Old Covenant and New Covenant Passover

We're coming up on another holiday season, as well as the holiday season. And holiday seasons are kind of a curious time, because immediately after them, you can go into almost any store and get 75% off sales. Now, you'd think 75% off would have the crowds lined up at the door, but this is the kind of stuff nobody wants. It's 75% off, and nobody's milling around or looking at it or even cares. I mean, what would you do with a giant plastic bunny? You know, that looks so trashy, you would probably never want anybody to know you bought the thing, let alone put it out front of your house and stick a light on it or something. Or the curious little plastic eggs that serve no purpose whatsoever. They're just a plastic egg of a bunch of colors. What are you going to do with this in May? Well, nothing. And so they sit there at 75% off. It's kind of like the wreaths, you know, these cheesy wreaths that people buy with a red bow on them. They're just tacky, tacky stuff. And come, you know, sometime after a holiday, nobody wants it. And really, nobody cares. And is there any meaning to it? Well, no, but nobody cares about that either. You know, one of the greatest blessings that you and I have is that we serve a father of truth, a father of knowledge, a father of understanding, and a father of wisdom. And he says in Leviticus chapter 23 in verse 1, These are the feasts of the Lord. They're his feast, the feast of truth. You know, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He was the Word. Thy Word is truth. He is truth. And his feast is about truth in its knowledge field. He says, you shall proclaim these to be holy convocations. The reason they are holy convocations, like today is holy, is because God actually is making this day holy as this day progresses. This is something that God didn't do at creation. He said, okay, the Sabbath day all the way down, including this particular day on the calendar, is going to be holy. No. God declared that he would hallow them. He hallowed that one, and he hallows each one. He's about to make the Passover a holy celebration. It is one that is sanctified and set apart from that which is profane, or that which is common. It's not a common occurrence. And the same with our holy days. They are called holy days because God has hallowed them. He has set them apart from something that is common or profane. So they are special. And he says, these are my feasts.

The Passover opens this festival season, this festival season that is truth-filled, that is knowledge-filled, that is purpose-driven, that is so illuminating.

We need to understand what this Passover means for you and for me, and for what it means for every human who has ever lived. Because, it says in John 3, 16, God so loved the world that his sin has only begun, son, so that all who believe on him would not perish but have eternal life. It's a very awesome thing about the Passover service. Mr. Freyer introduced the topic and the sermonette and some of the sincerity that we need to have about this festival season. I didn't hear all of his message. I caught just a little bit at the end. But we also need to understand why we keep this Passover and when and make sure in our minds that we understand we are doing what the Bible says and not some sort of tradition. So today we're going to examine what we call the New Covenant Passover. The New Covenant Passover. To go to 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 23, here we see Paul confirming several aspects of the Passover for us. The timing and what is done there. 1 Corinthians 11, beginning in verse 23, he says, For I received from the Lord. This is not my tradition. I didn't get this from being a Pharisee. No, I received from the Lord that which I also delivered from you. I have been a faithful man of teaching as I have been taught. So I've passed along to you that the Lord Jesus Christ, on the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread. So we see right there the timing of the Passover is not when Christ died. It was actually the evening before His death. Passover was on the night in which He was betrayed, not the afternoon in which He died.

And then when He had given thanks, He said, Take ye, this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And here then is the Passover service explained to us, minus the foot washing, that we would take the bread, it would be broken, and we are to remember Jesus and what He did. And in the same manner, verse 25, He took the cup. The cup can only mean here wine, not fortified, but alcohol wine. As you can read about that in other places. But this is a cup of wine, and He says, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. It's all about repentance and then forgiveness by the washing of His blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

In Luke, chapter 22, verse 15, it says this. You don't need to turn there. Jesus said, With fervent desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. So again, the timing is before He suffers, He calls it the Passover. He calls it this Passover, not something that was done in the past under the old covenant, but rather the new covenant Passover.

So we are to keep it on the same night in which He was betrayed, and in the new way that He instituted.

Are we to also eat the Lord's Supper? And what is the Lord's Supper? Or shall we call it the Lord's Supper? There is a tradition among the Jews at the time of Jesus Christ that, that of course came down from the exodus of eating the Passover meal, which was a killing the lamb, and then preparing it, and eating it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

And we see Jesus Christ having a meal with the disciples, so maybe we should have a meal and then the Passover.

However, what we find is the Lord's Supper, that is so commonly mistaken for some of these things, was something totally different. If we go to 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 20 now, backing up just a little bit, notice what it said, Therefore, when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper. And this is all capitalized nicely in the Bible.

Now, maybe that's a question. Is it not to eat the Lord's Supper? Okay, what about this Lord's Supper? Well, first of all, the term Lord's Supper in all caps is not in the Bible anywhere, because this Greek word merely means a Lordly meal. A Lordly Supper or a Lordly meal, small l. That's the term that Paul is using here in the Hebrew, a Lordly meal. The Greek expression is kureyakon daiqnon, a Lordly meal, all small caps. Now, what was this meal? Well, we don't really know. He's talking in this whole chapter about traditions, and he goes on to criticize them for this meal, and saying that what you're doing here is not Christian. You have shameful conduct. Verse 21. For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others, and one is hungry and another is drunk. Doesn't sound like a Passover service, does it? What? Don't you have houses to eat and drink in? So whatever there was before, this is a separation. Whatever was done in the Old Covenant about eating a Passover meal and killing a lamb, we see here a separation. If you need to eat a meal, you go eat a meal. But do you despise the Church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise this in you? I do not praise this in you. Now, verse 23. For I receive from the Lord. Just what we read. That the Passover is about taking broken bread and wine. Those are the symbols of the Passover. So from here, there is a clear separation. If there was any question about, you know, combining Old Testament practices with the New Covenant practices, Paul says, no, no, no. This is something else. So there's no other mention in the Bible about any Lordly meal, which some have called the Passover. In some religions, this Passover is sometimes called the Eucharist, which merely means giving thanks. And others call it communion or the Lord's Supper. And it's held at various times. Just clear all that away right here. The night Jesus was betrayed, there is bread and there is wine that is taken as a remembrance, symbols of what he does. The New Testament Passover is not just about the death of Jesus Christ, either. This Lamb of God. It's also about his suffering.

