Difficult Scriptures #3

More on Passover & Unleavened Bread #3
An Angel Speaks for God

Learn how the New Covenant Passover is to be kept and how NOT to keep it

Fred R. Coulter—March 17, 2018

 - Video |  - PDF | Audio | [Up]

Greetings, everyone! Welcome, brethren, to Sabbath services! Today we're going to cover some different things on the Passover. But first:

The Museum of the Bible:

I received this book from the Museum of the Bible, very interesting how that came together. A lot of work, a lot of money, but there's one thing they're missing: The Holy Bible In Its Original Order, A Faithful Version! Since it is unique, inasmuch as that there is not another Bible in English in one volume that has all the books of the Bible in their original manuscript order.

You've heard me talk about Jon Spokes at Washington Times. Jon Spokes was the head of the advertising department. He would get us full-page ads, even on the back cover, for $400. They were $1200 ads. He's also on our mailing list.

Spokes lives very close to Washington, D.C., where the Museum of the Bible is. He has a lot of contacts and knows a lot of people. He is working to get the Faithful Version Bible in the Museum of the Bible, hopefully with a booth—not to sell, but to have the digital screens:

• a screen for the Scriptures
• a screen for the commentary
• a screen for the appendices

things like that

Not only is this The Holy Bible In Its Original Order, it is the only Bible that has been produced by those who keep

• the commandments of God
• the Sabbath
• the Holy Days
• understand about them

So, think on that!

Spokes is going to approach it from the point of view that they need to have this there because it's the only Bible in the world this way. I appreciate your prayers on that; w hope we can get it in there.

There are a lot of other things in there about a lot of other things: Dead Sea Scrolls, different versions, different artifacts and things like that. That's all part of it.
I know someone wrote an article and said, 'The Bible Museum's not about the Bible. It's about everything else.' That's how you get it.

God is the One Who has to do the calling! They are not an evangelical outreach, but the man who started this—Steven Green—owns Hobby Lobby. Remember: he won the Supreme Court case that since it's a private business he did not have to submit to ObamaCare and do the things that would kill the unborn. He won that case. Green is an evangelical Protestant. There are a lot of evangelical Protestants involved in this. That's a good thing, but it is a witness to the world that God's hand has been every place in the world!

The comment was made that Green was interviewed on one of the Fox News segments and they asked him, 'Why don't you have a picture of Jesus?' His answer was very simple. I don't know how much he believes in the second commandment, but I think he does. He answered very cleverly. He said, 'There are so many different pictures of Jesus, we don't know which one is correct, so we decided not to put one in.'

If we get a booth there, they'll be able to read the Bible on screen, hear the audio, read and hear the commentary, read and hear the appendices, as well. I don't know what it will cost us a year if we get in there, but it will be well worth every penny if we're able to have a booth in there. We'd have to maintain it, I'm sure. Though we have almost everything all ready to go, just a matter of working on it. I asked Randy the other day if he could come up with some concepts for it. He said, 'Yes, we could come up with some concepts for it.' So, we'll see what happens.

If nothing develops out of it, that's the way it goes. If we don't try, we'll never know. We don't know how it's going to go.

Transcript Books & Formatting of the Website:

Ken is keeping busy. Here are the small booklets that he makes. Here is one that he just did. This was done years ago: Assaults Against Jesus Christ. These are about all of the Nag Hammadi Gospels: the gospel of Mary Magdalene; the gospel of different ones. They were buried for 1500 years in the desert in Egypt.

Now they bring them out and they're saying, 'Look at these.' They forget the admonition of the Bible, which I'll summarize it in just an easy summary: Anything that comes out of Egypt is suspect when it comes to Christ!

I didn't even know that we had this. All of this was done by Bonnie Orswell; she is fantastic in developing these booklets and formatting them. We have that. Here's one: Keys to Answered Prayer. Here's one we're going to put up. Dolores was talking about that the other day: The Spirit of God, The Spirit of Man and the Seven Spirits of God.

This is how I want the website to be oriented according to these series: Keys to Answered Prayer, all the sermons there, rather than have an alphabetically listing and on this date I this and on this date I did that and on this date I did the other thing. Rather, compile them all together in the subject.

As I told Ron Cary and John Vogele, we don't want an alphabetical listing, because you never have the important things up front. You can have an alphabetical listing as a tertiary source, but we need the topics together. Same way with this one:

Here's the one we just finished and all ready to go: God the Father Was Not the God of the Old Testament. So, we'll have this right up front, and I let Greg Gatesman—who was a elder with Pacific Church of God, who resigned over this—know that we have all these done and in a booklet, all on one CD. There we go! Ken has all of the sermons for this on one CD, though I gave it over a period of five-weeks.

Who did the Speaking in the Old Testament?:

Let's add to what we have here that God the Father was not the God of the Old Testament: Who did the speaking?

