Subversives & Is Passover a Day of Unleavenedness?

Fred R. Coulter—March 30, 2024

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Greetings everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services! The messages that I'm going to bring will be two parts:

Could you be subverted away from God after decades in the Church?
Is the Passover Day also a day of unleavenedness?

Before we get to that, let's have a few news headlines. Because of all of the burnings, looting, stealing and everything that's going on with the criminal things. Insurance companies are now withdrawing insurance from businesses and homes that are subject to all of the crime that's going on because it would be so much that they would go broke.

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Here's another one we need to really be watching out for, and that is A.I.—artificial intelligence—which is only the accumulation of all human knowledge put together in gigantic computers, which:

have no soul
have no understanding
cannot make moral choices right or wrong

Now then, it's moving toward the re-creation of the mythical soulless Golem. Now, why would people want to have robots to replace human beings? It doesn't matter how much intelligence that humans can come up with, you can't recreate yourself in a physical thing.

To make matters even worse, I heard an interview between Victor Kubik and Les Booth from UCG concerning A.I. and preaching the Gospel.

Who is to preach the Gospel? The people and ministers of God! Here's what they're looking into. They discussed what A.I. was, and now we delve into how it can improve your writing and how it can be used to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

That's as close to blasphemous as you can get, because God holds all the elders responsible:

to study the Word of God
to know the Word of God
to rightly divide the Word of God
to preach the Truth of the Word of God in season and out of season

Now we're coming close to the Passover time.

What is A.I. going to do?
How can it give an inspired message that's supposed to be inspired of God when all it is is an electronical device and you cut off the electricity and you have nothing?

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Most people don't know it, and women don't like to be told it, and men, they'll go along with it because it relieves them of the responsibility of taking care of children that they procreate.

So a study finds that mail-order abortion pills surged nearly 30,000 after the end of Roe vs Wade.

Then we have, on the other hand, those who are against abortion and they want to protect the unborn. But they are called by the 'woke people' extremists.

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Watch out for the Hezbollah offensive. That's the northern part coming out of Lebanon down into the Holy Land.

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Now the bridge collapse in the Baltimore Harbor that combines Baltimore and Philadelphia. They made a deal with the United Kingdom to send liquefied natural gas to Britain, and then they would pump it over to Europe as natural gas to relieve them from their difficulty of not being able to get natural gas through the pipeline that was blown up coming from Russia into Europe.

They're questioning: why did that ship all of a sudden take a right turn and hit the middle of that bridge and the whole thing collapsed, and now the whole harbor is closed down until they run an investigation and they find out what happened.

So, now the liquefied natural gas cannot get to the UK to go to the Europeans. Makes you wonder:

Are there demons involved?
What is it about?
How are these things going to transpire?

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Subversives

Could you be subverted into misinterpreting and actually defying the Scriptures of God and be led away to a strange Passover observance?

Well, you might think to yourself: 'Why no, that couldn't happen to me.' Well, it just happened to a man who was an elder for over 50 years! He put out a paper: Abib 14 and Honoring Jesus' Death

Where does it say anywhere in the Bible, Old Testament or New Testament, that we are to honor His death?
What did Jesus say on that last Passover night?
Did He say, 'Do this to honor My death'? No, He said 'Do this in remembrance of Me.'
Isn't that interesting?

The only other command where it is remember is the Sabbath!

This one is that we are to remember His death (1-Cor. 11)

I have this paper written by Wilbur Berg. He gives a quick summary of what Exo. 12:6 tells us:

paper: Abib 14 and Honoring Jesus' Deathby Wilber Berg

You shall kill the lamb at dusk.

Now we'll talk about the lamb in just a little bit, because it's very important. The minister, I forget his first name, but Botha out of South Africa says that it takes hours and hours to roast a lamb.

There's a difference between the first year and one that's already a year-old, which means it tends toward its second year. The lambs that were selected for the Passover were born just weeks before the Passover.

So he says:

Notice Exodus 12:6: "They shall kill the lamb at dusk." (Jewish Official Translation.) Verse 8: "They shall eat the flesh in that night."

Still the 14th!

Verses 9 through 11 continue to describe how it should be roasted and eaten.

And the time is still the same night, the 14th!

Verse 12: "And I will pass through the land of Egypt this night and will smite all the firstborn."

Still the 14th. Listen to this next statement!

