T  H  E     A  P  P  O  I  N  T  E  D     F  E  S  T  I  V  A  L  S

T  H  E     T  E  M  P  L  E     F  U  R  N  I  S  H  I  N  G  S

O  U  T  S  I  D  E

I  N  S  I  D  E

T  H  E     P  R  I  E  S  T  L  Y     G  A  R  M  E  N  T  S

C  O  M  M  O  N     P  R  I  E  S  T  S

 H  I  G  H     P  R  I  E  S  T

PRINCE?  MESSIAH?

T  H  E     S  A  C  R  I  F  I  C  E  S

Shabbat
Right from the very beginning of creation God established the seventh day (Saturday) as a day of rest (Genesis 2:2). THIS HAS NEVER CHANGED!  When Yeshua's resurection was discovered very early on a Sunday morning He did not change the day of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday.  This was done in the early 2nd Century CE as an act of ANTI-SEMITISM by the mostly Gentile Church of Rome (which later became the Roman Catholic Church).  They also did away with the rest of God's festivals and anything even remotely "Jewish" and established themselves as a separate religion from Judaism.  This was never God's intention.  They did, however, retain a basic understanding of temple worship, the priesthood and a few other things which came directly from Judaism.  However, a lot of their methodologies remain to be desired.  The Protestant Reformation made some very important and necessary changes, but unfortunately they didn't go far enough (for more on this, see the article Why the Protestant Reformation Failed!) and they "threw out the baby with the bathwater" in getting rid of temple worship and the priesthood. They also maintained the anti-Jewish, anti-Torah attitude even though they tried to reach out to the Jews.  We can see from the table above that the Sabbath was celebrated in the previous temples (and still is today) and will be celebrated in the Millennium (Ezekiel 46:1, 4, 12).  Please see the article Shabbat and the Millennium in our Revelation study for more information about this. 

Pesakh
Although Yeshua died on Passover as the Passover Lamb he actually fulfilled the Yom Kippur sacrifice (see below on Yom Kippur).  Passover will still be celebrated in Ezekiel's temple (Ezekiel 45:21-24).  During these seven days the Prince shall perform the following: 

• He shall prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bullock for a sin offering on the first day. 
• He shall prepare seven bullocks and seven rams without blemish for a burnt offering to the LORD each day for seven days. 
• He shall prepare a kid of the goats daily for a sin offering. 
• And he shall prepare a meat (meal) offering of an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram and an hin of oil for a ephah. 

In the Mosaic covenant the Israelites were to roast a one year old lamb over a fire and eat it with bitter herbs.  Nothing was to be left by the morning or it was to be burnt. 

Unleavened Bread
In the Mosaic covenant the Feast of Unleavened Bread lasted seven days. In the Diaspora (dispersion into other countries), however, Pesakh/Unleavened bread lasts for eight days to make sure that it covers the timeframe that it is celebrated in Israel. This is the case with other festivals celebrated in the Diaspora as well.  During these seven days (including Pesakh) unleavened bread was to be eaten and there was to be an offering made by fire unto the LORD every day (Leviticus 23:6-8).  However, in Ezekiel's Temple, Pesakh is listed as a seven-day festival during which unleavened bread is to be eaten, but the actual Festival of Unleavened Bread is not specifically listed among the other festivals (Ezekiel 45:21-24).  It may be that it is simply included with Pesakh.

Bikkurim (Firstfruits) and the Counting of the Omer
It was on this day that when the Israelites had reaped their harvests that they would bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of their harvest to the priest and he would wave it before the LORD as an acceptable offering (Leviticus 23:10-11).  Even though Yeshua fulfilled the Yom Kippur sacrifice at his crucifixion, He became our firstfruits by rising from the dead on Firstfruits (1 Corinthians 15:20, 23).  This festival is not present in Ezekiel's Temple possibly for this reason. 

It has been customary within Messianic/Christian circles to celebrate the festival of Firstfruits (and thus the beginning of the counting of the Omer) on the Sunday after the beginning of the Passover.  This is because it has been universally taught that Yeshua rose from the dead early Sunday morning.  However, a more careful reading of the text from a Hebraic standpoint points towards the resurrection occurring sometime between the end of the Sabbath and midnight.

There were three basic schools of thought in the first century about when the counting of the Omer started:  (1) the Pharisees (P'rushim) who believed that it started the day after the beginning of Passover (i.e the 16th of Nisan), (2) the Boethusians* and Sadducees who believed it started on the Sunday after the beginning of Passover, and (3) the Essenes who believed it started on the Sunday after the end of the entire eight day festival (one week later than the Boethusians and Sadducees).

According to Leviticus 23:14, no one was permitted to eat any of the new grain or growth until the sheaf of the firstfruits had been waved before the LORD.   It was at this point that they started counting the Omer.  When Yehoshua (Joshua) and the Israelites entered the land and celebrated the Passover, they ate of the corn and grain of the land on the day after Passover (Joshua 5:10-12), thus marking the beginning of the count as being the day after the beginning of Passover.  This is the Pharisaic tradition that is used by the Jewish people today.  Although we use the Pharisaic tradition to count the Omer, we recognize both the Pharisaic and Messianic traditions for marking the day of Shavuot.

For more information about this subject see Tim Hegg's article "Counting the Omer" (PDF format)

* The Boethusians (most likely a branch of the Sadducees) were very loyal to King Herod and are almost definitely the ones referred to as the "Herodians" in Mark 3:6, 12:13.  They gained their name from Simeon ben Boethus who was appointed high priest by Herod the Great in 24 BCE.

Shavuot (Feast of Weeks or Pentecost)
In Judaism, Shavuot is traditionally understood to be the day that God gave the Torah to Moshe (Moses) on Mount Sinai (pronounced "Seenay" in Hebrew).  It is also on this day that God poured out the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) on the 120 Jews meeting within the Temple complex in Acts 2.  Shavuot however, is missing in Ezekiel's Temple.  It should be noted that this was not the beginning of the "Church" but merely the rejuvenation of it. The real "Church" started after the Israelites left Egypt (Acts 7:38).  The Greek word ekklesia is the word that is used for "Church" in the "New Testament", but is also used in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Tanak) about seventy times to refer to the Israelite people.

GO TO PART 2 OF THIS ARTICLE