Hello,
I was reading about Passover lately and found some interesting things:

Luke 22:16
For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.


Here Jesus is telling His deciples that the Passover will be fulfulled in the kingdom of God. So, does that means that it didn't find its final fulfillment on the cross and we are still suppose to observe it?

Then I found some interesting comments about these verses:

1 Cor. 16:8
But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost.

Acts 20:6
And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days.

"Paul seems to have stayed intentionally at Philippi because of the Jewish feast. The Passover season must have continued to be fraught with great religious sentiment for Paul, a Jew and a Pharisee (ch. 23:6). Perhaps also Christians were beginning to think of the Passover time as the anniversary of Christ’s death and resurrection (cf. 1 Cor 5:7-8)."
The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary (Washington, D. C., 1957), vol. 6, p. 386.

"At Philippi Paul tarried to keep the Passover. . . . The Philippians were the most loving and true-hearted of the apostle’s converts, and during the eight days of the feast he enjoyed peaceful and happy communion with them."
Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles (Mountain View, California, 1960), pp. 390-391.

"The salvation of men depends upon a continual application to their hearts of the cleansing blood of Christ. Therefore, the Lord’s supper was to be observed more frequently than the annual Passover."
Ellen G. White, "The Passover," The Signs of the Times (March 25, 1880), p. 9.

It looks like that deciples in the first century observed the Passover once a year and the Lord's Supper more often, and Ellen White simmed to agree with that practice.

What are your thoughts about this ?

Branislav

One quote I found when stuying last weeks lesson that may help a bit:

S.D.A. Bible Commentary Vol. 5------PG- 1139
This ceremony means much to us. God would have us take the whole scene, not only the single act of outward cleansing. This lesson does not merely refer to the one act. It is to reveal the great truth that Christ is an example of what we through His grace are to be in our intercourse with each other. It shows that the entire life should be one of humble, faithful ministry. . . . The ordinance of feet washing most forcibly illustrates the necessity of true humility. While the disciples were contending for the highest place, in the promised kingdom, Christ girded Himself, and performed the office of a servant by washing the feet of those who called Him Lord. He, the pure, spotless Lamb of God, was presenting Himself as a sin-offering; and as He now ate the Passover with His disciples, He put an end to the sacrifices which for four thousand years had been offered. In the place of the national festival which the Jewish people had observed, He instituted a memorial service, in the ceremony of feet washing, and the sacramental supper, to be observed by His followers through all time and in every country. These should ever repeat Christ's act, that all may see that true service called for unselfish ministry (MS 43, 1897).

Thank you Charlene,

quote:

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... He put an end to the sacrifices which for four thousand years had been offered. In the place of the national festival which the Jewish people had observed, He instituted a memorial service, in the ceremony of feet washing, ...

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According to Ellen White:
"The salvation of men depends upon a continual application to their hearts of the cleansing blood of Christ. Therefore, the Lord’s supper was to be observed more frequently than the annual Passover."
Ellen G. White, "The Passover," The Signs of the Times (March 25, 1880), p. 9.

It looks like the apostles and the early christians had both, Lord's supper and annual Passover. Of course, their Passover was without a lamb, only bread and wine, because Jesus is our Lamb and He sacrificed Himself once for all.

And also, if Jesus replaced festivals with something else why did He say this:

Luke 22:15
Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;

Luke 22:16
for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."

It looks like He only replaced sacrifices with something better, Him, but the festivals are still to be observed. And when you read about them in Leviticus 16, they are telling the story of salvation, and that story is not over yet.

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P.S. Just to make it clear, I am the Seventh Day Adventist, I am not a member of any of the new movements who left the SDA Church and who are preaching many new things one of which is observing festivals. I was just reading about this stuff in the Bible and Ellen White writings and discovered things that are new to me so I wanted to share it and find out what other adventists think. Thank you.

