Note: This sermon was a joint presentation by our two Pastors.
Pat:
This year Dana and I have decided to take some time to focus on some of our rich heritage as followers of Jesus Christ. As we’ve consistently pointed out, the Bible is, from beginning to end, the account of the reconciliation of man to God through Jesus, the Messiah. And one of the ways that God chose to reveal much about the Messiah was to establish seven feasts, or festivals. Although these feasts were prescribed by God in the Old Testament, each of these feasts foreshadowed both the first and second comings of the Messiah, Jesus.
So, we’re going to take a break from our normal sermon series throughout the year on the Sundays that are closest to these seven feasts in order to reflect on how each of them teaches us about Jesus and God’s unfolding purposes for His people – from the new birth found in the Passover to entering God’s final rest pictured in the Feast of Tabernacles.
Dana:
The seven feasts are divided into three seasons that were scheduled on the Jewish calendar in a way that Jews would have to travel to Jerusalem three times a year in order to gather together with each other in order to worship God.
The first season was Passover, which was connected with the Spring harvest. It includes three feasts – the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Passover, and Firstfruits.
The second season contained one feast, which we know by its Greek name, Pentecost, but which is known to the Jews as Shavuot, or the Feast of Weeks.
The third season, which was connected with the Fall harvest, also contained three feasts – Rosh Hashanah, also known as the Feast of Trumpets; Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement; and Succoth, or the Feast of Tabernacles.
As we will see, there is a reason for this pattern to the feasts. The three Spring feasts were all fulfilled by Jesus at His first coming. The three Fall feasts will all find their final fulfillment in the second coming of Jesus. And sandwiched in between is the church age in which we live, aided by the Holy Spirit, who first came to dwell permanently in the followers of Jesus on the Day of Pentecost.
The first three feasts, as we’ll see this morning, actually overlap somewhat and all three picture various aspects of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
This morning we’ll begin by looking at the first two of these feasts – The Feast of Unleavened Bread and Passover. And then next week, we’ll examine the Feast of Firstfruits in connection with the resurrection of Jesus.
I’m going to begin by sharing with you the Biblical background for these feasts from the Old Testament and then Pastor Pat will explain how these feasts relate to the coming of the Messiah, Jesus, and the implications for us as His followers.
Although Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread are two distinct feasts, they are so closely related that they are often treated as a single feast in both the Old and New Testaments. The overall instructions concerning the observance of both feasts are found in Leviticus:
4 ’These are the appointed times of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them.5 ’In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the LORD’s Passover. 6 ’Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.
Leviticus 23:4-6 (NASB)
We see that the feast of Passover began at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month on the Jewish calendar – the month of Nisan. Since the Jewish calendar is based on a lunar cycle of approximately 30 days in each month rather than our solar based calendar of 365 days in a year, that date can fall in either March or April on our calendar.
Before we go any further, we also need to explain the way that the Jews define a day. For us, each new day begins at midnight, but for the Jews each new day begins at sunset and ends at sunset on the following day. So the Passover feast would begin at twilight on the 14th of Nisan and when sunset arrived shortly thereafter, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which begins on the 15th of Nisan would commence. So it’s very easy to see how these two feasts came to be considered to be one feast, since the Feast of Unleavened Bread actually began while the celebration of the Passover was still in progress.
Historically, both of these feasts find their origins in Israel’s release from captivity in Egypt. The detailed instructions for the observance of both of these feasts is contained in Exodus chapter 12.
Let’s begin by reading the instructions for the Passover Feast:
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. 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. 6 ’And 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. 8 ’And they shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
Exodus 12:1-8 (NASB)
The lamb was to be set aside on the 10th of Nisan and cared for until twilight on the 14th of Nisan, at which time it was to be slain. The lamb had to be a year-old male without blemish or defect. In other words, it was to be the very best of the flock. Then the lamb was to be roasted over the fire and eaten along with bitter herbs and unleavened bread.
In Exodus 12, Moses continues with the instructions for the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
15 ’Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. 16 ’And on the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except what must be eaten by every person, that alone may be prepared by you. 17 ’You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance. 18 ’In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. 19 ’Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses; for whoever eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is an alien or a native of the land. 20 ’You shall not eat anything leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’"
Exodus 12:15-20 (NASB)
The preparation for the Feast of Unleavened Bread actually began on the evening of the 14th of Nisan. Remember, for the Jews, that was the beginning of the day. At that time, using the light from one candle, the house was searched for any trace of leaven. Any leaven that is found was scooped onto a wooden spoon with a feather and then wrapped in a cloth and burned. All the leaven had to be removed before the slaying of the Passover lambs at twilight.
Then for seven days, from the 15th of Nisan to the 21st of Nisan, no unleavened bread was to be eaten. The first and last days of the Feast were also considered to be what is known as a high holy day or a high Sabbath. As we’ll see, that becomes an important distinction when it comes to examining some of the information related to the death and resurrection of Jesus.
