Scripture for Today, 4-2-20: Passover & Firstfruits

​​PASSOVER One of Two of the Most Important of God’s Feast Days
 In 2020 it at sundown on Wednesday, April 8 ending at nightfall on Thursday, April 16, 2020
 “And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying… when I see the blood, I will pass over you and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it forever.” v1 Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.”
***
FIRSTFRUITS is the Second Most Important of God's Feast Days
When the Lord Jesus, the Messiah Arose from the Dead
Many call it Resurrection Sunday or 'Easter'

Exodus 12:2-14; Leviticus 23:4-34; John 13:1; 1 Corinthians 15:23
 
3-28-20, *-- The Lord’s Holy Day of PASSOVER is one of two MOST important Holy day of all the Lord’s annual holy days.  This study is to explain the parallels of the first PASSOVER in 1528 BC [1], the Lord Jesus dying, resurrecting and ascending in 30 AD and the end time events of 2020 AD. Prior to that first Passover, there was no Jewish nation. The Hebrews were slaves to cruel Egyptian taskmasters who cried out to the one true God for help. God’s ears are always open to the cries and prayers of “the righteous” [Psalm 34:15] He listened and set in place a new calendar year [Exodus 12:1-2] for the Jewish people with the first of His “holy days” being PASSOVER. Almighty God sent Moses to Pharaoh demanding the release the Hebrew slaves and he refused; the chronology of events of the rescue of the Hebrews with the future ‘rescue’ of sinners when the Lord Jesus was God’s lamb:

1. On the 10th of Abib, every Hebrew family was to select a lamb for a sacrifice to God to be without “spot or blemish;” a perfect specimen. [Exodus 12:3-5; Joshua 1:11, 4:19] It is the same day the Messiah Jesus Christ triumphantly rode on a donkey into Jerusalem. [Mark 11:9-11]
2.  The lambs were examined for three days to be certain it had no defects. [Exodus 12:6] For three days Jesus was examined in six trials resulting in Pilate declaring His innocence. [John 18:12-14; Matthew 26:57; Luke 22:63, 23:4] 
3. On the evening of Abib 14 each household was to kill their lamb as a sacrifice to God, and they were not to break the lamb’s bones [Exodus 12:6, 9]. When Jesus was crucified no bones were broken. [John 1:29, 19:36]
4. The 10th and final Egyptian plague was that every first born man & beast in Egypt would die, but not the Hebrews. They were told to spread the blood of the lamb to their door posts and death would ‘passover’ them. [Exodus 12:7, 13] The Lord Jesus as mankind’s ‘passover lamb’ Who shed HIS blood so all who repent trusting in Him will never die spending eternity with God. [John 11:26]
5. After Pharaoh’s first born son died [Exodus 12:30] he demanded the Hebrews leave Egypt [Exodus 12:31-33]; they were set FREE from their bondage and lived. On 14th of Abib, Israel’s Hebrews left Egypt; crossed the Red Sea rejoicing as they were a FREE people having a NATION.

---

PASSOVER was the time the Lord Jesus Christ became “the Lamb of God,” Who was the sacrifice for the sins of the entire world and He was the 'Firstfruit' of the Resurrection from the dead
​
The parallel between the killing of the Hebrew passover lamb to free the Jews from Egypt and the crucifixion of the Messiah Lord Jesus Christ the Savior to free all mankind from the slavery of sin is unmistakable and undeniable.
 
 The Lord Jesus arose from the dead and is the ‘Firstfruit’ of resurrections of the dead. In Leviticus 23:10-11 we see that a Jewish priest was to take a “sheaf” [not one, but many] “of the firstfruits of your harvest lift it into the air and wave it.”  Surely that ‘sheaf’ typifies the resurrection of all true believers who will resurrect in the likeness of Christ’s resurrection [1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; Romans 6:5].  The inspired Word twice explicitly refers to the Lord as the “firstfruits” of the resurrection. [1 Corinthians 15:20-23] It would be grammatically and scripturally incorrect to label anything as “firstfruit” unless there are more “fruits” to be gathered. This is the third spring feast also know as 'Easter.'
 
The current world’s tribulations mirror the Lord Jesus’ prophecy of end time events. [Luke 21:11] Scoffers and scorners say, ‘Oh but there’s been wars and rumors of wars for centuries, plagues of locusts, earthquakes  and pestilences. All things go on as before!’ [2 Peter 3:4] Not like the current horrors of the world including the panic and hysteria of the pestilence of Corona virus; this is a new phenomenon. The increase of locust [2]; earthquakes [3] and pestilence [4] cannot be denied. The Lord Jesus said that all of these things would be “the beginning of sorrow.” [Mark 13:8] Not the end… “beginning”… and they are here – now.
 
This year’s anniversary of the Lord Jesus’ resurrection is Sunday, April 12, 2020.  Is it just one more “coincidence” that the days of the week for this Passover and Firstfruit [Easter Resurrection Sunday, 4-12-20] come in the ‘likeness’ [ exact same order] as they did the week Christ was crucified and arose in 30 A.D.? 

---

I believe this Passover season 2020 that begins at sundown on Wednesday, April 8 ending at nightfall on Thursday, April 16, 2020 may finally be the appointed time for the resurrection of believers who are ‘asleep’ and the rapture of those of us who are alive and remain [The Rapture of the Church]. [Acts 1:11]
 
Many faithful believers are now obediently and faithfully sounding the trumpet of warning [Ezekiel 33:6], please add me to the list. 

​*Excerpted and adapted from emailed Bible Study from Pastor F. M. Riley, francismriley34@gmail.com
 
[1] First Passover date: https://www.biblicalcalendarproof.com/Timeline/PassoverDate
[2] Locusts 2020: https://www.businessinsider.com/desert-locust-plague-devastates-africa-photos-history-2020-2?op=1
[3] Earthquakes: https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/why-are-we-having-so-many-earthquakes-has-naturally-occurring-earthquake-activity-been?qt-news_science_products=0#qt-news_science_products
[4] Plague of Covid-19: https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2020/02/coronavirus-plague-predicted-in-2020-by-buddhist-monk-100-years-ago/
https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-chancellors-extraordinary-moves-with-uk-in-middle-of-economic-heart-attack-11961186