Passover Questions for a Protestant

Fred R. Coulter—March 24, 2012

 - PDF | Audio | [Up]

Let's see if this kind of approach may get them into a corner where they have to think:

• Do you believe in God? Oh, of course, I believe in God
• Do you believe that God is perfect? Yes!
• Do you believe that God is love? Yes!
• Do you believe that there is salvation through Jesus Christ? Yes!

God is perfect. You come back to that again.

• Can God lie? No, God can't lie!
• Do you agree He's perfect? Yes!
• Do you agree that everything that God has done is perfect? Yes!

Gottcha!

• Really?
• Now you can memorize this part of Psalm 19. If God is perfect and He cannot lie and whatever God does is good, even the destruction of the wicked, which you believe they will burn in hell forever.

Now you can take it one step further:

• Do you believe that the Law has been done away? Yes, indeed!
• If you had a diamond the size of a soccer ball or a bowling ball, perfect diamond, not a single flaw, cut and polished to perfection, would you throw it away? Of course not!
• Would you accept it for a glass imitation that looked almost like it? Of course not!

So, you would accept the perfect diamond. You say God is perfect. You believe everything He does is perfect. Is that true? You need to think about this, because maybe you have thrown away the diamond and you don't even know it.

Now you've got them, Psalm 19:7: "The Law of the LORD is perfect..." Just let it sink in a little bit.

• If God is perfect and the Law is perfect, why would Jesus do away with the Law?
• You believe in the New Testament?
• You believe the words of Jesus?
• What did He say concerning the Law and the Prophets?

He said, 'Do not think that I've come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come to fulfill'—and that is to complete.

• So why would you believe that the Law has been done away? Oh, that's what my church teaches. That's what Paul wrote!
  • Then why did Jesus say, 'One dot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law until all is fulfilled?
  • Do you believe everything that's in the Bible, all prophecies have been fulfilled?
  • What else did Jesus say about His Word? 'Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.'
  • That's true, do you believe that? Yes! I do.
• Who was Jesus?
• Do you believe He was God manifested in the flesh? Oh yes, I do!
• Do you believe what the Apostle John wrote that 'in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God'?
• Do you believe that?
• Do you believe that He was the Lord God of the Old Testament?

If so, then He gave a perfect Law!

• Would you accuse Jesus of throwing away something perfect?

How could thoughts like this ever get in to what is called Christianity? Then you just might give them a little more to think about here. Verse 7: "The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul…"

• Do you believe in redemption? Oh, yes!
• Do you believe we're all sinners? Oh, yes!
• How are you restored? Through forgiveness!
• Forgiveness of what? Forgiveness of sin!
• You believe in sin? Oh, yes! I believe in sin!

Gottcha!!

• What is sin? 'Sin is the transgression of the law.'

And it's even broader than that, sin is lawlessness! "...restoring the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple" (v 7).

• Does God want us to be wise in His Word?

Verse 8: "The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandments of the LORD are pure..."

How is it that so many churches believe the Law is done away when it's perfect? How is it that so many believe that Paul got rid of the Law? Then you need to ask:

• Can any man change what God has done?
• You think he can?
• Did God accept Cain's sacrifice when he did it his own way?
• What did He say of that sacrifice?

Cain was well intentioned. He came to God with a good heart. 'Lord, I'm going to give you what I decide to give you.' God says, 'You give as I tell you to give in the way that I tell you to give.'

• What did God say that that attitude was and his offering was? He said it was sin!

Then He said to Cain, He said, 'If you do well, will you not be accepted?' Of course! 'But if you do not well, sin lies at the door.'

• Have you ever thought of evaluating your spiritual life on this basis? Well, no!
• You believe it's all right to steal? No, of course not!
• You believe it's all right to murder? No, absolutely not!
• You believe it's all right to disobey your father and mother, dishonor them? In some cases I might!
• Should we lie?
• Should we bear false witness? Of course, not, shouldn't bear false witness!
• If you say that God did something, when He didn't do it, is that false witness?
• So where does that put you?

Now let's go another step further.

