Métodos Normados

A major key to understanding the New Testament is found in the knowledge of the feasts and holy days of God. Far from being abol- ished—as “Orthodox Christianity” would have us believe—the New Tes- tament reveals deeper and greater meanings for God’s holy days. Without an understanding of these all-important feast days, a person’s comprehen- sion of the New Testament will, in fact, be deficient and incomplete.

In this chapter we will examine how God is using His festivals and holy days to fulfill His plan, purpose and prophecies.

From Matthew to Revelation, it can be clearly established that Christ’s disciples did not observe occult holidays. Rather, Jesus Christ, the apostles, and the Jewish and Gentile converts all observed the commanded feast days of God. True Christians always love God and keep His com- mandments (Rev. 14:12). In fact, the term “Christian” means a follower of Jesus Christ—one who exhibits the qualities demonstrated and taught by Jesus. A Christian follows Christ regardless of circumstances (Rev. 14:4), and has the testimony and the faith of Christ (Rev. 12:17; 14:12).

The apostle John summed up the conduct and way of life of a true Christian: “If anyone is keeping His Word, truly in this one the love of God is being perfected. By this means we know that we are in Him. Anyone who claims to dwell in Him is obligating himself also to walk even as He Himself walked” (I John 2:5-6). And again, “For to this you were called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow in His footsteps” (I Pet. 2:21).

Therefore, we are to believe in Jesus Christ and to follow His exam- ple—to walk as He walked, for He (as God manifested in the flesh) is the only basis for true Christianity. “For no one is able to lay any other foun- dation besides that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ” (I Cor. 3:11). Not only is He the foundation of our faith, He is also called “the Chief Cornerstone” (Eph. 2:20 and I Pet. 2:6-7). The entire New Testament is built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. It is through His perfect life, His death for our sins, and His resurrection that we receive salvation. Truly, from Genesis to Revelation, the focus of the entire Bible is Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.

Jesus Christ—Our Passover—Died on Passover Day

To grasp the deeper meaning of Passover, we must look to the begin- ning—as the first prophecy concerning the Messiah is found in Genesis Three. After Adam and Eve sinned, the Lord God Himself—the one Who later became Jesus Christ of the New Testament—prophesied of His future death as God manifested in the flesh. “And I will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman, and between your seed [Satan and the demons] and her Seed [Jesus Christ]; He [Christ, as Savior] will bruise your [Satan’s] head [destroy his dominion], and you [Satan] shall bruise His [Christ’s] heel[through the crucifixion]” (Gen. 3:15).

However, even before the creation of Adam and Eve, God had made provision for the redemption of mankind through Jesus Christ—as He is “the Lamb [of God, as good as] slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8).

From the time of the first Passover in Egypt to the time of Jesus Christ, the Passover commemorated the sparing of Israel’s firstborn. The male lamb without blemish sacrificed in the observance of the Old Testa- ment Passover was a type that pointed to Jesus Christ, the “Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29, 36).

Paul wrote that the Father had set an “appointed time [in which] Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:6)—for the sins of the world. What was that “appointed time”? Does this refer to one of the “appointed feasts” of God? The answer is, “Yes!” Paul made this crystal clear when he wrote to the Gentile church in Corinth: “For Christ our Passover [Lamb] was sacrificed for us” (I Cor. 5:7).

As the Gospels narrate, Paul fully understood that Jesus Christ died on the appointed day, the Passover day, at the precise time that God had deter- mined “before the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8). The events recorded in the Scriptures concerning Jesus’ last Passover—His betrayal, arrest, trials, beatings, the scourging, the crucifixion, His death and burial—all took place within one 24-hour day reckoned from sunset to sunset. That day was the Passover day in 30 AD, Nisan 14 on the Hebrew calendar, April 5 on the Julian Roman calendar. By virtue of these historical and spiritual facts, the Passover day is the most important commanded feast of God—because Jesus Christ was crucified and died on that day! Moreover, at least twenty -eight specific Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled on this appointed day (Fred R. Coulter, The Day Jesus the Christ Died, pp. 35-43).

As the supreme sacrifice of God the Father, Jesus Christ is indeed our Passover, Who died for us. He took upon Himself the full penalty of our sins to redeem and rescue us from the author of sin, Satan the devil.

