The 7th Day of Unleavened Bread - The Red Sea Crossing to Shavuot

Shalom, friends. my name is Chadwick Harvey, and you have reached Faithful Performance. Thank you so much for joining us tonight as we conclude the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread at sunset, wherever you may be. As we continue forward with the counting of the Omer toward Shavuot, this is an extraordinary season of liberation. We are going to walk through the calendar to show how all of this is calculated, then examine the Red Sea crossing, which happened last night into this morning, and then move to the Song of Moses, which would have occurred this morning as the Israelites stood on the shore concluding their seven-day journey from Egypt to the shores of the Sea of Aqaba. It is an amazing time to see how everything on the calendar correlates together.

We will then move forward into the counting of the Omer and the understanding of what is commanded — a 50-day divine appointment with the Almighty, rooted in the resurrection. This is an extraordinary time. On God's calendar, as laid out in the commandments of Leviticus 23, the party, so to speak, is only beginning. It does not end at the resurrection; it begins a new season that carries forward into the Feast of Shavuot. My friends, I am speaking exclusively from the biblical Hebrew Jewish calendar, so if you are following that calendar, this is the conclusion of the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread at tonight's sunset.

Now, whenever we observed the Feast of Passover together — I believe that was last Wednesday night — everything from that point forward is essentially a matter of counting. But it is very important to get it right. I have had conversations with friends throughout this seven-day period, and there is always confusion about when exactly to observe Passover, how it calculates in relation to Yeshua, and how it aligns with the commandments and the prophetic foreshadow of Exodus 12.

Let me explain. This entire season of liberation began with Nissan 1, Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of the biblical calendar. Then we celebrated Shabbat HaGadol, the Great Sabbath before the Sabbath on which Yeshua entered Jerusalem, riding on a donkey — that is Nissan 10. Four days after Nissan 10 brings us to Nissan 14, Erev Pesach. This is where the calculations often go wrong, and it is critical to understand.

On Nissan 14, at evening — at the beginning of the day, since the Hebrew day runs from sunset to sunset — Yeshua ate the Passover with his disciples. He then went to the upper room, then to the Garden of Gethsemane, where he was arrested in the early morning hours. It was still Nissan 14, but now the back end of the day. At 9:00 a.m. he was on the cross. Between 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. he gave up his spirit. This is why Leviticus 23 commands us to eat the Passover on Nissan 14 at evening — at twilight — not in the morning, because the sacrifice of the Passover lamb points to the moment he gave up his spirit, which occurred at the close of Nissan 14, not at its opening.

Some people eat the Passover on the night Yeshua ate it with his disciples, which this year would have been Tuesday night — the beginning of Nissan 14 rather than the end. That shifts the calculation off by one full day. When you eat on the beginning of Nissan 14 instead of its end, as Exodus 12, Leviticus 23, and the account of the crucifixion all require, the entire count that follows is displaced by a day. People forget that the evening starts the day — the Hebrew day is evening to evening, sunset to sunset. When you read the Gospel accounts alongside Exodus 12, this becomes unmistakably clear.

In Exodus 12, the Almighty told Israel to kill the Passover lamb on Nissan 14 at evening — not the front part of the day, but the back end. They were to eat it with haste, staff in hand, sandals on their feet, because after that twilight moment, morning would come and they would leave on Nissan 15. Passover, properly understood, spans about an hour and a half of twilight, and right after it transitions into Nissan 15, exactly as Exodus 12 describes. That is why those who eat it at the beginning of Nissan 14 — the night Yeshua ate with his disciples — are off from the commanded observance, which is the evening he was crucified and gave up his spirit, just as Exodus 12 pictures.

And consider this: Nissan 15 was the very day they left Egypt, and it was also 430 years to the day from when Abraham received the covenant between the parts — the brit bein habetarim — the vision in which the Almighty told him that his descendants would be in Egypt for 430 years. That vision was on Nissan 15, the first day of Unleavened Bread, the same exact day Israel departed Egypt. How extraordinary and precise is the Almighty in His timing.

Now, the duration of Unleavened Bread also matters. Some people observe it through Nissan 22, but that is not what Scripture says. Please read Exodus 12 carefully. It tells you plainly: from the first month, the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day at evening — which is tonight. There is no twenty-second day. That is a rabbinic addition. We must go back to Exodus 12 and Leviticus 23, the direct word from the Almighty's mouth. Both say Nissan 14 at evening, at twilight, not in the morning.

The Gospel accounts in John 19 and John 20 confirm this as well. They took Yeshua off the cross before the Feast of Unleavened Bread — the high holy Sabbath — because Nissan 15 was about to begin. This demonstrates that if someone celebrates Passover on the beginning of Nissan 14, they are, in effect, waiting an extra day before departing Egypt. But Israel did not wait a day. They ate the lamb at twilight, waited through the night, and left the next morning on Nissan 15.

Now let us look at the three days and three nights. He was laid in the tomb before the Feast of Unleavened Bread began, because that was a high holy Sabbath, as you can read in John 19 and 20. Count three days and three nights from Passover and you arrive at the Feast of First Fruits — and there is your resurrection. For those who celebrated Passover on Tuesday night this year, the count would run Wednesday night, Thursday night, Friday night — three days and three nights — and they are off by one day. For those who celebrated on Wednesday night, the correct observance this year, the count runs Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night — three days and three nights — landing precisely on the Feast of First Fruits. Yeshua rose not at dawn. He rose just before the end of Shabbat. The women came in the morning and he was already gone. He rose at the very close of Shabbat, having entered the tomb before the Feast of Unleavened Bread began, because the full three days and three nights had to be completed.

So to bring it all together: this year on the Hebrew Jewish calendar, Passover fell on Wednesday night. He was crucified Thursday, laid in the tomb, and rose at the close of Saturday — three days and three nights. We celebrate the Feast of First Fruits on that day and then begin counting. This is why it matters. The counting of the Omer lines up perfectly because you begin counting the Omer on Sunday — or Saturday night going into Sunday. That alignment is everything, and we will read through that in just a few minutes.