Most people believe that Yeshua rose on Easter Sunday. The date of Easter was and is originally set by the Catholic church by Constantine at the Council of Nicea in 325 a.d. and occurs on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. This date was chosen because it coincided with the pagan Roman citizen's day of worship of their fertility goddesses (Asteroth, Ishtar, Eostre, Astarte, Diana, Isis, Venus, etc). In fact, the term Easter did not exist in the New Testament until the King James writer's chose the term from the ancient Anglo Saxon worship of their fertility goddess, Eastre. Interesting enough, they use this term in place of the original word Pesach or Passover. See Acts 12 of KJV and others. (Reference any quality encyclopedia or dictionary to find this basic history.)
So did Yeshua actually rise from the dead on the day of the worship of a pagan fertility goddess? Or did He rise on a day Yahweh already had set aside for observance? The truth is Yeshua rose from the dead in fulfillment of what the Bible calls Yahweh's Holy Day of First Fruits. The Day of First Fruits always falls on the day after the weekly Sabbath (7th day), during the week of Unleavened Bread. The significance of the Messiah's resurrection is not that it was on a Sunday, but that it was on the Day of First Fruits as Yahweh had determined. Did you ever wonder about the significance of the tombs opening and the Holy ones who had fallen asleep being raised after the Messiah's resurrection and that they went into Jerusalem and appeared to many? (see Matt 27:52-53) Or did you wonder about the meaning of 1 Cor 15:20 where it says "but now Messiah has been raised from the dead, and has become the First Fruit of those having fallen asleep" and v 23 "and each in his own order; Messiah the first fruits then those who are of Messiah at his coming." Before and during Yeshua's time, on the Feast of First Fruits, the high priest would bring a sheaf of the first fruits of the harvest, and wave the sheaf before YHWH. The High priest would say a blessing, thanking YHWH for the sheaf of the grain and would proclaim trust that YHWH would provide for the rest of the harvest. Can you see the parallel here? After Yeshua's resurrection, the holy men of old that arose are the sheaf of the first fruit, and those Believers who will be resurrected on the last day are the rest of the harvest that Yeshua trusts that YHWH will provide. So, should we observe the resurrection of our Savior on Easter Sunday or the Day of First Fruits or does it really matter? Some may say it doesn't matter to me but then again we don't worship ourselves; we worship the Creator, YHWH. So, the real question we should be asking is, does it matter to Him? In Deuteronomy chapter 12, YHWH commands Israel not to worship Him the way the nations worship their false gods. Are we, like the Pharisees, violating His Torah by our traditions? YHWH is the same yesterday, today and forever.
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Well, Spring is just around the corner! How exciting! Trees bud. Baby animals are born. Everything just seems to start fresh. If we do a little research, we find that the Biblical New Year is in the spring. How interesting! The first month in the Biblical calendar is Abib and Passover falls on the 14th day of Abib which correlates to the Gregorian calendar months of March/April. Now, Passover was instituted by YHWH. Unlike our man-made traditions, many of which where instituted by the Catholic Church in the Constantinian era. In Leviticus 23 it states, "And YHWH spoke to Mosheh, saying, "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, 'The appointed times of YHWH, which you are to proclaim as set-apart gatherings.....(He goes on to explain them). By verse 14, YHWH states "a law forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings". Some versions say everlasting, perpetual. So, big question here......can anyone tell me when the generations stopped? To my knowledge they are still going. We know that the Scriptures say that YHWH is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. And in Matthew 5:17-19 states: "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law (=Torah =Teaching) or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to complete. (FYI - complete or fulfill does not mean do away with but to bring to it's full meaning) For truly, I say to you, till the heaven and the earth pass away, (I don't think that has happened yet) one yod or one tittle shall by no means pass from the Law (=Torah=Teaching) till all be done. Whoever, then, breaks one of the least of these commands, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the reign of the heavens; but whoever does and teaches them, shall be called great in the reign of the heaven."
If this it true, and I believe in the infallible Word of our Creator, then why has the church not taught and/or celebrated this. Why have we, the church, accepted Constantine's (the Catholic Church's) traditions over the Biblically commanded, 'law forever throughout your generations'? Mind you the 'forever, perpetual, everlasting' word is reiterated multiple times throughout Scripture. Don't take my word for it, go verify it yourself. There are enough public records from the Constantinian era online to verify all that was instituted by them and of course the Bible speaks for itself. One word of caution, be careful not to think, "well, that is not what it means to me. I grew up with these Constantinian traditions and I'm just fine." It really shouldn't matter what we think. We need to learn to be more reverent to our Creator and be concerned with what He thinks. And He is dead serious when He states not to mix the holy and profane. Read the many examples of what happened to those that did mix the holy and profane in the scriptures. I challenge you to check these things out for yourself. It says, study to show yourself approved. Are you up to it? "Today Contemporary Christianity has not only allowed truth to fall, but it has thrown truth in the street as a gesture of religious tolerance and compromise. It has given the adversaries of scripture exactly what they need to substantiate their claims that what most present as Christianity is nothing more than redefined pagan mythology. Educated theologians know that; yet they continue to present a compromised gospel filled with pagan tradition that never had anything to do with Christ. There has never been a more important time in the history of mankind for those called out as servants of our Creator to confront the philosophy and vain deceit that would lead people away from our Savior."-- Richard Rives This 2 hour interview on www.godslearningchannel.com will grab your attention and hold it. The link will download to your computer making it easy to re-watch and share with others. Make sure you're really ready to watch this, because the scripture says, Jas 4:17 To him, then, who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin and Hos 4:6 “My people have perished for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being priest for Me. Since you have forgotten the Torah of your Elohim, I also forget your children." We have the responsibility to check out everything presented to us and 'hold onto what is good'. Prepare to be challenged! http://www.waytozion.org/video/TooLong%20Richard.asf |