Easter; myths and traditions obscure amazing truths

The Passover Meal (Seder) embodies many spiritual truths concerning God's plan of redemption through Jesus Christ. However traditional church teaching (crucified Friday: resurrected Sunday) cannot be supported from a careful study of the Bible; and obscures the immaculate chain of events during the last week of Christ's life.

28 March, 2024
The following article has been prefaced by:

1. A recording of and discussion with Dr. Richard Booker on the subject of Passion Week and the chronology of Christ's crucifixion
2. A simplified chart of Richard's detailing his view (and that of the Editor) that Christ was crucified on a Wednesday, just as the sacrificial lambs were being killed for the forthcoming Passover High Holy Day of First Fruits. The article 'When Jesus ate the Passover Meal' explains how Jesus ate the Passover the evening before the Passover lambs were killed.

Notes:
1. Be sure to scroll down to read the whole article (as originally published).
2. There are differing opinions regarding which day of the week Christ was crucified i.e. Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. Please see here for charts outlining these views

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THIS PASSOVER (Pesach) Jewish families will gather around a festive table for the Seder (telling of the story and meal). The story of the Passover will be told from the Haggadah (a Jewish religious text), explaining the story of Moses and the Exodus. And how the Jewish people were in slavery in Egypt.

Accounts are given of Moses confronting Pharaoh and the 10 plagues; how the first-born was spared by the blood of the lamb, and how God parted the Red Sea and delivered the Jewish people from slavery and bondage in Egypt.

A veil over their eyes

However most of the Jewish people living in Israel, the USA and other countries around the world, do not know (or do not understand, or will not accept) that Jesus’ blood was shed on Passover 2000 years ago, delivering them from spiritual bondage and giving them eternal life. And the rabbis forbid the reading of Isaiah Chapter 53 which speaks of Jesus as the suffering servant. (cf John 12:40)
Passover is revealed in many Messianic prophecies, but what is so wonderful is how God's fulfillment of prophecy is so perfect down to the hour! [Interestingly it is said that for religious Jews ‘coincidence’ is not a ‘kosher’ word.]

Easter

And while Gentile Christians rightly focus on the price paid at Calvary and the joy of the subsequent ressurection, there is - in traditional teaching - an anomaly which effectively obscures the full wonder relating to the amazing symmetry of all the events which took place over that momentous Passover season.

A lamb without blemish

Part of the biblical Passover practice was that the lamb, which would be used for the Passover, was to be set aside on the 10th day of the month of Nissan (Ex 12:3). It was then to be tested until the 14th day (Ex 12:6) to be certain it was without spot or blemish before it was killed. [It is interesting to note that part of the ‘testing’ process applied to the sacrificial lambs involved them being whipped lightly on their backs so the white wool became stained with blood - compare this with Jesus’ scourging.]

Jesus as the Passover Lamb was also set aside on the 10th day of Nissan, because it was on this day that He entered Jerusalem, fulfilling the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9. The true significance of His triumphal entry is that this was the occasion Jesus set Himself aside as the Passover Lamb. Jesus was tested from the 10th day until the 14th day of Nissan by the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Scribes, and the Herodians. By answering all of their objections and questions, Jesus (the Lamb of God) clearly showed that He was without spot and without blemish. (See Footnotes)

Prophecy fulfilled

He was later crucified at nine o'clock in the morning and at the same time as the special Passover animals (lambs or he-goats) were being killed as a sacrifice on the Temple compound.
Just as the Jewish leaders were very careful that not a single bone of the Passover lamb was broken, John 19:36 points out that not a single bone of Jesus was broken either, during His scourging, the crucifixion itself, nor by the Roman soldiers who always broke the victim's legs.

But this year 14 million Jewish people worldwide will celebrate Passover in their homes with family and friends who are gathered around the table for the Seder meal, retelling the story of Passover without the revelation of its ultimate significance. As one Jewish believer (in Yeshua) has written:
 

Pilgrim Feasts: two fulfilled, one to go

Jesus was crucified on Wednesday, not Friday

Church tradition teaches that Jesus was crucified on Friday and rose again early on Sunday morning.

This contradicts the passages which tell us that Jesus would be 3 days and 3 nights in the grave (e.g. Matt 12:40; 26:61; 27:63). And  suggesting (in this case) that 'a part of  day is equal to a whole day' does violence to the word of God.

In fact Jesus was crucified earlier in the week; and he would have been dying on Calvary’s cross on ‘preparation day’ (Luke 23:54) at precisely the same time as the High Priest priests would have been sacrificing the passover lambs for the nation in the temple precincts.
This satisfied the Jewish leaders' desire to avoid having Jesus killed 'during the Feast' (Matt. 26:5).
The High Priest concluded the 2-day slaughter of the sacrifices at 3.00pm on 14 Nisan with the cry: "It is finished" (cf John 19:30). What a wonder of God's precision and of that amazing symmetry.
 
Jesus was then buried before the annual sabbath (John 19:31) – the day of Passover which commenced at 6.00pm on that same day. He then rose three days later, after the weekly sabbath (Mark 16:9), fulfilling the typology of Jonah to which Jesus had referred (see later notes).
 

The Firstfruit(s) of our Salvation

Note 5. See also related article: 'Passion Week/Last Supper/Traditions' which includes a recorded interview with Chris Hill.
Additionally 'Remembering His deth; the snack we call Supper'.