Who Should Take the Passover

Fred R. Coulter—April 16, 2011

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[Transcript begins at 2:10 of the audio]

Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath Services. Today we're going to talk about who should take the Passover. So let's go back and we'll start here at Exodus 12:43 and we will get some things that carry over into the New Testament. But let's also understand that the New Covenant Passover on the Passover night is different than the Passover for Israel.

The covenant with Israel did not take place with the Passover. That was the beginning of the promise to deliver the children of Israel out of Egypt. Then they went all the way to Mount Sinai in seven weeks, less a few days. On Pentecost the Ten Commandments were given. Then Moses came down and said, 'God said these are all the words that He said that you should do.' And they said, 'Yes, we'll do them.' So then they offered the sacrifices. Moses took part of the blood, put it in a basin, sprinkled on the people. Then they took part of it and he sprinkled it on the Ten Commandments and on the Book of the Law. That's when the covenant was made with them.

So it started out over here with the Passover, but it wasn't finalized until after Pentecost. The Passover timing of Exo. 12, other than the Passover day and the time of the beginning of the Passover services, is completely different in the New Testament.

Exodus 12:43: "And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 'This is the ordinance of the Passover. No stranger shall eat of it.'" This is why Jews gets so mad today when they find out that Gentiles try and keep the Passover, and especially if they're so nutty as to keep it on the fourteenth. That's true. Because they know it's on the fifteenth, yet God says it's on the fourteenth.

The truth is when you read The Christian Passover book about the Passover of the exiled, the children of Israel could not keep the Passover unless they were geographically in the land. So all of the Jews today are in the Diaspora, so they cannot keep a fourteenth Passover because they do not recognize the New Testament, nor do they recognize what Jesus did.

Jesus told His disciples, 'Go into all the world, make disciples of all nations, and teach them everything I have commanded you.' What did He command them to do? The Passover—with the foot-washing, unleavened bread and wine—on which day? The fourteenth!. But we're going to pick up some things will help us understand who should take the Christian Passover.

Verse 44: "'But every man's servant that is bought for silver, when you have circumcised him, then he shall eat of it.'" The women were not circumcised. I had a woman ask me one time, 'If a woman is not circumcised, what do you do?' I said, 'The New Testament says circumcision of the heart.' Now, everyone has that. But the truth is with the physical circumcision when a marriage took place, they participated in the circumcision at that point.

"'A foreigner and a hired servant shall not eat of it. It shall be eaten in one house. You shall not carry any of the flesh out of the house. Neither shall you break a bone of it. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it'" (vs 45-47). The thing that's going to carry over into the New Testament since we don't have a meal—we'll see that first—then we'll come back to the correct ceremony for the Passover.

Verse 48: "'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.'" So, you see the big conflict that you had with the New Testament and the Gentiles.

This is why it had to be revealed to Peter. When Peter was summoned to go to Cornelius' house, God worked it all out. An angel appeared to Cornelius. He sent his soldiers to go get Peter. Peter had the vision where all the unclean animals came down and he didn't eat of it, but that was to signify that there were three Gentiles out there waiting to take him to Cornelius' house. Peter comes to Cornelius. Cornelius tries to do the thing that would be likened to papal worship. He started to worship Peter and he said, 'No, no, don't do it, I'm a man like you.' But he said, 'You know how it is an unlawful thing for a man who is a Jew to come into a house of someone who is uncircumcised.' It comes partly from this and partly from The Code of Jewish Law.

Verse 49: "'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 49-50).

Let's come to the book of Joshua; here we're going to find something very interesting, because after the rebellion and the golden calf and then after the refusal to go into the 'promised land'—they were going to go into the 'promised land' only about eighteen months after they had left Egypt, but they refused to go in. So then God said, 'All right, everyone over twenty is going to die. That's your penalty. You're going to wander for a total of forty years.' They didn't circumcise any of the children.

Joshua 5:1: "And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites who were on the west side of the Jordan and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of Jordan in front of the children of Israel until we had passed over, that their hearts melted. Neither was there spirit in them any more because of the children of Israel. At that time the LORD said to Joshua, 'Make sharp knives for yourselves and circumcise the children of Israel again, the second time'" (vs 1-2).

Isn't that interesting? Apparently they had a circumcision party also in Egypt sometime before they left. It's not recorded. It's only mentioned at this time. So that's what they did and then they kept the Passover and so forth. We won't get into that.

