Many people have misunderstood the real significance of the time of observance of the Lord’s Supper, or Passover.  A passage in 1 Corinthians chapter 11verse 26 has been read to mean that we do not know how often nor when we are to take this ordinance.  The statement is, “For as oft as ye do this ye do show forth the Lord’s death until He comes.”  If we are not told how often to partake of this feast (as Paul calls it in 1 Corinthian 5:6-8) then surely it isn’t good works, for Paul states very plainly in his letter to Timothy that the Scriptures thoroughly furnish the man of God unto all good works.  It behooves us then to search the Scriptures for any information that we might lack along this line.  Some will say that we should take it each Sunday.  But these same people contend that Christ arose from the dead on Sunday morning.  But He arose at the end of the Sabbath (Saturday) not on the first day of the week (Matthew 28:1).  Why then do they wait till the time, which they state, is the day of His resurrection to celebrate His death?  Rather inconsistent isn’t it?  Others say that we should take it every fifth Sunday or every thirteenth Sunday, while others once a year.  Can we celebrate His death or do this in commemoration of His death, and still be consistent?  How often do people celebrate His Birth?  Every week?  He just died once, and it certainly would be out of place to celebrate His Death more than we should His Birth, or at any other season than at which He died.

    The Passover has a history that is not often taken into consideration by some.  The Passover as a religious festival originated in the land of Egypt, at the time that the children of Israel came out of bondage and were ordered of God to be kept by them in commemoration of their deliverance.  The record of this is found in Exodus chapter 12.  In Exodus 12:4, we find the Lamb was to be kept until the 14th day and in the evening late that day before sunset it was to be sacrificed.  Christ died about three o’clock in the afternoon of the 14th of Nisan.  Therefore the type met the anti-type the same day of the month and the same time of the day.  There are Scriptures that say the day at Evening is the Lord’s Passover.
     
     Christ ate the Passover the night before.  His death upon the cross-instituted the Lord’s Supper.  The Passover was more than the commemoration of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt.  The blood of the Lamb was atonement for their sins (Numbers 9:13).  The one who refused to eat was cut off.  The same is true with those who refuse to accept the blood of Christ, our Passover, for the remission of sins.

    “This day shall be unto you for a Memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever” (Exodus12:14).  Before Christ they (Israel) kept the feast; today we take the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper once a year.  It is the same command, but different practice.  Christ ate the Passover the night before His death; He took it after the sun had set on the 14th day of Nisan (Exodus 12:6; Numbers 28:16) according to the Jewish calendar.  Jewish time begins at sundown and ends at sundown. 
  
    The lamb was to be taken from the flock on the tenth day, and kept up and fed by itself till the fourteenth day when it was to be sacrificed in the evening (the evening began just after 12 o’clock, and continued till sunset).  “Ye shall keep it in His appointed season; according to all the ceremonies” (Numbers 9:3).