Passover Part 1

I was looking around yesterday, appreciating the weather, considering the fact that the days are getting longer now. I actually stepped out one day this week, the sun was shining, and it was actually a little bit warm. I caught this smell in the air. Every year I smell that smell, and incidentally my mind says, holy days. I've known if you've ever experienced that, but for me, just the smell of springtime in the air brings on the thoughts of God's holy days upcoming. And so it's exciting to consider the annual holy day season that we walk through every year is right around the corner. It's about to begin again. The holy days of God highlight for us God's work with humanity unto salvation. And they represent a plan and purpose that God has put into motion whereby human beings, those created in God's image—not all of God's creation is in His image. Human beings are for specific purpose.

There's a plan God's put in place whereby we can come to know Him in a reconciled relationship, and from there move on to fulfill the potential for which we were created. Ultimately, that potential is to be part of the family of God and share eternal life in that family with God our Father and Jesus Christ our Elder Brother. And so roughly seven weeks from now, we are going to begin that holy day cycle. It begins by keeping the Passover and the days of an 11 bread, the first two observances that are up on the horizon. And as we approach those days, we often begin to reflect on their significance, on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, on putting away the 11 coming out of spiritual sin. And as we think about those days, also questions tend to come up. And I would say specifically surrounding the Passover itself, there can tend to be questions, questions pertaining to the timing of that observance.

Why do we keep the Passover when we do in the United Church of God? And also, why do we keep it how we do with the symbols of the New Covenant observance? And so these questions come up, and it's important we ask them because the answers are essential to how we live our life before God as well. And so today I'm going to begin a two-part series in order to help solidify in our minds what the Bible says about the timing and the manner in which we keep the Passover as the people of God. And it's obviously a big topic. There's no way I can answer every question that could come up within these sermons. But I'm hoping that by looking at what the Bible says, we can be pointed in a proper direction and a launching point for continuing our studies as we approach the Holy Days, which are upcoming.

So the title for today's message is Passover Part 1, Why We Observe It When We Do. Why we observe it when we do. And so I'll be emphasizing the when in this message, because again, at times questions do arise. Now the timing of the keeping of the Passover is one of the oldest controversies of the Bible. And the question basically boils down to, was the Passover lamb of Exodus 12 slain in the afternoon of the 14th of Abib and eaten at night on the beginning of the 15th? Or was the Passover lamb slain shortly after sunset at the beginning of the 14th, eaten at night on the 14th? Again, depending on how you look at those will determine when you keep this observance in its fullest as God instructed. And each viewpoint has supporters and has explanations of why one interpretation would be something they support over the other. And so there are legitimate questions that do get asked and need to be answered. It's a position of the United Church of God that the first Passover of Exodus 12, as well as the final Passover that Jesus Christ kept with his disciples, are on the same schedule at the beginning of the 14th of Abib. And honestly, I have to say for me, as I was studying into this and looking through this, and as I wrapped the message up, the conclusion I came to, honestly, is it's enough for me to simply say we are Christians and we keep it as Jesus Christ kept it. But there's questions of why did he keep it when he kept it because it seemed like a lot of the Jews in the community around him were keeping it at a different time. And sometimes even the question comes up, well, is what Jesus Christ did on his final night with his disciples, was that even the Passover at all? And those questions come up. So it's actually important to go back to the beginning and understand why Christ kept it when he kept it and to understand the original instructions that God gave to Israel in Exodus 12 regarding the timing and the keeping of the Passover.

You should have a handout that was passed out to you, and if you're out on the webcast, at least on our circuit, I emailed that out to you this morning so you can pull it out of your email and print that off if you like to go with this sermon. And if anyone else that is listening or sees it later, you're certainly welcome to email me and I'll send that to you as well. But the handout is for a guide and help pulled from the Scripture, and again, it helps to point us in the right direction.

As we begin today into Exodus 12, it's important that we all clearly understand what constitutes a day in the Bible, because that's wrapped up very much in this explanation. What's a night? What's a day? When does day start? When does it end? Because in our system of measuring time, at least according to man's calendar, a day is from midnight to midnight.

