Monday, April 15, 2019

MEANING OF THE PASSOVER STORY



            This is the time of the year when we remember our Savior Jesus Christ, how He was crucified on the cross, was buried in a tomb, and three days later rose from the dead! John the Baptist, his cousin, told everyone that Jesus was the LAMB OF GOD who would take away the sins of the world! The story of this Lamb is found all through the Old and New Testaments,[1] especially in the story of the Passover, which is found in the book of Exodus, the 12th chapter.
            Way back two thousand years after the world was created, God found a man with faith, named Abraham, and promised him that He would bless him and make of him a great nation, that through his descendants, especially One descendant, God would bless the whole world.[2] God gave him sad news, too, that this nation, called Israel, would be slaves in Egypt for over 400 years. But God promised that He would bring the Israelites out of Egypt, make them a free people to show the world what God is like, and He would bring them into the Promised Land![3]
            The problem was that the King of Egypt, Pharaoh, would not let the Israelites go. God chose a Hebrew man, an Israelite, named Moses, to have a showdown with Pharaoh, and He sent Moses and his brother Aaron to the palace to demand the Hebrew slaves be set free. The Egyptian people worshiped lots of gods, such as frogs, flies, and the Nile River, so God decided to prove that none of these things were real gods, only He was God. He would send plagues on the land of Egypt to force Pharaoh to release God’s chosen people. He turned the Nile River to blood, and He sent frogs, flies, locusts, and other plagues[4] to destroy the land of Egypt. Each time the Pharaoh would get Moses to pray to God to take these terrible things away, but then he became stubborn again and refused to release his slaves.
            The tenth plague would be the worst of all. Every first born son of the families of Egypt would die, even the Pharaoh’s son! None of the Israelites’ sons would die, but they had to obey God and kill a lamb for each household, take its blood and smear it on the tops and sides of the doors to their houses. Then they had to get inside the house and eat the roasted lamb with bitter herbs while standing up, being ready to leave Egypt. The death angel would come through the land of Egypt to kill all the first born sons. But he would PASS OVER the houses that had blood on the doorposts. So the Israelites were saved! You could hear the loud cries of the Egyptians all over the land. Pharaoh held his dead son in his arms and told Moses to get out of his land! The Egyptians gave them gold, silver, clothing, and expensive things and urged them to leave!
            The Israelites left the next morning. Their bread dough did not have time to rise, but all of the people left. There were around two to three million people, and Moses led them out. Later, the Pharaoh hardened his heart again and got his army to chase after them. The Israelites were stopped at the Red Sea and trapped. But God did a miracle when Moses prayed. He parted the Red Sea, dried up the ground, and the Israelites walked across to the other side! When the Egyptian army tried to follow them, God caused the Red Sea to flow back together and drown all the soldiers and chariots! Moses’ sister, Miriam, led the people in a victory song and dance![5]
            After 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, Moses’ assistant, Joshua, led them across the Jordan River into the Promised Land, and they prospered. As the years went on the Israelites were called Jews, because most of them were from the tribe of Judah. It had been about 1,500 years since they left Egypt, when Jesus was born. He was the one that God promised Abraham would be a blessing to the whole world. He was Jewish, so every year He celebrated the Feast of Passover and remembered how God had led His people out of slavery in Egypt by using an innocent lamb to die for each family, so they could smear its blood on the doorposts of their houses and be saved from death. It must have startled Jesus the day that John the Baptist saw Him and said, “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world! (John 1:29, 36)”
            Back in the exodus from Egypt, God had instructed Moses to teach the Israelites that they must celebrate what happened at the Passover every year. They must be ready to tell the story to their children at the Jewish month of Nisan on the 14th day, how God took His chosen people out of slavery. God had promised Abraham hundreds of years before that He would make his descendants a great nation, and this was the day! They had to relive the history of that day when they became a free nation. It was their Independence Day! So the Jews put that day on their calendars, and they have been celebrating it every year for almost 3,500 years!
            Christians have started celebrating the Passover also, realizing that the Passover Lamb is our Jewish Savior. We want to remember that Jesus died on Passover around the year 33 A.D., was buried that night, and the third day rose from the dead. Back in Egypt, God had required the Jews to eat only unleavened bread for seven days, beginning with Passover. Yeast, or leaven, represents sin, and the Jews could not even have a crumb of bread in their houses, only the flat bread, more like a cracker, which today is called “matzah.” God wanted His people to be pure and holy, without sin. These seven days, Nisan 15-21, God called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The third day after Passover, on the 16th of Nisan, they were commanded to celebrate the Feast of Firstfruits.[6] God was thinking ahead to that day on the calendar, during “Passover week,” when Jesus would rise from the dead!
            So, Christians see Jesus Christ in the Passover week of three feasts, His death (Passover), burial (Unleavened Bread), and resurrection (Firstfruits). During the Passover meal, called the Seder (a Hebrew word, meaning “order”), Jesus can be seen in the LAMB – He was crucified on the cross at the same time the Passover lambs were being sacrificed at the Temple! He can be seen in the MATZAH – He was buried, and his body could not decay in the grave, because He had never sinned! He can be seen in the FIRSTFRUITS, because when the harvest of wheat came in, the very first part of it was given to God at the Temple. Jesus said He would be the FIRST to rise from the dead, but those who believe in Him will also rise from the dead! He said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24). “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (I Cor. 15:20).