This interpretation cannot be correct. Mr. Armstrong did not consider that it takes hours to roast a lamb. After killing the lamb on Abib 14 before sunset, it was not ready to eat until the following night on Abib 15, which is when the Passover meal was eaten on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Exodus 12 teaches the Passover is on Abib 15 and not 14.

Isn't that amazing? That's why we have The Christian Passover book. That's why it's right at 500 pages. Because Satan knows the Passover is the central key for Christians. It is the central key for the New Covenant through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Another Armstrong interpretation was that Passover was on the night of Abib 14, night of a solemn observance. was on the following night, Abib 15.

Exodus 12 shows that the Passover and the night of solemn observance are both on Abib 15.

What is Num. 33? It tells us very specifically. There is no question. There is no doubt.

Numbers 33:1: "These are the journeys of the children of Israel, who went forth out of the land of Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the command of the LORD…." (vs 1-2).

God told him to keep a log, a history of where they went!

"…And these are their journeys according to their starting places. And they set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month…." (vs 2-3).

Where did they keep the Passover? In their houses! What were they told to do? Stay in their houses until sunrise; don't go out!

Now, Kuhn and Grabbe say—in their paper: The Passover of the Bible and the Church Todayby Lester L. Grabbe and Robert L. Kuhn (1978)—like Josephus says, they already gathered at Rameses to keep the Passover.

How can you keep the Passover at Rameses and then go back to your houses and put the blood on the two side posts in the lentil?
How are you going to do that?

All of these things are men's interpretations and logic to justify their error.

"…On the next day after the Passover Day…" (v 3).

What does this tell us? The Passover and the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread are not the same!

Who are we going to believe?
An interpretation of a man who has been a minister in the Church of God over 50 years, who is now being led astray?

This is a great warning for all of us! Don't ever think that IF—

we don't stay with the Truth
do the Truth
compare the Truth with the Truth
compare Scripture with Truth
compare Scripture with Scripture

—that we can't be subverted IF we get our own thoughts and logic!

There's one more quote I want to read from this paper here. I was astonished when I got it:

Jesus' Last Supper preceded killing the lambs.

Really? We'll see that in the second message!

How could Jesus legitimately observe the Passover during the beginning of the 14th when the killing of the Passover lambs and His death did not occur until the afternoon of that day?

This is the whole point! You ask a question that sounds logical, but the question itself is illogical!

Jesus and His disciples knew the 14th supper was not Passover.

Huh? What did they say when they came to Jesus? We'll read it in the next segment here!.

They came when the lambs were being killed and asked Jesus, 'Where do You want us to prepare the Passover that You may eat?' So that statement (above) is an outright lie!

They had killed the Passover lambs during the afternoon of Abib 14th.

Not true!

And observed Passover on Abib 15th with their families for years.

Amazing!

The night of the 14th is not the most appropriate time for the Passover because Jesus as the New Testament Passover Lamb had not yet been killed.

No Scripture tells us that. It is unseemly and awkward to commemorate someone's death while they're still alive. Biological human thought!

Also, the evening of Abib 14th is not a Biblically commanded time to assemble together.

What does it say in Lev. 23? On the 14th day of the 1ST month is the Lord's Passover between the two evenings! We know that's the beginning of the day! The afternoon of Abib 14th, when Jesus' death occurred, is the logical time to honor it.

But Abib 14th is a preparation for the Passover and a weekly work day, which makes it difficult for many to observe it that way.

However, because Jesus' death is such great importance for those who are able, it would honor God the Father's gift of His Son's sacrifice to make time during the afternoon of Abib 14 to meditate, pray, and give thanks to God the Father and His Son for all They have done for us, reconciling us, forgiving us our sins.

Logical? Who's logic? Logical in human philosophy!

Abib 15 meal is the logical and most important time to commemorate Jesus' death as the fulfillment of the Old Testament Passover Lamb.

Now then, I sent him a letter, because I knew him personally!

I sent him this warning—Col. 2—because he has completely subverted everything to do with the Passover, the way that the Bible tells us. I'm astonished at what he has written. I'm flabbergasted that anybody would be in the Church that long and fall victim to such illogical rationale as that to justify putting the two days together the way the Jews did it is not logical either.

Col. 2—this is a warning to the Church written in the Word of God, so it's a warning to us. And remember all that seems logical to human beings is not the Truth of God. Logic and suppositions come from philosophy! That's exactly what they teach in all of these universities—philosophies! You start out with the hypotheses, which is your guess, that you want to prove what you have guessed to be correct.

