Well, thank you, Pastor. And thank you, congregation. It's been a wonderful time with you here so far. And that was yesterday having a couple opportunities to meet with some of the men. And then to meet you all this morning, it's just been a real joy and blessing. And I'm privileged and honored to be with you here at Village Bible Church and so glad to have this opportunity today. To focus in these three sessions and then that'll be followed by a meal this evening On the passover and we're going to be talking about the meaning of the passover How christ is our passover who's been sacrificed for us and what all these things mean to us In our christian lives today before we get right into that topic though I'd like to share a little introduction, kind of break it. The whole thing will be brief, but I'll kind of break it into three sections. And I'll start by telling you a little bit more about the Friends of Israel. How many prior to this morning, when you walked in here, kind of think you know what the Friends of Israel is all about? Several of you are wonderful and we praise the Lord for those who didn't raise their hand We can we love to tell you about the friends of Israel perhaps for the first time the friends of Israel Came into existence as we'll see in a moment in a direct response To well, if I say this, I can't ask the question, but I've started so I'll give it away direct response So I'll ask it this way. What do you think? What world event? might have prompted the Friends of Israel's beginning and what year? See, I got both questions in there. Anyone have an idea? Someone said 1948. That's not correct, but it's kind of close. Anyone have another guess? Feel free. 1938. I might have mentioned that yesterday. Thank you, Scott. December 1938. We'll see that in a moment. The Friends of Israel began as a direct response to Kristallnacht, November 9 and 10, 1938, 30,000 Jewish men taken off to Dachau and Buchenwald, and the Holocaust began. And three weeks later in Philadelphia, the Friends of Israel began. God has blessed and grown the ministry since that time we have People working in at least 15 countries and the sun never sets today on the ministry of the friends of israel We're a worldwide ministry. We exist to proclaim biblical truth about israel Teaching that god still has a future for israel that he will fulfill every promise he has ever made to his chosen nation He will fulfill every prophecy ever given about them And we'll be coming back to that theme as well throughout our day today. We proclaim that truth We also obviously want to share the gospel of the israeli messiah who? I trust is the one in whom you have placed your hope for your salvation and for your future in a Jewish kingdom. And it's all based on a Jewish book, the Bible. And I say that meaning not just the Old Testament, but the New Testament as well. And it's with a certain hope in this Jewish savior who has told us to take the gospel to the Jew first. And so we attempt to do that, and we do it through many different multifaceted means, bringing physical and spiritual comfort to the Jewish people, sharing the message with everyone. I've mentioned the launch of the Friends of Israel, December 1938. There are two of our earliest founders, Dr. Harry Ironside, beloved pastor of the Moody Church, and Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer, co-founder of Dallas Seminary. And part of my family heritage, although I was raised in a confessional Lutheran background, that was not from my mother's side. And my grandfather on my mother's side was an early follower of the Friends of Israel, I found out. I don't know if he read the very first issue of Israel, My Glory, but I like to think he did and we'll find out in heaven for sure. Okay. The magazine, Friends of Israel, My Glory, has gone back to 1942, by the way, just past 80 years. And this December, as a ministry, we'll celebrate 85 years. And as pastor said I believe that the the ministry is still locked into its foundational Principles and beliefs and that's very rare in the christian world pray for the friends of israel And our ongoing ministry, please you can find lots more about our history lots more about our ministries at foi.org and here's the Website for our magazine is from my glory which you can read online. We have also Copies of the current issue on the table in the back and we have a sign-up sheet where you can sign up to receive a free Subscription to the magazine we'd love for you all to sign up That and here I'm showing on the screen I don't have this here, but you can read it online the January February issue in which I had an article called facing replacement theology, I'd love to have you look at that and Hope it's an encouragement to you. Here's our radio program, which you can hear in this area of Kansas on VC why the signal is a 91.7 VCY radio here in Central, Kansas Saturdays at 1130 my friend my boss Chris Kotelka is the speaker and host and you can also find that online as well and Now we offer many other programs and presentations through Friends of Israel. One thing that's very helpful is this purple card you can get on the back table and it actually walks you through a number of steps Outreach opportunities that are available and many of these are especially for younger people some also for Targeted toward maybe those that are older in the faith and some just for everyone