Most important weekend of the year 2016

Assembled together on the night before he died, Jeshua and his disciples and closest friends came together in an upper room to celebrate the Passover meal.  They recalled the great story of deliverance: how the people of Israel had been freed from bondage and slavery by God’s power through the prophet Moses.  They remembered how the blood of the lamb marked the lintel and doorposts so that the Angel of Death would pass by the people as it brought devastation to the land of Egypt.  They ate the unleavened bread, mindful that the Israelites were in such a hurry to depart Egypt that their own bread had not yet risen.

That night the 14th of Nisan is one Jesus wanted to be remembered for an other occasion as well. Not only had his followers to remember the deliverance of God’s Chosen People, the Israelites, but now their rabbi had opened they way for others than Jews.

By his own example the sent one from God showed how his followers had to become servants for God and for the People of God. Like Jesus had called for people to follow him, the apostles had to come to do so too. They too had to become as humble as Christ was. As a sign of humbleness Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. The work which is reserved for servants Jesus did and he also asked them to do the same for one another.  There is no ambiguity in this moment, no chance to say it is merely a symbol.  Christ shows them what to do and tells them to do it (John 13:1-15); the path that leads to freedom from sin and death is marked by our care for our brothers and sisters.  Simply put, our lives are meant to be offered for others – giving ourselves in service.

In the end, in life which passes so quickly and everything is vanity (like Solomon writes in today’s reading – Ecclesiastes 1) everything turns around “Giving and Receiving”.  We all have received the Grace of God by the sent one from God, who is the son of man and the son of God, who gave his life for our sins.

Like Jesus offered himself as a lamb of God to have his blood as a signpost to deliver us from the punishment of death, we too should offer our lives as we are strengthened by the Messiah and are giving life-spirit by the blood of Christ, being partakers in the Body of Christ.

Thanks to the ransom offer brought by Jesus God blesses us with the gift of life and faith so that we in turn might be a gift to those around us.

As God commanded to remember the night the firstborns of Israel where saved so also Jesus asked his followers to remember the day he gave his body and poured out his blood for the salvation of mankind.

Long before the Mosaic Law covenant was altered, Jehovah foretold through the prophet Jeremiah that He would make with the nation of Israel “a new covenant.”

32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their forefathers on the day I took hold of their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt,+ ‘my covenant that they broke,+ although I was their true master,’* declares Jehovah.”

33 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares Jehovah. “I will put my law within them,+ and in their heart I will write it.+ And I will become their God, and they will become my people.”+(Jeremiah 31:32, 33)

Stained glass image of the Lamb of God (Agnus Dei) with a Christian banner. photo by John Workman in St. Ignatius church in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Throughout history we have seen how God made Himself a people. For a very long time it was for the People of Israel that there was a covenant on which they could count. One of the regulations or demands was to remember how the exodus from Egypt was made possible. That putting of blood at the doorposts could also considered as a signature of choosing for God, which made it possible to be passed over for damnation or destruction. After that event there was still a need of offers to be brought to the temple or synagogue. But on the 14th of Nisan Jesus spoke about an other offer which would not have to be repeated any more and which would be sufficient for all times. though that offer would not take away the remembrance of the liberation marks.

Jesus came to institute and Evening Meal on Nisan 14, 33 C.E. Speaking of the cup of wine, he told his 11 faithful apostles:

“This cup means the new covenant by virtue of my blood, which is to be poured out in your behalf.” (Luke 22:20)

Matthew’s account quotes Jesus as saying regarding the wine:

“This means my ‘blood of the covenant,’ which is to be poured out in behalf of many for forgiveness of sins.” (Matt. 26:27, 28)

Jesus’ shed blood validates the new covenant. That blood also makes possible the forgiveness of sins once and for all time.

A few years later the apostle Paul would remind the new followers

14 Therefore, my beloved ones, flee from idolatry.+ 15 I speak as to men with discernment; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of the Christ?+ The loaf that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of the Christ?+ 17 Because there is one loaf, we, although many, are one body,+ for we are all partaking of that one loaf. (1 Corinthians 10: 16-17)

On that special intimate night rabbi Jeshua had taken the bread and the wine.