Colossians 2:1: "Now, I want you to understand what great concern I have for you, and for those in Laodicea…"

Remember Laodicea (Rev. 3), lukewarm, had a lot of sin had to be corrected.

"…and as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, unto the knowledge of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; in Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (vs 1-3).

In other words, he's telling us that all we need to know about God is contained in His Word. The Bible is indeed the greatest book in the world.

Verse 4: "Now, this I say so that no one may deceive you by persuasive speech. For though I am indeed absent in the flesh, yet, I am with you in spirit, rejoicing and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, be walking in Him" (vs 4-6). That means to walk in His footsteps!

Verse 7: "Being rooted and built up in Him, and being confirmed in the faith, exactly as you were taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving."

This is what I sent to him; v 8: "Be on guard so that no one takes you captive through philosophy… [takes you away from God] …and vain deceit, according to the traditions of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ."

Who was the first philosopher? Satan the devil!
What did he say? He said a lie; he had a thesis: 'You shall not surely die.'

"…philosophy and vain deceit…" (v 8). That's what this paper is! Vain deceit

"…according to the traditions of men, according to the traditions of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ." (v 8). That's how false doctrine can come in!

Verse 9: "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, Who is the Head of all principality and power" (vs 9-10).

Then Paul talks about the Sabbath and the Holy Days a little later down in v 16.

So, we always need to be on guard! We must prove all things by the Word of God Scripture to Scripture! Things we don't know, we need to say we don't know.

Things we can be speculative of in analytical deduction, we can figure out Truth from that.

We can't do it with suppositions and then come and suppose with the Truth with an idea that we've got in our mind to change what the literal Word of God says.

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Is the Passover Day an Unleavened Day in Addition to the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread?

A lamb of the first year doesn't mean a year old lamb, because the lambs were born just the month before Passover. So that means those that were recently born and in their first year. You get those little lambs, their bones are soft, they don't have a lot of fat on them.

So, to find out how long it took to kill them and skin them, we went up to Skip Emerson's house, he had a ranch right up at the top of the summit there out of Santa Cruz, and he had two small kid goats. So, we took those two, and he knew how to kill them. I didn't know anything about it, but I was surprised how quickly he was able to do it. He slit the throat, hung them up by their rear hooves, let the blood drain out, and then he cut right down the middle of the belly, cut around the genitals, and then cut down into the gut and open it up, and all the insides came out in a sack.

Then he took the heart, the liver, and the kidneys. And then when he skinned them, I was amazed! He just put a little cut right between the skin and the bones and the flesh on the ribs on both sides, and then he took his hands and that skin came off, and he had them skinned in about five minutes.

Then we took them and we roasted them just like it said over fire, and it took an hour and a half. Then after that, we wanted to go home, because everything that they didn't eat had to be burned up. You had to burn the skin, the innards, and everything. God didn't want anything left but ashes. So, I took home one of the knuckle bones, the biggest joint from one of those little kid goats, and put it in the fireplace.

I wanted to see how long it took to reduce that bone to ashes, and it took an hour and a half. So when you go through the whole thing, the time to kill it, to eat it, to burn everything up, they could accomplish that in the night, because they were not to leave the houses until morning. They were also told, 'Don't take any vittles with you.'

We saw last week that they had to prepare unleavened bread dough to put in an eating cross enough to last for seven days. How that? On that Passover Day, there is no evidence that they were eating leaven after the Passover; none whatsoever! Now then, let's come to the Passover of the New Testament.

We've got a quote right here in the Passover book taken from Eusebius, and I want to read you this, because it came up during the conference, and that has to do with the 14th Passover and putting leaven out. When did they put it out?

So, we'll see what the practice was about a hundred years after the apostles in the time of what is called by the man Polycrates. He lists all of the ones who kept the 14th Passover.

From The Christian Passover

All these kept the 14th day of the Passover according to the Gospel, never swerving, but following according to the rule of faith.

And I also, Polycrates, the least of you all, live according to the tradition of my kinsmen, and some of them have I followed. For seven of my family were bishops [overseer] and I am the eighth, and my kinsmen ever kept the day when the people put away the leaven.

So, the question is: what does it mean, "…put away the leaven…."? And when was that day? It appears to be the 14th!

Now then, for years in Worldwide Church of God we were told that after having the Passover with unleavened bread, which pictures the body of Jesus Christ and the sacrifice of Christ to come, that we could eat leaven during the daylight portion of the Passover.

