Why Is There Controversy Over the Passover?

Happy Sabbath! Good to see all of you. As Mr. Pebler was talking about, the Panama Papers, and I have to come up here and freely admit I was included in that. I've hidden my money so well I can't even find it.

And I'm sure you've done the same thing. It sort of dissipates, doesn't it? The money you have in the wallet, you open it up and it goes out. But with inflation and everything else, of course, the economy being what it is, it's pretty difficult. By the way, we were asked when we came in if we'd been to Hawaii, and not for a long time. So it's been some time since we were in Hawaii. I think in February we were over there. And we were praying, brethren, for the Hawaiian area.

This past week we got a couple of very interested people there on Oahu, Honolulu area. One person there in Honolulu and the other one on the North Shore. One fellow, by the way, had ten kids.

So it would be wonderful if somebody like that came into the church on Oahu. But anyway, time will tell on it. And the other fellow is in Honolulu, he and his wife. So we pray again. God calls people, and He is certainly doing that today. Well, as you can tell when we hear the sermonettes, when we hear the sermons and the messages, soon we're going to be observing the Passover. It'll be upon us before we know it.

I think we're a couple of weeks away from the Passover now. And you know, it seems like that every year that I've been in the church, there have been questions about Passover. I think probably it's been the case since 31 A.D. You know, since the church was founded, people were asking about when the Passover is. And brethren, we have to, of course, as God's church, always face questions. We're not afraid of questions. And we have to, as the church, be ever vigilant, because there are many deceptive ideas that are coming out all the time.

Oftentimes they're the same ideas about the Passover, but it seems as evil men wax worse and worse, and they try to lead people astray here in the end of the age, I think we've got to be more vigilant than ever to guard against what, in fact, some are saying. The question is, why is there a controversy over the Passover observance?

Why is there a discussion about it? You know, I read the same Bible that you do, and everybody reads the same Bible, don't we? Why don't we have the same answers? Why don't we believe the same thing and speak the same things? Obviously, some do not believe what the church says. They have their own ideas. So today we're going to show that we in the United Church of God, God's church, are observing the Passover according to plain scripture. What is in the Bible? We're not going to discuss a lot of Greek words. We're not going to go through a lot of Hebrew words.

You don't have to do that, you know, when you're studying the subject of the Passover. Of course, the Passover is very important. It's one of the most important things we do as Christians. But unfortunately, many fall prey, brethren, to the craftiness of those who are peddling their ideas. Even Peter warned about those that come in and they enter in among us, and because of their desire to get a following or to get somebody to support them in one way or another, we'll have their false ideas and present them and lead some who are maybe unknowledgeable of the Bible out and astray and away from God's church.

Of course, Satan would love to do that, wouldn't he, for any one of us? Interestingly, in 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 19, Paul connects the Passover with heresies that would rise in the church. So again, on the subject of Passover, we've got to be very, very careful. And everyone does not represent Jesus Christ in the ministry of Jesus Christ.

I think that's a mistake some people make. They think that anybody that comes along and expresses what they believe is what the Bible says, that you should listen to them, you know, if you happen to agree with them. Not so. There is a ministry of Jesus Christ, brethren, that has the authority, has the authority to instruct in doctrine within the church of God. And again, beware that Paul warned about the heresy that emerges connected with the Passover. And in fact, he says that oftentimes heresies come about and you find out really who is approved of God and who is not.

You know, some are not able to defend the faith in what the Bible says. I want to read to you this article here that I was looking at last evening. But it talks about how the evidence shows that the Jews began only later to define the phrase between the two evenings of the time between noon and sunset. And this, of course, is very important when we start discussing the subject of the Passover. Because we find that, in fact, you know, the big controversy centers around the phrase in the King James that it is between the two evenings or at twilight.

Exactly when is that being discussed? The Jews, by the way, believe that that time between the two evenings is defined as between noon and sunset. And again, some evidence shows that the Jews began to come up with that idea later on. This article goes on to say the Jerusalem Bible in an Exodus 12, 6 note says that it's either between sunset and darkness or between afternoon and sunset. And that's the Pharisees of the Talmud.