26 As they continued eating, Jesus took a loaf, and after saying a blessing, he broke it,+ and giving it to the disciples, he said: “Take, eat. This means my body.”+(Matthew 26:26)

19 Also, he took a loaf,+ gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them, saying: “This means my body,+ which is to be given in your behalf.+ Keep doing this in remembrance of me.”+(Luke 22:19)

Notice how Jesus says

Keep doing this in remembrance of me.

The blood+ of the covenant,+ which is to be poured out in behalf of many+ for forgiveness of sins + should, like the blood of the lambs for the liberation of the Jews from the Egyptian slavery, be contributed to the heathen or pagan people who are willing to come under the blood of Christ, whitewashed from sin. But they should remember it and come together, more than once in a year, because Jesus asks it to do it often and whenever we do it to do it in remembrance of him.

23 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night+ on which he was going to be betrayed took a loaf, 24 and after giving thanks, he broke it and said: “This means my body,+ which is in your behalf. Keep doing this in remembrance of me.”+ 25 He did the same with the cup+ also, after they had the evening meal, saying: “This cup means the new covenant+ by virtue of my blood.+ Keep doing this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”+  (1 Chorinthians 11: 23-26)

For that reason we should come together today and remember the Exodus out of Egypt, out of slavery of the worldly work, but also the exodus from the slavery of sin and death.

14 “‘This day will serve as a memorial for you, and you must celebrate it as a festival to Jehovah throughout your generations. As a lasting statute, you should celebrate it.(Exodus 12:14)

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Please read also the related articles concerning this special weekend, 14 Nisan and following days:

1. 1 -15 Nisan
2. Yom Hey, Eve of Passover and liberation of many people
3. This day shall be unto you for a memorial and you shall keep it a feast to the Most High God
4. 14-15 Nisan and Easter
5. Days of Nisan, Pesach, Pasach, Pascha and Easter
6. Getting out of the dark corners of this world
7. A Holy week in remembrance of the Blood of life
8. Around the feast of Unleavened Bread
9. The son of David and the first day of the feast of unleavened bread
10. Day of remembrance coming near
11. A new exodus and offering of a Lamb
12. Observance of a day to Remember
13. Jesus memorial
14. Holidays, holy days and traditions
15. Seven Bible Feasts of JHWH
16. White Privilege Conference (WPC) wanting to keep the press out for obvious reasons
17. First month of the year and predictions
18. Entrance of a king to question our position #2 Who do we want to see and to be
19. Death of Christ on the day of preparation
20. A Great Gift commemorated
21. Shabbat Pesach service reading 1/2
22. Passover and Liberation Theology
23. Seven days of Passover
24. Kingdom Visions of Rainbowed angel, Lamb in Mount Zion
25. Kingdom Visions of God’s judgements and Marriage of the Lamb
26. The Song of The Lamb #2 Sevens
27. The Song of The Lamb #7 Revelation 15
28. Why we do not keep to a Sabbath or a Sunday or Lord’s Day #3 Days to be kept holy or set apart
29. Easter holiday, fun and rejoicing
30. Like grasshoppers
31. Peter Cottontail and a Bunny laying Eastereggs
32. Who Would You Rather Listen To?
33. Focus on outward appearances
34. After darkness a moment of life renewal
35. Deliverance and establishment of a theocracy

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Related articles

• An Easter Encouragement
• BEHOLD the Lamb of God – prayer for all pagan nations – prayer for The Jewish Nation
• Editorial: Faith
• When’s Easter?
• The Last Supper was a Passover meal
• God will provide the Lamb.
• Good Friday 3 April AD 33 – Lunar and Solar Eclipses as Christ died on the Cross
• Good Friday
• We are called to a radical obedience
• Passover Tradition

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We wish you a nice memorial day and a holy Pesach

Johannes de Doper wijst Christus aan als het Lam Gods. Ca. 1500-1510 – Saint John the Baptist Pointing Out Christ as the Lamb of God Philadelphia Museum of Art – Master of the Saint John Altarpiece

Hosea Say What?

