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

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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
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And I look forward to chatting with you
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talking biblical. Shalom.