Book: The Christian Passover Ceremony

Mark 14

23. And He took the cup; and after giving thanks, He gave it to them; and they all drank of it.

24. And He said to them, “This is My blood, the blood of the New Covenant, which is poured out for many.

25. Truly I say to you, I will not drink again at all of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

Luke 22

20. In like manner also, He took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.”

I Corinthians 11

25. In like manner, He also took the cup after He had supped, saying, “This is the cup of the new covenant in My blood.  This do, as often as you drink it, in the remembrance of Me.”

26. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you solemnly proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes.

27. For this reason, if anyone shall eat this bread or shall drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, he shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.

28. But let a man examine himself, and let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup accordingly;

29. Because the one who eats and drinks unworthily is eating and drinking judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord.

  At this point stop, bless the wine, distribute it to the participants and drink it.  When this part of the service is completed, continue the Scriptural reading.

CONTENTION AMONG THE DISCIPLES

AS TO WHO WAS GREATER

Luke 22

24. And there was also an argument among them, even this: which of them should be considered the greatest.

25. And He said to them, “The kings of the nations rule over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called benefactors.

26. But it shall not be this way among you; rather, let the one who is greatest among you be as the younger, and the one who is leading as the one who is serving.

27. For who is greater, the one who is sitting at the table, or the one who is serving?  Is not the one who sits at the table?  But I am among you as one who is serving.

28. Now you are the ones who have continued with Me in My temptations.

29. And I appoint to you, as My Father has appointed to Me, a kingdom;

30. So that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and may sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

A NEW COMMANDMENT: LOVE ONE

ANOTHER AS JESUS HAD LOVED THEM

John 13

33. Little children, I am with you yet a little while.  You shall seek Me; but as I told the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ I am now telling you also.

34. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; in the same way that I have loved you, that is how you are to love one another.

35. By this shall everyone know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”

JESUS PROPHESIES THAT PETER

WILL DENY HIM THREE TIMES

Mark 14

27. Then Jesus said to them, “All of you shall be offended in Me in this night; for it is written, ‘I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.’

28. But after I have risen, I will go before you into Galilee.”

29. Then Peter said to Him, “Even if all shall be offended, yet I shall not.”

30. And Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you, today, in this very night, before the cock crows twice, you shall deny Me three times.”

31. But he spoke more adamantly, “If it were necessary for me to die with You, I would not deny You in any way.”  And they all spoke in the same manner also.

John 13

36. Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?”  Jesus answered him, “Where I am going, you cannot follow Me now; but you shall follow Me afterwards.”

37. Peter said to Him, “Why can’t I follow You now?  I will lay down my life for You.”

38. Jesus answered him, “You will lay down your life for Me?  Truly, truly I tell you, the cock shall not crow until you have denied Me three times.”

(See also Luke 22:31-34, Matthew 26:31-35.)

THE WORDS OF THE NEW COVENANT

WHICH WE HAVE AGREED TO LIVE BY

John 14

1. “Let not your heart be troubled.  You believe in God; believe also in Me.

2. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were otherwise, I would have told you.  I am going to prepare a place for you. 

3. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will  come again and receive you to Myself; so that where I am, you may be also. 

4. And where I am going you know, and the way you know.”

5. Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going; how then can we know the way?”

6. Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me. 

7. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.  But from this time forward, you know Him and have seen Him.” 

8. Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will be sufficient for us.”

9. Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long a time, and you have not known Me, Philip?  The one who has seen Me has seen the Father; why then do you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

10. Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me?  The words that I speak to you, I do not speak from My own self; but the Father Himself, Who dwells in Me, does the works.

11. Believe Me, that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; but if not, believe Me because of the works themselves. 

12. Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes in Me shall also do the works that I do; and greater works than these shall he do, because I am going to the Father.  

13. And whatever you shall ask in My name, this will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 

14. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

15. If you love Me, keep the commandments—namely, My commandments. 

16. And I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that it may be with you throughout the age; 

17. Even the Spirit of the truth, which the world cannot receive, because it perceives it not, nor knows it; but you know it, because it dwells with you, and shall be within you. 

18. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. 

19. Yet a little while and the world shall see Me no longer; but you shall see Me.  Because I live, you shall live also. 

20. In that day, you shall know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. 

21. The one who has My commandments and is keeping them, that is the one who loves Me; and the one who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him.” 

22. Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, what has happened that You are about to manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?”

23. Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.

24. The one who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word that you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s, Who sent Me. 

25. I have spoken these things to you while I am yet present with you. 

26. But when the Comforter comes, even the Holy Spirit, which the Father will send in My name, that one shall teach you all things, and shall bring to your remembrance everything that I have told you. 

27. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give it to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it fear. 

