Jesus didn’t come to abolish the Law…He came to fulfill the Law or Old Covenant

a. What does He mean by the expression “the Law and the Prophets”?—
(1) Jesus used the term to refer to the Old Testament, or what I call the Old Covenant
(2) The Old Covenant still has spiritual significance to the New Covenant Believer
(a) God tells Jeremiah that in the New Covenant He will write His Law on their hearts.
(b) His laws will no longer be written on stone, but will be written on the hearts of His people (Jeremiah 31:33)
(c) He will not abolish the Law

a. God esteems His Word more than His own reputation—

(a) God’s ways and His ordinances are more important to Him than His reputation
(b) Jesus was the word made flesh—the physical manifestation of God’s Laws and Principles

(1) Torah-
(a) Interpreted as “Law”
(b) In Hebrew it means “way to live”

(i) The Letter of the Law kills
(ii) The spirit of the law brings life
(2) God’s word is so important to Him, because it is the framework on which the universe is built—

(a) His principles are truth, whether you believe them or not

a. Paul said that the gentile Believer was “grafted” into the vine of God’s inheritance—
(1) If you’re a Believer in Jesus Christ, your just as Jewish as Abraham
(2) By the blood of Christ, we have come into God’s Covenant
b. Paul says not to boost against the original branches—
(1) We are grafted in but the Jew is still the root of our inheritance
(2) The Jews were God’s original Covenant people—we should respect that

a. The New Testament is the Spiritual Revelation of the Old Testament—
(1) The rituals of the Old Testament are a “type and shadow” of the New Covenant experience with God.
(a) The Tabernacle Prayer Model
(b) Joshua was the “type and shadow” of Christ.
(2) For example: Jesus was the Passover Lamb
(a) God used the protocols and procedures of the Passover Sacrifice so that the Jews would understand the Cross.
(b) Many Jews “got it”. Who do you think made up the original Church?

II. God is a stickler for Protocol—
A. My children had to do things the way I told them even when they didn’t understand “my ways”—

a. Mandy has loved horses since before she could walk—
(1) She used to sit in the floor and look through Quarter Horse Journals
(2) She rode her first horse before she could walk
b. When she started to ride on her own, I had to teach her the proper protocols—
(1) I taught her to thread the front cinch first and tighten it
(2) I taught her to tie her horse up close to the fence.
(3) I taught her to always get on the left side.
(4) I taught her not to let her horse try and graze while she was riding along in a walk
(5) I taught her to never walk behind a horse…at least a strange horse.
c. It wasn’t important that she understood why she had to do those things…it was important that she DID them!
(1) We don’t need to understand why God does things a certain way…we just need to be obedient
(2) God insist that things be done His way

a. David tried to do it his way and a man got killed—
(1) David decides to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem from Kirjath Jearim (ker-jath-jer-a-rim)
(2) The Philistines had captured it and been struck by cancers and other misfortunes as long as they had the Ark in their camp.
(3) They sent it back to Israel and it ended up in Kirjath-Jerarim in a Levites Barn by the name of Abinadab.
(4) The Ark remained there for twenty years, until the reign of David was established.
b. After David has become King of Israel, he decides to bring the Ark back to Jerusalem—
(1) They decide that the easiest way would be to move it on a cart
(2) The cart hits a chug-hole and the Ark begins to slip off
(3) Abinadab’s son Uzzah tries to steady the Ark and when he touches it God strikes him dead.
c. They stick the Ark in Obed-Edom’s barn because it’s close—
(1) When then work up enough courage they go back after it a few months later.
(2) This time they do it God’s way—they have the Priest carry the Ark as instructed in Exodus 25

III. The Passover is an important thing with God—It should be with us also—
A. God said to observe the Passover Feast…forever!

a. Everlasting means forever—
(1) God commanded that the Passover be observed…forever!
(2) That it be passed down from generation to generation
b. He said your year begins and ends on the Passover—
When God instituted the Passover, He told Moses and Aaron,