To remember:

• The Holy Family goes to Egypt = Matthew connects the prophetic dots Hosea 11:1-4:
• Hosea = speaking for God = harkening back to the Exodus =remembering Israel little toddler of a nation > God delivered them out of bondage in Egypt.
• God called His son Israel out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery = Hosea 11 is about.
• Matthew uses the Old Testament in his Gospel => goes to great lengths to show that Jesus’ birth, life, and death = rooted firmly in the Old Testament
• Jesus born of a virgin = fulfilling Isaiah 7:14
• born in Bethlehem = fulfilling Micah 5:1-2
• Jesus sought out to be killed by Herod = fulfilling Jeremiah 31:15
• Jesus preceded by John preparing the way = fulfilling Isaiah 40:3
• Jesus healed diseases = fulfilling Isaiah 53:4
• Jesus spoke through parables = fulfilling Psalm 78:2
• Jesus came to Jerusalem riding on a donkey = fulfilling Zechariah 9:9
• “fulfill.” = Greek plēroō = to fill up +=> Jesus brings Scriptures to their intended goal => incomplete revelation to and through Israel has been brought to completion.
• ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand” = “time has been filled up and the kingdom is here”
• Jesus’ flight to and return from Egypt was filling up Hosea 11:1.
• filling up the redemptive historical purposes of the nation
• Jesus is the embodiment of Israel => the true and faithful Israel
• Jesus = new Genesis (New World) => life embodies the new Exodus
• Jesus fulfilling Israel’s history + bringing it to a climax
• Jesus = faithful Son called out of Egypt, filling up what was lacking in the first faithless son, Israel.
• first Israel, God’s son, broke the covenant and deserved God’s wrath =>  God his only begotten Son Jesus Christ == Matthew 3:17, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
• Jesus Christ = the one who came to complete all that Israel was designed to perform.

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Preceding articles:

Matthew 2:1-6 – Astrologers and Priests in a Satanic Plot

Matthew 2:7-12 – Pawns of Herod, the Magi Find the ‘Child’

Nazarene Commentary Luke 2:8-14 – Angels and Shepherds in the Night

Nazarene Commentary Luke 2:15-20 – Shepherds Find the Infant Christ

Matthew 2:13-15 – Escaping the Slaughter by a Flight to Egypt

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Related articles

• Wednesday, December 17, 2014 (heartfixxer.wordpress.com)
  Throughout the Old Testament we see Jesus Christ foretold of. It speaks to our all-knowing God and his love for mankind. Jesus wasn’t a second thought, he was in God’s plan the whole time. God’s gift to us is His overwhelming love.
• Keeping Promises: The Virgin Birth (pointtolife.wordpress.com)
  The virgin birth, the fact that Jesus Christ was born to a woman who was a virgin, (meaning she never had relations with a man (Luke 1:34)), is a fundamental doctrine of true Christianity for a number of reasons. First, the Old Testament not only foretells the virgin birth, the New Testament proclaims it. Secondly, it is the fulfilled prophecy in scripture that is used to validate the Bible as the Word of God. Third, the virgin birth is fundamental to the sinless nature of Christ. (Had Jesus been born of the union of  a man and a woman, He would have been a sinner like the rest of us, and thus incapable of paying for our sins on the cross.)
• Christmas Mystery – The Virgin Birth! Part 1 (insideprocess.wordpress.com)
  the most important aspect of the Virgin birth is this: God gave us an absolute favour – a favour you can freely reenact or walk into this season…
• Wonder Unto Others! (upwordsms.wordpress.com)
• His Birth and Our New Birth (mississippipep.wordpress.com)
  I cannot enter the realm of the kingdom of God unless I am born again from above by a birth totally unlike physical birth. “You must be born again” (John 3:7). This is not a command, but a fact based on the authority of God. The evidence of the new birth is that I yield myself so completely to God that “Christ is formed” in me. And once “Christ is formed” in me, His nature immediately begins to work through me.
• Is God with us? (quotesthoughtsrandom.wordpress.com)
  God sent Jesus and God is with us.
• Isaiah prophesied the birth of Jesus (disciplesofhope.wordpress.com)
  As you read through the prophecies of Isaiah about the birth of Jesus you will realize that Jesus was born with a mission. Jesus Christ came on earth born of a woman, not for his own pleasure but to do the will of His Father in Heaven. Happy are those who believe that God sent Jesus to take away the sins of the world.

