It was on eve of the 14^th of Nisan, Jesus met with his disciples in the Upper Room which stood over the Tomb of David. This supper was a rehearsal supper for the Passover Seder to be done after the slaying of the Lambs on the afternoon of the 14^th of Nisan, and to be eaten on the eve of the 15^th of Nisan, the Passover Seder. It was here Yahshua instituted the Last Supper’s commemorative rites. Was the Last Supper a Passover Sedar? In the opinion of this author, it was not unless the evidence concedes that the Last Supper was an Essene seder. The evidence suggests that they were discussing and preparing for the Sedar. What is the evidence?

1. On the table in the Upper Terrace, there was no evidence of a Passover lamb, but this could have been an Essene Passover on Wednesday.

2. During the Last Supper, Yahshua sopped the bread suggesting that it was leavened. Neither does it specifically state that it was unleavened bread. All through the gospels there are specific references when the rules of the halakhah or the rules on how to observe the Mosaic law were followed. There is no such mention here.

3. Jesus gave the last piece of leavened sopped bread to Judas. This suggests that Judas was the leavening in the disciples. He was the contaminated one. Maybe this was a ceremony to clean the house and get rid of Chametz (leavening). When Judas left, the Chametz (leavening) was gone.

4. Of the four gospels, John was an eyewitness. As a Levite or intimately known to the House of Ananas, he stated, “now before the feast of the Passover”. Yet, this Passover Seder could have been again an Essene seder, that was celebrated without the Korban Lamb. (John 13:1-20)

5. Pilgrims were already purified by this time by immersing in their mikvah baths, so the washing of feet would not have been performed on the Passover. The washing of feet could have been a symbolic mikvah, to occur prior to the Passover.

6. When Yahshua gave Judas the sopped bread and he exited, "some (the other disciples) thought that, because Judas had the money box, Yahshua was telling him. "Buy what we need for the feast". (John 13:29)

The Temple of Herod – EBible of the Temple Model

7. According to Mark and Luke, they wrote, “And before the first day of Chag Matzoth (Feast of Unleavened Bread), when they killed the Pesach (Passover lamb), His talmidim (disciples) said to Him, ‘Where do You desire that we go and prepare so that you may eat the Pesach?’” (Mark 14:12-16, Luke 22:7-13 Restoration Scripture)

To understand the Hebrew mindset, we can see even to this day where an orthodox rabbi will meet on the day before the Passover with His students and conduct a training lesson on the Passover Seder. In the Lubavitch rabbinic movement they gather together the night before the Passover for what they call the “Moschiach’s Supper”. Many rabbis consider this meal being a Pesach meal even though it comes before the actual Passover. We must ask again, was this an actually a rehearsal supper for Passover which was to come on the next eve?

The orthodox Passover Seder had four cups to remind us of the four words for redemption in Torah:

First cup - God “Freed” us. Here we see the “Type” as when the “Exodus” by the Israelites from their exile in Egypt occurred. Here Type met “anti-Type”, when we see the “Exodus of the Lost Tribes of Israel, lost in the nations of the gentiles since their exile by the Assyrian invasion in 702 BCE, now returning to the land of their fathers with the redemption of the House of Joseph.

Second cup – God “Rescued” us. Here again we see in the “Type” when God “saved” the Israelites in the dramatic crossing of the Red Sea as they fled from their Egyptian oppressors. Here Type met “anti-Type”, when we see the redemption of the chosen ones of Israel as they crossed over “Red Sea” and left their old life in exile with the Globalist Gentile Nations of the world to their new life in the re-Newed brotherhood of the tribes of Israel.

