Passover: A Festival of Freedom
Exodus 12
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4a0lT_1Zgs
As I was putting together this message, I became somewhat confused, and for all of you who know me, you know that this is a constant state that I find myself in. Yet, this was somewhat more than that, because I kept going back and forth between doing several different messages on the Passover.
And there was a moment where I seriously considered casting lots, which is the biblical definition for rolling the dice, flipping a coin, or saying “enie, mine, mini, mo.” And then I thought about praying, which is quite an innovative concept. And then I realize that the Lord was giving me just one message, that had these various aspects as a part of it.
And it all came when I was looking at one of the names given to the Passover feast, and that is, “A Festival of Freedom.” What this means is that Passover is a time of celebration and of great joy as the Jewish people gather to remember how God delivered them from their Egyptian bondage.
Now, this word, “remember,” is a key to our understanding, and I’ll get to this in a bit, but for now, the Passover is that time when the children of Israel, the Jews, are to remember what God did for them as He set them free.
And so, my question is, “Did the Jews experience real freedom?” We’re they truly free? Are the Jews a free people today? Or for that matter, is there anyone who is truly free?
So, before we delve further, I want to go and look at what the Lord said about the Passover.
“Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, ‘This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: 'On the tenth day of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. 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. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 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. 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. Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. … (and) 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. 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. 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. 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.’” (Exodus 12:1-14 NKJV)
Up to this point, the Jewish people had been in Egypt for about 400 years. They came to Egypt when Jacob brought the whole family there to escape the great drought. Now, the Lord prepared the way by sending Jacob’s son, Joseph, before them, who became the 2nd most powerful man in the world. But, after Joseph’s death there was a Pharaoh who didn’t know Joseph, or better, never respected his legacy. And because the Jewish people became too numerous, the Egyptians forced them into slavery.
To free them from slavery, God raised up a deliverer. No, it wasn’t Charleston Heston, but Moses. Moses was born to the tribe of Levi, but through God’s intervention was raised as the son of Pharaoh’s sister. But seeing the injustice done to the Jews, he stepped in and killed an Egyptian. Fearing for his life, he fled into the wilderness eventually ending up in the land of Midian, where he married the daughter of Jethro, a priest of Midian.
There he became a shepherd for 40 years until the Lord appeared to Him in a burning bush, and told him to return to Egypt, and through the Lord assistance, deliver God’s people.
Now, for those who remember English class, what I just gave might be best described as the Cliff Note edition of the story. And I could easily take a year to unpack everything that is contained within, and several months to unpack the Passover itself. But seeing that we only have a short time together, what I want to do is focus on this idea of freedom.
Now, going back to the question I raised earlier, did the Jews experience true freedom, and is this feast of Passover that God ordained to take place every year, only to remember this as a great historic event? Or did God intend for us to see a greater deliverance that He had in mind for His people, those who would call upon His name, who would live their lives by faith, as the prophet Habakkuk declared that the just should live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4)?
And so, God delivered His people and revealed Himself in many ways, as He parted the Red Sea, allowing them to walk across it on dry ground, and then had it crashing down upon the Egyptians, thus making their deliverance complete. The Lord then revealed His presence to His people by going before them in a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. God also gave them also manna from heaven to eat, and water from a rock to drink. And then to cement them as His people, He gave to them the law. Yet, in all of this were they free? I mean really free?”
Or was this event meant to reveal a greater freedom that was to come? Consider this question in view of the commandment to remember the Sabbath day and to keep it holy. Was this the true rest that God wanted for His people, or was there a further rest that this pointed to? When the children of Israel entered into the land, did they truly have rest? This question was taken up by the writer of Hebrews.
“Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.” (Hebrews 4:1 NKJV)
You see, even though the children of Israel eventually entered into the land, after wandering in the wilderness for 40 years because of the hardness of their hearts, not all entered. In fact, all those who hardened their hearts at God’s promise at the report of the ten spies, had to die there in the wilderness. Yet, those that did enter, did they enter into God’s rest? Now, the writer of Hebrews takes his argument from what King David wrote in Psalm 95.
