[Study adapted from the video “The Melchizedekian Pesach“, from the series Feasts of the First Month.]

In this book, we have been talking all about the Melchizedekian Pesach, the Passover that we keep when we are under Yeshua’s renewed Melchizedekian Order. And so far in this study, we have seen that some parts of the Pesach rituals can change depending upon which priesthood has the active anointing, and other parts of the Pesach rituals can change depending upon whether we are inside or outside the land of Israel. However, there are also certain ordinances, statutes, and judgments of the Pesach, which never change no matter which priesthood has the active anointing.

The question then becomes this. How should we keep the Pesach today under Yeshua’s renewed Melchizedekian Order?

We have covered a lot of ground so far in this chapter. Now, we would like to first talk about the ordinances of the Pesach that never change, no matter which priesthood has the active anointing. Then we are going to review the reasons why some of the specifics of the rituals can change from one priesthood to the next. And then, finally, armed with this detailed information, we are going to be able to see which of the specifics apply to Yeshua’s Melchizedekian Pesach and which do not.

We learned a lot from the original ritual in Exodus chapter twelve, where Israel is getting ready to leave Egypt in order to become its own independent, sovereign nation. They will be equipped complete with their own internal priesthood. And they are going to go to the land of Israel as an organized nation. Yahweh calls them “the armies of the living Elohim”. It is important that we understand that we are being called out as an organized nation. And for those of you who read the Torah Parashat, Deuteronomy chapters twenty-nine, verse nine through chapter 30, verse twenty is covered in Parashat Nitsavim. But Israel is not called “a mass of motley individuals”, but rather an organized nation. It is important that we understand that.

In Shemote (Exodus) chapter twelve, starting in verse eight, Yahweh says some things that are never going to change. Let us take a look at some of these things.

Shemote (Exodus) 12:8-9, 14
8  “Then they shall eat the flesh on that night [14th/15th]; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
9  Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire….”
14  “So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to Yahweh throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.”

Yahweh tells us that any time there is a generation of Israel, we are supposed to keep this feast. He says that we shall keep it “as a feast by an everlasting ordinance”. That is pretty clear language. We always want to keep the Pesach. The only question is how we should keep the Pesach?

Shemote (Exodus) 12:15
15  “Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread [symbolic of sin and false doctrine] from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.”

For me, this is particularly important language. Because we know that leaven is symbolic of sin and also of false doctrine. What this means is that anyone who partakes of sin and anyone who partakes of false doctrine is going to be cut off from the nation of Israel. That is pretty serious and pretty severe. We need to pay attention to that, we need to have fear of the living Elohim. Let us continue.

Shemote (Exodus) 12:16
16  “On the first day there shall be a set-apart gathering [rehearsal], and on the seventh day there shall be a set-apart gathering [rehearsal] for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but that which everyone must eat—that only may be prepared by you.”

Now, in the first chapter, we talked about how the apostle Shaul (Paul) warns us in Colossians chapter two, verses sixteen and seventeen that we need to be extremely careful not to let any man besides the body of Messiah tell us what to do with regard to the ritual meal offerings (such as the Pesach), the ritual drink offerings (such as the Renewed Covenant in Yeshua’s blood, or the cup), or in respect of a feast day, or of a new moon day, or of the Sabbath days. Because these are all prophetic shadow pictures of things that are still to come.

And if you want to talk about some craziness, how many Messianic are there who listen to the Rabbis and to the Karaites (people who are not the body of Yeshua) to tell us not only when to keep the Pesach, but also how to keep the Pesach? That is specifically what the apostle Shaul was writing against here. Because we are told to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Because Yahweh is going to cut off from Israel anyone who partakes of false doctrine. So, be careful. Some people believe it is okay to drink from all fountains. A lot of people believe it is okay to listen to this teacher and that teacher, and this group and that group, and this sect and that sect. And you end up with some people who end up doing very much the wrong things. It is important that we do not do that. Continuing on in verse seventeen.

Shemote (Exodus) 12:17
17  “So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance.”

Once again, we are always going to keep the Pesach. It is only the way we keep the Pesach that is going to change, depending upon which priesthood has the active anointing, and whether we are inside the land of Israel or outside the land of Israel in the dispersion. The ordinances of the Pesach never change.

Shemote (Exodus) 12:18
18  “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.”

Again, this is something that is never going to change no matter which priesthood we are under and no matter where we are living.

Shemote (Exodus) 12:19-20
19  “For seven days no leaven [sin, false doctrine] shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened [sin, false doctrine], that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land.
20  You shall eat nothing leavened [no sin, no false doctrine]; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.”

