Passover is an Appointed Time on God’s Biblical Calendar.  The Appointed Times all point to Messiah, who is the glory of God!!!  God is opening eyes in these last days as we are drawing nearer to the time of His second return.  He is moving on hearts to inquire in His Word about His Appointed Times.   God invites all to come and join Him as He is uncovering His ways and revealing His truths about His Feasts.  God’s Appointed Times reveal His glory.

The Appointed Times were established at Creation when God set the lights in the heavens and said, “Let them be for signs and appointed times (moedim) Gen 1:14.  The heavens declare His glory!  God leads His people “in ‘cycles’ of righteousness for His name’s sake” Ps23:3.  He invites us to join Him and enter into His heavenly ‘cycle’ to be in rhythm with Him, the One who created the universe.

Passover is an Appointed Time of the LORD and it is always on the 14th day of the first month of God’s Biblical Calendar.  The first month of God’s Biblical Calendar is in the spring when the barley is ripe (that’s March /April of the Gregorian calendar).

The Gregorian calendar has the first month in the winter in January.  Yet, the first month of God’s Biblical Calendar is in the spring.  Passover is always in the spring every year.

You may be asking, “When did the calendar change?  Why is the Gregorian calendar different from God’s Biblical Calendar?  Why do people use the Gregorian calendar which was designed by man?”  These are good questions…and only God knows all the answers.  But, God’s Biblical Calendar never changed.  Currently, the Gregorian calendar is a universal system that’s in place around the world.   Today, this system makes it easy to schedule, meet & plan with others globally.

Even though the Gregorian calendar is in place, God still wants us to be very aware of His Biblical Calendar.  God’s Biblical Calendar was established at the foundation of the world and it will remain.  Did you know… even when the new heavens and the new earth come down, God’s Biblical Calendar will remain (Isaiah 66:22-23).  God’s Biblical Calendar will endure, so it’s important for us to become familiar with it now and to be aware of His Appointed Times.

Did you know Passover is always at full moon?  The Israelite people always knew when to go up to Jerusalem for Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread by looking at the moon.  They knew they had to be in Jerusalem before the full moon of the first month. Passover is always on the 14th day of the first month, and that’s when the moon is full.  So when they traveled up to Jerusalem for the Feasts each year, they left in enough time to get to Jerusalem before the full moon, before Passover began.

God established the weekly cycle at Creation.  God also established the months.  God’s Biblical month begins with the first sighting of the sliver of the new moon.  “For just as the new heavens and the new earth which I make endure before Me, declares the LORD, so your offspring and your name will endure. And it shall be from new moon (month) to new moon (month) and from Sabbath to Sabbath (week to week), all mankind will come to bow down before Me, says the LORD” Isaiah  66:22-23 (additions in parentheses by author).

God established the lights in the heavens to be signs for the “moedim“, which are His Appointed Times, and for days and years. “Then God said, Let there be lights…in the heavens…and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years” Genesis 1:14.  In this passage, the word “seasons” is the word “moedim”  in the Hebrew language.  It means “Appointed Times” in English.

We can look up at the moon to know when God’s Biblical month begins.  His months begin when the first sliver of the new moon is seen in the sky.  This first sliver is a very thin sliver, or crescent moon, that declares when God’s month begins.  It’s really fun to go outside each month at sunset and look up in the sky to see if you can see the first sliver of the new moon when it appears. The Scripture says, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; their expanse is declaring the work of His hands” Psalm 19:1.    God made the moon to be in the sky to declare when the Appointed Times are going to be. “He made the moon for the seasons (moedim)” Psalm 104:19

The Appointed Times of YHVH are these:  Sabbath, Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Feast of Weeks, Day of Blowing, Day of Atonements,  Feast of Tabernacles Lev23.   These Appointed Times are the ‘cycles’ of God.  Each year we have the opportunity to enter into these ‘cycles’ of God’s Appointed Times.   This year, enter into the worship that’s going on in heaven and celebrate with Him! “He leads me in paths (‘cycles’) of righteousness for His name’s sake” Psalm 23:3. 

God wants His people to declare Him as He is and give a correct estimate of His character and works.  God sent His Son to be born at the Appointed Time of Feast of Tabernacles; He was crucified on the exact day of Passover, in the grave 3 days & 3 nights during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and raised on Firstfruits.  The Holy Spirit was given at the exact time of    Feast of Weeks.

