Elisha Vision – Commentary

Do Passover and Easter conflict with each other? As a Christian Zionist, this is important to me. There are three reasons they agree and one huge reason they conflict. It’s really not that complicated. The original events commemorated are in total agreement. It is only the later traditions added that confuse the issue.

So let me explain. Have you heard of this saying about the Old and New Testaments? “The Old is in the New revealed and the New is in the Old concealed.” This is a summary of the concept that, as Yehovah God was revealing His purpose, first with Israel and then all the nations, it was a progressive revelation.

Passover, and the other feasts of Yehovah in Leviticus 23, are the pattern for the entire Bible/human history. Before the Messiah came, the possibility of relationship with God was primarily national. After He came it was revealed to be intimately personal. This was not a new plan, but was hidden in the Torah, or Old Testament, all along. Abraham was saved not for who he was, but because he believed God. For example, here is a paragraph I recently wrote for a small group in my home town:

Celebrating the resurrection is certainly Biblical because it is the fulfillment of First Fruits, the third feast of Yehovah on the morning after the Sabbath. See Leviticus 23.  Yeshua (Jesus) is the Passover Lamb. He is also the Unleavened (by sin) Bread, and then the first fruit from the dead. Hallelujah! (FYI – I personally do not use the name “Easter” because it comes from the name of the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, goddess of fertility, and thus the rabbits and eggs.)

So, the three feasts of Passover week are fulfilled in Jesus with perfect symmetry. The same is true for Shavuot/Pentecost, and the Fall Feasts. (I gave a ten-minute summary of each Feast in this radio interview. Listen to the first part about Passover.)

The big deal about the clash between Passover and Easter, is certainly not about Scripture, it is about tradition. As I said in the above quote, Easter is a name traced back to the top Babylonian goddess, a pagan deity of fertility that appears by many names throughout history. This was never originally associated with the resurrection of Yeshua. It was later added intentionally to divert from Jesus.

The crazy fact is that even though the name Easter came into use many hundreds of years after Jesus, the name actually appears in the King James Bible in a mega translation error:

And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. Acts 12:4 KJV

This is terribly unfortunate because virtually all other translations make the correction. The Greek word is “Pesach” which literally means “Passover.” If you look at the preceding verses in the New King James you see a direct reference to Passover (Unleavened Bread) in verse 3.

Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Now it was during the Days of Unleavened Bread. So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover. Acts 12:1-4 NKJV

As for me and my house, we will celebrate two glorious historic days of deliverance this weekend. We will thank our Father God for the fabulous night almost 4,000 years ago that the death Angel passed over every house, which had the blood of a spotless lamb on the doorpost. We will also celebrate and worship the living Lamb of God who died and rose from the dead after three days; whose blood has washed over us who believe, so that we are clean before God. Death has passed over us by the gracious unmerited favor of God over all who believe in Him, who is the Living Passover Lamb.

HAPPY RESURRECTION DAY!

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem and pray for rain.

Les Lawrence, Voice of Christian Zionists                     (Read more)