28. You have heard Me say to you that I am going away, and that I will come to you again. If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced that I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ because My Father is greater than I.

29. And now I have told you before it happens, so that when it comes to pass, you may believe. 

30. I will not speak with you much longer because the ruler of this world is coming; but he does not have a single thing in Me. 

31. Yet he comes;so that the world may know that I love the Father, and that I do exactly as the Father has commanded Me.  Arise, let us go out.”

John 15

1. “I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman.

2. He takes away every branch in Me that does not bear fruit; but He cleanses each one that bears fruit, in order that it may bear more fruit.

3. You are already clean through the word that I have spoken to you.

4. Dwell in Me, and I in you.  As a branch cannot bear fruit of itself, but only if it remains in the vine, neither, can you bear fruit unless you are dwelling in Me.

5. I am the vine, and you are the branches. The one who is dwelling in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; because apart from Me you can do nothing.

6. If anyone does not dwell in Me, he is cast out as a branch, and is dried up; and men gather them and cast them into a fire, and they are burned.

7. If you dwell in Me, and My words dwell in you, you shall ask whatever you desire, and it shall come to pass for you.

8. In this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be My disciples.

9. As the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you; live in My love.

10. If you keep My commandments, you shall live in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and live in His love.

11. These things I have spoken to you, in order that My joy may dwell in you, and that your joy may be full.

12. This is My commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.

13. No one has greater love than this: that one lay down his life for his friends.

14. You are My friends, if you do whatever I command you.

15. No longer do I call you servants, because the servant does not know what his master is doing.  But I have called you friends, because I have made known to you all the things that I have heard from My Father.

16. You did not choose Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go forth and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; so that whatever you shall ask the Father in My name, He may give you.

17. These things I command you, that you love one another.

18. If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.

19. If you were of the world, the world would love its own.  However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you for this.

20. Remember the word that I spoke to you: a servant is not greater than his master.  If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also.  If they kept My word, they will keep your word also.

21. But they will do all these things to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him Who sent Me.

22. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have nothing to cover their sin.

23. The one who hates Me hates My Father also.

24. If I had not done among them the works that no other man has done, they would not have had sin; but now they have both seen and hated both Me and My Father.

25. But this has happened so that the saying might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’

26. But when the Comforter has come, which I will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of the truth, which proceeds from the Father, that oneshall bear witness of Me. 

27. Then you also shall bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.”

John 16

1. “I have spoken these things to you so that you will not be offended. 

2. They shall cast you out of the synagogues; furthermore, the time is coming that everyone who kills you will think that he is rendering service to God.

3. And they shall do these things to you because they do not know the Father, nor Me.

4. But I have told you these things so that when the time comes, you may remember that I said them to you.  However, I did not say these things to you at the beginning, because I was with you.

5. But now I am going to Him Who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’

6. But because I have spoken these things to you, grief has filled your hearts.

7. But I am telling you the truth.  It is profitable for you that I go away; because if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you.  However, if I go, I will send it to you.

8. And when that one has come, it will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment:

9. Concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me;

10. Concerning righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you no longer will see Me;

11. And concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

12. I have yet many things to tell you, but you are not able to bear them now.

13. However, when that one has come, even the Spirit of the truth, it will lead you into all truth; because it shall not speak from itself, but whatever it shall hear shall it speak.  And it shall disclose to you the things to come.

14. That one shall glorify Me, because it shall disclose to you the things that it receives from Me.

15. Everything that the Father has is Mine; for this reason, I said that it shall receive from Me and shall disclose these things to you.

16. A little while, and you shall not see Me; and again a little while, and you shall see Me, because I am going to the Father.”

17. Then some of His disciples said to one another, “What is this that He is saying to us, ‘A little while, and you shall not see Me; and again a little while, and you shall see Me,’ and, ‘because I am going to the Father’? ”

18. Therefore they said, “What is this that He is saying, the ‘little while’?  We do not understand what He is saying.

19. Then Jesus, knowing that they desired to ask Him, said to them, “Why are you inquiring among one another about this that I said, ‘A little while, and you shall not see Me; and againa little while, and you shall see Me’?

20. Truly, truly I tell you, you shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be grieved, but your grief shall be turned into joy.

21. A woman when she is giving birth has grief, because her time of travail has come; but after she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, because of the joy that a child has been born into the world.

22. And likewise, you indeed have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and no one shall take your joy from you.

23. And in that day you shall ask Me nothing. Truly, truly I tell you, whatever you shall ask the Father in My name, He will give you.

24. Until this day, you have asked nothing in My name.  Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full.

25. These things I have spoken to you in allegories; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in allegories, but I will plainly disclose to you the things of the Father.

