Resurrection, Newness of Life, and the Gift of the Spring Feasts
Believers in Christ have received an array of heavenly gifts. Because of Jesus’ resurrection, we now have an audience with Yahweh in ways that many people during Old Testament times didn’t experience. His crucifixion was the catalyst by which our stripes have healed, as the prophet Isaiah foresaw thousands of years ago.
Isaiah 53:5 “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes, we are healed.”
Ever since the fall, humanity has been at odds with God and His holy ways. Becoming a believer in Christ sets us free from that worldly way of thinking, enabling us to learn His ways over the ways of this fallen world.
Jesus’ message was unique, and He often prophesied of His own death and resurrection, to the surprise of His listeners.
Mark 9:31 “For He taught His disciples and said to them, “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day.”
What manner of Messiah was this? How would Jesus conquer His enemies through death and suffering? They had been expecting a militant leader who would crush Rome, but Jesus told them the circumstances of that era of His glory related to End-Times themes and battles, not the first century situation the Hebrews had found themselves in.
Since the prophet Daniel had predicted the enemies of God’s people had to destroy the Temple (see Daniel 9:26), and Jesus would not return for over two thousand years, they needed a covering for sin during those days that didn’t involve the Levitical system at all.
Jesus is the last sacrifice for all time. Those who lived before the cross looked forward to that time, and those of us who live after the cross look back at it. His blood covers all who put their trust in Him for generations.
The Spring Feasts Lead to Our Resurrection
What many Christians miss, likely not intentionally, is that Jesus fulfilled the Spring Feasts of Yahweh exactly on each day, providing a different facet of our redemption in each. Leviticus 23 contains these Feasts of the LORD, and God commanded all people who would put their trust in Him to keep them for all generations. These aren’t only for Jews, because Jewish people make up only two tribes of Israel. The rest of Israel is of different tribes, with different ancestors than Judah.
Our Jewish brothers and sisters don’t fully see who Yeshua (Jesus) is just yet, but when He returns to save them, they will have their eyes opened to the Messiah and successful revival and repentance will occur as Jesus finishes His work on Earth before the Millennial Reign.
It is up to us to show them grace and mercy, because Jesus, being the Messiah, is a matter of great controversy in their circles. If God so chooses, He can reveal the fact of Jesus being the promised Messiah to them individually, bringing them into the fold of Christ.
But these are the Feasts of God, not any people group.
During Holy Week, the days leading up to Pascha (Easter), we celebrate the victory of Jesus Christ over sin and death, as well as the new life He offers to us. This week overlaps the Spring Feasts.
Before I continue, I must state that Easter is NOT a pagan holiday. Please see the resources at https://theancientbridge.com/2020/11/are-easter-and-christmas-really-based-upon-babylonian-or-any-other-paganism-a-collection-of-research-articles/ for more information. Sister Tyler Dawn has compiled a plethora of sources showing that these holidays came up later on and have nothing to do with paganism. Most of these association fallacies started with a book called The Two Babylons by a man that saw connections where there were none at best and was intentionally deceptive at worst. Since people who believe in Torah and Jesus Christ in harmony are naturally suspicious of mainstream Christianity, it was easy for teachers to make these fallacies on account of their suspicions, playing to their hearts instead of using actual facts and sound logic.
Easter is a Christian expression celebrating the resurrection of Christ, just as the Feast of First Fruits does the same.
During the Passover meal time, Jesus Christ was crucified, becoming the unblemished lamb who covers our sins with His blood, relating back to the blood on the doorposts from the Exodus event.
Now His blood is upon the doors of our hearts, covering our shortcomings and weaknesses with His glorious power.
While evil men cause His crucifixion in the gospels, Jesus makes it clear He is sovereign over events that happen upon this planet.
John 10:18 “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
It was Jesus who volunteered to have His life taken from Him, to give us eternal life and amazing, new physical bodies.
His crucifixion is the way He conquers death during the narrative. Jesus’ favorite title for Himself in the gospels is Son of Man. The High Priest was shocked when Jesus used this title for Himself, knowing He was claiming to be the cloud rider from Daniel 7:13. Only Yahweh rides the clouds, only God will have a kingdom that lasts forever and ever. To claim such a thing in the face of death was inconceivable to the High Priest. It was blasphemy to him. Not only that, but it shows Jesus’ assurance that He would rise again. Because He was claiming to be Divine Judge who would come again at the End of Time. That can’t happen unless He rises to glory in newness of life, opposite to being condemned to death. He knew exactly what He was saying and to whom He was saying it to. Someone with the earthly power to execute Him.
