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Sabbath Service
Saturday, March 17, 2007
“The Passover and the Lord’s Supper”
Sabbath Service — Saturday, March 17, 2007
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reserved.
(If you are meeting in a small group, select a leader for the day. The leader reads
the text printed in regular face. The rest of the group reads the text printed in
bold face and wherever it states “In Unison.” If you are worshipping as a single
individual, read all the parts.)
CALL TO WORSHIPSeek the whole of truth, and God will be with you;
Give heed to the way that is blameless.
Grace, mercy, and peace be yours today,
From our Creator God and his Holy Spirit.
We come to rekindle the gift of God within us
And to re-examine our commitments and actions.
We want to be faithful and to walk with integrity,
To give your best to the tasks God sets before us.
God calls us to loyalty and justice
And gives us a spirit of love and self-control.INVITATION (In Unison)
In confidence and trust we draw near to you once more, O God, that you may test our minds and our hearts. We have sought to walk uprightly, with integrity in all we do. As we gather before you we begin to experience your glory in our midst. Hear our songs of praise as we testify to all you are doing for us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
OPENING HYMN #163 “O Worship the King”
Robert Grant, 1833
J. Michael Haydn, 1737-1806
O worship the King, all glorious above,
O gratefully sing His power and His love;
Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days,
Pavilioned in splendor, and girded with praise.
O tell of His might, O sing of His grace,
Whose robe is the light, whose canopy space,
His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,
And dark is His path on the wings of the storm.
Thy bountiful care, what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;
It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.
Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail;
Thy mercies how tender, how firm to the end,
Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend.OPENING PRAYER (In Unison)
God, we come to you empty, praying to be filled. Come, fill our lives with meaning and power through your spirit. God, we are seeking you. Let yourself be found. We are calling you. Listen to our prayers. We enter your courts with singing. We walk through your gates with thanksgiving. Receive us, your people, with gladness. Welcome us with blessings. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
MOMENTS OF SILENCE
PERSONAL PRAYER (In Silence)
HYMN #65 “Teach Me to Pray”
Albert S. Reitz, 1925
Teach me to pray, Lord, teach me to pray; This is my heart-cry, day unto day.
I long to know Thy will and Thy way; Teach me to pray, Lord, teach me to pray.
Living in Thee, Lord, and Thou in me, constant abiding, this is my plea;
Grant me Thy power, boundless and free, Power with men and power with Thee.
Power in prayer, Lord, power in prayer! Here ‘mid earth’s sin and sorrow and care,
Men lost and dying, souls in despair, O give me power, power in prayer!
Living in Thee, Lord, and Thou in me, constant abiding, this is my plea;
Grant me Thy power, boundless and free, Power with men and power with Thee.
My weakened will, Lord, thou canst renew; My sinful nature Thou canst subdue.
Fill me just now with power anew, Power to pray and power to do!
Living in Thee, Lord, and Thou in me, constant abiding, this is my plea;
Grant me Thy power, boundless and free, Power with men and power with Thee.
Teach me to pray, Lord, teach me to pray; Thou art my pattern day unto day.
Thou art my surety, now and for aye; Teach me to pray, Lord, teach me to pray.
Living in Thee, Lord, and Thou in me, constant abiding, this is my plea;
Grant me Thy power, boundless and free, Power with men and power with Thee.PRESENTATIONS BEFORE GOD (Not monetary offerings)
Time for any in attendance to offer a musical or instrumental piece, a reading, comments, or anything they would like to present before God.
If no one is prepared or if you want more, the link below will open a full choral anthem for your listening enjoyment.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Time for groups to make any necessary announcements relating to their own group.
For the next three weeks, we will be looking at the difference between the Passover and the Lord’s Supper. The messages are from three different authors and are not always in agreement on all things, but reading all three will expose us to a good overview of what is being taught among the Churches of God on this most special time of year. Each individual will need to determine for themselves the best manner for them to observe the upcoming Holy Days, and which of the services provided on this website will best suit their needs. Three different services are provided in the Spring Holy Day section.
COLLECT (Preparing for the lesson. In Unison)
Increase our faith, O God, that we may dare to deal with difficult matters. So fill us with your truth that we will not be ashamed to share its demands or its promises. If suffering must come, grant us insight and strength to endure. Point our thoughts beyond ourselves so we may know and serve you well for all your children. In the name of our most holy elder brother, Jesus Christ. Amen.
THE LESSON
(Use the lesson provided here, or conduct a study of your own selection.)
The Passover and the Lord’s Supper
© Hubert Krause, Additional Editing by Orest Solyma
The Church of God in Williamstown
Web Site: http://www.alphalink.com.au/~sanhub/index_.htm
PASSOVER PERPLEXITY
For many of us in God’s Church the term the “Lord’s Supper” can conjure up notions that have more to do with traditional forms of Christian liturgy rather than with the Festivals ordained in the Bible. Among the churches of God today there is much confusion on this subject. Diverse ideas and practices abound. Some seek to combine this memorial with the Passover celebration as laid down in the Scriptures. Others observe it and/or the Passover Holy Day on the afternoon of Abib 14, or the evening of Abib 14, and others still on the evening of Abib 15.Two notions about Passover extant in churches of God thinking are:
• That the Jews observed Passover on the wrong date and that Jesus corrected the error by restoring it to its proper time, at the beginning of Abib 14.
• That Christ, on a once-only basis, kept the Passover a day early to show the disciples and Christians today how it was henceforth to be kept, but on the fifteenth.Yet the term the “Lord’s Supper” is biblical (1Co 11:20) and refers to Christ’s final pre-resurrection meal with His disciples during which He instituted the symbols of the bread and the wine for all Christians. The purpose of this paper is to show that the “Lord’s Supper” and the Passover are not one and the same. Terminology is important. The season is called the Passover, but the “Lord’s Supper” is not the Passover commemoration proper. That begins the next evening.