And it's different in the Bible. It begins at sunset, at sundown, we understand. And in the Bible, it's a 24-hour period that begins at sunset and ends at sunset. And if you go back to the creation account, you see it's described as, you know, an evening and morning with a first day. So the day begins at sunset, actually with the darkness portion of the day, that's the front end of the day, and concludes after the daylight portion that follows once again at sunset, roughly 24 hours later. And so as we're talking about the beginning of the 14th of Abib, in which the Passover is kept, we're referring to the evening portion of the day that begins with sunset. Right? So the day of the 13th ends, the sun sets, it is now the beginning of the 14th, and it is night. So that is what we are going to come to understand as we walk through this. When we refer to morning or afternoon of the 14th, it then refers to the latter portion or the latter half, we could say, of the day leading up to sunset, then that ends the day. So let's begin by turning. I know this is a little technical today what we'll go through, but it's important for us to solidify in our minds. Exodus 12, let's see the instructions that God gave Moses for the timing of the first Passover that the Israelites were to keep there as they were in bondage to Egypt, about to be delivered. And we're going to understand why it is ultimately that Jesus Christ kept this night when He did as well. Exodus 12, you'll recall this is the Passover, which was the final event now that secured their release from bondage to Pharaoh. God has sent a number of plagues into Egypt against the gods of Egypt who, you know, small g, really weren't gods, but the true God was showing His power and authority, and Pharaoh still refused to let the Israelites go. And God said to Moses, you know, I'm going to send this one more event, after which He will let you go. So Exodus 12 and verse 1 begins with, Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be your beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to him, and his neighbor next to his house, take it according to the number of the persons according to each man's need, and shall make your account for the lamb.

So if your household was very small and your neighbor's household was very small, you could share that lamb according to the number of your account for the lamb. Verse 5, it says, Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. So this perfect Passover lamb, as we understand, was a forerunner.

It was a type of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who was slain for our sins. This was a type, okay? And Christ was the fulfillment of that later on, but the fact is it was to be perfect without spot and blemish and all that it represented, because again, it pointed to the perfect lamb of God. Verse 6 says, Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. It says, Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.

Twilight. This is important. This is actually when the observance of the Passover was to begin. It actually started with the killing of the lamb on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight. Twilight's an English word. It's what's translated out of the Hebrew in my new King James Version, at least. But understanding the meaning of the Hebrew word that is translated, twilight's critical to understanding the timing of the Passover observance itself. And, brother, it's important for us to understand, because misunderstandings of this word can cause a degree of confusion of when will you actually keep it?

Will you keep it at the beginning of the fourteenth? Or will you keep it at the ending of the fifteenth with all its rites and ceremonies that would then run into the fifteenth? And I may have said that wrong, but don't keep it at the end of the fourteenth, which runs into the fifteenth.

The point is, we keep it at the beginning, but this word twilight, when the lamb was to be slaughtered, is essential in understanding the timestamp of when the Passover begins. The Hebrew phrase translated twilight, and this is in your hand out there, it is b'in ha arb'am. B'in ha arb'am, and it's essentially a phrase that means between the two evenings. Between the two evenings.

And the big reason that the United Church of God acknowledges the Exodus 12 Passover as taking place at the beginning of the fourteenth is based on how we understand this term between the two evenings from the scripture. And that is where we want to go at all times, okay, when we set our doctrine and our understanding, it doesn't come from what sounds good to us, it comes from what is in the Bible record that God gave us itself. Between the two evenings is used in the Bible to define a period of time that takes place between sunset and dark.

And so it's that dusky time, you know, just after the sun goes down, but darkness hasn't fully set in. For me, that's actually one of my favorite times of the day during the summertime because, you know, we own a ranch and there's fences to be fixed and work to be done and, you know, various things to be tended and it's hot during the summertime and for me when the sun goes down and it sets, you're not under that scorch of the heat, you still have roughly about an hour or so between then and complete darkness.

And for me, that's my favorite time of the day to actually get out and get a little bit of work done. But again, it's defined as a period of time between sunset and dark, roughly an hour, depending what time of the year it is. Between the two evenings is actually that essential time point. It's the period at the very beginning of the 14th that the Passover lamb was to be killed in Exodus 12 and the instructions that God gave. And it's also why we, when we come together as a congregation for the Passover service, we look at what time is sundown and we begin our New Covenant Passover at the beginning of the day just following sundown again on the 14th.

Now the reason that others may keep the Passover differently in a different time frame than we do, again, is based largely on how they interpret this phrase between the two evenings. Because the traditional Jewish interpretation of b'in ha'arbe'im, as it is actually today in our modern time frame, is a period of time shortly after noon until sunset.

But that is a tradition that is not actually a scriptural definition. But when you look around, actually in Christ's time and in our time as well, you see the Passover lambs, the Jew slaughter, being slaughtered many times on the afternoon of the 14th. Usually probably around 3 to 6 p.m. and they say, well, between the evenings is between noon and sunset. And if that's your interpretation, then it's going to change when you keep this observance.

