Pastor Bell's Words To Live By

By Pastor Alton P Bell – March 2026

Introduction

The transformation of the biblical Passover into what is widely called “Easter” represents one of the most profound theological shifts in church history. What God instituted as a perpetual memorial of deliverance, covenant, and prophetic redemption has, in many traditions, been reinterpreted through the lens of culture, reduced to symbols of fertility, seasonal renewal, and religious custom. This shift not only obscures the original intent of the feast but also distorts the prophetic timeline surrounding the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. A careful reading of Exodus 12 and Leviticus 23 (NRSV) reveals that Passover is not merely historical it is prophetic, precise, and deeply connected to the Messiah’s work. When properly understood, it also challenges the commonly accepted notion of “Good Friday” as the day of crucifixion.

Scriptural integrity

In Exodus 12, the Passover is instituted in the context of divine judgment and deliverance. The Israelites are enslaved in Egypt, and God declares that He will strike down every firstborn in the land. Yet He provides a means of escape through the blood of a lamb. Exodus 12:5–7 (NRSV) states that the lamb must be “without blemish, a year-old male,” and its blood must be applied to the doorposts and lintel of each house. This act establishes a foundational theological principle: salvation through substitutionary sacrifice.

Verse 13 declares, “The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you…” (NRSV). Deliverance is not based on personal merit, but on the visible application of the blood. This moment introduces a prophetic pattern that finds its fulfilment in the Messiah. The lamb in Egypt was not the end of the story it was a shadow of something greater.

Equally important is Exodus 12:14: “This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance” (NRSV). Passover is not optional, nor is it temporary. It is an enduring divine appointment meant to anchor the identity of God’s people in the memory of redemption.

Leviticus 23 reinforces this by placing Passover within the framework of God’s appointed times. Verse 4 declares, “These are the appointed festivals of the Lord, the holy convocations, which you shall celebrate at the time appointed for them” (NRSV). Verse 5 specifies, “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, there shall be a Passover offering to the Lord” (NRSV). These feasts are not human traditions they are divine appointments (moedim Is Hebrew for appointed times), rehearsals of God’s redemptive plan.

Immediately following Passover is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Leviticus 23:6 states, “And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the festival of unleavened bread to the Lord; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread” (NRSV). Leaven, often symbolic of sin, is removed, pointing to purification following deliverance. Then comes the Feast of First Fruits (Leviticus 23:10–11), where the first sheaf of the harvest is waved before the Lord as an offering. These feasts are not isolated they form a prophetic sequence: sacrifice (Passover), sanctification (Unleavened Bread), and resurrection/first harvest (First Fruits).

This sequence is crucial for understanding the timeline of the Messiah’s death and resurrection and it directly challenges the traditional “Good Friday” narrative.

In Matthew 12:40 (NRSV), Jesus declares, “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth.” This statement is precise. It does not allow for symbolic or partial interpretation. Three days and three nights constitute a full period of approximately 72 hours. This period also indicates that the individual was dead and according to Jewish tradition, the soul had returned to God.

The traditional Good Friday to Sunday morning timeline does not satisfy this requirement. From Friday evening to Sunday morning is, at most, two nights and one full day, far short of the three days and three nights explicitly stated by Jesus. This discrepancy has led many to reconsider the timing of the crucifixion in light of the biblical feasts.

John’s Gospel provides a critical clue. In John 19:31 (NRSV), it states that the day following the crucifixion was a “high day” not merely a weekly Sabbath, but a special Sabbath associated with a feast. This aligns with the first day of Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:7), which is itself a Sabbath regardless of the day of the week on which it falls.

If the crucifixion occurred on the day of Passover (the 14th of the first month), and the following day was the high Sabbath of Unleavened Bread (the 15th), then the crucifixion did not necessarily occur on a Friday. Instead, it could have occurred midweek commonly proposed as Wednesday allowing for three full days and three full nights in the tomb, culminating in a resurrection at the close of the weekly Sabbath, just before the first day of the week.

When I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” (John 12:32)

This aligns perfectly with the Feast of First Fruits. According to Leviticus 23:11 (NRSV), the sheaf is waved “on the day after the sabbath.” The Messiah, as the “first fruits” of those who have died (1 Corinthians 15:20), rises in alignment with this appointed time. Thus, His resurrection is not random, it is prophetically timed according to the feast.

The Good Friday tradition, while deeply ingrained in many Christian communities, does not align with the full testimony of Scripture when examined through the lens of the appointed feasts. It represents an inherited tradition that, like the renaming of Passover as Easter, may obscure the precision and prophetic beauty of God’s redemptive plan.

The shift from Passover to Easter further compounds this issue. The term “Easter” is not found in most modern translations of Scripture and carries associations with pre-Christian fertility symbols such as eggs and rabbits. These symbols emphasize life cycles and reproduction rather than sacrifice, covenant, and redemption. While they may hold cultural significance, they do not originate from the biblical narrative.

By contrast, the Passover is centred entirely on the Lamb. It is about blood, deliverance, and divine judgment. It is solemn, intentional, and deeply theological. Exodus 12:26–27 (NRSV) anticipates future generations asking, “What do you mean by this observance?” and instructs that the answer must point back to the Lord’s act of passing over the houses of Israel in Egypt. The meaning is fixed, it is not open to reinterpretation based on cultural trends.

To replace or overshadow this with symbols of fertility is to shift the focus from redemption to nature, from covenant to culture. It risks trivializing what Scripture presents as one of the most sacred and defining moments in the history of God’s people.

Recovering the biblical understanding of Passover also restores the unity of Scripture. The Exodus is not an isolated event; it is the foundation upon which the entire redemptive narrative is built. The Messiah’s death at Passover, His sinless body represented in Unleavened Bread, and His resurrection as First Fruits demonstrate that the feasts are not obsolete, they are fulfilled. They reveal the continuity of God’s plan from Genesis to Revelation.

Moreover, the simplicity of the original observance stands in stark contrast to modern practices. The Passover meal includes unleavened bread and bitter herbs, symbols of haste and suffering. There is no emphasis on spectacle or entertainment. The focus is remembrance, reverence, and teaching. It is designed to shape identity, not merely to create an experience.

The challenge for the contemporary church is therefore not merely to critique tradition, but to return to Scripture. This involves re-examining inherited practices in light of the Word of God and being willing to realign with the biblical narrative where discrepancies exist.

Conclusion

The Passover is not just a Jewish tradition it is a divine revelation of redemption. It points directly to the Messiah, the Lamb of God, whose blood delivers from judgment. It establishes a pattern that is fulfilled with precision in His death and resurrection. To obscure this with misaligned timelines or culturally derived symbols is to lose sight of the depth and power of the gospel.

In conclusion, the renaming of Passover as Easter and the perpetuation of the Good Friday crucifixion narrative both illustrate how tradition can sometimes overshadow Scripture. By returning to Exodus 12 and Leviticus 23 (NRSV), and by taking seriously the words of Jesus in Matthew 12:40, we recover a clearer, richer, and more accurate understanding of God’s redemptive work. The Passover stands as a prophetic masterpiece one that calls every generation not to cultural adaptation, but to covenant remembrance.