The 14th and 15th of Abib

In a very short while, less than two weeks, ten days or so, we'll be observing the Passover on the evening of April 4th, the 14th of Abib at twilight. The very next evening, April 5th, we'll begin observing the Feast of Unleavened Bread on the 15th of Abib.

The evening we and the Church call the night to be much observed. It's our Church speak. We keep these feasts for a good reason. We keep them because we believe in the inspired word of God. We believe the Bible is inspired of God, that they are the words of God. Jesus, we know, said to us many times in Scripture, these words are not mine. These are words I speak from the Father. The Father gave me these words. And so we keep the feasts in accordance with God's word. If you turn with me to Leviticus 23, and something we all understand, but we hear it, God's holy days refer different ways and times. Sometimes people call them, oh, those old days. We don't need to worry about that. Those are the old Jewish days. But they're not, are they? Leviticus 23, verse 1 through 6.

These are God's feasts, not man's. Here we read, Leviticus 23, verse 1, And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, He told Moses to teach the children of Israel, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, The feast of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are my feasts. They belong to God. They're not. We talk about this is my feast, or that sometimes we may say that, but they're not.

They belong to God. Verse 3, six days, You shall your work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. The Sabbath is considered a feast. You shall do no work on it, as the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. These are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations, times are to meet together, which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.

That Hebrew word there is moed, m-o-e-d. And on the fourteenth day of the first month of twilight is the Lord's Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread to the Lord. Seven days you must eat unleavened bread. And so the Passover at twilight, Abbot 14 and the feast of unleavened bread and Abbot 15 are distinct. They're distinct, yet closely related feasts. Because these two feasts occur on adjacent evenings and they are interrelated, at times their distinctions can become blurred.

Their particular timelines for observance can become confused. And their meaning muddled. But these are the feasts of God. We must be very clear what they're about, how we're to keep them. It's vital that we understand as clearly as we can when and why and how we are to observe these feasts. This understanding is vital, you see, because we don't want to sin against God. And we also, because we love God, we want to choose to revere and honor God instead in how we keep His feast.

And so I've entitled the message today, the topic is in the title, the 14th and the 15th of Abib. A-B-I-B. Sometimes you may see it pronounce Aviv, A-B-I-B. B is in boy. And so our understanding to begin, let's turn back to Exodus 12, the Old Testament. Our understanding of the differences between the 14th and 15th of Abib begins in Exodus 12. And this is during the time when there was a Pharaoh in Egypt who did not want and God had it planned out so he'd be resistant for a while till God's will be served.

There's a Pharaoh in Egypt who did not want to let God's people go to worship Him. And here we break in Exodus 12 verse 1 through 13. We're going to break into the narrative just before the 10th plague is about to be unleashed upon Egypt. Exodus 12 verse 1, now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt. They're still in Egypt, saying, this month shall be your beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you.

And so God was establishing the sacred Hebrew calendar, as we would call it. Abib was the first month. Verse 3, speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, on the 10th of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons. According to each man's need, ye shall make your account for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year.

And of course, we understand that the sacrifices, the Old Testament sacrifices foreshadowed the perfect sacrifice, the perfect lamb, which would be Jesus Christ. And so your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two-door post and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.

And continuing verse 8, then they shall eat the flesh on that night. Now it's it's that night, that same night, the fourteenth of a bib. It doesn't say it's not in the morning, not next afternoon, not the next night, but that night, a bib 14. And it's to be roasted in fire with unleavened bread, with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

Do not eat it raw, I can't even imagine that, do not eat it raw nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire. Its head and its legs and its entrails, the whole lamb. And you shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. And thus you shall eat it with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand.

So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. Continuing verse 12, for I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, abib 14. And it will strike 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. Now the blood, the blood shall be assigned for you on the house where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you.

And the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. And so it's the Lord that was going to go over the land of Egypt. And unless they had put the lamb of the blood, brushed it on the side door post, and crossed the lint over the top, if that wasn't there, he would visit that house. And the firstborn, man and beast, would die.

Now Moses faithfully conveyed God's instruction to the elders. They pass it on to the people. Exodus 12, 21. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, pick out and take the lambs for yourselves according to your families and kill the passover lamb. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop. I don't know what hyssop was. I looked it up. Law scholars aren't sure. Right now they think it may be Syrian oregano.