THE OLD TESTAMENT PASSOVER
Let us examine God’s original instructions to Moses as to how the Passover was to be kept:
• The lamb was set aside on the tenth of Abib:
Ex 12:3 (RSV) Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they shall take every man a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household.
• This lamb was killed on the evening of the fourteenth of Abib:
Ex 12:6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs in the evening.
• It was eaten roasted, with bitter herbs and unleavened bread:
Ex 12:8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.
• The lamb was completely consumed, either by the people or by fire:
Ex 12:10 And you shall let none of it remain until the morning, anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.
• The Passover was eaten “in haste”:
Ex 12:11 In this manner you shall eat it: 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.
• The Israelites were not to leave their dwellings until morning:
Ex 12:22.....and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.
• It is important to remember that the Passover was celebrated by the entire family (v.v. 4,6,21), or groups of families together (v 4). In like manner, as many of the faithful as they can should come together for this celebration. God today wants every Christian household to have the presence of the Lamb of God.
The date of the Passover celebration is reiterated in Lev 23:4-6:Lev 23:4-6 These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. 5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, is the LORD’s Passover. 6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread to the LORD; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.
The original command to eat the Passover “in haste” was obviously no longer binding upon the Israelites once they had escaped from the Egyptians and were in the Promised Land. The Israelites were also instructed to celebrate at the place chosen by God:
Dt 16:2-7 And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to the LORD your God, from the flock or the herd, at the place which the LORD will choose, to make His Name dwell there. 3 You shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days [from when you eat unleavened bread with the Passover sacrifice] you shall eat it with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction — for you came out of the land of Egypt in hurried flight — that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. 4 No leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory for seven days; nor shall any of the flesh which you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain all night until morning. 5 You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of your towns which the LORD your God gives you; 6 but at the place which the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell in it, there you shall offer the Passover sacrifice, in the evening at the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt. 7 And you shall boil [Heb bashal, cook, bake, roast] it and eat it at the place which the LORD your God will choose; and in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents.
Please note especially verse 4: it states clearly that the lamb was sacrificed on the evening of the First Day of Unleavened Bread, showing that the lamb must have been killed on the latter part of the fourteenth and eaten at the beginning of the fifteenth of Abib! Verses 3 and 4 also clearly show that the Passover sacrifice was eaten with unleavened bread and that this bread marked the beginning of the seven-day period that it was to be eaten daily. Whatever ceremony the Scriptures define as Passover must therefore occur in tandem with the first day of Unleavened Bread!
The original Passover command—to kill the lamb—for the evening of the fourteenth of Abib then led into the evening and beginning of the first Day of Unleavened Bread—the eating of the lamb (vv 2-4). The ancient Israelites killed the Passover lamb in the latter part of the fourteenth of Abib, not at the beginning. They ate the lamb that night, which began Abib 15. In future, the Israelites were to keep vigil on the night of the Passover in gratitude for God’s watchful protection during the judgment of Egypt and—for those who had eyes to see—in anticipation of His miraculous delivery from slavery to the world which lies in the power of the Evil One.
Ex 12:42 It is a night of solemn observance to the LORD for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the LORD, a solemn observance [NIV: “keep vigil to honor the LORD”; NRSV: “a vigil to be kept for the LORD”] for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.
This “night to be observed” is the evening of the Passover feast! Today, we also ought to observe this evening in a Christian community if possible (as the Israel of God: Gal 6:16; 1Pet 1:1-2; Jas 1:1; Rev 14:1-4) to commemorate our deliverance, as individuals and as a Body, from spiritual bondage.
THE JEWISH PASSOVER DATE: “BETWEEN THE EVENINGS”
The Passover lambs were killed at the Temple on 14 Abib, in the evening (“between the evenings”), and they were eaten on 15 Abib. This has not been in dispute historically other than among very small groups in our day. In an attempt to discredit the correct Jewish practice, much has been made of the phrase “between the two evenings” to seek to prove that the lambs were killed a day earlier, after sunset at the beginning of Abib 14.
There is no biblical statement that indicates that a day has two evenings, only traditions held by some Jews and a few Bible scholars, such as that “between the two evenings” was the time from noon to sunset, and then from sunset until daybreak of the next morning; or just before sunset until the stars appeared, and then from the beginning of the darkness until daybreak. The Pharisees considered the time when the sun began to descend as the “first evening”, with the “second evening” being the real sunset; in other words, the period covered the time the sun began its descent (after midday) till final sunset. “Between the evenings” simply means towards sunset of that day, at “the going down of the sun” (Dt.16:6)! The Passover was slain in the latter part of the 14th, but not eaten until the twilight or darkness of Abib 15.
The claim made that the lamb was kept until just before Abib 14, but not really into the fourteenth, is false.
Ex 12:6 Now you shall keep it until [up to, and into] the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight [between the evenings].
Compare:
Lev 23:27,32 Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the LORD.
(32) it shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, [NIV: “From the evening of the ninth day of the month until the following evening”] you shall celebrate your sabbath [Yet it is the tenth day, not the ninth!].Num 28:3-4 And you shall say to them, ‘This is the offering made by fire which you shall offer to the LORD: two male lambs in their first year without blemish, day by day, as a regular burnt offering. 4 The one lamb you shall offer in the morning, the other lamb you shall offer in the evening [Heb: beyn ‘ereb: “between the evenings”]’—yet two lambs were offered in the one day!
