A Shadow of Things to Come
The Passover Part 2
1 Corinthians 11 24-26:
"And when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'Take; eat; this is my body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.' in the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant of My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes."
In this article I will continue with the feast called The Passover. I will be concentrating on the time the Messiah spent in the tomb, the symbols which he instituted for this feast, the time He actually celebrated the feast on the day of His death, and the meaning of His words during what is called The Last Supper.
Let us begin with the time the Messiah spent in the tomb and why this is so important to the Gospel. As stated in my previous articles the Passover is a feast instituted by the Creators.
Leviticus 23:5:
"On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord's Passover."
I also explained the meaning of the symbols; the blood and the lamb. The blood was put on the door posts so the angel of death would pass over their house, and the lamb was a symbol of the crucifixion of the Messiah.
John 1:29:
"......Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the whole world."
Yahoshua predicted His death to His disciples.
Matthew 16:21:
"From that time Yahoshua began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed...."
But there was one more piece of information. He told them when He would rise.
Matthew 16:21:
"......and be raised again on the third day."
This begs the question, what was so important about the time he would be resurrected? The elders of the people hated Yahoshua for His teachings. He claimed to be the son of the Creator. One day they approached Him and asked for a sign to prove His identity. He then responded;
Matthew 12:39:
"....An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the Prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
Even though He had shown the people numerous miracles, they still did not believe His claim. In order to prove to them who He was, He told them He would be dead for three day and three nights, then He would be made alive. Understand this was the only sign He would give to prove His Messiah-ship. Any deviation from this would mean that He was a liar.
John 14:6:
".....I am the way the truth and the life."
In order for this to be true He had to be in the tomb for the amount of time he said.
From the last article we know He was killed on the Passover at twilight. He died, and was taken off the cross before the setting of the sun. Remember the Hebrew's days were form sunset to sunset.
Genesis 1:5:
"......So the evening and the morning were the first day."
He was laid in the tomb. The next day was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. {Leviticus 23:6}. This was a yearly Sabbath, not the weekly Sabbath, which occurred at the end of the week, on the seventh day. {Leviticus 23:3} Let us now proceed to the book of Matthew.
Matthew 28:1:
"Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb."
The women came to the tomb on a Sunday morning before the rising of the sun and what did they discover?
Matthew 27:5-6:
“But the angel answered and said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Yahoshua who was crucified. He is not here for He is risen."
It being Sunday morning; He had to rise prior to that time. He was already gone. He was crucified at twilight, therefore for His sign to be true He had to rise exactly 72 hours from that time. We must conclude that He rose three days later at twilight. This means He rose prior to the setting of the sun, the day before, on the seventh day of the week, Saturday. Now if we count backwards we find that He was killed on a Wednesday at twilight. It had to be this day or else He was not who He claimed to be, and His message of the Gospel would mean nothing. We know that He was true to His word because the soldiers tried to cover up the fact that His prediction came true. {Matthew 27:62-65 and 28:11-15}
This brings us to the next topic. When did He celebrate the Passover? Remember the regulation was that the lamb was to be killed and cooked at twilight. He was dead at twilight; therefore He celebrated the Passover earlier in the day. He had to do this, because He was the Passover sacrifice. He had to be slain at the hour the lamb was to be slain. This is another proof that He was who He claimed to be. The Messiah ate the Passover that afternoon, died at twilight on a Wednesday, and rose at twilight Saturday evening. If this did not happen in this way, on those days, then He is not the Son of the Creator.
Now let us look at the symbols which He instituted for this feast. The time Yahoshua ate the Passover meal with His disciples is commonly referred to as the Last Supper. During this supper He gave His disciples instructions.
Matthew 26:26-28:
"And as they were eating Yahoshua took bread, blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to His disciples and said, 'Take eat, this is my body.' Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them saying, 'Drink from it all of you. For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.' "
John 13:5:
"...He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciple’s feet and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded."
John 13:14-15:
"If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you."
So we see that in celebrating this feast the people are to break bread, which represent His broken body. Drink from the same cup, which represents His blood, and to wash each other’s feet. Why these new rituals? What do they mean?
We can find the reason for the washing of the feet in the book of John.
John 13:34-35:
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this, all will know that you are my disciples."
He set an example for His disciples to follow it is a sign to the world that those who do this are His people, and it is a way for the disciples to show their love for each other.
The next symbol is the breaking and eating of the bread.
John 6:47-51:
"Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh which I shall give for the life of the world."
He plainly says that those who want eternal life must eat His flesh, which is represented by the bread.
John 6:53:
"....Most assuredly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man........you have no life in you"
The bread which came down from heaven and fed the Israelites in the wilderness was a symbol, a shadow, of the Messiah. The first bread was physical; the bread we are to eat now is spiritual. As the eating of the first bread kept them alive physically, the eating of the new bread will keep us alive forever. Unless one eats of this bread He will not qualify for the Kingdom.