  Isaiah under the influence of the Spirit of God could so confidently speak about the Messiah. Yes, it needed confidence as Isaiah was speaking about Jesus hundreds of years before Jesus could be born and manifest as a man on earth though he is the Son of God.

• The Old Testament Promise Of Christ (1) (thechristiangazette.wordpress.com)
  You might wonder why faith is so important as we study these prophecies and their fulfillments.   Well, as we progress, we are going to see that this study is based upon an assumption that God’s Word is absolutely truthful…  How do we know that these prophecies were actually received years before their fulfillment?  It is based upon our belief that the authors of the Old Testament are the genuine authors and the time of their writings is as described in the Word.  How do we know that the fulfillments of these prophecies actually took place? It is based upon the trustworthiness of the Word’s historical accounts of the birth of Christ and physical lineage of Christ.
• Long To Look (biblicalnotes.com)
  Peter wrote, “It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look” (1 Peter 1:12, ESV). Amazing, that angels “long to look” into God’s work regarding human salvation. In that verse, “long” is translated from a Greek word (epithumeo) which means to desire passionately. And, “look” is translated from a Greek word (parakupto) which conveys the image of someone stooping down to look at something. Thus, the “good news” of the gospel is so intriguing that angels have a keen desire to stoop down and see what God is doing for you and me as he offers salvation through Jesus’ blood.
• The Bible And Cosmology by Dr. R. Laird Harris (creationconcept.wordpress.com)
  The world-view of the Scripture is mythological and is therefore
  unacceptable to modern man whose thinking has been shape
  d by science and is therefore no longer mythological. Modern
  man always makes use of technical means which are the result
  of science. In case of illness modern man has recourse
  to physicians, to medical science. In case of economic and
  political affairs, he makes use of the results of psychological,
  social, economic and political sciences, and so on. Nobody
  reckons with direct intervention by transcendent powers… man
  acknowledges as reality only such phenomena or events as are
  comprehensible within the framework of the rational order of the
  universe. He does not acknowledge miracles because they do
  not fit into this lawful order. When a strange or marvellous accident
  occurs, he does not rest until he has found a rational
  cause. The contrast between the ancient world-view of the Bible
  and the modern worldview is the contrast between two ways of
  thinking, the mythological and the scientific.

Christian Reformed Ink Archives

By. Kevin DeYoung

Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” (Matthew 2:13-15)

That last verse has caused plenty of consternation over the years.  The Holy Family goes to Egypt, and this somehow fulfills Hosea’s reference to Israel’s exodus? It looks like Matthew is connecting the prophetic dots by the slimmest of connections.

View original post 1,641 more words

14 Nisan a day to remember #5 The Day to celebrate

God’s Passover is to be held on the fourteenth day of the first month

The Bible tells us that Passover is always on Nisan 14. Numbers 28:16-17 says: “In the first month on the 14th day of the month is Adonai’s Pesach (Passover). On the 15th day of the month is to be a feast.” The Scriptures verify this several times. On the 14th, as Jehovah instructed, His people were to slaughter the lamb toward twilight/dusk toward the evening and eat it “that same night” – because the 15th was to be a feast.