The Zondervan NIV exhaust of concordance, and it identifies this phrase as evening or twilight or dusk. The fading of the day. Twilight can be extended to the dark of the night. How many of us heard the term twilight before? Okay, I think everybody here has. So basically, he's saying that basically when the sun sets, you have a period of time which is roughly about 45 minutes or an hour or so, right after the sun sets before it becomes dark.

I think we all understand that, don't we? That is what twilight is. But somehow, you have those, again, that define this between the two evenings as beginning at noon to going to sunset. Like I say, the Jews later adopted that. But going on through here, it says the Browns driver, Briggs, Hebrew, and English lexicon agrees, noting between the two evenings or probably between sunset and dark. The Harper-Collins Study Bible gives this explanation. Twilight between the two settings.

And then apparently, meaning between sunset and the last of the residual light of the sky. And the New Strong's expanded exhaustive concordance of the Bible says the phrase in the evening, literally between the evenings, meaning the period between sunset and darkness are twilight. And in the New King James, it's translated twilight, by the way, as we will read in the scriptures here.

But let's go to Leviticus 23 here as we introduce this subject. We know, by the way, that the commandment is to observe the Passover on what day? The 14th, right? But interestingly, the Jews observed the Passover, and during the time of Christ, in fact, they were observing it on the 15th. In other words, they were killing the lambs on the 14th, but they were observing the Passover on the 15th. And again, that is the big controversy, and many people today have that problem of wondering why do we observe the Passover the way we do it? I know that this particular thing became a controversy in Phoenix.

I had several that began to believe that the Jews were right, and they began, in fact, to keep the Passover. Believe it or not, it's three o'clock in the afternoon. I never knew how they got that, how they came up with that. But they did. And they finally left the church, and they had their own little group that they formed, true to form, again, what God warns about. But Leviticus 23, and we'll go down to verse 4 here.

Let's notice this. It says, These are the feasts of the Eternal. Again, we need to be reminded of the fact these are not Israel's feasts. They're not our feasts. They're God's feasts. And you and I have been invited in to observe these feasts. And it says, Holy complications, which you shall proclaim at their appointed time, that he begins for the first festival on the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord's Passover.

And so the Passover is at twilight, as it says here in the the New King James on the fourteenth. And again, the question is, when is twilight? If you look at margin, I think in the New King James, I'm not sure it's here, I don't at least have a reference for it in the New King James, but it says between the two evenings. So again, according to what most scholars say, the period though of twilight is from sunset and that period of sunset to when it gets complete darkness occurs. And so the Passover was to be observed on the 14th at twilight.

And we're going to read in a little bit more about that. I'm not going to go to these scriptures, but for the sake of time, I'd encourage you to write them down. Because all of the scriptures, brethren, all of the scriptures say it's the 14th at twilight. In Numbers 9 and verse 3 and 5, it says that. In Joshua 5 and verse 10, when Israel came into the Promised Land, or right before they went into the Promised Land, it was on the 14th at twilight. 2 Chronicles 30 and verse 15. Again, same thing. Ezra 6 verse 19. In Ezekiel 45 verse 21. All show that the Passover is on the 14th at twilight. So when is the Passover? Sorry to be redundant about that, but what is it? What do the plain scriptures tell us? It's on the 14th at twilight. Not the 15th, but the 14th. And the preponderance of the evidence in scripture, according to scholars, most scholars, by the way, is that it's at twilight. It begins at twilight on the 14th.

Interestingly, when Christ instructed the apostles to prepare for the Passover, we'll read this, it says, and what does it say? It says, and when the hour came. What hour? What hour?

Well, when the sun had gone down, when the hour came and you have that period again, that 45 minute period or so, Christ sat down to observe the Passover.

No, they're very simple, very plain with his disciples.

And so, again, the Passover is on the 14th at twilight. Now, let's notice this, that Moses, as we know, that God had forewarned Moses, that God was going to deliver Israel with great miracles. You know, the Sermonette was talking about the Passover and the depiction of that, and that great eventful time of the Exodus that occurs. Let's go to Exodus chapter 3 over here.

In Exodus chapter 3, and this is a topic, by the way, it could take four hours to talk about, but I'm going to condense it into a sermon. And we do have, by the way, a study paper on this topic that's available on the website if you want to study it. But in Exodus chapter 3, and down in verse 19 here, here God says to Moses, it says, But I am sure the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not even by a mighty hand.

