The History, Chronology, and Timing of Passover

Well, good afternoon, brethren! Happy Sabbath to all of you once again. It's great to have you with us on this Sabbath day. Last Sabbath, you may recall, I talked about the theology of Exodus 12. Today I would like to discuss the history and the timing and the chronology of the Passover. This has always been a controversial topic, and there are numerous opinions on where and when and even how the Passover should be observed today. If you look at the professing Christian world, you will see that most people don't even keep an annual Passover. Most people who are in parts of the so-called Christian faith meet monthly.

Some meet occasionally in doing something that they call the Lord's Supper. Others call it Holy Communion. Some call it the Eucharist. But it's rare that you will find people who keep an annual Passover as we do. And even among those who observe the Sabbath and the Holy Days, the various Church of God groups, there are different views. So today I thought it would be good to cover why and how we keep the Passover and the biblical reason, the biblical authority that we have for doing it.

I'm going to be using a lot of material that's actually in one of our study papers. We have a study paper called the Passover of Exodus 12. And it's kind of technical, but if you're into that kind of technical scholarly detail, you'll find it very helpful, very interesting to read. It's during this sermon that I would like to discuss our traditional teaching on when the original Passover was observed and occurred in Exodus 12 and why. I believe that what we teach is sound doctrine and it's biblically based. But I also understand that there are legitimate differences between different groups who also keep the Sabbath and Holy Days.

And as I tell people, as I've felt for a long time, that we have to do what our conscience tells us to do. And I have beloved brothers and sisters in Christ who attend United and also attend other Church of God groups who keep some of the Holy Days differently than I do. My attitude is it's wonderful that you're keeping the Holy Days. You may not see it the same way I do, but as we'll see, this is a controversy that's been going on for thousands of years. In the time of Christ, there were different calendars.

Even in the time of Jesus Christ, the Sadducees and the Pharisees were counting the Holy Days differently. Yet Jesus never inserted Himself in that controversy. He did what He knew He needed to do. He did what He was taught, what He knew was right as the Son of God. But that's an area that He never inserted Himself in. So what I would like to help us all to understand is that we have brothers and sisters in Christ who may not agree with what I'm going to present today, which I think is biblically strong and I think is biblically correct.

But we have to have the patience and the tolerance to allow people to have different perspectives. I'm going to give you an example. Many of you have been around for a long time, may remember an evangelist named Clint Zimmerman from back in the days of the World Wide Church of God. Well, in the early 70s, Mr. Zimmerman came to see in his own mind that Pentecost should be kept on a Sunday, and at that time the church kept Pentecost on a Monday.

So in his case, he kept Pentecost on a Sunday quietly because that's what his conscience told him he needed to do. And then on Monday, he also observed it with the Church of God so he could fellowship with his brothers and sisters in Christ. But he had to follow his conscience, but yet he didn't want to separate himself from his brothers and sisters. And we should respect that, brethren. So my purpose today is to explain, primarily from Scriptures and a little bit of history, why we observe the Passover when we do.

Because it is different from what Judaism, what modern Judaism does today. It is different from what many believers who keep the Sabbath and Holy Days the way they keep the Passover.

But we need to understand why we're doing what we're doing. The purpose of a church is to solidify doctrine and to teach doctrine and truth. That's why churches exist. So let's do that today. Let's begin by going to the book of Exodus. We're going to go to the book of Exodus beginning in verse 1. Now, unlike last week, a lot of these Scriptures I will read through quickly because these Scriptures were read last week and we pulled out of them the theological meaning, the symbols of blood and lambs and all of the beautiful imagery and symbolism and analogies. We did that last week and that's available either on audio on our website, that's also available on video.

So you can watch that again on our on ucg-cleveland.org if you would like to see that in video. That's not the purpose this week. It's the focus on timing and chronology. So some of these Scriptures I will not re-emphasize the same things over again. Exodus 12 beginning in verse 1. It says, It says, Now, you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation shall kill it at twilight. Now, the word twilight here that you'll see in the New King James Version is the Hebrew word ekreb.

It's spelled E-R-E-B, ekreb. And it means evening. It means dusk. That's what that Hebrew word means. Verse 6 translated from God's word for today says, Here's what Riri's Bible note says about this verse. It says, It says, Hebrew literally means between the evenings. We talked about that last Sabbath. Some understand this to mean between sunset and nightfall, as we described last week. Others, between the sun's decline and sunset, about 3 to 5 p.m. Now, I'm going to explain to you from Exodus 12, hopefully, if the PowerPoint works correctly, what happened here?

On sunset of the 14th of Abib, according to scriptures, and many scriptures, the days begin at sunset. From sunset to sunset is a day from one day to another day. Now, between the two evenings was that period of twilight, depending on where we are on earth, it can last anywhere from 30 minutes on longer. It's that period of time between sunset and when it gets dark outside. And it was at this period of time that the Passover lamb was slain. Now, the command is very clearly given, verse 6, And 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.