• Do you believe that we should worship the true God? Oh yes, I do!
• Do you believe that we shouldn't have any idols, make them, or bow down to them? Now the Catholics say, 'We really don't worship them, but we venerate them.'

So, if you have a Catholic that you're talking to, you can say—and I did this to a Catholic and he did what I said and he's no longer a Catholic, he's now baptized—'Why don't you go to your priest?' He was into the Catholic Church pretty good. As a matter of fact, he was even wanting to take seminary so he could become a deacon, so that's kind of a half-priest.

So I said, 'Why don't you ask your priest why the catechism books change the Ten Commandments?' Because they remove the second commandment, which actually is the longest one. It's a little bit longer than the Sabbath.

So I said, 'Why don't you get your Douay Version of your Bible when you get home and you look up Exo. 20 and you will see that it says, 'You shall not make any graven image of any likeness of anything that's in heaven above, that's on the earth beneath or in the waters under the earth. You shall not bow down to them.'

Ask your priest why in the catechism it's one way and in the Bible they profess to use it's another way. He got the priest to admit they don't need the Bible. That was it, he was out the door.

This is a great Psalm to use in cases like this. There are a lot of people out there who are very sincere. It's like one man told me, 'I got tired of hearing the same message every Sunday.'

Verse 9: "The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether."

• Do you believe that's the Word of God?

This fear means you hold God in great awe—awesome.

• Would you fear to change the Word of God?
• Have you ever read what it says there at the end of the book of Revelation?
• If you add to or take away from?
• Would you like something greater than gold?

Now myself, I'm kind of tired of all these gold ads. Between the gold ads and the side effects of these drugs... If you want to know what they're really saying, put it on mute with the stringer, so the words are printed out.

Verse 10: "More to be desired than gold, yea, much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb." Do you sometimes have to check your behavior because you do things that aren't right? How do you know what's right and wrong? What is your standard for it? God has given His Word.

Verse 11: "Moreover by them... [the Law, the Testimony, the precepts, the commandments, the fear] ...Your servant is warned..." Wouldn't you like it so that you would have a warning system in your mind that would say, 'Don't do that.' or 'I made a mistake.' Yes!, you want that early warning—don't you?

"...in keeping them... [you're trying to work out your own salvation. No!] ...there is great reward" (v 11).

• What's the greatest reward you can receive?
• You want to live forever?
• Isn't that the greatest reward?
• You want to love God forever?
• You want to be a son or daughter of God forever?

"...in keeping them there is great reward.... [This whole Psalm from v 7 to the end of it, these 8 verses, because it's inclusive counting, are tremendous.] ...Who can understand his errors?…." (vs 11-12).

• Do you know right from wrong?
• Do you know good from evil?
• Do you know how to resist Satan the devil when he comes along and he gives you a benefit?

All of his benefits end up being sin! He started out with Adam and Eve, 'I'll give you a benefit.' How did that turn out? How's it turning out with a government that is not following the laws of God? In an entitlement society, you get a benefit, now you've got to do what they say.

"…Oh, cleanse me from my secret faults." (V 12). You can just look him right in the eye and say:

• You know and I know what lies deep in the mind may not be right with God.
• Would you like that change?'

Verse 13: "And keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; do not let them rule over me..."

• Do you have trouble fighting sin?
• What is your sin?
• Have you ever been honest with yourself?
• What really is your sin?
• Do you want to get rid of it?
• Do you want to have it wiped away?

'Oh, I know through the blood of Jesus Christ.'

• What do you do when it's wiped away through the blood of Jesus Christ?
• What did the Apostle Paul say?

He said, 'Do we abolish the Law because of grace?' He said, 'May it never be, we establish law!' Law is only worthwhile if it's in our minds and it guides us with the Holy Spirit.

"...then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression…. [That's a tremendous situation here—isn't it?] …Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer" (vs 13-14). There's an awful lot in that Psalm—isn't there?

Let's tie this in with something else here. I had quite an experience in talking with some ex-Church of Christ. Had a Bible study with them in their home and that's where that Catholic man was also.

