The Passover Six

Happy Sabbath, everyone! Thank you for that beautiful special music. I really appreciated it. Thank you, Lizzie and Jacqueline. What a great reminder! God never leaves us or forsakes us. So we were... if you weren't able to hear that one online, I think maybe they heard hymns instead. Sorry to rub it in, but you missed out. That was beautiful, and we really appreciated that. So thank you so much. Now, this morning, you know, we're getting ever closer to the days of Unleavened Bread and Passovers coming up, and so I was talking to a couple of our little ones, and they said, Mr. Myers, I've got a joke for you. So I said, all right, what is it? They said, do you know why the matzo quit his job? He said, I don't know. Why did the matzo quit his job? They said it was because he couldn't get a raise. Okay, all right. He said, we got another one. All right, what's the other one? He said, why did the matzo go to the doctor? Ready? Why did the matzo, I didn't know, why did the matzo go to the doctor? He said, it was because he was feeling crummy. He said, yeah, that's like a matzo, but not to be outdone. I said, all right, I've got one for you. All right, what is the best cheese to eat on unleavened bread? All right, wait for it.

Matzo-rella. That's the best cheese. All right, now I guarantee within the next week, you will tell one of those bad jokes, because time has flown, hasn't it? I mean, it was, wasn't it just yesterday? The sun kind of went down on the eighth day, on the last great day, and here we are. I mean, we've been through, well, almost two full seasons, but we went through fall, we went through winter. Now we're back to winter again. We went through these two full seasons, it's half a year, just about, and now it's time to start a whole new cycle of God's annual festivals. And so God has us rehearse these every single year, and here we are. We're at the beginning of those seven annual holy days. We are just about on top of the Passover, and then quickly to follow the days of Unleavened Bread. So I thought it might be helpful to talk this afternoon about the Passover 6. The Passover 6 can help us fill in the picture a little bit about the very importance of this first annual festival of God. So as you begin to think about Passover, maybe you've been in this situation before, especially even our young people, some of you who are maybe teenagers and younger, I've got a question for you. Wondering if you have ever been asked the question. You ready for this? Anyone ever asked you, what is the Passover anyway? Anyone ever asked you that? What is the Passover? So what do you tell them? What do you tell them if someone asks you, what is the Passover? Do you know that God kind of foresaw that that would take place? He knew that young people would ask that very question. And so He gives us the answer. If you want to turn back to Exodus 12, verse 26, this first question that pops up, what is the Passover? God kind of knew that question would come to mind to people. And so He prepared an answer. And here in Exodus chapter 12, verse 26 begins to describe the answer to that question. Exodus 12, 26, especially for us parents, kids love to ask, you know, what's going on? Why am I doing this? What is this all about? Exodus 12, 26 deals with the Passover. And here's what it says, and it shall be, not if your children. It says, when your children say to you, what do you mean by this service?

Or in other words, young people, what do you mean Passover? What is the Passover? It says, verse 27, here's what you can say. So even our young people can be ready and armed with the answer. And here's the beginning of that answer. God says, here's what you should say. It's 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 we begin to see this is part of the answer. It's not the whole answer, but it's the beginning of an answer to recognize the fact that Passover is a special day. It's a type of a memorial. Or we could say it's an anniversary. It's a day that commemorates or a day that remembers a number of things. And this is one of them. This is one of the things that Passover is all about. One of the things that's memorialized. It's a remembrance or it's a celebration. You could use any of those words to kind of describe what's happening here. It's a very important anniversary that begins here with this commemoration or this anniversary of the 10th and the last plague that was upon Egypt. It's where God passed over the nation of Egypt and spared those who had the blood on their doors and actually killed the firstborn in the land. And so Passover begins here. It begins here. That's one of the events that it remembers. It's the anniversary of that event. But that's not all. That's not all because it also commemorates. It's also an anniversary of the death of Jesus Christ.

