CHURCH OF GOD AND SAINTS OF CHRIST

The word Passover derives it’s meaning from the actions by the angel of death who killed all the firstborns from the firstborn of Pharaoh to the firstborn of the maidservant including the firstborns of the beasts in Egypt. This same angel spared or passed-over the children of Israel because of the token of blood that was applied on their doorposts hence the name.

This memorial commemorates the exodus and freedom of Israelites from four hundred and thirty years of Egyptian servitude and shackles of brutal bondage perpetrated by King Pharaoh. This account is chronicled in the book of Exodus the twelfth chapter. After a series of plagues upon the land of Egypt, Pharaoh could not heed to the Lord’s call, “Let my people go that they may serve me” (Exodus 10:3 second part). “And the Lord said unto Moses, Yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go hence: when he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether” (Exodus 11:1). God slew the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill, and the firstborn of the beasts. The All Wise God in his Divine and tender mercies spared his people by the token of blood, which was smeared on the doorposts of their houses. He said unto Moses, “And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will Passover you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:13). The killing of the firstborn impacted so much pain on Pharaoh because of the importance of the firstborn, thus the children of Israel were liberated and God commanded them to observe that day as ordinance forever (Exodus 12:17)

Celebrated in the first month of Abib, God instituted the same month by which the children of Israel left Egypt as being the first month of the year, “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you” (Exodus 12:2) . Irrespective of what part of the year that time was, God made a new beginning with his people and that time became the beginning of the year.

The Church of God and Saints of Christ (The Stone of Truth) links with the patriarchs in celebrating this mighty deliverance. Prophet William Saunders Crowdy came in the same order and God commanded him to call His Church into the observance of this feast. Believing, him to be the prophet Elijah whom God promised in (Malachi 4:2), he brought to us the whole plan of salvation. In his own words Prophet Crowdy said, behind me comes Christ and fire (meaning Christ and Judgment). Prophet William Saunders Crowdy is the last Prophet, after him comes Christ and fire, ‘to judge the world’ so what he told the church is still as powerful as it was when God gave it to him. Unlike what other churches do, we were instructed by the prophet of God to observe the feast from April 14 to April 21, that is April 13, sundown to April 20 sundown. Using the biblical rendering of a day beginning at sundown, not midnight as many people have been led to believe (Genesis 1:5) “And the evening and the morning were the first day”. In a newspaper article, when prophet William S Crowdy was still alive, this unchanging way of observing the Passover was left clearly as follows:

Article 2, Section 7 of both the 1904 and 1907 constitutions echo the same thing. It reads:

God speaks through his servants, the prophets. “And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream” (Numbers 12:6). God said a prophet; he never said that he would speak to anyone else. If there be any ‘prophet’ now not echoing the words of the Prophet William Saunders Crowdy, he is not from God but that one of whom God said, “Thus saith the Lord God; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!” (Ezekiel 13:3) and even though God didn’t speak to them they still say, “The Lord saith it; albeit I have not spoken” (Ezekiel 13:7).It is also important to know that, not even one prophet in the Old Testament, came denouncing his predecessor. “And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written” (Acts 15:15).

We do understand from the Word of God that Jesus Christ kept or ate the Passover, “Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover? And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at thy house with my disciples. And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the Passover. Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve” (Matthew 26:17-20). Also read (Luke 22:7-15)

In the light of the above verse, Jesus sent his disciples to prepare for the Passover and Jesus also sent them with the message that, “I will keep the Passover at thy house with my disciples” Verse 23 of the same Chapter shows that Jesus and his disciples were eating the Passover as He had said. Jesus ate the Passover as ‘an ordinance forever’ and also gave his disciples the unleavened bread and water for his blood. He did both on this Passover night. “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;” It was in the middle of the Passover that Jesus performed the above-mentioned service to the disciples because they were already eating.

The apostle Paul writing to those who were believers in Christ writes: “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (I Corinthians 5:7-8) . As God spared the Children of Israel, He will spare all those who have accepted the redemptive power of Jesus Christ’s blood, the sinless Lamb of God that was slain from the foundation of the world. (Revelations 13:8). Jesus Christ’s blood was shed for many for the remission of the sins (Matthew 26:28)