“Jehovah, how do you want us to worship you?”
I asked God this question after thinking about all the different holidays people have around the world to celebrate our creator. His answer? “I already explained how I want to be worshiped. It’s in the Bible.”
God showed us what he wanted for celebrations and worship through the nation of Israel. There is deep meaning and symbolism in the festivals God put in place. They were to remember good things that happened, have a fun time worshiping and celebrating, and had spiritual significance.
There are many festivals in the Bible. I will only cover the three main festivals in this series. (Exodus 23:14-17; 34:22-23; Deuteronomy 16:16; 2 Chronicles 8:13) Jews now call them The Three Pilgrimage Festivals, in Hebrew, Shalosh Regalim (שלוש רגלים). Jehovah asked everyone to go to Jerusalem to celebrate these three. Some are celebrated in conjunction with other festivals. I’ll list them together here.
- The Festival of Unleavened Bread, Passover (Pesach)
- The Festival of Weeks/Harvest, Pentecost (Shavuot)
- The Festival of Tabernacles/Tents/Booths (Sukkot)
Let’s look at the original occasions when God established these three festivals, and see if they have meaning for us today.
In part one; we’ll discuss the first festival, Pesach.
Passover (Pesach) The Festival of Unleavened Bread
Jehovah told Abraham he would make his descendants into a nation to bless the whole earth, but he also prophesied they would be slaves for four hundred years. (Genesis 12:2-3; 15:13-14) On schedule, four hundred years after Israel had been enslaved by Egypt, Jehovah sent Moses to tell Pharaoh to let his people go. God said, “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 7:2-5) What were these wonders? The Ten Plagues. Yes, you know the Ten Plagues from Exodus 7:14 – 12:40. Jehovah brought them “out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror and with signs and wonders.” (Deuteronomy 26:8)
However, before the last plague, Jehovah did something different from the other plagues. He gave the Israelites instructions. Exodus chapters 11 through 13 tell us what happened. It was the first month of their year, Nisan (or Abib), in the spring. He told the Israelites to pick a one-year-old, unblemished, male, lamb. Then when Nisan 14 started at twilight (Israelite calendar days began at sundown instead of midnight), they were to kill the lamb. The blood from the lamb was to be put on the two doorposts of the house where they would eat the lamb. They had to roast it without breaking any of its bones, and eat it the same night with unleavened bread and bitter greens. One more thing; they had to eat it fully dressed; even wearing their shoes. God had them ready to go because this was the night he was going to set them free.
On that night, Nisan 14, an angel was sent throughout Egypt. At midnight, he killed the firstborn of every family in Egypt, human and animal, that did not have the blood of the lamb on their doorpost. “The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 12:13) That night, Pharaoh and the Egyptians told the Israelites to take all their things and go. So they gathered up their dough, which didn’t have time to rise, and went out of Egypt.
Moses told the Israelites, “Remember this day in which you went out from Egypt, from the house of slavery; for by a powerful hand the Lord brought you out from this place. And nothing leavened shall be eaten.” (Exodus 13:3) Every year on Nissan 10, the Israelites were to pick their one-year old, male lamb. On Nissan 14, they were to slaughter it and roast it without breaking any bones. Traditionally they slaughtered the lambs at the 9th hour of the day; that’s 3:00 PM our time. This began Passover and the weeklong Festival of Unleavened Bread. They did not have any leaven the entire week to remember the way their ancestors were freed from slavery.
During Jesus’ last week, he went to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. He entered the city on Nisan 10, and was greeted by a crowd. “Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!’” (Matthew 21:8-9) All the city was stirred according to Matthew 21:10. They might not have known it, but something of great spiritual significance was happening. It was Nisan 10. Israel was choosing the eternal Passover sacrifice.
“Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching. … Then came the first day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. … When the hour had come, He (Jesus) reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him. And He said to them, ‘I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;’ … And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.’” (Luke 22:1, 7, 14-15, 19-20)
After his last supper, Jesus was taken into custody. The next day was still Nisan 14 (until sundown). “It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, because the sun was obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’” (Luke 23:44-46) Jesus gave up his life at the 9th hour. That is the same the time the nation traditionally sacrificed their Passover lambs. Even though those crucified with Jesus had their legs broken, none of Jesus’ bones were broken. (John 19:33) Jesus fulfilled Passover by being our blameless, sacrificial lamb. Jesus is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” “with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless.” (John 1:29, 1 Peter 1:19)
Passover is about freedom from slavery. Israel was physically enslaved to Egypt. All of humanity was enslaved to sin. We are all born in sin with no way out. When our perfect messiah was killed as our sacrifice, he freed us from this bondage. Romans 3:23-25 explains, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed.”
The purpose of Jesus being born on Earth was “to give His life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28) If we believe in the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins, the blood of Jesus, our lamb, is applied to our lives. God passes over our sins because we have been redeemed. We are saved by the blood of Jesus, just as the Israelites were saved by the blood of the lamb. Jesus is our sacrificial lamb. “The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)
Jesus used leaven to represent sin in some of his illustrations. (Matthew 16:6) Paul talks about Jesus cleansing us of sin in relation to the festival of Unleavened Bread in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8. He says, “Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also 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.”
“For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near.” (Hebrews 10:1) The Old Testament was a shadow. Jesus is what casts the shadow. He is the “form” or source of the shadow. We needed a sacrifice to redeem us from sin. The shadow was the animal sacrifices. Now we do not have to give animal sacrifices for forgiveness of sins because the real sacrifice has been slain. “Not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” (Hebrews 9:12) During the Festival of Unleavened Bread, we honor and glorify “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” because of what he did for us. (John 1:29)
In 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, Paul was talking to Christians when he said, “let us celebrate the feast.” They were still celebrating this festival in the New Testament, and it says to us, “let us celebrate the feast.”
During our Lord’s Last Supper, Jesus instituted a new covenant with his followers. In Matthew 26:28 Jesus said, “this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.” Earlier in his ministry Jesus said, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:54) When Jesus did this, it was at Passover. He was not starting something brand new that Christians were supposed to start doing. He was completing Passover, and the purpose of the festival. Jesus himself said, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.” (Matthew 5:17)
“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; 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.’ In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” (1 Corinthians 11:23-26) “This bread” and “the cup” were the unleavened bread and the wine of Passover. We are to use them to remember Jesus until he comes.
The celebration of Lord’s Last Supper is a celebration of the fulfillment of Passover. The full meaning of the holiday was given by the messiah, Jesus. He died as the final Passover lamb, and freed us from slavery to sin. “He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2) It is not just a Jewish holiday. It is a world holiday; a celebration of freedom from the bondage of sin. So “let us celebrate the feast.”
Through the centuries, the Jews have added meaningful customs and traditions to what was given in the law. I think their traditions are fine, but I personally do not blindly follow what the Jews do today. Examine the scriptures and follow what is necessary. Some may celebrate with only unleavened bread and wine, some may have a full Seder meal. Please pray and use your own judgment.
I believe the Lord’s Last Supper should be celebrated on the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. Nisan 14 was originally always on the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. Now the Jewish calendar is based on astronomical time instead of counting from new moon to new moon as directed in the Bible. The current calendar dates are not always accurate. You can look up the dates of the Spring Equinox, and the full moons over Jerusalem on the internet. Happy Pesach!