Gen. 22 is where God had Abraham take Isaac for the burnt offering. They got up there and there was no lamb. We don't know which of the mountains of Moriah this was on. Could be very likely that it was at the same place where the temple was later built, but we don't know.

Genesis 22:9: "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" (vs 9-10).

Heb. 11 answers the question why Abraham did this. Consider his age at this point; Abraham was 115-116-years-old and he lived until he was 175.

Before Isaac he had no children, God promised it to him. It took 15 years before that promise was fulfilled, and he was 100-years-old; his wife was 90-years-old. That must have been an interesting occasion. So interesting was it that Sarah laughed and the Lord said, 'Why did you laugh?' She said, 'I didn't laugh.' He said, 'Yes, you laughed.' They named their son Isaac, which means laughter. God promised him a son, so:

• Why take him out and offer him for a burnt offering?
• Is that not against the Law of God?
• Why would God do this?

None of us have been tested to this point. I know for a lot of people before Passover time there are a lot of trials and difficulties that come along. That's the nature of what we're into with God's way and living in this world. This was probably on a Passover that this took place! Abraham was willing to obey God because he counted God as having the ability to restore life to Isaac (Heb. 11). Very interesting.

If you're a Jew and you have this and you don't have the New Testament, and you don't know the other half of the story until the New Testament, and in fact you reject the New Testament, it would be mighty hard for you to understand this.

The reason this was given was because Abraham was not only to be the father of later the children of Israel, but also the father spiritually speaking, not literal. Our literal father is God the Father in the New Testament! This is spiritual forerunner father who was faithful to even sacrifice his own son. There's a parallel between God the Father and Jesus Christ within this. I have that listed in The Christian Passover book. You can read that.

Notice how this is worded, v 11: "And the angel of the LORD called to him from the heavens… [not just heaven, message from the Most High] …and said, 'Abraham! Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.' And He said, 'Do not lay your hand upon the lad, nor do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, for Me'" (vs 11-12).

An angel spoke but what did he bring? He brought the message from the Most High. Those are the words of the Most High, spoken by an angel! Some places I capitalize the angel and say that's the One Who was the Lord God of the Old Testament, but that's not necessarily so.

Verse 13: "And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram was entangled in a thicket by its horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son" We have the whole type of substitutionary sacrifice.

Verse 14: "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.'" A lesson for us:

• whatever the problems
• whatever the difficulties
• whatever the challenge
• whatever the test

God will provide! He will work it out! He doesn't say He's going to work it out so there's no trial. He doesn't tell you He's going to work it out to where you don't have to do anything. We have our part.

Verse 15: "And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham out of heaven the second time, and he said, '"By Myself have I sworn," says the LORD…" This makes it absolutely irrevocable, cannot be changed. God says by Himself.

• Who brought the message? The angel!
• Was that the voice of God the Father? No!
• Was it the message of God the Father? Yes!

"…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)—spiritual seed!

You can read that in The Christian Passover book and The Day Jesus the Christ Died. That becomes clearer and clearer all the way down to the last of human existence.

"…and as the sand which is upon the seashore…." (v 17). Was he quoting God? Of course he was! The angel wasn't swearing by himself. "…'By Myself have I sworn,' says the Lord…" That's the way they carried messages then.

The way that they got king's edicts was that they always had three scribes at hand. When the king was speaking, every word was written down. Then it was compiled together and the final copy given to the king to read. He would sign it, fold it over and then he would put a wax seal on it. When that arrived, that was as good as the king standing there telling them what to do, though the king never got there.

Likewise with this: This is how God does it. Everything from this point forward and also going backward, because that brings in the second resurrection, and so forth, everything is going to come through Abraham.

Gal. 3 is one of the most important chapters in the Bible. Let's understand something concerning what is written here. Paul brings it out that it goes clear back to Abraham. This also shows us why commandment-keeping is important. That's what's really the thing that shows who the people of God and the teachers of God actually are.

As you know, I've been reading G.G. Rupert. The reason he goes by G. G. is because his first name is Greenberry. How he ever got a name like that I don't know. If I had a name like that I'd go by G., too. He gave a summary of the first Epistle of John written out, and when I looked at that and I thought: that's almost exactly the way I write: commentary/Scripture, commentary/Scripture.

• If God inspires something, will He not use the same kind of inspiration? Yes!
• Does that make us anything, if God uses us to do that? No!

If God inspires us to do it, we better do it!

Galatians 3:13: "Christ has redeemed from the curse of the Law…" What is the curse of the Law? Protestants think the Law is the curse. What is the curse? Law breaking! God is no respecter of persons.

