[This is being reposted in memory of Sinaite VAN@S6K who entered his final Sabbath Rest in 2016. Originally posted in 2013, our transitional year when our core group were still reviewing what in Torah is for the Jew and what is for the gentile, at the beginning, we ‘played safe’, particularly because some of us had just exited from our Messianic re-orientation of the Old Testament. We felt that until we had restudied the Torah, we would continue celebrating all the Leviticus 23 feasts of YHWH.
As of 2013 however, we reached a decision that not all 7 of the Levitical feasts historically applied to anyone other than Israel, but that only 3 of them were universal:
- the weekly Sabbath,
- the Day of Atonement,
- and the anniversary of the Sinai Revelation which is the feast of Shavuot, “Pentecost” in Christian terminology.
The weekly Sabbath precedes the giving of the Law; everyone sins and should observe Day of Atonement; and we acknowledge only the Sinai Revelation as recorded in the Torah, as the ‘Word of YHWH.”
Please check these posts that show the Sinaites’ journey and how we reached our conclusions on the Feasts of YHWH:
Image from clipartfest.com
In Leviticus (Vayyikra) chapter 23 God’s (YHVH’S) “appointed times” (or “feasts”) are listed for all Israelites and non-Israelites among them to observe.
These are the following:
- Sabbath
- Pesach or Passover,
- Unleavened Bread,Shavuot (Pentecost)
- and Counting of the Omer (First Fruits)
- Yom Teruah (Trumpets)/
- Rosh Hashana (New Year) Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), and
- Sukkot (Tabernacles), Shemini Atzeret (8th Day)
We are approaching the second on the list, Pesach or Passover, the celebration of which falls on different times in the biblical as well as the Gregorian calendar.
The meaning and the observance of this festival is found in Exodus (Shemoth) chapters 12 & 13, where it was first instituted.
In these chapters the instructions are enumerated in detail as to how it is to be celebrated, such as,
- the day was marked,
- the lamb was chosen to be killed
- and eaten with bitter herbs
- and the unleavened bread.
The day – 14th day of the month at twilight, the feast of Pesach or Passover. And, the 15th day of the same month is the feast of Unleavened Bread.
The food – the lamb, a male, year old, unblemished, to be killed and roasted with fire and to be eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
The reason for the celebration – the day marks the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, not only from physical slavery but also from spiritual slavery.
It was also the beginning for Israel to be freed from all heathen influences and the beginning of the nation to be dedicated to the service of God (YHVH) as a nation of priests. From the worship of many gods to the worship of YHVH, the ONE TRUE GOD:
“For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night
and I will strike down all the first- born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt
I will execute judgments:
I am the LORD (YHVH).
(Ex.12:12).
The celebration of Pesach or Passover is a very meaningful experience for me.
It was for me a deliverance —
- from the worship of ‘many gods’ (the Trinitarian God of my former Christian/Messianic belief)
- to the worship of YHVH, the One True God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
Hence, I look forward to celebrating it with Israel and all other gentiles who have shared the Exodus experience, if only symbolically.
VAN@S6K
Reader Comments