Contrasting the O.T. & N.T. Passovers

Thank you, Mr. McGuire. Well, good morning, everyone. It is morning, isn't it? Yeah, still morning. Great to be here with all of you and I sure enjoy coming down. It was a fun trip down. There are about five or six cars in the ditch and we had to slow down to about 40 miles an hour in a few places between Ann Arbor and Flint. Coming down, it was pretty slick, but I've got all of you made it here safely and hope you all make it home safely. Be careful driving home. I think it's supposed to warm up and be turning to rain, which is good, but it was snowing pretty hard coming down until we got here and just seems to be the sun built. We didn't have any snow here, so it's really great to be here. I did want to make one just mention an announcement here, because we would have been here a little bit earlier, but we did get slowed up about 20 minutes because of the slickness of the roads. But we are going to have to pick our grant, and we head back to Flint. Today, we have to first pick up our grandson, Zach, on the way to services in Flint, which will take about an extra 30 minutes. It normally takes like 90 minutes. It'll take about two hours, so we'll have to leave fairly soon after services. We'll stay around for 20 minutes or so if we can, but we'll have to leave a little bit early because of that. I do appreciate Mr. Cook's song leading, and I notice he picked a lot of songs pertaining to the Passover. And, of course, we are getting to that time when we're thinking about the Passover, and I want to kind of do that, too. I really enjoy the BT Dailies and also the Beyond Today telecast, too. I haven't watched a BT Dailies, but we do watch the telecast every Sunday, and Mr. McNeil really does a great job in going through things. And it's inspired because he's going through some basic things and reaffirming them in our minds, and it's basic truth. But the basic truth is always exciting, isn't it? I mean, we always, when I watch that on Sunday mornings, it's always very, very enjoyable to just have that reiterated, even like he did here in the BT Dailies that were shown here for the sermon at time. So I want to, as we're thinking about the Passover now, the next two sermons I give, I kind of want to relate to thinking about the Passover and going into that a little bit.

But before we begin, I do want to make a brief statement regarding this because there's been a lot of confusion in the past over some of the events surrounding the Old Testament Passover, and there's also a lot of kind of difficult scriptures pertaining both the Old and New Testament Passover. So I want to just make a statement in regards to today's sermon, which is going to be focusing on the events of the Passover, both in the Old and New Testament.

But as I said for many years, there's been some confusion and debate over the timing of those events, especially in the Old Testament Passover service. But I'm going to be covering many of those events in the first half of today's sermon pertaining to the Old Testament Passover, but not necessarily from a doctrinal perspective. I just want to make that point clear. I'm not going to try to sit down and go through doctrinally why we believe this or that, why others don't believe that, and so on, and go into that part of it. My purpose is simply going to try to place us in those events. So if we were there experiencing what they experienced, we could kind of sense how they felt as they were going through those events. That's my purpose today. But in going through that, I will cover events. I'm going to cover them as basically the position of the vast majority of the churches of God, including the United Church of God. I know there are others who would look at it differently in some of these events, but I'm going to cover from the perspective that we have understood it as the churches of God, even though I know some will see things a little differently and have a different viewpoint of how things happen and unfold it. But I'm simply going to compare how it would have felt living of the time and event of the old Testament Passover, compared to how it would have felt living, being one of Christ's disciples, and sharing the New Testament Passover service with him when he instituted it, you know, 2,000 years ago with his disciples. But as we're approaching the Passover then, this is a good time to begin to focus on its meaning. And I want to do this sermon and the next sermon as well. But today, I want to focus on its meaning from both the perspective of the Old Testament Passover and then from the perspective of the New Testament Passover. You know, as we know, there are some very dramatic events associated with both of those Passovers. And there are a number of contrasts, and I want to contrast these events to the old and the new. But in the introduction, let's look at an instance of the introduction right now. But let's look at what took place on the 10th day of the first month. As we know, the Passover day is on the 14th day of the first month on the Hebrew calendar. Let's look at what took place on the first on the 10th day. Let's go to Exodus 12. We get in Exodus 12. And I'm just going to read this. We'll go over in more detail later. But in Exodus 12, verse 1, the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month, this is the first month, Abid or Nisan, this month shall be your beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregations of Israel, saying, On the tenth day 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 needs, you shall make your count the lamb. Your lamb should be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

Interesting. There, I'll come in on a little bit later. Now, you should keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. Now, first, I actually, later is right now, I decided about a lamb or a goat. I'll come in on that now, because then tell us why. But I have to say, why is it to say a lamb or a goat there? You know, and it doesn't tell us why. So all you can do is kind of guess, and you don't really know why, because it doesn't say. But we know a goat was never used. Any example we've ever seen as a as a Passover sacrifice is always a lamb. I would have to just thinking about it, and I talked to others about it, too, just to get an idea what they might think. Especially, I've talked to people that raise goats. But probably because there would have been some who would have raised goats back then, and didn't have lambs, who may not have been able to afford to buy a lamb, to sacrifice the lamb, and the only thing they had was a goat.

