Origin and Meaning of Passover

Fred Coulter–April 16, 2005

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What is the origin and the meaning of the Passover – especially the Christian Passover? Now let's understand something about the Bible, and this is always basic and fundamental, but it is also in depth and runs through the entire Bible on understanding. The Bible is not a book that anyone can just pick up and begin to understand like reading a novel. Now certain things that are in there which are basic; different people can understand at different times, and begin to apply them. However, to understand what we are going to cover today, we need to look at how God has designed the Bible and how it is to be understood. That's why in studying the Bible it's got to be accompanied with prayer, it's got to be accompanied with obedience, because all of those things are required. And it's got to be accompanied with an attitude of love to God and an attitude of being willing to obey what God reveals to you as you study the Word of God.

Now in I Corinthians 2, let's turn there, this tells us how we begin to understand the Bible, and this also shows us that you need spiritual help from the Spirit of God, either the Spirit of God is with you and will help lead you to understand, or if you are already baptized, the Spirit of God is in you and will lead you to understand. Nevertheless, either way the things of the Bible, as we will see, are spiritually discerned. Let's pick is up here in verse 9: "But according as it is written, 'The eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.' " Now if you love God, what did Jesus say? "If you love me, keep My commandments." It is not for just anybody in the world, it's not just for anybody who wants to pick up the Bible and start reading it. Oh, they can, but there are prophecies which say, even the wise men and even the priests can't understand it. Or the wise men say, "I don't know what this says, what it means." See, you have to love God. Verse 10: "But God has revealed them…" Now that's important. God must reveal it, and through the Spirit of God, He must open our minds to understand the Word of God. "…God has revealed them to us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things—even the deep things of God." So God expects us to go from the beginning, from the basics and on into the deep things of God, and part of what we're going to cover today is the deep understanding of the Passover of God although it is in the simplicity of Christ. Verse 11: "For who among men understands the things of man except by the spirit of man which is in him? In the same way also, the things of God no one understands except by the Spirit of God" (1 Corinthians 2:9-11). Now that's important.

Therefore, when you are studying you should always ask God to help you understand. You should always ask God for His Spirit to lead you, so that you will do things according to the way that God wants them done. You will understand according to the way that God wants you to understand it, and this also tells you another reason why the world, though they call themselves Christian, cannot understand because they are not loving God the way God says, and are not keeping the commandments of God the way God says to keep them, and so therefore, when that happens they are blinded. Christ shows very clearly that if you do not believe God when you hear the Word of God, and if you're not willing to live by His Word, you automatically blind yourself and put yourself on Satan's side who is the one who blinds those from understanding the gospel.

Now here is another thing we need to understand. Let's go to Isaiah 28, because this is basic and fundamental in understanding the Word of God. Like I said before, it is not written like a novel. It is not written like any other book, because the words of God as Paul wrote to Timothy are "God-breathed" [2 Timothy 3:16] Now that's a little stronger than inspired; that's quite a bit stronger than inspired. It means that God moved the writers to write His words. I mean you go through and you read about what Moses' relationship with God was, it was always: "and the LORD spoke to Moses saying, 'Speak unto the children of Israel and say…' " And you look at the prophets and all the prophets are: "The Word of the LORD came to the prophet Isaiah (or Jeremiah or Ezekiel) saying…" So these are the words of God.

Now let's come here to Isaiah 28:9 "Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine?" How are you going to know the Word of God? And doctrine merely means teachings. "…Them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts." Now this is talking about those who have a basic understanding of the Word of God being babes in Christ to begin with, and as Peter said, desire the sincere milk of the Word. And then Paul said that there is a time when you ought to be able to understand strong meat – in other words, the deeper things of God and not milk. Milk is for those who are unlearned. Milk is what starts the people off in their understanding. Same way with babies that are born – the day that a baby is born, you don't throw it a pot roast dinner. See, you give it mother's milk, that's what it was designed for. It starts off simple. So you have to be beyond the basics to begin to understand the deeper things of God.

Now here is how God does it. Isaiah 28:10: "For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:" Now this means that when you study the Word of God and you go back and study the same thing again at a later time after you have had a chance to study other parts of the Bible, then what happens? You see things in there and other precepts and other things out of "the line upon line and here a little and there a little" and you put it together in a way which then is much more meaningful and profound. That's how you put the Bible together.

The world does it the opposite. It goes line upon line, precept upon precept and here a little, there a little to fight one scripture against the other, rather than to rightly divide the Word of Truth and put it together. So they don't understand even though God did it this way.

So the way that God gives understanding to the Bible is a two-edged sword. One edge for those who refuse to believe and understand – they won't. They read the words and they can't understand it. The other edge for those who want to know the Word of God, those who want to love God, then He opens their understanding to it. Now notice He says it right here, verse 11: "For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, 'This is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear" (verse 12). Now what is this telling us? This is telling us one of the basic keys to understanding the Bible is Sabbath-keeping isn't it? Isn't that the Sabbath rest? And what is it that they didn't do – Hebrews 3 – they wouldn't hear God. It's like we've been going through on "Holidays vs. Holy Days by Whose Authority?"

Now, where it is the Word of God was those to understand, verses 9 and 10, now for those who would not hear, it explains by the same process they cannot understand. Verse 13: "But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go and fall … and be broken, and snared, and taken" (Isaiah 28:9-13). Now there is no other book in the world that does this, because no other book in the world is based upon the spiritual words of God, because the words Jesus spoke, they are spirit and they are life.