So that have a nice aromatic smell to it as well. You shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two-door post with blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. It's a very important direction. For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians. If you're outdoors at the wrong time, you're going to get struck down too. When he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two-door post, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. Well thereafter, we can imagine, the significance of 14th of a bib, the night of Passover, was to be taught. Indeed, that was a commandment. The instructions were to be instilled in all succeeding generations of God's people. Verses 24-27 makes this very clear. Verse 24, And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever, keep keeping the Passover, observing it. It will come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord will give you, just as He promised that you shall keep this service. And it shall be when your children say to you, and who has ever had a child that does not have at least one question, children want to know. And this night is so different, so unusual, especially at that time, this first Passover, you can imagine they're wanting to know. Answer them with the correct answer God is saying. He explains what that answer is. And so when the children ask you, what do you mean by this service? That you shall say it is the Passover service of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel and Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households. And so the people then, hearing these instructions, they bowed their heads and worshiped. So very detailed instructions here, and the detail that we, as God's people, are to be keeping this mindful, or keep teaching this, I'm trying to say, passing it down from generation to generation. It's not something to do once and then forget about. It's very important, significant meaning here for all of God's people. And of course, part of what we can take away so far is that the Passover is to remind God's people that God is God. He has power over life and death. He is the power behind blessing and cursings. He is the power we look to for deliverance.

We understand that God delivers His people from bondage, as this whole night was being set up for that very purpose. God delivers His people from bondage so that they might worship and serve Him.

And they were never to forget the significance of the Passover, and they were teaching their children, their grandchildren, forever and ever. Well, the Lord then struck the Egyptians at midnight on Abbot 14. Exodus 12. Exodus 12 is a long chapter full of very important information. Exodus 12, 29. And it came to pass at midnight, the night of Abbot 14, that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the captive, who was in the dungeon, top to bottom, and all the firstborn of livestock. And so Pharaoh arose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians. You can imagine all the sudden crying out the morning, the grieving. There was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. Just, we need to think, if you haven't thought about that for a while, just think about that. Think about our own neighborhood. Would that be like everybody in Big Sandy, Texas? It's something I would not want to, I don't really want to dwell upon, frankly. It's almost too terrible to think about, but it's there for us as a reminder. Verse 31, and then he, Pharaoh, called for Moses and Aaron by night and said, Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel, and go, in other words, get out of here, serve the Lord as you have said, and also take your flocks, take your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also. It suggests possibly that there going would be a blessing to him and all Egypt, and perhaps he is hoping there might be a blessing from God that this would stop, that this would be the end. Now, Pharaoh may have called for Moses and Aaron, perhaps he sent a messenger, but one thing we can be sure of is that Moses and Aaron did not go out that night. They were obeying God. They would not have left their houses that night. They would have made God. They could not leave their houses till morning. But we do see that Pharaoh had finally relented. He ordered the children of Israel to get out, and so they did.

And so this is going on at the nighttime portion on the 14th of Abib, and I think we all understand God's reckoning of days. A day begins at sunset, night, day, and then sunset again, and the next day begins. So now we're moving into the daylight portion of Abib 14. The daylight portion of Abib 14 would have been a very long and busy day for the children of Israel. Of course, very exciting, no doubt. They had much to do and little time to do it. Some of us have been in that situation, but I'm sure we haven't quite been in the same situation as they were. What would have been the first thing they did? They would have burnt the remains of the Passover lamb. It had to be gone by morning. They could not leave any of it. Exodus 12.10. They also had—I'm just going to go through the bulleted items here in a sense for you with scriptural references. We also know they had a pack.

What belongings they could carry and bring with them, they had a pack up that included their kneading bowls for their bread dough. And because they packed up their kneading bowls, we're told Exodus 12.34 and verse 39, they put the bowls in their packing, their portable luggage, and so they had to bake unleavened cakes instead. They were baking bread for the road. They also flundered the Egyptians of silver, gold, and clothing. Exodus 12.35 tells us that. Exodus 13 verse 9 tells us that they gathered the remains of Joseph for the trip. Joseph had told his descendants, do not leave him in Egypt. I want to be buried with his ancestors, forefathers, in the land God had promised.

And so they had to bring along the remains of Joseph. In Numbers 33.4, we're told that they went out with boldness. And so while they're doing all this exciting packing up, they're being delivered, they're excited. While they're doing that, Numbers 33.44 says they went out with boldness for the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn. And so although this was a day of great joy and excitement for them, I suspect they didn't have to look too far to see their Egyptian neighbors. No doubt some they may have liked, others they didn't like burying their dead and probably dead animals. Everywhere they looked. It's something to think about, isn't it? Finally, Exodus 12.37, it would take them all day to have gathered up to rendezvous at Ramses, the starting point for they go from Ramses to Succoth. And so all the children of Israel were on the move that day. There's, I doubt there's much sitting around. How long would it have taken? Just an hour?

