Pesach
By Eric Carlson in 04_2023-1 on April 1, 2023
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!
Leviticus 23:5-8. “‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, between sundown and complete darkness, comes Pesach for ADONAI. 6 On the fifteenth day of the same month is the festival of matzah; for seven days you are to eat matzah. 7 On the first day you are to have a holy convocation; don’t do any kind of ordinary work. 8 Bring an offering made by fire to ADONAI for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; do not do any kind of ordinary work.'”
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.
Exodus 12:15. “‘For seven days you are to eat matzah – on the first day remove the leaven from your houses. For whoever eats hametz [leavened bread] from the first to the seventh day is to be cut off (karath {kaw-rath’}: cut off, cut out, eliminated) from Isra’el.
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:
Exodus 12:17. You are to observe the festival of matzah, for on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt. Therefore, you are to observe this day from generation to generation by a perpetual regulation.
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 34:18,28. “Keep the festival of matzah by eating matzah, as I ordered you, for seven days during the month of Aviv; for it was in the month of Aviv that you came out from Egypt.
28 Moshe was there with ADONAI forty days and forty nights, during which time he neither ate food nor drank water. [ADONAI] wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Words.
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:
Ezra 6:19-22. The people from the exile kept Pesach on the fourteenth day of the first month. 20 For the cohanim and L’vi’im had purified themselves together; all of them were pure. So they slaughtered the Pesach lambs for all the people from the exile and for their kinsmen the cohanim and for themselves. 21 The people of Isra’el who had returned from the exile and all those who had renounced the filthy practices (tum’ah {toom-aw’}: impurity, filthiness, uncleanliness, sexual impurity ,religious impurity) of the nations living in the land in order to seek ADONAI the God of Isra’el, ate [the Pesach lamb] 22 and joyfully kept the feast of matzah for seven days; for ADONAI had filled them with joy by turning the heart of the king of Ashur toward them, so that he assisted them in the work of the house of God, the God of Isra’el.
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!
“Unless America experiences a steady increase in people reflecting a biblical worldview in their lives, America’s future is more likely to resemble that of nations characterized by moral and behavioral chaos,” commented Tracy Munsil, CCU executive director and an associate professor of political science at Arizona Christian University.
“Alternative perspectives such as postmodern, Marxism, Socialism, and secular humanism drive American thinking and lifestyles these days. What we experience in our nation today will not change until we replace the cause of the prevalent thinking and behavior. The cause is our worldview.”
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:
Psalm 10:2-7. The wicked in their arrogance hunt down the poor, who get caught in the schemes they think up. 3 For the wicked boasts about his lusts; he blesses greed and despises ADONAI. 4 Every scheme of the wicked in his arrogance [says], “There is no God, [so] it won’t be held against me.” 5 His ways prosper at all times. Your judgments are way up there, so he takes no notice. His adversaries? He scoffs at them all. 6 In his heart he thinks, “I will never be shaken; I won’t meet trouble, not now or ever.” 7 His mouth is full of curses, deceit, oppression; under his tongue, mischief and injustice.
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!
Romans 13:11-12. Besides all this, you know at what point of history we stand; so it is high time for you to rouse yourselves from sleep; for the final deliverance is nearer than when we first came to trust. 12 The night is almost over, the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and arm ourselves with the weapons of light.
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”!