One of the big issues with that, brethren, is that the fullness of the Passover observance. Okay, as God commanded his people to keep it, originally here in Exodus chapter 12, would run into the nighttime portion beginning of the 15th of the month, which is the first day of Unleavened Bread. Again, if you slaughtered the lamb at the latter part of the day of the 14th. And so now it's not the Passover, it is the first day of Unleavened Bread. And as we'll see, the Bible is specific and clear on when is the Passover, when is the first day of Unleavened Bread.

So there is no scriptural instruction in the Bible for the Passover being observed on any part of the 15th. And also a study of the other scriptures in the Bible containing this word, being Ha-Arbureim, shows that clearly it's a period of time, again, between sunset and dark.

It's never described as a period of time between noon and sunset, or the end portion of the day. And because it is such a big point and a big time stamp of when we determine, when we keep the Passover, it's important we understand this word in this time.

There's confusion. Among some, it would appear of Exodus 12. Although I believe it appears to be clear when twilight is. But it's good when you have a confusion on a point of scripture, look at what the Bible says in other places pertaining to that word, that circumstance, because the scripture agrees and we use the Bible to interpret the Bible, we just don't make things up on our own. So let's go to Exodus chapter 16. You probably want to keep a marker here in Exodus 12, because we're going to come and go from Exodus 12 quite a bit today.

But we want to see another example of this Hebrew word that's translated twilight between the two evenings and confirm that indeed it is at the beginning of the day, not the afternoon of the latter portion of the day.

So we have another example here, Exodus chapter 16, and we're going to begin in verse 1.

The example of the twilight is actually in verse 12, but let's understand the context in the run-up here. Exodus 16 verse 1, it says, and they journeyed from Elam, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of sin, which is between Elam and Sinai, on the 15th day of the second month after they departed the land of Egypt. So we understand this is 30 days after Israel departed Egypt. In the 15th day of the first month was a day of 11 bread, and they walked out of Egypt. This is 30 days a month later, and we're going to see a circumstance take place that involves the term between the two evenings, and we want to see how that term is used, because again it helps us to understand the time stamp of when the Passover was to be killed back in Exodus 12.

We also want to notice that it is God Himself who is using the term. All right, in both cases it is God Himself who will use the term here in Exodus 16, just as He did in Exodus 12, and it's my expectation that God would be consistent with how He used that term. So verse 2, it says, the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the children of Israel said to them, O that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt. When we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. Then the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will reign bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day that I may test them whether they will walk in my law or not.

So this here is a guarantee that the manna would come. God says, I'm going to start sending this manna each day, and it's going to be a test because there's a certain system by which they were to gather it. Verse 5, and it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. Then Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, at evening you shall know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt. So God's saying, I'm going to send manna. That's going to come tomorrow in the morning. But Moses says, this evening you're going to know that God has brought you out of the land of Egypt.

This still isn't our word, twilight, but it's evening, so we'll talk about that. Verse 7, in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, for he hears your complaints against the Lord, but who are we? What are we that you complain against us? Also, Moses said, this shall be seen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to the full.

For the Lord hears your complaints which you make against him, and what are we? Your complaints are not against us, but against the Lord. So we have this term in verse 6 and verse 8, which is translated evening. Okay, this isn't twilight, this is translated evening. It's a different Hebrew word, and it's ba'erev. Ba'erev, that's on your hand out as well. And the word essentially means sunset. So we have a couple words we're going to be looking at here. One is evening, which means sunset. One means between the two evenings, and we want to understand what between the two evenings, where that is placed, and what that means. We don't have time to read through the entirety of the chapter today, but you need to realize that this day was a Sabbath day. Okay, when you look at when God began to give them manna, the next morning He gave them manna for six days, and they gathered double portion on the last day, the last, and to the next Sabbath. So if you find that marker of when He gave it and when the next Sabbath was, and you count backwards, this is a Sabbath day.

And the manna began the next morning. So that's important for us to understand why God didn't just send Him quail at that moment. Children of Israel were complaining against God on the Sabbath day, and He's telling them He will send them quail at evening, at sunset, right, when the Sabbath ended, because He wasn't going to have them out harvesting these quail on the Sabbath day.

Verse 9, carrying on, it says, Then Moses spoke to Aaron, Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before the Lord, for He has heard your complaints. Now it came to pass, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, verse 12, I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, At twilight you shall eat meat.