During the time of Jesus and up until the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, all able bodied Jews were to come to Jerusalem for the celebration of the two feasts. Some estimate that as many as 2 million Jews may have descended upon Jerusalem and its surrounding cities for the feasts. The lambs, which had been set aside on the 10th of Nisan, were brought to the Temple where they were killed. The priests would collect the blood from the slain lambs and then toss the blood on the altar. The lambs were then taken back to the homes where they were roasted and eaten.
The Passover was a communal meal. No one was allowed to eat it alone. In fact, there were to be at least ten people associated with each of the slain lambs.
Since the destruction of the Temple, the celebration of the feasts has been changed. The primary means of celebration is the Passover Seder meal. Later this morning, in our “Connections” time, we will be observing a Passover Seder together that will allow us to experience much of what we’ve discussed here this morning through a “hands on” experience.
Pat:
Although we traditionally associate many of the events related to the death and resurrection of Jesus with certain days of the week, the fact is that although we can be certain of the dates on which many of these events occurred, we cannot determine conclusively on which day of the week they happened. Part of the problem is that many of the historical records were destroyed when the Temple was destroyed in AD 70 and to complicate the issue we can’t even determine exactly what year Jesus was crucified. Because of the nature of the Jewish calendar, the day of the week on which various dates occur varies from year to year, in much the same way that happens with our Gregorian calendar. So I’ll be dealing with dates, but not days of the week, this morning.
By the time Jesus became flesh and entered into our world the Jews had been observing the Passover Feast for about 1,500 years. But the blood of animals could only cover their sins, it could not take them away. So God, through His prophets told the people of a human lamb who would come to deal with the problem of sin and death once and for all. And when John the Baptizer spoke of Jesus using these words, the Jews immediately understood that John was claiming that Jesus was the sacrificial lamb that had been described by the prophets.
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 1:29 (NASB)
John records that Jesus came to Bethany, just outside Jerusalem on the 9th of Nisan.
Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
John 12:1 (NASB)
This should probably be translated “on the sixth day before the Passover”. Since the Passover was on the 14th of Nissan, the sixth day before that would have been the 9th of Nissan. It was then on the next day, the 10th of Nisan that Jesus rode into Jerusalem
12 On the next day the great multitude who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 took the branches of the palm trees, and went out to meet Him, and began to cry out, "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel."
John 12:12, 13 (NASB)
As Christians, we traditionally celebrate this event on the Sunday before Easter as Palm Sunday, but the real significance of Jesus entering into Jerusalem that day is that He did so at the very time when all of the Passover Lambs were being set aside for slaughter on Passover. And just as the Passover lambs were examined for the next five days to make sure that they were without blemish, Jesus was observed and questioned by the religious leaders for those five days. But since they could find nothing wrong with Him, in desperation they took Jesus to the Roman governor, Pilate. But he could find no defect or blemish either.
And Pilate came out again, and said to them, "Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no guilt in Him."
John 19:4 (NASB)
And not surprisingly, Jesus was crucified on the 14th of Nisan, on the day of the Passover feast, exactly as He had predicted:
"You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is to be delivered up for crucifixion."
Matthew 26:2 (NASB)
Not only was Jesus crucified on that day, but every detail of His crucifixion matches what was happening with the Passover lambs at the Temple. The Jewish historian Josephus records that there were a total of 256,500 lambs killed in Jerusalem for the Passover the year Jesus was crucified. With that many lambs, the animals were prepared for sacrifice beginning at 9:00 in the morning so that they could be killed at 3:00 in the afternoon and them removed from the Temple and taken to the homes before 6:00, which would be the beginning of the new day.
According to the gospel accounts Jesus was nailed to the cross at the “third hour”, or 9:00 a.m.
And it was the third hour when they crucified Him.
Mark 15:25 (NASB)
And then at the ninth hour, or 3:00 p.m., at the very time when the Passover lambs were being slain, Jesus breathed his last breath:
34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" 35 And when some of the bystanders heard it, they began saying, "Behold, He is calling for Elijah." 36 And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink, saying, "Let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down."37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last.
Mark 15:34-37 (NASB)
Since the Feast of Unleavened Bread was to begin at 6:00 p.m., which was the beginning of a new day, the body of Jesus was removed from the cross so that it would not remain there on the Sabbath:
The Jews therefore, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
John 19:31 (NASB)
You’ll notice that John took care to make sure that we understood the Sabbath he referred to was not the normal Saturday Sabbath, but rather the high Sabbath associated with the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
This chart summarizes for us all these events and how Jesus fulfilled exactly every detail of the Feast of Passover.
Passover and the Feast of Unleavened bread played a significant role in the ministry of Jesus. In fact, the entire Gospel of John is arranged around Jesus’ participation in the Passover during his 3-1/2 years of ministry. One of those instances is recorded for us in John 6:
Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.