But primarily, of course, a lamb was chosen if possible, and Christ is always referred to as a lamb of God. He's never referred to as a goat, always a lamb. Unless you want to go to Matthew 16 and kind of try to analyze that, but that doesn't pertain to Christ.

That pertains to another aspect of Christ. But God in His compassion, possibly, I would say, is my guess. Knowing some Israelites wouldn't have a lamb without blemish, tells us that goats could have been substituted for those in that boat where they just didn't have a lamb or couldn't afford to go buy a lamb to sacrifice because all they had was goats. That's a guess. I don't know.

I don't know what other commentaries might say. But since not every household would have a lamb to offer maybe two housecoals, because they're the two households could go in together to sacrifice the lamb. If not everyone had a lamb, they'd go in with a neighbor. But great care must have been made in selecting out a prized lamb without blemish. You had to take very care in selecting that lamb.

And since it was selected on the 10th day, the household or household would have to...

Think about this. You're selecting it on the 10th day. You got this baby lamb. It could have been a year old or younger than a year old. I think it says Jews usually stay from about eight days to a year old, but it had to be a year old or younger. Couldn't have been over a year old. So it's a baby lamb. Have you ever seen baby lambs or raised baby lambs? They're pretty cute. And you get pretty attached to a baby lamb. So you got to pick out this perfect lamb. I'm blemished. And you have it tied there probably outside your household. And you're observing it for four days from the 10th to the 15th. Yeah, you could come pretty attached to that lamb. And observing it for four days, that little baby lamb, that could melt your heart looking at that little lamb. And you think, wow, I'm a 14th day, I'm going to have to kill that lamb. I've got to slit his throat.

Because in four days, you could go attached to it. So can we imagine what it might have been like then to have to take that lamb we've been looking at for four days and get it attached to, and now all of a sudden have to sacrifice it? That wouldn't be easy. I think it could be very troubling to have to do that if we actually had to go through that process. Now, I just want to mention one other thing that's interesting. And the whole sermon could be devoted to this. In fact, I have in the past devoted whole sermon to this. But there's a parallel here with the New Testament that is sucking out the lamb on the 10th day. We put together the correct timetable events. In John, chapter 12, is the account of Christ riding into Jerusalem on a donkey with a large proud crying, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel. John 12, verse 13.

He thought he was riding in to be their king, to overthrow the Roman government, be the king of Israel, and rescue them from the Romans. And that fulfilled. John 12, verse 13, fulfilled actually a prophecy in Psalm 118, verse 26. And then, John 12 quotes Zechariah 9, verse 9.

It says, Spirit not, daughter of Zion, behold your king is coming, singing on a donkey's colt. John 12, verse 15. Now, I think there's a lot of significance to that.

And the significance is the timing. Because the day, if you put it all together and really do some in-depth research, the day Christ rode in Jerusalem on a donkey was the 10th day of the first month.

If you really look at it carefully, of the Hebrew calendar. Numbers, on the very day that the Old Testament lamb was selected to become that Passover lamb, that Passover sacrifice, Christ riding in to the donkey, he was selecting himself to be that Passover sacrifice on that day, on the 10th day of the first month. Well, this time Christ was selecting himself. He wasn't being selected by anybody else. He was selecting himself to be that Passover lamb. After the Old Testament, the Passover lamb was slain. What happened next? Exodus 12, verse 7. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.

Then they shall eat the flesh on that night, roasted with fire, or roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs. They shall eat it. Do not eat it raw, nor boiled it all with water, but roasted in fire, with its heads and flags and its entrails. And you shall let none of it remain until morning, and it 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. You shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, against all the gods of Egypt. I will execute judgment. I am the Eternal. And of the blood shall be assigned for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And the pledge shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. Now, that particular night would have been a very troubling and a very traumatic night for all the people of Israel. That night is in sharp contrast to the night Christ instituted the New Testament Passover in that upper room with His disciples. Quite a contrast. But today, then, to get into my sermon now, that was the introduction.

I want to contrast the Old Testament Passover with the New Testament Passover.

On how the Israelites felt as they were observing the Old Testament Passover, and how we should feel as we observe the New Testament Passover, what the contrast is between those two events when we put ourselves into those events personally. So my title here for my sermon here this morning is Contrasting the Old Testament and New Testament Passovers. Contrasting the Old Testament and New Testament Passovers. First, let's start with the Old Testament Passover, the Passover of the Exodus, leading to Israel's Exodus out of Egypt. That was a very traumatic experience for the people of Israel. If you've been there and had to live through that as they did. In fact, it's even difficult for us today to even imagine what that would have been like. They had to have been experiencing many negative emotions. They would have had a lot of fear and uncertainty. We've been right at the top of those list of negative emotions. You know, Moses and Aaron, we don't know if I'm going to go through all this, but Moses and Aaron had been going before Pharaoh, asking Pharaoh to let the Israelites go to observe a feast of their God. And there had been plague after plague on Egypt for that very purpose. So the Pharaoh would let them go to the point where Pharaoh's advisors tried to persuade Pharaoh to finally let them go. Let's go look at that. Let's go back to Exodus 10 here, verse 7.