So we'd love to have you kind of look through all of that. I show on the screen equip. That's a free training opportunity online resources including free online classes I'll be doing my first time this summer of teaching through FOI Equip. I'll be teaching in August on two weeks on the subject of Patriarchs and Presidents, How America Has Blessed Israel. So I hope you'll join us for those. I had the privilege this January of Teaching a session for the our current video conference. It's no longer online. You can get it on DVD now But it was our lookup conference called unraveling the mysteries of the Bible is my great privilege to be part of that and I share that also pointing you toward something that's just about to be launched through Friends of Israel we've built a addition to our headquarters and in Belmar, New Jersey, and we have what is called the Video Teaching Initiative, and that is to build out this facility, which is going to be a state-of-the-art video and audio recording facility, with a new effort and emphasis to reach the world through technology on a whole new level and we ask that you pray for that and you can find out much more about that if you're interested as well. We exist as a ministry because we do believe that God has a future for Israel that as he has been with his chosen people in their biblical past So he is with them today, even in their blindness of unbelief in the strategic present. And he will be with them through the prophetic future, all grounded and based in his covenant promises to Israel, which will be completely and permanently fulfilled. And God will vindicate himself on this earth and bring his kingdom to this world through the Messiah Jesus, who will reign in the nation of Israel, we believe, for 1,000 years. Now let me share just a little bit about what we do. My role is that of a church ministries representative with the Friends of Israel. I'm in my fifth year of doing this. This is my first ministry trip to Kansas. Kansas has become now the 12th state in which I've spoken on behalf of the Friends of Israel, and it's been a great time to come here to Kansas. Here is the my personal ministry page where you can find all my resources connect with me contact me on Sermon audio comm which I know you're very familiar with here through your church ministry So I have my own page there through that I have an app just a few things that I do and that I invite you to to follow me with I write a weekly column and And it runs here one of the places that also runs is on sharper iron org by the way We're gonna be talking today about Passover and Passover has just ended for this year and Easter is just behind us But I just wrote a column on how we I don't believe we make enough of Easter and the passion season, so we're extending it a little bit. You wouldn't mind hearing about Christmas the week after Christmas, right? So the week after Easter, we're going to have a little prolonging of the Easter spirit here today and the passion season. You can also find my writings at raptureready.com. You can find my materials with Jimmy DeYoung Jr. on prophecytoday.com. And I was recently interviewed about the Passover and you can hear this on my sermon audio page if you'd like to Specifically follow up on this on this subject that we're dealing with today on the stand up for the truth program my first time on that outlet And I also wanted to share that I know this is an IFCA church and you have some active role here locally in the work of the IFCA. And my wife and I will be at the IFCA annual convention near the Creation Museum this summer. I don't know if any of you are going to that. But you can pray for us that we'll have an effective Outreach for the friends of Israel there and want to let you know. We're very familiar and very friendly with the IFC a and love the ministry of the IFC a as well and friends of Israel actually has Forged more of a relationship with the IFC a in recent years and we really appreciate that My wife Lynette is not here today, of course and does not often come on these longer trips She's also been home recently recovering from an unexpected hernia surgery that she had to endure last month and she's recovering well from that. She has some physical issues. She had brain surgery in 2017. She's but she's currently been doing very well with her health and I won't go into details on that now and take our time but just to say pray for us pray for her and we praise the Lord for She's in a time of a real Uptick in her health in follow-up to all these things and we're thankful for that Pray that she'll get better out of this current situation following up from her surgery Just a little bit more about us about Myself and our ministry my wife and I met in college at Maranatha in Wisconsin and I have a slide there picturing my The two schools of which I'm an alumnus Maranatha and faith. I know that you know all about faith. I went to seminary at faith By the way, where'd Tyler go? See he's back there. He gave me an advanced credit here this morning Calling me. Dr. Scharf I've been on a 25-year quest to go into a doctoral program and haven't made it yet. So I'm not doctor yet, but I hope to be. And I am Lord willing, you can pray with me about that. One of my life goals is to complete a doctoral program. And I'm in a place here with Friends of Israel where I hope that I can do that. And sorting through