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The title of this book may give the impression that the contents are devoted to a very narrow and technical Biblical subject. It is true that this book was written to thoroughly document and confirm the exact date and time of day for the proper observance of the true Christian Passover. However, the full meaning and ramifications of the true New Testament Passover extend far beyond the day and time of its observance. The Christian Passover is the heart and core of Biblical Christianity. It is the bedrock foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Observing the true Christian Passover, as commanded by Jesus Christ, is fundamental to salvation and eternal life.
While all religions—Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and others—profess various methods and avenues to eternal life, the Bible teaches that there is only ONE WAY! That way is through Jesus Christ—His life, death and resurrection. On the night of His last Passover, before His arrest and crucifixion, Jesus proclaimed, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).
THERE IS NO OTHER WAY!
Jesus made it absolutely clear that eternal life comes only through His flesh and His blood: “Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you do not have life in yourselves. The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has life eternal, and I will raise him up in the last day” (John 6:53-54).
These words of Jesus Christ have led to the age-long conflict between professing Christianity and the religion of Judaism. With the exception of a number of Jewish Messianic believers, Judaism as a whole has rejected Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Savior of mankind. Hence, Judaism does not recognize the writings and teachings of the New Testament, including the 14th Christian Passover. Judaism claims that according to their traditions, the Passover is on the 15th day of the first month of the Hebrew/ Jewish calendar, and always has been, in spite of the fact that the Old Testament Scriptures clearly teach that it was originally observed on the 14th day of the first month.
While blinded to their own error, the leaders of Judaism readily acknowledge that the traditions and customs of worldly Christianity— Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants—did not originate in the teachings of the Scriptures. Nowhere do the Scriptures of the Old Testament—or the New Testament—teach Sunday-keeping, Christmas, Easter, Halloween, or other holidays which are supposedly “Christian.” Neither do the Scriptures teach that God accepts the worship of idols and icons, or the use of rosaries. In fact, the Scriptures strongly condemn such abominable idolatries! All these pagan religious practices are condemned by God in the Scriptures of both the Old and New Testaments. It is a historical fact that these pagan religious practices are not of Biblical origin but were adopted into worldly Christianity from Gnostic Gentile religions.
On the other hand, worldly Christianity, as paganized as it is, can clearly understand the error of Judaism in rejecting Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Most professing Christians can also perceive the error in Judaism’s justification and salvation by works of law, and that such works are a means of compelling God to grant eternal life to the believer.
Opposition between worldly Christianity and Judaism has raged since the last part of the first century. However, perceiving the errors in the religious practices of another does not automatically bring one to an understanding of the true teachings of the Scriptures, whether Old or New Testaments.
In spite of opposition from the leaders of both worldly Christianity and Judaism, down through the centuries there have always been true Christians who have observed the seventh-day Sabbath and the 14th Christian Passover as taught by Jesus Christ. These true believers have the faith and testimony of Jesus Christ. They have rejected the paganized idolatry, dogmas, traditions, teachings and practices of worldly Christianity. Likewise, they have rejected the anti-Scriptural, traditional practices of Judaism, which oppose the teachings of Jesus Christ.
This body of true Christians has been preserved and nurtured by God in spite of repeated persecutions and martyrdoms at the hands of the worldly religious forces of Catholicism and Judaism. These true believers have survived through all generations since Jesus Christ founded His own Church, and are again emerging as a religious body in sufficient numbers to cause notice. But in these end times, the opposing forces of worldly Christianity and Judaism have renewed their assault against the true faith in their attempts to paganize or Judaize the true Church of God away from the true teachings of the Scriptures. The true Church of God, now numbering hundreds of organizations and thousands of congregations around the world, is engaged in a doctrinal battle for the truth of the Scriptures and the true worship of God the Father and Jesus Christ.
It is not difficult to expose the pagan doctrines of worldly Christianity. The truth of God in both Old Testament and New Testament clearly reveals the non-Biblical and non-Christian aspects of those teachings. However, the anti-Scriptural teachings of Judaism are more difficult to expose. These traditional teachings are Judaism’s chief weapon in an insidious effort to Judaize all forms of Christianity—whether worldly or Biblical.
While this dual conflict is new for true Christians in this age, it is the same conflict which confronted the original apostles and followers of Jesus Christ in the first century when the true Church of God was being raised up. The beginnings of the Judaic/Christian conflict are recorded for us in the Gospels, the book of Acts, and Paul’s epistle to the Galatians. Evidence of this conflict can be found in all the books of the New Testament.
Likewise the conflict between true Christianity and the forces of paganism can also be found in the pages of the New Testament. The undermining influence of Gnostic and Orthodox Christianity was responsible for many warnings and much condemnation in I and II Corinthians; Colossians; II Peter; I, II, III John and Jude.
In the book of Revelation, chapters 2 and 3, we find a prophecy of both conflicts as they would impact the true Church of God down through history until the return of Jesus Christ. There are some in the churches of God who have succumbed to these pressures. But in spite of all opposition, there are many faithful Christians who have continued to believe and practice the truth.
God has faithfully preserved His Word of truth so that the true way of salvation through Jesus Christ is available for all to know. In the final analysis, it is not the religious traditions of men—neither worldly Christianity nor Judaism—which should form the basis of our beliefs. The faith of a true Christian should be founded solely upon the inspired Word of God.
The purpose of this book is to help the reader to understand the truth of God as preserved in the Scriptures of both Old Testament and New Testament concerning the Christian Passover. It is vital for every true believer to understand this truth. Observing the true Passover as Jesus commanded and partaking of the body and blood of Jesus Christ is essential to enter the New Covenant, and to reaffirm and maintain that covenant relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ.
On the night of His last Passover, Jesus instituted the New Covenant, beginning with the footwashing, and then administering to His disciples the new symbols of the unleavened bread and the wine. In commanding them to practice the New Covenant Passover, He taught them an integral part of its meaning: “In that day [the day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead], you shall know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. 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....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.
“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” (John 14:20-24).
These words of Jesus Christ clearly express another Biblical truth: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).
May God the Father and Jesus Christ His Son grant you the love and conviction of the Truth of God, so that through the love and grace of God and the proper observance of the true Christian Passover, as Jesus commanded, you may obtain the gift of eternal life which is granted only through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior—THE TRUE PASSOVER LAMB OF GOD!
Fred R. Coulter
Winter 1993