Exodus 10, verse 7. Then Pharaoh's servants, his servants, his advisors, said to him, How long shall this man be a snare to us?

Talking about Moses. Let the men go. No, no, he says, Let the men go.

That they may serve the Lord their God. Because do you not know that Egypt is all but destroyed? Actually, of course, by this time there had been like, what, seven plagues, I think.

But notice the Pharaoh's servants or advisors said, Let the men go.

That they may serve the Lord their God. Basically, they advised him to just let the men go.

Incidentally, that the women and children should not be allowed to go.

Which would ensure what? It would ensure that the men would eventually return if their children and women were still there.

Why they advised Pharaoh to let the men go? Because they'd all been destroyed by that time. Egypt had all been destroyed by the previous plagues by that time.

Let's go back to Exodus 10. Let's go to verse 8. Exodus 10, verse 8. Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh, and he said to them, Go serve the Lord your God.

Who are the ones that are going? Go serve him. Who's going to go with you?

He was concerned. Who's going to go?

So Pharaoh consulted his advisor, but then he asked a qualifying question. Who are the ones that are going? Are just the men and the leaders going?

Verse 9. And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old and our sons and our daughters with our flocks and our herds. We will go for we must hold a feast to the Lord.

So Moses told Pharaoh, Look, we're all going to leave. We're all going, not just the men.

From the youngest to the oldest, from the strongest to the weakest.

All the men, all the women, all the children, flocks and herds.

We're leaving lock, stock and marrow, so to speak.

How did Pharaoh respond to that? Exodus 10, verse 10.

Then he said to them, he said, The Lord had better be with you to Moses and Aaron. He said, The Lord had better be with you when you let all your little wounds go.

Beware, for if you do that, evil is ahead of you.

He threatens them. He says, Not so! I'm not going to let all of you go. Not so! That's going to be that way. I'm not going to let your children and little ones go.

But go now, you who are the men, let the men you can go, and serve the Lord. For that is what you desired, he says.

And then they were driven out of Pharaoh's presence. He's really getting upset now. He's getting mad.

He's getting very angry, and he's now threatening them.

If you take your little ones, evil is going to come on you.

Not so! I'm not going to let you take your children and little ones, basically is what he's saying.

Only you who are men go and serve your God. For that is what you desired, he said.

Now, Pharaoh, at this point, is trying to put words into Moses and Aaron's mouth, because Moses and Aaron never asked to just let the men go. They never asked him that.

The message from God to Pharaoh was always, Let my people go, not let the men go.

But Pharaoh didn't want to do that, just let the men. He knew they would come back if they had the women and children.

But so Pharaoh wasn't about to just let the men go.

In his anger, Pharaoh then drove Moses and Aaron from his presence, as it says here.

After that, there was a plague of locusts, followed by a plague of darkness over the land of Egypt for three days.

Then we'll pick up the story in verse 28 of Exodus 10. Then Pharaoh said, after these two plugs I just mentioned, Then Pharaoh said to him, Get away from me, take heed to yourself, and see my face no more. For on a day you see my face again, you shall die. Pharaoh is really angry right now. He's getting very extremely angry. And Moses said, verse 29, You have spoken well. I will never see your face again.

Because it would be one final plague, which would take place on the night of the 14th, on the night of the Old Testament Passover.

Now let's go over the C sequence of events again.

Only this time let's put ourselves into these events as they were taking place.

Let's go back to Exodus 12, verse 6. We'll go through this again. Let's put ourselves in the place. As if we were there, we're going through this ourselves as part of the Feudation of Israel.

Exodus 12, verse 6. Now you shall keep the lamb until the 14th day of the same month.

Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.

Then they took some of the blood from that slain baby lamb, put it on their doorposts, which would be very difficult to do, to slay that lamb and then put the blood on their doorposts, because they were very attached to it by that time after you watched it for four days.

Verse 7, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts, in the lintel of the houses where they eat it.

Then they roasted the lamb and went inside their dwellings to eat the Passover meal while they waited. At least pick up the story in verse 8.

Then they shall eat the flesh on that night, roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs, as shall eat it.

This wasn't just a normal meal.

There are a lot of things in this meal that have symbolism, which you won't go into.

But do not eat it raw, nor boil it all with water, but roast it in fire, its head, with its legs and its entrails.