(2) God’s year is not from January to December—it’s Passover to Passover

a. Who is he talking to? The Church of Corinth
(1) The most “gentile” Church of the Apostolic Churches
(a) Located in Corith, Greece
(b) Was Hellenistic in Culture and definitiely not Hebrew
(c) Knew nothing of the Old Testament or the Feasts
(2) The Church was a gentile as they come
b. What’s he talking about?
(1) The context is sexual sin in the Church that has not been dealt with
(2) “Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?”-1 Corinthiamns 5:6
(a) Leaven types sin
(b) He says that willful sin that is not dealt will soon spread through the whole congregation
c. He’s talking about the week-long Feast of Unleavened Bread which begins with Passover-
(1) Therefore let us keep the feast,
(2) With sincerity and truth
(3) No one should understand the Passover like the Assembly (Ekklesia-Church) of Jesus Christ
(a) Paul would be shocked to know that the Church disowned the Feasts
(b) Jesus would as well
(i) He never missed one of them
(ii) When He returns the first thing He is going to do is conduct the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem (Zechariah 14). Attendance will be required!
(iii) Proves the Feast did not end on Calvary
d. The Feast won’t get you saved-

(1) But they will get you blessed…see below.

C. There are four powerful accounts of the Blessing that falls on those who observe the Passover—
¨ Moses and the people of Israel at the Red Sea— (slide 9)
a. They plunder Egypt—
(1) The Egyptians give them their gold and silver

b. God destroyed their enemies—
(1) God drowned the Egyptian Army in the Red Sea
(2) When the Israelites became backslidden in Canaan, they stopped “Observing the Passover”
(3) There enemies began to dominate them
Joshua when He crossed over the Jordan--

a. The first thing Joshua did when he crossed over into the promised-land was “Observe the Passover”—
(1) The very next day they ate from the fruit of the land
(2) The Promised-Land was a land of abundance
(3) They ate from the abundance of God’s provision the very next day
b. They “kept the Passover”—
(1) By offering a Passover sacrifice, they opened the door to the most prosperous time in Israel’s history.
(2) Subsequent generations would stop the practice of the Passover Sacrifice, and they went Bankrupt—right in the same Land.
The Lord sent them Michael the Arch Angel-

(b) When you observe Passover the Lord sends an Angel to go before you in your assignment!
c. Like the Moses generation, the Joshua generation had the Lord go before them and they conquered their enemies after they had observed the Passover—
(1) It’s no coincidence that in both incidents, God’s people had just Observed the Passover
(2) God’s promises are that He will become an enemy to our enemies.

The Reign of King Hezekiah

a. At the age of 39, he became “sick and near death”—
(1) Isaiah, his prophet even tells him to get his things in order

a. What was God’s response?

(1) He healed Him and extended his life by 15 years
c. He claimed to have done what was “good in His sight”. What was it that He had done?

(1) 2 Chronicles 30-31 show that Hezekiah went to great lengths to restore the Passover. He even had to retrain Priest in the doctrines of purity Israel had become so backslidden.
(2) Israel was broke when he took over. During his reign they returned to prosperity
¨ It was such an important Day to God that He choose it as the Day He would call His Son to the Cross—Christ was the ultimate Passover Sacrifice (stay on slide 11)
a. John was the first to refer to Jesus as the “Lamb of God”--
(1) Christ was crucified on the Friday before Passover
(2) He lay in the tomb the day of Passover
(3) He arose from the grave on the Day after Passover…a Day called by Jewish tradition “The Day of First fruits”
(a) Christ was called the “First Fruits of the Resurrection”.
(b) He was also called the “First Born” of the Dead
b. God always intended that the Passover would commemorate Freedom for His Covenant People—
(1) The Passover was the last of the Ten Plagues with which God struck Egypt and set His people free.