But is that true? They were, in order to understand what it was to put away leaven, I did research on the verb there, put away, and the Greek there means present tense, imperfect, meaning they were putting it away.

Is the Passover Day itself a day of unleavened bread or unleavenedness?

It doesn't say eight days of unleavened bread. It says seven days of unleavened bread. But we eat unleavened bread for the Passover.

The question came up, which started all of this. to understand about it this way. How come we eat unleavened bread the night of the Passover, which pictures the sinless body of Jesus Christ, and then during the day portion of the Passover. After we've had the unleavened bread, we could go out and buy a hamburger and have it, and I did that.

It looks like by this quote that they were putting out the leaven on the 14th. However, that doesn't tell us what time on the 14th they were putting it away.

Were they putting it away as the day was beginning? We don't know! So, let's look and see from the Scripture if we can determine if the Passover Day itself is a day of unleavened bread or unleavenedness that is separate from the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

What is the difference when we put out the leaven before Passover?
Are we trying to put sin out of our lives before the sacrifice of Christ became effective?

That's the question that came up.

1-Cor. 5—here they had a great sin during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and also this has to be for the Passover, as well, that leaven is a type of sin!

Are we putting out leaven on the Passover Day to get rid of our sins?

Do we put out the leaven because Christ is the sin offering for us in what He did?

Let's remember that the Sabbath and every Holy Day and Feast of God pictures the work and action of God!

Passover, the death of Christ
Feast of Unleavened Bread, forgiveness of our sins through the Passover
we have to have our work to put sin

We've got to work with God's Spirit to be converted!

the Wave Sheaf Offering, which then is Christ ascending to be accepted by God the Father for the sin of the whole world
the seven weeks to Pentecost
then Pentecost, which pictures the action of God sending the Holy Spirit, and also later, as we know, the resurrection
Feast of Trumpets is:
because of action on God's part
our response to that action and what we are to do because of what God has done

1-Cor. 5—they had this great sin; this man was committing incest with his stepmother, and they were all glorying about this. 'Oh, we have grace and isn't that wonderful?' Well, Paul says:

1-Corinthians 5:6: "Your glorying is not good. Don't you know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?"

That's the whole theme of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. If we let sin in our lives, it's going to only multiply unless we repent and get rid of it.

Verse 7: "Therefore, purge out the old leaven, so that you may become a new lump…"

This is talking about their spiritual condition. This is not talking about purging out the leaven from their houses. We'll see that in just a minute.

"…even as you are unleavened…" (v 7).

Now with all that sin, he's saying you've got leavening in your lives. You've got sin in your lives, but you're unleavened; that's because they put leaven out of their houses! Do we not do that for the Feast of Unleavened Bread? Yes, we get rid of it!

"…For Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us" (v 7).

Christ was the ultimate unleavened of all humankind! God manifested into flesh the only begotten of God the Father, the Sacrifice for the sin of the world!

Verse 8: "For this reason, 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."

That's the spiritual lesson of it. This doesn't tell us that they had their houses unleavened before Passover, but it tells us that their houses were unleavened because Christ was sacrificed.

Now, let's come in and look at a couple of other things here concerning unleavenedess.

1-Corinthians 11:22—Paul told them very, very clearly: "WHAT! Don't you have houses for eating and drinking? Or do you despise the Church of God, and put to shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you! For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread" (vs 22-23)—That was unleavened bread!

Verse 24: "And after giving thanks, He broke it and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body, which is being broken for you. This do in the remembrance of Me.' In like manner, He also took thecup after He had supped, saying, 'This is the cup of the New Covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in the remembrance of Me'" (vs 24-25).

It's not shown here in English because it can't be translated. It is the two-letter word 'on.' In the Greek, 'on' means that when you are reading it in context, there are conditions attached to it! What are the conditions attached to it here? In the night that He was betrayed!

Verse 26: "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you solemnly proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes." That's once a year until He comes!

Matt. 26—we'll examine this and we'll compare Scripture with Scripture.

What does the Scripture tell us?
Is it required that it says eight days you shall eat unleavened bread?

Is the Passover Day a separate day of unleavenedness in addition to the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread?

That's the question before us!

Matthew 26:1: "Now, it came to pass that when Jesus had finished all these sayings, He said to His disciples, 'You know that after two days the Passover takes place, and the Son of man is delivered up to be crucified'" (vs 1-2).

