This time of the year is one of the 2 occasions upon which Christians mainly focus, and it deserves more than a casual glance. If we believe the confession of our faith then we need to understand its beginnings as best we can. This season is at the very core of our beliefs and without it there would be no resurrection and no hope.
In the Hebrew language Passover is
For some this may be a bit long, but the conviction that it was important to share outweighed the whispering to keep it short! So this is in case there are others out there who for many years have never seen the similarities of the sacrifices of the lambs and of Jesus in relation to the Hebrew Feast. If we’ve never really studied the Feast rituals and preparations before, the commonalities never dawn on us.
After all THIS IS THE VERY CRUX OF OUR FAITH and there should not be anything more important.
He gave His life for each one of us and its an indicator of the grateful attitude of our hearts when we take some time to remember why we call ourselves Christian Believers in Jesus the Messiah.
No condemnation or judgment here, only information and loving encouragement. Even the disciples had a hard time praying for an hour with Jesus.
It’s true, Israel had been observing these Feasts for 1,400 years before Yeshua’s birth. The Appointed times of the Lord have been kept for some 3417 years although it seems ‘new’ to Christian believers in fact it’s not ‘new’ at all.
LEVITICUS 23 is the single chapter of the entire (Tanakh) Bible that sums up everything. God’s eternal plan – from chaos to eternity – is ingeniously revealed through the nature and timing of the Seven annual Feasts of the LORD.
In taking a fresh look we come to realize that the entire human race now exists between two of these feasts, and as sacrifice is the major feature of the feasts, our knowledge and understanding of them can only enhance our faith.
“The Lord’s APPOINTED TIMES which you shall proclaim as HOLY CONVOCATIONS – MY APPOINTED TIMES ARE THESE. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the Lord’s PASSOVER.” (Leviticus 23:1,5)
Here’s How The Week Unfolded
Passover (Pesach). Leviticus 23:5 specifies that the festival year begins with Passover on “the fourteenth day of the first month” (Nisan 15). Passover is the Feast of Salvation. In both testaments, the blood of the Lamb delivers from slavery – the Jew from Egypt, the Christian from sin.
Everything is connected.
Think about the tenth plague in Exodus 12:5, when Egypt’s first born sons died while the angel of death “passed over” the Israelites homes with the blood of the lamb on their door posts. In the New Testament/B’rit Chadashah, Jesus serves as the sacrificial lamb.
It is no coincidence that our Lord Himself was sacrificed on Passover.
The tenth of Nissan was the day that the lamb was chosen and taken to the house and family that would on Passover offer it up. The mystery is in what we call Palm Sunday, it is in reality the 10th of Nissan, the day of the lamb.
(see previous post) https://www.minimannamoments.com/palm-sunday-nisan-the-appointed-time-of-the-lamb/
As the people of Jerusalem were leading the Passover lambs to their homes Messiah was being led from the Mount of olives into the city gates. The bringing in of Messiah to the city with palms and hosannas was actually the fulfillment of what had been commanded from ancient times.
The bringing in of the Lamb.
On the day when the Passover lamb was to be brought to the house, God brought the Lamb of God to his house, to Jerusalem, and to the temple. Just as the lambs of the tenth of Nissan had to be sacrificed on Passover by those who dwelt in the house, so too the Lamb of God would be sacrificed on Passover by those who dwelt in Jerusalem.
The Lamb of God had to come to the House of God that the blessings of salvation could count. So it is only when you bring a lamb home when you bring him into the place where you actually live your life, when you bring Him into every room, every closet and crevice only then can the fullness of the blessings of salvation begin. Exodus 12:3 Matthew 21:1–11
The lamb became a part of the family just as pets today are family members. This made the sacrifice very much harder to do but the meaning is clear. The love bestowed on an innocent lamb caused emotional response of remorse, guilt and sadness for the lamb they loved was to die in their place because of the need for a blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin. How much more should the tears of repentance flow from each of us as we remember the sacrificial death of the guiltless Lamb of God.
Living in this timeframe after Yeshua’s birth, death, resurrection and ascension, we get the bigger picture that the original instructions point to. This makes the Feasts extremely relevant and exciting for us. Not only do we get to remember the Exodus, but we also remember Jesus Yeshuas’ first coming during the Spring Feasts, and the Fall Feasts yet to be fulfilled, focus on His return.
