The Three Most Important Days #2

The Real First Passover

Fred R. Coulter—February 7, 2009

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What are the three most important things that keep us in contact with God, besides prayer and Bible study, which also helps us to know God and help us to be in right standing with Him?

Lev. 23—How many times have we read this? We do every Holy Day! Not the whole thing through but every Holy Day we do. It dawned on me that Lev. 23 is the key. What we're looking at is the overview to tell us what are the three most important things to keep us in contact with God. Let's review quickly.

Leviticus 23:1: "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying." Let's understand one thing Moses did not teach or say one thing concerning the commandments, statutes and judgments of God that God did not tell him. So, when they refer to the Law of Moses it's not that Moses gave the Law. He transmitted it from God, and he wrote it down.

When you say Law of Moses it doesn't mean that Moses created this out of his own mind. I'm sure there are a lot of people who would think that way.

Verse 2: "…Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, 'Concerning the appointed Feasts of the LORD… [I want you to notice the structure of this here] …which you shall proclaim to be Holy convocations, even these are My appointed Feasts.'"

God appointed them! And as I mentioned in the part 1, men come along they say, 'Oh we don't need this; we don't need that. God, let's take this wonderful pagan thing over here and we'll have the pope bless it, and we'll have the priests sprinkle it with 'holy water' and it will be a wonderful, wonderful thing. Don't you think that will be nice? God, we love this so much that we know that You'll like it.'

• Is God perfect? Yes!
• Is His way perfect? Yes!
• Is His Word Truth? Yes!
• Are His commandments for us? Yes!

That's why we have it this way. These are God's appointed Feasts:

• the Sabbath

Verse 3: "Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a Holy convocation. You shall not do any work. It is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwellings.
If you keep the Sabbath then you will be keeping the Feast that God has set, the weekly one, the seventh day Sabbath where those who keep the Sabbath God puts His spiritual presence in it. Those who do not keep the Sabbath, God's spiritual presence is not with them. What follows next?

Verse 4: "These are the appointed Feasts of the LORD, Holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their appointed seasons."

There's no option here. It doesn't say if you think it's good or if you agree with it then you go ahead and proclaim it. He says, "…you shall proclaim in their appointed seasons."

• God is the One Who appointed them
• God is the One Who established them
• God is the One Who gave the Calculated Hebrew Calendar

That's why we use it!

• Passover

Verse 5: "In the fourteenth day of the first month, between the two evenings…"

As I explained in the first message, and you can get out of The Christian Passover book, that means between sunset and dark. That's when the lamb was to be killed. On that day, the 14th day:

"…is the LORD'S Passover" (v 5).

It is not the Jew's Passover. What the Jews keep today as their Passover, is not the Lord's Passover. They keep it one day late and if you want to know why they keep it one day late then you get the Passover book. This book explains every question concerning the Passover, and what's important concerning this is that the Passover is the day that keeps us in contact with God and in covenant with God!

Satan wants to do all he can to confuse people, to mix them up to get them to—like with the Jews—take a 15th Passover, which the Jews will tell you they have to take a 15th Passover because only a 14th Passover can be observed by them in the land. Since they have rejected the New Testament and Jesus they are quite correct in what they say. But Jesus said to 'go into all the world and teach them everything I have commanded you.' That includes everything concerning the Passover as we find in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The Church being in the world is not restricted to the geographical area of the land that God gave the children of Israel for their original inheritance, because Jesus told us to keep it.

I know a woman who had a Jewish dentist and she said, 'We keep the Passover and Feast of Tabernacles, and he almost pulled out all of her teeth for saying it! So, this is important.

• the Holy Days—all the rest of the Feasts of God

The Sabbath was created time by God; the seventh day. Let's see what it says concerning the Sabbath and the Sabbaths.

Exodus 31:12: "And the LORD spoke to Moses saying, 'Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, "Truly… [in truth ] …you shall keep My Sabbaths…"'" (vs 12-13)—plural.

This becomes important. Because you have the Sabbath Day, you have the Passover, but all of the Holy Days are called Sabbaths. When it's plural it's talking about the Sabbath and the seven Holy Days. The Passover is special and comes before the seven Holy Days. Isn't it interesting, that in order to keep the Feasts of God in order, you have to, especially today, be in covenant with God through the Passover before you start Unleavened Bread and Pentecost and Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles and Last Great Day?

