Matthew chapter 26. Matthew 26. Go ahead. I know I confused myself incredibly last week. So I'm just going to throw this out here. If I confused myself and I knew what I was talking about, Allegedly, I know I confused you guys, so just a little visual aid here today. We're gonna reference a couple different times. We're not gonna reteach the same thing, but we'll reemphasize the points that we were trying to get across last week. Before we get into this, let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for the time, Lord, to just open up your word. Lord God, I ask that you'd help me, Lord, to understand it. Lord, help me to have the right words to say, Father. Help it to be clear and edifying to the people here, Father. Lord, I pray that you'd teach us something, Lord, just from your word. Give us more confidence and love for your book. God we love you pray this in Jesus name. Amen All right. So today we're gonna start in chapter 26. We're gonna start in verse 14 So before we get into this stuff here, I do want to this is the the army in me I'm gonna orient you to the map here. Let's just show you what what you're looking at Alright, so across the top you got days of the week 11th 12th 13th all the way to the 21st that represents the days of that first month a month Nissan as it's called in the Old Testament there and So you've got the 11th day, the 12th day, blah blah blah. If you remember last week, and we'll rerun some of these passages to reemphasize, the 14th of the month was the day that the Passover lamb was killed, okay, in the evening. You can look back at Exodus chapter 12, when the first time the Passover was done, and then it's reestablished as a ceremonial law. for the Passover Feast and Unleavened Bread there in Leviticus 23. So we'll rerun some of those passages with a few extra verses that we didn't get to last week. But the 14th of the month is the day the Passover lamb was killed. That's also the day, the night, is when the lamb was eaten. This is where a lot of confusion comes in, even among myself. So this here, the 15th, is the first day of the Feasts of Unleavened Bread, the Days of Unleavened Bread, okay? The Bible also refers to this day at times as the first day of those Days of Unleavened Bread. So, and we're gonna run those and I'll try to emphasize what I believe the Bible is actually trying to say here, not my understanding or my interpretation, but just scripture is scripture, how I think it's talking about and why there's confusion and how we can delineate and separate those two, okay? This is the first day of the Unleavened Bread, the Days of Unleavened Bread. So this kicks off this day all the way, seven days. This is the High Sabbath or the Holy Sabbath, the Holy Convocation on the first day there, as well as on the seventh day. But there will be passages where we'll see it talks about the 14th day, and that's the first day. And then it says, and then seven days after, but it specifically calls out the 21st of the month. Getting ahead of myself, but I'm just trying to open this up to you so you know where we're going to go with this. If you count from the 14th, including the 14th to the 21st, that's actually eight days. So that's where a lot of confusion is. Does the first day start on the 14th or on the 15th? It's important because if we're going to say that Jesus Christ is the perfect type and fulfills that portion of the law, then he has to be killed on the 14th day of the month. That's when the Passover lamb was. Otherwise, he's just killed near the Passover time. But there we know that there are specific types because he is the lamb he is our lamb and all that so we're gonna run those and make sure that everyone's on the same page here and Feel free to chime up after after Bible study and correct me and say hey look you totally screwed this one up I'm open to that. I spent a lot of time last night confusing myself and having to relearn it and read blah 11th year this is Palm Sunday. This is a triumphal entry I put it in quotes because it's not called Palm Sunday in the Bible, but that's what it's commonly known as. That's the triumphal entry there. The 10th, so that previous Saturday, that's the day that I had mentioned last week. That's when they're in Bethany. That's when Mary washes his feet and him with her hair and all that stuff. She has the alabaster box. If you weren't here last week or didn't get a chance to listen to it, this all might sound a little bit Greek to you. So we'll rerun some of these passages to make sure that we're tracking. But I just want to make sure everyone sees what we got going on here. So the days of the week, Sunday, first day of the week, we're going to keep it like that. Not how the world wants it with Monday now. All the way through Saturday, you've got evening and morning. This is the Jewish calendar. The Jewish day starts in the evening. Genesis chapter 1 established that. The evening and the morning were the first day. You can look that up. It's still kind of referenced. Obviously, Israel today, they follow a lot of the world's calendars today. But the Jewish ceremonial type things, they still do evening and morning. So when a lot of their Sabbaths and feast days and things like that kick off, even today, They start it the evening before the actual day, because to them, that is the actual day. That's the start of the actual day. So, 6 p.m. to 6 p.m., as opposed to midnight to midnight, like the Greeks, like the Gentiles do. I have heard this taught so many times where we try to relate the times to our understanding of times. I'm not going to do that because that confuses me a lot. So, when I reference Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, or Saturday, I am referencing in this teaching here, I'm going to reference it in the Jewish light, where evening is the beginning of that day. So, when I say Wednesday evening, that's going to be the