Gary Webster: Nisan - Freedom Through the Lamb [2025/5785]

Read the transcript below, or watch a video of the teaching by Gary Webster.
Greetings from the one truly eternal city, Jerusalem. Tonight is the start of the month Nisan. We can say with King Solomon,
“the winter is past, The rain is over and gone. 12 The flowers appear on the earth; The time of singing has come, And the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. 13 The fig tree puts forth her green figs, And the vines with the tender grapes give a good smell.”

This month is the beginning of months for Jews everywhere. It is a time to get rid of the chametz (leaven) from their homes and cars. It is the time to do gardening and planting. It is the time for them to remember their forefathers emancipation from slavery in Egypt.

On the fourteen of Nisan, Jews everywhere will gather with family and friends to recall this event that happened over thirty three hundred years ago. They will read from a special booklet called an Haggadah. They will eat unleavened bread, drink red wine and feast on various meats (usually lamb) and vegetables. As they participate in this service called a Seder, each person is to imagine that they were at the first Passover. They are still in Egypt and will be freed from their shackles on the morrow.

But, there is a price to pay for this freedom. Blood will have to be shed. In the case of the Hebrews it will be the blood of an unblemished male lamb. That blood will be brushed on the lintel and side posts of every Hebrew home. G_d said,

"when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague will not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt." (Exodus 12:13)

What caused Pharaoh to finally agree to let the Hebrews go free? It was the death of his firstborn son. He waved the white flag of surrender. Thousands of Egyptians died that Passover night. Judgment fell on the Egyptians but mercy and grace came to the Israelites.

Every morning in the synagogue, Genesis chapter 22 is read. It is called the Akedah or the binding. The brief summary is as follows. G_d tells Abraham to go to Moriah and sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac. Abraham obediently leaves Beer Sheva and heads North to Moriah. When he gets there, he tells his servants that he and Isaac are going up to worship and will return. He takes along some fire, a knife and wood for the sacrifice. Isaac carries the wood on his back. Isaac asks his dad,

"Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"

He sees the fire, the knife and the wood but no animal. Abraham says,

"G_d will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering."

Abraham builds an altar, puts the wood on it, binds his son(Why does Isaac submit to his father’s plan?) and places him on it. He raises the knife to kill his son but an angel calls out to him. Stop! He says to Abraham, you have passed the test. You were willing to sacrifice that which is most dear to yourself. Take that ram caught in the thicket and offer it as a substitute for Isaac. Why did Abraham willing agree to what G_d asked of him?

Hebrews eleven verse 17, 18 &19 states,

"By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son"

of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called"

concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense"

Abraham believed G_d could do the impossible. After all, he fathered Isaac at one hundred years of age. He believed that G_d could take the ashes of his son and bring them back to life.

Can you think of another father and son in the Bible who were faced with this agonizing choice? Artist Marc Chagall did. His painting titled, “The Sacrifice of Isaac” illustrates the binding of Isaac but also the Crucifixion of Yeshua (Jesus). The Son of G_d submitted to His heavenly father’s plan. He would be the perfect, unblemished sacrifice.
In the painting, there is a red stream flowing from the hill where Yeshua is carrying the wooden tree. That stream (blood?) flows over the private parts of Isaac. Chagall understood what the Akedah was foreshadowing. Isaac was an unworthy sacrifice. Yeshua is the only worthy sacrifice.

John the beloved disciple of Yeshua, wrote in the Revelation,
“You are worthy to take the scroll,
 And to open its seals;
 For You were slain,
 And have redeemed us to God by Your blood
 Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation…”

Just as the lamb’s blood smeared on the lintel and side posts saved the Israelites from death, so the blood of Yeshua saves you and me from sin and death. It was on the fourteen of Nissan, two thousand years ago, that the sacrifice of Yeshua happened. John the Baptist declared to his disciples upon seeing Yeshua,

"Behold the lamb of G_d that takes away the sin of the world."(John 1: 29)

As the lamb caught in the thicket was Isaac’s substitute, in like manner, Yeshua is our substitute.
I don’t profess to understand how this act of redemption works. I just believe G_d.

Hebrews 10:14 states,

"By his(Yeshua’s) one sacrifice he has forever set free from sin the people he brings to G_d."(ESV)

The price for your freedom. The price for my freedom is the sacrifice of Yeshua.

Are you in bondage this Passover? Is there an addiction that you cannot break? You can experience freedom today. Yeshua declares in John chapter 8 verses thirty four to thirty six.

"Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. 36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."

Do not delay! Confess your sins to Yeshua. Ask Him to forgive you. Then walk in the freedom He gives.

Rosh Chodesh sameach! Chag Pesach sameach!

Moshe C.: Nisan [2024/5784]

Read the transcript below, or watch a video of the teaching by Moshe.

Shalom, my name is Moshe, and I'm part of Netivyah's leadership team here in Jerusalem. There is something special about the spring. I must admit I don't like the winter; it's too cold for me. But the spring brings not only warmer days but also the Jewish holiday that I love the most: Pesach, the Passover. And I think I'm not alone in that. Most Israelis, since they are a child, they always like to sing; "aviv hegiyah pesach ba aviv hegiyah pesach ba" What does it mean? The spring arrives, Pesach is on the way, and that's very special for us. We just celebrated Purim. Everyone is already thinking about the next holiday. We Jews are like this. We are always connected from Shabbat to Shabbat, from rosh chodesh to rosh chodesh, from hag to hag. And I feel that that's intrinsically Jewish, our connection to the dates and to the seasons. That's how we grew up as a people.

