Seven Lessons Christ Taught About Passover

That was very nice. Good to see all of you again.

Now, I know that you have heard quite a bit about the preparation for the coming Passover. It is only four weeks away. But as always, we can take a different angle on it. We don't have to go over it the same routine year after year. And I have been amazed by what I have learned about the seven lessons Jesus taught on the Passover. They are very important to take into account. He is our master teacher. And when it comes from Him, how much more should we take it into account? What are the seven things that Christ said about the Passover that, at least here in the Scriptures, I have found?

Some of these things, there will be new details. Although we have been in the church for a long time, it doesn't mean we know it all. We are always going to come up with a deeper understanding of things. That has been the case in my own life. Just this past year, with a new understanding about a doctrinal detail that I plan to give you for this Bible study, I learned something new that is so wonderful.

Again, there are doctrinal details, but they are important in our lives to understand. I just love to share everything that I learned with all of you. Because if we are doing Bible study, if we are looking deeper into Scriptures, God will provide more understanding. He says that those with God's Spirit are able to discern and will accommodate the spiritual to the spiritual. To me, it is exciting. Just like Peter said in 2 Peter 3, verse 17 and 18, that we should grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So it is not only about growing in grace, which is God's favor and mercy toward us. Yes, we should grow in pleasing God.

There is a way that we can do things that are pleasing in His sight. And so as we get closer to Him and do things in a better way, that is pleasing to Him. And there is more grace extended by God. But it's not only grace, it's also knowledge. Knowledge that Jesus Christ has revealed in His word and through the entire Bible. That is spiritual knowledge that is so valuable. It's more valuable than technological knowledge. Oh, it's wonderful that we could put a man on the moon.

But guess what? That didn't solve man's problems down here at all. It actually has compounded problems because with the technology now, we're not only able to send rockets to the moon, but we have rockets that can blow ourselves up. I read this startling article in the Scientific American of last month that the United States and Russia have a thousand missiles pointed toward just about the world, and they are on alert. A thousand missiles, atomic missiles, pointed to different places. And the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Russia have 12 minutes to decide.

If there's something oncoming, they have 12 minutes to decide whether to push the button to retaliate or not. A lot of mistakes could be made. And despite all of the Presidents that have tried to extend that period of time to be able to look and see if there are any mistakes, and before you do that, they haven't been able to extend the time limit of 12 minutes. That's the crazy world that we live in. And a lot of that had to do with the technological advances.

A century ago, man couldn't blow himself up even if he wanted to. You can't do that with cannons, but you can't do it with nuclear devices. And so spiritual knowledge is more important because it not only applies to this life, but to the following life.

We're not going to have atomic bombs when Jesus Christ comes back. During that period of time in his reign, it's going to be a reign of peace. He's going to turn the swords into plowshares, into agricultural production instead of warfare.

And so we should always expand our understanding through Bible study and other tools to better develop ourselves spiritually and to better serve God. So let's go over the seven lessons Jesus taught about the Passover and see what new things we can learn from what Jesus taught. The first one has to do with what he taught about the right attitude to take the Passover. What he said about taking the Passover with the proper attitude. Let's go to John 13, verse 2. John 13, verse 2. Here, he had just taken...

Well, they were in the midst of the Passover service at that time. Notice in John 13, verse 2, it says, In supper being ended, they had taken the Passover lamb, they had eaten, the devil having already put 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 that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside his garments, took a towel, and girded himself. Remember, the Passover symbols would be a bit later than this, but this was the first lesson after taking the Passover that he wanted his disciples to learn.

Verse 5, it says, 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. Then he came to Simon Peter, and Peter said to him, Lord, are you washing my feet? Jesus' answer said to him, What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will know after this. Peter said to him, You shall never wash my feet. Of course, Peter was impulsive by nature, and he felt here, he knew his Lord and Master was spotless.

All the miracles he had done, and he said, Lord, I'm not worthy for you to wash my feet. That was what the most menial servant did. In the household, there were servants that cooked, that did other things, but the lowest, which was a slave, in that hierarchy, the lowest level was the one who came in when people, with their dirty feet, because they used sandals, that people took, well, they basically had to wash the dirty feet. That was very pleasant. And so Peter was saying, I'm not going to let you humble yourself in this way. But then Jesus said to him, if I do not wash you, you have no part with me.