beginning of Wednesday, not Wednesday evening like you and I would understand it to be. Okay? All right. Hopefully, that's not confusing. If it is confusing, I have a cool little, you know, whatever. Evening is first, then morning, E-M-E-M, evening, morning. Okay? So, I've got the slashes here on each of the days as well. If there's key things that took place during the evening, vice the morning, I've got it referenced there. So, resurrection is here on the first day of the week following the death, burial, and resurrection. It happens right there on the 18th. I believe it happens. I was talking to the pastor about it as well. We'll get into it in a lot more detail, and I'll have more time to study it when we get to that portion of Matthew. I believe the resurrection likely happened in the evening Sunday first day of the week the evening our Saturday evening. That's the last time I'm gonna reference our days Okay, so the beginning of the first day of the week Sunday. It would have been Sunday evening Okay at some point after 6 p.m. At the beginning of Sunday. We know that the women showed up in the morning We'll get into that when we get there in a year So with that being said, you've got Sunday. I emphasize Palm Sunday. It's kind of like the world has called it that. I think the Catholics probably came up with that terminology. And that's fine, whatever. I don't know exactly the origin to that. But I know that the Catholics come up with the idea of this Good Friday. where they believe and teach that he died on Friday. It's literally not possible for a death to occur at any point on Friday to get three days and three nights in a tomb to rise on the first day of the week. It's not possible. It's just dumb. But that just kind of goes to show you the I don't know the right word here, but basically the oppression that the priestly line of the Catholic Church puts over the people. Believe what I say, not what the book says. Why do you think it took them so much challenge and time, centuries, before they finally were just like, okay, we have to allow the book to be in the people's hands because it's propagated all throughout the world now? That's why it was so important for a lot of our early church, you know, the martyrs and those especially translating the English Bible, even before that when they were just trying to propagate and push out the Greek versions. They were trying to get into the hands of the common people because there were many people, many wise men, spiritual men that understood the Catholic Church was teaching things wrong. It just didn't make sense. But if you don't have your own Bible, you have to just take their word for it. So he died on Friday. Don't ask questions. Just believe it. That's basically it. So Good Friday, there's nothing good about it. It was his second day in the tomb. So you've got night one, day one here Thursday. We'll get into all that. Night two, day two. Night three, day three there on Saturday. Therefore, he rises first day of the week. That's the only way it can make sense. Okay, I think we've oriented here long enough and good enough. Key things, Mount of Olives here on Tuesday, which is what we just read about in chapters 24 and 25. Then you've got the Lord's Passover is the 14th day. It's also called the preparation of the Passover. So some of those names are synonymous, okay? So Lord's Passover is that Wednesday. And we're going to get into some stuff, and we're going to start tiptoeing into that Wednesday here in this passage here today, okay? So you've got two meals that basically take place. The Lord's Supper, and just kind of like a real quick, you know, summary up front. You have the Lord's Supper that is not the Passover feast, okay? They have prepared the Passover or they are preparing to eat the Passover, but the Passover is a meal that's eaten that night, right? And so we'll run the references back to the Exodus and all that stuff. They just simply had, they had a meal Tuesday, Wednesday evening, okay, Tuesday before probably 6 p.m. ish, they had dinner time on Tuesday here, was the Lord's Supper. Then they would have then gone in, there would have been another feast of sorts, another meal of sorts where the Passover lamb would have been killed and they would have eaten that. And that's how it would follow the ceremonial law as it's prescribed. Okay. There we go. Let's get into it. All right. Verse 14. We already prayed, but I feel like praying again. Lord help us. Alright, so we're going to start in verse 14. It says, Matthew 26, verse 14. Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests. Stop. This is picking up right off the coattails of the previous verses, 11, 12, 13, where they're still in Bethany. So this is not present time back on Tuesday. We are still on probably Saturday on the 10th, okay? That's where we're at here in verse 14. So you've got Judas, if you remember from last week, he got upset and the rest of the disciples were mumbling and grumbling about her wasting this precious ointment on Jesus' feet. It could have been given to the poor. It was about a year's wages and all that kind of stuff. Judas is like, this is the last straw. That's it. I've made my decision. Now I'm going to go figure out how to actually betray this guy and turn him in. So that's where we're at here. We have not yet jumped back forward, but verse 17 is where we're going to jump forward. Verse 14, Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver, and from that time he sought opportunity to betray him. All right, so this is, you know, you're less than a week out, but we're not the day of the betrayal, okay? So they've made a plan, and now Judas and the high priest and them, they're looking for an opportunity. They're looking for a window where they can step in and enact this plan, where they can betray him. We're going to do a lot of back and forth between Matthew, Mark, Luke, and sometimes