Old Testament → New Testament
Passover → Lord's Supper
There is a degree of misunderstanding in regards to memorializing the night that is commonly called passover. Yet, the Gospels are complete in regard to how Jesus and the disciples observed that last passover. They had a dinner that was in accordance to the instructions of the Mosaic covenant. But Jesus instituted a separate type of meal that night. Jesus taught the people and his disciples much and previous to that night so much of what Jesus had taught was in parables to the extent that the disciples didn't fully understand..
Ma t 13:34 All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them
Mar 4:11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:
Several chapters, John chapters 13-17, are required for John to pass on to us the heartfelt words that Jesus spoke to his disciples. After instituting the life giving significance of the bread and wine he spoke to his disciples at length. He spoke of the newness of the relationship with God by those who would commit to a new covenant or New Testament. The translated words covenant and testament are the same Greek word. The disciples recognized the gravity of the words that Jesus spoke to them on that night.
Joh 16:29 His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb.
Joh 16:30 Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.
Exodus 19:4-6 and 24:7-8 record the institution of the old covenant, (Mosaic covenant). The details of the covenant were provided in chapters 19-24.
Exo 19:4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.
Exo 19:5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
Exo 19:6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
After Moses gave the fullness of the requirements of the covenant the people agreed to it.
Exo 24:7 And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient.
Exo 24:8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.
It is very important to recognize that the sole responsibility of Israel was to obey the requirements laid down by God to receive the good will of God. History documents that they were not able to fulfill their part of the agreement. Therefore a new agreement was necessary, being the New Testament or Covenant. But that one required the indwelling of the Spirit of God to accomplish that which was previously unattainable. It is so vital to see the vast gulf between what was accomplished on the original passover night (salvation of the first born) and what, through the Spirit of God dwelling in mankind, will be accomplished on the future passover. That original passover is a documentation of a loving God but it is also distant history.
The following are statements that give abundant evidence for the need of a new covenant.
2Co 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
2Co 3:14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
Heb 7:22 By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.
Heb 8:6 But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
Heb 8:7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
Heb 8:8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
Heb 8:9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
Heb 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
Heb 8:13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish G1451 G854 away.
G1451 eng-goos' From a primary verb ἄγχω agchō (to squeeze or throttle; akin to the base of G43); near (literally or figuratively, of place or time): - from, at hand, near, nigh (at hand, unto), ready.
G854 af-an-is-mos' From G853; disappearance, that is, (figuratively) abrogation: - vanish away.
It is so important to realize that the following words that Jesus spoke, on that last passover night, did not at all relate to the salvation of the first born on the first "passover" but are dedicated to the remembrance of a new covenant that leads to the potential salvation of all humanity.
1Co 11:24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
1Co 11:25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
That far reaching salvation comes through the sacrifice of Jesus and His devotion to the law of peace and the way to life eternal. For that salvation, we commit ourselves to love God with all our being and to love others as we love ourselves. This is the essence of the new covenant or New Testament. And it can be said that we do love ourselves perfectly. Do we know what "love" actually means? It is not a "feeling" yet feelings may have a part in it. Love is simply being involved with the satisfaction of God given need (if we can recognize it). God's need is responsible for our creation. In regard to God having need, a good example is recorded in Ex 32:9-10
Exo 32:9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
Exo 32:10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.
It is also revealing that the words that Paul quoted Jesus in 1 Corinthians 11:24-25 were given after the Corinthians were strongly corrected for their deportment as they gathered together for a commanded assembly. That assembly had originally been called "passover" as Israel had been instructed to remember all that happened on that historical passover night. The term "passover" was used 77 times in the old and new testament. The full meaning of what passover meant was deeply engrained into the Jews of that day. It so important to be aware of the fact that the term Passover was not used again after the Passover that instituted the "bread" and "wine" except for three places. The first being Acts 12:4
Act 12:3 And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.)
Act 12:4 And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after
Easter(passover) to bring him forth to the people.
Notice that Peter was taken during the days of "unleavened bread" yet the soldiers were to bring him to the people after "passover". It is likely that the Luke used the common "Jewish" thinking that their actual passover plus the seven days of unleavened bread was called passover in this passage. That Jewish thinking remains to this day and goes back to the days when Deuteronomy 16:2 was written.
Deu 16:2 And thou shalt sacrifice the passover unto the LORD thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to cause his name to dwell there.
The following was taken from (a voice in the wilderness).
Sacrifices during the Passover Week
Num 28:17 And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast: seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten...
Num 28:19 But ye shall offer a sacrifice made by fire for a burnt offering unto the LORD; two young bullocks, and one ram, and seven lambs of the first year: they shall be unto you without blemish:... ------------
"This meant that 14 bullocks, 7 rams, 49 lambs and 7 goats were offered during the Passover week: once again all in addition to the Daily, the Sabbath, and the New Moon sacrifices already mentioned."
Deuteronomy 16:2 speaks of sacrificing animals from the "herd" for passover. That would be in reference to the bullocks . The people that wrote Deuteronomy 16:2 considered the whole eight days, which includes the days of unleavened bread, as passover.
Now on to the other two uses of the term.
1Co_5:7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
Heb_11:28 Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.
Yes, there will be another passover, but accepting the blood of Jesus and living by the Spirit of Jesus and the Father will be the reason that a person will be passed over. Hebrews 11:28 is in reference to Moses.
It is by no accident that Paul did not call the Corinthians assembly a passover. He was one of the most well educated of Jews in the structure of Jewish doctrine. Paul had a purpose to call it "the Lords supper".
1Co 11:20 When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper.
1Co 11:21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.
Again, it is the bread and wine that represents an eternal future for mankind. The realization of eternal life will occur at a future passover. The bread and wine is rightly called by Paul "the Lord's supper". We can go to a Jewish seder to get an idea of the food offered at the traditional passover meal. That was all changed by partaking of the bread and wine. It is important to recognize that Paul did not call it a passover meal or passover. The Lord's Supper was and is the supper that pictures the taking in the nature of God and receiving a needed salvation. The Lord's supper pictures the opportunity to become a child of God, and as God's child having an eternal future.
But there is a significant question! If the old covenant has passed away how has that affected the responsibility to keep the holy days.
Exo 12:13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
Exo 12:14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
Exo 12:19 Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.
The answer is revealed in 1 Corinthians. It is an example of the profound value of the "feasts of God" and how the feasts are now imbued with the Spirit of God
1Co_5:8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
The appointments of God, now called the Holy Days, were originally given as a "shadow" of things to come.
Col 2:16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
Col 2:17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
The shadows are materializing as that which created the shadow becomes apparent. Jesus being the principle example. In regard to the Holy Days, they were established from the seven days of creation by the influence of the observable light of the sun and moon and more obtuse by the stars.
Gen 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons ("moade", literally- appointed times - Holy Days), and for days, and years:
In Gen 1:14 we are not only shown that there will be Holy Days, but with the assistance of other instruction, we are shown when to observe them. The original passover event was a shadow of a time, in the future, when those who have God's Spirit dwelling in them will be passed over (saved) from the lake of fire. The "Lord's supper" gives the road map to the eventual fulfillment of God's desire to have children. Those children have a future that is impossible to try to imagine. But we are told that it will be beyond description in its glory.