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Will we believe and obey the voice of God?
Fred R. Coulter—March 4, 2023
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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services! We're just a month away from the Passover, but now is the time to cover the things of the Passover, what we should do.
There's more confusion about the Passover than any other thing in the Bible. There's a reason for that. The reason is that it is central to what God did with Abraham, Israel and with the Church.
With the Church it's the New Covenant. A lot of people get mixed up between a covenant and a testimony. The King James has in the book of Heb. 8 & 9 testimony rather than covenant.
- testament or testimony—like a last will and testament—you can change it at anytime you want before your die
- covenant—the exact opposite—you pledge your death if you don't keep it from the beginning; you can't change it, it's unchangeable
That's the difference between a covenant and testimony.
Also, we're going to see some very interesting things concerning the Passover. We're going to cover them in Exo. & Deut., and look at what God has said! We will see that there are specific times that God gave us for whatever we're going to do.
Here's also something to remember. Today we're going to get a little technical. So, listen up! Here's the way that God operates
- First, the promise
- Next, the covenant declaration and the sacrifices
That's exactly how it works! When the sacrifices have been complete the covenant is binding, you can't change it! I want you to think about that in relationship to the Sabbath Day, because keeping the commandments is part of the New Covenant. If you keep Sunday, you are changing the Law and changing the Covenant!
When we come to Gen. 12, this has to do with Abram before his name was changed to Abraham, and here we have first, the promise! This is not the covenant. This is the promise!
Genesis 12:1: "And the LORD said to Abram, 'Get out of your country and from your kindred, and from your father's house into a land that I will show you.… [he didn't even know where he was going] …And I will make of you a great nation.… [the Lord didn't tell him how great] …And I will bless you and make your name great.…'" (vs 1-2).
- Is it great?
- Has his name been repeated every generation from that time down to this?
- Is it repeated in the New Covenant? Yes, it is!
"…And you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those that bless you and curse the one who curses you. And in you shall all… [each and every family] …families of the earth be blessed'" (vs 2-3). That's a promise!
What does this not tell us? When, and the steps to be taken to the 'when'! or phases. The promise is always broad so that when the covenant is made, the promise will be fulfilled, and the blessing will start!
Verse 4: "Then Abram departed, even as the LORD had spoken to him…."
It's the same way when we're baptized. First of all, you believe the promise of Jesus Christ. If you believe in Him, you receive eternal life. That's the promise! We will see that baptism is your covenant sacrifice! We'll see this with Abraham, that it actually took a period of 45 years, no more than that: 75+25+15—115 years—25+15 years=40 years altogether.
"…And Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the people that they had gained in Haran.… [it turned out to be a large company, probably something like 150 or 200 people altogether] …And they went forth to go into the land of Canaan. And they came into the land of Canaan" (vs 4-5). He passed through the land and so forth, came down to Egypt and came back!
This is the sacrifice and the stating of the covenant; Genesis 15:1: "After these things the Word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, 'Fear not, Abram, I am your shield and your exceedingly great reward.' And Abram said, 'Lord GOD, what will You give me since I go childless, and the heir of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?'" (vs 1-2).
It was legal to have a slave be adopted to be a son. But God wanted to do what to human beings seems impossible. Remember this: all things are possible with God! We may have troubles and difficulties along the way to get there, but all things are possible with God!
Verse 3: "And Abram said, 'Behold, You have given no seed to me; and lo, one born in my house is my heir.' And behold, the Word of the LORD came to him saying, 'This man shall not be your heir; but he that shall come forth out of your own loins shall be your heir'" (vs 3-4).
Here's a statement of God, Here Abram is 10 years after his calling, after God said that he would be a blessing to all the families of the earth, and he doesn't have a child. Here at age 85—10 years later—this comes. Here's where God makes the covenant with Abraham. When the covenant is made, it's sealed with a sacrifice!
Verse 5: "And He brought him outside and said, 'Look now toward the heavens and number the stars—if you are able to count them.'…."
When do you see stars? At night! So, this means this was a night when God took Abram out there. I don't know, but I would presume that the stars in the Middle East, without any smog, fog or anything that we have around here, that the stars were brilliant to look at.
"…And He said to him, 'So shall your seed be' And he believed in the LORD.…" (vs 5-6).
There's the promise with the statement and with faith! Here is where Christianity today gets all off kilter. They say, 'Believe in Jesus.' Okay, but they never tell you to be baptized.
Watch the ad by 'Twinkle Toes' Franklin Graham. He says, 'If you call this number we'll give you a Bible, and I believe every word in it.' He is a bald faced liar, because he won't keep the Sabbath and the commandments of God the way that God said! He never got to the covenant part, only belief: If you believe Jesus!