What is the Passover? It also remembers the death of our Savior. And it's interesting the connection here because with Egypt it was the death of the firstborn. It's kind of the same with Jesus Christ, isn't it? He's the firstborn son of God the Father. And so it's an anniversary of His death as well. And so it took that awful death that by God's design took place on that very same day, Passover day. And instead of the Israelites being freed from Egypt, God now frees us from our captivity. So what is our captivity? Well, it's not a Pharaoh who lords it over us.

What are we held captive to? Well, it's sin. God has given the means that we can be freed from our captivity. Slavery to the world, slavery to Satan, slavery to ourselves. And God has made a way through this important anniversary to demonstrate that very fact. And so those two events, not just slaves in Egypt and not just the death of the firstborn of Egypt, but the death of the firstborn son of God, makes this possible. And so we remember that. You know, what is the Passover? Well, it's a commemoration. It's an anniversary that recognizes that. In fact, there's a third thing it recognizes as well. So it doesn't just stop with the death of the firstborn of Egypt, not just with the death of the firstborn of God, but it also recognizes our death. It recognizes the baptism of every Christian because that old person that we used to be was put to death at our baptism. And so Passover recognizes that fact that we have formally accepted the death of Jesus Christ on our behalf. So in a way, we're looking back, we're celebrating this anniversary that we recognize. We ask God to cover our sin, to blot out our transgressions with His own blood. And so what is the Passover? It's commemorating those three events in a sense, not just one, but the death of the firstborn of Egypt, the death of God's own son, and our death, that we accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior. And we put to death that old person, that old individual that we used to be, and ask God to cover our sin. And so we can begin our answer to what is the Passover with those various things that we remember, that we commemorate. Of course, the next big question that our children often ask us is, it's not always what, it's usually why. Why? Why? Why? Well, why should we keep the Passover? Isn't that something that's old? Isn't that an Old Covenant, Old Testament kind of thing? So why should we keep the Passover? Why should we celebrate it and remember it?

Well, first and foremost, if someone asks you, why do you keep the Passover? Isn't that kind of a Jewish thing? Well, what's your answer? No! It is not a Jewish thing. Passover is a New Testament Christian observance. That's what we do. It's not kind of like the Jews. No, this is a Christian observance. That's what Passover is all about. Yes, there are roots in the Old Testament. No doubt about that. In fact, we can look back, if we will, for just a moment, to Leviticus 23.

