7 Reasons Christians Should Celebrate Passover

Happy spring everyone! Spring has sprung, gardens are being planted, flowers are blooming, pollen is in the air, and that can only mean one thing: it's time for the spring holidays!

Whether you're gearing up for Passover or Holy Week, whether you call it Easter or Resurrection Sunday or First Fruits, if you are a believer in Jesus, you are probably getting ready to celebrate His death and resurrection! Most Christians today celebrate some form of Easter, and some even go a little further back and celebrate Good Friday and Maundy Thursday. But have you ever celebrated Passover?

Passover is the Biblical feast which commemorates the "passing over" of the angel of death during the final plague on Egypt back in Exodus, when God's people were spared because they observed the very first Passover as an act of entering into what is called a threshold covenant with God (more on that in our next video teaching coming out in a few days!)

But really, Passover is so much more than that! Yes, it is the celebration of the exodus of God's people when He freed them from the bondage of slavery to the Egyptians, but as believers in Jesus, we also know that, since Jesus was our Passover Lamb, it is also a celebration of the massive exodus of all mankind, should they choose it, when God delivered His people from the bondage of slavery to sin!

We at Roots of Faith Ministries think Passover is very relevant to Christians today, so here's a short (non-exhaustive) list of reasons that we think Christians should still be celebrating Passover today!


1) It's Biblical
There are 7 holidays that God specifically tells us to celebrate (check out Leviticus 23) in the Bible, and Passover is the first one.  Although commonly referred to as the "Jewish holidays," the Bible makes it clear that these holy days belong to no one but God Himself.  He created them as yearly reminders of who He is, what He's done, and what He will do.  Celebrating these holidays that God custom made for us can draw us close to Him and show us aspects of His character that we may otherwise overlook.

2) It's Mind Blowing
Every year that we celebrate Passover, it seems like we have some new revelation or realization that just blows us away.  In our home, we do a semi-traditional Passover Seder (order of the service/dinner) that uses many Biblically based traditions that the Jewish people have been using for centuries.  Every year I am just floored by how much I see Jesus in these Jewish traditions!  And every year I discover a little more of the deep intricacy of the whole Passover story and how God designed it so that Jesus would fit the bill perfectly when the time came for Him to be our Passover sacrifice.  It's something that you think you already know until you really start learning about it.

3) The Feast of Unleavened Bread
Many people think that Passover and Unleavened Bread are one and the same, but this is not true.  If you've heard anyone say anything about "Passover week," then they were mistaken because Passover isn't even really a full day.  The Passover occurs "between the evenings" (between sundown and complete darkness) on the 14th day of Aviv (the first month on the Hebrew calendar).  Unleavened bread is actually a separate holiday that starts on the next day, although we do start eating unleavened bread at Passover.  The Feast of Unleavened Bread ties right into Passover, especially for believers in Jesus.  Right after we celebrate not only God bringing His people out of bondage in Egypt, but also Him later bringing His people out of the bondage of sin through Jesus' sacrifice, we then celebrate 7 days of abstaining from leaven and cleansing out bodies of it, symbolically cleansing our bodies of sin.  Not only are we reminded that, because of Jesus, we can do this cleansing, but we are also reminded that we have to do our part in turning from our sins in order to receive complete cleansing from them.

4) First Fruits
Passover is when we celebrate the death and sacrifice of Jesus, and First Fruits (a holiday that happens during the Feast of Unleavened Bread when the first fruits of the barley would be presented/given to God at the Tabernacle/Temple, and also when we start counting the omer -- the 50 days from First Fruits until Shavuot/Pentecost) is when we celebrate Him rising from the dead, therefore becoming the first fruits of the resurrected. You may call this Easter, and when it's put into its Biblical context, we can start to see the weight that Jesus' resurrection really holds. Not just for us today, but in the context of the history and future of the whole world!