What we are really saying here is that we have to be conformed to Yeshua’s example. We have to be conformed to Yeshua’s image and likeness, or effectively, He does not like it and He rejects us. We must be conformed to Yeshua’s walk, or we are going to be cut off from the nation of Israel.

Again, we saw that the Last Supper was on the evening conjunction of the 13th and the 14th. That is different than the Pesach (Passover) meal which happens on the conjunction of the 14th and the 15th. The Pesach is sacrificed on the afternoon of the 14th, and we actually eat the Passover meal at the start of the 15th. And then we are to eat unleavened bread for seven days until the evening beginning the 22nd day of the first month. Those are the things that never change.

Now let us talk about some of the specifics that do change that are specific to the various rituals of the No Priesthood Pesach. In Exodus chapter twelve, with the No Priesthood Pesach, there was no internal Israelite priesthood because they were down in Egypt under the kingship of Paro and under the priesthood of the Egyptian priests, (not a clean priesthood). So, the purpose was to help Israel leave Egypt, become an organized nation, and go to the land of Israel.
In Exodus chapter eleven, we learned that the exodus would be a rapid event. Israel was to prepare for a rapid flight from Egypt.

Shemote (Exodus) 11:1
1  And Yahweh said to Moshe, “I am bringing yet one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that he is going to let you go from here. When he lets you go, he shall drive you out from here altogether.”

Then in Exodus chapter twelve, verse three we see that Yahweh had the heads of each house take a lamb for their household.

Shemote (Exodus) 12:3
3  “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.”

This is because Israel had no priesthood in Egypt at that time. For that reason, the men of the houses (the patriarchs) were responsible for the offerings for their own house and also for putting the blood on the doorposts (symbolic of Yeshua’s blood).

Shemote (Exodus) 12:5-7
5  “Your lamb shall be without blemish [Yeshua], a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats [flock].
6  Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it between the evenings [בֵּין הָעַרְבָּיִם].
7  And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it [our hearts].”

The 14th day is an ordinance, which is never going to change. Applying some of the blood on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses, however, is the shadow picture. Today, of course, we apply Yeshua’s blood to our hearts.

Shemote (Exodus) 12:8-10
8  “Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it [ordinance].
9  Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire—its head with its legs and its entrails [ordinance].
10  You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire.”

Eating the flesh that night, roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs is an ordinance. To let none of it remain until morning and to burn with fire what remains is specific to Exodus chapter twelve, the first Pesach.

Shemote (Exodus) 12:11
11  “And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is Yahweh’s Passover.”

This concept of feasting in haste while standing is also specific to the Exodus twelve situation. Because it was a rehearsal for fleeing Egypt.
Now let us take a look at the specifics of the Levitical Pesach, specific to the Levitical Order.

Shemote (Exodus) 12:25
25 “It will come to pass when you come to the land which Yahweh will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service.”

Once again, the fact that we keep the Pesach will never change. It is only the way we keep the Pesach that is going to change. Because now, instead of not having a priesthood, Israel is going to have a Levitical Order. That is especially important.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 12:1
1  “These are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which Yahweh your Elohim of your fathers is giving you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth.”

Again, these are things that are specific to when we are living in the land of Israel, which is typically where you find a cleansed Levitical priesthood. And the reason you find a cleansed Levitical priesthood in the land of Israel is that when Israel was traveling together out in the wilderness, they did not need to unite three times a year around the altar. Because they were already together. But once Israel had gone into the land of Israel, and they had spread out, it was necessary to unify the nation three times a year around a sacrificial altar.

The same monologue continues four chapters later in Devarim chapter sixteen, verse one. This is something very important, this part is an ordinance.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 16:1-2
1  “Observe the month of the aviv, and keep the Pesach to Yahweh your Elohim, for in the month of the Aviv Yahweh your Elohim brought you out of Egypt by night.
2  Therefore you shall sacrifice the Pesach to Yahweh your Elohim, from the flock and the herd, in the place where Yahweh chooses to put His name.

For those of you who are on the Jewish side of the house, or you are speaking Hebrew, I would like you to consider this. He does not say “observe the month of aviv which takes place in the spring on the Jewish Hillel 2 Calendar”. He says to observe the month of the aviv. It is very important that we observe the month of the aviv the right way. Because we saw before, Yahweh wants us to keep the Pesach in its time. And if we are listening to the Karaites or certain Messianic groups, we are going to end up keeping the Pesach in the wrong month. Because the Karaites and certain Messianic groups typically keep their feast about a month after it is actually supposed to be observed. We will talk about that when we talk about the Days of Unleavened Bread.

