Passover or Easter - which should
I celebrate? updated May 2014
Is there a difference?
Passover2
- many more scriptural passages and resources to help clarify the when of
passover and the exodus.
A more detailed history
of passover When
did Jesus die?
Also see my page When did Christ die? for an even more thorough look at the issue.
When should the Passover be observed??
How should it be observed?
Am I required to observe it at all?
What's the big deal here?
This page answers those questions. There are no religious affiliations weighted in this writing.
I welcome your comments, criticisms, rebuttals, proof of error, etc. email
me
Is Easter the same as Passover? Is Passover just for the Jews, who are still
waiting for Christ to come the first time and don't believe the Jesus who came
2000 years ago was really the Messiah? Do they keep the Passover today the same
way God commanded back
in 1548BC at the Exodus? Is Easter a Christian Holiday or a pagan celebration of the Roman pagan
Goddess Eostre? Is timing important as
Easter is normally celebrated after Passover every year? What do chicks, and egg hunts,
and giving bunny rabbits to children have to do with it? Go to www.detailshere.com/easter.htm
if you want to know the truth about Easter. Also see www.detailshere.com/trueorigins.htm
This page you are on now will deal with the truth about Passover.
A
controversy has existed for hundreds of years concerning the correct time of
the Passover sacrifice.
Was it at the beginning or end of the fourteenth of Abib (Nisan 14)? Did the
angel of death pass over Egypt at midnight
on Nisan 14 or midnight Nisan 15? Did the Israelites begin their trek out of Egypt
in the wee hours of Nisan 15 in the middle
of Nisan 15? Or at the beginning of Nisan 15 when evening began after
spending the daylight portion of Nisan 14 loading their
stuff, breaking camp, spoiling the Egyptians and assembling for the exodus
journey at Rameses? I have spent hundreds of
hours studying a
gazillion resources on this issue. Below are my conclusions
and my reasoning and scriptural passages behind
those conclusions. Are my
conclusions correct? I don't know for sure. My wife and I are still not in agreement over the issue
which is why we
hold two communions each year ; one on the evening of Nisan 14 and another on the evening of Nisan 15.
There's good reasons the
controversy exists over the correct time of the original passover
sacrifice and passing over of the
angel of death; lack of scriptural
clarity and definitiveness, logistics, a change of
Jewish customs since the original passover in 1548BC, and the unimportance to them of Jesus in the passover rememberance; all these things complicate the issue. One
thing is for certain; Yahweh tells us we need to remember this time each year. And He tells us in both Leviticus
23:5-6 and
Numbers 28:16-17 as to the when.
Why do we need to know this?
We are in the endtimes folks; the
last days on earth. Easter is NOT one of Yahweh's Feastdays; but neither
is Christmas, or Halloween, or Valentine's Day either which many consider
pagan Christianity. These
all belong to the mimicer, the guy who wants us to burn with him in the lake of
burning suphur at the end of the millenium. The birthpangs spoken of in
Revelation are getting closer and closer together and the intensity is
increasing, much more so in this last decade than all the previous years put
together. The second coming is getting very very close, and apostacy in the
church, drifting away from the truth to the lies of Satan, keeps spreading
to drive Christians further and further from the truth and what Yahweh wants of
them. What ARE Yahweh's words regarding Passover and His Holy Annual Feast Days?
Why do Christians know that Christian traditions are not right but continue to
practice them anyway?
This page gives the story of the first Passover at 1548BC (some say this date is
1461BC) and how it pointed
forward to Jesus
being the passover lamb in 33AD (and some say that can be as early as 30AD). Nisan 14 was on a Wednesday in
30AD and on a Friday in 33AD. No
other years have a Nisan 14 at the appropriate day of the week and we know
Pontius Pilate reigned from only
26AD to 36AD.
The Bible however doesn't properly answer the times, dates, and chronology
issues many people have with figuring out exactly what really happened and when
in both time frames. My page at www.detailshere.com/passover2.htm
addresses these issues further and gives more pertinent scriptural passages from all chapters of the Bible as well as
writings and resources of other authors as well as pertinent info from Christian
churches today who DO celebrate passover instead of easter who have studied this issue which can be used to properly assemble this confusing puzzle.
There are four passages above that tell me
that Yahweh's other sabbaths, His annual Holy Feast Days, didn't go out with the cross and
that Yahweh wants me to keep them if I want to be claimed as His and protected
from the wrath of the coming tribulation period. But you say these are Moses'
laws; but these were in the Bible before Moses ever went on the exodus.
So just what IS Passover and where did it
originate?
It's not a quick explanation but it's a
fascinating story, and it really happened.
This is as precise and as
short as my research could boil it down to.
Passover is an EVENT that actually happened in approximately 1548BC, at midnight, on Nisan 14, the 14th day of the first month of the year, in the spring on the night preceding the night of the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. The Exodus began at the evening of the beginning of Nisan 15. See my wife's page at http://www.iisusbog.com/p29ead.htm for timeline info. The event was the passing over of the death angel which put to death the first born of any human, including animals and livestock, of all homes who didn't have lamb's blood painted on their doorposts.
Let
us summarize what the Passover means to us. Keeping Passover each year is not a
Mosaic Law or a Jewish thing. It is God’s command in Exodus 12:14 that ALL of
us shall memorialize this day throughout all generations, FOREVER. That’s pretty
simple
language to tell us Passover is for ALL of us to observe, EVERY year,
once a year, FOREVER; Jew and Gentile alike.
The requirement to observe Passover did not go out with the cross and is found
in the Bible long before the Mosaic laws were written.
Easter is NOT Passover. Easter is man’s concoction. Easter is a pagan
celebration, mixing pagan traditions of the celebration of the Goddess Eostre
with a Christian icing of the resurrection to make it palatable to the deceived
and uninformed. Easter as a Christian celebration was created when pagans were being brought over to
Christianity, bringing their pagan baggage with them. Easter is not God's
holiday. Neither are Christmas , Saint Valentines
Day or Halloween. These are not God’s Holy FeastDays ; they ALL have
pagan roots and origins; yet Christians ignore this and participate in them
anyway. Jews mock Christians with good reason because they know these are not
God's holidays.
Passover is not one of God's holy feastdays in itself but ushers in the Feast of Unleavened Bread wherein the first and last days of the Feast of Unleavened bread are Sabbaths – meaning rest, worship and no work on those days. Passover is a commemoration of the "Passing Over" and occurs on a different day each year; on Nisan 14. Nisan 15 is always a full moon so it is easy to know exactly when these days are each year. Remember God’s days are sundown to sundown, not midnight to midnight. And the dark half of the day comes before the light half of the day. So 7pm to 7am might be considered the dark half and 7am to 7pm after that would be considered the light second half of that day. Both Leviticus 23:5-6 and Numbers 28:16-17 tell us to commemorate passover on Nisan 14 and the Feast of Unleavened bread (celebrating the start of the exodus) starts at the beginning of Nisan 15.
From http://rcg.org/books/ghdoph.html
"On the
10th day of Abib (the first Hebrew month), Israel was to select an unblemished
lamb. Four days later, on the 14th
day of Abib (Nisan 14) , the lamb was to be killed. Exodus
12:6 says that it was to be killed “in the evening,” but the original
Hebrew
means “between the two evenings.” Some Bible margins plainly state
this. The Jewish Encyclopedia explains that this is the
period
commonly referred to as twilight or dusk. This period is
described as the time after sundown, but before full
darkness
has occurred. In other words, it was at the very beginning
of the 14th that the lamb was killed—and soon thereafter, the blood
of the
lamb was sprinkled above the doorposts of the Israelite’s houses. At
midnight, the death angel struck dead all the firstborn
of Egypt. But God had
told the Israelites, “when I see the blood on your doorposts, the angel of
death will pass over you”—hence,
the well-known term Passover."
