Saturday, April 8, 2017

Passover – a Review


Passover – a Review                                           April 8, 2017 

In the 23rd chapter of Leviticus, we find a summary of God’s annual festivals.  The first three festivals, beginning with the Passover are primarily memorials of the first part of God’s plan.  If you have questions, today is the day because at the Passover Service there will be no discussion.  

Leviticus 23:4-5  'These are the feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.  (5)  On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the LORD's Passover.      (our Savior, Jesus, His Feasts) 

The Passover, the first of God’s commanded annual festivals, pictures the beginning, the very first step, in God’s great Master Plan for the salvation of mankind.  It pictures in advance, the sacrifice, the crucifixion and death, of Jesus Christ (our Passover lamb) for the sins of mankind.  After His death, the Passover became a memorial of Christ’s suffering and sacrifice. 

1 Corinthians 5:7 ISV  Get rid of the old yeast so that you may be a new batch of dough, since you are to be free from yeast. For the Messiah, our Passover, has been sacrificed. 

1 Peter 1:18-19 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,  (19)  but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.         (remember, we just covered that we can redeemed someone with silver or gold)  

We are being spared today from the eternal penalty of sin (the 2nd death) through Christ’s sacrifice. 

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

After Jesus’ death, the Passover, celebrated with the new symbols of unleavened bread and wine, became a yearly memorial of His sacrifice, for Jesus became the reality that the Passover lamb had foreshadowed. 

We know that God (Jesus our Lord) commanded, before the 10 commandments given at Sinai, that the Passover to be observed forever. 

Since you all are asleep, Now, where do we find these verses in the Bible 

Leviticus 23:5 On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the LORD's Passover. 

Numbers 28:16 'On the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of the LORD. 

Ezekiel 45:21 NKJV  "In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall observe the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten. 

We found that the Passover is a memorial to be celebrated, once a year and an ordinance forever which will also include, the millennium, which we just read. 

Exodus 12:14 'So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. 

Exodus 12:24 And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. 

The Apostle John said Jesus observed the Passover. 

John 2:13 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 

John 2:23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.

We know Jesus kept or observed the annual festivals.  He, as the God of the Old Testament, The Spokesman, was the One who originally gave them to Israel and to Mankind or should I say, personkind.

Jesus institute a new way of observing the New Testament Passover as Jesus kept the Passover with His 12 disciples present, on the night before He was crucified, shortly before His death. 

Matthew 26:17-20  Now on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, "Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?"  (18)  And He said, "Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, 'The Teacher says, "My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples." ' "  (19)  So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover.  (20)  When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve. 

Luke 22:8  And He sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat." 

Luke 22:15-16  Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;  (16)  for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it (Passover) until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." 

Jesus, His shed blood for the forgiveness of our sins, Jesus gave a command, This do in remembrance of me. 

Luke 22:19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." 

Luke 22:20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you. 

While instituting the new symbols of unleavened bread and wine, picturing His broken body for our physical healing.  

1 Peter 2:24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. 

The Passover for Christians is a memorial of Christ’s sacrifice for our sins, which He wants Christians to especially remember every year. 

1 Corinthians 11:26-30 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes.  (27)  Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.  (28)  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.  (29)  For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.  (30)  For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. 

Jesus institutes a completely new ceremony in connection with this New Testament Passover observance.  (What was one new ceremony for us) 

John 13:4-5 (Jesus) rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself.  (5)  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 13:12-13 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?  (13)  You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 

This completely new ceremony that Jesus also institute in connection with this New Testament Passover observance. 

John 13:14-15 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.  (15)  For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 

Jesus left a very significant example and command for His disciples (which you and I are) to follow.   

What have we said about Jesus commands.

John 14:15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments. 

John 14:21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." 

By a person fruits, we will know if they love Jesus or not. 

Notice that this ceremony of washing His disciple’s feet had nothing whatsoever to do with the Old Testament observance of the Passover. 

By washing their feet, Jesus was illustrating to His disciples that He had come to earth to serve mankind.  (Jesus Service: as we seen going through the Gospel of Mark) Shortly afterward, He proved the extent of His extreme service to this world when He gave His very life for the sins of all mankind.   

Foot washing depicts the attitude of humility and service to others that Jesus desires every Christian to have. 