You shall let none of it remain until morning.

And what remains of it until morning? Interesting phrase. What remains until morning? The indication is that they're going to be there until morning. What remains until morning?

You shall burn with fire. So the next morning, whatever's left over, burn it with fire. Burn it up completely, as much as you possibly can.

And thus you shall eat it with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover.

So this was not a relaxed, laid-back, enjoyable, normal meal.

You know, you think about it, they almost had a lot of anxiety, not knowing what in the world was going to happen next. They knew Pharaoh was extremely angry, and he was going to bring evil on them.

But what evil would he bring? Was he going to kill them? What was he going to do?

He still had power over them. He had his army.

See, all of them must have had a lot of anxiety.

In fact, they're probably scared for their very lives, for their lives and for the lives of their children and loved ones.

Because they knew of Pharaoh's anger and how the threats he made, if they were to leave Egypt, en masse. So the fear and anxiety and uncertainty must have been overwhelming as they waited in their dwellings, trying to anticipate what was going to happen next. Can you think about that? What's going to happen next? And they were told, don't go out of your drawings.

It would have been dark outside by the time they finished that meal. In fact, probably might have been very late, maybe getting close to midnight by the time they finished, which would have added to their fear and anxiety.

And now they say they had to be prepared to be in a state of immediate readiness to possibly leave and have to leave on the moment's notice.

Verse 11 again, You shall eat it with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff near your hand. You see it in haste as the Lord pass over. So they didn't know what was going to happen. This is the... Be ready to go. You might have to leave at any moment. So can you imagine eating that meal and wondering what's going to happen, or we're going to have to leave immediately at any moment? It'd be quite a bit of uncertainty and fear and anxiety, wouldn't there? But what could possibly happen whereby they would all have to leave their homes, their dwellings, at any given moment? Can you think of that? Not just leave their homes and dwellings, but leave them for good.

Never coming back again. They have to take with them whatever they could, because they know when they leave, they're going to never be able to be coming back again.

What if you're in that situation, in your home?

Can you imagine not knowing anything what was going to happen next?

How would you feel in that situation? Would you have any fear or anxiety?

But they knew there was going to be one final plague.

One final plague that would cause Pharaoh to suddenly drive all of them out of Egypt in great haste. Exodus 11, going back to Exodus 11 verse 1. Exodus 11 verse 1, And the Lord said to Moses, I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt, and afterward he will let you go from here. And when he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether. It's supposed to be a final plague that's going to cause Pharaoh to do everything he can to drive you out of here. All of you. Man, women, children, everything.

So they were told they would suddenly be driven out of Egypt, driven out of their homes, their dwellings. Verse 2, Speak now in the hearing of the people, let every man ask from his neighbor and every woman from her neighbor articles of silver and articles of gold.

And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt and the sight of Pharaoh's servants and the sight of all the people. Now all this, as you gather from your neighbors, articles of silver, articles of gold, articles of clothing, that happened prior to their eating of that Passover meal, as we're told in Exodus 12, verse 35. I'll just quote Exodus 12, 35, which says, Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold and articles of clothing. So they had already done that.

Then Moses told them what would happen about midnight, verse 4 of Exodus 11.

Then Moses said, Thus says the Lord, About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die.

From the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who was behind the hand meal, and all the firstborn of the animals as well. Then there should be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as not was like it before, and shall ever be again. But against none of the children of Israel shall adaw against man or beast. Then you may know the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.

You know, when that cry went out at midnight, sound carries at night when it's quiet and people are falling asleep.

Many of the Israelites would have heard that frightening cry.

And some of those cries would have come from Egyptian homes, from which they had just received articles of gold and silver and clothing.

Think of that. They might have been friends with some of those people.

These people just given them articles of gold and silver and clothing, and now they lost their firstborn. And the Israelites who received their gold and silver and clothing just hear that cry.

And you think about it.

Some of the clothing they received were from the children who are now dead.

Maybe they got some baby clothing for their sons and daughters of babies, and it was from those very children who now have been died in this first plague, or in this tenth plague, I should say. That would have been very troubling for the Israelites.

Think, wow, here's this baby's outfit I've got for my baby, and it came from a baby that just died.

How would you feel?

Would you feel some compassion? I'm sure you would.

Why did the death angel pass over the homes of the Israelites? Exodus 12, verse 23.

Lord will pass through and strike the Egyptians when he sees the blood on the lymphal and on the two doorposts. When he sees that, the Lord will pass over the door, not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.

So the death angel passed over the houses of the Israelites because they were under the blood of the slain Passover lamb. That's why it's called Passover.

What did the Israelites do after the death angel passed over their dwellings?

