THE FEAST OF PASSOVER

(Lev. 23:5)

Feast #1 = The Death of Jesus

(Prophecy Plus Ministries)

(Daymond R. Duck)

                                                

             The Passover lamb                                          The Lamb of God

 

BACKGROUND FOR PASSOVER

(Prophecy Plus Ministries)

 

ü      The story of Passover begins with the children of Israel in Egypt.

Ø      They went there as the esteemed relatives of Joseph.

Ø      He was the man who interpreted Pharaoh’s dream about the seven fat years and seven lean years.

ü      At first, the Egyptians treated them well.

Ø      But time passed;

Ø      A new Pharaoh came to power;

Ø      He made slaves out of them.

1)      Their life was hard.

2)      They cried out to God.

3)      He heard their cries;

4)      Raised up Moses;

5)      Sent Moses to Pharaoh saying, “Let my people go.”

ü      Pharaoh refused.

Ø      So God began to plague Egypt.

1)      He turned the Nile into blood;

2)      Sent frogs to cover the land;

3)      Sent gnats,

4)      Then flies;

5)      Their cattle died;

6)      The people were covered with sores;

7)      Hail and fire fell from heaven;

8)      Locusts plagued the people;

9)      Darkness covered the land.

ü      Finally, God said He would send one last plague:

Ø      The death angel would pass over of Egypt.

Ø      The firstborn children of those who obeyed God would be spared.

Ø      But the firstborn children of those who didn’t obey God would die.

ü      This is what God wanted the people to do.

Ø      Take a perfect lamb;

1)      A lamb without spot and without blemish;

2)      A lamb that’s just one year old;

3)      A lamb that’s in the prime of its life.

4)      Kill it.

5)      Catch it’s blood.

6)      Dip a hyssop branch into the blood.

7)      Sprinkle it upon the lintels and door posts of your houses.

8)      When the death angel came, he would look for the blood.

9)      If he saw the blood, he would pass over the houses.

10)  The people would be saved.

11)  If he didn’t see the blood of the lamb, he entered the houses.

12)  And the firstborn would die.

ü      The Jews obeyed.

Ø      The death angel passed over.

Ø      Many Egyptians died.

Ø      But by trusting in the blood of a lamb the Jews were saved.

Ø      And Pharaoh let the Jews go.

ü      That was Passover.

Ø      It means to the Jews what the cross means to Christians: deliverance, redemption, salvation.

Ø      And God commanded the Jews to remember it forever.

 

ü      One of the last things Jesus did before He died was to go to Jerusalem to observe the Feast of Passover with His disciples.

 

 

THE FEAST OF PASSOVER

(Prophecy Plus Ministries)

 

In the FOURTEENTH  day of the FIRST  month at even is the Lord's PASSOVER (Lev. 23:5).

 

1. PASSOVER is on the FOURTEENTH day of the FIRST month (Nisan 14).

 

2. Passover is the first day of “the Spring Feast” or “the Spring Pilgrimage Festival.”

 

3. Every male Jew was supposed to observe Passover and the penalty for not observing it was to be cut off from the people (Num. 9:13)

And the BLOOD shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will PASS OVER you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt (Ex. 12:13).

 

1. PASSOVER remembers the tenth plague God sent on Egypt to make Pharoah let the Hebrews go.

ü      God told the Jews to kill a lamb, catch the BLOOD, sprinkle it on their houses.

 

 

CAUTION

 

ü      The entire spring pilgrimage is sometimes called the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Ø      Most Jews usually arrived in Jerusalem at least one day before the Feast of Unleavened Bread because the day before the Feast of Unleavened Bread was the Feast of Passover.

1)      On the first day of the spring pilgrimage, the Jews celebrated the Feast of Passover.

2)      On the next day, they celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

3)      And on the next day, they celebrated the Feast of First Fruits.

ü      Some verses of Scripture say the Jews went to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but the Jews actually celebrated all three feasts while they were there.

Ø      The Feasts of Passover and First Fruits were one day feasts.

Ø      But the Feast of Unleavened Bread was a seven day feast.

ü      It’s confusing to some Christians, but just remember that the Jews sometimes referred to the entire spring festival as Unleavened Bread because it was the longest feast in the festival (see Luke 22:1, 7).