The Jews’ Passover, by James Tissot (1836–1902) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So on the night when the 14th Nisan begins we as believers come together to commemorate the last moments of the life of Jesus Christ. The days afterwards we can gather with family and friends and celebrate the liberation of God’s people. When it is still day light it would be still the 14th of Nisan but as soon the sun goes under the 15th of Nisan begins and the evening meal can be taken full of joy, because the people who could leave Egypt was the way to the Land of God for the Jews. And the death of Christ was the liberation of all people so that everybody could receive the opportunity to come closer to God and would be able to enter the Kingdom of God.

We should always remember that Jesus himself said to the apostles, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;” (Luke 22:15 NAS) Jeshua died on the first evening of Passover, and Passover seders are to be held on the evening (sunset) of Nisan 14th, for the 15th (which starts immediately after sunset) is to be a feast (Numbers 28:16-17).

As such we are happy to invite everybody to gather with those who believe in Christ his death and resurrection for becoming our mediator between God and man and would like to find them in prayer and worship on 14 Nisan at the memorial table.

“”For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to smite [you.]” (Exodus 12:23 NAS)

“”You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And none shall appear before Me empty-handed.” (Exodus 23:15 NAS)

“”You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt.” (Exodus 34:18 NAS)

“3  “You shall not eat leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), in order that you may remember all the days of your life the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. 4  “For seven days no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory, and none of the flesh which you sacrifice on the evening of the first day shall remain overnight until morning. 5  “You are not allowed to sacrifice the Passover in any of your towns which the LORD your God is giving you; 6  but at the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish His name, you shall sacrifice the Passover in the evening at sunset, at the time that you came out of Egypt. 7  “And you shall cook and eat it in the place which the LORD your God chooses. And in the morning you are to return to your tents. 8  “Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD your God; you shall do no work on it.” (Deuteronomy 16:3-8 NAS)

2013 Confusion or controversy

This year there were many controversies on which day to hold the Memorial Meal. We take the gospel of John in consideration where is spoken of the 14th of Nisan as “the preparation of the Passover.” The next morning, after the final supper Jeshua had with his disciples, after the Jews had apprehended Jeshua and interrogated him, early that morning, they led him to the hall of judgement be judged by Pontius Pilate, Roman governor. The Jews themselves, however, would not go into the Roman judgement hall, “lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the Passover” (John 18:28). Clearly Passover had not yet come. So for sure the 14 Nisan or our Memorial Meal service would have to take place one evening before the night the Jews would take their Pesach seder.

According to certain Jewish groups Erev Pesach (‘Eve of Passover’) – First Seder would be on Monday March 25, 14 Nissan, 5773.
The Torah (Exodus 12:15, as per Talmud, Pesachim 5a) sets midday of Nissan 14—for 2013 on Monday March 25^th –as the deadline for the destruction and/or removal of all leavened foods (“chametz”) from their possession in preparation for the festival of Passover, which begins that evening at nightfall. In practice, Torah law mandates that we desist from eating chametz two hours before midday, and that no leaven remain in our possession an hour before midday. These are not clock hours but “proportional hours”, defined by Jewish law as a 12th part of the time between sunrise and sunset.
When the Holy Temple stood in Jerusalem, the Passover offering was brought there on the afternoon of Nissan 14 which would mean on the afternoon Tuesday 26. That day it is commemorated by the Jews their recitation of the “Order of the Passover Offering” in the afternoon of Tuesday 26 March, by the “shankbone” placed on the seder plate this evening, and the afikoman — a portion of matzah eaten in its stead at the end of the seder meal.

The Jewish calendar date begins at sundown of the night beforehand. Thus all holiday observances begin at sundown on the secular dates listed, with the following day being the first full day of the holiday. (Thus, the first Passover seder is held on the evening of the first date listed.) Jewish calendar dates conclude at nightfall.

The first two days of Passover (from sundown of the first date listed, until nightfall two days later) are full-fledged, no-work-allowed holiday days. The subsequent four days are Chol Hamoed, when work is allowed, albeit with restrictions. Chol Hamoed is followed by another two full holiday days.

According Chabad the holiday of Pesach, or Passover, falling on the Hebrew calendar dates of Nissan 15-22.

