Day: April 1, 2023

Wednesday, April 4th at sunset begins Pesach! Then Thursday, April 5th at sunset begins the Feast of Matzah for seven days.  

Observing, keeping, and honoring the Feast of Pesach, Matzah, and Ha Bikkurim kick off our annual Feast Day cycle. Honoring and celebrating the Feast of Matzah is one of the Ten Commandments in as we’ve shared before: 

Only in this chapter do we see the actual statement Ten Words mentioned: 

These three Moedim, these Feasts remain special, and holy unto Adonai, He continues to keep vigil over us on the night of Pesach still to this day! 

The root word of Shimmur is one we’re very familiar with, the word commanded by Adonai unto Adam regarding the Garden: Shamar: guard, observe, protect, tend, defend, and obey. Adonai is doing that over us this very evening which is extremely critical as you’ll understand a little later! This is why Yeshua Himself desired to Shamar, to observe, keep, and celebrate Pesach:

This literally happened 2,000 years ago on Pesach! Yeshua’s life and words tells us that not only did He celebrate, honor, and keep Pesach, He looked forward to it! He didn’t view it as a cumbersome burden that he couldn’t eat a Ruben or Pizza!  He looked forward to it, He wanted to celebrate Pesach with His Talmidim, with His family. We too are looking forward to celebrating Pesach with our family and Congregational family! Pesach was the last event, the last Feast Day Yeshua spent with His Talmidim before He was crucified!  The Pesach Seder marked the transition from Adonai’s Glory residing in the Temple system to Yeshua becoming our sacrifice and Adonai’s glory residing within us!  Scripture records Pesach as a celebration of Supernatural transition!  Pesach marks a transition, from the previous year to the new year, from Slavery to Freedom, from wondering in the desert to entering into the promise land, from Sin to Salvation in Yeshua, from Death to eternal life!  As Yeshua stated in Matthew 5:17-19, these Moedim are not done away with in fact they’re rehearsals for the coming Messianic Reign a not too distant future transition when the Kingdom of Heaven and this world become one again.

Yeshua is revealing a mystery in Luke 22:16. He will celebrate Pesach with us again when it’s given its full meaning, when its fulfilled, when it’s brought to realization, when the sayings, promises, and prophecies come to pass, When God’s will as made known in Torah is obeyed as it should be!  Yeshua is talking about the restoration of all things! What Yeshua did on Pesach 2,000 years and what Pesach means prophetically, in the future are one in the same!  Yeshua, as our paschal sacrifice, wiped away our sins to be known no more! His death bought us eternal life, His death tore down the middle wall of partition, to unify the only two people groups know scripturally: Jew and Gentile.  

Yeshua is once again teaching divine Kingdom civics, regarding citizenship in His Fathers Kingdom and the necessity to be loyal, obedient subjects/citizens! Yeshua is saying do not be in opposition, do not disobey to the King or you’ll lose status in the Kingdom-possible not entering the Kingdom of heaven at all!! I’m totally amazed how Adonai has intertwined this all together with such precision and supernatural detail! 

The Pesach mystery is directly connected to the revelation of the Kingdom! We are NOT called to denominations, earthly empires, or the domain of dogma, doctrine, or religion! We are not to divide ourselves by color, race, nationality, or any other divisive snare. Yeshua’s death, His sacrifice upon the stake redeemed us from those earthly domains. Through His sacrifice we’ve been transferred to the Kingdom of Adonai to be priests of the most–High God to Serve Him, His Moedim, His eternal Rulership and Kingship! We must begin to live as the citizens of the Messianic Kingdom as His Cohanim, serving Him, not earthly kings, lords or their domains. Then we will celebrate Peach and its service with Yeshua in its full meaning and understanding.  