Read the curses that are there in Lev. 26 and also in Deut. 28. You can apply that to any nation of the world except that the children of Israel receive the extra blessing through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

That's why it's important to have the histories as it comes on down. That's why we need Joshua, Judges, 1st & 2nd Samuel, 1st & 2nd Kings. 1st & 2nd Chronicles. We need the history, as well—Ezra and Nehemiah—so we can see that if God chooses a people He will deal with them, but also He will correct them first.

• Did God send a warning to the nation of the Assyrians and Nineveh through Jonah? Yes, He did!
• Did they repent? Yes, they did!

That's held out as an example that that's more than what Israel ever did. Rarely did they repent. The curse is law-breaking! What is that? Sin! Sin is the transgression of the Law! This is important to understand coming down to the Passover, because the Passover is the renewal of the New Covenant.

The New Covenant is greater than the Old Covenant, because through the power of the Holy Spirit God is writing His Laws in our mind and heart! That's different than people in the world.

• the stakes are higher
• the rewards are higher
• the blessings are higher

We're going to have trials like Abraham did to see if we're going to be faithful.

Verse 13: "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us…" The whole sacrifice of Jesus Christ is absolutely the most spectacular thing that you could think of:

• physically
• mentally
• spiritually
• historically
• angelically

All of those things had to be met within that one sacrifice. This is why He took upon Him the law of sin and death, and yet, never sinned. For justice He sentenced Himself to the same thing He sentenced Adam and Eve and their descendants to. That's how He redeemed us.

"…(for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree') in order that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles by Christ Jesus, and that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Brethren (I am speaking from a human perspective), even when a man's covenant has been ratified, no one nullifies it, or adds a codicil to it" (vs 13-15).

What you have to do is end it and make another one. That's what He did. But that doesn't mean in ending the covenant with Israel that that did away with the Law. Jesus made it very clear that He didn't come to abolish the Law.

Verse 16: "Now, to Abraham and to his Seed were the promises spoken. He does not say, 'and to your seeds,' as of many; but as of one, 'and to your Seed,' which is Christ."

That was the symbolism of Abraham and Isaac and the offering of Isaac that human beings need a substitutionary sacrifice because they are not capable of their own to become like God wants them to be. It takes:

• loving God
• keeping His commandments
• being obedient
• the perfection,

which will be finalized at the resurrection; we'll be changed completely!

Now then, Paul summarizes everything in v 26: "Because you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ… [clothed] …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 26-29).

That's quite a thing! When you stop and think about it, everything goes back to God and comes forward to us through Abraham and God's Word. That's a tremendous blessing!

There are some people who get weary in well-doing. There are some people who have trials and tests that are very difficult for them to go through. Nevertheless, God will see them through it.

In Heb. 6 Paul is warning about laziness. That can happen very easily today, can't it? He's giving this warning:

Hebrews 6:9: "But, although we speak these things, beloved, we are persuaded of better things concerning you, even the fruits that accompany salvation."

Stop and think of this. Many people say you are 'saved by faith and faith alone.' Why then is God going to judge us by our works if it's only faith? If you can say, 'I believe,' and that's your faith and that's all that it takes, how then are you going to be judged by your works, because you have no works that are based upon your faith. True faith will produce works.

Verse 10: "For God is not unrighteous to forget your work, and the labor of love by which you have showed honor to His name, in that you have served the saints and are continuing to serve them. But we earnestly desire that every one of you be demonstrating the same diligence, unto the full assurance of the hope until the end" (vs 10-11).

This is really needed for us today. I've recently had people write me and say, 'I've almost given up hope.'

• Why did you come to the position that you almost give up hope? Need to ask that!
• Is it a trial? God will see you through it!
• Is it a difficult one? Yes, it may be, but Christ was also crucified!
• Was that easy? No way!

Verse 11: "But we earnestly desire that every one of you be demonstrating the same diligence, unto the full assurance of the hope until the end; so that you do not become lazy…" (vs 11-12).

Today, we have every reason to be lazy because we have everything handed to us. Think about this. One little thing that we have: the remote control for your television.

• How do you react if it doesn't work?
• How mad do you get if you can't find it and want to change the channel?

With it you don't have to do anything except sit there and use your index finger and push the numbers you want. Let's compare that to this:

All of us go to the store. I had to go to the store yesterday. As a matter of fact, I had to go to two stores so that took twice as long. I got apples, limes and lemons at one store, went over to the other store and I got some other things over there. I got some bread, meat, and things like that. Checked it out. As I got in the car, I had my plastic bags, which I paid ten cents for. I thought to myself, 'Fred, what would you have to do if you had to grow all that you just purchased?'

Then I look around and see all these people coming and going and think, what's going to happen when there is a sudden catastrophe and there's a run on food and every shelf in the supermarket is empty and there are no trucks to bring anything else.

