The Last Supper 2021

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Passover this year begins at sunset on the 27th of March; which is a
Saturday, viz: the pesach lamb is supposed to be dedicated, slain, and
roasted with fire Saturday afternoon in preparation for dinner that night in
accord with Ex 12:1-21.

This year's Passover is interesting because the beginning coincides with the
end of the weekly sabbath; so observant Jews will have to observe two
consecutive holy days this year seeing as how Passover itself is a holy day
(Ex 12:16 & Lev 23:5-8) and that's regardless of which day of the week it
falls on. In other words; the day of the routine weekly sabbath is pinned to
Saturday while Passover's special day floats.

FYI: Other floating holy days are Yom Kippur and the Feast of Trumpets
which are themselves specifically categorized as sabbaths (Lev 16:29-34 &
Lev 23:23-25) implying that any holy day whereupon no work is allowed,
regardless of its position in the week, is observed the same as a normal
sabbath day. It is very essential to keep this in mind in order to avoid
making a mistake when charting the chronology of Christ's crucifixion and
resurrection.

Jesus ate his last pesach the night of his arrest (Matt 26:17-20, Mark 14:12
17, and Luke 22:7-15) whereas the Jews ate their own pesach after Jesus
was dead and buried. (John 13:1-2, John 18:28-29, John 19:13-14, and
John 19:31)

In other words: Jesus ate his own pesach one night ahead of the Jews' night.

So then seeing as how the Jews are supposed to eat their pesach Saturday
night this year; then Jesus, were he to be crucified in 2021, would be eating
his last supper Friday night and then crucified and buried Saturday afternoon
prior to sunset. In other words: Jesus would be spending his first of three
nights in the tomb while the Jews are at home processing their Seders.
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Working with that information, it becomes really easy to chart Jesus' three
nights in the tomb for the year 2021 in accord with Matt 12:40.

This year Jesus would eat his last supper on Friday night March 26, wherein
he would also be arrested; and then next day Saturday March 27 stand trial,
be executed, and laid to rest.

So his three nights in the tomb for the year 2021 would be Saturday night,
Sunday night, and Monday night; with his resurrection taking place early
Tuesday morning.

FYI: I've deliberately limited my chart to the three nights Jesus predicted in
Matt 12:40 in order to avoid controversy over the placement of the three
days.

NOTE: I highly recommend avoiding the impulse to force 24-hour days into
the narrative; and instead just let days be when the sun is up and nights be
when the sun is down, in accord with John 11:9-10.
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Our organized church of today tells us that Christ cancelled all this information when Christ told us to 'do this in remembrance of me" as He celebrated Passover.

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Seeing as how Jesus actually lived in the land of Israel those many years
ago, then it is my opinion that he is better qualified to define the hours of
day and night back then in his era than anyone in ours.

Accord to him: days were when the Sun is up, and nights were when the
Sun is down.

• John 11:9-10 . . Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in
the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if
anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.

This world's light is of course the Sun.

FYI: In the very beginning, God made a distinct difference between night
and day on Earth; so that His day on Earth is not a 24-hour amalgam of light
and dark; rather, His day on Earth is when the Sun is up, and His night on
Earth is when the Sun is down.

• Gen 1:4-5 . . God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the
light day, and the darkness he called night.

• Gen 1:14 . . And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the
heaven to divide the day from the night

• Gen 1:16 . .And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the
day, and the lesser light to rule the night.

• Gen 1:17-18 . . And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give
light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to
divide the light from the darkness.

If only people kept those God-given physical characteristics in mind when
working with the days and nights related to Matt 12:40, their calculations
would be greatly simplified.
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I think we need to accept the way that God gave a special blessing to certain times and certain days. It seems God promises to be closer to us at those times.

Daniel used those hours of the day as a time for his prayer time. It is pointed out that those special hours were part of the crucifixion of our Lord. We are told to spend one day in our seven day week as devoted to being in God's presences. This is as true of people in the artic as it is of people living near the equator.

When we read about the creation of the world, we need to be aware of the difference between the first and fourth day. Both are said, in our translations to be the day light was created. In Hebrew it was or that was created, meaning spiritual light. On the fourth day the Hebrew word is maor, or something that gives light.

Since it didn't happen in 2021, since after the ressurrection the church didn't celebrate it anymore, since it doesn't have anything to do with the principles of the Kingdom or building up the body of Christ, why exactly are we spending time talking about it? If it turns out to be a major thread it will probably be because somebody wants to argue about it.