Isaiah 53:10 “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.”
Isaiah foresaw the Messiah had to rise again after dying. To become an offering for sin in a Levitical Priesthood context meant death and bloodshed. Yet, this suffering servant would prolong His days and prosper. What a paradox!
This ties into the author of Hebrews’ explanation that Jesus is the High Priest after Melchizedek, who had no beginning or end of days.
Hebrews 7:16 “… who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life.”
Jesus has eternal life, and He will offer it to whom He will.
During the time He was on the cross, the sun became black and darkness was over the face of the Earth. In fact, there are records even in ancient China that the sun went black during this time because a righteous man had just died, a man with a heavenly origin. This had been recorded in the Chronicles of Emperor Guang Wu: 7th year. Perhaps this may not sway an atheist, but it is far too interesting to be a mere coincidence. As someone who walks with God, I find bona fide coincidences to be a rare thing. God can even use other nations as witnesses to His wondrous acts. In the same way the magi came to Christ during His earliest time on Earth, He used the Chinese to record this event, and they even understood the reason for the darkening.
How amazing!
This proved to at least one Roman soldier Jesus was truly the Son of God, especially when an earthquake also happened that rent the Temple, showing the way to receive God’s forgiveness was through Christ alone, not sacrifices of animals repeatedly.
After Jesus died, they laid Him in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb, which was the tomb of a rich man, just as Isaiah had predicted in Isaiah 53.
This was during the time of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The holiday week where we clean out all yeast and eat only bread without yeast, in honor of the hurried escape during the Exodus. Yeast represents pride and sin in the Scriptures, and tying it to Jesus’ death shows us He was sinless as the bread of life.
After three days, Jesus rose again on the exact day of First Fruits, being the first offering of the resurrection of the dead. Today, we can't observe First Fruits, but we can honor it by remembering Jesus rising from the grave, just as more traditional Christians often do with Easter celebrations. Paul used the term First Fruits, referring to Jesus rising in 1 Corinthians 15 to make us remember the Feast of First Fruits, which always happened the day after the Passover Sabbath, or in modern terms, Easter Sunday. Easter Sunday is another way to celebrate this momentous event, arguably the most important day for all in the faith.
What the Resurrection Means for Us in the Future
Now that Jesus has risen from the dead, we are to partake in His nature when He returns after the Great Tribulation in the future. He will raise the dead with the trumpet call of God (see 1 Thessalonians 4:16) and we will be changed instantly into amazing, perfect celestial bodies like the angels have. No more sickness, no more pain, no more death, but we’ll get to keep our identity and memories. I look forward to that day with great expectation, even if it doesn’t happen in my lifetime. We’ll reunite with our loved ones here on Earth in the Millennial Kingdom of Christ. Those of us who are alive at the time of the Second Coming will receive our bodies without ever dying, and those whose spirits are with God after death will also come back into a physical body. It will be the greatest fireworks display ever, because this event happens during a time when the sun, moon, and stars are completely dark.
What a show that will be!
Because Christ’s death and resurrection covers all sins for all time, normal people during the Millennial Reign of Christ will accept Him in normal bodies during that time, and then at the Final Judgment, they shall receive an eternal reward at the Second Resurrection.
God's gift of eternal life includes everyone.
Besides us, the entire universe will undergo a radical transformation into a new heaven and Earth. I don’t know what that might look like, because even the Bible says that no mind has imagined what God has in store for us during this time. But I’m sure even the greatest fantasy novels haven’t even come up with what He’s going to do in that eternal state. It makes me wonder, but that’s a tad fruitless if no mind has imagined it.
Ponder Upon the Resurrection
The newness of life that comes with the Spring Feasts, culminating in the First Fruits resurrection (or the Pascha/Easter day) is one of the greatest gifts God has ever given to humanity. In the latter days, He will finish the Fall Feasts with the Days of Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles. But these holidays wouldn’t be possible for us to glean true meaning without the Spring Feasts of God to first light the way toward the ultimate fulfillment of all things in Christ. He is the beginning and the end, the Aleph (Alpha) and the Tav (Omega). Everything starts and ends with Him. This Resurrection Sunday, think upon the greatest gift God has ever given man, the ability to live eternally with our God in a glorious kingdom that will never end.
Many blessings, and may God make His face to shine upon you.
