Passover or Lord's Supper-1

The first three gospels all clearly state that Jesus desired to eat the Passover with His disciples before He was arrested. But, in John it is also clearly stated that He ate an evening meal a day before the Passover meal was to be eaten. Which one is right? We will read thru these passages and come to a conclusion based on the Bible not on what we may have been taught over the years. First, what are the Passover laws as stated by Jehovah?

Exodus 12:1 Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 12:2 "This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. 

12:3 "Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, 'On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers' households, a lamb for each household. 

This is quite clear. First, Jehovah is now creating the monthly calendar for His chosen people. The year doesn’t start in January but sometime in March/April. The span of time is due to the Jewish accounting for new moons and the beginning of a month. Since this is purely a lunar based calendar, there is no moon for leap years, as 29 1/2 days times 12 leaves days off for accounting for a full 365+ day year that we now use. Regardless, the year starts in the spring not in January. We will discuss how this happened in future studies in this series.

12:4  'Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb. 

Every family is to have a lamb or share a lamb. All are required to participate.

12:5  'Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 

An unblemished male that is between 12-23 months old, as this still is a year old lamb.

12:6  'You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight. 12:7  'Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 12:8  'They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 

On the 14th of Nisan, before sundown the lamb must be killed and cleaned so it can be roasted and eaten after sundown. Jehovah begins and ends each day at sundown.

12:9 'Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails. 12:10 'And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire. 

Nothing will be left as they will be on their way out of Egypt in the morning.

12:11 'Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the LORD'S Passover. 12:12 'For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the LORD. 

If it is cooked after sundown and then eaten, this may bring you to 9-11 pm in the evening, which is now the 15th day of Nisan.

12:13  'The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. 12:14  'Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance. 

We are all prone to forget things, especially commandments of Jehovah. We always remember to do the things we love to do. The blood over the door is symbolic of being in Christ, as we enter or become on in Christ through His blood. We cannot nor should not ever forget this.

12:15  'Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. 

All New Testament believers understand that the leaven is really sin. Jehovah doesn’t hate yeast, but it represents sin then and now. The key to our study is this requirement to eat only unleavened bread.

:16 'On the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except what must be eaten by every person, that alone may be prepared by you. 12:17  'You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance. 

As you see, there are more than 52 Sabbaths (days of rest and no work) in a year. Feasts usually begin and end with a holy day, a Sabbath.

12:18  'In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. 2:19  'Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses; for whoever eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is an alien or a native of the land. 12:20  'You shall not eat anything leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.'" 

No leaven in the houses and no leaven in any of the bread for a whole week.

12:21  Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slay the Passover lamb. 12:22  "You shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning. 

If you are ‘in’ Christ, you don’t have to worry either. But, they were to stay inside until morning. Why? Because there is death outside and if you want to live you must obey.

12:23  "For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you. 

Obedience is always required. Jehovah’s promises and blessings are tied to obedience.

12:24  "And you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever. 12:25  "When you enter the land which the LORD will give you, as He has promised, you shall observe this rite. 12:26  "And when your children say to you, 'What does this rite mean to you?' 12:27  you shall say, 'It is a Passover sacrifice to the LORD who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but spared our homes.'" And the people bowed low and worshiped. 

The best way to remember is to renew our memories in a celebration and a meal. We do this for birthdays and anniversaries. We need to do this for Jehovah as well.

12:28 Then the sons of Israel went and did so; just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. 

After experiencing Jehovah’s wrath upon Egypt, they were ready to obey. We need the same desire to obey.

More next Saturday.