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Some of the controversy is related to one side of the aisle insisting that
portions of a day count as a day, whereas the other side of the aisle insists
that that in order for a day to count as a day, it has to be a whole day.

A preponderance of textual evidence strongly suggests that Jesus Christ's
crucified dead body was restored to life during the third day rather than the
end of the day.

• Matt 17:22-23 . . Jesus said unto them: The Son of man shall be betrayed
into the hands of men: and they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be
raised again.

• Mark 9:31 . . He taught his disciples, and said unto them: The Son of man
is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he
is killed, he shall rise the third day.

• Luke 9:22 . .The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by
the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and
on the third day be raised to life.

• Luke 24:5-8 . . In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to
the ground, but the men said to them: Why do you look for the living among
the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he
was still with you in Galilee: "The Son of Man must be delivered into the
hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again."

• Luke 24:21-23 . .We trusted that it had been he which should have
redeemed Israel: and beside all this, today is the third day since these
things were done. Yea, and certain women also of our company made us
astonished, which were early at the sepulcher; and when they found not his
body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which
said that he was alive.

• Luke 24:46 . . He said unto them: Thus it is written, and thus it behooved
Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day

• Acts 10:40 . . God raised him up the third day

• 1Cor 15:4 . . he rose again the third day
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I really think it is important to our understanding of our world as it actually is that we try to think this entire question through. God gave the entire Passover story great importance, relating to it over and over in scripture. It tells us the story of our salvation, scripture relates it to being freed from the bondage and death of sin. Christ celebrated Passover and told us to do this in remembrance of me. Our organized church has changed that to mean taking a wafer and a small cup of wine, but not as a Passover remembrance. Scripture has not told us to celebrate as we do, we have developed that on our own. Scripture only tells us to celebrate Passover.

Christ changed our way of fleshly circumcision and to diet so now we do these things without the secular type instructions. Did Christ tell us not to celebrate Passover, but have communion services?

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The day that Jesus was crucified coincides with preparation day (John 19:14)
which is the day during which pious Jews prepare for their Seder in accord
with instructions per the 12th chapter of Exodus. That's the day when
Passover's lambs are slain; but it's not till after sundown that the ritual is
finalized by they're consumption.

So then, I do not recommend counting preparation day as one of the three
days that Jesus predicted per Matt 12:40 because the Jews' preparation day
was the day of his own preparation when he too was slain along with all the
other lambs, viz: Jesus didn't become our Seder per 1Cor 5:7 till after
sundown.

FAQ: If the ritual isn't finalized till the lambs are consumed: then how does
one finalize Jesus as a Passover? By cannibalizing his remains?

A: Well; the difficulty with cannibalizing Jesus' remains is that there are no
remains. His dead crucified body was restored to life; and yet according to
portions of the sixth chapter of John's gospel, Jesus' flesh must be eaten if
people are to have any hope at all of escaping the sum of all fears.
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Instructions given for the original Passover included painting a lamb's blood
on the doorposts of people's homes. That step in the procedure was never
repeated because all Passovers following the original were for a different
purpose.

The original served to protect people from God, whereas succeeding
Passovers protect nobody from God because they merely commemorate the
original. This is very important.

• 1 Cor 5:7 . . Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us

Now the point is: it's necessary to somehow apply Jesus' blood in order to
obtain its protection.

The original Passover's blood was applied with a brush made of a desert
shrub called hyssop. Quite a few of the expositors that I study under are
convinced that hyssop symbolizes faith. In a nutshell, the application of
Jesus' blood is accomplished by simply believing it's an effective protection
from the wrath of God.

And like the original Passover lamb's blood, Jesus' blood has to be applied
only once, and from then on its purpose is merely commemorated by a
communion service sometimes called the Lord's Supper, a.k.a. the Eucharist.
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When we eat that wafer and drink from that small cup of wine, I wonder how many of us relate it to the night our Savior celebrated Passover and told us it was His body and His blood, and to do this in remembrance of me? Was that wafer and wine what our Savior had in mind? Would it be wrong to "do this" on this March 27th?

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Jesus and his men didn't eat wafers that night. They ate pieces of torn bread.
Things like biscuits, cookies, wafers, and crackers, suggest nothing of the damage
done to Jesus' body the next day.