When we took a break, because we were going through the Gospel of John and 1-John, he says, 'You know they never read this in the Church of Christ.' I said, 'You're kidding.' He said, 'No, hardly ever read these things.' I said, 'Why?' He said, 'They tell you if you have Christ, nothing else matters. You don't have to worry about the prophecies in the Bible. You don't have to worry about the Old Testament.' I was dumbfounded. But they do believe in this:

1-John 3:16: "By this very act we have known the love of God because He laid down His life for us: and we ourselves are to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his feelings of compassion from him, how can the love of God be dwelling in him? My little children, we should not love in word, nor with our tongues; rather, we should love in deed and in Truth" (vs 16-18).

Then you can go over to 1-John 5:3, which says: "For this is the love of God: that we keep His commandments…" Amazing—isn't it?

1-John 3:19: "And in this way we know that we are of the Truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him."

• Are you sure of your salvation?
• Are you really, really sure?
• How do you treat the Word of God?
• How do you treat the commandments of God?

Verse 20: "That if our hears condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and knows all things.... [we need to repent] ...Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, then we have confidence toward God. And whatever we may ask we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and practice those things that are pleasing in His sight" (vs 20-22). All these things combined. Can a man please God? Yes!! How?

• by loving God
• confessing sin
• keeping His commandments
• studying His Word
• having our lives orientated by God's Word within us

Law is no good out here written down in some book or inscribed upon tables of stone. Did it ever make the children of Israel do it? No! Did it ever make the Protestants do it, though they have the whole Bible? No! Law is only good if it's right here in the mind and in the heart. So, you can explain that to him.

• You want to have your prayers answered? Yes!

Verse 22: "And whatever we may ask we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and practice those things that are pleasing in His sight…. [The next verse they might think, 'Gottcha.'] …And this is His commandment: that we believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and that we love one another, exactly as He gave commandment to us…. [Here's the one that comes back the other way]: …And the one who keeps His commandments is dwelling in Him, and He in him; and by this we know that He is dwelling in us: by the Spirit which He has given to us" (vs 22-24). This is where we need to come to in our Christian life: we know! We realize!

Let's tie all this in with the Passover. Pretty soon we're going to keep the Passover. That renews the covenant, as we covered last night, the covenant of eternal life. God's commitment is there absolutely, immovable, absolutely true, promises are true, cannot go back on it. God cannot lie. If we look at our lives this way—because we're still in the flesh—we know we're going to be saved. But if we look at ourselves like a two-letter word if, because in the equation of eternal life, there's no question of what God is going to do or not do.

What will we do? That's why God gives the daily prayer: Forgive us our sins as we forgive others. The more we have God's Spirit and His laws written in our hearts and our minds, the more we're going to find that we need repentance. I hope that you all have gone through the series, The Washing of the Water by the Word, how we need our minds cleansed.

I hate it when some stupid commercial comes on with some catchy little tune and then I'm going along and all of sudden it rolls through your mind and you can't get rid of it.

We are the big question mark, the big IF. However, if we do what we just read in 1-John 3, we love God and keep His commandments and always remember that the love of God for us is expressed through Jesus Christ—not only His sacrifice, but His whole life. Living in the flesh, what did He say? He said—you might use this for the Protestants, too—'Of myself I can do nothing.' And of from the Greek means out from within me as a person.

If Jesus couldn't do anything, but what the Father taught Him, what He saw the Father do and what the Father told Him to do, how come people believe they can do away with the perfect Law of God? Who's doing is that? Is that not the doing of men? If they're coming along pretty good at this point, then what you need to do is you need to suggest that they get the book, Lord, What Should I Do? Maybe even the one on Judaism (.Judaism—A Revelation of Moses or Religion of Men?)

We've covered the maledictory oath of baptism that we take. We'll do it in the order that we do on the Passover night. We've gone over the Scriptures many times—haven't we? Let's see what foot-washing really, really means and why we need to do it.

John 13:12: "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?'" Now, think of it this way: We're all brothers and sisters in Christ—right? When you wash one another's feet, have you ever thought that Christ in you is also doing it with you? Think on that!

