Words of Jesus Podcast - Passover Transition From A Lamb To A Man

Episode Date: January 10, 2025

Fulfilled! "Passover. . .A memorial of Me."Generations pass, years pass, feast rehearsals pass. One day, that which was anticipated is fulfilled. Tradition is difficult to change; in fact, divine inspiration or revelation is required. The Scriptures record the result of the revelations of the Holy Spirit, which are received by some, but not all of the people present. John the Baptist recognized the Lamb of God by revelation. Peter recognized Jesus as the Son of God by revelation. The woman with the alabaster box of ointment recognized Jesus as the Messiah by revelation. There is a subtle, yet unmistakable distinction between those who see and those who are blind; those who hear and those who are deaf; those who understand the parable and those who do not. This message is not for everyone. Revealed: "to make known through divine inspiration." ***105: Jesus Predicts His BetrayalMatthew 26:1-5; Mark 14:1, 2; Luke 22:1, 2Two days before the feast of the unleavened bread, known as the Feast of the Passover, Jesus said to his disciples:             "Ye know that after two days is the Feast of the Passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified."            The chief priests, scribes, and elders of the people gathered together in the palace of Caiaphas, the high priest.  They discussed how they might take Jesus by craft and slay him.But they said:            "Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people."***106: Jesus Anointed With OintmentMatthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; John 12:2-8JESUS VISITED the house of Simon the leper, in Bethany.            As he sat to eat, a woman came to Jesus with an alabaster box of very costly ointment of spikenard, which she poured on his hair. Some were indignant at this, saying:            “Why was this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor.”            Jesus said:            “Let her alone. Why trouble ye her? She hath wrought a good work on me. For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good; but me ye have not always. She hath done what she could. She is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. Verily I say unto you, ‘Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.’”

Think Red Ink Ministries presents the Words of Jesus series with Don C. Harris. Hello my friends, welcome once again. You're in tune to the Words of Jesus series and I'm Don Harris, my friends. Welcome once again. You're in tune to the Words of Jesus series, and I'm Don Harris, your host of Think Ready Ministries, Pytown, New Mexico. Glad to have you. We're in chapter 105 of our little book today. This is where Jesus is speaking of his betrayal. And this starts out saying,

Two days before the Feast of Unleavened Bread, known as the Feast of Passover, Jesus said to his disciples. Now, I'm thinking, Hmm. What? Now, those of you who are are aware of the feast of the lord know that this does not make sense uh two days before the feast of unleavened bread known as the feast of passover what in the um well you see there were i teach a um a seminar on

the the feast of passover and how it actually changed over the years the lord allowed the passover the rules if you will of Passover, how it is to be observed. He actually changed this over time. It was done at a time where a king was made aware of the scriptures that were in the neglected temple. And as he read those scriptures and and read what they had to say he says hey we ought to be keeping these feasts very same thing happened to me by the way it'll happen to you if you look at them you'll wonder why aren't we keeping these feasts

well i don't have a good answer for you i don know. I don't know why we're not doing it. But, you know, these are the feasts of the Lord, not the feast of the Jews. There is such a thing as feast of the Jews, but these are feasts of the Lord, the one we say that we serve. And if you know something about these feasts, you realize that, now wait a minute, Passover is not the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Why are they saying that? Well, when these things changed,

when this king decided we need to keep this feast, there were some problems, logistic problems that had to be overcome. One of those problems was that there were lambs that were going to have to be slain and the priests were in no condition to do such a thing because they hadn't sanctified themselves.

They hadn't been really doing the things of the Lord in the temple like they should be doing. The priests were totally unprepared for this. And there was a certain portion of the priest set aside and sanctified. The Lord allowed, as a matter of fact, the Lord actually allowed the unsanctified, unholy, unset-apart priest to do this even though they had not prepared themselves. And because, well, frankly, I think he was really excited about his people do this even though they had not prepared themselves and because well frankly i think