Passover means “passing over”. Jews today claim that the Passover
commemorates the exodus from Egypt, but that is not what the Bible says. It was
a completely different specific event preceding the exodus by a whole day, hence
the disagreement that surrounds the time of passover today.
My studies show the Jewish nation DID celebrate passover properly on Nisan
14 and not combine it with the exodus on
Nisan 15 for sometime after the 1548BC passover. But then they stopped that when
they changed over to temple celebrations
instead of in home celebrations. This was man's change, not God's change. The
required dates of Leviticus 23:5-6 and Numbers 28:16-17 never changed. This change of celebration time and combining passover with the feast of unleavened bread and
starting
the feast on Nisan 15 instead of remembering passover separately on Nisan 14 continued up until the
30AD or 33AD crucifixion and continues on today. This Jewish
change of combining the rememberance of passover with the feast of unleavened bread representing the exodus is what
makes the events of 30AD or 33AD when Jesus became the passover lamb so complicated, as the Jews don't recognize Jesus as
the passover lamb either. That part of passover wasn't important to them, only the being freed from
the bondage of slavery in
1548BC.
In 33AD Jesus and his apostles held their
passover service the evening of the beginning of Nisan 14 before everyone else did
on Nisan
15. Why? Because Leviticus 23:5 and Numbers 28:16 says that Nisan 14 is the day to hold
passover; regardless of
what the
Jews did erroneously in that time period. In fact Jesus and His apostles were the only ones to hold passover at the
correct
time. For those who claim the last supper was just a regular meal; and a not a passover meal;
Matthew 26:18-19, Mark 14:14 and 16,
and Luke 22:8, 11, and 13 all address the fact this was in fact a passover meal. Later that evening in the night time
portion of Nisan 14, Jesus prayed in the Garden Of Gesthemane, was taken by the Jewish sanhedrin thugs, found guilty of claiming
to be God, blasphemy,
taken to Pontius pilot, handed off to Herod, back to Pilot where He was beaten at the whipping
post, then sentenced to be crucified
when that didn't satisfy the Jews. In the daylight portion of Nisan 14 he carried the
cross up the De La Rosa , was nailed to that cross at
Calgary, and died in the late afternoon portion of Nisan 14 at the same time the
Jewish passover lambs were killed in preparation
for the upcoming feast of unleavened bread which at that point in time
included a rememberance of passover on Nisan 15
instead of Nisan14 as Lev 23:5 and Numbers 28:16 required.
Passover is named for the event, occurring at midnight on Nisan 14,
approximately 1548BC, which was executed by God. It received it’s name for the
sparing of Israel’s firstborn, during the night in which the destroyer,
Satan’s angel of death, passed over all the houses in Egypt, sparing
only the children of Israel their firstborn from the plague of death, while they were
still in their houses, in the land of Egypt, BEFORE the Exodus took place. God
didn’t kill the firstborn of the Egyptians that night but He allowed Satan,
the destroyer, to do so. Exodus
12:23 states “….and will not suffer (or allow) the destroyer to come in unto
your houses to smite you.” Satan
is the destroyer.
To
prevent Satan’s angel of death from also killing the firstborn of the
Israelites, God’s instructions to the Israelites were to sacrifice a lamb at
the beginning of Nisan14 as soon as the sun went down on the end of Nisan 13,
and spread it’s blood over the lintel and doorposts of each house if they
wanted their firstborn to be spared. They had to kill and roast the lamb and eat
it completely that night , stay inside their houses until dawn,
and burn any remains of the lamb not eaten by the following morning.
Exodus12:7-13
covers this.
The
Passover derives it’s name from this event, passing over of the
Israelite houses marked in lamb’s blood,
in which God allowed Satan, the destroyer, as the tenth plague on Egypt,
to kill all of Egypt’s firstborn as the final step in
redeeming the entire nation of Israel from the bondage of slavery. The
redemption of God was their only salvation from that bondage of slavery. Their
slavery was a bondage to sin, and the ultimate penalty for sin is death.
The
Passover has great significance for us Christians today in relationship to
God’s passing over our sins through the sacrifice and blood of Jesus
Christ, and sparing us from the penalty of sin, which is eternal death.
But
we are getting ahead of the story.
Let’s
first set the stage with how the Israelites got to Egypt in the first place and
needed removal from the bondage of slavery.
Let’s
go back to Abraham who had two sons first; Ishmael from his wife’s servant Hagar
And Abraham and Sarah finally had Isaac,
the child God had promised to Abraham from his wife Sarah. Sarah was about 90
years old when she had Isaac, a true miracle. This was God’s real solution to
the problem of creating descendants and an ancestry for Abraham. Abraham had
many more sons after Sarah died also but we are interested in where Isaac came
from.
Isaac
had two sons, Jacob and Esau. Jacob , with the help of his mother, tricked Isaac
who was nearly blind in old age into giving him the family blessings instead of
Esau, who was the rightful heir. This caused a falling out between Jacob and
Esau and Jacob left to seek work and habitation elsewhere. Jacob fell in love
with a gal named Rachel and made a deal to work for her father for 7 years for
her hand, but on their wedding night her father switched daughters on him in the
bedroom and because Jacob was drunk he ended up consummating the marriage with
Leah instead of Rachel but still had to work off his 7 year deal promised to her
father. At the end of the 7 years he made another 7 year deal to then marry
Rachel. To make a long story short, between Leah, Leah’s maid, Rachel and
Rachel’s maid , Jacob ended up with 12 sons and a daughter. But he favored Joseph and
Benjamin because they came from Rachel whom he loved so much. Because he favored
Joseph, the rest of the brothers were very jealous of Joseph, and on a trip sold
him into Egyptian slavery. Benjamin
did not go along on that trip because he was too young.
But
Joseph was a smart boy and made many suggestions to his Egyptian captors to
increase their productivity and wealth. So
much so that he soon was put in charge of much of Pharoh’s holdings and even
became the governor of all of Egypt. Then
there was a great famine. Joseph was warned by God and knew about this ahead of
time and had stored up 7 years worth of grain and goods to carry Egypt through
this time period. Jacob, Joseph’s father, who had been told Joseph was dead
long ago, in desperation as they had run out of food,
sent his sons to Egypt to try and get food. Joseph recognized his
brothers and sent food and word to his father Jacob to come to Egypt where there
was food aplenty to share with them. They
were given a 300 square mile territory, approximately 20 miles long by 15 miles
wide, called the land of Goshen in which to live. This is where the children of
Israel lived and multiplied for over 250 years. The Bible says 400 years, but
the few ancestral lines don't seem to support that length of time.
Now this all worked out until Joseph passed away, as well as the Pharoh he served. Then troubles began. In Exodus 1 starting with Verse 7 we find the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them. Then there arose up a new king over Egypt, which didn’t know Joseph. And he said unto his people, behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it came to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.
Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Rameses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with intense labor. And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. Pharoh even tried to kill all the newborns that were males, which leads us in to the Moses story.
Moses
enters the picture
Along comes Moses, a male Israelite, supposed to be killed along with all other
male newborns, hidden for three months after birth, but was set adrift on the
river in a basket of reeds where an Egyptian lady, Pharoh’s daughter,
found him and adopted him, hired Moses’ real mom unknowingly to nurse
him, and raised him up as an
Egyptian.
But Moses knew he was an Israelite and after watching the cruelty of the
Egyptians over the Israelite slaves one day stopped one of these beatings and
accidently killed the Egyptian. This sent him into the wilderness away from
Egypt for 40 years tending flocks as a common shepherd until one day a burning
bush ignited in front of him, was not consumed, and it was God from it speaking to him.
