Shabbot Shalom brethren and a belated happy biblical new year to you all (Ex 12:2).  I shall send out a previous presentation from 2012 which may have some additional information for your listening.  The Hebrew name for the day is Pesach and means to protect or protective sacrifice for the event.  The English word is taken from what actually happen; God “passed over” the houses of the Israelites who had painted the blood of the lamb on their door posts and lintels.  The Passover is first mentioned in Exodus 12:11  And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD'S passover.  Not the Jews.  

Lev 23:5  In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD'S Passover.  It fits into the history of His people when they first became a nation and as a nation were delivered out of the bondage of slavery in Egypt.  Let us back track a bit and remind ourselves how they got to this point.  Remember Yahweh God made all things and humans.  He made one race, the human race and is Father of all.  Showing no preference except by a criteria of obedience. 

When He made our world He furnished it with all life sustaining things His human children will need.  Physical as food and spiritual as time with Him to learn His and our purpose so we can coexist as a Father and children.  Our existence is part of His cycle of universal events.  The cycle of the day, month, year.  Cycle of seasons of vegetation growth and rebirth.  Women’s menstrual cycle and even our annual celebrations and memorials which we call holidays.  But where did this remembrance of annual days originate?  It was God given in Genesis 1:14. 

Gen 1:13  And the evening and the morning were the third day. Gen 1:14  And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: Gen 1:15  And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. Gen 1:16  And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. Gen 1:17  And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, Gen 1:18  And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. Gen 1:19  And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. 

There was an evening and morning before God made the sun and moon on the fourth day.  Those planets were put there for our visual benefit to be able to identify time.  Why would we need to identify time rather than sleep when we got tired, awake when we wish, pick fruit or vegetation to eat when hungry etc.  Basically live a life of self.  Remember Adam and Eve had not yet sinned so he did not have to till the ground for food or nor need clothing.  The sun and moon indicators of time were so we knew when to keep God’s holy days.  Weekly as the Sabbath and annually.  You will not find a calendar in the bible except for 1^st – 6^th day and Sabbath the period of weekly time between 6^th and seventh sunset given a name.  So it is ludicrous to think one can change the name to a period of time between two other markers as midnight sixth day to seventh to get “my Sabbath” and “your Sabbath” or any other period than that of God’s!  Likewise for the months He named the first Abib / Aviv according to pronunciation then 2^nd, 3^rd, etc.  Jewish month names of today are Babylonian adoptions i.e. Nissan for the first month. 

In the KJV  Gen 1:14 reads “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night”.  The day and night were already divided in 1:4-5 “Gen 1:4  And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. Gen 1:5  And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day”.  God and the angels do not need the sun and moon to know day from night.  Those are for our solar system and planet.  Verse 14 continues “and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:”   A sign to whom? Us humans.  For what? To recognise seasons, days and years.  But what seasons, do we need the sun and moon to tell us when it is hot summer or cold winter?  When flowers will blossom in spring and die in autumn or can we recognise these things from seeing the plants and feeling the heat?  We must also remember there was no “seasons” as we use the word today spring, summer, autumn, winter.  Gen 2:6  But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.  There was no rain nor snow season.  Noah’s generation thought him a fool to talk about rain and building an ark to float on a flood. 

The word translated “season” really means appointed time.  It is the Hebrew word H4150 “Mo ed”.  Strong’s concordance defines it as “an appointment, that is, a fixed time or season; specifically a festival; conventionally a year; by implication, an assembly etc.  It is used 240 times in KJV bible of which 147 is “tabernacle of the congregation”.  I won’t bore you with the breakdown you can read it in the written version.  Some may try and attribute another translation for “Moade” but Lev 23:4 makes it clear “These are the feasts H4150 of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.H4150.   the word “moade” (H4150) is used 240 times of which the majority is “The tabernacle of the congregation” used 147 times.  The next nearest use is feast(s) 19/3 times, with assembly and synagogue being used 3 and once respectively.  There are 13 other Hebrew words meaning seasons.  The one for seasons as we use today (winter, summer etc) being “choreph”.  Thus “moade” is set apart, sanctified for use with holy periods.   