What does Leviticus 23 summarize? Someone asked you, Leviticus 23 is an important section of Scripture because it gives us a summary of something that's critical. What would that be? Well, God's annual festivals are all mentioned in Leviticus 23, and Passover is no exception to that. So as we begin to answer that question, why should we observe Passover? Leviticus 23 comes into play. Notice verse 4 in Leviticus 23. It kind of mirrors a little bit. Verse 1, because someone might say, well, isn't that a Jewish thing that you're doing? Well, how do you answer that? You answer by saying no, because when we begin to read this, whose festivals are these? Well, it begins by saying these are the feasts of the Lord. These are God's festivals. They're not Israelite festivals. They're not strictly Jewish festivals. They are God's. And verse 4 reminds us of that. So he says it a number of times, just so it'll sink in. Leviticus 23.4, it says, these are the feasts of the Lord. They're of the Lord. They're also holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at their appointed time. So these are commanded assemblies. They're sacred gatherings, like the Sabbath, because the Sabbath is the first one that's mentioned here. So we come together by God's command, and we worship, and we praise Him. We're required to be together. They're required festivals. And so they're holy convocations. And it says that they are to be proclaimed at their appointed times. And, of course, Passover, it says, verse 5, on the 14th day of the first month at twilight, is the Lord's Passover. And so we proclaim it. Why should we keep the Passover? Well, we... well, a word literally means to proclaim, to call it out, to do something that's been appointed can mean to summon. So we are called to proclaim this special evening at twilight, it tells us. And so God's called us to observe it and to celebrate it for a number of reasons. Why? Well, we hearken back to those firstborn of Egypt. Their deaths were required. And it took that terrible event that led ultimately to the freeing of the Israelites. They didn't have to live under Pharaoh's rule anymore. We recognize that. And then it takes us a step farther, doesn't it? Because we recognize we're to think a whole lot more deeply about it than just recognize, all right, God required the death of the Egyptian firstborn. There was more to it. It symbolizes something. So we recognize we don't base our Passover observance just on that event, not on just Exodus or Leviticus or Deuteronomy, because we are not under that administration anymore. We recognize the fact that as Christians we follow God's instructions through Jesus Christ. And He is our Passover Lamb. He is the high priest of a better covenant. And so we recognize there's a spiritual application that applies to us. And we learn spiritual lessons that apply. Spiritual lessons that we realize Passover brings us to consider the death of our Savior, the death of God's firstborn. And we proclaim that. We call that to remembrance. We recite it like Leviticus 23. Recite the festivals in their appointed times. We remind ourselves through God's direction and we declare it. We call it out. We realize we're appointed to this very thing to show our Savior's death until He comes. And that momentous event of the death of Christ also points us to the fact not only is it applied to us, but ultimately it's going to lead to the eventual freeing of all mankind. All mankind will have the opportunity to be free from sin through Jesus Christ. And we recognize that in a powerful passage over in 1 Corinthians 11. Why should Christians today observe the Passover? Well, 1 Corinthians 11, Paul's talking to the New Testament church, specifically the church in Corinth.

And he rehearses this very fact with them. What should our answer entail when we are asked, why? Why do you, as a Christian, keep the Passover? Well, here Paul describes something very important. He's giving instructions to God's church in Corinth. And as he begins this instruction, notice what he says, something very important. Verse 23 of 1 Corinthians 11. First he says, I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you. And of course, we remember the Apostle Paul. Was he there at that last Passover that Christ kept? He wasn't there. He wasn't one of the twelve, was he? He wasn't there. So he's telling us something pretty important here. Yeah, I wasn't there, but you know what?

Christ taught me these things. I'm giving to you what I personally learned from Jesus Christ. And when we put all the passages together, we know at Paul's calling, he went out into the wilderness and was taught personally by Christ. He didn't learn this from any man. The disciples didn't teach him. The apostles didn't teach him. Christ taught him. And so he received it from the Lord. And now he's delivering it. He's passing on this instruction directly from Christ to the church. And so he says, I received from the Lord. I'm delivering it to you. Well, what is he delivering? He's saying that the Lord Jesus, on the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he'd given thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And then he goes on in verse 25, in the same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. And so he kind of hearkens on this why we have this idea of a memorial, a remembrance, a rehearsal, an anniversary of the death of Jesus Christ. And then he says something interesting in verse 26. He says, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. So once again, like Leviticus, we have this proclamation going on. So we rehearse it, we call it out, we bring it to mind, we proclaim it, we announce it, we recognize the importance in our life of the death of our Savior.

And so we're recognizing Christ. We're recognizing what hope do we have? What hope is there to overcome sin? What hope is there to be released from the bondage that isn't the physical thing, like a pharaoh over us, but is sin itself?

What is the hope to overcome that? Well, see, we don't have the power. There is no hope within ourselves, but there is a solution through Jesus Christ, and that's the key. And so we proclaim His death. We recognize the solution to sin is by the death of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

That's the only way out. That's the only way of escape. And so Paul was taught that directly by Christ and passes it on to us and gives us the why. And he says, this is so critical and it is so important. We don't take it lightly. So in verse 27, he says, whoever eats the spread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty.

We will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. And so it is a solemn occasion, a serious occasion, an important occasion that we don't take lightly. And we recognize the fact there's preparation that's involved in coming to this point. And he says, in order to proclaim His death, we need to look at ourselves. We need to prepare. And that means a solemn self-examination, not examining others, but looking at ourselves, looking at our lives.