Third cup - God shall “Redeem” us” us and make a Covenant with us. Here we see in the “Type” the God of Israel descending down upon Mount Sinai. He redeemed His chosen ones and then made a declaration at that time of the Covenant between He and the Children of Israel. Here Type met “anti-Type”, when Yahshua, the Yahweh Elohim (“God of Israel”), who was the Son of the Father, and descended down from the World of the Divine in the incarnated form of a babe called Yahshua and declared a reNewed Covenant (Brit Hadassah (Renewal of the Covenant) with His disciples (talmidim). Let us not forget, this reNewed Covenant was to go first to the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel. Many of us today are part of those Lost Sheep.

Fourth cup – God “took us to be His own people”. Here we see in the “Type” when the children of Israel entered into the Promise Land. Here Type met “anti-Type” when the House of Joseph (Ephraim) is redeemed and enters into Eritz Yisra’el (Land of Israel) in fulfillment of the prophets of old.

Fifth cup was set for the Prophet Elijah – The prophet Elijah is expected by the Jews to return and announce (future) the coming of the messianic age. No one will know this message until announced by Elijah according to the Rabbanim.

The “Type” of Elijah the greatest of the prophets met his “anti-Type” when Yohannes (John) the Baptiser came with the mantle of authority of Elijah the Prophet, with his voice crying in the wilderness proclaiming the message, “Prepare you the Way of the Lord.” Yet, John the Baptist was only one anti-Type that will be repeated at the time of the end when there will be two; the two witnesses. (Revelation 11 and Malachi 4:5) Will these two witnesses be the return of; Moses, the Great Lawgiver and Elijah, the Great Prophet or will it be; Daniel, the apocalyptic prophet of the TaNaKh (Old Testament) or the Apostolic Prophet John the Revelator in the Brit Hadassah (reNewed Testament)?

In the Last Supper only one cup was mentioned. This was the third cup, the cup of redemption and while Yahshua was giving His chosen disciples the essence of the reNewal of the Covenant (Brit Hadassah), He stated that as they were drinking of the 3rd cup, the cup of redemption, at the Last Supper;

Matthew 26:29 - “But, I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom."

Will the 4th cup be shared with His followers when Yahshua returns to install the “kingdom of God” in the future? Was Yahshua staging the idea that the Lord’s Supper and the Passover have a future prophetic application? Will Yahshua drink the 4th cup, when He comes to bring the Kingdom of God to a living reality in our three dimensional or maybe to our fourth dimensional world in the future?

Trial and Crucifixion of Yahshua (Jesus) on the 14^th of Nisan

Wide angel view of Temple platform. The court of the Gentiles is on the far left, the fortress Antonia is seen

in the upper corner of the extreme right. – The Preterist Central

The eve of the 14^th day of Nisan, the day before the traditional Passover, Yahshua, after the Last Supper in the House with an Upper Terrace, He spent a good part of the early evening with His disciples giving them His last and final instructions and teachings. Then Yahshua and His disciples went down Mount Zion on the pathway near the residence of the high priests, into the Hinnom Valley as they headed across the Kidron to the garden district near the Village of Geshemonim where He spent the evening in agony in the Garden at Gat Shemen. There he felt the withdrawing forces of His Father in heaven as the powers of evil enclosed around him. He must now walk alone, trusting in complete submission that his mission was complete. There, Yahshua awaited his captors.

Captured by the temple security guard under the authority of the high priest, Yahshua was captured in the Garden of Gethsemane under the accusation of a “kiss” by his own disciple, Judas Ischariot. He was taken to the palace of the High Priest, Ananus the Elder in the midst of the night to face His accusers as they interrogated Him, seeking to find charges for His death. At daybreak, He was taken to the Sanhedrin for trial and only under the accusation of blasphemy by Caiphas the high priest, he was condemned to die. There Yahshua was sent to the Roman Praetorium, where He stood in the judgment seat of Pilate, who deferred Yahshua’s fate to Herod in the Herodium Palace and then back to the Praetorium, where Pontius Pilate washed his hands of this whole travesty of justice.

