Happy Maundy Thursday & Secret Church Eve!

Have you ever had one of those moments when God totally blows your mind with how infinitely wise and wonderful He is? During my last spring semester of seminary, I took "Ecclesiology and Worship" where we basically looked at worship throughout the Bible, and during Passover Week, I had such a mind-blowing moment as we studied the events of Jesus' final Passover Week.

The night before Jesus died, He celebrated the Passover meal with the Twelve. For Israelites, this is a time when they remember how, when they were slaves in Egypt, the angel of the Lord passed over anyone who had the lamb’s blood on their doorpost. The blood of this lamb ensured that the firstborn in that home would be delivered from death. And it was this event that led to the Israelites’ release from bondage in Egypt.

There was a discrepancy between Judean Jews and Galilean Jews as to whether a day was from sunrise to sunrise or sunset to sunset, which affected when they celebrated Passover. As a result, Jesus and His disciples ate this meal on Thursday, which means that they would have killed the Passover Lamb on Thursday beginning around 3pm. However, the Judean Jews celebrated the Passover meal on Friday. And when did Jesus die on the cross? Friday.

Luke 23:44-46 states, “It was now about the sixth hour, and there darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!’ And having said this, he breathed his last.”

The ninth hour, when Jesus died, was 3pm. Jesus, the Ultimate Passover Lamb, died around the same time that the Judean Jews would have been slaughtering the Passover lambs for their Passover meal! God, in His infinite wisdom, orchestrated even the time that Jesus would die so that it would align with the death of the Passover lambs!

As a result of Christ’s death, we too can be passed over. His blood pays the debt of our sin (Rm. 3:21-26; 6:23), and if we turn from our sin and trust in Him as Lord and Savior, we too can be released from our slavery to sin and spend eternity with Him.


Hallelujah! What a Savior!

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