To hear the mainstream tell it, Trump’s in a lot of trouble.  They better hope he is, because it won’t go well for them if he’s not.  The court cases are cobbled together using a combination of laws to try to prove their point.  Constitutional scholars say no prosecution like this has ever been brought to court, and good luck this time.  But they are keeping him off the campaign trail.

It kind of strikes us as intentional, that they brought these court cases while campaigning is going on.  They better hope they get him, otherwise he might not be so benevolent the next time around.

The pretender shows up, too often, to let us all know he’s not doing so well.  No one has ever tried acting as president at his age.  There comes a time…  If you ask me they’re trying intentionally to mess things up so badly they can’t be fixed.  Every time you consult the news we’ve got some new problem that just might finish us off.  I can’t help but wonder if that’s not the goal.  Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems Obama advisors are telling him what to say and how to say it.  He’s got to have them in agony as they watch him try to do what he’s told.  We don’t even want to know what’s going on behind the scenes.

We’ve just sent the new WATCH magazine to the printer, and we hope you’ll like it.  We feature the eclipse on the cover.  Talk about making you feel small!  It was an incredible event that scientists have all figured out.  Still, being able to see the activity of the sun outside the blockage of the moon sort of puts you in your place.  We feel sorry for those who think this universe behaves as it does out of pure chance.  Preposterous!

There was a recent article showing Palestinians at the beach.  Apparently it’s hot, and they thought they’d go and cool off.  But they’re wearing their street clothes!  Can you imagine going to the beach in a purple suit, or wrapped in layers of cloth?  Must be a cultural thing.  You wouldn’t understand.

The scandal is that hostages are still being held.  Negotiations have not yielded the desired results, so the war goes on.  The  American administration keeps holding press conferences as if they hold the keys to Israel’s next move.  They don’t.  But they act like they know what they’re talking about, and they’re usually embarrassed and angry.  Maybe they’re about to change sides.

Other than that, most everything is how we left it.  The war in Ukraine is still going on, at great expense as well as the war in Gaza, and we’re still being invaded with the blessing of the current administration.  You wonder if it can be fixed, short of the second coming.  My take is that they’re trying to foul up as much as possible, more than can be fixed in four years.  We can only hope the evil-doers don’t succeed.  We love our country and always have.  The more we see of the world and the insanity that goes on, we can only thank the Creator that He put us here, out of harm’s way.  It may not always be this way.  

Mark

P. S.  We had a great Passover service, with a nearly full auditorium.  The rest of the Holy Day festivities will occur in the few days ahead.  Thanks to all who observe these ceremonies with us.  Don’t you wish everybody did?

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – April 26, 2024 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Israel struck back at Iran, after being warned about the slightest incursion.  Where it goes from here, we’ll have to wait and see.  News reports say Israel bombed the city of Isfahan, home to a military base and the Natanz nuclear facility.  Whether that’s the end of it, we don’t know.  Iran’s strike against Israel apparently did little damage and didn’t kill anyone.  Not that they didn’t try.  It was an onslaught of drones and missiles, and Israel had help intercepting them.  Even from Jordan.

If you listen to the rhetoric coming out of Iran, they’ve got a lot of big talk about their capabilities and what they might do.  I learned a long time ago that this ilk is prone to a lot of chest-pounding talk and here you see it. Let’s hope that’s all it is.  This is the first time in all these years that Iran has attacked Israel, and they better be careful.  Not that Israel needs another front, but Iran would be making a big mistake.

Three years in, we’ve got troubles we never considered.  More people than ever have breached our Southern border, and the administration is powerless to do anything about it.  They need legislation!  Really?  After 240 years we need a new law to protect our border?  Who ever heard of such a thing?  No nation on earth would allow what’s going on.  It’s almost as bad as what’s happened to Europe with Muslims flooding in.  

We’ve got Muslims as it is, and they’re acting up.  “Death to America,” they chant.  What on earth are they doing here?  We’ve got Muslims in Congress who hate what we stand for, and the very idea that we’ve got idiots screaming Death to America is beyond the pale.  It’s hard to believe they’re not being hustled to wherever back home might be.

Apparently Congress has approved more money for Ukraine.  News from the war zone isn’t exactly encouraging.  The idea that Ukraine is going to defeat Russia is crazy talk.  Putin might be a bad guy, but that doesn’t justify putting vast sums into Zelensky’s hands.  He’s made the rounds, demanding help.  You’ve got to wonder if we’re protecting some of the graft that Ukraine is famous for.

When Trump says we’re like a third-world country, maybe he’s right.  We’ve lost count of the number of indictments.  According to the best legal scholars, they’re flimsy.  Seems like they’re keeping him in court, fending off law fare, so he can’t campaign.  But he’s got his own jet, and will be able to give speeches, as long as he doesn’t violate the “gag orders” that have been issued against him.  Apparently they want some excuse to throw him in jail, but it doesn’t appear to be working.  The more they pile up false accusations, the more popular he becomes.  All their phony indictments may turn out to have been a huge miscalculation.

We’re gearing up for the Passover and Days of Unleavened bread.  Nearly everybody has helped out, and our place looks beautiful.  We’re hoping for a good crowd, and are pretty sure everybody will enjoy themselves.  

God has blessed us, all Americans for that matter.  Why would we squander the peace and security we’ve been given with defiance?  It doesn’t make sense.  

Mark

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – April 19, 2024 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The confrontations, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and on the eve of the Jewish Passover holiday, triggered a cross-border exchange of fire in Gaza and stoked fears of further violence.

In the second instance, late at night, police entered the compound and tried to evacuate worshippers, using stun grenades and firing rubber bullets, said staff of the Waqf, the Jordanian-appointed Islamic organisation managing the complex.

Worshippers threw objects at police, witnesses said. The Palestinian Red Crescent said six people were injured.

In a statement, police said dozens of youngsters brought rocks and firecrackers into the mosque and had tried to barricade themselves inside. The Waqf, however, said police entered the mosque before prayers were over.

Continue reading HERE

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/cross-border-fire-gaza-after-israeli-police-raid-al-aqsa-mosque-2023-04-05/

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The post Violence erupts again at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The head of the Returning to the Mount movement, Rafael Morris, was detained on Monday on suspicion that he was going to try and sacrifice the Paschal sacrifice on the Temple Mount, as police completed their preparations ahead of the Passover holiday, which will begin on Wednesday evening.

The police officers who detained Morris informed him that they were going to search his home as well.

As it does every year, the Returning to the Mount movement announced last week that it was offering rewards of tens of thousands of shekels for anyone who attempts or succeeds to sacrifice a Paschal lamb on the Temple Mount.

Continue reading HERE

Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-736245

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The post Temple Mount activist detained for plan to sacrifice Paschal lamb first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Revelations about the Shanghai lock down are just unbelievable.  People face arrest if they venture out for any reason.  Their screams from windows and balconies sound like nothing you’ve ever heard.  Twenty five million people are not allowed out of their dwellings.  The streets are empty.  The COVID must be really bad!  It never got quite that bad in California, but another wave is in the wings.  The Mid Term variant.  Some cities are already demanding masks be worn at all indoor facilities, or you can’t come in.  It’s just great for business.

The Chinese don’t seem to care if their citizens are miserable, or starving.  Judging from the nightmarish soundtrack, they’re not happy.  Nobody within earshot is happy.  At least we can hit the mute button, change the channel or turn the noise off.

The brutality being visited upon people’s pets, should they test positive, is abhorrent to Western sensibilities. But they’ve opted for zero COVID, regardless.  We’re not going to say what they’re doing to people’s pets after they test positive here.  The media, the administration and the obnoxious Dr. won’t say a cross word, or even anything that could be construed as criticism of the regime.  There’s an obvious relationship to protect, now matter what they do.  It’s starting to look like they have Carte Blanche.  Where’s Jimmy Carter and his human rights crusade?  The left has changed. A lot.

Fauci is all over the place, again, warning and explaining as if we’re interested.  He doesn’t show up anywhere that might ask him about the communications we’ve been shown.  But he reserves the right to revisit the darkest mandates of the pandemic. Oh yeah, they just might be necessary. You almost hope he tries some draconian nonsense.  Then the occupant would have to read it off a teleprompter, embarrassing everybody but himself.

Some places still have many people roaming around in public, and driving solo, with their masks securely in place.  Either they’ve been frightened by the experts, or they’re modern Pharisees.  We could never be THAT righteous.  But alas, the experts may emerge to declare another health emergency.  It worked last time.

You might have seen the skit the Saudi’s put on television.  If not you probably will.  It’s too depressing to be funny.  It makes you wonder how it’s received by the other world leaders.  It’s just too close to the truth.  He’s at a podium trying to say something coherent, and the actor playing Kamala is a dude in make-up and pantsuit.  Saudi Arabia is an ally.  Nothing like this happens without approval from the ruling class.  It’s sad that they found it funny, but now the whole world is watching.  They probably already were.

Governor Abbott made good on his promise to bus illegals to Washington D. C.  None are going against their will, and presumably they’re treating it like tourism, glad to be among the gleaming monuments rather than running in the mud along the Rio Grand.  As the redhead said, illegals are free to travel throughout the country.  That alone shows how much this bunch cares for the citizens.  But at least some of the “migrants” are out of Texas.  Send them to Baltimore or Philadelphia.  If they thought it was dangerous where they came from…  The enhanced inspections of big rigs at the border turned out to be a bust, and is in the process of being reversed.  Turns out it was going to hurt American citizens and Texans, so the governor dropped it.

The pope is talking, well, something we never heard of and don’t want to know about.  Hopefully, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.  If he does, he must keep some pretty sick company.  You’re forgiven if you fail to be interested.

A pollster that worked for Bill and Hillary has said with current ratings that it’s utterly impossible a second term is in the offing.  We’re still wondering about the impossibility of the first term!  Now that was impossible!

As for Elon Musk buying Twitter wholesale, we’ll have to wait.  There are shoes yet to drop, and the Washington agencies have started some investigations to turn him into a criminal.  Over Tesla!  These electric cars aren’t about the save the planet, and I’m not going to Mars.  In fact with the continuation of the stupid mandates, I’m not flying either.  It was already stupid, But they’ve made it unbearable.

There are fireworks on the Temple Mount, literally.  Turns out Ramadan and the Passover fell at the same time this year.  It must be the third or fourth generation of rock throwers against rubber bullets.  Still, they haven’t learned a thing.

The war in Ukraine?  We’re starting to lose interest, or willingness to expose our senses to the madness of it all.  But don’t worry, the fake administration is on top of it.  Let’s hope it doesn’t escalate.  The Bible doesn’t say it can’t.

Mark

PS: We observed the Passover last evening, and had a great turnout for the cook-out and game day today. The kids are exhausted.  We’re meeting for dinner tonight when more will arrive.  The First Day of Unleavened Bread starts at sundown tonight, and it is an annual Holy Day.

Source: http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – 15 April 2022 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

I hope every one of you will be able to meet with one of the chartered churches of the Intercontinental Church of God, or one of the hosted fellowship groups, for the observance of the Passover. However, I know this is not always possible due to distance, travel costs, age, or illness. If you must observe the Passover at home this year, here is an outline which will help you to observe it in the same manner we have always observed it in God’s church.

There is no more deeply meaningful rite than the “Lord’s Supper,” commonly called “The Passover.” Of course, technically, we do not “keep the Passover,” for God’s word says, “…Christ OUR PASSOVER is sacrificed for us” (I Corinthians 5:7).

However, for more than fifty years, God’s people have referred to the “Lord’s Supper” using both terms: “The Passover” and “The Lord’s Supper.” When evening comes (usually about 7:30 pm, depending on the time zone) on the beginning of the 14th of Abib (or Nisan), Hebrew Calendar, you should have prepared in advance the necessary basins and towels for the foot-washing ceremony, and the necessary amount of wine and unleavened bread. A non-fortified red wine, such as Merlot or Cabernet is preferred. Matzos, or perhaps home-made unleavened bread, should be laid out on a platter or plate, and small cups for pouring the wine. In larger groups the wine is poured into small cups in advance.

The person conducting the ceremony, perhaps the husband or the head-of-household (or an individual observing the ceremony alone), should begin with prayer: Asking God’s blessing on the special evening, remembering Christ’s sacrifice for sin, thanking God for the rich meaning of the symbols Jesus Christ ordained for our annual memorial supper.

Then, turn to and read John 13 verses 1-17. Following the words, “If ye know these things, HAPPY are ye if ye do them,” announce the foot-washing ceremony. Men and women separate, perhaps using a different room, or if impossible, simply face the chairs the opposite direction in the interests of modesty. If three persons, think of each as A, B and C. A washes the feet of B, who washes the feet of C, who then washes the feet of A, so that all perform the ritual of foot-washing as Christ commanded. After drying the feet and replacing socks and shoes, be seated once again. For a single individual, simply wash your own feet.

Turn to and read 1 Corinthians 11:23-24. If you wish, you might also turn to and read Matthew 26:26 and Luke 22:19. All say virtually the same thing.

After reading the scripture, bow your head(s) in prayer and ask God’s blessing on the unleavened bread. Then, solemnly break the bread into small bits and each person present eat a piece of the bread, contemplating the fact that Christ said He is the “bread of life” which came down from heaven; that the bread you are eating will become a PART of you, will be assimilated by your body, even as Christ is to dwell in our innermost being through the Holy Spirit of God.

Then, turn to and read 1 Corinthians 11:25-29. You might also want to read parallel scriptures in Matthew 26:28-29 and Luke 22:20. Then, all bow heads and the leader, or individual by himself or herself, ask God’s blessing over the small cup of wine, acknowledging the deep significance of the shed blood of the “Lamb of God,” Jesus Christ, Who is our Savior; thanking God for His merciful forgiveness; for His grace and pardon and His daily intervention in our lives. Then solemnly drink the wine.

Following this we have traditionally read aloud and expounded on John 14 through 17. For brevity, one may select various passages from these three chapters. Every word is important, however, and is the only account of all that Jesus said to His disciples before they went out to the Mount of Olives (John 18:1) to be betrayed by Judas. The true “Lord’s Prayer” is found in chapter 17. It is the actual prayer Jesus Christ prayed “on the night in which he was betrayed.” This statement is important, for it proves that Jesus Christ was slain in the afternoon of the 14th of Nisan, just as the High Priest was slaying the first of the sacrificial lambs. Notice again 1 Corinthians 11:23.

Finally, after having read the three chapters in John, turn to and read Matthew 26:30. I have always liked to reflect on how Jesus Christ, so heavy with dread over what lay before Him, wanted to enjoy one last song with His disciples. This proves Christ loved singing. It proves they had done such things many times before. Actually, the Greek word says they “sang a Psalm” rather than the word “hymn,” such as is found in modern hymn books.

If a group is present, sing an appropriate hymn, such as one of the Psalms about forgiveness written by Dwight Armstrong. Following the singing of the song, the group disperses. The one in charge should then pour out any left-over wine (that has been blessed; no need to pour out wine which was not specifically set aside to be blessed) and throw away any left-over bread that was blessed.

May God bless each one of us as we observe His solemn Passover in commemoration of the death of our Savior, and may HE make us truly THANKFUL for his gracious forgiveness of all our sins!

Sincerely,

The post The Lord’s Supper (Passover) Instructions first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Jaffa Gate                                                                                                                      Miriam Alster, Flash 90

Police last night arrested four people, two of them journalists, with two goats they apparently planned to sacrifice on the Temple Mount.

The four were arrested following a report received by the police about suspects in possession of goats making their way to the Temple Mount compound in order to sacrifice the goats as a Passover sacrifice.

Police searched for the suspects’ vehicle, and during the night the vehicle was located when it arrived at the Old City near Jaffa Gate. During a search of the vehicle, goats were found in the trunk.

A preliminary investigation revealed that the suspects are a resident of Ofra in his forties, a 17-year-old boy from central Israel and two journalists. All the occupants of the vehicle were detained for interrogation and their equipment was seized.

The two suspects were investigated for offenses of animal abuse and behavior that could disrupt public order, while the two journalists were released later in the night; Police intend to call them for further investigation. Today the two suspects will be brought before a court.

“The Israel Police will not allow any person or person to incite and cause provocations in any way contrary to the law on the Temple Mount, and will act resolutely against every suspect and agent who acts deliberately to provoke and incite, with focus on these days before the holidays of Nissan and Easter,” the police said.

Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/262038

The post Suspects heading to Temple Mount with goats arrested first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Believe it or not, there is no biblical commandment to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ! Instead, there are many commands to solemnly celebrate his death!

Most professing Christians are completely ignorant of this fact.

To hundreds of millions of professing Christians all over the world, “Easter” is either the MOST important “Christian” holiday, or second, behind “Christmas.” Few have ever researched the origins of either celebration. Few know that both are laden with paganism; customs derived from heathens who were sun worshipers, and not from the Bible, or the apostles of Christ.

Jesus Christ would never have allowed His chosen disciples to worship Him by using symbols of sex and fertility, such as rabbits, eggs, mistletoe, little green trees, holly wreaths and the like. Certainly, He would have soundly CON­DEMNED the practice of a “religious” service conducted at SUNRISE, facing the SUN! Such is utterly pagan, and Jesus Christ, in His pre-human state, inspired Jeremiah to write, “LEARN NOT THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN,” while He described the Christmas tree (Jeremiah 10:1-4).

Make no mistake! The resurrection of Jesus Christ was a GREAT EVENT! The fact of Christ’s resurrection represents the very cornerstone of the faith of the apostles; the reason for their deep conviction and conversion; the wellspring of their courage in the face of martyrdom! It was the proof of Christ’s resurrection which caused them to assemble in Jerusalem for that first great moment on Pentecost when God sent audible and visual evidence of His Holy Spirit!

Yet, for all the stupendous significance of the resurrection, there is not one scripture in all the Bible which sets apart the DAY of the resurrection as a day to be appointed for worship; not one “thus saith the Lord” which commands Christians to gather for worship on that day!

In spite of this, the entire “Sunday – Saturday” controversy is based on Catholic doctrine (adopted by almost all Protestants) which states that “Our Lord rose from the dead on the first day of the week.”

Professing Christians know there is no command in the Bible to observe Sunday. They say they are doing it in “commemoration of the resurrection.” But the resurrection was NOT ON SUNDAY.

The Bible Commands Us To Celebrate Christ’s Death

While there are no scriptures commanding Christians to celebrate the moment of Christ’s resurrection, there are many plain ones commanding us to observe, in solemn ceremony, His DEATH on the “tree.”

Paul wrote to the Gentile Christians in Corinth, “For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:

“And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

“After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

“For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he come” (1 Corinthians 11:23-26).

This was not the age-old celebration of the PASSOVER, but a supper held as the nighttime of the fourteenth began, with new and different symbols which Christ had instituted, conducted from 17 to 24 hours prior to the “Feast.” The Feast of the Passover was eaten in the NIGHT at the beginning of the fifteenth of Abib, or Nisan. The lamb, which pictured Christ, was killed in the afternoon of the fourteenth!

Christ CHANGED the symbols of the Passover, setting His disciples an example of a NEW Testament observance Paul later referred to as “The Lord’s Supper.” In ancient Israel, the roast lamb, eaten on the night of the Feast with their shoes on their feet, their staffs in their hands, in haste, symbolized Jesus Christ, the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” The lamb was slain by shedding its blood. The unleavened bread, or the “bread of haste” symbolized getting rid of SIN. These shadows led to Christ. Once the reality had come; once the very Son of God was now about to become the sacrifice for the sins of all mankind, there was no further need to follow shadows. The shadow LED to the stake upon which Christ died. Now, the Savior of all mankind instituted a NEW ceremony. The ancient Israelites did not engage in a foot washing ceremony; did not partake of only a small piece of unleavened bread, or drink a sip of wine. Instead, they ate an entire meal of roast lamb!

When Christ instituted the NEW Testament symbols of the foot washing, the bread and the wine, He commanded His disciples, “For I have given you an example, that you should DO, as I have done unto you!” (John 13:15).