They really didn't understand that. They really didn't even believe it when it occurred.

Let's see what v 17 tells us. This is an interesting expression in the English, and I made a literal translation of it in the Bible.

Verse 17: "Now, on the first of the unleaveneds…"

Since the Passover is on the 14th and Unleavened Bread for seven days does not start until the day after the Passover, what does this mean?

"…the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, 'Where do You desire that we prepare for You to eat the Passover?'" (v 17). This is right as the Passover Day began!

Why didn't He tell them ahead of time where they were going to have that Passover?
Why did He wait until the last minute and not tell them anything about it?

He didn't even tell them where to go!

Verse 18: "And He said, 'Go into the city to such a man, and say to him, "The Teacher says, 'My time is near; I will keep the Passover with My disciples at your house.'"' Then the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and prepared the Passover. And after evening had come, He sat down with the twelve" (vs 18-20).

Luke 22. Let's see the account there. The way that we understand the scripture is to get all the scriptures together of what we need to cover on the subject.

This is why it's confusing, because the scribes and Pharisees kept a 15th Passover. We explain that in the Passover book and why that occurred.

They didn't keep the 14th Passover, they never understood that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Passover in the person of God manifested in the flesh. Good lesson.

you can't understand the meaning of the 14th IF you keep the 15th
you can't understand the meaning of the Sabbath IF you keep Sunday
you can't understand the meaning of the Feasts of God IF you keep the holidays of this world

It's automatic!

Luke 22:1: "Now, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called Passover, was approaching."

Why did He write it that way? That's because: That's what the priest and the Sadducees and the scribes called it, because they reasoned that between the two evenings was from between noon and three o'clock. That was their logical reasoning, which was wrong!

Verse 2: "And the chief priests and the scribes were speculating as to how they might put Him to death, for they feared the people." Then it says about Judas!

Verse 7: "Then came the day of the unleaveneds…"

There that is again. If it is the Day of unleaveneds, that means it's the first day of the year that there is unleavened bread required and required to get leaven out of your houses.

Notice it says of this day "…in which it was obligatory to kill the Passover lambs." (v7).

When were they to kill the Passover lambs? Between the two evenings!

Verse 8: "And He sent Peter and John, saying, 'Go and prepare the Passover for us that we may eat.' But they said to Him, 'Where do You desire that we prepare it?'" (vs 8-9)—the Passover! Or prepare for it?

Verse 10: "And He said to them, 'Watch, and when you come into the city, you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house that he enters; and you shall say to the master of the house, "The Teacher says to you, 'Where is the guest chamber, where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?'"'" (vs 10-11).

That day began at sunset, which was called the Day of the Unleaveneds.

We will see that Christ did this deliberately. On this Passover Day, everything on was what God intended it to be. You will find in the Passover book, one chapter: 28 Prophecies Fulfilled in One Day.

This was the action of God. God the Father in heaven above, Christ the only begotten Son on earth, God manifested in the flesh, the only sacrifice that could save human beings from sin would be the death of God in the flesh.

You can read that in A Harmony of the Gospels and also in The Christian Passover books. This is so important that we understand it. This is not adding an extra day to the Feast of Unleavened Bread because this is the day before the Feast. Doesn't it say that in Lev. 23?

14th day of the 1st month between the two evenings is the Lord's Passover!
15th day of the month is the 1st day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread
7 days you shall eat unleavened bread
the 7th day you shall have a Holy convocation.

Mark 14:1: "Now, after two days was the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they might stealthily lay hold of Him and kill Him. But they said, 'Not during the Feast, lest there be a riot among the people.' Now He was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper; and as He was sitting to eat, a woman came carrying an alabaster flask of ointment of pure spikenard worth a great price; and after breaking the alabaster flask… [of frankincense and myrrh] …she poured it on His head" (vs 1-3).

Verse 12—this is a literal translation from the Greek: "And on the first day of the unleaveneds…'"

Now the translators of the King James and other versions couldn't figure out what this was because how can you have the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread before the Passover when the Passover comes before the Feast of Unleavened Bread?

It was always a mystery to them. But what does this tell us? On the first day of the unleaveneds, by that day, that the leaven was to be removed!

How can it be the first day of the unleaveneds unless it was the first day after you had removed the leaven out of your house?

What we're looking at now, when I was translating the New Testament for A Harmony of the Gospels, which was probably about 1996-97, somewhere around there. That's when I really first understood what this actually meant. Does this not tell us that the Passover Day is a separate day of unleavened bread?

