Jewish Heritage Revival

One Heritage United by Messiah

Passover - Past, Present and Forever

Please note that it is important to remember that when reading this article, time and days are based on the Jewish lunar calendar, where the day begins and ends at sundown. 

Passover isn't merely the feast celebrated in commemoration of God delivering Israel from the bondage it endured at the hands of the Egyptians.  It is so much more than that.  Not only is it a memorial, but God beautifully constructs His feasts as a prophesy of Jesus, our Messiah some 1400 years before events transpired. After His resurrection, Jesus spent 40 days teaching His disciples:

"And beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, He expounded upon them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself"  Luke 24:27

Therefore, Moses was the first of God's prophets to speak of Yeshua, who had given Torah by God.  At this time, Israel is in the desert (out of Egypt) when God's law is given to Moses.  Now let us look in detail at what God's word says.

Starting in Leviticus 23:1 - 2

"And the Lord spoke unto Moses saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, concerning the feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations (formal ceremony), even these are My feasts:"

God is laying the foundation for His feasts and the path that Messiah will take.

We read further in Leviticus 23:4 - 5 - the giving of Passover, one of the LORD's feasts.

"These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations. which you shall proclaim in their season.  In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD's Passover."

The first month of the Jewish calendar is Nisan (March / April).  The Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar.  The beginning of the month is a new month, making the middle of the month a full moon, therefore, making the time at which Passover occurs to be unmistakable, unlike Easter which is the first full moon after the spring equinox, as recorded by the Gregorian calendar which is based on the sun. 

Exodus 12:1 -  6 (during the Exodus) - The first Passover

And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, this month (Nisan) shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.  Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel saying, 

In the tenth day of this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb, 

according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house.  And if the household be too little for a lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of souls; every man according to his eating shall make you count for the lamb. 

Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male 

of the first year: 

you shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats:  

And you shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.

On the tenth day a lamb is chosen and set apart, to make certain that it is without blemish.  The lamb that was chosen was Jesus...as proclaimed by John the Baptist:

"The next day John sees Jesus coming unto him, and saith:  "Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world."  John 1:29

On the Sunday Jesus entered Jerusalem, was the tenth day of Nisan, for which he was to be set apart and His ministry of the last three and a half years would be tested by the religious authorities of the Sanhedrin, which included the Pharisees and Sadducees and would ultimately lead to His trials by the Sanhedrin and Roman Empire.

The account of these events can be found in the Gospel of Luke:

Entry into Jerusalem - Luke 19:28 - 40

Authority Challenged - Luke 20:1 - 47

During this time, Jesus was set apart, just as the Passover Lamb was, and was tested to see if He was without blemish. Throughout His testing, many saw no sin with Him, however, the religious factions, felt that His teachings would threaten their standing and authority. 

Trials - Luke 22:66 - 23:25

The trials would lead to His sentence, and ultimately, God's plan for man would be fulfilled.  Jesus, proclaimed the Lamb of God by John the Baptist, is put to death by Crucifixion on Passover - the 14th of Nisan.  There is no doubt about this. The events are accounted in all four gospels. 

Please note that it was not on a Friday as the church has recognized for centuries, but was a Thursday.  We know this because if we look at when Jesus entered Jerusalem (Nisan 10) and counted forward to Nisan 14, it counts five days which places us on a Thursday.

Therefore, through God's word, it is proven that Passover is the day of our Lord's death, not "Good Friday" as the church has been lead to believe, however, that isn't where the story ends.  We continue...

Leviticus 23:6 - 8

"And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days you must eat unleavened bread.  In the first day you shall have an holy convocation: you shall do no servile work therein.  But you shall offer an offering by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: you shall do no servile work."    

The day after Passover, begins a seven day feast known as Unleavened Bread.  Over the centuries, both Passover and Unleavened Bread have been combined and celebrated as Passover.  

Looking back, God instituted this feast also in remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt, when Israel had to leave Egypt quickly and didn't have time for the leaven (yeast) to rise in the breads they had made.  God instructed them to make their bread without leaven.  

In the Bible, leaven represents sin, therefore, something without leaven, is without sin.  

And He took bread, and gave thanks, and broke it, and gave unto them saying "This is My body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me"  Luke 22:19   During the Passover feast, the bread (matzah) is baked without leaven as required by God.  With that said, the unleavened bread that Jesus uses and speaks of represents Him perfectly.  

How does this relate to our topic? 

