In Leviticus chapter 23, verses 2 and 4 … the seven God given “Feasts” (Israel’s National Holy Days) are properly called … “the feasts of the Lord!” But when Jesus lived, they had been so degraded and commercialized and compromised, they were simply designated “the Jews’ Passover!” God wanted nothing to do with them!
And in verse 57, where the Pharisees had issued an arrest warrant for Jesus … several earlier attempts to “take Him” had already failed!
Some examples …
John 7:30 … Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come.
John 8:20 … These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come.
John 7:1 … After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him.
John 11:54 … Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews; but went thence unto a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples.
They could not so much as “touch” Him … until the proper Hour of His Death arrived!
Wow!
On Jerusalem being crowded during Passover, at least 100,000 visitors during that week … Deuteronomy 16:16 explains a lot.
“Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty.”
Jewish men were REQUIRED BY MOSAIC LAW to travel to Jerusalem and worship God at (1) Passover (unleavened Bread) and (2) Pentecost (feast of weeks) and again in the Fall at (3) Tabernacles!
Plotting to kill Jesus, murderers them all, yet …
“Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.” So explained Peter in Acts 2:22-24! Human culpability yet God’s Hand behind it all!
How to be saved …
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Romans 10:9-10, and God always keeps His Word, His Promises!
Now, if possible, watch …
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
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