Jesus is just a couple of miles from Jerusalem and thinking about the last meal he would have with his disciples but not yet.
Now, as they are eating this meal in Simon the Leper’s house, Passover Day of Preparation is but two days away. It was to be on that second day after this with the evening sunset marking the beginning of the Day of Preparation that Jesus has His Last Supper with His disciples and then afterward that same night, they leave for the Garden of Gethsemane which was at the base of the Mount of Olive’s where Judas led the temple guards to arrest Jesus. Then they took Jesus to the high priests villa and the Sanhedrin interrogated, judged and condemned Him to die sometime in the early morning hours before sunrise. Peter had left him sometime earlier just after the cock crowed for the third time.
Jesus was delivered to Pontius Pilate in the morning after daybreak and it was on this same day, the Passover Day of Preparation that Jesus was crucified while people were slaughtering their unblemished lambs for the Passover meal that was to begin at sunset which coincided with the beginning of the Great Sabbath day. This was a special sabbath that always followed the Passover Day of Preparation.
Much like the lambs blood that was sprinkled on both door posts and on the lintel across the top of the door to save Israel’s firstborn from death in Egypt, Jesus’ blood was streaming down the cross from His bloody scourged back and where his feet were nailed and across it at the top where His hands were nailed.
He died before sunset as the people were starting to gather in their homes making ready to sit down to eat their Passover meal. The Romans went to break the legs of the men who were still alive so that they would die quickly as the religious authorities demanded they be taken them down from the cross and buried before the Great Sabbath began. But, when they came to Jesus, He was already dead. Thus, the prophecy that not a bone of Jesus would be broken was fulfilled and it mirrored the command not to break any of the bones of the Passover lamb.
Thus, the Passover celebration and the preparations for the meal that was instituted all those centuries beforehand pointed toward the cruxification of Jesus Christ, God’s Only Begotten Son.
With Jesus’ sacrifice as “The Lamb of God” on the Day of Preparation, a new type of Passover occurred where the eternal death we all deserved for our sins was taken upon Him on that cross and by it we have been passed over from death with the promise of eternal life for us that believe.
Those saved in the first Passover and their families were then brought out of Egypt by the mighty hand of God. There, they had to choose whom they would serve: Either their True God or false gods. Some, as we read in Exodus became impatient with Moses being up on Mount Sinai for nearly 40 days and chose to make and worship a golden calf and were later destroyed for their unfaithfulness. The others who were obedient to God’s commands lived to go on into the promised land but only after first passing through the water of Jordan, a type of baptism for them. For us that believe and are baptized by water and live obedient to God’s commands, that promised land is Paradise.
On the festival day of Passover also known as the Day of Preparation, the Passover lamb is slaughtered, prepared and roasted in an oven. For Israel, in those times, days began and ended at sunset. The Passover meal is then eaten after sunset which would be the beginning of the special Great Sabbath day. The Feast of Unleavened Bread begins the instant Passover completes and coincides with the start of the Great Sabbath day and goes on for seven days.
The next festival is Firstfruits which begins the day after the 7th day Sabbath following Passover which would be a Sunday, the first day of the week. Now, we should understand that Passover did not always start on a Friday followed by the normal 7th day Saturday sabbath. Just like our Christmas, being on the 25th of December, isn’t always on the same day of the week year to year.
In order for Jesus to be in the tomb for 3 days as it is written he would be, the Day of Preparation (Passover day) must have been on a Thursday and before that day ended, Jesus died on the cross and was hurriedly buried before sunset because the Great Sabbath day was to begin at sunset. It was as this time that the Israelite’s ate their Passover meal. The following sunset began the regular 7th day Sabbath on Saturday with Jesus arising from the grave on the following day, Sunday which was the first day of the week and the beginning of the Firstfruits Festival. Take note of the term “Firstfruits” as that was day that Jesus’ was resurrected. He is referred to by the Apostle Paul as the Firstfruits of the Resurrection and it coincided with the beginning of the Firstfruits Festival.