Are we talking about a town the size of Big Sandy? What's the science out here now? 1,280? Something like that. Big population. It might take all day to move everybody out of Big Sandy. I don't know. What about a town the size of Tyler? Over 100,000 now. Dallas, 1.1 million. How long would it take to move that many people? Plus, let's look at Exodus 12.37, 39. Look how many, how much from all around this area, the area of Goshen, that part of Egypt, the Egyptian delta area, how many would have left for Ramses? Exodus 12.37. Then the children of Israel journeyed from Ramses to Succoth, about 600,000 men on foot. That's just the men. Besides the children, the women. Verse 38, Also a mixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks and herds, a great deal of livestock. If you ever tried to drive cattle or sheep, it's not easy. It's not easy.

Now scholars tell us that there could have been as many as 2 million people. I've read up to 2.5, 3 million. That's just speaking of the Israelites, apparently. And then you have to mix the multitude and all the livestock. At least they weren't herding cats. I heard that's pretty tough to do. But you get the sense that this would have been, even with all sorts of preparation, even if they had organized it and had their marching orders and they knew the process, you can imagine this would have taken all day. And that's my point. It's the point we often make as we review their leaving Egypt. All this is to say that it would have taken all day, the entire daylight portion of Abib 14 for Israel to be ready, packed up to go to walk out of Egypt. And they were walking. They weren't catching a bus. We sometimes forget about that. And then finally, at just the right time, this mass exodus, literal mass exodus, began. They left Egypt on the 15th of Abib at night. They left at night. That would have been one day, one 24-hour period after they had kept the Passover in the evening and night of Abib 14. Exodus 12. We're still in this long chapter. Exodus 12 verses 40 to 42. Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was 430 years. And it came to pass at the end of the 430 years on that very same day it came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations, throughout their generations forever and ever. And so while they were leaving Egypt forever after on the anniversary of that night, God wanted his people. We're part of God's people today through faith, the faith of Abraham. God wanted his people to remember something profoundly important about the 15th of Abib, which is also, by the way, the start of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That night was a special night to observe and vigilantly watch. That night God was fulfilling part of the covenant he had made with Abraham 430 years before. Let's hold your place here and just quickly go to Genesis 15, verse 4 through 5. This is a whole other batch of sermons we could develop on this, but I just want to touch on it here. Genesis 15, verse 4 through 5.

This is a time God was making covenant with Abraham. This is a time before Abraham had children. Genesis 15, verse 5. Then he, God, brought Abraham a brom outside and said, Look now toward heaven and count the stars if you are able to number them.

And he said to him, So shall your descendants be. Of course, Abraham at that time was old. He's going to be even older, a hundred years when Isaac is born. But at this point he was already old, and of course he had no children. That's what the conversation had been about that came to this point. Abraham was old, had no children. Yet in verse 6, look what it says about Abraham.

And he believed in the Lord, and he, the Lord, accounted it to him for righteousness. He believed.

He had faith, and he knew God would do what he said.

Now later that same day, Abraham laid out his sacrifice to God, followed God's command. Verse 12, or still in Genesis 15. Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. That's what his name was, for God changed his name to Abraham. And behold horror, and great darkness fell upon him. And then he said to Abram, Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them for four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge. Afterward they shall come out with great possessions. Of course, now we know that specifically was referencing the coming out of Egypt. Verse 15, Now as for you, Abram, you shall go to your fathers in peace. You shall be buried at a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. The Amorites were the peoples living in Canaan, the land God had promised. God had still time. He was wanting to do some things with them, judging them yet. Time wasn't quite right. Verse 17, It came to pass when the sun went down, and it was dark that behold there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces, those pieces of the sacrifice, various animals you had sacrificed. On the same day the Lord made a covenant with the Brahm, saying, To your descendants I have given this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates. And so on that day, 430 years later, God was delivering Abraham's many descendants from affliction in Egypt. There had been other years, not all 430 years were in Egypt. When we read we can see some of those years would have counted Abraham's time, Isaac and Jacob's time in Canaan. Not all their years in Egypt were enslavement. There were good years they had with Joseph, while Joseph was still alive until there came a Pharaoh who did not know Joseph. And so the time did come when they were afflicted in bondage and slavery, and the time had come 430 years later then, for God to deliver them as He had promised to give them this land, a promise He had made centuries earlier to Abraham. So now let's go back to Exodus 12.42. And again, all this, there's much, much we could talk about the details, but we're going to stay focused on a bit 14, a bit 15. So Exodus 12.42, again, we're going to read this verse about that night. It is the night of solemn observance. The word for observance here is a Hebrew word spelled S-H-I-M-M-U-R, shamur. It appears only twice in the Bible, both times in this particular verse. Exodus 12.42. It is the night of solemn observance, shamur, to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance, shamur, for all the children of Israel throughout their generations. This word does mean observance. It can also be interpreted something to be much observed. It can also mean a night of watching or a night watch or a vigil.

