“You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”
Then the chief priests, the scribes,and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas,and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill Him.But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.”Matt.26:2-5
"Now as they were eating, He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.”Matt.26:21
"After two days it was the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by trickery and put Him to death.But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar of the people.”Mark 14:1-2
"Now as they sat and ate, Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, one of you who eats with Me will betray Me.”Mark 14:18
Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover.
And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him; for they feared the people.
Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.
And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them.
And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money.
And he promised, and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude.Luke 22:1-6
When Jesus had said these things, He was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.”
Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it.” And having dipped the bread, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.
Now after the piece of bread, Satan entered him. Then Jesus said to him, “What you do, do quickly.”John 13:21,26-27
Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.John 13:1
The chief priests and scribes were desiring to kill Jesus,but note "they feared the people" and they were willing to wait until after the feast.There are 3 feasts in a row here Passover,Unleavened Bread and First Fruits.There would be thousands of people here for the feasts.They wanted rid of Jesus but with all these people here,they were willing to wait until the feasts were over.
Now Jesus had been saying for months now that He was going to Jerusalem and would be betrayed,killed and resurrected.Now the Passover was near and He knew that His hour had come.He kept telling the disciples that one of them would betray Him.Now Judas had already made the deal with the priests and scribes and was looking for the ideal time but I think they were going to wait until after Passover and maybe until the feasts were over and the people had dissipated.
This could never be.Jesus was the Passover and He had to die on the cross at the same time they were killing their passover lambs and Jesus knew this.His hour had come.I believe Jesus knew their plans and He had to urge Judas to go on and set up the time and He made sure that Judas knew where He would be.We know now that Satan was working against himself in wanting Jesus dead.I believe In 1 Corinthians 2:7,8 we are told that if Satan had had any inkling of all that God had planned,he would not have allowed Him to be crucified.But at this time Satan and the leaders wanted Him dead,but they didn't want to stir up the people and cause a riot,because this would bring Rome down on them for sure.So Jesus had to make the move for them.
Maybe Satan knew enough of the O.T. lamb offerings and the Passover lamb,that He was trying to keep Jesus from dying "according to the scriptures". Just maybe he was trying to kill Him in the garden,when I believe that all the guilt of all the sins of all the world was coming upon Him and His Holy Nature was having to deal with it and angels came and ministered to Him so He could make it to the cross the next day.Jesus thought He was dying in the garden that night and He new that wasn't the way it was suppose to be.Satan had tried to kill Him several times but didn't succeed because it wasn't His time.
" For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us."1 Corinthians 5:7
But praise the Lord that Satan wasn't successful with his plans and our Savior did go to the cross and died at the right time and was resurrected just like He said He would and is now seated in Heaven interceding for us and just anticipating the moment He gets the word to "go get your Bride". PERHAPS TODAY