​It is called Yom Habikkurim in Hebrew and means The Feast of Firstfruits. "The Lord said to Moses, 'Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain of harvest. He is to wave the sheaf before the Lord so it will be accepted on your behalf. The priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath.'" (Leviticus 23:9-11) The children of Israel kept this feast not knowing it was a portend of the future.
 
The yearly Hebrew calendar for months begins with Nissan. The Lord intentionally placed it in the spring when new life is emerging. He said, "This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of the year." (Exodus 12:2) On the tenth of Nissan, each family would bring into their home a year-old, spotless male lamb. The lamb was to be slaughtered on Nissan 14 and the blood from that lamb placed upon the tops and doorframes of their homes. The reasons they did this was to protect themselves from the judgment plague of the death of the firstborn and to initiate the beginning of the Passover Festival that is to be celebrated yearly. Later, they followed with a firstfruits celebration on Nissan 16.
 
Through the celebration of Firstfruits, the Israelites were to bring before the Lord the first and best of their harvest. Frequently they brought a sheaf of their barley harvest for the priest to wave before God. By bringing this offering, the people were declaring their trust in God for the coming harvest. The dates of these festivals are the same ones that our Passover Lamb, Jesus, was crucified and rose from the dead. Messiah said, "A single grain of wheat will never be more than a single grain of wheat unless it drops into the ground and dies. Because then it sprouts and produces a great harvest of wheat—all because one grain died." (John 12-24 - TPT) A footnote in The Passion Translation attached to this verse gives the Aramaic translation: "If it dies, it will bring forth a great rebirth." Jesus, the sacrifice for our sins, was accepted on our behalf by the Father as the perfect sacrifice, and He was raised to new life by the power of the Holy Spirit.
 
1 Corinthians 15:20-22 explains that Jesus is our Firstfruit offering: "But Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive." Romans 6:4 adds to our understanding: "Sharing in His death by our baptism means that we were co-buried and entombed with Him, so that when the Father's glory raised Christ from the dead, we were also raised with Him. We have been co-resurrected with Him so that we could be empowered to walk in the freshness of new life." (TPT)
 
Jesus is our Passover Lamb and our offering of Firstfruits. Since we are in the month of Nissan, it is time for us to acknowledge what the Lord did for us. When we give God our first and best offerings, we are saying to Him that we are setting this aside as an act of worship and devotion to Him. While Firstfruits is no longer tied to growing grains and produce, we can demonstrate our devotion to the Lord through our time, resources, and love.
 
We have a promise in Proverbs 3:9, 10. "Glorify God with all your wealth, honoring Him with your very best (firstfruits), with every increase that comes to you. Then every dimension of your life will overflow with blessings from an uncontainable source of inner joy." (TPT) Not only is Jesus remembered as our resurrected King on Nissan 16, but it is the day when God's people practice what is called "Counting the Omer." (Omer means sheaf.) In the counting, the Lord's faithfulness is acknowledged daily. This occurs for fifty days until the next harvest when the Holy Spirit was poured out. Through this counting, we have a special opportunity to draw close to God daily. Here is how I count the Omer: I keep a gratitude journal and record my blessings in it daily. Maybe recording this daily thanksgiving to the Lord would bless you as it has blessed me.

​Before HIs death, Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples. He told them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer." (Luke 22:15) Long ago, when the children of Israel were still in bondage in Egypt, God established a yearly calendar for His people that was centered on the Passover remembrance. He instructed the Israelites to bring a spotless lamb into their homes on the tenth day of the first month, Nissan. At twilight on the fourteenth day, the lambs were to be slaughtered and their blood placed on the sides and tops of the doorframes of their homes so that the angel of death would pass over their homes. God's people were to eat a special meal and prepare for their deliverance from bondage. In Exodus 12:17 we are told, "...Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come." Robert Stearns of Eagles' Wings ministry puts it this way:  "This historic event is important because it was commissioned by God in Exodus.”
 
Passover begins at sundown tomorrow. Jesus was crucified after celebrating the Passover with His disciples. You may wonder why we celebrated Resurrection Sunday a month ago. My only explanation is that man evades God's domain, and such is the case with this festival. In early 300 A.D., it seems that the churches around the world had disagreements about the divinity of Christ and the time to celebrate Easter. Emperor Constantine wanted peace, so in 325 A.D. he called together Christian bishops for a meeting known as the Nicene Council. Passover is a festival meant to memorialize Christ's death, but the Council wanted to focus on His resurrection. They also wanted this celebration to occur on the same day of the week every year. To do this, they decided to sever the connection to Passover by using a different calendar. To justify their decision, blame for Christ's death was placed squarely on the Jews. The Council's secretary wrote, "...It appeared an unworthy thing that in the celebration of the most holy feast we should follow the practice of the Jews, who have piously defiled their hand with enormous sin..."
 
In accordance with the Nicene Council, the focus on the death and sacrifice of Jesus Christ was diminished. Those saints who desired to live according to God's word in keeping the Passover had to do so secretly. The Church began blending pagan cultures with Easter, and this day was fixed as the first Sunday after the full moon of the vernal equinox. Years of following the Gregorian calendar has cut the Church from Her Jewish roots and created a division that is hard to overcome.
 