The covenant must have the sacrifice. Here's what God did, and God wanted Abraham to understand that this covenant that He made with him was absolute! It could not be changed!
Just to show you, if everything goes really, really bad like it did when Moses was bringing the children of Israel toward the land of Canaan—especially right after the receiving the Ten Commandments and Aaron built the golden calf and they worshipped it—God said to Moses, 'Stand aside and I'll go eliminate them and make you great.' Then it got down to one man to start again to keep the covenant going. So, sometimes it gets down to the bear minimum.
In this episode in Gen. 15, let's see what God did. This sets everything that we find in the Bible in motion. First of all, let's see what Abraham was instructed to do. He believed in the Lord
"…And He accounted it to him for righteousness. And He said to him, 'I am the LORD that brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.' And he said, 'Lord GOD, by what shall I know that I shall inherit it?'" (vs 6-8).
There has to be a sacrifice for a covenant to be secure. We will see that both parties have to be part of that covenant. Here in Gen. 15, only God was part of that covenant. Abraham's part came later in two steps, which we will see.
Verse 9: "And He said to him, 'Take Me a heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.' And he took all these to himself, and divided them in the middle…" (vs 9-10)—right down the back!
He had to have a pretty heavy axe to cut down through the spine. The way that they did that is take the halves of the animals and they split them down the middle, open them up and left the internal organs be exposed and a path was made between the animals.
The one who was making the covenant had to walk between those halves of the animals and it signified that he would carry out the covenant. If not, he would die! Keep that in mind! You can't change a covenant until one party of the covenant dies. That's important.
Let's see what happens; this is in the day portion after God gave the promise.
"…and laid each piece opposite the other; but he did not divide the birds. And when the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away" (vs 10-11).
I don't know how quickly that these birds of prey find out that there is blood and guts lying the ground, but just like a 'snap of a finger' they're there.
Verse 12: "And it came to pass, as the sun was going down…"—not quite down!
When it goes below the horizon, what time is it? It's the next day! God calculates time from sunset to sunset. There are some people who keep the Sabbath, and I think most of the Seventh-Day Adventists keep it from midnight Friday to midnight Saturday. But that's not correct!
"…that a deep sleep fell upon Abram.…" (v 12).
- What is a deep sleep like?
- Have you ever had a deep sleep? You wake up and you wonder where you are, even though you're home!
This was like a type of death! But this was not his death. This is was a prophecy of Christ's death!
"…And behold, a horror of great darkness fell upon him!" (v 12).
- death
- deep sleep
- great horror
- burial
Symbolic, but this was not Abraham's pledge, yet! His pledge of his sacrifice would come later.
Verse 13: "And He said to Abram, 'You must surely know that your seed shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs (and shall serve them and they shall afflict them) four hundred years.'"
We'll look at the difference in 400 years and 430 years later.
Verse 14: "And also I will judge that nation whom they shall serve.…"
- What did God do to Egypt?
- Did He judge them?
Go through and read all of the plagues chapter by chapter in the book of Exodus, and think about the devastation that happened to Egypt. Think about the mass death of the firstborn of man and beast. That was horrendous!
"…And afterward they shall come out with great substance. And you shall go to your fathers in peace. You shall be buried in a good old age.… [he did dying at 175] …But in the fourth generation they shall come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full" (vs 14-16).
Sidebar: that's quite a statement! What does it mean that the iniquity becomes full? Look at what's going on in America and you wonder how close we're coming to that.
Go back and look at how many years it took, gradually and incrementally, to come to the point where we are today, that everything that the establishment bureaucracy government does is not Constitutional! We're getting close!
Verse 17:1: "And it came to pass—when the sun went down and it was dark… [not twilight, but dark] …behold, a smoking furnace and a burning lamp passed between those pieces."
The burning lamp signified that God was walking through. The smoking furnace was burning up the sacrifices completely, so that when it was over there was nothing but ashes on the ground. Burned up! That's the complete pledge of God to Abraham!
When Abraham woke up and saw that, he knew that what God said was going to be the thing that would happen.
Verse 18: "In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram…"—because God walked between the parts, then the covenant was made! So, you have:
- the promise
- the sacrifice
- the covenant
You must have those steps!
Abram "…saying, 'I have given this land to your seed… [How long did it take? Over 400 years!] …from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates" (v 18). Then he lists the land of all the Canaanites there!
Now, here's the next step of the covenant, when he was 99-years-old, 14 years later. God appeared to him.