So sunset is when a day begins. If we were to interpret this as occurring during this zone the following sunset, between the two evenings, after the sun is set, would we still be in the fourteenth day of the month? Well, no, we wouldn't. Because once sunset occurred, we have entered the fifteenth day of the month. So there was only one time during a day when you had that zone called twilight or between the two evenings. That was the beginning of the day right after sunset. It cannot be the following day after the sunset because you are now in a totally new day.

You were no longer in the command that says that you would do this on the fourteenth. So what happened? This is very clear. In context, most scholars understand and clearly believe that between the two evenings was the period of time between sunset and dark. Yet, I have to tell you, by the time of Jesus Christ, that has been reinterpreted to mean from like three o'clock in the afternoon to five o'clock or three o'clock in the afternoon to sunset. They greatly expanded it.

And that means that they were moving it into the previous day. So why? What was the reason that this occurred? Turn with me, if you would, to hold your place, by the way, in Exodus 12.

Turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter 16 beginning in verse 1. Where did this idea come from? And what caused it? What caused the redefinition of this term between the two evenings? Now, Deuteronomy, by the time we get to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 16, I want you to understand this is 40 years later, after Exodus 12.

Right? They wandered into the wilderness for 40 years. If you know the context of the book of Deuteronomy, they're just ready to enter the Promised Land. Moses is giving his final farewell addresses because he's not going. So it's 40 years after Exodus 12. What had occurred during that period of time? Well, in Exodus 12, was there a priesthood? No, there was no priesthood yet. In Exodus 12, was there a tabernacle? No, there was no tabernacle yet.

In Exodus 12, was there a central altar that people could bring their offerings to? No, there wasn't in Exodus 12, but there was by the time 40 years later when they're ready to enter the Promised Land. They have a tabernacle. They have the Levitical priesthood. They've been instructed on all of those things. So let's take a look at the scripture here. Deuteronomy chapter 16 and verse 1. It says, I want you to hang on to that thought. They came out of Egypt by night because we're going to get back to that later.

Therefore, you shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God from the flock and the herd in the place where the Lord chooses to put His name. What's that mean? Well, they're going to tell us. Verse 3. You shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it. That is bread of affliction for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste. That you may remember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt.

All the days of your life and no leaven shall be seen among you in your territory for seven days. Nor shall any of the meat which you sacrificed the first day of twilight remain overnight until morning. So here we're told that Israel came out by night and they came out in haste. Let's pick it up now in verse 5. You may not sacrifice 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, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at twilight at the going down of the sun and at the time you came out of Egypt.

So the context is changing. In Exodus 12, every family, every household was to sacrifice personally their own lamb and to celebrate the Passover. But we see here in what we just read in these scriptures in Deuteronomy that now everyone was to take the lamb to the tabernacle or to the temple, the place where the Lord chooses, the Levites would make that decision. There the lamb would be slayed for them and then they would take their lamb back home to their family and celebrate the Passover.

So again, this is 40 years after the instruction given in Exodus 12 and Israel is entering the Promised Land. There's a change of practice because now there's a central tabernacle, later a temple. There is a central altar where everyone brings their sacrifices. And now there's a Levitical priesthood which there was not in Exodus 12. So no longer is the lamb to be killed individually by the householders where they lived.

Now again, they're to take the lamb to the place where the Levites determined because God would reveal to them that usually was either the tabernacle or the temple. And there the sacrifice was to be done rather than doing it locally as commanded in Exodus 12. Now why do I go through all this? Because this presented a big problem for the priest. It's one thing if everybody on their own, during a one hour period of time or less, just goes and sacrifices the lamb for their family. But now all of a sudden you've got, with a growing population, thousands of lambs are being brought to the Levitical priesthood to be slaughtered. And it is impossible within that short period of time, originally between the two evenings, for them to slaughter thousands of lambs.

I don't care how quick they are, how sharp their knife is, there just isn't enough time. Because so many people were coming to the tabernacle and eventually when a temple was built they were coming to the temple. So there's not enough time for the priest to do this between sunset and dark.

So what do they do? They reinterpret what the phrase means between the two evenings. And that time is expanded to accommodate the change in practice so that they can kill lots of lambs. And some interpretations expanded from 3pm to 5pm and others from 3pm to sunset. But you don't know what, I mean I just went through this explanation because I want you to understand where they're coming from.

But you know what? In the context of Exodus 12, we don't care, do we? If we want to know what happened in Exodus 12, we have to interpret things in the context of Exodus 12. Not what some later interpretation did to expand that time. So let's now go back to Exodus 12, chapter 7 and verse 10. I thought it was important to explain to you how that term was reinterpreted, that term between the two evenings as time went on. But we're interested right now in this study today to look at Exodus 12. Pick it up in verse 7.