When you are and when you do and you ask God to help you, inspire you, and you study to teach and bring the things concerning that, that the Bible shows us, you will understand it. It's like anything else. God says that 'God hides a matter, but it's the honor of the king to seek it out.' This is why we study the Bible 'line upon line, line upon line, precept upon precept.' We 'prove all things' and we put it together with the Scriptures by 'rightly dividing the Word.' So, here's part of it.

Here's why the Sabbath and the Holy Days are vitally important. Those who reject the Bible, what do they keep when they call themselves professed Christians? Sunday, Halloween, Christmas, Easter, New Year's, Groundhog Day, Lent, 'Good' Friday, Easter Sunday!

Instead of keeping the Passover, what do they keep? They keep the Sacrifice of the Mass for the Catholics and communion for the Protestants, and it has nothing to do with God or Christ. It is a counterfeit that everyone has accepted. Now notice what He says:

"…for it…" (v 13). That is the keeping. You can't have a plural followed by 'it' grammatically speaking. This refers to the keeping of 'My Sabbaths.'
"…keep My Sabbaths, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations to know that I am the LORD Who sanctifies you" (v 13).

• the Protestants don't know that
• the Catholics don't know that
• the Jews don't know that

"…to know that I am the LORD Who sanctifies you" (v 13).

So, here is the sum of the matter. If you keep the Sabbaths of God, His Holy Days and the Sabbath, you know God. And if you keep those, what else are you going do? You're going to keep the Passover, you're going to keep the rest of the commandments!

Let's see how this is augmented by 1-John 2:3: "And by this standard…" Standard is in italics and that was added, because the Greek there is 'en toutoo'—meaning in this, by this, here in, in this manner, in the standard. So, that was added in because that sets the standard.

Verse 3: "And by this standard we know that we know Him: if we keep His commandments." Now let's take the opposite of this: If you do not keep His commandments you do not know Him! Not only that, we're not to just 'know the Lord' like so many Protestants do:

• Do you know the Lord?
• Have you been saved?
• Have you been born again?
• Have you opened your heart to the Lord?

The truth is the more you study the Bible, the more you realize it, and you understand that the Protestants use Scriptures, but they don't know the Scriptures! They profess Jesus, but they don't know Jesus and they are not keeping the commandments! 'We keep nine of them!' Well, God said to keep ten!

Verse 4: "The One Who says, 'I know Him' and does not keep His commandments… [Is well-intentioned, is really nice but slightly mistaken. No!] …is a liar… [Where does that place all Sunday-keepers and idolaters?] …and the Truth is not in him."

They may have parts of Truth. Just like human nature is a mixture of good and evil, but human nature is basically sinful. The Bible is actually like having the right combination to open the safe. If you have a safe and you have the combination right except one number, will it open? No! Likewise, if you don't keep all the commandments of God you're not really going to know God.
You will know about Jesus, but you won't know Jesus. You will know about the Father, but you won't know the Father. There's a difference, and the difference is you have the right combination to unlock the safe. So, those are pretty strong words.

Verse 4: "The One Who says, 'I know Him' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the Truth is not in him. On the other hand, if anyone is keeping His Word…" (vs 4-5).

Now notice how this expands. It's not just commandment-keeping alone now. It has to do with everything that Jesus taught.

"…truly in this one the love of God is being perfected.…" (v 5). That's how were perfected through the Sabbath, the Passover, and the Holy Days. Those are the three most important things! And once we keep those then all of the rest will follow and be put together. Here's another one: "…being perfected…."

"…By this means we know that we are in Him" (v 5). These four simple verses tell us an awful lot.

Verse 6: "Anyone who claims to dwell in Him is obligating himself also to walk even as He Himself… [Jesus] …walked." How did Jesus walk?

• He always kept the Sabbath; He never kept Sunday
• He always kept the Passover; He never kept the Sacrifice of the Mass or communion
• He always kept all the Holy Days of God; He kept none of the pagan holidays

• Did He walk in love? Yes!
• Did He walk in faith? Yes!
• Did He represent hope? Yes!
• Did He bring grace? Yes!
• Did He believe the Father? Yes!
• Did He suffer persecution? Yes!

