This time of the year is especially precious for the Christian as he/she is able to follow, in the Scripture narrative, the footsteps of the Messiah as He set His face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem "to give His life a ransom for many" (Matt. 20:28).
This blog is concerned with the day of the Passover itself when Jesus ate a final celebratory meal with His disciples, then yielded Himself into the hands of the Jewish and Roman leadership to be crucified as He predicted (Matt.20:19). But the darkness of Golgotha does give way to the light of resurrection morning for not only did He lay down His life at Passover, but He took it again at the Feast of Firstfruits - Hallelujah!
This year Passover began on the evening of the 18th April while the Christian remembrance of the death of Christ is on Friday 22nd April. Let us remind ourselves that the Bible places great emphasis on the Passover and how its events impacted on the death of the Messiah.
Messiah’s Last Passover Meal
On the night in which Jesus was betrayed He shared His last meal with His disciples, saying "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer". (Luke 22:15) Earlier that day, Peter and John had been sent to make preparations for the evening celebration. They had been directed to a room that Jesus had already selected, with the instructions, ‘… say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says, "Where is My guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?"’ (Mark 14:14)
The Torah required that the lamb for the Passover meal be slaughtered between dusk and darkness in the evening, so Peter and John attended the Temple at that time. As with the arrangements for the upper room so, no doubt, arrangements were already in place for the supply of a lamb, without blemish and without spot, because it is unlikely that the Messiah would have contemplated buying one of the animals from the mercenaries selling them on the Temple mount.
The ceremony took place in the priests’ court, which was designed to accommodate the ritual slaughter of animals. It was also the court which housed the great altar, the central, most important piece of Temple furniture needed for the Passover ceremony. After dusk, Peter and John joined the queue of pilgrims awaiting their turn to be ushered through the giant Nicanor doors. With so many in Jerusalem for the feast, not only drawn by Daniel’s prophecy regarding the unveiling of the Messiah, but also the very public ministry and claims of Jesus, the number seeking a place in the priests’ court was larger than usual.
The pilgrims and celebrants were gathered together in groups of fifty, and each time the Nicanor doors were opened one of these groups was ushered in to the priests court to participate in the ritual. Thus it was that Peter and John were in a large company of men who entered the Nicanor gate together. As the doors closed behind them, the Levitical choir began singing the Hallel. Then, when their turn came, either Peter or John killed the lamb and the attendant priest caught the blood in a vessel that had no brim. The dish of blood was passed along a line of priests to be dashed against the foot of the altar.
When all was completed, the two disciples took the lamb and its fleece home. The fleece was set aside as a gift to the householder in whose home they were guests, in gratitude for the use of the upper room.
Ensuring that no bone of the lamb was broken, Peter and John arranged for it to be roasted on a spit of pomegranate wood. The imagery continued to be important, for Jesus suffered the wrath of Satan, the wrath of man and the wrath of God while hanging on a wooden spit, and not a bone of His was broken, fulfilling the Scripture, "He guards all his bones; Not one of them is broken". (Psalm 34:20; cf. John 19.36)
When all preparations had been completed and the time came to eat the Passover, Jesus reclined at the table with the twelve disciples. The first cup of wine was mixed and the Messiah recited the double blessing. First, a blessing for the day that would see His execution, a blessing that began, "Blessed be Thou for this good day". He will sing a little later "this is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it". (Psalm 118.24) Then a blessing for the wine mingled with water, which would symbolize the blood and water that would pour from His side on Calvary.
Then the unleavened bread, the bitter herbs and the haroset were brought to the table. At this juncture all thirteen ritually washed their hands. This is the time that the Messiah took a towel and a bowl of water and washed the feet of the disciples.
After the foot washing the Messiah took some of the herbs, dipped them in salt water, ate some Himself and gave to the others. At this point Jesus, the greatest Teacher that ever lived, began to relate the history of the Israelite nation. When the historical narrative was complete, He explained the symbolism of the Paschal lamb, the bitter herbs and the unleavened bread.
Then they sang the first part of the Hallel (Psalms 113 and 114).
