St. Michael Academy Orthodox Bible College

In this thesis we will look at the Passover verses the Lord's Supper. Did Jesus celebrate the traditional Passover meal before His betrayal by Judas or did Jesus celebrate an "agape" meal, a meal of total love, with His disciples?

First, I'm sure some of you reading this may have some preconceived ideas or teachings from other ministers or teachers regarding this subject. Let me assure you, what you are about to read may shake your very foundation of theology. But first, let's look at something very interesting on how we may perceive our reality.

After reading the following statement, count the number of times the letter "F" is used:

How many letter "F's" did you find? 2 or 3?

How about 6 !!!

Look at the words "OF", it appears three times.

Isn't it amazing how the brain skips over those words?

Could this be a result of conditioning? It's the same kind of conditioning when we are "brainwashed" to think a certain way. These thoughts, if continually reinforced, will become "tracks" or "ruts" in your mind. Then when the "truth" comes to you, you will reject it if it is contrary to the way you were taught. You will actually defend your position without even knowing why, but you are driven to defend what you were taught at all costs, even if it is wrong, because your ego is under attack.

Have you ever ridden a bicycle down a path and got the wheels caught in a rut? You can't help but follow it; the rut seems to take control of the bike. If you try to pull out of the rut, you would most likely crash, but there does come a time when you must pull out of the rut or face disaster.

In our process of "theosis", which is the process GOD uses to change you to think like He does, we have many opportunities to receive error or false doctrines into our souls. To affirm this statement, remember that not everybody who knew Jesus was accepted by Him. He said to one group of believers, "Depart, for I never knew you." If they knew His teachings and did miracles in His name, why would He say "Depart"? There must be something wrong with people if the Lord would not accept them. Could it be, the people not accepted by the Lord didn't have the Holy Spirit in them? All they had was religion or tradition and not the loving relationship with their Creator.

The only way to overcome this trap and be free to believe the truth, is for GOD to intervene and miraculously deliver your mind from that stronghold. The same may apply in this thesis you are about to read. May the Holy Spirit be your teacher and bring confirmation to your spirit as you begin your journey. God Bless you.

To begin this story, we must go back in time about 4,300 years to the first Passover and when it was being instituted in the land of Egypt.

The chosen people of GOD, found themselves in slavery because their numbers had grown so large they had become a threat to the nation of Egypt. Pharaoh ordered the drowning of all the male babies to slow down the increasing population of the Hebrews. This may have been the first recorded Jewish holocaust. The people were in bondage to Pharaoh for some 430 years, in which they suffered under the whip of the taskmasters to construct buildings for the King of Egypt. Moses, a Hebrew by birth and also one of the very few who escaped Pharaoh's death sentence, eventually became the number-two man in all of Egypt. He was Pharaoh's right hand-man, which was another miracle wrought by the Lord God who foreknew He would use Moses to deliver His people from slavery. As Moses began to discover his true identity--a Hebrew by birth--he realized his people were slaves to a nation that didn't recognize the right to exist freely. Moses saw his people day after day being treated very badly he decided something had to be done about it. One day, Moses saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew; he tried to break it up, but ended up killing the Egyptian. Word got out on what Moses had done, so he fled the country into the wilderness. He spent some forty years in the wilderness laying low and hoping they would forget.

One day while Moses was pasturing a flock of sheep, he encountered a "burning bush". The odd thing about this bush was, it was not consumed by the fire. Maybe this is what really got his attention. In the bush the Lord spoke to him about the deliverance of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt. The Lord told Moses to go back to Pharaoh and tell him to "Let my people go". The Lord would also provide his brother, Aaron to assist him in dealing with Pharaoh.

Moses was obedient to what the Lord had called him to do and returned to Egypt with his brother. They appeared before Pharaoh and asked him to "Let my people go". Pharaoh's heart was hardened and it took 10 plagues to be brought upon the people of Egypt before he would change his mind. On the night of the tenth and most terrible plague, the Passover was instituted that very evening. The Lord told Moses to instruct the people to apply lamb's blood to the door posts and lintels of each house, so the Death Angel would "Passover" that household. If the house wasn't marked out by lamb's blood, the first born of each household would be killed. The lamb they used had to be a special lamb; no defect or mark was allowed. It had to be a perfect substitute sacrifice. The lamb was the most important part of the meal that night, for you see, it was the lamb's blood that protected you from death and provided the only way out of bondage. The whole process of selecting and killing a lamb, applying its blood to the door was a total act of faith. If you didn't do this exactly as directed, you would die. Can you imagine what all the Egyptian's must have thought or said to each other when they saw the Jews killing lambs and painting the doors of their houses with the blood? They probably thought it was silly or saw no value in it. It's like today, when people accept the Lord and repent by applying the "true blood" to their "house". The world (Egyptians) think it's silly or unnecessary to become a Christian. But "Judgment Day" is coming and the Lord will dispatch His mighty Angels to harvest the souls. The wheat (believers) and the tares (unbelievers) will be harvested. The wheat will be stored in the barn (heaven) and the tares will burned in the fire (hell).

