When our Heavenly Father said He loathed their sacrifices concerning the feasts/appointed Times/moedim, and the other requirements, it was not that He despised the ordinances themselves. Why would He? He set them in as the seasons of the annual cycle of life and the prophetic representation of Messiah who would fulfill all the feasts and meanings of them. If Yeshua/Jesus is God the Father in the flesh, He would not, as the Son, change the Fathers ordinances. God, our Heavenly Father does not change His mind, He is not a human; He is Spirit. He perceived that they were performing the sacrifices as an expression of self-righteousness, showing their indifference to the claim that God was in their hearts; and heart motivation is extremely important. Proverbs 21:2,3,4,27.

All His ordinances are good and Holy/ set apart/ in harmony with Himself, but they are to be entered into with deep sincerity and with an honest awareness of their true significance. To sacrifice in carelessness and ignorance will cause damage to our own souls, so we must never allow our spirit to become callous and hardhearted.

Now, is always a good time to check just what is our heart attitude?

The Pharisees and Sadducees were full of themselves, they added laws and ordinances to those given by the Lord. They saw themselves as better than the people, not equal to them; they did not keep a servant hearted attitude and much of what they did was just for show. Look at Yeshua/Jesus’ statement in Luke 11:37 – 44 …Woe to you Pharisees… . it was the same in His day just as at the time referred to in our title, the loathing… pride, arrogance and holier than thou attitude.

They had changed the truth of God to their religious standard for the people, but didn’t keep it themselves. Yeshua/Jesus was hard on this behavior because He knew what He had come to do, as he said in John 17:4. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.

His purpose was the Father’s purpose in the process of being fulfilled for 4000 years; which was the redemption of mankind in the fullness of time. No one killed Yeshua/Jesus, no one murdered Him by their choice. The death of Messiah is the fulfillment in history of the very mind and intent of our Heavenly Father. There is no place for seeing Yeshua/Jesus as a martyr. His death was not something that happened to Him, something that might have been prevented. His death was the very specific reason He came, it was His determined purpose.

We must never build our case for forgiveness simply on the thought that God is our Father and He will forgive us just because He loves us; that contradicts the revealed truth of God in Jesus Christ/Yeshua haMashiach; and it makes the cross unnecessary and the redemptive work as nothing.

Our Father God forgives sin only because of the death of Messiah.

A life for a life, because the life is in the blood (Lev 17:11), and He cannot forgive people in any other way than by the death of His Son because of the established covenant. (Abraham and the willingness to offer his son Isaac.)

Hence all of the animal sacrifices and the appointed times which followed until Messiah came. Yeshua/Jesus is exalted as Savior because of His death. We see Jesus/Yeshua in Hebrews 2:9 for the suffering and death crowned with glory and honor. The greatest cry of triumph ever heard in the ears of a shocked universe was that which was released from the cross – it is finished. That is the final word in the redemption of humankind and the fulfillment of the promise in Genesis 1. If the devil had known the fullness of the Fathers plan he wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of Glory. 1Cor. 2:8. This was the hidden mystery of the gospel revealed in His death and resurrection – a whole new being, eternal in nature, unknown until that process was completed/ finished. He was the first born from the dead, both physical and spiritual, no longer separated from the Father.

Anything that lessens, detracts from or completely obliterates the holiness of our Heavenly Father through a false view of His love, contradicts the truth of Him as revealed by Jesus/Yeshua. We view love from a standpoint of a human emotion, a feeling; it’s not the same as the love of our Heavenly Father, His Love is truth. We must never allow ourselves to believe that Jesus/Yeshua stands with us and against the Father out of pity and compassion, or that He became a curse for us out of sympathy for us. Jesus Christ/Yeshua haMashiach, became a curse for us by divine degree, something we often do not fully comprehend. Our part in realizing and understanding the tremendous meaning of the curse which He became is the conviction of sin. Galatians 3:13. Conviction is given to us as a gift, to stir up shame and godly sorrow which leads us to repentance; it’s the great mercy of our Heavenly Father. Jesus/Yeshua hates the sin in people and Calvary’s cross is the measure and extent of His hatred. Ephesians 1:7 in Him we have the forgiveness of sin.

We must be aware of having a too cozy view of the father-hood of God, and our human thinking of Him as ‘daddy’ that we can twist around our little finger; that He is so kind and loving that of course He will forgive us. That thought based solely on emotion, can’t be found anywhere in the New Testament. The only basis on which our Heavenly Father can forgive us, is the incalculable work of what was accomplished on the cross by Messiah. To base our forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy and unconscious blasphemy is actually denying Messiah and His victory over sin and death. The only ground on which He can forgive our sin and reinstate us to His presence and favor, is through the cross of Messiah.

There is no other Way, He alone is the Way.

Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the horrendous agony on that cross at Calvary. We should never take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of His Holy Spirit and our sanctification in simple faith, and then forget the enormous cost to Him that made all of this ours for free.

Forgiveness is the divine miracle of His free grace towards us. The cost to the Father was the cross of Messiah. To forgive sin while remaining a Holy God, this is the price that had to be paid. We must never accept a view of the fatherhood of God if it blocks out the atonement because the revealed truth of God is that without the atonement He cannot forgive; He would contradict His nature if He did. The only way we can be forgiven is by being brought back to Him through the atonement of the cross, and His forgiveness is possible only in the supernatural realm. Compared with the miracle of the forgiveness of sin, the experience of sanctification is small, sanctification is simply the wonderful expression or evidence of the forgiveness of sins in a human life. However what awakens the pouring forth of the deepest gratitude in an individual, is that our Heavenly Father has forgiven his or her sin. Paul never got away from this and neither should we. Once we realize all that it costs the Father to forgive each of us, we will be held tight, constrained by the love of God. Luke 11:37 – 44, 45.

Pesach/Passover week may be over but it is the crowning moment in time and eternity and we must not let our remembrance of it be for only once a year. Above all else, we must continue to preach Messiah/Christ and Him crucified, it is the power of God unto salvation....and in His resurrection we can live the new life He died to give us.

Shalom, shalom mishpachah/family

and cheverim/friends!

It’s all about Life and Relationship,

NOT Religion.

You are greatly loved and precious in His sight.

NOT SURE?

YOU CAN BE..

SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…

Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.

I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name. Amen