Genesis 17:1: "And when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, 'I am the Almighty God! Walk before Me and be perfect.'"
What I want you to do is pick out the points that are equal to the New Covenant that we are in. we are to walk before God and be perfected!
Verse 2: "And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.' And Abram fell on his face. And God talked with him, saying, 'As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations'" (vs 2-4).
What was Abraham's pledge when the covenant was made for physical nations? Circumcision! So, the blood of the circumcision was Abraham's part that tied together with the covenant had already made (Gen. 15). This was Abraham's part!
That also included Ishmael. How many nations? Look at all the tribes of:
- Israel and their descendants
- Ishmael and their descendants
- the four sons that Abraham had with Keturah and those descendants
That's a lot!
Verse 5: "Neither shall your name any more be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. And I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you in their generations for an everlasting covenant… [then the covenant came with Israel] …to be God to you and to your seed after you" (vs 5-7). Then God says He'll give you the land and so forth!
One year later; Genesis 21:1: "And the LORD visited Sarah…"
At this point she was 90-years-old and God wanted to prove something, that He can produce seed at any age, at any time that He desires to do so, so that everyone would know.
Abraham would know, Sarah would know and the offspring, in this case Isaac, would know that it was the promise of God! That's how it came!
Genesis 21:1: "And the LORD visited Sarah as He had said. And the LORD did to Sarah as He had spoken, for Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time…" (vs 1-2).
- What are all the Feasts of God? Set times!
- What does it say about the death of Christ? At the appointed time Christ died!
"…of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born to him (whom Sarah bore to him) Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac, when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. And Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, 'God has made me laugh, so that all who hear will laugh with me'" (vs 2-6).
Then in Gen. 22 we find that this is the part where the sacrifice of Abraham seals his part of the covenant. So, we have all that time. From the time Abraham was 85 we have 15 years before Isaac was born. Isaac was probably 15-years-old at this time in Gen. 22. That totals 30 years, so when we come to Exo. 13 you'll know the difference between 400 and 430 years. They are both correct! It's just what the starting point is!
God tested Abraham; Genesis 22:2: "And He said, 'Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell you.'"
His only son, the one whom God said through whom the promises would come, Abraham was to go offer him as a burn offering. When they showed this in a movie, they showed Abraham in a rage. 'O God, why did You do this…'
NO! Abraham obeyed! We don't know that until Heb. 11. but because of all that God had done, and He gave His promise and God cannot lie! God's covenant, His part, was already done, so God cannot change that covenant. Abraham knew that if Isaac died God could bring him back to life.
So, Abraham took Isaac out there to the place it was on Mt. Moriah and tied him up and laid him on the altar, which was just big rocks put together on the ground. Took the knife and was ready to offer Isaac in sacrifice.
During all of this, God wanted to know would Abraham really obey Him! Sp, this is not that God didn't know, it is that when God leaves it to our choice, what we're going to do, he does not interfere because He wants it to be our choice! God wants it to be what we decide to do! So, the test was with Abraham.
Would he take his only son, the one born to him when he was 100-years-old. A miracle in itself! God gave Isaac to him. So, 'what are you going to do?'
No test has come upon any of us as difficult as this is, yet. But the time will come when—and you can see as you watch the news and things, they're all against Christianity—look at Canada! The time will come when you and me—everyone of us—are going to have to make a choice:
Will we believe God that He will resurrect us even if we die, and die by the death of someone who hates us?!!!
It wasn't that way with Abraham, so as they were going up on the mount:
Verse 7: "And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, 'My father.' And he said, 'Here I am, my son.' And he said, 'Behold the fire… [they had a little firepot with coals] …and the wood…. [and Abraham laid the wood on Isaac to carry] …But where is the lamb for a burnt offering?' And Abraham said, 'My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering.' So, they both went on together" (vs 7-8).
We are to trust and believe God in all things! That's the whole purpose!
Verse 9: "And they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. And he bound his son Isaac and laid him on the wood, upon the altar. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the LORD called to him from the heavens and said, 'Abraham! Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.' And He said, 'Do not lay your hand upon the lad… [this shows that he had to be about 15-years-old] …nor do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God…'" (vs 9-12).
Here he was from 75 to 115, 40 years of trial, and then God said, "…now I know that you fear Me…"
- What about us?
- How long have we been with God?
- Do we still believe?
- How many have fallen by the wayside?
- How many no longer believe?
Whenever you have a choice, God wants to know what you will choose!
The question is not on God; He's already spoken and chosen and done His part. So, our part becomes the question mark!
