The first annual chag (feast) is the solemn observance of MashaYAH’s suffering and death on our behalf. The kathab calls this The Pecach {peh’-sakh} Passover. It is very important that we understand the machashabah {ma-kha-sha-baw} (plan and purpose) of YAHUAH. One way that we can begin to understand the ma-kha-sha-baw is through the observance and celebration of YAHUAH’S feast days. There are seven qadash (set-a-part) chagag (festivals) that YAHUAH has commanded us to keep. As we observe these seven chagag not only will we see YAHUAH’S great plan for mankind, but we will understand His plan for mankind.
YAHUAH decided to create human beings in YAH's own image- having YAH's form and shape- who would become YAH's real sons and daughters, having obtained aman (faith) through the tsedeq (righteousness) of YAHUAH and YAH's very Ruwach dwelling in them.
Human beings would have the capacity to choose between towb (good) and ra’ (evil). YAHUAH would allow mankind to chatta’ah (sin) under the influence of Saw-tawn (Satan), and to go their own way for 6,000 years. Iysh (Man) and Ishshah (Woman) would learn the lessons of life through experience and suffering; until such time as YAHUAH would supernaturally “kara” (call) each individual to genuine understanding and repentance Yahanan (John) 6:44.
Since chatta’ah (sin) in any form is rebellion against YAHUAH, it is truly a horrible thing, and since YAHUAH has decreed that “the wages of chatta’ah is muwth (death)” Romans 6:23; YAHUAH decided long ago that only the muwth of His own Ben (Son) YAHUSHA HA MASHAYAH could truly atone for the awfulness of chatta’ah (sin). “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be qadash (set- a-part) and without chata (blame) before Him in ahab (love). . . In whom we have pidyowm (redemption) through His blood, the forgiveness of chatta’ah, according to the riches of His chen (favour) Ephesians 1:4;7.
YAHUAH told ancient Yashar'YAH that the “life of the basar (flesh) is in the blood” Wayyiqra (Leviticus) 17:11. So YAHUAH planned that His own Son’s blood would be shed. MashaYAH would be the ultimate Pecach Seh (Passover Lamb) - reconciling all of the chaciyd (saints) to YAHUAH the ABIY (Father). “For indeed MashaYAH our Pecach, was sacrificed for us” I Corinthians 5:7. And also “Much more then, having now been tsadaq (justified) by His blood, we shall be yasha “(saved) from wrath through Him” (Romans 5:9).
Weeks before they came to the Har Ciynay (Mount Sinai) and before the Old Covenant was even proposed, YAHUAH told the am (people) of Yashar'YAH to set aside an unblemished male seh (lamb) Shemoth (Exodus) 12:3-6. This seh (lamb) was to be the “Pecach seh” (Passover Lamb) and was to be slain on the eve of the fourteenth yowm (day) of Abib- the first month of the shaneh (year) in YAHUAH’S sacred calendar.
YAHUAH had determined to destroy all the first born in Mitsrayim (Egypt) because of Par’oh’s (Pharaoh) refusal to let His am go. But YAHUAH told Yashar'YAH that if they would shama Him and kill and eat the Pecach Seh- putting some of its blood on their doorposts and lintels of their homes- then “when I ra’ah (see) the blood, I will pacach al (pass over) you, and the plague shall not be upon you shachath (to destroy) you when I smite the erets of Mitsrayim. And this youm shall be unto you for a zakar (memorial); and you shall keep it a chag (feast) to YAHUAH throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a chag by an chuggah (ordinance) for ever” Shemoth (Exodus) 12: 13-14.
So, more than 1,400 years ahead of time, YAHUAH guided an entire nation, some three million people to pre-enact the awesome sacrifice that His own Ben (Son), YAHUSHA HA MASHAYAH, would later make on behalf of all humanity. For the slaying of the Pecach Seh (Passover Lamb) directly portrays the sacrifice of MashaYAH- the first step in the Ma-kha-sha-baw of YAHUAH to make human beings His full sons and daughters.
The Pecach pictures the fact that we are “being tsadaq (justified) freely by His chen (favour) through the pidyowm (redemption) that is in MashaYAH YAHUSHA, whom YAHUAH set forth to be a propitiation of His blood, through aman (faith), to demonstrate His tsedeq (righteousness), because in His forbearance YAHUAH had pacach al (pass over) the chatta’ah (sins) that were previously committed” Romans 3: 24-25.
Every chaciyd (saint) is commanded by YAHUAH to shamar (keep) the Pecach! It is to be observed once a shaneh (year) as YAHUAH COMMANDED- on the very night in which YAHUSHA was delivered to be crucified. Sha’ul (Paul) explained: “For I received from YAHUSHA that which I also delivered to you: that the Master YAHUSHA on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread: and when He has yadah (given thanks), He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in zakar (rememberance) of Me.” In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do as often as you drink it, in zakar (remembrance) of Me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you qara (proclaim) YAHUSHA’S muwth (death) till he comes” I Corinthians 11:23-26.
