jacobreddekopp@gmail.com
April 22nd, 2014
Passover 2014
Hello Friends
We are in the Passover season, a special time when an extra emphasis is on the death and resurrection of Christ. I have personally sought for greater revelation of the cost the Lord paid for my ransom. I have not looked this up myself but I heard that Jesus fulfilled 25 Old Testament prophecies in the last 24 hours of His live. Prophecies made by different people in different locations thousands of years apart but so perfectly fulfilled. “The words of the Lord are pure words; as silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times.” Psalm 12:6
Jesus was crucified on Wednesday
If the scriptures are so perfectly fulfilled in so many details like, “not a bone shall be Brocken”, “they pierced His side”, He was with the rich in His death” and so many more details that were so perfectly fulfilled, then what about Jesus rising after three days and three nights? Friday evening till Sunday morning do not make up three days and three nights as we see in Matthew 12:40 “for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Mark 8:31 “And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” Mark 9:31-32 “For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.” John 2:19 “Jesus answered them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
We see that Jesus died soon after the ninth hour. (3pm) Luke 23:44-46, because He was buried quickly before the starting of that Sabbath, John 19:31 “Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.” Please note this phrase for that Sabbath was a high day. Jesus died on preparation day, which was the day before that high day called Sabbath, which is not the same as the Sabbath according to the command. The women bought the spices when the special Sabbath according to the feast of Passover was over, Mark 16:1 “When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might come and anoint Him”. But they rested on the normal Sabbath according to the commandment, Luke 23:56 “Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.” So there had to be two Sabbaths because the women bought the spices when the Sabbath was over, but they prepared the spices before the Sabbath according to the command.
This makes a lot of things become more meaningful and accurate according to the word. If Jesus came into Jerusalem on the first day of the week, then He was tested and tried for four days just like the lambs were to be taken into their homes on the 10th to be tested and sacrificed on the 14th. Exodus 12:1-6. Then on Preparation day which would have been on a Wednesday, Jesus died after the 9thhour or 3pm. And buried just before or the eve of the special Sabbath which started at 6pm according to the Jewish custom, and according to Genesis, when God created the heavens and the earth it says “And there was evening and there was morning, one day.” Genesis 1:5. When the women came to the tomb early on the first day of the week, Jesus was not there, He had already risen. He could have risen around 6pm Saturday which according to the customs and scripture would be considered the beginning of the first day of the week. And that would be three days and three nights, perfect fulfilment of Jesus rising in three days and three nights.
A few weeks ago I was disturbed by the thought that these scriptures were not fulfilled as prophesied in scripture, but then within about two weeks I received a teaching through Paul Keith Davis which helped me to understand it.
Where did good Friday and Easter come from?
This came about during the time of Constantine. Before Constantine, there was heavy persecution against the Jews and Christians, and even a law that their properties could be taken from them. When Constantine came in, he ordered that the Jews and Christians were allowed to have property and stopped the heavy persecution. This was good news for the Christians and the Jews. However, Constantine also married other religions to the church which perhaps were worse than the persecution they suffered before. There was a festival to the female goddess Ishtar which was celebrated on Friday at that time and on the Feast of Passover. And along with the Catholic influence this became Good Friday and the Celebration called Easter, coming from the word Ishtar.
I had been praying and asking, how can we honor the Lord for His death and resurrection this year? One of the things we did was, we celebrated it as best we could according to His word, remembering and recounting all that Jesus did for us two thousand years ago. We also started using the biblical term Passover instead of the pagan term Easter. My children and some of the people here are excited about this. One of the pastors said that all the Christians in the whole world should know about this. There are always the crowds that follow, but there are few who have the vision, courage and resolve to make change happen.
Blessings!
Jacob Reddekopp
