As we near the beginning Pesach (Passover), my mind cannot help but recognize opposing views in which this holy day is observed. I believe everyone has good intentions, but due to a mixed theology, the masses mix anti Torah traditions into this holy day. One thing that needs to be clarified is that Pesach and Easter are NOT the same thing. I know many are going to argue this down because this is one of those traditions dating back over 1500 years. Not only that, but it is one of those accepted things due to the fact that we were taught it as a child, long before we had an objective mind to ask questions or challenge things. For this reason, it has become a “core” belief. When I say “core” belief, I mean in the sense that because we were taught a thing as a young child, it became an unchallenged belief, solidified in our minds because it came from our parents or our a family member, a source that we put 100% confidence in. As we became adults, many of those teachings still hold true in many of our lives, and still unchallenged. A good example would be in a story I heard of a wife, who when cooking the holiday dinner, would cut the edges of the ham off before cooking it. Seeing that that was quite a bit of meat being thrown away, the husband asked her why she did that. Her reply was simple, “that’s how my mother showed me”. Realizing now, that the husband had a legit question, she began to wonder as well, just why she did that. She asked her mother, who said, “my mother taught me this as well”. Determined to get to the bottom of this, the wife called her grandmother. After a few moments of conversation, she asked her grandmother the same question, who after a brief chuckle replied, “back in my day, ovens were way too small to hold a full ham, so we had to cut the edges off in order to cook it”. We see here how the actions of one generation influenced 2 more generations, being unchallenged. Had the husband never asked the wife, imagine how many more generations might have been influenced.
I am not implying that we should not hold on to the teachings of our parents, but as it relates to certain things, I do believe that questions should be asked. In the case of this holy day, I believe we first need to be real with ourselves with what exactly “pagan” means, as it relates to Scripture. Many of us believe “pagan” refers to outright satanic like cultic practices, or witchcraft or something twisted like that, when in fact it is much more subtle than that. We find in numerous passages in the Tanakh (Old Testament) that YHVH warns Israel against learning the way of the nations. He didn't even want them to see what they did, because He knew that had they seen it, it would cause them to become curious. From this, it can be understood that anything done apart from the Torah (instructions) of YHVH is pagan. Now that we understand this, lets look at what YHVH has to say about how HE wants it observed. Exodus 12:21-51 outlines what Pesach is all about, and how it is to be observed throughout all generations. This day is a memorial to how YHVH delivered Israel out of the bondage of Egypt. YHVH outlined to the people just how He wanted this day to be observed. As we study Scripture to get a picture of what this observance looked like, we find that it was a time of family gathering. The food eaten was like what those personally involved in the exodus from Egypt had. There was no leaven in the bread because they didn't have time to finish it. So when Pesach is observed, the people get rid of all leaven products from their houses. They also ate bitter herbs and matzah. Of course there was also the Passover lamb, eaten by all. Scripture goes on to point out that this observance could also be extended to non-Jews, however, they needed to be circumcised first, them and all the males in their houses. YHVH made no distinction between Jew and non-Jew, but said that there was “One Torah” for Jew and Gentile. So what exactly am I saying here? Am I saying that we have to eat a passover lamb, bitter herbs and matzah for Pesach? Not exactly. I am however, pointing out the way YHVH wanted this day observed, and also that, contrary to popular belief, this day is not a feast day of “the Jews” as many believe, but rather a feast day “of YHVH”.
What many of us today fail to understand is that Pesach (Passover), as well as the other Feast Days (of YHVH, not the Jews), were all foreshadows of the coming Mashiach (Messiah). Each feast, and the representation thereof typified a work of Yeshua. I have heard pastors make this statement, of how these feasts typified Yeshua’s works of redemption, however, I can’t help but question if they truly understood it, based off of how their church theology, how is it that nothing has changed? I find that this statement is actually a textbook statement, literally. It is like one of those things where when a teacher asks a student a question, and he blurts out the the “textbook” answer, but when asked what does it mean, he stumbles at explaining it. I firmly believe that when the revelation of what this feast day really means sets in, it will cause changes within “the body of Christ”. Pesach serves twofold, one, of the commemoration of the Exodus from Egypt, and then the resurrection of Yeshua from the grave. However, scripture does not teach that we celebrate the resurrection, at least not in the sense that we do today. I like to think of Pesach as being prophetic. In our family Bible Study on Shabbat, I was sharing how in many cases, Bible prophecy was bi-dimensional. What I meant was that, in many cases, a prophecy pointed at what was about to happen in that time, and then how it would also reveal itself in the future. A good example would be on the Passover lamb. YHVH told Moses that not a bone on its body was to be broken. This referred to the lamb they were about to prepare before the Exodus. We understand that Yeshua was also our Passover Lamb, so if indeed He was, then to fulfill this prophecy, He could not have a bone broken either. So, what happened on the cross? Passover was nearing, and as a result, the body’s needed to be removed from the crosses. In order to expedite the deaths of those on the cross, their legs were broken, however, Yeshua was already miraculously dead, so rather than breaking His legs, they pierced Him in the side to see if He would move. When He didn’t move, they knew for certain He was dead, so they removed Him as well. In this example, we see how the prophecy was twofold. I said all this to say, Pesach’s primary focus was on the Exodus, and that there are no Scriptures that encourage the observance of the Resurrection, although the Exodus from Egypt still typified Yeshua’s resurrection. Not one time is it found in any Epistle that there was a shift of observances. For that matter, the same could be said about the birth of Yeshua. For this reason, none of the Gospel writers gave dates for His birth.
