Easter vs FirstFruits - Uncovering the True Resurrection Day | Let's Talk Biblical | Episode 14

If you love talking about the Bible as much as I do, then I think you'll really enjoy this show. Welcome to Let's Talk Biblical, the podcast where we dig deep into the heart of scripture, explore timeless truths, and have real conversations about what the Bible says and how it applies to us. My name is Lex, and I want to thank you for joining me on today's episode. So, grab your Bible, get comfortable, and let's talk biblical. All right, sorry. Um, sorry I'm a little bit late today. Um, anyway, let's go ahead and jump into the topic. Most Christians uh celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, resurrection of Yeshua on a day called Easter, and it's Easter Sunday. And uh but what if I told you that Easter has more to do with pagan gods than it does the Messiah? What if the Bible gave us a better, more biblical, more prophetic feast that actually points to the resurrection of Yeshua? So today we're going to be talking about uh the truth about Easter and show you powerful biblical the powerful biblical meaning of first fruits. All right. So in the first section I want to talk about where did Easter come from? And so we're going to begin by asking the question where did Easter come from? And so if you are familiar with the early church um in the in 325 AD, this is 300 years after Yeshua's death and resurrection. And so there's quite a bit of time that has passed at this point. So you think about 300 years. Um that is a long uh significant amount of time. And 300 years after Yeshua's death and resurrection, the council of Nika happened and it was overseen by a guy named Constantine. He was the Roman emperor and he was wanting to unify his his empire. And um prior to Constantine, Christianity was being persecuted. And so if you look at some of the previous Roman emperors, they were killing Christians. They were taking them into the um coliseum. Uh they were fighting against gladiators. They were fighting against lions and bears. They were being tortured. U burned at the stake. Um hung on crosses. Brutal. Um torturous. Horrible things were being done to early Christians during that first uh those first couple hundred years after uh the New Testament closed. And so we're looking at um after the destruction of the temple in 70 AD is really when it got started um getting pretty bad. And it went all the way up until the time of Constantine. And Constantine um decided he wanted to unify his empire. And in doing so, he wanted to legitimize Christianity and bring them in as one of the official religions of Rome. They're no longer going to be persecuted. they're going to be accepted and tolerated in Rome. And by doing this, a lot of Christians saw Constantine as a hero because he ended the persecution against Christians. And so they were being martyed and killed for their faith. And then he comes along and says, "No more killing. Uh we're not going to do this anymore." And so he was kind of a hero to a lot of Christians at that time because he put an end to the persecution. But he ended up doing a lot of damage to Christianity. And so in 3:25 um the council of Nika was convened by Emperor Constine and it made a controversial decision regarding the date of the resurrection celebration which is now known as Easter. Okay. This decision officially broke the church away from the biblical calendar and in particular the observance of Passover on the 14th of Nissan. And so here's what the council of Nika decreed and it says the church would no longer celebrate the resurrection in accordance with the Jewish Passover on Nissan 14. Instead the resurrection will be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox which is what we now call Easter Sunday. And so that's why if you've ever paid attention to the calendar, um most years Easter Sunday falls on the same day as first fruits. And it's the Sunday following Passover. But um every once in a while, every, you know, four or five years, five or six years, something like that. I don't remember how often, but every once in a while, um Easter Sunday will be a month before Passover. And when that happens, it's really weird. And the reason for that is because Easter is not based on the biblical calendar. It's based on the Roman calendar. And so Easter is based on the spring equinox and it's not based on the Jewish calendar which is based on the based on the Bible. And so Constantine, what's interesting is Constantine actually wrote a letter to the churches after the council of Nika. And this quote comes from Ucius in a book called Life of Constantine, book three, chapter 18. And it says, "It was declared to be particularly unworthy for this, the holiest of all festivals, to follow the customs of the Jews, who had soiled their hands with the most fearful crimes. We ought not therefore uh to have anything in common with the Jews, for the Savior has shown us another way." Okay, so this is this is what Constantine had to say. He was very much in opposition to the Jews. He hated the Jews. um what today if he was around um he would be in the same category as