First Fruits is celebrated on the day after the Sabbath (7th day of the week; a day of rest) after Unleavened Bread starts, so it's not always on the same day of the month, although it is always on the same day of the week every year.  In the year that Jesus was crucified on Passover, First Fruits fell on the 17th day of Aviv, which just happened to be the day that Jesus rose from the dead!  Coincidence? I think not.

5) God Told Us To
We are told several times throughout the Torah (first 5 books of the Bible, also known as the Pentateuch and/or God's instructions for how we should live our lives) that we are to celebrate Passover from generation to generation forever.  And that was back when it was only to commemorate Him leading His people out of Egypt.  How much more should we keep it now that we are also celebrating His Son dying a horrible and undeserved death to free us from the bondage of sin?

6) It's of God, Not of Men
I may be kind of repeating myself here, but it's a point that I feel can't be said enough.  In Deuteronomy 12, we are told not to worship God in the ways that others worship their false gods, and that we are to follow only the One True God in the way that He has prescribed for us to worship. We have these holidays that God actually gave us to celebrate and remember Him and all that He has done for us, and all that He will still do... but often we find that we've forgotten them.  Passover is God's holiday, and it's beautiful.  Too beautiful to be forgotten.

7) Coconut Macaroons 
Okay, homemade coconut macaroons have got to be one of my favorite things to eat (and I make pretty good ones, if I do say so myself), but it's not just the macaroons that make Passover great, it's more the principle of them (and if you're allergic to coconut, I'm deeply sorry for your loss).  In case you're wondering, coconut macaroons are somewhat of a Passover tradition, since they're unleavened cookies, and we don't eat leavened things on Passover.  It's kind of hard to do desserts on Passover since most desserts have some sort of leaven in them, so coconut macaroons are quite popular (probably because they're so yummy!).  Anyway, back to the point.  Every Passover is so special and unique, such an enriching and powerful experience, that, like the macaroons, I long for it and look forward to it every year.  It's hard for me to imagine why anyone would not want to celebrate it, because I always get so much out of it.  It's definitely a time to draw near to our Creator and Savior, and in my opinion, it's something that everyone who believes in Jesus should do.

So there you have it, these are some of the reasons why we highly recommend Passover to any believer in Jesus. We sincerely hope that you will consider engaging in this experience of Passover, as a way to prepare your heart to celebrate the resurrection of our King and Savior!

A great resource for celebrating it, especially if you've never done it before, is this Christian Passover guide written by our friend Dave Wilbur. It's the one we'll be using this year. Happy Passover!

Shema: Listen, Hear, and Obey

You may or may not be familiar with the term "shema."  If you have any knowledge whatsoever of Judaism, I'm sure you have heard of it.  And if you have read the Bible, you have also heard of it (whether or not you recognize it). 

So, what is it?  What does it mean?  Is it important?
Well, Jesus sure seemed to think so.
Let me explain:

The word shema is a Hebrew word, Hebrew being the language of the Old Testament.  It is a single word, yes, but like most Hebrew words, it can't really be summed up in one English word.  It really needs a phrase to do it justice.  Usually, in our modern day English translations of the Bible, this word is translated as "hear" and sometimes "listen" (depending on the version).  You may recognize it from the common passage in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 , which is the text that the Hebrew prayer called The Shema comes from.

“Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One.[a] 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength." 
-- Deut. 6:4 HCSB

This was a command given by God through Moses to His covenant people that He had just made His covenant with.  It is right after the 10 Commandments, when the people heard directly from God and were afraid, so they sent Moses to get all the instructions on their behalf and relay them back.  It is later referred to by Jesus as the greatest commandment (but we will talk about that in a minute).  In this translation of the Bible, the word "listen" is used.  A more accurate translation, however, would be "Listen, hear, and obey."

But aren't listen and hear the same thing?
Depends on who you ask.  The concept is different, because shema is a whole process of how we are to respond to God.

First we listen when He speaks to us.  This in and of itself is hard enough, because that requires us to get out of our own heads for a minute and focus only on God and what He is saying to us without projecting what we want for ourselves.  To listen is to get rid of the ideas that we have of what we want to hear, and to just listen for God to speak, remember that His ways and thoughts are higher than ours, and let Him be the dominant one in the room.

