JESUS DIED ON PASSOVER

The Feasts of the Lord were special Sabbaths, Holy Convocations, on which no work was to be done.  The day prior, therefore, was known as the Day of Preparation, when all the work necessary to celebrate the Feast was done.  Jesus died on Passover; it was the day the Passover Lamb was to be slain and prepared for the meal that would be consumed after sunset, the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  Compare these verses, especially the last one!

"And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be Holy Convocations, even these are My feasts.  Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an Holy Convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.  These are the feasts of the LORD, even Holy Convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.  In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD's Passover" (Lev. 23:1-5).

"Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate" (Mt. 27:62).

"And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath" (Mk. 15:42).

"And that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on" (Lk. 23:54).

"Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the Passover" (Jn. 18:28).

"And it was the preparation of the Passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King" (Jn. 19:14)!

"The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, for that Sabbath day was an high day, besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away" (Jn. 19:31).

"There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand" (Jn. 19:42).

"Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened.  For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us" (1 Cor. 5:7).