Do not eat it raw or boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire. Its head with its legs and its entrails, you shall let none of it remain until morning. And whatever remains until morning, that's an interesting phrase, you shall burn with fire. We're going to get back to that phrase in morning in a minute as well. Here's what the Scripture is saying, that anything that remains, that is not eaten at night, for example, bones, maybe you're not into eating lamb intestines for some reason, or other parts of the lamb that I won't even mention. Let's say that you're not into those things, other non-edible parts of the lamb, that in the morning, after the night was totally complete, in the morning you were to burn those parts. So let's continue here, and we'll pick it up here in verse 11. And you shall eat it with a belt on your waist and sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hands, and so 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 I will strike all the firstborn of the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all of the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. Now 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 plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. So we need to understand that the protection was being in the house. Right? You had to put the blood on the lentils of the house. The protection was being in the house. What happened if you slapped the blood on your forehead and you walked outside the door? You are, to put it in modern phraseology, if you were a firstborn, you were toast at the highest setting. All right? The protection was the blood on the lentil of the house. So you had to stay inside the house. And we'll see in a minute how long you were to do that. So this scripture is a command to eat the Passover and haste, be prepared to leave quickly. And you know, it's because of this scripture that many, including modern Judaism, one of the reasons this scripture, that they compress the Passover and what we call the night to be much observed on the evening of the first day of unleavened bread. They compress all of that in the one evening, what we call the evening of the first day of unleavened bread. So they are compressing those events together because they believe that the order of events were that the Passover occurred and then early in the morning all Israel assembled together and began yet that night before daybreak to leave Egypt and began marching out of Egypt. And they believe that was on the eve of the first day of unleavened bread. We're going to let the scriptures answer the question, is that even possible? And again, this is what most of modern Judaism observes. That's how they keep the Passover. They keep the Passover at the end of the fourteenth, what we would call the beginning of the fifteenth, which happens to be what we call the night to be much observed and it's also the beginning of the first day of unleavened bread. That's what most of modern Judaism observes today. But let's see what the scriptures say. I do want you to notice that even though they are told to be ready to leave and they are told to be prepared, they eat it in haste, I want you to see that there is no statement that absolutely promises or says that they will leave that same night of the Passover. They're just told to be ready, but they are not told that they're going to leave that very same night. They're simply told to be ready to go immediately when they receive instruction. Now let's go to verse 14.

The center of work shall be done on them, but which everyone must eat. It's okay to prepare some food that only may be prepared by you. Verse 17. So you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread, for on this same day I have brought your armies. And I want you to notice that phrase. The children of Israel were considered to be armies. It's because, as we'll see, they were organized. They were in rank and file when they left Egypt. God is not the author of confusion. God is an organized God. And when these people left Egypt, they marched out with a high hand like an organized army, synchronized, marching together in orderly ranks as they left Egypt.

Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance. So here we just saw that the feast of unleavened bread has two high days. We're familiar with those. The first and the seventh, and they're told leaven is to be removed from their houses. Notice also what God states here, that on the same day as the beginning of the feast of unleavened bread, the Israelites will leave Egypt. This is the fifteenth of Abib. So does this mean that these events were compressed with the Passover and the night to be much observed at just the evening portion of them leaving that very night Egypt and being part of the Exodus?

Well, let's continue here. Let's go to verse 18. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at even. For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses. Since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land, you shall eat nothing leavened in all of your dwellings.

You shall eat unleavened bread. So that's more instruction about being unleavened in their homes and in their community. Now we're going to get into an interesting scripture here regarding the timing, picking it up in verse 21. It says, And Moses called all the elders of Israel, and said to them, Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop. Hyssop was a medicinal plant. It was like a bush. It happened to make a very good paintbrush, by the way.

But it was medicinal. And the symbolism here, even though I promised I wouldn't get into any theology. I can't resist it. It was medicinal. It was also used in the cleansing of lepers, and it was used in other rituals in ancient Israel for cleansing. So we're talking about the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ to forgive us of our sins. Dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lentil and the two-door post with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning.

Well, that's a little difficult to compress. The Passover being on the same night as you're supposedly leaving Egypt, if you're not to even go out of your house until morning. For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lentil and the two-door post, the Lord will pass over the door.

Again, emphasizing the importance of being in that house. And not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. So I want you to notice here the clear command by Moses. No one is going to go out of the door of their house until morning. And this Hebrew word for morning is bokar.

B-O-Q-E-R. B-O-Q-E-R. And it means dawn, the breaking of the day. So they were told, we've already seen, that the remnants of what was left over from the lamb that was not eaten was not to be burned until morning. Now we know why. They are told not to go out of the door of your house until morning. I want you to remember that Deuteronomy 16.1 stated that the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. Remember, I asked you to hang on to that phrase. This makes it very difficult for the passover to occur. And on that same night, for them to leave Egypt if all that night until morning they are in their homes as they are commanded to be.

Let's now pick it up here in verse 24. And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. It will come to pass that when you come to the land which your Lord will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service and it shall be when your children say to you, what do you mean by this service? That you shall say it is the passover sacrifice of the Lord who passed over the houses of the children of Israel when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.

Continuing, so the people bowed their heads and worshiped. The children of Israel went out and did so just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on the throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock.

