The Passion of Christ: Hidden Passover Messages of the Lamb (KJV, Part 3)
Nisan 15-17 (Thursday Evening – Sunday Morning)
The cross is now behind us. The Lamb has been slain. His blood has been shed. His body has been wrapped and laid in a new sepulchre. A stone has been rolled into place. The city grows quiet. To human eyes, everything appears finished. But heaven is still keeping time.
What follows is not a gap in time, but part of the story. The silence of the tomb, the passing of the Sabbaths, and the exact day of the resurrection all unfold according to a pattern God established long before Calvary. The same Lord who selected the Lamb on Nisan 10 and offered Him on Passover now brings the story to its triumphant finish on Nisan 17.
The Message of Jesus in the Grave
Once Jesus was buried at even, the stillness began. The crowds were gone. The cries of crucifixion had ended. The battered body of the Son of God lay in the grave. To His enemies, the sealed tomb looked like victory. To His disciples, it must have felt like devastation. To the women who loved Him, the burial no doubt felt final. But it was not final. It was prophetic. Jesus had already declared that His burial would be the great sign given to an unbelieving generation:
“For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Matthew 12:40 (KJV)
That means the grave was not an interruption in the plan of God. It was part of the sign. The tomb itself became a witness. Every hour that Christ remained buried testified that His own words were being fulfilled exactly. Jonah had gone down into the deep and emerged alive as a sign to Nineveh. So too the Lord Jesus Christ entered the depths of death and the heart of the earth, not as a victim overcome, but as the promised One who would rise again at the appointed time. What seemed like silence was actually precision. God’s clock had not stopped ticking.
And for Israel, the message was sobering. Their Messiah had come unto His own, and now He lay in a grave. The One they examined, rejected, scourged, and crucified was now hidden from their sight. The silence of those days speaks of separation, blindness, and the awful cost of rejecting the Holy One. Yet even in the tomb, Christ was still in complete control of the timetable.
For a fuller treatment of the three days and three nights, see the companion article, Why Jesus Christ Died on Passover Wednesday and Not Good Friday: Three Days and Three Nights Explained.
The Message of Nisan 17 and the Feast of Firstfruits
Then came Nisan 17. The silence broke. The stone could not keep Him. The grave could not hold Him. Death could not claim Him. On Nisan 17, Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and His resurrection coincided with the Feast of Firstfruits.
In Leviticus 23, God gave Israel the ordinance of Firstfruits. When the barley harvest began, the people were not free to consume it immediately. First, the sheaf had to be brought before the LORD and waved before Him: “And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you...” Leviticus 23:11 (KJV)
Before the harvest could be enjoyed, the first of it had to be presented to God. That first sheaf stood as the pledge that more was coming. So it is with Christ. “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.” 1 Corinthians 15:20 (KJV)
His resurrection is not just a miracle. It is a declaration. Jesus Christ rose as the firstfruits, the first of a coming harvest. His victory over death guarantees that all who belong to Him will also be raised. The empty tomb is not only proof that He lives; it is the promise that death will not have the final word over His people either.
There is more. Nisan 17 marked the barley harvest, and barley would eventually be bruised and ground into fine flour for bread. Even here, the imagery points us to Christ, who said, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35 KJV). The grain must be broken before it can become bread. So too the Lord Jesus was bruised, smitten, and broken in death, yet rose again as the true sustainer of life for all who believe on Him.
And the law of Firstfruits adds another remarkable detail: “And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish...” Leviticus 23:12 (KJV). There again is the lamb. The feast that celebrates firstfruits still calls for a spotless sacrifice. That detail reaches back to Passover and points once more to Christ. The Lamb selected on Nisan 10, examined and found faultless, crucified on Nisan 14, now lives a resurrected life as the One who fulfills both the sacrifice and the harvest.
The Message of the Empty Tomb
By the time the first witnesses came, the grave had already been defeated. The tomb was empty because the work was accepted. The Father had received the sacrifice of the Son. Everything had happened in order.
· The Lamb was selected on Nisan 10.
· He was examined and found without blemish.
· He was crucified on Nisan 14, the Passover.
· He was buried before even.
· He remained in the grave according to the sign He had given.
· And on Nisan 17, He rose again in perfect sync with the Feast of Firstfruits.
Nothing in this timeline is accidental. Nothing is out of place. From beginning to end, the Passion Week declares that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Law, the feasts, the types, and the promises of God.
Why This Matters
Jesus’ resurrection is more than chronology. It is confirmation. Paul wrote: “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” 1 Corinthians 15:3–4 (KJV)
According to the Scriptures. That is the great lesson of Passion Week. Jesus Christ is who He says He is. He did not die by accident. He did not rise by legend. He fulfilled the Scriptures in exact detail. That should do two things in us.
First, it should strengthen our faith in the Word of God. The Bible is not a loose collection of religious ideas. It is a perfectly ordered revelation, and Passion Week is one of its clearest demonstrations of that order.
Second, it should deepen the fear of God in us. If God fulfilled the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son with such precision, then every other word He has spoken will likewise come to pass. His promises are sure. His warnings are sure. His salvation is sure. The empty tomb is not just the end of the story. It is the seal that the whole story is true.
Richmond Shee
Related Reading
The Passion of Christ: Hidden Passover Messages of the Lamb (KJV) – Part 1
The Passion of Christ: Hidden Passover Messages of the Lamb (KJV) – Part 2
Why Jesus Christ died on Passover Wednesday and not Good Friday
The Doctrine of “Of Old”: Eternity Past Before Genesis