In short, a time before set by God for humans to have a festival and congregation before Him.  In Ex 23:15 it is translated as “in the time appointed”. Lev 23:2 “the feast”.  Num 9:2 “appointed season”.  In relation to the angels / God visiting Abraham and Sarah and notifying them of Isaac’s birth Gen 18:14  Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.  Then we read in Gen 21:1  And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. Gen 21:2  For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 

So the first point I wish you to remember is annual times of meeting as a congregation was from the beginning of time set by God who created the world and us.  However, Passover was not one of these preset times.  It came about as a result of God’s promise to Abraham Gen 15:13  And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; Gen 15:14  And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. 

That promise and fulfilment shows God for who He is.  Able to foretell, control and deliver world events according to His appointed times before they come about.  It was no coincidence Jacob had 12 sons from four women.  That one, Joseph, was sold into slavery by his brothers and ended up in Egypt which led to the whole household of Jacob / Israel ending up there and 430 years later being delivered out of it.  Nor was it a coincidence that change began on the first day of a year.  God had made a previous new start with Noah on the first day of a year Gen 8:13 And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.

And He repeated this practice a third time Exo 40:17 And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up. 

So you see it is a very significant experience in God’s people history.  It marked the last of 10 plagues God brought on the anti God system of Egypt and their gods as told between Exodus 7 – 11.  An experience He wants remembered and memorialise for ever.  Exo 12:14  And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.  By so doing we partake of being part of His people, recognise Him for who He is as mentioned above and His ability to deliver us out of any bondage or slavery. Passover is a memorial of redemption out of Egypt and today that Yahshua the Messiah has died to redeem us.   No one was forced to paint the blood of the lamb on his doorposts in Egypt; and no one is forced to accept the Messiah’s blood today; it’s a matter of personal choice. Those firstborn who believed and chose wisely in Egypt, Egyptian or Hebrew lived; those who did not, died. Those who accept the protective power of Yahshua’s blood today will live forever, spiritually. Those who reject the precious offer and fail to keep His commandments will be destroyed physically AND spiritually. These are not my rules; but Yahweh’s. The Passover is one Feast that has already been both physically and spiritually fulfilled. So it is not something we look forward to but rather we look back in commemoration. Passover is a day of remembrance it is a finished work that we can access. 

If you are not familiar with the event, you can read the whole account in Ex 12.  Two verses to note are  “Exo 12:26  And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service?  Exo 12:27  That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD'S passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses”.  As we know He gave them a way of life to live through His commandments and also a land in which to live by these commandments.  By so doing, we can live in service to Him and not slavery of the world. 

There is only one God of the Torah.  Bible to some people.  The God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel not Abraham, Isaac and Christian.  Exo 12:43  And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof:  So if you want to be under the umbrella of that God, join His system of holding this day as a memorial to His event. The first event He did for His first and only born nation.  Just like a loving relationship when one remembers the first time they met their spouse, the first time he or she did something special for you.  I once heard a marriage advice, when you fall out of love with a partner, remember the first time you met etc and rekindle the love.  i.e. when they passed over everyone else and chose you.  That is how important remembering this first salvation by God to His people is just like an annual wedding anniversary  or similar event has its memorial benefits. The only prohibition of the stranger eating the Passover is Exo 12:48  And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.  But that does not mean the uncircumcised cannot memorialise it on their calendar.  Every Israelite born or grafted is to keep the Passover without excuse.  Either in the first month or the second.  Num 9:6  And there were certain men, who were defiled by the dead body of a man, that they could not keep the passover on that day: and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day: Num 9:10  Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the passover unto the LORD.  Num 9:13  But the man that is clean, and is not in a journey, and forbeareth to keep the passover, even the same soul shall be cut off from among his people: because he brought not the offering of the LORD in his appointed season, that man shall bear his sin. Num 9:14  And if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the passover unto the LORD; according to the ordinance of the passover, and according to the manner thereof, so shall he do: ye shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land. 

Deu 16:1  Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.  The Babylonian name Nissan replaced Abib when the Jews were in captivity. 