So then in verse 28, he tells us that. He says, if you're going to take the Passover in a worthy manner, he says, let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. So he says this self-examination is involving looking at our own lives, looking at the past year. Where are we? We recognize our strengths. We recognize our successes, that by the presence of God's Spirit in our life, we have overcome, we have succeeded, we have done well. But then we also recognize, yeah, we're still imperfect.

We still fall short. We see that in our lives. So we ask God, as we're going through this self-examination, we repent and we go before God and we ask God to continue to cover our sins, to continue to forgive our imperfections with the blood of our Savior through His sacrifice, because we see those imperfections and they jump out at us. And we look at, boy, not only just this last year, the years since our baptism. And for some, that may be a year or two. For others, it might be a decade. It may be a year. It may be half a century for some, or even more than that.

And we consider, how far have we come? How far have we left sin behind? And yet, we still recognize we're not there yet. We haven't completed the journey yet. And so we see those areas where we still need to overcome. But Paul reminds us that examination should not discourage us. It shouldn't be a sense that now we feel rejected. Now we feel so down and discouraged. We feel unmotivated. In fact, it should do just the opposite.

That we can recognize there is a solution. So rather than being depressed and discouraged, he says we look at ourselves. We see our successes as any examination does, any test shows you what you know, where you've succeeded. But it also shows what we still need to learn. And so we recognize that. And then he says, take the Passover. He doesn't say examine ourselves, see where we fall short and be so discouraged that we don't take the Passover. No! He says we do this. We recognize where we have succeeded, where we have fallen short, and then so let him eat, let him drink.

We take the Passover because it should motivate us then to rededicate ourselves to the covenant that we made with God at our baptism. And we recommit our lives to Him because God has blessed us with the solution. Christ, our Passover was sacrificed for us. And so Paul reminded the Corinthians of that. And so it reminds us of the why we do the things that we do when it comes to Passover. All right, that brings us to number three of the Passover 6. The Passover 6. What was the Passover? What is it all about? Why? Well, number three, where should we keep the Passover?

Maybe for our young people. Did anybody ever ask you, so where your parents go on that night anyway? Where are they going? What are they doing? Well, where should the Passover be kept? You know what's kind of interesting about that? The apostles asked that very same question of Jesus Christ. So it's not a dumb question.

It's an interesting question. Now, of course, if you look back, go back to the Old Testament, the Passover was kept in people's homes. Individual families kept the Passover. But what do we do today? I mean, later on, the Jews took it upon themselves to observe the Passover, to perform the Passover sacrifice at the temple in Jerusalem. In this change, it's something that we believe they were in error. They were in error, especially when you consider what Christ taught. Luke 22, verse 8, gives us some insight to where should the Passover be kept?

Where should we keep the Passover? Should we go to a temple of some kind? Do we take it upon ourselves? How exactly do we keep the Passover in what location? Well, Luke 22, that was a question at that time as well. Luke 22, verse 8 will begin there. Here, Christ is instructing the disciples. It says, He sent Peter and John saying, Go and prepare the Passover for us that we may eat. Well, I'm sure the logical question for them was, well, do we do it like the Old Testament, keep it in our homes?

Do we go to the temple? Should we do that? So they asked them, look at verse 9, So they said to him, Where do you want us to prepare? Where should the Passover be kept? Notice what Jesus says. He said to them, Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house which he enters. Then 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?

Verse 12, Then he will show you a large furnished upper room. There make ready. So they went and found it just as he had said to them, and they prepared the Passover. All right, so we put ourselves at this time. Where are they? Well, they're in Jerusalem.