At twilight. Okay, this is that word between the two evenings, the same word in Exodus 12. We'll come back to it. At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God. So it was that quails came up at evening, and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. So here what we have is God told them that they would eat quail at twilight. Okay, He said, You will eat it, b'in ha arabim, which is between the two evenings. But again, the question is, when was that? When was that?

And the answer is important because it is the same time frame that God told them they were to kill the Passover sacrifice in Exodus 12, between the two evenings, or twilight as it's translated here. Question, brethren, is between the two evenings the period from roughly shortly afternoon until sunset? Is that between the two evenings? Or is between the two evenings the time frame from sunset until dark? What can we learn by looking at this Scripture? What does God show us that timestamp is? Again, verse 13 says that the quails came up at evening, right, at sunset. At the conclusion of the Sabbath day, God sent quail at evening, and they covered the camp. They apparently just practically landed on the camp, and it wasn't like they had to work too hard to get them, but God provided. So the quail came up at sunset as the Sabbath ended, and it says they ate the quail at twilight, right? They ate the quail between the two evenings. They ate the quail at night between sunset and dark. Again, the Scripture doesn't show that they ate the quail before sunset in the afternoon, because God did not send the quail until sunset.

Once the Sabbath had concluded. And it also doesn't show that they withheld from eating the quail that God said at sunset, that they didn't eat it until the next afternoon. They were hungry now, and God said, you're going to eat meat tonight, and in the morning you'll have bread. You know, the manna would come in the morning, but the satisfying of their hunger was sent at sunset, and they ate it at twilight between the two evenings.

Again, verse 12 and 13, we need to have this clear. I've heard the complaints of the children of Israel speak to them, saying, at twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God. So it was that the quails came up at evening at sunset, covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp.

And then you just, you move forward in the chapter from there. They had manna for six days, and then the Sabbath came once again. And so it's clear, brethren, that God's own usage of the word being ha-er-berem, twilight, between the two evenings, is a direct reference to the time frame between sunset and complete darkness. It's when Israel ate the quail, and it is also when Israel slaughtered the Passover lambs of Exodus 12 at the beginning of the day between the two evenings.

NASA timestamp. And it's God's own confirmation of how that word was used.

The phrase being ha-er-berem is translated as dusk in the Jewish publication society.

Translation, it's translated as between dusk and dark in the New English Bible.

It's translated as between sunset and dark in the Moffat translation. Translated twilight, here in the New King James Version. And Brown driver Briggs commentary says it's between the two evenings, in effect probably between sunset and dark. So that's the phrase, twilight, as in the least it's translated, New King James. Let's go back now to Exodus 12 to the first Passover with this in mind and see the instruction how God would have them to keep this and when this was all to take place. Again, it makes a difference of are you going to keep it at the beginning of the day or are you going to keep it at the end of the day, then running into the next day, which is the first day of Unleavened Bread. Exodus 12 and verse 6.

Exodus 12, 6, Now ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. I hope that's clear. Verse 7, And they shall take some of the blood, put it on the two doorposts, and on the lentil of the houses where they eat it. Then they shall eat the flesh, notice on that night. What night?

Well, the fourteenth. They killed it at twilight. They eat it on that night.

It's the beginning of the fourteenth, roasted in fire with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs.

They shall eat it. Do not eat it raw nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire, its heads and its legs, and its entrails. You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains until morning you shall burn with fire. The skin, the intestines, the blood, the hair, everything, you burned it up. The bones, it took a little time, and you burned it into ash completely, whatever remained till morning. Verse 11, And thus ye shall eat it with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, your staff in your hands. So ye shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, what night? The 14th, the Passover, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man, excuse me, both man and beast. And against all the gods of Egypt I will execute my judgment. I am the Lord. Now the blood shall be first signed for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood I will pass over you, notice the terminology, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. So this day shall be to you a memorial. You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.

And so that's the description of the Passover. Okay, the land was to be kept until the 14th. It was to be killed at twilight at the beginning of the 14th. It was to be cooked. It was to be consumed, eaten on that same night, the 14th, because it was the Lord's Passover. As the terminology says, the Lamb itself was the Lord's Passover. It was his sacrifice for that event.

Also, the Lord passed over the Israelites at midnight on that night. Again, the 14th, passed over, and what remained until morning was to be completely burned up. And, brethren, the Scripture shows that the entirety of the Passover, of the observance of all that was tied to it by command of God, was to take place completely on the 14th. The 14th is a Passover.

The 15th is not the Passover. The 15th is the first day of unleavened bread.

