Passover 2018
The Next Memorial Day
All Scripture is taken from my new Son Of Man Bible, available free at www.biblesupport.com. Do a search for “Unlocked Literal Bible 9” and the SOMB module will appear in the download list.
There are three Feasts of Yahweh coming up in possibly a few days, depending on whether or not our spotters find aviv barley in the land of Israel before the end of this 12th lunar month. If they do, we will celebrate Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, and Feast of First Fruits at the end of March and first week of April. If they don’t find aviv barley in Israel, we will celebrate these three commanded feasts at the end of April.
The first feast is Passover: Leviticus 23:4-5, “These are the appointment calendar festivals of Yahweh, the holy assemblies that you must announce at their appointed times: 5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is Yahweh’s Passover.” The first month being the first lunar month of the Hebrew religious calendar. Passover is the memorial feast honoring Yeshua as our Lamb of Yahweh that takes away the sin of the world.
The second feast is Unleavened Bread: Leviticus 23:6-8, “On the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread for Yahweh. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. 7 The first day you must set apart to gather together; you will not do any of your regular work. 8 You will present a food offering to Yahweh for seven days. The seventh day is an assembly set apart to Yahweh, and on that day you must not do any regular work.’” Unleavened Bread remembers the forced march of the Hebrew children of Israel when they escaped from Egypt and went to the Red Sea, headed to Mount Sinai. They had to leave in a hurry, so they could not take time to let their bread rise before baking it. That’s why we eat unleavened bread during this 8-day week.
The third feast occurs during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, it is called the Feast of Firstfruits: Leviticus 23:10-11, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ’When you have come into the land that I will give you, and when you reap its (barley) harvest, then you must bring a sheaf of its firstfruits to the priest. 11 He will raise the sheaf before Yahweh and present it to him, for it to be accepted on your behalf. It is on the day after the Sabbath (that occurs during Unleavened Bread) that the priest will raise it and present it to me.” This Feast of Firstfruits is the proper celebration and memorial of the resurrection of Yeshua from the grave. Yeshua rose to the Father in heaven and presented Himself as the first of the firstfruits offerings, then he also presented to the Father, those that he resurrected when he rose. We do not celebrate a fertility goddess, astarte, or bunnies or eggs or any of that pagan stuff. Yeshua rose at sundown at the end of Sabbath, just in time to be our Firstfruits offering!!
There is no such thing as Yeshua’s last supper, apart from the Passover seder meal. Yeshua celebrated the Passover meal with his disciples. Matthew 26:17-19, “Now on the first day of (the Feast of) unleavened bread the disciples came to Yeshua and said, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover meal (seder)?” 18 He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover (seder meal) at your house with my disciples.”’” 19 The disciples did as Yeshua directed them, and they prepared the Passover meal.”
Mark 14:12-16, “On the first day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where do you want us to go to prepare, so you may eat the Passover meal?” 13 He sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man bearing a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. 14 Where he enters a house, follow him in and say to the owner of that house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is my guest room where I will eat the Passover with my disciples?”’ 15 He will show you a large furnished upper room that is ready. Make the preparations for us there.” 16 The disciples left and went to the city. They found everything as he had said to them, and they prepared the Passover meal (seder).”
Luke 22:1, 7-13, “Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread was approaching, which is called the Passover. . . . 7 The day of unleavened bread came, on which the Passover lamb must be sacrificed. 8 Yeshua sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare for us the Passover meal, so that we may eat it.” 9 They asked him, “Where do you want us to make preparations?” 10 He answered them, “Listen, when you have entered the city, a man bearing a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he goes into. 11 Then say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room, where I will eat the Passover with my disciples?”’ 12 He will show you a large furnished upper room. Make the preparations there.” 13 So they went, and found everything as he had said to them. Then they prepared the Passover meal.”
John 13:1-2, “Now it was before the Festival of the Passover. Yeshua knew that his hour had come to go out of this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 And during the Passover seder meal, the devil had already by now put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Yeshua.”
We don’t sacrifice a lamb today, because Yeshua has once for all time been sacrificed for us. Yeshua has fulfilled the Feast of Passover and He is our Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits offering. Let’s see how the early congregation celebrated this feast as explained by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, “But in the following instructions, I do not praise you. For when you come together, it is not for the better but for the worse. 18 For in the first place, I hear that when you come together in the congregation, there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. 19 For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may be recognized among you. 20 For when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Passover seder meal that you eat. 21 When you eat, each one eats his own food before the others have their meal. One is hungry, and another becomes drunk. 22 Do you not have houses to eat and to drink in? Do you despise the congregation of Yahweh and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I will not praise you for this! 23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you, that Lord Yeshua, on the night when he was betrayed, took unleavened bread. 24 After he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this to remember me.” (Passover is an annual memorial feast) 25 In the same way he took the cup during the seder meal, and he said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it, to remember me.” 26 For once every year when you eat this unleavened bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27 Whoever, therefore, eats the unleavened bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself first, and in this way let him eat of the unleavened bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment to himself. 30 That is why many among you are weak and ill, and some of you have died. 31 But if we examine ourselves, we will not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined, so that we may not be condemned along with the world. 33 Therefore, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 34 If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. . . .”
You may certainly roast a lamb or any other clean meat that you desire and can afford to have at your Passover seder meal. For believers, we know that ham, or pork of any kind and any seafood is out. Only fish with fins and scales can be considered. See Leviticus 11 for the rundown on kosher meats.
We celebrate with the right attitude, a humble, repentant and grateful heart. We will be celebrating this Feast for all eternity, so you might as well get used to it now. And remember, Yeshua is currently fasting from this feast and has been for almost 2,000 years. He’s waiting to celebrate with us in his first year back on earth! Matthew 26:26-30, “As they were eating the Passover seder meal, Yeshua took unleavened bread, blessed it, and broke it. He gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat. This is my body.” 27 He took a cup and gave thanks, and gave it to them and said, “Drink it, all of you. 28 For this is my blood of the covenant that is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 But I say to you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” 30 When they had sung the hallel (Ps. 113-118), they went out to the Mount of Olives.” They sang multiple hymns, the word for hymn here in verse 30 is plural in the Greek. They sang the Jewish traditional Hallel from Psalm 113-118. They worshiped after their meal, before retiring to the Mount of Olives.
Mark 14:25, “Truly I say to you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of Yahweh.”
Luke 22:18, “For I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine again, until the kingdom of Yahweh comes.”
Folks, the Kingdom of Yahweh is coming to earth quite soon, I believe in the mid 2020s, at least by 2030. You heard my Jubilee teaching. It won’t be long and we will celebrate Passover with our Messiah, Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus Christ, during this next upcoming Jubilee Year! Passover is a memorial feast, but it is also very prophetic. Yeshua promises to return to celebrate with us! I can’t wait.
FYI, friends, you can search the internet for Messianic Haggadahs, or the telling, that lays out a full Messianic Passover seder, the order of service. Or, if you write to us, I can email some sample Haggadahs that I’ve collected over the years. Many people write their own, which you can do from these samples. The Jews actually use four cups of wine during the Passover meal. You can celebrate very traditionally, or you can modernize or simplify to your heart’s desire. But as Paul said, 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, “Cleanse yourselves of the old yeast so that you may be new dough, so that you may be unleavened bread. For Messiah, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 So let us then celebrate the festival (continuously, annually, forever!), not with the old yeast, the yeast of bad behavior and wickedness. Instead, let us celebrate with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
Amen, shalom!
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