APPLICATIONS OF THE FIRST 3 FEASTS
Passover (Pesach)
Unleavened Bread (Hag HaMatzah
First Fruits (Bikkurim)
FEAST HISTORICAL ASPECT
- Passover (Pesach) Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage
- Unleavened Bread (Hag HaMatzah) The going out of Egypt
- First Fruits (Bikkurim) Crossing the Red Sea
FEAST MESSIANIC FULFILLMENT
- Passover (Pesach) Death of Yeshua on the tree
- Unleavened Bread (Hag HaMatzah) The Burial of Yeshua
- First Fruits (Bikkurim) Resurrection of Yeshua
FEAST SPIRITUAL APPLICATION ( Halacha )
Passover (Pesach) Repent (Teshuvah) and trust by (Emunah )in the shed blood of Yeshua
Unleavened Bread (Hag HaMatzah) Sanctification and separation from evil represented by water immersion (Mikvah)
First Fruits (Bikkurim) Walking (Halacha) in newness of life
We have the benefit of hindsight, but the Israelites couldn’t see what was ahead. They had no idea they were foreshadowing God’s plan of redemption for all mankind but centuries of going through those motions helped them prepare for that future. Consider that just by following the instructions with no other understanding, their faithful Israelite descendants were in Jerusalem for that very important Passover Week, which is when Yeshua was crucified, buried and resurrected. Deut 16:16 instructed them to be in Jerusalem for this week.
They would’ve missed these events if they hadn’t been observing the dates and location.
The Feasts are God’s appointed days for all time. These are dates that He’s chosen to fulfill His plan for mankind – a plan He’s not yet completed. These dates will still play a significant role in His timeline for the future.
The Spring Feasts are the exact days Yeshua fulfilled His mission for his first coming. The Fall Feasts are all about Yeshua’s second coming.
Typically we think of the Spring Feasts as a time to remember – the Exodus and Yeshua’s death on Passover, His resurrection on the Feast of Firstfruits, the giving of the Torah and the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.
The first Passover occurred over 3500 years ago in Egypt and it is by far, the oldest celebration continually kept by any group of people in the history of mankind. Exodus 12:18-20 where He instructed the people to sacrifice a lamb, place its blood on the doorpost of the house, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Each part of the Passover meal was significant and symbolized something that was important for the people of God to remember about His plan of redemption.
To appreciate the background of the feast, read Exodus12:1-13:10. There you will find that Passover, which was an evening meal that took place as the sun went down on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Abib (also called ‘Nisan’), and Unleavened Bread, which was a subsequent week-long festival that began as the Passover meal was eaten. They were originally a commandment from God to mark and save His people from the death that would befall others who did not have a heart to heed His words.
As every man was to select for his household a lamb without spot or blemish and he was to select this lamb on the tenth day of the month. Then he was to observe this lamb for five days to make sure there was nothing wrong with him. There could be no fault (spot or blemish) found in this lamb.
On the fifth day, he was to bring the lamb to his doorstep and kill him.
As he killed the lamb he would catch the blood in the basin at the foot of the doorstep then using a hyssop branch to smear the blood on both sides of the doorpost and above the doorpost so the entire entrance into the house was covered by the blood of the lamb.
Hyssop is a weed – a lowly plant. It has spongy leaves and a woody stem.
Exo 12:22 Hyssop was used to dip and apply the blood to the doorposts at Passover.
Lev 14:4-52 and Num 19:6,18 Hyssop was used in the cleansing of lepers (a picture of judgment on human pride) and in cleansing the tabernacle.
Psa 51:7 David’s repentance: “Cleanse me with hyssop.” John 19:29 Jesus on the cross was given sour wine in a sponge on a stalk of hyssop.
Hyssop is a picture of humility.
This was done on the evening of the 14 day (twilight). Remember, the Hebrew day begins in the evening at approximately six o’clock in western time.
The Hebrews killed the lambs at three o’clock in the afternoon on the 14th in order to eat the meal by six before the day of Passover feast ended.
The family then entered their house through the blood-stained door where they were protected from the plague of death that was to move through the land.
Now here comes an interesting part.
According to the instructions, the entire lamb was to be roasted and consumed. Nothing could be left over for the next day.
In preparing the meal, not one bone of the lamb was to be broken. This instruction required that the lamb be roasted on a spit shaped like a crossbar so that its body could be spread open.
Although the family went inside the house and couldn’t see the blood covering, they had faith that God would save them because of it.