I was thinking of that and I drove out. When I leave the supermarket there, I take a right turn and a left and I go down through a little neighborhood. Here's the neighborhood; nice houses, green lawn, cut and trimmed. Cars, cars, cars; everything right there. I thought, I wonder what's going to happen when the real, terrible times come. By the time I got home I had nothing to complain about.

In this age, we have every opportunity to be lazy. "…but that you be imitators of those who through faith and steadfast endurance inherit the promises…. [we have to work] …For God, after promising Abraham, swore by Himself, since He could swear by none greater, saying, 'Surely in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply you.' Now after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise" (vs 12-15).

Very few people realize that Jacob was born before Abraham died. Jacob was two years old when Abraham died, so, he saw Isaac and Jacob. I don't know what he thought about Esau, but nevertheless that's the way it goes.

Verse 16: "For indeed, men swear by the greater, and confirmation by an oath puts an end to all disputes between them."

It's awfully hard for that today because most people do not keep their word. It's too easy to change and too many people give 'what if,' and so forth.

When Dolores used to work for these property managers, her boss John would tell her, reading the leases, reading the purchase agreements: You have to read every single word because if you don't, you're going to have a lawsuit down the road. Dolores was very diligent in that. Can she ever write really good letters; she was a great asset working over there.

When a person gave his word, it was to be kept; much more so with dealings with God! That's why with our baptism we gave our word. God gave His Son.

Verse 17: "In this way God, desiring more abundantly to show the heirs of the promise the unchangeable nature of His own purpose, confirmed it by an oath." God does not need to give an oath. If He says so, it is!

Verse 18: "So that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie…" (v 18). Remember that, impossible for God to lie. That's why it's difficult for us with human nature to comprehend some of these things, because we are easily entertained by our own delusions and our mind, which is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

"…we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to lay hold on the hope that has been set before us" (v 18).

• What is that hope? Eternal life!
• What can you measure against eternal life?

Let's phrase it another way: When you're growing up, you can hardly wait until you're grown up. The reason you grow up is because God put it in your body to do so. Now, when you're an adult, the older you get the harder it becomes. You can read Ecc. 12 that you better do right before you end up in the old folks' home; that's the summary.

When that happens, there are going to be difficulties, problems and circumstances that you never thought would come. When you were younger, you never thought about getting older. When you're young, you look at all those old folks and you say, 'How did they become old?' Stick around, you'll find out. So, there we have it.

That's why God has His purpose, which is unchanging. He's going to work it out His way. Therefore, we have to take refuge in that hope. What is going to be like to be an eternal spirit being who cannot sin? That's the promise!

Verse 19: "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both secure and steadfast, and which enters into the sanctuary within the veil."

He's telling us in so many words, go pray to God because you have entrance through Christ into the very Holy of Holies in heaven above. What greater blessing and access could you have than that? The greatest blessing of all is to have God's Spirit and be able to get on your knees and pray to God!

One way to have the hope restored to you, think about all the prayers that God has answered, and don't be looking at the prayers that He has not yet answered. Some of them are protracted over a period of time.

Verse 20: "Where Jesus has entered for us as a forerunner, having become a High Priest forever according to the order of Melchisedec." That's the thing to keep in mind.

Don't lose hope concerning anything, regardless of what it's going to be. We know there's a time in the future here where there's going to be more martyrdom of the saints. It's going to be difficult for us who have had everything handed to us. Where we have everything with a click of the finger and flip of the switch, or a key—you don't even need keys today, you just have a little bob. You don't even need a key to start a car now or they give you one and if it's close to the car, you can start it. You just push a finger. People thought it was an easy thing when they were cranking up the Model A's. They could get that going with a crank. Today you go and you sit down, plush chair, nice car, push a button and it starts. All that.

When these tough times come, don't get mad at God. He said they're going to come. We need to be as prepared as we can and go from there. That's it!

(go to the next track)

The New Testament Passover:

We're going to look at several things concerning the New Testament Passover. How did people come to the point of combining the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread with the Passover? That's what the Jews have done. We covered that in the Old Testament, but what is the first basic principle to understand?

• Passover is on the 14th
• First day of Unleavened Bread is the 15th
• Jesus kept the Passover on the 14th

We're going to look at a couple of things here that are important. We've already covered why the Jews could not keep a 14th Passover when they were in exile. The reason was they were not in the land. They had to be in the land.

When they came back out of exile, they did keep the 14th Passover during the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. As others came back out of Babylon and there were more Pharisees and Sadducees, then there was the temple sacrifice-Passover of the lamb. They would do that in the afternoon of the 14th. Then they would keep their Passover at the night beginning the 15th. We see evidence of that:

John 18:28—this is after Jesus was arrested and came to Annas: "Now then, they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the judgment hall…" Remember the illustration that we sent out in the letter recently. Where was the Judgment Hall? It was in the area between Fort Antonia and the temple. They had an area in between where they would go.

