When christians are baptized, they are making a covenant (agreement) with Jesus Christ. They acknowledged and repented of their sins and professed to believe in Him as their Savior committing themselves to love Him and keep His commandments in return for His promise of redemption from their sins and the gift of eternal life (Acts 2:38-39; Romans 5:6-11; 6:23).
Remember Christ's own words recorded by the apostle John?
"If you love Me, keep My commandments"... "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him... If anyone love Me, he will keep My word... He who does not love Me does not keep My words" (John 14:15,21,23).The Scriptures make it clear that the people of God, His elect, those who "are called, chosen and faithful" (Rev. 17:14) are those "who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Rev. 12:17). "Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus" (Rev. 14:12).
"If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love... You are My friends if you do whatever I command you" (John 15:10,14).
John also instructed: "Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him" (1 John 2:3-5).
"And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight... Now He who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit [which] He has given us" (1 John 3:22,24).
"By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome" (1 John 5:2-3).
As the Spring Feast season approaches, we are reminded of Jesus' command to His disciples to keep the Passover in remembrance of Him (Luke 22:19). (See "Pasover...The Beginning of Salvation") The feasts of God are commanded observances (Leviticus 23:1-6). In reality God's commanded feasts ("moed," the Old Testament Hebrew word, means appointment) are His "appointments" to meet with His people. Jesus said,
"For where two or three are gathered together in My name (as He commands), there am I in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20).This is a most important time of year for Christians and Jews. For Christians, it is a time of confession of their faith in Jesus' sacrifice.
"With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God" (Luke 22:15-16 New KJV)He went on to say,
"You call Me Teacher and Lord and you say well, for I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you" (John 13:13-15).
And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "Take, eat" (Matt. 26:26), "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me. Likewise He also took the cup after supper" (Luke 22:19-20). "and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying 'Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matt. 26:27-28). "And they all drank from it" (Mark 14:23).
Is the Passover only optional for true Christians? Earlier Jesus said,
"Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 10:32; Luke 12:8).Keeping the Passover is one way we make our confession before men that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah), the Son of God, and our Passsover and Savior who was sacrificed for us (1 John 4:14-15; 1 Cor. 5:7). But He went on to say,
"But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven (Matt. 10:33; Luke 12:9).Can we believe in Jesus Christ and still deny Him? The apostle John wrote that
"even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise of men more than the praise of God" (John 12:42-43, see also 9:22).The apostle Paul wrote, "If we deny Him, He also will deny us" (2 Tim. 2:12). How do many deny Christ? Paul said,
Jesus said, "He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him - the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day [the resurrection of judgment]" (verse 48).
"They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work" (Titus 1:16).
Jesus asked, "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46).
Paul admonished that we should not be unaware of the examples in the Old Testament which
"...happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come" (1 Cor. 10:1-11).A particularly significant example relating to the Passover occurred in Isaiah's time around 723 B.C. at the beginning of Hezekiah's reign over Judah and the 4th year of Hoshea's reign in Israel. God used the Passover as a final opportunity for repentance to the nations of Israel and Judah before allowing them to be punished by captivity as He had warned. Part of the northern kingdom of Israel had already been taken captive and Samaria was under tribute to Sennacherib, king of Assyria (2 Kgs. 15:29; 17:1-4). Then beginning in 2 Chronicles 30:1:
"And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover to the LORD God of Israel...But what happened to those who scoffed and mocked at the command to keep the Passover? The rest of the story is recorded in 2 Kings 17. Beginning in verse 4, which was about 721 B.C. in the 6th year of Hoshea's reign in Israel:
"Then the runners went throughout all Israel and Judah with the letters from the king and his leaders, and spoke according to the commandment of the king: "Children of Israel, return to the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel; then He will return to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria.
"And do not be like your fathers and your brethren, who trespassed against the LORD God of their fathers, so that He gave them up to astonishment, as you see.
"Now do not be stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the LORD; and enter His sanctuary, which He has sanctified forever, and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of His wreath may turn away from you.
"For if you return to the LORD, your brethren and your children will be treated with compassion by those who lead them captive, so that they may come back to this land; for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn His face from you if you return to Him.
