Sign In Sign-Up

Welcome!

Close

Would you like to make this site your homepage? It's fast and easy...

Yes, Please make this my home page!

No Thanks

  Don't show this to me again.

Close

Here we see the major feasts and we immediately notice they are “grouped”. Some people group them into two groups, the spring festivals and the fall festivals. The Bible groups them into three, placing the “Feast of Weeks” or “Pentecost”, which comes 7 weeks after the Passover, into it’s own group.

Again we will see that the Biblical grouping corresponds with Christ’s 3 phased work,
First in the outer court (this earth),
then in the Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary,
and lastly in the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary.

“Three times in the year shall all the males appear before the Lord, ..the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles.” (Deuteronomy 16:16)

Let’s start at the beginning with the Passover. For the Passover, in the first month, is the first feast that starts us on the journey of salvation.

When did this feast originate?
The word “Pass over” literally means “a passing over”. A double thought is involved in this word. There is the thought of the “passing over” of the angel of death, of “escaping” from the sentence of death. There is also the thought of “hovering over” in the sense of Divine protection. It’s full meaning combines justice and mercy. And it is at the cross where the two meanings meet their fulfilment, the sacrifice made on Calvary's cross. Here it was that mercy and truth met together, righteousness and peace kissed each other.

So back to the first Passover, where we see that the people of Israel were enslaved by the Egyptians. They were in the “house of bondage” Exodus 13:3, 14.

Exodus 2:23 “the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.”

Exodus 6:6-7 And God replies: “I will rescue you out of your bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments: And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God:”

Reminds us of some passages in the new testament about us being in “bondage”,

Romans 7.23,24
“But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity (or bondage) to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”

And so, back in Egypt God gave Moses a lesson on the Gospel, which was later instituted as an annual festival which has great significance in our understanding about what happened at the cross.

The head of each household was to take a healthy, perfect, year old lamb on the tenth day of the first month and set it aside until the fourteenth day. That means the lamb was cared for and watched for four days to see if it was perfect. Then it was to be killed, and it’s blood sprinkled on top of the door frame and on the two side post of the door.

That night, at midnight, the death angel passed through the land and every house that did not have the token of blood on the door and lintel would see the first born die.

The punishment for not having the blood sprinkled seems severe - every first born would die! Yet there is profound meaning here in understanding the bondage of sin and what it does.

Lev. 13.14-15 “By strength of hand the LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage:
And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the LORD slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt,”

In like manner, it is ONLY the strength of the hand of the LORD that brings us out of the Bondage of sin. Sin will hardly let us go---we are bound by the cords of sin.

Prov. 5.22
His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be bound with the cords of his sins. He shall die.
For Romans 3:27 tells us “The wages of sin is death.”

So we see here the problem of mankind. They are in bondage - tied with cords of iniquity to their sins, awaiting death.

This is not a pleasant condition. Being in bondage never is, and this bondage not only means there is no way out from a human stand point, it also means death. --and if you look deeper into Paul’s writings, he actually says we are “dead” outside of Christ.

But God! God offers hope, He sent His begotten Son, to be bond upon the cross of calvary. He took upon Himself our sins and allowed our sins to bind HIM, the sinless one to the cross, and die.

Think of it, he took our sins, and allowed those sins to BIND Him, the perfect lamb of God, to the cross to die. So we can be free!

There is no salvation apart for the blood of Christ. Those who refused the blood sacrifice in Egypt, bore their own death penalty. Those who applied the blood lived.

Yes, Passover is built on the theme of deliverance, freedom. But free from what?

As the years passed by the Israelites lost sight of the meaning of the Passover. During the Roman oppression, (which was the time the true Passover Lamb walked among them and they didn’t recognize Him) they had come to believe that deliverance from Roman oppression would occur miraculously at Passover as had their deliverance from Egypt, they expected the Messiah to appear as another Moses to release them from Roman bondage.

In spite of John the Baptists proclamation “Here is the Lamb of God”.
And Paul’s later declaration in 1 Cor. “For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:”

They could not see the True Lamb of God.

Let’s see how Jesus fulfilled the Passover.
Four days before the crucifixion He set Himself apart:

Remember that on the tenth day, four days before the Passover, the Lamb was to be set aside and watched to see if it was perfect.
On the tenth day before the crucifixion we see Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

(From DA.571).
Never before in His earthly life had Jesus permitted such a demonstration. He clearly foresaw the result. It would bring Him to the cross. But there was an important purpose to thus publicly present Himself as the Redeemer. He desired to call attention to the sacrifice that was to crown His mission to a fallen world. While the people were assembling at Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, He, the antitypical Lamb, by a voluntary act set Himself apart as an oblation.

