Presented byDr. W. Terry Bailey

The Feast of PassoverExodus 12:3-7 – “Speak to all the congregation of

Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. 7 And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.”

Seven FeastsThere are seven major feasts that God

established with Israel in the Old Testament.The first of these seven feasts was Passover.Passover always comes in the first month of

the year on the religious calendar.This is known as Abib in Deuteronomy and

later came to be known as Nissan after the Babylonian captivity

Biblical Feasts

TimelinePassover – First Feast – First Month

(Abib/Nissan) 14th day.Unleavened Bread – First Month 15th – 22nd

DayFirst Fruits – First Month 18th dayPentecost – 50 days after waving the sheaf of

first fruits.

Seven FeastsAlthough there are a total of seven feasts (the

divine number for perfection or completeness in the Bible), God divided the seven festivals into three major festival seasons. Every male was to present themselves before the Lord three times in a year in each festival group.

The First Group is Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread and First Fruits.

The First Festival GroupThe First festival group: PesachThe feasts of Passover (Pesach),The feasts of Unleavened Bread (Hag

HaMatzah),The feasts of First Fruits (Bikkurim)These fall in the month of Nisan, which is the

first month of religious calendar in the spring of the year.

The Second FestivalThe second festival: The Feast of the WeeksThe Feast of Weeks (Shavuot), or Pentecost,

is a week long festival observed in the third religious month of Sivan.

The Third Festival GroupThe third festival group: The Feast of the

Tabernacles.The feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah),The feasts of Atonement (Yom Kippur), andThe feasts of Tabernacles (Sukkot)These fall in the seventh month of Tishrei,

which is in the fall of the year (Exodus 23:14-17; 34:22-23: Deuteronomy16:16-17).

Why Three Different Groups?Three is the number

of completeness. Three is the number

of persons in the Trinity.

Three is the number of perfect testimony and witness which is the assurance of things.

The Seven Feasts (Festivals)The Seven Feasts are celebrated in two

different seasons, which correspond to the two agricultural seasons.

The four spring feasts takes us from the beginning to the ingathering of the barley harvest.

The three fall festivals begin at the time of the ingathering of wheat and other crops.

Leviticus Chapter 23:1-44 The Seven Feasts of Israel Given by the LORD to Moses on Mt. Sinai

1. Passover

2. Unleavened Bread

3. First Fruits

4. Pentecost – (Weeks)

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5. Trumpets

6. Atonement (Yom Kippur)

7. Tabernacles

Why Do We Study the Feasts?I believe that there are three very important

things we must understand about the Feasts of the Lord:

Each of the feasts of the Lord have aHistorical MeaningProphetic MeaningContemporary Meaning

They are all beautiful types of the Person and Work of Christ – our Messiah.

Passover – Historical PurposeIn Exodus 12 God instituted the Passover. This was just before He brought the 10th and final

plague on Egypt where the death angel passed through Egypt killing the first born of both man and beast.

The children of Israel were commanded to eat a lamb roasted in the fire, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs.

They were to take the blood of the lamb without blemish and place it on the doorposts and the lintels of the house.

They were to eat it in haste.

The Passover MealOn the 14th of Nisan, just before sunset, the

Passover Lamb was to be slaughtered and was roasted whole (no bone was to be broken) and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

The unleavened bread was made simply from flour and water and cooked very quickly.

This ceremony was rich in symbolism: the blood of the lamb symbolized the cleansing of sins; bitter herbs, the bitterness of slavery in Egypt; the unleavened bread, purity.

Jesus – Our Passover LambJesus is the final Passover Lamb (

1 Corinthians 5:7-8).He entered Jerusalem on the 10th of Nisan,

the same day when the Passover Lamb was brought into home.

The night before Good Friday He was examined by Pilate and was found no fault, thus fulfilling the requirements of the Passover Lamb being a "male without defect.”

Our Passover LambOn Good Friday, the day of the Passover

celebration, Jesus was crucified (John 19:14). At around 3:00 pm, Jesus said, "It is finished"

and died. This was the time when the Passover Lamb was to be slaughtered.

Further, when the lamb was roasted and eaten, none of its bones were to be broken.

Our Passover LambThis was prophesized for the Messiah, whose

bones were not to be broken (Psalms 34:20). It was customary for the soldiers to break the

leg bones of the crucified person after a few hours in order to hasten their death.

The only way a person could breathe when hanging on a cross was to push up with his legs. By breaking the legs, the person could no longer push up to breathe and death soon followed. However they did not break Jesus' bones since He was already dead.

Contemporary MeaningWhat is the contemporary meaning for us today?What does Passover mean to us this year.It is called the first month in Exodus 12:1-2 –

“Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.”

I believe it represents a new beginning or a new season.

It is a season where God begins new things in our lives.

Word of the LordSeveral weeks ago the Lord spoke to me

about Passover.He simply said to me, “Movement will begin

at Passover and commence at Pentecost.”This is a season of movement.

PassoverPassover represents a time of movement. In

Exodus 12:11 – “And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and you staff in your hand. So you shall it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.”

They had to eat it in haste because they were about to leave at a moment’s notice. God was bringing a new day of deliverance.

Passover represents a new beginning. It is a time of movement. Transition will begin at Passover and culminate at the season of Pentecost.