According to the Jewish Calendar, Passover this year is on the 19th of April. It’ll then be followed immediately by Unleavened Bread on the 20th and the Feast of First Fruit on the 21st.
According to the Gregorian Calendar, there’s no Passover, instead there’s Easter. This year, it begins with Good Friday on 19 April, it climaxes on Easter Sunday 21 April, with of course Easter Monday on the 22nd.
So what’s the difference?
This year is a coincidence that the two Calendars agree. Next year, 2020, Passover will be on Wednesday the 8th of April. Whereas Good Friday next year will be on the 10th of April.
The two Calendars are clearly different. So, which one should we follow as Christians?
The question is, ‘Which Calendar does God follow?’
When the Lord Jesus Christ died on the Cross, He died as the Passover Lamb. 1 Corinthians 5:7 says, ‘For even Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed for us.’
When He was buried, He fulfilled Unleavened Bread, which speaks of His Sinless Body. 1 Peter 1:19 says, ‘But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.’
When He was raised from the dead, He fulfilled First Fruit. 1 Corinthians 15:20 says, ‘But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruit of them that slept.’
When the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, buried, and raised from dead; He wasn’t fulfilling Easter, but rather Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruit. He died on those very days, thus fulfilling them to the very second.
So, when God commanded Israel to keep these Feasts, He was prophesying the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. God therefore keeps the Jewish Calendar and not the Gregorian.
What about Easter? Easter is named after the Babylonian and Assyrian goddess of sex and fertility, Ishtar. Its celebrations involved pagan priests engaging in sex orgies, hence symbols such as the Easter bunny and eggs. (Bunnies mate and breed a lot, and eggs symbolise fertility.)
The two celebrations are very different. One is a holy Celebration dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ, and the other is an idolatrous celebration dedicated to a demonic false god.
1 Corinthians 10:21 says, ‘Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.’
So what do we do next year when Passover and Easter don’t correlate? The question should be, ‘What will God do next year?’
Feasts Days are God’s Appointed Times, and He always does something special on such Days. Since He commanded Israel to keep Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruit, He then kept those Appointed Times and manifested the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the last second.
He also commanded them to keep the Feast of Weeks, which is 50 days after Passover. We call it Pentecost, which means 50th. In that same year the Lord Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected; God did something special on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out according to Acts 2:1-4.
God always does something special on Feast Days. The Hebrew word translated ‘feasts’ is ‘moedim’. It means ‘Appointed Times’. The Feast Days are God’s Appointed Times on which He always does something special on the earth.
That’s why the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 5:7b-8, ‘…Christ our Passover is crucified 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.’
The Apostle Paul was encouraging the Corinthians Church to keep the Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread. In fact, 1 Corinthians 5:7 says, ‘Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened…’
Not only is Unleavened Bread the sinless Body of the Lord Jesus Christ which was buried. It’s also us today, the Church. We are the Body of Christ. We’re His sinless and perfect Body because of his Sacrifice on the Cross.
Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruit are far more meaningful celebrations than Easter. They’re special Times and Seasons when God does something special on the earth.
These Feasts are not a matter of Salvation. We’re saved by Grace through Faith. By keeping them we’re not trying to earn our Salvation. Celebrating them doesn’t put us back under the Law as much as honouring our parents doesn’t put us back under the Law.
They themselves are an expression of the Grace of God. By celebrating them, we’re celebrating the Grace of God upon our lives. And as the Apostle of Grace, Paul, says, let us keep the Feast!