John as far as the reading the passages. There's a lot that happens here. That combination of all the Gospels together gives you a nice, clean, full picture of all the events, okay? So, we just read here. Let's turn over to Mark chapter 14. Mark chapter 14. And if you've got four bookmarks, feel free to slap them in Mark and then Luke 22 and John 13 as well, but those are the chapters we're going to be going back and forth a few times. Mark chapter 14 in verse 10. Mark 14, 10, and Judas Iscariot, one of the 12, went unto the chief priests to betray him unto them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him. So each time we read one of these, you're going to see a little bit of a slightly different angle or maybe a little bit different wording that just adds understanding and comprehension to all the mentality, the decisions that were going on there, everything that was laid out in the timeline sequence as well. So we know back in Matthew was like, hey, Judas is saying, what are you going to give me? What what's he worth to you? What do you give me? And I'll deliver him unto you. So we know here that they promised him money. Matthew says it was 30 pieces of silver. But look here at the end of verse 11 of Mark 14, he says, and he sought how he might conveniently betray him. He's looking for a convenient way out. He's tired of the hard life. He's looking for convenience. And that's you and I deal with that constantly, always looking for the convenient way out. And most often, not all the times, But many times most of the time in the scripture when convenience is referenced It's a way it's an avenue for sin to creep in or for the devil to creep in because we're taking things for granted We're letting our guard down. We're not putting on the full armor of God. We're looking for a convenient way to get through life So like I said, not every time that it's used is it is it negative but many times that convenience is referenced in the Bible It's in a negative light and obviously we see that here. All right Luke chapter 22. I Luke 22, verse 1. Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh. Not yet, but it drew nigh. It's near, which is called the Passover. And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him, for they feared the people. So they're looking for a convenient way, some way privately that they can take him out, because they still feared the multitudes. They're about to see the multitudes enact again on Sunday when he does the triumphal entry into Jerusalem there. All right, keep reading, verse three. They're like, we don't have to do the hard work. He's got it figured out for us. We'll use him. If it goes bad, if it goes south, he's to blame, not us. Okay, so they found their convenient way. They found their scapegoat in Judas here. They were glad and covenanted to give him money, verse six, and he promised and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude. All right, so foreshadowing, you guys know how the betrayal, likely know how the betrayal went down. They're in private. They go to meet him when it's just him and a small handful of his disciples. There's not a multitude around. It's the middle of the night. It's dark. No one's there to raise an uproar and all that stuff. So that's what they were looking for. They're waiting for that right opportunity to sneak in and attack. Now this is prophesied, you want to turn back to Zechariah chapter 11. This action here of Judas getting the promise of 30 pieces of silver, common reference here, but this is prophesied in Zechariah chapter 11. Look at verse 12. Zechariah 11 verse 12. And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price, and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter, a goodly price, that I was prized out of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord. That's Judas Iscariot. That's the I there. Judas did that exact thing. And we're not going to run all the references, but you can look over in Acts as well. It talks about how he died in the potter's field that he had purchased and all that kind of stuff. So you look at the text here when he takes, and we'll look at it when we get to Matthew 27, when he throws the money back at the priests, they're in the temple. They're not in the potter's field. So there's kind of like a, oh, that's a contradiction. It's not a contradiction. They use that money to purchase the potter's field, the one that he hung himself in and fell and dashed and broke his neck and exploded and all that fun stuff. That's the potter's field. So in essence, that money was used to purchase that potter's field. It's kind of like a, not directly, Judas himself didn't purchase it, but it was that money was used because they knew this betrayal money, this wicked money, he repented of it and all that kind of stuff. they said that we can't use it. So it was used to purchase that potter's field. So both Judas and the priest there were utilized to fulfill this prophecy. They didn't even realize it was happening right underneath their nose. Now what's interesting, stay in Zechariah 11, watch the Antichrist show up. Look at verse 15, Zechariah 11, 15. And the Lord said unto me, take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd. For lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land which shall not visit those that be cut off. Neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that is broken, nor feed that standeth still. But he shall eat the flesh of the fat and tear their claws in pieces. Woe to the idle shepherd that leaveth the flock. The sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye his arm shall be cleaned right up. and his right eye shall be utterly darkened." So you've got Judas Iscariot, perfect, beautiful type and picture of the Antichrist, the son of perdition right there. I believe the Antichrist will come back in the spirit of Judas Iscariot. That same spirit