As we pointed out in the first message everyone believes that this is the origin of the Passover in Exo. 12. We're going to see that is not correct.

This is not the Passover of the Jews it's the Passover for the children of Israel—all 12 tribes—of which Judah, one tribe, are the ones from whom the Jews come.

Exodus 12:11: "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. It is the LORD'S Passover." We need to always understand that it belongs to God! Why is it called the Passover?
Verse 12: "For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night…"—the night of the 14th. The 13th ended at sunset, and as soon as the sun went down that began 'ben ha arbayim': between the two evenings.

All the children of Israel were waiting. As I mentioned there were those standing on the top of the roofs of their houses looking for the sun to go down. In Egypt as I mentioned you have a flat horizon so when it touches the horizon that's the beginning of 'ba-erev' or sunset and about five minutes later the sun goes down below the horizon, and as soon as it goes down below the horizon that is the beginning of between the two evenings 'ben ha arbayim'. So, that night the night of the 14th.

Now if you want to know why the Jews say that night was the night of the 15th then you've got to get the Passover book and read it. There is no other book like it ever printed that covers every one of these questions. You need to read it.

"…and will smite…" (v 12). It is God doing the smiting. I'm sure He had some angels do the work for Him, but He's the One Who gave the command, and if He gives a command He's the One Who did it.

"…all the firstborn in the land of Egypt…" (v 12). Not all firstborn were boys. There were male and female who were executed.

"…both man and beast. And I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt.…" (v 12). Stop and think about this. All of the pagan gods of Egypt came originally out of Babylon and were renamed. Yet, modern Catholicism and Protestantism follow the same days that those pagan religions had. What did God do? He judged all the gods of Egypt because they are no gods!

"…I am the LORD…. [He is adding emphasis to it] …And the blood shall be a sign to you upon the houses where you are…. [because they were to put it on the side posts and the upper lentil] …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 12-14)—a remembrance.

What we are going to see in this, so I'll just telegraph ahead which is this. God always uses the Passover and His Holy Days for important things in carrying out His plan, always. God smote the firstborn of Egypt to bring the children of Israel out and that was on the Passover Day.

When was Jesus crucified? On the Passover Day! Then you have to take everything that happened on that Passover Day beginning when He sent His disciples out to prepare for the Passover for Him. Some people say well Jesus kept the 15th Passover with the Jews until this last one and then He changed it. No! That's not true! They had the domestic Passover in Jerusalem and they had the temple Passover later in the day for some of the priests and some of the Pharisees. That's why you need to read the book.

During the days of Jesus they had a 14th Passover and a 15th Passover. I'm just kind of telegraphing this ahead of time so we can cover all the bases.

• What did Jesus say on the Passover night when He gave them the bread and wine? Do this in remembrance of Me!
• What is a remembrance? A memorial!
• How often does a memorial take place? Once a year!
• How often does the Passover come? Once a year!

Verse 14: "And this day shall be a memorial to you. And you shall keep it a Feast to the LORD throughout your generations.… [it's a separate Feast from the days of Unleavened Bread] …You shall keep it a Feast as a law forever."

One woman wrote me and she says I have a very simple way of remembering which day is which. She said, 'Verse 14 talks about the Passover, which is the 14th day of the month. Verse 15 talks about the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is the 15th day of the first month.' In the Hebrew when you come to the end of v 14, it is a full stop. That means v 15 now is another subject. But on the 14th they were to eat unleavened bread with the Passover.

Now comes seven days of unleavened bread, v 15: "You shall eat unleavened bread seven days; even the first day you shall have put away leaven out of your houses; for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel"—because of disobeying God.

Cut off does not mean they're killed or destroyed. It just means that they are cut off from receiving the blessings of God. They may still be living in the land. When the children of Israel sinned when they were in the land, were they still in the land? Yes! But they were cut off from God so God had to punish them. After refusing to repent He sent them off into exile.

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…. [whatever is necessary for preparing food] …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.…" (vs 16-17).

I want you to notice the difference between the two days. Why did He say to keep the Passover?

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…."

He passed over the children of Israel because they had the blood on the upper doorpost and the two lentils. Here we are talking about the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is the 15th.

