by Todd Elder at Exploring Creation
In Egypt, the time of Passover was the culmination of the work Yahveh was doing to bring the Nation of Israel out of the bondage and slavery it suffered under Egypt. The plague of the death of the firstborn was to be the final act that would force the Egyptians to drive Israel away to freedom. The blood of the Passover sacrifice was chosen to protect the Israelite children from the deadly plague. On the tenth day of the first month a lamb of the first year was chosen and watched for four days to make sure it was without blemish. On the fourteenth day of the first month, it was to be sacrificed and its blood placed on the doorposts of the houses of Israel. This would be the sign that the Destroying Angel was to pass over that house and leave the people unharmed.
In the land of Israel, the Passover sacrifice was a memorial of how the One Most High had taken His people out of Egypt. This observance was strongly linked with teaching the children what this event means.
Both the timing of the event and the Apostolic writings reveal that the Passover sacrifice was a type and foreshadowing of an even greater event. The Messiah, the true Lamb, would be sacrificed and His blood accepted as protection from the bondage and slavery of eternal death.
Because there is no longer a Temple in which to perform the sacrifice of a lamb, Rabbinical law has replaced the Passover sacrifice with the seder ceremony. The seder is a memorial dinner which is designed to remember the coming out of the bondage of slavery in Egypt and also the entering of the Promised Land.
The blood of Messiah, as the fulfillment of the Passover sacrifice, brings atonement for sin and salvation from death. However, the Passover sacrifice has been associated with or replaced by the Last Supper (or the communion meal).
The Jewish and Christian themes of the Passover sacrifice have been combined together within Messianic Judaism. The Passover sacrifice has been replaced by a seder meal which represents the Last Supper (specifically, the third cup of wine and the matzah). It memorializes both the coming out of Egypt and sacrificial death of the Messiah on the cross.
The Passover sacrifice is on the afternoon of the fourteenth day of the first month (referred to as Abib) with the meal following that evening on the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This is in the springtime when the barley crops are becoming ready for harvest (an important part of the wave sheaf offering that follows in the Temple a few days later).
Under Rabbinical traditions, most forms of Judaism now use the Hillel Calendar which mathematically sets the dates of the assemblies and festivals. Passover occurs on the afternoon of the fourteenth day of the first month as normal, but the beginning of the month in which it occurs may be shifted or postponed in some way.
Christianity uses the Gregorian Calendar system. The date of Good Friday (the accepted time of the crucifixion) will vary among denominations although many will choose after the first full moon after the spring equinox. By any system, it still falls within the springtime.
Most Messianc Jewish groups will follow the Hillel Calendar. The other groups will typically use an observed calendar looking for the barley to be ripe before starting a new year.
Many of the debates surrounding the Last Supper are directed towards what it represents and whether or not it is the Passover Meal. The following list is an overview to the major lines of discussion on this topic.
The Passover Meal is eaten after the Passover Sacrifice and at the start of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and is therefore instructed to be eaten with unleavened bread. The Last Supper was eaten before the Passover Sacrifice and was eaten with leavened bread. Consistently, it is recorded that the Messiah gave leavened bread (Greek: artos) to the Apostles during the Last Supper rather than unleavened bread (Greek: azumos). This could not have been the Passover meal.
The Passover sacrifice was instructed to be killed on the fourteenth day of the first month and the Passover meal would follow afterwards. We see that Messiah fulfilled this by being crucified on the fourteenth day of the first month. If the last supper were to be the Passover Meal, then the Messiah could not have died on the afternoon of the fourteenth day as required for the passover lamb. Therefore, the meal on the evening before could not have been the Passover meal.
It can be pointed out that neither the lamb nor the bitter herbs are directly mentioned as being eaten at the last supper. However, it must be properly noted that they are not excluded as well.
The Passover Lamb was to be chosen on the 10th day of the month and inspected for four days to see if it was without blemish. Some have suggested that it would be very difficult to assemble the religious and secular leaders in the early morning hours and have four trials in rapid succession. Instead, the four trials of the Messiah may have occurred over four days with each trail showing that the Messiah had done nothing wrong.