(a) Christ made us free by becoming the Passover Offering for us
(b) The Passover is about freedom
B. Why haven’t I been taught about the Passover before in Church?
¨ Constantine established the Roman Church and he hated the Jews. He saw them as our Lord’s murderers…not the vine of God’s Covenant Blessing!! (Slide 12)
a. Prior to the Romans Church, the Church of the Apostles had always observed the Passover!
(1) They celebrated the Crucifixion in Passover
(2) The Resurrection on First Fruits
(3) The giving of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost (back half of First Fruits)
(a) Penetecost was already an established Jewish Feast Day called Shavot.
(b) Penetcost occurs 7 Sabbaths and a Day (50 Days) after First Fruits
(c) It was the exact day the Law was given to Moses on the mountain.
(d) Correspondingly, it is the exact day the Holy Spirit was given to the Church (because you cannot keep the Law without the Holy Spirit!)
b. The Council of Nicaea in 325 AD—
(1) Nicea was an ancient city in modern day Turkey on the eastern bank of the Black Sea
(2) 318 Bishops of the Roman Church were summoned there by the Roman Emperor Constantine
(3) He wanted them to settle doctrinal disputes that had arisen in the Roman Church—His concern was not theological, it was political.
c. They were very Anti-Semitic—they hated the Jews—
(1) The Apostolic Church (Church of the Apostles) had always celebrated the Resurrection on the Passover
(2) This council of Roman Catholic Archbishops arbitrarily decided to break the celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord away from Passover and celebrate it on the same day as a pagan ritual of renewal called Easter (named after a pagan goddess). It remains on this date to this day
(3) The Council decided that Easter would be the first Sunday after the first Full moon after the “vernal equinox” (first day of Spring) which is March 21st (based solely on Solar Cycles)
d. Their hatred for the Jews was inspired by the devil—
(1) It caused them to block the Church for 1600 years from one of the greatest blessings that God has for His people.
(2) The Jews have always prospered when they have “Observed the Passover”
(3) The Roman Church became a political machine and prospered in that way, but the people in the Church were poor—check your Medieval History
Is there a Church today that you know of that is vastly wealthy, and yet it’s members are still overwhelmingly pour?

a. They plundered Egypt after they had observed the Passover
b. Joshua’s generation observed the Passover Sacrifice and they prospered in the Land of their Inheritance
God will take sickness away from you—". And I will take sickness away from the midst of you." (Exodus 23:25, NKJV)

a. There were over a million people in the tribes during the Exodus--
b. What are the odds of a group of people that large not having one person in their midst who is sick—

God’s answer to Hezekiah the King who restored the Passover:

¨ God wants His people to increase in every area of life, so they might be an influence on the World

¨ We have to learn to tell time the way God does. His year runs from Passover to Passover

God will assign you an Angel—“Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.

Jesus begins to weaken on the Garden—
a. Then He says, “not My will but yours be done.”
b. God immediately dispatches an Angel—

(1) After He agreed to the Sacrificial Offering, the Lord sent Him an Angel
¨ After Joshua makes the Passover Offering in the Promised Land, God sent a warring Angel to him to help him.

We have to do it God’s way—
A. The Israelites offered a lamb because it was their Medium of Exchange
¨ They had no currency. They measured their wealth in sheep
a. Currency is our medium of exchange
b. When we make a sacrifice offering—it’s in dollars
B. God called them to identify themselves by marking their doorpost with the blood of the sacrifice—

a. When we stand before God with our offering, we identify ourselves as a participant in the sacrifice.
b. Remember, the devil will let you have it for free, but he demands an offering later.
c. God requires the offering up front…then He releases the blessing

¨ God wants us to test Him in His promises concerning the Passover offering.
a. Passover is next Monday the 22nd.
(1) This is the most critical Passover in our Lifetime.
(2) We heed the words of the Prophets.
(a) America is pregnant with a new birth.
(b) What we do in this season of pregnancy will have generational effects on our bloodlines.
(c) We are going to repent for a Church that has put it’s own Traditions ahead of the Word of God (which God esteems more than His own reputation!)
b. We are going to lift up a Passover Offering unto the Lord
(1) We’re going to commemorate our freedom.
(2) We’re going to ask Him to send us an Angel.
(3) We’re going to ask Him to take our sickness.
(4) We’re going to ask Him to increase us and defeat our enemies.
(5) And to renew the essential truth that “America’s founder and maker is God!”