So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders, which I will do in the midst, and it's midst, and after that he will let you go. Exodus 3 and verse 21. And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and it shall be, when they go, it says that you will not go out empty-handed, which was, of course, what a slave would have done.

And these were slave people. You can imagine how complex that would be. They were slaves throughout the land of Egypt. But God says, not only is Pharaoh going to let you go, but you're not going to go out empty-handed. They had been in slavery, what, 200 years or so. And in terms of their work and their effort and their labor, they had not been remunerated for that.

And it says, I will give the people favor in the sight of the Egyptian, and it shall be, when you go, that you shall not go out empty-handed. Verse 22, and every woman shall ask of her neighbors, namely, of her who dwells near her house, and articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing, and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters, so you shall plunder the Egyptians. Or, as the King James says, you're going to spoil the Egyptians. Some actually talk about borrowing from the Egyptians. And I think Israel, in a way, did borrow from Egypt, those things that they received. I think Israel has paid, you know, Egypt back through the centuries.

You know, that money, those things that they borrowed from them. You think about what not only was done by, probably during the time of Solomon and other times, during the time of David. And, frankly, even during our time, what we've given, you know, to Egypt over the years, it's into the billions upon billions of dollars that have been given to the Egyptians. Far more than probably Israel ever took out, you know, of Egypt. But God says you're going to plunder them. You're going to spoil them. Now, they would not, in other words, exodus slaves with nothing. Now, I want you to notice, in chapter 10 over here, chapter 10 of Exodus, in verse 24, in chapter 10, in verse 24, Then Pharaoh called to Moses and said, Go, serve the eternal, only let your flocks and your herds be kept back. Let your little ones also go with you. But Moses said, You must also give us sacrifices and burn offerings that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. And, you know, obviously, Pharaoh did not want him to take all the livestock, which would have been formidable economically for for Egypt. But in verse 27, And the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go.

You know, I think there's an analogy in this, brethren, that when we began to obey God, very often the world won't let us go either. You know, if you ever notice that, if somebody tries to straighten their life out and come into the church and began to obey God, you know, this is when the trials often begin. The boss threatens to fire you.

You know, sometimes other things occur, you know, in a person's life, Satan begins to put the pressure on. Here they were trying to escape. And in a light manner, brethren, when we try to escape the world, you know, Satan does the same thing to us. Verse 28, And then Pharaoh said, Then, 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 this was the last audience that Moses would have with Pharaoh, and he pronounced it well of what was going to happen. Now, chapter 11, by the way, says, And the Lord said to Moses, in verse 1, I'll bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt, and afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether. Speak now in the hearing of the people, and let every man ask from his neighbor, and every woman from her neighbor, articles of silver and articles of gold. This probably began, by the way, prior to the death angel passing over Egypt, but certainly would have happened, no doubt, the day afterwards as well.

And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. With all the wonders that had been done, I'm sure all of that contributed a great deal to their change of heart about these people of Israel. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of the Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people. And then Moses said, Thus says the Lord, about midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt.

And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, and even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the animals. And then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again.

But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue against man or beast, that you may know that the eternal does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. I'd like to ask, how many of you are firstborn? So you get this at home, doesn't it?

Imagine what it would have been like in Israel to not lose one firstborn, but to hear the hue and the cry that was going up all over Egypt. It would have been an incredible blow to Egypt and its people. Oftentimes, people go off the war and they lose their young men to maybe a war, and that can set a nation back.

But imagine how this set Egypt back, and frankly, probably set it back so far that it was hard to crawl out after it was all over. And Egypt has not been, again, a great powerhouse in the world, as it once was in all likelihood since that time. Of course, Israel began to emerge, and you have the golden years of Israel dominating in the Middle East. But notice these things are taking place before the actual taking of the Passover. But let's go over here now in chapter 12. You look at, again, the succession of these things, what Moses said. But in chapter 12 here, 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. On the tenth day of the month, every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father a lamb for a household. You know, that lamb in the New Testament depicted Christ, who was a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of persons. According to each man's need, you shall make an account for the lamb. It was to be a lamb without blemish, a male of the first year. And it says, You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Again, the fourteenth day. Now, how does God, brethren, how does God measure a day?