Hitler, right? He was persecuting the Jews. He hated the Jews. He wanted nothing to do with the Jews. And he was trying to separate the church from the Jews. Okay? That is why Easter has nothing to do with the biblical calendar and is based totally different than the biblical calendar. And so he says, "Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd, for we have received from our savior a different way." Okay, that's what Emperor Constine had to say in 3:25 after the council of Nika. So we see his heart behind this. His heart was to separate Christianity from Judaism. He wanted the division. He wanted a separation. He he didn't want Christianity to look anything like Judaism. And so he wanted to change the calendar. And that was one of the things he did. Now the word Easter doesn't appear in any um any original language of the Bible. Now there are certain uh translations like I I think certain versions of the King James Bible um says Easter in in a couple places um but but that is if you look at the original language the Greek word being used there is Pesak or or Pascal actually in Greek is Pascal and it's a reference to Passover not Easter. Um, but the the word Easter isn't a translation of any word in the Bible. It was inserted uh in certain translations to support the the the celebration of Easter, but it actually isn't biblical at all. Um, and the term is believed to come from uh Iostra or Oara or Estra. Um, and it's a pagan fertility goddess. Now, the the connection on that linguistically is is very obvious, but historically it's hard to nail down if they literally said, "Okay, we want to name this after a pagan goddess." It's hard to find any historical documents to show that that's why they chose that. But linguistically, it there is very much similarities in the words. Um, and when you look at some of the other um, traditions associated with Easter, like the bunnies and the eggs, um, and see that those come from pagan tradition, it it lends to the idea that the name Easter came from paganism as well. Now, the fertility uh, goddess was celebrated during the spring equinox. And so the link uh in the timing as well is very interesting because Easter is based on the spring equinox just as the pagans celebrated the fertility goddess at the spring equinox. And so this the spring equinox uh the reason for the fertility celebrations in the spring is because that's when everything's coming back to life. That's when the flowers start blooming and the animals and the bugs and everything come out and start being active again. Um it's when the grass turns green and the trees put on leaves and and stuff starts growing and and producing and you start having um fruits and vegetables growing and and various things like that. It all starts in the spring. And so that's why it's linked to their celebration, worship of the fertility goddess because it wasn't just about human fertility and reproduction, but it was also the fertility of the soil, the fertility of the land. And so they worshiped the fertility goddess in the spring uh because that's when everything was becoming fertile. And so it's it's also I don't think it's a coincidence that Easter could be named after this pagan goddess of fertility. And the timing of Easter has to do with the same timing as the celebration of the pagan goddess. And the symbols of Easter, the bunny and and the eggs have to do with fertility also. um and and they were used by pagans to celebrate um their worship of the fertility goddess. And so everything about it, Easter seems to come from paganism. And the Bible tells us not to have anything to do with the ways the pagans worship their gods. But um in 3:25, the council of Nika established that Easter would be celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox. And so it doesn't align at all with the biblical calendar. Has nothing to do with Passover. It has nothing to do with the feast of first fruits. Those are the commanded feasts the Bible gives us in the spring. Um but this intentional separation from the biblical calendar is very problematic and it causes me a lot of issues and it should cause all Christians a lot of issues especially when we look into who Constantine was. um up until his death, he was a horrible man. And he he claimed to be a Christian. Uh he claimed to had a a conversion, but he he was never baptized. And they say that he really um he converted on his deathbed and had a real they they claim he had a real conversion on his deathbed when he was dying. But up until that point, he was horrible. He even killed his own brother. Um he did some horrible horrible things. And so to see him as some kind of a Christian hero uh does not make sense. And to see that he actually brought corruption into the church should really trouble us. And he changed what the early Christians were doing. They were celebrating Passover. And he changed that from Passover to Easter. And that that that should be very problematic for all Christians. Um and so not only does it obscure the prophetic fulfillment of Yeshua's resurrection, but also replaces God's appointed times with man-made traditions. And so the biblical feasts