PASSOVER - ONE OF OUR "YEARLY DATES" WITH YHWH - IS ON THE HORIZON!

This year, Passover starts on the late afternoon of March 24; the Unleavened Bread begins right after sunset – and it is a High Shabbat which we must take off from work.

(NOTE: Calendar “aficionados” - Before you try to stone me on this matter, please understand that this is another one of those crazy years where most calendars don’t match. We The Refiner’s Fire Ministry celebrate ALL the Shabbats (both the weekly Seventh Day Sabbath, and the seven commanded Feasts) according to the sun, moon and stars, and so we will be doing Passover on late afternoon of March 24 this year. Please see our article of explanation.)

Regardless - no matter which calendar you decide to use this year, it’s getting close to the time when you need to start cleaning out all the “chametz” - leaven - from your homes, as “leaven” represents “sin.” All leaven is to be removed from your homes before Passover starts!
(Some people insist you are to clean out your “yeast” before Passover, but this is not true. There is no way to get rid of all yeast, because yeast spores are everywhere, including in every breath we take. Please see our article.)

EXPLANATION OF PASSOVER:

Passover, celebrated near evening on Nisan 14 on the Hebrew calendar, marks the beginning of a seven-day period during which the eating of leavened Bread is forbidden as leaven is a symbol of sin (I Corinthians 5:6-8; see also Exodus 23:14-16; Romans 6:4 and II Corinthians 5:21).

Exodus 23:14-16: "Three times a year, you are to observe a festival for me. Keep the festival of matzah: for seven days, as I ordered you, you are to eat matzah (unleavened bread) at the time determined in the month of Aviv; for it was in that month that you left Egypt. No one is to appear before me empty-handed. Next, the festival of harvest, the firstfruits of your efforts sowing in the field; and last, the festival of ingathering, at the end of the year, when you gather in from the fields the results of your efforts." (CJB)

Passover/Unleavened Bread/Hag HaMatzot is one of ELOHIM’s commanded seven High Holy Days. During Passover week, we celebrate the deliverance of the slaves from Egypt. It is the story of redemption by the killing of the Passover Lamb, the blood of which was applied to the doorposts while the Israelites were still in Egypt, shortly before their Exodus.

Obedience to the command to take a lamb into their homes for a few days and then kill it for the purpose of spreading its blood on the doorposts ensured that their firstborn would be spared the Tenth Curse against Pharoah who refused to let God's enslaved Chosen People leave Egypt. When the Angel of Death passed through the land and saw the blood, he "passed over" those houses and spared the first born within (Exodus 12:1-13).

(NOTE: Today, we no longer required to kill an innocent lamb, because Believers in YHWH/Yeshua are covered by the Blood of Yeshua who martyred himself, shedding his Divine Blood on our behalf! More explanation to follow.)

Passover not only serves as a reminder of the events leading up to the Exodus from Egypt; but it is also the story of redemption through Messiah Yeshua, whose shed blood on the cross freed Believers from the slavery of earthly bondage to “the world!”

Yeshua fulfilled this event when he was crucified. However, please note, he was NOT “the Passover Lamb” per se! Why? Because (1) the original Passover lamb in Egypt was not a "sin “sacrifice”; it was a “substitute”, a “redemption”; and (2) the lambs were not sacrificed on any altar, and no one “sacrificed” Yeshua! He martyred himself to shed his divine blood on our behalf.

This is the whole connection:

Yeshua was our substitute, our redemption - and by believing and always following YHWH's Torah to help us to lower our tendency to sin and do our best to NOT sin anymore, we have the chance for eternal life! Halleluyah, praise his Holy Name!

(NOTE: In case anyone is interested, we offer a free downloadable haggadah (liturgy) for Pesach/Passover on our website. Just click on our Articles and Studies page, and scroll down until you see "Free calendars, Siddurs & Pesach Seder", and choose one of the final two links...

If you’ve never celebrated Passover, try it this year. You’ll be amazed at how blessed you will feel!