Here are coinciding secular dates for the upcoming years:

2013:   March 25-April 2

First Seder – Night of Monday, March 25, 2013
First Day – Tuesday March 26, 2013
Second Seder – Night of Tuesday March 26, 2013
Second Day – Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Seventh Day – Monday, April 1, 2013
Eighth Day – Tuesday, April 2, 2013

2014:   April 14-22

2015:   April 3-11

2016:   April 22-30

2017:   April 10-18

According to The Premier Kosher Information Source on the Internet Passover begins with the first Seder on the eve of the 15^th day of Nisan, corresponding (according to them) to Monday evening, March 25, 2013, and ends outside of Israel at the conclusion of the 22^nd day of Nisan, corresponding to Tuesday evening, April 2, 2013.

Festive Seder table with wine, matza and Seder plate. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

According to us we have to take in account the difference of timing of the East (Jerusalem), Europe and the United States (even there the East and West coast).

For 2013 we had New Moon on March the 11^th and Full Moon on March 27, so 14 Nisan should be on the evening of 26 March this year.

Therefore we kindly invite you to join us on Tuesday night for the Memorial of Jesus’ death, the Pesach or Lamb of God. On that evening we shall meet to commemorate the greatest man on earth and we shall examine what makes Jesus—and his sacrifice—so vitally important.

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Preceding articles: 14 Nisan a day to remember #4 A Lamb slain

14 Nisan a day to remember #3 Before the Passover-feast

14 Nisan a day to remember #2 Time of Jesus

14 Nisan a day to remember #1 Inception

Dutch version / Nederlandse versie: 14 Nisan een dag om te herinneren #5 De te vieren dag

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Please do find also other related articles:

Articles on 14 Nisan and Pesach/Pascha:

1. 1 -15 Nisan
2. Day of remembrance coming near
3. Around the feast of Unleavened Bread
4. Pesach
5. Korban Pesach
6. Seven days of Passover
7. Day of remembrance coming near
8. Observance of a day to Remember
9. Jesus memorial
10. Bread and Wine
11. Deliverance and establishement of a theocracy
12. High Holidays not only for Israel
13. Festival of Freedom and persecutions

About Jesus his death:

1. About a man who changed history of humankind
2. How is it that Christ pleased God so perfectly?
3. God showing how far He is willing to go to save His children
4. Grace and beloved by God
5. The meek one riding on an ass
6. Why did Jesus have to die on the cross?
7. A new exodus and offering of a Lamb
8. Ransom for all
9. Swedish theologian finds historical proof Jesus did not die on a cross
10. Impaled until death overtook him
11. The day Jesus died
12. Jesus three days in hell
13. The redemption of man by Christ Jesus
14. The one who makes us well and gives life

About Easter:

1. Peter Cottontail and a Bunny laying Eastereggs
2. Altered to fit a Trinity
3. Jesus is risen
4. Risen With Him
5. Christ has indeed been raised from the dead
6. A season of gifts
7. Wishing lanterns and Christmas

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Related articles

• How long was Jesus in the grave? (wnd.com)
  For centuries, Christians have observed the crucifixion of Jesus as being on Friday afternoon and the resurrection at dawn the following Sunday. This is only a period of about  40 hours and certainly does not fit Jesus’ prediction of three days and three nights?
  “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a whale, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth,”  Matthew 12:40. The problem is neither with Jesus’ prediction nor with the Bible. The problem is with our tradition that misses a very important fact of the events of that week in Jesus’ ministry. The Bible tells us that Jesus was crucified on the Day of Preparation for the Passover Sabbath (Mark 15:42, Luke 23:54, John 19:14, 31). The Hebrew calendar begins each day at the evening twilight of the previous day. For example, the Jewish Friday begins at what would be the beginning of Thursday evening on our calendars. The Day of Preparation for Passover was always the 14^th of the Hebrew month Abib (also known as Nisan). Passover began that evening, the 15^th.