Scripturally. Is it not from sunset to sunset? I mean, I don't have to go to the Bible to show you that. In fact, Leviticus 23 points that out when it talks about the day of atonement. God measures a day from sunset to sunset. And when the sun goes down, that is the beginning of twilight. That is the beginning of twilight. That's the beginning of twilight, right? Until it gets dark.

But I ask you then, to which day does twilight belong?

To which day? Does twilight belong to the thirteenth? No, it has to belong to the fourteenth, doesn't it? So it's very important to get that point. Very clear. It's very easy to understand.

I know sometimes scholars can be so smart, so intelligent, and I always like to remind people that all the scholarship in the world, all the PhDs, the piled higher and deeper, and the THDs and all of that, they've never discovered when the Sabbath is. Now think about that.

They haven't even discovered when the Sabbath is, brethren. So you know, you can't rely upon the scholarship oftentimes of the world. You have to use a lot of wisdom if you're going to use something that the scholars talk about. Sometimes they can clarify things. They're very good at that at times. But God has not chosen, brethren, to reveal to them the mysteries hid from the foundation of the world. You know, if they had known the mysteries, 1 Corinthians 2 verse 9 says they, over there, you know, 1 Corinthians 2 says that they would not have killed Christ. They would not have crucified Him. No, the scholars in the world are not the ones to whom God has revealed the mysteries. But let's go on here. It says in verse 6, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. And, you know, as was discussed in the first message, the blood was put on the doorpost of the littles. Now, why was that put on the doorpost of the littles?

Protect them from the death angel that was going to pass over Egypt. And, you know, so that was the purpose. And, you know, if they were observing again the Passover, and it began, they killed the lamb at twilight when it was still light enough to do that. And, by the way, I've done this, you know, I've killed a goat, not a lamb, but a goat. It wasn't, of course, for the Passover. We haven't done it that way for, you know, a long time. I've never done it that way, but, you know, we know ancient Israel did. But, you know, in terms of the experience, you know, it's pretty rigorous, and you really need that light, you know, to kill an animal and do that. But going on here, let's go on to notice what it says.

And it says then, it says, they shall eat the flesh on that night, not the fifteenth, by the way, on that night, on the fourteenth. And it says, roasted in fire, and with unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs, they shall eat it. Do not eat it raw, nor boil at all with water, but roasted with fire, its head and its legs and its entrails. And you shall let none of it remain until morning. And you shall, in what remains of it until morning, you shall burn with fire. We do the same thing with the emblem of the bread. We, you know, discard it, of course, the night of the Passover. And thus you shall eat it, and with a belt on your waist, and your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand, so you'll eat it at haste, it is the Lord's Passover. And so they were to observe the Passover.

And going on, I will pass to the land of Egypt on that night, that night, and will strike all the firstborn of the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt, and I will execute judgment, I am the Eternal. But the blood will be assigned for you.

And so they were protected from the plague that Egypt was not protected from. In verse 14, so this day shall be to you a memorial, and you shall keep it a feast to the Eternal throughout your generations, and you shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. So they were always to observe this Passover, as we understand, and he clearly says here. So the lamb was to be slain, it was to be eaten with a meal, by the way. It involved not just lamb, but there were other things that were involved in it. Interestingly, there's no wine here mentioned in this particular account of any wine being a part of it. But what they ate when they ate the lamb, it entered into them. And that was symbolic of Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God in the future. In terms of the unleavened bread, we take it Passover entering into us and become a part of us, so that Christ lives in us and dwells in us and is a part of us. And Christ, remember, said, if you don't basically eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you. And the wine was simple of Christ's very blood that was given for us as well as his broken body.

But when Christ enacted the New Testament Passover, he gave wine again as a symbol. We don't see it mentioned here with regard to the Old Testament Passover. And again, the blood of the Passover lambs that protected ancient Israel, you know, where the blood on the lintels and the doorposts protected them from the death angel. Just as the blood of Christ's blood was given as the blood of Christ's blood protects us from eternal death, that God is able to forgive us, able to wash away our sins. And here we find again the Passover is a memorial. And as we've stated many times here, a memorial is something that happens every year. Not multiple times during the year, but every year to memorialize an event. And it's a day to remember a person or an event. And the great event, of course, that we are to remember is the death of Jesus Christ.