are prophetic of Yeshua. So he was um he he was a Passover lamb, died as the lamb of God on Passover. He rose as the first fruits of the resurrection on first fruits. The Holy Spirit was poured out on Pentecost. Um the the feast of trumpets announces his return. The day of atonement is the day of judgment. And the feast of soote tabernacles feast of tabernacles is the end gathering at the end of the year and it's the harvest festival and it's the wedding festival. And so all of the feast days are prophetic about Yeshua. And that's why Colossians says they these things are shadows of things to come but the substance is Messiah because the feasts and Sabbaths are shadows of Messiah. They they prophetically foreshadow him but he is the truth behind it. He is the substance of it. And so all of those days point to him. Um, and when you look at the New Testament and you look at Yeshua kept Passover, his apostles, disciples kept Passover. And even Paul over 20 years later in the in the book of 1 Corinthians, he is telling Gentiles in in Corenth that they're supposed to keep the Passover. And so we look at 1 Corinthians 5. And let me go ahead and just pull this up on the screen. and 1 Corinthians 5:7. Uh, let's see. Here it is. Therefore, purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leavenven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. And so we see here that Paul is encouraging gentile cor uh Corinthians, the gentile believers in Corenth to celebrate Passover. And because Yeshua is our Passover lamb. And so um this is and and he's referring to unleven bread as well. So Passover and unleven bread which are linked together in in the New Testament. And it could even be argued that um from the time of Ezekiel forward that uh Passover was the name given to the entire feast of unleven bread. So the all seven days were referred to as Passover. And we see this in Ezekiel and we also see this in the New Testament as well when they say like uh for example in the gospel it says on the first day of unleven bread when the Passover must be killed. Um it's calling Passover unleven bread. And then in other places um it talks about Yeshua dying on Passover uh as the Passover lamb. And so um you know so the the idea that that the two unleven bread and Passover kind of became intertwined and referred to the same thing um was pretty clear in the New Testament. But Paul here in 1 Corinthians is telling Gentile believers in Corenth to keep the feast of Passover and unleven bread. Now if we go to the next century, second century, um there's actually some things from the second century, early Christians who are the disciples of the apostles, guys like uh Polycarp for example. Um and some of their writings actually encourage us to keep Passover and say nothing about Easter. Okay. And so um it it's called the quartzimon uh controversy and it's a term meaning 14ers. And so it's because they celebrated Passover on the 14th of Nissan as instructed in the Torah rather than on a Sunday. And so they're keeping Passover on the 14th, not on Easter Sunday. And Polycarp in uh around between 69 and 155. So he was uh the end of the first century, beginning of the second century. And he was an apostle, he was a disciple of the apostle John. Okay. And his name was Polycarp of Smyrna. And um he was a a bishop. And he traveled to Rome uh to meet with another bishop named uh Anitus and ins he insisted on keeping the 14th of Nissan as pass as a Passover observance. He claimed he was following the example of John himself. Okay, he was call he claimed he was following the example that the apostle John gave him. And the primary source for the for this is uh an early Christian writer named Ucius and he wrote a book called Ecclesiastical history and it's in book 5 chapter 24. It says among these cortides was Polycarp in Asia who always kept the 14th day of the month on which the Jews were commanded to sacrifice the lamb. He observed it as he learned from John the Apostle and the other apostles with whom he had associated. So according to Ucius, Polycarp always kept Passover on the 14th of Nissan. And he did it because he was taught to do it by the apostles, by John the Apostle, and other apostles who are associated with John. And so the the disciples of Yeshua, the twel, they kept Passover on the 14th, and they taught their disciples to keep Passover on the 14th. Okay? And Polycarp was one of those. Andius wrote about it and he made careful note of it. And he also says when the blessed Polycarp was at Rome in the time of ent andus they did not quarrel with one another over this matter. For neither could Anticetus persuade Polycarp not to observe what he had always observed with John the disciple of our Lord and the other apostles with whom he had associated. nor could Polycarp persuade Anacetus to observe it since he uh said that he ought to follow the customs of the presbytors that had preceded him. Okay. And this is ecclesiastical history. And so we we have a couple different uh sources from where he makes note of this. Now the the takeaway of this is that Polycarp claimed direct apostolic authority for celebrating Passover on