The Judgment Hall was just right inside Fort Antonia. That was considered unclean property because that area was probably never unleavened. In Fort Antonia, what was one of the main foods that they had? Hogs! They got them from over in the area of the Gentiles.

Remember Jesus and the disciples went down where the man was possessed by the legion in Gadarenes. The demons asked Jesus, 'Let us go into the swine.' Why were there swine there? They were providing for the Roman soldiers. So, there were about 2,000 swine. That's a lot of meat.

Christ said to them, 'Go!' They went into the swine, and then they all went down the steep slope and drowned in the sea. Anything not within the geographical area of the Holy Land, designated for Jews, was unclean. This is why we find this very unusual statement right here; we learn two important things:

• this was after Jesus finished the Passover with His disciples

He kept it on the 14th. This is a little after midnight on the 14th. They took Him to Caiaphas.

• they had a judgment there and it was early

From Caiaphas to the judgment hall where Pilate would sit in judgment

"…It was early. But they did not go into the judgment hall, so that they would not be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover" (v 28).

There were those during the days of Jesus that were eating a 15th Passover. There were those who were keeping it properly on the 14th. I want you to keep this 15th in mind as we come back to Mark 14. We're going to learn several things here about what happened. Before we get into that, you will find in The Christian Passover book detailed explanation of the sacrifice of the Passover lambs at the temple:

• they had three courses of priests
• how long it took
• how many they could sacrifice
• the maximum they could sacrifice would be 18,000 lambs

At that time they had thousands and thousands there to keep the Passover. They would be in tents (Deut. 16, return to your tent in the morning). Keep this in mind as we're reading:

Mark 14:1: "Now, after two days was the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread… [Passover's on the 14th, Feast of Unleavened Bread on the 15th] …and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they might stealthily lay hold of Him and kill Him. But they said, 'Not during the Feast…'" (vs 1-2). Jesus was over in Bethany and He was anointed with a spikenard of oil.

Verse 10: "Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order that he might deliver Him up to them. And after hearing this, they were delighted and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray Him" (vs 10-11).

There had to be a particular time and a particular place where Jesus could be arrested. What would have been a particular time and a particular place that they could have gotten Him very easily? Where He was keeping the Passover!

What did Jesus do this Passover? He didn't tell them where it was going to be! Why? Because Judas Iscariot would immediately run and tell them where they were going to keep the Passover, and they would send the troops out to arrest Him right during Passover. So, here's what happened. We run into another problem here. We need to keep quite a few things in mind.

Verse 12: "And on the first day of the unleaveneds…" Why did I translate it that way? That is a literal translation! Why can this not be the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread? Yet, the first day of the unleaveneds?

If you read Exo. 13, what was the command of getting rid of leaven? You're not to have any leaven seen in your borders! How hard is it for you to unleaven your home? That depends whether some kid puts a hamburger in the back seat of the car! I don't know if it was Jonathan or David, or whoever did it, but it was there. It must have been there for a couple of years because it was dry.

Get rid of all leaven, the whole town, every place, every building. They did it beginning on the 13th and that went over into the beginning of the 14th.

Is the Passover Day an unleavened bread day? Yes! If you have problems with that, then get The Christian Passover book and read all the details concerning it to explain it.

Verse 12: "And on the first day of the unleaveneds, when they were killing the Passover lambs…" Does it say at the temple? No!

The people would come to Jerusalem and keep a 14th Passover in their tents around Jerusalem. Notice the setting: Here are the disciples, they are leaving Bethany. They were coming over the top of the Mount of Olives and all around there are all these tents, all the way coming back to Bethany.

When were they to kill the Passover lamb? Between the two evenings, right as the sun went down. So, here you are sunset. The disciples were seeing the Passover lambs being killed. Jesus hadn't told them anything about the Passover, because He didn't want Judas to know where they were to go.

"…His disciples said to Him, 'Where do You desire that we go and prepare, so that You may eat the Passover?'" (v 12). He ate it on the 14th. This tells us the 14th day of the first month is an unleavened bread day; the first day of unleavened bread for the Passover, but not the first day of the Feast.

This is why Josephus writes, and you need to read the quote there that 'we have eight days of Unleavened Bread.' That's how you get eight days of Unleavened Bread.

Verse 13: "And He sent two of His disciples and said to them, 'Go into the city, and you shall meet a man carrying a pitcher of water; follow him.'" Judas Iscariot wouldn't know where that was. He didn't send Judas; He sent Peter and John. In another account you can read that.

Verse 14: "And whatever house he shall enter…" Where that would be? How is all this worked out? By the angels! The Passover Day was a fantastic conflict between God and Satan, Christ, the angels and demons, and the priests and Judas. There's a lot going on. Satan was there and who did Satan possess? Judas! Keep all of that in mind.