He also says that, while living in the land of Israel, you may sacrifice the Pesach from the flock or from the herd. If you are living in the land of Israel, your Pesach can be of beef. If you are outside the land of Israel, it can only be from the sheep or from the goats. And if we are inside the land of Israel then we should keep the Pesach in the place where Yahweh chooses to place His name, which we saw before is Jerusalem.

Now, one of the things we saw is that sometimes the transition from one priesthood to the next takes time. It can happen over a number of years. There is a lot more we could say about that if we had time and we will talk about this more at the end of this chapter. But for example, in the first month of the second year, after Israel left Egypt, Yahweh said to hold the Pesach service the same way in the wilderness. Ironically, even though Israel now had a Levitical priesthood and no doorposts. That is a subject for further discussion at another time and place. Because it was not really possible to keep the Pesach exactly the same way, but as close as they could.

Bemidbar (Numbers) 9:1-2, 9-11
1 Now Yahweh spoke to Moshe in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying:
2  “Let the children of Israel keep the Pesach at its appointed time.
9  Then Yahweh spoke to Moshe, saying,
10  “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘If anyone of you or your posterity is unclean because of a corpse, or is far away on a journey, he may still keep Yahweh’s Passover.
11  On the fourteenth day of the second month, at twilight, they may keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.”

Basically, the change we see here is to keep the Pesach a month later. But again, when we are in the land of Israel, there are going to be certain statutes and judgments that are going to apply to us as long as we are in the land of Israel.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 16:1
1  “Observe the month of the Aviv, and keep the Pesach to Yahweh your Elohim, for in the month of the aviv Yahweh your Elohim brought you out of Egypt by night.”

If you have access to Hebrew and you read Hebrew, I encourage you to look this up. It says, “the month of the aviv”. What is the month of the aviv? Well, we will talk more about this when we talk about the Wave Sheaf Offering, but the month of the aviv is the month in which the very first sheaf of aviv barley firstfruits can be offered to Yahweh on the Day of the Wave Sheaf Offering (Yom HaNafat HaOmer) 15 to 21 days after that New Moon Day (Rosh HaShanah). That is what we are supposed to do. We are supposed to bring Him the very first sheaf of aviv barley firstfruits. The Karaites and certain Messianic groups do not do that. Because rather than basing their calendar on the first sheaf of firstfruits, they base their calendar upon the main harvest, which typically comes about a month later.

In fact, with the Karaite and the Messianic calendars, the very first sheaf of aviv barley firstfruits is typically already completely shattered and fallen on the ground. And when you consider the symbolism that this first sheaf of aviv barley firstfruits is symbolic of Yeshua, the Karaites and even the Messianic are waiting until it is shattered and on the ground. If you think about the symbolism of that, that is very unclean. We will talk more about that when we talk about the Day of the Wave Sheaf Offering.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 16:2
2  “Therefore you shall sacrifice the Pesach to Yahweh your Elohim, from the flock and the herd, in the place where Yahweh chooses to put His name.”

Continuing in verse two, we see again that we are able to have the Pesach from cattle or from beef when we are living in the land of Israel. And that He is very specific about holding the Pesach ritual in the place where He chooses to put His name. and He emphasizes that several times.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 16:5
5  “You may not sacrifice the Pesach within any of your gates which Yahweh your Elohim gives you…”

In Exodus chapter twelve, Israel did not have a priesthood. They had been under the Egyptian priesthood. So, the patriarchs of each house sacrificed the Pesach within their gates and then placed the blood upon their own doorposts. The reason Yahweh does not want that in the land of Israel, as we mentioned before, is because Israel is spread out when they are in the land of Israel. And it is necessary to unify the nation around a sacrificial altar three times a year in order to maintain a sense of cohesiveness and a sense of being a nation, by unifying the nation around a sacrificial Levitical altar.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 16:6-7
6 “but at the place where Yahweh your Elohim chooses to make His name abide, there you shall sacrifice the Pesach between the evenings, at the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt.”
7 “And you shall roast and eat it in the place which Yahweh your Elohim chooses: and in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents.”

So, we have a large number of witnesses that, when we live in the land of Israel, Yahweh wants us to come to the place where His sacrificial altar is placed so that the nation will then stay together. And we know that this is Jerusalem. We will see a reference to this again toward the end of this chapter. But we have witness of this in Zechariah.

Zekaryah (Zechariah) 1:17
17 “Again proclaim, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts: “My cities shall again spread out through prosperity; Yahweh will again comfort Tsion, And will again choose Jerusalem.”