That we are commanded to do. The world, of course, always gets it upside down and backwards. So consequently, they observe Easter, don't they? They celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which was not something that was ever instructed to be celebrated with a holy day. Obviously, it's a part of the great thing that Christ came to do, but it was not something that was marked by a festival. It just wasn't that way. Now, let's go down to verse 29. Verse 29. And it says, 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, all the firstborn of the livestock. So again, we've, of course, realized what that must have meant. The whale that went up in Egypt. So Pharaoh rose of the night, he and all his servants, all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. Talk about mourning that would have been a great affliction on Egypt, but again, not so much as the hair of an Israelite was harmed that night. God protected those people. Now, it's interesting, I'm not going to go down through this whole thing, but when God decided he was going to deliver Israel, when did he begin to do that? Well, we know that when we observe the first day of Unleavened Bread, also we begin it, don't we, in the Church? We begin it by observing what is called the night to be much observed. It was on the evening of the 15th that Israel went out of Egypt. I'm sure that there was preparation prior to it, but if you can imagine amassing two and a half million people to take them out of Egypt, it must have been a formidable challenge to do that. And it says they went out by night. Now, we know they didn't go out on the 14th. Why is that? Because the death angel, they couldn't go out until morning. So they had to go out on the 15th. When we observe, by the way, the night to be much observed, brethren, or remembered, we do it to celebrate our coming out of the world. And Israel had to leave rather hurriedly. And just as they were going out, they had to bake bread, and it was unleavened. And of course, during the days of unleavened bread, as we observe them, they began out on the 15th, and they did not get out completely out of Egypt until they crossed over the Red Sea on the last day of the days of unleavened bread.

So that's seven days. That's why we observe the seven days of unleavened bread. As God commands, and we'll hear more about that, I'm sure as we get closer to these things. Now, you can read on down through here, brethren, and it talks about that if anyone were to sojourn in Israel that they were not permitted to keep the Passover unless they were circumcised.

And in the same way, in our time here in the New Testament period, someone should not participate in the Passover, should not take the ambulance, should not do the foot washing, though you can observe, unless you are a baptized member. Unless your heart is circumcised, spiritually speaking. It's what, of course, it means we are to be circumcised about the heart. And Paul talked about a Jew who was a Jew one inwardly as one who was circumcised in the heart, and who was surrendered in their life to Jesus Christ. Somebody who participated in the Passover in ancient Israel had to be circumcised physically in order to do so. They had also embraced the beliefs of the Israelites. And so you can read the last part of chapter 12, Exodus, here to see those things. I'm not going to take the time to go through that.

But just as God had told Moses it was going to happen, it occurred in Israel, escaped.

Interestingly, when we move from the Old Testament into the New Testament, when the Passover is referred to, it is referred to as Passover 29 times in the Gospels and Paul's writings. 29 times. Now sometimes it's used in reference to the Jews' observance of the Passover.

But it's also very clear, brethren, that when the New Testament church referred to this special event, it was referred to as the Passover. So it wasn't called something else. And the reason I mention that is because oftentimes in the world you will find in religions of the world, Christianity is what I'm talking about. They will refer, in fact, to the Passover time as the Lord Supper. And when somebody refers, by the way, to the Passover as the Lord Supper that shows their ignorance of Scripture, of what the Scripture says. They simply do not know if somebody mentions it that way. You know, in the New Testament, it was always referred to as the Passover.

Interesting, when you study what the so-called church fathers said, and when we talk about church fathers, rather, we're not talking about the true church of God. We're talking about what became the false church. Oftentimes they refer to it as the Lord Supper. But we do not find, again, it referred to that way in the Scriptures. Now let's go over to Luke chapter 22. Luke 22.

And so, if you could sort of put yourself there, it was getting to the time of the Passover.

And Christ told His disciples, go prepare for the Passover, which they did, per his instructions.