Now what we are going to do is we are going to look at the beginning, or the origin of the Passover. And the origin of the Passover does not begin with Exodus 12. It begins in Genesis 15. It does not begin with Israel, but it begins with Abraham, and there are more parallels. So let's go to Genesis 15. There are more parallels with the events that happen here in Genesis 15 that relate to the Passover and relate to the preaching of the gospel, as we will see, than has been understood. Now we've gone through this quite a few times haven't we, since we first understood it what – about five years ago, six year ago, somewhere around there. Well today we are going to learn even more. We are going to draw even more precepts out of it, we're going to have more understanding out of it, a little more here and a little more there, because it's all right there. Now there is a reason for it, and there is a reason why the Passover for the Christian Passover is not patterned after the Passover that God gave to Israel. Now that Passover, though it had types of Christ with the lamb without blemish, and the blood which would protect them from death and so forth – the timing of the Passover in Exodus 12 is different than the timing of the Passover for the New Covenant that Jesus taught the apostles on His last Passover. And what He taught His apostles on the last Passover conforms more to the flow of events here in Genesis 15 than it does to the Passover in Exodus 12, or the later slaying of the lambs at the temple by the Jews in their traditional Passover offerings that they had on the day portion of the fourteenth.

Now let's pick it up here in Genesis 15:4: "And behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, 'This shall not be your heir…' " That is Eliezer of Damascus would not be his heir, because here he was, what, about 85 or so, no children and God promised him a child. So here He is going to make the promise sure. " '…But he that shall come forth out of your own bowels shall be your heir.' " So you have to be a fleshly human being first, right? And who was the one that was born to Abraham and Sarah? It was Isaac, and Isaac was the child of promise. Now we have here a physical birth, don't we? All right, keep that in mind. Verse 5: "And he brought him forth abroad, and said, 'Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if you are able to number them…' " Now the universe is quite a thing. And the heavens God designed to be glorious and awesome to lead mankind to realize that God is Creator, and to seek His purpose in creating it, because God did not do it in vain. He did it with purpose in mind.

Now hold your place here in Genesis 15, and let's come to Psalm 8, and let's see what the heavens are designed to do. Now there is a book out that is called The Privileged Earth – there is another one called The Rare Earth, and what the astronomers now have discovered is that in order for there to be physical life, in order for there to be complex life like we have on the planet, there have to be multitudinous factors that have to be there. You can't be too close to the sun or too far from the sun. The earth has to be the right size, the moon has to be the right size. The sun has to be the right size, and it must sit in the solar system [which] must be of the right composition. And you need Jupiter and Uranus to give protection from all of the asteroids that would come crashing in if they weren't there. You need to have everything in perfect balance, so it's the perfect earth, in the perfect solar system, in the perfect galaxy because the galaxy is set in such a way that from the earth you can examine the heavens like no other place in the entirety of the universe. There is no other place because there is too much gas, there are too many clouds, gaseous clouds – like if you were on Venus, you would never see the sun, and so the earth is in the perfect place because God created and put it there, and He did it for a reason – for His plan that He has for all mankind, and that's all wrapped up in Jesus Christ, and that's all wrapped up in the Passover and the holy days and so forth. Verse 1: "O LORD our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth! Who has set your glory above the heavens." Because if you can get out and see the stars and see the heavens and you know mathematically, you see this is why there are no atheist astronomers. Now you've got a lot of atheist philosophers like Carl Sagan who doesn't have a brain in his head because his mind has been closed with foolishness for rejecting God. But those who are like Carl Sagan say we are a low-class planet in a low-class galaxy, that we are nothing in the universe, and just the opposite is true. But only from the earth can you measure the sun, the moon, the stars, can you see the galaxies, and now what do we have out there? We've got the Hubble Telescope, and it looks deep into space, and the farther they go into space what do you see? More galaxies, more stars. Now there is a purpose for that; we'll see in just a minute. Now verse 3: "When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained" And Isaiah 40 says that He strung out the heavens like a curtain and calls all the stars by names and has numbered them and He upholds them through Christ with the Word of His power. Then David said, verse 4: "What is man, that you are mindful of him?" Believe it or not the creation of mankind and what God is doing here on the earth is the focal point of His plan. " …And the son of man, that you visit him? For you have made him a little lower than…" Elohiym, not just the angels but Elohiym, a little lower than God. God made us in His image for a great purpose, a great plan and that's all wrapped up in the Passover. So the first place to be begin to understand God is to realize when you look out and see the heavens, that God made all of this. He keeps it in motion. He made the earth and put everything here to sustain our life. He gives us breath, He gives us food, He gives us water, He gives us air. All of that comes from God to all human beings whether they are sinners or saints. Notice, " … and you have crowned him with glory and honor. You made him to have dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet" (Psalm 8:1-6). And that's what God has done.

Now when men look out into the heavens and they reject, we're going to see again the same principle we covered there in 1 Corinthians 2. We are going to see exactly the same principle. Let's go to Romans 1 now, and let's see what happens when you reject this witness and testimony of God's creation. These evolutionists and scientists they look out there and say, "Oh this just happened by accident. There was a big bang." Well, when they have a big bang with a terrorist's bomb, what do they know? They know that some human set it off, right? Well how about the big bang that made the universe? How did it get there without someone doing it? You know, it is amazing! But you see, there is a thinking process where you cause your mind to close, and that begins with rejecting the beauty and glory and power of God as evidenced in the universe. Now let's pick it up here in Romans 1:18: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold (back) the truth in unrighteousness…" Now any part of the truth they hold it back, they change it and what one day do they desire to get rid of more than any other day – the Passover, and under the inspiration of Satan the devil. Satan knows that if he can get people not to keep the Passover, or to keep the Passover wrongly, then he's got them on the hook, whether it's a big hook or a little hook, he's got them on the hook because sooner or later, they'll turn their backs on God, because the Passover day is the covenant day between God the Father, Jesus Christ and those that He has called, as we will see. And when you begin to sluff-off on that and do it in different ways, that's why there is so much confusion concerning the Passover – the 14th, the 15th, at sunset, at dark, at three in the afternoon. Is the bread leavened or unleavened? Do you have a lamb, do you not have a lamb? Should it just be the Lord's Supper and the Eucharist? Everything to move away from what the Bible says, and every step you take away from what the Bible says, you close your mind.