For centuries, God’s called and chosen servants continued to faithfully observe the “Lord’s Supper” (which many continued to call “The Passover”) ON THE FOURTEENTH OF NISAN.

When an APOSTATE church began to IMPOSE the ancient custom of Ishtar (the “h” is silent, so the pronunciation is “Easter”), and command Christians to cease and desist from observing the Lord’s Supper on the fourteenth of Nisan, many thousands continued to do so in defiance of the “Council of Nicaea.”

For centuries, these believing people, faithful to Christ’s commands and His example, were sought out, persecuted, and murdered. The “Quartodeciman Controversy” is documented through many centuries of history; “Quartodeciman” meaning “Fourteenth.”

Thus, God’s true Church continued to follow Christ’s example by observing the symbols of His DEATH. NEVER did the apostles celebrate a sunrise service! NEVER did they observe the dawning of the first day of the week in “celebration of the resurrection.” NEVER did they revel amid symbols of fertility, such as colored eggs and rabbits!

Instead, they gathered to rehearse Christ’s instructions just as he gave them on the “night in which he was betrayed,” reminding themselves, year by year, of the DEATH of the Lord and Savior of all mankind!

The ONLY SIGN That Christ Was The Messiah

The murder-plotting, posturing Pharisees, like many professing Christians today, wanted to see some kind of supernatural “sign,” as proof of Christ’s credentials. Matthew recorded it: “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 seeketh 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 whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:38-40).

The significance of the sign was the precise LENGTH OF TIME Christ would be in the tomb! Think of what this means! Christ was NOT saying that the SIGN of His Messiahship would be the fact of the resurrection, but, instead, the length of time He would be dead, IN THE TOMB!” 

This has caused tremendous controversy, and no end of devious circumventions, human reasonings, evasions, convoluted explanations and outright falsehoods among the so-called “higher critics” and would-be Bible “scholars.” Why? Simply because steeped in the traditions of men, they have clung to their fables surrounding “Easter,” and REJECTED the ONLY SIGN Jesus gave as PROOF that He was, in fact, the Son of God!

None of these would-be scholars will admit he is REJECTING CHRIST! Oh, no, he will use every excuse, every argument, to GET AROUND the plain statement of Christ Himself, and, without knowing it, cling to a FALSE “Christ” of his own imagination, REJECTING the real Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

How do they do this? What reasons do they put forth to get around Christ’s statements?

First, it is obvious that “Good Friday” to “Easter Sunday Morning” cannot fit into Christ’s plain statement that He would be in the tomb for “three days and three nights.”

For, if He was entombed late on “Good Friday,” then Friday sunset to Sabbath sunset is one night and one day; Sabbath sunset to Sunday sunset is two nights and two days, and Sunday sunset to Monday sunset is THREE NIGHTS AND THREE DAYS!

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that something is wrong here!

So, they have decided to say that Christ’s statement was in the Greek language, and that He used a Greek idiom, which meant only “part” of three days and “part” of three nights, or, in other words, just TWO nights, and ONE DAY! Thus, since they claim Christ was buried on “Good Friday” just before sunset, He would have been in the tomb only all night Friday night (which is really not “Friday” at all, but “the Sabbath,” since the days began at sunset), all day “Saturday,” all night “Saturday night” and would have arisen AT SUNRISE on “Easter Sunday Morning!”

But Jesus Christ would not have spoken in Greek to His disciples, who were Galileans; hill-country folk, who spoke Aramaic, a dialect of the Hebrew language which had developed among Jewish captives during the Babylonian captivity!

Also, Jesus said specifically that He would be in the tomb “…AS JONAH WAS three days and three nights!” The book of Jonah was written in HEBREW, not in Greek! The only scriptures extant during the days of Christ and the disciples were the Hebrew scriptures of the Old Testament! The first book of the New Testament — the very book containing Christ’s words about the sign of Jonah, Matthew, was not written until almost twenty long years later; about 55 AD!

There is no “Greek idiom” contained in Jonah!

Did not Christ know the difference between a day and a night? When He presented the ONLY SIGN which He would leave as a perpetual sign of His Divine origins; His Messiahship, would He have used confusing language?

Jesus said, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because heseeth the light of this world.

“But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him” (John 11:9, 10). Clearly, Jesus stated there are twelve hours of daylight, and an equal time of darkness! He was using a spiritual analogy, of course, but it is absolutely PROVED that when Jesus Christ said “three DAYS” He meant three periods of twelve hour daylight, and three periods of equal darkness — three days and three nights!

There are not three periods of twelve hours of daylight between “Good Friday” at sunset and Ishtar(pronounced “Easter” today) Sunday morning! Instead, there are only TWELVE HOURS of daylight — ONE twelve-hour day —the day we call by its pagan name, “Saturday!”

The so-called “higher critics” admit that Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for seventy-two hours. Jesus said He would be in the tomb for the exact same amount of time! WHY?

For the very important reason that to remain in the tomb for such a protracted period of time would remove any last vestige of doubt about whether Christ had truly DIED or not! When Jesus resurrected Lazarus, He was warned that Lazarus had been in the grave for four days and nights, and warned that there would be a terrible odor, for his body would have begun to decompose by this time!

Notice the account. Christ had arrived at the tomb where Lazarus had been buried when “Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days” (John 11:39).

All knew that Jesus Christ had been mercilessly, horribly beaten with a “scourge,” like a “cat o’ nine tails,” or a lash with bits of stone or metal woven into the tips! His flesh had been ripped and torn! God’s Word says, “Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.

“As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men [so much so that He didn’t look human!]

“So shall he sprinkle many nations [from the blood dripping out of many wounds!]; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider” (Isaiah 52:13-15).

In the moving prophecy about Christ’s sufferings found in Psalms 22, it says, “My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

“For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

“I may tell [count] all my bones [they had flayed His flesh from His ribs!]: they look and stare upon me.

“They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.

“But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me” (Psalms 22:15- 19). A Roman soldier jammed a spear into Christ’s side, at which time He cried out, and died! Christ died by the shedding of His blood from multiple lash wounds and a spear thrust!

It was critical for ABSOLUTE PROOF that He was the Son of God that He remain in the “heart of the earth,” for exactly three days and three nights! Jesus Christ said so!

The Bible Definition Of Days and Nights

Jesus Christ told His disciples that He would “rise the THIRD DAY!” Now, what is the Bible definition of that third day?

“And God [Elohim; more than one. See John 1:1-10] said, Let there be light: and there was light.

“And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

“And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening [darkness] and the morning [light] were [together!] the first day” (Genesis 1:3-5). The Hebrew word for “day” is Yom. It means a normal twenty-four hour day, commencing with sunset, with approximately twelve hours of darkness, and twelve hours of light.

Notice further biblical proof about the meaning of “days” in the only scriptures extant when Christ made His prediction from the book of Jonah. Esther asked all the Jews to fast for “three days.” Notice what she said: “Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer,

“Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.

“So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther had commanded him.

“Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king’s house, over against the king’s house: and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, over against the gate of the house” (Esther 4:16-17; 5:1).

Just as in Christ’s day, the expression “on the third day” meant when the full period of three days and three nights had been completed!

Now you have the BIBLE definition of the meaning of three days and three nights!

Even a little child in the first few grades of primary school can understand this!

Christ had said, “After three days I will rise again!” When His murderers reminded the Roman authorities of this statement, His tomb was not only sealed, but an armed guard was required to remain there! “Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate,

“Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.

“Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.

“Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can.

“So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch” (Matthew 27:62-66).Notice that statement carefully! It was the DAY AFTER THE PREPARATION, which some have mistakenly assumed was the weekly Sabbath! As you shall see, it was NOT the preparation day for the weekly Sabbath, but the preparation day prior to the ANNUAL Sabbath of the FIRST DAY OF UNLEAVENED BREAD; an“high day Sabbath!” Your Bible says so!

Jesus had also said, “Destroy this temple [referring to His body], and IN THREE DAYS I will raise it up … But He spake of the temple of His body” (John 2:19-21).

Obviously, from several absolute proofs, the expression “in three days” does NOT mean AFTER ONLY TWO DAYS, but during a part of the third day. No, it means “after three full days” as we have seen!

The so-called “higher critics” make no mention of the appeal by the Jews to Pilate! WHY? Simply because they did not ask that the sepulchre be made sure for only “part of three days and three nights!” Nor did they speak using a “Greek idiom!” No, they remembered that Christ had specifically stated that He would be three days and three nights in the tomb!

What Was The TIME OF DAY When Christ Was Buried?

Can we know the time of day when Christ was entombed? For if we can determine the time of day, all we need do is count seventy two hours from that time to determine the exact time of the resurrection!

We have seen, from Christ’s own words; from the Bible definition of the number of hours in a day; from The Jews’ own fears and determination to set a watch for three days over the tomb that Christ did NOT say He would be only TWO NIGHTS AND ONE DAY in the tomb, but THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS!

Anyone who refuses to accept this ONLY SIGN of His true Messiahship is REJECTING THE REAL JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH and accepting a false “Christ,” who never existed; a myth!

Now, notice what Mark wrote: “For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day” (Mark 9:31). The duration of time Christ expressed could not be one second PAST 72 hours for Christ to rise from the dead “the third day!” Therefore, it could not have been from Friday sunset to “Easter” sunrise, which would be only 36 hours; two nights, and one day!

Christ was quoted by the Jews [who were speaking HEBREW, not in idiomatic Greek!] as having said, “After three days I will rise again!”

This cannot possibly be figured in less than 72 hours!

John wrote, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

“Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?

“But he spake of the temple of his body.

“When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said” (John 2:19-22). This conversation was in Hebrew; the Aramaic dialect, NOT in “Greek idiom!”

Unlike the “higher critics” today, the disciples REMEMBERED exactly what Jesus had said, and it was because of this, and His many appearances to them that “they BELIEVED.”

To be raised up IN three days cannot be MORE than 72 hours. Therefore, the length of time Christ was in the tomb could not have been LESS than 72 hours, and it could not have been MORE than 72 hours! It had to be 72 hours, EXACTLY!

Now, THINK! For the resurrection to have been AT SUNRISE, then the BURIAL had to be AT SUNRISE, 72 hours earlier!

But Christ was NOT buried at sunrise, but just before SUNSET on the day called “the preparation,” (Matthew 27:62; Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54).

It was soon after the “ninth hour,” or at about three o’clock in the afternoon when Jesus “cried out” loudly (Matthew 27:46-50; Mark 15:34-37; Luke 23:44-46). The preparation day would end at sunset, according to Bible reckoning (Leviticus 23:32).

Joseph of Aramathaea came to claim the body of Jesus and accomplish the burial at some time after 3:00 PM, but before sunset on that “preparation” day, which was the day before a Sabbath!

“When the even was come, there came a rich man of Aramathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple:

“He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered.

“And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,

“And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.

“And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre.

“Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate,

“Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again” (Matthew 27:57-63).

Now notice the parallel account in Luke’s chronology: “This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus.

“And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.

“And that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on.

“And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid.

“And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment” (Luke 23:52-56).

The laws required the Jews to bury a dead body BEFORE A SABBATH DAY began! Therefore, haste was made to bury the body of Jesus BEFORE SUNSET on that preparation day. John wrote, “There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand” (John 19:42).

Jesus Christ was buried before sunset on the same day He died, in a tomb very near to the “place of the skull” called “Golgotha.”

Since the burial of Jesus Christ occurred some time after 3:00 P.M., and before sunset on this “preparation day,” it follows that He was resurrected at the SAME TIME OF DAY exactly 72 hours later!

IF He was buried on a “Friday,” (which He was not, as we shall soon see) then He would have remained in the tomb all of Friday night, all of Saturday daytime, all of Saturday night, all of Sunday daytime, all of Sunday night, until late in the afternoon on a MONDAY!

But Christ did not remain in the tomb until Monday!

Clearly, the tomb was EMPTY when the disciples came to see it while it was YET DARK, “as it BEGAN TO DAWN toward the first day of the week!”

Notice Luke’s account of the resurrection: “Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.

“And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.

“And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.

“And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:

“And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?

“He is not here, but is risen [obviously, this is past tense; He had already risen!]: remember how he spakeunto you when he was yet in Galilee,

“Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again” (Luke 24:1-7).

It was in the pre-dawn darkness when Christ’s followers first approached the empty tomb! It was not at sunrise! Notice John’s account: “The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

“Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.

“Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre.

“So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.

“And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in.

“Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,

“And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.

“Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.

“For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead” (John 20:1-9).

Since Christ was buried on a late afternoon, some time just prior to sunset on a “preparation” day, and since He plainly staked His claim to divine office; His very Messiahship, on the precise length of time He would be in the tomb, and since He HAD ALREADY RISEN prior to the time the disciples came to the empty tomb while it was yet dark, then Jesus Christ MUST have been placed in the tomb on a WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON!

But wait! How is this possible?

Haven’t we read, time and again, that it was the “preparation” day? And isn’t the “preparation” day the day before the SABBATH? And does not the Sabbath correspond to our weekly “Satur­day?”

The answer is found in the fact that God also instituted seven annual Sabbaths, or “high days,” to picture His plan of salvation. All seven are laid out in Leviticus 23. Notice what God’s Word says about these feast days of God: “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

“Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.

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

“These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.

“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” (Leviticus 23:1-7). This holy day could fall on whichever day of the week happened to be the fifteenth day of the month called “Abib,” whether or not it was the seventh day, or the weekly Sabbath. It was called one of God’s “Sabbaths,” and was celebrated as a special “high day” Sabbath.

Notice another example: “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation” (Leviticus 23:24).

Regardless as to which day of the week upon which the first day of the seventh month fell; whether a Monday or a Thursday, it was called a “Sabbath!”

Christ Our Passover Is Sacrificed For Us

For centuries, God’s people had observed the annual Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread. The paschal lamb, which typified Christ, was sacrificed in the afternoon, which was on the “preparation” day for the FEAST, which was (and is) the first day of Unleavened Bread!

This annual high day Sabbath is the first annual holy day of the year, immediately following the Passover. Christ was killed by a spear’s thrust, following a horrible beating, in which skin and flesh was flayed from His body! He died at the same moment the High Priest slaughtered the first sacrificial lamb! From the time of the Exodus, (Exodus 12) this ceremony had been accomplished on the fourteenth of Abib “at even,” meaning just before sunset “at the going away of the sun.” The lamb was then roasted, and the FEAST was eaten in the nighttime of the fifteenth of Abib.

God commanded Moses, “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:

“And ye 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.

“And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.

“And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

“Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.

“And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire” (Exodus 12:5- 10).

Millions of people who observe pagan Ishtar (pronounced “Easter”) are absolutely IGNORANT of the events surrounding the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. They know NOTHING about the Days of Unleavened Bread which immediately followed!

Because of this, they do not know that the “Sabbath” which was coming on and the “preparation” day on which Christ died which caused the haste with which He was buried occurred on Wednesday and Thursday!

That Thursday was the first annual Sabbath of the year; the FEAST day of Unleavened Bread after the Jews slaughtered the lambs and kids in the ancient Passover ceremony! The lambs and kids were slaughtered in the afternoon of the FOURTEENTH of the first month!

Now, notice John’s eyewitness account of which day of the week it was when Christ was slain: “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost [exhaled; breathed His last].

“The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, (for that Sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away” (John 19:30,31). Of course! This HIGH day Sabbath was the ANNUAL Sabbath; the first day of Unleavened Bread! It was followed by the day we call “Friday,” then “Saturday,” or the WEEKLY Sabbath!

Count back from the time of Christ’s resurrection, late on a weekly Sabbath afternoon, and you come to late Wednesday afternoon! Wednesday was the “preparation day” prior to the FEAST day on that Thursday, which was the fifteenth of Nisan, or Abib!

The calendar proves that the only year in a sequence of years when the first day of Unleavened Bread fell on a Thursday was in 31 AD! But the so-called “scholars” WILL NOT ever choose 31 AD, even though it is the ONLY year in which all the parameters FIT!

Instead, they will choose the years 29, 30, 32 or 33, deliberately avoiding 31 AD!

A little simple research proves that Christ was born in “4 BC” according to the flawed Roman calendar. He was exactly 33 1/2 when He was killed. He was thirty when His public ministry began. The prophecies stated He was to perform a seven year ministry, and was to be “cut off in the middle of the week!” Thus, not only was He cut off in the exact middle of His seven year ministry, leaving another three and one half years to be fulfilled AFTER His second coming (See Isaiah 66:19-23), and He was also cut off in the MIDDLE OF THE WEEK!

The prophecy says, “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate” (Daniel 9:27). The sacrifices and oblations CEASED for Christians when Christ rose from the dead, for now the reality which had cast the shadow had come. There was no longer any need for a “schoolmas­ter” to lead toward Christ, for Christ had now come in the flesh!

Christ came to “confirm the covenant” by preaching repentance and salvation; the terms and conditions of the NEW covenant (Jeremiah 31:31) for three and one half years.

Notice what Dr. Bullinger says in his Appendix concerning the events surrounding the crucifix­ion: “That Sabbath and the high day of John 19:31, was the ‘holy convocation,’ the first day of the feast, which quite overshadowed the ordinary weekly Sabbath … this great Sabbath, having been mistaken from the earliest times for the weekly Sabbath, has led to all the confusion … We have therefore the following facts furnished for our sure guidance:

“1. The ‘high day’ of John 19:31 was the first day of the feast.

“2. The ‘first day of the feast’ was on the 15^th day of Nisan.

“3. The 15^th day of Nisan commenced at sunset on what we should call the 14^th.

“4. ‘Six days before the Passover’ [John 12:1] takes us back to the 9^th day of Nisan.

“5. After two days is the Passover’ [Matt. 26:2; Mark 14:1] takes us to the 13^th day of Nisan.

“6. ‘The first day of the week,’ was the day of the resurrection [Matt. 28:1, &c.], was from our Saturday sunset to our Sunday sunset. This fixes the days of the week, just as the above fix the days of the month, for,

“7. Reckoning back from this, ‘three days and three nights’ [Matt. 12:40], we arrive at the day of the burial, which must have been before sunset, on the 14^th of Nisan; i.e. before our Wednesday sunset.

“Therefore Wednesday, Nisan 14^th [commenc­ing on the Tuesday at sunset], was ‘the preparation day’, on which the crucifixion took place: for all four Gospels definitely say that this was the day on which the Lord was buried [before our Wednesday sunset], because it was the preparation [day] that the bodies should not remain on the cross [Greek: Stauro, meaning an upright pale] on the Sabbath day, ‘for that Sabbath day was a high day,’ and, therefore, not the ordinary seventh day, or weekly Sabbath. See John 19:31” (The Companion Bible, Bullinger, Appendix 156, p. 180).

It is because people have blindly assumed that the “preparation day” was a Friday that they thought Christ was not buried until late on a Friday, and thus remained in the tomb only two nights and one daylight period!

Did Jesus Christ Fulfill His Sign?

Unless Jesus Christ was EXACTLY the length of time in the tomb He said he would be, you have no Savior!Jesus staked His Messiahship on being exactly three days and three nights in the tomb!

For centuries, because fallible men, many of  whom were bitten with antisemitism, and who desperately wanted to rid the apostate church of all things “Jewish,” claimed they were worship­ing on SUNDAY in “honor of the resurrection!”

But Christ DID NOT RISE ON SUNDAY! The angels told the two Marys, “He is NOT HERE!” They said “HE IS RISEN!” They did not use the present tense that He was just then “rising,” but the past tense, saying He had already risen!

There is simply no question about the days of the month, the days of the week, or the hours of those days in which these MOST IMPORTANT events occurred!

Paul wrote, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

“By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

“And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

“And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:

“After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.

“After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.

“And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time” (1 Corinthians 15:1-8).

Paul said “…according to the scriptures.”