God wants to restore His Biblical Calendar to give a correct representation of Himself and His ways, to testify and witness of His sovereignty in this age and the age to come.  Some Gentile believers may think celebrating the Feasts do not relate to today.  But these Appointed Times all speak of things that are to come.  “Therefore …in respect to a festival or a new moon or Sabbath day – things which are a shadow of what is to come” Col 2:16-17.  This passage of Scripture was written after the Messiah had already been raised from the dead and ascended into heaven.  The Appointed Times are “shadow picture of things to come”.   The Appointed Times are ‘clues from heaven’ that God gave for each generation to know about the first and second coming of Messiah.

God’s Biblical Calendar
is cyclical.  Three times a year,
God declares Feasting times.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread
is one of these Feasts. Passover
and the Feast of Unleavened Bread
are always in the first month of
God’s Biblical Calendar.
All these dates, times and seasons
are important because they all point to the Messiah.

God decided the first month of the year would be in the spring, when the barley is ripe. Barley is the grain that is ripe during the Passover season.  We can always know when the first month of God’s Biblical Calendar is by the barley crop.  If the barley crop is almost ripe, then the first month of God’s Biblical Calendar is approaching, the month of Passover.  If the barley crop is not ripe, an extra month, an extra Adar, is added in God’s Biblical Calendar so that Passover & the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits will be in the month when the barley is ripe at God’s Appointed Time.    Let’s look at the 1st month of God’s Biblical Calendar in the year Messiah died.

The 1st month of God’s Biblical Calendar
– zooming in on the year Messiah died –

10th  day = the day a “spotless” Passover lamb, without blemish, was selected.   This was the very day Yeshua rode in Jerusalem on a young colt.  God selected Him as the Passover Lamb & the people shouted, “BLESSED   IS   HE  WHO  COMES  IN  THE  NAME  OF  YHVH” (John 12:12-15).

14th  day = Passover *- It is the day the Passover lamb is prepared and sacrificed.  “In the 1st month, on the 14th day… is YHVH’s Passover ” (Lev.23:5). This day is also referred to as ‘Preparation Day’ in the New Testament. “Now it was the day of preparation… so they cried, ‘Crucify Him!” (John 19:14-16).  “It was the day of preparation… so the soldiers came…and pierced His side… because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they  laid Yeshua there” (John19:31,34,42).

15th day = Feast of Unleavened Bread begins on15th day of 1st month. Feast of Unleavened Bread lasts seven days (Lev.23:6).The first day of Unleavened Bread is a holy convocation “on first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no work” (Lev.23:7). The New Testament refers to it as a ‘Holy Sabbath’ or a ‘High Day’.  That’s the reason there was such a rush to get Yeshua’s body in the grave before sunset – before the15th day began, the first day of Unleavened Bread “so the bodies wouldn’t remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day)” (John 19:31).

16th day = Yeshua, the Bread of Life, was without leaven and lived a sinless life. He was in the grave during the time of the Feast of Unleavened Bread without decay or corruption.

17th day = Yeshua was in the grave three days & three nights (15th,16th,17th). This 17th day was the day of the weekly Sabbath (Friday night & Saturday) in the year Yeshua died.  Remember Yeshua said, “No sign will be given to this generation  but the sign of Jonah the prophet: for just as Jonah was three days & three nights in the belly of the fish, so will the Son of Man  be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:39-49).

Firstfruits = the day the priest waves the firstfruits of the barley harvest as an offering to YHVH. “Firstfruits …on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it”  (Lev.23:10-11).   Firstfruits is the day after the weekly Sabbath after Passover.  Firstfruits is always on Sunday, the first day of the week.  Firstfruits was on the18th day of the month in the year Yeshua died. “Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone taken away from the tomb”(John 20:1).HalleluYah!  God raised Yeshua from the dead!  Yeshua is the firstfruits offering. He is the firstborn from among the dead (Col. 1:18).  “Messiah has been raised from the dead, the first fruits” (1 Cor.15:20)

* Passover is on the 14th day of the 1st month of the Biblical Calendar.  The Gregorian Calendar has the first month as January, but the first month of the Biblical Calendar is in the spring (March/April ) when the barley is ripe. “YHVH said this …is to be the first month of the year ” (Exd12:1). The Biblical Calendar begins at the first sighting of the sliver of the new moon. As you observe the Biblical Calendar, you’ll find Passover falls on different days of the week each year (it may be Mon, Tues, Wed, Friday, etc.).  The year Messiah was crucified; Passover was on Wednesday, in the middle of the week.   Yeshua was crucified on Wednesday – on Passover – and put in the grave before sunset- before Feast of Unleavened Bread began.  He was in the grave 3 nights and 3 days, arose, and then became the Firstfruits offering. “Now Messiah has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep” (1 Corth.15:20,23).