In addition, Christ validated the date of the Passover kept by the Jews and announced that it was to mark the day of His crucifixion:
Mt 26:2 “You know that after two days is the Passover [Abib 14], and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”
Mt 26:2 (NIV) “As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”
Even the day after the Last Supper, when Jesus was taken down from the cross, was still the “preparation” for the Passover, which was to be eaten that night:
Jn 19:31 Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
THE PASSOVER AND THE JEWS: THE GOSPEL ACCOUNTS
The Jews then kept the Passover at the correct date, and still observe it today in the evening leading into the 15th Abib, but according to their rabbinically-altered calendar with its various postponement rules (since ca. 358AD). If we accept that the Jews in Christ’s day were observing the Passover at the right time, then we also have to accept the fact that Christ’s last supper was not the Passover observance as laid down by the Scriptures. Otherwise, the armed band which took Jesus captive and the priests who tried Him, presented Him to Pilate and had Him crucified would have violated the sanctity of the Passover night for they:
• Left their dwellings during the night;
• Performed work, conducted civic duties, business and an illegal trial on a Holy Day;
• Profaned the Holy Day by allowing a crucifixion to occur;
• Were defiled by Christ’s blood and so disqualified themselves from temple duty (Jn 18:28);
• Contradicted themselves by stating that they wanted the bodies taken down before the Holy Day (Jn 19:31), yet allowing the bodies to be there during a supposed Holy Day.The argument that the Jews in Christ’s day had the Passover date wrong when they killed their lambs on the mid-afternoon of the fourteenth of Abib is erroneous, for this was the scriptural command, and they were doing this as Christ was hanging on the cross. It has always been understood even by traditional Christianity that the lambs were slain towards the end of the fourteenth of Abib and eaten during the night of the fifteenth. The true Lamb of God had to be slain at that very time: He symbolized the very lambs that were killed.
1Co 5:7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.
Therefore, the Son of God had to die at the time the lambs were slain (see 1Pet 1:18-21; Rev 5:6).
Christ kept the Passover many times and the Scriptures give no indication that He ever questioned the date of the celebration as kept by the Jews of His day:
Jn 2:13,23 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in His Name when they saw the signs which He did.John wrote his Gospel late in the first century, when more Gentiles had been added to the Church, and so probably adds the description “of the Jews” for his gentile readers. The use of this qualifier may also be due to the fact that Christian observance was thereby differentiated from rabbinical traditions consistently condemned in the New Testament.
However, the Jews at that time counted the preparation day of Abib 14, the date of Christ’s final supper and of His death, as the first of eight days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread:
Mt 26:17 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?”
Jn 19:14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about the sixth hour (i.e., about noon). He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”
It should be noted that both Matthew and John tell us that the day before the first Holy Day was a day of preparation. In fact, some Jewish families would move to temporary accommodation for the fourteenth and there eat a special preparation meal known as the chagigah, the meal that may even have been in the disciples’ minds when they asked Christ about the Passover preparations. After this chagigah meal (see Edersheim, The Temple, Eerdmans, 1978; p 218), final cleaning was carried out, herbs purchased and prepared, the roast-spit was prepared, the lamb was bought and killed by the priests and then brought back to the home where the participants were gathered. Before the Sabbath began most of the work of roasting the lamb was done. It is not surprising therefore that the apostles were merely expecting a regular meal, then the next day they would be very busy preparing everything for the Passover evening meal.
The entire eight-day celebration was sometimes referred to as the Feast of Unleavened Bread, as shown in Mk 14:12:
Mk 14:12 And on the first day [Gk. “hemera”: can also refer to a period of time, not necessarily a literal day; this was referring to the beginning of the whole season] of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb [i.e., Abib 14] his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?”
A close examination of the Gospels reveals that when the word “Passover” as used by the Gospel writers it is not necessarily in reference to the Passover meal, but sometimes to the entire Feast of Unleavened Bread period itself. The Catholic Encyclopaedia (article “The Lord’s Supper”) states: “The word pasch [Passover] does not exclusively apply to the paschal lamb on the eve of the feast, but is used in the Scriptures and in the Talmud in a wider sense for the entire festivity, including the chagigah”. Let us see some examples of this:
Jn 6:4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand
Mt 26:17 Now on the first day [the word “day” is not in the Greek] of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?”
The time setting of Mt 26:17 was actually the day before the Days of Unleavened Bread. The disciples did not mean that the actual Day of Unleavened Bread had arrived; simply that it was drawing near. We see that the term “Passover” is used generically, and can include the entire Passover season.
Luke clarifies this:
Lk 22:1 Now the feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover.
Eze 45:21 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall observe the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.
Lk 22:7 Then came the day [Gk: “hemera”- ‘time’] of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed [Abib 14].
Luke is showing us that it was the custom to speak of the day before the Festival started as an integral part of the Festival. This is understandable if one considers all the preparatory work that was done. The fourteenth of Abib was called a day of Unleavened Bread because of these final preparations during which the disposal of all leaven was completed.
By New Testament times, the commentaries tell us, the terms “Passover” and “Feast of Unleavened Bread” were often used interchangeably to refer to the week-long festival. We therefore need to beware of too literal an interpretation of these terms in the Gospels.
CHRIST’S FINAL “SUPPER”
Some people have made the assumption that when Christ expressed His desire to eat the Passover with His disciples before He died He was saying that the Jews had the date wrong—that somehow over the centuries they had changed the Passover observance from the beginning to the end of Abib 14—and that the meal He was now to share with them was the Old Testament Passover on the correct date; this, despite not the slightest suggestion from the mouth of the Son of God that He was in fact changing anything! Let us look at the verses used to substantiate this assumption:
Mk 14:12,16 And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?”
16 And the disciples set out and went to the city, and found it as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover.They had to, among other things, order a lamb, find out the time of the killing the next day so that they could pick it up and bring the carcass back for roasting at the place at which they were gathered.