Jesus Christ suffered quite a bit, and we were to remember the entire sacrifice that he made, his suffering and his death.

Back in the Old Testament, there were things that took place that were symbols.

That would be fulfilled. There were types of things that would take place later in the Passover that Jesus Christ did. And that was a forerunner or a type that led to the perfect Passover of Jesus himself. And Jesus Christ then replaced those original things that were done with himself as the Passover Lamb. And he instituted new symbols and a new way of keeping the Passover.

We go to Matthew 26 and 37.

Matthew 26 and 37. We see here some of the stress and suffering that Jesus went through, which is represented by that broken bread. How his body was broken, and he was in anguish. He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and he began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. It was a very tough, tough time for him.

And this is part of the total sacrifice that he went through in verse 38.

Then he said to them, My soul, my body is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.

Even to death. Stay here and watch with me.

The words of the special music brought up this scripture to my mind, how even he went through things that caused him so much anxiety and even to death. And yet he is the one who said, Let not your heart be troubled.

Believe in me. And my father's house are many rooms, and you're going to be there.

He knows all about that. And he has us very much in his focus and very much in his care, if we are genuine. If we are really making ourselves qualify for the sacrifice that he made for us. And that is through repentance. We must repent in order to qualify for that sacrifice.

Well, as we go on a little bit, the Romans and the Jews, of course, increased his suffering quite a bit in the 27th chapter here, in verse 27 of Matthew. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the britarium and gathered the whole garrison around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and they twisted a crown of thorns on his head. Verse 30, they spat on him, they took a reed, they struck him on the head, they mocked him, and they led him away to be crucified. No, he went through a lot. He went through a lot. It's hard to even understand some of the things that he went through.

No Old Testament symbol in Exodus 12 reflected the suffering that he went through. We had the lamb being killed, but there's no symbol that reflected that suffering.

It's only in the New Testament, in the New Covenant, that includes the broken, unleavened bread, that was a type of his suffering. Let's go back to Isaiah chapter 52, in verse 14. Isaiah 52, in verse 14, says this is a prophecy about Jesus Christ. It was written several hundred years before his time. It says, Just as many were astonished at you, so his visage was marred more than any man. That scripture's always stood out at me to be, you know, he must have just come out like hamburger, to where they didn't recognize him, just marred. And that was before he went in for crucifixion. So yes, there was a lot of suffering. And when we eat that unleavened bread, and those of you who aren't baptized yet can understand this Passover service is about remembering his being scourged and then being crucified. He had the broken body, and then he had the blood that was shed. And of course, that broken body continued throughout the crucifixion and all the way to the end. But, you know, we can be filled with awe of the things that were done for you and for me. Now in Isaiah 53, verse 4, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. This accomplished something, brethren. He bore the sins and the penalty for our sins. You know, our griefs and our sorrows really would be standing across that chasm in the third resurrection when the lake of fire is about to take place and everything physical is about to be consumed and looking across and saying, oh, I wish I could have been in the kingdom of God, but no, I've got to burn up. Well, he took that away, you see. He took that away.

And verse 5, he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.

That's why the chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. We are healed. How are we healed? Why are we healed? Because all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. We broke our relationship with God, and so that was severed. But Jesus Christ healed that relationship. That relationship was severed at the Garden of Eden. It was severed again when the Israelites rebelled and went into captivity. But Jesus Christ came back and healed and stitched that relationship back together because the removal of sins permitted the relationship to return. And also, there is physical healing involved as well.

So it's a beautiful thing that he did, but it's a tough thing that he went through in order to be our Savior, the one who saves us from our lack of a relationship with God and saves us from our eternal death. The events of the Passover Day, which Passover is the 14th of Abib, or Nisan, the first month of the year, and there are a lot of events that took place on that day. We'll go back to Exodus 12 and verse 3. It's interesting to see in the Old Testament how this initial Passover began. Exodus 12 and verse 3 says, Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, On the tenth of this month, so the tenth was several days in advance of the fourteenth, which was Passover, on the tenth of the month, then 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, then let him and his neighbor next to him take it according to the number of the persons, etc. Your lamb, verse 5, shall be without blemish. This is going to be a type of Jesus Christ. Without blemish, a male of the first year, somewhere within one year old. Jesus Christ was killed when he was young. This young lamb of whatever age, up to a year, would be young, attractive, without blemish, and it was the best representation of Jesus. And it says here, You shall take it from the sheep or from the goats.