Now notice verse 19: "Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God has shown it to them." Verse 20: "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse" See, as we are going to see, the Passover is where to start and everything else flows from that because Christ was crucified on that day, and according to the timing, as we will see, of Genesis 15. Now notice what happens, verse 21, "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts were darkened." Now, that's what happens when you reject the glory of God. (Romans 1:18-21.)

Now let's come back to Genesis 15, because there is another lesson for us here. Now after He told him, " 'Look at the stars and count them if you are able to…' " and I'm sure it was a gorgeous night out there, and of course, with the Passover night it is nearly a full moon so you've got the full moon out there and you've got all the stars, you've got all this beauty and splendor that is out there, and God took Abraham out there to show him. And here is His promise, continuing in verse 5: "…and he said to him, 'So shall your seed be.' " Now there are two seeds, one is the physical seed, Isaac, and the other is the spiritual seed, those who will be born into the Kingdom of God. Now what do we have here? We have exactly what Jesus taught later. Remember when Nicodemus came to Him? And Jesus said that you cannot see the Kingdom of God unless you have been born again, and He said that which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the spirit is spirit, and this is exactly what we have here, because at the resurrection, we find in Daniel 12:3, that the righteous shall shine forth as the stars in the firmament of the heavens (Paraphrased). And in Matthew 13:49 that at the resurrection, those who enter into the Kingdom of God shall shine like the sun. Now that shows the glory that they will have. So what do you have? You have your first birth, the physical life, and you have the second birth, projected to the resurrection, don't you – from flesh to spirit. So here, right in here you have embedded the core of what it means to be born again. Amazing! That's another precept that we can get out of here. So that's why the heavens declare the glory of God. Now let's also understand something that we will see a little bit later, that Isaac was also that type.

Now let's understand something – in this special that was put on by the National Geographic, "In the Womb", they are able, as I mentioned, to take 3-D actual photos of the baby in the womb, much like this ad that's on television now with the baby in the womb advertising the Quiznos nacho hot sandwiches. They now know that in the womb, that the baby is nearly fully developed at 6 weeks, and that's when a woman first knows that she is pregnant. And it clearly shows that what is in her is another body and she is entrusted to bring forth that life by God – [He] created her and designed her to do so, and that the body that is in there is not hers, but another life. Now they also showed this: that the baby grows and develops. They even showed when the heart first starts beating – quite amazing, and they show how it grows.

Now the baby practices everything in the womb that it needs before it's born so when it's born it will be able to function – moves its arms, moves its legs, it turns around, it pushes, it kicks, opens its mouth, it smiles, it frowns, it sleeps, it even drinks the amniotic fluid, about a pint of it a day. It is fed by the mother through the umbilical cord. It knows the food that the mother eats because it comes to the baby. It knows the mother's voice. Babies react to music, and they have found that good symphony music relaxes the baby and guess what – rock music sends them out of their minds as it were. So even the living principles that we can see of people who have already been born and are in the world apply to the baby in the womb. So when the baby is born, now it has to do something it has never done – it must breathe. And it will also show when it is in the womb, it's got plugs in its nostrils, and when they're born they clean out those plugs and it can breathe. Now when it is born it has practiced nursing, it knows its mother, it knows the sound of the voice, and everything like that, and the mothers are built just right so that the babies can suckle. That's the way God designed it.

Now in a parallel this way – after we're born, we grow up, we're called of God, everything that we are doing as Christians by loving God, and keeping His commandments, living by every word of God, and having the Word of God written in our hearts and our minds; we are practicing what we need for eternal life. So when we are born again into the Kingdom of God, we will be ready to start functioning, but it's going to be just like when the baby is born into the world and must begin breathing, which it's never done before, when we are born into the Kingdom of God, we are going to start functioning as spirit beings which we have never done before. And we have all of that buried here, right in these verses.

Now notice, continuing in Genesis 15:5: "…and he said to him, So shall your seed be." Well, you can't count the stars. He didn't say, "Just a minute Lord, let me get my calculator" (Laughter). It was beyond the ability of Abraham to do. Many things are beyond our ability to do so we what? We trust God and we believe God. Now that's what Abraham did, he believed in the Lord and that's New Testament doctrine, is it not? Yes. And it was counted or imputed to him for righteousness. Now this means he was put in right standing with God because he believed God.

Now then, we know that he said, "Go ahead and you get the heifer, you get the goat, you get the ram and the turtledove and the pigeon…" (paraphrased). And he made this special sacrifice where they were cut down the middle, except for the turtledove and pigeon, and it was a real bloody sacrifice. And there was a little path between the backs of the animals that was made so God later could walk down through there because God was going to pledge His death in order to accomplish the physical seed to come, and in order to accomplish the spiritual seed which would result from that. God had to take a maledictory oath and He had to pledge His death for the sins of mankind, and that's what He did here, and that's what the Passover is all about, and we know and we understand when we put it together, and you can read it in The Christian Passover book, that this occurred on the 14th day of the first month. It started at night just like our Passover does and it went on into the day portion with the sacrifices that were here, and this relates to the timing of the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ. The Passover of Exodus 12, though it has types relating to Christ, is not of the timing which relates to the crucifixion of Christ. Neither are the other sacrifices at the temple related in timing to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ – this and this alone, is.