John 6:4 (NASB)
The account in this chapter goes on to record how Jesus fed the multitude on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. The next morning, when the people realized that Jesus and His disciples had crossed over to the other side of the lake during the night, they followed after Him. And Jesus, with the backdrop of the approaching Feast of Unleavened Bread spoke these words:
32 Jesus therefore said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. 33 "For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world." 34 They said therefore to Him, "Lord, evermore give us this bread." 35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
John 6:32-35 (NASB)
Jesus was very clearly equating Himself with the unleavened bread that His followers would be eating for an entire week just a few days later. Throughout Scripture, leaven is often used as a picture of sin. So the unleavened bread that was the focus of the feast was a great picture of Jesus, the one who was without sin. What the Jews had been portraying for 1,500 years as they observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread was fulfilled completely by Jesus as he was taken from the cross, prepared for burial by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus and then laid in the tomb on the first day of the feast. Jesus, who was without sin took the leaven of our sin upon Himself to the grave where he paid the penalty for our sin.
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NASB)
Before I address the implications that these two feasts have for us as followers of Jesus Christ, let me briefly address one more issue that arises with the timelines that we have just looked at.
If in fact, Jesus was crucified on the 14th of Nisan, at the exact time the Passover lambs were being slain in the Temple, then that means that the meal that Jesus shared with His disciples the evening before could have not been the formal Passover meal, since the lambs had not yet been slain. And yet all three synoptic gospels clearly refer to that meal as a Passover meal. Biblical scholars have come up with all kinds of solutions to reconcile those seemingly contradictory accounts. But frankly, just as with trying to determine the day of the week that all these events occurred, we just don’t have enough information to confirm any of these theories.
We do know, however, that the meal Jesus shared with His disciples, certainly contained elements of a Passover meal. Perhaps Jesus, knowing that He would die before He could observe the formal meal with His closest followers wanted to be able to share a form of the meal with them so that He could give new meaning to the elements of that meal that they would be eating together the very next night.
Isn’t this exciting to see how God initiated these feasts thousands of years before the coming of Jesus the Messiah as a picture of how God was going to provide salvation for His people? But as always, our purpose here this morning is not just to provide you with information, as thrilling as it might be. We also need to ask what this means for us and how we can apply this learning in our everyday lives.
Let me begin with the Passover. Just like first Passover protected God’s children from death, the Passover is a reminder to us that we are all under the curse of death as well.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 3:23 (NASB)
For the wages of sin is death…
Romans 6:23 (NASB)
Every single one of us has sinned, and as a result of that sin, we have earned, we deserve, death. But just as He did in Egypt nearly 3,500 years ago, God has provided a way for us to be spared from death.
That first Passover, God spared his children from the penalty of death when they responded to Him in faith and took the blood of the lamb that they had slain and put it on the doorpost and lintel of their house. It was not their works, or what they did, that earned favor with God. But rather, God bestowed His grace, His unmerited favor, upon them, as they chose to respond to Him in faith. For those who heard God’s word and obeyed it based on their faith and trust in Him, God spared them from the penalty of death. But that was only a temporary solution to the problem of sin and death. The people still had to continue to make sacrifices in order to cover their sins.
But Jesus became the Passover lamb for all of us, and in doing so He became the permanent solution to the problem of our sin.
…you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
1 Peter 1:18, 19 (NASB)
Through the blood of Jesus, we have the ability to be redeemed from the certainty of death and brought into a relationship with God. But just like with the very first Passover, that redemption, although it is available to all, is only appropriated by those who chose to respond to God in faith.
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.
Ephesians 2:8, 9 (NASB)
For us, the Passover represents the beginning of our personal relationship with God, which is made possible only through the death and resurrection of our Passover lamb, Jesus. And so I would be remiss this morning if I didn’t give those of you who have never placed your faith in Jesus the opportunity to do so this morning.
If you have never made that decision and you would like to do that, or if you just have some more questions about what that means, then what I’d like to ask you to do is to fill out the “Care Card” on the flap of your bulletin and check the box that says “I would like to learn how to begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ”. And then you can either place that in the offering plate or give it to Dana or me after the service. I promise that one of us will contact you so that we can talk more about this important decision and help you in any way we can in the process of making that decision.
For those of us who have already made that decision, the Passover should be a reminder to us of what it cost God to take care of our sins so that we can have a relationship with Him. It ought to cause us to be truly grateful to God for making Jesus our Passover lamb.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread also has great significance for us. In his first letter to the church at Corinth, Paul gives us some clear insight into how it applies to us as followers of Jesus:
Clean out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
1 Corinthians 5:7, 8 (NASB)
One of the reasons that God originally commanded His people to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread was to show them that they were to be separated from the life that they had lived in Egypt. Once God delivered them from their life of bondage there, they were to no longer follow the customs and ways of that world.
Once we become followers of Jesus through the blood of our Passover
lamb, we are no longer to be like the world around us. God has called us to live our lives differently than we did before we committed our lives to Jesus. We call that process “sanctification”, and it is just that, a process.
As Paul makes clear in this passage, we are, in fact, unleavened. Since all our sin has been paid for by Jesus, we are positionally without sin when we stand before God. However, as we’re all painfully aware, that doesn’t mean that we automatically stop sinning. So we have to, as Paul commands, clean out that old leaven. And that is an ongoing, day-to-day process.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread should serve as a reminder to us that we have been freed from our bondage to sin and made to be righteous before God through the blood of Jesus. As a result, we now have the power to no longer live in slavery to sin. But we still must, day-by-day and moment-by-moment choose to live our lives in a way that we become more and more like Jesus.