Verse 14: "…say to the master of the house that the Teacher says say to the master of the house that the Teacher says, 'Where is the guest chamber, where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?'"

• What was ready there?
• What do you suppose the master of the house would have already had? The lamb all ready for the domestic Passover in the house!

He would have killed the lamb, had it all ready to go. Doesn't take long. When I was writing The Christian Passover book we did the literal thing, as I mentioned: twenty minutes, that's how long it takes to get a lamb ready.

Verse 15: "'And he shall show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. There prepare for us.'…. [Judas didn't know] …And His disciples went away: and when they came into the city, they found it exactly as He had said to them; and they prepared the Passover. Now after evening had come, He came with the twelve" (vs 15-17).

He came with the rest of them and they were all together there. That's the only time that Judas knew where the Passover would be, because he came with Jesus.

Sidebar concerning getting rid of the leaven: If you're garbage can is on the street and you put it in the garbage can on the street, that's off your property, out of your border.

What we used to do was, because we had the office here, we would bundle it all up—and there's a bin right here, so we'd get rid of it here. The way they got rid of it was they would burn it.

Verse 18: "And as they sat and were eating, Jesus said…" We're going to answer the question here a little later, because there are still some people who think you ought to have a lamb dinner with the Passover at home. Why did Christ have the lamb there, and yet, we don't find that eating meat was part of the Passover? Because He had to end the Old Covenant and He had to begin the New Covenant! We'll see the conflict that arose in Corinth a little bit later.

Verse 18: "And as they sat and were eating, Jesus said, 'Truly I say to you, one of you shall betray Me, even he who is eating with Me.' And they began to be extremely sad, and said to Him one by one, 'Is it I?' And another, 'Is it I?' But He answered and said to them, 'The one who is dipping a morsel into the dish with Me, he is the one of you twelve. The Son of man indeed goes, just as it has been written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would be better for that man if he had not been born.'" (vs 18-21).

Here's another problem. What you're going to find, the reason that The Christian Passover book is so thick is because there are so many mistakes concerning the Passover and also much of it has to do with the translation.

We'll answer why foot-washing has to be first. Today we're all sanitary. I think every one of us makes sure that we wash our feet and put on clean socks before we come to Passover. You wouldn't want your smelly feet to be known on Passover. Consider the disciples and Christ:

• How did they move about?
• What was their transportation? Foot power!
• What did they wear? Sandals!
• What were the roads like? Some were paved with rocks, but there's dirt!
• What else?

They didn't have to put up with exhaust from cars, but they had to put with exhaust of literal dung from animals that would fall on the street! The lowest job of all was dung cleaner, had to clean it. There's always residue on the ground. There was foot-washing first, clean the feet.

The King James Version says, 'When supper ended…' The Greek is the verb beginning. So, here's the proper translation:

John 13:2: "And after supper began… [right after it started] …(the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, that he should betray Him)." Remember he hadn't yet gone to the priest to tell him where Jesus was.

Verse 13: "Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments…" (vs 3-4)—did all the foot-washing. We won't go into that because we'll cover that Passover night.

Now here's the lesson for that, v 12: "Therefore, when He had washed their feet, and had taken His garments, and had sat down again, He said to them, 'Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me the Teacher and the Lord, and you speak rightly, because I am. Therefore, if I, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also are duty-bound to wash one another's feet'" (vs 12-14). That means under obligation to wash one another's feet.

What's one of the first things that they get rid of? Foot-washing! Remember the whole lesson of unleavened bread: a little leaven leavens the whole lump! So, when you do away with one thing, then how sacred is the next thing, and how sacred is the next thing?

Verse 15: "For I have given you an example, to show that you also should do exactly as I have done to you…. [foot-washing is required; Christ said so] …Truly, truly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his lord, nor a messenger greater than he who sent him" (vs 15-16).

That's why men come along and raise themselves up in positions they shouldn't be and actually place them in positions greater than God by saying the Law is done away; by saying we don't need to keep the commandments of God. When God created them all for our own well-being and good. This is for the New Covenant for eternal life.

Verse 17: "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them…. [then He talks about Judas Iscariot] …I am not speaking of you all; for I know whom I have chosen, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled: 'He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.'" I am telling you at this time, before it happens, so that when it does happen, you may believe that I AM. Truly, truly I tell you, the one who receives whomever I send is receiving Me; and the one who receives Me is receiving Him Who sent Me" (vs 17-20).

How important is all of this? God looks at things entirely differently than we do!