Now notice what happened, Genesis 15:12: "And when the sun was going down…" Now God has to perform this miracle in order to show Abraham that the future coming Messiah was doing to die. When did Jesus die? It says here in the gospels, at the ninth hour which is about three o'clock and that's when the sun starts going down. "…When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him." How are you going to give someone an experience of death and yet remain alive? Well, this is how you do it, and this is what God did. Then God made the promise and said that the physical seed would go into captivity and we later find out that that's into Egypt, and so He promised that He would bring them out four hundred years later in the fourth generation (verse 13). Now notice verse 17. Now we go into the next day because all days in the Bible are calculated from sunset to sunset. Verse 17: "…it came to pass, that, when the sun went down…" Now we are into the 15th day aren't we. Where was Christ on the 15th day of the first month after He was crucified on the 14th day? He was where? He was in the tomb in total darkness in total blackness. Now if you have ever gone to the Carlsbad Caverns, you get down there and they turn the lights out and they say, "Put your hand in front of your face and see if you can see it." You can't see a thing. So this is what this horror of great darkness was picturing and now with the darkness of night, then we see something else. We see God's power and pledge to fulfill what He said to Abraham. Continuing in verse 17: "… Behold a smoking furnace…" Now you might liken that to a blowtorch. "…And a burning lamp that passed between those parts" Now that's the only way that Abraham in this horror of great darkness could comprehend that God walked down between the parts of those animals. And as He walked down between the parts of those animals, the smoking furnace just burned up those sacrifices and there was probably nothing left there but ashes. And then He made the covenant with Abraham. Verse 18: "In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram…" (Genesis 15:12-13, 17-18).

Now likewise with us, the covenant that Christ made with us was sealed with His death, and it was guaranteed when He was put into the tomb. Now I can't help but think of the difference between the death of John Paul II and the funeral and the accolades and all of the leaders of the world praising him there. They had five Kings, six Queens, they had seventy Presidents and Prime Ministers, and they had top officials from all governments of the world, and they had over one hundred and forty representatives of other religions of the world there. A perfect time for the spirits of Satan to massage all their self-righteousness so much so in fulfilling the will of God because Revelation 17 says what? He puts it in their minds to fulfill His will. Even the President of Israel shook hands with the President of Syria and Iran at the funeral for the Pope! Now they want him to be saint right now. He is a great man in this world.

Now what about Christ, I couldn't help but compare it to Christ – rejected, despised, the religious leaders hated Him. The governments of Rome did Him in and crucified Him. The people hated Him. They spit upon Him. The soldiers beat Him up and they crucified Him and He died an ignominious death that the only ones who were there to be of any help were Joseph of Arimathea and some of the women who brought spices and that was it. And where was He buried? He was buried in a grave. He was counted with robbers. And the grave was a sepulchre – no pomp, no ceremony, no circumstances, no dressed up in Santa Claus' suit, none of that, you know. What a difference, what a contrast. (The comment was made: That's why God hates religion. Yes. That's why God does hate religion).

So God promised it, here is the promise of His death – which occurred then on the Passover day in 30 A.D. Now let's come to Genesis 22 and let's see something else that is related to the Passover and has Passover significance though I cannot prove it dogmatically that this occurred on the Passover day. However, here is the lesson, you know what it was. God said take your only son – that's how He refers to Isaac as your only son – even though Ishmael was his son, he is not counted as the son of promise because it was by the conniving of Sarah that occurred and so the world is paying the penalty for it ever since. And what is the greatest problem we have in the world? The fights and quarrels between the children of promise and the children of Hagar. Amazing! So God told them go unto the mountains of Moriah and offer Isaac as a sacrifice.

So he went three days' journey, and he took the wood, he took the fire, and then he loaded the wood on Isaac when they got there and he took the fire in his hand, it was probably in a pot, and he carried the coals and I'm sure they always added a little wood to it so they could keep the fire going. So let's pick it up here in verse 7: "And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, 'My father:' and he said, 'Here am I, my son.' And he said, 'Behold the fire and the wood;' " (He says, "Now I see the fire, you got it in your hand, and the wood is on my back) " '…but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?' " OK, let's look at this for just a minute. Carrying the wood was what – like carrying a cross, and in this case Isaac was a type of Christ and Abraham was a type of God the Father and the fire was a type of fiery trial that the crucifixion would be for Jesus. Now notice the faith. And many times God doesn't do anything for us until the last second. Notice, verse 8: "...Abraham said, 'My son, God will provide Him a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son' " (verses 9 and 10).

Now why would he do that? Because he counted God powerful enough to raise Isaac from the dead in case he did go through it. We find that in Hebrews 11. Now notice that a miraculous thing [happened] "And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, 'Abraham, Abraham': and he said, 'Here am I.' And he said, 'Lay not your hand upon the lad, neither do you anything to him' " (verse 11).

Now let's add up the time. Abraham was called at 75. Isaac was born when he was 100. So that is 25 years. So if the lad that would have to be between 12 and 20, were say, 18 years – so you've got 25 years and 18 years, which is 43 years. Now how long have you been in the Church? Whatever, but notice what he said, " '…for now I know that you fear God…' " And all those trials and the things that he went through were to show whether he really loved God or not – whether he was really willing to do the things that God said or not, and to believe that God would fulfill His promise.

Now remember He said that his seed would be as the stars of heaven and as the sand on the seashore. Now if he is going to offer his son Isaac who was the only heir to carry that out, and God didn't resurrect him from the dead after the sacrifice, if it would have come through, then God would have given him the greatest lie that has ever been. See we believe God because He is true and His Word is true and His Word is right, and He will do what He said, and that is what Abraham did. But notice, " '…For now I know that you fear God…' "

How long does it take for us to know God and love God? It takes a lifetime. Just like the baby in the womb has to be prepared for birth, we have to be prepared for the second birth of being born again at the resurrection, and that's what Abraham was doing. " '…Seeing that you have not withheld your son, your only son from me.' " See, he was willing to love God and keep His commandments more than his own family. Verse 13: "And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns:" Now rams normally don't get caught in thickets with their horns so as I have said, I believe God created this ram just for this particular thing for a substitutionary sacrifice and Christ is that substitutionary sacrifice for us. He died for our sins. So here is a type of Christ then the sacrifice then was offered instead of his son.

Now notice what happened then, verse 15: "And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time," And here is the message from God, you can't have anything greater or stronger or of a greater promise than this that God gave.