So one good reason they were not to leave their homes until daybreak was because the death angel would begin to do its thing on the Egyptian firstborn beginning at midnight. Verse 30, So Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all the servants in the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. It has been extrapolated, thought that it could have well been over a hundred thousand dead in Egypt. But there would have been, and I don't know how they get to the population figures, but they believe there may have been up to a hundred thousand firstborn males in Egypt who died that night.

And that doesn't include the firstborn cattle, the firstborn of beast. That's a lot of death, I might add. Verse 31, Then he called, this is Pharaoh, then he called for Moses and Aaron by night. He said, Rise up and go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel, go! Serve the Lord as you have said, also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone and bless me also. So we see here, at the same night after the Passover is consumed, while the Israelites are in their homes, while they're protected by the Lamb's blood, it's past midnight, the firstborn of the Egyptians are slain, and it's during the same night that a message is sent to Moses from Pharaoh.

Now, how many of you have ever seen the movie, The Ten Commandments? Raise your hand if you have. Thank you very much. It lies. In one scene, Moses returns to talk to Pharaoh. Do you remember that? Moses comes back, he has his little conversation with Pharaoh, and I think Pharaoh's final lines might be, you know, your God is God, or something like that, and his son is hanging out there over the edge of the idol, if I remember correctly.

But you know what? Way back in Exodus 10. You don't need to turn there. Way back in Exodus 10, verse 28, the last conversation they had, here's what Pharaoh said. Pharaoh said to him, Get away from me, take heed to yourself, and see my face no more, for in the day that you see my face, you shall die. Verse 29, Moses said, You have spoken well, I will never see your face again. That was way back in Exodus 10. So, send the movie back.

There are a lot of better things to order on Netflix anyway. No, I'm kidding. It's a great movie. But my point is, is that we are led to believe, because of that movie, that Moses went back. What the Scripture says here is that a message was sent to him. Now, a couple of things could have happened. Either a messenger came from Pharaoh and said this to Moses that we just read. It's possible a messenger just came. It says, He and all his servants, speaking of Pharaoh and all the Egyptians, there was a great cry in Egypt, so there was not a house where there was not one dead.

Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night and said he might have sent a messenger to Goshen. Or, it is possible that Moses got into a chariot, and this would have to be after morning, right? Because, you know, he didn't want to get out of the house. That he got into a chariot, that he went to see Pharaoh and that Pharaoh had a messenger tell him this.

But we have to believe what Moses and Pharaoh said together in Exodus 10, that they would never see their faces again alive. Now, I want you to hold your place in Exodus 12 and turn with me to Numbers chapter 33 and verse 2.

There's another complication with those who believe that the Passover and the Exodus are occurring on the same evening. Again, the belief is, in modern Judaism, believes this, that you have the Passover and then that very night the Exodus occurred. And what we traditionally call the night to be much observed. Here's another complication. Numbers chapter 33 and verse 2. It says, Now Moses wrote down the starting points of their journeys at the command of the Lord, and these are their journeys according to their starting points. For they departed from Ramesses in the first month, and on the fifteenth day of the first month, on the day after the Passover, and that Hebrew word is makaroth, and it means tomorrow on the next day after the Passover, the children of Israel went out with boldness in the sight of all the Egyptians.

Verse 4, For the Egyptians were burying their firstborn, whom the Lord had killed among them, also on their gods, whom the Lord had executed judgment. So the scripture says that when Israel went out of Egypt, that they saw the Egyptians burying their firstborn. Now, brethren, it wouldn't make sense if the firstborn died at midnight, and here, three to four hours later, that they're already beginning to bury those who had died as a result of the death angel, especially when you understand and appreciate Egypt's culture of elaborate funeral rites. That's a lot to compress in one evening, that all of these people die around midnight, and within just a few hours later, two, three, four o'clock in the morning, while it's night, remember they left Egypt by night, that suddenly all of these people are already being buried in the nighttime.

That is just very hard to grasp and understand. Now let's go back to Exodus 12 and verse 33, and we'll see another complication. Exodus 12 and verse 33. Moses was inspired to write, and the Egyptians urged the people, but they might send them out of the land in haste, for they said, We all be dead, we shall all be dead. So the people took their dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up on their clothes, on their shoulders. Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked, that's past tense, by the way, they had asked the Egyptians, articles of silver, articles of gold and clothing, and the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested.

And they plundered the Egyptians, then the children of Israel journeyed from Ramses to Sukhov, about 600,000 men on foot, besides children. A mixed multitude also went up with them also, and flocks and herds, and a great deal of livestock. So it says here that the Israelites finished the process of plundering the Egyptians. It's in past tense, so that obviously had been starting days earlier, as the result of the plagues, long before Pharaoh decided to get rid of the Israelites. Other Egyptians, who had more common sense and brains in their head, were willing to let the Israelites go much earlier.

And it says here that there were 600,000 men on foot. Now, including women and children in a mixed multitude, there could have been as many as two and a half million Israelites leaving Egypt together. This massive population was about the size of the modern city of Chicago. Not the suburbs, but the city of Chicago itself. The Scriptures say that they left Egypt, and it says they left Egypt in orderly ranks. You'll find that in Exodus chapter 13 and verse 18.

