Wait, We Don't Celebrate WHAT? Discovering Passover

February 26, 2024

Wait, We Don't Celebrate WHAT? Discovering Passover

My family loves Jesus. We believe He died on the cross to save us from our sins and we celebrate His resurrection every year. BUT. We do not celebrate Easter. Why not? Because Easter has nothing to do with Jesus. You see, Jesus is our Jewish Messiah. He fulfilled prophecies and feasts that were only observed by Jewish people, and in doing so, opened the door for us Gentiles to be invited into His Kingdom covenant. The Catholic-derived Easter Sunday had nothing to do with the true meaning of what Jesus did on the cross. What does hold true meaning for the completed work of the cross?

The Feasts of the Lord.

Many people think those are just Jewish holidays, Old Testament rigamarole, legalistic observances, or something from back then. In reality, the Feasts are to be observed through all generations. And since we have been grafted into the covenant between God and Israel, we do not get to change things. We conform to what has been established by the Living God.

Jesus came to fulfill the Feasts of the Lord. The spring feasts, Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, and Shavuot, have already been fulfilled in Yeshua. "Fulfilled" does not mean "done away with." My pastor tells us that something being fulfilled is a Hebraic picture of a glass being filled to the top.* It is totally full, and the meaning has been fully clarified. This is the reason for the celebration! Without the Feast of Pesach, the cross's true depth is muddled. Our Savior's sacrifice was anything but shallow.

So where do we even get Easter? It is a Roman holiday celebrating the goddess of love and fertility, Ishtar. She is also depicted as a goddess of war. Ironically, Ishtar is never depicted as a mother, despite being thoroughly intertwined in the ways of love and fertility. Ishtar's true identity is that of a demon. Demons promise good things and often deliver the exact opposite of their pledges. I find it rather telling that Ishtar is never seen as a mother but as a warrior instead. Seeing that this is a demon goddess, it seems to me that perhaps she is on the battlefield standing against mothers, love, and fertility as a whole. Once we know this, it's easy to take our stance here. We want nothing in common with Ishtar.

Under Roman Emperor Constantine (AD 306 - 337), Judaism was greatly disdained. Constantine purposely set Easter, a holiday honoring a pagan goddess under the disguise of celebrating Christ, as a sort of rebranding of Passover. Constantine attempted to rid Yeshua the Jewish Messiah of His Jewishness. The full meaning of Yeshua's death, burial, and resurrection became muddled in cultural waters. It became illegal to observe the Feasts found in the book of Leviticus, and this Easter holiday was established as the alternative. Sadly, many people in our Western world have a deep respect for Emperor Constantine and his resolve to force everyone to believe in Christ, as long as Christ was Roman and devoid of His Jewish heritage. The emperor is quite popular among Calvinist and Reformed Baptist sects. How is he revered when he greatly and widely persecuted and controlled Jesus' own people, all the while proclaiming Christianity as the only legal religion? This is what comes of a Roman-Greco mindset. Things are not clear. Everything is abstract. People become confused because nothing has depth of meaning.

The full depth of Passover is so extreme, I'm not sure anyone can ever reach the bottom of the proverbial pool. But we know that the story of the deliverance of the Israelite slaves from Egypt is a direct picture of what Jesus delivered us from. Our Great High Priest was the perfect Passover Lamb sacrifice. If we are celebrating His resurrection, why is the world so set on doing so on a day dedicated to a demon goddess? Pray tell why that is such a strongly held tradition?

We know when Yeshua was raised from the dead. The Feast of Firstfruits takes place on the day after the Sabbath during the Feast of Unleavened Bread according to Leviticus 23. In the particular year that Jesus died on the cross, the Last Supper was actually a Seder dinner on the first night of Passover, which began at sundown. The next day, still on Passover, Jesus died on the cross. The next day was Shabbat during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The day after Shabbat was the Feast of Firstfruits, and it was also the third day that Yeshua rose from the dead as "the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep." (I Corinthians 15:20) Is it so difficult to break from arbitrary religious norms to celebrate Yeshua in the timing He established? Did He not say to have no other gods before Him? In Hebrew, this says "You shall have no other gods before My face." Ishtar is another god. Easter = Ishtar. See where I'm headed here?

