EVENTS OF FRIDAY NISAN 15, 32 A.D. - [FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD SABBATH]

In John 19:31, we read: 

“The Jews therefore, because it was the PREPARATION [for the Passover], that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day), besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.” 

After Jesus was placed in the borrowed tomb of Joseph of Arimathaea in the late afternoon (the even) on Thursday, Nisan 14, 32 A.D., the Jewish people had already killed their Passover lambs and were now roasting them for the Passover lamb meal. 

Then immediately after sunset of that same Thursday, Nisan 14 (the Passover), the night of Nisan 15 (the Feast of Unleavened Bread) began and the Jews were assembled in their houses to eat their Passover lambs with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 

It is important that I note here that Nisan 15 (the Feast of Unleavened Bread) had always been considered to be a “High Day”, or “Feast Day” by the Jewish people ever since the institution of the Passover by God in Exodus 12.

JEWISH PEOPLE EAT THEIR PASSOVER LAMBS

Immediately AFTER SUNSET of Thursday, Nisan 14 (the “preparation day” for the feast), the night of Friday, Nisan 15 had just begun and the Jewish people assembled in their houses to eat their Passover lambs with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. And before morning arrived, they then burned the remaining portions of their Passover lambs with fire. 

In Exodus 12:5-10, we see the origin of the Jewish Passover meal custom: 

“Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.”

THE NISAN 15, 32 A.D. ‘FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD’ WAS ON A FRIDAY! 

As previously discussed in an earlier posting …it was absolutely impossible for Jesus Christ to have been crucified on Friday, Nisan 15, because that Friday in the Passover Week in which Jesus was crucified in 32 A.D. was a “High Feast Day” – it was the “Feast of Unleavened Bread”. 

In Matthew 26:3, we read:

“Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him. But they said, NOT ON THE FEAST DAY lest there be an uproar among the people [the Feast of Unleavened Bread was on Friday, Nisan 15].” 

In Mark 14:1-2, we read:

“After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death But they said, NOT ON THE FEAST DAY, lest there be an uproar of the people.” 

How do we know with all certainty that the “Feast of Unleavened Bread” began on a Friday Night (immediately after the Thursday, Nisan 14 sundown) and ended on Friday at sundown in the Passover Week of 32 A.D.? 

– Well, Jesus Christ came into Jerusalem on Sunday, Nisan 10 in order to fulfill the typology of Christ in the prophecy of “Passover” given by Moses in Exodus 12:2-3...

“This month [Nisan] shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month [Nisan 10] they shall take to them every man a lamb.” 

Apostle Paul makes it perfectly clear that the real Passover Lamb that was sacrificed in the Passover year 32 A.D. in which our Lord was crucified was Jesus Christ Himself. 

In 1 Corinthians 5:7. we read...

“For even Christ our PASSOVER is sacrificed for us.” 

In Daniel, 9:25, we read:

“Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem [Nisan 1, 445 B.C.] unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks [483 years...the math yields Nisan 10, 32 A.D.].” 

So, on the very first Palm Sunday, on Nisan 10, 32 A.D., the very same day that the Jewish people selected their Passover lambs for the Feast of Passover and of Unleavened Bread, Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey. Then four days later, on Thursday, Nisan 14, on the very same day, and at the very same time, that the Jewish people began killing their Passover lambs for their meal of roasted lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs that they would eat after sunset of that same day, Jesus Christ was killed through crucifixion on the Cross.-- So, it is IMPOSSIBLE for Jesus to have been crucified on any other day than Thursday, Nisan 14, of that Passover Week in 32 A.D. in which He died on the Cross. – Why? – Because if Jesus had been crucified on any other day than Thursday, Nisan 14, 32 A.D., He would not have been able to fulfill to the letter the typology of Himself as the Passover Lamb in the prophecy given by God to Moses during the very first Passover almost 1500 years earlier. 

In addition to fulfilling the typology of Himself as the Passover Lamb in the prophecy that God gave to Moses concerning the first Passover, it was also necessary that Jesus fulfill to the letter the prophecy given by God to the prophet Daniel concerning Christ’s entry into Jerusalem on Sunday, Nisan 10, 32 A.D. – the exact day and year given by God to the prophet Daniel through the angel Gabriel. 

I believe that it is important that I once again note here that while the Jewish people were eating their combined Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread meal of roasted lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs on Friday night, Nisan 15, 32 A.D. that Jesus Christ had already been crucified, was dead and already entombed in the borrowed garden tomb of Joseph of Arimathaea. There are numerous verses to prove thIs truth that Jesus was already in the tomb when the Jews at their combined Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread meal on Friday night, Nisan 15 …the following are some verses of proof that I have taken from the Book of John: 

John 13:1 – “Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father.” (These words were stated by Apostle John as Jesus Christ sat down in the upper room with His disciples to observe the “Last Supper”.) 

John 18:28 – “Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover.” (Jesus is being led through His trials by the Roman soldiers and the Passover Seder and Unleavened Bread meal has not yet been eaten by the Jewish people. 

John 19:14,15 – “And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him.” 

(Jesus is standing before the Governor Pontius Pilate at 6:00 AM in the morning of Thursday, Nisan 14 and is about to be led to Calvary to be crucified. But John 19:14 clearly tells us that it was the “preparation day” for the Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread meal and that therefore the Jewish people had not yet eaten their combined Passover lamb, unleavened bread, and better herb meal.) 

John 19:31 – “The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation [for the Passover and unleavened bread meal], that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.”

(There were two Sabbath days in a row in the Passover Week in which Jesus Christ was crucified.—The first Sabbath day was the “High Day Sabbath” which was the Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread. The second Sabbath day was the regular Saturday Sabbath (Nisan 16) which followed immediately after the end of the “Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread” at Friday sunset on Nisan 15. -- Now, according to John 19:31, the Jews had not yet celebrated the Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread meal when the Jews made a request to Pontius Pilate that the legs of the crucified victims on the crosses be broken.) 

John 19:41-42 – “Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.” 

(According to John 19:42, it is still the “Jews’ preparation day” when Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathaea laid Jesus into the borrowed sepulchre. Again, this means that the Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread meal had not yet been eaten and would not be eaten until after sunset of Thursday, Nisan 14 when the night of the Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread began at the beginning of Friday, Nisan 15.) 

THE TOMB WHERE JESUS WAS BURIED IS SECURED

 During the daytime hours of Friday, Nisan 15 (the Feast of Unleavened Bread), the Jewish Pharisees became concerned that some of the followers of Jesus might steal the dead body of Jesus out of the tomb and then proclaim that Jesus had risen up from the tomb after three days. 

In Matthew 27:62-22, we read:

“Now the next day [Friday, Nisan 15], that followed the day of the preparation [Thursday, Nisan 14], the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.”

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