PassoverJourney

This Sabbath's reading breaks from the continued study in the Book of Leviticus, because it is a special Sabbath that falls in the middle of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. These two feasts cover 7-8 days, depending on where they are being observed. This Sabbath reading deals with the middle days of these two consecutive feasts. The title of this Sabbath's reading portion is Chol Ha-Moed Pesach, or "the middle days of Passover". Surprisingly, although Passover is a somber occasion, these "middle days" are treated joyously. We can understand that as believers in Christ, because while Christ died on Passover, the saddest, most somber day for His disciples, three days later, during "the middle days" period (on the later established Feast of First Fruits), He rose from the dead, which is the greatest joy that the world has ever received. Prophetically, Moses, before the first Passover, told Pharaoh that Pharaoh must let the Israelites go from Egypt on a three-day journey into the wilderness to the place where God had commanded them to assemble and worship Him (see Ex. 3:18, 5:1-3, 8:25-27). The Feast of Unleavened Bread, or massa/masas in Hebrew, means "sweetness:not soured or bittered with yeast, unfermented, greedily devoured for sweetness/suck out or press out with pleasure those things that are sweet and pleasant to the taste". Lasting seven days, it is a "sabbath rest of sweetness" in which we can dwell. Unleavened Bread is about choosing, rather than the bitterness of sin, the sweetness of God, which is the sweetest thing there is. We can rejoice and sing, "Jesus Christ is Risen Today, Hallelujah!". This week's Sabbath reading portion takes us on a kind of three-day journey in the meaning of the Passover Lamb for all of us. The first reading is from Leviticus 23, where the scripture reiterates the command of the LORD regarding the Passover, and the Sabbath: "...these are My feasts. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation...On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the LORD's Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread...you shall do no customary work (aboda/abad - work, labor of a servant, slave, or captive) on it." (Lev. 23:3-6). So we have our starting point on our Passover journey as commanded by the LORD to Moses. In the second stop on our Passover journey, we come to Ex. 33. At this stop, Moses calls upon the grace of God on behalf of himself and the people of God: "Now therefore I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people." (Ex. 33:13). This search and request for grace came immediately after the people of God had committed the grave sin of worshipping the golden calf idol. Then Moses asked God to show him His glory (v. 18). The LORD answered: "...Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by." (v. 21-22). In this verse, the Hebrew word used for "cleft" is negara/nagar, which means crevice/pierced, bore or dug (out). In the written Hebrew, the word negara has the letter beth, meaning "house", attached to it. The cleft of the rock formed a certain kind of house for Moses from which to view God's glory. Why is this chapter from Exodus included in the reading to be done during the middle days of Passover/Unleavened Bread? We will soon see if we follow the path set in this journey. If we look at the next stop on our Passover journey, which is this Sabbath's reading portion from the Song of Solomon, we wil find an important meaning to this cleft in the rock mentioned above, that was provided for Moses. The Song of Solomon, written by David's son, King Solomon, gives us a prophetic revelation into the mystery of the Passover Lamb: "The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle (sebi/saba - glory, glorious, beautiful, goodly, honor/battle, shine, be bright, glory, splendor) or young stag (ayyal/ayil/ul - meaning includes "a great ram"/ram as a sacrifice, ram skin covering the tabernacle, a pillar, doorpost, jambs/powerful, mighty). Behold, he stands behind our wall; He is looking through the windows, gazing (showing himself) through the lattice. My beloved spoke and said to me: 'Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away...O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely...upon the mountains of Bether (cleft, pierce, parts of an animal cut in half for sacrifice)." (Song 2:8-9, 14). In these verses, "the cleft of the rock" is connected to a place called "Bether", whose meaning, as noted above, is associated with preparing a sacrifice. The Beloved, the Bridegroom of this Song, inhabits a "secret place" (seter/satar - covering, shelter, hiding place/ hidden, secret, concealed, be absent) of the cliffs (madrega - stairs, a steep inaccessible place, ascend by steps or ladder), and He is obscured from easy view by a wall, and shows glimpses of Himself through windows and latices. You would have to seek out a sighting of Him. The animal He is compared