WHAT IS THE
CORRECT DATE TO KEEP THE PASSOVER?
DID CHRIST
CHANGE THE DATES OR ONLY THE SYMBOLS?
SHOULD WE KEEP
THE PASSOVER THE SAME TIME AS THE OLD TESTAMENT
WHICH WAS ORDAINED FOREVER?
HAS THE NEW
TESTAMENT STATED WHICH DAY SHOULD BE KEPT?
WHEN DO WE
SHOW THE LORDS DEATH TILL HE COMES?
The seven days of Unleavened Bread are also
called the Feast of
Unleavened Bread.
2Ch
30:21 So
the children of Israel who were
present at Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened
Bread seven days with great
gladness; and the Levites and the priests praised
the LORD day by day, singing
to the LORD, accompanied by
loud instruments.
Ezr
6:22 And
they kept the Feast of
Unleavened Bread seven days with joy; for the LORD
made them joyful, and turned
the heart of the king of Assyria toward them, to
strengthen their hands in the
work of the house of God, the God of Israel.
The Passover meal is also called the Feast of
Unleavened Bread.
Luk 22:1 Now the
Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near,
which is called Passover.
This feast was eaten on the 15th.
Lev
23:6 And
on the fifteenth day of the
same month is
the Feast of
Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must
eat unleavened bread.
Num
28:17 And
on the fifteenth day of this
month is
the feast; unleavened
bread shall be eaten for seven days.
The following pages confirm that the Old
Testament Passover was killed or
prepared on the 14th and eaten on the 15th.
The only question is, did Jesus change the date
when He ate the Passover
on the night of the 14th? He
ate it one day early because He had to be sacrificed
at the same time that the
Passover lambs were being sacrificed on the afternoon
of the 14th.
Christ could not eat it on the 15th
because He knew He would
die at the time the Passover lambs were being
sacrificed which occurred on the
afternoon of the 14th.
Did Christ change the dates?
The following scriptures give the answer.
Exo
12:14 'So
this day shall be to you a
memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the
LORD throughout your
generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an
everlasting ordinance.
Exo
12:17 So
you shall observe the Feast of
Unleavened Bread, for on
this same day I will have brought your armies out of
the
This day {15th} is to be kept
forever.
Exo
12:24 And
you shall observe this thing
as an ordinance for you and your sons forever.
To be observed by the Israelites in their
generations.
Exo
12:42 It
is a night of solemn observance to
the LORD for bringing them
out of the
Remember this
day.
Exo
13:3 And
Moses said to the people:
"Remember this day in which you went out of
To be kept in
it’s season from year to
year.
Exo
13:10 You
shall therefore keep this
ordinance in its season from year to year.
Deu
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.
The Old Testament Passover was ordained forever. There is no
mention of Jesus changing the
dates, only the symbols.
Jesus kept the Passover at the start of the 14th. Jesus died
in the afternoon of the 14th. The Passover
lamb was killed in the afternoon
of the 14th. The
symbols of Christ’s body
are to be eaten the approximate same time as the lamb
was eaten. Jesus
was dead when we are to take the symbols
of the Passover.
The New Testament tells us when the Passover is
to be kept. The
day Jesus died was the preparation of the
Passover.
Joh
19:14 Now
it was the Preparation Day of
the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said
to the Jews, "Behold
your King!"
On the day that
Christ was crucified the
Jews were going to keep the Passover that night. They had not
taken the Passover the night
before.
Joh 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.
When do we show the Lord’s death till He comes?
The Passover is a memorial of Christ’s death, it
must be taken on the
night after His death. This
is what the
scriptures state.
1Co
11:26 For
as often as you eat this bread
and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death
till He comes.
Read that
scripture again, you can't keep a memorial of
something BEFORE the event
occurred.
The above
scriptures
tell us when to keep the Passover. It is after
sunset on the night of
Christ’s death. Christ died on the day before
the 1st day of Unleavened
Bread.
The Passover is to be taken that night after sundown
at the start of the 1st
day of Unleavened Bread. This is when the
Passover was eaten in Old Testament
times and it is when we are told by scripture to keep
it today. Once
again we state you cannot keep a memorial before the
event.
