Counting of the Omer ~ Day 3

Counting of the Omer ~ Day 3

Today is Thursday, April 1, 2010, or Nissan 18, 5770.

BA-RUCH A-TAH ADO-NAI E-LO-HE-NU ME-LECH HA-OLAM ASHER KID-E-SHA-NU BE-MITZ-VO-TAV VETZI-VA-NU AL SEFI-RAT HA-OMER.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us concerning the counting of the Omer.

I wanted to be sure to point out one or two other points that I find interesting concerning the first Passover and that time in Jewish history.

I am always amazed at how God brings all things together, in such great detail and then leaves little clues to help us unwrap the mystery of His Word. However, once we follow the clues, unwrap the mystery we discover even more clues, more nuggets to unwrap and even deeper meanings.

Yeshua (Jesus) said Moses wrote about Him. Yet, when we read the Old Testament, we find that Moses never speaks of Yeshua (Jesus). Still, we see Yeshua in much of Moses writings, if we really dig in and look. We saw that in the Omer last night, in the Hebraic word Moses uses to express the salvation of YHVH (the Lord). The Hebrew word Moses used is “yeshuat.”

In the book of Deuteronomy we discover that the message of the Torah is basically ~ obey these words and you will have life. Through the Passover, God gives us a picture of this very thing.
(wish I could illustrate this!)

The Israelites were commanded to place the blood of the lamb on the doorposts and lintel of their dwellings. Keep this in mind.

Ancient Hebrew is a language of picture like illustrations. The word for life is chayim. The shape of the first letter (chet) looks something like a capital H only the horizontal line would be moved to the top of the vertical lines. You often see this on pieces of jewelry. It is the abbreviation for the word life. If you trace this shape with red, it would look much like the doorposts and lintel covered in blood. Hence, when we obey (as in the first Passover) we receive life. This is a continuing theme in the Torah.

The next thing I want to look at tonight is pretty simple. It is easy to see the type and shadow of the Passover Lamb, that Yeshua would one day take the place of. If you have studied at all, this connection is a given. Right?

The Passover lamb(s) had to be observed for a short period (4 days, I believe), to ensure it was without defect. It was the priest who declared the lamb worthy of sacrifice, without spot or blemish.

Knowing this, and knowing John the Baptist was from the tribe of Levi (the tribe of the priesthood) we see the significance of John the Baptist’s pronouncement in John 1:29:

“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”

And finally, yesterday (the 17th of Nissan) marked the Feast of First Fruits.


Yom HaBikkurim - or Day of the First Fruits

• The first products of the grain harvest
• The beginning of the production of the harvest season
• It can be viewed as "the promise of more to come" – (or, we could say the Messiah connection!)

Other events that took place on this day:

• Noah's ark safely came to rest on Mt. Ararat - Gen 8:4
• Moses led the Israelites through the parting of the Red Sea - Ex 3:18; 5:3
• Walls of Jericho fell - Joshua 5:13
• Hebrews delivered from Hamman's plot to destroy all Jewish people in the book of Esther - 3:12; 5:1

The odds of all these events occurring on the same date have been calculated to be : 783 quadrillion, 864 trillion, 876 billion, 960 million to: 1
Tomorrow is Good Friday. May you and your family be blessed!