Let's come to the New Testament and let's see the instructions by the Apostle Paul in Romans 2. Then we will find out what is the circumcision of the heart. And the circumcision of the heart is what takes place when you are converted. I don't know why it is, but almost every man who is a Jew when I meet him the first time, they always make a point of saying, 'I'm a Jew.' I don't know what to do with that, but one of these times I may respond back and say, 'I'm a Levite,' or 'I'm a Gentile.' I don't know why they do that. I guess it's to get them into a superior position to where then, 'Oh, you're a Jew, wonderful.' But it's like one Jew said, 'Well, if we're the chosen people, this is sure a bad choice all the persecution and things we've been going through.'

Romans 2:17: "Behold, you are called a Jew, and you yourself rest in the law, and boast in God." They always do, more so than the Americans, who it is, God, bless America. But they rest in the law, but the problem is when it gets down to doing it, they don't do it.

It's like one man, he was a Jew and eating a ham sandwich. He says, 'Well, the rabbi blessed it and it's kosher.' You always have to bring in God, you always have to bring in tradition, you always have to bring in the rabbi. Well, Paul was at odds with this.

"And know His will, and approve of the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; and are persuaded that you yourself... [we are the top ones] ...are a guide of the blind... [those stupid Gentiles] ...a light for those in darkness, An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of the knowledge and of the truth contained in the law" (vs 18-20).

Now then, Paul gets out his daggers here and he comes back at them. If you do enter all of everything that it says here, then you have a responsibility. Same way with us if we are true Christians, we have a great responsibility as well. Because you see, we say that we know more than the Jews, which is true. How are we responding to it? How are we living by it? This is what he brings up to them.

Verse 21: "You, then, who are teaching another, do you not teach yourself also?.…" We are to constantly be learning. The Word of God is 'precept upon precept and line upon line, and we learn more the more we go through the Bible and repeat it. The more we learn because it's layered with understanding.

"...You who preach, 'Do not steal,' are you stealing? You who say, 'Do not commit adultery,' are you committing adultery? You who abhor idols, are you committing sacrilege? You who boast in law, are you dishonoring God through your transgression of the law?... [Think of that! If we claim that we love God and keep His commandments, and if we don't, and we're transgressors, then we're dishonoring God.] ...For through you the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles, exactly as it is written" (vs 21-24).

And, boy, there was a hatred for the Jews in the first century A.D. that was just so intense. The Gentiles just repudiated everything that the Jews did. And even some of the Gentile teachers who were the early founding fathers of the Catholic Church for the excuse that they gave for not keeping Sabbath and not keeping Passover.

What was the big controversy in the first century? The Quartodeciman controversy concerning the fourteenth Passover or Easter, and how the Catholics were able to take a day dedicated to the female goddess and make that the day of the resurrection of Christ, bring in all the accoutrements of the pagan worship and call it Christian. You know what a Jew does, he looks at that and says, 'That's not in the Bible. As a matter of fact if you go to Jer. 7 you'll find what you're doing is condemned.' Oh, well, we don't bother with the Old Testament. So here's this conflict all the time going on.

"For on the one hand, circumcision profits if you are observing the law; on the other hand, if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision" (v 25). And those are real fighting words. This is why some rabbis have said this, 'Jesus we understand. Paul we will never forgive,' because he was a rabbi, a Pharisee. He's writing this. This is powerful writing toward the Jews.

If you mailed a letter to the chief orthodox rabbi in Israel with these words, it would be burned. The massad would be at your doorstep. So that's how serious this is. "...your circumcision has become uncircumcision…. [What a loathsome thing to say.] …Therefore, if the uncircumcised is keeping the requirements of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be reckoned for circumcision?…. [How can that be? We'll find out.] …And shall not the uncircumcised, who by nature is fulfilling the law, judge you, who, with the letter and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law?" (vs 25-27).

That's even more fighting words. For a Jew to be judged by an uncircumcised Gentile, is unthinkable! But Paul is making the point here.

Verse 28: "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is external in the flesh; rather, he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God" (vs 28-29).

Let's look at a prophecy back here in Deuteronomy 10. This is quite a prophecy back here and you'll see if you read the book of Jeremiah that Jeremiah told them that they had to circumcise their hearts. In other words, quit being so stiff-necked and rebellious.

