Christ comes into those who have trusted in Him to transform them. Even the person who lived a socially perfect life in the eyes of the community is still lost and going to hell if they do not trust in Christ. Anyone trusting in themselves and their own good deeds will not be saved.
I once heard an arrogant Christian express that he was irritated at those people who had big bad stories about how terrible they were before they were born again.
He expressed that he never had a story like that and those who did were just showing off.
This told me that the prideful man who didn't have a big bad story to tell about himself was perhaps convicted that he didn't find anything bad enough in himself to repent from. In fact I never heard this man tell about his own sinful heart.
Everyone has a big, bad story to tell about their own willfulness before Christ transformed them. It is not possible to be repentant when you don't think you did anything bad enough to go to hell.
Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?"
No one is without a sinful heart, no one is "doing well enough" to be saved because they were so good.
Mark 7:21-23 "For from within, out of your heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly."
Christ made it clear that our thoughts alone condemn us even if we never commit the sin outwardly.
Those who are truly broken over their own sin will have compassion for the broken heart of another person who is repenting. Those who think they are above others with no sin are the ones who are the harshest toward someone who has repented.
Galatians 6:1 "Brothers and sisters, even if a person is caught in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual are to restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you are not tempted as well."
Those who obey the Bible love to see someone who has repented, because we know we had to repent to be transformed by Christ.
Saturday, April 4, 2026
God Never Intended a Holiday Such as Easter
Amen, Amen!!!!!
Amir Tsarfati
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Shalom from Japan!
When I first came to faith in Yeshua the Messiah, I was lost in a sea of events and holidays I had never celebrated, with names unfamiliar to me. Easter was one of them.
In fact, the modern Hebrew name for it – Pascha – was my biggest riddle. Later, I discovered that it is the Greek name for Passover. In my Jewish Israeli mind, it made sense that since the events took place during Passover, they would be connected to that name.However, when I began to travel in the United States, the name “Easter” kept coming up. “What is this all about?” I asked myself. I went to the books and found that the most commonly cited explanation comes from the 8th-century English monk Bede.
He wrote that:
The name derives from a pagan Anglo-Saxon goddess called Eostre (or Ostara). She was associated with spring, renewal, and fertility. The month in which the Christian celebration occurred was called Eosturmonath, named after her.Over time, when Christianity spread in northern Europe, the celebration of the resurrection adopted the existing local name.
Rabbits and eggs were also later cultural additions to the season, as they represent birth, renewal, and reproduction.
Much of the above may be interesting to see and experience, but to the average Jewish person, adding a new holiday can feel somewhat foreign. So I had to dig deeper, only to discover that there was never any need for a new holiday.
If the purpose is to celebrate Yeshua’s resurrection, then it is already embedded in a feast that was waiting for its fulfillment during that Passover season: the Feast of Firstfruits. It is the third of the seven feasts of the Lord listed in Leviticus 23:9–14.
Verses 11–12, in particular, identify both the timing and the offering:
“He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And you shall offer on that day, when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the Lord.”
Paul the apostle wrote:
“But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (1 Corinthians 15:20)
So here you have it – a perfect fulfillment of an already existing appointed time. No need for new names or additional traditions.
Have a blessed weekend, remembering the real Passover Lamb who was slain and how, on the day after the Sabbath, He became the Firstfruits!
Thankful for His sacrificial death, empowered by His resurrection, and awaiting His return,
Amir Tsarfati
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