the 14th of Nissan. Okay, this this is huge. He's saying this came directly from the apostles that we keep Passover on the 14th. According to Polycarp, this is what the apostles taught him is to keep Passover on the 14th, not on Sunday. Okay? And he maintained this practice even in the face of Roman opposition. All right. And now we go to Aranius. And he was 130 to 202. And Aranius was a student of Polarp. And Arrenaeus wrote about this disagreement affirming that the apostles and early churches differed on timing but not on the importance of Passover. Okay. So Erenus wrote for the controversy is not only about the day but also about the very manner of the fast. Some consider it necessary to fast one day others too still others more while some make their day last for 40 hours. Okay this is from a fragment um in a book called on the pascal controversy byeus. Now we have uh another source from uh Arnaeus. It's a quote from Aronyaeus in a book written by Ucius. Andius uh in his ecclesiastical history book 5 chapter 24 quoting Arrenaeus in his letter to Victor the bishop of Rome. Aronyaeus says for the controversy is not merely as regards the day but also as regards the very manner of the fast. For some think they ought to fast for one day, others for two, others for even more. Some make their day last 40 hours, a day and a night. And um another quote says, "And and yet nevertheless all these lived in peace with one another, and we also keep peace together. The difference in the fast confirms the agreement in the faith." Okay. So, um, now the the fast, I'm not exactly sure what's the fast is referring to in this context. Um, I I think it may be referring to uh possibly the fast of the firstborn, which was the day prior to Passover. Um, but it could be that they were referring to fasting as part of their Passover celebration um, in remembrance of the death of Yeshua. And so it could be on on the good Friday that they were f is a traditional fast um to fast on Good Friday in um memorial of his death. And so following Passover, they would fast the next day. Um and then the idea that they might fast a couple days um until resurrection Sunday is is probably what he's referring to. Um and then here's another quote. It says the prespirators before soder who govern the church which now rule. I mean Antiosis uh anticedus and pious hygienius and Telisphorus and Zistus did not themselves observe it meaning Easter and they did not permit those after them to observe it either. And yet though not observing it referring to Easter they were at peace with those who came from the dios uh diosis in which it was observed. Um and this is fromius e ecclesiastical history um and he's again quoting araeus. Now the takeaway on this is Erenaeus acknowledged the cortimine practice of keeping Passover on Nissan 14 and he emphasized that it originated with the apostles even if some churches celebrated differently. He advocated for unity despite their differences. Okay. So he was saying even though these churches don't agree on this, we still need to be unified with them on that. And that's something I think we need to learn as well that even though um we may be celebrating Passover differently than some churches who celebrate uh you know Easter Sunday, they celebrate the resurrection on Sunday. We celebrate Passover and first fruits. Um we need to remember that the early the the apostles and the disciples of the apostles sought for unity. They sought for unity in that And so guys like Polycarp and Aronyaeus were seeking to unify the churches and not cause further division over these things. Now Polycarp was as I said earlier a disciple of John and he celebrated Passover on the 14th of Nissan the same way the Jews do found in the Bible same way the scripture tells us to and uh the date found in Leviticus 23 is what that refers to. So, uh, in Leviticus 23, it says, "On the 14th day of the first month is when you're supposed to celebrate your Passover." And this is opposed to the idea of changing it to align with Sunday observance. Okay? So, um, the Bible tells us to do it on the 14th day of the first month. And that could fall on any any day of the week. It could be a Saturday, it could be a Sunday, it could be a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, any day of the week. Um, this year it was Saturday night. this past Saturday night was was Passover. And um because it fell on Saturday night after the Sabbath because sunset is when the Sabbath ends. Um Passover happened Saturday night after the Sabbath. That means first fruits is going to be this following Sunday, which aligns with Easter this year. So Easter Sunday and first fruits are on the same day this year. But um if Passover would have been Friday, Friday night, um this previous Sunday would have been uh first fruits and Easter uh may still be next Sunday. So depending on how Passover fell is to when first fruits happens. And so first fruits doesn't always line up with Easter. Most years it does, but not always. Um but Erynaeus was a student of Polycarp and he defended the apostolic tradition and warned against division over changing the date of the feast. Okay. So