Verse 13: "And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram was entangled in a thicket by its horns.…"
I don't know if it came up there and got tied into the thicket, or whether God supernaturally created the ram right there. Since it was an offering to God, we'll leave it in God's hands what He did. Either way, it came from God.
"…And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide; so that it is said until this day, 'In the mount of the LORD it will be provided'" (vs 13-14).
Verse 15: "And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, 'By Myself…'" (vs 15-16).
Let's think about this in relationship to our pledge. What has God done? He sent Christ! He became the sacrifice. He applies that to us! In Rom. 6 it says that we are conjoined by baptism into His death, as if whenever someone is baptized it's almost like God symbolically taking the body of the one being baptized and laying it on the body of Christ! Conjoined! That's something! And that's something we need to keep in mind for the New Covenant.
"'…'because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son; that in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens" (vs 16-17)—tie in Gen. 15!
What do the stars of heaven symbolize? All the resurrected saints!
- Dan. 12, the 'righteous shall shine as the sun'
- Matt. 13:43—'the righteous shall shine like the sun'
This is what sealed the whole promise for when Christ would come, almost 2,000 years later. See how God operates in the long term.
Verse 17: "…and as the sand, which is upon the seashore… [physical seed] …And your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed…" (vs 17-18). Tie in Gen. 12—blessed all nations!
Now it is sealed, and from this point on the blessings to any other nations came through the descendants of Abraham and Isaac!
"…because you have obeyed My voice" (v 18). There is the whole story of the whole Bible!
- Do we obey the voice of Christ?
- Do we obey voice of God?
Gen. 26—the blessing is passed onto Jacob at this point:
Genesis 26:1: "And there was a famine in the land (besides the former famine that had been in the days of Abraham). And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, to Gerar."
Verse 2: "And the LORD appeared to him [Isaac] and said, 'Do not go down into Egypt. Live in the land, which I shall tell you of. Stay in this land, and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your seed, I will give all these lands; and I will establish the oath, which I swore to Abraham your father. And I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and will give to your seed all these lands. And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed'" (vs 2-4).
Verse 5 becomes very important, because a lot of people say that there was no law written down until it was given at Mt. Sinai when God spoke the Ten Commandments.
- Really?
- They didn't know how to write before that time?
Verse 5: "Because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.'"
They had to be written down! Not only did Abraham do it, but what about his whole entourage of all the 200 people with him.
- Do you think they broke the Sabbath, but Abraham kept it?
- Do you think he sat in his tent every Sabbath and kept the Sabbath alone, while everybody out there was having a orgy?
NO! No way! They all had to obey! It was by Abraham's obedience that it came. Remember that God is dealing with eternity! His plan is for all eternity! Years are just stepping-stones to that time!
Galatians 3:27: "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ."
- we're to follow what He did
- we're to believe what He believed
- we're to keep the commandments as He said
For anyone who says that God is prejudicial… The Jews like to say that they're the 'chosen people.' Well, today they're the rejected people! They're not the chosen!
Here's what it is with the Church of God and this how God begins to bless all nations beginning with Christ for salvation:
Verse 28: "There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither bond nor free; there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (vs 28-29).
What is the promise? Eternal life! Look how far back, when we come for the Passover, that God has been working with us.
(break@46:19)
We're going to get into the 'nitty-gritty' of the Passover. But before I get into it, I want to mention that I have a copy available online for everyone who wants it:
The Passover of the Bible and the Church Todayby Lester L. Grabbe and Robert L. Kuhn
{https://www.cbcg.org/holy-days/the-passover-of-the-bible-and-the-church-today.html}
This was the broadsided attack against the Church of God. One of the key things that you will see there is they try and define… What's happening today to get rid of the knowledge of who we are as a country? They're redefining the terms:
- taking away the statues
- taking away the history
Whenever Satan comes, he wants to redefine so he can change. One of the things that has happened in the Protestants is they look to Acts 10 when the Holy Spirit was given before they were baptized. Protestants say that you don't need to be baptized and you can receive the Holy Spirit. What did Peter say when the Holy Spirit came? Who can deny them water! And they were baptized!
Why did they receive the Holy Spirit before they were baptized? Because the Jews had so many prejudicial laws against the Gentiles that you couldn't:
- keep company with them
- eat with them
- speak with them
- stay in a house with them overnight
- dealings with them
So, how are you going to break all of those laws down? They were embedded in there! That's why God sent Peter to Cornelius.
You have another instance in Acts 19. Paul came to Ephesus and there were a dozen men who had been baptized. Paul asked them if they had received the Holy Spirit since baptism. They said, 'No, we don't know if there's a Holy Spirit or not.' So, Paul said, 'Unto what were you baptized?' They said unto John's baptism.