Lk 22:15 And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”
There is no apparent reason to doubt that Christ’s disciples were expecting to celebrate the Passover as they had done in previous years. The question is: Was the “Passover” that was prepared and eaten the Old Testament Passover? If this were the case, there would seem to have been insufficient time for the disciples to prepare the Passover lamb for that same day according to the specifications set out in the Scriptures. They would have had to kill the lamb themselves because lambs were killed for the Passover by the priests the next day. Additionally, any lamb left over would have had to be burned by fire according to the instructions of Ex 12:10, and there is no indication whatsoever that this took place. Moreover, notice that John’s Gospel tells us that Christ’s final supper took place just before the Passover feast that was due to be celebrated by the rest of the country. It could not therefore have been the Passover:
Jn 13:1-2 Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 And during supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him.
It was in fact the evening that began the preparation day, which continued and was the same day during which Christ hung on the cross:
Jn 19:31 Since it was the day of Preparation, in order to prevent the bodies from remaining on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. (See also Jn 18:28;19:14)
This is rather definitive: the last night Jesus Christ and the apostles had together, the Last Supper of Christ, on the beginning of Abib 14, was not the Passover proper, as it would have meant that the same evening also began the First Holy Day of Unleavened Bread, which it did not. The very afternoon/evening of the day that Christ died was the fourteenth. This was just before Abib 15 and was the time of the slaying of the Passover lambs. That evening began the High Day of the First Holy Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lambs were eaten.
Let us notice Lk 22:16:
Lk 22:16 (RSV) “for I tell you I shall not eat it (the Passover meal) until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God” (cf. Rev 19:7).
The RSV and the NRSV omit the word “again” in the translation, and in a footnote add: “or never eat it again”, as included in some manuscripts. Papyrus 75, the Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, and Vaticanus do not have ouketi, again, or no more (see Bruce M. Metzger’s A Textual Commentary on the New Testament, 2nd Edition UBS: 1994; with similar comments about Mk 14:25). It is clear, however, that Jesus drank wine that evening, but would not again until the Kingdom (see Mt 26:29).
The Amplified Bible translates Lk 22:15-16 as:
And He said to them, “I have earnestly and intensely desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I shall eat it no more until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
It is quite probable that the term “Passover” was being used generically to refer to a meal prepared and eaten, the first meal of the spring festival, and that Christ was commenting to His disciples that He earnestly desired to eat the Passover proper with them, but that He knew that this was impossible, as He, the true Passover Lamb, would be dead by the time the celebrations of Abib 15 began. His desire could therefore not be fulfilled until the Kingdom of God came.
It might be said that Christ ate a Passover meal, but He did not eat the Old Testament Passover meal, the Passover lamb—for on that same day He would fulfill its meaning by His sacrifice.
CHRIST DID NOT EAT AN EARLY PASSOVER!
Some will concede that the Jews have always kept the correct date for the Passover at the end of Abib 14, but will then claim that this “Last Supper” held by Christ with His disciples at the beginning of Abib 14 was a “New Testament Passover”—in contrast to the “Old Testament Passover”—with the new symbols of unleavened bread and wine, which now serves as the standard for Christians. Jesus, it is suggested, knowing He would die on Abib 14, anticipated the Passover, eating it with His disciples twenty-four hours before everyone else.
Again, let us be reminded that Christ avowed that not one iota of the Law of His Father was to be changed by Him (Mt 5:17-19), let alone a Holy Day of God’s sacred calendar. There is no statement or implication in the New Testament that the emblems of bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper are a substitution for or replacement of the Passover as set down at the correct biblical time. They are the symbols of the New Covenant (1Co 11:24-25).
In addition:
• No priest would have sacrificed the lamb before the correct time.
• This claim is contradicted by several scriptures, all of which can refer only to the date being 14 Abib:Mt 26:17 Now on the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?”
Mk 14:12 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, “Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?”
Lk 22:7 Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread [the evening that ended the 13th and began the 14th of Abib], when the Passover must be killed.
The Passover lamb was always killed on the evening of the fourteenth. Christ ate His final meal with His disciples on the evening that began Abib 14, and died as Abib 14 was about to end.
SYMBOLISM: THE LORD’S SUPPER VERSUS THE PASSOVER
Christ’s death is indeed the fulfillment of the Old Testament typology of the Passover sacrifice, our liberation from the bondage of sin through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our Passover. It is because Christ was slain that we are able to take part in this evening, the celebration of the Passover evening, the beginning of the Days of Unleavened Bread.
1Co 5:7-8 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Eating of the lamb’s roasted flesh symbolized the relationship the Israelites were to have with God. The death of the Lamb of God brought deliverance through His shed blood and the forgiveness of sin for all. The apostle Paul used the word “Passover” in these verses (1Co 5:7-8) because he is alluding to the Feast of the Passover and the Unleavened Bread season where the symbolism was of Christ as the Passover Lamb.
Yet just a few chapters later, when contrasting sacrifices made to idols with the sacrifice of Christ (“our Passover”), the word “Passover” is noticeably absent where it could logically have been used in referring to Christ’s death. Instead, Paul uses terms like:
• “communion of the blood of Christ” (1Co 10:16).
• “communion of the body of Christ” (1Co 10:16).
• “the Lord’s table” (1Co 10:21).This is especially striking in 1Corinthians 11, where Paul discusses the actual commemoration of the death of Jesus Christ. The words “Lord’s Supper” are used. This is so because the Feast of the Passover, to follow the next day, is not being referred to, but rather the reference is to the ceremony in which the death of the Son of God is proclaimed.
1Co 11:19-29 For there must also be factions (heresies) among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you. 20 Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper. 21 For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk. 22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you. 23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.
Proclaim is translated from the Greek verb katangello. The word and its variant tenses are used in Acts 3:24; 4:2; 13:38; 16:17,21; 17:3,23; Col 1:18; Php 1:17-18. It has the sense of proclamation, stating in advance, speaking in advance, declaring.
27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
Let us notice the following:
• The example of Jesus Christ, who instituted the ceremony, is directly referred to.
• The emphasis is on when Christ did this—the night on which He was betrayed—and also on what He did, which is to be imitated.