On that first Passover, the lamb was selected and killed, blood was collected in a bowl and applied to the door posts and lintel of the house with a branch of hyssop, which is a feathery plant. It appears this could have been the first time a bloody cross as painted by a Jew but it wouldn't be the last. Imagine if you would, you are standing at the door with a hyssop branch dripping with blood, the sun is beginning to set, you must apply the blood before the Death Angel comes. As you strike the left door post you continue to the right door post, then striking the lintel with a vertical stroke, the blood would begin to run down on to the door making a sign of a bloody cross. A silent witness of the "true cross" that was to come at Golgatha many years later.

After the house was sealed with lamb's blood, the family would stay inside and roast the slain lamb. They would eat it all and not break one of its bones further fulfilling prophecy. He keeps all his bones; Not one of them is broken. Psalm 34:20. Christ's body was not broken, which fulfilled that prophecy. Also during the meal, the family would eat unleavened bread called the "bread of affliction", and drink wine. The bread was not leavened. No yeast was used because there was no time to wait for it to rise; they had to get out of Egypt in a hurry. The wine they would drink would be red in color to remind them of the blood that was outside on the door protecting them from death.

So we see the basic elements of the Passover meal; the lamb, the bread and the wine. These elements also have symbolic meanings to the Jewish people. The Lord told the people when and how to celebrate this very holy feast. Please note; the feast day of the Passover is the real beginning of the Jewish calendar not Rosh Hashanah. In the book of Leviticus, chapter twenty three, the Lord specifically tells us that Passover is the first feast, Rosh Hashanah comes later. I ask you, why has this been changed?

Since the first Passover some 4,300 years ago and until now, it is celebrated on the fourteenth day of Nisan or fourteen days after the new moon of the spring season. The whole story of the Passover is a story of redemption and deliverance from slavery. Every year in Jewish homes around the world this story is recounted. Many foods on the table are special for this season. They help tell the story of the Exodus and keep reminding the participants what they were saved from, "slavery". The most important food served was the lamb. This innocent creature gave up his life so the first born child in homes marked by the blood would be safe. The lamb's shed blood, when applied to the people's homes, would prevent judgment from falling on them. Also on the table, red wine was used as a symbol of the lamb's blood. During the evening, four cups of wine would be consumed. The first was called the "kiddush" in which the father or leader of the service would make sure all things were in order to begin the holy feast. The second cup was called the "cup of plagues". The contents of this cup was spilled one drop at a time into a white plate, recounted each of the ten plagues brought upon Egypt by Pharaoh's hardened heart. The third cup was called the "cup of redemption" which spoke of the deliverance from slavery. The fourth was the "cup of praise", which was prepared for Elijah the prophet who was expected to come at any time during the Passover season to announce the coming of the Messiah. Today in Jewish homes, a lamb is not used. Only a shank bone of a lamb is placed on the Seder plate as a remembrance of the past, when they had a temple in Jerusalem. Are they breaking the very law they profess to keep? Could GOD have removed the lamb from the Passover so they would search for the true Lamb of GOD?

Another food used was the unleavened bread, or bread of affliction which contained no leaven. During the exodus, there was no time to let the bread rise because the people had to get out in a hurry.

As the Passover developed year after year, the story of the Exodus was told to the younger generation by the father or spiritual leader of the family. The youngest member of the family would ask the four questions about why was this night so very different from all other nights. Then the father would recount the bitterness of slavery, the ten plagues, the lamb sacrificed, the blood applied, the exodus from Egypt and the passing through the Red Sea on dry land.

In the New Testament we see that Saint Paul referred to Jesus as being our Passover. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed, 1 Cor. 5:7. There are many shadows and types of Christ revealed in the Passover that speak of a substitute sacrifice and a deliverer for Israel. Let's look at some of these types:

The lamb had to be spotless and without blemish. This is a type that speaks of a perfect sacrifice with no stain of sin. Jesus fulfills this requirement by not having an earthly father to pass on the curse of the sin nature. Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel, Isaiah 7:14.