And the reason I have to be here with you today is rosh chodesh Nisan, which is a very special month in the Hebrew calendar. Nisan is a month with several biblical connections. We just mentioned Purim a minute ago. The month of Nisan was the month when the King Ahasuerus Hash Varosh decrees the destruction of the Jewish people. You can see that in the third chapter of the book of  Esther. Pesach, which is the highlight of this month is celebrated on the 15th of Nisan, which is the famous night, the famous Passover Seder. And it's a night of telling stories, singing. It's a night of drinking a lot of wine, and, of course, it's the night we celebrate Israels redemption from bondage in Egypt. In the Talmud, we read that there are four new years in the Jewish tradition. Rashash Shanah, the first of Tishri, is one of them. It is called the civil New Year, and also it's called Yum Hatruah, the day the shofar sounds. But on the detracted Rosh Hashana tonight, the first of Nisan is called by two names: the New Year of the Kings and the New Year of the Festivals. Wow, okay. New Year of the Kings sounds super exciting. It is historically the moment we start to count how many years a king is ruling over Israel.

"This month shall be your beginning of the month. It's the first month of the year to you."

This month shall be your beginning of months. It's the first month of the year to you. Beginnings have meaning. Beginnings have an intrinsic power. How can we understand what these beginnings mean? What they mean to us as believers? Let's see, for example, the example I gave before: the civil New Year. Here, Rosh Hashannah, on the first of Tishri. As we all know, the first of Tishri is preceded by a period of preparation, the month of Elul. From God's point of view, this is a time when His people have a chance to look inside, to soul search for signs of sin, for signs of transgressions against God. And then this whole month passes by, and on the first of Tishri, The Yum Hatruah, our souls are awakened. We see our corruption. We are enlightened, and we understand our human situation. Then, and only then, God's judgment on His people starts. During that, 10 days until Yum Kippor, we are under this, judgment.

And then, on Yom Kippur, we ask forgiveness as a people. And if we are sincere in our repentance, we are forgiven. This, can be understood as a 'mashal', as a parable of what happens in the life of every single Believer. God operates in our hearts, preparing us to see our need for forgiveness. His Spirit makes us see how God's holy and how we are not holy, how we need Him to change our hearts. And then He grants us the ability, the capacity to repent. And we do it, and then we accept Yeshua, and our lives and souls are saved by Yeshua's merits. And then, and only then, we become a new creation.

But how about tonight? How about the first of Nisan? What does it represent to me as a Believer? This is the beginning of the months according to the Bible. This is the day we celebrate the beginning of the festivals according to the Bible. And that's when your time with God effectively starts. That's when your life as a believer starts. That's when your life together with the Lord begins. And as it says, in the first month of the year, what we see is that the month of Nisan comes with a very powerful teaching. It's the month when Israel was released from bondage and servitude. What does this parable means to us? How does this mashal apply to our lives? See, once we are saved, the God of Israel makes us His people. He gives us new Hearts. He gives us new life. He gives us His Spirit. And now it's the time to take us from sin, from bondage, to literally take us from the hands of the enemy and bring us to His kingdom.

How does He do it? He tells us to remove the hametz the leaven, from our houses. He commands us to sacrifice and to apply the blood of the Lamb to our doors. He asks us to prepare ourselves and wait for His miracles. The month of Nisan talks about the beginning of our lives as believers. Many, many of us, brothers and disters in Christ, remain on the surface, trusting only on dalvation. Salvation is important, but dalvation is only the first step. Hebrews 12 teaches us that without holiness no one will see the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 4 tells us that we are expected to be vessels of sanctification and honor. And Galatians 2 even mentions that,

"From now on, I no longer live, but Mashiach lives in me."

For me, among other possible explanations, I guess, for me, that's why this rosh chodesh, the first Nisan, has so much meaning. Because it's time for us to mature our spiritual life within the kingdom of God. It's time to work on ourselves, to fight the flesh that still lives inside of us, to fight the flesh that still lives within these new creatures that we are. You are not the old you anymore, but parts of the old you, are still there. You have to take out the corpse. You see, and the majority of the believers I know that I had the opportunity to meet, stay in this state, this immature State, their whole lives. They keep counting only on salvation, only on mercy, mercy, mercy. And they don't grow up. They don't grow up in the, in the Messiah.

When I was a child, I spoke as a child. I understood as a child. I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things.

You see, we need to fight. We need to fight the lust in our eyes. We need to fight the greed in our hearts. We need to fight our desires for attention, for fame, for pleasures. That's not why we were saved. That's not the objective, to be saved. That's not why, God, sent, His only Son to save us. Again, without Holiness no one will see the Lord.

I don't know really how you can be saved and yet not see the Lord. Are we really saved if we don't pursue sanctification and, spiritual maturity? I don't know. That's a question that, you probably should answer, yourself. You can go to the Lord and ask Him. But what I know is I want my eyes to see the Lord. I want these eyes to see God. And I want to sit at His table, and I want to enjoy His presence one day. And, sanctification is the only chance I have for this to happen. Have a wonderful month of Nisan to all of you. Pesach kasher vasameach to all of you.
Thanks for listening