The Meaning Of Passover Series

Next week is Easter, and since it falls on the first of the quarter this year we will partake of the Lord’s Supper on Easter morning. Tonight we will, in a manner of sorts, be observing Communion with what is called a Passover Meal. Now, the origin of the Lord’s Supper just so happens to be the Passover of which Jesus and His disciples partook on the night before His crucifixion.

Many times we think of Passover as being only a Jewish observance, but I am hoping to show us that it can be meaningful for Christians as well. It is meaningful because of its symbolism, and how it can remind us of all the Lord has done for us by freeing us from the bondage of sin and bringing us into the Promised Land of eternal life in Christ Jesus. We will begin this morning with looking at the origin of the Passover, which can be found in Exodus 12:1-13. So, let us now stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.

Origin of the Passover (Exodus 12:1-13)

1 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.”

Here we encounter a set-up to the final plague on Egypt. Back in Exodus 11:1, we read, “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether’.” As the Scripture reveals, this last plague would result in the liberation of Israel from slavery in Egypt.

What was this last plague? In Exodus 11:4 we are told that this final plague would result in the death of all the firstborn living in Egypt, which would include even the Israelites, unless they did according to the instructions they were given in our main text. According to Exodus 12:23, this mass killing of people would take place at the hands of “the destroyer,” which was possibly an “angel of death.”

In our main text we are shown the provision for Israel’s rescue from “the destroyer.” The people were to kill a male lamb without blemish (v. 5) at twilight (v. 6), and then smear its blood on the doorposts and lintel of their homes (v. 7). In verse 13 the Lord said, “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.” We also learn that they were supposed to eat of the Lamb that was slain, and partake of a meal of unleavened bread and bitter herbs (v. 8). Both this special night and the meal were called “Passover.”