he was really excited about his people want to keep his feast and thinking you haven't done it all these years and you want to do it now we can make some concessions here now that doesn't mean that you get to make concessions or that i get to make concessions but in consultation with the lord those concessions came forward and were approved in triplicate and so he allowed this to be done and he moved the passover observance you remember when the passover first occurred the instructions of the passover were clear that on the 10th day of the month you're going to set aside a lamb you're going to you're going to set it off from the rest of the flock and you're going to keep it up you're going to keep it in until the night of the 14th and then it's going to be slain and it's going to be roasted and the family's going to eat of it and the specification that he put on this was a lamb for a house that was the

specification a lamb for a house he made some concession there when he was saying that now look if your if your family's not big enough to consume this whole lamb, you can bring in a neighbor, you can bring in a brother, you can bring somebody else in to keep Passover with you, and that way, you know, the lamb's consumed. Because it was important that the lamb be consumed. Another prophetic shadow to show you there's no more Messiahs coming. There's no leftovers here. You know, Jesus came and he's done his work and he's accomplished his goal.

There's really nothing left for us other than to accept that sacrifice, to receive Jesus as a king and receive him as our high priest and i mean that's that's all that's left now he says if anything is left over it needs to be put into the fire and burnt before uh the sun the next day and um what i want to focus on is the fact that he said a lamb for a house. Now, in this particular day of Hezekiah, Joash, you know, it's dubious. But nevertheless, in the days of this king who tried to reestablish Passover, what they did was, is because the people weren't ready for this,

the lambs were brought to the temple and slain by the priest. Well, you know, look, if I have a thousand people on YouTube, let's say, I don't know, some internet meeting or something, and I say, I want you to, you know, pick up your pencil. Well, everybody picks it up. Well, it takes like a half a second for everybody to pick up a pencil. Now, if I take that on myself to do that, it's going to take a long time to do that. If this is done in person, or it's in a classroom, or whatever else, if I am going to do them all, then the time is cumulative. You see what I mean?

Now, a man can select a lamb and slay it and butcher it and hand the carcass over to his wife who's got the oven ready to roast it. And it can all be done in an evening's time. It can go from being on the hoof that afternoon to being on the table that night. Not a real big problem. They did it all the time. But when every family is not preparing that lamb, but they're carrying them to the priest, why, the temple just turned into a butcher shop. And because the priest knew how to do these things and the people were totally unaware

because they'd not been practicing this all this time. So it was a bit of a problem. It became a logistic problem because although it only takes like an afternoon to accomplish one lamb for a house, all of a sudden it became a big deal for the priesthood to slay all these lambs. So what happened?

Well, it became an impossibility as far as time is concerned. If this lamb was to be prepared in a leaven-free atmosphere, then all the leaven needs to be removed from that atmosphere and actually from the entire country is what would end up happening. Nowadays when it comes to time for the Feast of Unleavened Bread the Jews just sell their bread to some goyim somewhere and they sell it to a Gentile and at the end of the unleavened bread they can just simply buy it back.

But man, when there's nobody to sell it to, there isn't anybody in Jerusalem but Jews. I mean, this leaven's got to go, right? So there was a lot of preparation to be made for this situation. The priests couldn't butcher these lambs in an atmosphere with leaven so these became the days of unleavened bread well it expanded from a week uh until it became well as a matter of fact in the in the book of, you'll find that they talk about these were the days of the unleavened. These were the unleavened days.

Well, it wasn't the days of unleavened bread because that was before Passover. That particular iteration in the book of Acts. And here we find that there that they he says the two days before passover he says jesus says you know it's two days before the passover and and and the son of man has to be betrayed and crucified two days before the passover of the unleavened bread known as the feast of the Passover. I'm sorry. It was two days before the feast of the unleavened bread known as the feast of Passover. These days just became mingled to the point that there was hardly any separation of them because the feast had been corrupted. It had been forgotten. There were allowances made. There were people actually allowed certain things

that they didn't allow before. God allowed things that he didn't allow before, but there was a reason for it. I wish we could get into it now. But the feast of, the observance of the Passover was moved out of the home and put into the temple. And it became the responsibility of the priest, not the man of the house. But there was a reason for that. Because you see

Jesus was going to be here in a matter of centuries from then. And he was going to be slain at the hands of the priest. And his death had to count as the Passover sacrifice. Well, Jesus is one body. That's one person that dies for the sins of the whole nation. It's not many lambs being slain in many homes

but one lamb being slain in the temple for many homes. And the Lord allowed this this made a concession to this because he was thinking and he was saying you know this is going to be necessary when it comes time to redeem this entire country okay so i told you anyway all, so he says that two days before the Feast of Unleavened Bread, known as the Feast of Passover, Jesus said to his disciples, you know that after two days is the Feast of Passover. Now, he wasn't under any impression that it was going to be the Days of Unleavened Bread because he knew that the Days of Unleavened bread begin after the Passover is finished. And the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified.

The chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people gathered together in the place of Caiaphas, the high priest. They discussed how they might take Jesus by craft and slay him. But they said, not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people. Now, this is where they decided to get the Romans involved because they don't care what the Romans do on Passover. And so they decided that they were going to make Jesus's crucifixion, his murder, take place. And I really think that they

were trying to get it done beforehand, but they weren't able to do so. Jesus stood before Caiaphas. He was arrested the night before. You know the Passover that Jesus held with his disciples? You remember when he says, I have with great desire wanted to hold this Passover with you? This Passover? This one. He actually nominated that day as this Passover. And there's a reason why it was this Passover. This is the one I've been wanting to hold with you.

And that actually occurred on the night of the 13th, not on the 14th when the Passover was to occur. Some people disagree about this, but I don't understand why they think that, you know, after all these years, 2,000 years have gone by, forecasting this event that God would miss the whole thing by a day. But, no, that was the night of the 13th and this was essentially the day before Passover and this was

not a Passover meal that he held with his disciples it wasn't anything but a rehearsal because contrary to our sloppy agape kind of our rubber dogma that we've that we bend and stretch and pull into all different kinds of shapes and then preach that you have to believe it um contrary to us practicing that way jesus was pretty much a stickler about wanting things done the way his father wanted things done. Imagine that.

And so he was telling his disciples, and we're going to see that Passover actually occur. But when we get there, I want you to have a good understanding of what you're actually seeing. You're not seeing a passover meal you're seeing a rehearsal because jesus is trying to explain to these guys his disciples i am the passover it is my blood that is going to be shed i am that passover lamb by the way the word Passover means that lamb you know it talks about killing the Passover what does that mean killing the holy day no first of all it's not a day it's a meal it's not a whole day it's not 24 hours long it's not even a holy day it is an observance as a matter fact, if you look into the holy days,

you're going to find that all of them say that they are perpetual forever. Except this one. It says that it'll be a memorial forever. Not something that you do forever. One of my complaints with a lot of the Messianic groups is that they have Passover meals. They actually slay lambs. I can't believe it.

Well, sure I can. Why am I saying that? But the Passover is one of the fulfilled feasts of the Lord. It's to be a memorial forever. We're going to talk about this as we get into the Passover, and you actually see this actually occur. There's many things that change about the Passover. The bitter herbs are gone. The bread has changed from unleavened bread to leavened bread. It's amazing what's going on here. But it all has a reason behind it. And Jesus' main reason was, I am the Passover.

So how are you going to keep this as a memorial? Next year, for example. You know, the next year is going to roll around. This time of year is going to roll around and you're living under an instruction of my father who says this shall be a memorial to you forever how are you going to do that are you going to slay a lamb next passover you're going to put his blood on on the altar you're going to put his blood over mine and then I can just see him kind of looking around wide-eyed and thinking, what are we going to do? Jesus says, let me show you what we're going to do. We're not doing anything in remembrance of a lamb

that was slain in Egypt all those years ago. This do in remembrance of me? It's really a beautiful thing. Can't wait to get there. Obviously, I can't wait to get there. But Jesus here is predicting his betrayal and that he's going to be betrayed, turned over to the high priest

and that they're going to crucify him. And I wanted to explain to you that there's no reason to believe that this is some mistake in the Bible. It's not a contradiction in the Bible. It is actually a fact. The Passover days were extended. Way extended. There are the days of the unleavened that have to be accounted for. And if you read it and not know that, you're going to think these people don't even know when the feasts of the