Paul MAY have known about the earliest gospels, but remember, the only “scriptures” extant during Paul’s day were those of the “Old Testament.” Paul had to be including Christ’s reference to Jonah, and the fact that he was exactly “three days and three nights” in the belly of the great fish, as well as referring to Christ’s statements which were faithfully recorded by the apostles.

The apostles believed because they saw the living proof, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, now GLORIFIED; able to appear and disappear at will; able to materialize within a room enclosed by stone walls! They were so CONVICTED by the proofs they saw that many of them were martyred for their faith! Men do not go willingly to their deaths by crucifixion, burning, or beheading because they believe in a hoax!

Now, notice one final proof! Only the Fenton translation of the English from the Greek takes note of the fact that the word for “Sabbath” in Matthew 28:1 is in the plural! In a footnote to this text in his translation, he says, “The Greek original is in the plural; Sabbaths!”

Of course! There were TWO Sabbaths that week; the annual HIGH day Sabbath, the FEAST, which fell on Thursday, and the regular weekly Sabbath, which fell on the day we call “Saturday.”

Yes, believe it or not, the plain truth is the resurrection was NOT on Sunday!

Jesus Christ commanded His disciples, and He commands US, today, to observe the symbols of His DEATH each year (1 Corinthians 11:23-30) at the “Lord’s Supper.” He told His disciples, “HAPPY are ye if ye do these things.”

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The post Believe It or Not-The Resurrection Was NOT on Sunday! first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

When God commanded Israel to observe the first Passover it was an utterly unique occasion in all history. The first Passover was a monumental historical occurrence; an absolutely unique event which had never happened previously, and which has never happened since.

For centuries, Israel had been a nation of slaves. Knowledge of annual seasons, the weekly cycle, the seventh day Sabbath had become submerged in a tidal wave of paganism; they were completely ignorant of God’s sacred calendar; Almighty God had to reveal to them the months of the year, the annual holy days and their deep significance, as well as the weekly Sabbath.

Notice, “And the Eternal 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.” God called the name of the first month “the month of green ears.” Its name was Abib (Exodus 13:4) and was later called Nisan (Nehemiah 2:1; Esther 3:7).

This marked the beginning of the sacred year of the Hebrew calendar, commencing with the month of spring harvest.

The Israelites were instructed to single out an unblemished lamb or kid (Exodus 12:3-5) from their flocks, keeping it “…until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening” (Exodus 12:6).

Much controversy has occurred over the meaning of the phrase “in the evening” from a Hebrew expression meaning “between the two evenings.” This will be thoroughly explained later.

God instructed “And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door posts of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.

“Eat not of it raw, nor sodden [boiled] at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.

“And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire” (Exodus 12:6-10).

Obviously, since they were to eat the flesh “in that night” (that is, the night following the slaying of the lamb “in the evening”) the lamb had to be killed a sufficient period of time prior to its actual eating to allow for its preparation according to God’s explicit instructions.

God told Moses and Aaron to instruct the Israelites that this unusual meal was to be eaten as if in great haste, with trepidation, as if poised for immediate flight!

It was the usual practice to allow an animal to hang in a cool place after being slaughtered; the aging and then the butchering of the meat perhaps coming several days or even a week or more later depending upon the climate.

Thus, the eating of this lamb (or kid of the goats) within only hours of its slaughtering, was obviously a very hasty meal; something unusual, symbolizing a meal eaten during a time of emergency.

The Israelites were told “And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hands; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Eternal’s Passover.

“For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment; I am the Eternal.

“And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are: and when I see the blood, I will PASS OVER you, and the plagues shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:11-13).

The girding of the loins was accomplished by tucking the skirt-like apparel worn during that day into a leathern girdle, or thick belt. It was always done just prior to running, or walking rapidly. It was an unusual command to eat the meal with their “shoes on their feet,” for shoes were not generally worn indoors. Such a custom prevails to this day in Middle Eastern and Oriental countries. Foot gear was worn out of doors, but, upon entering a dwelling, was left outside, or in a foyer. As is evidenced in the later custom of “foot washing” (in connection with the celebration of Jesus Christ of His last supper) servants would provide water and wash the feet of important guests, who would then slip their feet into slippers or sandals, or perhaps go barefoot on the skins or carpet on the floor of the domicile.

A staff, cane, or walking stick would normally be left near the door, or perhaps in the foyer. However, they were explicitly commanded to eat this meal one-handed – with their walking staffs in their hands – as a symbol of great haste!

Consider all the elements of this meal: It was to be eaten very soon after the slaughter of the animal (extremely unusual); their canes or walking sticks in their hands (very unusual); and they were not to take time to visit, enjoy a drawn-out meal like a family occasion, but were to eat the food quickly (“ye shall eat it in haste!”) all which showed an extremely hastily-eaten meal done as if in trepidation, prior to immediate flight!

As will be seen later, the chronological events leading up to and concluding in the famous “last supper” of the Lord Jesus Christ are positively established. There is no question whatever concerning the time of the “Lord’s supper”; its relationship to the Passover, and the time when the paschal lambs were slaughtered.

However, because some have assumed the Israelites did not exit Egypt on the same night of the eating of the paschal meal – after the “passing over” of the death angel – ; because it is further assumed that the Israelites spent the entirety of the following day “spoiling” the Egyptians and it is further falsely assumed that the Exodus commenced the following night, many have become confused about when the Exodus occurred, and when the paschal meal took place.

For example, those who assumed they were partaking of the New Testament symbols of the body and the blood of Jesus Christ (unleavened bread and wine) coincident with the ancient Passover supper began to believe there were eight days of unleavened bread, not seven! Their confusion stems from their assumption that the New Testament observance of Christ – His famous “last supper” -coincided exactly with the ancient Egyptian paschal meal! But, as you shall see clearly, it did not!

Following this assumption, many have partaken of the symbols of unleavened bread and wine on the Passover (Lord’s supper), and then wondered about the custom of putting leavening out of their homes on the following day. Having once eaten unleavened bread in connection with the ceremonies commemorating Christ’s death, they feel “strange” eating anything leavened on the following daylight part of the fourteenth of Nisan – prior to the actual beginning of the SEVEN days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Some have said, “But it doesn’t feel ‘right’ to eat hotcakes the next morning, or a cheeseburger the next afternoon, after we have already eaten unleavened bread on the night of the Passover!”

Simply because they do not understand the clear difference between the time of celebrating the ancient Passover in Egypt and Christ’s last supper – a difference of around seventeen to twenty four hours – a vast difference in ceremony, symbols, and typology, they mistakenly have pangs of conscience from eating anything leavened on the daylight part of the fourteenth of Nisan – hours before God says the Days of Unleavened Bread are to commence.

But God said “seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread!” He further said “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, UNTIL the one and twentieth day of the month at even!” (Exodus 12:18). Obviously, if you count inclusively (commencing with the fourteenth day – meaning at its beginning) you are dealing with eight days!

But if you are commencing the eating of unleavened bread “at even on the fourteenth, meaning just before the going down of the sun; meaning that your meal, while it may have commenced just barely before sunset, continues on into the evening hours, or the BEGINNING of the fifteenth, then there is no problem whatever! You have SEVEN full days and perhaps a couple of hours – not eight days.

The “problem” for many sincere persons was in their misunderstanding of the truly New Testament character of Christ’s famous “last supper”!

That there are only seven days of unleavened bread is perfectly clear. (Exodus 12:15, 19).

That the ancient Israelites were to eat the paschal lamb and the unleavened bread “IN THAT NIGHT” (Exodus 12:8), meaning on the beginning of the fifteenth is also clear! To understand the sequence of events on the very first Passover, one has but to read the scriptures carefully, comparing all relevant scriptures, and avoid erroneous assumptions. Now, from the pages of your Bible, let’s see what happened during that first Passover; let’s come to understand WHEN the exodus occurred!

Between The Two Evenings!

God instructed the Israelites, “And ye shall keep it [the paschal lamb] up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening… and they shall eat the flesh in that night…” (Exodus 6-8).

Wide divergencies of opinions have obtained resulting from the use of the Hebrew expression “in the evening” which, technically, means “between the two evenings.” Some, including Lightfoot, took the expression to mean after the going down of the sun, but prior to full dark. If they were in error, they had thus placed the slaying of the paschal lamb and the eating of the Passover meal at the close of the thirteenth, and at the beginning of the fourteenth! Remember, God begins the days with sunset. Thus, if they were to kill the paschal lamb on the fourteenth “between the two evenings,” and IF “between the two evenings” meant after sunset but prior to full dark, then the paschal lamb would have been eaten in the late evening after the thirteenth, just after the beginning of the fourteenth!

Speaking of the precise meaning of the phrase “between the two evenings,” Kitto’s Encyclopedia of Biblical Literature says “Tradition… interprets the phrase between the two evenings to mean from afternoon to the disappearing of the sun, the first evening being from the time when the sun begins to decline from its vertical or noontime point toward the west; and the second from its going down and vanishing out of sight which is the reason why the daily sacrifice might be killed at 12:30 p.m. on a Friday (Mishna, Pesachim, v. 1; Maimonides, Hilchoth, Korban, Pesach., 1.4). But as the paschal lamb was slain after the daily sacrifice, it generally took place from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. We should have deemed it superfluous to add, that such faithful followers of Jewish tradition as Sandia, Rashi, Kimchi, Ralbag, etc., espoused this definition of the ancient Jewish canons, were it not for the assertion which is made in some of the best Christian commentaries and which is repeated in the excellent article Passover in Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, that ‘Jarchi and Kimchi hold that the two evenings were the time immediately before and immediately after sunset so that the point of time at which the sun sets divides them.’ Now Rashi most distinctively declares, ‘From the sixth hour (12 o’clock) and upwards is called between the two evenings because the sun begins to set for the evening. Hence, it appears to me that the phrase between the two evenings denotes the hours between the evening of the day and the evening of the night. The evening of the day is from the beginning of the seventh hour (immediately after noontime), when the evening shadows begin to lengthen, whilst the evening of the night is the beginning of the night’ (Commentary on Exodus 12:6). Kimchi says almost literally the same thing: ‘Between the two evenings is from the time when the sun begins to incline towards the west, which is from the sixth hour (12 o’clock) and upwards. It is called between the two evenings because there are two evenings, for from the time that the sun begins to decline is one evening, and the other evening is after the sun has gone down, and it is the space between which is meant by between the two evenings’ (Lexicon s. v.)…

“Eustathius, in a note on the seventeenth book of the odyssey, shows that the Greeks too held that there were two evenings, one which they called the latter evening at the close of the day; and the other the former evening, which commenced immediately after noon” (Vid. Bochart Hierozoic, Part I, lib. ii. cap. I, oper., tom. ii. p.559, edit. 1712).

Now, let’s examine the irrefutable internal biblical proof about what time of day is meant by the phrase “between the two evenings,” translated “in the evening” in Exodus 12:6.

God said, “…and they shall eat the flesh in that night” (Exodus 12:8) proving that the killing of the lamb (or kid) took place a few hours prior to the going down of the sun. The paschal meal was concluded in the early hours of the fifteenth of Nisan (within only a few hours after sunset). “SEVEN DAYS shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day shall ye put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day (obviously counting inclusively; seven days in all), that soul shall be cutoff from Israel” (Exodus 12:15). To embrace only seven days, the Days of Unleavened Bread HAD TO BEGIN ON THE FIFTEENTH, and the process of putting leavening out of their houses had to be completed ON THE FOURTEENTH, prior to the preparation for the paschal meal.

Otherwise, if the original Passover had taken place just after the thirteenth, just at the beginning of the fourteenth, you have EIGHT DAYS of unleavened bread!

But the Bible says there were to be only SEVEN DAYS of Unleavened Bread!

Notice further proof: “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month AT EVEN, he shall eat unleavened bread, UNTIL the one and twentieth day of the month at even.” If you begin counting WITH the fourteenth or at the end of the thirteenth, including the whole day, look what you have:

• Fourteenth Nisan First Day of Unleavened Bread
  
• Fifteenth Nisan Second Day of Unleavened Bread
  
• Sixteenth Nisan Third Day of Unleavened Bread
  
• Seventeenth Nisan Fourth Day of Unleavened Bread
  
• Eighteenth Nisan Fifth Day of Unleavened Bread
  
• Nineteenth Nisan Sixth Day of Unleavened Bread
  
• Twentieth Nisan Seventh Day of Unleavened Bread
  
• Twenty-first Nisan Eighth Day of Unleavened Bread

Do you see? It follows that the expression “on the fourteenth day of the month at even” means AT THE END OF THE FOURTEENTH, just as the fifteenth is about to BEGIN, or there would be EIGHT days of Unleavened Bread.

The first Day of Unleavened Bread is the FIFTEENTH, not the fourteenth.

But the paschal meal was to be in preparation, including the putting away of leavening, and the killing of the lamb (or kid) very late on the fourteenth! Therefore, the Israelite’s homes would be unleavened for a full SEVEN DAYS, plus only a few hours, late on the fourteenth, prior to the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

God said, “SEVEN DAYS shall there be no leaven found in your houses” (Exodus 12:19).

Notice further proof: “Observe the month of Abib [green ears], and keep the Passover unto the Eternal thy God: for in the month Abib the Eternal thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt BY NIGHT. Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the Passover unto the Eternal thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the Eternal shall choose to place His name there.

“Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; SEVEN DAYS shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt IN HASTE:… and there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days; neither shall there anything of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day AT EVEN remain all night until the morning.”

Here is further proof that the sacrificing of the lamb was LATE ON THE FOURTEENTH, just before the going down of the sun beginning the fifteenth – which was the first day of seven days of unleavened bread.

Notice, God said nothing should remain of the flesh they had sacrificed – when? After the thirteenth, at the beginning of the fourteenth, perhaps 27 hours BEFORE the fifteenth, or the first day of unleavened bread? NO! – which they had sacrificed, “THE FIRST DAY [OF THE FEAST – OF THE SEVEN!] AT EVEN remain all night until the morning!” (Deuteronomy 16:4).

When Was The Exodus?

Much confusion has existed in the minds of many over just when the exodus from Egypt occurred because of a false teaching about the “spoiling” of the Egyptians and a misunderstanding over the command to remain indoors that night of the plague against the firstborn, and the actual passing-over of the death angel.

Various arguments have been presented attempting to justify the position that the original Egyptian Passover was identical in frame of time with the “last supper” observed by Jesus Christ with His disciples, i.e., at the beginning of the FOURTEENTH of Abib!

The Most important arguments set forth to justify this belief are:

(1) The Israelites were told not to go out of their doors “until the morning.” Thus, even though the death angel had already passed over the houses of the Israelites at midnight; even though the death angel had already slain countless thousands of the firstborn of Egypt; even though Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron by night, shortly after midnight, and were URGENT upon the Israelites that they leave then, it is believed by some that the Israelites staunchly refused to cross over the threshholds of their doorways until the daylight hours of the following “morning,” meaning the daylight part of the FOURTEENTH!

(2) Communication would have been very difficult. Perhaps more than TWO MILLION Israelites would have exited Egypt, on foot. Since no mass communication media existed, it would have been impossible to marshal such a force, scattered as they were throughout the land of Egypt, then commence a forced nighttime march within hours after the slaying of the firstborn.

(3) God prophesied that the Israelitish women would “spoil” (the erroneous phrase “borrow from” appears in the King James version) the Egyptians of jewelry of all sorts, and would therefore “take wages from” or “plunder” the Egyptians. It is argued they scarcely could have done this in haste, only moments after hearing of the death of the firstborn, and that, in any case, Egyptian women would hardly have given away their personal jewelry within moments or hours after the death of their own sons, especially to the very individuals whom they held responsible!

At first blush, these arguments seem cogent.

Especially, if one has reasoned from the obviously unmistakable fact that Jesus Christ of Nazareth observed His last Passover or the “last supper” (referred to by the apostle Paul as “the Lord’s supper.” 1 Corinthians 11:20) after the going down of the sun on the thirteenth, or at the beginning of the FOURTEENTH!

But this necessitated the assumption that by the time of Christ, the Jews were observing the Passover ON THE WRONG DAY!

However, such a supposition is devastating to arguments set forth by theologians who present a strong case for the weekly Sabbath, offering as supportive evidence the fact that time could not have been “lost,” because to the Jews were given the oracles of God, the sacred calendar, and the knowledge of the weekly Sabbath! It is argued that it would have been impossible for a scattered race, numbering into the millions of human beings, to have all “forgotten” the weekly Sabbath or the weekly cycle at the same time!

How ludicrous it would have been for Jesus Christ to have missed the opportunity to straighten out His own disciples, and Christians for all time, on the fact that the Pharisees and Sadducees were observing the Passover on the wrong day! But no, Christ told His disciples that these leaders of the Jewish religious community “sat in Moses’ seat” and urged His disciples to obey the theological edicts of such spiritual leaders, even if they did not emulate “their works.”

It is true that there were chapters in history when the Israelitish nation, as a whole, abandoned the practice of the observance of God’s annual holy days. It is equally true that, upon restoration of such knowledge, they were meticulously careful with regard to the date.

No, the Jews did not forget the correct date for the Passover.

Now, let’s investigate each of these arguments in depth.

(I) “The Israelites were told not to go out of their doors ‘until the morning,’ so even though the death angel had already passed over the houses of the Israelites; even though countless thousands of the firstborn of Egypt had already been slain, the Israelites would have staunchly refused to cross their thresholds until the daylight hours of the following morning.” But it is clear that the entire tableau of the paschal supper is rendered completely artificial and unnecessary if this assumption if true.

Remember, the Israelites went out of Egypt BY NIGHT!

“Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover unto the Eternal thy God: for in the month of Abib the Eternal thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night!” (Deuteronomy 16:1).

We know, then, unequivocally and without a shadow of a doubt, that the Israelites first exited their hovels in Goshen to journey from “Rameses to Succoth” (Numbers 33:4, 5) BY NIGHT!

Remember, God begins the days at sunset. Thus, the nighttime portion of a day is the first part of the day, commencing the previous sunset. Now, on what day of the month of Abib did the Israelites depart Rameses?

“And they departed from Rameses in the first month (Abib), on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow AFTER THE PASSOVER the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians” (Numbers 33:3).

Thus, it is clear they went out of Egypt ON THE FIFTEENTH, and AT NIGHT! That means they exited Egypt sometime during the nighttime hours of the fifteenth of Abib, “on the morrow” following the passing over of the death angel!

Notice the language of the original Passover instructions: “And ye 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 [of the fourteenth!]. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door posts of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.

“And they shall eat the flesh in that night [AFTER sundown, during the dark hours of the late evening, following the sacrificing, or killing of the lamb ‘at even’ meaning late on the fourteenth], roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

“Eat not of it raw, nor sodden [boiled] at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.

“And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.

“And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hands; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Eternal’s Passover” (Exodus 12:6-11).

To kill, prepare, and eat a hasty dinner of roast lamb would require at least a few hours. It would be difficult for hundreds of thousands to do so in less time, especially when the killing of the paschal lamb involved some degree of ceremony, such as selecting a killing ground, carefully gathering the spilled blood in basins, going through the ritual of dipping branches of hyssop into the basin, carefully painting the door posts and lintels with the blood.

The animals were only to be “field dressed,” not completely butchered; notice that they were to be roast with “the head and the purtenance thereof” meaning that the animals were not to have been carefully quartered, or butchered in any fashion, but roast whole.

Since the killing was to take place “in the evening” or the waning hours of the afternoon, and the roasting to begin soon thereafter, it would have been but a matter of a couple of hours or so after starting the roasting fires that the animals would have been ready for hasty consumption.

Here was the enactment of a great emergency! They were to eat (in the case of males who carried walking staffs) with their shoes on their feet, their skirts tucked into their leathern girdles as if ready for instant flight, and to eat one-handed, with their staff in their hand, and partaking of the roast meat with the other hand! They were to eat it in trepidation, in fear, and in great haste!

Notice further, “And it came to pass, that at midnight (on the FIFTEENTH!) the Eternal smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.

