Did you know that the sacrificial animals had to be perfect and without blemish because they represented the perfect Lamb of God? Then why use white flour matzoth, devoid of its bran, germ and many of its nutrients and trace elements to represent the perfect Lamb of God during Passover and the Feast? Unleavened Bread representing the perfection of Christ the perfect Lamb of God should itself be perfect, using the whole grain just as God has made it, ground to flour and retaining all of its perfection and not milled into a valueless white powder.
Did you know that religious Unleavened Bread is to be made with the pure whole grain just as it was made by God, ground fine but remaining complete; and pure water representing the water of the Word of God filling us with the nature of God and washing away all sin, olive oil representing the Holy Spirit, and salt representing the eternal nature of the New Covenant.
Commercially available whole wheat is not acceptable! Why not? In the ancient stone grinding process the whole kernel of grain is ground to a uniform size of particle, but in the modern milling practice the bran and germ are milled much larger than the other components and are removed and then added back after the process is completed to make so called whole wheat flour.
In modern milling the vitamins and trace elements have been destroyed by the heat of milling and a few chemically produced artificial vitamins are added back, but not all and the trace elements are no longer present. Milled flour is not healthy and one should use only stone ground flour, which is the complete whole grain just as God created it, ground fine for flour.
To come under the Passover sacrifice of Jesus Christ one must be “clean” i.e. sincerely repentant of all sin against both the letter and the spirit of every Word of God, and one must use the correct Bible based symbols.
Our Spring Festivals series beginning on 17 March will explain these things in detail and supply a Bible based recipe, and much, much, more. In the meantime see this Fall Festival article on The Living Waters of Salvation to get a glimpse of the symbolic meaning of water.
Offerings
God commands his people to appear before him and bring three offerings each year. These three offerings are specifically listed so this is not a simple generalization.
- ONE offering during the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
- ONE offering on the Feast of Pentecost and
- ONE offering during the Feast of Tabernacles
- It is a sin to borrow money to give offerings!
- It is a sin to reject God’s laws of inheritance and disenfranchise our lawful heirs by willing our estates to corporate churches or charities [unless we have absolutely no lawful heirs]!
- It is a sin to give large offerings while neglecting our responsibilities to others (Mat 15:3-9, 1 Ti 5:8, Mat 5:23-24). If you owe a debt pay it, if your family needs any necessity provide it and properly care for the gift of family which God has given you and then give an offering out of your excess. It is better to give ten dollars than to give five hundred and neglect the personal responsibilities entrusted to you by God.
If the first light of the new moon is seen after sunset ending 18 March, Passover will be on 1 April, otherwise Passover will be on 2 April. See the Biblical Calendar material at this category. See also the teachings of HWA on the New Moons
The Radio Church of God Observed the New Moons!
The Exodus
The Hebrews built the city of Avaris in Goshen and later some two hundred years AFTER the exodus, Ramses II renamed the city after himself. After that time the scribes replaced the name Avaris with the new name Ramses in the scriptures, probably thinking that people would not know the name Avaris and would need the name Ramses to understand where the city in Goshen was.
- The chronology from creation to the exodus,
- The 430 Years Prophecy [which has been grossly misunderstood, people mistakenly thinking that Israel was in Egypt for 430 years],
- The 400 Years Prophecy and
- The Fourth Generation Prophecy of the Exodus.
The longer term plan is to study Jeremiah and the Minor Prophets followed by the Epistles, Ezekiel, Revelation and Daniel up to the Fall Festivals.
Free updated manuscript downloads are now available at the Literature page. All of these manuscripts have been updated with the latest understanding [please delete any older versions you might have], and additional books will be added as they are completed.
My purpose is to have all of theshininglight material reviewed and fully updated in preparation for what is coming; this process began early last year and should be completed in the coming months.
Sex on Passover, Sabbath and High Days
The man and woman were created without sin and it was only AFTER sin entered, that Sacrifices, a High Priest Intercessor and the Law of Clean and Unclean were instituted.
Even then, there were clean and unclean animals, but the further details only began at Sinai with God’s detailed instructions for Israel and a PHYSICAL priesthood.
If one considers the laws given to Israel one cannot help but come to the conclusion that it is physically impossible to avoid becoming unclean for more than a very short time.
A woman can be absolutely perfect yet she cannot overcome the female nature [natural cycle], a man can be absolutely perfect yet he cannot prevent an emission even if he restrains himself otherwise.
This is meant to teach us that the physical state of man once Adam and Eve had sinned is antithetical to godliness, and only God can make us spiritually clean washing away our sins. Romans 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
In practical terms; yes, let a man and his wife enjoy each other to the full, but refrain from sex on High Days and Sabbaths [and on the Appointed Time of Passover day] so as to be clean on Holy Time. This principle is presented when God commanded Israel to refrain from their wives for three days before Pentecost at Sinai (Ex 19:15).
I have been in error on this point in the past and I now realize that it is proper to rest from sex on the Passover, Sabbaths and High Days. This is not a burden since one can prepare on Friday afternoon and before High Days and wash before the Sabbaths begin.
James,
You mentioned: “This principle is presented when God commanded Israel to refrain from their wives for three days before Pentecost at Sinai (Ex 19:50).”
There is no verse 50. I think you probably had verse 15 in mind and that says the following:
“And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives.”
John
That is correct, thank you. James
A former WCG member who’s now Messianic sent me an email advising against drinking wine during Unleavened Bread, because yeast is used in the fermentation process. What do you think of this?
Wine is not puffed up like baked goods are and the yeast has been removed. There is no command not to drink wine and there is nothing wrong with taking wine during the Feast. The Messianic religion is a combination of Rabbinism and Catholicism and holds to many traditions.
Jesus Christ drank wine at Passover instructing us to do likewise, and it was poured out at all meat [unleavened bread] offerings [including during the Feast of ULB] since it represents the shed blood of Christ. It is not commanded to drink wine during the seven days of Unleavened Bread and if you have a problem with doing so, for conscious sake avoid it during that seven days, but DO take wine at Passover which is NOT part of the seven day Feast anyway. James