No. 823
“And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.” (Exod. 12:14)
Once again the time comes to celebrate the Memorial of our Lord’s crucifixion, the correct time for 2026 being after 6 p.m. on March 31. The date is determined by this method: The moon nearest the Vernal Equinox becomes new in Jerusalem on March 19 at 3:23 a.m., thus establishing 6 p.m. March 18 as the beginning of Nisan 1, Bible reckoning. Counting forward to Nisan 14, we arrive at 6 p.m. March 31. Any time that evening after 6 p.m. would be proper for the celebration.
The date of the Paschal Supper at which the Jews ate a lamb, commemorative of their deliverance from Egyptian bondage and of the sparing of their first-born at that time, was of course calculated by the Jewish method of reckoning time; viz., lunar time. (Exod. 12:2-14) Instead of dividing the months as we do, they allowed the new moon to mark the beginning of a new month; and the difference between the sun time (solar time) and moon time (lunar time) was equalized every year by always beginning the new year with the appearing of the new moon about the spring equinox. The Jews still maintain this method of reckoning in celebrating their religious festivals. And since our Lord, the Apostles, and the early Church followed this same rule for determining the date for the annual celebration of our Lord’s Last Supper, we also follow it.
THE PASSOVER MEMORIAL
The Passover celebrates one of the most momentous chapters in the history of the Israelites, and is associated with their national birth. According to the Scriptures, God had brought to the throne of Egypt a Pharaoh of indomitable will. Although others might have been in line for the throne, God favored this man attaining it, knowing his natural arrogance and obstinacy would allow divine power to be manifested in the succession of plagues which his actions would make necessary and proper. We read, “And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.” (Exod. 9:16) The ten plagues sent upon the Egyptians were manifestations of divine justice against their unjust treatment of the Israelites, God’s chosen people. The last of the ten plagues relates to our subject, The Passover.
The edict was that all of the first-born of the Egyptians were to die, but the first-born of the Israelites would not die. (Exod. 11:5-7) The Israelites were directed to mark themselves as separate and distinct from the Egyptians by each family taking a lamb without blemish and bringing it into the house on the tenth day of the first month. They were to cherish it and care for it until the fourteenth day, when they were to slay it. Its blood was to be sprinkled on their outside doorposts and lintels, while its flesh was to be roasted in the fire without a bone of it being broken. It was to be eaten in the night of the fourteenth with bitter herbs and with unleavened bread. Strengthened by this food, the next day they were to march out of Egypt to go to the Promised Land for an inheritance under the Covenant made with Abraham.
The first-borns of the Egyptians died that night, but the first-borns of the Israelites were passed over, just as the Lord had foretold through Moses. By the divine edict given through Moses, this event was memorialized every year at the appropriate season. On the tenth day of the first month, a lamb was taken into each of the houses of the Israelites, one for each family or group. All leaven, representing sin, was banished from their homes, and only unleavened bread was eaten with the lamb. The annual celebration of the Passover was for eight days, the first and the eighth day being high days, to be specially commemorated.
The Passover season is not only the oldest institution of the Jewish people, it is also their most joyous festival. It celebrates one of the earliest manifestations of divine favor toward them, and it reminds them of the prophecies of the still greater favor to come to them in the future: “Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.” (Jer. 16:14-15)
It was further prophesied that this deliverance from Egypt at the Passover time, the most notable event in the past history of the Israelites, would pale in comparison with future blessings: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord.” (Jer. 31:31-32)
This New Covenant is old as it relates to the Law and the divine requirements, but it is new in the sense that it will be based upon better sacrifices and have a better Mediator. It will be able to do exceedingly better things for Israel than Moses was able to accomplish as the mediator of the Covenant made at Sinai, although all his endeavors to serve the people were noble. Moses spoke of this better Mediator and better Covenant: “For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.” (Acts 3:22-23; Deut. 18:15)
THE MEANING OF THE PASSOVER CELEBRATION
For centuries, observant Jews have celebrated the Passover memorial, seeing its outward significance but not recognizing that the slain lamb typified Jesus – “the Lamb of God” – whose death constitutes the ransom price for the sins of the whole world. His death was necessary before the promise to Abraham could possibly have fulfillment. In order to be everlastingly efficacious, the redemption from sin must be based upon a better sacrifice than the annual sacrifice of a literal lamb.