 

ü      Christians sometimes talk about their Easter services, but they don’t always mean their Sunday morning Services.

1)      When they say Easter Services, they sometimes mean Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

INSTRUCTIONS TO THE JEWS FOR PASSOVER

 

EXODUS 12

1  And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,

2  This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the FIRST MONTH of the year to you.

3  Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the TENTH DAY of this month they shall take to them every man a LAMB, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:

4  And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.

5  Your lamb shall be WITHOUT BLEMISH, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:

6  And ye shall KEEP IT UP UNTIL THE FOURTEENTH DAY of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.

7  And they shall take of the BLOOD, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.

8  And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

9  Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.

10  And ye shall LET NOTHING OF IT REMAIN until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.

11  And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD'S passover.

12  For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.

13  And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will PASS OVER you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

14  And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.

43  And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall NO STRANGER eat thereof:

44  But every man's servant that is bought for money, WHEN THOU HAST CIRCUMCISED HIM, then shall he eat thereof.

45  A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof.

46  In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; NEITHER SHALL YE BREAK A BONE thereof.

47  All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.

48  And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for NO UNCIRCUMCISED PERSON shall eat thereof.

1. God said He was talking about the first month of the year (Ex. 12:2).

ü      The first month of the year is the month of Nisan on the Hebrew Sacred Calendar.

Ø      The month of Nisan comes in the spring season (our March or April).

Ø      Christians celebrate Easter at the same time on the Gregorian Calendar.

 

 

2. Every household of Jews was told to select a Passsover lamb on the tenth day of the first month of the year which was the tenth of Nisan (Ex. 12:3).

ü      Every family needed a sacrifice.

Ø      The Passover sacrifice had to be a lamb.

1)      Jesus is the Lamb of God.

a.       John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world (Jn. 1:29).

b.      And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God (Jn. 1:36)!

ü      Jesus stopped at Bethany on His way to Jerusalem six days before Passover.

Ø      Then Jesus six days before the passover (on the 9th of Nisan because Passover  is on the 14th of Nisan---9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14) came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead (Jn. 12:1).

Ø      That night (on the 9th of Nisan at the house of Lazarus), Mary anointed Jesus with spikenard in preparation for His death on Passover (Jn. 12:3-8).

ü      The next day, Jesus made His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.

Ø      On the next day (the 10th of Nisan) much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem (Jn. 12:12),

1)      Many people had arrived in Jerusalem for the spring pilgrimage or the spring festival (Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits).

a.       This tenth day was the day the Jews were told to select a Passover lamb (Ex. 12:3).

2)      As Jesus made His Triumphal Entry in to Jerusalem on the tenth of Nisan the Jews laid down palm branches (Jn. 12:13).

a.       Christians call this Palm Sunday.

 

           

3. The Jews were required to select a Passover lamb that was without blemish (Ex. 12:5).

ü      Jesus was without sin.

Ø      Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him (Jn. 19:4).

4. The Jews were told to keep the Passover lamb until the fourteenth day of the month (Ex. 12:6).

ü      They were told to select the Passover lamb on the 10th and kill it on the 14th of Nisan (10, 11, 12, 13, 14).

ü      Jesus made His Triumphal Entry on the 10th and predicted He would be killed on Passover (the 14th)

Ø      Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified (Matt. 26:2).

ü      During this five day period between the 10th and 14th, the Jews took the perfect Passover lamb into their house and made a pet out of it.

Ø      It is very hard to kill a pet.

Ø      It was very hard for God to let Jesus die.

 

 

5. The Jews were told to kill the Passover lamb in the evening (Ex. 12:6).

ü      Evening meant 3 p.m. to the Jews (see notes in Introduction).

Ø      The Jews needed to kill the Passover lamb at 3 p.m. so they could have it cooked and ready to eat at 6 p.m.

1)      Jesus died at the ninth hour which was 3 p.m. (Matt. 27:45-50; Mark 15:34-37).

2)      He apparently died about the same minute (3 p.m.) of the same hour (ninth hour) of same day (Passover Day) that the Passover Lamb was to be killed.

3)      The Lamb made His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem 173,880 days after the command to restore and build Jerusalem (Dan. 9:25; Neh. 2:1-8).

4)      And they killed the Lamb five days later on Passover Day.