And so this verse tells us, God, when you read the verse carefully, and I'm going to read to you another translation, what we gather, what seems to be expressed here in New King James, isn't quite as clear to me. Let me read to you, actually. I'll go ahead and read it now. The Revised Standard Version reads this way, using the same words, but just switching out some of the English words and phrasing. Revised Standard Version reads, it was a night of watching by the Lord to bring them out of Egypt. So this same night is a night of watching, kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations. And so what we can take away, then, with this verse, this verse tells us that God had been keeping shamur, close watch, and vigil over the children of Israel. Of course, for 430 years, and we can go farther back if we wanted to, the whole line back to Adam, possibly, but we don't have to. On the other hand, God had been watching them conversely, specific of that night, but conversely, God was now telling the children of Israel in their descendants to keep shamur, to keep close watch and vigil unto him. Keep their eyes on him. Don't lose your focus from me. It was a night of watching by the Lord to bring them out of Egypt. So same night as the night of watching, kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations. The meaning of this verse obviously was meant to encourage Israel to watch and trust him. And this verse is also very meaningful and encouraging to us, God's people today, we who are heirs of Abraham by faith. God's watching us, and we need to be watching God as well. And so God wanted the children of Israel to know that he had been vigilant, very vigilant, watching over them all these years since the time he promised to bless Abraham throughout Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob's generations, all of their generations, all their sojourn in Canaan and Egypt. And even during these years, recent years, over hundreds of years, a couple hundred years, maybe a bondage in Egypt until that very night that he was delivering them. You see, God never forgets his people. And God is letting him know I have never forgotten you. They, and now we, must be vigilant to watch God remember what God has done, remember what God is doing, what he's doing in our lives, what he's done for us, and what we look forward to God doing for us and all people.

Yes, in our lifetime, but in the lifetimes to come and on into eternity. And part of this is what we are to be thinking about, is our tradition is, this night is the ninth, fifteenth of a bibb. We traditionally call the night to be much observed. Sometimes, some of our older members call it the night to be much remembered. This night reminds us of God's profound mercy, his faithfulness and love to all people, and especially to his chosen ones, his people. And so God certainly did deliver Israel by his own hand. That's something else God makes very clear about this night. Let's look at Exodus 13, verse 3. It's an important point because we cannot rescue ourselves from sin or death, either. We cannot rescue ourselves from sin or death. Exodus 13, verse 3, God's additional instruction about the fifteenth of a bibb, and Moses said to the people, Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. For by the strength of hand the Lord brought you out of this place.

There wasn't anything you did, Israel, you children of Israel. The Lord brought you out of this place by strength of hand, his hand. In the other directions, received an eleven bread shall be eaten. This is referring to the days of unleavened bread. The seven days on this day you're going out in the month of a bibb, and it shall be when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, the Jebusites. There's probably otherites not listed here.

We get the point. God's going to deliver them, but he's also going to push out these other people because this land has been set aside by God's authority and love for the people he loves. In keeping his covenant, his promise to Abraham. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. Excuse me. And he'll take you to the land he swore to your fathers to give you a land flowing with milk and honey. That you shall keep this service in this month, these holy days. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast. The Lord unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. Every day we're going to be eating unleavened bread in a few weeks. And no unleavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among you in all your quarters. Yes, we have to clean our houses. And you should tell your son in that day, again here's the children, what why are we doing this for? God already is telling us, here's what you're going to tell them. It's our responsibilities, parents, grandparents, and grown-ups who love children. This is what we tell. You should tell your son in that day saying, this is done because what the Lord did for me and I came up from Egypt. And it shall be as He signs you in your hand, as a memorial between your eyes. The Lord's law may be in your mouth. This is part of our instruction, part of teaching our kids, our children about the commandments and all of God's way. We're also going to be teaching them about the Holy Days, let God's plan of salvation.

It's responsibility of parents and others to do this. This knowledge must be passed on. It's life-saving knowledge to be passed on generation after generation. And it shall be assigned to you in your hand as memorial between your eyes, that the Lord's law may be in your mouth, where with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. You shall therefore, you shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season. It's a pointed time from year to year. There's a set time to be doing these things. And so that night, the 15th of Abib, and the entire Feast of Unleavened Bread, was to be kept as a reminder of how God delivered Israel from slavery. And of course, we also observed this same feast as a reminder of how God, through Jesus Christ, has delivered us from slavery to sin and death. But more about that later. Let's also now turn to Deuteronomy 16, verse 1 through 6.

