Week 2: Do We Keep Passover or Celebrate Passover?

We do not keep Passover today; the Passover is a sacrifice. Every year a perfect male lamb was to be sacrificed “at the place which the LORD your God shall choose to place his name” (Deut. 16:6). 
 
There is no Temple now, so we do not sacrifice a lamb. But there is plenty to remember, commemorate and celebrate! 
 
The day of Passover now is spent preparing for the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It is on the first day of Unleavened Bread, which begins in the evening, that we sit down to a meal to commemorate the important eventssurrounding this time of year.  
 
We remember the first Passover in Egypt, when those set apart by the lamb’s blood were spared death. 
 
We celebrate freedom from the slavery and idolatry that we left when we fled Egypt. 
 
We remember the sacrifice of our Messiah, the ultimate Passover Lamb, who died for our sins. 
 
We give thanks for our redemption through him and the promise of eternal life with him.
 
So, we do not keep Passover. We do not sacrifice a lamb. We do celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread and honor the eternal significance of the Passover sacrifice.

Week 1: What is Passover?

Passover is one of the Feasts of the LORD outlined in Leviticus chapter 23.
 
Passover is actually just one day – the day of the sacrifice –  but it is always followed by the week-long celebration of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, so the word “Passover” is sometimes used to refer to the entire “season” of holidays. For the sake of clarity, we will distinguish between the day of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
 
Passover falls on the 14th day of the first month of the Biblical year. It is a day of preparation and a day to remember the sacrifice of the Passover lamb. The first Passover coincided with the final plague of Egypt. Israel had been slaves in Egypt for generations when YeHoVaH appointed Moses to deliver the people and lead them to the Promised Land.
 
When the Pharaoh of Egypt refused to release the Israelites, YeHoVaH sent 10 plagues. The tenth and final plague was that of the death of every firstborn. But those who obeyed YeHoVaH’s instructions to put the blood of an unblemished male lamb on their doorposts were passed over, their lives spared.
 
Once in the Land, every year on the 14th day of the first Biblical month, the people sacrificed the Passover lamb. It served as a symbol of a substitution on our behalf. As a people, we broke the blood covenant made with YeHoVaH at the base of Mount Sinai in the desert, and the penalty is death. The sacrifice of the lamb was a reminder of this but was also a picture of a substitution for us. Our death was owed, but the lamb was the one that paid the price.
 
When the Messiah came, he came as THE Passover Lamb, the substitution for us, the One who paid the price, once and for all. On the very day that the Passover lamb was sacrificed, the Messiah was crucified on a stake. He paid the death penalty that we owed so that we, as believers, could live eternally with him.
 
The week following Passover is called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. During it, we eat no leavening, which is a representation of sin in our lives. Getting rid of all the leaven in our homes and our diets reminds us to rid our lives of sin, to live a life set apart for YeHoVaH.
 
The days and important events following the Messiah’s crucifixion, including his resurrection, happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, so it is a week full of remembrance and thanksgiving. As the sun sets at the end of the day of Passover, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread begins with a meal, and the whole story, from Moses to the Messiah, is told.

Who Was the Apostle Paul and What Did He Teach?

What was Paul’s cultural background? Where does he come from? Who was he? What school did he belong to? What did he think and teach before Yeshua revealed himself to him? Did Paul convert or create a religion after his encounter with Yeshua?

The above questions will help us understand many of the passages we read in the New Testament Scriptures, especially when Paul is addressing certain audiences in a particular way. We know that Paul came from a very different context than the one shown by Yeshua (Jesus), who was mainly developing his ministry in some specific areas of Judea, Galilee and Samaria in general, focusing mainly on the lost sheep of the House of Israel according to the records. biblical, unlike Paul.