(go to the next track)

Now because of what Abraham did, God did something special. God did something He did not need to do because every word of God is true and God cannot lie and He doesn't need to swear as a man. But He said here, verse 16: "And said, 'By myself have I sworn,' says the LORD" Now this makes it absolutely unilateral, unequivocal, all the promises that He gave to Abraham will come true. The promises of the Messiah to come would come true, and the timing of it would come true, and it was to be exactly as God said and open the door for spiritual salvation, as we'll see here in just a minute. Continuing verse 16: " '…because you have done this thing, and have not withheld you son, your only son:' " Now let's understand something – this is something above and beyond the commandments of God. This is something that God told him to do, and we're going to see the key important thing here in just a minute. Verse 17: " '…That in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven,' " Now in this case the spiritual is brought out first. " '… And as the sand which is upon the seashore;' " The physical seed. " '…And your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because you have obeyed my voice. Now I gave a sermon on that, "The Simplicity in Christ – Obey My Voice."

Now also this shows in Hebrews 6, let's turn there, that God has given by these two immutable things that we just read of, in blessing I will bless. Now Hebrews 6:13. And we will see how this event that we just covered in Genesis 22 projects forward to Christ, projects forward to salvation, as we have already understood. Verse 13: "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. For indeed, men swear by the greater, and confirmation by an oath puts an end to all disputes between them. In this way God, desiring more abundantly…" Now who did He do this for? "…To show the heirs of the promise the unchangeable nature of His own purpose…" See, this shows the purpose of God. That's why in Genesis 15 this was done on the Passover day and then we will look at the last Passover of Jesus and we will see the importance of that day as a covenant day and the renewing of the covenant. Verse 18: "So that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to lay hold on the hope that has been set before us" This was done so that we could have hope in God. So that we know that God is going to do what He has said. And this is the whole simplicity in Christ! Verse 19: "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both secure and steadfast…" The world's going to come and go, the people are going to come and go, but God is always there, the hope of God is always there, the truth of God is always there, the love of God is always there, and then "…both secure and steadfast, and which enters into the sanctuary within the veil…" And what does this do? Just exactly as the voice came from heaven to speak directly to Abraham so likewise through Christ, we are able to enter into the Holy of Holies because of what Christ has done. That's why when Christ died, the veil in the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom, to show that the way to the Holy of Holies was now open through prayer to God to Father in heaven above. Now notice, verse 20: "Where Christ has entered for us as a forerunner, having become a High Priest forever according to the order of Melchisedec" (Hebrews 6:13-20).

Now let's go back and look at one other thing concerning Abraham and then we will come to the New Testament and look at that last Passover with Jesus. Let's come to Genesis 26:4. Now He is talking to Isaac and passing the promise on to him because, you see, Jesus said of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to the Pharisees, "You'll see them in the Kingdom of God and you yourselves thrust out." So we know that they are going to be in glory in the Kingdom of God. So notice what He says here, verse 4: " '…I will make your seed to multiply as the stars of heaven…' " There it is the spiritual seed. Then He talks about the physical seed. " '…And I will give unto your seed all these countries; and in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; (verse 5) Because…' " Now this doesn't tell us whether Abraham kept the holy days or not, but this gives us an indication that he probably did. " '…Because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.' " Now later when God gave all these things to Israel, the holy days were called statutes. So if Abraham kept the statutes of God, and God created the sun and the moon and the stars and the earth, and gave the timing of the Passover and everything, it stands to reason that there was some kind of commemoration that Abraham had before God on this covenant day. Do we have that with the Passover today? Yes, indeed. Now, this is why in the New Testament we are called, "If you are Christ's then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise." And the promise was what? Spiritual seed, and of course, we've all been born flesh, and now we are learning how to practice, just like the babe in the womb, to learn the things we need to learn and prepare for the resurrection – tremendous!

Now let's come to the New Testament, and let's begin in John 13. Now as we're turning there to John 13 (I am going to read from the Harmony because I have the parallel columns here which is important for us to understand). Now I am going to go through this and I am also going to answer some questions which relate to recycling of an error concerning the Passover that the footwashing was after supper because that's what the King James says, but that's a mistranslation, because the word means: and during supper and the Greek verb that is used there has to do with the beginning of supper, not after supper. And so I've got a letter that I did January 19, 1975 to answer that very question. Because one man, his name is Darryl Hensen, put out a paper and said the Passover and "night to be remembered" are on the fourteenth – meaning that the feast is over on the twentieth. So look what happens when people don't do the things that God wants them to do, the way He wants them to do. But all the way through leading up to this John 13 the disciples came and said " 'Where do you want us to prepare to keep the Passover?' and He said, 'You go into this house and you tell the master of the house that I am coming and I want to keep the Passover with my disciples at your house. You follow the man who has a pitcher of water and in that house we'll have the Passover' " (paraphrased). So when they got in there He came at evening, sat down with the twelve, now then here, John 13, this is important for us to understand because the timing of this is very similar when you take the keeping of the Passover at night and it's the promise of eternal life, and it's the renewal of the New Covenant that's what it is we will see. That's the same night that God gave the promises of the covenant to Abraham, isn't it. And then the sacrifices took place on the day portion and that pictured the agony and torturous crucifixion that Jesus Christ would go through to die for the sins of the world. So it goes from Abraham to Christ and to the Church. That's why it is very important for us to understand we are not to mix in the Passover of Israel with the Passover of Christ because that relates back to Abraham and not to the Passover of Exodus 12. That served a little different function, though it was the Passover, a little different function than what is served by the Passover for us today. And here again we see the same pattern, you have the physical, you have the spiritual. Well, the Passover to Israel was physical, and now Christ comes and He reveals the spiritual Passover that we are to take, and the covenant of eternal life.