Zekaryah (Zechariah) 2:12
12 “And Yahweh will take possession of Judah as His inheritance in the Set-apart Land, and will again choose Jerusalem.”

We believe Yahweh choose Jerusalem again in 1948 when the nation of Israel was born in one day.

Now let us see what things are specific to the Last Supper. Let us remember, in Yeshua’s time, which was in the first century, second-temple period, Israel was already living in the land of Israel. They did not need to rehearse fleeing and going to the land of Israel in haste. So, by the second-temple period, our Jewish brothers and sisters had already developed a tradition of eating the Pesach sitting down. They would have a low-slung table, typically twelve to eighteen inches off the ground, and put down blankets and pillows and these kinds of things. And they would lean, recline, or sit. But generally speaking, they would make themselves comfortable.

Now again, I will try to say this in as much love as I can. If you talk to the rabbis (even the Messianic rabbis that I know) about why the ritual looks this way for the Pesach Seder and they will say that in the ancient Middle East slaves typically stood to wait on their masters as they ate. And the rabbinic thinking is that since the Jews are no longer slaves, they should therefore lean or recline at the Pesach table to celebrate Israel’s freedom from bondage. The problem with that is that has no relation and no bearing whatsoever on Scripture. That is not the reason Israel stood in Exodus chapter twelve. This is typical of the things that the rabbis do. They give you a bunch of reasons that sound good, but they just really do not hold up to scrutiny. They do not really “hold water”, so to speak. Because they are basically making things up.

But what we see is that the Passover Seder is a very scripted, stylistic meal. They literally have a script for it. And it involves taking four cups of wine and eating from various bowls of dip or salt. The modern seders point to a shank bone, sometimes they have an egg on the plate, things that have no relation or bearing to Exodus chapter twelve in any way, shape, or form. And they also emphasize sitting or perhaps, in ancient times, laying down and generally being in a reclining or lying back position.

It does seem that the Last Supper tends to follow what later became the Pesach Seder ritual. For example, in Matthew, we see that Yeshua sat down with His disciples and that they also had dips (sops) with their meal.

Mattityahu (Matthew) 26:20, 23
20  When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve.
23  He answered and said, “He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me.”

Now, this is what is called the ancient Hebrew wedding ceremony. We will talk about this a lot more when we get time, but in the ancient Hebrew wedding ceremony, you had three phases of the wedding. The first phase was what is called Shiddukh (Shiddukhin for plural). The parents of both the groom and bride had made the match, the groom, and the bride themselves had consented to the match, and then the wedding was confirmed by holding a celebratory meal together. That effectively ratified the marriage and then they would hold the public ceremony later. And what we have seen in our studies so far is that the match is later publicly announced at Shavuot (Pentecost), or at least that is the symbolism of Shavuot. It is the phase called Erusin. We will talk more about that in another place. What we need to see here is that the Last Supper was not the Pesach because the Last Supper was held the night before the Pesach, on the conjunction of the 13th and 14th. Therefore, it does not have anything to say about the rites or rituals of the Pesach on the conjunction of the 14th and the 15th. Rather, the Last Supper was a covenantal wedding meal confirming the match (Shiddukh).

Mattityahu (Matthew) 26:26-28
26  And as they were eating, Yeshua took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”
27  Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you.
28  For this is My blood of the renewed [wedding] covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” [Shiddukhin.]

Symbolically, we are going to eat His flesh and drink His blood. And when we eat something, it becomes incorporated into our bodies. This is how we become one flesh. We eat His flesh, and it is incorporated in us. Same thing with the cup. Yeshua is giving us the cup to partake of His blood. And you might perhaps imagine that, when we drink His blood, it is then applied to the lintel and the doorposts of our hearts. That is the symbolism. But the whole thing is a renewal of the Shiddukhin marriage vow. And later, at Shavuot, it would then become public. We will talk more about that.

We see in all this the extent of Elohim’s great love for us. Because Yeshua came to redeem his bride Ephraim in the same way Hoshea (Hosea) went to redeem his sinful, wayward bride Gomer. Gomer had sold herself into sexual slavery and Hoshea literally went to go pay for her and to buy her back. In much the same way, Yeshua came to pay for Ephraim’s sins and also for the sins of those of Judah who sojourn with Ephraim with His blood. That is love.

But it is important to understand that people do all sorts of strange, crazy things with the Last Supper. Think about it. Yeshua never said, “Let us take the eucharist wafer in a cup of ritual-communion wine and let us make an annual foot-washing ritual on “a night to be much observed”.”