God, remembering his covenant with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, told Moses to go free his people from Egyptian slavery. Moses said, whoooah Lord, I ain’t up to that, they won’t listen to me, who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? God said, I will be with you, take your brother Aaron and go. I will take care of everything.
Well, Pharoh had a hard heart and wasn’t about to let his slaves go. Moses even threw down his staff and it turned into a snake to show God’s power; but Pharoh wasn’t impressed. His magicians could do the same thing. God then cast plagues over all Egypt. The first was turning all the waters blood red to where the fish died and stank and nobody could drink the water. That didn’t work so God then made frogs be abundant. There were frogs everywhere, covering the land of Egypt. But Pharoh gave in only for a short while and as soon as the frogs were gone he again refused to let the Israelites go. The God turned the dust into lice that plagued man as well as beast. Again Pharoh relented only until the lice were gone, then again went into the refusal mode.
It is interesting to note that the Israelites went through three of these plagues also but were spared from seven of them.. Seven of the plagues affected Egyptian land but did not extend into the Land of Goshen where the Israelites lived. This points forward to God protecting us from the tribulation and the 7 bowls of wrath that will be poured out just before Jesus comes at the second coming.
Well, to make
a long story short, besides the water turning to blood and the frogs, and the
lice, God plagued the Egyptians
with flies which covered the land, cast disease upon the Egyptian cattle, put
boils upon the skin of the Egyptians, brought thunder and hail to destroy the
crops of the Egyptians, brought swarms of locusts over all Egypt to consume and
eat their crops, and brought
darkness for three days all over the land.
Each time Pharoh agreed to let the slaves go only to change his mind as soon as
the plague was lifted.
The tenth
plague, the death of all firstborn, was
the clincher though. From Exodus 11:5 And
all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first born of Pharaoh
that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is
behind the mill; and all the firstborn of all the beasts.
Even with this severe of a warning and in light of the other nine plagues
which had come true and were testimony to God’s power; Pharoh would still not
let the Israelites go; although the rest of the Egyptians were by now wanting to
get rid of them.
God
protected His people, the Israelites, by giving them instructions on how to
protect themselves from this intense plague by painting their doorposts and
lintels of their houses with the blood of the lamb and to stay inside their
houses and not come out until sunrise the next day. At midnight, that
night, a few hours after the beginning of nisan14, God allowed the destroyer, Satan, to kill
all the firstborn of any house in Egypt not containing the blood of the lamb on
the door posts and lintels. The destroyer had to PASS OVER and not kill the
firstborn in any house that contained the blood painted doorposts and lintels.
That event, at midnight, in 1548BC, the passing over of the Israelite
houses containing the blood of the Passover lambs on their doorposts was the
first Passover.
God
commands us to remember Passover
each year on the correct day, Nisan 14,
in the evening, forever and ever as it pointed forward to the sacrifice
of Yahshua on the cross who became our Passover lamb some 1575 years later to
rescue us from the bondage of sin.
Many
have tried to tell us this was all a fairy tale; that in reality it never happened. However
recent archeological finds have discovered accounts of these plagues in Egyptian
related writings including the deaths of the Egyptian firstborn on this fateful
night.
Many try to tell us the
exodus of several million people from the land of Goshen in Egypt never happened
either, but recent archeological finds at the Gulf of Aquaba on the Red Sea
where a land bridge lies just under the waters there have turned up chariot
parts of that era, bones of horses, and other artifacts that tell us the
spreading of the waters across the red sea and the entrapment of Pharoh’s army
really did happen. See http://www.arkdiscovery.com/red_sea_crossing.htm
and http://tempodofim2.tripod.com/Exodo.htm
( in Spanish) for many pics about the Exodus, maps of the route, pic of
the underwater landbridge under the sea at the crossing site, newspaper articles
and many pics of chariot parts still underwater. Also see http://www.wyattmuseum.com/red-sea-crossing.htm
and http://www.detailshere.com/exoduspath.htm
for the exodus path our spy satellite above earth found and how it found it.
The first Passover which initiated
freeing of the Israelites from the bondage of slavery
has much significance and points forward to the death of Yahshua, the
lamb of God, on the cross which
initiated freeing us from the bondage of sin some 1575 years later.
It
is God’s command in Exodus 12:14 that ALL of us shall observe this day (passover)
throughout all generations, FOREVER. It is NOT a Jewish thing, it is NOT a
Mosaic law that went out with the cross - exodus 12:14 was written before the
Mosaic Laws , It is simply Yahweh’s command and
keeping Passover annually is one of God’s ways to know that you belong to Him
so He can seal you from harm during the tribulation period coming soon. Again, Easter is NOT Passover. Easter is
Satan’s substitute pagan celebration of eggs, and chicks and pretty bunnies
symbolizing pagan fertility rites created so
you will not honor God’s Passover. Yahweh has seven special times each year
that are HIS. We will discuss each as they come along.
Passover
is not a feastday in itself
but a commemoration of the "passing over" and ushers in the Feast of Unleavened Bread wherein the first and last days are
Sabbaths – meaning rest, worship and no work on those days. Passover
always occurs in the evening of Nisan 14 not in the first part of the evening
of Nisan 15 as the Jews currently celebrate it. Remember
God’s days are sundown to sundown, not midnight to midnight.
Why
unleavened bread? One of the things
we are required to do during the week of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is to
have NO leaven or yeast in our homes and to use no yeast in cooking during that
week. As the exodus from Egypt was abrupt, bread did not have time to rise. They
threw the unrisen bread over their shoulders, stuffed dough into their clothes
and began the Exodus; hence the FeastDay week called the Feast of Unleavened
Bread.
Scripture
commands that Passover be observed separately from the 7 days of the
Feast of Unleavened bread. God did
not establish Passover day as a memorial of the Exodus. Passover was established
as a memorial to commemorate Yahweh’s passing over of the houses of the
Israelites to protect their firstborn from the destroyer who was allowed to kill
all the firstborn Egyptians. The
Feast of Unleavened Bread, which begins on the following day, when the sun sets
at the end of the 14th day and the beginning the fifteenth day
of Nisan, is the feast that Yahweh established to commemorate the Exodus from
Egypt. These are different events, occurring on different days, and are not to
be celebrated on the same day.
Jews
have combined these two feasts erroneously instead of keeping them separate and
now call the both of them the celebration of passover.
Think
of the logistics
of moving 2 to 3 million people with all their flocks and herds. Exodus 12
clearly records that the children of Israel departed as an organized group from
Rameses. Leaving the morning
following the Passover would not allow time for 2 million people to gather their
belongings and travel to Rameses from their houses and assemble in their
marching order before beginning the Exodus. Numbers 33 also states that the Egyptians were burying their
dead. How many? Doesn’t say, but if
you consider 10 Egyptians for every Israelite (remember the Egyptians killed all
male Israelites to keep the population down) and there were 600,000 Israelite
men, and 1 in 5 Egyptians could be a first born; that still leaves several
million firstborn killed that night. That’s a lot of burials.
It took all of the rest of the daylight part of the 14th of Nisan to spread the word that Pharoh wanted them outa there, to get ready to move out, to receive the spoils of gold and silver and clothing given them by the Egyptians, to pack up, organize, and then assemble at Rameses to start the Exodus that evening after sundown, the beginning of Nisan 15 . The commands of Yahweh recorded in Leviticus 23 confirm the separate identity of these two events.
Deuteronomy 16:1 clearly states that
Yahweh brought His children out of Egypt by NIGHT. If passover happened at
midnight
and they were supposed to stay in their houses before morning, where is
the night part of that day to leave under? Clearly they
didn't leave Egypt on the day part of Nisan 14 but at the beginning of Nisan 15.
It
is also interesting to note that the Egyptians “spoiled”, or heaped upon the
Israelites all the clothing and jewelry they desired.