Verse 12: "And on the first day of the unleaveneds, when they were killing the Passover lambs…"—third person plural, imperfect, meaning they were in the process of killing the Passover lambs. At that time they were keeping the 14th Passover and the religious officials were keeping, and their followers, the 15th Passover.

That's been the conundrum from that time until this time. Let's understand why the Jews do a 15th Passover?

Num. 9—let's look at it; let's see what happened! This also tells us something very important. Now it's not specifically stated. But manna had to be unleavened. They didn't have any wheat to grind up, they couldn't make any bread.

Acts 9:1—this is after everything was dedicated. This is after the tabernacle was set up, that the altar was working. Aaron and his sons were there, all the Levites were there, and God made the adjustment between the firstborn of the children of Israel and the number of Levites.

So, if there was to be the Passover Offering or Sacrifice at the temple, then it would have said so right here.

Numbers 9:1: "And the LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, 'Let the children of Israel also keep the Passover at its appointed time. In the fourteenth day of this month, between the two evenings… [between sunset and dark; we proved that by Exo. 16] …you shall keep it in its appointed time. You shall keep it according to all its statutes, and according to all the ceremonies of it'" (vs 1-3).

Verse 4: "And Moses spoke to the children of Israel to keep the Passover. And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month between the two evenings in the wilderness of Sinai. According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, the children of Israel did" (vs 4-5).

Now, here came a problem; v 6: "And there were certain men who were defiled by the dead body of a man, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day. And they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day."

Verse 7: "And those men said to them, 'We are defiled…'" So, Moses said he would go to God (v 8)

Verse 9: "And the Lord spoke…"

Here is why it came out that they kept a 15th Passover by misinterpreting this.

Verse 9: "And the LORD spoke to Moses saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel, saying, "If any man of you or of your generations shall be unclean because of a dead body, or in a journey afar off, he shall still keep the Passover to the LORD. They shall keep it the fourteenth day of the second month between the two evenings, eating it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall leave none of it until the morning"'" (vs 9-12)—and so forth!

Now, this means this. They could take it in the 2nd month on the 14th day of the month when they came back to the land! Now, when they were exiled, they couldn't keep a 14th Passover. So, what they did, they conveniently combined the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and called it the Passover. That's why you find in the New Testament that the officials called the Passover and Unleavened Bread as one.

That's why when they brought Jesus to Pilate, they didn't go and find out in John 18:28, that the officials didn't go in to the Praetorium, which was Roman territory, lest they be defiled and couldn't keep the Passover. So, they were keeping a 15th Passover.

Let's look at Mark 14 again and let's understand what it means.

Mark 14:12: "And on the first day of the unleaveneds, when they were killing the Passover lambs…"

That means that since they were killing the Passover lambs actively right there when Jesus was talking to them, all the people around, all the pilgrims who were there, and those in their houses who kept the 14th Passover, they were killing the lambs. So, let's go on with this here.

"…His disciples said to Him, 'Where do You desire that we go and prepare, so that You may eat the Passover?'" (v 12).

Why didn't Jesus tell them about it beforehand? Because then Judas would have known where they were keeping the Passover, and the authorities would have come and arrested them right there on the spot. So apparently, Jesus did it this way so Judas wouldn't know. Yet, he came with Jesus later.

Verse 13: "And He sent two of His disciples, and said to them, 'Go into the city, and you shall meet a man carrying a pitcher of water; follow him. And whatever house he shall enter…'" (vs 13-14).

House?
Domestic Passover?

He didn't say, 'Go to the temple and get a lamb,' because the lambs were already being killed by the people domestically like they were supposed to, and the religious authorities did it at the temple in the afternoon on the Passover Day. Now that's all thoroughly covered in the Passover book.

"…say to the master of the house that the Teacher says, 'Where is the guest chamber, where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?…." (v 14). Was this an unleavened bread day? Yes!

Verse 15: "And he shall show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. There prepare for us."

Now, what did the master of house have everything all ready to go? Since they were already killing the Passover lambs when they first asked Jesus, 'Where do You want us to go to prepare the Passover?' The master of the house would have already killed the lamb and was having it being roasted by the time that they got there to find out where to set up for the rest of it. The master of the house did this because God made him do it for the preparation of this last Passover meal with Jesus and the disciples. He didn't know who was coming. The man who carried the water was probably carrying the water that Jesus used to wash the feet of the disciples. So, then when the hour came:

Verse 16: "And His disciples went away: and when they came into the city, they found it exactly as He had said to them; and they prepared the Passover. Now after evening had come… [past tense] …he came with the twelve" (vs 16-17).