So Jesus was saying, Peter, you're wrong about this. You have to accept what I'm doing. And then Peter went to almost the opposite extreme. Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head, showing him that he was fully involved, that he was fully dedicated. But then Christ had to correct him. Again, he said, Jesus said, He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean, and you are clean, but not all of you, for he knew who would betray him. Therefore, he said, you are not all clean. So he went ahead and washed the twelve disciples' feet, including Judah's Iscariot, the one who was going to betray him, and still Jesus humbled himself in this way.

He was not a respecter of persons. And so in verse 12, when he had washed their feet, taken his garments, and sat down again, he said to them, Do you know what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord, and you say, well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.

Well, in Christ's way of doing things, in his administration, it wasn't having the big wigs and important people, and here they were a team all working together. If you know these things, he ends, blessed are you if you do them. So he expected this to be part of the ceremony. That's why when we take the Passover, before we go ahead and take the bread and the wine, we have the ladies in one room, and they wash each other's feet, and we have men in another room washing their feet, showing the right attitude to take the Passover, which is the first point that Christ is making here.

It's a spirit of service, what he wants to see, to follow his example of not growing tired of well-doing, of not elevating ourselves and thinking we have to be served, but we don't want to serve others. We annul the purpose of the Passover if we come with a wrong attitude. And Paul said this about the attitude in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 18 and 19, which also had to do with the criticism of the church there for lack of service. They weren't thinking about the others. Notice in 1 Corinthians 11, let's start in verse 17.

It says, Now in giving these instructions, I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better, but for the worse. For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part, I believe it. For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you. And so Paul's recognizing not everybody that is in the church is converted.

Not everybody that comes into the church is approved by God. And sometimes God permits people in the midst of us to test and to try us and see how we handle, sometimes insult, how we handle lies or insinuations or all kinds of different things.

God allows that. So that's why he says it's necessary. Not everybody is going to be in harmony in the same spirit and attitude. And the tests and trials will reveal what is truly in our hearts. How we handle criticism, how we handle sometimes slander, lies. That's going to happen. And so Paul recognized that. Continuing on, he says, verse 20, Therefore, when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's supper.

He says, basically, brethren, you are not conducting this with the attitude that should be there for the Lord's supper. He says, for in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others, and one is hungry and another is drunk. So here we have people that were from the lowest range in society, and they didn't have much to eat.

And then others came and, oh, they had wine, they had food, and they weren't thinking about the others. And so those that brought food, they were eating and having a good time, and those that didn't have it, they were going hungry, looking at these brethren, not seeing that spirit of unity.

Verse 22, he says, What, do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you. You don't have the right attitude when you come. And so then he talks about the Passover ceremony, which I'm going to cover in another point. But then in verse 27, he says, Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

So we've got to show that spirit of love that was brought out in the sermonette. That truly, that's what the central thrust and focus of God is to teach us how to develop that outgoing attitude toward others, of service, of not just being egoistical, but being altruistic. So attitude is so important. That's the first point that Jesus Christ brought out. The second is to understand when to take the Passover. Now, there's all kinds of different ways that people take the Passover, or the Lord's Supper, or whatever they call it. There's all kinds of different ideas about it.

But if you carefully examine the pertinent scriptures, you will know what Jesus Christ taught about when to take the Passover. Notice in Matthew, chapter 26, we can grow in knowledge, in grace and knowledge about these things as we look carefully at these scriptures. Notice Matthew 26, verse 18. It says, talking about preparing for the Passover, and He said, Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, The teacher says, My time is at hand, I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.

So the disciples did as Jesus had directed. They didn't say to Him, Oh, Lord, but isn't it the next day? No, they were ready. They weren't keeping the same Jewish Passover at that time. That was going to be the next day. They prepared it, it says, and they prepared the Passover. When evening had come, here's the key point. He sat down with the twelve. When evening had come. So again, you have to see the evening is when the sun goes down. And there is again, the darkness begins, and we are in a new day.