Verse 21: "As He was saying these things, Jesus was troubled in spirit, and testified, saying, 'Truly, truly I tell you, one of you shall betray Me.' Then the disciples looked at one another, wondering of whom He was speaking. Now one of His disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was leaning on Jesus' chest. And so, Simon Peter motioned to him to ask who was the one of whom He was speaking. Then he leaned back on Jesus' chest and asked Him, 'Lord, who is it?' Jesus answered, 'It is the one to whom I shall give a sop after I have dipped it.'…." (vs 21-26).

Some people say then it wasn't unleavened bread because a sop is leavened bread. Have you ever heard of Fritos scoopers? Unleavened! Can you scoop up a little morsel of something with it? Yes!

Here in California and other places, there are such things as tacos. Can you take a taco and make a little spoon out of part of the taco to get a little morsel? Of course you could!

"'…And when He had dipped the sop, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, Simon's son. And after the sop, Satan entered into him…." (vs 26-27). Satan was there on the Passover night. This is big-time battle going on.

"…Then Jesus said to him, 'What you do, do quickly'" (v 27). Think of that! Think about what Jesus did as God in the flesh. He submitted Himself to be killed by Satan the devil, who is the author of sin. Then Judas left!

Mark 14:22: "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread; and after blessing it, He broke it and gave it to them, and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body'"—which we will see in another Scripture: 'Broken for you.'

Verse 23: "And He took the cup; and after giving thanks, He gave it to them; and they all drank of it. And He said to them, 'This is My blood, the blood of the New Covenant, which is poured out for many" (vs 23-24). That's why we have the unleavened bread and the wine.

In The Christian Passover book I explain 1-Cor. 11 thoroughly about as often as. Look at the troubles they were already having with the Passover in Corinth. What other problems did they have in Corinth, in addition to the one who was committing incest with his stepmother?

• playing politics
• following men
• saying that the resurrection is past
• saying that there is no resurrection

Here we have all of these ideas coming in from the pagan Greek religions: immortality of the soul, like we covered. The only one who has immortality, referring to Christ, is compared to the kings of the world. All the kings of the world then were claimed to be immortal.

Sidebar: Dolores and I were watching a special on the one in China, the emperor who had every one of his 3,000 soldiers replicated in stone and buried with him where he was buried. Later they found out that in order to make all of those human-like replications of all that were in his army, they imported sculptors from Greece.

Paul had to cover about long hair, short hair, shaven head, all of this. We won't get into that at this point.

1-Corinthians 11:17: "Now in this that I am commanding you, I do not praise you, because when you assemble together, it is not for the better but for the worse."

Have you ever gone to Church, you're hoping everything is good, wonderful; you're in a good attitude. You've been prayed up, you've been studied up and you're feeling really great. It's the Sabbath Day and you go to Church and it is a bust. You ever had Sabbaths like that? That's what they were having here.

Verse 18: "For first of all, I hear that there are divisions among you when you are assembled together in the Church, and I partly believe it. For it is necessary… [here's why heresies come] …that heresies be among you, so that the ones who are approved may become manifest among you" (vs 18-19).

How are you approved? By holding fast to the Truth! That's how it is. So, Paul begins to explain it:

Verse 20: "Therefore, when you assemble together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's supper." What do they call it in the churches? The Lord's Supper!

What happened in Worldwide Church of God when they were bringing in the heresy? What did they start calling the 14th Passover? The Lord's Supper!

In the Greek, the word not comes from the Greek word 'ou' or 'ouk.' That means the absolute negation of the reality that that statement may be true.

There are two words, as I have explained. I'll explain them again. One for the thought is 'me'—long 'e.' That means don't think it. 'Ou' or 'ouk' is the absolute impossibility of the reality of it being.

1-John 4:12: "No one has seen God at any time…" the Greek is very strong; it is 'oudeis' meaning the absolute impossibility of anyone having seen God the Father. When he wrote that, that was a long, long time after much of the New Testament had been written. Here Paul is saying you are not to eat the Lord's Supper:

• He ate his on the Passover night
• you're not to call it because you're not to eat a supper

1-Corinthians 11:21: "For in eating, everyone takes his own supper first; now on the one hand, someone goes hungry; but on the other hand, another becomes drunken. WHAT!.… [he's really angry here] …Don't you have houses for eating and drinking?...." (vs 21-22).

Verse 34: "But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that there will be no cause for judgment when you assemble together.…" They were assembling in a church meeting hall to keep the Passover.

I had one man come up to me and try and prove to me that we ought to have a dinner of lamb along with the Passover. Then the question comes up: What are you going to do if you keep the Passover at home? Are you to eat? Yes, but eat separately before, very simple. It's not complicated. You don't eat a meal with the Passover. Jesus had to because He had to end the Old Covenant and begin the New.

Verse 22: "WHAT! Don't you have houses for eating and drinking? Or do you despise the Church of God, and put to shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you! For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night…" (vs 22-23). When did He keep the Passover? At night!