“And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

“And he called for Moses and Aaron by night (note! The death angel had already passed! Now, even though Moses and Aaron had been included in the command that they were not to go out of their doors until ‘the morning’ following the passing of the death angel to insure they were not themselves slain, Pharaoh calls for these two leaders, as representatives of all the people. They obeyed, for the danger was now passed-over! They exited their homes, and went to Pharaoh’s palace!) and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the Eternal as you have said.

“Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone, and bless me also.

“And the Egyptians were URGENT upon the people, that they might send them out of the land IN HASTE; for they said, We all be dead men.

“And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.

“And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed (had borrowed; see Exodus 3:21-22; 11:2) of the Egyptians’ jewels of silver, and jewels of gold and raiment;

“And the Eternal gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians so that they lent (gladly gave) unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.

“And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children.

“And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.

“And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were THRUST OUT of Egypt, and COULD NOT TARRY, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual!” (Exodus 12:29-39).

Here was the logical sequence to their enactment of a meal eaten in great trepidation, as if poised for instant flight! For, within a few hours after midnight, they were IN GREAT FLIGHT! Notice the words of the holy scriptures! The Egyptians were “urgent” upon them. They were “thrust out.” “Neither could they tarry.” “They had prepared themselves no victuals.” They were to eat “in haste.”

As you can see from this language, it makes no sense whatsoever to insist that the Israelites spent the daylight period following the night of the passing over of the death angel, “spoiling” the Egyptians during a full day and then begin the Exodus the following night!

Almighty God means what He says!

God did not intend that the Israelites “playact” in preparing an extremely hasty meal, eating it with their loins girded as if in preparation for instant flight; virtually eating it with one hand, while the other clutched a walking stick or cane; eating it in trepidation and fear as if they were to leave at any moment – and doing all of this in vain, knowing full well they were going to spend the entire daylight period of the following day, more than twelve long hours, in “spoiling” the Egyptians!

No, the language used in scripture such as being “thrust out,” and the Egyptians being “urgent” upon them to leave – the plain fact that they had “prepared themselves no victual” when there would have been plenty of time to do so had they remained alt during the following day, PROVES, conclusively, that the Israelites left Rameses during the early pre-dawn hours of the nighttime on the fifteenth of Abib!

Obviously, the command not to exit their doorways “until the morning” was lifted after the death angel had passed! The plague was now over. Moses and Aaron, as a type of the whole nation of Israel, were hastily summoned to Pharaoh’s palace. Though they were indoors, in their own respective homes, having eaten of the paschal lamb as had all the others, with the blood clearly sprinkled on the door posts and lintels of their houses, it was now perfectly safe to exit their homes, since the death angel had now passed over and was gone from the land!

There is a further possibility to be considered. The expression “brought you out” is figurative, rather than literal; metaphorical, rather than chronological. While it is most logical, according to all the language of the Bible, that the initial removal from Rameses to Succoth commenced in the wee hours of the morning, the expression “brought you out” may well have included all of God’s miraculous manifestations during the plagues, the death angel, and the whole process of releasing Pharaoh’s grip on the Israelites – “bringing them out” from slavery, rather than referring to a narrow time frame.

The language of Numbers 16:1 is illustrative of this: “Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover unto the Eternal thy God; for in the month of Abib the Eternal thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.”

Whichever of the two possibilities is true; whether the Israelites were on the move from Rameses to Succoth by 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning, or whether they waited until about 5:00 or 5:30 (whenever the first rays of sunlight might have appeared at that season), it is very clear they left ON THE FIFTEENTH. (See accompanying charts.)

(2) “Communication would have been very difficult.”

It is nonsense to assume there was any difficulty whatsoever with communicating within only a matter of minutes, or at the most an hour or so, with the entirety of the slave nation of Israel.

When God first appeared unto Moses, commissioning him to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt, it was understood that the purpose was for the observance of a sacrificial offering to God – the institution of an annual holy occasion!

God had said, “…I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.

“And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shall come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the King of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The Eternal God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three day’s journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Eternal our God.

“And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no not by a mighty hand.

“And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go” (Exodus 3:17-20). Thus, all the leaders were involved fully.

As Moses was journeying back to Egypt he was met by Aaron (Exodus 4:27), who was told all that had transpired between God and Moses.

“And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel: and Aaron spake all the words the Eternal had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people… and afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Eternal God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness” (Exodus 4:27-30; 5, 1). The people all knew, in advance, that the exodus could occur at any time.

Following the plague of the frogs, Pharaoh said “…I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the Eternal” (Exodus 8:8).

The point is, the elders of Israel were fully informed from the very beginning of Moses’ and Aaron’s attempts to extricate the people of Israel from Egypt, even before the outpouring of the first plague! Constantly, reference was made to the Israelitish request that they may “Journey three days into the wilderness to hold a feast unto the Eternal!” (see Exodus 10:9, 25).

By the time of the killing of the paschal lamb, the Israelites had already “borrowed” (“taken wages of” or “spoiled”) the Egyptians.

Remember, the Israelites lived in Goshen. A policy of “apartheid” or complete segregation between the captive Israelites and Egyptians was generally in effect. In the main, the Israelites traveled to their places of work during the day, and retreated to their own hovels and ramshackle dwellings (as would be befitting slaves) by night.

They had witnessed all the plagues falling upon Egypt, and had noted, with terror and awe, the incredible difference between themselves and the Egyptians; that the terrible plagues of lice, boils on cattle, flies, frogs, the rivers turning to blood, etc., befell the Egyptians in Egypt proper, but did not touch the Israelites living in the area called “Goshen.”

With the systematic organization of the tribes according to various elders (Exodus 6:9-27); with repeated announcements that at any moment Pharaoh was going to let them go into the wilderness; expecting such a decree to be issued from moment to moment for the better part of a week, surely rapid communication through the elders to the lowliest individual could be accomplished in a matter of very few minutes, at the most, perhaps an hour or so!

No, the argument that communication would have required a full twelve hour daylight period following sunrise on the morning after the passing over of the death angel is superficial, and erroneous.

Now, let’s examine the next argument: (3) “Spoiling the Egyptians would have consumed the entire daylight hours of the day following the passing over of the death angel.”

This assumption is ludicrous, in the light of clear statements in scripture. Notice well, “And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty: But every woman shall ‘borrow’ (require-ask-take wages of) of her neighbor, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians” (Exodus 3:21, 22),

This promise from God was given to Moses while he was yet in Midian – BEFORE HE RETURNED TO EGYPT! It was given long before the beginning of the plagues, and was surely communicated by Moses to the people!

Now read Exodus 11:2, 3, “SPEAK NOW in the ears of the people, and let every man borrow [take wages of] his neighbour, and every woman of her neighbour, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold.

“And the Eternal gave the people favour in sight of the Egyptians…”

This was hours BEFORE the Passover; after the plague of the locusts, and the plague of three days’ darkness. The Israelites were plainly told to “spoil” the Egyptians long before the death angel was to pass over.

It becomes clear, then, that; (I) The paschal lamb was sacrificed at some time after midday, and prior to the going down of the sun on the fourteenth. (2) It was eaten after sundown, at the beginning of the fifteenth. (3) The death angel passed over the Israelites at mid-night, killing the Egyptian firstborn. (4) Moses and Aaron, no doubt accompanied by a number of the elders of Israel, were summoned to Pharaoh’s palace immediately following the killing of the firstborn. (5) Pharaoh was urgent upon them to get out immediately. (6) The people had been well-prepared in advance for just such an announcement. (7) They had “spoiled” the Egyptians well in advance – there was no need for any delay. (8) Moses and Aaron, and the elders of Israel who appeared before Pharaoh did so at night, but after the death angel had passed, thus proving the command not to go out until “morning” had been lifted OR, the expression “brought you out by night” may be metaphorical, and the bulk of Israel remained indoors until first light. (9) They left immediately, for their bread was not leavened, neither had they prepared themselves any victual.

Study the accompanying charts, together with all scriptural references, to create in your mind a vivid impression of the entire week of Unleavened Bread, and how the whole process of the Exodus took place.

ABIB 14th: EXODUS WEEK
(Preparation for Passover and Days of
Unleavened Bread) 

ABIB 15th: EXODUS WEEK
(First day of Unleavened Bread – Annual HolyDay;
Leviticus 23:6) 

ABIB 16th: EXODUS WEEK
(Second day of Unleavened Bread) 

ABIB 17th: EXODUS WEEK
(Third day of Unleavened Bread) 

ABIB 18th: EXODUS WEEK
(Fourth day of Unleavened Bread) 

ABIB 19th: EXODUS WEEK
(Fifth day of Unleavened Bread) 

ABIB 20th: EXODUS WEEK
(Sixth day of Unleavened Bread) 

ABIB 21st: EXODUS WEEK
(Seventh and last day of Unleavened Bread; Leviticus 23:8) 

ABIB 22nd: EXODUS WEEK

The Passover in the New Testament

Much confusion has arisen over the Passover during Jesus’ last moments on earth due to the simple lack of understanding the plain, irrefutable statements of God’s Holy Word.

For centuries, professing Christian tradition has clung to the completely false practices of a Friday crucifixion, and a Sunday (Easter) morning resurrection. Thus, the plain statements of scripture, including the personal testimony of Christ Himself is set aside in favor of pagan holidays.

Jesus said, “… an evil and adulterous generation seeketh 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 whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the earth” (Matthew 12:39, 40).

Scholars have attempted to argue this plain statement away by claiming Jesus spoke in a “Greek idiom” which meant only a part of a day.

Think about it.

If Jesus was not placed in the tomb until just before sunset on Friday and resurrected at sunrise on “Easter” Sunday morning, then He was in the tomb only TWO NIGHTS and ONE DAY!

Friday night, Saturday daylight, Saturday night are but two nights and one day.

But Jesus plainly said, “AS JONAS was three days and three nights… so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” referring to Jonah 1:7. Was this an “idiom”? Did not Jesus mean what He said?

The book of Jonah was written in HEBREW, not Greek. There was no “Greek idiom” involved which meant only part of the three-day, three-night period.

There is such an idiom in the Hebrew, which can include any part of three days. However, when used in conjunction with the expression “three nights” it totally precludes idiomatic expression, and is to be taken quite literally!

Jesus said there are “twelve hours in a day” (John 11:9), speaking of the daylight portion of a 24-hour period. Thus, when He said He would be in the tomb “three days” and three nights, it is obvious He meant three twelve-hour daylight periods and three twelve-hour nighttime periods!

Notice the Hebrew expression used by Esther. “Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, three days. NIGHT OR DAY…” (Esther 4:16).

Because she was a Jewess, Esther specifically added “night or day” to make clear what she meant by “three days.”

Since Hebrew days began at sunset, it is obvious that, when the fast ended on ”the third day” (Esther 5:1), this “third day” must have followed the “third night,” completing three full days and nights, or three 24-hour days!

Notice another Bible example: A young Egyptian was found in a field by David’s men. They brought him to David, and “…when he had eaten, his spirit (ruach, meaning breath, or living consciousness) came again to him: for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights” (1 Samuel 30:12).

Later, in explanation, the Egyptian said, “…my master left me, because three days agone I fell sick” (1 Samuel 30:13).

The young Egyptian therefore meant three complete days and nights, because the Egyptians reckoned the days to begin at sunrise. (See Encyclopedia Britannica 11th Edition, vol. xi, p.77.)

Thus, when the book of Jonah says “three days and three nights” it means precisely what it says!

Christ said “even AS Jonah was three days and three nights” in the belly of the great fish, so would Christ be in the “heart of the earth” (His tomb) for the exact same period of time! To this, all relevant scriptures agree!

It is only because men want to cling to their Pagan traditions that some have attempted to twist and distort Christ’s clear meaning!

It is important to understand the paramount importance attached to the annual “high days,” the annual holy days of Israel, devoutly observed by the Jews during Jesus’ day!

Grave error has resulted from the simple misunderstanding of one cardinal point surrounding the “high day” Sabbath which fell during the time Jesus lay in the tomb. More on this later, however.

Now, let’s trace the activities of Jesus Christ during the final six days prior to the Passover.

You read of Jesus’ approach to Jerusalem commencing with Luke 19:1-28, where He met Zacchaeus, told him He would stay with him that night. and delivered the parable of the pounds (Luke 19:1-10). We read, “And when He had thus spoken [the parable of the pounds] He went before, ascending up to Jerusalem” (Luke 19:28). At this point, it is necessary to shift to Matthew’s account (Matthew 21:1-7) and read of Jesus’ instructions to His disciples concerning the colt He would ride in His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. All these events took place on the sixth day before the Passover, which would have been the ninth day of Nisan, corresponding to our Thursday sunset to Friday sunset.

After His cleansing of the temple (Matthew 21:12-16) He returns to Bethany that night (Matthew 21:17; John 12:1).

Notice. Then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom He raised from the dead” (John 12:1).

The following day, Jesus spent the Sabbath in Bethany, and after sunset that evening (which would have been our Friday sunset, the fifth day before the Passover, which would have been the tenth day of Nisan. The first of three suppers occurred, very likely at the house of Lazarus. On this occasion, we read (John 12:2-8) of how Mary anointed His feet.

On the next day, Jesus starts from Bethany toward Jerusalem, is met by a large multitude, weeps over the city, and enters the temple. (See Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:29-44; John 12:12-19.)

All of these events took place on the fourth day before the Passover, the eleventh of Nisan, corresponding to our Saturday sunset to Sunday sunset.

The following morning, the third day before the Passover, the twelfth of Nisan, corresponding to our Sunday sunset to Monday sunset, Jesus returned to Jerusalem, cursed the fig tree as an example to the disciples of the penalties for the lack of bearing fruit (Matthew 21:18-22) and enters the temple.

“And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves; and would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. And He taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, my house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? But ye have made it a den of thieves.”

This so outraged the priests and the scribes that they “…sought how they might destroy Him: for they feared Him, because all the people was astonished at His doctrine.

“And when even was come, He went out of the city” (Mark 11:12-19).

Probably, Jesus returned to Bethany after departing Jerusalem on this occasion.

The next day was the second day before the Passover, the thirteenth of Nisan, corresponding to our Monday sunset to Tuesday sunset.

“And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.

“And Peter calling to remembrance saying unto Him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.

“And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.

“For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

“Therefore I say unto you, What things so ever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

“And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

“But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

“And they come again to Jerusalem: and as He was walking in the temple, there come to Him the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders” (Mark 11:20-27).

See also Matthew 21:23-29 and Luke 20, the entire chapter, and Luke 21:4-38 for additional details of this second day before the Passover.

It is during this day that Jesus delivers His two great prophecies, commencing with the first, in the temple (Luke 21:5-36) and continuing with His second great “Olivet Prophecy” delivered on the Mount of Olives (Matthew 24:1-51).

We are very plainly told “And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings [the Olivet Prophecy and His warnings of Matthew 25] He said unto His disciples, “Ye know that after two days is [the feast of] the Passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified” (Matthew 26:1, 2).

The next day was the “preparation day,” the last day before the Passover, the fourteenth of Nisan, and the day of the crucifixion!

This day corresponded to our Tuesday sunset to Wednesday sunset. The events of this one day fill many pages, including the 26th and 27th chapters of Matthew, the 14th and 15th chapters of Mark, and Luke 22 and 23, together with John 13 through the 19th chapter.

We begin with the account of Judas’ betrayal and the preparation for the last supper.

“Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priest, and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver Him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him” (Matthew 26:14-16).

Mark’s account (Mark 14:10, 11) is almost identical. At this point, it is necessary to remember that by the time of Jesus Christ the custom of searching through Jewish homes for the slightest bit of leavening on the thirteenth of Nisan “in preparation” for the Passover which commenced on the fourteenth of Nisan, became to be called, in common usage, “the first of the unleavened.”

Also, the term “Passover” had developed into far broader usage than its original implications.

As you have seen, the original “Passover” was a unique historical EVENT. It was the “passing over” of the Israelites by the death angel who slew the first born of Pharaoh.

However, the term became attached to the ceremony itself, including the killing of the lamb.

Eventually, it became attached to the entire season, embodying the preliminary search for leavening, the putting of leavening out of one’s home, the paschal supper, or pesach, and all seven days of unleavened bread.

For all practical purposes, because of Jewish custom, there were eight days during which the Jews observed “the unleavened” period. Although, as we have clearly seen, Almighty God specified only seven days of unleavened bread, the events associated with the “preparation” for the Passover changed general usage of the term until the thirteenth of Nisan became identified as one of the first days of “the unleavened.” This is strongly indicated in Luke’s account of Judas’ betrayal. “Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is CALLED the Passover” (Luke 22:1). In spite of the fact that the feast of unleavened bread and the Passover were two distinct occasions, general. collective language had long since come in usage.

The apostle John’s lengthy account of Jesus’ famous last supper is unique among the four gospels. In it, John makes it clear that the events which took place that evening were “BEFORE the feast of the Passover.”

Notice it. “Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end.

“And during supper, [see verse 26, where the context proves supper was not ended; see also the Critical and Experimental Commentary, The Ivan Panin Greek Numerics New Testament, the Companion Bible, Scoffield’s Translation, the Revised Standard Text, The Diaglott and other sources] the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him;

“Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, [further proof that this event took place “during” the supper] and laid aside His garments; and took a towel and girded Himself.

“After that He poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples feet…” (John 13:1-5).

When it was Peter’s turn, Peter balked. He challenged, “Lord dost thou wash my feet?” Actually, the force of Peter’s words would be better translated in English, “Lord – you’re not going to wash MY feet'”

Peter was indignant that Christ should stoop to mere servant’s work.

Notice Christ’s answer!

“What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto Him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.

“Simon Peter saith unto Him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head” (John 13:3-9).

Jesus then uttered a strange statement – using metaphor to refer to Judas Iscariot, “He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit; and ye are clean, but not all. For He knew who should betray Him; therefore said He, Ye are not all clean” (John 13:10, 11).

After Christ had completed this ceremony, He left instructions for His disciples to follow.

“… Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord; and ye say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.

For I HAVE GIVEN YOU AN EXAMPLE THAT YE SHOULD DO AS I HAVE DONE TO YOU!” (John 13:12-15).

Now, when would the disciples have had opportunity to follow that command – to live by that example? Certainly not in that night! Events swiftly following resulted in Christ’s arrest, trial, and crucifixion.

No, the next opportunity for Christ’s disciples to follow His example – to be obedient to His specific command, and to DO AS HE DID would have been on the following Passover – the following year!

Think, for a moment! HOW MANY of this world’s churches follow this humbling custom of Christ? HOW MANY are truly OBEDIENT to a specific, plain, clear, COMMAND from the One who is our LORD, and our MASTER?

HOW MANY of them zealously FOLLOW HIS EXAMPLE?

I know of one such Church – and there are a few other groups -and that one is the Intercontinental Church of God! We do not “argue” with plain commands of Christ, we strive to OBEY them! What about YOU?

Christ went on to say, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord, neither he that is sent greater than He that sent him.

“If ye know these things, HAPPY are ye if ye DO them!” (John 13:15-17)

As that final supper progressed, Jesus made His announcement of the betrayal of Judas Iscariot, handed him the sop, and Judas went out in great anger! (Matthew 26:21-25; Mark 14:18-21; John 13:21-30).

After Judas Iscariot went out, Jesus somberly instituted the terms and conditions of His “New Covenant” (see Jeremiah 31:31), substituting the symbolic bread and wine for the ancient paschal lamb, eaten roasted whole, with bitter herbs and unleavened bread.

Read the account! “And when the hour was come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him.

“And He said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer:

“For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.

“And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:

“For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the Kingdom of God shall come.

“And He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.

“Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

“But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table.

“And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom He is betrayed!

“And they began to enquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing” (Luke 22:14-23).

You may read the parallel accounts in Matthew 26:26-29 and Mark 14:22-25.

For a thorough understanding of the events during the entire “preparation day,” the fourteenth of Nisan, or the day before the Passover, be sure to study the chart.