Paul said, 'John indeed baptized for the remission of sins,' and they were baptized again. When hands were laid on them, they spoke in tongues as it was originally given to the disciples in Act. 2. That's one of the great sins of Protestantism, and Sunday-keeping. In Sunday-keeping they are actually Catholics, because that's a Catholic day.
The way Grabbe & Kuhn came and attacked the Church of God was right smack at the heart of what it means to be a Christian, the true Passover of God, right there. They changed the definition of sunset to mean sometime before sunset.
That was the whole key for the writing that came out to be The Christian Passover book. This is the third edition. You must have this book and you must read it! You cannot understand fully without reading. Today the whole society—and this is one Satan's ways—wants everything on a summary. Since we have the smart phones and all of this sort of things, what do you have? Summaries!
Who writes Artificial Intelligence? All the progressives and 'wokers'! So, you're not going to get the Truth from Artificial Intelligence and you're not necessarily going to get the Truth that you think is the Truth by doing things online.
We will see that Grabbe & Kuhn tried the change the definitions. First of all, we want to start right here in Exo. 12 and as we go along we will define it. The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version is the only translation in English that has the times defined correctly according to the Hebrew.
If a Hebrew or Jewish teacher like Kuhn comes along and tries to change things, and you accept it because he's a Jew, they are not in covenant with God—period!
They do not have the understanding even though they may be very intellectual, because the Orthodox Judaism rejects Jesus Christ. Many of the Messianic Jews try to Judaize by still keeping the traditions of the Jews. The #1 person of that today is Jonathan Cahn. He keeps all the traditional things of the Jews with the Jews and he goes on Sunday to the Protestants and accepts their changing of the Sabbath when, as a descendant of the house of Aaron, he ought to know that God demands that everyone keep the Sabbath, and he will not teach it!
There aren't very many people who are going to take him to task on it, but I will!I'll take on all the Protestant ministers who say that the day was changed from Sabbath to Sunday, and that the Passover was changed to the Lord's Supper, and that's what Grabbe & Kuhn wanted to do in this paper, that you can take the Lord's supper anytime you want to. The Catholics call it The Sacrifice of the Mass or the Eucharist! How many times does the priest do it on Sunday?
I saw a picture of Catholic priests come and get all dressed up Sunday morning and take the Mass after they had an orgy night of sexuality with homosexuals the night before.
It gets back to what Jesus said: Can a corrupt tree produce good fruit? NO! It has to be the correct olive tree as Paul wrote about, and the roots go back to where we just covered: to Abraham!
You need to read The Christian Passover book, because it explains everything in the utmost detail and no twig is left unturned. That's important, because the truth of the matter is that you cannot be in covenant with Jesus Christ and God the Father for eternal life if you do not keep the Passover!
- on the correct day
- in the correct manner
- at the correct time of the day
According to the Calculated Hebrew Calendar! That's important.
Exodus 12:1: "And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,' This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you…. [Abib or Nisan—comes in the spring of the year] …Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, "In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them each man a lamb for a father's house, a lamb for a house. And if the household is too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take according to the number of the souls, each one, according to the eating of his mouth, you shall count concerning the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish…" (vs 1-5). This is a type of Christ!
- When was He sacrificed? On the Passover Day!
- What time on the Passover Day did He die? The ninth hour, which is 3 pm.
That goes clear back to what we covered in Gen. 15 when the sun was beginning to set. He died at the set time!
The lamb for the Passover was slain at the beginning of the 14th, not at the end, not in the middle, but at the beginning.
- When did everything start leading up to His crucifixion? At the beginning of the 14th day with the Passover!
- Isn't that what Jesus said? I will eat the Passover with My disciples!
"…a male of the first year. You shall take it from the sheep or from the goats" (v 5).
Notice that there are no cattle! That's important. There is no such thing as the Passover calf. Can you eat a whole calf in one night, even a family? No, but you can a small lamb!
The lambs were born just before this time of the year, and it was to be of the first year, not a year old, because a year old would have been too big.
Verse 6: "And you shall keep it up until the beginning of the fourteenth day of the same month. And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it between the two evenings."
That's the word of dispute that they argue about over and over again, and they lie about. When is "…between the two evenings"? Even today some write and say that it's from one evening to the other evening, a whole 24 hours.
I was there in Pasadena and heard Robert Kuhn present this directly. When I came home I wanted to know the Truth and search it out from the Bible.
