Vou. XXXIV BROOKLYN, N. Y., MARCH 1, 1918 No. 5 = THE COMING MEMORIAL SUPPER ‘¢This do in remembrance of me.’’—1 Cor. 11:24, 25. The supper which our Lord instituted as a remembrancer of his great sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world, is striking in its appropriateness and its simplicity. The world’s great men have always sought very different means of perpetuating their memories. In whatever way they would remind their followers of their merits and their greatness, it surely has not been by a reminder and commemoration of their death—especially if, as in our Lord’s case, it was a death of ignominy and shame, a death as a malefactor and criminal. Another, more probably, would have left instructions for medals to be struck commemorating some of his mighty works—such, for instance, as the awakening of Lazarus, or the stilling of the tempest on the sea, or the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, while the multitude strewed the way with palm branches, and eried, Hosanna to the King! But our Lord chose as his remembrancer that which represented what was, in his and in God’s estimation, his mightiest work—his Sin-offering on our behalf; and that which his real followers, and they alone, would appreciate more than any other feature of his mission. True, his followers would have appreciated something commemorative of his wonderful words or works, but the worldly also could have appreciated those things. But not so the value of his death as our ransom-sacrifice, the basis of our reconciliation and at-one-ment, which has never yet been fully apprehended by any but the consecrated little flock—the elect. And it was for these that the remembrancer was arranged and instituted. And though a Judas was present, he was given a sop, and went out from the others before the supper was ended; thus no doubt representing that in the close of this Age, before the little flock will have finished their part of having fellowship with their Lord in his sufferings, the sop of truth will have become so strong as to drive forth from the company and communion of the faithful all who do not rightly appreciate and value the ransom accomplished by the Lamb of God for the taking away of the sins of the world.—1 John 2:19. DATE OF THE PASCHAL SUPPER The date of the Paschal supper at which the Jews ate a lamb, commemorative of their deliverance, from Egyptian bondage and of the sparing of their first-born at that time, was of course calculated by the Jewish method of reckoning time, viz., lunar time. (Exod. 12:2-14) Instead of dividing the months as we do, they allowed the new moon to mark the beginning of a new month; and the difference between the sun time (solar time) and moon time (lunar time) was equalized by always beginning the new year with the appearing of the new moon about the Spring Equinox. In celebrating their religious festivals the Jews still maintain this method of reckoning. And since our Lord, the apostles and the early ehurch followed this same rule for determining the date for the annual celebration of our Lord’s Last Supper, we also follow it. The first new moon after the vernal Equinox is reckoned in Hebrew almanacs this year (1913) as being April 8th—probably Jerusalem observation. At 6 p. m. the day before begins the first day of the Jewish month Nisan, the first mcnth of the Jewish sacred year. Beginning with the 1st of Nisan the Hebrews counted, and on the tenth day the Paschal lamb was chosen or selected from the flock. On the fourteenth day (the full of the moon*) ‘‘between evenings’’ (at any time between 6 p. m. of the 13th and 6 p. m. of the 14th of Nisan) the lamb was to be killed and eaten. On the fifteenth day their Passover Feast began, lasting seven days, the first and the seventh days being observed as specially holy, as Sabbath days, or ‘‘high’’ days. (Exod. 12:16) On the sixteenth day, the omer of the first-fruits of the barley harvest was offered to the Lord, and fifty days after (Pentecost Day) they offered before the Lord two wave loaves.—Lev. £5:17. These things done by the Jews every year were, as we * As the sun is a symbol of Christ’s kingdom, so the moon symbolized Israel as a nation. (Rev. 12:1.) The 12 and sometimes 13 lunations symbolize the tribes of that nation. The moon was at its full at the time of Christ’s crucifixion. There it immediately began to wane and waned for as long as it had previously increased. So Christ’s death was the turning point between the two equal parts of Israel's history. See Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. II, p. 218. As those Jews who were unclean, and hence could not keep the Passover properly in its proper season, were permitted to do so on the 14th of the second month (at the full of the next moon—Num. 9:8-13), the lesson taught seems to be that all prevented (by ignorance) from accepting Messiah as their Redeemer, when offered to them, will have an opportunity of doing so when, in the times of res titution of all things, their nation (moon) shall again be full of blessings, in the latter harvest. [5191] have already seen, types of greater and grander occurrences. The choosing of the lamb on the tenth day typified how, if Tsrael would be blessed and recognized as the church