What did God through Moses instruct them to do next? Let's pick it up in Exodus 12, verse 21. Moses called for the elders of Israel and said to them, Pick out and take lamps for yourselves according to your families and kill the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hiss up, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And then it says, well, let's just stop there for a moment. They did that. Then what were they instructed to do after the death angel passed over their dwellings? The latter part of verse 22. And none of the Israelites were able to pass and none of you, this is their stuff they do. After they explained that Passover lamb had the Passover meal, it's getting late at night. And none of you should go out of the door of his house until morning. They were told, don't go out of your homes. Stay in your homes at night.

And whatever's left over that lamb in the morning burned all up as much as it began before you leave.

Which they did.

Did they follow that instruction? Did they remain in their houses? They remained in that entire night, not go out until the next morning. The insinuation is they did. Verse 28. Then the children of Israel went away and did so. Just as the Lord had commanded Mosinir and so they did. I think that that would include not going out of their houses until the next morning. I'm sure they didn't get much sleep that night because they knew there's something going to happen where they're going to be driven out of Egypt. At least. What did Pharaoh do after he heard a great pride coming from the houses of Egyptians? Exodus 12, verse 29. Came to pass at midnight. As the Lord struck all the first born land of Egypt from the first born of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the first born of a captive who was in the dungeon and all the first born of livestock. So Pharaoh rose in the night as he and his servants and all the Egyptians and there was a great cry in Egypt for there was not a house was not one who was dead. Then he called Moses and Aaron at night, at very night and said rise and he called the slave, wherever Aaron and Moses were, they had to travel to where Pharaoh was.

They had to walk. It would have taken a while. I don't know how far it was, but it would have been a ways.

And then when they finally got to Pharaoh, he said rise go out for among my people both you and the children of Israel. Go take everything and go and serve the Lord your God, if you have said.

Also take your flocks and your herds and be gone. As you go bless me also.

And the Egyptians urged the people that they might send them out of the land in haste. They said we shall all be dead. But according to Exodus 12 22, the Israelites did not leave their homes until the next morning. And after they left their houses the next morning, where did they go from there?

And also not only where did they go, but what did they see as they were going to where they went next?

What did they see as they journeyed to where they were going? Let's go to Numbers. Pick up the story in Numbers 33. Numbers 33 beginning in verse 1. These are the journeys of the children of Israel who went out of the land of Egypt by their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Now Moses wrote down the starting points of their journeys where they started from.

At the command of God. God commanded them to mark down where you start from on all your journeys.

And these are their journeys according to their starting points. Where did they depart from Egypt from?

Verse 3. They departed from Ramses in the first month on the 15th day of the first month, the day after the Passover. So they didn't leave until the beginning of the first day of Unleavened Bread.

And they left from Ramses, it says. The children of Israel went out of boldness in the sight, and it says, in the sight of all the Egyptians. So they had to journey to Ramses, and they did that in the sight of all the Egyptians. For the Egyptians were what were they doing? As they were journeying to Ramses that next day, that Passover day.

What did they see the Egyptians doing? For the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn. Can you imagine that? You're journeying to Ramses. You're going to assemble at Ramses, which is right on the border of the land of Goshen in Egypt to the north. If you get a map, I'll look at it. You have the land of Goshen with the Israelites dwelled. It's a pretty good-sized land, about 15-16 miles wide. About 7-8 miles wide, about 15-16-17 miles from north to south. Ramses is right on the north border of that in Egypt. They had to journey to Ramses to leave Egypt from Ramses.

That would have taken quite a while, most of the day, because some of them had to go several miles, maybe 10-15 miles for some. They had to journey by horse, donkey, walk. But can you imagine that? Their journey on that Passover day. What do they see? They see the Egyptians bearing their firstborn. As they've gotten towards Ramses, and again, they're in the land of Egypt, they're seeing the Egyptians bearing their firstborn.

What would that have been like? See that. When the Egyptians were bearing all their firstborn, the Lord had killed among them. Also on their gods, the Lord had executed judgment. I say that for me, that would have been an all-day journey. But here they're told that they assembled at Ramses, and then departed from Ramses. They departed Egypt from Ramses. And as they're on the way to Ramses, they saw the Egyptians bearing their firstborns.

Can we even begin to imagine what it felt like to see that and to watch that? How humbling and how moving would that be? Because many of those firstborns were infants and children. But as we read in verse 3, they departed from Ramses in the first month on the 15th day of the month, on the day after the Passover, that had been the first day of Unleavened Bread, which began at sunset, began the Passover day. Sunset ends the Passover day and begins the first day of Unleavened Bread.

Now, when did they begin leaving Ramses? That night or the next day? It says, observe the month of Abib, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. That's recorded in Deuteronomy 16 verse 1. They went out by night, so they had to leave that night of the 15th. After the Passover day ended, and the night of the 15th starts, they started leaving that night from Ramses.