 

 

6. The Jews were told not leave any of the Passover lamb for the next day (Ex. 12:10).

ü      Everything had to be consumed or destroyed.

ü      The Jews didn’t want Jesus left on the cross until the next day.

Ø      The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away (Jn. 19:31).

 

7. The Jews were told not to break any of the Passover lamb’s bones (Ex. 12:46).

ü      They soldiers didn’t break any of Jesus’ bones.

Ø      Many times, crucified people lived for two or three days.

Ø      But Jesus died six hours after He was crucified.

Ø      He died so fast people wanted to make sure that He was dead.

1)      Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken (Jn. 19:32-36).

 

8. No uncircumcised person should observe the Passover (Ex. 12:48).

ü      Circumcision was outward evidence that the person had a covenant with God.

Ø      If a non-Jew accepted circumcision that meant he was accepting the Jewish covenant with God.

 

ü      Jesus turned the Passover celebration into the Lord’s Supper or Communion.

Ø      No unsaved person should take Communion (I Cor. 11:27-30).

1)      Some get sick and die for doing this.

Ø      Baptism is an outward sign of an inward work of grace.

Ø      Baptism is evidence that Christians have made a covenant with God.

 

 

JESUS HAD TO DIE

1. The Jews had a custom of releasing a criminal at Passover (Jn. 18:28-40).

Ø      Thinking they would release Barabbas, Pilate gave the Jews a choice between releasing Jesus and Barabbas.

1)      The Jews fooled Pilate by choosing to release Barabbas.

2)      Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit (Jn. 12:24).

Ø      The Passover type had to be fulfilled.

 

 

THE MEANING FOR CHRISTIANS

1. A Christian should be crucified with Christ because Jesus was crucified for us.

Ø      I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me (Gal. 2:20).

2. A Christian should present his body as a living sacrifice because Jesus presented

His body as a living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1).

3. The death angel passed over the Jews, and he will pass over Christians.

Ø      Christians won’t suffer the second death (thrown into the Lake of Fire).

LIGHT OF THE WORLD

 

1. When the Jews sit down to celebrate the Passover Supper in their homes, the Jewish wife and/or mother sets candles on the table and lights them.

Ø      Some Christians believe this symbolizes Mary bringing the light of Christ into the world.

1)      I am the light of the world (Jn. 8:12).

 

 

WHY MOST PEOPLE THINK JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED ON FRIDAY

 

1. Jesus was CRUCIFIED on Passover

 

ü      Jesus told His Disciples, “Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be CRUCIFIED” (Matt. 26:2).

 

 

2. Passover is on FOURTEENTH of Nisan

 

ü      In the FOURTEENTH  day of the first month at even is the Lord's passover (Lev. 23:5).

 

 

3. The Sabbath is Saturday, and the day before the Sabbath is called PREPARATION Day.

 

ü      The Jews prepared for the Sabbath on Preparation Day because they couldln’t work, cook, etc. on the Sabbath.

Ø      The Sabbath is Saturday.

ü      The day before the Sabbath is Friday or Preparation Day or the day the Jews cooked and prepared for the Sabbath.

Ø      And now when the even was come, because it was the PREPARATION, that is, the day before the sabbath, Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus (Mark 15:42-46).

 

 

4. Jesus was crucified on Preparation Day which was Friday the 14th or the day before the Sabbath or the day before Saturday.

 

 

5. Jesus was buried the same day He was crucified (on Friday the 14th).


6. The guards were posted on the day after Jesus was buried.

ü      Jesus was buried on Friday the 14th so the guards were posted on Saturday the 15th which was the Sabbath.

Ø      When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple: He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed. And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre. Now THE NEXT DAY, that FOLLOWED THE DAY OF PREPARATION, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can (Matthew 27:57-65).

 

7. Jesus was raised on Sunday (16th which was the 1st day of week)

ü      So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch. In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. (Matthew 27:66-28:1)

 

 

JESUS WENT TO THE CROSS SINGING

 

ü      Following the Passover Supper, the Jews sing a hymn.

1.      They sing Psalm 113-118.

2.      They call it the “Hallel” or the “Hallelujah (praise Jehovah).”

ü      Following the Passover Supper, Jesus and His disciples sang an hymn.