Jesus Christ’s Last Passover: The importance of Jesus Christ’s last Passover is demonstrated in the fact that out of a total of eighty-nine chap- ters in the Gospels, thirty-two chapters (over one-third) are devoted to events just before and after Jesus’ death. On the night of His last Passover, Jesus Christ instituted the New Covenant Christian Passover—a ceremony consisting of:

 Footwashing (John 13:2-17);

 Partaking of unleavened bread (Matt. 26:26; Luke 22:19; I Cor. 11:23-24);

 Partaking of wine (Matt. 26:27-29; Luke 22:18-20; I Cor. 11:25- 29).

Jesus began the New Covenant Christian Passover service by insti- tuting the ordinance of footwashing. In so doing, Jesus “rose from supper and laid aside His garments; and after taking a towel, He secured it around Himself. Next, He poured water into a washing basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel which He had secured…. [And] when He had washed their feet, and had taken His garments, and had sat down again, He said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me the Teacher and the Lord, and you speak rightly, because I am. Therefore, if I, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also are duty-bound to wash one another’s feet; for I have given you an example, to show that you also should do exactly as I have done to you. Truly, truly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his lord, nor a messenger greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them’ ” (John 13:4-5, 12-17). Thus, through example, Jesus taught His disciples to wash one another’s feet as part of the Christian Passover service.

Jesus then broke unleavened bread—symbolizing His broken body—and instructed His disciples to eat of it. Afterwards, He instructed them to drink of wine, symbolizing His shed blood. The Gospel of Mark reads: “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread; and after blessing it, He broke it and gave it to them, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body.’ And He took the cup; and after giving thanks, He gave it to them; and they all drank of it. And He said to them, ‘This is My blood, the blood of the New Covenant, which is poured out for many’ ” (Mark 14:22-24). Luke gives this account: “And He took bread; and after giving thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body, which is given for you. This do in the remembrance of Me.’ In like manner also, He took the cup after sup- per, saying, ‘This cup is the New Covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you’ ” (Luke 22:19-20).

Though somewhat veiled, Jesus had earlier revealed to the Jews the meaning of the New Covenant Christian Passover: “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; the one who comes to Me shall never hunger; and the one who believes in Me shall never thirst at any time…. Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes in Me has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate manna in the desert, but they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread, which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is even My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.’ Because of this, the Jews were arguing with one another, saying, ‘How is He able to give us His flesh to eat?’

“Therefore, Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you do not have life in yourselves. The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up in the last day; for My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood is dwelling in Me, and I in him. As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father; so also the one who eats Me shall live by Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven; not as your fathers ate manna, and died. The one who eats this bread shall live forever’ ” (John 6:35, 47-58).

In Psalm 34, David foretold of this very concept when He wrote: “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in

Him” (verse 8). What David wrote is very similar to what Jesus said—that is, “trusting in the Lord” is essentially the same as “living by” the Lord. Just as David did not mean that one was to literally taste and eat the Lord, Jesus likewise did not mean that a person was to eat His literal flesh and drink His literal blood—both somehow supposedly transubstantiated in bread and wine taken at the command of a priest. The bread and wine are symbolic of His flesh and blood. As David wrote, the literal action of “trusting” in the Lord was symbolized by the idea of “tasting” the Lord. In a similar manner, actively living by Jesus Christ is symbolized by our eat- ing of the bread and drinking of the wine of the Christian Passover—the symbolic flesh and blood of Jesus Christ.

As an annual event, the New Covenant Christian Passover is to be observed on the night of Nisan 14. The practice of those who partake of “communion,” “the Lord’s Supper,” or the “Eucharist” is to observe such occasions several times a month or year. They are not, however, partaking of the true New Covenant Christian Passover as Jesus commanded His dis- ciples. Rather, they are partaking of a Christianized, apostate, pagan coun- terfeit. (See Appendix J, “The Eucharist—Sacrifice of the Mass,” p. 327.)

Paul Commanded Gentile Converts to Keep the Passover: The New Testament teaches that the Passover was not for the Jews only. After Jesus was resurrected, He commanded His apostles: “ ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore, go and make disci- ples in all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE ALL THINGS THAT I HAVE COMMANDED YOU. And lo, I am with you always, even until the completion of the age’ ” (Matt. 28:18-20). Teaching disciples in all nations to observe the New Covenant Christian Passover is clearly part of “all things” commanded by Jesus. It is clearly evident that the observance of the Passover was not limited to Jews only.