We saw where Jesus plainly commanded His disciples to wash one another’s feet. 

Jesus commanded the disciples to teach the world what He commanded, this does include foot washing. 

Matthew 28:19-20 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  (20)  teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. 

There is a promised for us to be blessed if we obey Jesus words. 

John 13:16-17 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.  (17)  If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

Foot washing was then being instituted for the very first time by Jesus, our Lord and Creator.  He was taking this last minute opportunity to institute an observance that His disciples in all ages were to keep annually from that time forward.   Will it be done in the Millennium.    We are told, if we do these things, we will be blessed. 

The Passover is not a Holy Day or Sabbath. Passover is to remind us that Jesus paid a tremendous price, so our sins could be forgiven, the sacrifice of His perfect, sinless life. 

Remember, Jesus did not abolish the Passover; He merely changed the symbols used.  Instead of annually shedding the blood of a lamb and eating its roasted body, we are now to use unleavened bread and wine. 

The New Testament Passover is to be kept as an annual memorial of Christ's death. It reaffirms year by year "till he come" the true Christian's faith in the blood of "Christ our Passover" for the remission of sins. 

1 Corinthians 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. 

Eating the broken bread symbolizes our faith in the body of Christ, broken open for our physical healing. Jesus Christ allowed His body to be ripped open in dozens of places by scourging until He could not even be recognized!  

He suffered this torture so we, through faith in His broken body for us, may have the forgiveness of our physical sins:  the healing of our bodies when we are sick in addition to the forgiveness of our spiritual sins through His shed blood. And so the broken unleavened bread is a reminder to us that it is by "his stripes we are healed." 

Isaiah 53:5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 

As Christ Himself commanded, Christians today observe the Passover on the eve of the day of His suffering and death, on the 14th day of the first month of God 's calendar, in the evening, after the beginning of the day. 

The Passover is to be observed on the 14th Day of the first month (Nisan) following the example of Jesus, our Messiah 

We know from scripture that Jesus celebrated the Savior’s Passover with His disciples in the evening or twilight of the 14th, later that evening, he was arrested, had a trial, and then death and burial before sunset, before the first High Day of Unleavened Day because the Jews wanted this done before the High Day starts on the evening or twilight of the 15th. 

So Moses instructed the Israelis to observe the Passover. They observed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight, in the Wilderness of Sinai 

Number 28:16 'On the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of the LORD. 

Since we know that the day begins on the evening part of the 14th or at the end of the day part of the 13th and starting of the 14th  at evening. 

We notice there is no discussion when to celebrate the Passover between Jesus and       disciples. It was a matter of fact being on the 14th,. 

Only where to celebrate the Passover. 

Mark 14:12 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, "Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?" 

Notice, the disciples were getting anxious because it was time to sacrifice the Passover lamb at the Temple and where were they going to observe the Passover. The disciples brought this subject up.

So the disciples left and went into the city. They found everything just as Jesus had told them, and they prepared the Passover meal. When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve.  

Mark 14:16-17 So His disciples went out, and came into the city, and found it just as He had said to them; and they prepared the Passover.  (17)  In the evening He came with the twelve. 

The Jews wanted to kill Jesus.  We know from scripture that the Savior’s Passover was not the same night when the Jewish Leadership celebrate the Passover.  The Jewish Leadership confirm their Passover is on the 1st feast day, the night of the 15th day. 

1 Corinthians 11:23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 

John 18:28 Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. 

The Jews refused to go into the judgment hall lest they defiled.  This feast day was the 1st Day of Unleavened Bread, A High Day.   

Very important:  You notice, Jesus had already observed the Passover and the Jews did not.  

Then Jesus was led from Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters early in the morning.  

John 19:31 Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. 

We know that Jesus had the Passover on the evening of the 14th, he was arrested later that night, had a number illegal trials, beaten, crucified during the day time of the 14th, and put in the grave before sunset, the start of the 15th, the First High Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. 

Luke 23:52-54 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.  (53)  Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock, where no one had ever lain before.  (54)  That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near.    (1st Day of Unleavened Bread) 

Tomorrow night is the Passover Service, we will see you then. 

We will continue the story on the 1st Day of Unleavened Bread.

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