1.      And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of olives (Matt. 26:30).

1)      One of the last things Jesus did before going out to be arrested, beaten and crucified was to sing praises to God.

 

 

A SCHEDULE TO KEEP

 

And now when the even was come, because it was the PREPARATION, that is, the day before the sabbath, Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. And Pilate MARVELLED if he were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead. And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre (Mark 15:42-46).

 

ü      Pilate marvelled that Jesus died so fast.

1.      But Jesus had a schedule to keep.

2.      The schedule Jesus kept is the Feasts of the Lord.

3.      He not only had to die on the right day (Passover Day; also Dan. 9:25).

4.      The feasts required His body to be in the ground on the next day (The Feast of Unleavened Bread).

5.      And the feasts required His body to be raised on the next day (The Feast of First Fruits).

 

And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified. Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtlety, and kill him. But they said, NOT ON THE FEAST DAY, lest there be an uproar among the people (Matt. 26:1-5).

 

ü      The authorities didn’t want to crucify Jesus on a FEAST DAY because they thought the people would oppose it, but they crucified Him of Passover anyway (Matt. 26:5).

ü      God caused the Jews to go against their own wishes because Jesus was suppose to die on the Feast Passover.

 

 

THE MILLENNIUM

 

ü      The nations will celebrate the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles during the Millennium (Ezek. 45:21-24; Zech. 14:16-19).

 

ü      The Jews who refused to observe the Passover were to be cut off from among the people and they had to bear their own sin (Num. 9:13).

Ø      The nations that refuse to observe Passover during the Millennium will be punished (Zech. 14:16-19).

THINGS TO CONSIDER

 

 

1st---It wasn’t enough for the lamb to die.

ü      Just killing the Passover lamb wouldn’t save the people.

Ø      They also had to sprinkle the blood on their houses.

 

ü      It wasn’t enough for Jesus (God’s Lamb) to die for the sins of the world.

Ø      Those who want to be saved have to apply His blood to their lives.

Ø      We are “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood” (Rom. 3:24-25).

1)      Jesus died for the sins of the world.

2)      But it only benefits those who have faith in His blood.

 

2nd---It was necessary to prominently display the Passover lamb’s blood.

ü      The blood had to be sprinkled near the entrance to the houses.

Ø      The Jews couldn’t take a secret stand, sprinkle the blood out back, sprinkle it in the attic, or inside a closet.

Ø      They had to sprinkle it right out front where it could be easily seen.

ü      Unless it’s dangerous, a person shouldn’t try to be a secret Christian.

Ø      People need to openly confess Jesus Christ.

Ø      He said, “Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I confess

before my Father which is in heaven; But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 10:32-33).

 

3rd---In order to be safe, the Jews had to stay behind the blood stained lintels and door posts.

ü      They couldn’t apply the blood and stay outside.

Ø      They had to apply the blood and stay behind it until the danger passed.

ü      A person can’t be a Christian on Sunday and do whatever they want to the rest of the time.

Ø      A person can’t make a confession of faith in Christ, go out into the world, and live for the Devil.

1)      It’s important to get behind the blood and stay there.

4th---Inside the houses the Jews ate the Passover lamb with their loins girded, with their shoes on their feet and their staffs in their hand.

ü      Two things: They fed on the lamb, and they were prepared to leave on a moments notice.

ü      This feeding on the lamb suggests that God’s people should feed on Christ.

Ø      Christians should have a prayer life; study His Word; have a personal relationship with Him; and look to Him to sustain them.

Ø      Christians should also be prepared to leave by death or the Rapture on a moments notice.

 

5th---Nothing but the blood could stop the death angel.

Ø      The death angel entered the palace of Pharaoh, the prison dungeons, the locked houses, etc.

1)      Palace guards, prison bars, high walls, closed windows, and locked doors couldn’t stop him.

2)      The death angel went anywhere he wanted to go.

3)      And the only place he didn’t want to go was behind the blood.

Ø      Without  shedding of blood, there is no remission (Heb. 9:22).

  

SOMETHING TO REMEMBER

 

SPRING FESTIVAL

Jesus was crucified on the Feast of Passover (Fulfilled on a set day).

 

At the cross, people thought they were in control.

But God was in control.

He was following a plan.

The Feast of Passover reveals many details about His plan.

And we can expect the other feasts to reveal more details.