Now let's begin here in John 13:2, page 274 of the Harmony: "And during supper…" That's what it means from the Greek, and I'll re-do this letter of January 19, 1975, which is more than 30 years ago, and you will see that I have always preached the same thing. "And during supper (the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, that he should betray Him)" Why does Satan like to come – to get as close to Christ as he could. What did the apostles have to put up with – false apostles, false brethren, false practices, and that's why we have to stand for the truth. And today, for us to stand up and tell the truth, and you look at all the accolades and all the glory that was displayed with the funeral of the Pope and to stand up and say the Pope is a liar, all the doctrines are lies, everything that they are doing is a lie and that's all of Satan the devil – you're an idiot, you're insane, you are rotten, you are [committing] a hate crime. Well, that's because no one is willing to prove the truth. And if you say the truth, and people don't want the truth, and hate the truth, they're going to get mad. That's why they killed Christ, wasn't it? Yes.

Now verse 3: "Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going back to God…" Where did Jesus come from? John constantly said He came from heaven. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). Who was Christ? God manifested in the flesh. And yet, some people can go into the Bible and say, "Oh no, He was just born by the Virgin Mary. He didn't come from heaven".

So Jesus, verse 4: "Rose from supper, laid aside His garments; and after taking a towel, He secured it around Himself." Verse 5: "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." And that was the job of the lowest servant of the household to do, and that was always done at the beginning of supper, just like when Jesus went in to eat with Simon the Pharisee, and He came in and here was the women when He sat down (or actually reclined, because they reclined on couches to eat. They didn't sit at tables like we do.) So she came and what did she do? She wiped His feet with her hair and with her tears and was repenting. And so then after Jesus asked Simon the question who is He going to forgive the most, the one that owes a lot or a little. He said, "I suppose to the one who owes a lot." And He said, "You see this woman? I came in and you didn't give me any water to wash my feet, and she has washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head." So that shows that footwashing should be at the beginning, not at the ending.

Verse 6: "Then He came to Simon Peter; and he (that is Simon Peter) said to Him, 'Lord, are You going to wash my feet?' " Verse 7: "Jesus answered and said to him, 'What I am doing you do not understand now, but you shall know after these things.' " Because He was going to explain it to them. Then, verse 8: "Peter said to Him, 'You shall not wash my feet, not ever.' Jesus answered and said to him, 'If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.' " Now let me ask you a question. Why does Satan want people to not do footwashing? Because Satan doesn't want you to have part with Jesus. Right? What is the first thing that they stop doing when they modify the Passover or what they call the Lord's Supper which is a perversion of the Passover – what do they stop first? Footwashing. "Oh well we don't do that today. That's too humiliating to do." And see it is so simply. Jesus said to do it, and we will see He tells us to do it. Now anyone who says you don't have to do footwashing is saying, "I know more than God. I am better than Jesus Christ." They may not think those words, but that's precisely what their actions and their attitude says. So if you don't do footwashing, you have no part with Him.

Verse 9: "Simon Peter said to Him, 'Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.' Just like the way that humans do, what do they do, they want to improve on what God says. Oh, if [washing] the feet is good, how about the hands and head? You know, and if this had not occurred and been recorded, what would people be doing today – hands, head and feet wouldn't they? Now notice verse 10: "Jesus said to him, 'The one who has been washed does not need to wash anything other than the feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all' " (John 13:2-10).

Now there are two contradictions, not contradictions but apparent contradictions if you don't understand it. "He who has been washed…" Now what does it mean to be washed? We'll see it does not mean to be bathed – that you take a bath before you come. Obviously, the disciples did not have a chance to take a bath before they got there did they? No! What were they doing, they were walking into Jerusalem weren't they, and they were asking Jesus, "Where do you want to keep the Passover?" They were all dirty with dusty feet and sweaty from walking, and they didn't have underarm deodorant and things like this. I mean let's get down to the real nitty-gritty of life, because that's what it was. So it's not talking about being bathed in a bath.

Let's go to Act 22, and let's see what washed means. Now this is Paul giving an account of his calling where he was on the road to Damascus. You talk about the reach of the high priest to get people that they wanted to get! He actually had arrest warrants to go in the synagogues and get anyone who believed in Christ and haul them out and take them to prison and, yeah, even have them killed. So God knocked him down, that's how He called him. Then He told Ananias, "I want you to go take care of Saul for Me." And he said, "Oh Lord, look he has come with orders to take people away." He said, "He is a chosen servant to Me" (paraphrased). So Ananias, verse 13: "Came to me, and stood, and said to me, 'Brother Saul, look up' and I looked up at him at that time. And he said, 'The God of our fathers has personally chosen you to know His will, and to see the Just One, and to hear the voice of His mouth;' " so he was personally taught by Jesus Christ. Verse 15: " 'For you shall be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now why do you delay? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins…' " (Acts 22:1-12 paraphrased, and 13-16). So the word washed there in John 13 is louo in the Greek and it's louo here.

Now let's come to Hebrews 10 and let's see where we have the same thing. If you are baptized, you don't need to be baptized again, you just need to have your feet washed on the Passover night. Now let's come here to Hebrews 10:22: "Let us approach God with a true heart…" Because we have a great High Priest over the House of God. "…With full conviction of faith, our hearts having been purified from a wicked conscience…" That's by the blood of Christ, "…and our bodies having been washed with pure water." That's baptism. "Let us hold fast without wavering to the hope that we profess, for He Who promised is faithful" (verse 23). So that's what it means there in John 13 to be washed and then that is accomplished through the operation of baptism and then you only wash the feet and therefore, as I wrote in the Passover book and in the book The Day Jesus the Christ Died, that footwashing does commemorate and renew your baptism. It also shows that you are going to walk in God's way.

Now let's come back here to John 13 again. So that's what it means to be washed. You don't have to wash anything other than the feet, verse 10: "…But is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all." And the reason He said that was because Judas was there for the footwashing and Judas went out after the footwashing.