And let's confirm this. Numbers chapter 9 and verse 1. Keep your marker in Exodus 12.

Numbers chapter 9 and verse 1.

What all were they to do, and when were they to do it? Numbers 9 verse 1.

It says, Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, Let the children of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time. What is its appointed time? Verse 3. On the 14th day of this month at twilight, okay, there's our word again, between the two evenings, at the 14th day of the month at twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time according to all its rites and ceremonies, you shall keep it. All its rites and ceremonies included, again, the killing of the lamb, the cooking of the lamb, the eating of it in the prescribed manner, the burning up of what remained until in the morning, and it was all to be done on the 14th, not partly on the 14th and partly on the 15th, which is what would have happened if you slay the Passover lamb on the afternoon of the 14th. Again, if you're going to kill it on the 14th and observe it in the prescribed manner, right, all on the 14th, as God had commanded, then the lamb had to be killed at twilight, at the beginning of the 14th, not near the end. Verse 4. So Moses told the children of Israel that they should keep the Passover. And they kept the Passover. Notice, on the 14th day of the first month at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai, according to all the Lord commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did. So, you know, you can find it over and over and over in Scripture.

Passover is on the 14th, and you'll never find it described as being on the 15th or commanded to be part on the 14th, part on the 15th, the 14th is the Passover. Let's continue to notice this. Let's go to Numbers chapter 28 and verse 16. Numbers 28 verse 16, we see that Passover and the days of 11 bread are two separate events, two separate days. Numbers chapter 28 and verse 16, it simply says, on the 14th day of the first month is the Passover of the Lord, and on the 15th day of this month is the feast of 11 bread. Feast, on 11 bread shall be eaten for seven days.

So again, we see the Passover and the days of 11 bread are separate days from one another.

One observance doesn't run into the other, and they're separate events by God's command.

Leviticus chapter 23.

Leviticus chapter 23 and verse 4. Again, we're going to see the distinction between these two events. Leviticus 23 and verse 4 says, these are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. He says, on the 14th day of the first month at, notice again, twilight between the two evenings at the beginning of the day is the Lord's Passover.

And on the 15th day of the same month is the feast of 11 bread to the Lord, seven days you must eat on 11 bread. So again, two distinct days, two distinct observations of what is to be kept on those days. And brethren, I'll just say that there are legitimate questions that come up. There are verses that you can look at as kind of standalone and go, well, this is, this looks a little confusing. This looks like Passover could be over here running into days on 11 bread. And, you know, how do you reconcile those things? And the point is we have to look at the Bible record as a whole and understand that it agrees. Okay? And there are certain things in the Scripture that are absolutes. And if there's something you're not sure about or don't quite understand, that doesn't remove the absolute of what God has put in place. We have to see it through the perspective of the absolute. So Passover is on the 14th, days on 11 bread is on the 15th, is on absolute. And it's stated over and over and over again in Scripture. And we look at that and the absolutes are what set our timestamp for when and how we keep this Passover. Now, if we go back to Exodus chapter 12, Moses then takes God's instructions regarding the Passover and he brings them to the people of Israel, tells them what God wants them to do, and they will do it.

Exodus chapter 12, let's go to verse 21.

Exodus 12 verse 21, it says, then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and he said to them, pick out and take the lambs of for yourselves according to your families and kill the Passover.

And though you would take a bunch of hyssop, then dip it in the blood. This is in the basin, and you're going to strike the lentils, the two doorposts, 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 an important point, don't you think? If it's a commandment from God, you're going to kill the lamb, you're going to put the blood up, and none of you will go out of your house until morning. The command by God was they were to stay in their house all night, not venture out until morning. And that's important to remember as we go forward. Verse 23, for the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians. When he sees the blood on the lentil and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over again, notice your house, the door, and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. Where do you think the Passover got its name? Well, obviously the lamb was the Passover. The lamb was called the Passover lamb. It was God's sacrifice for the Passover. But in addition to that, the name Passover is derived from the time when the Lord passed over the houses of the Israelites. And he passed over on the Passover, on the 14th, as the timeline shows. He did not pass over them on the night of the 15th.

As some assert, the 15th is not the Passover. The 15th is the days of Unleavened Bread. Again, that's why understanding when twilight is is essential to understanding the time frame on how all of these play forward. Verse 24, and you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. And it will come to pass when you come to the land, which the Lord will give you, just as he promised that you shall keep this service. And it shall be when your children say to you, what do you mean by this service? That you will say it is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians and delivered our households so the people bowed their heads and they worshiped. The emphasis behind the Old Testament Passover was that God had passed over their houses because they had the blood of the Passover sacrifice, and they were under its protection. And he just says, when your children say, why are we even doing this? This is what you tell them. The night that we killed the Passover, put his blood on our house, and the Lord passed over, and we were spared. It's specific.

