By Christine Darg

Jerusalem Channel

Just as it was when Jesus was crucified, it’s both Good Friday and Erev Passover here in Jerusalem!

At left is a photo of our Passover Last Supper, which our ministry’s convocation celebrated last night, Maundy Thursday, as in the time of Jesus.

This year Passover and Western Christian Holy Week converge, as they should merge to be biblically correct. Although the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. tragically changed the timing of the celebration of Resurrection Sunday, sometimes the Gregorian calendar nevertheless converges with the Hebrew calendar, which is vital for believers to understand prophetic events.

We Christians are grafted into God’s olive tree, and we support the destiny of Israel and the Isaiah 19 Highway nations in this region.

On his first coming, Jesus was the Lamb of God; he will soon return as the Lion of Judah and King Messiah. He must sit upon the throne of his father David here in Jerusalem for prophecies concerning him to be roundly fulfilled. At that time, Israel will summons him with, “Baruch Haba B’ahem Adonai,” (Matthew  23:39), and the People of the Book will rejoice together–as we are  already  beginning to do now in holy convocations of Christians and Jews.

This has been our 22nd Passover Convocation to proclaim the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus during the Passover Festival,  when those world-changing  events actually occurred.

For several decades in prayers and prophetic convocations, we have been taking the broom of the Holy  Spirit to many traditions that detract from the prophetic purposes of Jesus dying as the Lamb of God at Passover.

Just as the Jewish people do their spring cleaning before Passover to remove leaven from their homes, we ask God to  send the Holy Spirit to sweep through the Church worldwide and to cleanse it in order to recover so much revelation that has  been veiled by Church traditions concerning the Lord’s types and shadows in Passover, The Feast of Unleavened Bread and Bikkurim (the festival  of First Fruits) which occurs on Resurrection Sunday.

Unfortunately because erring churchmen changing the times and the seasons, Passover Eve is not always on  a Friday, but it happens today  as in the  New  Testament. That means that tomorrow the Sabbath will be Holy Saturday when Messiah lay in the tomb.

As I write this, at 3 p.m. we will remember when our Lord voluntarily died as the Lamb of God at the time of the evening sacrifice in order for him to shout from the Cross, “It is finished!” Of the last sayings of Messiah, none is more important than, “It is finished.” Found only in the Gospel of John, the Greek word translated “it is finished” is “tetelestai,” an accounting term that means “paid in full.” Thank you, Jesus, for dying for by sins. You are the Saviour. You paid the price. I love you and your people.

The passover lambs were slaughtered from 9 in the morning until evening at 3 p.m. when the high priest shouted, “it is finished.” This was the exact time that Yeshua was suffering on the cross to make Atonement and when he also shouted from the Cross that the work of atonement was finished …..at the time of the evening sacrifice.

Before dying, Yeshua shouted,“It is finished,” meaning the sin debt for mankind had been paid in full by his work on the Cross. He did not die a victim; He gave up his spirit into the hands of God when all things, including the prophecies in Psalm 22, were accomplished.  He was taken down from the cross and quickly buried in a garden nearby before sundown because the regular Passover was beginning that evening.

Yeshua arose from the grave on Saturday evening. According to Jewish thinking, late Saturday night was actually Sunday morning. This is because in the Torah, Genesis Chapter 1 states, “The evening and the morning were one day.” So please understand that the Jewish day starts with the evening and not with the morning. Therefore on Sunday morning, the risen Lord presented Himself to the Father as the first fruits from the dead…. The timing was impeccable… the Jewish holiday of First Fruits is held during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. These are deep mysteries, types and shadows, and the Lord fulfilled them all.

In the resurrection garden, Mary Magdalene sees the risen Lord, but at that point she’s not allowed to touch him because He has not yet ascended to the Father.  So early Sunday morning, Yeshua ascends to the Father and presents Himself as the first fruits from the dead, then he returns to earth for 40 days to appear to his disciples and to continue teaching…..Now here’s something important –Did you know that high holy days in Judaism are also called Sabbaths, whether or not they occur on a Saturday? Yeshua died on Friday and rose on a Sunday, so how could he have been in the grave for 3 days? This has stumped many. Israeli guide Netanel Nickalls solves the mystery one way by explaining that Yeshua died on the eve of a double Sabbath! The Friday of his death was followed that year by two Sabbaths—the regular Saturday Sabbath also doubled as a holiday sabbath, because that year the Sabbath happened to be the first day of Passover (as in this year, 2019).  The riddle is solved… adding up to 3 days and 3 nights. Holy Saturday when Yeshua lay in the tomb is a double sabbath.This doesn’t happen every year, but according to the Hebraic lunar calendar, it happened the year Yeshua died.  Obviously every year Passover doesn’t begin on a Friday evening, but when it does, it creates two Sabbath holidays. It’s something to ponder. Another way to look at the 3 days and nights is that in  Hebraic thinking, any portion of a  day or night counts as a day.