“Today, if you will hear His voice: ‘Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, as in the day of trial in the wilderness’ … ‘For forty years I was grieved with that generation’ … ‘So I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest.’” (Psalm 95:7-11)
The fact that David used the word, “today,” reveals that there still is a rest that the children of Israel have not entered into. The writer of Hebrews goes on to say, “For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day.” (Hebrews 4:8 NKJV)
And he goes on to say in verse 9 that there still remains a rest. “There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.” (Hebrews 4:9 NKJV)
Yet, they didn’t enter into this rest. And the writer of Hebrews tells us why, it’s because they didn’t mix the promises spoken of by God with faith (Hebrews 4:2). And the same goes for us today. Knowing what the Bible says and knowing the promises of God of a greater rest and a greater deliverance is not enough. We must mix what we know with faith, even though at the present moment we cannot see it.
The promise of Passover is that God had in mind a greater deliverance for His people. And that’s because they were never truly free, and they still aren’t today. Consider again the Sabbath. God commanded it, but the Jewish leaders throughout the years have added over 300 additional laws surrounding this one law of God to keep the Sabbath day holy. And so truly, there is no real freedom in such regulated living.
But then, the law was never meant to bring God’s people into true freedom or rest. What the law was designed to do is to reveal that no one is right in the eyes of God, or as Solomon said, “For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin.” (Ecclesiastes 7:20 NKJV)
So, no one can say that they are truly free in and through the Law, because even while they may be free politically, or socially, they are not free spiritually. They are not free in their souls or spirits. Therefore, there is a further freedom, a further deliverance, a further Passover that is available.
But the blood of lambs and goats will never suffice, only the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, will wipe away sin and deliver people from their bondage, not to a foreign power, but rather to the power of sin and death that reigns over humanity.
The prophet Isaiah reveals that this Lamb of God is God’s righteous servant, who is none other than the Messiah, the branch of David, or as the Lord called in through the prophet Jeremiah as the Lord our righteousness, or Jehovah Tsidkenu. What Isaiah reveals is that the Messiah mission was to be this Passover Lamb, which John the Baptist revealed as the one who would take away the sins of the world.
“He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief … He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth … He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken … You make His soul an offering for sin … My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities … He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53 NKJV)
And so, it was that the Messiah, Jesus Christ, died upon the cross on this very day that the Feast of Passover is held, and He was then buried on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, a Feast that lasted 7 days, and then he rose from the dead three days after the Passover, which was the first day of the week, or the Feast of Firstfruits. And so, not only did Jesus keep the feasts when He was alive, but also in His death, burial and resurrection.
You see, God had a greater deliverance already planned when He delivered the Jews from their Egyptian bondage and instituted the Feast of Passover. And so, quoting the Apostle Paul, “All these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” (1 Corinthians 10:11 NKJV)
And so, through the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, God was going to institute a greater Passover for all those who will believe the promise, who will mix the word of God with faith, the same faith that Abraham showed which God accounted to Him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6).
And so, today anyone can enter into God’s rest, enter into the freedom that God set up from the very beginning through belief in Jesus Christ, that He not only died to set us free from sin and death, but He rose again on the third day to confirm His promise.
Therefore, as the Bible declares, that if there is anyone who will confess the Lord Jesus Christ with their mouths and believe in their hearts that God has raised Him from the dead, then they will be saved and delivered from their bondage to sin and death and enter into God’s rest and freedom (Romans 10:9).
Yet, it is the way that we go about remembering what God has done that turns so many people off to the message, and why people have a hard time believing in Jesus. You see, we’ve sanitized our belief, and in the process have made the message and our lives as bland as milk toast.
I love the Passover Seder. It is one of those times that I get so much out of because I see through the meal, not only the first Passover in Egypt, but also the Passover God is giving to His people today through Jesus Christ.
The unfortunate part of this is how we have in many ways sanitized the story through our customs and traditions, and have watered down the message God desired to give.
I love it when the people go all in. I have done multiple Passover Seders throughout my years, not only in family settings, but also for churches. And there are always one or two that want the full experience. Like when we’re to partake of the bitter herbs. Every time there is someone who piles the horseradish high on the Matzo. And inevitably we have to come to their rescue, helping them catch their breath, and with cool liquids reestablish their taste buds.
The meal has also been sanitized because, “Where’s the Lamb.” Today we’re told that because the sacrifices are no longer made, lamb is not served. But that is nowhere found in the Bible. And so, instead of lamb, beef brisket or chicken is served. And all that shows that the lamb was a part of the meal, is a roasted shank bone.
But there is one more missing ingredient, and that is, the blood. And this is especially important when someone doesn’t believe in the sacrifice Jesus made.