some issues with that, I'd be happy to tell you about later. But one of the, I wanted to share one of the real guiding influences in my life, my theological mentor, is, and he's the man who really is the reason, one of the main reasons I picked the seminary I attended, is Dr. John Whitcomb. How many know Dr. Whitcomb? I know I've talked to several of you this morning and yesterday. You listen to him on the radio here, I think that's been a big key to the introduction of his ministry here to some of you. He's, of course, with the Lord now, but he has been just a tremendous friend and mentor to me. I was able to take 10 classes with him at Faith Seminary. For those who don't know, Dr. Whitcomb, as you see on the screen here, is the co-author of the book The Genesis Flood. In 1961, with Dr. Henry Morris, who would go on with Tim LaHaye to found the Institute for Creation Research, And that book reshaped the evangelical world in terms of thinking about origins and creationism and catastrophism. And it showed how the Genesis flood is the key to understanding that the Flood reshaped the world that we don't see millions of years of evolutionary geology in the evidence in the world. The Genesis Flood just unleashed this tsunami that washes away all those millions of years and attacks at the foundation, the sand castle of evolution, the house built on sand. And great has been its fall. And if you're a fan of the Creation Museum, the Ark Encounter, Ken Ham will tell you it was Dr. Whitcomb really who's had a fundamental influence in his life as well. When Dr. Whitcomb went to be with the Lord, Dr. David Jeremiah offered this testimony. He said that intellectually, Dr. Whitcomb was in a realm that was high up in the sky, far above everybody else except for a few brilliant scholars, but he also had the gift of teaching because when he preached, he was able to take these lofty, complex truths, bring them down to earth, and make them clear, understandable, applicable, and exciting to everyone. What a great testimony, and I praise the Lord for Influence of dr. Whitcomb in my life and just wanted to share like to keep his testimony before people whenever I can Here's our weekly email What we would love for you to do today is sign up on the back table for a free subscription Israel my glory magazine And that will put you on the Friends of Israel's mailing list. You'll get a monthly mailing as well if you would be willing to sign your email and check the box giving your consent and You'll also be on the Friends of Israel's email list. But more importantly for us, you'll be on our email list. And we would really love to stay connected with you. If that is of interest to you, please don't forget to sign up before you leave today. And we have a number of other things on the table as well that are all there free for you to take. One of them, I'll just mention before I forget, ties to our subject this morning. That is a little booklet called Pesach, Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We have more than enough of these for everybody. And it's adapted from Bruce Scott's wonderful book on the Feasts of Israel, available through FOI. And it just gives you a nice little synopsis of Passover. You can take all of those, take one for a friend, Please avail yourself of all the resources there. They're all free for you. And if you don't take anything else Please take our prayer card and Pray for us and who knows where the prayer card goes in your home Where should the prayer card go? On your refrigerator door, right? Okay it's great to be with you today to talk about Passover and I have a couple of articles if you want to again follow up Preparing for Passover is sort of a general article. I wrote two years ago last year I wrote this one called Christ our Passover which goes into some more detail especially about the chronology which we'll think about a little bit this morning the chronology of the Passion Week and the Passover and Also on my sermon audio page. I have some other Audio and video resources from friends of Israel if you just go into the sermons and type Passover and search and Maybe you know this though Passover is passed for this year, this will help you to think ahead and plan for next year as well as the learning and the experience we'll share together today. So I hope you'll make note of that, think about that, think ahead for next Passover season. You can still participate in this year's Passover online at foi.org. There's free resources there for you, including our online Passover event is still there for you to watch and free downloads. And we have something we'll be using tonight on the right there, the Passover Haggadah. And you'll know exactly what that is before you leave tonight. Have a couple of copies on the back table. Those are free for you to take. But you can also, all of you can download, I have just a couple there, but you can download it electronically, the Haggadah, off of FOI right now as we're still in the extension time here of this year's Passover. So that being said, let's put Passover in context and think about the feasts. Israel we know that God believes in holidays. He gave Israel seven of them in Leviticus 23 the feast chapter the appointed feasts of the Lord Holy Convocations he gives great detail throughout that whole chapter. That's the feast chapter Leviticus 23 for spring feasts Passover Unleavened