In Deuteronomy 16, 1 through 6, 40 years later, because of their stiff necks and stubbornness, they took a long detour for 40 years. But God never stopped bringing them along to the land He promised Abraham and his descendants. God is faithful. God is always faithful. He can't help but be faithful. He is faithful to us as well. Deuteronomy 16, 1 through 6, 40 years later, and before Israel finally crossed the Jordan River to enter the land God had promised, Moses again instructs them to observe these two evenings. Again, we're talking about the 14th, 15th of Abib.

Deuteronomy 16, verse 1, observe the month of Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God.

For in the month of Abib, the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. Therefore, you shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God from the flock and the herd and the place where the Lord chooses put His name. He's giving the same instructions. He knows human beings can be thick of hearing sometimes. Verse 3, he's eating on leavened bread. He talks more about the days, the bread of affliction, and leavened bread for you came out of the land of Egypt and haste, that you may remember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your lives.

Verse 5, you may not eat the Passover within any of your gates which the Lord your God gives you, but at the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. And there you shall sacrifice the Passover at twilight, at the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt.

Now, I'm specifically reading this line, verse 6.

What we're finding so far, verses 1 through 6, is really a retelling of the directions we saw earlier in Exodus 12. It's diced up a little differently, but it's talking about the same two feasts, Passover and Unleavened Bread. But because translations are taking Hebrew, putting it into English, having to deal with the idioms and everything else that gets complicated, not all translations are careful to keep the Hebrew meanings. And so when we read New King James Version, which is what I'm using, verse 6, it almost reads, you shall sacrifice the Passover twilight at going down the sun at the time you came out of Egypt. It almost sounds like they've shifted the Passover to the 15th, that Moses did that. But that's not quite right. In fact, that's not right at all. That's not what's happening here. Sometimes translations can cause confusion. For example, the New English translation reads this way. It makes it even worse.

New English translation says, but you must sacrifice it, the Passover in the evening, in the place where he chooses to locate his name at sunset, the time of day you came out of Egypt.

Well, if you think of it, that would be at sunset, but we're not talking about the 15th.

What's going on? Don't become confused. Now, some would read this and think, yes, Passover's changed to the 15th, but no. Moses did not change Passover the night when they left Egypt. Two distinct feasts, distinct times. The word translated as time here in the New King James and also in the New English translation is the Hebrew word mo'ed, m-o-e-d. That's the same word used in Leviticus 23, talking about the feast. It's talking about the appointed time. It can also be translated as season. And so, going at a sacrifice passover twilight, going down the sun, at the appointed time you came out of Egypt. It's that time period you came out of Egypt, but the appointed time for the Passover is Avid 14. The scriptures have to work together. They're in harmony. We just have to scratch our heads a little bit sometimes and dig deeper and understand there's no conflict here. What are we not getting? What am I not seeing?

The appointed time for Passover is the evening of Avid 14. That's what scripture says.

Now something happens. When we move along into the New Testament, in these same two evenings, 14th, 15th, and bib, the Passover and the first day of the 11th bread, what we find rather quickly is a rather confusing blending of names. There's a blending of terms, and it's confusing. Let me show you. Let's look. Matthew 26, 17. It's something there's an explanation for.

Matthew 26, 17.

Now on the first day of the feast of the unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying to him, where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover? Okay, what did we just...what? Now on the first day of the feast of the unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying to him, where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?

The Old Testament made them two distinct days, times. These sentences suggest the Passover and feast of the unleavened bread are happening on the same day. We find something similar in Mark 14, verse 12. Let's also look there. Mark 14, verse 12.

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?

And again, we've read Leviticus 23 and Exodus, we've in Deuteronomy, we looked at numbers when they're coming out. All this, they're two distinct separate days. This again is reading, it's one day. What is happening? Why this combining a blending of names and meanings?

The Encyclopedia of Judaic, I'm going to refer to a source that is highly regarded in the Jewish community as one of the premier resources of all things of Jewish. The Encyclopedia of Judaic, the second edition, 2007, explains that the Jews combined the two observances Passover and leavened bread during the Babylonian captivity. And so something happened after the Babylonians came and took them to Babylon. Something happened there. And I want to read just a few short paragraphs from the Encyclopedia of Judaic under Passover. And this is from the Jewish perspective. This is how they explain it.

The Feast of Passover, they say, consists of two parts, a Passover ceremony and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. They lump it all together as one now. Originally, both parts, they admit it. Originally, both parts existed separately, but at the beginning of the exile, they were combined. That's what the Encyclopedia of Judaic is telling us. Originally, continuing on, the Passover celebrated among families, in tents, and after the territorial occupation, after they went into their land, in their houses then. And again, some of these words are rather professorial. It's because it's encyclopedia. These are their words, not my words. Okay.