It was necessary that Jesus become a perfect man in order to give His life as a sacrifice for mankind, but it was also necessary that He ascend on high to the Father’s right hand after finishing that sacrificing work. There He was to be the Spiritual Messiah, who will in due time accomplish for fleshly Israel all the gracious promises made to them in the Covenant with Abraham. They will be used by the Lord to convey His blessings to all nations, peoples and tongues. The world was under the condemnation for sin – “For the wages of sin is death.” (Rom. 6:23) Man’s penalty had to be met before this condemnation of death could be fully and forever set aside – before man could be entirely and forever lifted out of the conditions of sin and death and back to the conditions of eternal life and harmony with the Creator.
In harmony with the divine arrangement, Jesus first offered Himself to Israel as their King, but Israel did not recognize Him as their Messiah, because He had neither wealth, armies or influential friends. They disdained Him as a deceiver. When He declared Himself the Son of God and their deliverer, they thought Him an impostor and blasphemer, and worthy of death. They sentenced Him in their own Sanhedrin Court, but not having the authority to execute Him themselves, they charged Him with the only crime which the Roman Governor would hear – treason to the Roman Emperor. By threatening to associate Pilate with Jesus in treason, they finally effected the crucifixion of the antitypical Passover Lamb. He was stretched upon the cross much after the manner in which they impaled their Passover lamb for its roasting.
THE LAMB OF GOD
Note that Jesus presented Himself as the Lamb of God and was rejected exactly at the appropriate time – the tenth day of the first month, when the Jews were taking up their lambs for the Passover. His presentation was on the exact day and in exactly the manner specified by the Prophet Zechariah: “Behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. . . . and he shall speak peace unto the heathen [nations]: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.” (Zech. 9:9-10) This was fulfilled to the very letter as the Prophet foretold, and it was on that very day that Israel’s “double” of experiences began. Israel was blinded with self-satisfaction and repudiated the lowly King, refusing to accept Him as their Lamb and to receive Him into their hearts and homes. Nevertheless, He proceeded to fulfill this wonderful type, dying as the antitypical Passover Lamb on the fourteenth day.
Some of the Jews, the Apostles of Jesus and others whose hearts were in a humble, obedient and faithful condition, quickly received a great blessing through Him. These faithful ones fed upon the Lamb and through Him the unleavened bread of God’s grace. The blood of Jesus was sprinkled upon the door posts and the lintels of their hearts. Members of this “Household of Faith” still celebrate and commemorate the death of the Lamb of God as the foundation for all their hopes, joys and blessings. They are continually refreshed by the favor of the Lord, whether they be poor or rich, whether their honors be many or few as respects earthly things.