Verse 28 goes on, it says, and the children of Israel went away and did so just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. That's good, I would say, huh? Do as God says. Verse 29, 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. Verse 30, so Pharaoh rose in the night, okay, again, still that same night, the 14th, rose in the night, 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.

Very horrifying circumstance, obviously, to live through. Verse 31, Then he who he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and he said, Rise, and go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel, and go and 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. And the Egyptians urged the people that they might send them out of the land in haste, for they said, We shall all be dead. Question, brethren, when did the children of Israel leave Egypt?

We won't turn there, but draw it in your notes. Deuteronomy 16 verse 1 says that they left by night, okay? Which night? Which night did the children of Israel leave Egypt? Pharaoh called to them by night of the 14th, but did they leave that night? Which night did the children leave Egypt? Well, again, Pharaoh said, Get out on that night. All right, called for them. And the argument sometimes is, well, Moses and Aaron went out of their house, and they went and saw Pharaoh, and they packed up, and they left that night. But let me remind you, actually let's turn there real quick, Exodus 10 verse 28 and 29. Did Moses go see Pharaoh again? I suppose it doesn't necessarily have to be argued either way, but just consider Exodus 10, 28 and 29. Then Pharaoh said to him, said to Moses, Get away from me, take heed to yourself, and see my face no more. For in the day you see my face, you shall die. So Moses said, You have spoken well, I will never see your face again. So you could argue that Moses went out and saw Pharaoh that night. You could also argue that he did not. I believe he received the command from Pharaoh who called on him by night to get your people out.

Did Israel leave the same night after the destroyer passed over at midnight?

Well, the answer is no, they did not. And how can we know for certain? Verse 22 again, latter part, And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning.

This was God's clear and direct command as they were to keep the Passover. It was an absolute.

Who are you going to listen to? If Pharaoh said, Hey, you come here by night, and God says, Do not go out of your house till morning, and people are dying all around you, at least in Egypt, who are you going to respond to? They weren't even to go out of their houses that night.

Morning here is a time of day when daylight begins to appear. And in the Bible, it's clear when night is, when morning is. There's a period of morning that can actually be dark. It's essentially where the sun is starting to put light up on the horizon, and night is breaking.

That's when morning begins. And then it proceeds into the daylight hours. Israel was not to leave their house until morning. That is what God had commanded them. Now again, Israel did leave Egypt by night, but it was not the night of the 14th. And it was not the night of the Passover. It was not the night that they were to remain till morning. It was the next night, the night of the 15th, which is then the beginning of the 15th, the night that we often refer to as the night to be much observed. The beginning of the first day of Unleavened Bread. Numbers chapter 33, verse 1.

Again, brethren, it's important to understand from the Scripture why we do what we do, not just something that somebody decided fit well on the calendar.

All right, Numbers 33 and verse 1. These are the journeys of the children of Israel, who went out of the land of Egypt by their armies, under the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Now Moses wrote down the starting points of their journeys at the command of the Lord, and these are the journeys according to their starting point. They departed Ramesses in the first month on the 15th day of the first month. On the day after the Passover, the children of Israel went out in boldness in the sight of all the Egyptians. For the Egyptians were bearing their firstborn, whom the Lord had killed among them. Also on their gods, the Lord had executed judgments.

And so the Scripture makes it clear they went out of Egypt, okay, they departed on the 15th, the day after the Passover. So these are not the same events. They are not the same night.

Again, back to Exodus 12, verse 33, Exodus 12 confirms that that Ramesses was the jump-off point for departing Egypt, and it also confirms that when they left from there it was by night.

Exodus chapter 12 and verse 33, And the Egyptians urged the people that they may send them out of the land in haste, for they said, 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 from the Egyptians, Articles of silver, Articles of gold and clothing. And Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested, thus they plundered the Egyptians. Verse 37, And the children of Israel journeyed from Ramesses to Succoth. Again, Ramesses was the jump-off point.

That's what numbers confirmed as well out of Egypt. Journeyed from Ramesses to Succoth, about 600,000 men on foot besides children. A mixed multitude went up with them also. So Egyptians said, Well, I think we better tail after this God. After all, there's not much left in Egypt for us.

They went also, some of them, in flocks and herds and a great deal of livestock.