Next came the breaking of the unleavened bread. Each dipped a piece of bread in the haroset and handed it to the next in the company. Jesus dipped the bread and gave to Judas, after which Satan entered into him. Then Jesus took control of the timetable and dispatched Judas to the Sadducean leaders. "What you do, do quickly." (John 13:27) Aware that He needed to be crucified at nine o’clock the following morning, the Messiah began the chain of events that would accomplish it. He needed to be executed at the time of the morning sacrifice and die at the time of the evening sacrifice.
At no time was the High Priest in control.
At no time were the Chief Priests in control.
At no time was the Sanhedrin in control.
At no time was Judas in control.
At no time was Pilate in control.
At no time was Satan in control.
At all times Messiah had control.
When Judas had gone Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him". (John 13:31)
After the meal they washed their hands once again, and the third cup of wine was mixed. Normally, the lamb was to be the last food tasted, but here the Messiah departed from tradition and took the unleavened bread once again. By His actions He indicated that there was to be no more eating of the Passover lamb. The Passover feast, instituted at the time of the exodus, was a feast ‘till He come’, that is, until Messiah the Prince came, who would "make an end of sins", and "make reconciliation for iniquity". (Dan. 9:24) The coming of Jesus the Messiah to die on Golgotha fulfilled the type.
Jesus gave thanks, broke the bread, and when He had given each of them a piece, He said, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." (Luke 22:19) The unleavened bread had to fulfill three conditions. First and most obviously, it had to be unleavened. Biblically leaven represents error or heresy and sin. Jesus had warned His disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, Sadducees and Herodians and Paul spoke of it in reference to sin (1 Cor. 5:6). Jesus used this bread to represent His body. In contrast to heresy, it was to represent the body of the One who said, "I am … truth". (John 14.6) Also it had to represent the absence of sin for Jesus was without sin, that is, "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners." (Heb 7:26) Therefore the bread that the Lord took to represent His sinless body needed to be unleavened.
Then He took the third cup of the Passover meal, the cup of blessing, a cup of mingled wine and water, and used it to represent the blood and water that came from His body at His execution. Blood and water were both used under the law as cleansing agents. Both were needed; for example, before a person, or a house could be declared clear of leprosy. The writer to the Hebrews makes mention that the first covenant was ratified with blood and water "For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water … and sprinkled both the book, and all the people." (Heb.9.19) The New Covenant was similarly ratified. John recorded the detail, "… one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water". (John 19:34)
But clearly, the main cleansing agent is blood, "for the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul," (Lev. 17:11) and "according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission". (Heb 9:22) The Messiah emphasized this. He said, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you". (Luke 22:20)
The remembrance concluded with the fourth cup, the cup of praise, over which the remainder of the Hallel was sung. This is the ‘hymn’ they sang before they went out. (Matt.26.30; Mark 14.26) The Messiah, in respect of the day of the Passover, which was to be the day of His execution, sang: "I will pay my vows to the Lord Now in the presence of all His people. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints". (Psalm 116:14,15) "The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?" (Psalm 118:6) "It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man." (Psalm 118:8) "The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it." (Psalm 118:22-24) "Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar." (Psalm 118:27) And the last words in the Passover chamber: "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever." (Ps. 118:29)
When the Passover supper was ended, and the last psalm sung, and the last benediction said, the Messiah went out into the night, to the garden of Gethsemane, to prepare Himself for the trials of the night and the terror of the day.
"Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons."
(John 18:3) The complicity of the Chief Priests is evidenced in that Temple guards accompanied the Romans. Their need to eliminate Jesus of Nazareth required a cooperation with the Roman occupiers that would mean they would discard their own legal system and ride roughshod over the very code which they accused the Messiah of breaking. Nevertheless, from the time that Jesus dispatched Judas to the Chief Priests to the time He cried, "It is finished", Jesus had control of the timetable of events.
The Journey to Golgotha
They led Jesus, now carrying the execution stake, from the Antonia fortress, across the northern extensions on the Temple mount, to the closest exit gate, the Shushan Gate. To get to the Shushan Gate, which was located on the eastern wall, they had to pass through the Tadi (Lambs’) gate. The Tadi gate was the northern entrance gate into the Temple compound through which they brought every lamb destined for slaughter in the court of priests. Here is a fulfillment of Scripture, He was "led as a lamb to the slaughter" (Isaiah 53.7). Descending the steps, they exited through the Shushan gate, the exit gate off the Temple mount through which they led the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement, and the red heifer when occasion demanded it.