        Events During the Last Day Before the Passover Nisan 14th-“The Preparation Day” (John 19:31)
The Day of Jesus’ Death
(Corresponds to our Tuesday sunset to Wednesday sunset)*

Judas’ plot to betray Christ:
Matthew 26:14-16, Mark 14:10,11, Luke 22:1-6

“Preparation” for Last Supper:
Matthew 26:17-19, Mark 14:12-16, Luke 22:7-13

“The even was come”; plot for betrayal:
Matthew 26:20, Mark 14:17

The last supper; foot washing:
John 13:1-20

Announcement of betrayal:
Matthew 26:21-25, Mark 14:18-21, John 13:21-30

Supper eaten; “New Covenant” proposed: bread and wine instituted:
Matthew 26:26-29, Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22:14-23

First prophecy of Peter’s denials:
John 13:31-38

Strife over greatest:
Luke 22:24-30

Second prophecy of Peter’s denials:
Luke 22:31-34

They go to Gethsemane:
Matthew 26:30-35, Mark 14:26-29, Luke 22:39, John 18:1

Third prophecy of Peter’s denials:
Mark 14:30-31

Agony in garden:
        Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42, Luke 22:40-46

Christ arrested:
Matthew 26:47-56 Mark 14:43-50, Luke 22:47-54, John 18:2-11

Lazarus escapes:
Mark 14:51,52

Trials – all through Tuesday night:
Matthew 26:57;27:31, Mark 14:53;15:19, Luke 22:54;23:25, John 18:12;19:13

“Sixth hour” (our Tuesday midnight) Pilate’s speech: “Behold your king.”
John 19:14,15

Christ led away to be killed:
Matthew 27:31-34, Mark 15:20-23, Luke 23:26-31, John 19:16,17

Discussion with Pilate about inscriptions:
John 19:19-22

Dividing of garments:
Matthew 27:35-37, Mark 15:24, Luke 23:34, John 19:23-34

“It was the third hour and they crucified Him” (Our 9:00 a.m. Wednesday)
Mark 15:25,26

“The sixth hour” (our Wednesday noon) and darkness:
Matthew 27:45-49, Mark 15:33, Luke 23:44,45

“The ninth hour” (our Wednesday 3:00 p.m.) Christ cries out, dies on stake.
Matthew 27:50, Mark 15:34-37, Luke 23:46, John 19:28-30

Many subsequent events:
Matthew 27:51-56, Mark 15:38-41, Luke 23:47-49, John 19:31-37

Christ buried IN HASTE, BEFORE SUNSET (our Wednesday about 6:00 p.m.) BEFORE THE “HIGH DAY” (The first day of unleavened bread, an annual Sabbath); our Wednesday sunset:
Matthew 27:57-66, Mark 15:42-47, Luke 23:50-56, John 19:38-42

* After Bullinger’s Companion Bible, Ap.156, 157, 158.

As you will see, they were making haste to complete the burial of Jesus Christ prior to the beginning of the “high day” Sabbath, the first day of the feast of unleavened bread! (John 18:31). This “high day”, Sabbath, or annual Sabbath fell on the fifteenth day of Nisan, and corresponded to our Wednesday sunset to Thursday sunset.

This was the first night and the first day during which Jesus lay in the tomb!

As had occurred from ancient times, the paschal lambs began to be sacrificed sometime after 1:00 p.m. on the daylight part of the fourteenth of Nisan, or only about five or six hours before dark, and the commencement of the fifteenth of Nisan.

There is every reason to believe that the Passover lambs were being sacrificed at the very moment Christ died, thus completing the perfect typical picture of “Christ our Passover who is sacrificed for us!”

Dr. Bullinger says, “It follows, therefore, that the Lord being crucified on ‘the preparation day’ could not have eaten of the Passover lamb, which was not slain until the evening of the fourteenth of Nisan (i.e., afternoon). On that day the daily sacrifice was killed at the sixth hour (noon) and offered until about the seventh hour (1:00 p.m.). The killing of the Passover lambs began directly afterwards. Thus it is clear, that if the killing of the Passover lambs did not commence until about four hours after our Lord had been hanging upon the cross, and would not have been concluded at the ninth hour (3:00 p.m.) when He ‘gave up the ghost’ (i.e., expired); no ‘Passover lamb’ could have been eaten at the ‘last supper’ on the previous evening.”

It is an irrefutable FACT of scripture that the “high day” of John 19:31 was the FIRST DAY OF THE FEAST! That day HAD to fall on the fifteenth of Nisan, according to the scriptures!

Yet, from ancient antiquity, many so-called “scholars, ” attempting to cling to their false theories revolving around “Good Friday” and “Easter Sunday” have mistaken this “high day,” Sabbath, the annual HOLYDAY, or the first day of unleavened bread, for the weekly Sabbath!

But it was not the weekly Sabbath, but an annual holy day, “an high day”!

Notice again, that the Jews said the bodies could not remain upon the cross “because it was the preparation [day]” and, “…for that Sabbath day was a HIGH DAY,” (John 19:31).

The second day of the feast, the sixteenth day of Nisan, corresponding to our Thursday sunset to Friday sunset was the second night and second day in the tomb. The third day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread was the weekly Sabbath, the seventeenth day of Nisan, corresponding exactly to our Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, and represents the third night and third day in the tomb!

Since Christ was buried very late on that Wednesday afternoon, exactly three nights and three days later would bring us to very late on the afternoon of the weekly Sabbath or “the third day” of Matthew 16:21, and succeeding verses.

The following morning, according to the scriptures, the women came to the sepulchre “WHEN IT WAS YET DARK,” and found Jesus was already gone.

Notice! “On the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

“Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid Him.

“Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre.

“So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.

“And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in.

“Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,

“And the napkin, that was about His head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.

“Then went in also the other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.

“For as yet they knew not the scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.

“Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.

“But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,

“And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

“And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him.

“And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.

“Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing Him to be the gardener, saith unto Him, Sir, if thou have borne Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away.

“Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto Him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.

“Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (John 20:1-17).

Luke’s account says, “Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.

“And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.

“And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:

“And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they saith unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?

“He is not here, but is risen: remember how He spake unto you when He was yet in Galilee,

“Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.

“And they remembered His words,

“And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest” (Luke 24:1-9).

Again, you see that very early (John’s account says while it was yet dark) on Sunday morning Jesus Christ was already risen! He did NOT rise on “Easter” Sunday morning; it was not yet sunrise, but still quite dark, and the tomb was empty!

Notice Matthew’s account: “In the end of the Sabbath (the word for Sabbath is Sabbaton, with a plural ending, and should better be rendered “Sabbaths,” to include both the high day Sabbath, the fifteenth of Nisan, or the first day of unleavened bread and the weekly Sabbath which fell two days later!), as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

“And behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.

“His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow.

And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.

“And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.

“He is not here: for He is risen, as He said, Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

“And go quickly, and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead; and, behold, He goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see Him: lo, I have told you.

“And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring His disciples word” (Matthew 28:1-8).

Again, notice the angel said “He is not here, for He IS RISEN!” That was a past act, an accomplished fact, something which had already happened! The angel did not say “He is rising,” but said He had already RISEN!

Of course! He had actually risen from His tomb in the very late afternoon of the previous day, “as He said!” (verse 6).

The Rich Meaning of Christ’s Last Supper

Few have understood the truly NEW Testament character of the symbols of Christ’s last supper! Thousands have assumed they are “keeping the PASSOVER,” as if it is an unbroken festival, a continuous tradition, to be observed in the same way, and at the same time, down through the centuries.

Few seem to realize the Passover was dramatically altered in character following the exodus, and that it was altered again in the post-exile period.

It’s time Christians realized they are looking entirely to CHRIST for their salvation – that He alone can save!

Christ was pictured by the paschal lamb. For centuries, the age-old custom looked forward to the sacrifice of a Savior. Since Christ’s death and resurrection, the New Testament observance of the Passover has looked back toward Christ – toward His death! He BECAME the Passover.

Notice! “For even CHRIST OUR PASSOVER is sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7).

Christ has become the Passover. He IS the Passover. Therefore, when we partake of the symbols He instituted of His broken body and shed blood, we are not keeping the Old Covenant Passover. We are IMBIBING OF THE SYMBOLS OF CHRIST’S DEATH!

Notice what He said. “Verily, verily I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. I AM THE LIVING BREAD which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread (partake of Christ) he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world… Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

“For my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him” (John 6:44-58).

This was such a “hard saying” that many of His disciples LEFT Christ!

They had never heard such language! They were offended! Christ turned to Peter and asked if he would leave also. Peter said “Lord to whom shall we go? THOU hast the words of eternal life!” (John 6:68).

When Christ changed the ancient paschal meal; when He performed a ceremony absolutely UNIQUE in all history, washing His disciples’ feet, passing broken bread and wine among them, He explained this was “My blood of the NEW COVENANT, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28).

Paul explains, “And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

“In that He saith, A New Covenant, He hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away” (Hebrews 8:11-13).

Notice that Christ was becoming the mediator of the NEW TESTAMENT (New Covenant or “New Will”) when He instituted the symbols of His body and blood. When we partake of this completely NEW TESTAMENT ceremony we do not look back in history beyond the time of Christ. We look to the time of HIS DEATH – NOT to the ancient exodus and the captivity in Egypt, except in interesting typology or as interesting history and background. We are not keeping the ancient Passover or the post-exilic Passover. We are keeping a COMPLETELY NEW TESTAMENT ceremony following Christ’s example, doing as He did; as He commanded.

Some few seem to believe they must be more “accurate” than Christ and believe they must observe the NEW Testament symbols of Christ’s body and blood at the same moment as the Jews observed the symbols of the OLD Covenant on the fifteenth.

But Jesus Christ instituted a NEW TESTAMENT CEREMONY! He had that right He had that authority. He said, “This DO as I have done unto you!”

He said, “…drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:27.28).

The Greek word for “testament” is diatheke. It is an Old Testament word, and should always conform to Old Testament form and usage. The rendering “testament” comes from the Vulgate; testamentum, a Latin translation. Diatheke occurs in the New Testament thirty times, and is rendered “covenant” twenty times. It should better be rendered “covenant” here.

Notice Paul’s statement: “But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;

“Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

“For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:

“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

“And for this cause He is the mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

“For where a testator is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.

“For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.

“Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.

“For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,

“Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.

“Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.

“And almost all things are by law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:11-22).

As the Mediator of the New Covenant, Christ was referring to the cup of wine He passed among the disciples as symbolic of His blood, which was to be shed “for the sins of many.”

The unleavened bread, He said, was symbolic of His body. Paul says. “For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed took bread:

“And when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, Take eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

“After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

“For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till He come.

“Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

“But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.

“For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

“For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep” (1 Corinthians 11:23-30).

God’s church has known for many centuries that the practice instituted by Jesus Christ of offering the symbols of His broken body and shed blood on the BEGINNING of the fourteenth of Nisan was to be observed!

As you have seen clearly proved, the original paschal lambs were slain “at even,” or late on the fourteenth, and the actual Passover meal was not eaten until after sunset, during the nighttime part of the FIFTEENTH of Nisan!

Some few have argued that, even though Jesus Christ clearly set this example, and that His famous “last supper”, took place on the fourteenth it is somehow closer to true righteousness to wait and observe the New Testament symbols at the same moment as the ancient Passover, or on the FIFTEENTH!

Church history, and centuries of church tradition, plus careful biblical scholarship all prove otherwise!

The famous “Quartodeciman controversy” which raged for centuries throughout the expanding Roman Catholic world is a major case in point. “Quartodeciman” is merely a Latin term for “FOURTEENTH!” From Carthage in North Africa to Alexandria in Egypt; from Rome to Antioch in Syria, fragmented groups of Christians continued to cling to the same customs delivered to them by Jesus Christ Himself, and by the early apostles. Successive generations clung tenaciously to the “faith once delivered to the saints,” absolutely refusing to abandon the practice of observing the New Testament “Passover” (Lord’s supper) on the FOURTEENTH of Nisan!

They were careful to do as Jesus did! They recognized that when their Lord and Savior commanded, “THIS DO as I have done unto you!” it represented a command. They recognized that Jesus Christ had set them an example, that they should follow in His steps.

For this reason they were called “Quartodecimans,” or observers of the FOURTEENTH, not observers of the “fifteenth” or, “Quintodecimans.”

The Intercontinental Church of God, humbly bows before the Eternal God in heaven, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, as well as the legacy of centuries of church custom, practice and tradition, and continues to faithfully observe the commemoration of Christ’s death at the same moment each year when CHRIST HIMSELF observed it!

After sunset on the thirteenth, as the thirteenth of Nisan is over, and the fourteenth of Nisan is coming on, God’s church gathers together in a solemn service traditionally called “The Passover,” in commemoration of the events during the last supper of Jesus Christ, and in commemoration of His death.

As Jesus Christ set us an example, we humbly submit to the ancient rite of foot washing. At the conclusion of this ceremony, we solemnly partake of a broken piece of unleavened bread, and sip from a small cup of wine, reading the appropriate scriptures, enacting, in commemoration, the events of that famous night.

Even as the apostle Paul said “…the Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed took bread…” so the Church of God today continues to observe the richly significant, monumentally important tradition of the Passover on that same night!

Notice carefully that the correct understanding of the chronological events of the Passover in Egypt, and the correction of false assumptions concerning the time of the Exodus have NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO with the time on which the church has traditionally observed the New Testament Passover from antiquity!

NOTHING is changed! Custom and practice remain the same! What IS accomplished is a fuller understanding of the truth of Almighty God!

Finally, WHY do not the churches of this world OBEY the plain commands of their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?

Surely there is no ceremony during the course of the year that is any more important than the PASSOVER! It is that one annual festival which symbolizes, more than any other, the very WAY TO SALVATION! Without the broken body and shed blood of Jesus Christ; without our deepest repentance, and the acceptance of

Christ’s shed blood to atone for our own sins, we cannot be saved!

By our reaffirmation of our acceptance of His broken body and shed blood year by year, we continually resubstantiate and reconfirm our faith in Jesus Christ, and in Him ALONE for salvation! If you truly expect to enter into the soon-coming, glorious kingdom of Almighty God; if you hope to be one of those who will live and reign with Christ for one thousand years on this earth (Revelation 20:4; 5:10) then you need to KEEP THE PASSOVER year by year.

PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE AS WIDELY AS POSSIBLE

WITHOUT MAKING ANY CHANGES and WITHOUT CHARGE TO ANYONE

This publication is intended to be used as a personal study tool. Please know it is not wise to take any man’s word for anything, including ours, so prove all things for yourself from the pages of your own Bible. Because your salvation is between you and God, it is through such personal verification that you will gain confidence and come to know for yourself what is truth.

For additional related knowledge and understanding, may we suggest the following title:

Should Christians Observe Easter or the Passover?

The post The Passover – Is It for Christians? first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

You were born into a “ready-made” world. You had no voice in how it is structured; its customs, traditions, religions, or politics. It took you about two years to learn the language of your parents; about six years to learn your own indigenous alphabet; about seven or eight years to learn to read simple sentences, and to begin to write.

However, from your earliest years, long before you learned to read or write; long before you learned what “research” or “study” was, you heard about the tooth fairy, Santa Claus, the Easter bunny, and watched, no doubt, hundreds of cartoons and kiddy shows on television. From your earliest years on this earth, your parents were inculcating into your mind the traditions, customs, fables, superstitions and assumptions of their own upbringing.

The point is, you first learned of “Easter,” or other religious customs through your parents or guardians. You did not research history, carefully weigh the facts, and make a reasoned decision to observe “Easter.”

Millions of adults in the western world of professing Christianity have memories of those sleepy mornings when, all excited to be dragged from bed at perhaps 3:00 or 4:00 a.m., they were dressed in frilly little frocks or a new little boy’s suit, complete with clip-on bow tie; white patent-leather shoes, greens and yellows—the colors of spring—and trundled off in the family car to an open air coliseum, or perhaps to a hilltop, to join with hundreds or thousands of others in an “Easter Sunrise Service.”

You didn’t know what “Easter” was. Only that it sounded a little like a point on the compass. Of course, the sun rose in the East. Maybe that was it? Or was it merely the opposite of “Wester”? Most likely, if you are like millions of others, you never became curious enough to go to a major encyclopedia and look up the term. We tend to take our environment for granted.

Have you ever looked into the history and origins of Easter?

Naturally, like Christmas, it comes to all of Protestantism from the Roman Catholic Church. However, the universal church got it from much, much more ancient sources.

Here is what the vaunted Catholic Encyclopedia has to say about Easter: “The English term, according to the Ven. Bede (De temporum ratione, I, v) relates to Eostre, a Teutonic goddess of the rising light of day and spring…that the Apostolic fathers [the apostles of Christ] do not mention it and that we first hear of it principally through the controversy of the Quartodecimans are purely accidental” (The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. V, p. 224).

A “Teutonic goddess of the rising light of day and spring”? Well, yes, but much, much more than merely a pagan goddess of the rising light of day and spring. She was, in the demented minds of superstitious pagans, a goddess of sex and fertility; of fecundity and procreativity. Her symbols were, most importantly, the egg, and, secondarily, the rabbit. Of course, rabbits don’t lay eggs, but many a child does not learn this until a later age.

Bunnies are cuddly to little children. So are tiny chickens, and gaily-colored eggs. Concerning Easter eggs, the Catholic Encyclopedia somewhat reluctantly admits, “The custom may have its origin in paganism, for a great many pagan customs, celebrating the return of spring [and therefore directly related to SUN-worship], gravitated to Easter. The egg is the emblem of the germinating life of early spring…the Easter rabbit lays the eggs, for which reason they are hidden in a nest or in the garden. The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility…In France, handball playing was one of the Easter amusements, found also in Germany…The ball may represent the sun, which is believed to take three leaps in rising on Easter morning” (ibid. p. 227).

Dozens of “quaint” customs derived from ancient superstitions and myths. Most revolved around cupidity, and had suggestive fertility rites obvious in their execution. The same source admits, “On Easter Monday the women had a right to strike their husbands. On Tuesday the men struck their wives, as in December the servants scolded their masters…In the northern parts of England the men parade the streets on Easter Sunday and claim the privilege of lifting every woman three times from the ground, receiving in payment a kiss or a silver sixpence. In Neumark (Germany) on Easter day the men servants whip the maidservants with switches; on Monday the maids whip the men. They secure their release with Easter eggs. These customs are probably of pre-Christian origin.” (Ibid. p. 227).

These, and many other rituals, were pagan fertility rites, derived from worship of the sun. For example, the same source says, “The Easter Fire is lit on the top of mountains (Easter Mountain, Osterberg) and must be kindled from new fire, drawn from wood by friction; this is a custom of pagan origin in vogue all over Europe, signifying the victory of spring over winter…the church adopted the observance into the Easter ceremonies, referring it to the fiery column in the desert and to the resurrection of Christ” (Ibid. p. 227, emphasis mine).

Note that admission carefully, for it lies at the very heart of the matter.

Now, notice the origin of the name “Easter.” Hislop says, “It is not a Christian name. It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven, whose name, as pronounced by the people of Nineveh, was evidently identical with that now in common use in this country. That name, as found by Layard on the Assyrian monuments, is Ishtar” (The Two Babylons, Hislop, p. 103).

The “h” was silent, just as in the Assyrian “Astarte,” where the last two letters were also silent, giving the identical pronunciation used today, “Easter.”

Of course, as millions know and also observe, “Easter” is preceded by forty days of “Lent.” But where did “Lent” come from?” Is it the past tense of “to lend”? Is it something found in one’s navel? It certainly is not found in the Bible!