"...But they laughed them to scorn and mocked them. Nevertheless some from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.
"Also the hand of God was on Judah to give them singleness of heart to do the commandment of the king and the leaders, at the word of the LORD.
"Now many people, a very great congregation, assembled at Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread...
"Then they slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day... The priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought the burnt offerings to the house of the LORD...
"For a multitude of the people, many from Ephriam, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, 'May the good LORD provide atonement for everyone who prepares his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers, though he is not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.'
"And the LORD listened to Hezekiah and healed the people." (verses 1-20).
"And the king of Assyria uncovered a conspiracy by Hoshea...Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.Because Judah obeyed God and kept the Passover feast and Hezekiah the king humbled himself and prayed to God for deliverence, the nation of Judah was delivered from the armies of Assyria by a great miracle as
"Now the king of Assyria went throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years.
"In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
"For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they had feared other gods, and had walked in the statutes of the nations whom the LORD had cast out from before the children of Israel...
"Yet the LORD testified against Israel and against Judah, by all of His prophets...saying, 'Turn from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded you by My servants the prophets...
"Nevertheless they would not hear, but stiffened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who did not believe in the LORD their God.
"And they rejected His statutes and His covenant that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He had testified against them; they followed idols, became idolaters, and went after the nations who were all around them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them that they would not do like them...
"For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them, until the LORD removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria..." (verses 5-23).
"the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians 185,000..." (2 Kgs. 19:6-7, 15-20, 35).
Some have been saying that it is not necessary to keep God laws, but what did Jesus say?
"Whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:19-20). He went on to say in Matthew 19:17, "But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments."The Word of God is Truth (John 17:17).
Jesus warned His disciples that they should "take heed" and not be deceived, for many would come in His name and deceive many" (Matt. 24:4-5)... transgressing the commandment of God, "teaching as doctrines the commandments of men," (Mat. 15:3,7-9,14). And that if it were possible they would deceive the very elect [chosen] Mat 24:24).
Paul said, "some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons" (1 Tim. 4:1), "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away" (2 Tim 3:5).
Peter warned, "...there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who brought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words" (2 Peter 2:1-3).
John also warned that we should not believe every spirit, but "test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world... Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of antichrist" (1 John 4:1-3).
"Who is a liar, but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son." (The non-biblical Trinity doctrine denies the Father and the Son as two distinct individuals of the God Family. If the Father and the Son were the same individual, Jesus could not be the Son of God and He could not have really died for our sins and therefore could not be "our Passover, sacrificed for us.")
"Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either" (1 John 2:22-23).
"For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine (teachings) of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrines of Christ has both the Father and the Son" (2 John 7-9).
Paul, writing "in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ," commands: "Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast (our appointment with God), not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Cor. 5:4,7-8).
The New Testament (Covenant) Passover services, with its symbols of the unleavened bread and wine, and the Days of Unleavened Bread are to be kept once every year at the appointed time in the spring (Numbers 9:1-3) - not anytime at our descretion nor on some weekly or monthly schedule. The Passover Feast is an annual reminder of Jesus Christ's death for our sins to be kept as given in God's Word (Matthew 4:4; 1 Corinthians 11:17-26)
God's Holy Days are kept according to the Hebrew calendar. For those who do not have a copy of the Hebrew calendar available, the Passover, commanded to be kept on the 14th of Abib (Nisan - Deuteronomy 16:2; Ezra 6:19; Esther 3:7), occurs in the year 2004 on Monday, April 5th. Jesus observed the New Covenant Passover service (Luke 22:15-20) with His disciples on the evening beginning the 14th, which this year is on Thursday evening, March 29th, after sunset, since God reckons days from sunset to sunset (Gen. 1:5). The 7 days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread run from sunset Friday, March 30th, through sunset Friday April 6th in the year 2018.
For information on where you can keep the New Covenant Passover with an organized group and a faithful minister of Jesus Christ, you may contact a Church of God nearest you that believes in and is obeying Christ's instructions. Anyone who is physically not able to meet with a faithful minister of Jesus Christ and an organized group of faithful believers may request from them instructions for keeping the Passover at home.
Have a great feast!
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