So how did we go from Pesach to Easter? Well, first of all, allow me to point out that the word “Easter” is no where in Tanakh (Old Testament). There is actually only one time that we find the word “Easter” in Scripture. It is found in Acts 12:4, where the word Pesach (Passover) was actually mistranslated as Easter. I find this very interesting. Why only one time? For this, we need to travel back to the 2nd to 3rd century church. This was a time of growing anti-semitism. Pagan Rome was on the verge of taking control of “Christianity”. As the primary religion of the empire, Rome had intermingled its own pagan practices into this “so called Christianity”. It is interesting to note that those “true” followers of Yeshua, (comprising of both Jew and Gentile alike), were not on board with the pagan practices and observances being intermingled into the faith. As a result, it caused quite a stir within the empire, resulting in expulsion and even death to those who defied it. One of the biggest issues came in relation to the observance of Shabbat. Constantine, a worshipper of the Sun, felt that everyone should observe Shabbat on Sunday rather than Saturday and so made his famous edict that all should rest on the “venerably day of the Sun” (sun-day), and all labors should be halted. Needless to say, this command was observed by all but the true believers. Hatred for the believers, (both Jew and non Jew) being both labeled as Jews, caused such a rift in this “Christianity”, that every hint of Jewishness was removed from it. The biblical feast days were stripped away, as well as the seventh day Sabbath observance. So called “church” leaders held meetings, such as the Council of Nicaea, were many of the changes observed today were put in place. Rome made sure that their observance of Easter and Pesach never fell on the same day. I find it quite interesting that since they were worshippers of the sun, they made it so that Easter always fell on a “the venerable day of the sun” (Sunday), which in a way connects the resurrection of the Son of YHVH to the sun-god observance. The annals of history accurately records the evolution of the church under the control of Rome, and how for over 1500 years, Rome sculptured what we now view as “Christianity”. Yes, after the Reformation under Martin Luther, there were a few things shaken off, yet quite a bit of the theology of Rome remained, becoming a core theology, much like the example of the wife who cut the edges of the ham before cooking it.
I wont get into the pagan practices of Easter in this blog, not because I lack sources, nor because I fear being challenged, but rather because of the fact that when we look at what Scripture teaches, both in the the Old and New Testament, we cannot find ANY of todays practices being encouraged. We can’t even find justification for the day chosen to be the day of observance. As I stated early on in this blog, anything done outside of the realm of how YHVH directed that they be done is pagan. Pagan does not just describe the outright cultic deeds of hardcore satanist, or witches, but the mild and seemingly harmless additions or subtractions to the orders of YHVH. YHVH told Moses to warn the people not to add or take away from His teachings. Am I saying we need to kill a lamb and do a Passover meal? No, not at all. But what I am saying is this, if we are NOT going to observe this holy day in accordance to the word of YHVH, why then are we observing it in accordance to the tradition of man? If indeed this is a Feast Day to YHVH, why are we doing it our own way? Haven’t we learned from Scripture that things pertaining to Him are to be done His way, and not our way? Look at Cain and Abel. Both wanted to honor The Most High. One honored Him in accordance to the will of YHVH, and the other in accordance to his own will. The result was that Abel, who honored YHVH the He wanted to be honored was accepted, and Cain, who honored YHVH his own way received no respect from YHVH. You have to begin to wonder at some point, how are the chocolate covered bunnies, colored eggs, easter egg hunts etc. honoring YHVH? How do they represent Yeshua? Being done outside the realm of the will of YHVH, is He respecting our observances? The fact that many of these practices have pagan origins, is it even wise to incorporate them in this day? When considering that the word pagan is not just the outright evil, but the mildly harmless changes from the will of YHVH, can we still in good conscience celebrate it this way? I know for many, the argument in turn will be, “but we are not Jews”, but the problem with that is this, this observance is in conjunction to a celebration given by YHVH, but done in defiance to Torah, simply because the Jewish aspect opposes our observances. Personally, I think YHVH would have more respect to us totally ignoring this day as opposed to us observing it our own way and with our own man made practices. Understanding that this goes against our cultural theology, getting the revelation of this means that things have to change. I believe that because as a culture, we have never experienced YHVH to the extent that Israel has, it becomes difficult for us to comprehend how important it is to come to YHVH in accordance to His will and not our own. This was a life or death revelation. The sons of Aaron brought forth strange fire to the alter, and although I believe they meant no disrespect, because they came the wrong way, they were killed instantly. We confuse the word grace for ignorance, in how we are taught that we can do what we do, the way we choose as long as we love Yeshua and recognize that His grace covers us. Yes, we do have grace, but that grace does not give us the freedom to do things our own way. The only reason we have not been dealt with on issues like this is because we operate in ignorance to the truth. However, once we hear this, that excuse is out the window, and further steps in this direction changes from ignorance to defiance.
Of all the symbols there could be for Easter, as the day we hold to observe the resurrection, I find it odd that an “unclean” animal, (the bunny) is the overall poster child of this holy day. Whereas many justify the observances of Easter Sunday, the parallel between the worship of the sun god, and the rising of the sun, along with the changing of YHVH ‘s 7th day Sabbath for mans 1st day Sabbath (Sunday) to be the day to observe the risen Lord, just doesn't fare well with me. YHVH is NOT the sun god, but the creator of the sun. There comes a point where we have to ask the unasked questions, to find truth. Yeshua said we are to seek, and then we will find. I encourage all reading this to do just that, seek, that you may find, and upon finding, teach the truth to others that they might now the truth. Blessings!