As a matter of fact, if you look at other translations, it says that they left Egypt ready to make war. In other words, they marched synchronized, they marched together, they marched organized like an army going into a battle. Well, let me ask some questions.

With this many people, two and a half million people, if they were organized in a column, let's say that we took two and a half million people, and we have a line that's a half mile wide. How long do you think that line would be? That line would be ten miles long.

Now, how quickly could a group of this size people even move? Well, if they were walking at two and a half miles an hour, which I think is a fair judgment considering you have elderly, you have children, you've got sheep that are going in fifteen different directions. So, two and a half miles an hour, I think, is a fair evaluation of speed.

Walking at two and a half miles an hour. If you put a stick in the ground at the beginning of this group of people that are half mile wide, ten miles long, you put a stick in the ground, how long would it take for that whole army to pass the point of that stick? It would take four hours at two and a half miles an hour for everyone to pass the single point.

According to the U.S. Quartermaster General, who knows a little something about camps, to group a camp this size would require 750 square miles. The amount of geography is two-thirds the size of the state of Rhode Island. So you're talking about a lot of people. Let's say, for the sake of argument, after the Passover and the same night, the Israelites decided to organize themselves and to leave Egypt just a few hours later. Remember? It has to be, if they're going to leave Egypt by night, it has to be after midnight, because that's when the death angel strikes, and before about 6 a.m. at the dawning of the break of day.

So let's say that they do that, considering the size and the complexity of communicating and organizing with two and a half million people in darkness. I just don't believe, logistically, it's even possible. It doesn't say that God intervened and made these people just line up perfectly. It doesn't say direct intervention just caused all of these people to somehow miraculously become organized. But on top of this, corralling flocks and herds and livestock, I just believe it is not realistic.

To think that this large of a group of people could have been organized in that short of period of time, the same night after the Passover had occurred, to depart Egypt. So looking at what the Scriptures tell us, and we've seen a number of Scriptures today, I think it makes a lot more sense that the Passover sacrifice occurred when the 14th of Abib began at sunset. And we saw that earlier, didn't we? Let's see if I can clear this up. All right, brethren, it's a lot more logical and biblical, looking at all the Scriptures, to believe and understand that the Passover sacrifice occurred at the beginning of the 14th of Abib, just like we saw there, after sunset between the two evenings.

After hours of roasting, have you ever roasted to Turkey? You don't roast to Turkey in 30 minutes. After hours of roasting, a late meal was served that evening. And at midnight, the firstborn of Egypt died. In the morning, the Israelites came out of their homes to burn the remains of the Passover, and they didn't come out of their homes because they were told not to leave your homes until morning. Now, during the daytime portion of the 14th, they hurried to organize themselves in orderly ranks over a 750-square-mile area and began to assemble to leave. They took all of their belongings, their tent, whatever material possessions they were going to take with them, and they had to organize themselves into the formation of an army.

During the day, they also finished plundering the Egyptians of their wealth. They were very busy that day. Very busy. And that's why they had been told to eat the Passover in haste, have sandals on their feet, have a belt around their waist, and when you get word, to get ready to start moving and to get ready to leave Egypt. During the day again, they finished plundering the Egyptians of their wealth, and that evening, the 14th of Abib ended at sunset. The 15th day of Abib began, and we know it as the night to be much observed, and the exodus occurred by night out of Egypt. So that night, they left Egypt and traveled about 10 hours to Sakhoth, where, according to Scripture, they camped during the daylight portion of the first day of unleavened bread.

I don't know how well you will see this. I apologize. I scanned this. Got the best resolution I could from our paper on Exodus 12. But I think this kind of sums up what we've been talking about at this point. Here, at this area of time, beginning the 14th, this is sunset, this is that zoned period of time, known as between the two evenings, the Passover meal is eaten at night.

The firstborn of Egypt were killed at midnight. Pharaoh sends for Moses after midnight, but called before morning. There is no record of Moses going to see Pharaoh that night. Israel remains inside until morning. Okay, that's the night portion. Then you have the day portion of the 14th. The remains of the meal are burned in the morning.

Israel baked unleavened bread for the trip. They're already rushing around to organize themselves in orderly ranks. Joseph's remains are collected for the trip. Israel gathers at ramses by armies, by hosts, by divisions to be an orderly rank. They spoil the Egyptians. The firstborn are being buried as Israel gathers to leave. Then you have sunset, now you are at the 15th day of Abib.

Otherwise known as the first day of unleavened bread, you have the night to be much observed. We'll read that scripture in a minute. The Israelites marched to Sakhath about 20 miles from ramses. They left Egypt by night. That's what the scripture said. 430 years to the self same day. And 600,000 men equal to 2 to 3 million people plus a mixed multitude and very much cattle leave Egypt by night, as the scripture said.

Then during the daylight portion of the first day of unleavened bread, the Israelites camp at Sakhath on the first day of unleavened bread. The seven days of unleavened bread began at sundown the previous evening. Six days of unleavened bread followed the passover. The seventh day is a holy day. So those are what we can see in putting together what the scriptures tell us. The totality of the various scriptures.

