The following represents my understanding of how/when to eat Passover as a Believer in Yeshua, still in the Diaspora. I reserve the right to be wrong. So please do your own research, and prayerful study of Scripture in order to form your own convictions.

A few things to note starting off:

1) Passover is to be done FOR EVER. This is repeatedly stated in the Torah. Seeing as YHWH Himself gave the instructions, I know this means FOR EVER and it’s NOT “poetic language” and it does not mean that it would somehow stop after sending His Son.

2) When John the Baptist, the LEGITIMATE High Priest of his day, saw Yeshua, he declared, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29). Thus, Yeshua is my “Passover Lamb” and the final sacrifice for sin (read the book of Hebrews).

3) As a former Gentile, now a Believer in Yeshua, thus coming into covenant with YHWH, having accepted His ONE TIME sacrifice, I have become a grafted in branch of the Cultivated Olive Tree, which is Israel (Romans 11) and have thus become a member of the “commonwealth of Israel” no longer a “stranger of the covenants of promise” (Ephesians 2:8-13), but rather a joint-heir to the promises of Abraham (Galatians 3).

4) Paul makes it abundantly clear that our “works” do not save us and never could (Ephesians 2:8,9). It should be noted that the Law of YHWH is NOT a curse. It is a perfect, life-giving, blessing to those who keep it (read Deuteronomy 30 and Psalm 119). The “curse of the Law” Paul refers to in his writings only comes from disobedience to it. Otherwise, the Law brings tremendous blessing. You can read the blessings and curses in Lev. 26 and Deut. 28. And again, see also David’s take on it in Psalm 119. James said “faith without works is dead.” (James 2:20). And John said we demonstrate that we “love God” when we “keep His commandments.” (1 John chapters 2 – 5). Thus, we do NOT keep the Commandments FOR salvation, but rather we find that obedience SHOULD be a manifestation that shows we ARE saved. John makes this crystal clear in 1 John 2:1-6. Which is why Paul said, “What then? Shall we sin (defined in 1 John 3:4 as transgress the Law), because we are not under the law, but under grace? GOD FORBID.” Paul actually says that twice in the same chapter. A good exercise to help you “get Paul” is to read the Torah through a few times. Then read the book of Hosea a few times. Then read the Gospels a few times. Then read 1 John a few times. Then read James a few times. Then read the book of Hebrews… all before even thinking of reading the book of Galatians or anything else Paul wrote. Once you’ve laid a proper foundation of understanding what Paul read, then you can begin to “get” what Paul wrote. Comparing the book of Romans (specifically chapters 7 – 11) with what you learned in the book of Hosea is also especially helpful. And before being tempted to pull the Colossians 2:16 card, please read: Twisting and Distorting Colossians 2:16.

All this being established ahead of time, let’s return to the issue of Passover. When do we keep it and how? Again, this is just my understanding, so pray and arrive at your own convictions…

When is Passover?

How to celebrate it? Well, again, many different views exist. I would suggest you read:

Those were the instructions given by YHWH through Moses to Israel. Takeaways I get from this reading, in a post-cross, four Gospels, Romans 11, 1 John 5, book of Hebrews mindset…

1) The first Passover was done in haste in their homes (Exodus 12:11) as it marked the end of the judgments of the 10 Plagues against Egypt and the beginning of their Exodus out of bondage. But in Deuteronomy 16, the commandment changed to “sacrificing” the lamb in the place where YHWH would “choose to place His name” (which would be Jerusalem). And by that time, the sacrifices were to be performed by the Levitical priesthood. Since I am not a Levite, nor in Jerusalem, technically speaking, I can’t properly “keep Passover” as commanded anymore than the Israelites could while in Babylon. I can only “rehearse” it as best I can in remembrance. In this regard, please see the following New2Torah video:

2) Yeshua longed to have a Passover meal with His disciples before He was to be killed. When He finally did so, He said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19). The THIS He was doing was Passover, it was not some new ritual called “Communion” or “the Last Supper.” Passover was always to be a meal of remembrance (refer back to the Torah references above). And Yeshua was continuing that tradition, by telling them to remember HIS sacrifice that was about to take place. Now, I don’t see Him saying to forget what happened during the Exodus, so I take this to mean, remember BOTH – as they are connected.