They gave to the Israelites many gifts of silver and gold and clothing
for their departure AFTER the completion of all the plagues because Yahweh gave
them favor in the eyes of the Egyptians. The
Egyptians who were NOT killed in the final plague of death must have been in
absolute terror that God would strike them down, as He had their firstborn.
Fearful of being struck dead they gave the children of Israel everything
they asked for.
The Book of Numbers (Numbers 33:1-5) gives us an account of their departure from Rameses. Numbers 33:3 specifically states the children of Israel departed Rameses on the 15th day of the first month. "And they departed from Rameses in the first month; on the fifteenth day of the first month, on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians."
Deuteronomy 16:1 shows their departure began at sunset, the beginning
of Nisan 15, and continued late into the night on the 16th.
The
Exodus began from Rameses, not from the houses located in the land of Goshen.
The Exodus began as an organized march, not as a scattered movement of people
and flocks. It took them the daylight part of Nisan 14 to receive their spoils
from the Egyptians and move from their houses in Goshen and organize at the
start point of the Exodus in Rameses where God’s
full moon and pillar of light would guide them by night, and a pillar of cloud would
protect them from the hot sun during the day. They marched out of Rameses
in the evening just after the sun went down on Nisan 14 at
the beginning of the 15th day, Nisan 15. Deuteronomy 16:1 clearly states that
Yahweh brought His children out of Egypt by NIGHT, the beginning of Nisan 15.
That is why God designated the NIGHT of the 15th as a memorial for
all generations to come. Exodus 12:42.
This is where it gets sticky as the Jews no longer differentiate between the two
events.
Exodus
12:37-39 describes their journey from Rameses to Succoth, about 600,000 men on
foot. If every man had a wife and at least one or two kids, that’s a lot of
people. It is hard to comprehend
the magnitude of the Exodus. The
day of the Exodus, leaving from Rameses, is the first day of the Feast of
Unleavened Bread to commemorate the act of Yahweh
bringing them out from the land of Egypt and releasing them from the
bondage of slavery. What’s
interesting is that this whole scenario was prophesied in Genesis 15:13-14 where
Abraham was told his seed would be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, his
seed shall serve them, and afterwards they will come out with great substance.
We
know what happened next when they got to the Red Sea and Pharoh again changed
his mind and went after them with his army to kill them all. God separated the
waters of the Red Sea and dried the sea bed floor so the children of Israel
could cross over to the other side. After they had crossed he then protected
them even further by disabling the chariots; wheels came off, axles broke, etc.
Ex 14:24-25. But they still pursued and when God loosed the wind holding the
waters back, they were all drowned. Today, you can dive in this area of the
landbridge, a 600 foot wide shallow shelf underwater with deep water on both
sides of this shelf, at the Gulf of
Aquaba, and find chariot parts encrusted with coral. See
http://www.arkdiscovery.com/red_sea_crossing.htm
for many pics.
The passover was instituted as a one day service, a memorial of God’s passing over of the Israelite houses, to be observed on the 14th day of the first month. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was instituted as a seven day observance, beginning on the 15th day of the first month with the first day commemorating the first day of the Exodus, leaving at Rameses, and the 7th day commemorating the completion of the Exodus across the Red Sea with the total destruction of the enemy at the Red Sea.
The
account of Israel’s second Passover ( a year after leaving Egypt) is found in
Numbers chapter 9:1-5.and
Numbers 9:11
This
Passover was only 2 days after the dedication of the new tabernacle and altar.
And they kept the Passover in the first month, on the 14th day
of the month at dusk (between sunset and dark), at
the beginning of the 14th; not at the end.
The scriptural record of Israel’s second Passover shows NO CHANGE in
the time or manner of the observance. It was just like recorded in Exodus 12. The scriptural account makes it clear that all the
requirements of Exodus 12 were still to be kept.
It also included NOT breaking any of the lamb’s bones (Ex 12:46 ).
Can you see that one pointing forward to when the Romans broke the leg
bones of the two thieves but not of Jesus. This Passover, as well as the next
forty, before they occupied the
land of Caanan and built houses, was still performed in each individual tent;
not in the tabernacle, which handled the daily sacrifices. After they occupied
the promised land, the Passover was still observed in their houses.
There is no record, scriptural or historical,
of a tabernacle-centered Passover during this time period. God did not require that the Passover lambs be sacrificed at
the tabernacle. Philo, a Jewish historian,
confirms that the Passover lambs were slain at the houses of the Jews
during the first century AD before the destruction of the temple in AD 70.
On this day the whole nation performs the sacred rites and acts as a
priest.
However,
from the time of the second Passover to Jesus’ day, and forward, the Pharisees
did make changes from God’s commands and they did also institute a temple
Passover. These were man’s
changes, not God’s changes. God
doesn’t change. Let’s look at some of these changes.
(all
the rules can be found in Exodus 12:3-46)
1. Lamb is killed at the beginning of the 14th day
2. Lamb is killed at home
3. Blood sprinkled on the doorposts of houses
4. Meal eaten in the evening of the 14th, within 5 hours of the
beginning of the 14th
5. Commemorates the passing over of
the Israelite houses in Egypt during the time the destroyer was allowed to kill
all the first born of any unmarked houses
6. Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread totaled 8 days.
1. Lamb is killed at the beginning of the 14th day
2. Lamb is killed at home
3. Blood sprinkled on the doorposts of houses (tent entrances when in the
wilderness)
4. Meal eaten on the night of the 14th, within 5 hours of the
beginning of the 14th
5. Commemorates the passing over of
the Israelite houses in Egypt during the time the destroyer was allowed to kill
all the first born of any unmarked houses
6. Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread totaled 8 days.
7. The story of the first Passover is described in detail by the heads of each
household, relating the story of that perilous night in Egypt when Yahweh spared
their firstborn
1. Lamb was killed at the end of the 14th day, not at the beginning.
2. Lamb was killed in the temple
3. Blood sprinkled on the altar and fat burned on the altar.
4. Meal eaten on the night of the 15th instead of the 14th
5. Commemorates the Exodus instead of just Passover; both events combined into
one
6. The seven days of unleavened bread are incorrectly called Passover.
The Bible tells us Passover and the Exodus are two separate distinct events.
The feast of unleavened bread originally commemorated the exodus only and not
passover along with it and was extended to an 8 day celebration.
Here’s
the clincher
When studying the New Testament accounts of Passover observance, we see that
Jesus Himself, who obeyed God the Father perfectly and never sinned or followed
the traditions of the Jews, kept the domestic Passover meal at the beginning of
the 14th of Nisan with His disciples.
The 14th of Nisan extended from sundown Nisan 13 to sundown
Nisan 14 at dusk. There are those that state Jesus only held a meal at the last
supper at the beginning of Nisan 14, but it wasn't a passover meal. The Bible
states otherwise.
Matthew 26:18-19
Jesus tells us that meal WAS the passover meal.
Mark 14:14 and 16 Jesus tells us again it was the passover meal
and Luke 22:8, 11, and 13 all address the fact this was in fact a passover meal.
By 30 - 33AD it was Jewish practice to not only have a
domestic Passover followed by a temple Passover sacrifice also in
which lambs were slain late in the afternoon but still on Nisan 14 and were
eaten then on Nisan 15. This is
where the celebrating of both Passover and commemorating the exodus by the Jews
was erroneously combined into one event and they called the whole thing Passover.
Despite the fact that there is no command from God anywhere to support a
temple Passover sacrifice, this practice became a national tradition among the
Jews. This deviation from the
commands of God completely overlooks the separate meanings of the Passover
and the Feast of Unleavened bread which commemorates the Exodus.