with has the meaning of glory, splendor, shining brightness and honor. The Beloved is described as "leaping" and "skipping", and these terms are associated with the Hebrew word for Passover, which is Pesah/Pasah, and includes the meaning "to spring, skip, hop over". This picture from the Song of Solomon is the nature of the dwelling of that sacrifice that covered Moses, and covers us, in the cleft of the rock, from where the glory of God was revealed to him. Paul also wrote about this glory hidden in mystery, but now revealed to certain ones: "...the word of God, the mystery (mysterion - hidden thing, secret, not obvious to the understanding) which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Col. 1:26). There's more to the meaning of Passover than an event of thousands of years ago, or a meal to memorialize it. Our Communion, having a direct connection to the Passover meal as stated in scripture and as explained by Jesus, revealed the meaning of the hidden mystery. This Passover journey starts in a sacrificial death, but the LORD also commanded His people to eat the sweet unleavened bread. There was sweet joy that would follow the darkest event in history. We find that in one of the assigned reading portions for this special "middle days" Sabbath. In Exodus 34, After the first tablets of the covenant were broken by Moses, the LORD commanded him to cut a second set of tablets in order to receive the covenant word from the LORD again. The LORD then says to Moses: "So be ready in the morning (boqer/baqar - end of night and coming of day, early, bright joy after night of distress/search out, look for, seek, enquire) and come up (alita/ala - come up, offering, burn, ascend, raised, exalted, to lift oneself, from a lower region towards a higher) in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself (nasab - take one's stand, be appointed, be a deputy, establish, be fixed) to Me there on the top of the mountain." (Ex. 34:1-2). In the morning, Moses would come up. We will see a connection to this portion from Ex. 34, and our final stop on our Passover journey, in the last reading from this Sabbath, Ezekiel 37: "The hand of the LORD came upon me and brought me out (yasa - come out, to go forward, to proceed to or toward something) in the Spirit of the LORD, and set me down (nuah - rest, quiet, remain, to cause to rest, be granted rest) in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones." (Ezek. 37:1) There were very many bones in this valley, and they were very dry - these had been dead a long time. Then the LORD asked the prophet if these bones could live again (v. 2-3). The LORD commanded the prophet to prophesy to the dry bones, saying, "...hear the word of the LORD! Thus says the LORD God to these bones: 'Surely I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live...Then you shall know that I am the LORD." (v. 4-6). The prophet prophesied, and the LORD began to work, and the very dry bones were raised up in life again: "...and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army." (v. 10). Then this is the Word that the LORD told the prophet to say to His people: "Thus says the LORD God: 'Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up (alita/ala - same as above) from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves...I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it and performed it,' says the LORD." (v. 12-14). Passover and its accompanying Feast of Unleavened Bread are not just a past event, but they are a journey to bring us, if we will follow the path, to a promised and an expected end. Jesus took this journey, and it ended with an empty tomb in the early morning of the first day of the week. It is a journey from darkness to the glorious light of everlasting life in our Passover Lamb, Jesus. If you would like to know more about this Passover journey to Christ and life, you can pray with me: "Father of glory, You have given and fulfilled Your promise of Passover and Unleavened Bread, two feasts that You have made inseparable from each other. You fulfilled Your promise through the death and joyful resurrection of Your Son, Jesus, who died for my sin. I will follow the path that You have made for me in Your Word, and I will search out and see our Savior that You had once kept partially hidden in a mystery, but Who is now revealed for all who have eyes to see. You have brought me out and set me down by Your Holy Spirit to the place of resurrection. I will prophesy Your Words of life to the dry bones, and they shall live! I thank You in Jesus' name. AMEN." **There is a free ebook titled "The Shroud of Turin: A Perfect Summary" available from Dr. Kenneth Stevenson who is an expert on the Shroud of Turin, which is an amazing confirming witness to the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. You can get this free ebook by going to www.TheShroudofTurin.org/freebook. It will be a blessing to you. Feel free to pass it along to others.