Resurrection Sunday and Passover are inextricably tied together. Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, was sacrificed at Passover at the same time the Passover Lamb, or Paschal Lamb, was being sacrificed in the Temple. Since the time of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. the Jews have not been able to “officially” sacrifice a lamb for Passover.

Because there was no Temple, each year for over nineteen centuries a shank bone from a lamb has been used as a substitutionary reminder of the Passover Lamb. In the original instructions from the Lord, each family was to sacrifice their own lamb in preparation for the last meal to be eaten in Egypt. (Exodus 12:3-12) Over the years the sacrifice of the lamb became formalized and institutionalized and it was thought that only the priesthood could perform this act.

As a sidebar, the same thing has happened in the church. Early Christians celebrated the Lord’s Supper in their homes (Acts 2:46), perhaps on a daily basis. Now, we have come to think that we can only commune with the Lord in church. In some churches, only the priest or bishop or ranking elder can administer communion. It was not that way in the First Century Church.

In 2004 several hundred rabbis gathered and elected seventy-one members for the reconstituted Sanhedrin. Through study of the Torah and the writings of a respected ancient rabbi, Moses Maimonides who lived in the Thirteenth Century, the Sanhedrin determined that the Jews can perform the ritual sacrifice of a Passover Lamb.

Preparations were made. They found men of the genetic line of Aaron to be priests. (Is not this an exciting result of the discovery of DNA?) Priestly garments were made. A sacred altar was prepared just outside of Jerusalem. (RT - This seems an unsuitable substitution.)

At sundown Monday, March 29, 2010 Passover began. In the afternoon of March 29th, a lamb was sacrificed by a Jewish priest to be used in the Passover meal. This is probably the first time since 70 A.D. that this has happened. We, this generation, are seeing history made as the first Passover lamb is sacrificed probably for the first time in over 1,950 years!

In Matthew 24:6-8 the Lord Jesus stated that wars and rumors of wars, nation against nation (ethnos Strong’s G1484 meaning race), kingdom against kingdom, famines, pestilence and earthquakes are all just the beginning of sorrows (odin Strong’s G5604 meaning birth pains).

These signs of the approaching “time of sorrows” and the Biblical strides being made in Israel are indications of the nearness of His Coming.