I didn't believe what they wrote in this paper. You need to order this paper so you see how they work to take down a Church of God within. Kuhn was saying that the Jews keep the Passover on the 15th, which they do to this day. He was also saying that that's what we should be doing, but if we do it on the 14th, we should call it the Lord's Supper or a pre-Passover Passover. Have you ever heard of that?
We'll get into why the Jews keep a 15th later, but before we go any further, let's come to Exo. 16, because the decision would come down to this: IF there cannot be found in the Scriptures how God used the terms:
- 'ba erev'—sunset
- 'ben ha arbayim'—between the two evenings
so that we could know the difference between the two of them, THEN we would have to say the Jews were correct.
That was where I began in studying this out. When you come to Exo. 16, we find something very interesting here. The Israelites were complaining against God that they didn't have any food to eat.
Exodus 16:11: "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying…'" (vs 11-12).
Note the translation here, because the KJV says 'at even.' What does at even mean?
The term 'ben ha arbayim' is very specific. It means between the two evenings! When is between the two evenings? From one sunset to another sunset?
"…'Between the two evenings you shall eat flesh…" (v 12).
- When do you eat flesh?
- Can you eat flesh before it arrives?
If you have one of your family members to go to the store to buy some hamburgers to cook hamburgers. They go to the store, but when they back from the store they're told that 'we've already eaten.' Can you eat it before you get it? No! that's specific.
"…'Between the two evenings you shall eat flesh and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. And you shall know that I am the LORD your God'" (v 12).
- Does God lie?
- Does God know what He's talking about? Yes, he does!
Verse 13: "And it came to pass, at sunset…" The KJV says 'at even'! but the Hebrew is specific: 'ba erev'—sunset!
- When does 'ba erev' begin?
- Noon?
- Two o'clock?
- Three o'clock?
NO! It begins when the sun touches the horizon!
- How long does 'ba erev' last? As long as it takes the sun to go down—3-5 minutes, depending where you are!
"…at sunset that the quail came up…" (v 13). This happened to end the Sabbath!
God rested the Sabbath Day; He didn't send the quail in the afternoon like some people like to write. No! God would have broken His own Sabbath! What did He tell the Israelites about the manna?
You'll get the same amount everyday for 5 days, but the 5th day you will twice as much and it won't breed worms and stink, and you can keep it over to the 7th day! You will find none on the 7th day!
- What happened? Some of the people went out looking for manna on the Sabbath!
- What did God say?
- Why don't you keep My Law?
- How long will you refuse to obey Me?
God is not going to break His own Sabbath!
So the Sabbath Day ended and right as it was ending the quail came! As soon as the quail landed on the camp the sun had gone down.
- Why did God send the quail on the camp?
Because it was going to be getting dark! He didn't want them wandering outside the camp to try and look for quail. So, He dumped it right in their lap!
How long does it take to kill a quail? You wring it's neck and strip off the feathers and skin, and roast it and the pieces of meat are very small! God sent the quail, put it down on the camp so they wouldn't have to go out and get it while it was getting dark.
"…'Between the two evenings you shall eat flesh…" (v 12).
Verse 13: "And it came to pass, at sunset that the quail came up and covered the camp…."
- When did the flesh arrive? After sunset!
- What does this tell us?
- When did they eat them? Right after they came and as quickly as they could skin and roast them!
It wouldn't take long. We checked this out with Skip Emerson when he had his quail ranch up on the Santa Cruz mountains. So, we did an experiment. We took quail and it took about five minutes to dress it. How long did it take to cook the breasts? About 10-15 minutes! That's why God sent quail.
From sunset to receiving the quail, skinning them and getting them to the point where you eat them, that period of time between sunset and dark is 'ben ha arbayim.'
"…And at sunrise the dew lay all around the camp…. [outside the camp; God didn't put it on the camp so they had to go out and get it] …And when the layer of dew had gone up, behold, there was a small round thing upon the face of the wilderness, small as the hoar-frost upon the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, 'What is that?' … [that's what manna means] …For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, 'This is the bread, which the LORD has given you to eat'" (vs 13-15).
This is the place in the Bible that establishes by God's Word, Him speaking directly to Moses and the children of Israel:
'Ben ha arbayim'—between the two evenings you shall eat flesh. That tells us it's right after sunset and before dark[transcriber's correction; note that 'boqer' means sunrise or morning]
So, they took the lamb or the kid goat and kept it to they beginning of the 14th, which began when the 13th day ended.
- How do we know that?
- Where is the Scripture that tells us?
There's one Scripture in Lev. 23, and this is where it gives the timing concerning the Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement is important, and you don't want to infringe upon it at any time!