Where did they live? Did they live in Jerusalem? No. These guys were from Galilee. So they didn't live here. They didn't live here. So this wasn't their home. They were away from their homes in Galilee. And what did they do? Well, Christ kept His final Passover in an upper room. Same word that is translated an inn in Scripture. So it seems to point to the fact that this was a hired room, a rented room, a room some scholars think it was probably of the family of Mark even, that they had this upper room that people could use, that people could rent out. And so today, what do we do in the church? Well, we recognize the disciples all came together. All 12 of them were there, and they set the example. We follow what they did. So normally, we keep the Passover in rented rooms. We rent a hall, and we assemble as congregations together if we don't have our own building. Of course, here in Cincinnati, we have our own building so we can come together in the home office. Some congregations in the United Church of God own their own building, so they can come together in their own church building. But most of our congregations don't own their own building. So what do they do? They follow the example of Christ. They rent a hall, and we keep the Passover, and we follow the example of Christ. So we follow His New Testament example of renting a room and then observing the Passover.

Of course, that brings us to number four of the Passover 6. The number four is who? Who should keep the Passover?

Now, the participation in the ceremonies of the New Testament Passover is restricted to baptized church members. You might say, well, for such an important occasion, why should that be restricted to baptized members? Why would that be? Let's start by maybe taking a little trip back for just a moment. Think back for just a moment. What was the sign that you were a part of God's people in the Old Testament? What was the sign that you were a member of the community? What was the sign that you were of God's people under the terms of the Old Covenant? What was that sign?

It was circumcision. Circumcision was the sign of the Old Covenant. So if you were of the Covenant people, you had to be circumcised. So in the Old Testament, the Old Testament Passover, the members of Israelite families would come together because the father of the family was circumcised. And in fact, if you look through Exodus 12, it describes that very fact. Even non-Israelites who kept the Passover were required to be circumcised. So it talks about those who might be sojourners. Exodus 12 describes these people, or sometimes it's translated newcomers or foreigners or sometimes even aliens. Not weird aliens from space or anything like that, but strangers who would come into the land, they were given the opportunity to keep the Passover if they were members of the community. They were circumcised. That was the key element. Old Testament circumcision. Now it's also interesting, if you read through Exodus 12, it also says there were strangers and foreigners who were not allowed to keep the Passover. Well, why could some foreigners keep the Passover and other foreigners denied? The difference? Circumcision. Those strangers who were not circumcised, those visitors or foreigners who were not circumcised, were not allowed to participate. Well, today, physical circumcision doesn't matter. That's not the issue. But is circumcision an issue today? Well, not physically, but spiritually it is. And that becomes the key. Under the New Covenant, the physical circumcision is replaced by baptism. Baptism replaces circumcision because a circumcision is still required. But instead of being a physical circumcision, it's a circumcision of the heart. A circumcision of the heart. And that's talked about so many times throughout the New Testament. But there's one that particularly caught my attention in this regard. It's over in Colossians 2, verse 11. Let's take notice there, especially as we consider this concept of who should keep the Passover. Colossians 2 puts this concept of circumcision together with the commitment to Jesus Christ and to God the Father. Notice verse 11. It ties all of these different aspects together and shows this spiritual aspect to this Old Testament teaching. It says, in Him, talking about in Christ, it says, in Christ, in Him, you were also circumcised. But it says, with the circumcision made without hands. So it's not a physical thing. And it's described in this way. You were circumcised with the circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ. And what does that look like? Verse 12 tells us, buried with Him in baptism. In which you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God who raised Him from the dead. And so the Apostle Paul shows what circumcision of the heart is really all about. It's about baptism. It's about baptism. Baptism shows our commitment to God, that we have now claimed the sacrifice of Christ. We have applied that sacrifice. God applies it to us. And now, through baptism, we have a circumcised heart. And then he goes on, now we live a new life. We're raised with Him through faith. And we are a new creation. And so we recognize baptism has to really take into account these different aspects. That only those that are mature enough to understand what baptism is all about, what a commitment to God is all about, what walking in faith, a lifelong commitment, not only to believe, but then to live by faith is all about. What is repentance of sin? You see, someone has to grasp the significance and the seriousness of that very thing and realize the spiritual commitment they're making to God.