he didn't he didn't want division to happen um but he warned about changing the date of the feast and was both Polycarp and and uh Erynaeus um encouraged believers to keep the 14th uh to keep Passover on the 14th of the first month according to the biblical calendar. Now, Ucius uh was a writer in the 4th century and he preserved these accounts in his ecclesiastical history giving us key insight to how preconstantine Christians upheld biblical feasts and resisted Roman um changes and uh manipulation to the scripture and manipulation to Christian observance. Okay. But the shift away from Passover happened uh you know in the third and fourth century and church certain church leaders began pushing to connect uh to to disconnect the Christian observance from the Jewish calendar. Okay. And this especially happened in Alexandria um and Rome and this was partly due to the growing anti-Jewish sentiment and Roman political pressure. Okay. So the the Roman church was pushing to separate from the Jewish Christian church and to to separate from Judaism altogether. And this is when they separated from Sabbath and also from Passover. Okay? So they were they were separating Christianity from the biblical feast days because they saw Sabbath and Passover and things like that as um Jewish things, not as Christian things. And so they pushed those away. And it's it's certain groups in within Christianity. It wasn't Christianity as an entire whole. It was certain groups within Christianity. There were also certain groups within Christianity who were keeping Sabbath and were keeping Passover. And those groups claimed it was by apostolic succession. Meaning that the apostles taught their disciples, their disciples taught their disciples. And so direct lineage to the apostles. Whereas the Roman church uh they didn't have that direct lineage of succession of teaching from the apostles. What they had was their traditions, their man-made traditions that they um set up in opposition to Judaism. And really what it is was just anti-Jewish sentiment that caused them to do it. And so when the council of Nika happened in 3:25, um emperor Constantine officially rejected the biblical calendar and declared that Easter was to be celebrated instead of Passover or independent of Passover. And at that time they actually called it uh the Pascal which is you know a Greek term for Passover. And so when you read the accounts of Nika, it actually says that Pascal would be celebrated um on Sunday uh the the Sunday following the first uh full moon following the spring equinox. And um that was how they established it. It was not based on the biblical calendar. It was based on the the Roman calendar. And um the equinox as I said earlier has more more to do with paganism than it does biblical Christianity. Now Constantine wrote um actually I already gave you this quote that it was uh unworthy uh for them to celebrate in connection with the Jews. Um but this was a clear and intentional break from the early practice of remembering Yeshua's death and resurrection during Passover and first fruits. Okay. So, what is the feast of first fruits? Um, the la last week and the week before we talked about Passover and um this week I want to talk about first fruits, excuse me, and how it contrasts uh with Easter. And so, first fruits is found in the Bible in Leviticus 23. And so, let let me go and pull up that verse for you. And we're going to go to verse 10. All right. It says, "Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, when you come into the land which I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring a sheath of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the sheath before the Lord to be accepted on your behalf. On the day after the Sabbath, the priest shall wave it. And you shall offer on that day when the you wave the sheath a male lamb of the first year without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord. And the word burnt offering can mean ascending offering because the smoke ascends. And its offering uh shall be two tents of an epha of fine flour mixed with oil. An offering made by fire to the Lord for a sweet aroma. It drink offering shall be of wine 1/4 of a hen. You shall eat neither bread nor parched grain nor fresh grain until the same day which you have brought the offering to your God. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath. From the day that you brought the sheath of the wave offering, seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count 50 days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall offer a new offering uh new grain offering to the Lord. So seven Sabbaths is 49 days. And then day 50 is the day after the seventh Sabbath. Okay? And that's where we get the name Pentecost is Pentecost means 50th. And so we see in the New Testament that it was on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit was poured out. This is in connection to first fruits. So first fruits begins the count to Pentecost. And so you count 50 days from first fruits to Pentecost. And it's seven full weeks, seven full Sabbaths, excuse me. And you shall bring for your dwell from your