Yeshua was not saying that. He was saying for us to remember our wedding vows. That is what He was saying. And that is what makes it so crazy when people allow the rabbis and the Karaites to tell them not only when the Pesach is, but also how to observe it. Can you imagine being in business and talking to your competition to ask them for advice on how to run your business? Or how about going out to battle and facing war? Judah is our brother, but he is in opposition to us. Judah has been given an opposing role. Do you take counsel with your enemy to ask them how you should run things? I do not understand it. To me, it just baffles my mind. I cannot understand why any Messianic would do such a thing. Especially when both Yeshua our Messiah and His servant, apostle Shaul, clearly warn us not to listen to those outside the body of Messiah. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Colossians 2:16-17 (Reordened)
1.  Let no man [except] the body of Messiah
2.  [therefore] judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a set-apart day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath:
3.  Which are a shadow of things to come.

Now we want to take all this detail that we have been given and see about the specific elements of the Melchizedekian Pesach. We are going to see what applies to us today and what does not.

The very first thing that we need to do is to understand our purpose. Yeshua came for a Proverbs 31 bride who is going to help Him build His kingdom. That is what the Great Commission is all about.

Mattityahu (Matthew) 28:18-20
18  And Yeshua came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
19  “Go therefore and make disciples in all the nations, immersing them in My name*,
20  “teaching them to observe [keep, obey] all things that I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amein.

If you would like to know why we immerse in Yeshua’s name only, I would encourage you to go to Nazarene Scripture Studies, Volume Three. There is a study called “Immersion in Yeshua’s Name Only” and there you can see why we do not use the Trinitarian formula.

But a disciple is someone who does everything Yeshua says to do. Someone who eagerly wants to be conformed to Yeshua’s image, likeness, and example. That is our purpose. We are supposed to go into all nations to immerse disciples in His name.

Well, the land of Israel is one of those nations. It is not a cleansed nation right now; it is presently a Babylonian-Democratic nation. The Scriptures never advocate democracy, we talk about that in Acts 15 Order and also in The Torah Government. But the Scripture never advocates democracy.

The key thing we need to realize is that our job is not to be in the land of Israel at this time. I remember when I first came to the Messianic movement and got called to serve, I spent a lot of time and a lot of effort looking for ways that we could go back to the land of Israel. There are a lot of Ephraimites and a lot of Two-House people who are concerned with going back to the land of Israel early. We are not supposed to do that, Yeshua never said for us to do that. Yeshua says to go into all nations and immerse disciples in His name, those who are going to literally do everything He said to do.

At the time of this writing, we are entering into the end-times. We are going to see the governments of the world fall when the Babylonian system falls at the seventh trumpet. We talk all about this in Revelation and the End Times, you can also watch the video series Revelation Simplified on the Nazarene Israel YouTube channel. But when the governments of the world fall, when the Babylonian system falls and goes down hard, never to rise again, there is going to have to be a replacement system of the world, spiritual government. Something that is beneficial for the people of the world. That is what Yeshua is calling us to.

That is the high calling that He wants from us. And the only way we can do that is to literally do everything that He is calling us to do. That is why He is asking us to just immerse disciples in all nations and to teach them to do everything that He says to do. Because He is going to give us His rod of iron to rule and reign over the nations during the millennium, with Him as our head in the heavens, communicating with Him by His Spirit. We are going to be His body with His rod of iron, we are going to be His hands and His feet dashing the nations to pieces. The only way you can do that with integrity is to submit completely to the Spirit and to listen for the Spirit 24-7. There should never be a time when we are not listening for His Spirit to tell us what to do and how to do it. Because that is the calling, that is what we are supposed to be doing.

The land of Israel is one of those nations we are supposed to go into and make disciples. The ministry is first to the Jew and then also to the returning gentile Ephraimites. But one of the things is that we really need to remember is that our mission is not to be in the land of Israel right now. And if anyone tells you it is, they do not know what they are talking about. If you happen to be Jewish and you are born in the land of Israel, or you feel the call to go to the land of Israel, that is fine and well. You need to obey whatever Yahweh’s Spirit is telling you to do. But bear in mind that relocating to the land of Israel is not our mission right now. That is to force the door open, that is not what we are supposed to do. And if we live in the land, we are going to need to flee the land of Israel when the Abomination of Desolation is set up during the second half of the tribulation. We talk about that in Revelation and the End Times and also in our video series Revelation Simplified on the Nazarene Israel YouTube channel.