Let's look at this from a New Testament point of view. Who are the children of Israel spiritually? All of those in the Church. Deuteronomy 10:12: "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul… [That sounds like New Testament doctrine—doesn't it? It is!] …to keep the commandments of the LORD, and His statutes which I command you today for your good" (vs 12-13).

God wants to bless you. We are to have physical blessings and spiritual blessings plus the things that we need for character building. The New Covenant is for eternal life and, therefore, the thing that we are to do is to build spiritual character first. This is exactly how we do it with the laws and commandments written in our hearts and in our minds.

"Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the LORD your God, the earth also, with all that is in it. Only the LORD had a delight in your fathers to love them, and He chose their seed after them, you above all people, as it is today. Therefore, circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stiff-necked'" (vs 14-16). That means we have a part in the circumcision of heart, too. That part is

• repentance
• humility
• always putting God first

God is the One Who circumcised the heart spiritually by taking away the carnal nature, step-by-step-by-step, as we grow and change and overcome.

Verse 17: "For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords... [Where did we read that? King of kings and Lord of lords back in Rev. 19? Yes!] ...a great God, the mighty and awesome God Who does not respect persons nor take a bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and loves the stranger in giving him food and clothing. Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the LORD your God. You shall serve Him, and you shall hold fast to Him, and swear by His name. He is your praise, and He is your God, Who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen. Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy persons. And now the LORD your God has made you as the stars of the heavens for multitude'" (vs 17-22).

Let's see how that takes place. How then, is there the circumcision of the heart? Paul says we have to have it. Deut. tells us we have to have it. Let's come back here to Colossians 2 and let's see. Colossians, especially the second chapter, is really quite a lesson on Truth vs those religionists who want to bring in their own version of the Truth. The first thing that happens is that people want to improve upon God's way. That's what Cain did.

I got a letter from a person saying, 'Our minister says that since Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, that he [the minister] is to wash all the feet of everyone in his church.' What did Jesus say? We'll see a little later, 'Wash one another's feet.' Peter said, 'Not only my feet, but my hands and my head.' Jesus said, 'No.' Peter wanted to add to it.

He probably thought it's like the priests: feet, hands, head. Jesus said no. Then someone will surely come along and say, 'Not only do you wash the feet, you kiss them.' Some people say, 'Wash the feet after the Passover.' The Bible shows it's before, at the beginning, not after. They walked on dirt roads, they came to the houses, their feet were all dirty. Someone washed their feet when they came in. You don't have them stay there, have a meal and everything, say, 'Oh, by the way, you're ready to go out in the dusty road again, stop here a minute, let's wash your feet so you can have clean feet to get dusty again as you go out.' No, that won't work.

Colossians 1:12: "Giving thanks to the Father, Who has made us qualified for the share of the inheritance of the saints in the light; Who has personally rescued us from the power of darkness... [That is something that the world cannot get away from: the power of darkness and that is Satan the devil and his demons.] ...personally rescued us from the power of darkness and has transferred us unto... [not into, but unto, because we are not yet in the Kingdom of God] ...unto the kingdom of the Son of His love; in Whom we have redemption through His own blood, even the remission of sins" (vs 12-14). How do we have remission of sins? By baptism—right? Yes! Baptism and forgiveness! 'Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the Holy Spirit.'

With that in mind, let's come here to Colossians 2 and let's go through this and let's see the pulls and the struggles that they had by people trying to come and teach them some other way. Colossians 2:1: "Now I want you to understand what great concern I have for you, and for those in Laodicea, and as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; That their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, unto the knowledge of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ" (vs 1-2). Now for all Trinitarians—hello! Where does it say the Holy Spirit? It doesn't!

Colossians 1:26: "Even the mystery... [the secret plan of God] ...that has been hidden from ages and from generations, but has not been revealed to His saints; to whom God did will to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you..." (vs 26-27).

That is the most valuable and important thing in your life, the Holy Spirit of God. Nothing can be compared to that, because you can have all the riches in the world, but you're going to die. And if you're not Christ's, you're not going to have eternal life. So which would you rather have? Eternal life and eventually the true spiritual riches! Look at what New Jerusalem is going to be like, streets paved with gold. That's far better than blacktop.

"...riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (v 27). We have a great hope and that's what the New Covenant Passover is all about. You are renewing the covenant with God the Father and Jesus Christ for another year, to walk in the way of God, to do the things the way of God. But you must be circumcised in heart first, because Christ is not going to come and dwell in people who have not been circumcised in heart.