Let Hislop answer: “The forty days’ abstinence of Lent was directly borrowed from the worshippers of the Babylonian goddess. Such a Lent of forty days, `in the spring of the year,’ is still observed by the Yezidis or pagan devil-worshippers of Koordistan, who have inherited it from their early masters, the Babylonians. Such a Lent of forty days was held in the spring by the pagan Mexicans, for thus we read in Humboldt [Mexican Researches, v. i. P. 404] where he gives account of Mexican observances: `Three days after the vernal equinox…began a solemn fast of forty days in honor of the sun.’ Such a Lent of forty days was observed in Egypt, as may be seen on consulting Wilkinson’s Egyptians.This Egyptian Lent of forty days, we are informed by Landseer, in his Sabean Researches, was held expressly in commemoration of Adonis or Osiris, the great mediatorial god” (ibid. p. 105).

There is no part of “Easter” which is not rooted in rank paganism. “But we don’t do it with those pagan meanings in mind,” one might protest. Naturally! That is the whole point! It is the disguise, the deception, the counterfeit which Satan uses to delude and deceive, not a direct admission of the truth.

As Hislop says, “To conciliate the pagans to nominal Christianity, Rome, pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and Pagan festivals amalgamated, and, by a complicated but skillful adjustment of the calendar, it was found no difficult matter, in general, to get Paganism and Christianity _now far sunk in idolatry _ in this as in so many other things, to shake hands” (Ibid. p. 105).

What does God Almighty say about His people “adapting” pagan rituals and ceremonies into their worship toward the true God? “When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;

“Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.

“Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.

“What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it” (Deuteronomy 12:29-32).

When Israel was gradually expanding from a family into a nation while in slavery in Egypt, the people were surrounded by most vile and degrading paganism. The sun, moon and stars were worshipped, as was the Nile River, and dozens of assorted forms of life from crocodiles to scarabs. As a display of God’s wrath, God struck at the “gods” of Egypt with plagues. Not only was this intended to break the back of the world’s greatest power at that time, thus forcing the Pharaoh to release his slaves, but it was also to demonstrate God’s great superiority over the pagan gods of Egypt.

When Israel was brought out of Egypt, God knew they would encounter many heathen, pagan, sun-worshipping nations such as the Hivites, Amalakites, Jebusites, Edomites, Philistines, Perizzites, and many others. All of them practiced the abominable rites of fertility; sun worship! Human sacrifice was not uncommon, as among the Aztecs in ancient Mexico.

Because they were “amazed” at the progression of the seasons; because they believed their antics and sacrifices caused the “sun god” to begin his journey once more into the temperate zones, thus “conquering” winter and causing the life-sustaining crops to grow once again, they observed the movements of the moon and planets; observed “times” and seasons.

But God warned them, “When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.

“There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,

“Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer [one who supposedly foretells the future by communicating with the dead].

“For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

“Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God.

“For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do” (Deuteronomy 18:9-14).

Easter, or “Ishtar,” is always observed in the spring, and is replete with fertility symbols! It is nothing less than a carry-over from pagan Babylonian, Greek and Roman sun worship! Its symbols are NOT sanctioned by Jesus Christ or God the Father, but, instead, are CONDEMNED in the Bible!

Where Did We Get “Hot Cross Buns”?

Parades down Fifth Avenue; an Easter-egg hunt on the White House lawn; sunrise services; the colors of springtime, and the pleasant aroma of “hot cross buns” drifting into the street from restaurants and bakeries—a nostalgic time of the memories of springtime, all buried in the remote past; with no knowledge of the utterly pagan origins. Such is the “Easter” of today.

“In Your Easter Bonnet, with all the frills upon it,” can be heard as children hide “Easter Eggs” around the lawn, busily eating little chocolate bunnies.

It all seems so “innocent,” somehow; so “family” oriented.

Is there a pagan origin of something so innocent-appearing as a “hot cross bun?”

Hislop says, “The hot cross buns of Good Friday, and the dyed eggs of Pasch or Easter Sunday, figured in the Chaldean [Babylonian] rites just as they do now. The `buns’ known too by that identical name, were used in the worship of the queen of heaven, the goddess Easter, as early as the days of Cecrops, the founder of Athens—that is, 1500 years before the Christian era. `One species of sacred bread,’ says Bryant, `which used to be offered to the gods, was of great antiquity, and called Boun.” (Hislops The Two Babylons p. 108).

The origin of the English word is Nordic, and was Bous. It stood for “Horus” and “Taurus,” or the Bull, and ultimately derived from Nimrod. Even today, millions of farmers call their cows, “boss,” or “bossy,” completely unaware of the origin of the custom. The bous or the boun was baked as quite a family affair. Notice what Jeremiah, God’s prophet, said about it: “Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

“The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

“Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?

“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched” (Jeremiah 7:17-20).

God thunders at rebellious mankind, “Learn not the way of the heathen!” (Jeremiah 10:2). The “hot cross buns” are Satan’s substitute for the unleavened bread to be eaten during the Days of Unleavened Bread. The “cross” or the “X” is an ancient symbol for the “solar wheel” and is a symbol of the sun, and the non-existent “queen of heaven,” or Semiramus, the mother-wife of Nimrod. Together, the two of them ushered in the ancient “Babylonish MYSTERY” religion; made the deity into a “MYSTERY” to be worshipped by whimsical pagan rites.

Now, notice the biblical reference to sunrise services: “Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD’S house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz” [Nimrod; the sun god].

“Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these.

“And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD’S house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.” The sun is in the east at its RISING! This is nothing less than a “SUNRISE” service—sun worship at the dawning of the sun!

“Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger…Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them” (Ezekiel 8:13-18).

This is the only place in the Bible where men are described as turning their backs on God’s temple, facing the SUN at its rising, and worshipping the sun!

Any pagan Babylonian who might be brought back to life today would instantly recognize the significance of an “Easter sunrise service.”

How The Apostate Church Forced Christians To Abandon The Lord’s Supper On The Fourteenth Of Abib

The Apostles continued to observe the symbols of Christ’s broken body and shed blood on the fourteenth of Abib, or Nisan, as the first Hebrew month came to be called following the Babylonian Captivity. The word “Easter” appears nowhere in the Bible in any of its earliest manuscripts. However, hypocritical, lying copyists deliberately changed the Greek word for “Passover,” which is Pasch, from Pesach in the Hebrew. The Spanish word, taken from Latin, is Pascua.

Notice an example of deliberate tampering with the Holy Word of God found in Acts 12:4. I will include the verses around it for the setting: ” Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church.

“And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.

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

“And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people” (Acts 12:1-4). This deliberate insertion into the King James Translation of the Bible is utterly fraudulent, and those who collaborated in its insertion knew it was. The Diaglott, which is a transliteration directly from the original Greek, says, “…and having seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four quarternions of soldiers to guard him, intending after the PASSOVER to lead him out to the people.”

Here is the New International version of the same verse: “After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.”

The New Revised Standard has it: “When he had seized him, he put him in prison and handed him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover.”

Here is each word from the fourth verse in Greek, with the accompanying number from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. Notice carefully the word Pascha for “Passover”: “. . . piazo:G4084 . . tithemi:G5087 . . phulake:G5438 . . paradidomi:G3860 . . tessares:G5064 . . tetradion:G5069 . . stratiotes:G4757 . . phulasso:G5442 . . bouleuo:G1011 . . meta:G3326 . . pascha:G3957 . . anago:G321 . . laos:G2992.”

Now, notice the definition of the word from Strongs G3957: “3957. pascha, pas’-khah; of Chald. or. [comp. H6453]; the Passover.”

Now, notice the marginal notes from Dr. Bullinger’s Companion Bible: “Gr. To Pascha, the Passover. Easter is a heathen term, derived from the Saxon goddess Eastre, the same as Astarte, the Syrian Venus, called Ashtoreth in the O.T.”

God’s word pronounces a CURSE on anyone who would do violence to it; who would assay to either insert words into it, or take words from it (Revelation 22:19). Those who conspired to deliberately insert a purely PAGAN word into the inspired text shall bear their own guilt.

Such a deliberate insertion serves to highlight the lengths to which the apostate church went to ENFORCE “Easter” upon professing Christians. However, the enforcement took many centuries! From the earliest writings of the “ante-Nicene Fathers” as they are blasphemously called (Christ commanded, “Call no man your father on Earth” [Matthew 23:9], obviously referring to a spiritual title, rather than referring to one’s own flesh and blood father), it is obvious that the church Jesus Christ founded continued to observe the Lord’s Supper on the fourteenth of Nisan.

The Catholic Encyclopedia admits: “The dioceses of all Asia, as from an older tradition [note that carefully!], held that the fourteenth day of the moon, on which day the Jews were commanded to sacrifice the lamb, should always be observed as the feast of the life-giving pasch, contending that the fast ought to end on that day, whatever day of the week it might happen to be” (ibid. Volume V, p. 228).

But there was never any “fast” prescribed by Christ. The ONLY commanded fast in the Bible is that of the “Day of Atonement” (Leviticus 23:27; Acts 27:9). The writer of the article in the Catholic Encyclopedia obfuscates the important point; i.e., that the early Christians clung to the FOURTEENTH OF NISAN for the Lord’s Supper (commonly called “The Passover”) by writing about a “fast” which may or may not have been at issue. Any such fast was mere human tradition, and not a biblical command. Of course, the Catholic writers are attempting to build a case for “Lent,” which is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible.

Now, notice this blatant admission: “Further, Irenaeus states that St. Polycarp, who, like the other Asiatics [meaning all those in Asia Minor and Palestine], kept Easter [a deliberate insertion! Polycarp had never heard the term, except as Astarte, and would have studiously avoided it! The Catholic writer deliberately refers to Pascha the Passover, as “Easter”] ON THE FOURTEENTH DAY OF THE MONTH, whatever day of the week that might be, following therein the tradition which he claimed to have derived from St. John the Apostle, came to Rome c. 150 about this very question, but COULD NOT BE PERSUADED BY POPE ANICETUS TO RELINQUISH HIS QUARTODECIMAN [fourteenth] OBSERVANCE” (ibid. p. 228 emphasis mine).

Later, under the article “Easter,” the same writer, reporting on the infamous “Council of Nicaea,” which took place in 325 AD, said, “…we may safely infer from scattered notices that the council ruled: (1) that Easter must be celebrated by all throughout the world on the same Sunday; (2) that this Sunday must follow the fourteenth day of the paschal moon; (3) that that moon was to be accounted the paschal moon whose fourteenth day followed the spring equinox…this ruling of the Council of Nicaea did not remove all difficulties nor at once win universal acceptance amongst the Syrians…the Roman missionaries coming to England in the time of St. Gregory the Great found the British Christians, the representatives of that Christianity which had been introduced into Britain during the period of the Roman occupation [hence, during the days of the apostle Paul and other apostles!], still adhering to an ancient system of Easter-computation which Rome itself had put aside” (ibid. p. 229).

Again, the term “Easter” is deliberately injected into the article. However, the apostles never heard of the word, except in its ancient application to Ashtoreth, or Astarte, the “Venus” of pagans, and would have been outraged to have heard anyone attach such a despicable name to the somber and holy observance of the Lord’s Supper!

The Catholic writer then admits to many points of “obscurity” in the historical records of the controversy which finally led to the Council of Nicaea attempting to FORCE Christians to discontinue observing the Passover on the fourteenth, as Christ had commanded. He says, “There is, for example, the perplexing doubt whether the crucifixion [sic] of Christ took place on the fourteenth or fifteenth of Nisan. The Synoptists seem to favour the latter, St. John the former date.”

But the Synoptists (Matthew, Mark and Luke) did not “favor” the fifteenth at all, and it is because of John’s important statement that the Sabbath which fell on the day following the death of Christ was “an HIGH day,” i.e., the first Day of Unleavened Bread, that it had to be admitted that the death of Christ took place on the fourteenth!

So it was that the stage was set for the monstrous persecutions which followed. For literally centuries, God’s people continued to observe the Lord’s Supper on the beginning of the fourteenth of Nisan, just as Christ had set the example. They were labeled “fourteenthers,” (Quartodecimans) as a derisive term, and were mercilessly hunted down and slaughtered.

Halley’s Bible Handbook says, under the article “Forerunners of the Reformation,” “Albigenses or Carthari in southern France, northern Spain and northern Italy, preached against the immoralities of the priesthood, pilgrimages, worship of saints and images, completely rejected the clergy and its claims; criticized church conditions; opposed the claims of the Church of Rome; made great use of the Scriptures; lived self denying lives and had great zeal for moral purity. By 1167 they embraced possibly a majority of the population of South France; by 1200 very numerous in Northern Italy. In 1208 a crusade was ordered by Pope Innocent III; a bloody war of extermination followed, scarcely paralleled in history; town after town was put to the sword and the inhabitants murdered without distinction of age or sex; in 1229 the Inquisition was established and within a hundred years the Albigenses were utterly rooted out.” The histories show that the “Carthari” (meaning “Puritans” or “pure ones”) were also influenced by the Bogomils in Bulgaria.

History shows that many thousands of believing Christians throughout Europe and the British Isles clung to the fourteenth of Nisan as the true date for the observance of the Lord’s Supper; that it required many hundreds of years for this practice to be stamped out. Even today, remnants of the “Waldenses” exist in Italy, and are the largest Protestant group in that country. Their name is variously determined as coming from Peter Waldo, or their habit of dwelling in the valleys of remote alpine regions in northern Italy, Switzerland, and France. Halley’s Bible Handbook says, “Waldo, a rich merchant of Lyons, South France (1176), gave his property to the poor and went about preaching; opposed clerical usurpation and profligacy; denied the exclusive right of the clergy to teach the Gospel, rejected masses, prayers for the dead and purgatory; taught the Bible as the sole rule of belief and life; their preaching kindled a great desire among the people to read the Bible. They were gradually repressed by the Inquisition except in the Alpine Valleys southwest of Turin where they still are found, the only medieval sect still surviving, a story of heroic endurance of persecutions. Now the leading Protestant body in Italy” (P. 785). The Bogomils, Albigensians, Petrobrusians, Arnoldists, Vaudois, and a large number of other sects, mostly named by their enemies, and mostly termed “heretics,” included many who were “Sabbatarians,” and who kept God’s annual Sabbaths as well.

This was why the “Quartodeciman controversy” raged for so many centuries, as many continued to observe the symbols of Christ’s broken body and shed blood on the fourteenth of Nisan, as Christ Himself had commanded.

By no stretch of the imagination did the apostles of Christ ever celebrate “Easter” (Ishtar), or urge it upon others!

Why Do Christian Ministers Refuse to Teach the Rich Meaning of God’s Seven Annual Holy Days?

Today, millions of professing Christians receive “communion” each morning, or each week. On the other hand, thousands of sincere believers in Jesus Christ observe the “Lord’s Supper” each year, which many commonly call “the Passover.” Should Christians observe “communion” every Sunday morning, or should they heed Christ’s instruction, “This DO as I have done unto you,” when He had washed the disciple’s feet, then offered them a piece of broken unleavened bread and a sip of wine?

WHY do millions ignore the rich meaning of the seven annual holy days of God, called the “feast” days? Each one is CHRIST centered; contains many types, shadows, and analogies to Jesus Christ. Christ is pictured as the lamb which was slain for the Passover; is pictured as the “bread which came down from heaven” in the eating of unleavened bread; is pictured as the FIRST of the “firstfruits” in the Feast of Firstfruits, or “Feast of Sabbaths,” which is now called “Pentecost.” It was Christ who sent the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, and it was Christ who was depicted by the “wave sheaf offering” during the weekly Sabbath of the Days of Unleavened Bread, exactly 50 days before Pentecost. “Pentecost” means “fiftieth,” and has become attached to the “Feast of Sabbaths,” or weeks, merely because the Israelites were told to count seven weeks, so as to arrive at the “morrow after the seventh Sabbath” and so determine the day on which the “Feast of Sabbaths” (Pentecost) fell.

Christ is the central figure of the “Feast of Trumpets,” which heralds His prophesied return to this earth. He is the atoning sacrifice pictured on the Day of Atonement. Christ “tabernacled” in human flesh for 33 and one-half years, and is a prominent type in the “Feast of Tabernacles.” He is the great JUDGE who will reign during the “Last Great Day,” which pictures the judgment day; the second resurrection, following the millennial reign of Christ over the earth for 1,000 years.

Since Jesus Christ of the NEW Testament is the central figure in ALL the annual Sabbaths given to Israel, WHY do so many thousands of “mainstream” professing Christian ministers UTTERLY IGNORE God’s holy days?

WHY HAVEN’T YOU HEARD the rich, CHRIST-centered types associated with the annual holy days?

Think about it. A pastor of a Sunday-observing church might tell his congregation, “I am going to deliver a seven part sermon for the next seven weeks, featuring all the types and shadows of the Lord Jesus Christ which are found in the annual holy days given to Israel.” If he did so, such a pastor would be wise to add, “We will leave aside, for the next seven weeks, whether observing such annual holy days is incumbent upon Christians today. Instead, we will investigate each Feast day on its own merits; learning how each one pictured the plan of God; the coming of the Savior; His death, burial, and resurrection, and His promised return to this earth.”

I dare say any such pastor would find his audience growing week by week; would find his parishioners hanging on every word! The trouble is, he would also very quickly find his parishioners beginning to ask him WHY THEY DO NOT KEEP those holy days!

You have not heard such sermons in your religious upbringing. WHY?

There is no Old Testament holy day more replete with types of Christ; of God the Father; of His plan for human kind than the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread!

Sadly, to many a professing Christian minister, it would be RANK HERESY to return to the teaching of Christ himself! Church TRADITION is more important to most!

Now, notice the rich, Christ-centered shadows and types contained in that first Passover so long ago in Egypt.

The First Passover In History — Utterly Unique!

The first Passover was an utterly unique occasion in all history. It was a once only occurrence; a time of great and punishing miracles from God against Egypt; a time of suffering and death; a time of great escape for God’s people.

For centuries, Israel had been a nation of slaves. Knowledge of annual seasons, the weekly cycle, the seventh day Sabbath had become lost in an avalanche of pagan superstition and idolatry. The Israelites in Egypt were completely ignorant of God’s sacred calendar. It was not until the events preceding the first Passover that God revealed to Moses and Aaron which month was the first month of the Sacred Calendar. It was then that God began to reveal His annual holy days and their deep significance, as well as the weekly Sabbath, to Israel.

Notice, “And the Eternal 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.” God called the name of the first month “the month of green ears.” Its name was Abib (Exodus 13:4) and was later called Nisan (Nehemiah 2:1; Esther 3:7).

This marked the beginning of the sacred year of the Hebrew calendar, commencing with the month of the spring barley harvest, hence, the “month of green ears.”

God’s time had come to save His people from slavery; to establish the Israelites as His own chosen nation; to place His name among them. He caused them to endure a time of trial and testing for forty years in the wilderness of Sinai. The older generation FAILED that forty years of testing and trial. Their constant carping, griping, complaining (called “murmuring” in the Bible) resulted in their deaths in the land. Even Moses died in the wilderness, though he was allowed to see the promised land from a distance. Eventually, God caused the progeny of the Israelites to inherit the promised land of Palestine.

This has great spiritual significance, not only for the Days of Unleavened Bread and that original Passover, but for the entire plan of God, with special significance at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. Just as a “new creature in Christ” is begotten in each person at the time of baptism and the laying on of hands (2 Corinthians 5:17), so a “new creature” was begotten in the womb of each Israelitish mother WHILE SHE WAS IN THE WILDERNESS. The land of Egypt was a type of this evil world, in which we live, often as “slaves” to our own carnal natures; to our ethnic, cultural, historical, linguistic, educational, political and social backgrounds. We are a PART of our “ready-made” society, having been brought up in it.

The older generation which perished in the wilderness is a type of our “old man” (Ephesians 4:22), which is to perish in the baptismal pool, which typifies the death and burial of the old self. The younger generation, which never knew Egypt, but which were born in the wilderness, pictures the “new creature in Christ” begotten within each of us as we come up out of the waters of baptism, and have hands laid on us for the receiving of God’s Holy Spirit.

