There are so many churches in the world that say they believe in God. However, it is only the Church of God that celebrates the New Covenant Passover, one of God’s feasts that contain the promise of salvation.

Just as the Bible says, “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge” (Hos 4:6), many people do not understand the Bible correctly and regard the Passover as something that they don’t need to celebrate; they think that the kingdom of heaven will come upon them if they just believe in God. Through the words of the Bible, let us review the meaning of the Passover and discern the truth from falsehood.

Those who shut the kingdom of heaven

When Jesus came to this earth 2,000 years ago, the religious leaders were guiding many people on the wrong path, instead of following the teachings of God.

Mt 23:13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.”

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees were the mainstream religious leaders of those days. However, Jesus rebuked them for not leading people to the kingdom of heaven but shutting the door of heaven in people’s faces while they themselves did not enter and stopped those who were trying to enter.

It is obvious where those who prevented people from entering heaven would end up. Jesus sternly warned them over and over again.

Mt 23:32–33 “. . . You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?”

Jesus compared the teachers of the law and the Pharisees to whitewashed tombs. It was because they outwardly appeared righteous but inwardly were full of hypocrisy and lawlessness, like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful but inside are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness (Mt 23:27–28). They prevented many people from entering heaven by deceiving them, so they could never escape being condemned to hell.

Let’s take a look at the scene where they are rejected from entering heaven although they are trying to.

Mt 7:21–23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers [you who practice lawlessness, NASB]!’ ”

Not everyone who calls out to God, “Lord, Lord,” can enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of God can enter it.

Do you think those who shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces and stop the people who are trying to enter are the ones who do the will of God? Not at all! Though they prophesy in the name of the Lord, Jesus calls them “those who practice lawlessness.”

“I have eagerly desired to celebrate the Passover”

Then, what about the Passover which we observe today? Is it God’s will for us to celebrate it or not? Jesus says we can enter the kingdom of heaven if we do the will of God. So, we need to clearly know whether or not it is God’s will for us to keep the Passover. Let’s find out what the New Testament says about the Passover.

Lk 22:7–15 He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present. Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.” . . . They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover. When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”

Jesus sent two of His disciples, Peter and John, whom He especially loved, to prepare the Passover. When the time of the Passover came, Jesus sat at the table and said, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover.” By saying this, Jesus showed how much He had wanted to celebrate the Passover. Like that, the Passover was celebrated according to Jesus’ earnest will. At the Passover Supper, Jesus made a covenant with His disciples as follows:

Lk 22:19–20 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”

While celebrating the Passover, Jesus took bread and gave it to His disciples, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” Then He took the cup of wine and gave it to His disciples, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”

The Passover is a sacred law, statute and ordinance which God established through His precious flesh and blood when He came to this earth to save human beings. We can see the same scene in the Gospel of Matthew, which also clearly shows it is God’s will for us to celebrate the Passover.

Mt 26:17–19 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’ ” So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.

In the above verses, too, we can see that Jesus Himself said He would celebrate the Passover and had the disciples prepare the Passover. Jesus did everything as an example for us to follow (Jn 13:15). The scene of Jesus celebrating the Passover with His disciples appears repeatedly in the four Gospels which record Jesus’ life and work. This shows us that it is God’s will for us to keep the Passover according to His example.

Passover, the truth to open heaven’s door

So, it is Jesus’ will, God’s will, for us to keep the New Covenant Passover. Jesus says only the person who does the will of God can enter the kingdom of heaven. So, only those who celebrate the Passover can enter heaven.

Then, how can the door to heaven be opened through the Passover? Let’s see what blessing is contained in the Passover.

Jn 6:53–58 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.”

Jesus says that unless we eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, we have no life in us, and that whoever eats His flesh and drinks His blood has eternal life. He has put an important meaning in the Passover bread and wine; the bread symbolizes His flesh, and the wine His blood. So, those who do not celebrate the Passover cannot be said to have eternal life, although they have life on this earth.

There is no death in heaven (Rev 21:1–4). So, only those who are blessed with eternal life can enter the kingdom of heaven. The Passover, which has the promise of eternal life, is the truth to open the door of heaven.