They began leaving Egypt by night. Which is why that night is a night of solemn observance to the Lord your God for bringing him 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. Exodus 12 verse 42, which is why we still celebrate today with a special meal as the night to be much observed. A night that Israel started leaving Egypt. Those, then, are all the events surrounding the Old Testament Passover. Events which have probably conjured up many negative emotions among the Israelites. A lot of feelings, a lot of emotions, including fear, anxiety, a great deal of uncertainty, maybe a lot of compassion for the Egyptians as well.

Let's now contrast that with the New Testament Passover. Let's contrast that with a Passover that was instituted by Jesus Christ. Let's begin by noticing a number of contrasts between the New Testament Passover and the Old Testament. With the New Testament Passover, there is no blood on the doorposts. There is no death angel. There is no great cry throughout the land at midnight. Although there is an extremely dramatic event that occurs around midnight, as we'll see in a moment, we'll cover. But there's no being driven out in haste, no hurry, no fear, anxiety, no uncertainty.

None of those negative emotions are associated with the taking of the New Testament Passover. What dramatic event did, however, occur around midnight after the partaking of the New Testament Passover? Christ, knowing what He's about to go through, after that Passover meal, He went with His disciples to the Mount of Olives. And He was up there with the Mount of Olives. You have the scene where He went to decide one time. He says, He went off by Himself to pray. Later He came back to His disciples, and they were all sleeping. He said, Well, you can't even stay away with me for an hour.

And He went off to pray. He went off probably to pray to His Father, praying, Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but Yours be done. Luke 22, verse 42. And then in Luke 12, verse 44, He recorded, And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly, and then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Tremendous anxiety for even Christ. Because Christ was the Son of God. He had perfect faith. He knew. But He also was the Son of Man. He was God in the flesh. He was a manual God with us. He had all the feelings that a human being would have. And He knew when excruciating sacrifice He was going to have to make. And He realized that was going to have to be made the very next day on that Passover day.

He was going to have to become that sacrificial lamb. And He knew the agony was going to go through. And just a human had said He was sweat great drops of blood. We can't even imagine that. But He had already committed. He made His mind up. It doesn't matter what I have to go through, but not my will. He says, I can have this cup removed, remove it, but not my will, but Your will be done.

But Christ the Son of Man was in the flesh and He felt human emotions. Only this time around midnight there would be no death angel. No need to have any blood of a slain Passover lamb on their jar of posts. Before this Passover day was over, Christ would be the Passover lamb.

He would be that Passover lamb, and His followers would be under the blood of Jesus Christ. Which is a big difference in being of the blood of the slain Passover lamb in the Old Testament. Because those who are under the blood of Christ no longer have a death angel hovering over them. And death no longer has a hold on them. But let's now look at the New Testament Passover service Christ instituted on the night He was betrayed and note the lack of any and all negative feelings.

Let's note the contrast between the New Testament and the Old Testament Passover. Let's go to Luke 22. Luke 22, beginning verse 7. Again there are some difficult scriptures here. I'm not going to try to go into depth explain it. I'm just going to give an explanation as we would understand it.

When you look more closely at the Greek and the context and so on. Luke 22 verse 7. Then came the day of the Lamben bread when the Passover must be killed. Or as verse 1 here has it. If you go back to verse 1, it says, Now the feast of the unleavened bread due near, which is called Passover.

Because the Jews at the time of Christ, they called the Passover unleavened bread. They referred the whole thing as the Passover. Since all 11 had to be removed before sunset on the 14th, the Passover day was referred to by the Jews as the first of the unleavened. That was a phrase they used. First of the unleavened or the first day of the unleavened. And that's really the way Luke 22.7 should be translated. Then came the first day of the unleavened, or the first of the unleavened when the Passover must be killed. It was obviously the Passover day. That's when they killed it. That's when it must be killed.

Verse 8, and then he sent Peter and John saying, Go prepare the Passover for us, and we may eat. He tells him to go prepare the Passover. I know there's controversy here, too, but I'm going to give it the way I believe probably was meant. That we may eat it. He what? The sinuature could that they may eat the flying Passover lamb. That's insinuation. Was a Passover lamb killed for this particular occasion? Well, you could take this verse either way, but it just indicates that it very well was killed.

You just hold your place here and go back to Mark 14 verse 12 for a moment. Mark 14 verse 12. Now, and this again is a difficult scripture. You read it. You say, something's wrong here. It says, On the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, Passover lamb was never killed on the first day of unleavened bread, was it?

It was always killed on the Passover day. On the 14th day of the first month, never on the 15th day of the first month. Again, a more correct rendering would be, now on the first day of the unleavened when they killed the Passover lamb. Because the Passover was referred to as the first day of the unleavened, because that was the day they had to have all leavening out of their home before sunset at the end of Passover day.

So Jews at the time of Christ kind of referred to it that way. But the point I want to make here is this, this verse tells us, as we keep reading it, verse 12.