is going to be there in that Antichrist. And it's the same exact passage there, same exact context. Again, this ties 1 and 2 Advent, it brings them right up close to each other. And yet there's still separation. So again, the way we've looked at this all throughout the study of Matthew, the second advent could have been right around the corner from the death, burial, and resurrection had the Jews accepted him after his death. The death had to happen. The sacrifice made, the bloodshed had to happen. But if they would have seen that, repented of that thing, if they would have followed the preaching and teaching of Peter and the apostles there in the beginning of the book of Acts, If they would have done that as a nation, as a whole, and a lot of that onus falls on the leaders of the nation there, especially those religious leaders, they were the ones that refused to repent and turn to Christ as their Messiah. Had they done that, I believe that Jesus Christ was ready to come back, kick off the tribulation right there, and who knows, Judas Iscariot may have just risen right up from the dead right there to serve in the place of that Antichrist role that's prophesied all throughout the Old Testament and that we see in Revelation. So whether or not it's going to be the actual flesh and blood and bones of Judas Iscariot that's disintegrated in the ground now that resurrects when the Antichrist comes back, I don't know. But at the very least it's going to be the spirit of the Antichrist, in the spirit of Judas Iscariot, similar to how John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah. It wasn't Elijah. His name was John. He doesn't have any of the memories of Elijah, but he came in the spirit of Elijah and would have fulfilled that as well. So that's kind of the similarities there. But it's just interesting in Zechariah, you see that connection directly with the betrayal and then the Antichrist right up next to each other. Alright, so Judas comes out and he says, what will you give me? The love of money is absolutely the root of all evil. The root of all evil is that love of money. Not the presence of money, not the possession of money, but that love of money. When it drives a man to do something that you know, he knows, the scripture tells you is absolutely wrong, when money gets involved there and drives him and confuses him and gets him off track, that's where the wickedness comes from. So simple application here. Just because a job promises to pay you more, or it looks like it's greener on the other side, and it's, oh, look at all the benefits, look at all the money that I'll be making, all that kind of stuff, that doesn't outright necessarily mean it's from the Lord. It absolutely doesn't. The devil 100%, 1,000%, as my wife likes to say, the devil 1,000% will use the world, money, prosperity to keep you out of the fight, absolutely out of the fight. Not saying a job promotion or a job that pays better is wrong. That is not what I'm saying either. You've got to seek the Lord on the thing. You've got to seek the Lord on that thing. Don't just see it and just jump on it because, oh, this is better than what I've got now. So much better than what, am I making twice as much as I make now? That does not outright mean that it's of the Lord. So keep all that in mind. Be careful not to get blinded by that almighty dollar, because it just might end up keeping you completely out of the fight and completely useless for the cause of Christ and out of the Lord's will. A lot of times the Fundamental Baptist Church likes to teach, and I've been in it for 30 plus years of my life. They'll teach where if you're doing well, the Lord's going to bless you monetarily. He's going to bless you with possessions. If you don't have good possessions, it's probably because you're not right with the Lord. They like to make that direct connection right there. If you are not living well, prosperity-wise, Maybe you're not even, are you even really saved? If you are, well then you must have some sin in your life. And they'll just hold that over your head. And that's, why do you think so many of them just, we didn't grow. I'll just put myself in those shoes. Why do you think we didn't grow beyond, to a point where the Lord could show us truth as he's got it laid out in his scriptures? Because we're bogged down, well I can't seem to get right. Just struggling left and right with all this stuff. I just there's nothing I can you get you get a defeatist mentality But you're okay because you still have some decent possessions You know I was in the army as an officer decent pay enough to take care of my wife and my kids and all that and and So it deceives you into thinking you're doing good the Lord's looks down at you Yeah, your laziness your procrastination your lack of doing anything for me. I'm okay with it That's because that's why I'm giving you some stuff the devil will absolutely use every bit of that and All right, verse 16, from that time he sought Judas, he sought opportunity to betray him. So Judas was looking for that opening, and it shows that they already had a plan. They already talked about it, they already said, this is what we're going to do, we just need to find the right time to do it. They knew, we looked at the other passages, they knew that they wanted to get away from the multitudes, they wanted to stay away. But again, that the enemy, your enemy, even today, your enemy is constantly looking for an opportunity, just a window to get ahold of you, just a window to come in, slip in, and keep you distracted, or keep you on your backside, to get in and get ahold of your family. He's just looking for that opportunity, and you can't give it to him. Look over to 1 Timothy 3. This is gonna be a lot more like ministry perspective, but it absolutely relates to you and your Christian walk. And it directly relates to this ministry right here in this local church. 