CHRIST, OUR PASSOVER
Some dates or events stick in the mind because of the historical association it has, to us or our community: like the day when the Second World War was declared. They are special because of their uniqueness and importance, whether good or otherwise. Festivals are celebrated in religion to remind their followers that something special happened. The institution of the Passover was, and still is, very important to the Jews as it reminded them of a Red Letter Day in the history of emerging nation of Israel. It was the starting point of their exodus from slavery in Egypt and a milestone in their learning journey in their knowledge of God. In fact the Passover is a self-disclosure of God at a crucial moment in their history.
For the Christian, the Passover isn’t a festival as such, but for what it represents as a symbol of redemption. Here we see a foreshadowing of Jesus as the Lamb of God, the Saviour of the world to as many as would believe in Him. We can be assured of the truth of this when we recall the encounter the two despondent disciples had with Jesus on the road to Emmaus. After the journey ‘They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us … and opened the scriptures to us?”’ What did the resurrected Christ do? Luke tells us, "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, Jesus explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself."
The Founder Members of the human race had fallen to the devil’s temptation, receiving God’s condemnation which is carried forward to all born of them down the years. But God in His mercy and love for mankind wouldn’t leave them to their just deserts. The Bible’s description of ‘Sin’ is that which ‘misses the mark’; it ‘falls short of the glory of God’ (Rom. 3:23). It’s a word which sums up all those things which are dishonouring to God; those things which defile mankind. This had been the problem ever since the Fall of mankind in Eden. There has never been a man or woman in the world who has been able to stand up to Satan, the arch-enemy of God. Generation after generation came and went proving that mankind was in bondage to sin and incapable of dealing with inbred sin, even though increasingly blessed with the resources of mind and matter. All humanity has inherited a sinful nature.
When I opened my computer I found emails sent to a friend but somehow also sent to me. I inquired as to the reason and was told that a hacker had got into his computer address book and was spewing out messages to all his correspondents. Fortunately it didn’t result in giving my computer a virus. But not so with mankind: the infection of sin, like a computer virus, has warped human nature so that it erupts in selfishness and greed. Pharaoh is a prime example of a dictator. He was so cruel and unjust to the Hebrew slaves. But all of us have to own up to being sinners: ‘There is no-one righteous, not even one’ (Rom 3:10). Religion of itself will only make us like the Pharisees, a contradiction of Christianity. No man can save himself. Nothing that we can offer can change a sinner to a saint! I remember seeing a carton showing a scholarly man sitting on top of a great pile of books, looking at himself in a mirror, and above his head a question mark. He has mastered every subject of learning, but couldn’t answer the problem of himself!
But thank God, the good news is that He had been working towards the ultimate solution of the plan of salvation, the climax of God’s revelation. But it was no afterthought to deal with sinful mankind. It had been conceived in the Eternal Council of Almighty God even before the foundation of the world to bring redemption to His lost creation. It’s what the writer to the Hebrews described as ‘so great salvation’ (2:1). And it’s all summed up in Jesus our Passover, so let’s discover what is revealed of Him and His sacrifice as the Lamb of God, whom John the Baptist announced as the One ‘who takes away the sin of the world’ (John 1:29). Let me tell of:
THE BACKGROUND TO THE EXODUS AND THE PASSOVER
The story of the Exodus from the clutches of Pharaoh is well-known. Moses had been commissioned to lead the Israelites from Egypt but Pharaoh was loathe to leave them go as they were a valuable source of free labour in his building projects. They were held in slavery, and were forced to submit to hard labour, to suffer unrestrained beatings and to make bricks without straw (2:23,24; 3:7). Demonstrations of God’s power in inflicting successive plagues of increasing intensity and discomfort to Egypt’s infrastructure only served to harden Pharaoh’s heart. God had to move against him, in the words of the historian, with ‘an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment’ (Exodus 6:6).
It was God who took the initiative, revealing Himself in faithfulness and compassion for His people. He had heard their cries for help in the unjust denial of their liberty and had remembered His promise to the founders of their race, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, of the Promised Land of Canaan. He was a covenant-keeping God and this great deliverance of the Exodus was a foretaste of the deliverance of salvation from sin to be made possible by the atoning sacrifice by Jesus on the Cross. The Passover meal, a real historical event, is also a vivid type anticipating in symbolic form the greater escape from sin’s penalty in what Jesus would do some eighteen hundred years later at Calvary. Freedom for the Israelites, and later for mankind, would come in obedience to God’s careful instructions to be carried out to the letter. Let’s see what the Lord had commanded, and why? It all centred around:
THE PASSOVER LAMB:
IT MUST BE A PERFECT OFFERING
‘Your lamb,’ the people were told ‘shall be an unblemished male a year old’ (12:5). The sacrifice had to be in its prime, carefully chosen, and kept under scrutiny for four days to ensure it was ritually pure at the time of its death. Nothing less than perfection would be adequate as an offering to God. How true this was of Jesus. He began His ministry around 30 years of age. At His first public appearance at the River Jordan when He was baptised at His own request by John, we’re told that ‘heaven opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, “You are my beloved Son, in You I am well pleased”’ (Luke 3:21-23). Throughout the three years of His earthly ministry the Jewish leaders subjected Him to intense observation, trying to catch Him out in something He might say and do. The accusers of Jesus had to resort to the words of false witnesses to condemn Him. Isaiah prophesied of the coming Messiah that ‘he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth’ (53:9). Yes, as the writer to the Hebrews put it, Jesus was ‘one’, the only one, ‘who is holy, blameless, pure’ (7:26). He, like the Passover lamb, was a perfect offering but that wasn’t all, for it was necessary that:
IT MUST BE A SACRIFICIAL DEATH
This isn’t a comfortable subject. We much prefer to think of a God of love and forgiveness, and of course that’s perfectly true, but that’s not the whole truth. The Bible doesn’t share our embarrassment in identifying God as the one who is the judge of the world, for part of His moral perfection is His perfection in judgement. In His infinite holiness and forbearance He says to mankind, ‘You can go so far but no further!’ The nine plagues suffered by Pharaoh were mere inconveniences compared with the final plague, for it was to be a visitation of the angel of death upon the firstborn of man and beast. The psalmist recounted the story: ‘(God) unleashed against them his hot anger … he did not spare them from death’ (78:49,50). As the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel: ‘The soul who sins is the one who will die’ (18:4).