The Passover is a feast that God has commanded His people to keep since the time of Moses, 3500 years ago. God has ordered them to celebrate the Passover in accordance with its regulations given in the Old and New Testaments respectively. It’s because they can enter the kingdom of heaven only if they observe the Passover.

1 Co 11:23–26 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

The Apostle Paul told the early Christians that he received from the Lord what he also passed on to them, and then he explained the Passover ceremony to them and asked them to celebrate it until the Lord’s coming. The command Paul received from Jesus was to keep the Passover. The Passover we observe now is the law of life we must keep.

The history of abolition of the Passover

Despite it all, there is no church that celebrates the Passover today, except the Church of God. That’s really a wonder. Satan, who opposes God, has been devising all kinds of crafty schemes to abolish the truth of life God has given us (Da 7:25). Especially, he has been trying to hinder the truth of the Passover from the second century—about 100 years after Jesus’ ascension—up until today.

After the Apostolic Age, the early Church was divided into the Eastern Church, led by Jerusalem and Asia Minor, and the Western Church led by Rome. Around that time, the Church of Rome, which had been celebrating Communion on Easter, had disputes with the Eastern Church that had been holding Communion on the Passover.

Around A.D. 155, the first dispute was initiated between Polycarp the bishop of the Church in Smyrna—one of the Eastern Churches, and Anicetus the bishop of the Church in Rome representing the Western Churches. Polycarp, who was personally taught by the Apostle John—one of the Twelve, strongly rejected the Western Churches’ claim that the celebration of the Passover on the 14th of Nisan (the first month of the sacred calendar) should be abolished and Communion should be held on Easter, instead.

The first controversy over the Pasca (Passover) failed, and around A.D. 197 the Eastern and Western Churches clashed with each other over the same matter again. Victor, the bishop of the Church in Rome, forced all the churches to follow the Rule of Dominic, under which they should celebrate the Passover Communion on Easter—the first Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Polycrates, the bishop of the Church of Ephesus, and all the other Eastern Churches also rejected it, saying they should celebrate the Passover just as the apostles did.

Due to Satan’s crafty schemes, however, the power of lawlessness gradually became stronger, and at the Council of Nicaea convened by the Roman Emperor Constantine in A.D. 325 it was decided that the Passover Communion should be celebrated on Easter. So, the Passover was completely abolished. The Passover and Easter are clearly different feasts. Nevertheless, Satan cleverly connected the two feasts and abolished the Passover.

Since the Passover, which contains the promise of eternal life, was abolished, no one has been able to enter the kingdom of heaven for over 1,600 years. So, many churches in the world today do not observe the Passover but follow the doctrines that have been changed. However, Jesus has restored the New Covenant Passover according to Bible prophecy, and the door to heaven which was once closed has been opened again.

Passover, an eternal promise

The new covenant is the truth that only God can establish. About 600 years before Jesus proclaimed the new covenant on the Passover, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood,” it had already been prophesied in the Old Testament book of Jeremiah that God would establish a new covenant.

Jer 31:31–36 “The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah . . . This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. This is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the LORD Almighty is his name: Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,” declares the LORD “will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me.”

God has said He will be the God of those who have His law written on their hearts and they will be His people. This means that only those who keep the law of the new covenant, the New Covenant Passover, can be God’s people. God has even promised to forgive all their wickedness and sins. He has also declared that the new covenant is an everlasting covenant, just as He has made it clear that He appoints the sun to shine by day and decrees the moon and stars to shine by night.

When the door of heaven is opened through the New Covenant Passover, God will examine us to see if we have His flesh and blood in us. Those who keep the Passover are the ones who have inherited God’s flesh and blood, so they can pass through heaven’s door, but those who reject the Passover do not have God’s flesh and blood in them and they are distinguished from God’s children right away.

There are numerous churches in the world, and many Christians are living without even knowing what God’s will is and how God gives us life. 2,000 years ago, many people who claimed to believe in God denied Jesus and rejected His teachings. In this age, too, many people who claim to believe in Jesus do not celebrate the Passover that contains His holy will. It’s very deplorable.

We need to clearly realize what church has the truth of the new covenant, as the church established by God Himself, and we should go to that church, so we can enter the kingdom of heaven. Brothers and sisters in Zion! I earnestly ask you all to understand God’s grace through the Passover and preach the New Covenant Passover—the truth of life—powerfully to many people who do not yet know it.