Christ in the Passover
Today, I attended my Tuesday morning prayer time. Pastor Park Sutton gave an insightful and challenging devotional from Job, and the text about the Leviathan and Behemoth. “Regardless of how big, unruly and untamable that which confronts us, God is bigger still and in control.” I found this interesting because the song, “Just Be Held” was playing on the radio as I traveled to the meeting. The song contains the words, “when you feel your life is falling apart, it is falling into place.” I believe I have learned that.
BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY… “This day is to be a memorial for you, and you must celebrate it as a festival to the Lord. You are to celebrate it throughout your generations as a permanent statute“ Exodus 12:14 HCSB “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.“ 1 Corinthians 11:26 NIV
When believers today, join in celebrating “communion” or “The Lord’s Supper” it is a connection to Christ followers beginning with the disciples and continuing to the present day. When the Lord provided instructions about the Passover as the final plague of the death of the firstborn took place in Egypt, He established it as a lasting covenant for His people at that time.
We see in many of the features of the Passover a foreshadowing of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. A spotless lamb was to be selected and then brought into the house for four days. This temporary residence of the lamb in the midst of a family, is a foreshadowing of Christ that would be for a moment of time among His human family on earth. Although He lived 33 years, only three years were involved in His active ministry. When He was baptized, John declared Him as, “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) Paul would be very specific and say, “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.“ (1 Corinthians 5:7 NIV)
During the Passover, the family was to eat or burn up all of the sacrificial lamb, none of it was to remain until morning. This gives insight into Jesus words at the Passover known as the “last supper.” “Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body. Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matt. 26:26-28 NIV)
Then we see that the blood of the lamb was applied to the doorposts of the house as protection and covering from God’s judgment. Romans 5:9 (NIV) declares, “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!“ We see when the High Priest went into the Holy of Holies once a year during the Day of Atonement, he poured the blood the sacrifice on the “mercy seat.” This was the lid that covered the ark containing the commandments that had been broken by the sin of God’s people. In like fashion when the “blood” of Jesus applied to our hearts [an imagery of faith in Christ’s provision of forgiveness of sin] we are spared from God’s wrath.
The Passover today in Jewish tradition is still a time to stop and look back and remember and be thankful. It looks back to the bitterness of bondage in Egypt and God’s actions to bring deliverance. It reminds them of the suffering of the past under Pharaoh’s strong arm and how the Lord was faithful to deliver and bring them into land that He promised.
When we partake of communion we are are to reflect back as well. To reflect back to the cross and the miracle of Christ’s sacrifice for us. How the sun was darkened and earth was shaken and the Temple curtain was torn. We are also to remember our life before Christ’s freedom from sin. The condition we were in and the life we now have in Him. We are also reminded that the Lord has brought us into a new life and will bring us to a “new land” in heaven that He has promised for all who believe in Him.
The Bible declares a day of judgment for the earth and those who have rebelled against the Lord. But for those who have been made alive in Christ and are part of His family that judgment will “pass-over” them by because of Christ our Lamb who died in our place.