And let's go down to verse 11. You know, Christ would told them what they were to do, that, where is the guest room, which I may eat, the Passover with my disciples. And then verse 12, and then He will show you a large furnished upper room there, make ready. Chapter 22, and again verse 13 now. So they went and found it just as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover.

And when the hour had come, He sat down and the twelve apostles with Him. Now again, understand what He means by the hour. It's like we try to do in the church. We try to begin the Passover at sunset, and we try to be pretty accurate with that. We don't want to observe the Passover three hours before sunset. That would be contrary to Scripture. The ideal time is to begin right at sunset, to do the Passover when the hour has come, as we again are instructed to do. And then it said, He said to them, with fervent desire, I have desire to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

Now we have to understand this, brethren. When Jesus Christ said that He desired to eat this Passover, that evening He observed a meal as well. And what emerges in the church, and has probably been around, like I say, since 31 A.D., should we be eating a meal today on the evening of the Passover? Well, let's go on here and look at some of this.

And of course, let's understand also the New Testament Passover did not, it did not include the killing of a lamb. It did not. There's no evidence of that in the Bible.

Now, I'm not saying that some might not have done it, but it was not something they were instructed to do, and we're going to show that. That evening, by the way, and again, it would be at the end of the 13th, right at sunset, as you go into the 14th.

But Jesus, that evening, had eaten a supper with His twelve disciples that were there.

Now, let's go to chapter 13 of John. Over here in chapter 13, verse 1, we'll begin there. Chapter 13, verse 1, Now, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come, that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own whom were in the world, He loved them to the end. But notice it says, and the supper being ended, the devil, having already put in the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him.

And so here we see Judas is already, again, being impacted by Satan to be a betrayer.

But the supper is actually, Mavut says it's taking place, or during the supper, that these things begin to happen. And the reason I mention this is because there's a reason why during the supper these things are happening. All of the disciples are there for this supper, including Judas. Judas is there as well.

But this was done, this particular supper was done before the Passover emblems were given.

And, you know, John specifies the timing of the meal, which in those events that followed, what happened right after this discussion here. And supper being ended, and again, it may have been during the supper that the devil, again, having put into Judas Iscariot, is a betrayer. And verse 3, and Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things in hand, and that He had come from God, and was going to God, rose from the supper, and laid aside His garments, took a towel, and girded Himself. And what did He begin to do? He began to wash all of the disciples' feet. He even, you know, washed Judas' feet here. Again, shows the great humility of Jesus Christ, and how humble our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, really was. And, of course, Peter resisted, and, you know, he said, you're not going to wash my feet. Sometimes we can sort of think we're more righteous than God, I guess, but Peter was prone to do that kind of thing.

He's famous for his foot and mouth, you know, problems. I guess that's preferable than, you know, at least God always knows where you stand, you know, and you know where God stands. He will, again, show us very clearly. And Jesus said, well, what I'm doing, you do not understand, but you will know after this. You're going to know after this is over. And Peter said to him, you will never do it. And he said, I don't wash your feet. You have no part with me.

And, of course, then he says, well, if that's the case, then you better wash all of me.

But, you know, again, Judas, he says, for he knew who would betray him, verse 11, therefore he said, you are not all clean. Of course, that was talking about the sins of Judas.

And so, when he washed their feet, taken in his garments, and sat down, he says, you know what I've done for you? You call me teacher and Lord, and you say, well, for so I am. If I then your Lord and your teacher have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you should do as I've 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. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. So, this is the instruction that Jesus Christ gave.

And Christ set the example here, brethren, for us of what to do on the evening when he instructed the Passover to be observed. He said, blessed are you if you do these things. So, Christ is indeed higher than we are. He's our master, and we must follow the example of Jesus Christ, because the servant's not greater than the master. But let's notice in verse 18, he says, Now you do not speak concerning all of you, I know whom I have chosen, but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, he who eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me.

Of course, again, talking about Judasim. And this was a scripture from Psalm 41 verse 9 that he's referring to here. But it says, Now I tell you before it comes that when it does come to pass, you will believe that I am he. Most assuredly I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me.