• Why then do they keep the Lord's Supper either the first Sabbath of the quarter in the morning at church if you're a Seventh Day Adventist?

or

• the first Sunday of the quarter if you belong to the Protestants, and call it the Lord's Supper?
• How far removed can you be from the Truth?
• Isn't that a testimony to how much a little leaven produces in the long run? Yes, indeed!

"…in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and after giving thanks, He broke it and said… [this is a literal translation here] …'Take eat; this is My body, which is being broken for you….'" (vs 23-24)—present tense passive. When we take of that bread, it's like we are in remembrance of His body being broken.

The one good thing that Mel Gibson did in his movie—Passion of the Christ—was to show the gruesomeness of the scourging. He did a good job of that. Dolores and I went and saw that. I think that's one of the last movies I saw. I don't like to go to movies anymore. You go to a movie, sit there and the music blasts through every cell of your being. Most of them now are demonically oriented. Just forget about movies!

"…This do in the remembrance of Me" (v 24). This shows that the night He took it and it is the remembrance, a memorial of Him, not only His crucifixion, but His whole life.

Here's another tricky phrase, v 26: "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you solemnly proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes." So people read "…as often as…" and they say, that whenever you want to: morning, noon, night. The Catholics have the Eucharist every day. On Sunday if it's a large congregation, they have it three or four times a day.

It's not noted here, but the Greek has a special word that is put in places where you need to understand the conditions; it is spelled 'alphaneu,' or 'an,' and pronounced on. Whenever that is there, that means there are conditions attached to as often as. The Greek here is 'hosakis,' with the word on means as often as the conditions dictate.

Rev. 11 is very interesting: two witnesses. What are the conditions of Passover? Once a year on the 14th day of the first month at night! We start a little after sunset and by time we get through the foot-washing, get into the bread and the wine it's night. Those are the conditions! Here it's entirely different:

Revelation 11:6: "These… [the two witnesses] …have authority to shut heaven so that no rain may fall in the days of their prophecy; and they have authority over the waters, to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague, as often as they will"—'hosakis,' without on; no conditions here! So as often as you do is once a year!

Sidebar: We won't go there, but I'll have to do it sometime so someone remind me of it. In Matt. 5 where Jesus said, 'I did not come to abolish the Law. Don't think about it.' It uses both 'ouk' and 'me.' Also, He said, 'Not one jot or tittle shall in any way pass from the Law until all is fulfilled.' Guess what is attached with all fulfilled? 'On.' Telling us it's conditioned on that, meaning since heaven and earth are never going to go away, just be replaced with a new heaven and earth, that the laws are always going to be there. How's God going to run the universe without law?

1-Corinthians 11:25: "…'This do, as often as you drink it, in the remembrance of Me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup… [once a year] …you solemnly proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes" (vs 25-26).

That's how often it's to be done. Once a year until He comes. What are we going to do after He comes? We're not told, but we'll find out. So, let's all be in the resurrection so we'll know.

Verse 27: "For this reason, if anyone shall eat this bread or shall drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, he shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord." All those conditions are covered in The Christian Passover book and the Passover Ceremony booklet, as well.

Verse 28: "But let a man examine himself, and let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup accordingly." If you don't, you're eating and drinking judgment to yourself.

Verse 31 is a key important one: "Now, if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged."But when God judges us, then He's doing it so that we're not condemned with the world.

That covers between what we've had before and now, some of the difficult Scriptures concerning the Passover. The Passover is so important that every attack that can be mustered against it has been brought up by so many people through the centuries, that it's essential for us to understand these things.

I don't know if you're going to run into other brethren who are wandering away, or whatever may be, but you wait and see. Whenever they start leaving the Truth, then they eventually, if they don't repent, leave it altogether!

Scriptural References:

• Genesis 22:9-17
• Galatians 3:13-16, 26-29
• Hebrews 6:9-20
• John 18:28
• Mark 14:1-2, 10-21
• John 13:1-4, 12-27
• Mark 14:22-24
• 1-Corinthians 11:17-20
• 1 John 4:12
• 1-Corinthians 11:21-22, 34, 22-24, 26
• Revelation 11:6
• 1-Corinthians 11:25-28, 31

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Hebrews 11
• Leviticus 26
• Deuteronomy 28
• Ecclesiastes 12
• Deuteronomy 16
• Exodus 13
• 1-John 4:12
• Matthew 5

Also referenced:

Transcript Books:

• Assaults Against Jesus Christ
• Keys to Answered Prayer
• The Spirit of God, Spirit of Man & Seven Spirits of God
• God the Father Was Not the God of the Old Testament

Booklet: Passover Ceremony
Books:

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

FRC:lp
Transcribed: 3-23-18
Formatted: bo—3/24/17

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