bread. We'll see how those flow together also firstfruits, which is the the third day after Passover. So those all kind of go together in one stretch. And then later, about 50 days after Feast of Unleavened Bread begins, we have the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost. The fall feasts are Trumpets, Day of Atonement and Tabernacles. And then throughout biblical history, we have two additional feasts added. Hanukkah Which is not mandated in the Old Testament though. It's prophesied in the Old Testament Daniel 8 and 11 give such a account of the details of Hanukkah speaking by way of predictive prophecy that that liberal critics say couldn't possibly have been written in that way. It has to be a later forgery because it has to be history, not prophecy. It's in such detail. And so Hanukkah is very important to our understanding that we think of right around our Christmas time. And it, of course, is part of God's working in history to set the stage for the first coming of Christ. but it's not a biblically mandated feast, it's post-mosaic, if you will. Also Purim, which comes about as a result of events in the book of Esther. Now, there's been many applications drawn, and I do say applications, this is not an interpretation or a certainty biblically, although some of them are, but in terms of how we apply or, you know, share or think about or relate to these feasts, The the four spring feasts really do apply And three specifically we know because the bible does detail these to christ's first coming passover obviously relates to the death of christ Unleavened bread we could say relates to his burial because it occurs on the day in which he's buried in the tomb First fruits we know for sure that does relate to his resurrection Because first Corinthians 15 talks about that. And of course, we know that Pentecost which in the Old Testament later took on the significance of being the related to the day in which God gave Israel the law and they became a nation and But in the New Testament, it's that day in which God sends the Holy Spirit, fulfills the words of Jesus in the upper room about that day. He didn't tell them it would be Pentecost, but it turns out to be Pentecost. That day when the Holy Spirit comes and does a new work and forms a new man, a new body, the church in the church age begins. The second set of feasts in the fall, we really see these applying, and again, I use the word applying, and the first two, it's strictly application. It's not written, again, with certainty in the scriptures, but trumpets seems to have application to the rapture, or I think probably more appropriately, the regathering of Israel, a day of atonement to the tribulation And this one again, we do know tabernacles the millennium Because zechariah 14 makes it very clear that tabernacles will be celebrated In the millennial kingdom and that every nation in the world will have to come and worship in jerusalem every year for a thousand years And you can read zechariah 14 and find all the details on that. Those are the feasts of israel and we're going to focus in now on the passover and christ Passover Passover this year was from April 5 to 13 so it ended just on Thursday at sundown and It's good for us to know about these things to be able to talk to our Jewish friends and share with them all about Perhaps not all about how we see Christ in the Passover at the very first meeting you would depend on Wisdom and guidance from the Holy Spirit and how you'd handle that but certainly to have a conversation and show them that you understand and appreciate these things and realize The significance of Passover for them and yes for us as Christians for we know Paul says in 1st Corinthians 5 7 Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed Christ has fulfilled the Passover and You can say that with assurance and certainty and with the biblical significance that we see in that text that we'll come back to throughout the day. Chris Kotelka says this, all of the Bible, of course, centers around Jewish culture and Jewish customs. The Bible is a Jewish book, as I mentioned already. And Steve Herzig, who was raised in an Orthodox Jewish home and has served with Friends of Israel for many years, he says this, Passover is the hub of the Bible. It is the redemptive story of the Jewish people. It's what the Jewish people center in and talk about all the time. Passover is the most widely celebrated holiday within Judaism, within Jewish life all around the world. It's been taken to all the countries where the Jewish people have been dispersed. They have added traditions and customs into their celebration of Passover in all these various places, in all these different languages. You know, we could, if you were to study Passover in that sense from a historical, from a cultural perspective, your search would be very extensive. And we won't even begin to scratch the surface on that type of thing at all today. We're going to zero in just on the biblical material and see really how vast and how important that is. MacArthur study Bible and by the way, let me say this I love to quote from study Bibles For a couple of reasons one is they're historically significant in our dispensational movement. I won't go into that right now But perhaps more pertinent a good study Bible note should be clear concise To the point and so it makes a good PowerPoint slide just like it makes