21 Days of Fun Facts on Pesach (Passover)

For the next 21 days, I thought it would be cool to look at some fun facts about Passover in connection with the last days of the Messiah.

While looking at the feast days you are going to see them being fulfilled right to the very hour during Christ time on earth. I am going to start from the very beginning of Passover and then make connection with the last days of Christ on earth.

Lately I have been studying about the feast days and getting a clearer meaning of what and who they are for. I was blown away to see the connections to the New Covenant and how the enemy wants to keep us off God’s divine calendar.

Everything that we read in the Old Testament is a type or a shadow of God’s dealings with the church. The OT is relevant to the church and if we labor and work hard, we will see that everything that God does with Israel in some way foreshadows or gives us a type of how God deal with the church. We must be skillful of how we deal with scripture.

By the end of these thirty days, you should be able to see the correlation of the Pesach (Passover) with the various events in biblical history along with events to come.

Day 1

Passover is the first feast day of the Lord. In Leviticus 23:2 says “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD’s appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations (holy dress rehearsals)—My appointed times are these:”

Notice God said these are His feast days. Not just for Jews. God allowed the children of Israel to partake in these days and they are to be for signs and season for what is and is to come. Now God allows those who believe on Him to partake in these days as well.

Lev 23:5-6
In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.

Day 2

Pesach (Passover) reminds us of redemption from sin. It was the time when Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, was offered as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. It is on that basis alone that God can justify the ungodly sinner. Just as the blood of a lamb sprinkled on the doorpost of Jewish homes caused the Spirit of the Lord to pass over those homes during the last plague on Egypt (Exodus 12) so those covered by the blood of the Lamb will escape the spiritual death and judgment God will visit upon all who reject Him. Of all the Jewish festivals, Passover is of the greatest importance because the Lord’s Supper was a Passover meal (Matthew 26:17-27). In passing the elements and telling the disciples to eat of His body, Jesus was presenting Himself as the ultimate Passover Lamb.

Day 3

In Leviticus 23:5 says that, “The Lord’s Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month.” This scripture pointed and foreshadowed to the Messiah as our Passover lamb whose blood would be shed for our sins. In 1 Corinthians 5:7 says that, Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

Jesus was crucified on the day of preparation for the Passover at the same hour that lambs were being slaughtered for the Passover meal that evening.

As Messiah was being lifted up on the cross, the people sang,“The Lord is my strength and song; he has become my salvation.” The name of Yeshua means “salvation.” They went on, “The right hand of the Lord is lifted up” (Ps. 118:14, 16 BBE). The Messiah is being “lifted up” from the earth as the multitudes surrounding the hillside are singing, “The right hand of the Lord is [being] lifted up!” Then, on top of that, Yeshua died at 3 p.m., which is precisely the time of the evening sacrifice and the slaying of the final Passover lamb. The timing of all of these dramatic events could only have been orchestrated by the hand of a God in complete control!

Day 4

As I am studying about the activities of Passover and the crucifixion, I came across this scripture. You would be surprised how much Old Testament Scripture mentions Christ Days on earth.

“I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And my tongue cleaves to my jaws; And You lay me in the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots.”
‭‭PSALMS‬ ‭22:14-18‬ ‭NASB‬‬

Day 5 pt 1

The very beginning of Passover starts God telling Moses to go to the promise land. When God caused the plagues to place in Egypt, each plague was an specific attack on the gods in Egypt.

1. The Nile God (of the river)- The river turned into blood, symbolizing the death of the false deity.

2. Heqet- Next came the plague of frogs and the death of all the frogs. The Egyptians worshipped a frog goddess named Heqet.

3. Geb, god of earth. God turned “earth,” or the dust, into lice.

4. The next plague was against the god of the atmosphere, named Shu. Since this god symbolized air, God filled the air with flying insects.

5. He plagued the cattle, to take aim at the bull god Apis, who was proclaimed to be god incarnate.

6. Heka was the Egyptians’ god of magic and medicine, who was believed to carry the tools of a healer. To destroy the people’s confidence in that god, God brought boils to everyone, in effect saying, “Heal this!”

7. Nut- Nut’s job to protect man from the heavens. So naturally, God brought a plague of hailstones, to show the incompetence of that god.

Day 6 pt 2

“Lastly, God brought death to all the firstborn, of both man and beast. This was a direct hit on the god known as Amon-Ra, who was believed to be the creator of man. This god was symbolized by a ram, so it should come as no surprise that God told Israel to put the blood of lambs on their doorposts if they wanted to survive this final plague.

God also told Israel to be sure and put the blood on the outside of the house, so the Egyptians would see that Hebrew slaves outranked an Egyptian god. To top it off, this happened at the vernal equinox at the full moon in the constellation Aries, when the Egyptian god is supposed to be at the apex of his strength! Yet God took him down! From a believer’s point of view, God was telling the world that the Egyptian god is a fake as He has the true lamb slain for the redemption of Israel. By putting the blood of the lamb, which Egypt worshipped, on the outside of their doors, the Israelites were making a statement: Paganism and idolatry stop here!