They were saved by grace through faith in the blood of the lamb which they could not see.
This should sound familiar to us.
Also notice the shape of the doorway and as Jesus said He was the Door notice the similarities to the Hebrew letter CHET
The prophet Isaiah spoke of the suffering this human lamb would experience. He wrote a very clear, graphic description, which is recorded in Isaiah chapter 53. We often skip over this as it tends to make us very uncomfortable.
Yeshua Se Tamiym – Yeshua Our Pesach Lamb – Jesus Our Passover Lamb
As the precise moment came in God’s timeline for the substitutionary human lamb to be sacrificed, the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary and God came to earth in the manifestation of Jesus to live among us, to go through everything we as humans have to endure and become the sacrifice for our sins. God sent one last prophet to help the people recognize Him, John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus. John introduced Jesus with these words:
“Behold the Lamb of God!”. (John 1:36)
It would have had a profound meaning to those who heard as they all understood the appointed time of the Passover Lamb and had been rehearsing it every year their whole lives.
In John 12:1 it says that Jesus came to the town of Bethany six days before the Passover. Since the Passover was celebrated on the 14th, this means that Jesus came to Bethany on the ninth. John also gives us more information to show that Jesus entered Jerusalem on the tenth according to John 12:12-13. He says that it was the next day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem.
In other words, He came into Jerusalem on the exact day that God told the Jews to set aside their lambs back in Egypt.
Jesus was fulfilling in Himself the ultimate reality of the Feast of Passover.
As earlier mentioned the purpose of setting the lamb aside was to observe it to make sure that it was without spot or blemish. This lamb was to be offered to God. Since God is perfect, no lamb that was blemished (physically or with fault) could be sacrificed, so the Jews observed and tested the lamb for five days to make sure that it was faultless. The same was done to Jesus by the religious leaders.
They questioned His authority, they asked Him trick questions hoping He would somehow give a wrong answer that they could use against Him. They did everything they could to discredit Him so that He would not be an acceptable sacrifice.
Of course you know the story, Pilate said he could find no fault in Him. (John 19:4). This all happened in that five day period from the tenth to the 14th while the Jews were checking their lambs for the sacrifice.
Jesus was crucified on the 14th ( the same day as the lambs) and to be even more precise the same hour of the day. At the exact hour when the Jews were preparing their lambs for sacrifice, Jesus was nailed to the cross. (9:00 am, the 14th), they were killed at 3:00pm, so that Passover could be completed before six pm which would begin a new day.
To summarize this, Jesus gave His total self to be roasted and consumed in the judgment fires of God as He died for our sins.
The spit shaped like a crossbar on which the lambs were spread open pointed to Jesus hanging on the cross. All the other details concerning the death of the lambs happened to Jesus, the real Lamb of God. For example, His bones were not broken. Remember, God said not to break any bones in the Passover lamb (Exodus 12:46, Number 9:12; Psalms 34:20).
When a person is crucified, the body sags so that they cannot breathe. This causes them to push themselves up with their heels just long enough to take a deep breath.
To hasten a person’s death, a Roman soldier would break his legs; thus, he would not be able to push himself up to get air.
John records that the soldiers broke the legs of the two thieves , that were next to Jesus, but they saw Jesus was already dead, so they didn’t break His legs.
They also offered a combination of ingredients in a drink that would help to numb the pain Jesus refused as He wanted to remain alert to experience it fully.
God had specifically instructed the Israelites to consume the whole lamb. Nothing was to be left over for the next day. (Exodus 12:10). This was also the case with Jesus. The Jewish religious leaders, not realizing they were carrying out God’s plan, hurriedly had Jesus’ body taken down before six o’clock. 
The Passover lamb was a visual aid and dress rehearsal directing the Jews into the future when Jesus would come and establish the spiritual reality that the lambs could only symbolize. The blood of Jesus saves us from death and gives us the promise of resurrection.
“For Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (1 Cor.5)
The sacrificial blood of animals had no power to pay for our sins – they only served to remind us that we are sinners and that a divine sacrifice was still needed. Our text shows us that Jesus was that divine sacrifice which ended all other sacrifices.
In Jerusalem, on this Passover, the Lamb of God carried His cross and willingly laid down His sinless life to save all those who would receive Him as their Savior. Though He was without guilt, unlike the little Passover lambs who cried, He remained silent as He was falsely accused during His trial but for those who have received Him as their Savior and their Lord, there is a silence of the lambs.