So they continue, after the cultic centralization of King Josiah, the celebration of the Passover was transferred to the central sanctuary, that would be the temple in Jerusalem. The requirement that the slaughtering, preparing, and eating of the Paschal Passover animals was to take place in the four courts of the temple was maintained after the exile. And so, under Josiah, what it's saying, Josiah required that all the animals, Passover animals, be slaughtered there before the temple, and they kept that up after the exile, after they returned back to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple and all that. They kept up that practice. Continuing, until shortly before the exile, the Passover and matzot, meaning unleavened bread feast, were still celebrated separately. Until shortly before the exile, the Passover and unleavened bread feast were still celebrated separately. To fix a common date, the Jews in Babylonia, the matzot feast after, yeah, to fix a common date for the Jews in Babylonia, the matzot feast, unleavened bread, after 587 BCE, before the Christian era, was given a fixed date, the 15th to the 21st of the first month, and thus connected with the Passover. And so Passover got absorbed into the 15th of Abib. Continuing again, another quote, the combined Passover matzot feast is also presupposed in the New Testament.

That's what's being expressed when you read the New Testament. They're reading from the Jewish tradition, the Jewish expressions, they blended those two feasts together, and that's why it reads that way. That's why it reads odd to us, having read from the Old Testament where it's separated. And so Passover to the Jews, as you see in the New Testament, the Encyclopedia Degea says, the name here refers to the celebration of the Passover, to the whole feast, and to the Passover lamb. And that's from pages 680-681 of volume 15. And so, can I kind of summarize it a little bit? Some of you are going, okay, I know. But I have to show you, these are not my words.

It's nice to hear the explanation, because the explanation can be confusing, looking at what we read in the Old Testament and the New. And we really, we cannot be confused about God's Word. That is a great thing. So that's what this is about. And so to summarize what happened, during the Babylonian captivity, the Jews did combine the Passover and leavened bread, feast observances, to one, together as one observance. In doing that, they changed the time of the Passover slaughtering the lamb from the beginning of the 14th at twilight to the end of the 14th, meaning twilight on the 15th end. In the 8th, the Passover at the beginning of the 15th, the feast of unleavened bread. Now, of course, that is contrary to the scriptures we've been reading in the Vedicist and Exodus. Now, the thing to understand, that was a tradition that had begun around 587. Probably it was being practiced a bit by some before 587 BC. And so by the time of Jesus Christ, this was a tradition that had been well established for over 600 years, nearly 600 years. Do we have any traditions in America? In the United States of America, 600 years old?

No. Why? We're not that old. So just imagine. Just imagine. That was a hard rock tradition.

But the point I would make here is that there were some Jews that did not keep that new tradition. They kept the old ways. It seems most would have kept the new tradition, blending it on one day in the 15th, but some would have kept to it on the 14th, according to scripture.

Now, understanding what God said in Exodus 1242, one might say that most of the Jews had not kept careful vigil in watching over the appointed times and instruction for God's feast. They had blinked a little. They had taken their eyes off a bit.

It's understood that there were, in fact, two Passover observances during Jesus' time.

Yeah. And I think we can understand if we look at scripture. It's there. One Passover service, excuse me, one Passover observance was overseen by the priests at the temple and observed late in the afternoon the 14th, eaten on the 15th, that evening, and the other observed by people in their homes at the beginning of Abib 14, the time we find in the Old Testament. What we should understand is that Jesus Christ at the time of the New Testament Passover, according to the appointed time found in Leviticus 23 in accordance with Exodus 12 on the evening of Abib 14.

Again, if we go back and let's look again Matthew 26, 17 through 20. I read the first few lines here, but we'll do it again. Matthew 26, 17 through 20. Know on the first day of the feast of 11 bread, we understand now they're talking about how that works now. On the first day of the feast of 11 bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying to him, where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover? And he said, go in the city of 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. Jesus was keeping it at his house, not in the temple. Verse 19, so the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover. When evening had come, he sat down with the twelve. Now, let's look at Luke 22, verse 14 through 16. Here we read just how eager the word is in New King James, how desirous Jesus was to keep that Passover. This Passover in particular was very important. Luke 22, 14, when the hour had come, he Jesus sat down and the twelve apostles with him. And then he said to them, with fervent desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. His suffering would be gone that night before he died being arrested and people, his disciples running from him. That was just the beginning. Verse 16, for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. Verse 19, and he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, this is my body which is given for you, do this in remembrance of me. Likewise, he also took the cup after supper, saying, this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood, the new covenant in my blood which is shed for you. And so the new Passover symbols of the bread and wine replaced the sacrificial lambs from the Old Testament, which were a type of Jesus Christ. The bread and the wine represented Christ's total sacrifice, his suffering, his death. Paul says, 1 Corinthians 5, 7, Jesus Christ is our Passover, and the bread and wine represent his total sacrifice. Now, of course, John's Gospel. You can jot down John 13, verse 1 through 17. From John's Gospel, we also understand John 13, 1 through 17 describes the foot washing that Jesus also made part of the Passover service. The foot washing is to remind us that just as Christ laid down his life for others, we as his fathers must be willing to lay down our lives for others as well. We're trying to become like him. In 1 Corinthians 11, 23, let's turn there.