a good study note, right? I Then another reason is because I hope you all have at least one or more excellent study Bibles And as I go to churches like this week after week, and I won't be back with you at least not next week And we thank the Lord for pastor JJ being here to teach you. I But I hope you'll take what we do what we spend our time on today and build on it and draw from it as well. And if you don't have any other resources, like, you know, vast sets of commentaries and things in your home. Well, I hope you at least have perhaps like a one volume commentary or a Bible encyclopedia, or at least a study Bible. And I encourage you to go back and search the scriptures and see if these things are so. Consider what I say and may the Lord give you understanding in all these things. And I love the MacArthur Study Bible, I think for one volume and the amount of material it contains, not because I agree with every line of every comment that it contains. By the way, it does contain Dr. Whitcomb's chronology, Bible chronology charts. and those are woven into the notes. All that to say, now that I've mentioned that, I won't say it again about study Bibles, but notice what this note tells us. Passover was both a memorial of the deliverance from Egypt and a prophetic type of the sacrifice of Christ. So Passover in the Old Testament really has this significance of looking back and then looking forward. Keep that in mind as we go today. It says Passover. I look forward to the sacrifice of Christ. He transformed the Seder. Let's stop there. How many are familiar with the word Seder? Okay, maybe you are because you know tonight we're having a Passover Seder. Don't let that word throw you off. It's almost redundant. It's the Passover Seder is the order of the Passover. Seder in Hebrew means order. Sort of like the order of service. So a Passover Seder is a Passover. Okay, he transformed the Seder into an altogether different ceremony. Notice this, which also looks back in remembrance and we'll see it also looks what? Forward. So we have both aspects in both of those. Jesus transformed the last Passover into the first observance of the Lord's Supper. Believe that very definitely that the Lord that the Passover Which Jesus ate with his disciples on Thursday evening. It was a Passover meal And it's the Passover and it's out of the Passover that he brings into being the Lord's Supper for the coming church age And he is the central antitype in both ceremonies being represented symbolically by both the Paschal lamb of the Passover and and the elements of the communion service. Let's take a biblical survey here of Passover, Passover in the Bible. Passover is given in the book of Exodus, and it's to be celebrated every year. So you might think there's hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of references in the Old Testament to Passover, right? Well, amazingly, there's only 49. We're going to think about that here in a second. In the New Testament, Passover is found 27 times. Now, Passover in the Old Testament, 24 of those references are in the Pentateuch. And only 25 in all the rest of the Old Testament. What's going on with that? Well, Passover is instituted in Exodus 12. Of course, it's the last of the 10 plagues which God used to separate the children of Israel from Pharaoh and from Egypt, to bring them out of bondage, to bring them back toward the promised land. The biblical Passover meal was very simple. It included only three items, a sacrificed lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs, and it was to be eaten in haste, and this is the first Unique Passover that's described in Exodus 12. That's the Passover Chapter if you will and of course, we all know that the the blood from the lamb was to be placed where? Lentil of the doorpost and on each side Blood would drip down from the top onto the ground and in the shadow you'd hit see if you will the shape of a cross And we'll think more about that today So instruction for the first Passover in Exodus 12. Leviticus 23, again, is the feast chapter. It contains more instructions for Passover. And then Numbers 9 and Deuteronomy 16 also give, again, later in the law, more instructions for how the Passover was to be carried on throughout the centuries of the Old Testament. Now here is the amazing thing, Passover was apparently neglected for 700 years. You say what in the world is going on that the people of God forgot their main ceremony for seven centuries. Well, of course, we know that the people had to be taken into captivity, not specifically about Passover, but because they were neglecting many aspects of the law. This is a very dark time in Israel's history. I think we have to assume that there was much neglect of many responsibilities, many requirements. through many of these periods, even in the Southern Kingdom, in the Old Testament, through these centuries. And of course the people were chastened because of that. We know this, it's sort of, we kind of mark things by Hezekiah, who comes to us in 2 Chronicles 30 and he celebrates, reinstates the Passover. That's sort of a key chapter. King Hezekiah, Jeremiah study Bible, another excellent study Bible, says Hezekiah's invitation was sent to those who remain in Israel as well as to all the people of the southern kingdom He's inviting them to come and to celebrate the Passover. Now this is, the next slide says, even though