It's estimated that approximately two and a half to three million people walked out of Egypt that night. You had the 600,000 that were men, but you had the women, you had the children, you mad the mixed multitude. Two and a half to three million people. Add to that the flocks and the herds and their belongings that went with them, and you can understand why they would needed the daylight portion of the 14th, simply to prepare to depart the land of Egypt. It was a day of organization and staging for their departure that next night. People lived throughout the land of Goshen, and word had to spread. They didn't get an amber alert on their cell phone. Okay, everybody now move out. All right, word had to spread. They had to gather up their belongings, their flocks, and they had to assemble at Ramesses, again the staging point for their exodus.

Additionally, it says they walked out according to tribes. So the tribes, the 12 tribes, the families lined up according to tribes and organized in that way, and that obviously took time to assemble.

And so, from my perspective, okay, I'll just say this is my speculation, it would seem to be logistically impossible to accomplish this on the night of the 14th, after midnight, after the destroyer passed over, and God said, do not go out until morning. It just doesn't happen in that time frame. They needed that next day to come together as a people and depart. They left on the next night. They left at the beginning of the first day of 11 bread. Verse 39, Exodus 12, verse 39, and they baked on leavened cakes of dough which they had 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 of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was 430 years. And it came to pass that the end of the 430 years on the very same day it came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. Doesn't mean that they were slaves for 430 years. It was 430 years from the day that God had made the covenant with Abraham that they sojourned, and now they are coming out on that day 430 years later. They were slaves for about half that period of time. Verse 42, 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. This night, okay, has a different meaning than the Passover.

Because we read it earlier, what did the Passover, when your children said, what does this night mean?

What, why are we doing this observance? Why are we killing this lamb? And you're going to say it pointed to God passing over the houses of the Israelites and sparing them because they had the blood of the lamb on their door. Well, here it says the night to be much observed, as we call it, commemorates the night that God brought Israel out of Egypt, and they walked out free, delivered from bondage. Two distinct nights, two distinct symbolisms, two distinct days, fourteenth and the fifteenth. And I hope, brethren, that that is clear. Now, it is important to note that the timing of the Passover of Exodus 12 is a question of history and it's a question of chronology, okay?

The proper understanding of the timing of the Passover in the Old Testament is not listed as one of the fundamental beliefs of the United Church of God. So why does the United Church of God say we do what we do when we do it? Well, the fundamental beliefs on the subject of the Passover are actually short and they're direct, but they simply state, we believe in observing the New Testament Passover on the night of the 14th of Abib, the anniversary of the death of our Savior. Okay, so it actually, ultimately for us, comes back to the point that we do what we do as a church is aligned with what Jesus Christ did on the night of 14 of Abib, 31 A.D., and what Jesus Christ did in the night that he did it, aligned with the beginning of the 14th of Abib, as was described in Exodus chapter 12, as well. The timing is the same. So again, it comes back to what did Jesus Christ do?

That is what we do. And we do it because he said, do this in remembrance of me. So I'll conclude today in Luke chapter 22. This is now going to glimpse into the New Testament Passover, because you see, we don't go slaughter a lamb today as the Church of God. Jesus Christ is the lamb that was sent, the sacrifice for all of mankind. But we do keep the Passover service, and we take of the bread and of the wine, all right, in remembrance and symbolism of his sacrifice and the blood of the covenant. Luke chapter 22 verse 7, and you can find similar in the other gospel accounts. We'll just conclude here today. Luke 22 verse 7, then the day of 11 bread, then came the day of 11 bread when the Passover must be killed. And you go, uh-oh, that's one of those confusing scriptures, you know, is the Passover, the day of 11 bread. And what you have to understand is the terminology here, and especially in the synoptic gospels of Passover and 11 bread, those terms were used interchangeably, but I think we all understand first day of 11 bread is clearly the 15th, and the Passover is clearly the 14th, and the Passover was not killed on the first day of 11 bread. That's not what the scripture says. So just understand, we're talking about a time frame here. We're talking about a season. It's kind of like we say we're going to the feast. We don't say we're going to the Feast of Tabernacles and the Eighth Day. It's part of our terminology here, but it's the season of the Passover which is calm.