The word Passover is specifically the 14^th day of the first month.  However, it is also used to represent the 8 day Passover holiday which consist of the Passover day and the following seven days of Unleaven bread.  We can call it one, the first event.  When your partner not only passed over every other person and chose you, but also put every other thought for another out of their mind and committed to you.  As we are to put the leaven of sin, the work of the devil out of our lives and commit to God.  The Passover day is not a Sabbath day of rest; but the first and last days of the seven days Unleaven bread are.  On those two days, no work is to be done.  As you may know and hopefully have done, no product containing leaven of any sort is to be found in your home or eaten for those seven days.  It may seem an irrelevant thing; but if God requests it, you can be show it is relevant. 

The Hebrew name for the Feast of Unleaven Bread is Matza.  You have probably seen the Jewish type flat biscuit they eat that is called matza.  That feast is also mentioned in Exodus 12; but I am going to use another reference. Lev 23:6  And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. Lev 23:7  In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.  Lev 23:8  .. in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.  Exo 13:5  And it shall be when the LORD shall bring thee into the …which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee,…thou shalt keep this service in this month. Exo 13:6  Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the LORD. Exo 13:7  Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters. Exo 13:8  And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the LORD did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt. Exo 13:9  And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD'S law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt. Exo 13:10  Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year. 

Unleaven bread speaks of sanctification.  Yahshua’s body was without sin and not decay in the grave.  God’s people are set apart so that the leaven of sin would neither corrupt them.  Pesach and Matza are called spring feasts because they occur in the spring season. 

The Feast of Unleavened Bread is all about sin and the resultant decay. Leavening, yeast, anything that causes fermentation was to be absent from every Israelite home and from any food they would eat. Fermentation is a process of decay.  The fermentation that causes bread to rise and grapes to break down into alcohol is a means of facilitating decay. Leaven is that agent that is added to food that brings on an accelerated rate of decay, the fermentation and the Bible makes a direct parallel between leavening and sin.  Sin is the agent in man and in the world that results in death and decay.  The more leavening that is added the faster and more violent the fermentation process.  The more sin that is in us the faster and more violent is our decay, physically and spiritually.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread, Matza, was (as was Passover) a remembrance of Israel leaving Egypt. Israel had to hurry to leave so they had no time to prepare bread in the regular and preferred way by giving it time to rise and then baking it. Therefore they made bread without leaven, without yeast and ate that unleavened bread for the first several days after their departure from the land of Goshen. The leaven, the sin, was left behind.  No decay, no sin, was to accompany Israel into the new life and new land they had been given.  One may say a land of peculiar people and peculiar ways, Yah’s ways.  The Torah uses an interesting word to describe what Yahweh actually did when He saved Israel from Egypt and then took them away from their bondage: redemption. They were redeemed.  Redeemed means a price had to be paid for their freedom and indeed it was. Possibly thousands of Egyptians (and unbelieving Israelites who did not obey) as well as thousands of innocent livestock died in order that Israel was redeemed.  Notice the order of things: first, Israel had to accept the atoning blood of the Pesach lamb, AND THEN the sin (the leaven) was removed from their life. NOW they were redeemed.  It is the same for us.  All of this was an act of mercy / grace by God Almighty because of a promise to faithful Abraham. 

Paul speaks of the connection between the congregation in the wilderness with Moses and the New Testament congregation of the Messiah.  In Act 7:38  This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: 1Co 10:1  Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 1Co 10:2  And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 1Co 10:3  And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 1Co 10:4  And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.  In relation to the Passover, he makes a similar connection Heb 11:24  By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; Heb 11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. Heb 11:27  By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. Heb 11:28  Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. 

So you see the bible is correct when it says in Eph 4:5  One Lord, one faith, one baptism,.  The same Christ (Lord) was present with the Old Testament congregation in baptism, faith and Passover.  We too are called to forgo being called sons of the world (Pharaoh’s daughter), to suffer any affliction imposed as a child of God than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.  To esteem the reproach of Yahshua more than material treasures of the world.  Etc etc.  1Co 5:7  Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:   You may not physically see the invisible God as the riches and pleasures of the world; but I assure you satn offers sinful pleasures and riches but always hide the price tag.  