Yeshua’s crucifixion upon the stake, upon the cross paid the price for all of us to be the bride, a single, unified body reconciled unto Adonai! This Pesach marks a transition, a shift from the kingdom of this world with all its religious, dogmatic, racist, Anti-Semitic divisions and separations to a unified, spotless bride for the Groom, Yeshua. This is the fundamental core of all revivals, awakenings, and sovereign moves of the Ruach Elohim. An awakening to the Absolute truth of the Kingdom! With the implements of the Passover seder service Yeshua inaugurated the Brit Chadesha, the New Covenant! By partaking of His sacrifice our sins are washed away to be known no more:  

Exactly as Moshe inaugurated the First Covenant and Torah: 

The transition between these two historical, life changing, world changing events that occurred on the same exact feast is revealed in: 

What a profound, supernatural understanding and revelation of these parallel covenant events! According to the Torah, almost everything is purified with blood; indeed, without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins! Before Yeshua came your own blood was shed for your sins! For those who refuse or reject Yeshua they will perish for their sins! The only way to escape eternal death is to receive and partake of the Passover Sacrifice! Exodus 12 records that Israel was commanded to take a lamb on the 10th day of Nisan (Saturday, April 1st).  To keep it for four days to ensure it is without blemish or defect. Yeshua entered into Jerusalem with the Passover lambs processional 2,000 years ago as recorded in Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19, and John 12.  For the first Passover in Egypt Adonai commanded:  

As we just read in Hebrews 9 the Blood consecrates, there cannot be a covenant without blood. It was this very reason that God commanded Israel to slaughter the Passover lamb and daub its blood – in full view of all the Egyptians – on their doorways.  His purpose was twofold:  1. That we would visibly separate ourselves from the idolatrous and pagan Egyptian views and beliefs.  2. We were to publicly counter the false Egyptian notion that sheep were god’s and that slaughtering the lamb would NOT CAUSE OUR DEATH but BRING ISRAEL REDEMPTION and SALVATION.

The blood on the doorposts is a test of trust for the fledgling nation of Israel in Egypt. The blood serves as a sign to the angel of death to Pesach, Passover the house with the blood! After the blood was daubed on the door post we had to eat, to consume, to partake of the lamb! Pesach is the night of choice.  If you do not slaughter and eat the lamb, you will be an Egyptian and the first born will perish. Whoever applies the blood of the lamb will be a Child of God.  This was a radical act that was counterculture to everything in Egypt just as it is counterculture to everything today in America! With the Lamb of God we must do the same now! 

We must partake of the sacrificed lamb (represented by the Matzah just as Yeshua told us) and partake of the blood (as represented by the wine again as Yeshua instructed us) and place it on our hearts as a sign of the covenant! The key here is verse 56 “Whoever eats”!  The Mystery revealed is that WHOEVER partakes of the lamb is saved! Just like the mixed crowd who departed slavery in Egypt.  Many non-Jews saw the wonders of Adonai’s miraculous plaques against Egypt and followed Adonai’s instructions concerning the lamb and were saved from death!  Yeshua does the same! “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I live in him.” This is absolute truth!  The Seder Table is one of equality, oneness, and unity regardless of where you came from, regardless of your skin, hair, and eye color! Regardless of your race, nationality, and culture! All who partake of the lamb are one, brothers and sisters, children of Adonai, citizens of the Kingdom of God! Sha’ul profoundly outlines this supernatural understanding in: 

We’ve arrived at a place in our nation’s narrative that as individuals and as children of God we won’t make it alone outside the collective body! We’ll only survive by being one, echad, one body, the bride!  

Pause in prayer to be right with Adonai! There is no time or room for unresolved sin or issues between us and Adonai! Let us enter in the Feast of Pesach and Matzah with clean hands and a pure heart! Let us do so in great expectation and anticipation! 

Shalom Mishpocha!

The New Year is upon us (5783)! We look forward to restarting both the Biblical Calendar and the Annual Moedim (Feast Day) Cycle! The redemption of Israel from slavery in Egypt occurred this month, Tuesday, April 4th, 2023 at sunset (14th of Nisan). The world was delivered from the slavery of Sin in the same month through the Messiah who was born on the 1st of Nisan. Happy Birthday Yeshua!!!  Yeshua was also crucified on the 14th of Nisan during Pesach!  

The Moedim are a heavenly ordered Cycle of Time, a never-ending repetitive circle that can be repetitive but not exactly identical! Jewish thought regards time not in a linear, flat pattern but a spiral type of “helix,” a limitless forward, upward progression driven by a divine cyclic pattern that repeats certain divine patterns in weeks, months, and years of life such as the Moedim or Feast Days beginning with the weekly Shabbat through the annual Feast Days.  

