As we enter this Holy Week, I thought it would be appropriate to look at the principle of Jesus Christ and fulfilled prophecy.  The nation of Israel had 7 feasts that were to be celebrated annually on certain days.  These were not just a reason to get dressed up and go to the synagogue, but were to remember something and to point forward to something.

 

  1. Passover.  Killing of the lamb, remembering deliverance from bondage in Egypt.
  2. Feast of Unleavened Bread.  They would put the unleavened bread into the ground.
  3. Feast of Firstfruits.  They would wave the first things to come out of the ground before God.
  4. Pentecost.  Giving of something new to God.
  5. Feast of Trumpets,
  6. Feast of Atonement,
  7. Feast of Tabernacles

 

Today we’re going to look at the first one.

 

Passover

 

This was celebrated to commemorate the deliverance from Egypt and from the angel of death who killed the first born in any house without the blood of the lamb on it.  Let’s look at the origination.

 

Exodus 12:1-13

1 Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,

2 "This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you.  (this is where God changed their calendar, we’ll see later)

3 "Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, "On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers' households, a lamb for each household.

4 "Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb.

5 "Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. (Had to be perfect to represent Jesus Christ)

6 "You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight.

7 "Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. (Sounds kind of like a cross doesn’t it!)

8 "They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

9 "Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails. (Fire because it represents the judgment of God; Jesus was judged for our sins)

10 "And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire.

11 "Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste -- it is the LORD'S Passover.

12 "For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments -- I am the LORD.

13 "The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

 

So the Passover represented the lamb being slain, and the deliverance from bondage.  The people were saved from death by the blood of the lamb.  Sound familiar?

Remember what John the Baptist said?

John 1:29

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

 

John could have said, “Here comes the savior, or here is the Son of God”, but he said the Lamb of God.

 

Anybody want to guess what day Jesus was crucified on?

Luke 22:14-16

14 When the hour had come, (This is the Last Supper) He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him.

15 And He said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;

16 for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."

 

The very day they were to celebrate the Lamb of God being slain was the day that Jesus the Lamb of God was slain.

 

The Jewish day ran from 6:00 pm until 6:00pm the next day.  So the Passover started on Thursday at 6:00 pm, when they had the last supper, and ended at 6:00pm the next day, after He was crucified.

 

The entire purpose of the feasts and festivals was to point forward to Christ:

Colossians 2:16-17

16 Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day --  

17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.

 

 

Remember all these feasts we’re going to look at represented something, and Jesus Christ fulfilled them correctly and on the correct day!

 

Leviticus 23:5

5 "In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the LORD'S Passover.

 

This was Nisan 14th, when they were commanded to celebrate the Passover, which let them remember the redemption from Egypt. For 3500 years, Jews have gathered together to commemorate that redemption.

 

As a side note, four very important things happened on that day. (Nissan 14)

 

  1. God’s promise to Abram about the Promised Land.  Gen 15:18.  This was actually before the Passover was instigated as a festival, but on the same day.
  2. The origination of the Passover in Egypt, where anyone without the protection of the blood of the lamb died.
  3. 2 Chronicles 34:13-15; 35:1.  They found the Book of the Law.  (They had actually lost it!)
  4. The most dramatic and most important, the last supper and crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Luke 22:14-20.

 

Look what Paul said:

1 Corinthians 5:7

7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.

 

Note that Jesus Christ didn’t just fulfill the Passover, but He fulfilled it on the EXACT DAY with the EXACT appropriate action!

 

What a coincidence! 

 

Isaiah 46:9-10

9 "Remember the former things long past,

For I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is no one like Me,

10 Declaring the end from the beginning,

And from ancient times things which have not been done,

Saying, "My purpose will be established,

And I will accomplish all My good pleasure';