Leviticus 23:32: "It shall be to you a Sabbath of rest, and you shall afflict yourselves. In the ninth day of the month at sunset…"
What does that do? That ends the 9th day! So, the 9th day ends at sunset and the 10th day begins at sunset and ends at the next sunset.
"…from sunset to sunset, you shall keep your Sabbath." (v 32). That applies to all Sabbaths! This will also help us to understand some other things a little later.
Exodus 12:6: "And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it… [the Passover lamb] …between the two evenings. And they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and upon the upper doorpost of the houses in which they shall eat it" (vs 6-7).
Where did they keep the Passover? In their houses!
Verse 8: "And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roasted with fire… [that's very clear] …and unleavened bread. They shall eat it with bitter herbs. Do not eat of it raw, nor boiled at all with water…" (vs 8-9).
Both those words are separate words: Roast means roast! Boiled means boiled! Unfortunately, Strong's Concordance mixes the two together.
So, I called Michael Heiss to go over this again. The word for boil can never mean roast. The Septuagint has it in 2-Chron. 35 that they boiled over fire. That doesn't mean that they were roasting it. But the translators of the KJV put there roasted, and Strong's makes it look like the word for boil can be either roast or boil. It cannot!
So, this is why you've heard me say that you need to be careful with Strong's Concordance, because sometimes he's not correct. But what he did is take what was already translated and looked up the different words, and where they had boiled when it should have been roasted he put in there to boil as well as roast.
If anyone looks it up, they think it can be boiled or roasted. The Passover lamb could not be boiled—period!
"…but roasted with fire, its head with its legs, and with its inward parts" (v 9).
And you shall eat it in that night (v 10). One of the things that Grabbe & Kuhn said in this paper was that they kept time much like we do today, and anytime after midnight is morning. They changed the definition!
All the instructions could not be given to the people by smart phones. They didn't have any smart phones, and they didn't have enough pigeons to go to every house.
Verse 21: "Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them…"
He gave them all the instructions to give to the people. So, it was divided down. The way that Israel was organized, they had little communities with an elder over that community where they were in Egypt.
"…'Draw out and take a lamb for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip in the blood that is in the bowl, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood in the bowl. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until sunrise" (vs 21-22)—Hebrew: 'boqer'
They couldn't leave shortly after midnight! How are they going to assemble, herd their sheep and goats and take whatever donkeys, horses and camels they have and start the exodus a little after midnight right after the firstborn were killed. Not possible! But that's what Grabbe & Kuhn allege in this paper.
So, let's come back and finish this off. They would eat it that night, killed it right after sunset beginning 'between the two evenings.' How long is 'between the two evenings'? This time a year it's about 40 minutes! Then they could start eating.
Verse 9: "Do not eat of it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted with fire, its head with its legs, and with its inward parts."
That doesn't mean with all of the guts; that means the kidneys, liver and heart.
Verse 10: "And you shall not let any of it remain until the morning. And that which remains of it until the morning you shall burn with fire.
So, we wanted to know how long it would take to burn bones of young lamb or kid goat. God didn't want one single thing left of that sacrifice. Why? Because someone would keep it for a 'lucky charm'!
So, Skip Emerson gave us the big knuckle, which would take the longest bone to burn. We took that bone, took it home and put it in the fireplace and it took a little over two hours to burn to ashes. So, when they left their homes, the only thing that was left there was the ashes; nothing else remained.
Verse 11: "And this is the way you shall eat it: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in trepidation.… [KJV says 'haste' but this means trepidation] …It is the LORD'S Passover.:
They couldn't leave the house until sunrise! Everything had to be burned, only ashes left.
Verse 12: "For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD."
- What are the people doing today in Egypt? They're digging up every place they can to try and find how these people lived and died!
- Who were their gods?
- What were their temples?
God is the One Who destroyed it!
Verse 13: "And the blood shall be a sign to you upon the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be a memorial to you.…" (vs 13-14).
The Passover Day is a memorial! This does not refer to the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This is the day of the Passover; it's a memorial! We will see that the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures something else. Even though it follows right after the 14th it does not have the same meaning as the 14th. We will see that!
Verse 14: "And this day shall be a memorial to you And… [in addition to that] …you shall keep it a Feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it a Feast as a Law forever. You shall eat unleavened bread seven days… [that's in addition, after the Passover] …even the first day you shall have put away leaven out of your houses… [the first day is the 15th, we will see that defined here in just a minute so there is no excuse to get it wrong] …for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel" (vs 14-15).
Verse 16: "And in the first day there shall be a Holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be a Holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done in them, except that which every man must eat, that only may be done by you.