Verse 17: "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. Therefore, you shall keep this day in your generations as a law forever."

What did He say concerning the 14th? Verse 14: "And this day shall be a memorial to you. And you shall keep it a Feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it a Feast as a law forever."

Clearly He's distinguishing the two days. Verse 18 becomes a little tricky especially in the King James. That's why in the Faithful Version we have all of the critical words translated correctly so there's no misunderstanding.

Can the simplest uneducated person understand when the sun goes down? Sunset? Yes! I mean, even little children. 'Look, daddy, the sun's going down. They understand that. That's why God gave sunset and sunrise.

Verse 18: "In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at sunset…"

• What do you mean the 14th day at sunset?
• Isn't that the Passover Day? The 14th day is the Passover Day!
• What is it at the 14th day at sunset? That's the end of the 14th, not the beginning!

The beginning is between the two evenings after sunset on the 13th until dark. Here it is:

Verse 18: In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at sunset, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at sunset."

Leviticus 23:32—the premier verse which defines a day: "It… [Day of Atonement] …shall be to you a Sabbath of rest, and you shall afflict yourselves….'"
Verse 27: "Also, on the tenth day of this seventh month, is the Day of Atonement…"—10th day, keep that in mind.

Verse 32: "It shall be to you a Sabbath of rest, and you shall afflict yourselves. In the ninth day of the month at sunset, from sunset to sunset, you shall keep your Sabbath."

So, the 10th day is defined right here by this verse as beginning at the end of the 9th day at sunset which ends the 9th day. It begins the 10th day, and the 10th day is from sunset on the 9th until sunset on the 10th, that is the whole day.

Exodus 12:18 will make it absolutely crystal clear. "In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at sunset… [end of the 14th, beginning the 15th] …you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at sunset."

Now, I want you to count. We'll use all fingers on one hand and two on the other: 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, seven days. Whenever you count it is always a full count and it is never like adding or subtracting. Because the 15th day to the 21st day is six days by subtraction but seven days by counting.

So, the 21st day of the month at evening is the end of the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is a Holy Day. That's when, in this modern world, you can go out and have your big fat juicy hamburger.

I'm going to go through every verse of this so we can cover everything we need to.

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).

Those were the instructions given to Moses. He picked up a cell phone and he called everyone and he took his Blackberry and his computer and sent e-mail to everyone so they would know it. No! How did he communicate this to them? After he got the instructions from God:

Verse 21: "Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, 'Draw out and take a lamb for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb…. [When? On the 14th day: 'ben ha arbayim'] …And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip in the blood that is in the bowl… [showing that they should take a bowl and catch the blood] …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).

They could not leave at midnight after the slaying of the firstborn. They were told to stay in the house until sunrise. After all that went on and all the commotion that went on with killing the firstborn, do you think that anyone would dare venture out of the door of the house that night?

Mom and dad would be there, especially mom: 'Don't go out the door! Moses told us were not to go out until sunrise. We've got to see the sun when is starting to light up the horizon in the East.'

Verse 23: "For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians. And when He sees the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door… [that's where the name Passover comes from] …and will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. And you shall observe this thing as a law to you and to your children forever. And it shall be when you have come to the land, which the LORD will give you… [which actually occurred 40 years later] …according as He has promised that you shall keep this service. And it will be, when your children shall say to you, 'What does this service mean to you?'" (vs 23-26).

• Why would they ask that? Because the command was to kill the lamb right there at the house.
• Was that not correct?

You have children and they go out and say, 'Daddy, why are you killing the lamb?

Verse 27: "'Then you shall say, 'It is the sacrifice of the LORD'S Passover, Who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our houses."'…. [that's what happened on the 14th] …And the people bowed their heads and worshiped. And the children of Israel went away and did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron; so they did" (vs 27-28).

I want you to notice the difference between the two days. The Jews today have combined the Passover and the first day of Unleavened Bread, and they say the Passover pictures coming out of Egypt. Not so, because if they were not in the house, protected by the blood on the doors, they would have died.

So, the Passover does not picture coming out of Egypt, unleavened bread does! You've got the 14th the Passover, 15th beginning of Unleavened Bread. This is talking about the Feast of Unleavened Bread:

Exodus 13:8: "And you shall tell your son in that day, saying, 'This is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out from Egypt.'"