Now, on the first of the unleavened, when they killed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, Where do you want us to go and prepare that? So he said, Where do you want us to prepare to take the Passover with you? Because they did that on the 14th, beginning of the 14th. Do you mean that you may eat the Passover with us?

Obviously, you mean that you may eat the Passover meal. And then it says, part of verse 12, when they killed the Passover lamb. So the point is, a Passover lamb was slain, and they ate that Passover lamb. That's the indication that it says here, what happened. That's this meal that Christ was about to eat with his disciples, in my mind at least.

At least, I have to say in all probability, it was a Passover meal, where they actually had a lamb. I don't know all the details, and I didn't give as much details, but that was what it seems to have been. They were going to eat the Old Testament Passover meal, which would include a sacrificial lamb. Let's go back to Luke 22. Luke 22 verse 8. Pick it up there. And he said Peter and John, saying, go and prepare the Passover for us, so we may eat it.

Sounds like a Passover meal to me. So he said to him, where do you want us to prepare? And he said to him, what I'm trying to point is, there's a contrast between this and the Passover meal of the Old Testament. And he said, and behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water.

Follow him into the house which he enters. There's a contrast here with the Old Testament Passover, where the lamb was to be roasted in fire and not to be boiled at all in water. Exodus 12 verses 8 and 9. So no water was to be used, and they're preparing for the Old Testament Passover. But here in contrast to that, Christ tells Peter and John to follow a man carrying a pitcher of water. There's water involved in this one.

Not in the Old Testament, but the new one. There's water involved. And then to follow him into the house which he enters. And obviously, we understand what was going to happen to him. Disciples wouldn't know what in the world was going on. But obviously, when we know afterwards that water was undoubtedly for the foot washing, it would be instituted by Christ. It's the New Testament Passover, which John and Peter would have no knowledge of. It was never in any way associated with the Old Testament Passover. It didn't have any water or foot washing. But Christ and Dolly made arrangements with this man ahead of time to use this upper room of his home and told him to have a pitcher of water there, to have it furnished and prepared in a certain way in advance.

Going on here in Luke 22 verse 11. Then you say to the master of the house, the teacher says to you, Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples? And then he will show you a large furnished upper room. They're make ready. So here they go. They've got the upper room of this house. It's furnished. It's comfortable. They're going there in the comfort and security of a home to eat this Passover meal.

And there's going to be something added because they're having water is involved. They're carrying a pitcher of water there. So here we have a comfortable large furnished upper room where they can meet privately in the peace and security of someone's home. So what a contrast to the land of Goshen and the Passover at the time of the Exodus. Here they could relax and even recline in comfort.

And we know one scene where John is reclining on Christ. And the privacy and comfort and security of a private home. Having no anxiety, no fear of intrusion or being driven out or having to leave and haste. No fear or anxiety whatsoever. Here Christ could dine with his disciples one last time and where he could then institute the New Testament Passover service. And if this was an old Testament Passover meal, which I believe it probably was, at least they said that they had a lamb as a major part of that meal. If this was an Old Testament Passover meal, it certainly was not like the Passover meal the 8th time of the Exodus.

Again, Luke 22. Begin up in verse 14. When the hour had come, he sat down with the twelve apostles with him. And then he said to them, With fervent desire, I've desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

For I say to you, I'll no longer eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.

I want to pause here for a moment because there's another discrepancy here that I just want to point out and mention. Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not give an account of the foot washing other than mentioning the pitcher of water, as we just read here in Luke's account. But at this point, we would need to also go to John 13, verse 2, if you want to pick up that part of the story, which I'm not going to do, to understand that the foot washing occurred prior to the partaking of the bread and wine. It gives a sequence in John. Foot washing came first, then the bread and the wine.

As we can also note here, the Luke's Gospel, if you just read right from this area right here, it has the wine before the bread, while Matthew and Mark's Gospel have it the other way around, which is what we follow. Of course, Paul, the Apostle Paul, has it the other way around, too. He has the bread before the wine, and you read 1 Corinthians 11, verses 23 to 25. But those technical differences are not the point of the sermon. The point is that it contrasts the Old and New Testament Passovers.

We feel that our order is correct, even as confirmed by the other Gospels and by Paul, that you have the bread first and then the wine. And that seems to be correct, because the bread, pictures of suffering of Christ, which came before his death. The wine portrays the shed blood of Christ, his death. Of course, the suffering came first and then the death. So if that is the right order, bread first and then the wine.

Verse 19, Luke 22. And he took bread and 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.

The unleavened bread that was taken with the Old Testament Passover meal was called the bread of affliction and the bread of haste.

The bread of anxiety and uncertainty, if you will, but not so with this bread.

This bread did not represent affliction or haste or fear or uncertainty.

It represented the body of Jesus Christ, the living body of Jesus Christ.

As such, it not only represented life, it represented eternal life.