In obedience to Jesus’ command—some twenty-six years after His death and resurrection—the apostle Paul instructed Gentile converts to keep the Christian Passover as a yearly reminder of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He emphatically declared that he had received his instructions concerning Passover directly from the Lord. In the strongest terms possible He made it clear that when they kept the Passover, they were not to eat a supper with it,

nor were they to call it the “Lord’s Supper” (which they had done). “Therefore, when you assemble together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s supper. For in eating, everyone takes his own supper first; now on the one hand, someone goes hungry; but on the other hand, another becomes drunken. WHAT! Don’t you have houses for eating and drinking? Or do you despise the church of God, and put to shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you!… But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that there will be no cause for judgment when you assemble together” (I Cor. 11:20-22, 34).

Paul again gave them the Lord’s instructions on when and how to properly partake of the bread and wine in renewing the New Covenant each year. “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed [the Passover night, Nisan 14] took bread; and after giving thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body, which is being broken for you. This do in the remembrance of Me.’ In like manner, He also took the cup after He had supped, saying, ‘This is the cup of the New Covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in the remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you solemnly proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes. For this reason, if anyone shall eat this bread or shall drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, he shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord” (I Cor. 11:23-27).

In these verses we find four factors that clearly limit the partaking of the Passover to once each year, on Nisan 14. They are: 1) “in the night in which He was betrayed,” limits the observance to the Passover night only; 2) “in the remembrance of Me”—not “a remembrance” but, as the Greek reads, “the remembrance”—revealing that Passover is a spe- cific, yearly memorial; 3) the phrase “as often as” cannot be taken to mean “as often as one desires” to partake of the bread and wine (the practice of Orthodox Christendom—daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly). Rather, this phrase means that as often as they partook of the Passover—year by year—they would remember and proclaim the Lord’s death until He would come. (Remember, at this time the Church was expecting Christ’s second coming to take place within a few years.) 4) The Greek syntax, not translatable into English, limits Passover to an annual observance (Fred R. Coulter, The Christian Passover, pp. 247-265).

[Editor’s note: A complete, detailed study of the Old Testament and New Testament Passover is contained in the 500-page book, The Christian Passover by Fred R. Coulter. It is the most comprehensive book ever writ- ten on this vital biblical subject. The book may be ordered from York Pub- lishing Company (see address in front of book) or from www.amazon.com.] At midnight on the original Passover in Egypt, God passed over the blood-marked houses of the children of Israel and spared their firstborn. At midnight on Jesus’ last Passover, God the Father did not pass over His Beloved Son—the firstborn of the virgin Mary. He did not spare His only begotten Son; rather, He delivered Jesus into the hands of His enemies—betrayed by

the kiss of a friend. At the time of His arrest, no one knew (except God the Father and Jesus Christ) that His passion, beating, scourging, crucifixion and death as the true Passover Lamb of God marked the beginning of the plan of salvation for the world.

In the most solemn way possible, God used the Passover day itself for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world. It was God the Father’s appointed day that He had specifically set aside to fulfill His will and the promise of a Savior—one Who would redeem us from our sins. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; but are being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; Whom God has openly manifested to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, in order to demonstrate His righteousness, in respect to the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; yes, to publicly declare His righteousness in the present time, that He might be just, and the one Who justifies the one who is of the faith of Jesus” (Rom. 3:23-26). It is through Jesus Christ that we may receive eternal life, as the apostle John wrote: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only be- gotten Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish, but may have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Without the shedding of Jesus’ blood, His death and His resurrection from the dead, there would be no forgiveness of sins or eternal salvation (I Cor. 15). Therefore, the Passover day—the remembrance of His death for our sins—is the most important feast of God for New Testament Christians. Those who have the Spirit of God and partake of the New Covenant Chris- tian Passover on Nisan 14 each year are actually renewing their baptismal covenant of eternal life in Jesus Christ. This is accomplished through 1) footwashing—walking in God’s way of service through Jesus Christ 2) partaking of the broken, unleavened bread—symbolizing Jesus’ broken body for our healing and 3) partaking of the wine—symbolizing His shed blood for the forgiveness of our sins. As Jesus said, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you do not have life in yourselves. The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up in the last day” (John 6:53-54).

The Gospels are the record of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ as God manifested in the flesh, the Savior of the world. Jesus’ death by cru- cifixion on the Passover day is the awesome fulfillment of the meaning of