We always look forward to the Feast Days with anticipation and expectation! They are a time of the supernatural, a time of miracles! April in the physical realm is a time of renewal, Spring is in full swing, recharging and restoring our hope. April is the National Month of Hope! 

Hope isn’t wishing, hope is an indication of certainty.  Hope in Scripture means “a strong and confident expectation.” We must strive to achieve this hope!  Hope is not an escape from reality or from whatever problems we are facing.  Hope isn’t wishing God will intercede on your behalf, it’s the expectation, the full knowledge that He will.  If your hope is based on Gods covenant promises, it will have results. 

As Messianic Believers, hope when understood and walked out in God’s truth, results in a holy obsession with an eternal hope not based upon fear, timidity, or weakness!  True hope in and through Yeshua transforms your life on a whole new dimension, the 5th dimension of the heavenly spirit realm.  It gives one the power to live life courageously, a life of power, of love, and of a sound mind (II Timothy 1:7.)  If we press in, if we are zealous in seeking Adonai through Yeshua hope will turn to trust, hope turns desires into reality!  Hope is the first step in receiving from God.   

Hope knows you will have it someday.  Trust knows that you have it now.  Hope is the possibility; trust is the surety.  Trust transforms hopes into realities. Hope is the raw material from which trust builds the house. Our Hopes shall be realized: 

Transforming Gods vision and goal for your life into reality is the purpose of hope and Trust. The key to hope is to trust God’s timing.  Sometimes God answers prayers and fulfills our hopes quickly.  Though, at times for reasons known only to Him, He allows us to wait.  It’s difficult to praise, to give thanksgiving, to rejoice while waiting for hope to be fulfilled!  Entering and staying before His presence enables Adonai to perfect those imperfections that are unknown, unseen to us.  This kind of hope, refined in the crucible of waiting and occasionally suffering purifies:

Yeshua is our hope! Don’t give up hope, He is our kingdom foundation, our stability: 

Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible! HOPE is an acronym that spells: “Hold–On–Pain–Ends”! As we enter this new year let us be beacons of hope, to model it, to spread it, and to be a source of hope to a world filled with hopelessness! Those who place their hope in the Lord will not grow weary: 

May you have a blessed and prosperous New Year in Yeshua! 

Blessings and Shalom,

Rabbi and Rebbitzen Carlson

Congregation Zion’s Sake

Pesach (Passover) begins Tuesday, April 4th at sunset followed by the Feast of Matzah which begins Wednesday, April 5th at sunset. Our homes are to be cleansed, free from all Yeast (hametz) products. During Matzah we abstain from eating breads and other yeast (hametz) products until Wednesday April 12th @ sunset… then its yeast feast!

Thursday April 6th and Wednesday April 12th are the first and last full days of Matzah, they are no workdays! During the Feast of Pesach and Matzah (Unleavened Bread) we are to eat matzah. 

The punishment for eating yeast or Leavened bread during the Festival of Matzah (Unleavened Bread) is spiritual excision, cut off, cut down, eliminated from the greater house of Israel.  God gives a severe punishment for not observing, obeying, and guarding His Moedim, His appointed Times. Adonai states: 

Perpetual in the Hebrew is Olam which means forever, always, continuous existence, perpetual, everlasting, indefinite, and eternity!  It’s part of the restoration of all things found in Acts 3:21. Observing and keeping the Festival of Matzah (Unleavened Bread) is one of the Ten Commandments: 

Exodus 34 is the only chapter that actually states these are the Ten Commandments, Ten Words! Matzah is a profound sign of our covenant relationship with God, that’s why it’s one of the Ten Commandments.  Matzah establishes our foundational interaction and relationship with God; one of obedience, trust, and submission to Him! In fact, it sets the standard, the benchmark of our heavenly relationship with God and Kingdom living.  

What scripture reveals regarding the observance, keeping of, and celebration of the biblical New Year, 1st of Nisan, Pesach and the Feast of Matzah is Kingdom living.  We learn through the Helix of repetitive Annual Feast Day celebrations how to live a kingdom focused, kingdom centered life!  Pesach and Matzah are a celebration of Freedom and family!  Every era, every generation has its own Egypt with its own brand of slavery and temptations.  To every generation, to every era the Seder says this night is different, there is something different about this night, a night to choose The Lamb, to choose Kingdom life.  Passover is not only a celebration of a past liberation, it’s a challenge to seek it, retain it, and restore Kingdom Life in our time! Pesach is pressing into Adonai’s presence to experience a Sovereign move of His Ruach, His Spirit!  