We believe this is the correct sequence of events and why we keep the passover the way that we do. Why we observe the passover on the beginning of the fourteenth, not actually the end of the fourteenth or beginning of the fifteenth. And why we understand there is a period of time, there is a nighttime portion and a whole day that follows the passover before the night to be much observed and the first day of unleavened bread begins.

Let's now go to verse 39. If you'll turn there with me. Verse 39. It says, and they baked unleavened cakes of the dough in which they brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves. Now the sojourn in the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was 430 years, and it came to pass at the end of 430 years on that very same day.

It came to pass that all the armies, there's that word again for the organized group of people who left Egypt, the armies of the Lord went out of 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.

I'm often asked, where do you begin counting the 430 years? Well, there's some controversy in that. The most likely beginning date is when Abraham, when there was a severe famine, that Abraham in Genesis 10 went to Egypt to protect himself from a severe famine. Because the descendants of Jacob were not there for 430 years in Egypt, so you have to go farther back to find out what the intention was.

In verse 42, again I'm going to read this because we traditionally observed this night, but the New King James Version I think can kind of mislead us in what this night is about. This is in the night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is the night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations. I read a lot of translations, and no one else says solemn observance.

It almost gives the impression that the night to be much observed that we should be rather sad, sober. And that's not what the original Hebrew says at all. I'm going to read from the translation God's Word for today. I think it puts it in the right perspective. It says, that night the Lord kept watch to take them out of Egypt. All Israelites and future generations must keep watch on this night since it is dedicated to the Lord. There's nothing sober.

There's nothing poker-faced. There's nothing sad about this observance. It is the night that God kept watch over his people. And you know what? God still keeps watch over his people. That's you and that's me. So there's certainly a good spiritual principle behind the night to be much observed. Well, I'm going to kind of conclude the Old Testament. How well do you think Israel did in observing the Passover after these instructions in the book of Exodus? You think they did a pretty good job? If you include the Pentateuch, you know, Genesis, Exodus, Litics, Numbers, Deuteronomy. How many times do you think the Passover is even mentioned in the Old Testament? Well, believe it or not, the Passover is mentioned once in Joshua, five times in the books of Kings and Chronicles, and once in Ezra.

That's it. There were vast, long periods of time when Israel did not even observe the Passover. It's one of the first things that they forgot. Kings Hezekiah and Josiah attempted to restore it during their reigns, but as soon as they died, the people didn't even keep the Passover anymore. And because of their neglect of God's law, first the nation of Israel, and then Judah went into captivity and the temple was destroyed. So they did a terrible job in keeping any Passover.

They just did a poor job. And it was so much a part of their covenant, wasn't it? And they were told to remember it. They were told to keep it for all generations to observe it. And it's one of the first things that they forgot. So what happens between the period of the Old Testament and when Jesus Christ walks the earth? Because we're going to look at His final Passover service, His final Passover celebration with His disciples.

But what happened in that period of time? Well, in that period of time, Judaism became deeply fragmented. As we look at this period of time, history doesn't tell us a whole lot about this period of time. Josephus tells us a little bit, some other historians, what the Sadducees and the Pharisees say about each other is not very complimentary because they looked at each other as devout enemies. And there had developed many sects of Judaism claiming to be the true practitioners of the faith by the time Jesus Christ comes to the earth.

Here's just a recap of some of the things that were going on. First of all, there were Sadducees. These were the aristocratic priests who controlled the temple services, including the high priest. Some of these were part of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was a council that basically was given a lot of leeway by the Romans to govern Judea. And it was a council of the leading religious leaders.

And the high priest was always the one who presided over the Sanhedrin. So the Sadducees controlled the Sanhedrin. Then there were the Pharisees. The Pharisees were more popular among the people because they weren't snobs. And the Pharisees controlled the synagogues where services were a lot looser, more casual, so they were far more popular. Some of them were also members of the Sanhedrin. We know, as an absolute fact in history, recorded writing that the Sadducees kept a different day of Pentecost than the Pharisees.

Because when they began to count, the day of Pentecost, they started on different dates. Yet nowhere did we find Jesus commenting on a Pentecost debate in the Gospels. It's not even brought up. We know from history from the Dead Sea Scrolls that another Jewish sect arose called the Essenes, and that they were using a solar calendar. They weren't even using a lunar calendar. They didn't last long, however, because they believed in strict observance of the law and shunned marriage. So, obviously, they died out in a short period of time. Boy, that was smart!

The point is that by the time that Jesus Christ arrives on the scene, Judaism is deeply fragmented. There are different doctrines, there are different practices, there are different calendars, and there are different ideas. But aside from all of that stuff, we really don't care. What we do care is the example that Jesus Christ set, because he was the Son of God. He was the one as the God of the Old Testament who instituted the Passover in Exodus 12. He should be the one who knows the right night to keep the Passover. So, what we're most interested in is not what the Sadducees taught, Pharisees, Essenes, and Zealots, and all of these people. We want to know the example that Jesus Christ set for us, because when we look at him, we will see the proper and correct way to do things. So, with this in mind, let's examine his final Passover. Let's begin by going to the account in one of the so-called Synoptic Gospels. That's Matthew, Mark, and Luke. They have very similar accounts. Let's go to Matthew 26 and verse 17.