So when he talks about here, Colossians 2:2: "...the full assurance of understanding unto the knowledge of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; in Whom as hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge…. [that is essential for eternal life] …In Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and [all] knowledge" (vs 2-3). The truth is anything that we do, anything we deal with to make or create comes from God—correct? I'm convinced that all these high-tech things God is causing to be done so there will be a witness of the coming of Christ. But Satan is also going to use it to entrap everyone and set up his society to have the mark of the beast.

Verse 4: "Now this I say so that no one may deceive you by persuasive speech.... [People can be very persuasive. Do you believe that our current President deceived all of those who voted for him into believing that he was really going to make things better? Yes! Was his speech persuasive? Yes! Thanks to a teleprompter, but it was.

So Paul says, v 5: "For though I am indeed absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ." Here are some key verses.

•  here is how to guarantee that you're going to be in the Kingdom of God
• here is how to guarantee that you're going to receive salvation
• here is how to guarantee that you can grow and overcome

Right here, v 6: "Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, be walking in Him."

• walking in His ways
• walking in His words
• doing His Truth
• believing what He said

What did Jesus say on the Passover night? 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.' 'way' means a way to walk. The Greek there is 'hodos.' The word for exodus is 'exhodos.' They had to walk in God's way to leave Egypt and we have to be walking in His way to leave the Egypt of today.

Now v 7: "Being rooted and built up in Him, and being confirmed in the faith, exactly as you were taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving." Notice "…exactly as you were taught..." You don't add to it, you don't take away from it. Satan comes along and—PING! 'Oh, that's a good idea.' And it may sound really good and be a good thing, but little do you know it's the first mini-little step away. Then he comes along with another one—PING! Then you're off in the process. That's how apostasy begins.

Notice v 8: "Be on guard so that no one takes you captive through philosophy and vain deceit... [What is all religion? All religion is philosophy! And what is it? Vain deceit! They are lies that will not lead to eternal life. You're not going to find it in any religion of this world. You're only going to find it in Christ.] ...according to the traditions of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ."

And every religion is based on their own tradition and the ways of the world. The one Hindu thing that I like to watch every once in a while when it comes on, is the worship of the rat god. Don't laugh, they have a temple that they have built and it's filled with rats. They do just like Cain. They come and bring whatever they want and they give it to them. Then they have the monkey god and they have a temple where they're all nothing but monkeys. So they take over to them bananas and fruit and different things like this and give it to them. Then they have the cow god. Now the cow god is really sacred, even its urine and dung is to be preserved and used and put on you and bathed, all of this sort of thing. You can't kill it because god is in the cow. Tradition of men!

I asked an Indian couple one time, 'How many gods do they have in India?' She said, 'Eight hundred thousand.' So you talk about 'there's a way that seems right to a man,' led by demons, 'the ends thereof are the ways of death.'

"...traditions of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him..." (vs 8-10).

• You don't need something extra
• You don't need the prayer shawl of Judaism
• You don't need the tassels of Judaism
• You don't need the cross and crucifix of Catholicism
• You don't need any of those things

"And you are complete in Him, Who is the Head of all principality and power" (v 10). Christ is over all of those things which invent the religions of this world, Satan and his principalities and powers.

Now, the King James Version slaughters these next two verses and makes it appear that the commandments of God have been nailed to the cross. They haven't! Verse 11: "In Whom you have also been circumcised... [We're going back to what Paul wrote in Rom. 2.] ...with the circumcision not made by hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ…. [How does that happen?] …Having been buried with Him in baptism... [That ties right in with Rom. 6—right? Yes!] ...by which you have also been raised with Him through the inner working of God, Who raised Him from the dead." Then he gives us a perspective of what life was like before we're called and where we're headed with it and how it's going to be.

Verse 13: "For you, who were once dead in your sins..." This ties right in with what Jesus said. A young man came and said, 'I'll follow you, but let me go bury my father first.' And Jesus said, 'Let the dead bury their dead.' Now today, they'd haul Jesus into court for an insulting statement. 'It's my father, I love my father.' But it proves a point. Without Christ we're all dead in sins! We may have physical life, but we have no eternal life, so we're as good as dead. The day of death is just waiting.