As Christ himself said in John 6, verse 48 and 51 of John 6, I am the bread of life. I am the living bread.

If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.

What a contrast.

The bread of the Old Testament Passover was the bread of affliction while the bread of the New Testament Passover was the bread of eternal life.

Big contrast.

The bread that now portrays eternal life in the kingdom of God where there will be no more death nor sorrow nor crying and no more pain. Revelation 21, verse 3.

Luke 22, verse 20, Likewise, he took the cup after supper, saying, The cup is the new company of my blood, which is shed for you. This is a sharp contrast into the blood on their doorposts to protect them from the death angel. This cup of wine then also represents the shed blood of Jesus Christ, not the shed blood of an animal.

And his symbolic blood is to be drunk and taken internally so we can have the life of Christ in us, as is also symbolized by the unleavened bread.

As Christ taught prior to his final passover. Let's go to John 6.

John 6, read verses 52 to 57. John 6, 52. The Jews therefore quarrel among themselves, and how can this man give us his flesh to eat? He said, Most assuredly I say to you, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. He's talking about the unleavened bread and the wine of the passover.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.

And I'll raise him up the last day because these symbolize Christ living in you. When you eat that bread and drink that wine, we symbolize having Christ's life in us.

And my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. Because he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, referring to the passover symbols, abides in me and I in him. And as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will live because of me.

So the New Testament bread and wine represent Christ living in us, which is our hope for eternal life, Christ living in us.

There was another very important contrast between the blood of the Old Testament passover and the wine as being symbolic of the blood of the New Testament passover and as being symbolic of the blood of Jesus Christ. I'm just going to give you a couple other things here real quickly before we close. The blood of Jesus Christ is cleanses us from all sin.

Read that in 1 John 1 verse 7. It cleanses us from all sin. The Old Testament passover of the Lamb of the Lord never could do that for the Israelites.

And in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. It cleanses us from sin and forgives us from sins. And that's recorded in Colossians 1 verse 14.

That the Old Testament passover of the blood protected him from the death angel, but it did not cleanse them from all sin, nor did it forgive them of all sin.

The symbols of the New Testament passover, the blood of the blood of the New Testament passover, cleanses us of all sin and forgives us of all sin.

As I already mentioned, the image of water was not really a part of the Old Testament passover. The water in the foot washing was totally new.

Also then, just to give more meaning to foot washing, what one major thing did foot washing symbolize? Let's go to John 13.

John 13, beginning in verse 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, showing that attitude of a servant that we should all strive to be, humble servants, serving one another. Then he came to Simon Peter. Peter said, Well, are you going to wash my feet? And he said to him, What I am doing you don't understand now, but you will know after this. And Peter said to him, You shall never wash my feet. And Jesus said, If I do not wash you, you have no part with me. So Simon Peter then said to him, Lord, then not only my feet, but my hands and my head.

But Jesus said to him, He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean. And then he said, And you are all clean, but not all of you. And it is one of you, One of you I washed your feet, that person's feet, but he is not clean, referring of course to Judas Iscariot. For he knew who would betray him. Therefore he said, You are not all clean.

But the point is, I want to make for most of those, I love it of those disciples, and for all of us, he said, You are clean. And taking this to a deeper spiritual level, Christ washing the feet of his disciples, signified they had been cleansed from sin, been made spiritually clean, and cleansed of guilt. They had been spiritually cleansed. That's the insinuation.

And that is made apparent by the fact that Christ, even though he washed Judas' feet, he said, You are not all clean. You are not all spiritually clean.

But the rest of you are.

So foot washing symbolizes being made spiritually clean, cleansed of guilt. We don't have to feel guilty, even though we know we're weak, we make mistakes. If we have faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and we take that Passover, we are cleansed spiritually. We are relieved. We don't have to have guilt. We don't have to carry guilt feelings because of mistakes we made. If our attitude is right, and we're accepting that sacrifice of Jesus Christ he made for us, we've been spiritually cleansed of guilt and any negative feelings we might have. But what a contrast between the Old Testament and New Testament Passovers. Under the New Testament Passover, we no longer have any guilt or condemnation. Under the New Testament Passover, we've been spiritually cleansed and forgiven. And we have the gift of eternal life because of Christ's livingness. So in conclusion, then, those then are the contrasts between the Old and New Testament Passover. And in contrast in the Old with the New, how should we feel in contrast to how Old Testament Israel felt? Well, first, we should feel no fear, anxiety, or apprehension. What should we feel instead? Well, we should feel extremely humbled and extremely grateful. And we should be filled with jubilation, severe, cubilant thing to realize what Christ has done for us. Because we have been freed from guilt and freed from the penalty of sin and been forgiven. And we have been freed from death so we can instead be given the gift of eternal life. And that is the bottom line when it comes to contrast in the Old and New Testament Passovers.