            Most of the Jews don’t believe that Jesus is their Messiah, but the first church was made up of Jews who did believe in Jesus. They could see at their Passover Seder meal that the matzah represented Jesus. The holes in the matzah cracker represent the holes in Jesus’ hands and feet made by the nails that held Him to the cross! The brown stripes from cooking the cracker bread represent the stripes on Jesus’ back made from the Roman soldier’s whip. And the matzah had no yeast in it, just as Jesus had no sin.
            During thousands of years more things have been added to the Seder meal, but God only required that the Israelites eat the roasted Lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs. Today horseradish is used for the bitter herbs, which may cause tears when eaten. It is to remind the Jews of the pain of slavery. Remember that the Last Supper Jesus had with His disciples the night he was arrested was really a Passover meal. After supper he took a cup of wine and told them it symbolized His blood that He would shed on the cross the next day so they could be forgiven of their sins. He took a piece of matzah, broke it, and told them it represented His body that would be broken for them. This was the New Covenant He was making with everyone who would believe in Him as their Lord and Savior.
            An interesting part of the meal was later added by the believers in Jesus. Today there is a “matzah tash” (unity bag) on the table that has three compartments holding three pieces of matzah. Christians can see that this represents the Father, the SON, and the Holy Spirit. At the beginning of the Seder meal, the host takes out the MIDDLE piece of matzah and breaks it in two pieces. The Christian knows that represents the broken body of God’s Son Jesus on the cross! (The Jewish people who don’t believe in Jesus do that every year, but they don’t realize what it means!) Then the host wraps one of the pieces in a white napkin, representing the burial cloth in which Jesus’ dead body was wrapped. He asks the children to close their eyes, and the host hides this wrapped matzah in the room. Near the end of the Passover Seder the children are asked to go find the hidden matzah. This means two things: Jesus’ body is hidden in the tomb, and also the Jews’ eyes are blinded, so their Messiah Jesus is hidden from them! When a child finds the wrapped matzah and brings it back to the host, he receives a reward of money. Then the host unwraps the matzah, which signifies two things: Jesus rising from the dead and also Jesus coming back to earth the second time! To make this even more exciting, the name of this piece of matzah is the AFIKOMEN. It is the only Greek word in the Passover Seder, and it means THE COMING ONE! One day the Jews’ eyes will be opened, and they will see that Jesus (his Hebrew name is Yeshua) was and is their true Messiah! Maybe it will happen this year when they are having their Passover meal!
            Not only does the Passover meal reveal Jesus as the Passover Lamb who takes away the sins of the world, but the entire Exodus story is a picture of what Jesus, our Lord and Savior, has done for all who believe in Him, both Jews and Gentiles. Egypt represents the WORLD. The Pharaoh represents SATAN. Slavery represents SIN. Moses represents JESUS/YESHUA. Killing the Passover Lamb represents the crucifixion of Jesus. The angel of death passing over the houses with blood on the doorposts represents SALVATION, being saved and washed in the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. Crossing the Red Sea represents being BAPTIZED into the body of Christ. Wandering in the wilderness represents GROWING AS A CHRISTIAN and learning to trust God. Some believe that crossing the Jordan River represents being BAPTIZED IN THE HOLY SPIRIT. The Promised Land represents SPIRIT-FILLED LIVING ON THE PROMISES OF GOD and also entering heaven. Jesus delivers us from Satan, the world, sin and death, washes us in His blood, baptizes us, and leads us by His Spirit to our ultimate destination in heaven!
            The Pilgrims saw themselves as the Israelites, being led out of bondage and going to America, their Promised Land, where they could worship God freely. They even wanted to make Hebrew the national language, and they wanted to celebrate the Feasts of the Lord (Leviticus 23). Some believe that our national Thanksgiving holiday was first intended to be the Feast of Tabernacles like the one the Jews were commanded to celebrate up to the present time.
            To sum up, it is a good thing for Christians to celebrate Passover at a Seder Meal and to remember what our Jewish Savior and Lord has done for us as the Passover Lamb. The Apostle Paul said “Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us…. let us keep the feast” (I Cor. 5:7-8) It is also good to remember the common heritage we have with the Jews, His natural brothers and sisters. The first Church, the Apostles, and the Scriptures are all Jewish! As Christians, we have Jewish roots.
            However, the most important thing of all to remember from the Passover story is that the blood of a perfect and innocent lamb on the doorposts of the houses saved the Israelites, causing the angel of death to PASS OVER. Each of us must be sure that the blood of Jesus, the Passover Lamb, is on the doorposts of our HEARTS, so we will be saved from eternal death. If you have not yet asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, do it now. Pray, and ask Jesus to come into your heart, forgive your sins, and be the Lord of your life. He will teach you how to live on His promises and lead you to the Promised Land of heaven one day. From the moment you give your heart to Jesus, you will have ETERNAL LIFE! God promised this in John 3:16.      


[1] God provided a lamb instead of Isaac for sacrifice (Gen. 22); He was like a lamb led to the slaughter (Isa. 53:7); over 30 times in the New Testament is the Lamb mentioned – John 19:36; Rev. 5:6-14; 7:17; 13:8; 14:1; 17:14.
[2] Gen. 12: 1-3
[3] Gen. 15: 13-21
[4] Ten plagues: blood, frogs, flies, lice, cattle disease, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, death of the firstborn (Ex. 8-11)
[5] Ex. 14; 15: 1-21
[6] Lev. 23:10-11. All seven annual feasts are described in Leviticus 23.