Because as it says in Genesis chapter one, from evening to evening, was the first day. And so here was the beginning of the fourteenth, which is the day of the Passover. When evening had come, He sat down. So there's no confusing this, that He knew when to do it. He could have changed it. He could have done it at another hour of the day. He could have done it another time. But He said, when evening had come, He sat down with His disciples. That's why when we get together, evening comes. And on that day, we begin the Passover ceremony.

Notice that it isn't on the fifteenth day, because that is the first day of eleven bread, which has a different meaning. It doesn't deal with the slaying and eating of the Passover lamb. It has to do with the first day of eleven bread, of keeping leavening out of our lives. Notice in Luke 22, verse 12. Luke 22, verse 12.

Again, they're about ready to take the Passover. It says in verse 15, It says, 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. Same thing that was mentioned in Matthew. But notice here, it says, when the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him.

So this was at the beginning of the night. Not only is it evening, but when the hour had come, God mentions in Exodus 12, very carefully when to start the Passover. And so here, Jesus Christ waited for that very hour, and throughout His ministry, He would talk to His men that the hour has not come yet, and that He was looking forward to that moment, what He was going to do for mankind.

And when that hour had come, that's when Jesus Christ said to observe the Passover, this last Passover that He establishes for the future of Christians, all the ones who would come afterwards. And here's another scripture. So we have actually a third scripture that tells us when the Passover is to be taken. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 23. 1 Corinthians 11. This is probably some 20 to 30 years after Jesus Christ doing it.

And here we see the apostle Paul, who is the pastor of the church, giving instructions about how to take the Passover. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 23. It says, For I received from the Lord. So this he received directly from Jesus Christ. We knew that he was instructed in Arabia for about three years. Jesus Christ taught him just to make sure that he wasn't going to make a mistake.

Paul had it directly from Jesus Christ. So I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given things, he broke it and said, Take, eat this, is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. So on the same night that he was betrayed, that leaves out the next day or the fifteenth, because this is what he is telling them that they should do.

He did it on that hour and on that evening and on that same night. So to me, it's pretty clear. So the third thing that Christ taught about the Passover is to understand how many times should Passover be taken. How many times should Passover be taken? Because there's not only a controversy over when to do it, but how many times in the year should you do it?

Some churches take it every day, which they call it the Eucharist, which is the Passover ceremony, but it becomes now a daily thing. If you go to a Catholic church every day, they have a Mass and they have this kind of reduced communion services. Other churches do it several times a year. But what does the Bible say? Notice in Luke 22 and verse 19, Luke 22 and verse 19, Jesus says, Jesus says, The key word there is remembrance.

That word, anamnesis, comes from the word nesis, where we get to the term amnesiac. Amnesiac is somebody that doesn't remember, but anamnesis means a remembrance, a commemoration. The word study dictionary says, to remind. Remembrance, a commemoration, a memorial, as applied to the Lord's Supper. In remembrance of me means that the participant should remember Christ and the expiatory sacrifice of his death. The memory of the greatness of the sacrifice should cause the believer to abstain from sin. And so again, Jesus Christ is saying this is a memorial. This is an anniversary. This is a commemoration.

And it's the same word that is used in Hebrews chapter 10.3 to talk about the yearly sacrifices for the Day of Atonement. Notice in Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 10, in verse 3, it uses the same term, anamnesis. Hebrews 10.3, it says, but in those sacrifices, talking about the Atonement, it says, there is a reminder of sins every year.

So that's when they did the Day of Atonement. They didn't do it three times a day, a year. They didn't do it every day. They didn't do it once a month. They did it on the day that God established. He set the dates for these different feasts.

So it is a memorial. It is an anniversary. It's a reminder once a year of what Jesus Christ has done for us. Notice in 1 Corinthians 11 verse 24. Paul uses this same word again, anamnesis. Verse 24, it says, and when he had given things, he broke it and said, take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. So Paul is not telling them to do it every other day. As a matter of fact, the Passover was coming that year. And so he sent this letter, preparing them for the Passover. It was going to be held on the day of Christ's death as a remembrance on that 14th of Abib or Nisan. Now, for over a hundred years, everywhere where Christianity developed, the Passover was kept on that same day. It was a memorial. It was only in Rome and then Alexandria where they started changing the dates. They didn't want to keep it with the Jewish Christians anymore. They started having their own day. And so that spread out to the world. And that's what's done today with Easter and all kinds of different activities. But we hold to what Jesus Christ taught.