Israel may have observed the Passover under a human king, This Passover is the first one recorded since Joshua led Israel into the promised land So think of that we have a recording of Joshua in Joshua 5 Leading the people into Passover and then we have Hezekiah who doesn't come to us until just before 700 BC and in second chronicles 30 That's his passover chapter And then we have we'll see josiah in second chronicles 35 Almost 100 years later also keeps the passover You see that's it. I mean this Today the jewish people take so much pride in the significance of passover Well, that really begins after they return from captivity. One thing that happened that changed at the captivity, God sort of took out of them once and forever, the whole bent toward idolatry and worshiping false gods and going after false deities. And so since the captivity, they've really focused and honed in on the Passover, but amazingly, David, Solomon, where are you guys? Passover, right? We don't see it there. MacArthur's Study Bible says Hezekiah reached back to restore the Passover, which apparently had not been properly and regularly observed in some time, perhaps since the division of the kingdom 215 years earlier. We see the Passover would be revived again by Josiah and Zerubbabel That's of course after the return from captivity Zerubbabel and Ezra 6 now there's one interesting verse there in the chapter of Josiah's Passover 2nd Chronicles 35 says no Passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet So we don't have a record in the text where Samuel keeps the Passover, but we have this reference Several hundred years later to the fact that he did and 2nd Chronicles 35 says none of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as was kept by Josiah and the priests and the Levites and all Judah and Israel who are present and the inhabitants of Jerusalem So this is taking us through Passover in the Old Testament. There's one more reference to Passover in the Old Testament and that is in Ezekiel 45 and I invite you to look at that chapter We won't take time now to read Lots of it, but in second, excuse me Ezekiel 45 21 through 24 on the in the first month on the 14th day of the month you shall observe the Passover so If you want to be in Jerusalem, which is where we'll be at the very end tonight, in our mind's eye, we'll be in Jerusalem for Passover when we finish. If you've ever wanted to be in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, oh, let me make it even better than that. How'd you like to be in Jerusalem celebrating the Passover as administered by Jesus Christ himself? If you're a believer in Jesus Christ today, you'll be there not once but a thousand times to observe the Passover. It's one of three feasts that endure into the Millennial Kingdom with slight modifications from the way it was given in the law for the Old Testament. The law is modified. It's reinvigorated for the Millennial Kingdom. Ezekiel 40 through 48 are the chapters about the Millennial Temple, Millennial worship. Ezekiel 45 is the Millennial Feast chapter, just like Leviticus 23 is the Feast chapter for the Old Testament. Ezekiel 45 is the Feast chapter for the Millennial Kingdom. And if you're a believer today in Christ, You'll be there to participate, at least to observe the Passover. Well, let's think about Passover in the New Testament. It's found 24 times in the Gospels, three times in the rest of the New Testament, and really only one of those is a doctrinal sense, and that's 1 Corinthians 5, which I've quoted for you and which we'll come back to. Passover in the New Testament. There are four Passovers in the life of Christ Obviously one at age 12 and in three during his ministry and the final of those three the final Passover of his the week of his passion takes 22 of those references and We believe that Passover wonderfully illustrates the the great transaction of the gospel the great exchange as this verse has been called 2nd Corinthians 521 he made him who knew no sin Christ our Passover lamb or innocent lamb He made him who knew no sin to be sin-free For us, he didn't become sinful or a sinner, but he took our sin upon himself in our place that we might become the righteousness of God in him. His righteousness is credited to our account when we trust by faith alone in Christ alone. And we stand before God in the very righteousness of Jesus Christ. Martin Luther had a prayer that he prayed based on this verse and said, Lord Jesus, I am thy sin and thou art my righteousness. And so we see Christ as our Passover lamb. My friend, Dr. Tim Sigler said it like this. It's unmistakable that Jesus is crucified on Passover. But what does that mean? Let's dig into that a little more deeply because we believe Jesus ate the Passover with his disciples and then he became the Passover lamb Now I believe and I know your pastor agrees So I know I'm right, right that Jesus was crucified on Friday if you hold a different view, we'll talk about it after the service. Okay, but Jesus I believe is crucified on Friday eats the Passover meal and With his disciples on thursday And we see that luke 22 jesus says go and prepare the passover Jesus says while they're eating. I have earnestly desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer By the way, passover has to be eaten on the 14th day. That's 14 of nisan Okay The thursday I believe of passion week was Nisan 