3) So, do we “sacrifice lambs” in our backyards? My understanding of Deuteronomy 16:5 and 6 would dictate that we should not:

This seems quite clear to me. We are NOT to sacrifice within our gates. But rather at the place where YHWH put His name. We see throughout the Scriptures that the geographic location He chose to do this was Jerusalem. Yes, we are now the “temple of the Holy Ghost” and He has placed His name in our hearts too, but it’s kinda hard to kill a lamb in our heart wouldn’t you agree? So, frankly, even though I could never see myself killing a lamb (or anything else for that matter), I see no Biblical justification for doing such a “sacrifice” on our own properties based on the above commandment.

4) When do we eat Passover? The command is to do so “between the two evenings.” In Exodus 12:6 we read,

This can be a bit confusing. And it also plays into the whole “when does a day really begin?” argument too. I’m not going to “go there” with this post. For more study on this issue, please consider the following detailed articles on when Yeshua had His Passover meal:

and

5) What to eat and how to celebrate Passover? There are many “traditions” for doing this. Here is a good reference for the traditional Passover meal, known as a Passover Seder:

In regard to both of the above, I see no requirement in Scripture for the egg. Not saying there’s anything necessarily wrong with having it, I just see no requirement for it. And on the Capernaum Experience site, they have a “chicken bone” listed in their meal prep prep instead of lamb, which likewise has no Biblical precedence, so take that for whatever you feel it’s worth. As for the various cups, and when to drink them, I do see evidence that Yeshua was following this tradition Himself, which I think is pretty cool. Whether or not you use alcoholic wine or just grape juice… I’ll leave that for you to pray about and follow your own convictions.

What we typically do in our fellowship is have the lamb, bitter herbs, unleavened bread and wine, while loosely following the format given in the traditional Passover Seder. We then recount the story of the Exodus and parallel it with the Passion of Christ and what He did to deliver us from the bondage of sin and death. Pretty simple. It’s meant to be a meal of remembrance and celebration. So, that’s what we do. This is also a great video to watch and play if you have guests:

6) Who can and who cannot partake of Passover? Well, let me start this by saying that circumcision is NOT required >> FOR << salvation (see Acts 15). It is however required of all males who would like to partake of Passover:

From the above, I take it that no male shall eat of Passover without being circumcised. Neither should a foreigner (to the covenant of YHWH). So, this then becomes a matter of personal conviction. And you can’t just go the “circumcision of the heart” only route here as the specific requirement is for males. This tells me it is a physical issue, not a “heart” issue. If you are a male, grafted in member of Israel (Romans 11/Ephesians 2), then these are the requirements YHWH gave for eating Passover. I didn’t write it. I’m just showing you what it says. And I repeat, it is NOT a requirement FOR salvation! But if you are saved, you are now part of Israel. If you therefore wish to partake of Passover (as a male), then the above Scripture seems quite clear. No one is likely to be checking your penis at the door, so you then must decide for yourself before YHWH whether or not you want to keep your foreskin or keep Passover because according to that text, it is clear you can’t keep both.

7) What’s next? Well, Passover is actually the start of a week long celebration. Passover is Nisan 14. The next day, Nisan 15, is considered a “High Sabbath” day of rest and the start of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Lev. 23:6-8). So, the thing to do before Passover, is rid your home of all leavened products (breads and such things as contain yeast). Some say this is about “getting the sin out” of our homes. While there is certainly Biblical precedence for this principle and it’s a good thing to do in general, the commandment itself IS talking about baking goods. Thus, beginning with Passover and going through to the end of Unleavened Bread, you are to eat unleavened bread (along with whatever else you may eat that week). So, clean out the leaven first. Then eat unleavened bread from Nisan 14 (Passover) through to Nisan 21, which is the seventh day of Unleavened Bread, and also a Sabbath rest day (Deuteronomy 16:8). Seeing as most of us are in lockdown anyway, it should be easy to take the 1st and 7th days of Unleavened Bread off and rest, reflecting on the things of YHWH – all the more so in these troubled times.

Additional reference videos and notes regarding Passover can be found on my Virtual House Church website:

For more on Passover and the other “moedim” see also: http://www.virtualhousechurch.com/OutOfBabylon

Again, I am not saying I have all of this right. There are probably plenty of things here that lots of people will disagree with for a variety of reasons. That’s fine. Again, read, pray and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you to the truth and walk it out accordingly.