1 Timothy chapter 3. Verse seven, moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, without what? Without the congregation out into the world. The pastor, talking about the pastor here. The pastor must have a good report. He can't go out into the world and talk like them and act like them and steal stuff and do all this wicked stuff because they'll look at him and be like, oh, you're a pastor? The world knows how a pastor's supposed to act. The world knows how a pastor's supposed to act. Keep reading there. Lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. You've got to be above board. And that does not only apply to your pastor, folks. That applies to you, every single one of us Christians. We have to be above board when it comes to dealing with the world. They're going to make up lies, as we see with Jesus Christ. They're going to make up lies. So let them make up the lies. Don't you give them a window and an opportunity to come in and mess things up. Okay. Look over also in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, or excuse me, chapter 6. 2 Corinthians 6, verse 3. 2 Corinthians 6, verse 3 says, giving no offense in anything that the ministry be not blamed. that the ministry be not blamed. Again, same thing, just reemphasizing that same point there. Don't give the world, the devil, the flesh, anything, don't give an opportunity. We have to stay clean and holy and pure, and we can only do that through the strength that comes in Jesus Christ. And lastly on this point, look at Ephesians chapter four. This one is going to be a lot more on sin creeping in and that sort of thing, but again, the teaching is the exact same. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 27, neither give place to the devil. You can read all the context leading up into that, but it's talking about sin, the devil coming in, creeping in. Give no place for the devil. You can't give him an inch. So that's why there's teachings and commandments such as abstain from all appearance of evil. It doesn't matter that you're drinking a water bottle out of a brown paper bag. If you're drinking a water bottle, you know you're cleaning right. What does the world see when you're drinking out of a brown paper bag? They see you hiding some liquor in there, right? That's just what it is. It doesn't matter what you say it is. That's what they're going to assume. That's what they're going to determine and decide. And even the brethren, they're going to see that and say, I saw brother so-and-so and now all of a sudden the whispers and the rumors start going around. We've got to be above board. Neither give place for the devil. So, and I'm not saying, obviously Jesus, we know he didn't give place for the devil here. They're gonna find and make an opportunity, so don't just give him a freebie. That's the teaching there. All right, verse 17, back in Matthew 26, verse 17. It says, now the first day, here's where the confusions come in, ready? Now the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus saying unto him, where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover? So if the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread has already come, the Feast of the Passover should have already taken place, that's the day prior. So here's where, I even looked at this like, The first, which day is it? Is it the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread? My mind goes to here, because Leviticus calls this the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. but they haven't yet eaten the Lord's Passover. They're on the preparation of that thing. All right, keep reading, verse 17. Saying unto them, where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover? Verse 18, and he said, go into the city to such a man and say unto him, the master saith, my time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at thy house with my disciples. And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them, and they made ready the Passover. Now when the even was come, he sat down with the 12. All right, so where are we at? So you've got verse 17, now the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That's the context that the question comes up, all right? So now you've got this first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and I'm going to show you passages where that, I believe, is pointing to this day here, day 14. That's pointing to this day. So that day is approaching. We're waning, we're getting close to the evening, we're getting close to the separation of Tuesday and Wednesday here. And then you've got verse 20, now when the even was come, all right? So verse 20 kicks off Wednesday. The day that Jesus Christ is crucified, in the evening, we'll just call it for simple math, 6 p.m. has just kicked over in verse 20. Prior to verse 20, verses 17 through 19, we're at the late hours of Tuesday, leading into Wednesday. So the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, they came to him and said, where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover? That takes place on Wednesday. Eating the Passover takes place on the 14th. You have the preparation of it, and you have the eating of it. All right, before we start running a bunch of references to the Old Testament, let's look at some more context here. Let's look over to Luke chapter 22. Luke 22, verse 7. Luke 22, verse 7. Then came the day of unleavened bread when the Passover must be killed. All right, so we're not talking about Thursday, we're talking about the day that he's crucified. And this is not talking about Jesus Christ here, this is literally talking about the Passover from a ceremonial standpoint, okay, but it's the same day. Take my word for now. Then came the day of unleavened bread when the Passover must be killed, and he sent Peter and John, saying, go and prepare us the Passover that we may