Why We Don’t Sacrifice and Eat
Passover Lambs Today
By Don Esposito
(with some slight editing by Frank Brown)
Scripture tells us that the Passover day is a memorial for all generations. Exo. 12:14- And the day shall be a memorial for you. And you shall celebrate it as a feast to Yahweh, for your generations. You shall celebrate it as a law forever. Notice it is the day and not the killing of a lamb that is a memorial and to be remembered for all generations. Although the day stays the same, Yahweh as the Creator has the right to change the symbols of this ceremony, which He did at His last ( ) meal with His disciples. As they were eating the last supper, “Yahshua took ( ) bread and blessed it…and gave it to the disciples and said, Take eat, this is (represents) My body. And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it, for this is (represents) My blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sin” (Matt 26:26-28).
To understand the true significance of this Scripture, we need to review several Old Testament Scriptures and some of Yahshua’s own statements made during His ministry prior to this ( ) Memorial night. Notice first that the prophet Isaiah understood that the Passover lamb was a type of Messiah. He wrote, regarding the death of the Messiah, “…He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter” (Isa. 53:7).
John the Baptist understood that the Lamb had come. “The next day John sees Yahshua coming unto him, and says, Behold the Lamb of Yah, which takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29). A little later John again spoke of Yahshua specifically to two of His disciples, Andrew the brother of Peter and the Apostle John: “Behold the Lamb of Yah!”. (vs. 36). These two disciples immediately began following Yahshua. Later, but before He died as our Passover Lamb, Yahshua publicly alluded to the New Testament Passover and the new symbols of bread and wine He would institute. He said, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world…except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you” (Jn 6:51, 53).
Eating this “flesh”, unlike eating merely the physical lamb, would identify the eater with the eternal life of the Lamb of Yahweh. And along with it was the blood, not in the “flesh”, but separate from it, for it had been all poured out from His body, which cleared the way for all mankind to receive eternal life by making possible the remission of sins.
Although many turned back from this saying (vs 66), Peter and John and the rest of the twelve, except for Judas Iscariot, were willing to accept it, even though they did not fully understand it until the Holy Spirit revealed it to them ( John 14:26) and were thus better prepared to accept His statement at the close of His last
( ) supper, “This is My body.”
The new emblems were a substitution for – not an addition to – the physical lamb. In 1 Cor 11:20 the Apostle Paul further elaborates: “When ye come together therefore in one place, this is not to eat Yahshua’s supper.” 1 Cor. 11:21a for each one takes his own supper first in the eating; 1 Cor. 11:22a for do ye not have houses in which to eat and to drink? The supper – a full Passover meal – was no longer the manner of observing the Passover, as each person would eat his own supper first, in his own house, before gathering together with the brethren to take the emblems. Paul then went on to clearly state that the simple emblems of bread and wine, and not a full meal with a sacrificial lamb were taken on the Passover every year (verses 23-25).
We keep the Passover today because it is commanded by Yahweh forever (Exo. 12:17, 24). But no longer do we kill a lamb and eat it, since the “Lamb of Yahweh” (Yahshua) has been sacrificed once for all: “Yahshua (who was foreshadowed by the literal Passover lamb) was once offered to bear the sins of many: and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Heb. 9:28).
Instead, we take the unleavened bread, symbolizing Yahshua’s broken body, and the wine, symbolizing His shed blood, as a memorial, looking back to our Saviour’s suffering and death for our sins. Clearly, Yahshua and NOT a lamb is our Passover in Yahshua’s Body, His congregations, today (1 Cor.5:7). ~
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I suspect there are thousands and maybe millions of religionists who would answer “Yes” to that question. Moslems would tell you that the 6th day of the week is the Sabbath; Christians claim it is the first day, or Sunday, while Jews, Yahwists, and some Christians rightly lay hold on the 7th day as being the proper one.
Since I claim the Scriptures as my guide, I’m not going to get involved with which day it is. I have been observing the 7th day of the week (commonly called Saturday) for 45 years now, and am firmly convinced it is the right day.
But aside from which day it is, HOW do you observe it? Is it a special day to you, with a special meaning? How is it different from other days? Consider these Scriptures:
(Exo 20:9-10) Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: {10} But the seventh day is the sabbath of Yahweh thy El: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
(Isaiah 58:13-14 NRSV) If you refrain from trampling the Sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on my holy day; if you call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of Yahweh honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs; (14) then you shall take delight in Yahweh, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;...
It is obviously not enough to just refrain from paid work; we must devote this holy day - this 24 hours - to Yahweh. He tells us to assemble on that day for worship; He tells us we are not to serve our own interests that day; He tells us not to pursue our own affairs on that honorable, holy day. He gives us six other days for our own use. This day, the seventh, was blessed by Yahweh (Gen. 2:3), and sanctified by Him. To sanctify something means to set it apart for a holy use. Only Yahweh can do that, and no man has the authority to change it in any way. This is not a Jewish “custom,” but is a sign between Yahweh and His chosen people (those whom He chooses to call, and will obey), that has existed since creation week.
To some it seems to be a negative command, with a list of “don’ts.” But they are all for our own good. Let’s look at some of them: In Nehemiah 13:15-22, we see that we are not to conduct business on the Sabbath, such as buying and selling. We cannot do this without polluting His Holy Day. We are to do no work or engage in worldly entertainment. Isaiah 58:13 says we are not to do our business or seek our own ways, pleasure, or even speak our own words on that day. We are to “remove our foot from trampling on His Sabbath and call it a delight, the holy of Yahweh, and honorable. Blessings will result from following these “don’ts.”
While there are a lot of “don’ts” associated with the Sabbath, there are also a lot of “dos,” so let’s look at some of them. We are to meet with an Assembly if at all possible (Heb. 10:26); we are to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:24); we are to love Him, thank Him for what He has done for us, praise Him in song and word, and pray without ceasing (not just on Sabbaths). This is His special Day, the memorial of His Creation. As far as possible, we should exercise “mind control,” get rid of our carnal, worldly thoughts, and concentrate on Him, His Son Yahshua, and the wonderful future He has planned for those who love and obey Him. Meditate and ponder on the fantastic, unimaginable joy and pleasure we will have in His Kingdom.
Even though man has designated the day of the sun (known as Sun-day, the first day of the week) as “the LORD’s day,” what did Yahshua Himself say about it?
Mark 2:27-28 The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath: therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath.”
If you are new to this concept, and wonder where, then, did we get Sunday worship, I invite you to write for my booklet, Seven Reasons Why I Keep the Seventh Day Sabbath,” and a booklet compiled by the Bible Sabbath Association, titled, Roman Catholic and Protestant Confessions About Sunday.” Both are free and are eye-openers for Sunday-keeping Christians.
Write to the address below and ask for them by name. This barely scratches the surface, but I will leave it at that for now. ~