The book of Ezra describes King Cyrus’s decree for the Jewish People to return home after the 70 years of exile. Some of the first to return were a group of Priests, Levites, Gatekeepers, and Temple Servants back to Judah with articles for the Temple that had been held in Persia. They returned and immediately began the construction and restoration of the altar and Temple of God. They completed the task in the month of Adar, the month before Nisan and the New Year. Upon completion of the Temple they kept Pesach:  

Those returning from exile renounced their filthy practices, their Tum’ah, their impurities, filthiness, uncleanliness, sexual impurity, and religious impurities that caused them to go into Diaspora to begin with! They did this in order to seek Adonai, consult, worship, follow, pursue, and serve Him! We too must get to the core of our situation and renounce our filthy practices, our Tum’ah if we are truly going to seek, follow, pursue, worship and consult Adonai!  

In the exodus from slavery Adonai predisposed the Egyptians to give us, Israel all their wealth when we departed!  Egypt’s economy collapsed, throwing them into 400 years of depression, famine, and foreign rule! Adonai brought judgement upon Egypt for rejecting Adonai with whom they’d just had a supernatural encounter!  They too witnessed and experienced His glory and yet kept to their pagan ways!  Israel’s rebellion and sin resulted in 40 years of wandering in the desert, Egypt’s rebellion and sin resulted in 400 years of darkness, poverty, and foreign rule!

Secularists (Socialists) have miscalculated and misinterpreted their political rise and dominance of the past century. Secularism espouses a system of political and social philosophy that rejects all forms of religious faith and worship.  They retain the view that that public education and other matters of civil policy should be conducted without the inclusion of a religious element. The only reason Secularists have infiltrated and dominated our economic, political, cultural, educational, professional, and recreational systems in America is that God is using secularism to judge and discipline us, His people. This is why the greater Body of Messiah has been sidelined in our society when under a hundred years ago we were mainstream! Today, the body exists as a minor subculture in radio, television, publishing, and social media with little to no ability to alter, transform, and influence the American culture.  America is at a Psalms 10 moment: 

This perfectly describes America’s condition today!  We live in an age of idolatrous, secularist worship where humans are glorified, magnified, and worshiped, Socialism and Communism are becoming popular among the young!  This is not just the world but it’s in the body of Messiah! Look at believer conferences, seminars, worship conferences, and even social media! It’s a multibillion-dollar industry! We experienced this in 2019 when we hosted the “Awakened” conference with Road to Jerusalem! We had a lot of people that only came to see Biblical Rock Star Jonathan Cahn (a plug that he is one of the most humble, down to earth men of God I’ve ever known) but many, many people didn’t want to stay and hear the entire message Adonai had that weekend!  The word of God wasn’t important, many, many people simply weren’t interested! This Pesach, This Feast of Unleavened bread is witnessing a shifting of our nation and our culture back to Adonai. As in Ezra 6 at Passover we must renounce “the filthy practices of the nations living in the land in order to seek ADONAI the God of Isra’el”  

To those who receive Yeshua’s blood that was poured during Pesach is given a supernatural Dominion and authority on this earth that cannot be challenged. A great shaking is occurring upon the earth, and it has begun within Adonai’s house (Ezekiel 9). We must stand upon the infallible Word of Adonai, to speak it, proclaim it, and live it! To renounce, to repent of our filthy practices that we may seek, worship, and follow Adonai!  To hear His voice over the sound of the Enemy! He is calling for His servants, His army of obedient, faithful followers to ARISE in His Dominion and Authority!  To engage, to battle against the great evil and wickedness that continually seeks to pervert Adonai’s way, will, and word. Adonai is revealing Himself THIS PESACH, proving who is supreme and SOVEREIGN! His is demonstrating His power once again by intervening in our world!  

May you have a meaningful Pesach experience as we rouse ourselves, arm ourselves with the weapons of light and reach the harvest with the “Good News”!