Now pay very close attention to these next verses. Again, The Faithful Version is the only one that has this correct, according to the Hebrew.
Verse 17[transcriber's correction]: "And you shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for in this very same day I have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt…."
That's different; coming out of Egypt is different from keeping the Passover at home. What was the requirement for them staying at home?
- eat it there
- burn what's ever left over
- don't go out of the house until sunrise
That's easy even for the most illiterate person to see. If you see the sun starting to come up, even little children see that the sun is coming up. Here it is with this:
"…Therefore, you shall keep this day… [the 1st day of Unleavened Bread] …in your generations as a law forever. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at sunset…" (vs 17-18).
That ends the 14th, tie in Lev. 23:32 from sunset to sunset. That's the end of the 14th and that begins the 15th.
"…you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at sunset" (v 18).
So, you count seven days, and to the end of the 21st day. That's how it's counted, but it's all messed up in the King James Version, because it says 'even.'
Verse 19: "Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses, for whoever eats that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. You shall eat nothing leavened. In all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread" (vs 19-20). Then the instructions!
Now let's come to what happened on the morning, the day portion of the 14th. Here's what it needs to read. It sounds like in the KJV that Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, but in Exo. 11 we find that Moses said, 'You shall not see my face again.' The message was sent that they should go.
Verse 31: "And during the night he sent word to Moses and Aaron saying, 'Rise up! Get away from my people, both you and the children of Israel! And go serve the LORD, as you have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone. And bless me also.' And the Egyptians were urging the people, that they might send them out of the land quickly…" (vs 31-33).
Why? Because they didn't know if there were anymore plagues coming to kill them! What would you think if everyone you knew had someone die that night? They even had thousands and thousands of corpses that they needed to bury! God did it to release the children of Israel!
Verse 35: "And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses. And they asked for articles of silver, and articles of gold, and clothing from the Egyptians. And the LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and they granted their request, and they stripped the Egyptians. And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses…" (vs 35-37).
All the children of Israel lived in Goshen and they all had to come from Rameses. They departed from Rameses, all organized. They went by companies.
Verse 37: "And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, the men being about six hundred thousand on foot, apart from little ones. And also a mixed multitude went up with them, and flocks and herds, very much livestock. And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough, which they brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not stay, neither had they prepared any food for themselves for the journey" (vs 37-39).
Verse 40: "Now, the sojourning of the children of Israel in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years"—remember that!
- from the time of the covenant to the birth of Isaac was 15 years
- from the birth of Isaac to the sacrifice of Isaac was 15 years
That's 30 years!
- 400 years after that we have right here
Verse 41: "And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, it was even on that very same day, all the armies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night to be much observed to the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt…." (vs 41-42).
That could not be the Passover night! It was the next night!
"…This is that night of the LORD to be observed by all the children of Israel in their generations" (v 42).
Remember what we said about they couldn't go out of their houses until sunrise. It was because God passed over and killed the firstborn of the Egyptians.
Exodus 13:14: "And it shall be when your son asks you in time to come, saying, 'What does this mean?' you shall say to him, 'The LORD brought us out of Egypt by the strength of His hand, from the house of bondage.'" That's the Night to be Much Observed!
- Passover—1 night (14th begins)—and don't go out of your house until morning
- morning of the 14th the Egyptians gave them all the treasure that they could possibly handle
- they assembled at the city of Rameses, organized in their marching orders, and when the sun was going down they started to leave
What do you have as a miracle that God provided them? For them to go by night they had the pillar of fire!Plus a full moon! They were all organized and we don't know how far they went that night, how far Succoth was, but it wasn't too far.
Scriptural References:
- Genesis 12:1-5
- Genesis 15:1-18
- Genesis 17:1-7
- Genesis 21:1-6
- Genesis 22:2, 7-18
- Genesis 26:1-5
- Galatians 3:27-29
- Exodus 12:1-6
- Exodus 16:11-13, 12-15
- Leviticus 23:32
- Exodus 12:6-9, 21-22, 9-20, 31-42,
- Exodus 13:14
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
- Hebrews 8; 9; 11
- Romans 6
- Genesis 15
- Daniel 12
- Matthew 13:43
- Acts 10; 19; 2
- 2 Chronicles 35
- Exodus 12:10; 11
Also referenced:
Paper: The Passover of the Bible and the Church Today by Lester L. Grabbe and Robert L. Kuhn
{https://www.cbcg.org/holy-days/the-passover-of-the-bible-and-the-church-today.html}
Book: The Christian Passover by Fred R. Coulter
FRC:bo
Transcribed: 3/8/23
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