DOES THE NEW COVENANT EXIST, OR IT
IS THE SAME “SCRIPTURE”?
CAN NEW TESTAMENT HAVE OWN NEW FESTIVALS?
1.
Nisan 14 is the Day of Atonement of the Mankind and the Day of
the New Covenant. As such it is much more important than Pesah
(Passover) itself. Have in mind, it is the single eve of a festival
which is especially mentioned by G-d in Torah, not as any other eve of a
festival.
2. Nisan 16 is the Day of Resurrection. Naturally, there are no G-d's
ordained festivals of the New Covenant in Torah. This is the reason why
the Adventists speak of One Sacred text of the Bible only, not about any
"New" vs "Old" Testaments, usually pointing out to
Paul's 2 Tim 3:16: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of G-d,
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness" – should we understand that Paul
speaks of his own letters as of the "Scripture"? When neither
Acts (not to say about today known Gospels) still had not been written,
known and recognised, nor was Paul so shameless to present his own
circulars as Holy Scriptures: he spoke about Torah (Acts 15:21) only!
G-d' Covenant does not mean ("Old" vs. "New")
Scripture, but any real Covenant concluded beween G-d and His people
chosen for Coming Mashiah and Salvation. Series of Covenants followed
concluded through Abraham, Moses and Messiah J-shua on Golgotha's Cross
(cf. New Covenant first mentioned Jer 31:31).
Should Messianic believers commemorate main events of the New
Covenant (Nativity, Atonement, Resurrection), or not? Nisan 14 is a
commemoration of the Atonement, however it was Resurrection only which
showed that the Atonement had really taken place and that the New
Covenant had started. No hint to any festival on Nisan 16 is seen in the
Bible except connection with the end of the Quietude of the Sabbath
Grave (Matth 28:1).
Even more! What is the sense to celebrate Resurrection on Nisan 16 if
this Jewish lunar-solar date fells on the first day of the week (when
the Lord resurrected) only in minor occurances? It is not important
whether the adventists uderstand that the meaning of the Sabbatism is
entrance from the temporary Rest of the seventh day of the week into
eternal Rest (Hebr 9:4) of the eschatological Eighth day of the
Creation, shown by the Resurrection after the Sabbath Rest. This is what
the adventists do really negate: a connection of the temporary Rest with
the eschatological eternal Rest as aim of the temoral rest. This is what
the Resurrection reveals on the first / Eighth day of the week: the
fulfilment of the creation. Therefore, the Resurrection should be
celebrated on the break of the next day after the Paschal Shabbat, but
this should always be "Sunday", of course! In what a way then,
if Nisan 16 can be „Sunday" in minor occurances only?
3. However Passover as commemoration of the Exode was not an isolated
festival in the Jewish calendar. It was connected with Pentecost
(Shavuot) as one continuing celebration, the finalizing of which should
be counted:
- through 49 days of the Omer (‘sheaf’ and a measure of
barley),
- starting from consecrating in Temple a barley sheaf of the first
harvest,
- "on the morrow after the [first] Sabbath" of Pesah (Lev
23:11).
On the 50th day the festival of Shavot takes place when two loaves baked
of the first wheat are sacrificed.
Dates of all Jewish festivals are pointed out in Torah, except one of
the three main festivals, which is is Shavuot!
No problem to count 49 days from the morrow after the first Sabbath,
however the word ðabbât ‘quietude’ has two main meanings: ‘a
festive rest’, ‘the seventh day of the week’
("Saturday"). If one counts from this day of the week, then
Shavuot becomes an exception among all festivals because its (Jewish)
calendar day will not be fixed as a day of the month, but it will be the
first day of the week ("Sunday") any time!
4. Last not least, what does the Festival of Shavuot mean, or
commemorate? It is obvious from the text of Torah, it is a thanksgiving
harvest festival, or in pre-Mosaic terms, a Semitic agricultural feast.