Verse 13: "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... [the lowliest task of the lowest of the low of the servants in the household] ...you also are duty-bound... [That's what it means in the Greek—duty-bound.] ...to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, to show that you also should do exactly as I have done to you" (vs 13-15). Why? What's the reason? Very, very essential, especially for the apostles!

Here's the reason, v 16: "Truly, truly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his lord... [Are we all not servants of God, brethren of Christ? Yes, indeed!] ...nor a messenger greater than he who sent him." If you're sent to bring a message, can you leave any words out? Can you add to them? No, you can't! Are to handle it honestly? We're all stewards, in that sense, and stewards means that we use the property of God to benefit God. This is how the Church is edified.

Verse 17: "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them." You see how that narrows the field down? Yes, indeed! This is so we won't exalt ourselves above God. Every servant or every messenger who changes the message or changes the wording, or puts himself between God and the person is going against the whole meaning of foot-washing. He's in a sense exalting himself above Christ, because Christ said, 'I have washed your feet.'

There are some people who believe that it was leavened bread that they had at the supper, because it says Jesus dipped the sop and that had to be leavened, because you don't have a sop unless you have leaven. That's the wrong reasoning. Have you ever had chips and dip? Do you put food on the chip? Do you eat it? Yes! What kind of bread did God say was to be for the Passover? Unleavened bread! We'll add a little more to this when we come to the account in Luke.

Matthew 26:26: "And as they were eating, Jesus took the bread and blessed it; then He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, 'Take eat; this is My body." Symbolic, of course.

Here's another good one for the Catholics who say, 'At the mass the priest commands by his words Jesus to put His flesh and blood into the host and into the wine.'

• Why can that not happen? No longer flesh and blood!
• Why cannot a priest do that? No man can command God!

No wonder it's a mystery. It's symbolic of His body.

Verse 27: "And He took the cup; and after giving thanks, He gave it to them, saying, 'All of you drink of it; for this is My blood, the blood of the New Covenant, which is poured out for many for the remission of sins'" (vs 27-28). Can't be any greater sacrifice than that.

Years ago—and many of you may remember this—when the Passover controversy came up in 1974? Was it the 14th or the 15th? Remember that? I was there at the conference, and I didn't know it but they were tape-recording every one of the rooms and I was very vocal. There were two scholars, a so-called Dr. Kuhn and Lester Grabbe. They wrote a paper trying to prove that the Passover was really on the 15th and what Jesus took was not the Passover. I had just finished sending out a lot of those first edition of A Harmony of the Gospels. In reality that first edition of A Harmony of the Gospels was my 'sanity' project, because of all the insanity going on at headquarters. It was piled higher and deeper and those were not PhDs.

I figured this: Stay out of the fight and get your mind on Christ. That's why I did A Harmony of the Gospels. There are other factors involved in it, too. But they tried to convince us that sunset was not sunset, that morning was not morning. I was confronted with a problem and that problem was this: either we find in the Bible how God used the two terms, you probably heard these before: 'ba erev' and 'ben ha arbayim.' You've heard those, you've read those—right?

One little clue. If you go by Strong's Concordance, you will never find 'ben ha arbayim' (between the two evenings) in Strong's Concordance because it is a derivative of 'ba erev' (sunset).

So if you think, 'I'll prove them wrong. I'll get out my Strong's Concordance.' BINGO! Can't prove it. I had to say to myself, do you want the truth or you're stuck with the proposition: either it is in the Bible how God used 'ba erev' (sunset) and 'ben ha arbayim' (between the two evenings) to show us the time setting of it or you have to agree with Kuhn and Grabbe. Because after all, aren't the Jews right? The real question is: When, since Jesus, have they ever been right except for preserving the Scripture and the Calculated Hebrew Calendar? I put in there, and you'll read probably read it at the end there, that if there's anything new concerning the Passover, etc. I'll be sure and write about it.

In trying to figure out the problem there, one of them was: When was the lamb slain? Exo. 12 says, 'ben ha arbayim'—between the two evenings. We interpreted that as: after 'ba erev' (sunset), 'ben ha arbayim' begins—from sunset to dark. If you have The Christian Passover book you can go back and read that.