dwellings two wave loaves of two tents of an epha. They shall be fine flour. They shall be baked with leaven. They are the first fruits of the Lord. So this is Pentecost now. And at Pentecost you bring two loaves of leavened bread. Now first fruits is most of the time falls during the feast of unleavened bread. And so first fruits would be an unleavened offering. But Pentecost, which falls 50 days after first fruits, is a leavened offering. And it's actually the only offering um that's commanded to be leavened. All other offerings in the Bible are unleavened. And you shall offer the bread uh you shall offer with the bread seven lambs of the first year without blemish, one young bull, two rams. They shall be as a burnt offering to the Lord with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire, sweet aroma to the Lord. Then you shall sacrifice one kid of a goat as a sin offering and two male lambs of the first year of sacrifice of peace offering. The priest shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits as a wave offering before the Lord with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord uh for the priest and you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. You shall it shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. Uh when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field. when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest, you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger. I am the Lord your God." And then we go on, "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, speak to the children of Israel, in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall um celebrate the day of trumpets." Right? And so we're going through in Leviticus 23, it just goes through these feasts. And so if you go at the beginning, uh he tells you to uh these are the feasts of the Lord. Um which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations. These are my feasts. Leviticus 23:2. And then he goes in he talks about the Sabbath. Six days shall work be done. Seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord uh Sabbath of solemn rest. Holy convocation. You shall do no work in it. It's the Sabbath of the Lord your God in all your dwellings. The Sabbath is listed here among the feasts of the Lord. And it's actually considered one of the most important feasts because you do it every single week. It's so important you have to do it every week. Whereas the others you only do once a year, so they're less significant because you do them less often. The p uh the Sabbath is more significant, so you do it more often. Um these are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations, uh which you shall proclaim at their point of feast. On the 14th day of the first month, at twilight is the Lord's Passover. Okay. So 14th day of the first month at evening at sunset is the Lord's Passover and on the 15th day of the same month is the feast of unleven bread and seven days you eat unleven bread. So this is Passover. And then the next thing it says is um the first fruits. Okay. On the sab the the Sunday following Passover is first fruits. Okay. So um that is the biblical uh commandment in reference to the feast of first fruits. And then we have in 1 Corinthians 15 uh we have Paul making reference to first uh to first fruits. 1 Corinthians 15 and we'll go down to verse 20. And he says, "But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by man also comes the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all day, as as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive, but each one in his own order. Christ the first fruits. Afterward, those who are Christ at his coming." Okay. So, we see here that Paul is linking um Christ's resurrection, Yeshua's resurrection to first fruits, the biblical feast of first fruits. Okay. He doesn't say Christ our Easter bunny has resurrected. Um he says Christ our first fruits has resurrected. He's the first fruits of the resurrection. He's not the Easter bunny of resurrection. He's not the Easter eggs of res of resurrection. Okay? Bunnies and eggs have nothing to do with Yeshua's resurrection and how they got into the celebration of the resurrection of Yeshua. Uh, boggles my mind. How in the world did we get this tradition of painting Easter eggs and hiding them and having kids hunt for them? Um, what does that have to do with with Yeshua's resurrection? What does bunnies laying eggs have to do with Yeshua's resurrection? Um, what does ham, you know, it's it's popular to celebrate Easter with eating Easter ham. Easter ham is one of the most uh popular foods on on Easter Sundays. Easter ham. Ham is pig. Pig is an unclean animal. The Bible commands us not to eat pig. Why are Christians eating pig on a day that celebrates the resurrection of Yeshua? Uh the one who commanded us not to eat pig. Yeshua is the one who commanded us not to eat pig. Yeshua is God and he is the one who commanded that we don't eat pig. He said it's unclean. We shouldn't eat it. Okay? And that's in Leviticus 11 if you want to look that up. Um because there's some people who aren't aware of that. But why would we celebrate