Mattityahu (Matthew) 24:15-16
15 “Therefore when you see the ‘Abomination of Desolation’, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the set-apart place” (whoever reads, let him understand),
16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains…”

Rather than leave in a time of duress, to me, the thing that makes sense is to not go to the land of Israel right now. There are a lot of Two-House and Ephraimite people playing that game of trying to find a way back to the land. Do not do it, that is a bad game. That is not what we are supposed to be doing. Our job right now is to be establishing the global spiritual kingdom by immersing disciples in all nations. That is our primary job.

So, if you are called to the land of Israel, to be there and to witness to your other Jewish brothers and sisters, go and may Yahweh be with you. May Yahweh give you His words to speak and may He give you all favor. But do not let that be your focus, just let that be one of the many lands that we are called to go to witness and immerse disciples. And if you do go there or if you are there now, at some point, you are going to have to flee. And then you are going to meet up with the rest of those of returning Ephraim, those who are being immersed in all the other nations. And we also are going to have to leave, but not flee. So, to put this in context, those who are living in the land of Israel are going to have to flee at the midway point of the Tribulation. And then after both the Tribulation and Armageddon, there is going to come what is called the Ingathering (the second exodus).

Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 52:12
12 “For you shall not go out with haste, Nor go by flight; For Yahweh will go before you, And the Elohim of Israel will be your rear guard.”

This is when redeemed Ephraim is going to come back from all the nations along with those of Judah who are sojourning with Ephraim. We will have to leave Egypt, so to speak. But we will not flee Egypt or go out in haste. That is the difference. If you are in the land of Israel right now, yes, you will have to flee in haste when the Abomination that Makes Desolate is set up. But then, once you have left, we come back to the land of Israel. We will leave Egypt and the world system, but not in haste nor by flight. Because Yahweh has us covered.

So, just to hit this with more detail, again we need to remember always what we are rehearsing. If you are in the land, you are rehearsing “fleeing the land of Israel” when the abomination that makes desolate is set up on the set-apart place. If you are living in the land of Israel, you should rehearse fleeing for the Pesach. Also, we are effectively renewing and confirming the Shiddukhin phase of the marriage (our marriage vows). And then for the rest of us who are outside the land, they are going to join us, and we are all going to rehearse going home to the land of Israel in the second exodus (the ingathering). And we are going to rehearse leaving, but not fleeing. Important distinction. We will talk about this further later on. But again, we are also confirming our marriage vows.

Luqa (Luke) 22:19
19  And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

We are remembering and confirming our marriage vows, the Shiddukhin phase.

Now we are going to talk about how all these things are related. The following charts are going to ask three clarifying questions.

1. Which priesthood are we under?
2. Are we inside the land of Israel, or outside the land of Israel?
3. What are we rehearsing? (What are we trying to do? How are we trying to build Yeshua’s kingdom?)

Let us take a look at this chart.

Down the left-hand side, you are going to see the different priesthoods listed. First, we have the No-priesthood (or the patriarchal priesthood) of Exodus chapter twelve. Then we have the Levitical priesthood. Then we take a look at a snapshot of the Last Supper, which is under the Levitical priesthood. Then we take a look at Yeshua’s renewed Melchizedekian Order which has the active anointing today. And then in each one of those four categories, we are going to take a look at the purpose of the Pesach. What are we trying to do? What are we rehearsing? What is the point?

Under the No-Priesthood (patriarchal) priesthood, the purpose of the original Pesach was the Shiddukhin of the ancient Hebrew wedding ceremony. We will talk about this more in the future. But the purpose was to “make the match”. There was an agreement between Yahweh and Israel, and this is the private covenantal meal that will be made public at the time of Shavuot (Pentecost). We will talk more about that when we give talk about Shavuot. A secondary purpose was to prepare Israel for fleeing Egypt as an organized nation. Again, take a look at Parashat Nitsavim. But Israel was called into Yahweh’s service as an organized nation.

Then we come to the Levitical priesthood. What is the purpose of the Pesach under the Levitical priesthood? It is to remember our wedding vows; it is to renew the vow of the Shiddukh originally taken in Exodus chapter twelve.

It is the same thing with the Last Supper, except the Last Supper was also to establish a Renewed Covenant. In other words, to renew the wedding vows through the body and blood of Yeshua Messiah. And that is also the purpose today, to remember these renewed wedding vows and to remember the renewed wedding covenant. That is the purpose of the Pesach today.

Now granted, a wedding in Yahweh’s sight looks a lot different than it looks on earth. As we talk about in the study on Revelation and the End Times, Armageddon is the wedding feast. So, it is a wedding feast with combat boots. That is a different matter.

Now let us take a look at whether there is a standing priesthood in each scenario.