Jesus was on the cross for six hours - what we would know as 9:00 am to 3:00 pm.  Sundown occurred at approximately 5:30 - 6:00 pm, allowing approximately two hours for our Messiah's body to be prepared and buried before the Sabbath.  The Sabbath that is talked about is not the weekly Sabbath, but rather the Sabbath for Unleavened Bread.  As stated above, it is said that you shall do no servile work.   During that time, prior to the sundown, they were preparing his body for burial, while obtaining the borrowed tomb from Joseph of Arimathaea.  Our Messiah, proclaimed by God, to be without sin is buried prior to sundown of Unleavened Bread.  A Holy Convocation (gathering) occurred.  It was the burial of our Messiah. 

God's intention for this feast is for the burial of our Messiah.  Jesus was buried on Unleavened Bread, which would have been a Thursday night (sundown begins the next day = Friday).  As mentioned previously, you must take into context the Biblical lunar calendar rather than the sun calendar. 

The time it would take for someone to die from crucifixion is typically three days. The cause of death is suffocation.  You are hanging, and in order to breath, you have to pull yourself up.  The sheer strength that was continually required could not be sustained.

 Jesus was on the cross for only six hours.  Was He not in good condition to last longer?  Jesus was in His 30s and journeyed throughout Israel.  He was in excellent physical condition.  If this is so, then why was He on the cross for only six hours?  The reason being is He had a feast to attend.  When God's payment for the sin of man was complete, Jesus Himself said "it is finished" (John 19:30) He knew there was a schedule God created that He was to keep.  His death occurred on a specific day - Nisan 14 (Passover), His burial occurred on Nisan 15 (Unleavened bread)

Leviticus 23:3

Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; you shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.

Even in death, Jesus remained obedient to God's commandments. Though we do not know what actually occurred in the spirit realm during His time of burial, While on earth, Jesus honored the Sabbath.  He did no work himself on earth, while buried,  allowing others to remain faithful to the Sabbath.     

Looking back, thus far, Jesus was put to death on Passover, buried on Unleavened Bread and honored the Sabbath.

By today's standards, the next feast has become somewhat lost.  Today, Passover is celebrated as an eight day feast, combining both Passover and Unleavened Bread into one and identifying it as Passover.  Little mention is made of the third feast ordained by God...First Fruits. 

Leviticus 23:9 -  14

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest unto the priest: 

 And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. 

And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD.  And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin. And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

On the day of Messiah's resurrection, He was the first fruits of the resurrection, thus honoring and fulfilling the prophecy of the feast of first fruits.  He did not harvest fruits or vegetables, but rather Himself...He is a harvester of people, and His was the first one resurrected.

There was an offering required on first fruits.  That offering was Yeshua himself, in that he was the first thing out of the ground on that day.  He offered 

To additional clarify, Messiah was in the ground for three days and nights.  If you were to go by the account given by the church, you would be a day short.  While speaking to the Pharisees,

Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master we would see a sign from thee.  But He answered and said unto them:

"An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:  For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the belly of a great fish, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and behold, a greater than Jonas is here.  Matthew 12:38-41 

To recall the events to this point we have proof:

• Yeshua entered Jerusalem on Nisan 10 (Sunday)
• He was crucified on Nisan 14 (Thursday)
• He honored the feast of Unleavened bread
• He was in the ground three days and three nights 
• He appeared to His deciples and witnesses after three days from His death.

Now you are saying, that is all "old testament" what does that have to do with the church today?  As Jesus himself stated He did not come to replace or do away with the law and prophets, but rather to fulfill what God had required.  Regarding Passover, it is written in Exodus 12:14:

 "And this day shall be unto you a memorial; and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; you shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.

As the church has been grafted into the vine known as Israel, so should you honor God with His feasts, as He has commanded.  There is also evidence of this in the new testament.  Throughout the book of acts, we witness the first church honoring God through His feasts.

Acts 12:3 - 4, During Peter's fifth persecution, it was the time of Passover and Unleavened Bread.

"And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) 

Acts 18:19 -21 - Paul speaking to the church at Ephesus:

"And he came to Ephesus, and left them there: but he himself entered the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews.  When they desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented not; But bade them farewell, saying, 

I must by all means keep this feast that comes in Jerusalem: 

but I will return unto you if God will, and he sailed from Ephesus."

"And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto Troas in five days; where we abode seven days."  Acts 20:6

Paul writes to Corinth in his first letter, addressing evil in the church and the result of division, states:

"To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.  Your glorying is not good.  Know ye not that a little leaven leavens the whole lump.  Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened.  For even Christ, our Passover is sacrificed for us: 

Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." 1 Corinthians 5:5 - 8

You are probably familiar with Passover lasting eight days.  This is somewhat of a misconception.  The first day is actually Passover, the following seven are know as the feast of unleavened bread:

Our next article will take you through the Passover Seder of today and how it relates to our Messiah.  

Legend -