Pictures of the Messiah:
The Passover Sacrifice

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Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: {6} And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. {7} And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. {8} And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
Ex 12:5-8
  • What is the Passover Sacrifice

  • When is the Passover Observed

  • Was the Last Supper the Passover













    What is the Passover Sacrifice

    Scripture - In Egypt

    In Egypt, the time of Passover was the culmination of the work Yahveh was doing to bring the Nation of Israel out of the bondage and slavery it suffered under Egypt. The plague of the death of the firstborn was to be the final act that would force the Egyptians to drive Israel away to freedom. The blood of the Passover sacrifice was chosen to protect the Israelite children from the deadly plague. On the tenth day of the first month a lamb of the first year was chosen and watched for four days to make sure it was without blemish. On the fourteenth day of the first month, it was to be sacrificed and its blood placed on the doorposts of the houses of Israel. This would be the sign that the Destroying Angel was to pass over that house and leave the people unharmed.

    Scripture - In Israel

    In the land of Israel, the Passover sacrifice was a memorial of how the One Most High had taken His people out of Egypt. This observance was strongly linked with teaching the children what this event means.

    Scripture - The Messiah

    Both the timing of the event and the Apostolic writings reveal that the Passover sacrifice was a type and foreshadowing of an even greater event. The Messiah, the true Lamb, would be sacrificed and His blood accepted as protection from the bondage and slavery of eternal death.

    Jewish

    Because there is no longer a Temple in which to perform the sacrifice of a lamb, Rabbinical law has replaced the Passover sacrifice with the seder ceremony. The seder is a memorial dinner which is designed to remember the coming out of the bondage of slavery in Egypt and also the entering of the Promised Land.

    Christian

    The blood of Messiah, as the fulfillment of the Passover sacrifice, brings atonement for sin and salvation from death. However, the Passover sacrifice has been associated with or replaced by the Last Supper (or the communion meal).

    Messianic

    The Jewish and Christian themes of the Passover sacrifice have been combined together within Messianic Judaism. The Passover sacrifice has been replaced by a seder meal which represents the Last Supper (specifically, the third cup of wine and the matzah). It memorializes both the coming out of Egypt and sacrificial death of the Messiah on the cross.

    When is Passover Observed

    Scripture

    The Passover sacrifice is on the afternoon of the fourteenth day of the first month (referred to as Abib) with the meal following that evening on the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This is in the springtime when the barley crops are becoming ready for harvest (an important part of the wave sheaf offering that follows in the Temple a few days later).

    Jewish

    Under Rabbinical traditions, most forms of Judaism now use the Hillel Calendar which mathematically sets the dates of the assemblies and festivals. Passover occurs on the afternoon of the fourteenth day of the first month as normal, but the beginning of the month in which it occurs may be shifted or postponed in some way.

    Christian

    Christianity uses the Gregorian Calendar system. The date of Good Friday (the accepted time of the crucifixion) will vary among denominations although many will choose after the first full moon after the spring equinox. By any system, it still falls within the springtime.

    Messianic

    Most Messianc Jewish groups will follow the Hillel Calendar. The other groups will typically use an observed calendar looking for the barley to be ripe before starting a new year.

    Last Supper and Passover Meal Debate

    What is the Last Supper

    The major debate about the Last Supper is whether or not it was a separate event from the Passover Meal. The synoptic gospels seem to say that the Messiah kept the Passover meal with His disciples and was crucified the next day. The gospel of John states the last supper was earlier and that Messiah died at the exact time of the killing of the Passover Sacrifice. It seems that a person must choose that either the synoptic gospels are wrong, the gospel of John is wrong, both are correct, or both are wrong. I have never seen an argument that both are wrong. The attempts to make them both correct make large assumptions without any evidence or facts and use very unnatural interpretations of certain words making this highly unlikely. The following reasons show that the weight of evidence falls in favor of the Gospel of John as being correct.

    Internal Consistency

    Within the gospel of John there is nothing self-contradictory to the time-line of events that is given. In the synoptic gospels, there are contradictory elements. This includes eating leavened bread during what would be the feast of unleavened bread, and placing guards at the Messiah's tomb after passover but before He would actually be dead).

    The Bread

    The Passover Meal is eaten after the Passover Sacrifice and at the start of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and is therefore instructed to be eaten with unleavened bread. At each recording of the Last Supper, it states that the Messiah gave leavened bread (Greek: artos) to the Apostles rather than unleavened bread (Greek: azumos). This could not be the Passover Meal.

    Buying on the Sabbath

    After the last supper was over, the Messiah told Judas to go do his job quickly. The other disciples thought this might be to purchase other items needed for the feast. It is a commandment that no buying, selling, or work be done on the first day of Unleavened Bread. If this had been the Passover meal, the disciples would not have expected any purchases to be made on that day. Joh 13:26-30

    Guarding the Tomb

    It is stated that 'on the morrow of the Passover' the chief priests and Pharisees asked for guards to be placed at the tomb to make sure that no one could steal the body and claim He had risen. Yet according to the synoptic gospels, the Messiah would not yet even be dead.

    Prophetic Fulfillment of the Lamb

    The Passover sacrifice was instructed to be killed on the fourteenth day of the first month and the Passover meal would follow afterwards. The death of the Messiah is considered a greater fulfillment of this event as is described in the Epistles. According to the synoptic gospels the Passover sacrifice and meal had already occurred and therefore the Messiah's death could not have occurred at the correct time to fulfill this event. According to the gospel of John, the Messiah died at exactly this same time and matches the fulfillment of the Passover Lamb.

    Inspecting the Lamb

    The Passover Lamb was to be chosen on the 10th day of the month and inspected for four days to see if it was without blemish. Some have suggested that it would be very difficult to assemble the religious and secular leaders in the early morning hours and have four trials in rapid succession. Instead, the four trials of the Messiah may have occurred over four days with each trail showing that the Messiah had done nothing wrong. This concept has interesting ideas in fulfilling the type of the Passover lamb, but does not directly add to the Last Supper / Passover meal debate.

    Bitter Herbs and Lamb

    It can be pointed out that neither the lamb nor the bitter herbs are directly mentioned as being eaten at the last supper. However, it must be properly noted that they are not excluded as well. Therefore, this really becomes a non-issue for the debate.

    Todd Elder is a believer in the Messiah who wants to help people understand Scripture and know the message of Salvation. For more information from the Assemblies and Festivals series, please visit http://www.exploringsalvation.info and look under 'Messiah'.
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