This is when hear comes in, or we could use the word acknowledge or even understand.  Because you can totally listen without hearing, acknowledging, or understanding.  Basically, don't let it go in one ear and out the other.  This isn't geometry class.

And then that paves the way for obey.  We can't just listen to God and hear what He has to say; we have to follow through and obey.  If we don't, we may as well not have heard Him.

So, this word shema is used at the beginning of this verse because what comes after it is very important.  Important enough that Moses says to the people, "Listen up guys, hear what God has to say, because this is something you're going to want to do."

He then continues with this bold statement: "The Lord your God, the Lord is one."  This could also be phrased "The Lord is our God, and He is the only God."  Wow.  That was quite the statement to make when they were coming out of a culture where multiple gods were worshiped, especially because basically everyone else in the world would still be polytheistic. 

Then he says "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength."  So not only is He the only God you are going to acknowledge, but literally everything you have in you is going to go into worshiping, loving, and serving Him.  Now that is some hard core dedication.

Later on, Jesus refers back to this verse when he is asked what the greatest commandment is, and He even goes as far to say that it is what the whole law and prophets hang on, so if you are loving God with all your heart, soul, and strength, you will be living out the law and the prophets.  So everything you do, needs to be done in love.

So, you see why shema is so important?  It was used to draw the people's attention to a very important, everlasting commandment that sets the tone for how we respond to God through the ages, and still today.  It inspired a prayer that is still said daily by practicing Jews, and many Christians, all over the world to remind themselves that we are to relate to God on His terms, and if we are not doing it out of love, we may as well not be doing it at all.

Shema can teach us how to pray, how to act, and how to worship.  We are to be still and listen to God, hear what He is saying to us, and obey what He tells us to do.

We should keep this in mind always.
When we pray.
When we read the Bible.
When we are out and about.
When we are at home.

Are you going to shema today?  I hope so.

 

5 Reasons Yom Kippur is Relevant to Christians Today

Yom Kippur; the Day of Atonement.  When you think of this, what are you reminded of?  A lot of people probably think of Yom Kippur as the day that the Jews think that they get forgiven once a year of all their sins, and that as Christians, we know that this isn't true because Jesus took care of all of that on the cross.  This is a common misconception.

Like all of God's holidays/feast days/appointed times, Yom Kippur represents something, and is designed to remind us about something important.  Why else would God specify that every year, we take time out of our busy lives to stop everything, humble ourselves before Him, and celebrate the Day of Atonement? 

As with everything in the Bible, it is my strong belief that our knowledge of Jesus as the Messiah should not be the source of the dismissal of any part of the Bible or the reason that we haven't taken the time to learn about the things that God found important enough to allow to be included in it, but rather, our faith in Messiah should be the lens that we see the Bible through, and the reason that we are able to better and more fully understand the intricacies of God's Word and why what it says is important.

That being said, I have come up with a short list of why Yom Kippur should be important to us as Christians, and why it is very relevant to our lives.


1. It is a rehearsal of the second coming of Jesus.  Well, kind of.  Rosh Hashanah is the rehearsal of the actual second coming, but Judgement Day is all part of it, and that is what Yom Kippur is (and has always been) a rehearsal of.  Even back when it was first given, that was what was happening, although it is the understanding of most people that that was how God forgave people before Jesus died on the cross.  But to believe that implies that the Torah could actually be used as a means to salvation, which is not the case, because ever since the fall of man in the Garden, God made it clear that He was putting in place a Plan for Salvation, and that it was going to be the way for us to enter back into the presence of God.  In fact, the Hebrew word kipper used here and roughly translated as "atonement," is not a word that refers to the cleansing of anything.  When we look at the context, root word, and other usage throughout the Bible, it becomes clear that what is being done paves the way to reconciliation rather than actually reconciling anyone.  This usage of the word "atonement" is a decontamination process, not its final results.  So we know that the sacrifices, including those done on Yom Kippur, were not intended to cleanse the people, but to pave the way to their atonement, which would be fulfilled in part when Jesus overcame death at Passover, and completed on the Day of Judgement after His return when, being clothed in His righteousness, we are given eternal life rather than thrown into the lake of fire.