That takes us to the fourth teaching of Jesus Christ on the Passover. Understand what Jesus promised to do in the future to keep the Passover when He came back to establish His kingdom.

He will keep it then. So it is binding today.

It has not been abolished, but it will continue until Jesus Christ comes back and keeps it with all of us. That's what He said. Notice in Luke 22 and verse 15. Notice these words. Sometimes we skip over them. They're very important. It said, So I will carry it out in the kingdom of God. I like the way another translation has it here. The message Bible says, it's the last one I'll eat until we all eat it together in the kingdom of God. That's the meaning behind it. So Jesus Christ has abstained all of these years because He wants to celebrate it with us. Now, if He told us to keep it in memory every year, to continue to be faithful until He comes back, can you imagine not doing it? And then Jesus Christ is going to establish the Passover? And He might say to us, why didn't you continue faithfully keeping it? That would be very embarrassing. In Matthew 26, verse 29, focusing on the same principle, He says in Matthew 26, verse 29, But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine, talking about drinking wine, from now on until that day when I drink it, new with you in my Father's kingdom. Now, the key phrase here is, with you. So He's expecting us to have been keeping it, because He says, I'm looking forward to keeping it with you. In the meantime, you're going to be doing it on your own until I come back in my kingdom and then I will keep it with you. And so it is something that has not been abolished that God expects us to keep, just like Jesus Christ taught. Again, there's another scripture to back these teachings of Jesus Christ. What did the Apostle Paul receive from Jesus Christ? 1 Corinthians 11, verse 26. It says, For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. So here it is talking about doing it. As often as we keep the Passover, we are announcing, we are remembering, and we are keeping that commemoration of the Lord's death until He comes. That's a very important point here, until He comes. So do you think a church has the authority to change the Passover until Jesus Christ comes? He doesn't say, well, keep it until I go up to heaven. He doesn't say, well, keep it just for the first century, and then I'll give you authority to change it. No, He said, keep it until I come back.

So you see how the world has been deceived? Here we're just this small flock, and the whole world has been deceived by Satan with his counterfeit religion, teaching things that are not Biblical. How sad. So that's one of the new things I learned this year, that scripture, which brings to light, keep it until I come back. If I am a boss of a company, and I tell you, go to the post office, and I expect you to go once a week and pick up the mail, and do this until I tell you otherwise. If you're a good employee, you're going to be keeping it when the boss told you to do it. Until he comes back and says, well done. Good and faithful servant, you have followed my instructions. Now, that takes us to the fifth saying of Jesus Christ about the Passover, which is to have faith in His sacrifice. In John 6, verse 51, Jesus Christ said that we need to have faith in His sacrifice when we take the Passover. In John 6, verse 51, He had just recently fed more than 10,000 people.

And He says in verse 51, I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. He's talking about His sacrifice. The Jews, therefore, quarreled among themselves, saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? They were taking it literally. They'd been taking the Passover for over a thousand years. They knew the Lamb was going to come. That was going to be sacrificing His life. And yet, they didn't have the understanding.

My flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at that time. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. Now, He would explain that later, that there were going to be Passover symbols that would represent His body being beaten for our healing and His blood being shed for our sins.

So, a lack of faith will eventually remove the promise, for this is conditional. This is a requirement, not a suggestion. We need to deeply have faith that Jesus Christ died for us, that we claim that promise, and we're going to apply it in our lives to wash away our sin and to follow righteousness instead of wickedness. That takes us to the sixth saying of Jesus Christ. Understand what the bread symbolizes. In Luke 22, verse 19, he said, And He took bread, gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is my body which is given to you. Do this in remembrance of me, of what He did for ourselves. Now, there are two parts to that sacrifice. One had to do with His body being beaten, and that has to do with the healing that God can provide for our sicknesses. Notice that this is not talking about spiritual sin as such. Notice in Isaiah 53, 4, and 5, this is a prophecy about Christ's sacrifice. Isaiah 53, 4, and 5. It says, We are healed. God is dealing. Yes, there are things that can cause sickness through our transgressions. We do things that can cause bodily damage and all kinds of different things. But it says here, He was stricken, and by His stripes we are healed. Now, in Matthew 8, verse 17, this Scripture is applied to those who were being healed by Jesus Christ. Notice in Matthew 8, verse 17. Let's start in verse 16.

