THE CRUX OF THE MATTER
Passover began as an annual event. Most today who profess Christ do not consider it to be an annual event. Passover on the 14th of Nisan/Abib was clearly kept by the early Church! Almost none who call themselves Christian observe the foot-washing ceremony that Jesus implemented on the night of His last Passover.
Secular history records that the Apostles Philip and John, as well as many faithful leaders in the early church, kept Passover on the fourteenth in the first three centuries. Even though the Roman Emperor Constantine attempted to forbid it, it was still observed in the fourth century, as well as later centuries.
Easter was the result of compromise with Scripture combined with anti-Semitism. Passover observance is backed by both the Old and New Testaments, as well as by the early Christians who claimed to be following the teachings of the Apostles and the Bible. If this is not enough to cause you to believe, remember who is our perfect example! Jesus celebrated the Feasts of the Lord not because of tradition. He celebrated them because they were instituted by God Himself. Of course we know that He is One with the Father!
Fifteen hundred years before the birth of Jesus Christ these seven Feasts of the Lord foretold the major redemptive works of His life. The four spring feasts relate to His first coming:
▸ His death was depicted in Passover; the Lamb was slain for our sins; we are saved by His shed blood.
▸ That His body would not decay in the grave is seen in the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
▸ His resurrection is illustrated in Firstfruits;
▸ The beginning of the Church and His promise of the Comforter is typified in the Feast of Pentecost.
Leviticus 23:5 specifies that the festival year begins with Passover on "the fourteenth day of the first month" (Nisan 15). Passover is the Feast of Salvation. In both testaments, the blood of the Lamb delivers from slavery – the Jew from Egypt, the Christian from sin. Think about the tenth plague in Exodus 12:5 when Egypt's first born sons died while the angel of death "passed over" the Jewish homes with the blood of the lamb on their door posts. In the B'rit Chadashah, Jesus serves as the sacrificial lamb. It is no coincidence that our Lord Himself was sacrificed on Passover. In Egypt the Jew marked his house with the blood of the lamb. Today the Christian marks his house – his body, "the house of the spirit" with the blood of Christ. Passover, then, represents our salvation.
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Passover began as an annual event. Most today who profess Christ do not consider it to be an annual event. Passover on the 14th of Nisan/Abib was clearly kept by the early Church! Almost none who call themselves Christian observe the foot-washing ceremony that Jesus implemented on the night of His last Passover.
Secular history records that the Apostles Philip and John, as well as many faithful leaders in the early church, kept Passover on the fourteenth in the first three centuries. Even though the Roman Emperor Constantine attempted to forbid it, it was still observed in the fourth century, as well as later centuries.
Easter was the result of compromise with Scripture combined with anti-Semitism. Passover observance is backed by both the Old and New Testaments, as well as by the early Christians who claimed to be following the teachings of the Apostles and the Bible. If this is not enough to cause you to believe, remember who is our perfect example! Jesus celebrated the Feasts of the Lord not because of tradition. He celebrated them because they were instituted by God Himself. Of course we know that He is One with the Father!
Fifteen hundred years before the birth of Jesus Christ these seven Feasts of the Lord foretold the major redemptive works of His life. The four spring feasts relate to His first coming:
▸ His death was depicted in Passover; the Lamb was slain for our sins; we are saved by His shed blood.
▸ That His body would not decay in the grave is seen in the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
▸ His resurrection is illustrated in Firstfruits;
▸ The beginning of the Church and His promise of the Comforter is typified in the Feast of Pentecost.
Leviticus 23:5 specifies that the festival year begins with Passover on "the fourteenth day of the first month" (Nisan 15). Passover is the Feast of Salvation. In both testaments, the blood of the Lamb delivers from slavery – the Jew from Egypt, the Christian from sin. Think about the tenth plague in Exodus 12:5 when Egypt's first born sons died while the angel of death "passed over" the Jewish homes with the blood of the lamb on their door posts. In the B'rit Chadashah, Jesus serves as the sacrificial lamb. It is no coincidence that our Lord Himself was sacrificed on Passover. In Egypt the Jew marked his house with the blood of the lamb. Today the Christian marks his house – his body, "the house of the spirit" with the blood of Christ. Passover, then, represents our salvation.
Return to Did You Know | Previous Page