Tomorrow night Jews will be preparing their Passover meals called a Seder. Jesus reclined at a table after HIs disciples prepared for their own Seder. Afterward, Jesus would shed His blood on a cross and remove our sins so that we can have eternal life with Him. "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21)
 
God established the holy season of Passover so that we would remember that Jesus is our Passover Lamb. The Israelites were instructed to remove leaven from their homes during Passover because this is a symbol of sin. Apostle Paul instructed the Corinthians, "Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast--as you really are. For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us keep the Festival, not with old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth." 
(1 Corinthians 5:7, 8)
 
May I suggest that during this Passover week we meditate on God's Word and the matchless gift of God to us in His Son, Jesus Christ, the pure and spotless Lamb of God?

​At sunset on 4/8/24, the day of the spectacular eclipse, we entered into the first month on the Hebrew calendar. The month is called Nissan which means the beginning of miracles. Isn't it appropriate that this month occurs when new life is erupting all around us? The glory of the Lord is being declared by creation. God wanted this month to lead out in front of the others. He told Moses and Aaron in Egypt, "This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of the year." (Exodus 12:2) Nissan is the month when life defies death, not only in nature but in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. It is a month of miracles.
 
What does this say to us about how we are to live our lives in this time? We are preparing to enter a new season. We are beginning a journey that will end in a harvest. But one must plant seeds before they can harvest. So, we must ask ourselves, "What kind of seeds should I sow?" Seeds that are well planted and cared for will make for a rich harvest.
 
The beginning of any endeavor is important. It sets the course for the future. We want our plans to align with God's plans and purposes for our lives. Just as the children of Israel walked out of Egypt toward their Promised Land, we must put our best foot forward and move along the paths of righteousness toward our God-given destination. When God directed the Israelites to move out of Egypt, He did not leave them to find their own way. He brought them out to follow His leading with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He is still leading us. He calls Himself the Good Shepherd. "...He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. When He has brought out all His own, He goes on ahead of them, and His sheep follow Him because they know HIs voice." (John 10:3, 4)
 
The tribe associated with the first month is Judah, the tribe of praise. They always marched first when Israel went to war. Just the sound of their praise was enough to defeat the enemy in many cases. This is the time for us to praise the Lord. It will break us into a new dimension of victory. This is how we war against the enemy for our covenant promises from God. As we praise, our faith should rise. Praising sets us on a path of healing and miracles. Our praise needs to include thankfulness to God for the way He delivers us from the bondage of sin.
 
God has given us the ability to express our feelings. Remember how God created the universe through His words. We are made in His image. When the Israelites were in bondage in Egypt they had no voice. However, when they received their freedom, they could express themselves. After they crossed the Red Sea, they followed Moses and Miriam in song and recounted all the miracles of God. (Exodus 15) Likewise, it is important for us to make positive confessions with our mouths this month because they change our atmosphere into one of blessings and set the course for our future in the year to come.
 
It will be important for us to ask God for HIs strategies during Nissan. By following Him as He leads, we will be brought into our own Promised Land where provision abounds. We must let God order our steps, so we enter into His plans for our lives and receive our inheritances.

​Are we drawing closer to the end of time? I do not have the answer to this question but believe that one must contemplate this with all the signs that are appearing in nature. Psalm 19:1 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands." Other verses that speak similarly include Joel 2:10, 30 and 31. "Before them (the Lord's army) the earth shakes, the sky trembles, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine...I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will turn to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." 
 
On Monday, April 8, a total solar eclipse will take place that will start in Mexico and then enter America at Eagle Pass, Texas, travel through 13 states to the northeast where it will exit the United States in Maine and move into Canada. About seven years ago there was another total solar eclipse that traveled across America from Salem, Oregon in the west to Fort Sumpter, South Carolina in the east. The unique part of the eclipse path was that it went over seven towns named Salem. It took place on August 4, 2017, and created a stir since there had not been a total eclipse over America since 1776. When we consider that the number seven represents completion and perfection, was God trying to make a point through the seven cities named Salem? Perhaps. Salem means peace, and Jesus is the Prince of Peace. America is meant to be an advocate for Israel, and Scripture instructs us to "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: 'May those who love you be secure.' (Psalm 122:6)
 
The eclipse that will occur on Monday, April 8, presents us with another interesting phenomenon. In its path from Texas to Maine are seven cities named Nineveh. In Biblical days, God saw the wickedness of the city of Nineveh and sent the reluctant prophet, Jonah, to warn the people of His impending judgment. Jonah proclaimed, "'Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.' The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth." (Jonah 3:4, 5) They repented and "When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, He relented and did not bring on them the destruction He had threatened." (Jonah 3:10)
 
It is interesting to me that the date of Monday’s eclipse falls directly in the middle of Purim (a time of judgment) and Passover (a time of release). As we look further into the details of the two eclipses, we see how they crisscross. The "X" falls over a city named Carbondale, Illinois, whose original name was Little Egypt. The very center of the "X" is over a State Park whose entrance and exit road is named Salem Road. There are some interesting parts of the Passover story that seem to apply to this convergence. God judged the Egyptians because they would not set the children of Israel free. He sent ten plagues, the ninth one being darkness for three days and night. After this, the final plague was death of the firstborn which brought about the release of the Israelites.
 
We are a people always looking for a sign from God, just as the pharisees did in Matthew 12. Jesus said to them, "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here." (Matthew 12:40, 41) Monday, April 8, at sunset, is the beginning of the month of Nisan, the first month on the Hebrew calendar. It is a time of redemption, release, and new life. The Passover occurred this month. Could there be a connection between this coming Passover and the moon passing between the sun and the earth that calls our nation to repentance and release? Since our nation has departed from God, could this be a sign calling us to repent as the Ninevites did so that He can bring us peace as highlighted in the first eclipse? I believe so. Let us pray to that end.