You see, the Passover feast was no Ladies Tea. And God never sanitized it because He needed for the Jews, and therefore us as well, to understand the real consequences of our sins.
Here is a lamb, a little lamb, a lamb that the children probably called “lamie.” And for four days the lamb stayed in their homes, and the children played with it, slept with it, but then on the fourteenth day, of on the feast day, the lamb was slaughtered at the door of the household and its blood ran down into the basin at the foot of the doorway. The father then put a hyssop bush into the shed blood of this innocent little lamb and brushed it on the top and side posts of the door.
Now, there’s nothing sanitized about that!
Today, however, we’d call counselors for the children and get PETA protesting outside. Then we’d have congress pass some new laws and the courts would forbid the practice of the Passover. You see, there is nothing that we would call civilized in this feast.
Now, this whole idea of watering down the message, and by association our faith, came to me quite some time ago when I heard a message by pastor Erwin McManus. In his message he wondered how the church could ever come up with the statement that the safest place to be in in the center of God’s will. Now, I understand why people say that, because when we’re in the center of God’s will, that is when were the safest in our walk with God. But we are far from safe physically, because when we’re in the center of God’s will is when we are the most exposed.
And so, through these types of statements, we’ve sanitized the message. What we need to realize is that when we’re a follower of Jesus, while were in the center of His will, we’re in no way safe.
The first church understood this, because we can easily say that they were in the center of God’s will, as the gospel was spread throughout the known world in a single generation. But they were also persecuted and put to death because of it.
The Apostle Paul was in the center of God’s will and listen to how safe he was. He was whipped within an inch of his life 5 times, he was beaten with rods 3 times, once he was stoned and left for dead, and he was shipwrecked not just once but 3 times. He was in constant peril, and often went without sleep and food. His was not a sanitized or civilized life. Rather it was a life lived through the power of the Holy Spirit, and as such a life lived in great joy and in the fullness of God’s glory.
What the church is presenting today has been so watered down and sanitized that it really doesn’t bother the devil one bit, and that’s because we aren’t making much of a difference in the lives of those who attend, and that’s because we’re not mixing the words that are spoken with faith, that is living them out in our lives. And the reason is because the word tells us to do things that we really don’t want to do. Like it tells us to tithe, but we say, from the gross or net, and isn’t it more symbolic than a reality? God’s word also tells us to confess our sins and turn away from them, yet we let things slide saying that God will forgive us, and we’re living in a completely different time and generation.
Is it any wonder then why people are not flocking to the church! It hasn’t any power. It has the form of godliness, but it lacks the power thereof (2 Timothy 3:5). We have to stop talking about repenting and start doing it.
If we look back at history, all those who gained their freedom did so through much sorrow and bloodshed. Why then do we give a message that it’s easy to be a Christian? Yes, initial salvation comes when we confess with our mouths Jesus Christ and believe in our hearts that God has raised Him from the dead, but after that, Satan comes back swinging, and unless we tell the full story, and not our sanitized version, then people are going to get really hurt.
The freedom that comes through Jesus upon the cross was not sanitized. He died in one of the most horrific deaths ever devised by the human race. We need to see that our freedom came at a great price, the death of God’s own Son, Jesus. His blood ran down His face and head from the crown of thorns. Blood ran from His back as He was brutally beaten and whipped with a cat of nine tails. Blood ran from His hands and feet from the nails that held Him to the cross, and blood mixed with water ran down His side as they pierced His heart to see if He had died.
Jesus’s death was not civilized; therefore, let’s stop sanitizing it in how we speak about it. Our freedom was bought with a great price, for just as the lamb had to die and its blood shed to set the Jews free from their Egyptian bondage, so did Jesus, the Lamb of God, had to die and His blood shed on that Passover 2,000 years ago so that all who mix God’s word with faith could be set free from the bondages of sin and death and experience the rest that God promised, both now and for all eternity.
It is with this then that we can truly call Passover a Festival of Freedom, a time of rejoicing and celebrating what God has done, not only in the deliverance of the Jewish people from their bondage to the Egyptians, but in the greater deliverance through what Jesus Christ did by being that sacrifice for our sins, setting free all who would believe.
There is not greater reason to celebrate than that, so let’s celebrate and rejoice for our salvation is here, bringing with it God’s ultimate rest and freedom.