And so someone that's too young doesn't understand those things. And yet this circumcision is still required, but it's a circumcision of the heart. In fact, even in the example of Christ, He gets together with the twelve, those that have been with Him for years, and He sits down with them and shows these new symbols of His body and His blood to kind of, I think, emphasize that point that someone needs to be mature to understand what's really happening. And so, like Scripture suggests, participation in the Passover is restricted to those who have committed themselves to God fully and gone through the right of baptism. Baptism. All right, that brings us to number five of the Passover 6. Number five, when should Passover be kept? When should Passover be kept? Now, you ask that question, and it's probably the question that has caused much contention in the Church of God over the years. People love to argue, when should we keep the Passover? You know, do we do it then? Do we do it then? Is it here or there or what? I think we can avoid the controversies by zeroing in on Scripture itself. If we focus on what God's Word really says and look at it openly and honestly, I think the answer really becomes pretty simple. There are several indications throughout the Old Testament that begin to show some of the simplicity behind that. In fact, we read one of the first accounts of that in Leviticus 23. Do you remember what we read in Leviticus 23.5? It said very clearly, on the 14th day of the first month at twilight, is the Lord's Passover. And according to God's calendar, of course, that's called Abib or Nisan. And so it's the 14th of the first of God's month, not according to the calendar we use today, but according to God's month. So Scripture provides the answer. And I think when you put them all together, it really proves it beyond a doubt when that's to happen. So at twilight is what Leviticus 23.5 talks about on the 14th. And when do days begin, anyway? When does the day begin at midnight, like people today think of? Some people think it begins when it's daylight. But when we follow biblical example, we find it begins at sunset. The day begins when it's getting dark, right? At twilight. That's the day begin. So we find this instruction that we celebrate the Passover at the beginning of the 14th, the beginning of that day. In fact, if you fast forward a little bit to Numbers 9, look at Numbers 9.5. We'll just look at a couple of quick examples and then try to cap it off in just a moment. Numbers 9.5, we see this consistency in Scripture. Numbers 9.5 describes a similar timing of when should the Passover be kept. Numbers 9.5.

It says, And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight. It says, In the wilderness of Sinai, according to all the Lord commanded Moses, so the children did. So we've moved forward from the time the command was originally given while they were still in Egypt. Now we're moving to Sinai. And when does the Passover kept? Same time. Fourteenth day, first month at twilight. All right, let's fast forward again. Ezra 6.19.

Ezra 6.19, now we move to the time that the Jews are coming out of captivity.

Israel and Judah have existed. Now they're not a nation any longer. The Jews are carted off into captivity under Nebuchadnezzar. Now they are let go. They're returning back after that captivity. When are they going to keep the Passover? Well, Ezra records this for us. Ezra 6.19 says, The descendants of the captivity kept the Passover when?

On the fourteenth day of the first month. So we have a similar reference. Even after Israel has been a nation, gone into captivity, now returning. Now returning back. The Jews are coming back. And when are they supposed to keep it? The fourteenth day of the first month. So this evening, beginning the fourteenth of Abib, when the Passover lamb was killed, it was cooked, it was eaten. That same night that was the Passover in ancient Egypt. It was that same night that Jesus Christ got together with His disciples. And the Jews of that day were all over the place.

They all didn't keep it at the same time. Sometimes we'll read through Scripture and think, oh, the Jews did everything all the same all the time. Well, they didn't. And that's one of the reasons the disciples asked Christ, where are we doing this? When are we doing this? Because the practice of the day was all over. So Christ kept it on the evening of the fourteenth with His disciples. That's when He kept it. And we know that. And whatever proof you'd like to produce from the Old Testament, whether for or against the evening of the fourteenth, it's all put to rest in 1 Corinthians 11.23. 1 Corinthians 11.23 puts any of those arguments to rest when you consider what is the New Testament practice of Jesus Christ. What did He do? Do we follow His example? You know, we always should interpret any questionable Scriptures, questionable interpretations by the ones that are clear. And 1 Corinthians 11.23 makes it very clear what night this was. 1 Corinthians 11.23, we read it a little bit earlier. 1 Corinthians 11.23, when was the Passover to be kept?