Because of the scourging, Jesus was in a very weak condition, and collapsed under the burden of His cross. The Romans conscripted Simon, a Jew from Africa, to carry it. Simon had come up to Jerusalem for the Passover. That morning, Simon had joined the crowds that had come to the Temple to observe the sacrifice of the nation’s Passover lamb. He would indeed observe the sacrifice of a lamb at the time of the morning sacrifice, but not from the court of Israel in the Temple, but on Golgotha.
Professional mourners followed the procession that left the Temple Mount. These were provided when a Jew was to be executed, especially at the hands of Gentiles. It is at this point that Jesus lamented again over Jerusalem. The Jewish leaders and people had declared, "His blood be on us and on our children." (Matt. 27:25) So Jesus, turning to them, said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children." (Luke 23:28)
From the Shushan Gate the large company of people involved in the condemnation of the Messiah, were led by the Roman execution squad across the Kidron valley to the Mount of Olives opposite.
The Romans needed to select a site to suit their purposes. Since it was an official Roman execution, the site had to fulfill two major conditions. The first, it would have to be a public place, where the execution would be an example to everyone that passed by, that demonstrated that revolt against Rome was dealt with severely. Secondly, it would need to be at or near the site where the crime had been committed. The Romans picked an area near to the busy crossroads where a week before, the alleged crime of insurrection was committed, that is, where Jesus had ridden to Jerusalem as King of the Jews. It would be here that He would be crucified along with two rebels, the second fulfillment of the Scripture, "He was numbered with the transgressors" (Mark 15.28) The gospel writers identified the site as an ancient religious site called ‘place of a skull’, (Matt.27.33; Mark 15.22; John 19.17) that is Golgotha or Calvary. This site was to become known for something unique and amazing for while the God of Israel is omnipresent and, as the Psalmist declared, there is no escaping Him, this spot was to gain added notoriety in that it was to be the one place on the face of the earth where the presence of God was to be withdrawn!
It was just before nine o’clock in the morning when they arrived at Golgotha. The rejected Messiah was divested of His clothes. These were taken as perquisites by the soldiers. The soldiers had no reason to show mercy or compassion, so there was no tenderness in the execution of their duty, and nothing to cover the shame of the Messiah. Once they had constructed the cross, they laid it on the ground and placed Him on it. Jesus was nailed to the crossbeam and pillar. To blunt the pain of crucifixion they offered Jesus wine mingled with myrrh, but He refused it, in order that He might be in full control of His faculties. At the time when Jesus was nailed to the cross by the Roman soldiers He prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." (The first of seven sentences from the cross). We know this prayer was for the Roman soldiers because the text continues, ‘And they divided His garments and cast lots’. (Luke 23:34) The average Jewish male had five pieces of clothing:
the upper garment, the under garment, the head covering, a pair of shoes or sandals, and lastly an outer coat.
If, as there usually were, four soldiers in the crucifixion party, they would each have one of the articles of clothing and the outer coat was divided between them. But because of the quality of the robe that Jesus wore they cast lots for it, and did not divide it, thus fulfilling the prophecy. "They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots." (Ps.22:18)
It was at the time of the morning sacrifice (9 a.m.) that Jesus was crucified. "Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him." (Mark 15:25) At the same moment as the Passover lamb for the nation was being sacrificed in the Temple, the Lamb for the world was sacrificed on Calvary.