This was the preparation day for the Passover. The High Priest and the participating order of the cohanim (priests) were in an uncomfortable position. If they stepped into a defiled place, such as a Roman civil court, they would be defiled and unable to participate in the preparation of the Passover sacrifices.

This concern for the defilement of the High Priest was in reference to the preparation of the sacrifices of the Passover Lambs. Since the weekly 7^th day Sabbath did not have a sacrifice, the concern for defilement was not in reference to this day, since Passover nor the first day of the Festival of First Fruits was not on the 7^th day weekly Shabbat.

The traditional pictures of Jesus’ trial in the Roman Praetorium is seeing Pilate interrogating Jesus and walking outside to question the chief priests and rulers, and then returning back to interrogate Jesus. Yahshua was not complicit in helping by presenting evidence for a civil criminal to be killed. Finally in desperation, Pilate threatened Christ;

Matthew - “’Do you not know that I have power to release you and power to crucify you?’ But Jesus answered him, ‘You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above.’” Meanwhile Pilate’s wife gave him a quick account of a vision she had during the prior night with the warning, “Have nothing to do with this just man.”

In the Temple, the priests were in full production of preparing the sacrificial lambs for the pilgrims. The morning sacrificial lamb had been completed. Now with the altar fires in full production, thousands of lambs were moved across the altar and roasted for the evening sedars for the tens of thousands of family units in the city.

The Temple of Herod – The Temple Institute

"Whoever has not seen Herod's building - has not seen a beautiful building in his life." - Babylonian Talmud Bava Batra 4:A

Back at the Governor’s court, Pilate, as though he had no control of his own volition cried out, “I find no fault in him.” Jesus was found blameless.

At the same moment, the High Priest, Caiphas, in the Temple with the Passover Lamb, cried out, “I find no blame with the lamb.” The lamb was then lead to the slaughtering area, while Yahshua was taken out of the Praetorium to be taken to the mount crest called Golgotha hill to die. In route, the crossbar was thrown across his shoulder, like Isaac carried his own wood for the altar, and there Yahshua walked out to the peak of Mount Moriah.

Back in the Temple, the Passover Lamb was being bound for slaughter, while on the rocky ledge called, Golgotha, Yahshua was being bound upon the wooden tree. It was closing in on the ninth hour for the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb. Darkness pervaded across the whole land. The elements were silenced. Even the forces of nature waited in anticipation.

The High Priest near the hot ovens turned to a cohanim and stated, “I thirst”. Yahshua on the cross called down to the guards stating, “I thirst.” Then, as the High Priest raised his hand and struck the knife into the heart of the Lamb, he cried out, “It is finished”!, outside on the hillside of Moriah, which looked like the image of a skull, Yahshua heaved a mighty gasp and cried out, “It is finished”.

In the presence of the disciple (talmidim) He loved, the Apostle John, His spirit, like the dove, which descended upon Him at Jordan, once witnessed by another John the Baptizer, was witnessed as it left Him, by another John called the Beloved.

John 19:30 – “He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.”

The bowels of the earth began to rumble, the towers of the city walls began to shake, the ground began to heave, and the tombs on the side of the Mount of Olives were rent open. The Temple curtain which lay between the Holy and the Most Holy Place shredded from top to bottom, when the great lintel that held the curtain broke and fell to the pavement below. The Holy of Holiest lay empty. The presence of the Almighty One of Israel was gone. From this day forward “Omens” pervaded across the land of Israel until the temple was destroyed forty years later in 70 CE.

The Heavenly Fire Lighting the Great Altar in Front of the Temple of Solomon – The Temple Institute

Action was moving quickly, the guards quickly went to inspect the three hanging on the crosses. With sixty pound steel bars, they quickly smashed the legs of the revolutionary brigands against the crosses. The femurs splintered into a bone multiple fragments. The femoral artery began to spurt pulsing blood. The “thieves” were removed while the blood slowly drained their life away.