• Preparations for the Passover Meal – Luke 22: 7-13 (shalommysticwind.wordpress.com)
  The synoptic want to emphasize the Passover significance of the Last Supper and therefore they date it to the night of 14^th or 15^th of Nisan when the Jews celebrate their Passover Meal. Here the Last Supper is presented as Jesus’ own Passover, the new Passover Meal of his own body and blood. In gospel of John, however, the death of Jesus is connected with the Passover and not the Last Supper. Jesus the Lamb of God is sacrificed on the Cross at a time when the Passover lambs are slaughtered in preparation for the Passover Meal.

• Passover and the Feast of First Fruits (thebereanstand.wordpress.com)
  At the end of this month Christians around the world will be celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the week before Jews will be observing the Passover. What most Christians do not know is that these two “Holy-days” are related to each other. The story of the preparations for the Passover Meal is itself introductory to the account of the Last Supper in Luke 22: 14-23.
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  The parallel passages in Matthew 26: 17-19 and Mark 14: 12-16 also present Jesus’ meal with his disciples as a Passover Meal held on the 14^th or 15^th night of Nisan. The same night Jesus was arrested and the following day, namely, on 15^th of Nisan he was crucified. It is also interesting to note that the three synoptic evangelists explicitly mention that day as the day of preparation, that is, the day before a Sabbath (cf. Mk 15: 42; Mt 27: 62; Lk 23; 54-56). The fourth evangelist (John) is also in agreement with the synoptic on this point.

• Our Passover Lamb (eternalchrist.wordpress.com)
  What does it mean that Christ is the fulfillment of the Law and prophets?One of the ways we can see this is by examining the Feasts ofIsrael. YHWH established appointed times that the nation of Israel wouldmeet with Him in worship and thanksgiving. There were three feasts in the Spring (Passover, Unleavened Bread and First Fruits); one in the Summer (Pentecost); and three in the Fall (Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacle).
  Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of these feasts, or appointed times.

• Faith Without Obidience (ioan17.wordpress.com)
   Special care was to be taken of this lamb until the 14th of the month, the Passover, when the lamb would be slaughtered at twilight.  On the original Passover, the blood of the  lamb was smeared on the doorposts of every Hebrew home to distinguish them from the Egyptians and to protect them from the destroyer.

• Happy Passover 2013 (/aksyrin.wordpress.com)
  Much of the symbolism of Jesus’ last Passover week is lost to us because we are unaware of the customs of the time.
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  The day Jesus was crucified was the day of the Passover celebration and the day that the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed. For the previous 1,200 years, the priest would blow the shophar (ram’s horn) at 3:00 p.m. – the moment the lamb was sacrificed, and all the people would pause to contemplate the sacrifice for sins on behalf of the people of Israel.At 3:00, when Jesus was being crucified, He said, “It is finished” – at the moment that the Passover lamb was sacrificed and the shophar was blown from the Temple. The sacrifice of the lamb of God was fulfilled at the hour that the symbolic animal sacrifice usually took place. At the same time, the veil of the Temple (a three-inch thick, several  story high cloth that demarked the Holy of Holies) tore from top to bottom – representing a removal of the separation between God and man. Fifty days later, on the  anniversary of the giving of the law (Pentecost), God left the earthly temple to inhabit those who call on the name of Jesus through His Holy Spirit.
• The Lamb of God (calvinistview.com)
  One source tells us that around the time of Christ, 256,000 lambs were slain in Jerusalem for just one Passover. According to ancient Jewish law, there were ten people required for every one lamb. So that puts the population in Jerusalem for Passover at roughly 2.5 million people plus!

• The Passover Lamb has Gone Missing (waynehilsden.com)
  After sunset we join Jews around the world in a “seder” meal.
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  The lamb has gone missing. Yet the lamb of God was essential to Israel‘s redemption. As followers of Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah we behold with the Jewish prophet John “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).  And we celebrate Passover knowing that Jesus is the reason for the season. In the words of Rabbi Saul/Paul, “For indeed Messiah, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.” (1 Corinthians 5:7)