Passover they were in their houses ready to go, but they didn't come out until sunrise. They gathered in Rameses, and they didn't leave Rameses until the 15th day was starting.

Verse 9: "And it shall be a sign to you upon your hand, and for a memorial between your eyes, that the LORD'S Law may be in your mouth, for with a strong hand the LORD has brought you out of Egypt. You shall, therefore, keep this law in its season from year to year."

So, at least in the Faithful Version these Scriptures are far easier to understand than the King James. I know when I kept my first Passover and Unleavened Bread I remember the minister read there in Exo. 12, 'Well, this is the beginning of the day,' and the King James just said evening. Then a little later on talking about the beginning of the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread it said at even. They said that this is the next evening.

I remember I said, 'But how do we know? What was the moral of the story at that time, years and years ago? Don't believe me, believe your Bible and prove it!

I didn't create any problems with it, but I just filed it in the back of my mind. That's what we have to do with some questions, file them in the back of our mind and keep them there and sooner or later the answer will come. That's the difference between the service:

• the Passover and striking the Egyptians and delivering our houses
• the day they came out of Egypt

Exodus 12:30: "And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants, and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead."

That was a spectacular night. Now this is approximately 20% of the entire population, because you have husband-and-wife. What if both of them were firstborn? They would die! And their firstborn child would die, whether male or female! You take the animals, the firstborn of the animals, probably not quite 20%, probably more like 10 or 15%. And all of these corpses everywhere! Egypt is right on the edge of the desert along the Nile! So, you're going to have heat.

What happens to bodies lying out everywhere in all the heat? Just think of all the flies, all the ants, all the dogs. I tell you, it must of been awesome and gruesome. No wonder there was a great cry. No wonder they were up. They just didn't bury them all at once. We find in Num. 33 that they were still burying the dead Egyptians when the children of Israel were leaving Egypt. So, they were all day from sunrise until sunset trying to get rid of those bodies. Obviously they couldn't get rid of them all.

Verse 31—this is the correct translation, because some say that Pharaoh called for Moses and Moses went to Pharaoh (KJV). No! He didn't go to Pharaoh, because the last time Moses saw Pharaoh he said, 'Your never going to see my face again.' Here's the correct translation:

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'"—even the most stubborn! Sooner or later after all that took place, they have to give in.

Verse 32: "'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, for they said, 'We are all dead men'" (vs 32-33).

Because they didn't know when the next strike of the population would come—did they? I mean, not knowing what God was doing, and all of this taking place, you can imagine the fear and the terror that was going on.

(go to the next track)

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."

Obviously, they began this as we found out in Exo. 11 when they started. After the killing of the firstborn the Egyptians were anxious to give them anything they wanted. So, they loaded them down with more.

Verse 36: "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 to Succoth…" (vs 36-37).

Where were the children of Israel before they got to Rameses? They were in the land of Goshen, which was north of Rameses. So, after they left their houses in the morning, after the Passover on the 14th, they walked down to Rameses to get all organized for the march. With that many people you've got to go someplace and get organized and have the stations ready. Moses probably had it setup so this tribe would be here, and this tribe would be here, and the other tribe would be there, so they could get all ready to go. Of course, Moses was a former general and a sub-Pharaoh, a Pharaoh-like authority.

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."

That's why we say 1.8 million people. And in the Passover book I show that the closest we can come to that is the Pasadena Rose Parade. For the Rose Parade to pass one place, by the time the ones who started the parade got to the end of it, the end of the parade was beginning. It's the same way with all of these people.

Verse 38: "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 38-39).

All they had was water and bread, that was it! With God blessing them and watching over them, I am sure that God energized all of them so the bread and the water was quite sufficient. We'll explain this in detail in just a little bit, but this is a key, kind of like if you were on a computer and you're scrolling through and you come to a certain screen, and when you're done with that screen, it says click here for more information.

So you click there and it takes you to an entirely different program, or you can do this on the website. We advertised on biblestudy.org and we have a click through in advertising, and we pay for that advertising. When they click through, they go directly to our homepage. So, we're going to do a click-through here and see where the real first Passover began, and it was not in Egypt!