• Paul clearly indicates that this supper is a commemoration of, and a participation in (for we are all guilty of His death), the sacrifice of Jesus Christ which had taken place after this final supper (Compare this to the fact that the ancient Israelites ate the Passover, which pictured their freedom from Egypt, before they had begun to move out of Egypt! But they were ready to move out!).
• Paul contrasts the “Lord’s Supper” with their “own” supper, a product of the factious climate he refers to in verse 19.
• The language used is a continuation of the earlier language where the sacrifice of Christ is described in “meal” terms. To share bread, to eat at the same table, was a symbol of friendship and brotherhood, of full fellowship with one another. Accordingly, we see:
° “the cup of blessing” (1Co 10:16)
° the “one bread” (1Co 10:17)
° “the cup of the Lord” (1Co 10:21)
° “the Lord’s table” (1Co 10:21)The importance is in the symbolism of this “supper”, not in what was consumed.
To commemorate, to share in this supper of the Lord, is to have full fellowship with Him (and, of course with one another, as part of His Body), and with His sufferings:
Php 3:10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship [the Greek can also be translated “communion”, as in 1Co 10:16] of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.
It is important for us to realize and consider that none of the ritual sacrifices which prefigured the death of Jesus Christ, including the Passover lamb itself, involved intense suffering. Yet commemorating and participating in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ involves sharing in His sufferings:
Heb 2:10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
1Pe 4:13 but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.
1Co 12:26 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together with it.
This is only possible through godly observance of the Lord’s Supper, as we shall further see.
LAST SUPPER NOT THE PASSOVER
The last meal of Jesus Christ was not, nor could it have been, the Old Testament Passover meal for various reasons, some of which are listed here:
1. We previously noted that the Passover celebration was a family event.
Ex 12:47 (NIV) The whole community of Israel must celebrate it.
However, Christ’s final meal was shared only by His disciples. Not even their families, nor any of the women who often ministered to Christ were present. This does not mean that the wives and children would not have been there the next evening if things had followed the normal and expected pattern. Wives and older children would have helped in day-time preparations for the evening commemoration and celebration (Ex 12:26-8,40-2).
2. The Passover participants were forbidden to leave their dwellings before morning (Ex 12:22). However, Jesus and the disciples left the house after the meal, well before midnight. Christ was betrayed that evening, and was already tried and condemned before the next morning.
3. Notice Jn 13:28-30:
Jn 13:28-30 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. 29 Some thought that, because Judas had the money box, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast”; or, that he should give something to the poor. 30 So, after receiving the morsel, he immediately went out; and it was night.
If this were the Passover proper, then why would the thought be there in the minds of the disciples that provisions needed to be purchased for the Feast? These would surely have already been completed. Besides, the Passover evening would be the beginning of the Holy Day, so how could they even purchase such provisions? It is quite obvious that the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread were yet to come and that purchases would be finalized the following morning.
4. Notice Jn 19:31 and Lk 23:50-55:
Jn 19:31 Since it was the day of Preparation, in order to prevent the bodies from remaining on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
The day of Christ’s crucifixion was a preparation day for the Passover that evening, and the next day the annual Sabbath of Abib 15, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Christ’s followers had no difficulty with these calendar dates, for He had not taught them differently. The Passover proper was yet to come.
Lk 23:50-55 Now there was a man named Joseph from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the (Sanhedrin) council, a good and righteous man, 51 who had not consented to their purpose and deed, and he was looking for the kingdom of God. 52 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 53 Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid him in a rock-hewn tomb, where no one had ever yet been laid. 54 It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath (of the first Holy Day) was beginning. 55 The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and saw the tomb, and how his body was laid; then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
Both the Holy Day that began with the Passover and the weekly Sabbath were observed by Christ’s followers at the same time as the rest of the Jews, so the disciples waited till the annual Sabbath was over before attending to the anointing of Christ’s body. There is no indication in any of the apostolic writings that there was any dispute about these dates or the correctness of the Passover or of any other holy day kept by Jews and Christians in the first century.
5. The Gospel of John clearly identifies Christ as the antitype of the Passover lamb: as such He had to die at the time the lambs were being sacrificed. John quotes a number of Old Testament Scriptures in fulfillment of the prophecy reiterated in Jn 19:36:
Jn 19:36 For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, “Not one of His bones shall be broken.” (cf. Ex 12:46; Num 9:12; Ps 34:20).
Christ, already dead, was not to have any of His bones broken, just like the Passover lambs being killed in the Temple at the same time.
6. In addition, John tells us that the priests on the morning following Christ’s final supper with His disciples had still not eaten of the Passover:
Jn 18:28 Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover.
7. There is nothing in Jn 13-17 that suggests the Passover—not even a mention of roasted lamb or of bitter herbs! This should not, however, be understood that there definitely was no lamb or herbs at this particular meal.
8. The absence of the word “Passover” in Paul’s description of this final meal.
1Co 11:23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed took bread.
Paul, in commenting on the night of Christ’s betrayal, makes no mention of any Passover meal, which itself is most telling, as the context of Christ’s final meal and the fact that he had in the same letter previously referred to Christ as “our Passover” (1Co 5:7) would have lent itself ideally to the use of the term “Passover”. Instead, Paul continues by describing this meal of Christ and the disciples as a “supper” (v 25).
9. The absence of any correction by Paul of the Corinthians over the use of the term “Lord’s Supper”.
1Co 11:20-22 When you meet together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. 21 For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal, and one is hungry and another is drunk. 22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.
Paul recommends that they first eat their regular meals at home, then they should come together for the commemoration described in vv 24-26. Note that Paul had no objection to the use of the term “the Lord’s Supper” in I Co 11:20. His condemnation was for the way the Lord’s Supper was being abused by the Corinthians (vv 21-22). If he had wanted to correct the Church over the use of the term, then here was a perfect opportunity to do so; he could have used the term “Passover” to refer to the commemoration, but he chose not to do so—because it was not the Passover.
