Wake up Christian Church!
Passover is a Christian Celebration!
March 16, 2010
Restorers of the path to dwell
On the 14th day of first month of the Hebrew calendar at sunset, many modern day Christians will gather, some in homes and others in houses of worship around the globe. They will partake of the symbols instituted by Jesus at his last Passover celebration with his disciples; his body that was broken for us, and his blood that was shed for our sins. These repairers of the breech and restorers of the path to dwell in will wash one another's feet, eat broken unleavened bread, and drink the cup of blessing. Why are they doing this? The answer is simply to honor the request of our Lord and Savior “do this in remembrance of me”. Why during the Passover? It is to commemorate the anniversary of his death “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come”(1Co 11:26 KJV) ; which occurred at the Passover. All other commemorative celebrations of note are celebrated on the yearly anniversary of the commemorated event. Why not the commemorative service for our Savior?
It is with a sad heart that I have to say that the vast majority of today's Christian churches do not embrace the practices of Jesus, his disciples and the New Testament church. Rather yet they blindly accept the theological teachings of their particular churches. They observe Easter in lieu of Passover; they administer communion weekly, bi–monthly or monthly rather than a once a year remembrance of Christ's death. Perhaps there was a time when God winked at this ignorance. However, in the age of Google and the likes, the truth is readily accessible. The truth is that Easter is of pagan origin and was originally celebrated at the spring solstice as part of the worship of a pagan goddess of fertility. The translation of the Greek word pascha, which means “passover”, as“Easter” in Acts 12:4 is correctly translated Passover elsewhere in the KJV and almost all other reliable translations.
The New International Version Bible correctly translates “pascha” as “passover”:
“After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.” (Acts 12:4, NIV)
Passover commemorates the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and Christians from the bondage of sin. On Passover, Jews also celebrate the birth of the Jewish nation and Christians the birth of the Kingdom of Heaven. Today, both Jew and Christians remember an historic event on Passover, and also celebrate in a broad sense, their freedom. There is a plethora of biblical evidence that the New Testament Church celebrated the Passover and other Old Testament festivals.
“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.”(Act 2:1 KJV)
“ But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.” (Act 18:21 KJV)
“ For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.” (Act 20:16 KJV)
“ 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.” (1Co 5:8 KJV)
Paul said in Colossians 2:16 – 17 that food, drink, the respect to a holy day, new moon and Sabbath ARE a shadow of the things to come. Note Paul did not say WERE as though these were things of the past but ARE as existing presently while pointing to what is to come, i.e. what is yet in store for the body of Christ. So then through Christ we discover the significance the shadow, and gain a greater knowledge of God's plan for the future of His people. To paraphrase Paul, Christians, let's keep the Passover but not like we did in the past, seeing we have a better sacrifice.