Now, this first phrase confuses a lot of people. It's just a colloquialism that basically says the Holy Days are approaching. Nowhere does this scripture imply that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He says, now, on the first day of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying, where do you want us to prepare to eat the Passover? And he said, go into the city to a certain man and say to him, the teacher says, my time is at hand, I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples. 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, when they were eating, he said, surely I say unto you, one of you will betray me. And they were exceedingly sorrowful in each of them began to say to him, Lord, is it I? And he answered and said, he who dipped his hand with me in the dish will betray me. So, again, the Holy Days are approaching. We see that Jesus observed a Passover, and the Greek word is pashka, sometimes pronounced pasha, with his disciples. And no one seems to question the timing of when they're keeping the Passover. The man doesn't seem to question the timing. The disciples don't say, well, wait a minute, you're a day early. We don't keep the pass... No one questions the fact that Jesus tells his disciples, go to a guest house, and a man will already expecting you, and tell him I'm going to keep the Passover with my disciples. So, it's implied that it's an acceptable time to be observing the Passover. If we were to look at the other synoptic gospels, and Mark and Luke, we would find very similar accounts to what we just read. You know, if we only had these testimonies, one might conclude that Jesus Christ could possibly be observing the Passover meal at the same time as many of the Jews. And that was beginning the fifteenth of a vib during the evening of the first day of Unleavened Bread. But there's one complication to this, and that complication is known by the name of John. John was a remarkable author, and as I've said before, John must have had access to the other gospels. He wrote later than everyone else. If you look at John, John does not mention the Passover, the bread and the wine. Why? Because it's already discussed in the synoptic gospels. He knew those existed. John's the only one who mentions the washing of feet. Why? Because it wasn't mentioned. He recalled, hey, they left this out. I need to include this in my gospel. So John records another account of what happened, and this has caused debate for thousands of years. People have wrestled with what they see as a contradiction here for thousands of years, because either there are two different types of Passover, some are keeping Passover in two different times, or the Bible contradicts itself in John, or the synoptic is wrong. So this has caused debate for thousands of years. John records, if you'll turn to John 18 and verse 24, the following statement. And this is after the Passover. It's the same night that Jesus is arrested. So this is obviously after the Passover has occurred, after they went to the Garden, after Jesus prayed, after Jesus was arrested in the Garden. We're going to pick it up in John chapter 18 and verse 24.

It says, Then Anna sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest. Now Simon Peter stood and warned himself. Therefore they said to him, You are not also one of his disciples, are you? He denied it and said, I am not. Then one of the servants of the high priest, a relative of him whose ear Peter cut off, said, Did I not see you in the Garden with him? Then Peter denied again and immediately a rooster crowed. Prophecy of Jesus Christ was fulfilled. Pick it up in verse 28. Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Potorium and it was early morning, but they themselves did not go into the Potorium, lest they should be defiled, but they might eat the Passover. Well, what was it a day ago that Jesus kept with his disciples? It's called the Passover. And here they didn't want to be defiled that they might be able to eat the Passover. It's the same Greek word, pashka or pasha, found in the synoptic Gospels. And again, people have been debating these two approaches of the Gospels for a long time.

And the only logical answer is that, like today, some people were keeping the Passover on one evening and some people were observing the Passover on another evening. But historically, we don't care what history tells us. What we care about is the example set by Jesus Christ himself, because that's the example that we want to follow. Some scholars have said that John's account is speaking about the daily offering that occurred during the days of Unleavened Bread.

Well, that's a good try, but this is called the Passover, that they might eat the Passover. They desired to eat it. But John's account isn't finished. John 19.14 says, Now it was the preparation day of the Passover. Uh-oh, the Passover hasn't occurred yet. Well, then what was Jesus doing with his disciples in Matthew? He was keeping the Passover that he knew to keep, that he set by example. It was now the preparation day of the Passover, about the sixth hour, and he said to the Jews, Behold your king, but they cried out, Away with him!

Away with him, crucify him! Pilate said to them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priest answered, We have no king but Caesar. Then he delivered him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led him away. And he, bearing his cross, went out to a place called the Place of the Skull, which is called the Hebrew Golgotha, where they crucified him and two others with him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center.

And he wrote a title and put it on the cross, and the writing was Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. So John makes it very clear that the Passover, again, that the Jews were concerned about, had not yet occurred. It was the preparation day for the Passover. Jesus did die, about the same time as lambs were being slaughtered in the temple, for the Passover that the Jews would be observing. Now, there's no scripture that says that was necessary. It's an interesting thing to ponder and understand, but there is no scripture that said that had to be fulfilled or that was required.

