians. It was also completely ridiculing and humbling those false gods that the Egyptians had.

Verse 13, now the blood shall be a sign, again the term, off for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood I will pass over you. And actually the term does have to mean passing over. Passover has to do with passing over. That's where the word was taken.

I will pass over you and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. So if you have God's signs, God will protect you. He will see that you have those signs that when he looks at all of society, he's going to strike those, many of them in ignorance, because they will have another chance. We know death does not end that opportunity. There will be resurrected in the second resurrection and know the truth, but if they get the chance to know the truth and to change around, you can also have God's signs. Maybe today those signs are not as valuable. We, every year, follow these signs, but I know God protects people. And in the future, when he strikes this world, he's going to look for those that have these signs, and he will pass over them. He will not strike and allow them to suffer the same types of plagues and difficulties as the rest of society. And so then he goes on to say, verse 3, Now 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 the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. So this day shall be to you a memorial. That's a key word here, because it's going to be used by Jesus Christ in the future. It shall be a memorial, and you shall keep it as a feast, Moad, to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. Ordinance has to do with laws. This is a law that will continue on. Even when Christ comes, that law is going to continue into the future. So this word of the term a memorial here, Sichron in the Hebrew, the word study Bible dictionary, says it means a memorial, a remembrance, a record, a reminder. This word conveys the essential quality of remembering something in the past that has a particular significance. That's the Bible dictionary meaning of it. This word is so important, and we can read here. We're going to read a bit more. It's so important to keep this first sign that actually if a person is too sick to go to the Passover, or if there are some type of emergency where he can't come, then a person can keep this feast individually, many times in their home where the minister goes, and this is called the second Passover because God does not want anyone not participating of this first sign. Notice in Numbers chapter 9, Numbers chapter 9 and verse 10.

Some people look at me that are here for the first time and they're saying, I had never heard this before. How incredible! Well, it is incredible. We should never lose the excitement and enthusiasm for these wonderful truths in Numbers chapter 9 and verse 10. It says, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, If any one of you or your posterity is unclean because of a corpse or is far away on a journey, he may still keep the Lord's Passover. On the 14th day of the second month at twilight, they may keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall leave none of it until the morning or break one of its bones. According to all the ordinances of the Passover, they shall keep it. But the man who is clean and is not on a journey and ceases to keep the Passover, that same person shall be cut off from among his people because he did not bring the offering of the Lord at its appointed time that man shall bear his sin. He didn't participate. The offering at that time is that Passover lamb. And so the term being cut off means being cut off God's covenant. So that's why many times we see people, maybe not very often, they come to services. But boy, right before, maybe a couple weeks before, they show up because they know how serious the Passover is. It shouldn't be done that way. But we know there are all kinds of different spiritual states in the church in all kinds of circumstances. But the point is they realize how important it is because it's not between man and a church. It's between a person and God. And so this is a memorial to God. And what did Christ tell his disciples? Notice in Luke chapter 22, Luke chapter 22.

Starting in verse 19, here Christ is celebrating the Passover with his disciples. This is the last one because he would die during that same day. He was the Passover lamb. He was symbolizing that. So everything had to be done during that day. Luke chapter 22 and verse 19. It says, and he took bread, gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is my body which is given to you. Do this in remembrance of me. What is the term? A memorial? Secron in Hebrew mean? It means a remembrance, a memorial.

