Glory to God! I trust you’re well and enjoying your Inheritance in Christ Jesus.
Passover begins this evening at sunset. It’s an 8-day long celebration that will end on the sunset of the 16th of April.
As promised, today I’ll explain how to keep the Passover. If you’re new to Biblical Feasts and perhaps believe that we’re trying to put you under the law, please consider the following:
1 Corinthians 5:7b-6a says, ‘For even Christ our passover has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the feast…’
1 Corinthians 16:7-8 says, ‘For I will not see you now by the way; but I trust to tarry a while with you, if the Lord permit. But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost.’
Twice in the same letter, the Apostle Paul makes reference to Biblical Feasts that many Christians refer to as Jewish Holy Days.
The same Apostle who was so against putting others under the law encouraged the Corinthian Church to keep the Passover and spoke about Pentecost as well which occurs 50 days after Passover.
The Corinthians were Gentiles, not Jews, and Paul introduced them to Biblical Feasts without any fear of putting them under the law. There’s therefore something most of the Church is yet to understand about the Message of the Apostle Paul.
That’s the reason the Church is obsessed with extra-biblical celebrations that are pagan in origin such as Easter, Christmas, even Halloween. These have no Scriptural basis and mean absolutely nothing to our Father God.
Biblical Feasts are Appointed Times and Seasons on God’s Calendar when He does what He doesn’t usually do on other days. Just as a good parent loves his or her child every day of the year, but on their birthday, the parent does something special for their child.
The same goes for married couples. The couple is supposed to walk in Love towards each other every day of the year, but on their anniversary, they do something special for each other.
Feast Days are like that with God. They’re special Times and Seasons when God does something He doesn’t ordinarily do on other days. More importantly, these Days reveal the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ and what He has done for us as a Gift to us from our Father God.
When we align ourselves with these Feast Days we share in the Glory God reveals at these Appointed Times and Seasons.
Firstly, it’s important to note that God’s Calendar, which He gave to the Jewish People, is very different to the calendar used in western civilization called the Gregorian calendar.
The Jewish Calendar is based on the cycles of the moon and is therefore a lunar Calendar, but the Gregorian calendar is based on earth’s rotation around the sun, and is therefore a solar calendar.
According to God’s Calendar, we know it’s a new Month when the New Moon appears. So God’s Months don’t start until there’s a New Moon.
More than that, God’s Days don’t start at sunrise and end at sunset. As during the Creation Week, God’s Days are from sunset to sunset. That’s why the Sabbath day is from Friday sunset until Saturday sunset.
God’s New Year also doesn’t start in January. Exodus 12:1-2 says, ‘And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.’ And chapter 13:4 says, ‘This day came ye out in the month of Abib.’
The Israelites came out of bondage in the month of Abib or Nisan as it’s often called. Abib is the first month of the Jewish year.
Leviticus 23:4-8 says, ‘In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord’s passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.’
We are currently in the month of Abib according to God’s Calendar. We’re at the beginning of the Jewish Year. This is the first month of God’s Year and since the Israelites were released from bondage on the 14th day of Abib, Passover starts today at sunset. According to the Jewish Calendar, we’re still on the 13th of Abib because the 14th only starts tonight at sunset.
The 8-day long celebration includes Unleavened Bread and Firstfruit. The first day, meaning sunset tonight until sunset tomorrow night is Passover.
On this day, refrain from any work, it’s a Day of Rest. As a result, if you have anything pressing to do, please finish it today or if it can wait, please do it after Passover.
During Passover, as with other days of this celebration, you must have Unleavened Bread which speaks of the sinless Body of the Lord Jesus Christ which was broken for us. You must have it with grape juice to symbolise the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ which was shed for our sins.
The Israelites had roasted lamb with bitter herbs while in Egypt. This is optional. You may wish to eat a lamb dish during this time.
After Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread begins and it lasts for 7 days. Which means it starts at sunset Thursday the 9th and ends at sunset the 16th on Thursday next week. That last day of Unleavened Bread is another Day of Rest.
However, the first day after Unleavened Bread begins, meaning sunset Friday the 10th until sunset Saturday the 11th, it’s Firstfruit, and we’ll talk about both Firstfruit and Unleavened Bread closer to the time.
On Passover, the sinless Lamb of God suffered untold horrors before and on the Cross to pay our sin-debt in full. Our sins merited Death, the Father should’ve killed us, but instead He gave us His Only Begotten Son. The Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself to the Father as a Sacrifice and paid for our sins.
He became our Substitute on the Cross and died the Death we should’ve died. He died so that we might live. The Father unleashed His Wrath on the Lord Jesus Christ and passed us over. The Lord Jesus Christ is therefore our Passover Lamb.
Let’s therefore remember the Lord’s Death as we honour and respect Him for what He has done for us. Let’s keep the Passover, not with hearts riddled with guilt, but Thanksgiving and Praise because of what His Sacrifice has achieved in our lives.
Let’s celebrate Passover and remember what it took for us to become the Sons of God. Let’s keep the Passover in Remembrance of the Lord Jesus Christ as we reflect on the enormity of His Sacrifice, lest we take what has been done for us for granted.
I hope that helps.
Glory to God!