And when Jesus has said these things, he was troubled and spirit and testified and said, Most assuredly I say to you that one of you will betray me. And of course, they all want to know who that was. Who exactly was it? But even though Jesus told them it's the one I give the sop to when I've dipped it, they still didn't know who it was.

Verse 26, Jesus says, He whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it, and have dipped it in the bread he gave it to Judas Iscariot.

Now, after the piece of bread, Satan entered into him, and then Jesus said to him, What you do, do quickly. But no one at the table knew for what reason he said this to Judas. They didn't know what was going on. For some thought, because Judas had the money box, and that Jesus had said to him, Buy those things that we have need of for the feast. He would have been talking about the feast of unleavened bread.

That he might give something to the poor, having received the piece of bread, he then went out immediately, and it was night.

So it was night at this time, you know, when this occurred.

Now, interestingly, brethren, as we go through, and again we see these things, there are things that sort of shape and come together that we understand.

You know, the supper, again, that was prior to the Passover, that was observed, you know, was not, by the way, to be connected with the Passover that Jesus Christ instructed them about. You know, when the time came, and he instructed, you know, the disciples about the Passover, Judas was not there. He was gone. He had gone out.

Though Judas had participated in the foot washing, he was not there for the emblems.

He was not there for the emblems. Let's go to Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11.

Luke 11, I'm sorry, 22. Luke 22.

In verse 15, and then he said to them, 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. Then he took the cup, and he gave thanks, and said, Take this and divide it among yourselves. For I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. Likewise, he took the cup, or he took the bread first, I'm sorry, or he took the bread and he gave thanks, verse 19, and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is my body which is given you this dew in remembrance of me. Just as he told them about the foot-washing that they follow his example, he says, Do this in remembrance of me. Likewise, he took the cup after supper, saying, The cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for you.

So he gave the emblems. Again, Judas was gone by this particular time.

But the supper had already taken place, and Jesus Christ gave the emblems. The instruction about the foot-washing had taken place either at the very end of the supper or in the midst of the supper.

So the supper was over. Foot-washing was given, and then the emblems were instructed.

And then afterwards, what did they do? They sing a hymn, and they go out to the garden of Gethsemane, where Christ is betrayed. Judas brings his throng with him to arrest Jesus Christ.

But, you know, the accounts of Jesus Christ last meal prove that the Passover is not the supper. The Passover is the emblems.

The supper was completed before the Passover was instituted.

And the part of the Passover service that occurred during the supper was foot-washed.

But it was done not as a part of the Passover. There are no instructions, by the way, in the Old Testament about doing foot-washing.

Jesus Christ gave this example of foot-washing. That's why we do it. Because He is the Master. We are the servants.

And so the foot-washing became a part of the Passover service.

of the Passover ceremony.

And it was an introduction Jesus gave to the actual Passover emblems that were given.

Now, let's go over to 1 Corinthians 11. 1 Corinthians 11. I have mentioned to you that some believe that the Passover should be referred to as the Lord's Supper.

Sometimes, in fact, you will find that if you have a Bible that will talk about the Lord's Supper at the top, some of the subject heads are referred to it in that way. But notice over here, too, in 1 Corinthians 11, in verse 1, Interestingly here, Paul has to tell the Corinthians, imitate me just as I also imitate Christ.

So Paul had to command the children, the people of Corinth, to imitate Him.

What Paul's tradition, his example, was in how to keep the Passover.

Apparently, the Corinthians did not imitate Paul or what Paul did.

It's interesting that oftentimes people tend to imitate just about anybody else except the ministry of Jesus Christ.

That's a good way to get in trouble. But some are, I think, sometimes hard-headed with regard to that, and they want to resist tooth and toenail and hang on to their own ideas.

But Christ longed to eat the Passover. He did not long to eat the Lord's Supper.

He longed to eat the Passover with Him. And we should not call, by the way, the Passover the Lord's Supper.

And that's one of the things, in fact, we find here in 1 Corinthians 11.

Now let's go down to verse 18. It says, 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 were approved may be recognized among you. You find out really who is for the truth when you have factions that emerge in the church.

And who is out for themselves?

I think in the King James it says, heresies here.

That heresies emerge to find out really who is approved of God, and who is not approved of God.

Going on here, therefore when you come together in one place, it is to eat the Lord's Supper.