Now, you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. So notice, it didn't say keep it until the fifteenth day. Now, you keep it until the fourteenth day, not through the fourteenth day, and then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight, or between the two evenings, at the beginning of the fourteenth. And then, verse 7, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two-door posts in the little of the houses where they eat. So much that happened on the fourteenth, and it certainly validates what the Church has taught down through decades, and the practices that we continue to observe in the Passover, the night to be much observed, and the Holy Days, including the Feast of Unleavened Bread. I'd like to review a little bit of this with you, and in order to see this clearly, with Ed Dowd's help, I've created a handout, a timeline, of the Passover and night to be much observed. I'd like to ask that those be passed out quickly. If we can have those passed...

not sure if it's one per person. I think we have about 60 copies. Is that right? 60, so it's going to be one for every other person, one per couple, something like that. So go ahead and pass those out, if you will. There are two sides to this handout, and we're going to start with the one that has the title, the title page, where it says timeline. Let's just look at some of the things that take place on this Passover. First, we'll start with the Old Testament Passover.

If everybody has a copy, let's begin looking here. There are four boxes on this page, and if you look at the top left box, you'll see the 14th of Nissan, and the bottom left box is also 14th of Nissan. To the right is the 15th of Nissan in both boxes. So what we have here is two boxes. The first box on the left is the nighttime portion of the day, from sunset to sunrise, and the bottom portion is sunrise to sunset, the next day, the daytime portion. So I've broken this down for you. In Passover evening in the Old Testament, we see in Exodus 12 verse 21, the killing of the Passover lands. Let's just read this. Exodus 12 verse 21. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families and kill the Passover land. So that came at the beginning of the 14th of Nissan. And then the next thing we see is verse 22. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lentil in the two doorposts with the blood that's in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. Now the word morning there in the Hebrew means daylight. So you won't be going anywhere this night. You'll be staying inside your house until daylight. Continuing on in the chart now, the death of Egypt's firstborn took place that night at midnight. Verse 29 says, And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn of the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the captive, who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. And so Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all the servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. I don't know what happens as far as if somebody dies in the other room. I'm a heavy sleeper. I probably wouldn't know until the next day. And I'd assume they're sleeping in. It would probably be later. I just wonder if these people didn't die with a little bit of a noise in some way, because it seemed like everybody knew. And so sometime around midnight, the whole Egyptian land was in a great cry.

Now, I don't know if you know much about the Egyptians, but their procession for the dead is quite elaborate. It was quite elaborate, not only for the nobility, but also for the Egyptians themselves. They didn't sort of wake up at midnight, find somebody's dead, run outside without a flashlight and without any lighting, start digging holes and throwing bodies in there. It just wasn't the way it was done. There was a grieving period, and there was elaborate rituals and ceremony and wrappings. So these things were going on there that night. And then we see that Pharaoh calls for Moses in the morning hours in verse 31. Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night. So Pharaoh calls for them by night. Would he pick up the phone? You know, we tend to think, well, we'll call for him. Where were they? Well, I don't know. How would you call for them? Well, he would have to tell somebody, go get Moses and Aaron. They have to go try to find Moses and Aaron. And it's probably a distance away to go find Moses and Aaron. Now, do you think Moses and Aaron are going to come out of their house before morning and get killed? No, they're not. So they didn't come at night, by the way. He just called for them by night, somehow got the word out. And we see the daybreak happens at some point, and people can go outdoors. And so it would have been an after-daybreak that Moses and Aaron would have journeyed back to the Pharaoh at some point. Now, here are some things in the daytime period when we go to the next box. The sun rises, let's say around 6 a.m. Some of the things that have to happen are the Israelites have to burn the remains of the night's meal in the morning. If we go back to verse 10 of chapter 12, it says, Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with fire, but roasted in fire, with its head and legs and intrels. You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning daylight, you shall burn with fire. So that's one of their chores the next morning, was to go burn whatever Passover remnants there were with fire. Then the Israelites made bread dough for their journey. Israelites knew they were going on a journey. They would be one month in that journey before they would get manna. They would also be taking animals with them. We don't read much about animals after a certain point, but we read of them being hungry. But at some point, they made evidently quite a bit of dough to take along. I'm not sure how that went, but if we go to verse 34, we see, so the people... Moses has been advised to take your flocks, your herds, be gone. Egyptians urged them, we shall all be dead if you don't get out of here. That was the morning message to Moses. So some of the things the people did that day was to take, in verse 34, take their dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothing on their shoulders. It's the process of getting together, making some bread dough, getting your kneading bowls on your shoulders, getting your animals together, getting your household together. Some other things also took place. Verse 36. Well, verse 35, now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they asked from the Egyptians, articles of silver, articles of gold, and articles of clothing. How do you ask for them? Do you call them? No, you have to go find them. You have to go see them, don't you? Do the slave Israelites live in the same subdivision with the rich people? So you're going to have to go somewhere, aren't you? And if there's three million of you, you're probably going to have to spread out a little bit. You know what it's like.

If somebody's looking for something here and here, but there's been a hundred people before you, you're going to have to branch out a little bit. You know, the old Oregon Trail, where people were feeding their animals along the trail in the grass, sometimes they would have to go 50 miles off the trail to find grass and water because of all the herds that had been there before them. It was ridiculous by the time the Oregon Trail was over and just dead animals everywhere because there's no food to eat. Kind of like spoiling the Egyptians. If there's a whole bunch of you in one area, there might not have been much there. So the point is, you know, there's a little bit of time there they spent that day collecting things from the Egyptians. In chapter 13 and verse 19, we see, and Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had placed the children of Israel under solemn oaths, saying, God will surely visit you and you shall carry up my bones from here with you. So wherever the bones of Joseph were, they had to be collected and ready for the trip.