James Moffatt translates 1Co 11:20-22 as:
But this makes it impossible for you to eat the ‘Lord’s’ supper when you hold your own gatherings. As you eat, everyone takes his own supper; one goes hungry while another gets drunk. What! Have you no houses to eat and drink in? Do you think you can show disrespect to the church of God and put the poor to shame? What can I say to you? Commend you? Not for this!
According to some sources, it had become a tradition in the early Christian Church to hold a communal meal, of the type that Jude refers to as a “love feast” (Jude 12), after the pattern of Christ’s final supper with His disciples. After this they would keep the Lord’s Supper together, taking the bread and the wine according to Christ’s instructions. However, because of the excesses of their feasting prior to the taking of the Lord’s Supper, they were defiling the ceremony that commemorated the death of their Savior, and Paul was instructing them to abandon their prior festivities and to instead eat and drink at home to avoid bringing judgment upon themselves (1Co 11:22,34).
10. The Passover meal was to be roasted lamb eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. This was clearly not the case at Christ’s final supper. In fact, the “dipping of the sop” in Jn 13:26 may indicate a regular meal during which it was common to dip bread in soup or broth or a paste. It is certain that unleavened bread that symbolizes the Bread of Life was eaten every day of the seven-day Festival. And most certainly, since we commemorate the fact that Christian life is only possible with the Bread of Life, we eat unleavened bread the evening of the Lord’s Supper, as Paul calls it.
The earliest Church authorities understood that “...Jesus and his disciples conformed to the ordinary custom, that the Last Supper took place on the 14th [of Abib], and that the Crucifixion was on the 15th, the great festival of the Jews” and that this opinion “is confirmed by the custom of the early Eastern Church which, looking to the day of the month, celebrated the commemoration of the Lord’s Last Supper on the 14th Abib, without paying any attention to the day of the week. This was done in conformity with the teachings of St. John the Evangelist” (The Catholic Encyclopaedia, article “The Last Supper”).
It is important to note also that the Quartodeciman Controversy of the second century had nothing to do with any disputation about whether the date of the Lord’s Supper was on Abib 14 or Abib 15, but rather about whether it should be taken on the evening of Abib 14, one day prior to the normal Passover meal, or as a part of a Good Friday-Easter Sunday tradition, commemorating the Lord’s death and resurrection.
“ARTOS” AND “AZUMOS”
The claim is made by some that the bread Christ ate at the Last Supper was normal, leavened bread, and so two propositions have been put forward:
1. That the bread broken and eaten by Christians to symbolize Christ’s broken body can be normal leavened bread.
2. That this ritual therefore can be partaken of as often as desirable, according, it is maintained, to the instructions of the apostle Paul in 1Co 11:23-26.However, the only thing that is proven by this account from the Synoptic Gospels is that Christ’s Last Supper, or at least the memorial of His death symbolized by the wine and the bread, was definitely not the Abib 15 Passover.
Let us go to the Gospel accounts:
Mt 26:26-27 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread [Gk: artos], blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” 27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you.”
Mk 14:22-23 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread [Gk: artos], blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” 23 Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it.
Lk 22:19-20 And He took bread [Gk: artos], gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.”
The Greek word “artos” refers to regular bread, which is raised, as a loaf (# 740 in Strong’s). It is the same word used in passages such as:
Mt 4:4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”
Lk 4:4 But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’”
And also in reference to Christ describing Himself as the “Bread of Life”:
Jn 6:33,35,48 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.
35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”
48 “I am the bread of life.”It is indeed used in the apostle Paul’s instructions to the Corinthians in regard to the proper observance of the Lord’s Supper:
1Co 11:23-27 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread [Gk: artos]; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me. 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. 27 Therefore whoever eats this bread [Gk: artos] or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread [Gk: artos] and drink of the cup.”
The claim is then made that because the Greek word “azumos”, which is always used when referring to unleavened bread, is not used in these Gospel accounts of the bread representing the New Covenant, this bread must therefore have been normal leavened bread.
The word “azumos” is indeed used to refer to unleavened bread, as in the following accounts:
Mt 26:17 Now on the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread [Gk: azumos] the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?”
Mk 14:1 After two days it was the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread [Gk: azumos]. And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by trickery and put Him to death.
Mk 14:12 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread [Gk: azumos], when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, “Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?”
Lk 22:1 Now the Feast of Unleavened [Gk: azumos] Bread drew near, which is called Passover.
Acts 12:3 And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Now it was during the Days of Unleavened Bread [Gk: azumos].
Acts 20:6 But we sailed away from Philippi after the Days of Unleavened Bread [Gk: azumos] , and in five days joined them at Troas, where we stayed seven days.
The word, however, means simply “unleavened”; the “bread” is implied, as in:
1Co 5:7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened [Gk: azumos]. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.
In this verse, Paul is referring to their lives, which, like the unleavened bread of the Passover season, were supposed to be unleavened.
This is not problematic at all: the simple answer is that the Greek word “azumos” is used whenever the reference is to the unleavened bread—or the unleavened condition—of the Passover/Unleavened Bread period. The Greek word “artos” is the only word used generically for bread—whether leavened or not—that is employed outside of the Unleavened Bread Holy Day season, or in reference to bread that has nothing to do with this period, or to bread that is not referring specifically to the period. In other words, it is not used if it is qualified by the word “unleavened” (“azumos”). In the New Testament, this qualification comes only when the reference is being specifically made to the period of unleavened bread usage.
Christ is the [unleavened—sinless] Bread of Life, yet the word “artos”, as illustrated above, is still used to describe Him, since there is no reference to the unleavened bread season in this description of Him. Similarly, the word “artos” is also used to refer to the manna from heaven, which was hardly leavened; in fact, it is described as having simply been small round grains or flakes which came with the dew, and which were ground and made into cakes or boiled (Ex.16:13-36).