I am Certainly not an expert on this subject, in fact never really studied this subject so i really can not answer your questions. My only remark is that the sacrifices pointed [type/symbol] to what was to come [anti-type] and this may play a part in the explaination. As each part of the service was fulfilled literly that feast ended. We Still are looking for Jesus to come...Feast of taberacles:

The Desire of Ages--The Light of Life" -PG- 463

When He spoke these words, Jesus was in the court of the temple specially connected with the services of the Feast of Tabernacles. In the
center of this court rose two lofty standards, supporting lampstands of great size. After the evening sacrifice, all the lamps were kindled, shedding their light over Jerusalem. This ceremony was in commemoration of the pillar of light that guided Israel in the desert, and was also regarded as pointing to the coming of the Messiah. At evening when the lamps were lighted, the court was a scene of great rejoicing. Gray-haired men, the priests of the temple and the rulers of the people, united in the festive
dances to the sound of instrumental music and the chants of the Levites.


There are good scholars on here that i know can really help you. God Bless

The Jewish festivals ceased to hold any meaning or significance at the moment of Jesus' death on the cross; as signified by the ripping in two of the veil in the temple. Matthew 27:51.

Further SOP passages show this to be the case:

"When the Saviour yielded up His life on Calvary, the significance of the Passover ceased, and the ordinance of the Lord's Supper was instituted as a memorial of the same event of which the Passover had been a type."
{PP 539.3}

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"In instituting the sacramental service to take the place of the Passover, Christ left for His church a memorial of His great sacrifice for man. 'This do,' He said, 'in remembrance of Me.' This was the point of transition between two economies and their two great festivals. The one was to close forever; the other, which He had just established, was to take its place, and to continue through all time as the memorial of His death."
{RH 06-22-97 para. 1}
{Ev 273.3}

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"In this ordinance, Christ discharged His disciples from the cares and burdens of the ancient Jewish obligations in rites and ceremonies. These no longer possessed any virtue; for type was meeting antitype in Himself, the authority and foundation of all Jewish ordinances that pointed to Him as the great and only efficacious offering for the sins of the world....
{RH, 06-14-98 para. 15}
{5BC 1139.5}

"...It was Christ's desire to leave to His disciples an ordinance that would do for them the very thing they needed, -- that would serve to disentangle them from the rites and ceremonies which they had hitherto engaged in as essential, and which the reception of the gospel made no longer of any force. To continue these rites would be an insult to Jehovah. Eating of the body, and drinking of the blood, of Christ, not merely at the sacramental service, but daily partaking of the bread of life to satisfy the soul's hunger, would be in receiving His word and doing His will."
{RH, 06-14-98 para. 16}
{5BC 1139.6}

So, according to Mrs. White, not only don't the Old Testament festivals have any significance in the New Testament age, but the keeping of them is an insult to God! Strong words, from her pen. (Not mine :-)

How can we understand these texts:

" Upon receiving warning of the plot, Paul decided to go around by way of Macedonia. His plan to reach Jerusalem in time for the Passover services had to be given up, but he hoped to be there at Pentecost.

Accompanying Paul and Luke were "Sopater of Berea; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus." Paul had with him a large sum of money from the Gentile churches, which he purposed to place in the hands of the brethren in charge of the work in Judea; and because of this he made arrangements for these representative brethren from various contributing churches, to accompany him to Jerusalem.

At Philippi Paul tarried to keep the Passover. Only Luke remained with him, the other members of the company passing on to Troas to await him there. The Philippians were the most loving and truehearted of the apostle's converts, and during the eight days of the feast he enjoyed peaceful and happy communion with them. "
Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles p.390

Comparing the text above with this:

quote:

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... the reception of the gospel made no longer of any force. To continue these rites would be an insult to Jehovah ...

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it looks like we have a contradiction. Paul obviously kept the Passover, of all the people in this world, I believe, apostle Paul would know what is an insult to God. And from the text above, it looks like Mrs. White didn't have any objections to what Paul was doing.

And then we have these words:

" And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:
For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. "
Luke 22:15-16

It looks like Jesus is telling His deciples that Passover will be finaly fulfilled in the kingdom of God, not at the cross.