In the No-Priesthood there was no priesthood, so there was no standing priesthood. They did stand during the ritual of Exodus chapter twelve, but there was not a standing priesthood like you could say under Levitical Order.

In the Levitical Order, obviously, there is a standing priesthood. And in the Last Supper, yes, there is still that Levitical Order. You might say it had corrupted itself into what today we call the Rabbinical Order. But at least there was a standing priesthood. But something else also happened. Earlier in this series, we talked about transitions and how sometimes the transition from one priesthood to another can take time. So, we begin to see the transition to the Melchizedekian Order. Yeshua was renewing the wedding vows with His Proverbs 31 bride. And then later, in the book of Acts (Ma’asei), we begin to see how Yeshua’s priesthood was being established.

And so, is there a standing priesthood today? Yes! Exactly. That is what Nazarene Israel is now. There has been a great falling away and right now there is presently being a restoration from that great falling away. We see the evidence of the original priesthood in the book of Acts. And then there is a falling away into Christianity, and then further into Catholicism. And then there is a partial restoration in Protestantism, a little bit further restoration in the Messianic movement, and now we are beginning to see the full-on restoration of the original first-century sect of the Nazarenes. We talk about this in the Nazarene Israel study.

Next, we should ask whether there is a need to rehearse fleeing in haste. Well, in the Exodus twelve Pesach, yes, there was clearly a need to rehearse (prepare) to flee in haste. However, in the Levitical priesthood, they were already dwelling in the land of Israel. So, effectively, they were rehearsing dwelling in the land. At the time point of the Last Supper, they were also effectively rehearsing dwelling in the land. They would eventually leave Israel to go into all nations to make disciples in all nations and immerse them in Yeshua’s name, but they would not do so in haste.

We just saw in the Melchizedekian Order, if you are living in the land of Israel then yes, there is a need to rehearse fleeing the land of Israel in haste. Because the Abomination that Makes Desolate is going to be set up. But if you are in the dispersion, while there is a need to leave Egypt (the world system), there is not a need to flee in haste. So, under both circumstances, we are leaving. But in the land, it is with haste while in the dispersion it is not with haste.

What about blood on the doorposts? Obviously, in the Exodus twelve service, they physically placed the blood on the doorpost. Because that was a prophetic shadow picture of Yeshua.

But in the Levitical Order, no they did not place the blood on the doorpost. Because for one, you would leave your house and come up to Jerusalem, and then you would offer your sacrifices at the altar. Because one of the purposes was to unify the nation. But typically speaking, it is way too far to take the blood back to your house and apply it to the doorpost. Does not work like that.

And then in the days of the Last Supper, you had the same thing going on at the temple. The physical lamb sacrifice was going to be offered at the altar. But we would effectively place Yeshua’s blood on the doorposts of our hearts. And that is the same as today, in the Melchizedekian Order. We are placing and confirming Yeshua’s blood on the doorposts of our hearts, so to speak.

Now, we get some very good frequently asked questions. A lot of people dismiss them, but there is a lot to this.

Some people ask why we do not automatically revert back to the Exodus chapter twelve service if we are not living in the land of Israel. That is a very good question. But the answer to that is that we are not under a No-Priesthood situation. This is not a No-Priesthood Pesach. We now have a standing Melchizedekian Order. And while the Order of Melchizedek can operate with a blood altar, it does not need a blood altar in order to operate. And that is an important key factor because Yahweh has again chosen Jerusalem in 1948 when the nation of Israel was born in one day. And because Yahweh has again chosen Jerusalem, we believe that is where He would want any blood sacrifices offered. Now, it is especially important to understand that we are not offering blood sacrifices today. We are going to talk about that in just a moment.

Now the question is where do we hold the Pesach ritual? We are choosing that word very carefully. Again, in Exodus chapter twelve, it was held within our own gates. In other words, it was performed by individual houses.

In the Levitical priesthood, it was performed at the Levitical altar. Because part of the purpose was to unify the nation around Yahweh’s altar three times a year.

At the time point of the Last Supper, the lamb was offered on the Levitical altar on the conjunction of the 13th and 14th. But Yeshua Himself was offered on the tree (cross; stake) the 14th.

But what do we do in the Melchizedekian Order? That is what we are trying to find out, that is what we want to know. Okay, this is tricky, so let us pay close attention here. I do not want to say the wrong thing. In the land of Israel, if you live in the land of Israel and you are blessed to be able to go up to Jerusalem, meaning you are not bedridden or anything like that, you should clearly go to Jerusalem for the Pesach. However, in the dispersion, with most of Ephraim and much of Judah that is sojourning with Ephraim, our belief is that we should do it again by houses. And the reason we believe this is that the original Pesach ritual was done within our gates (or on our property). The original Pesach ritual was done by houses and then there is a public set-apart gathering (mikra kodesh) on the first day and the seventh day of unleavened bread.