Those faithful followers of Jesus were recognized by the Father on the day of Pentecost when He received them to a higher plane, begetting them of the Holy Spirit. Those faithful in following in the footsteps of Jesus will share with Him the Spiritual Kingdom through which the earthly blessings will soon begin to come to Israel and to all the world. Not only will Messiah be King of the Jews, but as the prophecy of Zechariah declares, His Kingdom “shall be from sea to sea” (world-wide). All nations will recognize His power and glory, and at His name every knee will bow and every tongue confess, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2:10-11) Israel will receive the glorious Messiah promised to them when He is revealed in the end of this age, but, except for a remnant, they will have missed the honor first offered to them of constituting His Spiritual Bride, as the Prophets foretold. (Isa. 1:9; Isa. 10:21-23; Psa. 45:9-14)
God kept hidden the fact that Messiah’s Kingdom would be a spiritual one. Not one promise of a Spiritual Messiah was given either in the Law or the Prophets, for every promise from Genesis to Malachi is earthly. This was the promise to Abraham: “For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.” (Gen. 13:15) Israel has not lost this promise. Not only is a remnant of them most prominently represented in the Spiritual Seed of Abraham, but Abraham and all their faithful Prophets are to be made “princes [rulers] in all the earth.” (Psa. 45:16)
The seed of Abraham will be uplifted and made the channel of divine blessings to all peoples. As the Apostle Paul said, “God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew.” (Rom. 11:2) He is about to fulfill to them every good promise under His New Covenant, with its greater Mediator and grander antitypical priesthood symbolized by Melchizedek and foretold by the Prophet Malachi. (Jer. 31:31; Psa. 110:4; Mal. 3:1-3)
LIKE UNTO MOSES, BUT GREATER
According to God’s plan, the long-promised antitypical Priest, King, and Messiah will stand as the Mediator between God and Israel, as the antitype of Moses. The fact that He will be a spiritual Messiah and not in the flesh will not diminish His glory and power, but will augment them. From Him the Israelites will receive earthly glory and blessings beyond their fondest dreams. Under the New Covenant, a way of approach to God will be opened up for all Gentiles through Israel and the Mediator.
Thus it is written: “And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain [kingdom] of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion [the Spiritual Kingdom] shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” (Isa. 2:3) Any nation that will not recognize Jerusalem (the earthly Kingdom of Israel restored) as the divine government will receive no special blessing: “And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.” (Zech. 14:17)
Zechariah mentioned the blessing of the Gentiles when he said Messiah will “speak peace” unto the nations. But this blessing of peace will come first to Israel, God’s Chosen People, and then proceed through them to the Gentiles. The same holds true with respect to the selection of Spiritual Israelites, as we have already noticed how the “remnant” of Jews who were ready for Messiah received Jesus and the Pentecostal blessing. After giving the first opportunity for the spiritual blessings to Israel, the invitation to become Messiah’s associates on the spirit plane has been extended to the Gentiles throughout the Gospel Age – to those of them who have had the hearing ear and the understanding and obedient heart.
Thus, God has been selecting from both Jews and Gentiles worthy individuals for association with His Son, the Redeemer. These are but a “little flock” out of millions of nominal Christians. To this “little flock” the Redeemer said, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32) That Kingdom is to bless Israel, and through Israel it is to speak peace to all Gentiles – to every member of Adam’s race. It will afford all a full opportunity to return from sin and death conditions to everlasting life in harmony with God.
There are precious lessons and blessings for Israel in the Passover type, and in its antitype. Their condition of being blind and outcast from God’s favor was not to prevail forever, but merely until He had gathered Messiah’s “elect” associates on the spirit plane. Then all Israel will be recovered from this blindness, and abundant blessings will come to them. God intended for their casting off and blinding as a nation to work out for them a national blessing. Under adverse conditions they have been held together as a people, condemned as a whole, that they might receive mercy as a whole. (Rom. 11:30-32)
“CHURCH OF THE FIRST-BORN”
Remember that not all of the Israelites were in danger the night the Passover lamb was eaten – it was only the first-born who were “passed over.” A little later, God exchanged the first-born of every family for an entire tribe – the tribe of Levi. (Num. 3:12, 41) Hence that one tribe thereafter represented those saved by the passing over of the destroying angel – saved by the blood of the lamb and the eating of its flesh with bitter herbs and unleavened bread.
Note the types blended in this tribe of Levi:
(1) The spiritual Israelites constitute the primary type, with Aaron (who performed the sacrifices) being the type of the great High Priest, the glorified Messiah.[1] Aaron’s sons, the under-priests, typified the saintly few who have followed their Master in sacrificing faithfully unto death. As we have seen, the first of these were called out from among the Jews, God’s chosen people, but when not a sufficient number responded to the call, the remainder were accepted from among the Gentiles.