And as you can see, it's in verse 14. This is why again we do it at the time Christ has established. When the hour had come, because it's twilight, right? So that's why we have at 7 30, the sun goes down, and we have that period of time starting at the Passover. It says, He sat down and the twelve apostles with them. Then He said to them, With fervent desire I have desire to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. He knew what He was going to have to go through. Like John said in John 1 29, Behold the Lamb of God who takes the sin of the world. And so He was carrying out that terrible role of becoming and taking our sins, becoming actually sin, because He took our sins. And in that way, He suffered tremendously. In Eliot's commentary about this word in the Greek, anamnesis. As you know, the word talking about memnotics, that comes from a Greek word, about remembering things. And here it's anamnesis. It means literally, as my memorial or as your memorial of me, the word had thus acquired the associations connected with a religious memorial. And so we have the Passover in the Old Testament. It is a memorial. You're supposed to keep it. In the New Testament, Christ said, if you are my disciple, if you're going to follow my way, you're going to keep this as a memorial, the Passover. So you see, we are not authorized to change any of the dates that are established in the Bible. We can't pick and choose. He establishes it's on the Passover, and that's when we do it. In 1 Corinthians 11 verse 22, Paul uses the same word, meaning a memorial. 1 Corinthians 11 verse 22. It says here, about the Passover, what? Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the Church of God? Notice the name. That's why our name is Church of God. 12 times in the New Testament, the true name of the Church is Church of God.

And said, take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. So again, it's a memorial. Once a year, it's the sign of God's people, because throughout history, God's people have kept the Passover. Many times hiding in different places because the world was persecuting. But God's people have kept that Passover throughout history, up to the present time. And then Paul goes on to say, verse 25, in the same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. The term again is a memorial. You don't celebrate your anniversary several times during the year. No, this is something that you do once a year. But he says, every time you do it, you're doing it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes, till he comes back to this earth. So again, this is a sign between us and God, the Father and Jesus Christ. So important to keep this Passover.

I'd like to read from Encyclopedia Britannica. This was the eighth edition about the article on feasts. It says, the New Testament reveals that Jesus Christ, the apostle Paul, and the early church kept the Passover and days of unleavened bread, not Easter. According to the ninth edition, the article on feasts, it says, there is no trace of the celebration of Easter as a Christian festival in the New Testament or the writings of the apostolic fathers. The first Christians continued to observe the Jewish festivals as commemorations, memorials, in other words, of events of which these had been the shadows. This is something that in the Old Testament, they were just the beginning of the significance. They were like the shadows and then the substance, what would eventually Christ carry out in the New Testament. The Israelites did it as a precursor, as a symbol of what would come in the future.

The Passover, ennobled by the thought of Christ the Passover Lamb, continued to be celebrated and became the Christian Passover. So again, you go back to some of these sources in history. What did they do in the first century? In the second and third, they kept God's Passover, but now with the symbols that Christ has given us. So the Passover is a time of preparation. Notice in 1 Corinthians 11, this is the way he wants us to the proper attitude to keep the Passover.

This isn't some man-made ceremony or ritual. We have to spiritually prepare for it because if we just go like people go on Christmas night to go to a church or or Easter morning and they just come because of a habit, then we are violating that memorial.

And so it says in verse 27, Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man, which means each member, examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. Not appreciating what he has done.

This is a time we call it a very solemn occasion because we are coming to again the anniversary of Christ's death, what he did for us. And every year we have to remember what he did for us, how he died for our sins, that we can't give up, we can't give in, we can't go back to the world in our worldly ways. And so it's a reminder that we have to clean ourselves spiritually, draw closer to God, draw closer to God's Word, and have fruits of repentance. Continuing, it says, "'For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.'" So Paul, even in those days, with all the power that God had given him, he said to the Corinthians, well, here are some, just all kinds of people going through difficulties and where they didn't have the faith to apply Christ's sacrifice and also realize healing is available.

God is a God of miracles, and according to our faith, so it is. And so here he mentions that. He says, "'For if we judge ourselves, if we examine spiritually ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world.'" He wants us to wake up spiritually. Sometimes we have tests and trials just to shake us up a bit, to make us go in the straight and narrow way again. Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, to wait for one another and have the proper attitude.

What's interesting is that when Christ returns, He will officiate the Passover at Jerusalem. He will be the one to carry out that ceremony. He said He would do it with His disciples, and we can actually see a precursor and a vision of that happening. The Bible describes that very time. Notice in Ezekiel 44. Ezekiel 44, in verse 1, this is a description of the return of Christ and His establishment of the kingdom of God with Jerusalem as the capital. Notice in verse 1 of Ezekiel 41, Ezekiel was given this vision to describe Christ's kingdom on this earth. It says, verse 1, "'Then He brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary.' Christ is going to have a sanctuary which faces toward the east, but it was shut.