Another note here is that we have to judge if something was originally God's, or if it is something that has been twisted out of the God-ordained order. God made bunnies. They are not evil. We have bunnies who live under our back deck, and a family favorite spring activity is watching the baby bunnies get the zoomies in our backyard. God made eggs. They are not evil. They are delicious. These things belong to God. A giant bunny who lays eggs (i.e. the Easter Bunny) is a twisted reality. Bunnies don't lay eggs. That is a perversion of the laws of nature, set by God. Perversion is a tell-tale sign of demonic inspiration and activity.

I don't really remember the Easter Bunny much from childhood. We celebrated Easter as the resurrection of Jesus. There were egg hunts and bunnies around, but I think my parents had a check in their spirits about this weird rabbit. You didn't hear many teachings about Passover, but I remember my parents teaching me that we were really celebrating Yeshua as the fulfillment of Passover. Each year, the knowledge of this grew, and information became more widely available and easier to find. Fast-forward to today, and we celebrate Yeshua's fulfillment of Passover as a multigenerational family unit. Even if this is not within your realm of possibility right now, start this year. Get into His timing. Your children will grow, and someday you will be a grandparent. Instill the importance of the Feasts now. Maybe you are a grandparent now. It may not be up to you what is allowed in the homes of your grandchildren. You can still plant small seeds of faith, even if it is just a simple Spirit-led sentence every now and then. If you are older and you have no family to celebrate with, have you considered reaching out to a young family with no close support system? If you are younger, reach out and ask to be included. Be brave.

If none of these options are available to you, God will honor your commitment to being alone with Him in His timing.

Keep in mind the timing of these holidays this year. Usually, Passover and Easter are "scheduled" for lack of a better term, at the same time. This year, there has been a divide. This is important. The Western world has so deviated from the truth, and this timing difference is a prophetic picture. Will we side with the ways of this world, symbolized by Easter, which has no covering of Passover this year. It is entirely different and separated from the actual timing of God. Or will we reject the ways of this world, including Roman-Greco religious norms, and choose to align with God's timing?

This has nothing to do with nostalgic memories, entirely works-based deeds, religious traditions, or legalism. It has to do with correct alignment with God for the times we are living in! We want to be in the right place, at the right time, in the right season.

This is not meant to be a stern scolding or even a judgment. I believe many people love Jesus and are genuinely focused on Him during their Easter celebrations. I was one of these people, after all! What bothers me is that this information has been hidden from the Church. The replacement of a Feast of the Lord is extremely dangerous. Most people don't know many of the things written about in this post. I believe that if the enemy can cause us to willingly give him an open door to walk into, he will absolutely take full advantage. So, if you are unsure, by all means, ask the Lord Himself. My opinion does not matter. It changes nothing about the world. The Truth, though, will set you free. And that is why Yeshua died: so that we may be free.

If you need some guidance in beginning your Passover journey, I will be releasing a Passover unit study within the next few weeks. It is geared towards elementary kids, K5-6th grade. I will be honest and let you know that I have found myself absolutely undone and thanking Yeshua while writing every single lesson so far. Sometimes, a simple, childlike presentation of the truth is just what we all need, no matter our ages. Sign up for my email list below so you can catch that study guide as soon as it is released. It is called Pesach Fulfilled in Yeshua HaMashiach and will be available on my Etsy shop (HebraicHeartHS) as a digital download.

In the meantime, I have linked a few books below. The listings with a * indicate that our family has used the book and we love it! The listings without an asterisk are books that are on my wish list and come from credible sources, but I cannot give you a reliable review, simply because I haven't had the privilege of using them yet!

Spring Feasts: A Biblical Study of Passover and Shavuot by Curt Landry Ministries*

Haggadah: Passover Seder Guide by Curt Landry Ministries*

Celebrating Biblical Feasts in Your Home or Church by Martha Zimmerman*

A Family Guide to Biblical Holidays by Robin Sampson & Linda Pierce

His Appointed Times by Christine Vales

2024/5784 Dates

Easter: March 31, 2024

Passover: begins at sundown on April 22, 2024, beginning the Feast of Unleavened Bread

Feast of Unleavened Bread: begins with Passover, at sundown on April 22, 2024, and ends at sundown on April 30, 2024

Feast of Firstfruits: begins at sundown on April 27th, 2024, and ends at sundown on April 28th, 2024

Shalom Shalom,

Rachel