Paul also witnessed, he affirmed, that Jesus Christ set the time of the New Testament Passover service on the night before his death. And that would mean not at the end of Abbot 14, as had become the practice for many, not all, but for many Jews in the end of Abbot 14th when Christ died. Paul states, 1 Corinthians 11, 23, For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord, you know, Jesus Christ taught Paul, that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed, the same night in which he was betrayed, that's important, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, Take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same manner, he also took the cup of the supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes.

The same symbols we see recorded in Luke 22. It's the same. It's the same. Same Passover service.

Same night being referred to the evening of Abib 14.

So Jesus and his disciples ate the Passover lamb that night, Abib 14. The Passover lamb was killed at twilight between the evenings at the start of Abib 14. It's interesting to know, so you'd like to know, and maybe you already know this, thought about it, I'm sure, in 31 A.D., that evening, that same evening would have been on a Tuesday. And it so happens that this year's Passover service, the night of Abib 14, is also on a Tuesday evening. And so there's that parallel that can kind of help us keep track of what was going on when. And so after Jesus' instant New Testament Passover, and that same night he is betrayed by Judas Iscariot, arrested in Gethsemane, before gospel accounts record the terrible suffering and death Christ took upon himself. He willingly took it upon himself so that humanity, not just you and me, but every human being, might be delivered from sin and death. His suffering, death, and burial all occurred on the 14th of Abib. And now let's turn to John 19. John 19.

So we know that Jesus Christ died on the 14th of Abib because John identifies the day he died as the preparation day for the preparation day for the following high day, holy day, which, knowing what we do from the Old Testament, that day would have been the 15th of Abib, the start of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And so John 19, verse 30-31, Christ at this point was dying. He was last minutes, last seconds of life, breath, and picking it up here, verse 30, John 19.30. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. Everything the Father had sent him to accomplish at that point, he was done. He had done it. He had given all. He had been that perfect Lamb.

In bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. Verse 31, therefore, because it was a preparation day, that the body should not remain on the cross of on the Sabbath, for that Sabbath was a high day. It's not talking about the weekly Sabbath. This is a high day Sabbath, what we call a holy day. For that Sabbath was a high day, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, the legs of Christ and the two criminals on either side of them, that they might be taken away. Now, of course, we know they didn't have to break his legs. He was already dead. He was already dead. And then going on down to verse 41-42, so they've removed him from the cross. They're getting him ready. Now in the place where he was crucified, there is a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had been laid. So there they laid Christ because of the Jews' preparation day, for the tomb was nearby. Preparation day. And so, Abbot 14 ended. Abbot 15 began. Christ was dead and in the tomb. Now that evening, of course, Abbot 15 was the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the same night that God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt. Most Jews, not all of them, most Jews then and most Jews now, then they're eating the Passover that night, according to their tradition of combining it during the time of exile. Now, some will reason that since Jesus Christ died in the afternoon of Abbot 14, that the Passover should be kept at the end of Abbot 14, not at the beginning of Abbot 14.

However, as we've seen, that conflicts with what Scripture states. We've seen the Old Testament, we've seen the New, and also it conflicts with Jesus Christ, Himself stated and observed Passover at the start of Abbot 14 when He instituted the New Symbols. That night was the 15th. That was the night of solemn observance. We read about Exodus 12.42. But that night, Jesus' enemies, His Jewish enemies, not all Jews were enemies of Christ. That's not what I'm saying, and not all Jews were keeping the Passover on the 15th. That's not what I'm saying. But His enemies would have been rejoicing that night, keeping the Passover.

According to their tradition. But for Christ's disciples on that night of Abbot 15, when the world rejoiced, they mourned. That's in keeping with Christ that foretold them in John 16, verse 20. John 16, verse 20. He said, Most assuredly I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. There's a very good reason for it than that night, in the 15th in particular. And you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned to joy. We like that. We like that line. Verse 22. Therefore you now have sorrow, Jesus said, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. And we know that their mourning would be short-lived, because we know that three days and three nights later, as the weekly Sabbath was ending, God the Father raised Jesus Christ from the dead.

