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Nisan 1-The Day Jesus was Baptized

Posted on by PMTkent

Nisan 1-The Day Jesus was Baptized

 

In our previous articles, we began to discuss the importance of God’s Holy Festivals and how they were prophetic signs of Christ’s arrival. While Nisan 1, the First Day of the First Month, was NOT a holy festival, it was the date of many firsts, the most important of which was the day of Christ’s Baptism and the start of His Earthly Ministry.

In Exodus 12:1-2, during the Egyptian plagues, God instructed that the Jews recognize this first day, and this first month (Nisan 1) as the beginning of their religious calendar. One year after the Israelites fled Egypt, they had dedicated and “[erected] the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, on the first day of the first month” (Exodus 40:1-2). “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle”. This was a direct reference to Christ’s future consecration, also on the first day of the first month, during John’s Baptism by water, which was followed by the Holy Spirit coming upon Christ.

Several other important events happened on this special day which focused on the future King Solomon’s Temple and the roles Christ would serve during His time on Earth.

After King Solomon’s construction of the First Temple, several subsequent rulers began to do evil in the sight of God, one of the most heinous being idol worship and the human sacrifices that often came with it. God raised up the righteous King Hezekiah, who was responsible for bringing Israel back to fearing and venerating the one True God. King Hezekiah set a precedent for future rulers and “did what was right in the eyes of the LORD … [and] in the first year of his reign, in the first month [Nisan 1], he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them” (2 Chronicles 29:2-3). This date marked the beginning of the Cleansing of the Temple.

During the seventh year reign of the Persian King, Artaxerxes, his scribe, Ezra, was tasked with bringing in more groups of returning “Israelites, including priests, Levites, musicians, gatekeepers and temple servants, [who] came up to Jerusalem” (Ezra 7:7) to continue rebuilding the Temple of Israel and begin teaching the scriptures in the Temple again. They “had begun [their] journey from Babylon on the first day of the first month, [Nisan 1]” (Ezra 7:9) beginning the reestablishment of the Temple system of Teaching of the Scriptures.

During the twentieth year of Artaxerxes’ reign, we saw the initiation of one of the most important prophecies foretelling of the coming of Christ. During the Babylonian Captivity, Daniel had prophesied that “From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.'”. On the first day of the first month [Nisan 1], while Nehemiah was serving as cupbearer/chief counsellor to the Persian King, Artaxerxes, God used this foreign sovereign to issue a decree which approved and authorized Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and restore Israel as a state (ref. Nehemiah 2:1-6). This first day of the Israelite religious calendar marked the day Israel would begin to be restored and rebuilt and was the start of the prophetic countdown to Christ.

We can easily trace Christ’s Baptism and the commencement of His Earthly Ministry to this same date of beginnings.

In our previous article, we discussed that during the second Passover Festival of His Ministry, Christ fed the multitude of 5,000 with the five small barley loaves and two small fishes. During the third Passover Festival He was crucified. In John 2:13-25, we learn about Christ’ first Passover Festival where He is filled with righteous anger and drives out the merchants and money changers with a whip, yelling “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” This would have taken place on the 14th day of the first month, Nisan (Abib).

Earlier in the chapter, Christ and a few of His Disciples were attending the wedding feast in Cana. John makes a point of stating that the wedding began on the third day (ref. John 2:1), which is still a custom of modern Jews today, because “God saw that it was good” twice on this day, leading many to believe weddings will be doubly blessed if they start on the third day (ref Genesis 1:9-13). Most weddings lasted a week during this time period and it would be during the last day or two that the wine would realistically run out. The water transformed into wine miracle must have taken place no later than the 9th of the first month, a maximum of seven days.

This 9th of the first month being the latest this miracle could have taken place is reinforced by the fact that “after this [Jesus] went down to Capernaum with His mother and brothers and His Disciples. There they stayed for a few days.” We’ve previously discussed how the 10th of the first month was extremely important, since it was the day that the Passover Lamb was chosen and brought into the family home (ref. Exodus 12:3) before the Passover celebration on the 14th which is mentioned in John’s narrative immediately afterwards.

The few days before the wedding were marked by Christ being baptized [Nisan 1], John’s disciples, Andrew and Simon Peter following Christ the day after His Baptism [Nisan 2], and Philip and Nathanael being called by Jesus the day after that (ref. John 1:35-50) [Nisan 3]. The Wedding of Cana miracle where water was turned into wine would have ended no later than Nisan 9, since the next day [Nisan 10] Jesus went back home with His Disciples to bring the sacrificial lamb into their house in preparation for Passover [Nisan 14] when He chases out the merchants and money changers.

The first day, of the first month, the Tabernacle was consecrated and God’s Spirit filled the building and was also the date of the future Baptism of Christ by water and the Holy Spirit. It marked the beginning of the cleansing of the Temple by King Hezekiah, mirroring Jesus chasing out the merchants and money changers during His first ministry Passover. It was the date when Ezra set out to reestablish the teaching of the Word of God in the Temple, which was fulfilled by Christ by His explaining during His second Passover that, “It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ [so] Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from Him comes to Me.” (ref. John 6:45). Ezra teaching in the Temple was necessary so they could recognize when they were being taught by God Himself. This date was also the commencement of the seventy ‘sevens’ marking Christ’s coming and “After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One [would] be put to death” (ref. Daniel 9:25) on the third Passover.

