God wants to redeem the world for himself; it was always his plan. And to tell us that he establishes seven festivals in the Bible. (Lev 23)
The first festival is the Passover, here in Ireland they call it Easter, but we will call it as the Bible calls it.
In Israel Passover is celebrated on the 15th of Nissan ( in our calendar it can be March or April). This Festival points to the cross. This year was on Thursday 9th. The next day after Passover the second festival starts; the Seven days of the Feast of the Unleavened bread – for seven days no yeast is not allowed, and on the seventh day they celebrate the festival called the First Fruits. In one week, three festivals.
Those three festivals are all related to Jesus Christ and with our redemption. Jesus died on the Passover day. He was our Passover lamb; his blood was shed to protect us from death. Yeast in the Bible represents sin. Seven means- whole, complete, the work of Jesus at the cross was complete, perfect. That’s why they could not have yeast on their houses. This festival tells us that the death of Jesus cleanses us from our sins. Jesus died for our sins, and he rose on the day of the First Fruits, because he is the first of the many that will have their bodies transformed. (1 Co 15. 20-23) 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
Unfortunately, we don’t have time to look at all those beautiful and prophetic festivals.
Let’s look at the Passover festival and what happened at the time when the Hebrews were in Egypt.
In that time, they were slaves, and God sent the plagues, the ten plagues. God wanted to have their people free and living for him, worshipping him. But they were in bondage. God sent Moses to set them free.
I will not go into details, but each plague was to judge the gods of the Egyptians. Ex 12.12 12 “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord.
But it is essential to notice that in those days, the ones who obeyed what the Lord was saying were protected.
Ex 12.13 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.
For them to avoid death from the 10th plague, they had to follow God’s instructions and stay home, stay inside.
They marked their homes with the blood, they stayed inside, and when the angel of death passed over their house their son did not die . After that night, they were set free, to go to the promised land, to serve God. Ex 12. 23,24 23 When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down. 24 “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants.
I want us to reflect in what is happening nowadays. I want to share something that God is putting in my heart.
I do believe that what we are going through in these past days has God’s hand on it. Some people say that it is a human-made virus, others blame the Chinese Government, but in my opinion, we don’t know the truth and we cannot blame anybody. We need to understand that God is in control, and this is a time for reflection. It is time to search our hearts.
Talking about searching. There is something that God ordained his people to do. Did you know that one day before Passover starts, Jewish families have to search for all the yeast that they have in their homes? They need to get rid of ordinary bread, any kind of food that has yeast. And they must take it out of their house, no yeast is allowed inside of the home. What is God telling us here? It’s time for us to search our hearts, 1 Co 5. 6-8 6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
We need to take out the malice and the wickedness and be sincere and truthful.
This past month’s God is shaking the nations; we are not going to live life in the same way anymore. Many areas were affected, like health, economy, tourism, factories, shops, cultural activities, sports, conferences, church gathering. Things are changing, many questions, and we need to be ready.
In the days of the first Passover God sent plagues to judge Egypt and only those who obeyed him were saved, protected.
Obedience is a keyword for us as Christians. God is looking for those who are willing to obey. God is bringing judgment these days. This judgment is not to destroy us but is to call us to wake up, repent and seek him.
Another point is relationship. Do you know why God created you? Do you know why God sent Jesus to die at the cross?
God wants a bride; he is looking for a wife. The Bible says that he chose Israel to be his wife and he took them out of Egypt to marry them on the mount Sinai. But we know the story – they rebelled, they disobeyed because the law wasn’t in their hearts. Because he loved us, God sent Jesus to fulfil the law and to write the law in our hearts. God is still working in his plan of redemption. He is coming back to get his bride.
The church, all those who believed in Jesus, are part of the body. But how is the body of Christ doing?
Do you see in yourself a bride full of the love for the bridegroom? Do you see in yourself a bride that is running from sin? And are you willing to be close of your beloved?
I am asking this question to you and myself, do you take pleasure in praying and studying his word? Do you love his presence, having a relationship with him? Do you love to serve the body of Christ? I mean your own body.
What I see God doing these days is preparing the church, his beloved bride for the wedding. This quarantine time is a time for us to prepare, to get connected to him.
If the persecution comes, are you ready to not deny Jesus? Are you ready not to accept the mark of the beast? Or what if we are not going through persecution and the rapture happens. Are you prepared for the rapture?
I see Gods moving and shaking us these days, and if you have ears, you have to hear what the Spirit is saying. (Rev 2. 7)
God loves you, and he wants to bring you close to him. He is giving you time to reflect, to get organised. I am sure you never had a holiday like that. Inside your house, with your family, with plenty of time to talk and being with them. How are you using this time?
What are you receiving from the Lord? What will happen when this time finishes?
Are you prepared to leave Corona village? When all this quarantine ends, what are you going to do? I hope you are not going to return to your old habits, but you are going to be stronger on your faith, beliefs, and many good things will have changed.