In Old Testament
times they killed the lambs before sunset on the end
of the 14th.
They ate the lambs after sunset on the start of the
15th which is the 1st day
of Unleavened Bread.
In the New Testament Christ died before sunset on the
end of the 14th.
We eat the bread and drink the wine after sunset on
the start of the 15th which
is the 1st day of Unleavened Bread as a memorial of
Christ’s death.
Read this plain and simple truth until you
understand it.
The day Christ died was also the preparation
day.
Joh
19:30 So
when Jesus had received the
sour wine, He said, "It is
finished!"
And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
Joh
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.
Joh
19:42 So
there they laid Jesus, because
of the Jews' Preparation Day,
for the tomb was nearby.
The Passover is eaten in the Holy Day.
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.
The Passover lamb
pointed to Christ’s
sacrifice. Christ
knew His time had
come. He
kept the Passover a day early
because He had to be sacrificed at the same time the
lambs were sacrificed for
the Passover. He
changed the
symbols. He
did not change the day.
The original date was ordained forever.
Joh
6:4 Now
the Passover, a feast of the
Jews, was near.
The Passover is
called a feast of the Jews.
Joh
7:2 Now
the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles
was at hand.
Both these feasts
are God’s, not only
Jews. Read
these verses carefully.
Joh
2:13 Now
the Passover of the Jews was at
hand, and Jesus went up to
Passover of the
Jews.
Joh 2:23 Now when
He was in Jerusalem at the Passover,
during the feast, many believed in His name when
they saw the signs which He
did.
Jesus attended
the Jews Passover in the
feast day. This
is the date of God’s
Passover which was ordained forever. The
lamb was sacrificed on the 14th.
The 14th is the preparation day and
also the Passover
day. The
lamb or the Passover meal is
eaten after sunset on the start of the 15th. This is the
start of the 1st day
of Unleavened Bread.
The following
scriptures can be a little
difficult to understand so notice the explanation.
Mat
26:17 Now
on the first day of the
Feast of Unleavened Bread
the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, "Where
do You want us to
prepare for You to eat the Passover?"
The word first in
the above verse means before. So it should
read before the feast of
Unleavened Bread.
Mar
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?"
The word first in
the above verse means
before.
Luk 22:7 Then came
the Day of Unleavened Bread, when
the Passover must be killed.
The word day can
mean period of time.
There is no
confliction in God’s word, the
Passover date has not changed, only the symbols.
The Feast of
Unleavened Bread starts on the beginning of the
15th. The feast pictures
putting sin out of our lives.
During this time we remember how God delivered the
Israelites from
Christ’s
death was for our physical healing as well as our
spiritual cleansing.
Notice this
scripture and let’s really look at what healing is
mentioned.
Wounded for our
transgressions: this includes rebellion against
true religion or
worshipping God incorrectly.
Bruised for our
iniquities: this includes moral faults.
The chastisement
of our peace was upon Him: correction of our peace.
By His stripes we
are healed: because of His flogging we can be healed
physically.
Isa
53:5 But
He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our
peace was
upon Him, And by His
stripes we are healed.
Christ’s death
covered many things, all of them for us.
Let us now look
at the last day of Unleavened Bread.
Once the
Israelites crossed the
As explained in our article The Parting of the
Notice this
scripture for what occurred on that day.
Exo
15:23 Now
when they came to Marah, they
could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of
it was called Marah.
Exo
15:24 And
the people complained against
Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?"
Exo
15:25 So
he cried out to the LORD, and
the LORD showed him a tree. When he cast it
into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There
He made a statute and an
ordinance for them, and there He tested them,
Exo
15:26 and
said, "If you diligently
heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is
right in His sight, give ear
to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I
will put none of the diseases
on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I
am the LORD who heals you."
Here we see
plainly that the Israelites were given a statute and
an ordinance and they were
proved there.
God reminds them
that He is the God that heals them.
This was the last
day of Unleavened Bread. This healing ties
in with Christ’s
sacrifice as mentioned above.
Unfortunately the
Israelites rejected God the Father, the fountain of
living waters, here at
Marah.
This very sad
event is covered in the article the Days of Unleavened
Bread.