And the next day, his disciples would all be shocked and amazed, and then filled with joy.

And thereafter, the fifteenth of a bib would be to them a night to be observed and watched, and to be vigilant, and to be remembered always with greater reverence and greater gratitude to God, their Father. That's the same reverence we should have and think about as we observe that night. For us today, when watching and contemplating all that God has done related to the fifteenth of a bib, I find it, and I think you probably do too, it's difficult not to think of the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth of a bib. These two feasts are so closely interconnected by God's planning. These are His feasts. Now Jesus Christ is the promised seed of Abraham, through whom all nations of earth shall be blessed, we're told in Genesis 22.18. And we who believe and obey God are then by faith the sons, the children of Abraham. Let's turn to Galatians chapter 3, tie this all together.

The Old Testament deliverance and the New Testament deliverance. Galatians 3, 6 through 7. And how are we children of faith? How are we children of Abraham? Galatians 3, 6 through 7.

And just as Abraham believed God, it was counted to him for righteousness.

Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. It's a matter of faith to believe God and do what He says, to trust God, to keep covenant. Through faith in Christ's sacrifice for our sins, we have hope of salvation and the promise of becoming sons and daughters in the kingdom and family of God. Let's read a little further down in Galatians 3, 13 through 14. Christ has redeemed us, Paul writes. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. The law's not bad. It's people that are bad. The curse of the law refers to the penalty of sin for breaking the law, that curses death. And having become a curse for us, He became death for us, He took our place, for as written, curses everyone hangs on the tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles and Christ Jesus, and upon the Jews as well, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Verse 16, Now to Abraham and his seed, referring to Jesus Christ, where the promise is made, He does not say unto seeds as of many, but as one, and to your seed, who is Christ. And this I say, that the law which was 430 years later cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God and Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. Now also Hebrews 2. Hebrews chapter 2, Hebrews 2.14-18.

And so through Christ's sacrifice, Jesus Christ's sacrifice, we have been released, delivered from bondage to sin and death.

Hebrews 2.14. Inasmuch as the children have partiqued in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, referring to Christ, coming as Emmanuel, that through death He might destroy him who at the power of death, that is the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. We were slaves before we knew we were slaves, slaves to sin and death, to Satan, self, and society, all that. For indeed, verse 16, for indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.

Therefore, in all things, He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people, for in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted. He's able to aid us. Because Jesus Christ has delivered us from bondage to sin and death, we should observe with vigilant attention and great joy these and all the wondrous things God has done and is doing. Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God. John 1, 29. He is our Passover, 1 Corinthians 5, 7. And through faith and His sacrifice for our sins, we can come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may attain mercy and find grace to help us in time of need, at Hebrews 4, 16. For these reasons and the evidence God provides us in His Holy Scripture, including the timelines we've looked at from the Book of Exodus, the timeline events in the Book of Exodus, and the timeline events in Christ's suffering and death as a matter of faith and obedience to God, the United Church of God observes a Passover and the night prescribed by Scripture the same night the Lamb of God and our Passover Jesus Christ kept the evening of 14th of a bib and with the symbols He instituted on that same night in which He was betrayed.

This is very important for us to understand. Two distinct nights not to be blended, but honored and watched and be kept vigilant of, along with everything else God has taught us in doing for us. And so as we keep the Passover and on the next night we observe what we call the night to be much observed, the beginning of 11th bread, our tradition is to observe about 15th at the beginning of that evening in fellowship with brethren over a nice meal.

We like our nice meals and we like that fellowship, but that is our tradition and it's a very wonderful tradition. Of course, we need to remember that's not what the children of Israel did that night.

They were busy walking out of Egypt. It may not likely was not the sort of happy meal the disciples were having that night after Christ's death.

But on that night then, as we're having a meal, we should do more than just have a good time eating a meal. Along with having a good time, a good fellowship with our brethren eating that good food, we should recall what happened on the night of Abed-14, the Passover. And we should recall how God kept watch and vigil over his people in Abed-15 and at those times when they rejoiced, at those times when they mourned. On the night to be much observed, we should remember and talk about what God and Christ have done. Done for you, done for us, what He's doing in our lives. We might share how God called us into His church, how God has helped us to build a relationship with Him. Talk about how the things God has done for us because of His grace and mercy, when we're just no good, but yet God had mercy on us. We can talk about God's promise of everlasting life in the kingdom and family of God. That's what we can do as we enjoy that wonderful food, the time to fellowship, and the night to be much observed, as is our tradition.

The Passover and the Feast of Love and Bread are soon upon us, brethren. And so as we prepare our hearts and minds, I pray that we may also be ever grateful to the Father and to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, His Son.