The Roman centurion, coming to Jesus saw Him lying limp and lifeless on the tree. He plunged a spear into His aorta. The serum and the hemoglobin had already separated and what appeared to be “blood and water” poured out upon an earthquake rent fissure and dribbled into the mountainside.

Back in the Temple, in the midst of the earthquake, the lambs were quickly removed from the ovens while Yahshua’s body was removed from the execution tree to the Garden Tomb.

Preparing the Barley Sheaves

On the Temple Mount, the eve of the 15^th day of Nisan, the cohanim were quickly removing all the lambs and distributing them to the families, who were holding Passover Sedars. At that time a rich nobleman, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a member of the Roman Provincial Council of Judea, an esteemed Elder of the Jewish Sanhedrin and sat on the hereditary seat of David, was removing the body of Yahshua along with the wealthy Pharisee Nicodemus.

Once the barley is brought to the Temple Courtyard, priests beat, roast, grind, and sift the grain.

A handful of the resulting flour is burned on the altar. The remainder is eaten by the priests. – The Temple Institute

There was one vital nugget of information. Joseph of Arimathea was the brother to the father of Jesus’ mother, Miriam, and the great uncle to Yahshua HaMaschiach (Jesus the Messiah). Together, Joseph and Nicodemus took the body of Yahshua and placed Him in a newly cut family tomb.

All was quiet in Jerusalem on that Passover evening as the families of the Jewish people celebrated the Passover, on the eve the 15^th of Aviv (Abib) in their homes under the shining light of the full moon. For three and a half days, the Passover celebration continued, until the first day, Sunday, the day after the Seventh-day Shabbat, when at the setting of the sun, of the 18^th day of Aviv, the priests of the temple went out to the valley in front of the Mount of Olives to collect the barley for the “Offering of First Fruits” that were to be waved before the altar early the next morning.

Here was an interim period of time in which “time stood still”. Between the eve of the Passover, on whatever day it occurred, until the first day of the Sacrifice of the First Fruits on the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread was an undisclosed period of time.

The “sacrifice” and “festival” could not begin until the sun had set on the western horizon and three stars were seen in the darkness of the heavens that occurred on the “first day” after the seventh-day Shabbat of the Passover weekend. The fact that Yahshua (Jesus) was in the tomb from Wednesday evening (eve of Thursday) until Saturday evening (eve of Sunday), the first day, made this Passover celebration an extra three and one-half days until the “Counting of the Omer” could begin on the first day after the seventh-day Shabbat of Passover.

As the pilgrims were heading home from celebrating the seventh-day Shabbat in the temple of Herod, a group of cohanim was exiting the Eastern Gate and crossing over the causeway of the Red Heifer to the Mount of Olives. There in the Field of Ashes they placed cords around ten selected sheaves of barley to be harvested after sundown on the evening after the Shabbat (the weekly Sabbath).

If the Passover Sabbath, which was a floating Sabbath, occurred in the “midst of the week”, the barley would not be harvested the next day, but after the weekly Shabbat, and the setting of the sun three days later. If the Passover Sabbath was on Friday, followed by a weekly Sabbath, the next day, then the barley was harvested on the evening of the weekly Sabbath, the eve of the Festival Sabbath of Unleavened Bread.

The Abuv is a three-tiered stand. The top level holds a perforated copper pan, and below it is a receptacle for hot coals. It is used for roasting the newly harvested barley of the Omer offering, performed on Passover. – The Temple Institute

As the sun was setting in the western sky, at the end of the weekly Shabbat, the priests (cohanim) in the field of barley and in the presence of observers heard a priest cry out, “Has the sun set?” The harvesting cohanim would cry out, “Yes, the sun has set.” Then the priest would cry out, “Would you harvest the barley?”, in which they would echo, “Yes, we will harvest the barley.” Then the priest would say, “With a sickle?”, they would reply, “Yes, with a sickle.” Then finally, the priest called out, “Have you put it in a basket?”, and the harvesting cohanim in the settling darkness would cry out, “Yes, we have put it in a basket.” According to recently discovered documents from the 1^st century Temple era, the drama of the first fruits harvest was thus enacted. With the barley harvested, the priests spent the evening in preparation of processing the barley for the waving of the sheaf of barley before the Lord.