• Isa 52:14 . . Just as there were many who were appalled at him-- his appearance
was so disfigured beyond that of any man, and his form marred beyond human
likeness

The man that emerged from the three hours of darkness was so badly injured that
even his own mother wouldn't have recognized him had she not been there to see
for herself.

Who did that to Jesus? The Romans? No; it was the handiwork of his own beloved
Father.

• Isa 53:10 . . It was Jehovah's will to crush him and cause him to suffer

If God would do something like that to His own son; what might He have in store
for folk who mock the cross and write it off as a silly fantasy?
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• Luke 22:19 . . He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to
them, saying: This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.

• 1Cor 11:23-24 . . I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you:
The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had
given thanks, he broke it and said: This is my body, which is for you; do this
in remembrance of me.

The bread that Jesus served his men isn't specifically identified as either
leavened or unleavened. It's translated from the Greek word artos; which
basically speaks of ordinary bread; but not always because artos is
somewhat ambiguous.

For example Jesus called the sacred bread artos (Matt 12:3-4). Well, for
sure that particular bread is not ordinary bread. According to Lev 24:5 it's
only ingredient is virgin flour, i.e. the sacred bread was unleavened.

* This is important because the sacred bread wasn't food offered to
God, rather food blessed of God and offered to the priests. Well; we can't
imagine God offering His priests bread made from fermented dough, rather,
bread made from the best and the freshest ingredients. (cf. John 6:26-58)

So we can safely assume that bread described as artos is nondescript; and a
pretty weak argument that Jesus and his men ate the wrong kind of bread
with their Seder.

FAQ: What constitutes unleavened bread?

A: The essential consideration when undertaking unleavened bread is age.

Given time, fresh dough will spoil on its own without the addition of yeasts
and/or starters because all flour, no matter how carefully it's milled and
packaged, contains a percentage of naturally-occurring fungi.

Back in the day, there were no sanitary, indoor facilities with which to grind
flour; in point of fact, they used stones exposed to the open air so their
product was no doubt contaminated with far more fungi than in our day;
which means that back in Moses' day-- and in Jesus' day too --there was no
such thing as flour containing zero yeasts. It all contained yeasts, more or
less, and without refrigeration and there was no practical way to stop fresh
dough from fermenting.

Passover is supposed to be eaten with bread made from fresh dough rather
than dough that's been allowed time to ferment. Sourdough bread is safe for
human consumption, but it doesn't convey a sense of urgency. Fresh dough
for dinner bread is the dough of choice when people are in a hurry to get fed
and get going.

• Ex 12:11 . . This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your
belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste

• Ex 12:38-39 . . And a mixed multitude also went up with them, along with
flocks and herds, a very large number of livestock. And they baked the
dough which they had brought out of Egypt into cakes of unleavened bread.
For it had not become leavened, since they were driven out of Egypt and
could not delay, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.

(cf. Gen 18:6 & Gen 19:3)
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FAQ: Does unleavened bread for Passover have to be made with only flour and
water?

A: To my knowledge unleavened bread for Passover can be made with any
ingredients you desire except for one very unacceptable material: fermented
dough, a.k.a. starter.

• 1Cor 5:6 . . Do you not know that a little leaven, leavens the whole lump?

That's actually saying that a little ferment, will cause an entire batch of fresh
dough to spoil and thus render it no longer virgin.

I suspect it's for that very reason that God requires the Jews to ensure there
is no fermented dough anywhere in their homes before they start making
bread for Passover lest they inadvertently contaminate their fresh dough
with remnants of an older dough (Ex 12:15 and Ex 12:19). Nowadays some
Jews even go so far as to either discard, donate, give away, or sell all their
old cookware and buy brand spanking new kitchen equipment for preparing
their Passover bread.

FAQ: Is it okay to bake in an oven?

A: To my knowledge, the Bible does not specify a method for cooking
unleavened bread. Sarah made hers on a griddle (Gen 18:6). I'd imagine
you could even boil it to make dumplings. (Can't boil the lamb, the whole
critter has to be roasted with fire: Gen 12:9)

FAQ: What about the size and shape?

A: I really don't think that matters; nor does it matter how the bread is served.
Get creative; enjoy your food, and have fun. Passover night may have been
grim for the Egyptians but it was a joyous event for the Jews; they were
getting out of Dodge free as emancipated people.