It was the same night Jesus was betrayed. The same night. So this is what happened just before He was betrayed. And it was on the evening of Nisan 14, Abib 14. So we hold the Passover on the same night Jesus was betrayed. And He set that example. And so I think it's fair enough to say, well, if it was good enough for Jesus, I think it better be good enough for us, that that's the night we kept it. And of course, later on, He was taken that night. Then He was beaten. He was tried. He went through a horrible arrest and torture that night. And later, later during the daylight portion, while the Jews, or many of the Jews, I should say, were slaughtering their lambs at the temple, Christ was dying at the crucifixion. But He celebrated the bread and the wine, the meaning of the New Testament Passover that evening before the lambs were being slaughtered at the temple. That brings us to number six. Number six of the Passover six.

Couldn't come up with another W, so I had to go to an H. We ran out of W. It is kind of funny, if you look up the who, what, whys, and whens, they'll sometimes say the six Ws. And that kind of throws you off because the last one's not a W. It's how. How should Passover be kept? How should Passover be kept? I don't know why they call it the six Ws when there's only five of them, but sometimes they'll throw a how in there just for fun, I guess. But how should the Passover be kept? In fact, for our young people who have never kept the Passover, never been here, your parents, maybe your grandparents go off and keep the pass... What exactly goes on? There's some kind of secret ceremony that nobody should know about. What are they doing that night when all the adults go off and have some kind of a ceremony? What are they doing?

Well, that ceremony is described with Jesus' example. He fulfilled that old sacrifice of the Old Testament, the Lamb's sacrifice, that we don't sacrifice animals or anything like that. So what do we do? Well, we get together. We hold a very serious and solemn service, and we do it in a quiet room. Here in the home office, we do it right here. And the first thing we do is we wash feet. I mean, there's a little bit of an introduction that starts. There's a brief explanation of what we're doing here and why we're doing it. So that is a general short explanation of the purpose of the ceremony. And then pretty quickly, we go right into following Jesus' example in John 13. So if we want to turn over to John 13, in verse 2, we follow His example. So as we come together, we hear a simple explanation of the purpose of the Passover ceremony, and then we follow Jesus' instructions. And in John 13, verse 2, we see what Jesus did that evening, that evening of the 14th with His disciples, the last Passover He held with them, where He gave the spiritual significance of what was going on. John 13, too, it says, Supper being ended, the devil having put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands and He'd come from God and was going to God. Here's what He did in verse 4. He rose from supper, laid aside His garments, took a towel, and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. And so that evening, we all gird ourselves with a towel. That sounds kind of funny. But we all have a little basin with some water in it, and we bring a small towel. And each of us washed someone's feet, and each of us have our feet washed. And so we follow the example of Christ. We follow His example of sacrifice. Can you imagine the one who created all things, got down on His hands and knees and washed His disciples' feet in this great act of sacrifice and service? Jesus did that. And we recognize that tremendous act of service and humility, and we do the same. And so we follow that very example. Of course, then we gather back together after we wash feet, and then we have an explanation of the symbols of Passover. So what are the symbols that Christ gave?

