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7 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8 Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.” 9 “Where do you want us to prepare for it?” they asked. 10 He replied, “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, 11 and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 12 He will show you a large room upstairs, all furnished. Make preparations there.” 13 They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover. ~ Luke 22:7-13
As we return to the narrative of God redeeming sinful man, we find ourselves entering back in to Thursday, and preparations are being made for the Passover meal that evening. The next day, Friday, the Lord Jesus will be crucified for the sin of mankind.
The death of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross was no accident. It was not a bad ending to a noble effort by a good man. His death on the cross was not the end of His life, it was the beginning of ours because His death brought an end to sin and death. It was at His cross that He dealt a death blow to the penalty, power and eventually the presence of sin. And, when we receive His free gift of salvation, God sees us through the lens of His Son. The goal of His life was to bridge the gap between us and God, something we could not do for ourselves.
Now, on Friday afternoon, between three and six at sunset, thousands of Passover lambs were to be slaughtered. It was during that period of time that the Lord Jesus had to die. He died in perfect accord with the Passover sacrifice because He is, as the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5:7, “Our Passover Lamb.” Since the Fall of man in the Garden of Eden, all of history had long been building to this crescendo event when God would bring down death once and for all for all who would believe.
The way the Lord Jesus arranged for the Passover feast indicates that He knew there were plots to thwart God's plan. This is why He set up the Passover meal at an unknown place that no one knew. No names were given, and the unnamed man who carried the pitcher of water gave the disciples the guest room. And that’s where they had the Passover. It happened this way so that the Lord Jesus could celebrate the Passover to fulfill ALL righteousness.
Then, after celebrating the Passover, the Lord Jesus instituted the New Covenant which would be for the redeemed for all time to come. He could not be arrested until the events of that evening had unfolded where the Passover was celebrated and the Lord’s table was instituted. This is why He did not want anybody to know where they were going to celebrate the Passover.
After John and Peter went out there is no indication that they ever came back. They went out early on Thursday and they acquired everything they needed, and they went to the place they were told to go and they evidently spent the entire day preparing for the meal. And the rest arrived and nobody knew where they were until they got there. And once they got there, obviously Judas had to stay.
As is always the case, the Lord had a plan and afterwards, He was betrayed and arrested in accordance with His schedule. After He finally finished everything during the last supper, the Lord Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives. It was there that He was arrested and He was led away to be executed that same day before the sun set. Only in that little window could He be arrested, tried, and executed, but not before He fulfilled all righteousness. Then He would die at the very hour all Passover lambs were slaughtered since Israel's time in Egypt. Isn't it is stunning to see all of these details come together under His control?
In v.7 we read, "Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed." The Passover and the Feast of the Unleavened Bread were blended together. It was the fourteenth of Nisan, and in order to fulfill all righteousness, they had to celebrate the Passover.
In 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 we read, "7 Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
According to Exodus 12, they were required to observe the Passover every single year on the fourteenth of Nisan. This was the last legitimate Passover because the Lord Jesus transformed it into the Lord’s Supper. In fact, now, God desires for us to remember the Passover by remembering His deliverance at Calvary.
Many find the cross to be foolish, but it reveals the wisdom of God. While it reveals the ugliness of sin, it reveals the beauty of God’s love. It punishes sin and offers forgiveness at the same time for all who are humble enough to admit we need help. Justice and grace were wed at His cross.