2. What we are rehearsing has not happened yet.  Jesus has not yet returned.  We have not stood before God on Judgement day and seen our names written in the Book of Life and been judged according to our works.  This is one of the reasons why it is such a solemn holiday, because we know that, while a huge part of our redemption is done, there is still a part that is yet to come, and it is the part that we are going to have to own up to.  We know that God will throw our sins into the sea, but we also know that we will be held accountable for how we chose to live our lives, which calls for a time of reflection and self-evaluation.  Just because our sins are forgiven doesn't mean that we go on sinning.  Just ask Paul.

3. It is a day to focus on the holiness of God.  This is another reason for the solemnity of the day.  Yom Kippur is considered the holiest day of the year, because it is the day when we rehearse our reconciliation with God when we will finally be able to physically dwell with Him forever.  He is so far above us in every way, and this is a day to remember that and acknowledge that we are undeserving of such an amazingly beautiful God and King.  It is also a time of thankfulness.

4. It is a day to focus on our service to God.  This is the reason for the fasting.  It is pretty well known that people who celebrate Yom Kippur generally do so by fasting.  This is not specifically commanded, although the Bible does say to "afflict your soul" or "deny yourself", the word used most literally means to humble yourself before God.  This is commonly done by fasting, so that the observer can concentrate fully on their spiritual side rather than the physical, so that they can focus on their personal service to God, how it looks, where there is room for improvement, and what steps they can do this year to improve it.  It is not self-punishment for sins.  It's quite the opposite.  And if that isn't the most spiritually healthy thing we can possibly do, I don't know what is!  And how powerful for so many people to be united in this at one time!

5. It is a day to recognize the weight of the sacrifice Jesus made for us, and how it applies directly to our personal and collective futures.  So clearly, as believers, we do acknowledge the sacrifice that Jesus made for us.  Either on Passover and Firstfruits or Easter/Resurrection Sunday, most of us, one way or another, commemorate that, as it is essential to our faith.  But as believers, this is a day that we can focus not on what Jesus did in the past, but what will be done as a result of that in the future.  He overcame death, which is the consequence of sin, for the entire world, and when we get to Judgement Day and can enter into the New Jerusalem (or maybe you refer to it in your mind as Heaven) and get to live with God forever, we will see that for the beauty that it really is that we can't quite grasp in the here and now.  You see, we are still living in a sin-riddled world, and we all have a daily personal battle with sin.  The work has been done, and we can live in it now in part, but mostly what we have now is the promise of greater things to come, and this is our chance to take an entire day and just focus on that and thank God for it.  It is our chance to say "Hey, I can't make any plans today, because I already have plans with my Creator, because He saved me from all of my crap, and that's real, and today is the day we spend with Him remembering that and thanking Him for it."

So take some time this Yom Kippur to just be with your Creator and thank Him for what He has done, what He is doing, and what He will do.  Examine yourself.  Inquire of God what you can do to serve Him better every day.  Meet with Him on the day that He designated for you to remember all of this.  This stuff is all pretty important and a huge deal, so take time for what is important, when God decided is a good time to do so. 

And just remember: heavy, solemn stuff doesn't mean sad.  This is not a sad holiday, in fact it is very exciting (for believers in Jesus especially)!  It is just something to be taken very seriously.  This is our life.

5 Reasons Christians Should Celebrate Rosh Hashanah

With the Biblical Fall Feast Days fast approaching, I often get the question from Christian friends and family, "why should we celebrate Rosh Hashanah?"  Many of them are coming to me with the assumption that the High Holy Days (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) are about the Jewish people getting forgiven of their sins once a year, so I can understand why one might assume that, since Jesus died for our sins, these are pointless holidays for us as believers who are already redeemed.