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 is the beginning of the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The day begins at sunset on the 14th. What follows sunset? Night! It's not hard to understand, but when you get people in there to try and force understanding and doctrine into something that doesn't contain it, you get all confused and befuddled. This is simple.

Verse 42: "It is a night to be much observed to the LORD…" Some people have said that The Night to be Much Observed was invented by Herbert W Armstrong. That's not what my Bible says.

Verse 42: "It is a night to be much observed to the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. This is that night of the LORD to be observed by all the children of Israel in their generations."

We will come back to this later on when we get to Deut. 16. Full stop! Here's a summary of the Passover:

Verse 43: "And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 'This is the ordinance of the Passover. No stranger shall eat of it.'" This is why we do not have unbaptized people take the Passover, because in order to do so, you have to be baptized and baptism is the circumcision of the heart. That's one aspect of it.

Verse 44: "But every man's servant that is bought for silver, when you have circumcised him, then he shall eat of it. A foreigner and a hired servant shall not eat of it. It shall be eaten in one house…." (vs 44-46).

I want you to note that there's not one word about eating it at the tabernacle, which was to be setup later, nor even one hint of killing and eating it at the temple. It is to be eaten in one house. Not from house to house. You don't start out at this house on the Passover night and say, 'I'm going to see my neighbor next door, and go over and see him.'

"…You shall not carry any of the flesh out of the house. Neither shall you break a bone of it" (v 46). What were they to do with the flesh and the skin and the guts? Burn it!

Verse 47: "'All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. And when a stranger shall dwell with you, and desires to keep the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it. And he shall be as one that is born in the land. And no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. There shall be one law to the one born at home and to the stranger that dwells among you.' Thus did all the children of Israel. Even as the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did" (vs 47-50).

Now let's come back here to v 40: "Now, the sojourning of the children of Israel in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years."

• What does 430 years mean?
• Where does that come from?

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… [430 years later. Very same day of what? What does that refer to?] …all the armies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt."

Gen. 15 is what it's referring to, and is actually the first Passover. This is the origin of the Passover, not Exo. 12. We will see that.

What was the day, the very same day, 430 years later that they were leaving Egypt? What day was that? The first day of Unleavened Bread, the 15th day of the 1st month! We have that well-established; the very same day referring to what?

Here in Gen. 15 we have something that is revealing from that Scripture. The click-through from Exo. 12:40 and 41 over to Gen. 15. Let's see how that fits in, and answers which day was 430 years before? What happened then?

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).

Now it was the Law of God that a servant could receive inheritance if someone was childless. But it would have to be something that the one who was childless would give to the servant. But God had greater plans in mind than what Abraham mentioned there.

Verse 3: "And Abram said, 'Behold, You have given no seed to me; and lo, one born in my house is my heir.'" That's the law. But God had something different in mind.

Verse 4: "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.'"

At this time Abraham was 85-years-old. We'll get the other figures as we go along so we can come up with the 430.

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 the stars? You don't see them at noon! No, you see the sun, which is a star, but you don't see the stars in the heavens except at night. So, can we all agree and see that it's talking about a night here. When does the day start? At sunset!

I think it's very interesting, because when you read Luke's account about Jesus telling Peter that he would deny Him, He said, 'In this day, this very night, you shall deny me three times.' We all understand the Bible says day begins at sunset; the day ends and begins at sunset. So, the sun had already set, and it was already dark.

Verse 5: "And He brought him outside and said…" Apparently, the Word, the Lord God, in a vision was right there talking with Abraham. And we have a summary of it. So then, He said, 'Come on outside with me Abram I want to show you something.'

"…'Look now toward the heavens and number the stars—if you are able to count them.' And He said to him, 'So shall your seed be'" (v 5).

Now what two things do we have here? We have v 4: "…he that shall come forth out of your own loins shall be your heir." Physical seed; a literal son, and we know that was Isaac. Then when God got Abraham outside He said:

Verse 5: "…'Look now toward the heavens and number the stars—if you are able to count them.' And He said to him, 'So shall your seed be.'"