Now let's go to John chapter 19 and pick it up here in verse 30. John chapter 19 and verse 30. So when Jesus received the sour wine, he said it is finished, and bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. Therefore, because it was the preparation day, that the body should not remain on the cross in the Sabbath, for the Sabbath was a high day. What was coming up was the first day of unleavened bread, so they were rushed to get him down. The Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, that they might be taken away. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and the other who was crucified with him.

But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Remember, the Passover lamb in Exodus 12, the legs were not to be broken. Verse 34, but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. So John records that they wanted to rush the burial of Jesus Christ, because the first day of unleavened bread was beginning, and that evening was when many of the Jews would be keeping a Passover.

So I want to put all these Gospels together here and go down a series of events. Let's take a look at what happened here. On the afternoon of the 13th, Jesus tells his disciples to go to a guest house and prepare for the Passover. That's not even on this chart. We read that scripture. He said, Go to the guest house, tell the man that I want to keep the Passover with my disciples, and they prepared for it.

Now, after sunset, the beginning of the 14th, right here, we see, Jesus washes his disciples feet. He institutes the New Covenant symbols of the bread and the wine. And then after this, a progression of events occurred throughout the remaining evening and into the next day. After this they sing of him, they departed for the Mount of Olives, and they head towards a favored garden that Jesus liked. It was located on the Mount, and he spends time praying there. After prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is arrested that night because of the betrayal of Judas Iscariot.

During the entire night, Jesus is dragged to a number of hearings and inquisitions. If you look closely, here's where Jesus is drugged through the night without sleep. They take him to Annas, Caiaphas, where he's interrogated. They send him to Pilate, then they send him to Herod, and then back to Pilate. About 6 a.m., he returns back to Pilate, certainly very tired from the horrible ordeals of that night. Jesus is scourged, and he's led away to be crucified about 9 a.m. from the Roman term, what's called the third hour, and from the sixth hour to the ninth hour, about 3 p.m., there is darkness over the land.

He lives for 6 hours, approximately, and he dies about 3 p.m. The Roman phraseology is the ninth hour in the afternoon when the lambs are being killed in the temple for the passover that's going to be observed by many Jews. One interesting side note. We read earlier in John how the Jews would not go into the Platorium because they didn't want to be defiled.

They wanted to eat the passover. Yet Joseph of Arimathea appears to have no problem handling a dead body which would defile him, handling a dead body and putting that dead body in his tomb. Could it be because Joseph of Arimathea had already kept the passover the previous night, that unlike the other Jews, that Joseph of Arimathea is not concerned about being defiled because he has already kept the passover? The same night that Jesus Christ kept his, obviously not at the same place, but observed the passover at the same night?

I think that's certainly worthy of consideration. So what have we decided to do as God's church? Again, these are controversial and hopefully I made this easy to understand. That was my goal today. But we have to realize that there are other perspectives. And some of those other perspectives also have their pros and would have counterpoints against some of the things that I set. But we have to do what we believe and understand the Scriptures revealed to us as the right chronology and the right dating and the right timing of when we should keep the passover.

And I hope I've explained today why we keep the passover sequentially the time that we do the beginning of the 14th of Abib and why we understand that there was a day between the passover and when ancient Israel left Egypt beginning the night to be much observed, also known as the evening of the first day of Unleavened Bread. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians, our final Scripture today. 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 20.

Paul gives us some good instruction here. 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 20, our final Scripture. Paul writes, therefore, when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's supper. So we don't come here. It's not supper time. We should eat supper before we come here. And now that the passover doesn't begin until 8 o'clock, it should be a lot easier to have a nice supper before we come to the passover. It is not to eat the Lord's supper. For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others. This is a complaint he had about the Corinthian congregation. And one is hungry and another is drunk. He says, what? Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? So there were some who were eating scrumptious, delicious meals, and there were other brethren who weren't well off, and they literally were hungry. And, of course, unfortunately, those who had much weren't sharing what they had. Continuing, he says, what shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you. For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, in the same night in which he was betrayed, he took bread. And when he had given things, 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 after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. And Jesus Christ is our Passover. We will observe the Passover in remembrance of Jesus Christ and what he has done for each and every one of us. Verse 26, For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. Passover is a serious ceremony, and we need to take it seriously. And here's how we do it in verse 28. But let a man examine himself. And so let him eat of that bread and drink of the cup. That is something that we should do after examination. So, brethren, for the next few weeks, I will be doing a personal examination of my life. I'm going to be looking at my heart, my mind, my attitude, the things that I do, the things that I say. And on this coming Passover, I'm going to be joining 30 or so other sinners. And we are going to sit down and partake of the Passover together, realizing that it's by the grace of God that we have been called, that we have been forgiven, and that we were given that remarkable gift known as God's Holy Spirit. So we understand why we observe the Passover and the way that we do. Now let's take the next step and prepare for the Passover by doing that examination. Let's respect our brothers and sisters in Christ who may do things a little differently than we do, who may keep other days. Let's show them respect and dignity for their beliefs, because they have to do what their consciences tell them to do. And I believe that we should respect that. Have a great Sabbath, and we'll catch you next week.