In chapter 12 and verse 37, we see the children of Israel would journey from Ramesses to Succath, about 600,000 men on foot besides children. Now we go here just to see what's going to happen when they make this journey. There's going to be approximately 3 million people when you include everybody, plus the mixed multitude. If I was asking it, how many, you know, if a family has animals, what's the number of animals that an agrarian family would normally have? And Ed said, well, probably at least three to one. I mean, even when my little family had a little farm in Arizona, when our kids were young, it wasn't a farm, okay, it was something. Arkansas, Arkansas, thank you, thank you, thank you. One of those A states. We had, I don't know, we had two, three horses. We had four or five cows. We had, you know, 12 goats, and I guess you don't bring the chickens. But you know, they outnumbered us. Anyway, I would assume that if you had 3 million animals, and there was three animals per person, you've got 3 million people, you've got 9 million animals to go with 3 million people. That's a lot. And just getting them ready, you know, just say, let's go. It takes a little while. This is a very, very busy day, very busy day, because here's one of the problems. In verse 37, a mixed multitude also went up them and flocks and herds a great deal of livestock. Then they traveled from Ramesses. Well, the Israelites weren't quite in Ramesses at this point. And when they come out of Ramesses, they're organized into tribes and divisions. So let's look in verse 51. It came to pass on that very same day that the Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt according to their armies. If you look at that word, according to their divisions. Chapter 13 and verse 18, God led the people around the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea, and they went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt. So what happened that day was all of the people had these things to do, and then they had to move to Ramesses to a staging area to be able to find their orderly divisions and their ranks and be ready to leave that night at sundown at what we call the night to be much observed. That was a huge undertaking. How huge an undertaking? Well, just consider a few things. According to the United States Army's Quartermaster General, this is a group of three million people requires an area of 750 square miles to camp in. 750 square miles? You don't tend to think of that. The city of Mesa is a little bit smaller than 750 square miles, I believe. 750 square miles is about 27 miles by 27 miles. 27 by 27. Can you imagine three million people and nine million animals moving into the city of Mesa and trying to get set up? Well, even if you reduced it, you know, to 15 by 15 and squeezed them all in there, how would you communicate? How would you organize?

You know, how would you spread the word with no PA systems, no radios?

Well, it's quite a big deal, but God was part of it, and they did do exactly that. One interesting thing was that they witnessed the Egyptians burying their dead, firstborn, and their animals while they were getting prepared in the staging area. Let's go to Numbers chapter 33 verses 3 through 5 and see this. Numbers 33 in verse 3. Now, we're still talking about Passover Day here, but we're going to jump ahead for just a moment to the 15th day, which is the first day of Unleavened Bread. And the beginning of the 15th day is the night to be much observed. They departed from Ramesses in the first month on the 15th day of the first month on the day after the Passover. So, not the same day. The day after the Passover, the children of Israel went out with boldness in the sight of all the Egyptians. Now, let's notice carefully here. This is where you don't want to read fast. You want to listen to what's being said. Four. The next word is four. Four means here's the reason why they left Egypt on the 15th. Four means this is the reason. I'll tell you why they're marching out of Egypt. They're marching out of Egypt because the Egyptians were bearing all their firstborn, whom the Lord had killed among them. Also, on their gods, the Lord had executed judgment. This is why they're in Ramesses, still in the staging area. And that's why they left, why they were allowed to leave. Verse 5 tells us when they left. When they left. Then, after they saw the Egyptians bearing their dead, then the children of Israel moved from Ramesses and camped at Sakhath. So that's quite an event there. People were bearing themselves as they were getting ready, and because they were bearing their dead, they were able then, on the beginning of the 15th, to move out of the area. At this time, they're ready to begin a 20-mile journey at night from Ramesses to Sakhath, with some three million people and nine million animals, plus some multitude of others who were not actually Israelites. This is quite an interesting trip that they made. Now we get to sunset. The staging is complete. Everybody's in their order. Everybody's ready to move. If they organized into a column that was a half a mile wide, a half a mile is probably, I don't know, maybe here to baseline, might be a half a mile, you know, back way down to baseline. If you just started lining up all the way down to baseline and started your column, well, the column would be 10 miles long. That's how long your marching column would be. And as the column begins to fall in and move out, when the last people passed the spot, the first people would be halfway to Sakhath. Remember? 10 miles long and it's a 20 mile trip. They would be halfway there before the last people ever even left.

Now, walking at 2 miles an hour, it would take 10 hours to get to Sakhath. Now, if you're a good walker, you could walk 2 miles an hour. If you could keep those lambs and those cows moving and the kids moving and some who are, you know, a little, had a little tougher time walking, might slow down a little bit. I would say, you know, maybe a little slower than 2 miles an hour, but let's just say 2 miles an hour. It would still be quite a long trip. It would be a 10-hour trip. It would be an all-nighter. But remember, it's not just an all-nighter. The last people didn't even get to leave Ramses yet until 4 o'clock in the morning in a 10-mile long column. If you make it a mile long, it would be 5, or a mile wide, it would be 5 miles long. I don't know how the roads were across the desert. But you see, the point here is quite an undertaking to move these kind of people. It's not something that you just throw all of this and the Passover celebration and staying in all night, plus you're moving all night, plus you're staging all night, plus you're spoiling everybody, plus you're, you know, we've got it right. The Church has had it right. Trust me on that. And the Bible is very clear about it.