It would be needful for His church in all succeeding ages to make His death for the sins of the world a subject of deep thought and study. Every fact connected with it should be verified beyond a doubt. It was necessary, then, that the eyes of all people should now be directed to Him; the events which preceded His great sacrifice must be such as to call attention to the sacrifice itself. After such a demonstration as that attending His entry into Jerusalem, all eyes would follow His rapid progress to the final scene.

The events connected with this triumphal ride would be the talk of every tongue, and would bring Jesus before every mind. After His crucifixion, many would recall these events in their connection with His trial and death. They would be led to search the prophecies, and would be convinced that Jesus was the Messiah; and in all lands converts to the faith would be multiplied.

Jesus was inspected and declared perfect during those four days between the triumphal entry and the crucifixion.

Listen to these recorded testimonies of people declaring Him perfect.

1. Pilate said “I find no fault in Him at all” John 18:38
2. Pilate spoke for Herod “I have found no fault in this Man, and no, neither did Herod, for nothing deserving of death has been done by Him.” Matt. 23:15
3. Judas after the betrayal calls out in consternation, “ I have betrayed innocent blood.” Matt. 27:4
4. The repentant thief on the cross says: “We are being punished justly for our deeds but this man (Jesus) has done nothing wrong. (Luke 23:41)
5. The heathen Roman soldier even declared, “Surely this is the Son of God.” Mat. 27:54

All have to confess there is no fault, spot or blemish in Him. Jesus was the lamb of God, the Passover lamb, Whose Blood alone can lift us out of bondage.

On the fourteenth day, at the time appointed, Jesus died upon the cross. No one in Jerusalem could have missed the event. From the triumphal entry on the tenth day, to the crucifixion on the fourteen day, the eyes of the people attending the Passover had been drawn to Jesus, the true Passover lamb.

BUT THE Passover teaches us that the CROSS IN AND OF ITSELF, SAVES NO ONE unless each individual applies the blood and partakes of the Lamb. They had to do this back in Egypt and this is also graphically portrayed in that great Passover that fulfilled all the types.

The people in Jerusalem participated in the “setting” apart of the Lamb of God, on the tenth day as they sang “Hosanna to the Son of David” and waved palm branches in His honor. They participated in the killing of the lamb by shouting “crucify Him” on the fourteenth day, and watched Him die upon the cross. They participated, they saw, they knew it was reality, but they refused to believe in the full meaning of what was taking place, they refused to apply the blood and eat the flesh (see John 6)

During the original Passover, the blood had to be applied to the door frame, or it did the family no good. If they dared to presume and think, killing the lamb was the “finished all work” and nothing more had to be done; those who thought that putting the blood on the door was unnecessary works, who failed to apply the blood, died just like the Egyptians who had sacrificed no lamb at all.
Also the lamb was to be eaten. To be “internalized”.

Even so in 31 AD, though the real Passover Lamb was sacrificed in Israel; even though they saw it, even though they participated in the event, they, (unlike when they were in Egpyt) as a nation, did not escape the destruction which came. A destruction which typifies the final destruction of the world? Why? Because they refused to see the fulfilment of the Passover, they refused to apply the blood and they refused to move on into the full meaning which the sanctuary and the feasts typified.

Christ’s talk on this in John 6, in which He clearly linked himself to the Passover Lamb-- : saying "Except you partake of the flesh of the Son of man, and of His blood, you have no life in you.” These very words which should have alerted them to the true meaning of the Passover, simply drove the people away, till it seemed everyone had left Christ.

Why did this happen?

Remember the Passover is connected with deliverance.
To be delivered from something a person first must realize that they are bound, enslaved. The deliverance the Jews wanted was deliverance in the physical world, not the spiritual.

Christ came to deliver people who were bound in the slavery of sin, with cords of sin, from which they cannot escape without the mighty hand of God intervening and the death of the Lamb of God who died in our place, being applied to the life.

Jesus tried to alert them to their great need in John 8.31-38
He told the Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

But the doubters answered him, We are Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage (denial of bondage means there is no sense for a need for deliverance) So they challenged Jesus statement and said, How can you tell us, We shall be made free?

Jesus answered them, “I tell you the truth, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.
If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.

---In interpreting scriptures do we see any similar trends? Do we see religion merely as a means for physical deliverance or do we see it as deliverance from the bondage of sin?

The Passover is the foundation of salvation. It is justification. It is the release from the condemnation of the law and from sin's holding power. It is only in Christ that such deliverance is possible.

