I remember hearing a striking sermon preached by a friend of mine. My friend became a Christian as an adult from a Jewish background. He was preaching on the Passover and his experience growing up where the Passover was observed in his home every year. It was an intimate family time for them.
In preparation the family would clean the house before Passover there were symbolic customs.
• The front door of their house remains open.
• There is wine representing the redemption of the Israelites from slavery under the Egyptians.
• There was an empty chair at the table for Elijah. A cup was placed at his seat.
• There was saltwater representing the Red Sea.
• There were bitter herbs representing the Hebrews bitter life as slaves (Exodus 1:13-14).
• There were chopped apples and nuts representing making brick from Clay.
• There was unleavened bread representing purity from sin.
• The Passover lamb without blemish or defect was slain.
Exodus chapter 12 tells the story of the First Passover and the connection with the final plague. The Plague of death. There is a definite connection from the Passover in the Old Testament and the Lord’s supper of the New Testament. From the first Passover in Egypt until the time that Jesus celebrated the Passover there have been certain themes that have continued in importance. In the Lord’s supper the wine represents the shed blood of Jesus to atone for our sins. In the Lord’s Supper Jesus took the bread to symbolize his body that would be broken.
The context of this first Passover the children of Israel are in Egypt, and they are awaiting the tenth and final plague, the plague of death that will inflict the Egyptians and Passover the Israelites. The firstborn in every household of Egypt will die. There will be not exceptions in Egypt from the palace to the dungeon.
The Passover was to be celebrated by the whole community of Jews. It was a family affair, a thanksgiving meal. Each household would take a lamb for their family, one per family. The exception would be if the family was too small to eat a whole lamb they would share with another family.
There is a substitutionary element of the lamb. In Egypt the firstborn would die. In the Hebrew household the death of the lamb took the place of their firstborn. It was a blood sacrifice as a substitute. The blood was sprinkled on the doorposts.
Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. (Exodus 12:7)
When the Israelites sprinkled blood on the doorposts this represented an expression of faith in God. It was faith in God’s ability to rescue them in the plague of death. It was faith in God to ransom his people and release them from the bondage of slavery in Egypt. It was a bondage that lasted 430 years.
The Israelites were to eat the roasted meat, the bitter herbs, and the bread without leaven. It was to be eaten in haste, ready to go. They had their staff in hand during the meal.
This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the LORD’s Passover. (Exodus 12:11)
There were to be ready for their marching orders. They were to be prepared for deliverance. They were ready for the miracle. They were exercising their faith in God. This is to be a lasting ordinance.
“This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD—a lasting ordinance. (Exodus 12:14)
The Passover is to be celebrated every year. They are to remember this time during the tenth plague. When the Lord went through and strikes down the firstborn in every household of Egypt with the plague of death.
The angel of death will see the blood on the households of Israel and pass over that house. They are so secure that not even a dog will bark in Goshen where the Israelites live. There will be a start distinction between Egypt and Israel. One is death and the other deliverance.
But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal.’ Then you will know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. (Exodus 11:7)
Among the Egyptians there is loud wailing in every household. It was worse than it has ever been or ever will be. When the plague struck there was not an Egyptian house without someone dead.
There were all those Israelites ready to exit Egypt. Over a million of them. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. (Exodus 12:5). On that very day the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt. What a moment of victory. They should never forget it.
“In days to come, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. (Exodus 13:14).
The Passover was a time of victory. The Passover was a time of Israel exercising faith. By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel. (Hebrews 11:28)
The Passover has great meaning for Christians. We see the background of the Passover in the Lords Supper. Jesus celebrated the Passover meal just before the cross. That is when he instituted the Lord’s Supper. Jesus applied the meaning of the Passover to himself. The bread is his broken body and the cup is the shed blood of Christ.
And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” 17 After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. 18 For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” (Luke 22:15-18)
Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1 Corinthians 5:7-8)
The Passover lamb was to be without defect. Christ is the sinless Son of God. At the transfiguration Moses and Elijah came and talked to Jesus about his “Exodus”. They understood the work of Jesus on the cross in terms of what God did at the Passover. They understood the cross in the context of redemption and deliverance of the Passover. (Luke 9:31)
When the Jews celebrate the Passover, they take a candle and go through the whole house looking for leaven. In the New Testament Paul’s reference to purge the leaven from your heart. Removing the Leaven is a heart matter.
Jesus is the Passover Lamb the sacrifice one for all. In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. (Hebrews 9:22)
We read in the Bible that Jesus has become our Passover Lamb. Because of faith in Christ, we are passed over from God’s judgement on sin. Jesus is the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29)
It was by faith the Israelites observed the Passover with their staff in hand. Now is your time to put your faith in Jesus Christ. The Passover pointed to the coming of Christ. The sprinkled blood on the doorpost was looking forward to the shed blood of Christ.