26. In that day, you shall ask in My name; and I do not tell you that I will beseech the Father for you,

27. For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.

28. I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and am going to the Father.” 

29. Then His disciples said to Him, “Behold, now You are speaking plainly and are not speaking an allegory.

30. Now we know that You understand all things, and do not need to have someone ask You.  By this we believe that You came forth from God.”

31. Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?

32. Listen, the time is coming, and has already come that you shall be scattered each to his own, and you shall leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.

33. These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation.  But be courageous!  I have overcome the world.”

John 17

1. Jesus spoke these words, and lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your own Son, so that Your Son may also glorify You;

2. Since You have given Him authority over all flesh, in order that He may give eternal life to all whom You have given Him.

3. For this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom You did send.

4. I have glorified You on the earth.  I have finished the work that You gave Me to do.

5. And now, Father, glorify Me with Your own self, with the glory that I had with You before the world existed.

6. I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world.  They were Yours, and You have given them to Me, and they have kept Your Word.

7. Now they have known that all things that You have given Me are from You.

8. For I have given them the words that You gave to Me; and they have received them and truly have known that I came from You; and they have believed that You did send Me.

9. I am praying for them; I am not praying for the world, but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.

10. All Mine are Yours, and all Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.

11. And I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I am coming to You.  Holy Father, keep them in Your name, those whom You have given Me, so that they may be one, even as We are one.

12. When I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name.  I protected those whom You have given Me, and not one of them has perished except the son of perdition, in order that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.

13. But now I am coming to You; and these things I am speaking while yet in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled within them.

14. I have given them Your words, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

15. I do not pray that You would take them out of the world, but that You would keep them from the evil one.

16. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

17. Sanctify them in Your truth; Your Word is the truth.

18. Even as You did send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.

19. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, so that they also may be sanctified in Your truth.

20. I do not pray for these only, but also for those who shall believe in Me through their word;

21. That they all may be one, even as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, in order that the world may believe that You did send Me.

22. And I have given them the glory that You gave to Me, in order that they be may one, in the same way that We are one:

23. I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one; and that the world may know that You did send Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

24. Father, I desire that those whom You have given Me may also be with Me where I am, so that they may behold My glory, which You have given Me; because You did love Me before the foundation of the world.

25. Righteous Father, the world has not known You; but I have known You, and these have known that You did send Me.

26. And I have made known Your name to them, and will make it known; so that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

Mark 14

26. And after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

          The Scriptural reading should be followed by a hymn.  Two hymns have been provided on the following pages, or any other appropriate hymn. After the hymn a prayer of thanksgiving and blessing should be given to conclude the Passover ceremony.

Sheet Music for the Passover Ceremony

The Annual Festivals of God

The Spring Festivals

Year

Passover*

Unleavened Bread

Pentecost

2016

April 22 (Fri)

April 23-29 (Sat-Fri)

June 12 (Sun)

2017

April 10 (Mon)

April 11-17 (Tue-Mon)

June 4 (Sun)

 *Observed the Previous Evening

After Sunset as it is Becoming Dark

The Fall Festivals

Year

Trumpets

Atonement

Tabernacles

Last Great Day

2016

Oct 3 (Mon)

Oct 12 (Wed)

Oct 17-23 (Mon-Sun)

Oct 24 (Mon)

2017

Sept 21 (Thu)

Sept 30 (Sat)

Oct 5-Oct 11 (Thu-Wed)

Oct 12 (Thu)

Recipe for Unleavened Bread for the Christian Passover

  • 2 cups whole wheat flour or whole barley flour

  • 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (if using whole wheat flour) or an additional cup barley flour

  • 1/3 cup olive oil, extra light

  • 1 1/4 tsp. salt

  • 3/4 cup water

Sift flour and salt.  Blend in oil.  Add water.  When correctly followed, this recipe makes a soft dough.  If the dough is too stiff, the bread will be tough. 

Break off a piece of dough about the size of a walnut.  On a floured board (use pastry flour, or barley flour) flatten dough with hands, then roll paper thin, as for strudel.  Add flour as needed to keep dough from becoming sticky.  Roll out until dough is the size of a saucer.  Place on ungreased cookie sheet.  If cookie sheet requires greasing, use olive oil. 

Bake at 375 degrees for 7-8 minutes.  Watch closely to avoid burning. 

This recipe may also be used to prepare unleavened bread for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which follows the Passover day.  If baking unleavened bread that is not to be used for the Passover service, butter may be substituted for olive oil, and milk may be substituted for water. 

Copyright

  • Fred R. Coulter

  • Christian Biblical Church of God

(NOTE: To store a message on your computer to listen to later, right-click on the DOWNLOAD link for each message, then choose "save link as" or "save target as" to load the file on your computer.)