Yahshua died and went to the grave; but because he was the ultimate Unleavened Bread He had no sin in Him so His body did NOT decay (remember, decay is the result of leavening).  Yahshua is the bread of life we are told; actually He is the Matza of life.  He is the UNLEAVENED, sinless, never decaying bread of life.  Joh 6:50  This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. Joh 6:51  I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.  Remember John in Rev 10:9 who ate the book and another prophet who I cannot remember, it tasted bitter; but became sweet.  So it is when we eat the Messiah’s and His father’s commandments.  Bitter to change our life and priorities; but sweet once we accept with genuine heart. 

He went to the crucifying tree and died; that is the Passover.  Then He went into that tomb, did not decay, and He entered in new life; that is the Unleavened Bread.  Just as Yahshua died on Passover day He entered the tomb during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The events that occurred in Egypt, the hurried cooking of unleavened bread and the rush to leave are historic; they happened and are well documented. These things happened on a physical level. On a spiritual level when Yahshua was placed in that tomb and His sinless body refused to decay and then He arose, the Feast of Unleavened Bread was fulfilled.  We, in union with Him, AFTER we have accepted His Passover blood, have the sin, the leaven, removed from our lives as we enter a new life. Our bodies will decay because they are born of leaven, of sin; but our spirits will NOT decay because the leaven, the sin, has been removed from that aspect of our being; rather our renewed spirits will go on to a new and eternal life with our creator on our resurrection. The Feast of Matza is a remembrance (Exodus 13).  You can read the more on the New Testament connection of the Messiahs death and our lives in Romans 6.  Two verses being Rom 6:2  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Rom 6:15  What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. 

Like any commandment or instruction of God the deceiver tries to distort it and mislead seekers.  He does a good job of it either through our laziness, lust, selfishness or because Mar 13:22  For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.  One such deception is renaming the Passover, the last supper and changing the appointed time to Easter in memorial of goddess Ishtar.  He also camouflages it with a scripture in this case  Mar 15:42  And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, Mar 16:1  And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.  Mat 28:1  In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. 

Hopefully, most of you here now know from previous studies the word Sabbath is used for both the weekly seventh day holy day and annual ones.  So the Sabbath before Messiah’s death was not the weekly one we call Friday sunset; but an annual one of Unleaven bread.  We must remember Yahshua gave us the method of calculation Mat 12:39  But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: Mat 12:40  For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  Mat 27:46  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Mat 27:50  Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. 

Lastly the first day of the week starts at the end of the seventh.  That ends at what we today call sunset Saturday evening (Genesis 1:31).  So putting all the scriptures together we do not get three days and nights from Friday 3pm (ninth hour), even to 6 a.m Sunday morning.  Joh 11:9  Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.  Some erroneously teach that if you take any part of daylight as a day i.e. 1 hour, it is possible to get three days.  A bit of daylight Friday before sunset, Saturday and the bit early Sunday morning.  That is assuming He rose Sunday morning and not Saturday night.  Clearly this violates the 12 hours in a day scripture.  Even so never will there be three nights only Friday and Saturday night.  This violates the only sign Yahshua said would be, three days AND three nights as Jonah was in one place, the belly of the whale. 

Sunday morning is when Mary and others went in the first daylight to the tomb; but He could have risen up to twelve hours earlier after sunset Saturday evening.  Counting backwards three days and nights we get to sunset our Wednesday as His death.  He was the Passover lamb and had other similarities to the animal Passover lamb.  Exo 12:46  In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof.  Joh 19:32  Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. Joh 19:33  But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: Joh 19:34  But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. Joh 19:35  And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. Joh 19:36  For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. Joh 19:37  And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced. 

That was not His last supper as he ate after His resurrection in the upper room and also when he cooked fish for them on the river bank.  There are seven appointed feast of Yahweh.  I want you to notice something that is not coincidental: every one of the sacrifices up to now is a male. And every one of the 4 Bible Feasts that overlap and run concurrently, Passover, Matza, Firstfruits and Shavuot have something profound to say about Yahshua’s death, burial, and resurrection, and the coming of the Holy Spirit. The animal offerings presented to Yahweh during each of the required sacrifices for each of these Feasts had to be males.   Yahshua, the RAM of our Salvation, was of course a male. 

Another verse used by the deceiver and his ministering agents is Isa 1:14  Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.  When Yahweh speaks of His appointed times He takes ownership of them calling them “my feast” or “feasts of the Lord”.  In Isaiah He clearly makes the distinction He is referring to their adopted or implemented feasts NOT HIS.  I hope no further elaboration is needed.  