Did I read that right? Okay, I didn't, did I? It says it is not to eat the Lord's Supper. Now what do you think he is talking about here? What is he talking about?

Again, I don't want to sound redundant, but I think it just again emphasized the fact of what the Bible says.

You know, it's interesting that when Christ talks, He says, I did not come to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill.

The very thing that Jesus Christ said He came not to do, oftentimes the churches of this world do.

And He said, when you come together, which is good, you know, for them to come together, evidently, you know, they realize that they need to be in one place as a church.

That part they got right.

When you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper.

For in eating, each one takes his own Supper ahead of others, and one is hungry and the other is drunk.

He said, what? Do you not have houses to eat in, eat a drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those that have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you of this? He says, I do not praise you.

So you had these Corinthians that had the idea that they were supposed to eat this Supper.

You had some in the Corinthian church that were probably pretty well-to-do.

They were wealthy. They had plenty of food.

Then you had some that were in the church that were very poor.

Maybe they were slaves, and not only were they slaves, but it was hard for them to get.

It was hard for them to get to the Passover early, like maybe those who were wealthier could do.

And so what happened, consequently, is the wealthy would get there early. And by the time those that were perhaps the poorer ones that arrived, they had been eating and drinking for a while, and some of them were actually drunk.

Now, one of the things you simply do not want to do when you come to the Passover is be drunk.

You don't want to be able to be accused either of being a glutton, which apparently was a problem.

So some were eating, some were not eating. Some came and didn't have anything.

And that's why Paul says, look, you've got houses to eat in.

Then he goes on down through here to say, he says, For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered you, that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, Take eath, this is my body which is broken for you.

Do this in remembrance of me. In the same manner, he also took the cup after supper here. Paul says after supper here, saying that this cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till it comes, till he comes. Till it comes, till he comes.

And of course, Christ died once. So each time, each year, we observe the Passover, and it is an annual memorial to the death of Jesus Christ. We proclaim his death until he comes. And this time, by the way, he's not going to come back as a lowly lamb, but as a powerful, you know, lion, as it were, a powerful being who is not only capable of ruling the earth with a with a rod of iron, but he's going to be a prince of peace, as well for mankind, for all of mankind, and all will have an opportunity.

And so the Passover, brethren, that we observe is, it involves the emblems, not the supper. Paul is again clearly saying that. And he goes on over here to talk about taking, you know, the Passover. Those emblems, when we partake of it on Passover evening, in a worthy manner, a proper manner. In other words, not certainly being drunk, as some of the Corinthians were, not over-embibing of food as well, but to take it soberly, to examine a person's life before they observe the Passover. And I hope that we again, we will examine ourselves.

I'm sure we're going to hear messages about that as we approach to the Passover. But the very focus, brethren, of the Passover, when we eat the bread and drink that cup, brethren, is to proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. And God wants us to remember that. And we examine again ourselves for the purpose of the Passover, you know, with that in mind, about what Christ did for us.

And again, the arguments about the 14th and the 15th revolve around the timing of when we eat it, and when we drink it, you know, when we take those emblems. And clearly, Paul was doing what Christ himself instructed. And he said, imitate me as I imitate Christ. So, brethren, we're not too far off, a couple of weeks again, away from the keeping of the Passover.

Be aware, brethren, again of Satan's deception in this world that evil men are waxing worse and worse. And they would love to divide us. Satan would love to divide us. He'd love to hurt the unity of the church. The Passover, brethren, is so important. And one thing is very clear. The Corinthians at least understood that they should be together for the Passover. And brethren, all of us should be together for the observance of the Passover.

Jesus said, except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Of course, we have to be, again, baptized, circumcised about the heart, and have God's Spirit before we keep the Passover. We can certainly come and observe how it's observed, and work toward baptism, so that we can participate in it. But brethren, we can be very firm, according to the plain scriptures of the Bible, that we are observing the Passover correctly in the United Church of God. So, brethren, let's prepare ourselves to take this Passover in full faith, in full confidence, as God's people. And let's not get caught up again in the controversies that often swirl around this, but let's get together, you know, in the Passover, and let's observe the Passover as Paul set the example and as Jesus Christ set the example for us.