So we have two promises: physical seed and seed that will shine like the stars in heaven. Later on we will see it's also called the sand of the sea and the stars of heaven. What was given here were two promises:

• physical seed
• spiritual seed

Jesus said, 'That which is born of the flesh is flesh,' physical. 'That which is born of the Spirit is spirit,' composed of spirit. This is talking about at the resurrection.

Matthew 13:43: "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father…." If you shine forth as the sun, you are like a star, have glory like a star.

Now let's read something else concerning Isaac, because the truth is you must be a physical human being before you can become a spirit being! And the resurrection is when you're born again.

Galatians 4:26: "But the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all; for it is written, 'Rejoice, O barren who did not bear!…. [referring to Sarah] …Break forth and cry, you who were not travailing, because many more are the children of the desolate… [Sarah] …than of her who has the husband.' Now we, brethren, like Isaac, are the children of promise" (vs 26-28).

Galatians 3:29: "And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."

What promise? The one given in Gen. 15! So, we have the promise of two seeds: One physical through Isaac for the children of Israel; one spiritual through Isaac at the resurrection; 'to shine as the stars of heaven.'

Genesis 15:5: "…'So shall your seed be.'" So, there are two seeds: physical and spiritual. The Church and the Passover does not go back to Exo. 12, it goes back to Abraham in Gen. 15. As we're going to see as we continue to examine this chapter, the night that this promise was made was on the Passover night. And we will see that the special sacrifice that was made by Abraham covers the time in which Jesus was crucified and died.

Having nothing to do with the sacrifice at the temple in the afternoon. If you've never heard this before then I hope you really understand this because this really is a tremendous and very exciting thing when you realize it.

Verse 6: "And he believed in the LORD…." When you talk about the promise, 'so shall your seed be,' what work would Abraham do? None! There was no work because God told him that's how your seed is going to be. He believed God, even though he was 75 and his wife was 65. Even though they were much younger at those ages than we are, still it is a fact that in many cases when you get that age, the plumbing doesn't work like it used to. So, this becomes a real promise. And we will see that even extended further.

"…And He accounted it to him for righteousness" (v 6)—because if you believe God, meaning that you're going to act upon what God says, believe in His promises even though you do not see how it is going to be done, you believe God, and that's counted as righteousness. And that obeying the voice of God becomes the important thing of believing God.

Verse 7: "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.'" That was in the land of Canaan in which he was sojourning. And Abraham never inherited the land while he was alive. He lived in it; the same way with Isaac and Jacob. They lived in it, sojourned in it.

Verse 8: "And he said, 'Lord GOD, by what shall I know that I shall inherit it?'…. [these next verses are very unusual]: …And He said to him, 'Take Me a heifer of three years old… [ fully grown ] …and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon'" (vs 8-9). He did not build an altar here, as when he built an altar (Gen. 22).

Verse 10: "And he took all these to himself, and divided them in the middle…"—which means he cut their throat to kill them, laid them down on the ground, and he had probably a meat axe to cut them right down the middle; the bloodiest kind of sacrifice that you could have. We'll explain what the sacrifice means, but I'll tell you the name of it. It is called a maledictory oath.

So, he cut them down the middle and laid each piece opposite the other. So, it was probably the back to back of the two halves, and there was a path that went down between them.

"…and laid each piece opposite the other; but he did not divide the birds" (v 10). He put one bird on one side and one on the other side. Now when you do that, guess what happens?

Verse 11: "And when the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away." He did this for something that God was going to do.

Abraham prepared the animals, and the only other thing he did was drive away the birds of prey the come down to get it. You can imagine what they were. Buzzards and if you've seen some of these things of the buzzards and vultures and storks and showing what it's like in Africa when there's a carcass out there, that's probably what he was fighting. Let's follow along very carefully.

Verse 12: "And it came to pass, as the sun was going down…" Notice what we have here. The night before God made the two promises to him—physical seed and spiritual seed. It came morning time and Abram asked the Lord, 'How am I going to know what this is going to be?' Then the Lord said, 'Take these animals cut them down the middle.' Here we have the ending of the day; so, this was an all-day affair.

Verse 12: "And it came to pass, as the sun was going down, that a deep sleep fell upon Abram. And, behold, a horror of great darkness fell upon him!"

