The Passover is the most important day of the year for a converted person. If he or she inadvertently misses the first Passover due to circumstances beyond their control, YEHOVAH God had provided a “make-up” Passover. The fact that YEHOVAH God provides a make-up day certainly emphasizes the importance of the PASSOVER. But why is Passover the only holiday to have a make-up day?

The simple response: Passover Is easy to miss. From a practical standpoint, Passover is the only holiday whose central observance can be easily missed due to circumstances beyond one’s control. For example, with enough effort, one can almost always make sure to have access to a shofar for the Day of Atonement, a lulav and etrog for the Feast of Tabernacles, etc.

On the other hand, in Temple times, the centerpiece of Passover was eating the Passover offering with the unleavened bread and bitter herbs. In fact, the very name of the holiday, “Pesach” (translated as Passover), comes from the Passover offering.

Now, this could only be done in close proximity to the Temple in Jerusalem (or its forerunner, the Tabernacle), and one had to be in a state of ritual purity. Due to these logistical hurdles, it was entirely conceivable for someone of Israel to miss the Passover offering and therefore need to take advantage of a “round two.”

In fact, this is exactly how the Second Passover came to be. We read in the Old Testament that as the first anniversary of the Exodus approached and YEHOVAH God instructed the people of Israel to bring the Passover offering on the afternoon of the 14th of Nisan, “there were, however, certain persons who had become ritually impure through contact with a dead body, and could not, therefore, prepare the Passover offering on that day. They approached Moses and Aaron...and they said: ‘...Why should we be deprived, and not be able to present YEHOVAH’s offering in its time, amongst the children of Israel?’” (Numbers 9:6-7).

In response to their plea, YEHOVAH God established the 14th of Iyar (the next month after Nisan) as the Second Passover for anyone who was unable to bring the offering at its appointed time in the previous month.

The Deeper Reason: Passover Is Our Birth

The underlying theme of the Second Passover is the concept of “return” (teshuvah, in Hebrew), and that it is never too late to correct our mistakes. The theme of the Second Passover is that it is never too late. It is always possible to put things right. Even if one was ritually impure, or one was far away, nonetheless he can correct it.

This is uniquely tied to Passover, which marks the “birth of YEHOVAH's nation of Israel." You can miss many things (buses, exams, work meetings and even flights) and make them up later. But if you miss being born, you really missed the boat!

Therefore, YEHOVAH God wanted every person who missed the first Passover, to have a second chance at Passover, teaching that it truly is never too late to correct our deficiencies, even the most fundamental ones.

Nowadays, even though we cannot bring the Passover offering, we celebrate the Second Passover the same way as celebrating the First.  When marking this day, we should take the clear lesson to heart that no matter how far we may go, or how impure we may have become, YEHOVAH God will pave the way for His people Israel if we sincerely want to make amends.

Let us look at the Biblical instructions for keeping the Second Passover. Numbers 9: 1-14:

Verse 10: “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: If anyone of you or your posterity is unclean because of a dead body, or is far away on a journey, he may still keep the LORD’s Passover.”

Verse 11: “On the fourteenth day of second month, at twilight, they may keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs” (NKJV).

Remember, we are keeping the New Testament Passover to accept the Messiah as our Passover, 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, as well as remembering the momentous events that occurred when the Children of Israel left their captivity in Egypt.

"Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (NKJV).

To reiterate: We keep the Second Passover the same way we keep the First Passover. You only keep the Second Passover if you have inadvertently missed the First Passover.

Take your Bible and read, in 2 Chronicles 30, how the Nation of Judah, and some of Ephraim and Manasseh, kept the Second Passover in Hezekiah’s day.

The Bible’s only recorded observance of the Second Passover occurs in 2 Chronicles 29 and 30, so this will establish the pattern we should expect to see one day -- prophetically fulfilled with respect to this holy day. YEHOVAH God’s first Passover had long been forgotten by Israel, just as Passover was forgotten by many in the New Testament Church and replaced with “Easter” -- which was named after the demonic god Ishtar. I finally understood Passover in 1964. It was never taught in the Church of England (Episcopal Church) that I occasionally attended as a youth, but when I came in contact with a Passover-keeping church and read my Bible, the lights finally came on in 1964 with respect to its profound meaning.

The status of YEHOVAH's Ecclesia today is similar, I believe, to that of the Israelites in Hezekiah’s day. History shows that most Christian-Israelites failed to walk in the ways of their God, just as Israel did before them. Whereas Israel followed their own laws and practices, and disregarded YEHOVAH’s laws, so some in YEHOVAH's Ecclesia turned the sacrifice of the Messiah into a license to sin, and followed their own doctrines of demons. And so we see that YEHOVAH God is about to do again what He did in Hezekiah’s day.

