From Passover To Pentecost

INTRO. There are two events of the Jewish calendar that are key events for Christians: the Passover and Pentecost. I want to talk to you about those two events and what they mean for us today. I want to tell you about both events and why they are important to use.

PASSOVER

Exodus 12:1 (NKJV) Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. 3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. 7 And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. 8 Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire—its head with its legs and its entrails. 10 You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. 11 And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’s Passover. 12 ‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. 13 Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. 14 ‘So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.

1. A PICTURE FORECAST

Many events, feasts and even people are pictures or illustrations of the Messiah or Jesus Christ. In a theological term they are called “types.”

When the Israelites followed God’s instruction to kill a lamb without spot or blemish, that is a picture of Jesus, our Passover Lamb. Perfect and without spot or blemish to pay our sin debt.

The death of the animals in Genesis to provide coverings for Adam and Eve point to the death of Jesus on Calvary to be a covering for our sin.

The story of Abraham and Isaac on Mt. Moriah.

The picture of Ruth and Boaz. Boaz is the kinsman redeemer. Jesus Christ is our kinsman Redeemer.

2. A PROPHECY FULFILLED

The passage we read in John is the fulfillment of all the types or pictures in the OT! The greatest proof that the Bible is the Word of God is fulfilled prophecy.

3. A PROMISED FUTURE

The Passover is not just a picture forecast and a prophecy fulfilled, it is a promised future. The night Jesus was betrayed, He did two things that were to be a continual reminder of the promised future we will one day have because of Him: 1) He washed the disciples feet (Jn. 13) and 2) He instituted the observance of the Lord’s Supper.

The Lord’s act of taking on the role of a servant to wash the feet of the disciples is a reminder to us of how we are to serve each other until He comes.

The giving of the bread and the cup, the Lord’s Supper or Communion, is a reminder of His sacrifice for us on the Cross. Notice what Jesus said to the disciples about this in:

Mark 14:23 (NKJV) Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 And He said to them, “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. 25 Assuredly, I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”