Exo. 16 in the Faithful Version has been properly translated, which proves by the context of God's own commands that 'ben ha arbayim' comes after 'ba erev.' Between the two evenings come after sunset—sunset to dark!

Then I was confronted with another problem: When in the New Testament did they kill the lambs?Now you know why The Christian Passover book is so thick. Here's one of those great, wonderful verses that unlocks two very important things.

First, if you have a King James Version, Matthew 26:17[transcriber's correction] reads: "Now, the first day of the feast of unleavened bread..."—when they killed the Passover. That's incorrect! Does the Passover come before Unleavened Bread or during Unleavened Bread? Comes before! But the Greek here is: "On the first day… The words feast of were added. So you take that out. The literal translation is: "Now, on the first of the unleaveneds..."

What are we to eat with the Passover? Unleavened bread! This means the 'first day of the unleaveneds' is the Passover Day. The Passover day is unleavened bread day because Egypt was destroyed long before McDonald's came into existence. So you couldn't go have an 'Egg McMuffin' after you had the Passover, because there were none in Rameses. I'm being a little facetious.

When you go to the Feast of Tabernacles, what do you call it? The Feast of Tabernacles—right? When you use the term Feast of Tabernacles, does that not include the extra 8th day? Yes! So, here's the symmetry. Just as there is an 8th day after 7 days of Feast of Tabernacles, there is the Passover day, which is the first day of the year of the unleaveneds! That means you unleaven your home in preparation for the Passover.

I was jumping up and down when I had all that figured out.

(go to the next track)

The next one takes a little knowing the Greek verbs, Mark 14:12: "...when they were killing the Passover lambs..." That is a literal translation. I think the King James says 'when they killed the Passover.' No! The Greek verbs are very specific. This means: "…when they were killing the Passover lambs…"—present tense passive, meaning they were killing at that moment the Passover lambs.

Were the disciples at the temple? No, they weren't! It doesn't say, 'And when they were killing the Passover lambs at the temple.' No temple sacrifice Passover lambs. I've got that all answered in the book. Here's the thing that did it.

Let's read the context and see how this all makes sense. Jesus and the disciples had been going up to Jerusalem to keep the Passover. Jesus had not told them one thing about where to keep the Passover. He didn't give them any instructions concerning it. So they're coming into town. They're coming in from Bethany and Bethany was in the greater area for the Passover. If they were killing the Passover lambs, these had to be the domestic killed lambs. Couldn't be the temple. Let's see where Jesus kept the Passover. That's why the Passover book is about the domestic vs the temple.

Seeing this the disciples were wondering, 'What's going on, He hasn't told us anything.' "…His disciples said to Him, 'Where do You desire that we go and prepare, so that You may eat... [the Lord's Supper. No!] ...You may eat the Passover?'" (v 12). What did they keep? The Passover! Could not have been a pre-Passover Passover. Christ had it already worked out.

Verse 13: "And He [Jesus] sent two of His disciples, and said to them, 'Go into the city... [Where was the temple? The temple was in the city—correct? If He says go into the city they were what? Not yet in the city! Simple deductive reasoning.] ...and you shall meet a man carrying a pitcher of water; follow him.'" How's that for specific instructions? Worked out just fine. I wonder if this was the water for washing feet?

"'...follow him. And whatever house... [Where did they keep the Passover? Domestic—right?] ...whatever house he shall enter, say to the master of the house that the Teacher says, "Where is the guest chamber, where I may eat the... [Lord's Supper] ...with My disciples?…. [NO!] ...where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?" And he shall show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. There prepare for us'" (vs 13-15).

The upper room was already furnished. The disciples did not have a lamb. Jesus did not have a lamb. They were already seeing them kill the lambs while they were on their way to the city. What do you suppose had to happen? The master of the house had to have a little lamb, have it all ready! I suspect it was a very small lamb. It doesn't take long to kill them, clean them, wash them out a little bit, put them on a spigot and start roasting it. Don't you suppose that the master of the house had the fire going? Yes! Jesus had it all arranged. The disciples didn't know it.