God BEGETS us with His Spirit, making us HIS CHILDREN. At that moment, a “new creature in Christ” is begun! That new spiritual creature will inherit eternity, while the old physical body will perish, or be instantaneously changed at the time of Christ’s return (1 Corinthians 15:50-52).

There are many rich spiritual types connected with the Passover in Egypt. Notice more of them:

The Israelites were instructed to single out an unblemished lamb or kid (Exodus 12:3-5) from their flocks, keeping it “…until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening” (Exodus 12:6). Is anything more helpless than a tiny newborn lamb? When I was a boy, a neighborhood friend had a lamb he fed with a baby bottle, holding it in his arms. The innocent, perfectly shaped, unblemished lamb was a type of Jesus Christ. At the baptism of Jesus, John said “Behold, the Lamb of God.” Christ is called the “Lamb” repeatedly in the book of Revelation (see Revelation 14:1, 4, 10; 17:14; 19:7, 9; 21:9).

God instructed them, “And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door posts of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.

“Eat not of it raw, nor sodden [boiled] at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.

“And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire” (Exodus 12:6-10).

Obviously, since they were to eat the flesh “in that night” (that is, the night following the slaying of the lamb “in the evening”) the lamb had to be killed a sufficient period of time prior to its actual eating to allow for its preparation according to God’s explicit instructions.

God told Moses and Aaron to instruct the Israelites that this unusual meal was to be eaten as if in great haste, with trepidation, as if poised for immediate flight!

It was the usual practice to allow an animal to hang in a cool place after being slaughtered; the aging and then the butchering of the meat perhaps coming several days or even a week or more later depending upon the climate.

Thus, the eating of this lamb (or kid of the goats) within only hours of its slaughter, was obviously a very hasty meal; something unusual, symbolizing a meal eaten during a time of emergency.

The Israelites were told “And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hands; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Eternal’s Passover.

“For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment; I am the Eternal.

“And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are: and when I see the blood, I will PASS OVER you, and the plagues shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:11-13).

The girding of the loins was accomplished by tucking the skirt-like apparel worn during that day into a leathern girdle, or thick belt. It was always done just prior to running, or walking rapidly. It was an unusual command to eat the meal with their shoes on their feet, for shoes were not generally worn indoors. Such a custom prevails to this day in Middle Eastern and Oriental countries. Footwear was worn out of doors, but, upon entering a dwelling, was left outside, or in a foyer. As is evidenced in the later custom of foot washing (in connection with the celebration of Jesus Christ of His last supper) servants would provide water and wash the feet of important guests, who would then slip their feet into slippers or sandals, or perhaps go barefoot on the skins or carpet on the floor of the domicile.

A staff, cane, or walking stick would normally be left near the door, or perhaps in the foyer. However, they were explicitly commanded to eat this meal one-handed, with their walking staffs in their hands, as a symbol of great haste!

Consider all the elements of this meal: It was to be eaten very soon after the slaughter of the animal (extremely unusual); their canes or walking sticks in their hands (very unusual); they were not to take time to visit, enjoy a drawn-out meal like a family occasion, but were to eat the food quickly, all which showed an extremely hastily-eaten meal done as if in trepidation, prior to immediate flight!

As will be seen later, the chronological events leading up to and concluding in the famous “last supper” of the Lord Jesus Christ are positively established. There is no question whatever concerning the time of the Lord’s Supper’; its relationship to the Passover, and the time when the paschal lambs were slaughtered.

However, because some have assumed the Israelites did not exit Egypt on the same night of the eating of the paschal meal; after the passing over of the death angel; because it is further assumed that the Israelites spent the entirety of the following day spoiling the Egyptians, and that the Exodus commenced the following night, many have become confused about when the Exodus occurred, and when the paschal meal took place.

For example, those who knew they were partaking of the New Testament symbols of the body and the blood of Jesus Christ (unleavened bread and wine) coincident with the ancient Passover supper began to believe there were eightdays of unleavened bread, not seven! Their confusion stems from their assumption that the New Testament observance of Christ, His famous last supper, coincided exactly with the ancient Egyptian paschal meal! But, as you shall see clearly, it did not!

Following this assumption, many have partaken of the symbols of unleavened bread and wine on the Passover (Lord’s supper), and then wondered about the custom of eating leavened foods during the following daylight portion of the fourteenth of Nisan, prior to insuring all leavening is out of their homes by sunset prior to the fifteenth. Having once eaten unleavened bread in connection with the ceremonies commemorating Christ’s death, they feel strange eating anything leavened on the following daylight part of the fourteenth of Nisan – prior to the actual beginning of the SEVEN days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

But God said “seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread!” He said “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, UNTIL the one and twentieth day of the month at even!” (Exodus 12:18). Obviously, if you count inclusively (commencing with the fourteenth day—meaning at its beginning) you are dealing with eight days!

But if you are commencing the eating of unleavened bread “at even” on the fourteenth, meaning just before the going down of the sun; meaning that your meal, while it may have commenced just barely before sunset, continues on into the night time hours, or the BEGINNING of the fifteenth, then there is no problem whatever! You have SEVEN full days and perhaps a couple of hours—not eight days.

The problem for many sincere persons was in their misunderstanding of the truly New Testament character of Christ’s famous last supper!

That there are only seven days of unleavened bread is perfectly clear. (Exodus 12:15, 19).

That the ancient Israelites were to eat the paschal lamb and the unleavened bread “IN THAT NIGHT” (Exodus 12:8), meaning on the beginning of the fifteenth is also clear! To understand the sequence of events on the very first Passover, one has but to read the scriptures carefully, comparing all relevant scriptures, and avoid erroneous assumptions. Now, from the pages of your Bible, let’s see what happened during that first Passover; let’s come to understand WHEN the exodus occurred!

“Between The Two Evenings”

God instructed the Israelites, “And ye shall keep it [the paschal lamb] up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening… and they shall eat the flesh in that night…” (Exodus 6-8).

Wide differences of opinion have obtained resulting from the use of the Hebrew expression “in the evening” which, technically, means “between the two evenings.” Some, including Lightfoot, took the expression to mean after the going down of the sun, but prior to full dark. If they were in error, they had thus placed the slaying of the paschal lamb and the eating of the Passover meal at the close of the thirteenth, and at the beginning of the fourteenth! Remember, God begins the days with sunset. Thus, if they were to kill the paschal lamb on the fourteenth “between the two evenings,” and IF “between the two evenings” meant after sunset but prior to full dark, then the paschal lamb would have been eaten in the late evening after the thirteenth, just after the beginning of the fourteenth!

Speaking of the precise meaning of the phrase “between the two evenings,” Kitto’s Encyclopedia of Biblical Literaturesays “Tradition… interprets the phrase between the two evenings to mean from afternoon to the disappearing of the sun, the first evening being from the time when the sun begins to decline from its vertical or noontime point toward the west; and the second from its going down and vanishing out of sight which is the reason why the daily sacrifice might be killed at 12:30 p.m. on a Friday (Mishna, Pesachim, v. 1; Maimonides, Hilchoth, Korban, Pesach., 1.4). But as the paschal lamb was slain after the daily sacrifice, it generally took place from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. We should have deemed it superfluous to add, that such faithful followers of Jewish tradition as Sandia, Rashi, Kimchi, Ralbag, etc., espoused this definition of the ancient Jewish canons, were it not for the assertion which is made in some of the best Christian commentaries and which is repeated in the excellent article Passover in Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, that `Jarchi and Kimchi hold that the two evenings were the time immediately before and immediately after sunset so that the point of time at which the sun sets divides them.’ Now Rashi most distinctively declares, `From the sixth hour (12 o’clock) and upwards is called between the two evenings because the sun begins to set for the evening. Hence, it appears to me that the phrase between the two evenings denotes the hours between the evening of the day and the evening of the night. The evening of the day is from the beginning of the seventh hour (immediately after noontime), when the evening shadows begin to lengthen, whilst the evening of the night is the beginning of the night’ (Commentary on Exodus 12:6). Kimchi says almost literally the same thing: `Between the two evenings is from the time when the sun begins to incline towards the west, which is from the sixth hour (12 o’clock) and upwards. It is called between the two evenings because there are two evenings, for from the time that the sun begins to decline is one evening, and the other evening is after the sun has gone down, and it is the space between which is meant by between the two evenings’ (Lexicon s. v.)…

“Eustathius, in a note on the seventeenth book of the Odyssey, shows that the Greeks too held that there were two evenings, one which they called the latter evening at the close of the day; and the other the former evening, which commenced immediately after noon” (Vid. Bochart Hierozoic, Part I, lib. ii. cap. I, oper., tom. ii. p.559, edit. 1712).

The term “evening” merely means “leveling.” Because of popular use, many people say “good evening” when encountering friends in the very early part of the night, or the very late part of the afternoon. But popular usage of English terms does not indicate the true meaning of Hebrew terms which were extant thousands of years before the English language came into existence. The term “between the two evenings” actually meant any time from the zenith, or the “leveling” of the sun at its highest point, as it began its decline, until the moment of the “going away of the sun,” or sunset. This is why the sacrificial lambs were sacrificed from about 2:30 p.m. onward, on the 14^th of Nisan.

But we need not speculate about language or custom, for there is irrefutable internal biblical proof about what time of day is meant by the phrase “between the two evenings,” translated “in the evening” in Exodus 12:6.

God said, “…and they shall eat the flesh in that night” (Exodus 12:8) proving that the killing of the lamb (or kid) took place a few hours prior to the going down of the sun. The paschal meal was concluded in the early hours of the fifteenth of Nisan (within only a few hours after sunset). “SEVEN DAYS shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day shall ye put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day [obviously counting inclusively; seven days in all], that soul shall be cut off from Israel” (Exodus 12:15). To embrace only seven days, the Days of Unleavened Bread HAD TO BEGIN ON THE FIFTEENTH, and the process of putting leavening out of their houses had to be completed ON THE FOURTEENTH, prior to the preparation for the paschal meal.

Otherwise, if the original Passover had taken place just after the thirteenth, just at the beginning of the fourteenth, you have EIGHT DAYS of Unleavened Bread!

But the Bible says there were to be only SEVEN DAYS of Unleavened Bread!

Notice further proof: “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month AT EVEN, he shall eat unleavened bread, UNTIL the one and twentieth day of the month at even.” If you begin counting WITH the fourteenth or at the end of the thirteenth, including the whole day, you would have eight days, not seven. It follows that the expression “on the fourteenth day of the month at even” means AT THE END OF THE FOURTEENTH, just as the fifteenth is about to BEGIN, or there would be EIGHT days of Unleavened Bread.

The first Day of Unleavened Bread is the FIFTEENTH, not the fourteenth. But the paschal meal was to be in preparation, including the putting away of leavening, and the killing of the lamb (or kid) very late on the fourteenth! Therefore, the Israelite’s homes would be unleavened for a full SEVEN DAYS, plus only a few hours, late on the fourteenth, prior to the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This is the PURPOSE of the “preparation” day. Remember that phrase! Christ was on the stake until mid afternoon of the fourteenth of Nisan, and died at the precise moment when the high priest slew the first of the Pashal lambs! They HASTED to bury Him! Why? “The Jews therefore, BECAUSE IT WAS THE PREPARATION, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross [Greek: stauros, meaning upright pale, or stake, often translated “tree”] on the Sabbath day, (for that Sabbath day was an HIGH day), besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away” (John 19:31). An “high day Sabbath” was an annual holy day! The holy day which came immediately after Christ’s death was the FIRST DAY OF UNLEAVENED BREAD, the 15^th of Nisan!

Notice further, “There [in the new tomb at the foot of Golgotha] laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jew’s PREPARATION day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand” (John 19:42).

Millions of sincere, church-going, professing Christians know NOTHING about this scripture; do not know anything about the true events of the week in which Christ died. If they did, they would know that Christ was put to death on a WEDNESDAY; that he was entombed on that late WEDNESDAY afternoon; that He was in the tomb exactly 72 hours; three days and three nights, just as He said, and that He was resurrected late on a Sabbath afternoon!

Notice! “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). Notice also that this would be the ONLY PERENNIAL SIGN Christ would leave the world as to His true Messiahship! He said, “But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas” (Matthew 12:39), and then said He would be exactly THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS in the “heart of the earth,” or the tomb!

Now, COUNT! From “Good Friday” sunset to Sabbath sunset is one night and one day. From sunset Sabbath to Sunday sunset is two nights and two days. From Sunday sunset to Monday sunset is three nights and three days!

Some, trying to ARGUE around the truth of God, have tried to insist that Christ only meant PART of a day or PART of a night! But this is nonsense, and the fact that He specifically said “DAY” AND ADDED “NIGHT” proves He was speaking of our normal 24-hour period of a day and a night!

Some try to argue that Jesus used a “Greek idiom” when He said three days and three nights. But He referred to the “sign of the prophet Jonas,” and the book of Jonah was written in Hebrew, not in Greek! Men will do anything to avoid obeying the plain commandments of God, in order to cling their to own human-devised traditions!

The “Good Friday” Easter Sunday morning tradition is utterly false! Christ was not entombed on a Friday, but the previous Wednesday, prior to the HIGH day Sabbath, which fell on Thursday. Then came the preparation for the weekly Sabbath, Friday, and then the regular weekly Sabbath when, EXACTLY three days and three nights after His death, Christ was resurrected.

Now, back to the meaning of the term, “between the two evenings” during that very first Passover in all history:

God said, “SEVEN DAYS shall there be no leaven found in your houses” (Exodus 6:19).

Notice further proof: “Observe the month of Abib [green ears], and keep the Passover unto the Eternal thy God: for in the month Abib the Eternal thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt BY NIGHT. Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the Passover unto the Eternal thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the Eternal shall choose to place His name there.

“Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; SEVEN DAYS shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt IN HASTE:… and there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days; neither shall there anything of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day AT EVEN remain all night until the morning” (Deuteronomy 16:1-4).

Here is further proof that the sacrificing of the lamb was LATE ON THE FOURTEENTH, just before the going down of the sun beginning the fifteenth—which was the first day of seven days of unleavened bread.

Notice the Bible usage of the term “day” in relation to the phrase “at even.”

“And ON THE DAY that the tabernacle was reared up the cloud covered the tabernacle, namely, the tent of the testimony: and AT EVEN there was upon the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire UNTIL THE MORNING.

“So it was always: the cloud covered it BY DAY, and the appearance of fire by night” (Numbers 9:15, 16).

When Was The Exodus?

We know without a shadow of a doubt that the Israelites exited their houses in Goshen to journey from Rameses to Succoth (Numbers 33:4, 5) BY NIGHT!

Remember, God begins the days at sunset. Thus, the nighttime portion of a day is the first part of the day, commencing the previous sunset. Now, on what day of the month of Abib did the Israelites depart Rameses?

“And they departed from Rameses in the first month (Abib), on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow AFTER THE PASSOVER the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians” (Numbers 33:3).

Thus, it is clear they went out of Egypt ON THE FIFTEENTH, and AT NIGHT! That means they exited Egypt sometime during the nighttime hours of the fifteenth of Abib, “on the morrow” following the passing over of the death angel!

Remember the original Passover instructions: “And ye 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 [of the fourteenth!]. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door posts of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.

“And they shall eat the flesh in that night [AFTER sundown, during the dark hours of the late evening, following the sacrificing, or killing of the lamb `at even’ meaning late on the fourteenth], roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

“Eat not of it raw, nor sodden [boiled] at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.

“And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.

“And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hands; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Eternal’s Passover” (Exodus 12:6-11).

To kill, prepare, and eat a hasty dinner of roast lamb would require at least a few hours. It would be difficult for hundreds of thousands to do so in less time, especially when the killing of the paschal lamb involved some degree of ceremony, such as selecting a killing ground, carefully gathering the spilled blood in basins, going through the ritual of dipping branches of hyssop into the basin, carefully painting the door posts and lintels with the blood.

The animals were only to be “field dressed,” not completely butchered; notice that they were to be roast with “the head and the purtenance thereof” meaning that the animals were not to have been carefully quartered, or butchered in any fashion, but roasted whole.

Since the killing was to take place “in the evening” or the waning hours of the afternoon, and the roasting to begin soon thereafter, it would have been but a matter of a couple of hours or so after starting the roasting fires that the animals would have been ready for hasty consumption.

God intended that the Israelites eat as if in a great emergency! They were to eat (in the case of males who carried walking staffs) with their shoes on their feet, their skirts tucked into their leathern girdles as if ready for instant flight, and to eat one-handed, with their staff in their hand, and partaking of the roast meat with the other hand! They were to eat it in trepidation, in fear, and in great haste!

Notice further, “And it came to pass, that at midnight (on the FIFTEENTH!) the Eternal smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.

“And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

“And he called for Moses and Aaron by night (note! The death angel had already passed! Now, even though Moses and Aaron had been included in the command that they were not to go out of their doors until `the morning’ following the passing of the death angel to insure they were not themselves slain, Pharaoh calls for these two leaders, as representatives of all the people. They obeyed, for the danger was now passed-over! They exited their homes, and went to Pharaoh’s palace!) and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the Eternal as you have said.

“Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone, and bless me also.

“And the Egyptians were URGENT upon the people, that they might send them out of the land IN HASTE; for they said, We all be dead men.

“And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.

“And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed [had borrowed; see Exodus 3:21-22; 11:2] of the Egyptians’ jewels of silver, and jewels of gold and raiment;

“And the Eternal gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians so that they lent [gladly gave] unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.

“And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children.

“And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.

“And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were THRUST OUT of Egypt, and COULD NOT TARRY, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual! (Exodus 12:29-39).

This was the logical consequence of a meal eaten as if poised for instant flight! For, within a few hours after midnight, they were IN GREAT FLIGHT! Notice the words of the Holy Scriptures! The Egyptians were “urgent” upon them. They were “thrust out.” “Neither could they tarry.” “They had prepared themselves no victuals.” They were to eat “in haste.”

God did not intend that the Israelites “playact” in preparing an extremely hasty meal, eating it with their loins girded as if in preparation for instant flight; virtually eating it with one hand, while the other clutched a walking stick or cane; eating it in trepidation and fear as if they were to leave at any moment—and doing all of this in vain, knowing full well they were going to spend the entire daylight period of the following day, more than twelve long hours, in “spoiling” the Egyptians!

No, the language used in scripture such as being “thrust out,” and the Egyptians being “urgent” upon them to leave PROVES, conclusively, that the Israelites left Rameses during the early pre-dawn hours of the nighttime on the fifteenth of Abib!

Obviously, the command not to exit their doorways “until the morning” was lifted after the death angel had passed! The plague was now over. Moses and Aaron, as a type of the whole nation of Israel, were hastily summoned to Pharaoh’s palace. Though they were indoors, in their own respective homes, having eaten of the paschal lamb as had all the others, with the blood clearly sprinkled on the door posts and lintels of their houses, it was now perfectly safe to exit their homes, since the death angel had now passed over and was gone from the land!

Notice the language of Numbers 16:1: “Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover unto the Eternal thy God; for in the month of Abib the Eternal thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.”

With the systematic organization of the tribes according to various elders (Exodus 6:9-27); with repeated announcements that at any moment Pharaoh was going to let them go into the wilderness; expecting such a decree to be issued from moment to moment for the better part of a week, surely rapid communication through the elders to the lowliest individual could be accomplished in a matter of very few minutes, at the most, perhaps an hour or so!

The New Testament Passover

Just as the first Passover was unique in all history, so was the “Last Supper” of Jesus Christ a completely unique occasion. The histories refer to the original Passover as the “pre-exilic” Passover, since there were marked differences in the manner in which the Passover was observed following the Israelite’s expulsion from Egypt, and then slight differences again once they had reached the promised land, and a temple had been built.

From His earliest boyhood, it is obvious Jesus Christ observed the Passover with His parents. Notice the account according to Luke: “Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover.

“And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.

“And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it” (Luke 2:41-43). Then follows the account of how, as a boy, Jesus was confounding the learned elders in the temple; how he said to His parents He needed to “be about His father’s business.”