Well, He gave unleavened bread and wine, and that represents the body and the blood of our Savior. So every baptized member of the church eats a small little piece of unleavened bread and drinks a tiny little glass of wine. Why do we do that? Because that follows Jesus' example. If you turn over to Mark 14, it describes what Christ did and what He instructed as well. So we follow His instructions because there's great significance. It's not just the fact we eat a little piece of bread and drink a little wine. It's all about what that represents. What does that represent? So we obey His command. Mark 14, 22 describes what Jesus did that night. He says, as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed, and broke it, and He gave it to them. And He said, Take, eat, this is my body. Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. And so that evening of Passover, we obey Jesus' command. We follow His example. We partake of the unleavened bread that symbolizes His broken, sinless body. And we drink a little bit of red wine that represents His blood because He bled to death and died for us. And we recognize that very thing. And in a way, we are recommitting ourselves in accepting that sacrifice on our behalf because it's by His sacrifice our sins can be forgiven. And so we rehearse that, and we recognize that that evening. And of course, then following that, we read Scripture, and the ministry reads through the Scriptures that describe the events of that night. And of course, we don't sermonize a lot about it. We don't talk a lot. We just read Scripture. We read what the Bible has to say about the events, and it details how He was mocked, how He was scourged, how He was tortured, and how He was bleeding to death on our behalf.

And we rehearse those passages. And then, at the very end of the service, we again follow Jesus' example. And do you know what Jesus did when He finished describing the symbolism of what the bread and the wine were all about? When He talked about His sacrifice, what did they do before they were dismissed, before they left that in the upper room? They sang. They sang a song. And so, we conclude our service with the singing of an appropriate hymn as well.

Now, as we consider these six things, the Passover 6, sometimes I've been asked, well, sometimes we have those that aren't baptized that don't come to the Passover. We have those that are teenagers, some of our children as well. They're not involved in the ceremony, per se. After all, it's not a commanded assembly in the same way as some of the other holy days are. But it's like, well, what should we do? You know, is this a time, you know, I should just sit at home, Mom and Dad are gone, so I think I'll play video games all night long? That'd be the best thing to do. I can watch television all night long or things like that. After all, it's not required for me. You know, so what should our children be doing that night? You know, since it's not a holy day, shouldn't it still be treated as a special time? It's not a Sabbath in that regard, but certainly it's something we have to recognize that should be respected. Shouldn't it be respected? While we're going about our activities, shouldn't we recognize that, well, this night is different. This night is a little bit different. This was the night Christ went through this horrible ordeal. He went through mental anguish, and it was the night that he was betrayed and arrested and terribly beaten. And even though I may not be attending, can I keep that in mind? And even in the daylight portion for all of us. There are daily things we've got to do. It's not a commanded assembly on the daylight portion. And we're going to go to school, or we're going to go to work. We have things that have to be done. But I think, isn't that still a time that it's kind of there in the back of our mind, and sometimes right there at the forefront of our mind, that this day is different? Even though it's not a commanded assembly, it is a day of thoughtfulness. It's a day to regard what our Savior went through. What was His experience for me? And we remember those. Even though we're working, or we're at school, or at home, or whatever it might be, we still keep that in our minds at that time. And so it's not just a time just to casually approach it. Yeah, it might be a time that we do play some games, but we do come back and we remember the critical nature of this very day and what Christ went through at this time.

And so here we are. We are six months after the last day, six months after the Feast of Tabernacles and the last great day. We come to Thursday. This Thursday evening, we'll be keeping the Passover right after sunset. It was the night, it is the night that our Savior was betrayed, and He gave us the symbolism of the bread and the wine. So we're going to gather together, and we're going to wash one another's feet, and we're going to take those symbols and recognize His tremendous sacrifice. We're going to celebrate, and we're going to memorialize, and we're going to remember our baptismal covenant, that we do it all again without any hesitation, because we remember that it's only by the means of His sacrifice that we have any hope whatsoever. This is the only means that we have the possibility of eternal life. And so we celebrate the Passover, remembering the beginning of God's plan, and we rehearse it, and we recognize that it's by Jesus and His sacrifice that we have been blessed to have received a solution to our sin.

And so here we are. The Passover 6 are critical, and the Passover itself then becomes the foundation for the rest of God's annual holy days and the meaning of God's plan that just lies ahead.