Easter eggs, Easter bunnies, and Easter ham and and call the day Easter? All these things come from paganism. The ham comes from paganism. The eggs and the bunnies come from paganism. uh the date of the spring equinox and and the Sunday following spring equinox comes from paganism. Um all all those things come from paganism and even the name Easter is most likely from paganism. So why are we bringing all these pagan traditions in into our celebration of our our Messiah? It doesn't make any sense to me. And so um why does this matter? We are if if we celebrate Easter, we are trading God's appointed times for man-made traditions. Okay? We we're losing the prophetic significance and scriptural foundation of our faith. Easter disconnects us from the Hebraic context of the gospel and it reattaches us to ancient paganism. Okay? Disconnects us from the Bible and attaches us to paganism. That's what Easter does. Okay? But celebrating Passover and first fruits connects us with the Bible. It connects us with Yeshua. It connects us with the apostles. It connects us with the people of the Bible. Okay? Easter connects us with people who have nothing to do with the Bible. Easter connects us with pagans. Passover and first fruits connects us with the scriptures and with the people of the scriptures. that that should be enough for any Christian to uh really say, you know, and say, I I need to take a second look at this. I need to reexamine why I'm doing these things. Am I doing it just because my church told me to do this? Or um am I doing it because it's biblical? And we should be doing things that are biblical, not traditions that were just handed down to us blindly. Okay. Um the uh Yeshua had a lot to say about celebrating the traditions of man um when they contradict the word of God. And he said that, you know, he was talking to the Pharisees and he said that you um uh how did he phrase it? You basically you you you toss aside God's commandments in order to keep your your traditions. And he said that in a couple different places, but um I think was it Mark 7 I think is one of them. Let me see if I can find it real quick because uh because I want you guys to have some context for this too. Here it is. Mark 7:9. He said to them, "All too well you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your tradition." Okay. Um and actually we start at verse eight. Uh actually let's start with verse 7. And in vain they worship me teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. Okay. In vain they worship me teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. That's what Easter is. It's a commandment of men. It's not a commandment in the Bible. And he says, "For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men." And he talks about this washing of pitch and cups and many other such things that they did. He was talking about the the acts of the Pharisees and their ritual uh washings that were not biblical. And so if he's if he's chastising the Pharisees for um exalting this ritual of handwashing and washing certain uh pictures and cups and things like that, exalting that tradition over the scriptures, over the commandments of God, um how much would he have to say about taking pagan traditions and teaching them as if they're biblical commandments and exalting them above what the Bible says? And so all too well do you nullify the word of God to keep your tradition of Easter. All too well do you lay aside the commandment of God to hold to the traditions of men. Um all too well do you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your tradition. I think that could be said of those who keep Easter is they're rejecting the commandments of God. They're rejecting Passover, rejecting first fruits, rejecting Pentecost, rejecting uh trumpets and atonement and tabernacles, rejecting the biblical feast days, and they're keeping man-made feast days. They're keeping uh rejecting Sabbath as well. They're keeping Sunday instead of Sabbath. They're keeping Easter instead of Passover and first fruits. They're keeping um uh St. Patrick's Day and Valentine's Day. And it's St. Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, um those are named after Catholic saints, uh but they come from paganism. Um you know, celebrating Halloween or All Hallow's Eve, which is another Catholic, uh celebration that comes from paganism. It's a celebration of the day of the dead and the worship, ancestor worship. And with within Cath Catholicism, it's you know, worshiping the dead saints. Uh but it comes from paganism and the worship of the dead. um and and Christmas which uh it links to ule which is a pagan holiday as well. Um and so all of these pagan feasts are tied or all these Catholic feasts are tied to paganism and they have nothing to do with the Bible. But the Christians who keep the Catholic feast days are rejecting the biblical feast days. And so all too well you reject the commandment of God so that you can keep your tradition um of Sunday and Easter and Christmas and Valentine's Day and Halloween and all those other things. You're rejecting the commandments of God to keep man-made traditions. And you're setting