In 2 Chronicles 29-30 YEHOVAH God anoints Hezekiah to serve as prophet, priest, and king. In 29:1 we see Hezekiah becoming king at age 25. In 29:5-11 we see him prophetically command the priests and the Levites to sanctify themselves and the house of YEHOVAH God. In 30:18-19 he functions as priest when he prays for the plague-stricken people who partook of the Passover lamb in uncleanness and lack of sanctification. These Israelites correspond to the multitudes of Christian-Israelites today who take YEHOVAH’s Name in vain by ascribing their vain works to the name of the Messiah and who hold the Truth of YEHOVAH God in unrighteousness (they believe in the Messiah's sacrifice, but they applaud, partake of, or do not condemn works of evil, especially sexual immorality).

Hezekiah’s works described in 2 Chronicles emulate King David who, at various times, also acted in the three roles of prophet, priest, and king. Both kings prophetically picture those who will serve in YEHOVAH’s Kingdom after the Order of Melchizedek. They are the remnant, the Israelite overcomers, the sons of YEHOVAH God.

From post-Temple times onward (after 70 A.D.), the only trace of the Second Passover or Pesach Sheini from Old Testament times having been observed, has been the omission of supplicatory prayers, called Tahanun. Tahanun means "supplication" in Hebrew, and refers to penitential prayers. Penitential prayers are prayers that are characterized by asking forgiveness from YEHOVAH God for sins or transgressions committed, which was connected to one of the reasons for needing to observe a Second Passover in Old Testament times -- that of being ritually impure on the traditional date for Passover, the 14th of the Hebrew month of Nisan.

The omission of Tahanun prayers, or penitential prayers, from the observance of the Second Passover at dusk on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Iyar was invoked to prevent the worshipper from feeling even more remorse for the transgressions committed (being ritually impure on the traditional date for Passover, for instance), or in the case of Pesach Sheini being a joyous festival -- meaning celebrating the Second Passover -- Tahunan prayers were omitted to prevent lessening the joy of celebrating the Second Passover.

In addition to omitting Tahanun prayers as being evidence of having observed the Second Passover in New Testament times and beyond, in some communities the Second Passover was marked by the eating of unleavened Bread -- just like in the First Passover.

The Second Passover, as mentioned, is also sometimes referred to as the Minor Passover.

The Second Passover -- Meaning And Significance

The second chance symbolized by the Second Passover means that although one was unable to succeed in a first attempt -- in the case of the Israelites who were geographically too distant or outside the area of the courtyard of the Temple in Jerusalem where they were supposed to perform the sacrifice of the Passover at its appointed time and date -- there is hope through faith in YEHOVAH God that one will be given a second chance to succeed. In the case of the ritually unclean Israelites by contact with a dead man, the awareness and association of the physical ending in death, followed by a suddenly enhanced desire to return to YEHOVAH God (teshuvah in Hebrew), was accomplished by moving toward a reinforcement of life within oneself through the enacting of YEHOVAH's commandments.

This means that through enhanced thinking, feeling and behaving in accordance with YEHOVAH's laws and values, complete with faith in YEHOVAH God through intellectually and verbally demonstrating one's holy intentions, one is eventually rewarded by YEHOVAH God at a future date -- at the Resurrection! The Second Passover is, therefore, an example to YEHOVAH's people Israel in every generation that anything is possible through one's faith in YEHOVAH God and His laws.

The glorified sons of YEHOVAH God will lead Christian-Israelites, remaining through Jacob's Trouble, into the ways of YEHOVAH God. Their hearts now will be prepared to hear the Word of truth and they will accept YEHOVAH’s Word in humility and gladness. They will sanctify themselves. They will repent of their sins. YEHOVAH God will send revival among them and they will see miracles they have never seen. In fact, the two week celebration of Hezekiah’s Second Passover, versus only one week in the traditional Passover, prophesies of a double anointing to come upon YEHOVAH's Ecclesia during the time of Jacob's Trouble. And even though the times are fraught with fear and danger, these saints of Israel will sing and dance before the LORD, just as they did in Hezekiah’s time. These are the saints who take part in the first resurrection which occurs at the end of Jacob's Trouble and the beginning of the Millennium.

We read of this time in the book of Hebrews, which is a quotation from Jeremiah 31:31:

Hebrews 8:10: "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people."

Yes, the prophet, priest, and king known as Hezekiah led an apostate, carnal Israelite people back to the living God at a time of their greatest danger, at the time when Assyria was destroying the Northern Kingdom of Israel and threatening to do the same to the Southern Kingdom of Judah. So shall it be at that designated Second Passover when YEHOVAH God reveals the sons of God -- the 144,000 of Revelation 7 -- and brings this age to a close, for this is the time when Satan once again threatens to destroy all of YEHOVAH God’s people Israel from the face of the earth.

"And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: 'The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins'" (Romans 11:26-27).

Hope of Israel Ministries -- Preaching YEHOVAH's Truth Without Fear or Favor!

Hope of Israel Ministries P.O. Box 853 Azusa, CA 91702, U.S.A. www.hope-of-israel.org

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