(2) Additionally, there is a class of faithful but less zealous followers of Jesus who have done noble work of service, but have failed to some extent of the proper sacrificing spirit. These, who correspond to the Levites, are similarly called from both Jews and Gentiles.
Together the two classes typed by the Priests and Levites constitute the “church of the firstborn.” (Heb. 12:23) Of these, the Apostle said: “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” (Jas. 1:18) Selected first from the Jews and secondly from the Gentiles, they were further typified in the first-born of Israel who were passed over on that night when the first-born of Egypt were slain.
Thus, we see that this Gospel Age, from the time of the first Advent of Jesus to the time of the setting up of the Messianic Kingdom, is represented by that night. As the Prophet foretold, “For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth [civilized society], and gross darkness the [heathen] people.” (Isa. 60:2) During this dark night, the Household of Faith has sprinkled the blood of Jesus, the Passover Lamb (1 Cor. 5:7), upon their door post. They have been under its protection, sharing in the unleavened bread of Truth and the strength and blessing freely provided by the sacrifice.
THE AFTER-BORN SAVED ALSO
A great mistake has been made by many of us in the past in supposing that only the firstborn are to be saved. An examination of the picture or type given to us through Israel’s Passover shows that this is clearly not the case. Instead of the firstborn of Israel being the only ones saved, the narrative shows that after that dark night came a morning of blessing and joy when all Israel went forth out of bondage – not merely the firstborn.
Under the command of Moses, the firstborn in the type led the people out of darkness and slavery into emancipation and light. They became the Priests and Levites, the religious leaders of the people. In like manner, the “Church of the Firstborn,” elected during this Gospel Age from Jews and Gentiles, will lead all the tribes of Israel put of the power of sin and death in the morning of the new dispensation, the Messianic Kingdom. In the type, Moses represented the great spiritual Messiah who will soon lead forth His people Israel and grant them all the blessings and privileges and favors included in the Abrahamic promise.
Only Israel was delivered from Egyptian bondage, crossing the Red Sea with dry feet, and only they experienced the special divine providences of the wilderness, but this should not be understood to mean that Messiah will bless the natural seed of Abraham only. The blessing will come first to Israel, who are beloved for the fathers’ sakes, and they will be brought into Covenant relationship with God. Other nations are not included in the type, because in order to come into fellowship and relationship with God through the great Mediator, the Messiah, they will have to become citizens of Zion – they will have to become Israelites.
This may astonish some Christian people who are well-versed students of the Bible, because many of them have overlooked certain features of the divine promise of the New Covenant. We are distinctly told that the New Covenant is to be made between God and Israel, His chosen people, and not with any other nation, and thus it will be that all the families of earth will be blessed through Israel. (Gen. 12:3; Gen 28:14) The making of the New Law Covenant with Israel will bless the other nations because the opportunity will be granted to every nation and people to come under the terms of that New (Law) Covenant, mediated by the greater than Moses. To come under that Covenant will mean a full subordination to the divine law as expressed in the Law of Moses, the fulfilling of which is love.
After first blessing God’s chosen people, the Great Messiah will be pleased to serve all nations and peoples when they prove willing to accept His favors and conform to the divine laws. Thus all nations will gradually become of the seed of Abraham during Messiah’s reign, and by the end of His reign the promise of God to Abraham will be fulfilled: “And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen 28:14)
Here the two seeds are clearly identified: (1) The stars symbolize the spiritual seed, the antitypical Priests and Levites on the spirit plane. (2) The “dust of the earth” represents the earthly seed – Israel and all peoples who will be absorbed into Israel through Messiah’s mediation of the New Covenant. At the close of Messiah’s Kingdom, all mankind will be included in God’s Chosen People, because all who will refuse to hear and obey that great Prophet, Priest, and King will be cut off from life in the Second Death – everlasting destruction.