So again, they came the day of 11 bread when the Passover must be killed, and he, Jesus, sent Peter and John saying, go and prepare the Passover for us that we may eat. Now, there's generally no disagreement here on the timing that Jesus and his disciples did what they did in that night up in the upper room. Virtually no one will disagree with the fact that was the beginning of the 14th of Abib. What people will disagree with is some will say, well, what Jesus Christ did with his disciples was not the Passover at all. It was a nice supper. It was a meal. He knew that his time was short. He knew he was going to die the next day. He wanted a last meal together with his disciples, give him a few instructions, but it wasn't the Passover at all. That's sometimes the argument because what Christ did at the beginning of the 14th, if you're looking for the slaughter at the end of the day, doesn't fit that time frame. But what was Christ doing that night? What does the Bible say that Jesus Christ was doing that night? Verse 8, he said to Peter and John, go and prepare the Passover for us that we may eat. Was he pulling their leg? Was he giving him false hope, you know, knowing that he wouldn't be there? Or was it not his intention to keep the Passover with his disciples? Verse 9 says, so they said to him, where do you want us to prepare?

Prepare what? Passover. Verse 10, and he said to them, Behold, when you have entered a city, a man will meet you carrying a picture of water. Follow him into the house which he enters, and you shall say to the master of the house, the teacher says to you, where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples? Jesus said, you go and tell him we need this room where he may eat the Passover with his disciples. Verse 12, then he will show you a large furnished upper room there make ready. So when they went and they found it, just as he had said to them and they prepared the Passover. Verse 14, and when the hour had come, he sat down with the twelve and the twelve apostles with him, and he said to them, with fervent desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. Brother in the house was secured for the purpose of the Passover, and the record shows the days of 11 bred the follow as well. The disciples continued to congregate there. Jesus sent Peter and John to prepare the Passover. Jesus Christ said he was going to eat the Passover with his disciples. The Passover was made ready, and Jesus Christ sat down with them at the appointed hour, which was when? The beginning of the 14th. All right, there's virtually no argument over when he sat down for that meal. Same as Exodus 12 Passover, and Jesus expressed his fervent desire to eat it with them before he suffered. This was the Passover which Jesus Christ kept on that final night before his crucifixion, and there can be no question when you consider what the Scriptures actually say. I don't have time to go into it today. You can go and study the topic, but there's actually a number of historical sources that show there were two groups of, in two time frames, in which the Passover was kept at the time here of Jesus Christ.

And the Pharisees and the Sadducees didn't even fully agree, because there came a time along the way where the Passover sacrifices were brought into the temple, and they were being killed in the afternoon. And you can go back to Nehemiah's time, and part of the reason even surrounding that was it was a time of idolatry, and the people, frankly, the people were sacrificing things to false gods, and this was now being brought in under the temple priesthood supervision of the sacrifice.

So there was a time when there was a change, but it was not according to God's commands, as he lined it out in the beginning, and it's not according to what Jesus Christ did, and what the Jews have essentially done, and considering the afternoon of the 14th now to be twilight, it is a matter of tradition, not of the command of God. What Jesus Christ kept with him was the Passover. Verse 15, he said that then, with fervent desire, I desire to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. This is the last time. This is it, he says. Verse 17, then he took the cup, gave thanks, and said, Take this, divided among yourselves, for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. Verse 19, then he took bread. He gave thanks, he broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

Likewise, he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you. Brethren, I want to warn you of a heresy that arises from time to time, that promotes the idea that what Jesus Christ kept with his disciples on that night was not the Passover at all. It was a meal, it was a supper, it was a farewell, whatever you might want to label it as, but it was not the Passover. That is what this says, as some would teach. And additionally, they would teach, in fact, that the literal partaking of bread and wine as the new covenant Passover symbols are not a legitimate practice for the Church of God today. That's what this heresy would teach, because what Christ kept wasn't the Passover. And the bread and wine are sort of in your heart and how you live. And you know what? That is true. It is how we live and how we respond. And Christ is the bread of life, and we feed on him daily. But you know what? It's also the symbols that were given by our Lord and Savior on that night of the Passover. And he said, do this in remembrance of me. Again, any such teaching to the contrary should be soundly rejected on the spot. And brethren, I caution you not to entertain it. Was the Passover what Jesus Christ kept? Well, I told you it was, but you know what? Don't believe my words. What did the Bible say? And what did Jesus Christ himself say he did and was going to do on that night?

Jesus kept the Passover when the hour to do so had come. After supper, he instituted the symbols of the New Covenant ceremony, the bread and the wine, which we partake of today, representing his sacrifice for us. I'm going to cover that in part two of this message of why we do what we do on the Passover. But in terms of the timing, brethren, let's just remember Jesus set the example, and he instructed his followers, do this in remembrance of me. And that is why we keep the Passover when we do in the United Church of God.