The Passover

God ordained the Passover as an annual celebration for Israel after the first one in Egypt right before the people of God were delivered from bondage. This meal would become part of a Feast of Unleavened Bread.  Here are a few observations on this story in Exodus 12. First, notice that God says this is a memorial day. God commanded it in order to remind them forever of God’s great deliverance from slavery in Egypt. God set up a memorial stone, as it were, for their good and for God’s glory.

Second, it was a feast to the Lord. This was a time when the whole nation of Israel, all of God’s people, stopped what they were doing to gather and worship God. We don’t celebrate week-long feasts as Christians now, Sunday is supposed to be a weekly feast! It is a gathering of God’s people to go hard after God, to worship Him with all that we are and all that we have. When we come into this place on Sundays with every intention to give ourselves to God, to worship Him in spirit and truth, what happens? We are blessed. We taste and see that God is good. We see Him and hear His voice and grow in our faith. 

Third, it was to be a statute forever. They were to keep this reminder before them continuously so they did not grow proud or complacent, thinking they didn’t need God. He says it again: “You shall observe this day throughout your generations.” And Moses again tells the people they are to keep this feast as a way of reminding themselves and teaching their children of how great God is. “And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.”

There are only a handful of times the Old Testament when the Feast of Unleavened and the Passover are written about being observed after the Exodus. Maybe there were many times, but only 6 or so are mentioned. Remember during Josiah’s reign when the Book of the Law was found by Hilkiah and then it was read to Josiah? He tore his clothes saying, “Our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book.” He then began reforms in the nation, including restoring the Passover to Israel, saying, “For no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges…” That was a 400-year lapse! Despite the meticulous instructions God had given His people about keeping this feast, they forgot to do it, failed to do it, and ultimately forgot the Lord and did what was right in their own eyes. 

If there are only 6 mentions of the Passover being observed in the Old Testament, the seventh mention is in the New Testament. Jesus kept the Passover with His disciples on the day before His crucifixion, and that was the last time He did. That was the last Passover meal and on that same evening Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper which became a permanent sacrament for the church. There is no religious significance for the Passover now because it was fulfilled finally and forever in Christ. The Passover looks back to the deliverance of Israel from slavery. The Lord’s Supper looks back to the death of Christ on the cross and our deliverance from sin, death, and the grave. And the Lord’s Supper looks forward to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb which we have been invited to by virtue of our salvation.

Our Passover? Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life.” 

That is our daily celebration of deliverance.