I know that everyone wants to make a big public gathering on the day of the Pesach. But the first time we see the Pesach in Scripture, the Pesach itself is held in the home and then Israel gathers together on the first day and the seventh day of unleavened bread. I realize that is different than the way the rest of the world does it and different than the way the rabbis do it. But we are not concerned really with what the rabbis do. We are not really concerned with what anyone, but Yahweh wants us to do.

Now, I want to be clear about this thing. There are some people who like to go to the land of Israel to celebrate the Pesach. We strongly recommend against celebrating the Pesach at the coming anti-Yeshua temple. There is a third temple on the way, and it will not be a clean temple. Our brothers and sisters in Orthodox Judah are getting ready to put together this third temple. We can see world leaders right now conspiring to do this. It will not be a clean temple, it will not be a clean priesthood, it will not be a clean altar. We need to wait for the fourth temple to be built, which will be Ezekiel’s temple. And we will know that is Ezekiel’s temple because it will be built to the specifications found in Ezekiel chapters forty through forty-six. If anyone is interested to know more about that, I refer you to the study on Revelation and the End Times and also the video series Revelation Simplified.

People want to know what we should do today. Should we eat standing? In the original Exodus twelve Pesach, yes, they would eat standing because they were leaving Egypt.

In the Levitical Order, the tradition was that you did not need to eat standing because we are not going anywhere. The tradition is that we are rehearsing dwelling in the land.

At the time point of the Last Supper, the tradition again applied. We saw that Yeshua ate the Last Supper sitting down, similar if not identical to the manner of a Passover Seder. But it does not really matter because the Last Supper was not the Pesach, and the Last Supper does not affect the rules of the Pesach in any way.

So, what are we supposed to do under the Melchizedekian Order? If we are in the land of Israel, yes, we should eat standing. Because we are going to flee the land of Israel when the Abomination that Makes Desolate is set up. And if we are in the dispersion, yes, I believe we should still eat it standing. But not because we are going to flee in haste nor go by flight. But we are going to leave the world system, we are going to leave the dispersion, nonetheless. So it makes sense. Again, we are trying to rehearse leaving Egypt. We are trying to rehearse leaving the world system and going back home to the land of Israel. That is how we should rehearse. The difference is that if we are in the land then we eat standing and in haste, but if we are in the dispersion we still eat standing, only not in haste.

The next question becomes how we should dress.

On the original Exodus twelve Pesach, they ate the Pesach with their belt on their waist, their shoes on their feet, their staves in their hands. Bags packed, ready to go. Because Yahweh told them they were going to be driven out in haste. They were going to have to go suddenly.

In the Levitical Order, the tradition was that they were already free, and they did not have to go anywhere. So they ate reclining or laying down. Because they were rehearsing dwelling in the land.

Same thing with the time point of the Last Supper. The tradition was to recline because they were rehearsing staying and dwelling in the land. They would leave Israel later, but that is a separate question.

What should we do in the Melchizedekian Order? Well, we have our belt on our waist, our shoes on our feet, and our staff in our hands so to speak. Because we are leaving Egypt. The only difference is when we are in the land we should eat in haste because we are preparing to flee when the Abomination that Makes Desolate is set up. In the dispersion, we are still preparing to leave Egypt and the world’s system, but we do not flee. Therefore, we do not eat in haste. That is the only difference. We dress the same in both circumstances, but inside the land, haste makes more sense.

Do we treat it as a rehearsal for leaving Egypt? In the Levitical Order, the tradition was no. And this was again the same in the time of the Last Supper. They were already entered into and dwelling in the land.

But under the Melchizedekian Order, if you live in the land, you are preparing to leave Egypt. Because effectively, the entire world right now is under the Babylonian system and the existing land of Israel is no different. Babylonian democracy is of the world, the world equates to Egypt. We are effectively preparing and rehearsing to leave Egypt. The same thing for in the dispersion.

Is the Pesach a confirmation of the wedding covenant? Is the Pesach like a confirmation of Shiddukhin? Absolutely! Yes. And one of the main things we need to do in the Melchizedekian Pesach is to remember our wedding vows, the great sacrifice that He made, and to confirm that, yes, we are going to be disciples for Him. Yes, we want to be His Proverbs 31 brides doing all things that He said to do, which is to help establish His global Melchizedekian ministry.