(Based on What Pastor Russell Wrote For the Overland Monthly, pages 93-98.)
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OUR LORD’S MEMORIAL SUPPER
It was in harmony with this type of the killing of the Passover lamb on the 14th day of the first month – the day preceding the seven days’ Feast of the Passover celebrated by the Jews – that our Lord died, as the antitypical Passover Lamb, “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” At no other time was it possible for our Lord to have finished in death the sacrifice which He began when He was thirty years of age, in His baptism unto death. Hence it was that, although the Jews many times sought to take Him, no man laid hands on Him, because “his hour was not yet come.” (John 7:8, 30)
It was at the close of His ministry, on the fourteenth day of the first month, on “the same night in which He was betrayed” (1 Cor. 11:23), that our Lord celebrated the typical Passover with His disciples, eating the typical lamb representing Himself and His own sacrifice for the sins of the world. The eating of this supper on the night preceding our Lord’s death, and yet on the same day, was made possible by the Jewish custom of beginning each day, not at midnight, but in the evening. The Lord evidently arranged all the affairs of Israel in conformity with the types they were to express.
As Jews born under the Law, it was obligatory for our Lord and His Apostles to celebrate this type at its proper time, but after they had thus observed this Jewish Supper, the Lord instituted for His disciples and for His entire Church a new thing to take its place. Our Lord did not institute another, higher type of the Passover. On the contrary, the type was about to begin its fulfillment – our Lord, as the antitypical Lamb, was about to be slain. As the Apostle expressed it, “For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.” (1 Cor. 5:7)
For anyone accepting Christ as the Passover Lamb, thus accepting the antitype as taking the place of the type, it would not be proper to prepare a typical lamb and eat it in commemoration of the typical deliverance. For all believers in Jesus as the true Passover Lamb, the appropriate thing going forward would be the sprinkling of the doorposts of the heart with His blood, realizing that through His blood they now have forgiveness of sins. (Heb. 10:22) Henceforth they must “eat,” or appropriate to themselves by faith, the merits of their Redeemer – the merits of the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all. By faith they must partake of those merits, and realize that as their sins were laid upon the Lord, and He died for them, so His merits and righteousness are imputed to them.
When our Lord instituted His Memorial Supper, called the Last Supper, it was a new symbol, built upon and related to the old Passover type, though not a part of it, being a commemoration, or memorial of the antitype. We read: “For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.” (1 Cor. 11:23-25)
The word “remembrance” implies that this new institution was to take the place of the former one, which was about to become obsolete by reason of fulfillment. This does not imply that it should be done without regard to time and place; it instead signifies that when the cup and unleavened bread were used thenceforth as a celebration of the Passover, it should on every occasion be considered a celebration, not of the type, but of the antitype. As it would not have been lawful, proper or typical to celebrate the Passover at any other time than that appointed of the Lord, likewise it is still not appropriate to celebrate the antitype at any other time than its anniversary.
The Apostle added, “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he come.” (1 Cor. 11:26) This shows us that the disciples clearly understood that thenceforth the annual Passover celebration must have a new meaning for them: the broken loaf representing the Lord’s flesh, the cup representing His blood. Although this new institution was not laid upon His followers as a law, and no penalties were imposed for failing to properly observe it, the Lord knew well that all trusting in Him and appreciating Him as the antitypical Passover Lamb would be glad to take up the Memorial which He thus suggested to them.
(Excerpt from Studies in the Scriptures, Volume VI, Chapter XI, with editing.)
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We extend Christian love to all God’s people wherever they may assemble, and pray for the Lord’s blessing in this coming Memorial service.
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[1] The Aaronic priesthood typified chiefly the humiliation and sufferings of Christ, while His future glory as King and Priest was typed by Melchisedec, who sat as a priest upon his throne. (See Tabernacle Shadows, Chapter II.)