A Passover Perspective (part 4)

The Journey Home…

Previous articles have described a number of concepts that many people might find unfamiliar. There have been associations drawn between creation themes, the components of covenants, moedim, Temple furnishings, Diasporas, and a number of other items and events. But among believers in the One True God of Israel;

• Who would question that God is good?
• Or that the heavenly realm holds preeminence over the earthly realm?
• Or that there is a heavenly plan for the redemption of man and His creation through His Seed?
• Or that the instruction of God is a light to our path?

No one that I know. If you have been following these articles, you might recognize that these answers that we take as ‘a given’, are following the themes that I have been describing;

• Light and Darkness as the knowledge of good and evil,
• Waters separated as heavenly and earthly,
• Seed, separated by kind, or more specifically, His Seed,
• Shining Celestial Bodies, whose movements govern the observance of Torah.

No matter your preferred level of adherence to the p’shat, the traditional or the ‘literal’ (whatever that means), you can see that I am working within accepted concepts and accepted definitions and within the norms of associated topics; God/good, waters linked to heaven/earth, etc. There are a couple of things that require explanation, but I think the only real novelty in this approach is illustrating the concepts demonstrated in the days of creation and showing them as being traceable through the terms of covenants to the moedim.

At the conclusion of the last article, I offered to make a more detailed and technical illustration of these relationships. I will begin here, with the moedim associated with the Passover, otherwise known as the Spring Feasts:

	Days of Creation
Day:	1	2	3
Created:	Light	Waters	Seed
Separated:	Light & Darkness	Above & Below	According to Kind
	Covenants
Participant:	Adam	Noah	Abram
Theme:	Knowledge of Good (God)	Shalom	Fruitfulness
	Messiah’s Ministry
Moed:	Passover	Unleavened	First Fruits
Messianic Fulfillment:	Self-Sacrifice	Humbled Self to Death	Resurrection
	Believer’s Obligations
Temple:	Altar of Sacrifice	Laver	Show Bread
Believer Fulfillment:	Sacrifice of Self	Cleansing of Pride	Produce Good Fruit
	Seal Judgments
Broken Covenant:	Evil Authority	No Peace	Condition of Want

Working with ‘themes’ is what some might call subjective. I disagree. To look at the theme of Noah’s covenant and read ‘Shalom’, you might think ‘Showers’ might be more appropriate. But Shalom is an expression of peace that comes from well being. If you keep in mind the context of Noah’s covenant (the mixing of heavenly beings with earthly ones) and the Waters being separated below, (earthly) and above (heavenly), it helps keep things in perspective. The result of that interbreeding was catastrophic for man on many levels. The net result of their destruction was a world in balance and harmony; Shalom. There is a comments section for those that have thoughts, concerns or objections to offer. I encourage you to join the discussion.

The things created in the beginning are well defined when we just stick to what was actually written. The context of created things are expressed in terms of how they were defined; they were separated and contrasted, Light and Darkness, Waters above and below, Seed according to kind, etc. What was created and how it was defined is an expression of the will of God for His creation; He changes not. They are what constitutional declarations are to a system of laws. Laws that must be enacted to conform to these constitutional directives. That is the link to the covenants.

The context of covenant terms (blessings and curses) are really just basic contract law. Each successive covenant also exists within the terms of the previous covenant, and within the framework of the related theme. This is because 1) the resultant covenants were enacted for the purpose of restoring the parties to the conditions of the original covenant, just as contract remedies can be negotiated to restore the parties to the original intent of a contractual relationship and 2) the themes are the declarations of the end that He declares in the beginning; again in terms of covenant and the redemptive process.

Contracts have participating parties, obligations, remedies and of course, lots of legal terminology. Just as God defined the terms of the contract, He also defines the terminology. What better place to turn for these definitions than the Law? For instance, we define Light from Tanakh as knowledge of the holy, as Torah – God’s instruction, and through idiomatic expressions like ‘Fear of the Lord’ inferring strict obedience. So the short story is that obedience brings blessings and disobedience brings curses. Not too controversial.