Although
there are no Jewish sites I can find to support the above scenario, since Jews
no longer separate passover from the
exodus, the following Christian sites who DO celebrate passover instead of
Easter DO agree with the above that passover
happened on the night of Nisan 14 at the beginning of Nisan 14 and the exodus began the evening of Nisan
15 at the beginning of
Nisan 15;
separate events as depicted by Leviticus 23:5-6 and Numbers 28:16-17
http://www.cbcg.org/franklin/Christian_Passover_Ceremony_2014-View.pdf
http://www.ucg.org/booklet/fundamental-beliefs/passover/
and
http://www.lcg.org type "passover
" in the search box, specifically this page at
http://www.lcg.org/cgi-bin/lcg/lcn/lcn-issue.cgi?category=LivingChurchNews&item=1390338933
from http://rcg.org/books/ghdoph.html
All four of the above Christian sites who celebrate Passover claim passover is
at the beginning of Nisan 14, not on Nisan 15
as was practiced by the Jews later on.
And although the destruction of the temple in 70AD ended the temple sacrifice of
the lambs, the tradition of a Nisan 15 passover did not die.
Today most Jews believe that the 15th day of the first month
is the day God set aside for the Passover. How can they believe that when
scripture clearly states otherwise? They also ignore over 300 prophecies
in the
Old Testament that foretold the coming of the Messiah that ALL came true, and still don’t believe
Jesus came the first time. God commanded that the Passover be observed at the
beginning of the 14th day; not at the end of the 14th day
or the beginning of the 15th day.
It is
interesting to note that in the Passover week when Jesus was crucified ; it was still Nisan 14 - the
preparation day when the lambs were sacrificed late in the afternoon by the Jews
of that time period - the same time that Jesus, Yahshua the Messiah was hung on
the cross to die.
And, if
Jesus and His disciples were the only ones who held the Passover meal (called
the last supper) at the time specified in the Old testament by Yahweh (see
Exodus 12 and Numbers 9) , at the beginning of Nisan 14, how do we justify that
He was the Passover lamb which was supposed to have been slain at the BEGINNING
of Nisan 14 instead of at the end which had become the erroneous Jewish
practice?
The answer - Jesus did not take issue with the teaching of the Pharisees concerning the Torah, or Law, or the proper times for the holy days and festivals of God to be observed even though they were now teaching some errors. Rather, He Himself, with all the authority of Heaven, declared: "The scribes and the PHARISEES SIT IN MOSES' SEAT: ALL THEREFORE WHATSOEVER THEY BID YOU OBSERVE, THAT OBSERVE AND DO . . ." (Matt.23:2-3).
How plain! Since the Pharisees sat in MOSES' SEAT, their authority in teaching the laws and statutes and holy days of God was BINDING UPON ALL THE CHURCH; erroneous or not! They taught that Passover lambs should be slain at the closing or ending of the 14th of Nisan, not at the beginning of the day! The Passover lambs were killed in the LATE AFTERNOON, AT THE VERY TIME JESUS CHRIST, OUR PASSOVER LAMB, WAS SLAIN AND SHED HIS BLOOD FOR OUR SINS! Therefore, Jesus, per the current authorities was a PERFECT substitute of the original Passover lamb!
As Nisan 15, was a sabbath holy day - the first day of unleavened bread, the Roman soldiers made sure everyone on the cross that day was dead before sunset, hence the breaking of the legs routine to hasten death for the other two people on the cross next to Jesus. Jesus was already dead by then so they didn't have to break his legs; which was prophesied. Remember Exodus 12:26 which said not to break the bones of the Passover lambs. But Jesus was dead late afternoon Nisan 14, before sunset and the start of the Nisan15th sabbath holy day.
When
Jesus expired, as he was the sacrificial lamb of that Passover, the curtain in
the temple was torn in two which signified an end to the system of animal
sacrifices for the remission of sin. Yahshua's (Jesus') death paid the price for all
men's sins, IF, people just believed in that and accepted that gift of God
called grace.
Back
to the point we know when Jesus died each year and why do we celebrate Easter
instead of Passover. Easter came
about when the church tried to combine the pagan celebration of Eostre, the
pagan goddess of fertility (hence the chicks, and
bunnies, and colored easter egg hunts, and chocolate bunnies and jelly beans)
and tacked the resurrection onto it to make the
celebration palatable to Christians. Easter is flat out pagan
Christianity. And the church started out celebrating easter on Nisan 14;
not a week later as they do now. The date was changed to a Sunday a week later to distance
themselves from Jewish practices;
much like they changed sabbath from Saturday to Sunday much for the same reason. Now keep in mind
Nisan 14 isn't when
Jesus was resurrected, but when he was sacrificed. Also
remember Satan likes to play the close game as long as you don't hit the mark.
So today everyone celebrating the resurrection on a Sunday, a week later than God's commanded passover of Lev.
23:5
satisfies Satan's goal of missing the mark. So does celebrating the death of Jesus on good
Friday when Jesus probably
didn't die on a Friday. He died at the end of Nisan 14, which is on Friday only every
so many years.
Since we don't know the exact
year Jesus died, 30AD or 33AD, we then can't say for sure it was a Friday or not. But look at the chart below for
what day of the week Nisan 14 fell on for the years in question.
Some
times and dates
See the bottom of my page at www.detailshere.com/whendidjesusdie.htm
for a more thorough chronology of dates and times.
We
do know Pontius Pilate reigned as curator from the years 26AD to 36AD. We know
Pilate's buddy and boss Seguines
was taken out in 31AD. We know John the Baptist 's ministry began in 28 AD,
although some put this as early as 27AD.
Luke 3:23 tells us ,"and Jesus himself, when He began to teach, was about
thirty years of age." And
Jesus was supposedly
3.5 years into his ministry when He was crucified, halfway through the last week of Daniel
9:25. We know Jesus was born around 5BC-6BC because that Herod died
in 4BC and he had all babies in Bethleham 2 years old and younger slain to try
to kill Jesus as
he felt he was a threat to his reign based upon all the talk of who Jesus was;
king of the Jews.
The Bible shows that Jesus was about 33-1/2 years old when he was
crucified in the early spring of the year 33 C.E., at the
time of the Jewish Passover. This means, counting backward, that he was born
in the early fall of the year. And there's a big
controversy still over whether this was 30 AD or 33AD.
"Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times" (Daniel 9:25).
From the going forth of the commandment — From the 20th year of King
Artaxerxes, in 457 BC, when by his commandment
Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2).
Seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks — From the time of 457 BC, according to the best chronology, there were just 69 weeks of years (483 years) to the baptism of Jesus Christ, in AD 27, when he first began to preach and execute the office of the Messiah.
Then Daniel 9:27 says: "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."
In the midst of the week, or, in the middle of the week. Christ preached from 27 to 30 AD, to the middle of the 70th week of years, and then by His sacrifice on the cross abolished all the sacrifices of the law.
This does not mean that Jesus was exactly 33-1/2 years old when He was crucified. The anchor date is not Jesus’ birthday, but rather Artaxerxes’ order to begin the work on the Temple, which was probably counted from the Jewish New Year in September of 457 BC.
In actuality, Jesus’ public ministry lasted less than three years, from fall of 27 to the spring of 30 encompasing the three Passovers mentioned in the Gospels in the years 28, 29 and 30 AD. In the Jewish reckoning of years, two years and part of another year are counted as three years. The crucifixion occurred the middle of the 70th week of years, but this does not indicate exactly 3-1/2 years.