This fact may well prove that the “artos” which represented the Body of the Lord was eaten at a time that was outside the Abib 15-21 Passover/Unleavened Bread period (because it was the previous day), or the word “azumos” would most likely have been used. It does not prove that Christ used leavened bread for the New Covenant symbol for His broken body.
However, note Lk 24:30:
Lk 24:30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread [Gk: “artos”], blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.
The day after His resurrection—therefore still definitely during the Days of Unleavened Bread—Christ ate bread (“artos”) with His disciples. Here, “artos” is again used generically, the reference not being specifically to unleavened bread nor to a description of the Unleavened Bread period, although it fell within this period. There is no “azumos” qualifier.
AS OFTEN AS YOU DRINK IT
1Co 11:23-26 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.
• The reference is to “this cup”—the Passover Cup that instituted the New Covenant symbol for the blood of Jesus Christ. This cup was one specific cup of the several that were drunk at the final supper of Christ with His disciples. It is to be drunk only at the Passover season. The Passover Cup, like the Passover Bread that pictured the broken body of the Lord, has its biblical meaning at the time of the annual commemoration of His death. This is when we drink it—just as He will not drink again of this specific Passover cup until it has found its fulfillment in the Kingdom of God:
Lk 22:15-18 (NIV) And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” 17 After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. 18 For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
• This is to be done in “remembrance” of Christ, of His sufferings and death. The Lord’s Supper—and the Passover season that follows—is as much an act of remembrance of our acceptance of the sacrifice of Christ, the Lamb of God, to deliver Christians from sin as the Passover in Israel was a yearly memorial of deliverance from Egypt.
• What other memorial, commemoration or celebration on the Holy Day calendar of God is left to the discretion of the individual? Yet some want to make an exception for the Lord’s Supper! Why?
• The word “proclaim” means “to speak of, preach, proclaim, teach”. The Lord’s death is proclaimed at the Passover season, and specifically, in respect also to His agony and sufferings—something not depicted by the sacrifice of the OT Passover lamb—at the Lord’s Supper, the time that is biblically appointed.
• By partaking of the symbols of the bread and the wine, we proclaim that Christ was indeed sacrificed for us; He is our Passover Lamb, slain on Abib 14. The Passover lambs of old were slain at the right time—as typical of Jesus, the Lamb of God, sacrificed at a particular time!1Co 5:7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.
• Rev 11:6 These [two witnesses] have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire [i.e., in accordance with the will of God just as Jesus Christ set the perfect example (Jn 4:34; 6:38; 8:29)]. Similarly, God tells us how often we should commemorate the Lord’s Supper!
• Christians, in one sense, now eat the bread of affliction—the afflictions of Christ—at the Lord’s Supper, as the Israelites of old did at the Passover, to remind them of their affliction in Egypt. Christ’s sufferings are specifically depicted at this memorial of His death. The unleavened bread of Passover is for us, not so much the bread of affliction as that of sincerity and truth (1Co 5:8), which helps purge sin out of our lives.
Dt 16:3 You shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, that is, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), that you may remember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.
1Co 5:8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
• The Bread of the New Covenant, taken at the Lord’s Supper, represents, in declaratory form, the flesh of Christ which we must eat, and the wine of the Covenant pictures His blood which we must drink in order for Christ to be able to dwell in us for us to begin the struggle against sin and the world. By contrast, the unleavened bread of the Passover/Unleavened Bread period pictures mainly the sin we are to put off, and the Law of God by which we are to live, as we overcome the world. Ancient Israel rejected this opportunity to live by the indwelling Christ, so the ceremony of accepting His Body and Blood is unrecognized other than by Old Testament saints (Gal 3:8; Heb 11:17-19). It became fully pertinent after Christ’s death and with the advent of the Holy Spirit.
Jn 6:47-58 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread [the reference is not solely to the unleavened bread of the Passover season which was eaten for seven days] which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. 52 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever [This bread gives you eternal life!]; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?” 53 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread which came down from heaven; not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”ON THE NIGHT HE WAS BETRAYED
The apostle Paul’s instructions to the Church about the commemoration of the Lord’s Supper are quite straightforward:
1 Cor 11:23-26 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
That Christ kept the Lord’s Supper at the beginning of the 14th of Abib, and was crucified as the lambs were being slain towards the end of the 14th of Abib is the testimony of the Gospels. Paul also reminded the Corinthians that it is on “the night He was betrayed” (1Co 11:23) that the Lord’s Supper has its relevance—not a day later, as seems to be the custom of some who seek to combine the two distinct commemorations into one, held on the evening of the 14th of Abib, on the so-called “night to be observed”. There is no scriptural validity for this:
• The Lord’s Supper—emphasizing the agony and suffering of the Lord as well as His death—is a sobering reflection of what He endured to take away our sins, and of the covenant we make with Him to share in His sufferings. It is in marked contrast to the triumphant victory pictured by the Passover that follows, which depicts the Christian’s miraculous deliverance and joyous freedom from sin.
• The argument is used that it makes no sense for us to partake of the Lord’s Supper on Abib 14 with unleavened bread, and then have an interim one day during which we can go back to leaven (sin) before we again eat only unleavened bread for seven days as we then keep the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. Yet is it not significant that the disciples “went back to the world” (Peter: “I’m going fishing”) after they were scattered upon the crucifixion of their Master. There is no evidence that they even commemorated the Passover proper that year!