And then we see the first day of Unleavened Bread.

Well, let's see this journey here. Exodus 12, verse 42.

I'm still in the top right box here on the 15th, on the night to be much observed. Exodus 12, verse 42 says, 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. It was an awesome thing that God did. When we think, just jumping ahead, when we think of the New Testament Passover and what Jesus Christ's sacrifice did and does for you and me, and unhooking us from slavery to sin and taking away the death penalty, this event of moving the Israelites is small. It's small. But yet, nevertheless, it is shown as a type of a huge, huge, huge event. Jesus Christ, through his death, is actually going to be moving billions of people out of sin. His sacrifice moves billions and billions of people out from sin, out from Satan, and towards the Promised Land and eventually arriving in the kingdom of God. And it's a process that he makes feeding and inspiring and leading. He's the light on the path the whole way. It's just a wonderful, awesome thing.

In Exodus 13, verse 18, again, they went out in orderly ranks, and he led them. God led them. Now, when the sun rose on the first Holy Day of Unleavened Bread, following this night to be much observed, they arrived at Succoth at some point during the day. They began arriving probably very early in the morning. The first arrivals came in, and there they would observe a holy convocation. The day was a holy convocation. Some of them probably would not even arrive there, though, until midday or later. We see in Exodus 12, verse 39, And they baked unleavened cakes of dough 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, or they had made the dough, but they hadn't been able to bake it. So that kind of gives us an overview of some of the events that took place there. Again, these events are physical types of the Passover, and they are certainly something that would tell you and me about the greatness of this coming out of Egypt that took place in the past. But the Passover Lamb of Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of all these Old Testament types, and its observance has been upgraded to the begotten children of God, not just the people of God, but now the children in the family of God, the spiritual Israel. Why do we observe Passover the way that we do today? We went through a little bit ago about some of the things that Jesus Christ told us. Why do we, you know, should we cover our doorposts in blood now? Should we eat bitter herbs? Should we stay up all night girded with a staff in our hand expecting or waiting for something?

The killing of the Lamb that the Israelites did on the 14th makes us aware that deliverance from bondage is possible. And that was shown to be absolutely possible when it was totally impossible a few minutes before midnight. Suddenly, with one event, it became possible. We understand that this applies to the New Covenant Passover. We have the faith in Christ that our sins will be forgiven. We have the faith and the trust that this old bondage to sin, which we are locked in, and this body of death that Paul calls it, will miraculously be freeing us.

Christ will free us from those penalties and from that enslavement. We can have absolute faith and confidence. So our faith in Christ needs to be strong. It needs to be not wavering at all. That's saying, well, I don't know if I'll overcome. Or the worst thing I've ever heard anybody say is, I don't know if I'll be in the kingdom. That's to say, I don't know if Christ can forgive my sins. I don't know if I can overcome. I don't know if he'll leave me. What is that about? You and I should never say, well, I don't know if I'll be in the kingdom.

Of course you'll be in the kingdom. Or of course you won't be in the kingdom. But don't say, I don't know. You know, we need to be certain and well determined to do what is right and to let Jesus Christ lead us. Lead us to the kingdom. Lead us in there. If we do not partake of the symbols of his broken body and the blood that was shed for our sin, and if we don't have the faith in those symbols as we take them, then that sacrifice doesn't apply to us and we are in real hot water.

Real hot water. We'll get into that in just a few minutes. We need to have that deliverance. And you know, the Bible says, as James said, he who asks without faith, don't let that person think he's going to receive anything. We have to ask in faith. Let's now take a look at the other side of the handout. We'll turn it over. This is just skipping forward about 1,500 years, and we come to the Passover evening that is mentioned in the New Testament.

In John 13, verses 4-10, Jesus instituted the foot washing. We will see that covered in the Passover service. Also following that, the Passover symbols were instituted. Then Judas went to betray Jesus. We see in John 13, he went out and during that night he would betray Jesus. Another very busy night. And then in John 14-16, Jesus teaches the disciples some more.

And these are scriptures that we read portions of during the Passover service. John 14, 15, 16, those teachings that he gave, the things that he talked about there after the Passover service and before he was arrested. And then in chapter 17, we have the recorded prayer that he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane to his father. And it's a wonderful thing to have that prayer. Let's turn to Matthew chapter 26 now in verse 47.

Matthew 26 will start in verse 47. Catch up with a few events that take place. While he was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and the elders of the people. You know, Jesus Christ had always escaped crowds before. His life was always threatened. He was a performer of miracles regularly in front of the disciples. Even they themselves had gone out and cast out demons and done some things in his name. It could be argued that Judas felt that by letting somebody know where he was going to be, wasn't so bad.

You get 60 pieces of silver for doing the obvious. They figured it out anyway. And number two, when they did find him, there was no way they could do anything about him because he was the Son of God and he had all this angelic protection.

And he had, you know, miracles and he could do whatever he wanted. So anyway, here he comes and these people had swords and clubs and they came from the chief priests and the elders of the people.

So the Sanhedrin and the leaders who wanted to get rid of him were wanting to have him arrested. And so now in verse 57, those who laid hold of Jesus led him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. They are already there. Imagine that. On early, early, early, on Passover day, it's still dark and the Sanhedrin is in session, which, if memory serves me correctly, is something that they could not do. But nevertheless, they did it.

So as events go on, he is tried by the Sanhedrin. In verse 63, it says, Jesus kept silent and the high priest answered and said to him, I put you under oath by the living God. Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Christos, the Son of God. And Jesus said to him, it is as you said.