eat. And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare? And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, that shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water, follow him into the house where he entereth in. And ye shall say unto the good man of the house, The master saith unto thee, Where is the guest chamber where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples? And he shall show you a large upper room furnished there, excuse me, furnished there, make ready. verse 13, and they went and found as he had said unto them, and they made ready the Passover. And then Mark chapter 14. I figure if I'm going to explain this thing in a confusing way, the more scripture we can have, the better. Mark 14 verse 12. We're going to read 12 through 16. It says, In the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the Passover. Alright, there it is again, another connection there. His disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the Passover? He sent it forth to his disciples. He goes and they find a man. Verse 15, And he shall show you a large upper room furnished and prepared there, make ready for us. Verse 16, And his disciples went forth, came into the city, and found as he had said unto them, And they made ready the Passover. So this is Tuesday afternoon. That's where we're at. The late hours of Tuesday were probably 3, 4, 5, almost 6 p.m. local time there. That's where we're at on verse 17 through 19. Heading into the evening, starting the Jewish Wednesday, that 14th day. It says there that now the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Luke that we just read and Mark, both show that this first day of the Feast is the day the Passover is killed. It's called the Lord's Passover. It's called the Preparation of the Passover. It's called the Passover Feast at times as well. This first day is part of the Days of Unleavened Bread and it's not. What I mean by that is those kick off seven days, starting 15 to 21. It's bookended by the High Sabbaths, by those Holy Convocations, 15th and the 21st. This 14th is still referenced in terms of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and it is the first day, in this context, it is the Passover. Alright, this is the 14th day of the first month. This is when, turn over to Leviticus 23, this is when the Passover lamb is slain and eaten, this day, the 14th. The day when that lamb, the physical lamb, is killed by the whole congregation, convenient wording there, and it's eaten. Leviticus chapter 23, in verse 5. All right, verse four introduces it. This whole chapter is all about these key feasts that are, there's a lot to do with both the first and second advent with these feasts, as well as into the millennium. Verse five, in the 14th day of the first month, there's no confusion about what this is talking about, at even is the Lord's Passover. At even, right there, on the 14th day of the month, this is the Lord's Passover. All right, so Wednesday evening, the beginning of the day Wednesday is the Lord's Passover. Verse 6 goes on to, on the 15th day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord. Seven days you must eat unleavened bread. All right, so we'll get into that here in a little bit as well, but that kicks off verse 15, seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. I'm going to tell you they actually ate it for eight days because they weren't to eat unleavened bread on this day as well. But in reference to verse 6 of Leviticus 23, that's talking about here kicking off the Feast of Unleavened Bread, those seven days that then would follow, 15 through 21, that's seven days. No leaven, so all unleavened bread. So in that context, this is called the first day of unleavened bread, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh day of unleavened bread. That's the second of the two holy convocations there. Look over to Exodus chapter 12. Exodus chapter 12, and it doesn't look like we're gonna be able to get through everything that I had noted out for today, but I wanna make sure we go slow enough that we understand, because this timing is gonna be important moving forward. Exodus chapter 12, and look at verse six. Exodus 12, 6, we're going to read all the way through verse 11. And ye shall keep it up, talking about that lamb, until the fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. Isn't that interesting that that's even fulfilled? The whole congregation, the multitudes there, killed Jesus Christ. So the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening, verse 7, and they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door posts of the houses wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night. Still the 14th. So it's killed even. That night, so rolling out, now you're approaching midnight. That night, the lamb that you just killed is to be roasted and eaten. Verse 8, they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread. Unleavened bread. And with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire, his head with his legs and with the pertinence thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning." It's gone. By the morning of the 14th, it's gone. Nothing shall remain. If anything does remain, verse 10, and that which remaineth of it until the morning, ye shall burn with fire. So it will be fully consumed, it will be gone, it will be dead, incinerated by the end of the day of the 14th. It's gone. Let's see here, reading through verse 11. And thus shall ye eat it with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and ye shall eat it in haste. It's the Lord's Passover. Context there, obviously, they're fixing to ski dat out of Egypt, so they're ready to go. So this is less ceremonial. This is the first time it was ever done. It then becomes a ceremonial piece to remind them of what took place, also to draw that connection. When Jesus Christ comes, he says he came to fulfill the law. not just