As required by Roman law, the charge against the felon was pinned to the crucifixion stake. The notice above the head of the Messiah read, "JESUS OF NAZARETH, KING OF THE JEWS". It was written in:
1. Latin, the official language of Rome,
2. Greek, the language of the Gentiles
3. Hebrew, the language of the ruling Jews.
It was written like a title, rather than an accusation, and the Jewish leaders objected, but Pilate remained adamant – "what I have written, I have written". (John 19.22)
Jesus on the Cross
Before the journey to Calvary Jesus had already suffered :
1. A betrayal by His own disciple.
2. The agonies of Gethsemane.
3. The desertion by His disciples.
4. The hypocritical trials before Annas, Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin.
5. The mockeries that took place through the night.
6. The denial by His most prominent disciple.
7. The trials before Pilate and Herod.
8. The unjust Roman scourging.
9. The condemnation and execution order brought about because of the evil pressure of His accusers.
10. A mob crying out for His crucifixion.
11. The exhausting journey to Calvary.
Then there was the experience of the first three hours at the place called Golgotha
12. The nailing of the hands and feet.
13. The dislocation of His bones when the cross was uplifted.
14. The shame of hanging naked before a hostile world.
15. The derision and gloating of His enemies as He hung there.
16. The pain of it all.
Then there was the experience of the first three hours at the place called Golgotha
12. The nailing of the hands and feet.
13. The dislocation of His bones when the cross was uplifted.
14. The shame of hanging naked before a hostile world.
15. The derision and gloating of His enemies as He hung there.
16. The pain of it all.
But worse was yet to come
for at twelve midday a darkness fell that lasted for three hours. "Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. Then the sun was darkened". (Luke 23:44,45) How is it possible, since the Messiah is associated with light and not darkness?
He had said, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." (John 8:12; cf. 9.5) His coming was the coming of light; "The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned." (Matt. 4:16) Moreover, one night, under the eastern sky, the Mount of Transfiguration had been alight with the Shekinah glory when Jesus met with Moses and Elijah. So why a darkness when Jesus, the Light of the World, was fully obeying His Father’s will? He Himself provides the answer, for at three in the afternoon, at the time of the afternoon sacrifice Jesus cried out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matt.27.46, Mark 15.34)
O Christ, ‘twas full for Thee!
But Thou has drained the last dark drop,
‘Tis empty now for me.
But why was He forsaken of God? He had said, "I am the light of the world", but the light was put out. He had said, "I am the truth", but truth is on the scaffold. He had said, "I am the life", but He died (and not just physically but also spiritually). He had said, "I am the way" (to God), but the way is marked ‘no entry’. The door is closed, barred and triple bolted, and there is none to hear. What was going on? Well, He had also said, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep." (John 10:11) That’s what’s going on!
He was under the judgment of God, suffering in three hours an intensity of punishment that none but the perfect Son of God could have borne. Isaiah said, "… the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief" (Isaiah 53.10) He presented Himself as a sin offering, in the perfect will of God. "If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand". (Isaiah 53:10) He fulfilled His own promise to give His life a ransom for many. He was made sin on our behalf. "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him". (2 Cor. 5:21) He was made a curse for us. "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"). (Gal. 3:13) YHWH laid on Him, "the iniquity of us all". (Isaiah 53:6)
The darkness was evidence that fellowship between the Father and the Son had been broken. Here, on the gibbet, Jesus addressed His Father as "My God". The gospels record the many instances when He referred to God as His Father, especially using "My Father" when the occasion suited – but now He called Him "My God". His relationship with God had really changed! The Son had been forsaken of the Father. He was ‘God-forsaken’ in its truest sense.
But here is mystery beyond all mystery. When at the end of the three hours He uttered His cry, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani’, the quote from Psalm 22 – "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Ps 22:1) God, the Father returned Jesus to the light and to spiritual fellowship.
The seventh and final sentence from the cross was, "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit." (Luke 23:46) Here He addressed God as Father – because His filial relationship had been restored. At that very moment, the veil of the Temple was torn from top to bottom. This veil was made of strong materials and was four inches thick. The tear was sixty feet long and took place exactly at the moment of the death of the Messiah. The torn curtain signified that access into the presence of God would now be available through the man of Golgotha. "Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh." (Heb 10:19,20)
No more veil! God bids me enter
By the new and living way –
Not in trembling hope I venture,
Boldly I His call obey:
There, with Him, my God I meet,
God upon the mercy seat.
By the new and living way –
Not in trembling hope I venture,
Boldly I His call obey:
There, with Him, my God I meet,
God upon the mercy seat.
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