According
to Luke 3:1, John the Baptist started baptizing "in the fifteenth year of
the reign of Tiberius Caesar. If the years were
counted from the death of Augustus, the 15th year ran from August 28 C.E. to
August 29 C.E. If counted from when he was
formally proclaimed emperor, the year would run from September 28 C.E. to
September 29 C.E. We
know John the Baptist was beheaded by the same Herod Antipas who refused to
deal with Jesus and had him sent back to Pilate. John the Baptist openly
rebuked Herod for his adulterous marriage to his brother's wife who divorced
her husband to marry Herod. He paid for that
chastisement when Herod's wife Herodias and her daughter schemed to request
his head on a platter as payment for a dance performed in front of
Herod. Herod's wedding took
place in 34AD according to Josephus therefore John's execution would
have
had to have been in 35 or 36CE according to book 18 of the antiquities of the
Jews.
So from the chart below matching Nisan 14 to the years AD30, a Wednesday, or AD 33
, a Friday; the AD 30 date may
be a little early but the AD 33 Friday date for many doesn't allow for a full
three days and three nights in the ground. I can only
give you what we know and you have to make your own decisions from that point
on.
But
we DO know what day of the week Nisan 14 is on each year. So we do know
what specific day each year Jesus died. So
why don't we celebrate it then? If it was on a Friday in 33AD it isn't going to
be on a Friday again for another 7 years. Why do
we
hold fast to traditional error we know to be known error? Like I said Satan has done a good job of confusing people so they
don't know what they should be
celebrating or when. Too many of God's people are lemmings, they go along with the crowd,
church leaders go along with the
crowd, they don't question or research what is really right and what they should be teaching
for fear of being chastised for non
conformity and for fear of losing their congregation if they dared to step out of the
box and
be considered outside the norm.
What day of the week Nisan 14 fell on for the years 22C.E. to 36 C.E.
From
the above chart we see that Nisan 14 fell on a Friday in AD33 and on a
Wednesday in AD30.
Matthew 27:45, Mark 15:33, and Luke 23:44-45 all refer to darkness coming over
the land from noon to 3 pm (6th hour
to the 9th hour). It could not have been a solar eclipse because solar
eclipses only occur during new moons, not full moons.
Nisan 15 began a full moon. It is doubtful it was a lunar eclipse as noon to
3pm was still daytime and you are only going to
see a lunar eclipse that would darken the sky at nighttime,
a daytime lunar eclipse would hardly be noticeable although there
is one lunar
eclipse recorded on April 3rd, Nisan 14 in 33AD. Soooooo - the
next big question is--------
How
was Jesus in the ground for three days and three nights
It was just after that last supper, actually during, because Judas left the
table before all was completed, that Judas betrayed Jesus just before he went to
the Garden of Gesthemane to pray, knowing His time had come. The Jews came for
Him in the Garden around midnight to take him. He was tried by the Jewish Sanhedrin that night of blasphemy, claiming to be God
and forgiving sins, then taken to Pontius Pilate who found no fault with Him,
then sent to King Herod who wanted nothing to do with the matter, then back to
Pontius Pilate who feared an uprising if he didn’t do what the Jewish priests
demanded, then He was beaten with whips and His skin lacerated severely by Roman soldiers which didn't satisfy the
Jews enough, they wanted Jesus dead, and then Pontius Pilot issued the decree
for Jesus to be
crucified on a wooden cross.
This all took place from Nisan 14 after midnight to Nisan 14 morning to finally Nisan 14 late morning or early afternoon when he was actually crucified all on Nisan 14. It is speculated Jesus expired somewhere around 3PM our time on the afternoon of Nisan 14. Jesus WAS the Passover Lamb and as such needed to be killed on the preparation day (current Jewish practices at that time) on Nisan 14, before evening sundown. The Nisan 15 passover celebration of eating the lambs began Nisan 15. He was put in the tomb on Nisan 14 about 6pm BEFORE sundown. Luke 22:54 tells us this was still the preparation day, the day before the feast of unleavened bread began which began just after sunset at the close of Nisan 14 and at the beginning of Nisan 15.
As
we are not sure if this was 30AD or 33AD this becomes a sort of a puzzle, as Nisan 14 falls on a different weekday day each
year.
But there are facts we do know to put the puzzle together. Matthew 12:40 says, "as Jonah was three days and three nights
in
the great fish's belly; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights
in the heart of the earth". That's what we do know. We also
know when Mary Magdelane discovered Jesus' body missing; the first day of the
week, on a Sunday, the day after the weekly
sabbath of Saturday. Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:2, and Luke 24. But Sunday morning
was already half a day into Sunday. Some say the women came at the end of the
Saturday 7th day sabbath and saw the sepulchre empty Saturday evening and it
wasn't morning (as we today think of morning) at all. But it is assumed Jesus
arose at the end of the weekly sabbath, and not on a Sunday at all. Those are the facts without speculation that we do know.
We know Jesus was betrayed in the evening following the Passover meal (the
last supper)
– Luke 22:15 and 1 Corinthians 11:23-25 The Passover meal falls on the
14th of Nisan each year (Jewish Calendar). – Exodus 12:18,at least it did
until the Jews combined passover with the feast of unleavened bread and called
the whole works passover. Days on the Jewish Calendar begin and end at sunset
6:00pm - 8:00pm each evening (roughly). – Genesis 1:5
Jesus
was taken off the cross early because of the "Day of Preparation". – John 19:31, John 19:42 and the Jews
passover feast was approaching come sunset. Jesus
was in the tomb 3 days and 3 nights. – Matthew 12:40 Jesus
was resurrected at the end of the weekly Saturday sabbath before dawn on the
first day of the week (Sunday). – (Matthew 28:1).
Those who have studied this thoroughly claim that in order to have three full days and three full nights in the ground, Nisan 14 in that year had to end on a Wednesday afternoon; not a Friday. So according to the chart above, the year had to be 30AD; not 33AD. All accounts of a Friday crucifixion do not allow for three days and three nights in the earth. And thusly it appears if Jesus was resurrected 72 hours after He was put in the tomb, he was resurrected at the end of the weekly sabbath on Saturday; not on a Sunday at all. http://www.yahweh.com/pdf/Booklet_Resurrection.pdf has a very detailed explanation of this time frame and sequence.
Matthew
28:1 Tells us his missing body was discovered by Mary Magdalene, at the end of
sabbath as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week.. Keep in mind by
that time on God's clock, morning was already halfway through God's day of the
first day of the week, Sunday. Sunday, the first day of the week, began around
12 hours before He was discovered missing. It is likely Mary Magdalen found
the tomb empty at the end of the weekly sabbath; and not Sunday morning at
all. Working backwards you see how a Friday crucifixion doesn't allow for three days and three nights in the
ground. Using this logic, I don't think Jesus was crucified on Good Friday, but on Wednesday
afternoon and was resurrected at the end of the Saturday weekly sabbath before
sunset and the beginning of Sunday, the first day of the week.
If Nisan 14 that year 30AD was Wednesday evening to Thursday evening , Nisan 15
Thursday evening to Friday evening and a sabbath of the first day of unleavend
bread, Nisan 16 Friday evening to Saturday evening was the weekly Saturday 7th
day sabbath, then Sunday the first day of the week which began on Saturday
evening at sundown still would give three full days and three full
nights in the ground; as Jesus had stated. Deductive reasoning tells us Jesus
had His last supper Wednesday evening , the beginning of Nisan 14, with His disciples and he was crucified
on the cross Wednesday afternoon, daytime part of Nisan 14, and was put in the tomb just before the beginning
of Thursday evening which began Nisan 15.
For
those advocating a Good Friday crucifixion in 33AD (again a Nisan 14) and a Sunday
resurrection,
the scenario
would go down like this.
This all took place from Thursday night after
midnight to Friday morning to finally Friday afternoon when he was actually
crucified between noon and 3pm our time. He was taken down and put in the
tomb Friday afternoon before sunset.