It says, When evening had come, they brought to Him, and by the way, as an aside, many thought that you shouldn't do the healing on the Sabbath. And so this is what happened, that when evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed, and He cast out the spirits with a word, and He healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses. He took upon Himself our sicknesses, our infirmities. This is applied to those that came for healing. And so there is a direct connection between His body beaten and the healing provided. Notice in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 27. We're letting the Bible speak for itself. We're just going to the Scripture so you can see what God teaches there. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 27. Notice that Paul also applied this Scripture about physical healing.

Verse 27, it says, Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup, for he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.

For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. And so some did not receive the healing that they could have. And again, we know everybody's going to eventually die of some disease, but here this is talking about a premature death, that a person could have been healed and they were not. Verse 31, it says, For if we judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. And so he's saying that sometimes, because we're not close enough to God, because we're not having the same faith, that as a result, there's no physical healing taking place.

And again, I've seen people with hardly any faith be healed, and I've seen some with a lot of faith not be healed. So God knows exactly what's going on, but it is important that we come every Passover with the faith, that this is something that God is going to make available to us, that we need to have the faith to carry it out.

That takes us to the seventh teaching by Jesus on the Passover, which is to understand what the wine signifies. Wine is a symbol of His shed blood. In Matthew 26, verse 27, Matthew 26, verse 27, He said the following, Then He took the cup and gave things, and gave it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many, for the remission or forgiveness of sins. So this is the blood of the new covenant that Jesus Christ was willing to shed for our forgiveness. Now, the new covenant is very important to understand in this light. And in Hebrews 9, verse 13, we see that Jesus Christ, when the new covenant was established, He had to shed blood in order for it to start taking action, to be active.

In Hebrews 9, verse 13, from dead works to serve the living God. And for this reason, He is the mediator of the new covenant by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. Verse 16, for where there is a testament, just like some people have signed their last will and testament, well, that doesn't enter into effect until the person dies. That's something that is bequeathed to the descendants or whoever a person chooses to be receiving that.

Verse 17, it says, for a testament is enforced after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator, the one who doesn't, lives. Therefore, not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood, for when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, this is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.

Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. And according to the law, almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence for us. And so it presents this whole principle that Christ shed his blood, so then we could be part of that new covenant, receive forgiveness, receive eternal life, enter into the kingdom of God. This, brethren, is the reason why we should prepare for the coming Passover, to remember these seven very important points that Jesus Christ brought up.

The first one is to have the right attitude to take the Passover. The spirit of love, service, dedication. We're going to wash each other's feet to do it with a humble and correct attitude. Not do it just like a routine, but really doing it and saying, we have learned the spirit of service from Jesus Christ. Number two, understand when to take the Passover. The night when he was betrayed, when the evening came, he sat down and he said, this is what I want you to do.

Understand how many times should the Passover be taken every year? Well, once a year. On that same date that Jesus Christ died, this is a commemoration. This is a memorial. This is an anniversary of his death. Remember, it says that every time you take it, the Lord's death you announce until he returns. Understand what Jesus promises to do in the future, that he is personally going to be at the Passover service when he comes back in his kingdom and he wants to take it with us. With all the resurrected saints, they're going to be there together.

It's going to be fantastic. We need to have faith in Christ's sacrifice to take the Passover properly. Nobody deserves it, but we're very thankful and appreciative that God has offered it to us. To understand what the bread symbolizes, that it not only has to do with the sacrifice of Christ, what he has done, but also that he offered his body, being beaten, that he could intervene to heal us. And finally, what the wine signifies, the shed blood, the new covenant. This is the way the seal is broken, and now the covenant is extended, and we are part of that covenant, which is going to be fulfilled in its maximum manner when Christ comes back.

Let's go to the last scripture in Hebrews 13, verse 15. Let's read this last scripture.

Hebrews 13, verse 15. It says, God is well pleased. Yes, that's the right attitude to prepare for the coming Passover.