While this First Day, of the First Month is not typically celebrated, it is still significant, since it helps us remember that God set it aside as a special day to mark the beginning of His Calendar in preparation for the Spring Festivals, starting with Passover. In His Infinite Wisdom, God included prophetic signs within the Temple, to point us to the coming Messiah and some of the key prophecies Christ fulfilled during the three Passovers of His Ministry. This beginning of God’s Calendar, we hope you recognize how Christ was baptized to prepare the way for the Holy Spirit to baptize us by fire, to fulfill the roles God’s Kingdom has for our own lives today.

 

Prepared by, Kent Simpson, Apostolic Prophet & Eric Sepulveda, PMT Administrator

 

Wine and Worship

Posted on by PMTkent

Wine and Worship

 

In our last article, we discussed God’s seven holy feasts and gave a brief explanation of their significance, how they foretold of Christ’s arrival, and how He fulfilled each of them. Of these seven feasts, men were required to appear for three every year: the Festival of Unleavened Bread (Passover), Festival of Weeks (Pentecost), and Festival of Tabernacles (Sukkot). They all had customs concerning wine, with each symbolizing a different aspect of Christ’s final ministering, during His time on earth.

The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) was a fall harvest festival that required that the Israelite men present a tithe offering of everything their fields had produced. In remembrance of their forefather’s time living in tents, they were to stay in temporary structures for seven days (ref. Deuteronomy 14:22; 16:13-15). On the last day of this celebration, the High Priest would draw water from the spring under the Jerusalem Mount, which was used to previously anoint King David. The water from this spring was extremely limited and precious and would be mixed with wine during the public sacrifices during the festivities. Jesus declaring that He was the source of Living Water (ref. John 7:37-39) shocked the audience, who understood that the sacrificial outpouring of living water and wine, symbolizing blood, was a sign of the coming Christ (Jeremiah 17:13; Zechariah 14:8-9; John 7:41) before God’s reign on earth. This was fulfilled when one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and blood and water poured out (ref. John 19:34).

Passover had originally required that the blood of the sacrificial lamb to be displayed on the doorposts of each Israelite family’s home, but, because every male was required to attend it in Jerusalem, the lamb’s blood was instead poured out into a silver basin and splashed on the altar of sacrifice. The Kiddush, literally translated “sanctification” was a blessing recited over wine or grape juice on the Sabbath and Jewish holidays. Often, a silver cup, representing sanctification/salvation, was used. Christ uses this symbolism when He blessed the wine during the Passover dinner, often described as the Last Supper (ref. Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 12:23-25; Luke 22:17-18).

The Passover celebration had multiple cups of wine to be drunk throughout the meal, but Paul recognized the cup drunk in remembrance of Christ was the “Cup of Blessing, which we bless, [during] the communion of the Blood of Christ” (ref. 1 Corinthians 10:16).

During the previous year’s Passover, Jesus fed the crowd of five thousand with five small barley loaves and two small fish. When the crowd tracked Him down, He confronted them with the fact that He was the Bread of Life and that only by “eating the flesh of the Son of man and drinking His Blood” could they have Eternal Life. Even though the parallels between the Passover celebration’s bread and wine were still fresh on their minds, they still failed to understand the symbolism of what Christ said and many disciples abandoned Him (ref. John 6).

After Christ’s Resurrection, when the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) was being celebrated, Jesus’ followers experienced a violent heavenly wind in the house, before tongues of fire fell upon them and they became filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages. Because all Jewish men were required to attend Pentecost every year, people from all over the known world were present and when they heard their native foreign languages being spoken, they became confused, since the group consisted of mostly Galileans. Some of those participating in Pentecost instead taunted them, saying that the disciples had had too much wine. Apostle Peter challenges this, saying, in a booming voice, while addressing the crowd, “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you accuse. It’s only nine in the morning! (ref. Acts 2:1-15). Though wine was drunk liberally during this festival, it would not have been consumed during the breakfast meal.

Peter recognizes that this event was a prophetic fulfillment of Joel 2:28-32, which stated that in the Last Days, God said He would pour out His Spirit on All People, many would be filled with prophetic insight, and all who called on the name of the Lord would be saved. The Greek word used to express the pouring out of the Spirit “ekcheō” is extremely similar to the Hebrew word “shaphak” which also referenced the pouring out of the Spirit. Both were typically used in association with something that had been pierced, crushed, or otherwise broken before its contents are spilled out, such as the crushing of grapes for wine and the slaughtering of an animal for a blood sacrifice. While the jeering spectators thought the disciples were filled with the over pouring of wine in celebration of Pentecost and the spring harvest, Jesus’ followers were the first to be filled with the intoxicating Holy Spirit, which would now flow upon all who called on Christ’s name.

These three celebrations were mentioned several times in the Old Testament (Exodus 34:22; Deuteronomy 16:16; 2 Chronicles 8:13) as being mandatory, because they were profoundly significant in recognizing Christ’s arrival. Despite celebrating these feasts annually for hundreds of years, many Jews in Jesus’ time failed to recognize Him in the multiple instances of wine symbolism. Because Christ was the grape that was crushed and the Lamb that was slain, we not only are redeemed of all unrighteousness, have access to eternal life, but also have the overflowing Holy Spirit as our Helper during this New Age.

 

Prepared by, Kent Simpson, Apostolic Prophet & Eric Sepulveda, PMT Administrator