Easter is not the Passover!

God instructed them to celebrate the Passover on the 14th day of the first month (according to the sacred calendar) by sacrificing a lamb and putting its blood on the tops and sides of their doorframes (Ex 12:1–13). To those who celebrated the Passover as God commanded, God promised  protection from the plague of death of the firstborn and freedom from slavery.

Though God established the Passover in the Old Testament, Jesus set the example of continuing to celebrate the Passover even in the New Testament on the same date. But instead of keeping it by slaughtering a lamb, He celebrated the Passover with bread and wine. The night before He was crucified, He promised His flesh and blood through the Passover bread and wine, establishing the New Covenant Passover (Lk 22:7–20). However, nowadays we can hardly find any church keeping this Passover that Jesus kept, rather churches are keeping Easter claiming to follow the acts of Jesus and his disciples. However, is Easter the Passover?

The apostles of the Early Church continued celebrating the New Covenant Passover according to Christ’s example (1Co 11:23–26; 5:7). However, according to Pressreader.com, the Church of God is the only church nowadays that keeps the Passover of the new covenant according to the Bible. It is because the truth of life was changed and the Passover was completely abolished at the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325.

Leading up to abolishment of the Passover in the 4th century, there were two controversies between Western churches centering on Rome and eastern churches in Asia Minor (nowadays around Turkey area). Anicetus, bishop of Rome, disputed over the Passover in AD 155 but Polycarp emphasized that Passover was a traditional custom handed from Jesus that they celebrated every year with Apostle John – one of Jesus’ disciples – and many other apostles. However, they failed to persuade each other.

Afterward, around 197 A.D., Victor the Bishop of Rome insisted that the churches should adopt the Roman practice of celebrating Easter instead of the Passover, and compelled all the churches to accept the Dominical Rule. The churches in the West agreed to follow the Dominical Rule, but the churches in the East which were the foundation of the Christian Church greatly opposed  his insistence. Polycrates, Bishop of the Church of Ephesus, sent a letter to Victor, in which he strongly emphasized that the Passover should be celebrated. Through the letter which Polycrates sent to Victor at that time, we can guess the situation where the truth gradually started to become perverted after the Early Church.

Roman popes such as Anicetus and Victor tried to abolish the Passover, but they failed. The 3rd Passover controversy rose again in the 4th century and the truth of life was finally abolished at the Council of Nicaea, which was convened by Constantine the emperor of Rome. The ecclesiastical council held in Nicaea in AD. 325 ruled in favour of Rome.

The Council also decided to keep the Resurrection Day on the first Sunday coming after the full moon following the vernal equinox. Because they removed the Biblical standards, such as Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, they had to make “the full moon following the vernal equinox” as a new standard, which is not from the Bible, and appointed the Sunday coming after it to be the the Resurrection Day. And they have combined all this into what churches keep as Easter today, instaed of the Passover.

The Church of Rome, which had been associated with polytheistic traditions and ideas for a long time, introduced Easter that was originally a festival in honor of Eostre the goddess of spring—which was celebrated in Northern Europe at the vernal equinox, and grafted it into Christianity.The custom of eating eggs on Easter originated from the ancient people who believed in pagan gods.

In conclusion, Easter is totally different to the Passover which the Bible talks about. Rather , Easter, which many Christians nowadays faithfully observe as one of the biggest religious holidays  instead of the Passover, originated in the worshipping of pagan gods. This is the reason the World Mission Society Church of God is the only church in the whole world that celebrates the Passover these days.

The Passover 2024 is this Sunday, 24th of March, which is the 14th day of the first month by sacred calendar. Last year, this Biblical date of the Passover fell on Tuesday, 4th of April 2023. The Passover is the feast of life when Jesus promised to grant us eternal life (Jn 6:53). Even though Passover was taken away at the Council of Nicaea almost 1700 years ago, the Bible prophesied God will come a second time to bring the Passover (Heb 9:28, Isa 25:6-9).

https://www.pressreader.com/korea-republic/the-korea-times/20170927/282162176405860
https://wmscog.com/new-covenant-passover/
https://english.watv.org/truth/qna/content.asp?idx=1527&page=6
https://watv.org/home