Amo 5:21  I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Amo 5:22  Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Amo 5:23  Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.

Amo 5:24  But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. Amo 5:25  Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? Amo 5:26  But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. Amo 5:27  Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts. 

Here we read of persons, frankly doing and worshipping what pleases them not God. 

Like then, the deceiver has deceived many seekers to set up their own holy days or follow pagan ones in the belief they are worshipping Yahweh God of the bible or that it does not matter.  If it mattered in Amos’ time it matters still.  God changes not.  No amount of singing, dancing and praises may reach His ears if done at the wrong appointed time or in the wrong system.  If one does not want to obey God may give them up to their own desires.  Jas 1:14  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

Some verses that you may want to discuss later are:

Deu 16:2  Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the LORD thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to place his name there. Deu 16:5  Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee:  Deu 16:6  But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt.  2Ch_30:18  For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good LORD pardon every one. 

Joh 18:28  Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover. (see recording for 2012, 20-24 minutes in.  Local custom for some was to eat meal on 13^th Abib). 

Joh 18:28  Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover.  Joh 19:14  And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!  

So, what is the moral of the Passover event as the phrase goes.  What transformation is required of New Testament believers.  Some of which Paul gave advise?

1Co 5:6  Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?  1Co 5:7  Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 1Co 5:8  Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.  

When it comes to leaven as a metaphor, Scripture especially narrows in on the sin of arrogance, boasting, conceit, and pride.  The Apostle Paul also warns the Gentile Believers to beware of the sin of pride and arrogance, particularly in their relationship to the Jewish People. 

Furthermore, in the Book of Romans, Paul reminds those who have been supernaturally grafted into the natural olive tree (Israel) by the mercy and grace of God, not to boast over the other branches:  “If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches.  If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.”  (Romans 11:17–18). (Note the wild olive tree is graffted in among the broken off branches NOT to the olive tree.  The broken off branches are the unbelieveing Jews, though they keep the commandments as handed down through Moses.  The wild olive tree may have the belief in the Messiah; but they do not keep the commandments of God (in total).  The Olive tree keeps both commandments and have the faith.  As the apostles and new converts of book of Acts.  Called Messianic Jews.) 

One way many Believers boast over their fellow branches (the Jewish People) is by believing the false teaching of replacement theology.  This errant doctrine teaches that God has rejected the Jewish People (nation of Israel) and that the Church is the "New Israel." 

Nothing could be further from the truth.  Scripture is clear that God will never forsake His people Israel and will always keep covenant with them. 

“For the Lord will not reject His people; He will never forsake His inheritance.”  (Psalm 94:14). 

Rom 11:1  I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. Rom 11:2  God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, Rom 11:3  Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. Rom 11:4  But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Rom 11:5  Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 

In the same way that a little yeast affects the whole batch of dough, causing it to become puffed up, a little bit of pride and arrogance in our hearts causes us to think more highly of ourselves than we ought.  We must deal with the leaven in our own hearts, knowing that arrogance is not pleasing Yahweh God and pride often precedes our own downfall.  “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”  (Proverbs 16:18) 

The Leaven of False Teachings.

In the New Testament, leaven can also represent the corrupting influence of false teachings.  Yahshua warned people to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.   By this, Yahshua was not referring to bread, but to Pharisaical teachings that did not align with the Word of God (Matthew 16:11–12). Today there is even more leaven of traditions of men denominations replacing commandments of God. 

Let me repeat that even though I’ve made this point before: Yahshua was killed on Passover day, put into the Tomb on the first Day of Unleavened Bread and arose on the Feast of Firstfruits (Bikkurim). Then, 50 days later on Shavuot, the Holy Spirit began to indwell men. This is not my speculation; the New Testament clearly states it. Therefore I look for that mighty trumpet blast from Heaven that signals the return of Our King to occur on Rosh Hashanna in the not too distant future.  Now I readily admit I cannot be 100% sure that all of the final acts of Yahshua will be on the Fall Feast days: but it certainly would be a drastic break in pattern if it were any different.  So it is important you start to keep the holy feast days of God so that when the deceiver comes on the wrong day, you would know the real from the fake. 

Shalom and happy Holy days.