Nevertheless, I say to you hereafter, you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Well, that's all they needed. And the high priest tore his clothes. He spoke in blasphemy. You know, what do you think? And they said, verse 66, he is deserving of death. And they spat in his face, they beat him, and others struck him with the palms of their hands. That was a terrible thing that took place. Still at night, we go to John chapter 18, in verse 33. John 18, verse 33, Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus and said to him, Are you the king of the Jews? And you have to remember, in this big Roman empire that was very powerful, very militaristic, Rome was sort of a feeding factory to the city of Rome itself. And from all of its provinces came this never-ending supply of goods and food and slaves. Rome was consumed by its extravagance at its core. But here, way out in what we call Palestine, which the Romans named Palestina later on, you have not even a real province of Rome, you have a district. It's a sub-area, and a small little area in a sub-area at that. But the Jews were always, they were one of the many groups in the Roman Empire who was always pushing for their independence. And Rome had a problem with lands that it conquered wanting to go independent again. And thus, this one was no exception. And so they had a garrison right on the Temple Mount. I mean, it was sitting right there, the soldiers were in there, and anytime the Jews did something that sounded like rebellion, the soldiers came out and, you know, subdued the rebellion. Other than that, it was not even a well-known area in the Roman Empire. And Pilate was just a governor. He was a, I forget the exact term right now, but he was there kind of watching over things. What happened, and then terms and the names weren't that really important? So you can see here, him here, he's tossing around these words, and he's asking him, are you king of the Jews? Okay. In the Roman Empire, it was forbidden for anybody to use the term king. Okay. This went back for decades before Christ, actually more than 100 years before Christ. It was forbidden for any leader in the Roman Empire to declare himself a king, including the Caesar, and especially the Caesar. You know, our American form of government has the Senate. Well, that's a copy of the Roman Empire. And our president does not have absolute power for the very reason that the Roman Caesar did not have absolute power. The Senate held the power, and the Caesar had limited power. If a Caesar ever said the word king, I am king, in other words, I am the soul ruler, they'd have killed him, just like that. Boom. So you did not use that term. Well, here the Jews are throwing around this term and Pilate over there in this small district is saying, are you king of the Jews? Well, you know, it wasn't a huge deal. It was a minor thing, and Pilate didn't know Jesus that well. And so you see, he's not real concerned about this.

Are you king of the Jews? And Jesus answered him, are you speaking about yourself? And Pilate says, am I a Jew? Come on. Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you to me. What have you done? See, it's kind of, it's not a huge issue, this term. Jesus says, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I should not be delivered to the Jews, but now my kingdom is not from here. Now, this question kind of generates a little interest in Pilate, and he says, are you a king then? Jesus answered, you say rightly that I am a king, for this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.

Pilate says at the end of verse 38, I find no fault in him at all. That didn't even stir up Pilate when he talked about a different kingdom and things like that. It didn't really stir him up. Verse 19, the people wanted Barabbas released and Jesus crucified, so Pilate took Jesus and scourged him. The soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They put it on him a purple robe, and they said, hey, oh king of the Jews! They're making fun again of somebody who called himself a king, but king of the Jews. Then Pilate went out again and said, do they behold, I'm bringing him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in him.

So this individual has now been scourged, and scourging was a very, very terrible, terrible thing.

As we read back there in Isaiah, the 53rd chapter, it says, his visage was marred more than any man.

An awful thing took place, but that wasn't enough for them. It wasn't enough for them, and that completes the nighttime events on the 14th day of the first month there at the time of Jesus. Now we go to the second box, the Passover day. At 6 a.m. he was sentenced to crucifixion. We go to John chapter 19 down to verse 14. Now it says, now it was the preparation day of the Passover. This term Passover was a term that refers to the spring holy day season. It's something that was a term for that. The preparation day for the feasts, all right. It's commonly called Passover. Notice, about the sixth hour, about the sixth hour. Now here we begin to get the timing. The question is, when is the sixth hour? Well, to the Jews, the sixth hour of the day was the sixth hour after the sun came up. So it would have been about noon. But the Apostle John is writing this book, and he's writing this book some 30 to 50 years after these events. He is no longer in Jerusalem. He's writing either from 78 A.D. or some say all the way up to 100 A.D., about the time that he, even after he wrote the book of Revelation, they put that time. So this is quite a bit later. Rome had sacked Jerusalem, had kicked all the Jews out of Palestine, would not let them even go back in the area. He is now writing this from Ephesus, and in writing it from Ephesus, he's in a Roman, Gentile area, and he's using Roman time some 30 to 50 years later. Roman time began at midnight, as it does today. We've adopted that Roman time. And so the sixth hour would be, like for you and me, about 6 A.M. And he said to the Jews, Behold your king. But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. And Pilate said, Shall I crucify your king? And the chief priests and answered, Said, We have no king but Caesar. And they delivered him to be crucified. And they took him away.

So he is sentenced about 6 A.M., Roman time. And then on down a little later on, the crucifixion begins at 9 A.M. Now, on this chart here, you might take a pen and where it says, Faces Sanhedrin, just draw a line through that. Sorry, that actually was from, you can see it up there, the same verse in the upper part. Somehow it got down there. It shouldn't be there. So 9 A.M., the crucifixion process begins. We go to Mark 15 and verse 25 for this.

Mark 15 and verse 25.