This is what you would call a 'death experience.' What does the Bible talk about being dead? It is sleeping! This is simulated death. For what purpose? God was showing him what He was going to do! We'll come back and look at this in a minute.

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.'" So, the sentence reads this way because the parentheses is an insert. That's the sentence! They weren't afflicted 400 years, they sojourn 400 years.

• How did we get 430?
• Where did the 30 years come from?

Remember 85 (Abraham's age).

Verse 14: "And also I will judge that nation whom they shall serve…. [which we now know was Egypt] …And afterward they shall come out with great substance…. [we just read that] …And you shall go to your fathers in peace. You shall be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full" (vs 14-16).

God even gives the heathen a long time to get their act together and see if they will repent. Notice the sequence:

Verse 17: "And it came to pass—when the sun went down and it was dark—… [he's still's in this death darkness and coma, deep sleep] …behold, a smoking furnace and a burning lamp passed between those pieces."

Why was that done? God was showing Abraham what He was going to do! A "…smoking furnace and a burning lamp passed between those pieces." What happen to those pieces with a smoking furnace? The burning lamp was showing that this was God walking through it. But what did the smoking furnace do? It burned up the animals; made them ashes! Remember after Solomon got done with this prayer the burnt offering that he had, fire came down from heaven and consumed it all.

Here God is showing Abraham His [Christ's] future death, which occurred on the Passover Day.

• What day is the Passover Day? The 14th day of the 1st month!
• What day did the children of Israel leave Egypt? The beginning of the 15th!
• What do we have here?
• night
• day
• sunset ends that day
• night
• the next day
• What was the promise that was given on that next day? That the descendents of Abraham would be brought out of their servitude!

Verse 18: "In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, 'I have given this land to your seed, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaim, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites'" (vs 18-21).

• What was also the promise on that night? That He would bring them out of their servitude with great substance!
• What night was that? It said, 'On the very same day 430 years to the very same day'!
• From what? This promise that was given when He said He would bring them out!

On the same day that He gave the promise 430 years later it happened. What day was this day that this promise was given? The 15th day of the 1st month!

• if it's the very same day
• if the 15th day of the 1st month is 430 years later to the very same day going back 430 years earlier that has to be the 15th day of the 1st month.
• if that day was the 15th day of the 1st month,

• What day was the 14th day? The day before!
• What happened on the day before?

God gave the promise and took them out at night and showed him the stars of heaven!

On the day portion of the 14th is when the sacrificial animals were laid out. We're going to see that those sacrificial animals were a type of the death of Jesus Christ. The reason that it was this kind of sacrifice and the mutilation of the bodies was a covenant oath that God made, and also to portray the absolute brutality of the scourging and crucifixion.

We have the 14th day of the 1st month and the 15th day of the 1st month in Gen. 15; this is the first Passover. Gen. 15 gives us the parallel timing between the sacrifices that Abraham was told to give, and the death of Jesus Christ on the 14th.

We have that in The Christian Passover book and we have it in the book The Day Jesus the Christ Died. You need the Passover book!

I've talked to some people and others have written saying, every year before the Passover we go through the Passover book and we learn more every year. Brethren, this contains so much information you cannot just read it once and understand the whole thing.

This Gen. 15, is the first Passover and the first day of Unleavened Bread. Exo. 12 follows through on those same two days with the children of Israel in just a little bit different way than it does in Gen. 15. But it follows in parallel with what happened when Jesus was crucified, where as Exo. 12 does not.

That's why You are Christ's and are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise!

Scriptural References:

• Leviticus 23:1-5
• Exodus 31:12-13
• 1 John 2:3-6
• Exodus 12:11-17, 12, 17, 14-17, 12, 17,14, 18
• Leviticus 23:32, 27, 32
• Exodus 12:18-28
• Exodus 13:8-9
• Exodus 12:30-33, 35-39, 41-50, 40-41
• Genesis 15:1-5
• Matthew 13:43
• Galatians 4:26-28
• Galatians 3:29
• Genesis 15:5-21

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Numbers 33
• Exodus 11
• Deuteronomy 16
• Genesis 27

Also referenced: Books:

• The Christian Passover by Fred R. Coulter
• The Day Jesus the Christ Died by Fred R. Coulter

FRC: po/bo
Transcribed: 3/26/17