SHABBAT HA GADOL AND SHEEP by Raphael ben Levi
The coming Shabbat is a very special one known as “Shabbat Ha Gadol” (The Great Sabbath) that immediately precedes Pesach.
One of the traditional reasons for the name (Shabbat Hagadol) is that the 10th of Nisan of the year of the Exodus was a Shabbat. It was on that day that, as recorded in Ex.12, that the Lord called upon the Israelites to take a sheep to their homes and keep it there until the 14th of Nisan and then slaughter it to prepare it for the Passover sacrifice. This act of taking the sheep for the enslaved Israelites took immense faith for it was effectively a great act of defiance because the Egyptians worshiped sheep as their God. So, the timid Hebrew slaves were commanded to take the sheep in defiance of their slave masters, and of the entire theology of Egypt, and slaughter it before the Egyptians’ eyes. Therefore, this Shabbat is called “Shabbat Hagadol” because it was on this Shabbat that the Israelites expressed defiance and declared their independence.
On this Shabbat, the special Haftarah reading from the prophet Malachi is read. Mal.i 4:5 reads: “Behold I send to you Elijah the Prophet, before the great and awesome day of God.” What does this verse refer to? It is speaking of the great day of redemption and the coming of the Messiah that was fulfilled in God’s perfect timing through Yeshua.
At His crucifixion, Yeshua cried out in a loud voice, “It is finished!” His work was completed as at the end of the 6th day of Creation. Yeshua entered the realm of the Great Sabbath Rest, as on the 7th day of Creation. But now, a full cycle had turned; the price for man’s sin was paid. In a very profound sense, we see the prophetic fulfilment of ‘Shabbat Ha Gadol’ was found in Him.
But we also await a future “great and awesome day of God” when Yeshua, who first came as the Lamb of God slain for our sins, will return a second time and on this occasion as the Lion of Judah and Conquering King to judge the world in righteousness and justice.