Verse 16: "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.... [When were they to slay the lambs back here in v 12? Right after sunset at the beginning of between the two evenings!] ...Now, after evening had come, He came with the twelve" (vs 16-17). Two were there and He brought the ten more with Him. What evening is this? That's the evening of getting dark!

As I put in the Passover book, I wanted to know exactly how long in the springtime is between the two evenings. I was visiting some brethren in San Antonio and they have the big elevated restaurant, like you do with the Space Needle in Seattle. We went there to eat. Texas is nice and flat, so we were able to watch the sun go down. That started between the two evenings. We were able to time how long it was until it got dark. It was an hour and 15-minutes, started to get dark. It wasn't totally dark but we were in a unique position. We could see the light fading in the west and the dark coming from the east. That was a perfect place to watch that.

When did Jesus come? Not at sunset, because that's when they were killing the lambs. It doesn't say how long it was until the lamb was finished roasting, but my guess:What are the instructions for the Passover lamb? It's to be a male, no older than a year! When are lambs born? They're born in the spring just before Passover time! What is the youngest that a lamb could be used in sacrifice? Eight days! I suspect this may have been an eight-day old lamb. It would be a very small one, easy to roast. Christ had it all worked out. Might have already been roasting by time the disciples got there, because it was prepared. The master of the house took care of all of that.

Here's the setting, the one betraying, and so forth, v 22: "And as they were eating... [They had to finish the Old Testament Passover first, to end the Old Covenant. So He did. They finished Old Testament Passover.] ...Jesus took bread and after blessing it, He broke it and gave it to them, and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body.' 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 22-24). Then He says He wouldn't drink of it again until the Kingdom of God is here.

Let's see what the Apostle Paul wrote in 1-Corinthians 11. Here is something that as we get into I'll point out when we get to it that you cannot understand what it is saying unless you know the Greek. I'll explain that to you when we get there.

Let's do a 'what if' question. Since we belong to Christ and we're part of the New Covenant and we have to maintain that covenant relationship every year by taking the Passover in the way that Jesus commanded, what would the devil like to start doing to get you to move away from the covenant with Christ?If you move away from it, now he's not going to get you to do it to renounce it. He knows he can't do that. 'But if we can just modify it a little bit.' That's what was happening in 1-Cor. 11.

Is there not more confusion concerning what is called the Lord's Supper, communion, the Eucharist, the Passover than anything else? Yes! Why? So that Satan can keep as many people as possible away from participating and being part of the New Covenant through Christ with the Christian Passover, or the New Covenant Passover!

If you change it, what's one of the first things to do? Here they were having a big hoop-la meal! What's another way of changing it? Call it the Lord's Supper! What's another way of saying it? 'Oh, you know, that's such a righteous thing, we have to take this like the SDAs the first Sabbath of every quarter.' Chapter/verse—not there. Or like the Protestants: 'We take communion every Sunday.' What do they take? I don't know, do they take unleavened bread and grape juice? If you're a Mormon you take bread and water. That's what they used to give prisoners.

Let's read what the Apostle Paul says, 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 where you thought, 'I'm going to have a good attitude. Church is really going to be good.' You come out of there—blah, ugh, with a bad taste—for the worse.

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 that heresies be among you, so that the ones who are approved may become manifest among you" (vs 18-19). In other words, these things come along so that the brethren can understand who is sticking to the Truth.

Verse 20: "Therefore, when you assemble together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's supper." What does that do to the phrase 'the Lord's Supper'? Like a lot of things they do, totally contrary to the Bible, because they only read what they want to read!

Here's what took place, v 21: "For in eating, everyone takes his own supper first... [That's why he said it is not to eat the Lord's supper. In the Greek this is the strongest negation—'ouk'—not.] ...takes his own supper first... [How's that for fellowship and sharing?] ...now on the one hand, someone goes hungry; but on the other hand another becomes drunken…. [I've never had a Passover like that.] …WHAT! Don't you have houses for eating and drinking?…." (vs 21-22). Which means you eat and drink before you come to Passover services. You don't have a Passover lamb. Yet, there are some even to this day who say you must have a Passover meal with a lamb before you take the foot-washing and bread and wine. No, you're to eat at home.