Passover High Sabbath and the Resurrection Day

As the Apostle John stated, this day, the 14^th of Nisan was the preparation day for Passover that was to occur on the eve of a festival Shabbath (Sabbath). In as much as the eve of the 15^th of Nisan was the night of a full moon, it would have been any day of the week. Yet the next evening, the eve of the 16^th of Nisan was not necessarily the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread lasted for seven days. The festival opened with a festival Shabbat (Sabbath) and closed with a festival Shabbat (Sabbath) day. This festival Passover Shabbat was also a known as “a high Sabbath” (John 19:31) which designated it as a different Shabbat than the weekly seventh-day Sabbath.

Except for the wishes of Christian Roman Orthodoxy, who desired that this would be a seventh day Sabbath to justify the sanctity of the Sunday resurrection or the desires of Christian Sabbatarians, like Seventh-day Adventists who found great comfort that Jesus rested on the Sabbath day as justification for the Shabbat rest, there is no real data to suggest that the 15^th day of Nisan was a Seventh-day weekly Sabbath. We do know that Yahshua’s body was last witnessed on the evening of the 14^th day of Nisan when placed in the Garden Tomb. The tomb was later found empty on the early morning of the 1^st day of the week which was after the weekly seventh-day Shabbat. We do not know if the morning of the 1^st day after the weekly Sabbath was the 16^th of Nisan.

Let us relook again at the evidence. Was the prophet Daniel trying to tell us something, when he stated, that a “type” would be dramatized at the death of Yahshua (Jesus) in a literal manner, which will be portrayed in a prophetic ‘anti-type’ at the time of the end. It was the Jewish prophet and Minister of State of Babylon, Daniel, who said,

Daniel 9:27 - “He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.”

In literal time, this text of Daniel suggests that in the midst of the week, was the third day or Wednesday when, “He caused the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.” This no doubt literally became true as there was a great earthquake, the curtain or veil that separated the Holy Place from the Holiest of Holy was rent from top to bottom when the giant lintel that held the curtain broke. From the empty chamber of the Most Holy Place, the interior was exposed to all the priest and observers. The Holy One of Israel was gone.

The temple itself was structurally damaged so much that after this day, the Chamber of Hewn Stones which stood only yards away was so damaged that the Sanhedrin had to select a new location for their august proceedings. There was no doubt chaos throughout the temple proper. What were they to do? Even the altar of incense could have been damaged.

Chronology of the Passion Week

With this light and looking at the event on each day of the Passion Week prior to the death of Yahshua, we observe the following:

“Wherever He leads Me” – Painting by Greg Olsen

10^th of Nisan – Shabbat - Yahshua’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem ahead of the High Priest bringing in the Passover Lamb
11^th of Nisan - Sunday - Jesus returns to the Temple and casts out the money exchangers in the Temple. There He ministers to people and children in the Temple. This began “Day 1” of the inspection of the Korban lamb and the Pesach Lamb of God .
12^th of Nisan - Monday - Yahshua is ministering in the Temple and interrogated by the Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducees. This is “Day 2” of the inspection of the Korban lamb and the Pesach Lamb of God.
13^th of Nisan - Tuesday - Jesus is again ministering in the Temple and being interrogated by the Pharisees, Scribes and Sadducees. This is “Day 3” of the inspection of the Korban lamb and the Pesach Lamb of God.
Eve of the 14^th of Nisan – Tuesday Night – Yahshua and His disciples celebrate the Last Supper in the House with the Upper Room. As the rightful claimant to the throne of David, Yahshua sat directly over the tomb of His ancestral father, King David of Jerusalem.
14^th of Nisan – Wednesday - The Last Supper and the Garden of Gethsemane experience followed in quick succession by the capture, trial and crucifixion of Yahshua as the sacrificial Passover lamb. A quick disposal of the Passover Lambs plus the quick disposal of the body of Yahshua was made before the onset of the High Shabbat on Passover that ended “Day 4” of the inspection of the lamb who was found without fault by the high priest and Yahshua was found without fault by the Roman governor, Pilate.
Eve and the 15^th of Nisan – Wednesday Night and Thursday – Here on the eve of the Passover Seder, the Jewish pilgrims rested on the “High Passover Shabbat as a festival day of convocation and rest. Yahshua was also resting in the grave on “Night and Day 1”. The First Day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread Begins
16^th of Nisan - Friday - Yahshua resting in the grave on “Night and Day 2” on the day before the weekly Shabbat. The Second Day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread.
17^th of Nisan - Sabbath - Here is the weekly Shabbat with the harvesting of the Fruit Fruits upon the setting of the sun after the completion of the weekly Shabbat. Yahshua had now been resting in the grave for “3 Nights and 3 Days” in the family tomb of his uncle, Joseph of Arimathea. The Third Day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread
Eve and the 18th of Nisan - Sunday - As the first stars started shining in the evening sky and the weekly seventh-day Sabbath was now over, an aftershock of the great earthquake during the death of Yahshua occurred. The family tomb of Joseph opened and the glorified being of the resurrected HaMaschiach (the Messiah) of Israel strode out of the tomb. Yahshua was resurrected as the “First Fruit” of the resurrection after sundown Saturday evening on the eve of the first day. The next morning as the sun arose in the eastern sky, the priests began the waving of the sheaves of the First Fruits. It was at that moment of time that Mary Magdalene met her Rabboni as Yahshua announced to her that He was to ascend to the other dimensional world of heaven, present Himself and those who were also resurrected with Him the prior eve to His Father. The Fourth Day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

Problems Solved with the Model of Yahshua

Literally Fulfilling the Role of the Passover Lamb

1. The prophecy of Jesus dying in the midst of the seven day weekly cycle in Daniel 9:27 would be literally fulfilled.

Daniel 9:27 - “He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.”

Yahshua began his covenant with His people on the Sabbath, when He rode into city as Yahshua, the King of the Jews, on the 10^th of Nisan. This covenant with His people was completed with the sacrifice of the Divine Lamb of God at the end of the Sabbath (sundown) on the 17^th of Nisan. In the midst of the week, the sacrifice and oblations ceased, when the temple lintel fell and the curtain was torn from top to bottom between the Holy and the Most Holy Places.

2. The prophecy of Jesus fulfilling the prophecy of Jonah, lying in the belly of the Whale (earth) for three days and three nights, was being literally fulfilled from the 15^th to the 17^th of Nisan.

3. Yahshua observing the Last Supper as preparatory Passover Seder and drank only the 3^rd cup, the Cup of Redemption and the reNewal of the Covenant. He proclaimed that He would not participate in the actual Passover Seder until He returns to drink the 4^th cup with his followers.

4. Yahshua literally fulfilling the selection of the Lamb ceremony by his triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

5. Yahshua literally fulfilling the inspection of the Passover Lamb for 4 days, during His time of ministry in the Temple plus the day of trial and crucifixion.

6. Yahshua literally fulfilling the final inspection of the Passover Lamb by His trial and found blameless as the Passover lamb was found without blemish.

7. Yahshua literally fulfilling the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb through His death as the Lamb of God.

8. Yahshua resting in the grave on the Passover Shabbat, the High Sabbath – Day 1 in the tomb..

9. Yahshua resting in the grave on the preparatory day for the weekly Seventh-day Sabbath – Day 2 in the tomb.

10. Yahshua resting in the grave on the weekly Seventh-day Shabbat, the week of days Shabbat – Day 3 in the tomb.

11. Jesus resurrected at the end of the weekly Shabbat, and transformed to a glorified body like the idealized Adam, called Adam Kadman.