I want to address some points for you to think about in this time that you are staying home. These are areas that maybe are holding you and it will be good to work on it in this time of quarantine. I was really blessed with this peaching from Dr Howard Morgan a Jewish messianic pastor. And I just want to share some points.
How do you deal with Failure?
Don’t let past failures or the fear of failure stop you.
So many people stop in their walk of faith because they have a fear of failure. Some because they are afraid of success. However, fear operates in your life, do not let it determine your future or your destiny. God has not given us a “spirit of fear” (2 Timothy 1:7). Fear never comes from the Lord; it is always built on lies we believe. When we expose the lies, the fear will die. I have personally experienced the life transforming power of this truth.
Even if you fail, so what? Failure is not an issue for the Lord.
Obedience and Faithfulness are. The Scriptures teach us that the Lord will say “Well done, my good and faithful servant,” not “my successful servant,” because God’s measure of success is our faithfulness and obedience, God looks on the condition of our heart and at the fruit of our lives (1 Samuel 16:7; Jeremiah 17:10; Matthew 13:23; John 15:1-6).
We are called to obey and leave the results to the one who “gives the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:7).
It is better by far to stand before the Lord on the Great Day of Accountability and say, “I obeyed and walked in faith, although things didn’t work out – they actually failed,” than to tell Him that you “buried” what was entrusted to you, for whatever reason. The Lord will not be smiling at you!
When the Lord first called him into leadership in the Body of Christ, He was so aware of what He considered my own inabilities, weaknesses and lack of qualifications, that He was very reluctant, resistant and He discovered, rebellious to God’s calling. After many attempts to convince the Lord that He was making a mistake, and that He was only asking him because He actually wanted someone else, He said to him, “How dare you insult me!! If I wanted someone else, they would be here.” That still did not convince him to accept His call. What finally did was when He said these words to me; “It will be better for you on the Day of Judgment to become an Elder and fail, than not to become an Elder at all.” That put the fear of God into me, and I became an Elder, and that started me on my journey into ministry.
We are all wise to follow the last recorded words of Miriam (Mary), the mother of Yeshua (Jesus), who at the wedding at Cana told the wine stewards, “Whatever He tells you, do it!” (John 2:5).
How do you deal with Lies?
Are there lies that have defined you in the past? Are there lies that you still believe about yourself? your future? your gifts and callings?
What defines you? Who defines you? How is your Identity defined? If I asked you to fill in this blank, what things would you say about yourself: “I am a ______ .”
When lies define us they create a false “self-image.” When we believe lies about ourselves, we don’t live in honesty with ourselves, with others, or with the Lord. When we live in a false self-image, we believe that “I am this kind of a person,” when you are actually not. Or, you believe, “I am not that kind of a person,” when deep in your hearts, you know you are.
As the Lord deals with us about His plans for our life, we can sense this conflict and dishonesty in the depths of our spirit. If we don’t overcome the lies that create that dishonesty, we eventually surrender to them, and believe that is just who we are. We end up living very superficial mediocre spiritual lives with minimal fruit, and justify our life choices by believing, “Well that is just who I am.”
When we learn how to “cast down those lying thoughts” (2 Corinthians 10:5), and take off the “old self” which is built on those lies, and put on the “new self” – which is being renewed after the image of the Lord Colossians 3. 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
(Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:10), then the truths of God’s Word to us, His gifts and callings, will create in us a solid supernatural identity of who we are “in the Messiah” (2 Corinthians 5:17). 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.[b] The old has passed away; behold, the new has come
Building upon that identity, “no weapon formed against us can succeed,” (Isaiah 54:17). No one’s words or behaviour, no wrong thoughts or bad feelings, no false human or supernatural authorities, nothing and no one can stop us from fulfilling all the Lord has called us to do (Romans 8.31-39).
How do you deal with Forgiveness?
This is also where the life transforming power of forgiveness can come alive in your life. As you forgive everyone of everything, you set yourself free from them, and anything they have said or done. Holding onto unforgiveness, bitterness and resentment, is like swallowing poison and expecting the other person (or people) to die. As it has been truly said, forgiveness is a gift you give yourself! Give yourself that gift. Forgive so you can forget and move on without those negative influences in your life. I know this is not easy to do, and I am not saying it as if it was. When you come to the place where you find you just cannot forgive, turn to the Lord (which is exactly what repentance is) and ask Him, the Great Forgiver, to rise up within you and exercise His forgiving grace to flow into you and then through you. As you receive His forgiveness for yourself, you will find it enabling you to forgive others. Matthew 6. 14,15 14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Be prepared to leave.
I do believe that the Lord is preparing each one of us for a great revival.
But it is time for us to go to the secret place and clean our own lives, take out all the yeast. Grow in our intimacy with our beloved bridegroom. Being obedient, faithful, believe in who you are in Christ, forgive those who hurt you. Renew the covenant that was made with us through the blood of Christ and be ready to leave the Corona village and enter into the promised land.
Let’s pray and be prepared for the Lord’s supper.