"...and in the uncircumcision of your flesh... [Carnal minded, hard-hearted, against God.] ...He has now made alive with Him, having forgiven all your trespasses. He has blotted out the note of debt against us with the decrees of our sins, which was contrary to us; and He has taken it away, having nailed it to the cross…. [Sin was nailed to the cross! Christ was the sin offering.] (with the crucifixion and with the resurrection): …After stripping the principalities and the powers, He made a public spectacle of them, and has triumphed over them in it" (vs 13-15). That means His crucifixion and resurrection.

Let's see what they were trying to add. Think about all the little rules that people come up with that are not in the Bible. Now there have to some clarifications of some things, so we know what to do and what not to do. They were fighting against the Gentile religions in Greece. They came out of a society that hated Jews and that means they hated the Sabbath, they hated the festivals and things like this. They came out of a society where they were worshiping Diana and Apollo and Zeus and Mars and all of the other gods. They had a lot of drinking and debauchery. Now they're converted, they're not going the way that they were with them before.

So here was the problem. They were following Christ. They were keeping the commandments and they were doing what Christ wanted them to do. Outwardly people looking at them, here's what they would see. "Therefore, do not allow anyone to judge you in eating or in drinking, or with regard to a festival, or new moon, or the Sabbaths" (v 16). Do people do that? 'What day do you keep?' I keep the Sabbath. 'You keep the Sabbath?' Then comes Christmas time. 'Do you keep Christmas?' No, I don't keep Christmas!

I was over at the bank and she was saying all about Christmas and everything like that and I said, 'Well, I'm not into Christmas. I can't handle all the lies.' And just left it at that. And they notice you're not eating pork or shrimp or lobster or calamari or any of these exotic foods. You watch this Food Channel where they eat all kinds of things. I saw one on crickets and crickets are clean to eat and they said they tasted pretty good and when they're roasted, they're crunchy. I haven't tried that yet. But, that's so you can have food in famine, because the grasshoppers and the crickets will come. That's one way to keep them from chirping.

Or drinking; yeah, you're not out in drunken binges anymore. "...or with regard to a festival, or new moon, or the Sabbaths.... [Here's a key. This is a correct translation of it, literal. Now the NIV, I'll tell you how it translates it in just a minute]; ...Which are a foreshadow of the things that are coming..." (vs 16-17). That is a present-tense participle—are coming.

The NIV translates v 17: "These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ"—were a foreshadow of things that have come—that's what it means. Notice what they were trying to do, v 18 (FV): "Do not allow anyone to defraud you of the prize... [of eternal life] ...by doing his will in self-abasement and the worship of angels, intruding into things that he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his own carnal mind."

So there were teachers coming around trying to get them into spiritism. Today on television they have programs—Haunted, Possessed. Even going around showing people how to go and get possessed, right on television. You think Satan doesn't control that stuff? Yeah! Another word for it is New Age, the occult, spiritism and so forth.

"...self-abasement... Humility. Catholics have it where you lash your back. Hindus have it where you lay on nails, whatever, walk on fire.]

...and the worship of angels..." These are not the angels of God. Because what are the angels of God? Tell anyone who tries to worship them, what did they tell John when John went to worship the angels? They said, 'See not that you do this.' Another form of self-abasement in Hinduism is bowing down before a live cobra, and if you get bitten and die you're a bad person. But the one who's the trainer, he makes sure he gets circumcision of the viper where they take out the poison, since we're talking about circumcision here. All that is, is demon worship.

"...intruding into things that he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his own carnal mind and not holding fast to the Head [Christ] from Whom all the body, being supplied and knit together by the joints and bands, is increasing with the increase of God" (vs 18-19). All those religious activities, those things do not count. You have to have the circumcision of the heart. And then he says these are all the "…decrees of men…" (v 20). Such as: "They say, 'You may not handle! You may not taste! You may not touch!'" (v 21). And all of these things end up corrupting themselves while they're using them (v 22). "Which indeed have an outward appearance of wisdom in voluntary worship of angels, and self-abasement, and unsparing treatment of the body, not in any respect to the satisfying of the needs of the flesh" (v 23). And also to overcoming the pulls of the flesh. You must have the circumcision of the heart.

(go to the next track)

We know about baptism. We've already covered that, Rom. 6. But let's just read it into the record so we can have it here with this. We're not going to go through it in great detail, since we've covered in great detail already. The New Covenant is different than any other covenants in the Bible. The only similarity is, the covenant is secured by a symbolic death. Then it's in effect. That's why a person has to be baptized first because that baptism is a symbolic death. As we have seen here, you join into the death of Jesus Christ.