for redemption of sins, he literally fulfilled the law. He was this Passover lamb. All right, and then next look at Numbers 9. Numbers 9. Numbers 9, look at verse 5. Just trying to emphasize this 14th day, okay? And they kept the Passover on the 14th day of the first month at even in the wilderness of Sinai, according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel. This is where a lot of the confusion, if you're not careful, if you're not using scripture, and you're relying on man's wisdom, or even your own understanding, and you're not leaning on the Lord, this is where a lot of confusion comes in. Because when you and I talk about evening, that's the end of the day for you and I, right? So at even, so that's the end of the day. So automatically, your mind is playing games on you, because that's the beginning of their day. Okay, so that's why I'm trying to reemphasize here. Like I said, I've been taught and I've seen this where they have both the Gentile day and the Jewish day and the person teaching it, like I did last week, gets all confused trying to relate the time. Evening is the beginning of whatever day it's referencing, okay? At even, that's the same wording there, right? So at even, on the 14th day, that's when you shall keep the Passover. All right, this day is also referred to as the first of the days of unleavened bread. Go back to Exodus chapter 12. Alright, so running these references here to make sure that we're trying to understand scripture as it's laid out and not get confused or start thinking that there's contradictions in it because we know that there's not, or we have to know that there's not, so when there is a contradiction or an apparent one, we've got to find out how to answer it. How do we justify what the Bible says? How do you answer the thing? So we saw in Matthew our text there, we're at the first day of unleavened bread, but that's the feast, or excuse me, that's when the Passover is supposed to be killed. Same verses there. So which day are we on, 14 or 15? Exodus 12, look in verse 18. the first month on the 14th day of the month at even beginning of the 14th day right ye shall eat unleavened bread Until the 1 and 20th day of the month at even so that's the 21st day, okay? Seven days there shall 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 so it talks about the 14th unleavened bread And then it talks about the 21st unleavened bread, and it says seven days. At even, that's the 21st. Okay, so you're supposed to eat unleavened bread up to and including that 21st there. So, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. 8, but it also said 7 in that exact verse that we just read. It said 14 to the 21st is 7 days. It's actually 8 days, right? So what do you do with that thing? That's why I think scripture with scripture, this is part of the Days of Unleavened Bread, and then 7 days kick off. Okay, seven days then. In that context right there, the seven days is referring to day 15 through the 21st, but the 14th is all lumped into the same ceremony, the same feast, the same celebration, the same remembrance. Okay? Everybody tracking so far? A little bit? Okay. All right. I had to do this. I have a piece of paper here. I was doing this last night trying to study this thing out, and I was like, I just got to turn this thing into a. Teach it like that. All right. Okay, so this is referred to, this day, the 14th, is referred to as the first day of the Days of Unleavened Bread. It's also, turn over to John chapter 19, it's also referred to as the Preparation of the Passover. All right, so this one day has got a whole bunch of different names, different ways to reference it, and it's easy to get confused. John chapter 19. Why are we spending so much time on this? We just believe the book. Amen, that's right. But there are those out there that will try to shed doubt on your book, on the book that Jesus Christ left, on the King James Bible, they'll try to shed doubt on this thing. And if we don't understand what to do with it, or maybe we've never heard it or seen it laid out before, you can be easily swayed if you're not careful, okay? So John chapter 19, look at verse 14. Back up to verse 13 so you see where we're at here. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, okay? So he's at the judgment seat here. This is crucifixion day. Verse 14, and it was the preparation of the Passover at about the sixth hour, that's noon, local time, and he saith unto the Jews, behold, your king. All right, so crucifixion day is known as the preparation of the Passover. Look also in verse 31. Verse 30, you see there Jesus bows his head and gives up the ghost. Verse 31, the Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, because it was Wednesday, the day before the high Sabbath, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, for that Sabbath day was in high day. That next day, the 15th, that Thursday, that was a special Sabbath. The bodies couldn't be remained, couldn't remain on the cross, okay? For that Sabbath day was in high day. Besought Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So he has to die, he has to be brought down off the cross and buried before Thursday evening. Because that's a high day, no servile, no serventile type work is to be done on that day according to the law. They knew this, that's why they wanted to get this thing done real quick, get it done and over with, and therefore they could have him buried dead and gone and not worry about it again, and they're not breaking the law by doing that kind of work on Thursday. All right, so preparation of the Passover. And then lastly, go back to Matthew chapter 27. Matthew chapter 27, we'll start in verse 60, and we'll just read to the end of the chapter there. Matthew 27, verse 60. and laid it in his own new tomb, which he, this Joseph of Arimathea, talking about carrying Jesus Christ, which he had hewn out in the