And the Lord said to me, "'This gate shall be shut. It shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, because the Lord God of Israel has entered by it. Therefore it shall be shut.'" And so it says this is the way Christ is going to come.

It's going to come to Jerusalem, and this is going to be another memorial when God entered that new temple in Jerusalem in His return. Notice what is He going to do? In verse 24, He's going to set up ministers to carry out the Passover, the Sabbath. Verse 24, it says, "'In controversy they shall stand as judges, and judge it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed meetings.'" Again, when does He appoint them? It says here, "'And they shall hallow my Sabbaths.'" Nobody's going to break the Sabbath anymore.

And then it actually mentions in chapter 45 and verse 17, talking about the Prince, which is actually the resurrected King David. He's going to be Christ's man to supervise these things. It says, "'Then it shall be the Prince's part to give burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings at the feasts, the new moons, the Sabbaths, and at all the appointed seasons,' again, termed Moed's, of the House of Israel." So you see the Passover is going to be mentioned.

And further on, it talks about all the feast days. Now, who is this Prince? As I mentioned, there's a good scripture to look here. Ezekiel 37 verse 24 and 25. We should always back what we say with clear and unequivocal scriptures. Ezekiel 37 verse 24. How do we know the identity of the Prince? Because the Bible says it. Ezekiel 37 verse 24. It says, "'For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and bring you into your own land.

Then I will sprinkle clean water on you.'" Am I going on here to Ezekiel 37? I was in chapter 36 verse 24. It says, "'David, my servant, shall be king over them.'" Well, David's been dead for over 3,000 years. "'And they shall all have one shepherd. They shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob, my servant, where your fathers dwelt, and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children's children's forever. And my servant David shall be their prince forever.'" He's a spirit being.

So again, we get all of these details about that coming kingdom. It's very important that we understand that these feasts are not just routine. They are important to prepare for. One last scripture is Zechariah 14. Zechariah 14. And verse 9. Again, another description of the coming kingdom of God and Jesus Christ establishing it.

Verse 3. Let's start in verse 3. It says, "'Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as he fights in the day of battle.'" That's what he's coming to fight and defeat. The nations that come up in Armageddon and to Jerusalem to fight with him. "'And in that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east.'" Going on in verse 9. "'Then the Lord shall be king over all the earth, not just parts of it, the whole world. In that day it shall be the Lord is one, and his name one.'" Won't be any rivals like today, all these false gods. And then in verse 16.

It says, "'And it shall come to pass, after all this has happened.'" He's established his kingdom in Jerusalem, "'that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem," that's all the earth, "'shall go up from year to year to worship the king, the Lord of hosts, and to keep what? The Feast of Tabernacles.'" One of God's signs. Then people will also have God's sign. They will not ignore them. They shall not despise them. In verse 19 it says, "'This shall be the punishment of Egypt.'" The term punishment here, kata, means sin. This is the sin of the peoples in Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. So they will be punished. Christ does not play around now. It's going to be established. There won't be other rival religions or false gods when Christ returns. And why does he emphasize the Feast of Tabernacles? It's because that is the great annual gathering of God's people. That is what we do. We all leave our homes and go to the place for the Feast of Tabernacles. And we're, thankfully, blessedly going to Port of Iarda. But here we have Oceanside, a beautiful place. It doesn't matter where you go. If you want to keep God's signs, that is one of them. You want to have that protection, just like the Israelites had on their doorposts. Christ's blood, because He dies for us and God passes over. He's not going to strike us as the rest of the world. And so there is this wonderful coming sign in just a few weeks. The first one, the sign of the Passover. It's a privilege we don't deserve to observe, to keep in this way the first of God's annual signs. And let's get ready for it.