Lord are. But they did, and they do. Let me read you this story, Jesus anointed with ointment. Jesus visited the house of Simon the leper in Bethany. Have you noticed that this book isn't real big on chronology, right? So, you know, these things happened way earlier. But they did a wonderful job. I'm not criticizing per se. So Jesus was invited to the house of Simon the leper in Bethany. As he sat to eat, a woman came to Jesus with an alabaster box of very costly

ointment of spikenard, which she poured on his hair. Some were indignant, saying, Why is this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and had been given to the poor. Jesus said, Let her alone. Why trouble you the woman? She's wrought a good work on me,

for ye have the poor with you always. And whensoever you will. You can do them good. But me. You have not always. She has done what she could. She has come. Aforehand.

To anoint my body. To the burying. Verily I say unto you. Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached. Throughout the whole world. This also. Now this is very similar to the story that's in Luke 7. I happen to believe they're the same story. My opinion, but I happen to believe they're the same story. My opinion, but I happen to believe they're the same. And I want you to take away from this certain facts and opinions,

especially mine. But this woman, I feel, it is a feeling, I can't say that the scriptures say so, but Jesus' testimony of her was that wherever this gospel is preached, this story shall be told.

Hey, can I ask you something? When is your preacher preached about this? Jesus said wherever the gospel is preached, this story is going to be told. Has this story been told? Oh, yes. Yes, I've heard it. No, that's not what I'm asking you. Is this told as part of the gospel? See, these are really probing questions

because they're very important. Was this story told as an important part of the gospel story that we've always heard? Hardly. Hardly. What makes this story so important that Jesus says, Now look, you guys quit criticizing this woman. What's the matter with you?

What she's done, she's done what she could. What she could? What does that mean? She's wrought a good work on me. What does that mean? And I tell you, anywhere the gospel is preached, this story's going to be told. What story? What story?

Do you read your Bible this way? Why, I do. I just want to know, that's all. Come to realize, this woman wasn't acting on her own behalf. She had no way of knowing that not many days hence, Jesus was going to be crucified she had no way of knowing that other than it being revealed of the father friend this woman was acting on revelation she saw jesus not as the friend of the whole world not as a happy-go-lucky munchkin or elf running around playing the lute or the flute or the lyre

and dancing through the hillsides with flowers in his hair. She understood exactly what he was. I don't doubt that in her own mind, she heard the words of John the Baptist saying, behold. He looked into a crowd and saw his cousin coming. And he focused that entire crowd's attention on that man.

Behold, that's what that means. Focus your attention there. Focus your attention here. That's what behold means. Focus your attention on that man. You see that man? He's the Lamb of God that comes to take away the penalty of our sin.

He comes to take away the sins of the world. Well, they probably had a little trouble thinking about that, thinking about it properly or thinking about it correctly or theologically or whatever else, however else they wanted to think about it. But you know, this revelation moved this woman to do something to make this Lamb of God

that was going to be slain. She had no idea when. But she recognized him, I'm afraid in a lot of of cases she recognized him in a way that we don't he is coming to the earth to save us to be offered as a pleasant and and and a glory-producing sacrifice on the altar of God. She has no idea he's going to be murdered instead. But Jesus is saying, don't take this away from her. The revelation of who I am and what I've come to accomplish, it's hers, and she has acted on it,

and I appreciate it and i want this story told wherever the gospel is preached it's kind of a beautiful thought it's a beautiful tribute to her isn't it our time is gone i'd love to hear from you will you do something for me i need you to write to me i just want to know who you are something for me? I need you to write to me. I just want to know who you are and where you're from, how you're listening to this broadcast. Send your questions and your comments to just make an email. Don at thinkwriting.com.

Just that simple. You can write to our ministry in Pytown, New Mexico. It's P.O. Box 718. All right, time for us to go for now. I appreciate you being a part of the show, and we'll see you next time as we continue in the Red Ink. Until then, think Red Ink. Bye-bye, my friend. Bye-bye.

You've been listening to Don C. Harris of Think Red Ink Ministries. Email don at thinkredink.com. That's thinkredink.com. Join us again for the next episode in the Words of Jesus series.