Verse 18: "And as they sat and were eating, Jesus said, 'Truly I say to you, one of you shall betray Me, even he who is eating with Me.' And they began to be extremely sad, and said to Him one by one, 'Is it I?' And another, 'Is it I?' But He answered and said to them, 'The one who is dipping a morsel into the dish with Me, he is the one of you twelve'" (vs 18-20)—'Dip a sop.'

Everybody comes up and says, 'Well, if it's a sop, then they had to have leavened bread for the Passover.'

Really?
What did it say up here in v 12? "And on the first day of the unleaveneds, when they were killing the Passover lambs…"

Now then, when you have unleavened bread, you can use it as a scoop, which Jesus did, and he gave it to Judas and said, 'Go do what you're going to do.'

Verse 21: "The Son of man indeed goes, just as it has been written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would be better for that man if he had not been born.' And as they were eating…" (vs 21-22).

Jesus had to finish the Old Testament Passover first and take care of that. Now then, here's where we have the blessing of the bread, and then the blessing of the wine. And Paul refers to that by telling them it's not to have the supper.

So, for the New Testament, we don't have a supper. We just have it with the unleavened bread and the wine.

Verse 22: "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread; and after blessing it, He broke it and gave it to them, and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body.'"

What did Jesus say in John 6? We'll look at it again!

Verse 23: "And He took the cup; and after giving thanks, He gave it to them; and they all drank of it. And He said to them, 'This is My blood, the blood of the New Covenant, which is poured out for many'" (vs 23-24).

Verse 25: "Truly I say to you, I will not drink again at all of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the Kingdom of God."

So, there we have it. I know that it's difficult for some people to put it together. But what we are looking at is this:

Verse 12—and also in the other ones—is obligatory to kill the Passover lamb, first of the unleaveneds, it is an unleavened bread day. Not that the leaven we're putting away is we're putting away our sins.

We're putting away the leaven because Christ is the Passover! God is doing this unilaterally and directly for all of mankind that He is the sin offering to take away sin.

That's why the Passover is a separate day of unleavenedness! That's what it's called. The Feast of Unleavened Bread is in addition to it. There we have the things we need to do to put out sin in our lives. Passover is forgiveness of sin comes only through Christ!

Doesn't come any other way. During the Feast of Unleavened Bread is we put out sin and recognize sin in our lives. That is our responsibility to repent and conform our lives to the Word of God through the Spirit of God so that we grow in grace and knowledge and overcome. So, it does not have to say eight days of unleavened bread. One day Passover on the first day of the unleaveneds. That's Passover Day!

That's not the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Then seven days of Unleavened Bread after the Passover. When we follow this then we know this is the way.

The quote that I read concerning Eusebius and Polycrates, they were putting it out. That had to be at the beginning, right at the beginning, the last part of getting rid of leaven. And remember, most of the commentaries and everything else go by the Roman time of a day starts at midnight.

When God has it, it starts at sunset. And that's how everything becomes so confused. So, I hope this helps you to understand about the Passover and don't forget to write for the Passover book. This is something that you will need:

to read
to study
to go through

because this covers every attack of Satan the devil against the Truth of the Passover and the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ!

Scriptural References:

Numbers 33:1-3
Colossians 2:1-10

1 Corinthians 5:6-8
1 Corinthians 11:22-26
Matthew 26:1-2, 17-20
Luke 22:1-2, 7-11
Mark 14:1-3, 12
Numbers 9:1-7, 9-12
Mark 14:12-20, 12, 21-25

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

1 Corinthians 11
Leviticus 23
Revelation 3
Colossians 2:16

Leviticus 23
Exodus 16
Numbers 9:8
John 18:28; 6

Also referenced:

Papers:

Abib 14 and Honoring Jesus' Death by Wilber Berg
The Passover of the Bible and the Church Todayby Lester L. Grabbe and Robert L. Kuhn (1978) { https://www.cbcg.org/holy-days/the-passover-of-the-bible-and-the-church-today.html}

Books by Fred R. Coulter:

The Christian Passover
A Harmony of the Gospels

FRC:bo/po
Transcribed: 4/3/24

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