If the first covenant is based on the premise that God is good and His Light is equivalent to His instruction to which we must be obedient, then it follows that He is the king to which all must swear fealty. Should this be an accurate assessment, there must be confirmations in Tanakh. In God’s relationship with the children of Israel, we see this premise in action. Every time they turned from Him to the worship of idols, after many warnings, He would turn them over to another king until they saw the error of their ways and turned back to Him and His instruction.

Now lets add the second theme. The first is about obeying Him as a father and a king. The second is about the separation of the heavenly from the earthly. The waters were separated in precisely that fashion. Then in B’reshit 6, scripture tells the tale of those ‘bene Elohim’ (interpreted as angelic beings) coming down from above and mixing kinds; spiritual beings of heavenly origins crossbreeding with the daughters of men. Their offspring are characterized as evil, tying the act to the first theme. But they also violating the law of separation of the heavenly and the earthly that God had ordained in the second theme. God brought the waters above down and the waters below up to enforce His judgment on the unrighteous mixed offspring with a flood, but made a way through Noah (the one found to be genetically without spot or blemish) for Noah, his household and God’s earthly creatures to survive His judgment. 

Now that we have explained the components as analogous to a legal system, let me return to the analogy of the tapestry. As I was saying, the themes run like threads through the entirety of scripture. Each one intersecting covenants and their respective recipients, defining the terms of each covenant within the types of creation defined in each theme. But all covenants subsequent to the first are related to the Redeemer, as these are covenants designed to facilitate the redemption of man from the curses of the first covenant.

The plan of redemption required the establishing of a proxy, to act as God’s agents in bringing about the kingdom of Heaven on earth. This is where the children of Israel come in. Israel was chosen to act as priests and kings to the world. This brings us to the Exodus story and the Passover. I have demonstrated how the events surrounding Noah’s adventures were related to the second theme. So let’s move forward and I will knot this thread of the third theme to the covenant of Abram and to Yom HaBikkurim, the firstfruits observance that occurs during the Passover week.

My presumption is that I am addressing those that are familiar with the Exodus story. If so, you already know that the ‘Death Angel’ was claiming the first born for the Lord, who emphatically stated that those that opened the womb were His to take. The blood of the Passover sacrifice was given as a covering for those that trusted in Him. They would be passed over. This is the first inkling of a reversal of the curse of death spoken in the garden. It set a legal precedent. What you may not realize is that the next major event in the Exodus story was the separation of waters. This follows the same order of themes found in the creation story. So what happened next? The children of Israel were separated from the nations in fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham; the promise of the Seed that would bless all the nations. He would come from Abraham’s seed.

• It is written that the Messiah was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. It is no coincidence that this occurred on the day of the Passover, Yom Pesach. Now you have a picture of how that is related to creation themes and covenants with man.
• It is written that Messiah humbled Himself to accept a criminal’s death, despite His innocence. He put pride away as the nation of Israel put away leaven, the symbol of pride, being ‘puffed up’. It is no coincidence, but the fulfillment of prophecy, that this happened at the beginning of the week long feast of Unleavened Bread, Hag HaMatzah.
• It is written that Messiah was the ‘first fruit of the resurrection‘ and ‘the first fruit of those that slept‘. It is no coincidence that this occurred on the day of the first fruit offering, Yom HaBikkurim.

Everyone correctly assumes that the Passover is a remembrance of the events of the Exodus, when the God of Israel freed the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt. That He did so with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm! They correctly assume that Torah bids them to recount the telling of these wonderful events, so their children will know and understand. I just want you to understand that there is also a bigger picture. That this is not an isolated tale that stands alone, but is intrinsic to the greater plan of redemption of all mankind. Everyone correctly assumes that this, ‘The Journey Home‘, is a journey to the promised land. But I want to remind you that the endgame is not the occupation of the land or the restoration of the Jews and Joes to Israel. It is a stop along the greater journey to regain entry into the Garden and a life of perfect harmony with our Creator – right here on earth.

I hope that you have enjoyed this installment. Please join the conversation by posting in the Comments section. And please stay tuned for the next segment;

The Judgments and the Garden Path

Shalom v’Hag Samech Pesach,
Phillip

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