rock, and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher and departed. And there was Mary Magdalene and the other Mary sitting over against the sepulcher." That's Wednesday, okay? Wednesday, almost Thursday evening, okay? Thursday, the beginning of the day. Now the next day, so now we're on the 15th. That followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, after three days I will rise again. Command, therefore, that the sepulcher be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away. And say unto the people, he is risen from the dead, so the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, ye have a watch, go your way, make it as sure as you can. So they went and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone and setting a watch. All of that takes place on Thursday. It had to be done because the day prior was the day of the preparation of the Passover. All right. The 15th day is the Holy Sabbath. Go ahead and turn back to Leviticus 23. We're going to get these last couple points out and then we'll wrap up for the day and we'll finish it up next time. The 15th day is the Holy Sabbath, which kicks off seven days, including that day. It kicks off seven days of unleavened bread, even though the 14th is also a day of unleavened bread, right? We look at those passages. Leviticus chapter 23 and verse 6. And on the 15th day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord. Seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. Now, this is the feast of unleavened bread. This is not the Passover feast. Don't let those confuse you. The Passover feast is done We read it in Exodus chapter 12, that Passover feast is eaten the night of the day the Passover is killed, that 14th. Remember, it's supposed to be eaten and consumed. If you don't eat it all, you burn the rest of it all by the morning time of the 14th day. So just because you see the feast day, all that kind of stuff doesn't mean the Passover. It doesn't mean the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The 15th kicks off the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The 14th is the Feast of the Passover. Both are associated with the Days of Unleavened Bread. That's where the confusion comes in a lot of times. And then look at Deuteronomy 16. Same thought here. We'll start in verse 1, Deuteronomy 16 verse 1. Observe the month of Abib and keep the Passover unto the Lord thy God. For in the month of Abib, or Abib, the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the Passover unto the Lord thy God of the flock and the herd in the place which the Lord shall choose to place his name there. Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction. All right, so here you've got them all combined now. So you've got the 14th he's talking about. This day you shall eat no unleavened bread. Therewith, with that there, ye shall also eat seven days of unleavened bread. Okay, we've got to look at the wording there. It's not saying that this, therewith, that's the first of the seven. Unleavened bread here. With that, therewith, seven days. So there's eight days in that verse, eight days of unleavened bread. Halfway down, verse 3. For thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste, that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt, all the days of thy life. And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coasts seven days. Neither shall there anything of the flesh, which thou sacrifices the first day at even, remain all night until the morning. It doesn't exist in the morning, is what he's saying. It's gone. You've either eaten it or you've burned it up. Verse five, thou mayest not sacrifice the Passover within any of thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee. So it's gotta be sacrificed outside the gates. Remember the verses there where Jesus Christ was crucified outside the gates, okay? But at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the Passover at even and the going down of the sun at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt. and thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, and thou shalt turn in the morning and go into thy tents. Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord thy God. Thou shalt do no work therein." Okay? So you've got those, the days of unleavened bread there. You've got, in the very last one there, you've got the six days, and then that last day is that Holy Sabbath. It's just delineating those events there. We are gonna go ahead and stop there. I'm gonna just make one last comment here about with the 12, just because we read this first verse 20 of our main text. Just a simple thing here, but it says in verse 20 of Matthew 26, now when the even was come, now we're on Wednesday, when Wednesday the beginning was come, he sat down with the 12. There are some that teach that Judas Iscariot was not here. There are many that teach that Judas Iscariot was already gone during many of these events that we're about to start describing here starting next week. Judas is there, because Jesus is with the twelve, and Judas is one of the twelve. So Judas is there, and I'll show you, I have the notes here, I was hoping we'd be able to get to it today, but that's alright. Got notes here where Judas even partook of the Eucharist. So we'll see the significance there. According to scripture, Judas was there at the communion. So Catholic Church likes to teach Eucharist, eternal life, all these things are associated with the Eucharist, sins being washed, all that, whatever, all that mumbo jumbo. Judas himself partook of that. So that's a little cliffhanger for next week or next time, Lord willing, next week. Judas partook of that thing. I'm pretty sure the Bible is also very clear that Judas Iscariot did not have eternal life like the rest would get eternal life. Alright, anyways, let's go ahead and close there and be dismissed in a word of prayer.