• We partake of the unleavened bread (because Christ, whom we figuratively ingest, and of whose life we partake, was and is sinless) and the wine to demonstrate our acceptance of Christ’s shed blood of sacrifice and the giving up of His life so that Christians may be fully part of the Body of Jesus Christ, which is the Church. The symbolism of the Lord’s Supper, in that sense, does not have the same tenor as the festal connotations of the Passover/ Unleavened Bread period, which annually commemorates the putting away of sin and our victory over the world as we embark on our Christian journey. The night after the Lord’s Supper celebrates the deliverance of all the Israel of God (Gal 6:16) as having the promises of deliverance and blessings of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Heb 11:39-40). The New Testament tells us that just as all the children of Israel (men, women, children, and some Egyptians) came out of Egypt, so New Testament people (the entire congregation) have the promises of deliverance (see Acts 2:39; Eph 6:1-2) which they celebrate joyously together on the first night of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
• How are the sobering instructions of the apostle Paul to those who would partake of the Lord’s Supper applicable to the Passover, in which the entire family is to share? The admonition and warnings include the need to take Christ’s sacrifice worthily, to be able to correctly, in a godly manner, discern both it, and the Church, which it also represents; to judge ourselves as Christians to ascertain our spiritual condition; to be mindful of the punishment from God that accompanies one’s failure to do all this.1Co 11:27-32 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.
On the anniversary of our Savior’s death—Abib 14—Christians will be observing the Lord’s Supper with the symbols of the bread and the wine. “As often as” they do this—once a year on the night commemorative of His death—they will be proclaiming His suffering and death until He comes. This memorial, when observed annually, enables Christians to relive the suffering of their Master and to renew their commitment through the symbols of the blood and the wine and the subsequent sober meditations during the night about the sacrifice of the Savior of us all. The impact of doing this more often, as is the habit of some, may be illustrated in terms of its effectiveness by considering weekly commemorations of American Thanksgiving, Anzac Day, Xmas, wedding anniversaries, family tragedies, and so on. Hallmarks of life’s history are commemorated annually.
If we maintain that it is the Passover proper that we are observing on the evening of Abib 14 then, by definition (Dt 16:3-4), we must also continue eating unleavened bread into the next day, for seven full days. Yet we do not do this, because 8 days of Unleavened Bread is clearly unscriptural, and would violate the symbolism of the seven-day period denoting the completion of our journey out of sin.
LORD’S SUPPER AND PASSOVER ON THE 15TH ABIB:
AN UNSCRIPTURAL COMBINATIONOne intakes Jesus Christ, through the bread and the wine, at the Lord’s Supper. This opportunity to eat the true Bread of Life and to drink His blood was not afforded the Israelites of old (who rejected the Gospel: Heb 4:2), who fed instead on manna, the bread of physical life (Jn 6:31,49,58). The unleavened bread they ate was their bread of affliction (Dt 6:3), to remind them of their affliction in Egypt.
The Bread of Life of which we partake at the commemoration of the Lord’s Supper is, one might say, our bread of affliction, a portion of unleavened bread symbolizing the suffering of the Son of God as well as the sinless life of Christ that will live in us from now on; we repeat this each year to depict our desire to recall His suffering and to have the life of the Son of God continue to dwell within us. We are commanded to share in the sufferings of Jesus Christ:
Lk 9:23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”
Ro 8:17 and if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
Php 3:10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death
Php 1:29 For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.
1Pe 2:20-21 But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. 21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.
1Pe 4:1,12-14 Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.
(12) Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; 13 but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. 14 If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.2Co 1:5,7 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ.
7 And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.This is the essence of the meaning of the Abib 14th memorial. Yet we, after taking part in this ceremony, go away from it as sinners still; the service does not specifically depict the putting out of sin. This is what the unleavened bread of the following Passover/Days of Unleavened Bread symbolizes. We should not attempt to confuse the small portion of unleavened bread we take with the wine—both of which are sanctified, incidentally—with the daily eating of unleavened bread commanded during the Unleavened Bread season.
Yet unless we already have the Son of God dwelling in us—proclaiming His sacrifice at the Lord’s Supper—what meaning will the eating of the unleavened bread of the festival to follow have for us? We will be just like Israel of old.
CONCLUSION
It is true that there were some similarities between the Old Testament Passover meal and the final supper of Jesus Christ for, as has been said, the entire season that was unfolding can scripturally be described as the “Passover festival”. The Last Supper took place away from their normal dwellings (Mt 26:17-19), just as the Israelites were commanded to observe the Passover away from their homes (Dt 16:5-7). For Christ, the offering of the sop to Judas who was about to betray Him (Jn 13:26-32), was no doubt symbolic of the bitter herbs of the Passover lamb.
However, there is no more validity to describing Christ’s Last Supper on the fourteenth of Abib as the Passover meal than there is to the claim that Christ substituted the new symbols of the bread and the wine for the lamb and the bitter herbs of the Passover meal at the time.
Our Lord ordained a quite separate ceremony to commemorate His death. This is the beauty of the Lord’s Supper: it is the sorrow and grief over Christ’s suffering before the joy and triumph celebrated by the Passover the following night (Ex 12:40-42; Dt 16:1-8). The two—the Lord’s Supper and the Passover of the LORD—are indeed separate.
CLOSING HYMN #118 “Unto God I Lift My Voice”Psalm 77
Dwight Armstrong
Unto God I lift my voice; Unto Him I cry.
In the day my trouble comes, Then I seek my God.
In the night I do not cease, I am overwhelmed;
I remember God and moan; Never close my eyes.
I consider days of old; Years of ancient times.
I commune with mine own heart; Search and meditate.
Will the Lord cast off His love, And no more be kind?
Is this now my lot and trial; Will His kindness fail?
Has the Most High strength no more; Has His promise failed?
Then I think of His great works; Muse on wonders old.
I will talk of His great deeds; Who is great like God?
God's true way is holiness; Far removed from sin.
By God's mighty arm and strength, Israel was saved.
Then the waters of the seas Saw and did obey.
Clouds poured forth and lightnings flashed; Thunders rent the skies;
Whirlwinds shook the earth below; God so led His flock.CLOSING WORDS (In Unison)
May the blessing of God surround us,
May the strength of God uphold us.
May the voice of God speak in and through us.
May the will of God be accomplished among us.
Amen.