14. If you've been reading lately in our Passover chapter, Exodus 12, you may remember the lamb had to be selected on what day? The 10th, exactly. The 10th would be four days before Thursday would be Sunday, right? Jesus riding into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday was fulfilling and accomplishing a number of things prophetically and Symbolically among them being he was offering himself as the Passover lamb To be selected on Nisan the 10th before Passover on the 14th But we have a conundrum about all this because in John Chapter 18 verse 28 you can turn there or listen as I read John 18 28 This is after Friday night This is as Jesus is going before Pilate as Friday is dawning and we're moving toward the cross and John 18 28 they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium and it was early morning and Jesus and his disciples have already eaten Passover the night before on Nisan 14, but notice what it says They themselves speaking of the Jewish leaders here who by the way should have been instrumental and in pointing out in receiving Jesus as King and Lord and Savior and Messiah and Telling the nation. This is he who has come in the name of the Lord on Palm Sunday instead they did the opposite, right and What a judgment they will await for their misguided choices regarding that But notice they themselves did not go into the praetorium lest they should be defiled But that they might eat the passover But passover was last night And now it's today. How does that work? And it can only be one day it has to be on nisan the 14th notice john chapter 19 verse 14 This is as Jesus is going to the cross on Friday. It was, verse 14 says, the preparation day of the Passover. What does this mean? Well, Bible students have stumbled at these verses for many centuries, and I'm not here to tell you I have the perfect answer. But I have an answer that I like, okay? The MacArthur Study Bible, again, encapsulates this for us. And you can find it in other sources as well. He is not the inventor of this. But it's the idea, the people from Galilee, from the north, and that would be Jesus and most of his disciples, right? The people from Galilee, and the Pharisees, there, when does our day begin? When does our day begin? Midnight. All right, does everyone set their alarm clock for midnight to get up and say, whew, begin the day right now? Does everyone do that? Psychologically, emotionally, practically, when does our day begin? When we get up in the morning, right? Well, you look in the Old Testament and you actually have a couple of answers even given sort of technically to that question. For instance, in Matthew 28, in Matthew's resurrection chapter, we find in verse 1 that it was after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, that the women went to the tomb. So the day is beginning. Now we also know there's a sense in which the Sabbath began the night before its sunset. So in the Jewish mind, in the ancient world, the day could begin sunrise to sunrise or it could begin sunset to sunset, a lot like it does for us in different ways. If you're from Galilee or you're a Pharisee, you begin the day at sunrise. If you're a Judean or a Sadducee, you begin the day at sunset. And the Passover lamb has to be selected at sunset, killed at sunset, I should say killed, not selected, at sunset and eaten in that evening on Nisan the 14th. Well, if you're a Galilean, and we get this from the historian Josephus and from the Hebrew commentary, if you will, the Mishnah, we get a clue that there was this different sense of timing for those from the north and the south, so that if you're from Galilee, the Passover day, the 14th, begins at sunrise, and your only time, and you would take the whole day off on that day, and your only time to eat the Passover would be that evening. But if you're from the south, Passover day begins at sunset, It's too late for that day to kill the lamb. So the lamb would be killed the next day and the Passover meal eaten that night. And so on that first day, when the Galileans were celebrating the entire day, you would only have a half day off of work and your Passover would be the next day. So there's a 36-hour window, if you will, for Passover day, for Nisan 14. so Jesus can eat the Passover with his disciples on Thursday night and Then he can suffer and die as the Passover sacrifice lamb on Friday and I believe that is a potential solution to all of this. So people from Galilee celebrated the Passover Thursday evening lambs killed that day and Jesus ate the meal that evening after sundown Judeans would follow the same sequence one day later on Friday Passover lambs killed Nisan 14 and This also then the next day would be the feast of unleavened bread these eight days really go together and in modern Judaism, it's an eight-day Passover basically they talk about but even by Jesus Day Passover and unleavened bread were so closely intermingled in their thought that you could really use either term here for the whole eight days Lambs killed Nissan 14 at twilight between the evenings 3 and 5 p.m. Does that ring a bell? With when Jesus is gonna die on Friday afternoon ESV study Bible says Jesus himself was now about to become the true Passover lamb who would be sacrificed for the sins of his people and And thus, the Passover meal was the last in long centuries of celebrating while looking forward to the Messiah.