It is a gift of God purchased for us with an unimaginably high price:
For the Son of God, who was totally repulsed by sin, yet gathered to his soul the sins and guilt of the whole world, as he trod the path to Calvary, suffering our penalty. Guiltless, he bore the punishment of the guilty; innocent, yet offering himself to bear the penalty of the transgression of the law of God. So we can be free!

Free from what? Free to throw away Gods law? No!! Christ came to free us not only from the guilt, and penalty of our sins, but to free us from the bondage or controlling power of sin.

Now remember that back in Egypt the people were moaning and groaning for deliverance.

Moses told Pharaoh, “Let my people go” They need deliverance. Why?
Ex. 7.16
Moses was to say to Pharaoh: “The LORD God of the Hebrews has sent me to you, to convey this command, “Let my people go, that they may serve me”

To be released from the slavery of sin so we can serve God. That is the plan.

Romans 6:16-17
“Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slave whom you obey; whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness. But thanks be to God, that even though you were slaves of sin, ...you were delivered and having been set fee from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
Now you have been set free from sin, and have become the servants of God, you have your fruit to holiness and the end everlasting life.

Daniel 9, we’ve found, presents Christ’s ministry in the “courtyard” of the sanctuary, Daniel nine prophecied when the Messiah, Who is to make an end to sin and to bring in everlasting righteousness. He would be “cut off” (Comp. Is. 53:8) for our transgressions. He would bring to an end all sacrifice by His own sacrifice.
But the alarming thing in Daniel 9, is that destruction follows.
This seems to be the very opposite to the original Passover, where Israel was delivered from destruction? Indeed many are confused with this chapter because it speaks of both the Messiah and destruction. Daniel 9 shows us there are two princes. Messiah the Prince, who is Michael, who stands FOR His people. And the prince who works the abominations of desolations and is constantly seen warring against the Prince of heaven.

Why did Israel face destruction in the wake of the Christ’s death? Why were they not “Passed over” by the “angel of destruction, after they crucified the true “Passover Lamb”?
Why? Because they choose the wrong “Prince”. John 19: 13-16
Pilate asks them “What shall I do with Jesus” They shout back “Crucify Him, Crucify Him” and Pilate asks, “Shall I crucify you king?” and they shout back “We have no king but Caesar!”

We’ve all helped to crucify Jesus, for it was our sins that put Him on the cross. But now the question is “Who will be your King”? Who will you serve?

Those same two princes are still at war in Revelation. In our day. Everyone will be faced with the decision to follow one or the other.

What does Passover mean as to the final end times? How can we escape destruction like the Israelites did in Egypt, but failed to escape in Jerusalem even though they had been participants of the greatest and authentic Passover in all history?

There is a way to preach “Christ crucified” which simply crucifies Him afresh, and does away with Him as our King and Lord, and results in destruction, and there is a way of preaching “Christ crucified” that brings deliverance and freedom from both the power and the guilt of sin and leads the person into the close journey of righteousness with Christ as their Lord and Priest, through His sanctuary truths.

____________

Paul in his letter to the Corinthians clearly defines the leaven that must be removed and how this feast is to be kept.
1 Cor. 5.6-8
Your glorying is not good. Don’t you know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye 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.

So here we see the same steps we saw yesterday in our journey though the sanctuary. The first step is always to the cross, the second step is the surrender of our sinful lifestyles, and dedicating our lives to the Lord in sincerity and truth.

The Passover typified Christ’s death on the cross. The unleavened bread typifies burial.

And on the third day comes the feast day of the sheaf of first fruits.

This one sheaf, a representation of a coming harvest, was waved in the house of the Lord “on the morning after the Sabbath.” This is a remarkable prophecy of the resurrection day. Pointing to Christ “the first fruits of the resurrected ones (1 Corin. 15:20)

It is a grand promise of the resurrection of the saints at the final harvest. But it also has much meaning for the “beginning” of the believers Christian journey.

Just see the three steps as they apply to the Christians life, as described by Paul in Romans 6. Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

Romans 5.11
.. but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

Romans 6.2-6
Do we now continue in sin? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: ( and move on to Step three RISING WITH HIM TO NEWNESS OF LIFE.)

...that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

For he that is dead is freed from sin.

Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

In other words, just as Jesus took upon Himself all sin and died the penalty, we are to realize that penalty was paid by Christ, and now that we are delivered from sin by the grace of God, we are to bury our sinful ways with Christ, and rise up, new creatures to live in newness of life with HIM.

That’s what it’s all about- to rescue people from sin and re-establish them in a harmonious relationship with Christ.