Romans 6:3: "Or are you ignorant that we, as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into His death?.... [This is a covenant pledge. A covenant pledge is greater than a commitment, you are pledging your death to guarantee that the covenant will be carried out by you. And if you don't carry it out, you're going to die. So that's why we then have this kind of death.] ...Therefore, we were buried with Him through the baptism into the death... [It is the covenant death. The death of Christ and your death.] ...so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, in the same way, we also should walk in newness of life" (vs 3-4).

We don't live like the rest of the world any longer. "For if we have been conjoined together in the likeness of His death, so also shall we be in the likeness of His resurrection" (v 5). That's the covenant, There can't be any higher or any greater the covenant to eternal life. covenant that we can make.

Let's come to John 13 and let's cover about the foot-washing. When we do that, as we pointed out with the problem that Job had, Job was righteous. But he took all the credit, rather than from God. That was his sin. So likewise with us: When we take that covenant pledge and that covenant baptism and that covenant death, then there are requirements from Christ as to what we are to do.

John 13:2: "And during supper... [right at the beginning of supper, it just started] ...(the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, that he should betray Him), 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; and after taking a towel, He secured it around Himself. Next, He poured water into a washing basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel which He had secured" (vs 2-5). Then you know the incident with Simon Peter.

"Then He came to Simon Peter; and he said to Him, 'Lord, are You going to wash my feet?' Jesus answered and said to him, 'What I am doing you do not understand now, but you shall know after these things.'…. [after He got done washing their feet.] …Peter said to Him, 'You shall not wash my feet, not ever'" (vs 6-8).

Remember, Peter was the one who said, 'Lord, I'll never deny you. I'll go to jail with you.' And he denied Him. Peter was the one who then came to Jesus when Jesus said that it was necessary for Him to die and suffer at the hands of the elders and the priests and the Pharisees. Peter came to him and said, 'Lord, no, that won't happen to You. I won't let it happen. I'm Your protector.' And He told Peter, 'Get you behind Me, Satan.' And He also told Peter that 'Satan had desired to have you to sift you like wheat.'

Peter is mentioned here because this lesson is also for him starting as

• you're not going to be greater than your Lord
• you're not going to change the message
• you're not going to add to it
• you're not going to take away from it

"Jesus answered him, 'If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.' Simon Peter said to Him, 'Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.' Jesus said to him, 'The one who has been washed..." (vs 8-10). Which is a reference to baptism; not taking a bath. There was no way that they could have taken a bath before the Passover, because they walked into town, came to where the Passover was, no way to have a bath. So this refers to the washing of baptism.

"...does not need to wash anything other than the feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all.' For He knew the one who was betraying Him; this was the reason He said, 'Not all of you are clean.' 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?" (vs 10-12).

Now, here is a key lesson. This is a key lesson. Now remember, these were all the apostles, so this is very important for anyone who is going to be teaching or preaching or professing to preach the Gospel. 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, you also are duty-bound to wash one another's feet" (vs 13-14).

What if I'm alone? Jesus didn't say wash your own feet. You're to wash one another's feet. So, if you're all alone, then as we have in the Christian Passover Ceremony booklet, what you do, you pray to God, know the meaning of it, and then you let the Holy Spirit of God take care of the meaning of the foot-washing. But where there are other people around to wash feet, then you wash feet. Wash one another's feet. You are duty-bound. In other words, if God says it's duty-bound, you can't do away with it. Yet most of supposed-Christianity does away with it. It's not Christianity.

I've got to come up with another name. Maybe 'churchianity' would be better. People have used that name. That would be better.

Verse 15: "For I have given you an example, to show that you also should do exactly as I have done to you. Truly, truly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his lord, nor a messenger greater than he who sent him…. [That's the key. They were to be what? A servant and messenger!] …If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them" (vs 15-17). So, you don't change the message. You don't change the way that things are being done. You do it exactly God's way.

Now, let's come to Mark 14 after Judas Iscariot had left to go out to betray Him. And isn't it interesting that Satan likes to get right up there in the top echelon—right? Yes, indeed!

Mark 14:17: "Now after evening had come... [It was at the point of getting dark.] ...He came with the twelve. 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'.... [So then he dipped the sop and he left.] ...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" (vs 17-22). Now that is symbolic and that means that you are going to totally live your life the way that Jesus Christ wants you to.