of the first-born in the antitypical Passover, they must accept Jesus then, five days before that Passover Feast, and four days before his crucifixion. And it evidently was on that very date that our Lord offered himself finally to that nation— when, as their king, he rode into the city on the colt. (Compare John 12:12-16) They, however, neglected to receive the Lamb of God, were at once rejected, and ceased from being the typical first-born. The 14th day (which this year [1913] will begin at 6 o’clock on the evening of Sunday, April 20th, and last until 6 p. m. of the 21st) was the day in which the Paschal lamb was to be killed and eaten; and the Hebrew counting of time (doubtless divinely arranged for this very purpose) permitted the eating of the ‘‘Last Supper’’ upon the same day that the Lord was crucified. The Passover supper of lamb and herbs and unleavened bread (fulfilling the Law, which was not ended until the cross) was eaten shortly after 6 p.m. Then followed the institution of the Memorial supper of bread and wine, representative of the body and blood of the antitypical Lamb. This thereafter, as often as the occasion returned (yearly), was to be observed by his followers instead of the eating of the literal lamb—as the commemoration of the antitypical Lamb and the greater passing-over of the antitypical first-born, which his blood effects. The waving of the barley sheaf of first-fruits, on the 16th of Nisan (‘‘the morrow after the Sabbath’’ or Passover Feast of the 15th—Lev. 23:5, 6, 11, 15-17), typified the resurrection of Christ our Lord, as ‘‘the first-fruits of them that slept.’’*—1 Cor, 15:20. The two wave loaves offered on the fiftieth day, Pentecost, represented the presenting of the church before God and its acceptance through the merit of the great High Priest, indicated by the anointing of the holy Spirit at Pentecost. The church really is but ‘‘one loaf’’ (1 Cor. 10:17), the two loaves representing the same thing as the two goats presented on the day of atonement. It indicated that although all presented were acceptable to God through Christ Jesus, he yet knew that all presented would not come up to the condition of faithfulness to the end. The two loaves represented, therefore, the two classes of the consecrated—the overcoming little flock, and the great company of the consecrated servants of God who do not make the ‘‘high calling’’ theirs, by overcoming the world as they might and should do. The method of calculating the date for Good Friday and Easter Sunday in vogue among Episcopalians and Roman Catholics differs from the foregoing in this: They celebrate as Easter Sunday the first Sunday following the first full moon after the Spring Equinox, and the preceding Friday is recognized as Good Friday. This method of counting was instituted by the Council of Nice, A. D. 325, as instead of the Jewish method which we recognize. But the name ‘‘Passover’’ continued to be used (not Hastert Sunday) for a long time; it was after Papacy had become established in political influence, and the ignorant pagans began to flock to the system which enjoyed the favor of the government, that the name ‘*Haster’’ was substituted for ‘‘Passover,’’ because about the same time as the Passover the pagans had been in the habit of celebrating the festival of their Easter goddess (Ger“~* Here is the strongest possible confirmation of the correctness of the position taken in Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. II.—-that our Lord was not three full 24-hour days in the tomb, but only parts of the three days and nights; that he was crucified on the day coerresponding to our Friday afternoon, and arose on what corresponded to our Sunday morning. The showing of this type, that the Paschal lamb was to be killed sometime during the 14th of Nisan, and the waveoffering of the sheaf of first-fruits was to occur on the 16th, should settle the matter for all. It agrees with the repeated statement (1 Cor. 15:4; Luke 24:46) that our Lord rose on ‘‘the third day, according to the Scriptures.’’ This Scripture concerning the firstfruits is the only type which we recall as in any way pointing out the time of our Lord’s resurrection. Then, too, the fact that history, as represented in the traditions and customs, points out Geod Friday and Easter Sunday as celebrations of our Lord’s death and resurrection, should have some weight on so trivial a matter, unless some motive or reason for misstating the dates can be assigned. The only Scripture seeming to oppose all these facts is the declaration that our Lord would be three days and three nights in the earth; and the only explanation that can be offered to this is, that the expression is used in @ general and not in a specific manner, the nights being mentioned to preclude the idea of any cessation of death until the third day. Thus understood, the expression would signify that during portions of three days aid nights our Lord would be in the tomb. At all events the evidence is overwhelming that he died on the 14th of Nisan, and rose on the 16th—the third day after. + The use of the word Easter in Acts 12:4 is a mistranslation; it should be rendered Passover.—See Revised Version. (67-68)
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