If you have the Passover at home, then eat sufficiently ahead of time so it doesn't interfere with the Passover ceremony.

"…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!" (v 22). He wanted them to know. We have two commands in 1-Corinthians:

• One here in 1-Cor. 11 to keep the Passover
• One in 1-Cor. 5:7-8 because 'Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us; therefore, let us keep the Feast'

I have to tell you a little on this one here. When I was writing that section in the Occult Holidays or God's Holy Days—Which? I had a fill-in editor who was an evangelical. When she got to this point where I said 1-Cor. 5:7, this is a command by the Apostle Paul that we are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread after having kept the Passover, she came unglued and resigned. So much for the Truth.

Paul makes it clear, v 23: "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread… [What night was He betrayed? Passover night! How often does the Passover come? Once a year!] …And after giving thanks, He broke it and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body, which is being broken for you. This do in the remembrance of Me'" (vs 23-24). The the is there in the Greek, meaning a specific memorial remembrance.

Verse 25: "In like manner, He also took the cup after He had supped, saying, 'This is the cup of the New Covenant in My blood..." (v 25). Here is the phrase that you all need to understand about. If you have a Greek Interlinear you can look it up. Look up this verse and you will see that in two places there is an untranslatable word in the Greek. It's a two-letter word. In English letters it is 'a-n,' or in the Greek it's 'alpha-nu.' That is pronounced 'awn'—a-n. Now that means 'an' is a special particle in the Greek language which calls your attention to that there are conditions that you need to take into account. You don't have such a thing in English.

So when it says: "'…This do, as often as you drink it, in the remembrance of Me'" (v 25). As often as has that particle 'an' which tells us that as often as is qualified. It's not any time you feel like it. It's qualified. Qualified by what?

• The night He was betrayed? Yes! That's the Passover night
• The remembrance—an annual event

It's not as often as you like but as often as you do this till the Lord comes, then year by year.

Verse 26: "For as often as you eat this bread... ['an'] ...and drink this cup, you solemnly proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes." When did Jesus die? First Sabbath of every quarter? Easter? or Passover? 'Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us'—correct? It has to be to solemnly proclaim His death. Can you proclaim His death on any other day in the way that the Passover ceremony does? No! So, that is until He comes. They expected Jesus to return in their lifetime.

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." When was the body and the blood of the Lord applied? On the Passover Day! Jesus said just before He gave the Spirit, He said, 'It is done.'

Verse 28: "But let a man examine himself, and let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup accordingly Because the one who eats and drinks unworthily is eating and drinking judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord. For this very reason, many are weak and sickly among you, and many have fallen asleep" (vs 28-30). They have died.

Let me just interject here, brethren, that we have had a lot of sickness and especially here in America with cancer. My prayer is every day for those who are afflicted with that that God would intervene. But it's incumbent upon every one of us to learn how to take care of our bodies. God has given herbs for the service of man. There are many natural things that we can do. I know of people who have been healed through prayer and doing the things that they need to, to get their bodies back in balance.

He's given authority and power over every sickness, every disease, the demons, and so there needs to be prayer involved in it. This is not going to prevent us from dying a natural death because 'blessed in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.' But we really need to take to heart the things we need to do to take care of ourselves the best that we can. If you need a doctor, you better have a good one. If you need a naturopath, you better get a good one. If you need a nutritionist, you better get a good one. They can help you.

We all have need from time-to-time of those things, but I've had to learn in my life, I have to discipline myself and take care of my body. I have to watch what I eat and I can tell you this, once you get all this f-a-t on you, it sticks, and it's hard to get rid of. But I can still, if I keep up my exercise and watch my diet carefully, take my vitamins and supplements and all this sort of stuff, that I can keep myself in good health. It works out this way, we can't ask God to bless us and give us good health and heal us if we do nothing to take care of ourselves. That's all part of it.