Well, I think a big key here is the common misconception of the main theme of these holidays, because they are not about the once yearly forgiveness of sins due to the legalistic keeping of a holiday, but I will go into that more in a future post about Yom Kippur.  Right now, we're talking about Rosh Hashanah.

So, I have put together a little list of 5 reasons Christians should celebrate Rosh Hashanah.  I hope you enjoy it!

1.  It is one of God's feast days that were given to His people on Mt. Sinai in Leviticus 23, which are appointed times for God's people to meet with Him and remember what He's done for them and what He will do in the future.  He said they were to be everlasting to all generations, so they really just ripen with age.  In fact, in Rosh Hashanah alone, we can see a lot about Jesus that is still yet to come!  Many people refer to the Biblical holidays as Jewish, but God said that they are His.  And if we are His, shouldn't they be ours, too?

2.  It's a rehearsal of things to come.  We know that Jesus will be coming back, right?  On a day that no one knows the day or hour of?  With a loud trumpet blast?  Well, did you know that Rosh Hashanah is actually called the feast day that no one knows the day or hour of?  It is the first day of a new month, and on the Hebrew calendar, months are determined by the lunar cycle instead of the solar cycle.  Today we have a Hebrew calendar that we can look at and see when things are in advance in order to create unity, since people are scattered all over the world, but before that calendar was put into place, there would be watchmen watching the sky every night at the end of every month for signs of the new moon, which they would announce with a loud trumpet blast!  This would have been done every month, but on Rosh Hashanah, there would be a lot more because Rosh Hashanah is also known as a "day of blowing" or "day of shouting" and in most sects of Judaism, there is a minimum number of shofar (trumpet) blasts to be done on that day.  Interesting, right?

3.  It's the "Jewish New Year".  Happy new year!  Or, may you have a sweet new year, which is a common Rosh Hashanah greeting (l'shanah tovah in Hebrew).  Traditionally, the Hebrew calendar has more than one "new year."  The one we would usually look at is the one that's right before Passover, because that's the one that God actually mentions when giving His holidays to the Israelites.  Rosh Hashanah is known as the "civil new year," or the "new year for kings and festivals."  This would have been the start of the year before the Exodus from Egypt, and continued on to be when the king would be coronated if there was a new one, and was also known as the reset of the festivals. For this reason, it is traditional to celebrate with sweet things like apples and honey to signify a sweet new year, and a time for a fresh new start!  You can read more about that here.

4.  It marks the coronation of the King.  As I said before, this is when the king would traditionally be coronated, if there was a new one.  And actually, no matter what point in the year he politically started functioning as king, his coronation would be at the same time, so the guy could already be well established, even for almost a year, but his coronation would still be on Rosh Hashanah.  Why is this significant?  Well, think about it.  When Jesus comes back, He's going to be established as the King and we are going to reign with Him for the Millennial Reign, right?  So I guess this kind of goes along with the rehearsal of things to come part, but it seems very significant to me, and well worth celebrating.

5.  It's a celebration of our God.  Why wouldn't we want to celebrate our God?  Especially in a way that He actually gave us.  God's appointed times (or, festivals) will continue to exist whether we keep them or not, but when we do, we are meeting with our Creator at a time that He specifically set aside for us to do so.  We get to celebrate Him for all that He is, all that He's done for us, and all that He's going to do, and on Rosh Hashanah we get to do it by blowing trumpets and shouting from the rooftops, feasting and spending time with others, reading scripture and giving prayers of thanksgiving and awe, and just plain celebrating.  And we get to do it on His terms, not our own.

It's true that we can (and should!) celebrate God every day of the year, but if He has set aside some special days, it seems to me that we would want to make an effort to celebrate Him extra on those days.  For all the times He goes above and beyond for us, this is our chance to do the same for Him, at least on some small diminutive level.

I would encourage you, as a believer in Jesus as the Messiah and the God of the Bible, to take a little time this Rosh Hashanah to celebrate!  In whatever way you choose to do so, whether it's traditional or some other way, as long as it honors God meet with Him on His holiday, and join in with His family celebration.  After all, we are His children.