He is the Word of Life. If we come to Him, we'll never hunger and we'll never thirst again. But we've got to do it God's way. The Catholics, they don't break the bread. They have a round wafer and if it's broken, they don't use it. All of those practices of the Protestants and Catholics have nothing to do with the Truth, nor the Mormons. The Mormons eat bread and water. That's what you give prisoners.

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). We find in the other accounts 'for the remission of sins.'

And it's through the blood of Jesus Christ that we have remission of sins and we are justified. We know the things that must take place—repentance, baptism, and then receiving of the Holy Spirit, and then taking of the New Covenant, because you're not in New Covenant unless you have had those things first. It's not like if you went down to a Catholic Church you could go in line and you could take the sacrifice of the mass. They wouldn't ask you anything. But only those who have been baptized can take the Passover, as we have seen. And it has to be done

• in the right manner
• at the right time
• with the right emblems
• with the right words
• with the words of the New Covenant

As we find in the Christian Passover Ceremony booklet, we put everything in here so that you won't have to fumble with the Bible while we're going through the Passover ceremony, so you can have your mind and your thoughts on the words and the meaning of the words. It reaches back in history to the time of Abraham and goes forward from that time, out until the completion of God's plan with mankind. And then with Abraham and God, clear out into all eternity and all of us, all eternity.

I was watching the night before where they were showing the new Hubbell telescope and the pictures that they were taking. Now what they did to start it out, they focused it on one star. After they developed the picture they found out that that one little place out there had hundreds and hundreds of galaxies, not just stars, galaxies. So they had to back and re-estimate the number of galaxies in the universe. I still think this is too low. They said there are 360-trillion galaxies!

And God has invited us to become part of His plan for all eternity. And furthermore, we have been chosen to be in New Jerusalem, and our calling and our choice and our selecting of this by God, God has called us, God has selected. Yes, we have to answer. Yes, we have to do the things we need to do. But what does that make the people of God qualifying for the first resurrection? It makes them the most important people on the face of the earth from the time of Jesus Christ until now and continuing on down in the future

But those of us in the first resurrection are always going to be in an echelon or level of the elite. So the ones in the top echelon will be Abel and Noah and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and so forth, they will be in the top echelon, King David, and so forth. I don't know what echelon we will be and I don't want pull a 'Waterhouse' on anybody and put you all in offices everywhere in the universe. I don't want to do that.

But nevertheless, we are the most important people in the world.

• Let that sink in.
• Let that humble you.
• Let that help you to understand the great gift that God is giving—eternal life.

Yes, this old physical body's going to wind down and it's going to wear out.

And like Dolores said when she got in the car to come down here, she said, 'Well, when we got married we promised each other we wouldn't get old.' I said, 'Well, so much for promises.' How about that? But the truth is, what she said is correct. If we are faithful, we'll be resurrected with a new body, with a new mind, with glory. We will be in the family of God. That's what the New Covenant is all about.

• It's not a matter of the Lord's Supper
• It's not a matter of communion
• It's not a matter of the sacrifice of the mass

Those are all satanic substitutes for the Truth. Christ is guaranteeing and renewing to each one of us that we will be in the first resurrection, that we will receive eternal life. That's what the Passover is all about.

Yes, it required His death. Yes, we are to remember His death, because that's the greatest thing that God, Who lives forever, was to become a human being and die. That's the greatest and most humble thing He could do, so that we could live forever.

So, the one who should take the Passover is the one who

• has repented
• been baptized
• received the Holy Spirit of God

and he or she then should take the Passover according to the instructions of the Bible so that you can have your mind in full concentration on it, we have all the Scriptures right here in the Christian Passover Ceremony booklet.

Scriptural References:

• Exodus 12:43-50
• Joshua 5:1-2
• Romans 2:17-29
• Deuteronomy 10:12-22
• Colossians 1:12-14
• Colossians 2:1-2
• Colossians 1:26-27
• Colossians 2:2-23
• Romans 6:3-5
• John 13:2-17
• Mark 14:17-24

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Jeremiah 7
• Revelation 19

Also referenced:
Books:

• The Christian Passover by Fred R. Coulter
• The Code of Jewish Law by Ganzfried & Goldin

Booklet: The Christian Passover Ceremony

FRC:lp
Transcribed:4-29-11
Formatted: bo—4-29-11