Verse 31: "Now, if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged.... [We just did a little bit of that in talking about what we need to do.] ...But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, so that we will not be condemned with the world. So then, my brethren, when you assemble together to eat the bread and drink the cup, wait for one another. But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that there will be no cause for judgment when you assemble together. And the other matters I will set in order when I come" (vs 31-34).

When we take the Passover, the first thing that happens is this: if anyone approaches God, he must have his sins covered. What happened to Moses? Went up to look at the burning bush, got a little too close and God said, 'Take your shoes off. The ground you're standing on is Holy ground.' God didn't bring the children of Israel out until after the Passover and judgment against Egypt. So, we must have repentance and forgiveness of sin first! Then God deals with us. We can't go to God and say, 'God, bless me, but don't tell me what to do.' Can't have that.

That's why the new year starts out with the Passover, renew the covenant. The covenant becomes very important for receiving eternal life.

What it's telling us in John 6 is this: We need to take the Passover correctly, which means the

• the correct day
• the correct time
• with the words of Christ
• with the Scriptures of God

This is why we put out the booklet, The Passover Ceremony; all the Scriptures are there so that you don't have to worry about a Bible. You can concentrate on the meaning of keeping the Passover.

Here is the meaning of it. John 6:51, Jesus said: "I am the living bread, which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is even My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.'" Because the wages of sin is death and He is paying it with His life.

Verse 52: "Because of this, the Jews were arguing with one another, saying, 'How is He able to give us His flesh to eat?'.... ['Don't you know that cannibalism isn't right?'] ...Therefore, Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood... [He hadn't given the instructions for Passover yet.] ...you do not have life in yourselves" (vs 52-53). Life only comes from God. Life only comes from the sacrifice of Christ and the forgiveness of sin and the receiving of the Holy Spirit.

Verse 54: "The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up in the last day." That's not the Last Great Day. How do you count to Pentecost? Fifty days! What is the last day? Fiftieth day! You know it can't be the Last Great Day, so it has to be the last day of fifty-day count.

Verse 55: "For My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood is dwelling in Me, and I in him" (vs 55-56). (study John 17)

Here's what it all means. Everything we talked about today, even at the beginning in trying to talk to some of the Protestants and Catholics, it all gets down to this, v 57: "As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father... [He could nothing of His own] ...so also the one who eats Me shall live by Me."

When you come to Passover and you have the foot-washing, you learn that with it you are to be a servant. What did Jesus say when the disciples were arguing who was the greatest? He said, 'The one who is the greatest is the one who is serving and I am not being served but I came serving.'

This puts all of us in the right perspective with each other. It shows that we are to live by Christ. That's why we have verses like:

• Christ in you, the hope of glory
• My little children, I am afraid of you until Christ be formed in you
• Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus

That's how we live by Jesus Christ. "...so also the one who eats Me shall live by Me'" (v 57). This is quite a thing! When you get into the Bible and go through it the way that God has designed it to be, and we are led in understanding it bit-by-bit, line upon line, precept upon precept, and so forth.

So with the Passover that's coming up, keep these things in mind and have a good Passover and good Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Scriptural References:

• Psalm 19:7-14
• 1-John 3:16-18
• 1-John 5:3
• 1-John 3:19-24
• John 13:12-17
• Matthew 26:26-28, 17
• Mark 14:12-17, 22-24
• 1-Corinthians 11:17-34
• John 6:51-57

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Exodus 20; 12; 16
• 1-Corinthians 5:7-8
• John 17

Also referenced:

Sermon Series: The Washing of the Water by the Word

Books:

• Lord, What Should I Do? by Fred R. Coulter
• Judaism—A Revelation of Moses or Religion of Men? by Philip Neal
• A Harmony of the Gospels by Fred R. Coulter
• The Christian Passover by Fred R. Coulter
• Strong's Concordance
• Greek-English Interlinear by George Ricker Berry
• Occult Holidays or God's Holy Days—Which? by Fred R. Coulter

Booklet: The Christian Passover Ceremony

FRC:lp
Transcribed: 4-3-12
Formatted: bo: 4-4-12

Copyright 2012—All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner. This includes electronic and mechanical photocopying or recording, as well as the use of information storage and retrieval systems.