Day 7

Israel was to take their lamb, a male of the first year and without blemish, on the tenth day of the first month, Nisan, and hold it for four days, until Passover. Then, in the evening, they were to slay it and eat it that night. It was called the Lord’s Passover.

After the Passover lambs are selected, there is a four-day inspection of the lambs. What do we find but that Jesus was inspected over the next four days as well! The Pharisees inspected him, as did the Herodians, the chief priests, the elders, all the council, Pilate, Herod, and even one crucified beside Him—and could find no fault in Him (Mark 12:13; Matt. 26:59–60; Luke 23:13–15, 39–41). The Lamb was found to be without blemish!

Day 8

From day 8 we learned that Jesus was held for four days to be inspected by the council and those who were against him. The same the passover lamb was held to be inspected as well. In the tenth day they took the lamb. Verse 6 says that on the 14^th day the lamb was slain.

Passover lamb- held the lamb for 4 days

4 days= 4000 years (if a day with the Lord is 1000 years)
From Adam to Christ was 4000 years

Day 9

Jesus was born in Bethlehem. The sheep that are used for the passover celebration were raised in Bethlehem. On Nisan 10,The sheep were taken by the high priest to Jerusalem and they take the sheep through the sheep gate in the temple. While going through the sheep gate they sang Psalms 118.

Here it is the 10th of Nisan when the Passover lambs are coming into the temple! At the same time here comes Yeshua fulfilling prophecy. While they were bring Jesus in to be inspected was the same time the lambs had to be inspected for four days to make sure they were without blemish. No one could find any fault in him! Not Herod, Pilate, the thief on the cross, the Pharisees or Sadducees. He was truly a lamb without blemish. Psalm 118 is called the Hallel.

” The Lord is my strength and my defense he has become my salvation.

Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: “The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!

The Lord’s right hand is lifted high; the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!”

I will not die but live and will proclaim what the Lord has done.”

In verse 14, The Hebrew word for salvation is Yeshua. The same time they are singing and bringing the sheep into the gate is the same time Yeshua was coming to save the world

Day 10

When the Roman soldiers crucified Jesus, it was the third hour of the day (Mark 15:24–25). That is nine in the morning, the time of the morning sacrifice. According to Josephus, who is a credible historian, says that there were 2,700,200 people at Passover during the time of Yeshua. While Jesus was being bound to cross, it was at this time when the priest would bind the Passover lamb to the horns of the altar, to be slain that afternoon. At the very moment they were binding the lamb to the altar, they were binding Yeshua to the cross as the people sang, “God is the LORD, which has showed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even to the horns of the altar” (Ps. 118:27).

Day 11

As we’ve been learning about the alignment of the Passover feast with the last days of Jesus’ life, we learned that the very same hour the Passover lamb was being slaughtered is the same hour Jesus Christ our savior was being crucified.

Another known fact is when the priest slaughtered the lamb, he says “It is finished” indicating that the Passover feast is over. Jesus’ last words on the cross was “it is finish”. Jesus was the ultimate and final sacrifice and by Jesus saying it is finished says that He fulfilled Passover.

Day 12

In preparation of the Passover, the Jews would go through their house in search for leaven (leaven represents sin [Matthew 16:6-12, Luke 12:1, 1 Corinthians 5:2-8]) and clean all the leaven from their house. In the days leading up to Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread Jewish families clean their homes of any leaven so as not to cause defilement during the feast. The unleavened bread eaten during the feast is called Matzo. Matzo is pronounced like “Ma-tzah”.

In Matthew 21:1-13, you can see that Jesus went into Jerusalem, then cast out the thieves from the temple. So, that would mean that at the same time the Jews were cleaning the leaven from their houses, God was cleaning the leaven (sin) from His house. Jesus came in and flipped over the tables to represent that sin will not be allowed in His father’s house.

This also pointed to the Messiah’s sinless life (as even is a picture of sin in the Bible), making Him the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Jesus was without sin and we are encouraged to do the same. 1 Corithians 5:78 says, “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 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.”

Day 13

During Passover, it is instructed that no bone is supposed to be broken on the Passover lamb. In Exodus 12:46 says that, “It is to be eaten in a single house; you are not to bring forth any of the flesh outside of the house, nor are you to break any bone of it.”

In Psalm 34:19- 20 says that, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones, Not one of them is broken.”

It is a tradition to speed up the death of a crucified man to break the bones to cause them the die from asphyxia. When they came over to Jesus to break his legs, they saw that he already died. Not a bone on Christ was broken. In John 19:32 says that, “but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.”

Day 14

During the Passover feast, there were a lot slaughtering of lambs. According to some accounts, it was at least 60,000 gallons of blood.

Under the Temple Mount was an underground sewer system that headed south downhill through the Dung Gate into the Hinnom valley. There were also gigantic cisterns of water that could be released to flush things out into the valley of blood. The Hinnom valley was the garbage dump. Imagine with me for a moment the size of the river of the thousands of gallons of blood and water rushing out from the right side of the Temple Mount as the Passover lambs were being slain. The Temple faced east, so the valley of blood is south, or to the right.