Now it was the third hour, and they crucified him. Mark is writing this back near the time of the event, and he's using Jewish time. So the third hour of the day from sunrise would be about 9 A.M. So we see we progressed here about three hours after the delivery to be crucified and the edict that he would be crucified. The crucifixion process then begins to take place about 9 A.M. In Matthew chapter 27, let's go to Matthew.

Well, first of all, let's go to John chapter 19 and verse 8. I want to continue on this theme of king here for just a moment. Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, in verse 7, we have a law that you said, and according to our law, he ought to die because he made himself the son of God. Well, Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid. Oh no, who have I got on my hands here? So then he begins to ask Jesus these things.

Verse 12, from then on Pilate sought to release him. I need to get rid of this guy. This is a liability. If he's the son of God, I need to get rid of him. But the Jews cry out, If you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar. Now that petrified Pilate. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, that saying in that makes himself a king, speaks against Caesar, then he brought Jesus out and sat him in the judgment seat in a place called the pavement. Now it was the preparation day of the Passover, about the sixth hour. And we see here then that Jesus gets delivered. Now let's go on to John chapter 19 and verse 17.

They took him and led him away about 9 a.m.

Verse 17, and he bearing his cross went out to a place called of a skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha, where they crucified him and two others with him, one on either side and Jesus in the sinner. And Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross, and the writing was Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews.

One of the Roman, the real powerful things that Rome did to put down uprising was to crucify people. And here is the name of him and also essentially his crime, probably from Pilate's perspective. This is his crime. He was a king of the Jews, and this is what happens to people who call themselves king. The Romans like to crucify people for two reasons. First of all, it was messy, it was painful, but number two, the victims could talk to the public. They always did it right on the major roads. So as you walk down there, here's a guy and he's talking to you, or she's talking to you, you know, as you go by. And you look up and you see this individual and say, that could be me. And now he's got a sign up there and he called himself the king of the Jews. I don't want to be that. See, I don't want to be that. I don't want to be associated with that.

It was a very powerful thing that the Romans did. And they did it very deliberately. They used four different types of crucifixes, four different styles, and it was definitely for, you know, for the sake of getting the attention and keeping things in check within the empire.

In chapter 19, okay, there's a second here, chapter 19.

And verse 17 going on here.

Verse 23, Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts. And in verse 25, There stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clovis and Mary Magdalene.

And in verse 46, of Matthew 27. Excuse me just a second here. Matthew 22. Well, let's go over to Matthew.

Here we see the death, the actual death of Jesus taking place in the afternoon. He was approximately six hours during that crucifixion. Matthew 27. We'll begin in verse 45. Now, from the sixth hour until the ninth hour. This is Jewish time. We're back in another writer right after the event. A Jew writing on Jewish time. So the sixth hour would have been about noon. Until the ninth hour, three o'clock, there was darkness over all the land. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

And Jesus, in verse 50, cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And so he died right about three o'clock.

In verse 57.

Now, let's take a look at some of the things now that take place.

In verse 47.

Verse 51. Sorry. Here we are. Verse 51.

When he died, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The temple, let's say the temple veil was as tall as this high-pitched temple. It was the highest part of the ceiling. It separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place. It was not something that a human could reach up there and somehow take a heavy, thick curtain that prevented any kind of seeing or hearing of what went on in the Holy Place and tear and rip. It was ripped from the top down to the bottom and stood there with the Holy of Holies wide open. This tells us that access to God, to Jesus Christ, to God the Father is now made available through the Son. That is the healing. That's the restoring of the relationship that had been closed off. Nobody could even go in there except the high priest once a year on the Day of Atonement.

Now we see these various miracles take place, including the earthquake and rocks were split. Now, rocks or boulders don't split in earthquakes. They kind of roll around. But when rocks split, that's a miracle that would take place go around splitting rocks. So you have the earth quaking and rocks splitting. And then the graves were opened. Now those people didn't come out of the graves. The graves opened up and it says, many people, many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. Now, I imagine these saints had the opportunity to go ahead, not only having had been baptized by John the Baptist or by others, but now be part of those who would receive the Holy Spirit and be part of the New Testament Church. What it would be like to come to church back in those days, kind of like we are now. And, oh, hi, you know, hi, Joe. You know, I remember when we did your funeral, never forget your funeral, you know, and Louise, your funeral, you know, I just, it was such a downer. It's so good to see you again. You're looking so much better than you were.

And then they said, yeah, but I've got to go. I've got to go die a second time. This isn't fair.

I'm sure there were some interesting discussions back then. And coming out of the grave after his resurrection, they went into the city of Jerusalem and appeared to many.

And when the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly saying, truly, this was the Son of God.

This was the Son of God.

So it was, it was quite a day following that down in verse 57, we see now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. This man was very in, you know, kind of a very interesting position on this day because he also was a member of the Sanhedrin who tried Christ and sent him over to Caiaphas, remember, who then sent him to Pilate and they got him crucified. The only thing was, Joseph would not vote with them that day. He was a follower of Jesus. But what an interesting predicament to be in. We pick up this story now over in Luke chapter 23. And verse 52, this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Now, Joseph was part of the Sanhedrin or the council and Pilate worked with that and they worked with him and sort of a balance of power between the Roman Empire and the Jewish state. And so he probably knew Pilate and so he was able to go to say, hey, I'm a member of the Sanhedrin and we have this thing as Jews. We don't let bodies hang up on a holy day. So we need to get him down before sunset. Can I have the body?