Now the truth is, as you will see in the letter I did in 1975, is that only John mentions the exact time when Judas left, and there is no mix-up in the account in Luke 22. Verse 11: "For He knew … who was betraying Him; this was the reason He said, 'Not all of you are clean.' " Verse 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…' " And we could just add in there the same as the lowest servant of the household. " '…you also are duty-bound to wash one another's feet.' " And that's the real meaning of the Greek, duty-bound. So that's why Satan wants to get rid of that first. And then according to what the meaning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is what – a little leaven, leavens the whole lump, and then one error after another follows each other right down the line to where even today some people say the Passover is not important.

Now notice verse 15: " ' I have given you an example, so that you also will do exactly as I have done to you.' " Now, if we love God and if we keep His commandments, His love is being perfected in us (this is 1 John 2:5) and we walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. Now if He gave this example for us to do, what should we do – what Jesus said! What was the reason that the promise was given to Isaac and because of what Abraham did 'because he obeyed My voice.' Well, this is the voice of Christ speaking and if He says you are duty-bound to do it, you're what? You're duty-bound to do it! " ' For I have given you an example, so that you also will do exactly as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you a servant is not greater than his lord: nor a messenger greater than he who sent him' " (verse 16). So those who say you don't need to do footwashing are saying what? "We are greater than the Lord. We know more than God". He says, verse 17: " 'If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them' " (John 13:11-17). Does that mean we should do that? Of course, of course!

Now the next part: eating the unleavened bread. Let's come here to Luke 22:19: " And he took bread; and after giving thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, 'This is My body, which is given for you. This do in the remembrance of Me.' " Now then He did that also with the wine. Let's continue on over here in Mark 14:23 and we'll get the wine and I'll make a very important point concerning transubstantiation – that there is no such thing as transubstantiation. It doesn't take place. Verse 23: "And He took the cup and after giving thanks, He gave it to them; and they all drank of it. Verse 24: "And He said to them, 'This is My blood, the blood of the New Covenant, which is poured out for many' " (Mark 14:23-24). Not only the many, but each individually. Now let's understand something. When Christ did this on that night, it is not recorded that when He broke the bread, all of a sudden some of His flesh came off of His arms and leaped into the bread so His flesh would be in the bread, nor did His blood come out of His wrists and into the wine so His actual blood would be in the wine. It is symbolic. Just like your baptism is a symbolic death. You cannot eat the blood and flesh of Jesus Christ because after His resurrection, He had no more flesh and blood to give. And everything that is done with the Eucharist in saying that that is so, is an absolute lie, and perpetuates people in bondage, in fear, in superstition and cuts them off from Christ. When the priest stands there and holds the bread up high and everyone worships the bread, whose god is it? Who are they worshipping? You need to know where that came from. You go in and draw down from The Two Babylons on the "unbloody sacrifice". Now that originally came from Egypt as an unbloody sacrifice, and that means no animal sacrifice but in order to make it a bloody sacrifice, they've had to say it's a mystery where that even though it's apparently bread and even though it's apparently wine, it is really the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ and He is crucified again every time we say the mass. Now that is an absolute lie! That has nothing to do with the Passover. The "I.H.S." on the little wafer – now if you break the bread, how do you have it perfectly round? And why is it in the form of a sun disk, and why does it have "I.H.S." which is Isis, Horus and Semiramis [Seb-Nimrod]. (Comment was made: it is perforated with a cross and so they can break it into four pieces.)

Now, let's come over here to 1 Corinthians 11:25 "In like manner, He also took the cup after He had supped, saying, 'This is the cup of the New Covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it,' " He did this with the bread, He broke the bread and said, 'Take, eat, this is My body which is being broken for you. This do in the remembrance of Me' (verse 24). And likewise here '…do this as often as you drink it…' Now this doesn't mean as often as you would like to drink it because there is a special Greek particle that is equivalent to the English a which in the Greek is alpha and the English n which in the Greek is nu and it is pronounced on. Now on is a special particle that is not translated into English, but it shows that this statement "as often as" means that there are conditions and limits to how often that you do it. And what is the condition and limit? One, the Passover is a yearly event so it is restricted to once a year. " '…As often as you do it…' " is not as often as you would like, but until… the other condition is: until the Lord come. Now He hasn't come yet, so as often as we do it, year by year, 'til the Lord come, we show His death. Now we'll see that here. Verse 26: "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you are announcing and portraying the Lord's death 'til He comes." When did He die – every day? No, one day, Passover day. Right? Yes. You cannot commemorate His death any other day than on the day that He died which was what? The Passover day. "…You are announcing and portraying the Lord's death 'til He comes. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:24-29). And if you don't do it the way Jesus said, you're taking it unworthily.

Now where does that put the majority of Christendom? And yet they think they are so righteous, you see. That's why you need to prove what is the Word of God, understand what is the Word of God. Don't believe what any minister or priest or scholar or expert tells you, you read it in the Bible and prove it and you make sure that you get a good translation of the Bible so that you will have the understanding that you need. See, in the world they want to commemorate His birth and His resurrection, and forget about His death and you have no forgiveness of sin unless you remember His death.

Now let's come to John 6 and let's see the whole meaning of this and we'll go into in a little more detail than I did last time. But you see, when we renew the New Covenant, and also John gave the words of the covenant in four chapters: John 14, 15, 16, and 17. And of course, we've gone through that with the Passover preparation.