Jesus WAS the Passover Lamb and as such needed to be killed on the preparation
day, before Friday evening sundown. . He was put in the tomb Friday about 6pm
BEFORE sundown, thus was in the grave for part of Friday. Luke 22:54 tells us
this was still the preparation day. He rested all of Saturday which was a
Sabbath, the First Day of Unleavened Bread as well as the weekly Saturday
Sabbath; second day in the grave. Remember Saturday ends at
Saturday evening sundown and Sunday starts at Saturday evening sundown. He
continued to rest in the ground during the first part of Sunday which we
consider as Saturday evening after sundown and early Sunday morning. He was
resurrected on what we consider Sunday morning but really it was already
probably ten hours or so into Sunday, the first day of the week, third day in
the grave. When Mary and Mary came to anoint Jesus, they
couldn’t do it on the Sabbath which was Saturday, up until Saturday
sundown, but came on the first day of the week; Luke 24:1-7 and
Mark 16:1 tell us this. I have a hard time supporting this explanation
as it does not cover a full three days and three nights, although it is what most Christians subscribe to. I support the time frame found at http://www.yahweh.com/pdf/Booklet_Resurrection.pdf
as well as the graphic above which comes from http://www.ucg.org/booklet/fundamental-beliefs/passover/ .
If you'd like to study this issue more see my pages at www.detailshere.com/whendidchristdie.htm
and www.detailshere.com/whendidjesusdie.htm
There is little evidence anywhere to show that
the "heart of the earth" means just death or in the grave.
In 1Peter 3:18-19 we learn
that when Jesus, “being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the
Spirit…. went and preached unto the spirits in prison”; probably means the
fallen angels chained in the abyss. Jude 1:6 talks about , “And the angels
which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath
reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great
day.” 2Peter 2:4 says, “For if
God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered
them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.” Perhaps these
fallen angels were the subjects of Jesus’ preaching to the spirits during His
three days and three nights.
Jesus said that He would be in the heart of the earth as Jonah was in the belly of the big fish. When Jonah was in the big fish's belly he was not dead, instead he was in captivity. Jonah remained in captivity until he came out of the big fish. Similarly Jesus being in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights refers to the period He allowed Himself to be in captivity. Some say Jesus was in captivity first when He was arrested in Gethsemane by the band of men and officers from the chief priests shortly after midnight of Nisan 14, then He was in captivity by the Roman Army, and finally He was in captivity by death. You can see why it is not clear when Jesus died in considering the different ways of looking at the start time.
In Matthew 26:45 it can be seen that just before
Jesus permitted Himself to be arrested in Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives
on He said to His disciples, "behold the hour is at
hand", also translated "the time has come". This could have meant
that that
moment was the start of the special predicted time. This is
considered the start
of the three days and three nights period by some.
I have no final conclusion on what day of the week Jesus died except it
definitely was on Nisan 14 whatever that weekday was in that year; which we do
not know for sure either. . All other conclusions are speculative reasoning.
The
Significance of Jesus’ sacrifice.; what taking communion means
Jesus' sacrifice, the central message of Passover, was a supreme act of
love for humanity. This important event laid the foundation for the remaining
annual Holy Days and festivals. It is the most momentous step in God's plan.
Just before the Passover feast, Jesus said that "for this purpose I came to this hour ... And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself" (John 12:27, 32).
The day on which this profound event, the crucifixion, transpired was the 14th day of the first month of God's calendar, the same day on which the Passover lambs were killed (Leviticus 23:5). Paul later wrote the congregation at Corinth that "Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us" (1 Corinthians 5:7).
There are two aspects of taking communion and
you need to know what each means. In Isaiah 53:5 and reiterated again in
2Peter 2:24 Jesus tells us by His stripes we are healed and were healed. Past
tense. The Lord provided two elements, wine
and bread. As we take the wine, which represents His blood, we are forgiven of our sin. As we eat the
bread, we are healed in
our bodies. God gave us this physical ceremony in Communion, for the healing of our physical bodies, as well as for the
forgiveness of our sins. But you need to understand this as you take communion.
All healing is not immediate. In fact, most healing takes place gradually.
Healings that are immediate, and I have witnessed those,
are called miracles. Some people take Communion just like it was a medicine, three times a day. You can do
it by yourself, in your own home or where ever you are. You do not need any special
bread or wine, because it is your faith that is the key, not the material objects you
have. If we take Communion on regular basis, we can take it believing in progressive healing. This is good for people who
just do not have the faith to receive immediate, total healing, and it builds their faith
because they can see small, progressive improvements. The important thing is to
take Communion in faith, recognizing signs of improvement. Faith is the key to unlocking all of the promises of God. Jesus said, “What things so
ever you desire, believe you receive them and you shall have them.” If we take
Communion in faith, then we enter not only into forgiveness of sin, but also healing
for our body. http://www.sidroth.org/healing.htm
We are free from all curses through the Messiah. Discerning His body, broken for us,
is one of the most precious ways we have of expressing that faith. The
lacerations He took at the whipping post is considered the same as
"broken" representing the breaking of his body when we break the
bread.
Many people are healed once they understand and believe this. For example, Troy
Miller, is a pastor in Florida who had cancer
of the kidney. He lay dying in a hospital bed. The Lord spoke to his mother, telling her to take the Communion
elements of bread
and wine to him in the hospital. When he took Communion, the cancer immediately began disappearing from Troy’s body.
There
is power in communion. It is not just a once a year affair. Many Christian
churches hold communion at least monthly.
Jesus Christ paid for our healing with the
lacerations He took at the whipping post and bought us with His blood, pouring
out His life
as our Passover lamb so God could forgive our sins. When Jesus died and paid
the price with His life, Satan lost ownership of all humankind. From that
point on salvation became available to all humans. Whether you receive that
gift or not is up to you. See www.detailshere.com/parachute.htm
for what part you play in your own salvation.
Why did Jesus Christ have to die? Our Savior had to die because that was the only way God could forgive our sins. The Bible tells us that sin is the violation of God's law of love (1 John 3:4). We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We have each earned the death penalty for our disobedience (Romans 5:12; 6:23).
Paul illustrated the profound love of Jesus Christ in giving up His life on our behalf (Romans 5:6-8). All would be doomed eternally had not somehow the penalty for our sins been paid. Christ, who lived a perfect life as the unblemished Lamb of God, substituted His death for ours. In fact, His death was the only possible substitution for ours. His sacrifice became the payment for our sins. He died in our place so we could share life with Him forever. We can no longer live according to our own desires. We become God's redeemed, or bought and paid-for, possession (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
Both Jesus and the apostle Paul made it clear that the Passover is to continue as a Christian observance. Jesus Himself instituted new Passover symbols and practices to teach Christians important truths about Himself and God's continuing plan of salvation.
The Passover in the Old Testament foreshadowed Christ's crucifixion. The New Testament Passover is a memorial of that crucifixion. By observing it, we "proclaim the Lord's death till He comes" (1 Corinthians 11:26).
What were Christ's specific instructions
concerning the Passover ceremony that we as modern
day Christians should follow?
When?
God’s instructions haven’t changed. Numbers 9:11 still tells us to eat
the Passover meal at the beginning of Nisan 14. The passover
meal and accompanying foot washing
ceremony and communion should occur on the evening at the beginning of Nisan 14.
Jewish tradition
celebrates the Passover meal a day
later, Nisan 15, in error in my
opinion.
Feet Washing
During the Passover meal (the last supper – at the beginning of Nisan 14 when
Exodus 12 says it is supposed to be held) Jesus "rose from supper and
laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured
water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with
the towel with which He was girded" (John 13:1-5).
Washing guests' feet was normally the job of the
lowliest household servant. In the first century it was an act of hospitality.