And he was permitted. He then took it down, verse 53, wrapped it in linen and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock where no one had ever lain before. Now, that was the preparation and the Sabbath drew near. That was the preparation. In other words, that was Passover Day right before the first day of Unleavened Bread began. It was also the day of preparation for the Holy Day of the first day of Unleavened Bread. Now, it says here, And the women who had come with him from Galilee, who were these women? Well, you can find in Mark 15, verse 47, that this was Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph, these two Marys, who had come with him, followed after, and they observed the tomb and where his body was laid.

So this is interesting that not only did Joseph of Arimathea get the body, but also Nicodemus helped him bury him, and Nicodemus brought 50 pounds of spices to the two Marys. Now, this is the preparation day, and I can't go through all the scriptures of it. You can go back to Mark 15, 42 through 47 and read about some of these things. But what happened was, you're coming up to sunset, all they could do is wrap him in linen, put him in a grave, and roll the stone. But Nicodemus had brought 50 pounds of spices and aloes, and the ladies took the spices and aloes. Now, verse 56, on Friday, the day after the first day of unleavened bread, was another preparation day for the weekly Sabbath. And it says, then, at that time, on Friday, they, the ladies from Galilee, the two Marys returned and prepared the spices and the fragrant oils. So all day Friday, after the day of unleavened bread, they prepared us 50 pounds of fragrant things. And they rested on the Sabbath, the weekly Sabbath, according to the commandment. And then you'll find, in chapter 24, verse 1, now on the first day, isn't there, first of the week, or weeks, very early in the morning. This is Sunday, the first day of the week, early in the morning, while it was still dark, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices, which they'd prepared. So this was three days and a little bit later, and the ladies finally were able to come with those spices that they prepared.

Jesus Christ was sacrificed to take away our sins. It was an awesome thing. It didn't need the ladies with the spices. He actually died, and he died for the Father to be able to accept His blood and His body for the sins of humanity. Didn't need a bunch of people there, and it just happened to work out to where no people could come back and do anything for Him, and never could, by the way, until He was fully resurrected. He was just wrapped in the white linen, white linen which is reminiscent of righteousness, the white linen in Revelation, the righteousness of the saints. It's a type of righteousness. And so that was all that was done for Him. The Passover is, remember your friend.

If we remember nothing more coming up to the Passover, it's about our friend. It's not about me. It's not about how bad I've been. It's not about my sins. Well, it is in a way. But remember what He said, When you do these things, do them in remembrance of Me.

Jesus Christ is telling us, remember the gift of your friend. Remember that thing that got you out of slavery to sin, the thing that restored a relationship between you and me and the Father, the thing that will convey you all the way to the eternal promised land in the kingdom of God. Remember this event. It's an awesome event. It's a huge event. Remember the gift of your friend. Again, in 1 Corinthians 11, 24, this is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me. We shouldn't get ourselves into the Passover service and forget it's really about remembering what Jesus Christ did for us and having faith in that, confidence in it, excitement for it, appreciation of it, awe of it. The whole feast of unleavened bread is about us. That's when we start dealing with our sins and putting those sins out. It's a type, it's a symbol, a sign, that whole week of what we need to do in order to get to the promised land. For the Passover is such a special remembrance of what Jesus Christ, our friend, our Savior, the one who saved us, what all He did for us. In 1 Corinthians 11, verse 27, it's important that we have an examination to see where we stand. Not necessarily an examination to see how righteous we are, but an examination to see if we are genuinely in this process. Let's take a look. Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.

But let a man examine himself. What are we going to examine to see if we have sin? Well, of course we have sin, but what are we examining himself for? So let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. Oh, okay. So we examine ourselves and then we eat of the bread. Are we worthy? No. But do we do it in a manner that is worthy? Yes, we do. We do it in a manner as one who is repenting. If we're not repentant, then we're going to drink this to our own damnation, judgment, whatever. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself.

The Greek word for an unworthy manner is anaxios. It means irreverently. No, we're not thinking about it. We're not revering these symbols, you see. We're not remembering and appreciating and involved in the process. We're just doing it casually. But we need to do it discerning the Lord's body.

Verse 34, But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. Now, don't look at those symbols as something common like bread and wine. These symbols are actually symbols of Christ's broken body in his blood, which are very, very precious.

Well, we've looked at some things today that hopefully are helpful. I'd like to close by reading 1 John 3 and verse 16. 1 John 3 verse 16 is almost a mirror verse, in a way, of John 3 16, which says, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever would believe in him would not perish but have eternal life. And here, interestingly enough, in the way that man is organized chapters and verses, we see a scripture that mirrors it, but it also incorporates us into it. Let's read 1 John 3 verse 16. By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. See, Jesus's death became a mandate for us. Just as he laid down his life to serve us, we are also now to take up that charge and to love our neighbor as ourself. We are to act. We are to put away anything that is not love. And begin to sacrifice our old human nature, our old selfish nature, and put that away, and then do what he taught. So we observe this memorial of Jesus Christ's death with respect, with appreciation, with awe, with commitment. Commitment not just to appreciate what he did only, but to act, which is what those seven days of Unleavened Bread that follow are all about. They're about movement, about journeying out, about putting one foot in front of another and heading for the promised land. We need to observe the Passover the way he taught. We accept and have faith in the symbols of the Passover. We recommit to the new covenant that we made, that we will overcome our sins and we will march out of our Egypt. And we recommit to his command, and that is to love one another as I have loved you. I hope you have a very meaningful Passover in Days of Unleavened Bread.