aside the commandment of God to hold the tra tradition of men. And he says you worship me in vain teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. Okay. So these things could be said about the way many in Christianity celebrate um the Catholic calendar instead of the biblical calendar. And so um I am I am saying that we need to return to the biblical calendar. Returning to celebrating Passover and first fruits, Pentecost, trumpets, atonement, tabernacles, the Sabbath. um keeping the things the Bible tells us to keep. Doing biblical things, biblical ways, doing what God asks us to do. It's not about earning your salvation. It's about being biblical. It's about doing what God asks of us. Um it's also, you know, eating the things that God tells us to eat and not eating the things that God tells us not to eat. All of these things are tied to how we worship him, how we live our life. um first fruits uh by by returning to first fruits by celebrating first fruits we are re returning to the beauty and the depth of the prophetic truth of the resurrection it was it was uh predicted prophesied in the old testament in Leviticus 23 uh the Passover and first fruits that Passover would happen on the 14th day of the first month and first fruits would be the Sunday following Passover Okay, that is biblical uh the biblical calendar that God established. He says, "These are my appointed feasts. These are my appointed days, my set aart times." And he wants us to keep them. And when we see that Yeshua was the Passover lamb on Passover, he died as as the lamb of God on Passover. And by his blood, we are saved the same way that Passover in Exodus uh saved Israel from the death plague. um we are saved from the death plague as well because we we are given the opportunity for the resurrection and that he rose from the dead on first fruits as the first fruits of the resurrection um is prophetic it's a prophetic timeline that God established in his Bible in his word and by keeping the biblical feast we are walk we are walking in God's timeline we are doing things according to his calendar and um we're we're seeing the shadow of Yeshua we're seeing uh as Colossians says that the the Sabbath and feast days are a shadow of things to come. They're prophetically pointing to the future, but the substance of them is Yeshua is Christ. And so he is the substance of the Sabbath. He is the substance of the feast days. And so when we celebrate the Sabbath and the feast days, we are celebrating Yeshua because he is the substance that we celebrate. Um Yeshua didn't rise on Easter. He rose on first fruits as the first fruits of the resurrection as the beginning of a greater harvest of resurrected believers that will come later. And so just as first fruits begins this count um to Pentecost, right? You you have first fruits which begins the 50-day count to Pentecost. And Pentecost is a harvest festival and that's when you have another celebration. Well, Yeshua is the first fruits. We are the harvest. And then we also have the fall harvest which is the in gathering at the end of the year at the feast of tabernacles which is called the weddings the wedding feast that's tied to his return and the feast of trumpets announces his return. So as the spring feast for foreshadow his first coming the fall feast foreshadow his second coming and they're all prophetic of what God is wanting to do. And so um I I'm not going to have time for questions tonight. Um I'm sorry. Uh, I've actually got a meeting I've got to get to and so I'm going to have to leave um here in just a few minutes. But, um, I appreciate the questions and comments you posted in here and I'm going to go back and look at them later. Um, and so hopefully, uh, this video was informative to you and answered many of the questions you have. Um, but I'm not going to be able to get to the questions, but I want to go ahead and tell you about next week. All right. So, next week we are going to be talking um uh hang on a second. Okay. Next week, uh we're going to be talking about uh one of the most foundational and most misunderstood aspects of our faith. And it's our confession of faith in Yeshua as the Messiah. What does it really mean to confess Yeshua as Lord? Uh is it just a prayer we repeat once? uh you know like many people teach that you know you you come kneel at the altar pray this prayer and you're going to be saved. Is that all it is or is there more to it? Is it a lifelong declaration of obedience and allegiance and transformation of our life? Or is it just some some pray prayer you prayed you know when you were a kid and just said Yeshua is Lord and now I'm saved. Um that's what we're going to be talking about next week. And so, um, I look forward to the discussion we'll have next week and I hope you guys too. And thank you for watching and we'll see you next time. Thank you for joining me on Let's Talk Biblical. If you enjoyed this episode, then share it with your friends and keep the conversation going. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss anything. And I look forward to chatting with you again next week. Until next time, keep talking biblical. Shalom.