The Feast of Passover (Pesach) Revealed
INTRO
1. People are not as smart as they used to be.
2. Published Saturday, January 29, 2005
Crusade Against Eating Meat Turns Religious
By ABBY WEINGARTEN
New York Times Regional Newspapers
Meat and religious ceremony share a long history, a link so sacred that severing it may seem blasphemous to some.
Then there are others who assert that following an omnivorous diet is a sin all its own.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, has launched an advertising campaign with a bite -- one that suggests good Christians steer clear of flesh consumption, and that Jesus would have agreed with such advice.
3. Of course the absurdity of saying Jesus endorsed vegetarianism is absurd. As a faithful Jew who fully obeyed the Law of God, He had animal sacrifices offered and celebrated the Passover annually, and the Passover involved slaughtering and eating lamb.
4. I usually joke when a man in our church grows a beard. I say, “Great. You are becoming more like Jesus.” I guess I could say the same thing when you eat a lamb dinner!
5. Of course, when we refer to being Christ-like, we are talking about character, not imitating the life of Jesus.
6. But when it comes to the subject of food, we need to accept the reality that food is one interest we all have in common. There is a little bit of Emeril in all of us. God made us that way. As a result, different types of food play a major role in the Religious Festivals of Israel.
7. Just as we associate turkey and cranberries with Thanksgiving, so the ancient Jews associated Lamb and Matzoh – unleavened bread/crackers, with Passover.
8. But the Passover celebration was much more than a meal. It was an intensely religious event with a rich symbolism that foreshadowed the redemptive work of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
MAIN IDEA: Although the Passover is filled with meaning, it’s primary emphasis is Redemption. The New Testament truth that “Christ died for our sins” is demonstrated well in the Passover.
I. Passover Defined in the TORAH (Leviticus 23:4-5)
• What is the Torah? (instruction, esp. the Books of Moses)
1. Based on the DELIVERANCE of Israel from Egypt, out of bondage into freedom
2. This is defined for us in Exodus 12:3-14 passim
“Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household…The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.
“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. That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast…
“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….On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn-both men and animals-and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD .
“The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. 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.”
3. The concept seen here: a PURE lamb is sacrificed, its blood shed and applied so that God’s wrath will “pass over” us.
• As we shall see, that is exactly how we are saved, forgiven, and that is how we are passed over when it comes to wrath time!
• Modern Jews do not typically eat Lamb anymore for Passover to grieve that the Jerusalem Temple is gone; they typically eat chicken, thus losing the symbolism;
But they include a lamb shank bone in their ritual to remind them of the lamb
• Non-Messianic Jews (the vast majority) view Passover merely as a celebration of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. Messianic Jews enter into the richness of its two fold meaing….looking back to Egypt and forward (from Moses’ time) to the Messiah.
II. Jewish Traditions That REVEAL Messiah
1. Whether these go back to the time of Moses or not is a matter of debate, but their meaning seems beyond coincidence. They were in PRACTICE at the time of Jesus.
• We have a cool video in our church library, entitled, “Christ in the Passover”
• If you’ve never seen it, it explains how many of the Passover rituals common in Jewish homes point to Jesus as the Messiah…fascinating video…
• We cannot address them all, but I do want to address the most important ones
2. Jesus words show TWO elements of the Passover meal are of special significance. We know they are because Jesus said so.
3. The 3 MATZOHS
(1) the matzohs probably represent the 3 PERSONS of the Godhead
• They are typically placed together in a pouch
(2) the middle matzoh, the Afikomen (Greek, “He came”), was HIDDEN and then searched for a reward being given to the child who found it
• this is the Matzoh that Christ said, “Is my BODY.”
• Jesus, as the Messiah, was hidden from the Jewish people, but there is great reward for those who find Him
(3) Matzoh represents SINLESSNESS, a description of Messiah
4. They drank three cups of wine. The last cup is called the cup of REDEMPTION. When Jesus drank this cup, He said, “This is my blood.”
5. So the two elements of Communion were taken from the Passover meal…
6. When Jesus said, “This is my body” or “This is my blood,” He was saying,
“You have been doing this for 1500 years, but this ritual predicts my work on the cross. You have been hiding, finding, and breaking the center Matzoh, but that Matzoh represents ME, the sinless, unleavened, 2nd Person of the Godhead whose body would be broken for you. The cup of Redemption anticipated Me shedding my blood for your sins so that you could be redeemed.”
He was also looking forward when He said, “Do this in REMEMBRANCE of me.” So His disciples no longer observed these elements of Passover to await the Messiah, but to commemorate His coming.
III. New Testament Imagery: CHRIST Our Passover
1. Christ was the PURE lamb that was sacrificed for us, shedding His blood so that God’s wrath would Passover us…
I Peter 1:8-9
“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”
Romans 5:9
“Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!”
This pure lamb in the Passover typified Christ:
• Exodus 12:46 reads: “It must be eaten inside one house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones.”
• John 19:32-37 reads, “The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” and, as another scripture says, ‘They will look on the one they have pierced.’”
2. We apply Christ’s blood to the DOORPOSTS of our hearts by receiving Him by faith.
• “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved…” (Acts 16:31)
3. Christ is called our PASSOVER (I Cor. 5:7)
• Turn to that portion, please
• I am not making this stuff up, it’s not just imagination
• Christ is our Passover Lamb…
4. Christ both celebrated the PASSOVER with His disciples and was crucified on Passover day at the same time….how?
• The tricky nature of that monumental weekend…
Harold Hoehner in his book, "Chronological Aspects in the Life of Christ" proposes this solution:
The Phariseess (and most Jews) considered a day to begin at Sunset. So for them, Passover began Thursday evening; hence Christ celebrated the Last Supper during Passover, following the Pharisee’s reckoning as to when a day began...The Passover lambs were slaughtered late Thursday afternoon for most Jews
The Sadduccees, who controlled the priesthood and were weathly, recokoned a day to begin at SUNRISE. To their way of thinking, Passover began Friday morning at 6am., so they would have celebrated their Passover Friday evening. Hence, while Christ was dying, they were slaughtering another set of lambs for the Jews who followed the teaching of Sadduccees. Hence Christ both celebrated the Passover with His disciples Thursday night and died as our Passover on Friday.
Note; for further info, read Hoehner’s book. The reckoning Paul gives to the gentiles, "on the third day" for the resuurecion is the same as current western reckoning. The Jewish idiom, "after three days and nights" is an idiom meaning "on the third day."
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CONCLUSION
1. The Law foreshadows the “good things to come,” namely Christ and His Redemption.
2. We need to see this:
--to better understand what Jesus did
--to renew our confidence in the Scriptures; these things are beyond coincidence
--to appreciate the Nature of God….this is what real Worship is about….
--to reaffirm that God is in control….if He works that intricately in His plan of redemption, He can handle the details of my life, or your life
3. Jesus died for us all nearly 2,000 years ago….we all partook of the Passover while He was on the cross…
You say, “I wasn’t there.” Well, you were.
Curt Cizek
When I went to a Crossways conference the presenter spoke about his tour of the Holy Lands in 1998. The tour gude got on the bus, introduced himself as Amnon. He said that he was named after one of King David’s sons. The presenter said, "You mean the one that assaulted his half-sister Tamar?" It must have been on his "to-do" list to read "How to win friends and influence people." They actually hit it off amazingly. Later, they were talking and the presenter asked Amnon how many Jews went through the Exodus. Amnon said, "We all went through it." That is a collective view of history, a shared history. We, as westerners, don’t think that way. But the history of redemption has become our history, our redemption. (illustration from Sermon Central)