John 19:34 states that a soldier pierced Yeshua’s side, and blood and water poured forth. As the blood and water was pouring forth from the side of the Son of God, a river of blood and water was flowing from the Father’s right side as He was in the Holy of Holies.

Day 15

As we all know, In Matthew 27, the tearing of the veil at the moment of Jesus’ death dramatically symbolized that His sacrifice, the shedding of His own blood, was a sufficient atonement for sins. It signified that now the way into the Holy of Holies was open for all people, for all time, both Jew and Gentile.

There is a Jewish mourning ritual called keriah, or the rending of garments. It is the most striking expression of grief. We see this portrayed in the story of Joseph, when Reuben discovered that his brother had been sold, and Jacob thought he had died when he saw Joseph’s coat of many colors stained with blood (Gen. 37:29–34). David also rent his garment when he heard of Saul’s death (2 Sam. 1:11).

The rending of the veil of the Temple from top to bottom was the Father expressing His deep anguish over the death of His Son (Matt. 27:51)

Day 16

The feast of First Fruits follows and is included in the Passover celebration

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.

In John 12:24, Yeshua had mentioned that if a kernel of grain falls into the ground and dies, it will bring forth much fruit. In Colossians 1:18 we see that Messiah was that very grain that died, was buried, and then rose from the dead, becoming that sheaf of firstfruits (1 Cor. 15:20). That very morning, through the time of the morning sacrifice, thousands were bringing their sheaf of firstfruits, the best of their crops, to the priest and waved it before the Lord. And that very same morning, Yeshua, after speaking to Mary outside the tomb (John 20:11–18), ascended, stood before His Father, and presented Himself as the Firstfruits of the Resurrection on the Feast of Firstfruits!

Day 17

In the gospel of Luke, Yeshua said that every year when Passover was celebrated, it was to be done in remembrance of Him (22:19). First Corinthians 11:23–26 states that Yeshua commanded us to remember His death. When Yeshua said this He was referring to the Passover Seder that had been celebrated annually for 1,500 years on Nisan 14 as was commanded by God. Now He was saying, when you celebrate Passover every year on the fourteenth day of the first month I want you to realize this was a dress rehearsal of what I was going to accomplish!

Day 18

In Leviticus 23: 6–8 we learn that after Passover, which ends on the fourteenth of Nisan, comes the Feast of Unleavened Bread, starting on the fifteenth. The Israelites were to eat unleavened bread for seven days. The first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is considered a Sabbath day even if it falls during the week. Many get confused into thinking Yeshua died on a Friday because in John 19: 31 it mentions the following day was the Sabbath. It wasn’t referring to the Saturday Sabbath but instead to the first day of the feast, on the fifteenth of Nisan. According to Leviticus, both the first day and the last day were considered Sabbaths: “In the first day … you shall do no servile work therein… . In the seventh day … you shall do no servile work therein” (Lev. 23: 7–8). So in a two-week time period you can have four Sabbaths.

Day 19

The Seder is the traditional dinner that Jews partake of as part of Passover. The annual Passover commemoration is celebrated by nearly the entire Jewish community, bonding families and communities to their Jewish roots. Each year Jewish people, religious and nonreligious, celebrate the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by gathering and experiencing the Passover Seder.

The Hebrew word Seder means “order.” The Passover meal has a specific order in which food is eaten, prayers are recited, and songs are sung. Each item on the Passover plate has a specific historical meaning related to the exodus of the Jews from Egypt and their freedom from slavery. But 1 Corinthians 5:7 identifies Jesus Christ as our Passover; thus, the Seder carries a New Testament meaning related to Jesus the Messiah.

Day 20

There are also four cups of wine used at various points during the Seder. Each of these glasses of wine has a name: the first glass is the “cup of sanctification.” The second is the “cup of judgment.” The third is the “cup of redemption.” And the fourth is the “cup of praise.” At the Last Supper, Jesus took the first cup and promised His disciples that the next time He drank the fruit of the vine with them would be in the kingdom. Later in the Seder, Jesus took the third cup—the cup of redemption—and used that cup as a symbol of the New Covenant in His blood. Thus Jesus fulfilled the Passover symbolism and infused the whole feast with a new meaning.

Day 21

This is the last day of looking at Passover and how it related to Jesus’ life.

So the question that many have asked: Should we as Believers (Christians) celebrate Passover? In my opinion, it is important for believers to understand Passover and how it connected with Jesus’ life. Whether or not a Believers celebrates Passover would be a matter of conscience for the individual. Like all the Old Testament Jewish Feasts, the Passover Feast was a foreshadowing of Christ’s atoning work on the cross. Colossians 2:16-17 tells us that we should “let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ” (NKJV). Believers should not look down upon another believer who does or does not observe the Passover or other special Jewish days and feasts (Romans 14:5).

It is beneficial to study it and could be beneficial to celebrate it if it leads to a greater understanding and appreciation for Christ’s death and resurrection. The Passover is a wonderful picture of Christ’s atonement for His people and His deliverance of us from the bondage of sin. That is something we should celebrate every day of our lives.