12. Jesus literally resurrected during the harvesting of the First Fruits as the First Fruit of the Resurrection of those who have died by faith in the Maschiach (Messiah) of Israel.

13. Jesus literally ascending to the Father and taking with Him a group of resurrected ‘first fruits’ of mankind to present to his Father in heaven, like He did on Mount Sinai, when He returned to His heavenly, World of the Divine. This first event occurred on the 1^st day after the weekly Sabbath during the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

Resurrection of Yahshua as the Messiah of Israel

Concerning the resurrection, the traditions are long and imbedded, that Jesus arose from the grave on the first day of the week. As stated above, no disciple witnessed the resurrection of Jesus, so we have no eyewitness accounts. Even the guards at the tomb were asleep. The only account we have is that the tomb was empty on the first day of the week.

What is the significance of this dialogue, the implication is that the very details of the Festival of Passover and the Festival of First Fruits given to Moshe (Moses) on the Mount called Sinai were a detailed enactment of what would an actual moment by moment event predicting the death and resurrection of Yahshua.

According to Rabbi Shaul (Paul),

I Corinthians 15:20 - “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept.”

Later Paul wrote,

Colossians 1:18 - “And He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.”

Understanding the details of the Festival of Fruit Fruits leads one to suspect that the resurrection of Jesus was actually just after the evening sunset of the weekly seventh-day Sabbath. The great energizing power of the Divine quickened the body of Yahshua and brought him forth from the grave in his glorified body. Many tombs were opened at the time of the earthquake at Yahshua’s death, and:

Matthew 27:52-53 – “Many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared too many people.

So the evidence of the harvesting of the first fruits for the Festival of First Fruits very well gives us clues as to the timing of the resurrection of Jesus and those saints which arose with him, the latter as the “first fruits of they that slept.”

Passover and the Festivals as Prophetic Dramas of the End of Times

Throughout history, we have envisioned the Passover as the event, which commemorates and celebrates HaShem’s (God’s) greatest rescue operation in history. Within this dramatic historical event, the “saving part” or the salvation of God’s people during the Exodus was in the eating of the Korban Pesach (Passover Lamb) and the sprinkling the blood on the doorpost. They did this in faith so that the death angel would “pass-over” them. They were literally saved by the “blood of the lamb.”

We also note that the Israelites did not eat the blood of the lamb, they sprinkled the blood on the upright beam of wood. Out of all the peoples of the world, the Jewish people do not eat nor drink blood, for their food is “kosher” in which there is no blood and neither is the meat roasted or cooked in a cooking utensil that has ever cooked any blood. The Jews refuse to touch the impure contaminants of blood for it defiles the body. Yet of all the nationalities of the peoples of the world, only the Jews are accused of the “blood libel” of drinking the blood of children during the Passover. The first recorded “blood libel” was by the Early Christians as recorded by the classical Grecian author, Apion (1^st century CE), that the Jews were sacrificing their Greek victims in the temple. This event occurred many centuries prior to the formation of the Roman Christian Catholic Church in the 4^th century.

The first recorded “blood libel” by Muslims in the Damascus Affair of 1840 was also intimately associated with the 1840 Great Awakening in the Eastern United States and Europe. At this time, the first call of the Jewish people to return to the land of Israel was timed to the first call to Christians in America and Europe that Jesus was returning for t

The Last Supper, the eve of the 14th of Nisan

"Whoever has not seen Herod's building - has not seen a beautiful building in his life." - Babylonian Talmud Bava Batra 4:A

Resurrection of Yahshua as the Messiah of Israel

Passover and the Festivals as Prophetic Dramas of the End of Times

The Last Supper, the eve of the 14^th of Nisan