Now let's come here to John 6:32. Let's understand the meaning of it. We have to have the footwashing, we have to have the bread, we have to have the wine, and that's the sequence in the way that we do it. Then we read the words of the New Covenant, John 14, 15, 16, and 17 and in those four chapters you'll find faith, hope, and love. You will find the whole Christian experience. You will find the promise of the Spirit given. You will find the promise of the love of Christ given. You will find the promise of the love of God the Father given, and you will find the promise that Christ would be with us even to the end of the age, and even through the preaching of those that succeeded the apostles down to the time that we have today, that these very words would be spoken and practiced and believed. Now here, John 6:32: "Then Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven;' " They were looking for the manna. " '…But My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He Who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world' " (verse 33). Now you see when I read those things, I cannot understand how [some] people believe that Jesus was not in heaven before He came to the earth! You know last time I talked about, you know, what if you had a Volkswagen Jetta and you put Rolls Royce nametags on it? Do you have a Rolls Royce, or do you have a Volkswagen Jetta? Well, you have a Volkswagen Jetta. Only the name has been changed. It is still the same thing – the Volkswagen. So, He came down from heaven " '…the bread of heaven is He Who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.' Therefore, they said to Him, 'Lord, give this bread to us always.' " Verse 35: "Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life; the one who comes to Me shall never hunger; and the one who believes in Me shall never thirst at any time.' " And this is talking spiritually, not physically, spiritually. You don't have to go across the earth looking at other religions. What you have with God's Spirit, you'll never hunger and you'll never thirst and put in your margin there, Matthew 5 (verse 6) about if you hunger and thirst after righteousness, you shall be filled.

Now let's come to Psalm 34, because this is, as we will see, confirmed as a figure of speech. Now let's understand this – spiritually with Christ in you, that's what it results in, but you have to taste the Word of God, don't you? You have to live by every word that comes out of the mouth of God. Not by bread alone, and that's what this symbolizes as we'll see. Now let's pick it up here in Psalm 34:8. Now here is something very similar to what Jesus said. "O taste and see that the LORD is good…" Now you're not biting into the flesh of Christ, and you're not drinking His blood. You are, as it were, taking in the Word of God as spiritual food. "…Blessed is the man that trusts in him." So that shows the result of it, you see.

Now let's come over here to verse 15: "The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry. The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. The righteous cry, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles." You can claim that promise. Whatever trouble you have, God promises to deliver you out of all, one way or the other. Now you may have to pray repeatedly, but God sooner or later will do it just like He did even at the last minute with Abraham raising the knife to offer Isaac for the sacrifice. Now notice verse 18: "The LORD is near to them that are of a broken heart; and saves such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivers him out of them all." (Psalm 34:8, 15-19). Now whatever your trials and difficulties, if you're having them, you just take this Psalm, when you're praying, get on your knees open it up there, read it out loud to God, claim this promise and say, "God you have promised and I'm trusting in Your Word. God You cannot lie, God I trust in You and believeYou and believe Your Word." And that's all tied here to Christ is the bread of life.

Now let's come back here to John 6. Let's come over here to verse 47: " 'Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes in Me has eternal life.' " What was it said about Abraham? He believed in the LORD, right? Yes. It shows that Abraham is going to have eternal life. Verse 48: " 'I am the bread of life.' " Everything that Jesus was and is and stands for, gives us, through the power of the Holy Spirit, spiritual life, and at the return of Christ and [at] the resurrection, eternal life in the Kingdom of God forever. That's what the whole story of it is back there with Abraham. That's where it began, and it is brought to a partial completion with Christ through the Passover, and through His crucifixion and resurrection and continues on down as we will see with the church harvest leading up to Pentecost and the first resurrection. So this is really a tremendous thing when you put it all together, you see. Verse 49: " 'Your fathers ate manna in the desert, but they died.' " Isn't it true? You can eat the best food in the world – manna is the best food wouldn't you say? Even today you can eat the best food in the world, you can take care of yourself the best you can, you can exercise the best you can, you can drink your own fresh juice forever like Jack LaLanne who is 95 and still going strong and exercising every day at 5:00 a.m. in the morning, but guess what? We are all going to die, as in Adam. So we are all looking to eternal life after death. Verse 50: " 'This is the bread which comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die.' " Now that means, not die forever. " 'I am the living bread, which came down from heaven;' " How many times in this chapter did He say He came down from heaven – amazing. " '…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.' " For the whole plan and purpose of God, and it goes back and the first Passover was with Abraham. Verse 52: " 'Because of this…' " Now you always have to have an argument. This is Fox News fair and balanced before it was ever on television. " 'Because of this, the Jews were arguing with one another, saying, 'How is He able to give us His flesh to eat?' " Well, just cut a little off His forearm and pass it around or throw a fingertip in the chili at Wendy's and sue them. "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, you do not have life in yourselves' " (verse 53). That is symbolized by the bread, not His literal flesh, and by the wine, not His literal blood. 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' " And what is the last day for us? It is not the feast of the Last Great Day. There is a feast for us which is the last day of the 50 count to Pentecost. Isn't the 50th day the last day? Isn't that when we are going to be resurrected? Yes. That's what it means. " '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.' " Wow! This was hard to take! Even these who were complaining about this were His disciples. So then He set the record straight. What does it mean? Verse 57: " 'As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father; so also the one who eats Me shall live by Me' " (John 6:47-57). That's what it means. You live by Jesus Christ. You live by every word of God. That's what it means, and that goes right back to why Abraham received the blessing, because " '…Abraham obeyed My voice.' "

Now let's come to Galatians 3 (we mentioned this). Verse 26, and here is the whole meaning of the Passover and why it goes back to Abraham. "Because you are all sons of God…" Destined what – to be as the stars in heaven, yes? The spiritual seed – yes? "…Through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ." And your baptism is a conjoining to the death of Jesus. That's why we remember the death of Jesus through the Passover. We don't forget His resurrection, but His death, the death of God manifested in the flesh is the most important thing. So we're baptized into Christ, put on Christ, have the mind of Christ, the knowledge of Christ, the Word of Christ, the way that Christ lived and walked.

Verse 28: "There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither bond nor free; there is neither male nor female…" And that is just spiritually speaking, because I am still a man and those of you who are women are still women, and those of you who are men are still men – so in the flesh they're still a man and woman and so forth. "… For you are all one in Christ Jesus." That is for the opportunity for salvation. Verse 29: "And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed…" Which He promised back there as the stars of heaven. "…And heirs according to the promise" that you will receive eternal life. And that's the origin and meaning of the Passover.

Transcribed: 07/26/05 / FRC/jea