Beginning of the End - Ellen G. White

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised In the city of our
God, In His holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, The joy of the
whole earth, Is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, The city of the
great King. Psalm 48:1, 2 Open to me the gates of righteousness; I
will go through them, And I will praise the Lord. Psalm 118:19
All the homes in Jerusalem were thrown open to the pilgrims,
and rooms were provided free. But this was not enough, and tents
were pitched in every available space in the city and on the
surrounding hills.
On the fourteenth day of the month, at evening, the Passover
was celebrated. Its solemn, impressive ceremonies commemorated
deliverance from slavery in Egypt and pointed forward to the
sacrifice that would deliver from the slavery of sin. When the Savior
gave His life on Calvary, the significance of the Passover ended, and
the service of the Lord's Supper was begun as a memorial of the
same event that the Passover had symbolized in advance.
Meaning of the Festivals
The Passover was followed by the seven days' Feast of
Unleavened Bread. On the second day of the feast, the firstfruits of
the year's harvest were presented before God. The priest waved a
sheaf of grain before the altar of God to acknowledge that
everything was His. The harvest was not to be gathered until this
ceremony had been performed.
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