Yahweh, our Heavenly Father, in His loving kindness, has provided His children with a late Pesach or Passover, a month after the main one, for those who were unable, because of unforseeable circumstances, to attend the first one (Num.9:9-13).

This provision is made for no other festival in pre-Messianic or Messianic Israel. Therefore no Israelite was permitted to observe a late Shavu'ot (Weeks), Yom Teruah (Trumpets), Yom haKippurim (Day of Atonement) or Sukkot (Tabernacles).

It is therefore ironic that in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes IV, when the Judeans rose up against the oppressing Greeks, that they decided to hold a late Sukkot (Tabernacles) during which time the defiled temple in Jerusalem was rededicated. This 'Late Sukkot' eventually morphed into the festival known as Hanukkah which is observed by non-Messianic Jews and far too many Messianics.

There is an important spiritual reason why a late Pesach (Passover) is permitted but no late festival thereafter that is based on divine tavnith or pattern. I should insert here that someone observing a late Pesach (Passover) is not required to observe all of the other annual festivals a month later but is to rather join his brethren in observing the remaining moedim (appointments) at their regular times. This is a once-only, one day-long, spiritual course-correction in any given year [1].

To understand why Yahweh has provided for a Late Pesach (Passover) you must first understand what this feast represents. If I were to call it 'Salvation Day' you will perhaps begin to understand why. For as John the Baptist said, Yah'shua (Jesus) was "the Lamb of Elohim (God) who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29, NKJV) and those who are His saved followers or talmidim (disciples) "sing ... the song of the Lamb" (Rev 15:3, NKJV). This is He who is represented by the Passover Lamb each Pesach.

Throughout the life of a man or woman we are given the opportunity - often many times - to receive Yah'shua (Jesus) as our Master (Lord) and Deliverer (Saviour). Indeed, people have had the Besorah (Gospel) presented to them many times but on only one of those occasions will they make the formal commitment to accept it (assuming they do), get baptised and then devote the remainder of their lives to the Kingdom as talmidim (disciples).

The festival of Yom haBikkurim (Day of Firstfruits) represents Yah'shua (Jesus), the firstfruits of the resurrection (1 Cor.15:20,23) as well as the 144,000 elect who are described as a "firstfruits to Elohim (God) and the Lamb" and in whom "no lie was found in their mouths [for] they are blameless" (Rev.14:4-5, NIV).

The remaining five annual festivals are about ongoing salvation, sanctification and final glorification. They are therefore part of a process. You could not, for example, have a 'late' Shavu'ot or Sukkot without disrupting the process. If you interupt that, then symbolically it means you have fallen away and must start at the beginning again. You therefore become, symbolically-speaking, a 'late' participant in a new cycle beginning at Pesach (Passover).

So the Late Pesach (Passover) represents two things spiritually:

• 1. The several opportunities Yahweh gives a man or woman in his or her life to repent and be saved; and
• 2. The opportunity to start again if you mess up by falling away (for instance).

Late Pesach (Passover) is therefore a testimony of Yahweh's grace - His undeserved loving kindness, His unmerited favour. It is not for those who are seeking to live a double life - of having one foot in the Besorah (Gospel) and one foot in the world.

Thus Late Pesach (Passover) is not offered to someone who deliberately chose to miss the main Pesach (Passover) because he wanted to go to a concert that evening or decided to have a vacation. Late Pesach (Passover) is offered to those who were unavoidably able to attend the first, and main, Pesach (Passover) because they were involved in an accident and had to be hospitalised, or because the train they were taking to the Feast broke down and did not deliver them on time, or because they decided to attend Aunt Mable's birthday party instead, and for reasons such as these. In other words, for reasons that symbolically represent people rejecting Yah'shua (Jesus) the first time round because they had spiritual issues that rendered them blind to the emet (truth) of who Yah'shua (Jesus) really is, and about which therefore they could do nothing at the time, is a Late Pesach (Passover) offered.

In many ways, Late Pesach (Passover) is not only a demonstration of Yahweh's grace but a reminder to us not to exploit that grace. Grace is not extended indefinitely to those who know what to do but refuse to make teshuvah - who know the emet (truth) but obstinately refuse to repent. Though Yahweh is patient and long-suffering with us, grace does have a cut-off point. And that is the point at which Judgment must take over.

If you were unable to attend the main Pesach (Passover) for a legitimate reason and are attending a Late Pesach (Passover) this evening, then I pray Yahweh's blessing on you. Finally, Late Pesach (Passover) is not for those who observed the main Feast in the first month and who fancy doing it again a second time during the second month. You can't be saved twice in a row if you have not fallen away inbetween! There are no 'double portions' in salvation, which would in effect make you a super-believer, which does not exist. So you may only partake of one Seder a year!

So may the genuine late-comers have a wonderful time after sunset! Amen.

Endnotes

[1] There are some who interpret a 'Late Pesach (Passover)' to include observing a Late Chag haMatazah (Unleavened Bread) and Late Yom haBikkurim (Firstfruits) too as together they form the 'Pesach (Passover) Season'. The only problem with this is that Yom haBikkurim is the marker authorising the start of the Omer Count which, if followed at Late Pesach (Passover), would require a one-month late Shavu'ot (Weeks) too, as Shavu'ot (Weeks) is always calculated as 7 sabbaths + 50 days after Yom haBikkurim, not having a fixed day on the calendar. For this reason Messianic Evangelicals do not observe a late Chag haMatzah (Unleavened Bread) or late Yom haBikkurim (Firstfruits), but only a late Pesach (Passover), lasting one day.

Further Reading