The most complete account of the events of Christ’s final Passover on earth—the Passover He MISSED, because HE WAS the Passover sacrifice that year—is found in John’s 13^th chapter. Here are major portions: “Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.” Notice this supper of which we are to read took place BEFORE the Feast of the Passover, which was on the fifteenth of Nisan!

Also, notice that Jesus KNEW it was the time of His impending death; KNEW He would soon “depart out of this world unto the Father.” Some years ago, another of the tiresome, perverted, ridiculous “Jesus” movies was produced which pictured Jesus Christ as a disturbed young man, searching for His identity! According to the perverted story, He was constantly wrestling with inner conflicts; did not know His true place in life! But God’s word is clear that Christ KNEW of His pre-existent state with His Father! He said to the Jews, “…before Abraham was I AM!”

“And supper being ended [“during supper” according to all other translations; the Ivan Panin; Schofield, RSV, Critical Commentary, etc.], the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him;

“Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God;

“He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.

“After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.

“Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?

“Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.

“Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.

“Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.

“Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.

“For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.

“So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?

“Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.

“If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.

“For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you” (John 13:1-15). Jesus did not say that Peter should wash the other’s feet, or that Peter should wash one person’s feet as in a pompous ceremony! No, he said they should WASH ONE ANOTHER’S feet!

Now, WHEN?

The disciples did not immediately turn around and begin to wash one another’s feet that same night! No, Christ had set them an example that, when the next Passover season arrived, they were to emulate what He had done! He had set them an EXAMPLE, and commanded them to DO as he had done unto them!

Notice further, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.

“If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them” (John 13:16, 17). Do you know of any churches who practice the Christ-ordered custom of foot washing when the time of the Lord’s supper arrives? I do. There are several; all of them Sabbath-keeping churches who believe in God’s word; His laws; the annual Sabbaths and Holy Days, and who believe Christ meant it when he said, “This DO as I have done unto you.”

The very first opportunity Christ’s disciples would have had to imitate Christ in the foot washing ceremony would have been the following year!

Now, notice what else transpired at that last supper: “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body” (Matthew 26:26). It is immediately obvious that Christ was indicating that the bread was symbolic of His body. Misguided men have tried to infer from this very obvious example some “mystery” (as God’s prophets warned they would _ turning the truth into a “mystery” religion!) wherein the bread actually became the body of Christ! The doctrine of “transubstantiation” is utterly false!

“And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;

“For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

“But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.

“And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives” (Matthew 26:26-30).

Never before in history had such a thing occurred. In this entirely NEW and UNIQUE supper, Jesus Christ pointed to the unleavened bread as symbolic of His body, which was to be “broken” (no bones were broken; He was severely beaten, with deep lashes, and a spear wound) and the wine, as a symbol of His blood, which would be shed for the sins of all mankind.

This supper occurred approximately 17 to 24 hours BEFORE the killing of the Passover lambs!

Now, let’s trace the activities of Jesus Christ during the final six days prior to the Passover.

You read of Jesus’ approach to Jerusalem commencing with Luke 19:1-28, where He met Zacchaeus, told him He would stay with him that night. and delivered the parable of the pounds (Luke 19:1-10). We read, “And when He had thus spoken [the parable of the pounds] He went before, ascending up to Jerusalem” (Luke 19:28). At this point, it is necessary to shift to Matthew’s account (Matthew 21:1-7) and read of Jesus’ instructions to His disciples concerning the colt He would ride in His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. All these events took place on the sixth day before the Passover, which would have been the ninth day of Nisan, corresponding to our Thursday sunset to Friday sunset.

After His cleansing of the temple (Matthew 21:12-16) He returns to Bethany that night (Matthew 21:17; John 12:1).

“Then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom He raised from the dead” (John 12:1). The following day, Jesus spent the Sabbath in Bethany, and after sunset that evening (which would have been our Friday sunset, the fifth day before the Passover, which would have been the tenth day of Nisan), the first of three suppers occurred, very likely at the house of Lazarus. On this occasion, we read (John 12:2-8) of how Mary anointed His feet.

On the next day, Jesus starts from Bethany toward Jerusalem, is met by a large multitude, weeps over the city, and enters the temple. (See Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:29-44; John 12:12-19.)

All of these events took place on the fourth day before the Passover, the eleventh of Nisan, corresponding to our Saturday sunset to Sunday sunset.

The following morning, the third day before the Passover, the twelfth of Nisan, corresponding to our Sunday sunset to Monday sunset, Jesus returned to Jerusalem, cursed the fig tree as an example to the disciples of the penalties for the lack of bearing fruit (Matthew 21:18-22) and enters the temple.

“And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves; and would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. And He taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, my house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? But ye have made it a den of thieves.”

This so outraged the priests and the scribes that they “…sought how they might destroy Him: for they feared Him, because all the people was astonished at His doctrine.

“And when even was come, He went out of the city” (Mark 11:12-19).

Probably, Jesus returned to Bethany after departing Jerusalem on this occasion.

The next day was the second day before the Passover, the thirteenth of Nisan, corresponding to our Monday sunset to Tuesday sunset.

“And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.

“And Peter calling to remembrance saying unto Him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.

“And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.

“For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

“Therefore I say unto you, What things so ever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

“And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

“But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

“And they come again to Jerusalem: and as He was walking in the temple, there come to Him the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders” (Mark 11:20-27).

See also Matthew 21:23-29 and Luke 20, the entire chapter, and Luke 21:4-38 for additional details of this second day before the Passover.

It is during this day that Jesus delivers His two great prophecies, commencing with the first, in the temple (Luke 21:5-36) and continuing with His second great “Olivet Prophecy” delivered on the Mount of Olives (Matthew 24:1-51).

We are clearly told “And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these “sayings [the Olivet Prophecy and His warnings of Matthew 25] He said unto His disciples, Ye know that after two days is [the feast of] the Passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified” (Matthew 26:1, 2).

The events of this one day fill many pages, including the 26th and 27th chapters of Matthew, the 14th and 15th chapters of Mark, and Luke 22 and 23, together with John 13 through the 19th chapter.

We begin with the account of Judas’ betrayal and the preparation for the last supper.

“Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priest, and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver Him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him” (Matthew 26:14-16).

Mark’s account (Mark 14:10, 11) is almost identical. At this point, it is necessary to remember that by the time of Jesus Christ the custom of searching through Jewish homes for the slightest bit of leavening “in preparation” for the Passover which commenced on the fourteenth of Nisan, became to be called, in common usage, “the first of the unleavened,” even though it was not in fact one of the SEVEN Days of Unleavened Bread. Since it was the day of the search for leaven, and the putting out of leavening from each home, it came to be referred to as the “first of the unleavened.” Also, the term “Passover” had developed into far broader usage than its original implications.

As you have seen, the original “Passover” was a unique historical EVENT. It was the “passing over” of the Israelites by the death angel who slew the first born of Pharaoh.

However, the term became attached to the ceremony itself, including the killing of the lamb.

Eventually, it became attached to the entire season, embodying the preliminary search for leavening, the putting of leavening out of one’s home, the paschal supper, or pesach, and all seven days of unleavened bread.

This is indicated in Luke’s account of Judas’ betrayal. “Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is CALLED the Passover” (Luke 22:1). In spite of the fact that the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Passover were two distinct occasions, general collective language had long since come in usage.

The apostle John’s lengthy account of Jesus’ famous last supper is unique among the four gospels.

You may read the parallel accounts in Matthew 26:26-29 and Mark 14:22-25.

For a thorough understanding of the events during the entire “preparation day,” the fourteenth of Nisan, or the day before the Passover, look up and read the following scriptures:

Events During the Last Day Before the Passover Nisan 14th-“The Preparation Day” (John 19:31) The Day of Jesus’ Death

(Corresponds to our Tuesday sunset to Wednesday sunset)*

Judas’ plot to betray Christ:
Matthew 26:14-16, Mark 14:10, 11, Luke 22:1-6

“Preparation” for Last Supper:
Matthew 26:17-19, Mark 14:12-16, Luke 22:7-13

“The even was come”; plot for betrayal:
Matthew 26:20, Mark 14:17

The last supper; foot washing:
John 13:1-20

Announcement of betrayal:
Matthew 26:21-25, Mark 14:18-21, John 13:21-30

Supper eaten; “New Covenant” proposed: bread and wine instituted:
Matthew 26:26-29, Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22:14-23

First prophecy of Peter’s denials:
John 13:31-38

Strife over greatest:
Luke 22:24-30

Second prophecy of Peter’s denials:
Luke 22:31-34

They go to Gethsemane:
Matthew 26:30-35, Mark 14:26-29, Luke 22:39, John 18:1

Third prophecy of Peter’s denials:
Mark 14:30-31

Agony in garden:
Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42, Luke 22:40-46

Christ arrested:
Matthew 26:47-56, Mark 14:43-50, Luke 22:47-54, John 18:2-11

Lazarus escapes:
Mark 14:51, 52

Trials – all through Tuesday night:
Matthew 26:57; 27:31, Mark 14:53; 15:19, Luke 22:54; 23:25, John 18:12; 19:13

“Sixth hour” (our Tuesday midnight) Pilate’s speech: “Behold your king.”
John 19:14, 15

Christ led away to be killed:
Matthew 27:31-34, Mark 15:20-23, Luke 23:26-31, John 19:16, 17

Discussion with Pilate about inscriptions:
John 19:19-22

Dividing of garments:
Matthew 27:35-37, Mark 15:24, Luke 23:34, John 19:23-34

“It was the third hour and they crucified Him” (Our 9:00 a.m. Wednesday)
Mark 15:25, 26

“The sixth hour” (our Wednesday noon) and darkness:
Matthew 27:45-49, Mark 15:33, Luke 23:44, 45

“The ninth hour” (our Wednesday 3:00 p.m.) Christ cries out, dies on stake.
Matthew 27:50, Mark 15:34-37, Luke 23:46, John 19:28-30

Many subsequent events:
Matthew 27:51-56, Mark 15:38-41, Luke 23:47-49, John 19:31-37

Christ buried IN HASTE, BEFORE SUNSET (our Wednesday about 6:00 p.m.) BEFORE THE “HIGH DAY” (The first day of unleavened bread, an annual Sabbath); our Wednesday sunset:
Matthew 27:57-66, Mark 15:42-47, Luke 23:50-56, John 19:31-42

*After Bullinger’s Companion Bible, Ap.156, 157, 158.

Now, review what you have learned. As is clear from the Bible, they were making haste to complete the burial of Jesus Christ prior to the beginning of the “high day” Sabbath, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread! (John 18:31). This annual Sabbath, the first day of Unleavened Bread, fell on the fifteenth day of Nisan, and corresponded to our Wednesday sunset to Thursday sunset.

This was the first night and the first day during which Jesus lay in the tomb!

There is every reason to believe that the Passover lambs were being sacrificed at the very moment Christ died! Since Christ IS “our Passover who was sacrificed for us,” and knowing the manner in which God always does things ON TIME, it completes the perfect typical picture; Christ, uttering His last words just as the High Priest slays the first of the Paschal lambs!

Dr. Bullinger’s Companion Bible says, “It follows, therefore, that the Lord being crucified on `the preparation day’ could not have eaten of the Passover lamb, which was not slain until the evening of the fourteenth of Nisan (i.e., afternoon). On that day the daily sacrifice was killed at the sixth hour (noon) and offered until about the seventh hour (1:00 p.m.). The killing of the Passover lambs began directly afterwards. Thus it is clear, that if the killing of the Passover lambs did not commence until about four hours after our Lord had been hanging upon the cross (sic), and would not have been concluded at the ninth hour (3:00 p.m.) when He `gave up the ghost’ (i.e., expired); no `Passover lamb’ could have been eaten at the `last supper’ on the previous evening.”

It is an irrefutable FACT of scripture that the “high day” of John 19:31 was the FIRST DAY OF THE FEAST! That day HAD to fall on the fifteenth of Nisan, according to the scriptures!

The second day of the feast, the sixteenth day of Nisan, corresponding to our Thursday sunset to Friday sunset was the second night and second day in the tomb. The third day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread was the weekly Sabbath, the seventeenth day of Nisan, corresponding exactly to our Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, and represents the third night and third day in the tomb!

Since Christ was buried very late on that Wednesday afternoon, exactly three nights and three days later would bring us to very late on the afternoon of the weekly Sabbath or “the third day” of Matthew 16:21, and succeeding verses.

The following morning, according to the scriptures, the women came to the sepulchre “while it was yet dark,” and “…as it BEGAN to dawn toward the first of the week” (Matthew 28:1), and found Jesus was already gone.

Notice! “On the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

“Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid Him.

“Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre.

“So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.

“And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in.

“Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,

“And the napkin, that was about His head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.

“Then went in also the other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.

“For as yet they knew not the scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.

“Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.

“But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,

“And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

“And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him.

“And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.

“Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing Him to be the gardener, saith unto Him, Sir, if thou have borne Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away.

“Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto Him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.

“Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (John 20:1-17).

Luke’s account says, “Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.

“And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.

“And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:

“And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they saith unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?

“He is not here, but is risen: remember how He spake unto you when He was yet in Galilee,

“Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.

“And they remembered His words,

“And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest” (Luke 24:1-9).

Again, you see that while it was yet dark on Sunday morning Jesus Christ was already risen! He did NOT rise on “Easter” Sunday morning; it was not yet sunrise, but still quite dark, and the tomb was empty!

Notice Matthew’s account: “In the end of the Sabbath [the word for Sabbath is Sabbaton, with a plural ending, and should better be rendered “Sabbaths,” to include both the high day Sabbath, the fifteenth of Nisan, or the first Day of Unleavened Bread and the weekly Sabbath which fell two days later!], as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

“And behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.

“His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow.

“And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.

“And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.

“He is not here: for He is risen [this is past tense: He had already been resurrected many hours earlier], as He said [and what He SAID was that He would be three days and three nights in the tomb!], Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

“And go quickly, and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead; and, behold, He goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see Him: lo, I have told you.

“And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring His disciples word” (Matthew 28:1-8).

The angel said “He is not here, for He IS RISEN!” That was a past act, an accomplished fact, something which had already happened! Of course! He had actually risen from His tomb in the very late afternoon of the previous day, “as He said!” (verse 6).

The “Easter sunrise” tradition is wholly false! It is PAGAN to the core; a carry-over from ancient sun-worship, deliberately superimposed over the real TRUTH of God about Christ’s last days as a human being; obfuscating the ONLY SIGN He said He would leave succeeding generations—that sign being the length of time He would be in the tomb! By rejecting that SIGN, they reject the REAL Jesus Christ!

Jesus Christ IS The Passover!

Christ has become the Passover. He IS the Passover. Therefore, when we partake of the symbols He instituted of His broken body and shed blood, we are not keeping the Old Covenant Passover. We are IMBIBING OF THE SYMBOLS OF CHRIST’S DEATH! Paul wrote, “Purge out therefore the old leaven [spiritually], that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened [physically]. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:

“Therefore let us keep the feast [of Unleavened Bread!], not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:7, 8).

This powerful statement was written to the GENTILE church in Corinth, approximately THIRTY YEARS after the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ! These were not “Jews.” Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles, not the Jews! Unless this passage was read DURING THE DAYS OF UNLEAVENED BREAD, it is in direct contradiction within its own words! He could not have chided them so vigorously about being “puffed up” spiritually (1 Corinthians 4:6, 18, 19; 5:2) and then said “as ye are unleavened,” unless he had meant they were observing the Days of Unleavened Bread! He was urging them to become unleavened spiritually, just as they HAD already become unleavened physically!

God commanded Israel to eat unleavened bread for the seven days of the feast. There is rich, CHRIST-centered meaning in doing so. Notice! “Verily, verily I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. I AM THE LIVING BREAD which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world… Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day [this is obvious symbolism], For my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him” (John 6:44-58).

This was such a “hard saying” that many of His disciples LEFT Christ!

They had never heard such language! They were offended! Christ turned to Peter and asked if he would leave also. Peter said “Lord to whom shall we go? THOU hast the words of eternal life!” (John 6:68).

When Christ indicated that the bread and the wine were symbolic of His body and blood, He initiated a ceremony absolutely UNIQUE in all history! His “Last supper” with His disciples was NOT the Jewish Passover, as you have seen proved, but a completely UNIQUE occasion; a NEW Testament ceremony, instituted by Christ Himself! In includes the foot-washing ceremony, together with the partaking of the deeply symbolic bread and wine.

When we partake of this completely NEW TESTAMENT ceremony we do not look back in history beyond the time of Christ. We look to the time of HIS DEATH—NOT to the ancient exodus and the captivity in Egypt, except as interesting history and background.

Jesus Christ instituted a NEW TESTAMENT CEREMONY! He had that right! He had that authority! He said, “This DO as I have done unto you!”

Paul told the Gentile Corinthians, “For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed took bread:

“And when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, Take eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

“After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

“For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till He come.

“Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

“But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.

“For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

“For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep” (1 Corinthians 11:23-30). The term “unworthily” does not refer to the character of present spiritual condition of penitent believers who partake of the bread and wine. Instead, it refers to the abominable disgraces being committed by some in Corinth, who were turning the “Lord’s supper” into a Baccanalian orgy of sorts; stuffing themselves with food, and even drinking enough to become drunk! Paul wrote, “For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

“When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.

“For in eating every one taketh before other [on a “first come, first served” basis, some were gluttons, leaving no food for late comers]his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.

“What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not” (1 Corinthians 11:19-22). This was what Paul meant by partaking of the Lord’s supper “unworthily.” It had nothing to do with whether or not we, as Christians, feel “worthy” to partake of such solemn and meaningful symbols, for not one of us could ever become “worthy” of a single drop of Christ’s shed blood on our own strength.

God’s church has known from the first century that these symbols of His broken body and shed blood are to be received at precisely the same time Jesus Christ instituted them—on the BEGINNING of the fourteenth of Nisan!

Following Christ’s example and commands, God’s church gathers together on the beginning of the fourteenth of Nisan, after the sun has set and the thirteenth day is over, in a solemn service traditionally (and erroneously) called “The Passover.” The term, while a misnomer, has been carried over through the years. Actually, it is NOT “the Passover,” since Christ HAS BECOME our “Passover” which has been sacrificed for us!

Every True Christian Will Observe The Lord’s Supper

Surely there is no ceremony during the course of the year that is any more important than the LORD’S SUPPER! It is that one annual festival which symbolizes, more than any other, the very WAY TO SALVATION! Without the broken body and shed blood of Jesus Christ; without our deepest repentance, and the humble, grateful acceptance of Christ’s shed blood to atone for our own sins, we cannot be saved!

By our reaffirmation each year of our acceptance of His broken body and shed blood, we continually reconfirm our faith in Jesus Christ, and in Him ALONE, for salvation! If you truly expect to enter into the soon-coming, glorious kingdom of Almighty God; if you hope to be one of those who will live and reign with Christ for one thousand years on this earth (Revelation 20:4; 5:10) then you need to KEEP THE LORD’S SUPPER year by year.

We have a MERCIFUL God! He says, “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 8:13). This year, and every year of your remaining sojurn on this earth in this human flesh, you need to partake of the symbols of the body and blood of your Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is your soon-coming KING!

For information about “Passover” (Lord’s Supper) services this year with others of God’s people, either in one of our chartered churches, or unchartered fellowship groups, call or write to us about the services closest to your home.

For those who cannot meet with other brethren because of health or distance, we can provide you with instructions on how to keep the Passover in your own home. For those hosted fellowship groups who do not have a minister present, please ask for a videotape of the Passover services.

May God inspire you to submit to Him in humble obedience and deep gratitude as you partake of the symbols of your Savior’s sacrifice each year!

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This publication is intended to be used as a personal study tool. Please know it is not wise to take any man’s word for anything, so prove all things for yourself from the pages of your own Bible.

The activities of the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association are paid for by tithes, offerings and donations freely given by Christians and co-workers who are dedicated to preaching the gospel according to Jesus Christ.

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