We know that Jesus ate His last passover with the deciples without a lamb, and we know that He is the Lamb. Is it possible that, when mantioning and insult to Jehovah, Ellen White is talking only about sacrificing a lamb? When you take all of this together, it looks like we are suppose to observe the Passover but without a lamb, only with bread and wine.

I am sorry, I don't want to drag this on and on in circles, I was just puzzled when I read that Paul was observing Passover and that Jesus said it will be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. Maybe I misunderstood those texts. I believe God will shed more light about all this in the future.

God bless you all.

Some point to be considered when studing this issue, Mrs. White did indeed hold a ballanced view to the feasts, and John pointed out one part of the tension and Branislav Karic the other.

a couple of principles, first is dealing with a useful (although not fully perfect approach) that Catholic Priests developed during the dark ages, but which is on the right track, and most people here would feel comfortable with: That is type and antitype, where again all the holidays (with the exception of the Feast of Trumpets) were fulfilled in the life of Jesus, and a propper way of dealing with the feasts is looking at them and their relationship with Jesus.

Second, is a principle that while the law of God is absolute, the application is not absolute. This next part will most likely upset many of the more conservatives.

Let me soften the blow by saying that Satan is using a divide and conqurer approach that too many are falling into, so that he can either on the one side discourage faith and make the Bible look purely human, and the other side he blinds to Bible study by promoting and building up traditions in place of the Bible. When you read books about the Bible, sadly they fall mostly into one of two catagories based on this attack by Satan. One set says that everything Israel did was borrowed and copied from others, and the other set said that Israel got everything by divine revelation and nothing was influenced by her neighbors. For example: The one set of books would look at the Temple and point out that all temples in it's day had court yards, outer courts, a Holy Place and a Holy of Holies, what they neglect to mention is that in the non-Israelite temples, it is a small courtyard, around a little bigger Holy Place, and that the biggest is the Holy of Holies; While in Israel it had a large court yard, smaller Holy Place, and a very small Holy of Holies. The other books would tend to ignore the similarities, or at best overly emphesise the size difference. While as you can see in reality, there is a oneness of using what was availble and what other's did, yet have other things added to or replacing things that their neighbors did, thus giving a difffent perspective.

So now we come to the part that may upset some: The Biblical feasts were cellebrated in Canaan hundreds of years before Abraham. They are tied to the agracultural cycle of the time. Yes, in Soddom they were keeping the feast of Unlevened bread long before they became such an evil city that it had to be distroyed;long before Abraham was born, much less the exodus.

What we find in the last supper is Jesus re-applying the Passover from a feast that makes sence with in the borders of the near east, to a world wide celebration not limited to time, local agriculture, local coustoms, and changeing from looking back on the deliverence from Egypt and looking forward to the Messiah, to looking back on the fact that the Messiah came, and looking forward to the second coming.

While is wise for those of Jewish heritage to still keep the feasts, to force it upon gentile believers from every kindred, tribe and people does not meet the Biblical principles. You can if you wish, but like with Circumsision... when making the type of covenant with someone that God made with Abraham, it was cultural that there was some mark on the body. It was usually like cutting off a part or a whole finger or toe, or ear etc. Now, although not everyone did it, circumsision was very common in Canaan, and Israel would have probably have picked it up anyway, so God just took the physical mutilation something that they would probably do to themselves in that culture anyway.

This cultural situation behind circumsision gives indication that it would one day come to an end. Same with the cultural situation with the feasts. But unlike the Sabbath, the cultural situation was the creation of the world, and Isaiah predicts a day when Gentiles would be worshiping God on the Sabbath, more flexable holidays, and that circumsision would no longer be an issue.

Thus we find the Sabbath universal, but these other feasts useful but based on local, just like circumsision. We find Paul not imposing circumsision on those of Gentile backgrounds, but did circumsise those of Jewish. We'd find the same situation with those feasts.