At the Pecach commemoration, the chaciyd wash each other’s feet, as YAHUSHA commanded (Yahanan [John] 13: 5-15). In YAHUSHA’S day a servant would wash the feet of a guest in his master’s household. By taking the role of a servant, YAHUSHA called the abad (servant) of YAHUAH to humility, and gave a reminder of the attitude of loving service that we must have for one another, just as MashaYAH has for us.
Next in the Pecach observance comes the partaking of the bread. This pictures MashaYAH’s body, which is “broken” for us (I Corinthians 11:24). YAHUAH’S dabar (word) clearly shows that YAHUSHA suffered a horrible beating or “scourging” just before He was crucified. The historians tell us that this Roman scourging was done with a leather whip in which were fastened sharp pieces of metal designed to cut and tear the flesh. Because of the violence of this scourging and resultant loss of blood, many condemned prisoners died of the scourging itself even before they could be crucified. Why did YAHUSHA have to go through this awful beating?
About 100 years before it occurred, YAHUAH inspired the nabiy (prophet) YshaYAHU (Isaiah) to describe what would happen and why. In the cepher (book) of YshaYAHU (Isaiah) 53:4-5 the kathab reads “vs. 4 Surely, He has borne our choliy {kho-lee’} (sickness), and carried our mak’ob (sorrows): yet we did chashab (esteem) Him stricken, smitten of YAHUAH, and afflicted. vs. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our shalown (peace) was upon Him; and with His stripes we are rapha (healed).”
Halal YAHUAH!!! By YAHUAH’S stripes we are rapha! And it is more technically correct to translate the phrase, “He has borne our griefs” as “He has borne our sickness.” In the New Testament, MattithYAHU (Matthew) describes YAHUSHA healing many people who were choliy (sick), and then cites this as the fulfillment of YshaYAHU’S prophecy: And He cast out the spirits with a word and rapha all who were choliy (sick), that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by YshaYAHU the nabiy, saying: ‘He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sickness” MattithYAHU (Matthew) 8:16-17.
So when we eat the broken bread at Pecach (Passover), we are reaffirming our acceptance of MashaYAH’s broken body for our physical rapha (healing). Let us appreciate these vital symbols of our Saviour’s sacrifice with deep humility, awe, and aman in Abiyr YAHUAH who made our physical rapha (healing) and ruwach (spiritual) forgiveness possible.
Next at the Pecach (Passover) service, we should partake of red wine to symbolize THE SHED BLOOD OF YAHUSHA HA MASHAYAH in full payment for our chatta’ah. It is important to understand that MashYAH is also our Creator. Therefore, His chay (life) is worth more than all of ours put together. The cepher of Yahanan (John) tells us this about YAHUSHA HA MASHAYAH. “In the beginning was the dabar (word) and the dabar (word) was with YAHUAH. All things were made by (through) Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made . . . He was in the world, and the world was made by (through) Him and the world yadah (knew) Him not” (YAHANAN [John] 1:1-3, 10-11). So the personality who had been with the Abiy (Father) from eternity “emptied” Himself “vs. 7 But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: vs. 8 And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto muwth (death), even the muwth (death) of the cross" (Philippians 2: 7-8). But in the beginning, it was MashaYAH Himself who created mankind and all that is- acting, of course, for YAHUAH the Abiy (Father). Ephesians 3:9 tells us that YAHUAH “created all things by (through) YAHUSHA HA MASHAYAH.”
No wonder the kathab speaks of the “yagar” (precious) blood of YAHUSHA HA MASHAYAH! For His is the blood of the Great Being who acted for the Abiy in creating the vast shamayim, the erets and all that is.
When we partake of the red wine symbolizing this awesome act of total humility on the part of our Creator, it should fill us with a deep sense of appreciation and shachah (worship) toward our YAHUAH and our Savior YAHUSHA. If we truly repented of our chatta’ah and accepted MashaYAH as our yahsha, we should have total aman that we have not been “redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the yagar (precious) blood of MashaYAH, as of a seh (lamb) without blemish and without spot” (I Kepha [I Peter] 1:18-19).
References
The New King James Version of the Bible
The Scriptures: Published and Distributed by Institute for Scripture Research
The Word of Yahweh: Second Edition; Assembly of Yahweh
The New Strong's Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
The Young's Analytical Concordance to the Bible
**Most of the information in this writing was taken from the book,
"The Holy Days: God's Master Plan" by Roderick C. Meredith
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