It has been connected with Pesah ca. in the 13th c. only, as a
commemoration of the goal of the Exode from Egypt: receiving of the Law
at Mount Sinai. This is very logical and really provides deep sense to
the festival, since first fruits of the liberation are seen in the
Covenant between G-d and Israel. Thus Shavuot is Festival of the
Covenant in Abrahamic sense. However is this not the same with the New
Covenant? The birth of Ecclesia with sending the Holy Spirit to it is
equally a festival of the New Covenant in turn. Thus Shavuot is Commemoration
of Covenants, the Day of Covenant. The birth of Ecclesia with
sending the Holy Spirit to it is equally a festival of the New Covenant
in turn. Then a link to Golgotha Sacrifice is clear: Y-shuah Mashiah
Congregation receives the Holy Spirit and becomes the Body of Christ as
a result of the Golgotha Covenant confirmed by Resurrection. Is it not a
feast of Resurrection then? –
It is, if one counts the Omer as actual Shabbats, not as a festive Pesah
rest on the second day (Nisan 16) of the festival, i.e. not as weeks,
because it always happens on the first day of the week
("Sunday") only.
What are gounds to count Omer in such a way? – Even a greater one than
in traditional rabbinical Judaism, which counts weeks in order the
festival be only on a fixed month's day, i.e. on Sivan 6. Enough to say
that the Caraites, who have never accepted traditional concept of the
Oral Torah, as well as ancient Essenes, celebrate Shavout having counted
the Omer with 7 Sahabbats (seventh days of the week), and this is always
the first day of the week ("Sunday") in turn. The practice of
the Essenes is the oldest. One refers to it on the basis of the
apocriphal Book of Jubilees found within Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls. This
conforms to the earliest comprehension of the post-Judean Christian
fathers in turn.
Therefore, the best conclusion for Messianic Jews could be not to follow
the adventists in denying festivals of the New Covenant, but to
celebrate the Resurrection together with the feast of Coming of the Holy
Spirit to the Church, i.e. always on the first day of the week
("Sunday"), and this is also right according to the Jewish
tradition in which Pesah–Shavuot is one continuing festival of
Liberation and the Covenant.
PS According to
the Gospels, Y-shua was crucified on Nisan 14 as a Lamb of G-d, however
a poblem arises how His Last Supper could be a Paskhal (better: Pashal,
Passhal, not German/Yiddish ch!) Seder in this case.
The Paskhal Seder takes place on Nisan 14/15 after the Sunset. However
in order to facilitate preparations for the feast, the Paskhal Seder
could be allowed to arrange a day earlier provided the first day of
Passover was a Sabbath day of the week. One problem more is usually
touched upon, which is three days and nights in the midst of Earth, as
foreshadowed in the book of Jonah. However the Jews did not even
have a special word for one day-night then: any event which took place
within the term of three days-nights was rendered as having occurred
during three days and nights (cf. 1 Sam 30:12–13).
On his highly informative site Hebrew
for Chistians (Holidays) John J.Parsons states that
Y-shua resurrected on Nisan 17. This is done basing on a premise that
Y-shua was in Grave 3 full day-nights. John J. Parsons mentions
different meanings of the word Hebr. Šabbât and argues that
Sabbath as the first day of Pesah (Nisan 15) was on Friday that year,
but Sabbath as the last day of the week was Nisan 16 after that. He also
regards calculation of the Omer from the Sabbath day of the week (always
producing the Sunday of Shavuot, i.e. the first day of the week) to be
erroneous as coming from “corrupted Sadducees”.
However a calculation by modern converter http://www.abdicate.net/cal.aspx/cal.aspx
shows NO Nisan 15 occurring on Friday between Jewish years 3779
and 3796, i.e. between the years 19 and 36 of the Julian calendar.
However Nisan 15 WAS ON weekly SABBATH
four times over a span of 3779–3796 = 19–36:
א – on April 4, 19 (had
Y-shua been born in year 6 BCE, He should have been only 25 years old
then),
ב – on
March 23, 26 (had
He been born in year 6 BCE, He should have been
32 years old then,
what is closest to the narrative of Luke 3:23 and John 8:57. If
born in 4 BCE, He should have been 30 years
old what corresponds more to the start of His ministry),
ג – on April 4, 33 (much
elder!), and
ד – on
March 31, 36 finally, when no Pesah of the Gospel could be
because of the age of Y-shua not corresponding to the Biblical narrative
anyway.
Thus one can admit that the mankind was redeemed on March
22, 26,
but the Salvator resurrected on March 24,
26.
Now if one is eager to know the actual Birthday,
it is a twoness:
March(Atonement)22=March(Resurrection)24, a Mystical Birthday of Mankind, what is also the same one
of Y-shua as a Son of Man.
As for the Sadducees, their Omer calculation corresponds to the Book of
Jubilees discovered in Qumran among scrolls coming from Essenes, as just
said above.
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