Rather than ask a servant to perform this function for His guests, Jesus humbly
chose to carry it out Himself to teach an important spiritual lesson. The
account continues: "So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments,
and sat down again, He said to them, 'Do you know what I have done to you? You
call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord
and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's
feet'"
(John 13: 12-14).
Jesus left His disciples with a lasting reminder of the importance of humble service to others. The simple act of washing the feet of others teaches us a vital lesson intimately associated with the Passover. He concluded: "I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you" (John 13:15). How many Christians today obey this simple instruction to wash each other's feet, and exemplify that attitude in their lives? As the redeemed possession of God through Christ's sacrifice, our lives should be devoted to the service of God and our fellowman.
The bread: symbol of Christ's body
(Matthew 26:26). "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it and
broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, 'Take, eat;
this is My
body.'" Remember from Isaiah 53:5 and 2Peter2:24 Jesus tells us that eating
the bread represents our healing that He paid for in full by receiving the
lacerations at the whipping post.
Our decision to eat the Passover bread, unleavened bread, bread made without yeast (leaven representing sin) means we understand this principal of healing that Jesus Christ provided for us.
Christ possessed the power to forgive sin (Matthew 9:2-6). Through the forgiveness of our sins, Christ made possible our receiving of eternal life. "I am the bread of life," He said. "Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world" (John 6:48-51).
The meaning of the Passover wine
representing Christ’s blood.
Why did Jesus command His disciples to drink wine as a symbol of His blood
during the Passover service? What does this symbolize?
Notice Matthew's account: "Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, 'Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom'" (Matthew 26:27-29).
Christ knew that drinking wine as a symbol of His shed blood would impress deeply on our minds that His death was for the forgiveness of our sins. "This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me" (1 Corinthians 11:25). Jesus "loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood" (Revelation 1:5). God forgives our sins through Jesus' shed blood (1 John 1:7).
Paul explains in Hebrews 9:22 that "according to the Law ... all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness [of sin]" .
The Old Testament records God instructing the priesthood to perform certain duties that included a system of cleansing and purification using the blood of sacrificed animals, thus foreshadowing the shedding of Christ's blood, the ultimate sacrifice for sin. He commanded the nation of Israel to follow this temporary system of the ritualistic cleansing of sin (Hebrews 9:9-10). Animal sacrifices served as a type of the one and only real and future sacrifice, Jesus Christ, who would pay the penalty for everyone's sins once and for all.
The Bible teaches that one's life is in his blood (Genesis 9:4). When a person loses sufficient blood, he or she dies. Therefore blood, when poured out, makes the atonement for sin, which produces death (Leviticus 17:11). Jesus lost His blood when He was crucified (Luke 22:20; Isaiah 53:12). He poured out His blood, dying for the sins of humanity.
In partaking of the wine at the Passover service, we should carefully consider its meaning. That small portion of wine represents symbolically the very life blood that flowed from Jesus Christ's dying body for the remission of our sins (Ephesians 1:7). With this forgiveness comes freedom from eternal death.
Taking communion, eating of the unleavened bread and drinking the wine leads to a new way of life
The Passover bread reminds us of the close relationship Christians have with Jesus Christ. Eating the bread demonstrates our commitment to allow Christ to live in us and heal us.
The apostle Paul describes this uniting with Christ in Galatians 2:20: "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Pursuing your own ways is no longer your life's focus. Your relationship with Jesus Christ should become extremely important to you.
The apostle John tells us what Christ expects of us in our relationship with Him: "Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments ... He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked" (1 John 2:3-6).
If you talk the talk, you need to walk the walk. Head knowledge won’t save you.
The Passover bread reinforces our understanding that Jesus Christ, the true "bread of life," must live within us, enabling us to live an entirely new life. God forgives our sins to sanctify us—to continue to set us apart for a holy purpose, to redeem us (that is, purchase us for a price). We now belong to God so He can fulfill His purpose in us.
God’s new Testament Covenant with us
We must understand that repentance (not only being sorry for our sins but
turning from those sins as well), forgiving others if we want God to forgive us,
baptism and the acceptance of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ - along with
belief in His promise to forgive our sins - constitutes a covenant with God.
Through this covenant, which we gratefully accept and can completely rely on
(Hebrews 6:17-20), God grants us eternal life. By accepting the sacrifice of
Christ for the remission of sin, we enter into a covenant relationship with the
God of the universe. The terms of this covenant are absolute, because it was
sealed with the shed blood of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 9:11-12, 15). This covenant
is renewed every year when we partake of the Passover.
What are the terms of this covenant relationship? "'This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,' then He adds, 'Their sins and lawless deeds I will remember no more'" (Hebrews 10:16-17).
Ancient Israel did not have the heart to faithfully keep God's commandments (Deuteronomy 5:29). Under the New Covenant, however, God writes His law in our hearts and minds. His laws are not those of physical purification contained in the system of sacrifices, washings and service in the tabernacle. Instead, they are the holy and righteous laws that define right behavior toward God and neighbor (Romans 7:12) and lead to eternal life (Matthew 19:17). The Passover wine is symbolic of this covenant relationship that is ratified by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Annual observance in the early Church
The New Testament pictures Christians continuing
to observe the annual festivals at the times commanded by God. As a youth,
Christ kept the Passover annually on the specified day Nisan 14, at the
beginning of that day in the evening. (Luke 2:41), and He continued the practice
with His disciples. The early Church as well continued to observe the other Holy
Days at their specified times.
Scripture gives no hint of the early Church adding to or changing the dates God ordained for His festivals. By observing the Passover each year on the appropriate day, members of the Church were proclaiming "the Lord's death till He comes."
The Bible specifies the yearly observance of the Passover, and history records its annual celebration as the practice of the early Church. Passover, as a memorial of Jesus' death, is to be observed annually rather than whenever or however often one chooses, just as all of the other annual festivals are to be kept once a year at their appointed times. Neither Jesus Christ nor the apostles indicated that we should change when or how often we observe any of God's festivals.
Celebrating Passover properly.
This includes having the Passover meal at the right time, at the beginning of
the evening of Nisan 14, between sunset and midnight to be more specific.
Passover and Feast Day dates for each year can be found at www.cbcg.org
and at www.ucg.org and www.lcg.org
and www.rcg,org
.
This no longer includes killing a lamb or even having lamb as part of the meal,
or painting blood on your doorposts. That part DID go out with the cross.
It does include eating bread that contains no yeast, unleavened bread.
Unleavened bread, although flat and somewhat hard, can still taste good. We are
to have no yeast inside our homes or eat any bread that has risen with yeast for
the next week. Leaven or yeast is symbolic of sin. And you add bitter herbs and
lamb as the meat if you wish.
It includes an explanation of the original Passover, how it came about, how
Jesus became our Passover lamb, and
what it’s meaning is concerning our salvation related by the head of household
to the rest of those present. The
reading of this document would satisfy that requirement. It can also include the
reading of selected passages from the Bible, praise worship music songs, and
prayers.
It includes a foot washing ceremony where you use a small basin of water and a towel and wash each others bare feet, symbolizing your humility and willingness to serve others. In John 13:12-14 Jesus tells us we ought to wash each others feet.
It includes a communion using
both unleavened bread and wine, representing the partaking symbolically
of the body and blood of Jesus;the bread to symbolize payment in full for our
healing and the wine to symbolize the remission of sin.
There
is non alcohol wine on the market shelves for those abstaining totally from any
alcohol. I personally don’t believe that Jesus made grade juice at the wedding
of Caanan or drank grape juice at the last supper. Grapes weren’t ripe in the
spring. An excellent discussion on the alcohol topic can be found in the booklet
"Drugs and Drinking; What do the Scriptures Really Teach" found at
http://www.yahweh.com/booklets/onlinebooklets.htm
You will be surprised at the answer , especially coming from one of the
strictest affiliations out there.