FAQ: What's with the bitter herbs? (Ex 12:8)

A: Nondescript sauces and/or or dips, e.g. John 13:26. Personally I prefer
Whole Foods' 365 barbecue flavor, whereas my wife likes Trader Joe's
Balsamic Glaze.
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Passover is specifically celebrated with unleavened bread.

leaven being a "type" for sin

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Hypothetically, some of Moses' people kill their lambs, roast them with fire,
and using hyssop, paint their lambs' blood around the doors of their homes.
But the people bake the wrong bread for dinner that night: it's leavened
instead of unleavened.

What will happen when the destroyer comes through the Jews' community?
Will the firstborn sons in those homes be executed that night?

No; and the reason why is because Jehovah will only be looking for the
lamb's blood around the door; that's all. He will not be looking inside homes
to examine what people are eating.

• Ex 12:23 . . For Jehovah will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and
when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, Jehovah
will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto
your houses to smite you.

Again, hypothetically, some of Moses' people go thru all the correct motions,
but this time they butcher their lambs into convenient pieces instead of
cooking them whole.

Will the firstborn sons in those homes be executed?

No; and the reason why is because Jehovah will only be looking for the
lamb's blood around the door; that's all. He will not be looking inside homes
to examine what people are eating.

Again, hypothetically, some of Moses' people go thru all the correct motions,
but this time they eat their lambs with sweet spices instead of bitter.

Will the firstborn sons in those homes be executed?

No; and the reason why is because God will only be looking for the lamb's
blood around the door; that's all. He will not be looking inside homes to
examine what people are eating.

Again, hypothetically, some of Moses' people go thru all the correct motions,
but this time their firstborn son is out for a stroll with his girlfriend at
midnight when Jehovah comes thru. Will that son be slain? Well; I should
think so because the blood made his house a place of safety and he was not
in it.

• Ex 12:22 . . And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood
that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the
blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out at the door of his
house until the morning.

I think it goes without saying that "none of you" included firstborn sons;
them especially!

In other words: the blood of the lambs only protected sons when in their
houses, just as Noah's ark only protected people when in the ark, and just
as Jesus' blood only protects people when in Christ, viz: in his body.
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And when one gets saved by trusting the gospel of Jesus Christ, he/she becomes a son of God through the new birth. Sons are protected by the blood and given an inheritance.

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• 1Cor 10:6-7 . . Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written:
The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to play.

The Bible doesn't provide much detail at Ex 32:1-6 as to what went on in
camp while Moses was up on the mountain. But one thing we know for sure
is that there was a golden calf; and the "eat and drink" to which the apostle
refers was a ritual where people sacrificed to the calf and afterwards
consumed the sacrifice as an act of communion with it; as a sort of
unlicensed Passover celebration:

"Aaron answered them: Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your
sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me. So all the
people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they
handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it
with a tool. Then they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you
up out of Egypt. (Ex 32:2-4)

Though the idol is singular, the grammar refers to it in the plural and that's
likely because the Hebrew word translated "gods" is a plural noun. That last
sentence really should say "this is your God, O Israel, who brought you up
out of Egypt" because the next two verses say that their celebration was in
honor of Jehovah. (vs. 5 and 6)

Now, it's true that Jesus is the captain of our salvation in a manner similar to
how Jehovah was the captain of their salvation; but I think we need to be
careful how we honor him in that capacity. In other words: it's probably a
good idea to avoid building a shrine for Jesus because sure enough people
will begin kneeling before it and praying to it and maybe even kissing its feet
so often that they wear one of its big toes down like Peter's in Rome.
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FAQ: Are Passovers observed away from Jerusalem acceptable?

A: They are unacceptable. (Deut 16:5-6)

Passover is a pilgrimage type of feast. If Jews are out of country and can't
make it to Israel on time, they have to wait and do theirs one month later
than usual (Num 9:5-11). Everyone who partakes of a Seder this coming
March 27, 2021 will be doing so illegally should they do so while here at
home.

In addition, the lamb has to be roasted with fire and eaten entirely intact. It
must not be butchered (Ex 12:9). Modern Seders consist of dismembered
lambs. Everyone who partakes of a lamb in that condition will be doing so
illegally.

The rules governing Passover are specific (Num 9:12). Failure to comply
with them merits execration. (Num 9:13 and Deut 27:26)
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