What does greater light have to fear from lesser light? Nothing. We always seek the greater light. And I did not know how much confusion there has been concerning the “timing” of the Lord’s Passover meal just before his being taken to die. But per my previous article, I had a great conversation with a close friend the other day, and he quoted some scripture which caused me to look deeper into that particular area.
My concern has always been the changes to the way the meal is now performed in what I call a short-form Lord’s Supper, that is not even really a supper, and is a reflection of what church has become. This is still my main point, but after 3 hours of intense study, I now see that Jesus actually did resurrect on Sunday! Wow! That is very interesting, because I could not see how he could have the Passover Meal Friday evening, like all the Priest of Jerusalem, if he was in the grave? I found this very perplexing. (My friend wasn’t sure about this either. Not the details thereof.) And if he did not have the Passover Meal, then what is the Lord’s Supper? Therefore it seemed logical the 3 day clock must have started ticking after Friday. Hhhhmmmm. But Jesus did an interesting thing.
Even though all the Priest of Jerusalem would be having the Passover meal Friday evening, which would cross over into Saturday, the 15th day of Nissan, however; according to the Jewish time system, it actually became Passover day the evening of Thursday! Their time clock runs from sunset to sunset! So Jesus jumped ahead of them and had his Supper at the very beginning of the Passover day. So technically speaking, he fulfilled the prophecy and also stayed on a time schedule in which he was dying for our sins at the same time the High Priest was slaying the Passover lamb! So he had his Passover meal and fulfilled the Passover Lamb all in the same day! Maybe this was the reason he did it this way, or…
I guess, for some reason, this was the way Galileans did the Passover anyway, according to the MacArthur study Bible, and so he was being true to the area he came from. But this very important point, which has caused confusion at times, does put our Lord on schedule for a Sunday resurrection! 60 years of going to church and I’ve never been taught this? A point in which some atheist use to try and discredit the Bible? I could not have defended the Bible on this point before the 3 hours I just spent digging it out.
So…with the new light I have received, my Matrix is affected. I must rethink certain things. And if the new light calls for change, then I must change or be dishonest. I have also tried to make corrections in any previous articles. So now I have some other questions and possible interesting points.
1.) This seems to indicate that when the High Priest went to the Holy of Holies to put the blood of the lamb on the Mercy Seat, he should have come face to face with a veil torn in two from top to bottom! This would have been the same High Priest who judged Jesus in the early wee hours of that same day! Surely this had to be quite a shock! And how did he continue on in the face of such knowledge? How could he not fall to his face in realization of what was going on? I would have been shaking in my boots and peeing my robes! But the Jewish faith went on in its’ same practice in spite of all these things? Wow. Strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.
2.) In John 18:28 we read, His (Jesus) accusers didn’t go inside because it would defile them, and they wouldn’t be allowed to celebrate the Passover. (So we can plainly see these Priest had not had the Passover meal yet, but Jesus and his disciples already had. Interesting.) So it is easy to see how this could be a very confusing point. There are other scriptures also, that without understanding this one point, would seem to say Jesus had to be crucified on Saturday. But not if you understand the difference of timing in what he did, and what the priest of Jerusalem did.
3.) So what do we do with the quote from Justin Martyr? Who stated Jesus was crucified on Saturday and rose on Sunday? He seems to be half right. Was it a simple writing error? Was he confused by the timing of the Lord’s Supper also? I must admit I am still puzzled by how such a good man wrote such a confusing statement. Was this a common belief at that time? I may never know, but it is more proof of the confusion that has existed.
4.) One more area of interest to me. How does this better understanding affect if we have any “sun worship” going on in our church today? Because, since Jesus really did rise on Sunday, then of course it is not sun worship on our part to celebrate, except the emphasis is still to be on his death more than resurrection. I know this is a sticking point with me, but the sun worship was all about resurrection, and our early church fathers did believe you had to endure to the end before you actually possessed your resurrection from Christ. In other words, they did not believe we were once saved always saved. So if we are careless in this emphasis, and we make Easter/ Ishtar more about resurrection than death, do we slip into a form of sun worship? Good question. I still think both the Easter Bunny and Santa should be kept at home, not church, and only with very proper teachings from parents as to what is true.
Also, the Jewish Passover goes into 7 days of unleavened bread after the Passover meal. This symbolizes getting the sin out of our life. So if we do our short-form Lord’s Supper on Sunday, and also celebrate his resurrection, then there is no 7 days of symbolism to make us think about our sin. Does the average church have an Easter message about sin, or resurrection? You may say “both”. But the Unleavened Bread was about sin, not both, and what I’ve seen is everyone is so busy celebrating the resurrection, (and who can blame us), but do we embrace that cross and our need of a greater sanctification? Is this nothing to worry about? Is our emphasis off? Does not the short-form Passover Meal itself, on the wrong day, seem to give us our answer, as we cram everything into one day?
Another point of possible confusion is the fact that the Sabbath actually was on Saturday. (A point our Seven Day Adventist churches like to point out as very important.) So that being the case, Jesus body was resting in the grave on the day of rest. This seems to be accurate to what we would expect. Things are fitting now. And so Jesus rises on Sunday, but this in itself sets up an “easy to mix with sun worship situation”. I guess that’s just the circumstances we are stuck with. This does not give the Constantine church permission to take part in Winter Solstice, (Christmas), and all sun worshiping activities, and yet we did. Ezekiel 8 reveals what judgement this brought on God’s people in the days of Ezekiel. And we watch the Constantine church slowly slide into such horrible darkness. And what of us today?
Okay…I’m so glad a good friend caused me to look deeper into a point I was questioning. Even though the Passover Meal generally was performed on Friday evening in Jerusalem, THAT’S NOT WHAT JESUS DID! (Not that day at least.) And we are famous at this site for asking what “DID” Jesus do? Not so much what WOULD Jesus do? We now have greater light in this area, and I’m so glad. We now have greater accuracy to the questions we are asking, and we will continue seeking greater light any time God gives such opportunity. That’s just what we do here.
Don’t be afraid to be wrong. We do our best not to be, but unless we do nothing, we always have a chance to be wrong when were stepping out there. Such questions need to be asked. I can now defend the Bible better because I now understand what Jesus actually DID. We need to step out there. There are still many questions needing answered. We still have a very money oriented modern church that needs considerable money to function. This causes compromises in many ways. Sun worship was a prosperity worship. Jesus sent his 70 out with practically nothing! And he gave us “Table” more than “Temple”.
I was greatly surprised at a very small verse of scripture in Exodus, just a very few words, like 12, that takes having a table with God back to Moses, Mount Sinai, and his 70 Elders!
Exodus 24:9 > “Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the 70 elders of Israel climbed up the mountain.” Verse 10a > “There they saw the God of Israel. …” Verse 11> “And though these nobles of Israel gazed upon God, he did not destroy them. In fact, they ate a covenant meal, eating and drinking in his presence!” (NLT version)
(Amplified version) > “…but they saw (the manifestation of the presence of) God, and ate and drank.”
Wow…it amazes me that Jesus knocks at the door desiring to sup with us. So again we ask, what is the proper table setting for God? This should be of interest to every true child of God. Adam failed to keep the garden. Are we doing any better? Do we have a proper table? Iron sharpens iron.
P.S.> After setting for a while pondering my new mental picture, I drew up a couple of “time lines” showing the difference between what Jesus and the early church seemed to do, and what we do today. As I stared at these two different Easter experiences, I found it to be very interesting. This I plan to share next article, and very soon.
Path Without End 