Hello,
John and Doves,
John,
please print at least the first half of this post, for God has different ways of
interpreting His Word. How else could He have celebrated Passover twice in
the space of twenty-four hours?
Let's
see why you have put me in such a good mood, brother Bruce. I say you're
half right. That gives me the most mirth, seeing that you have the best of
intentions.
First
off, the Feast of Firstfruits was on a Sabbath, the seventh day of the week in
the year, 33 A.D., attested to by the heavens. Let no man doubt. See
http://bethlehemstar.net/day/day.htm.
Thus,
the Preparation Day must have been the day before the weekly
Sabbath.
Secondly, 15 Nisan being a Sabbath, it was forbidden to
light a fire "throughout your habitations" on that day. [Exodus
35:3] The question becomes, how does one roast a lamb without a
fire? Food was cooked indoors. Thus, "twilight" cannot be inerrantly
substituted for "even." However, if one observes that there was a massive
solar eclipse on the day Christ died, 14 Nisan, 33 A.D. [there was a
Supermoon on that date], then one immediately sees that God created His own
"twilight" to satisfy guys like you, bro. But He also graciously saw to it
that our LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ, our Pascal Lamb, died at exactly the
ninth hour--3 pm. [By coincidence? That's not a Kosher word.]
Lambs were being slaughtered at the temple at that exact same hour, thus forever
fixing [if it was not fixed already] the meaning of "even" to the hours between
3 pm and 6 pm. Thus, while the lambs were killed and roasted before
sunset, the Passover Seder usually continued until past sundown. As such,
Passover and Unleavened Bread are inextricably intertwined.
Once again, for those of us accustomed to the idea of
"even" meaning "twilight," the Scriptures show that Jesus celebrated
Passover just as the 14th of Nisan was just beginning, about 21 hours
before He died for our sins. Jesus is in your corner,
bro.
On the
subject of the counting of the Omer, one only need go so far as looking in the
heavens.
I will
not specify here the amazing occurrence to occur on Sivan 6/June 8, 2011.
I will let one of our dear sisters on Five Doves give her eloquent
enlightenment: http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/march2011/donnad35-1.htm.
Please click on the article at the bottom of Donna Danna's post.
This is
proof positive that Pentecost is on Sivan 6--always.
Here
is the reasoning:
1. The first day of the Feast of Unleavened bread
is a holy convocation. As such, no customary work is to be done on that
day. Although not expressly described by the LORD as a Sabbath, yet it is
a day of rest.
2. Therefore, in the following verse,
one can count starting from the first day of the Feast of Unleavened
Bread.
"And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from
the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be
complete...." Lev
23:15
[The
proof that "sabbath" can be termed, "rest day," is included in #5,
below.]
3. Therefore, the verse that
says,
"And he shall
wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the
sabbath the priest shall wave it," merely fixes
the Feast of Firstfruits to the first Sunday after
Pesach.
If you
read Leviticus 23 carefully, you can see that the Feast of Firstfruits is part
of the actual harvest of Barley. As such, it is a day of customary
work. There is no directive to rest. It must be on a
Sunday.
4. As a consequence of the counting
of the Omer being able to be counted from 15 Nisan, in any given year, is that
Pentecost [Shavuot] is always on 6 Sivan.
5. This is because there are three
Feast days that are specifically Sabbaths: 10 Tishrei, 15 Tishrei, and 22
Tishrei. [Lev 23:27-32;
23:39]. Therefore, it is no stretch to consider the first day of the Feast
of Unleavened Bread a sabbath rest day, even though it is always on 15
Nisan.
6. Moreover, it can be proven that in
any space of 49 days, there are always seven Sabbaths.
Therefore, when the Scripture says,
"...[F]rom the
day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be
complete...." [Lev 23:15], it can be understood that
seven weekly Sabbaths shall have passed in any counting of 50 days. And,
of course, some of the time, Shavuot will fall on a weekly
Sabbath.
7. Thus, we can say with moral
conviction that Pentecost is always on 6 Sivan.
8. And here's the kicker, bro:
If the 14th of Nisan happens to be a Sabbath day, then "even" is definitely to
be understood to be "twilight."
All of
this to say, between the two of us, wisdom is to be found.
"A word fitly spoken [is like]
apples of gold in settings of silver...." Proverbs
25:11
In
HaShem,
Mike
C.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Bruce Warner
(20 Apr 2011)
"TO: Michael
Colunga RE: YOUR RESPONSE ON (19 Apr 2011) TO MY PREVIOUS
POST..."
Dear Brother Michael,
In your response you
stated, "The last time I checked, a fruit is not a grain." Please read the
following Scriptures:
Leviticus 23:10 & 20 (Feast of Firstfruits
& Feast of Pentecost)
(10)"When you enter the land I am going to give
you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of THE FIRST GRAIN
you harvest.
(20)"The priest is to wave the two lambs before the Lord as a
wave offering together with THE BREAD OF THE FIRSTFRUITS."
I do believe
that these Scriptures are both referring to the 'first grain' of the harvest
as the 'firstfruits' of the 'grain' harvest. The "bread of the firstfruits" is
certainly made from grain, not fruit. Scripture refers to 'grain' as the
'fruit' of the field.
You also stated,"Brother Bruce, it is a good
idea that when you read the Word, that you understand the Word. Don't make
fundamental errors, like claiming that the Omer count starts on Firstfruits."
Please read the following Scripture:
Leviticus 23:15
"From the day
AFTER the Sabbath(the day AFTER is Firstfruits Sunday), the day you brought
the sheaf of the wave offering (which is the Sabbath day BEFORE Firstfruits
Sunday), count off seven FULL WEEKS. Count off FIFTY DAYS up to the DAY AFTER
the seventh Sabbath (again, the day AFTER the Sabbath is Sunday)."
I
do believe that the Omer count 'BEGINS' on the 'first day of the week' which
is 'Firstfruits Sunday' and runs for seven FULL (seven day) WEEKS. The DAY
AFTER the 'seventh sabbath' is also a Sunday. (seven full weeks X seven days
per week = 49 days + 1 day = 50 days) The Omer count 'begins and ends' on a
Sunday which is "THE DAY AFTER THE SABBATH".
You also stated, "If
someone substitutes 'twilight' or 'sunset' for 'even', then they miss the
whole point of Passover." Please read the following 'two' translations of
Scripture:
Leviticus 23:5 (KJV)
"In the fourteenth day of the first
month AT EVEN is the Lord's Passover."
Leviticus 23:5 (NKJV)
"On the
fourteenth day of the first month AT TWILIGHT is the Lord's
Passover."
I do believe that the use of the words "even" and "twilight"
in these translations are equivalent here.
On this, your
statement, WE DO AGREE: "One must rightly divide the Word of
Truth"
Love you brother.
YBIC, Bruce
Warner