Next we must look at the drinking of the liquid which represents His blood. We know that the disciples were charged to drink from the same cup, but it does not say what was in the cup. It was not His actual blood, so what was it? If the bread represented the Messiah's body, the liquid represents His blood. So we must find what the symbol for blood is. Please remember the Bible interprets its own symbols there is no need to guess; sometimes you just have to dig a little deeper.
If the bread the Israelites ate in the wilderness was the symbol of the Messiah's body, and we are now to eat bread at the Feast to represent this, then it would be logical to say that the liquid they drank in the wilderness is the symbol for His blood, and we are to drink the same liquid. So what liquid did they drink in the wilderness to keep them alive physically?
Exodus 17:3:
"....Why is it that you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?"
The people were once again grumbling to Moses, so He asked the Creator what he should do, and as always the Creator furnished an answer.
Exodus 17:6:
"Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock once and water will come out of it that the people may drink."
Moses did as he was told and the water came forth. The people drank water that came from a rock, and because of this they lived. So what does Paul have to say about this incident?
1Corinthians 10:1-4:
"Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food,{the bread from heaven} and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ."
The rock which Moses struck was a symbol for the Messiah and the liquid which came out was spiritual drink and that was water. We are to eat the bread which is a symbol for His body, and drink, the symbol for His blood, water. Let us see if there is more evidence for this.
Deuteronomy 32:4:
"He is the Rock; His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice."
2Samuel 22:32:
"For who is God except the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?"
Nehemiah 9:15:
"You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger, and brought water out of the rock for their thirst, and told them to go in to possess the land which you had sworn to give them."
Just as the ancient Israelites drank water and ate bread and then were to go into the physical kingdom; we are told to drink water {blood} and eat bread {body} then we may enter the spiritual kingdom.
John 4:13:
"but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."
John 7:38-39:
"He who believes in Me as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Yahoshua was not yet glorified."
Revelation 7:17:
"for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear."
There are also scriptures which show that water was turned to blood. Exodus 7:16-17, Revelation 16:4 are two, but I will show one more.
John19:33:
"But when they came to Yahoshua and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out."
There are so many examples I will not list them all here, but the evidence is clear that the liquid in the cup during the Last Supper was water. I want to emphasize this point because many people believe it was wine. They assume this because of the statement Yahoshua made after they drank from the cup.
Matthew 26:29:
"But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My
Father's kingdom."
The Messiah was not talking about the liquid which was in the cup, but He was talking about wine. He did drink wine and it is not a sin to drink wine, but why would He say He wouldn't drink it again until He was with his disciples in the Kingdom? I must say, if you do not know the Old Testament, you cannot understand the New Testament, and if you do not know the New Testament then the Old is dead and useless. So what does all that have to do with the drinking of wine?
Numbers 6:2:
"Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'When either a man or a woman consecrates an offering to take the vow of a Nazarite, to separate himself to the Lord."
A Nazarite is someone who separates himself from the people to do a special service for the Creator. It usually was to help Israel get out of slavery or captivity. Samson was a Nazarite. You can find his story in the book of Judges beginning with chapter 13. In order to be a Nazarite there were certain conditions that had to be met. They were not to shave their head or face, they could not go near a dead body and they could not drink wine.
Numbers 6:3:
"he shall separate himself from wine and similar drink; he shall drink neither vinegar made from wine nor vinegar made from similar drink; neither shall he drink any grape juice, nor eat fresh grapes or raisins."
The Laws concerning the Nazarite did not mysteriously vanish they were still in effect at the time of the Messiah, and are still in effect today {Acts 21:2324}. John the Baptist was a Nazarite {Matthew 11:18-19}, as was Timothy. You can know this by their actions.
Timothy 5:23-24:
"No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities. Some men's sins are clearly evident, preceding them to judgment, but those of some men follow later."
Paul was telling Timothy it would be okay to drink wine for his illness. Why would he have to tell Timothy this, because as a Nazarite he was not allowed to drink wine? It was a sin.
The Messiah was going to be in heaven with His father. Here He would take on the role as our Savior; helping us to get out of spiritual slavery and bondage. In other words; He was to become a Nazarite. This is why He said he would not drink from the fruit of the vine. He was not talking about what was in the cup, but what He was to become in His quest to save us; a spiritual Samson.
The Passover Feast is the first of the annual Feasts, commanded by the Creator, for His people to keep. It points to the Gospel; it is the Gospel, for unless one partakes of the Bread and Water they cannot enter the Kingdom. Ancient Israel kept the Feast. The Messiah kept the Feast, and He told His disciples to keep it. Even the Gentile church celebrated the Passover {1Corinthians 11: 17-26}. It is a memorial and a prophecy of what is to come. We are to eat the bread in remembrance of Him {Luke 22:19}, and we are to drink the water for it is the New Covenant {Luke 22:20}.
Well my friends it is that time again. As always I pray that this article will give you a better understanding of the Good News of the Kingdom, which is to come. So until next time, please take care.
Peace