Pharaoh and his nation, as it were, had passed ‘the Last Chance Saloon’, for judgement was now imminent, but the people of Israel were also sinful, like everyone else. How could they escape the angel of death? God in His mercy made provision. The chosen Passover lambs were to be slain the afternoon before the dread visitation. The apostle Paul confirms this fundamental truth: ‘For Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed’ (1 Cor 5:7). The death of Jesus Christ is the propitiation for our sins. ‘Propitiation’ is a difficult word and isn’t in everyday use.
A minister tells the story of going home with a member of his congregation who had under one arm a gift-wrapped box and in his other hand a bunch of flowers. Both of those things looked out of place with his character, so the minister asked: ‘What is all this about, the flowers and the gift-wrapped box?’ The man replied, perhaps rather grimly, ‘They are to propitiate the wife!’ That was a good definition in the circumstances! Perhaps something which all husbands have had to do!
In the Biblical setting what it means is that the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross appeases, turns away the wrath of God. It was Christ’s sacrificial death on the Cross as our substitute which counts as atonement for our sins. Our sin debt has been paid. The wrath of God was vented on Him so that we could be saved. God’s holiness is satisfied and God’s justice has now been satisfied. As the psalmist put it: ‘Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other’ (85:10). Jesus gave Himself as a ransom for our sins. As He Himself said, ‘the son of Man’ came ‘to give his life as a ransom for many’ (Mark 10:45). In the words of the wonderful ‘Hymn to Christ’ in the letter of Paul to the Philippian church, Jesus ‘being in very nature God … being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross’ (2:6-8). The Passover lamb wasn’t only a personal offering and a sacrificial death but also:
IT MUST BE AN INDIVIDUAL PROTECTION
Each household were made responsible for their own sacrifice, ‘to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the door-frames of the houses where they eat the lambs’ (12:7). What was the reason for this instruction? It was to provide protection from God’s judgement. The children of Israel were told, ‘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’ (12:13). The people of God, under the blood, are safe. The Lord isn’t acting in favouritism – He doesn’t say, ‘You are Israel, you are my people.’ It’s not favouritism; it’s the covering of the blood. When God looks upon that house, He doesn’t at that moment see them, He sees the blood. They must stay inside, as we must, and trust in the blood under which they are sheltering. Only under the blood are they, and we, safe.
This is a picture of what God has done for you and me in the person of His only begotten Son. He sent His Son into the world to bear our sins in His body on the Cross of Calvary. Jesus made it perfectly clear at the Last Supper in Jerusalem. On the night before He was crucified, writes the apostle Paul, ‘The Lord Jesus … took bread … he broke it and said, “This is (represents) my body which is (broken) for you!”’ (1 Cor 11:24). And similarly with the cup, “This is (represents) my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many” (Mark 12:24). Jesus ‘offered for all time one sacrifice for sins’ (Heb 10:12).
The Old Testament sacrifices had to be repeated again and again as they were merely a temporary covering for sin until the ultimate Passover sacrifice by Jesus was made once and for all. The shedding of Christ’s blood was crucial to God’s plan of salvation for sinners. This tells us of a Biblical principle: ‘the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness’ (Heb 9:22). The Passover lamb was a personal offering, a sacrificial death and an individual protection but:
IT MUST BE APPLIED PERSONALLY
The basic instruction to paint the Passover lamb’s blood was followed up by a further warning: ‘None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning’ (12:22). The Israelites, like the Egyptians, in face of the judgement of a holy God, were in deadly peril of the angel of death. They were only protected if they remained in their blood-marked houses. Their lives would be spared as another life had been forfeited in their place, but to be sure, they had to rely on God’s spoken word. Like them, to receive redemption we dare not trust in our own good works or efforts, but trust only in the finished work of Christ, shedding His own blood to make atonement for our sins. As Charles Wesley sang: ‘His blood can make the foulest clean, His blood availed for me.’
The slain Passover lamb had yet a further practical purpose. It was to supply sustenance for the journey to freedom. The people were instructed ‘to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs’ (12:8). It was a late-night meal, eaten in their travelling clothes ‘with staff in hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover’ (11). In June 1940, with the German army within 30 miles off Guernsey, our parents or grandparents had to decide within hours if they wanted to evacuate; it was either to go or stay, they had to make up their minds! This wasn’t a ‘Sunday school outing’!
The Passover meal was to be eaten by people ready to make a journey, and once they had experienced deliverance, it was the start of an adventure of faith. Jesus told His followers, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry’ (John 6:35). We must come to Him for our nourishment every day. The Israelites, now ready to leave Egypt, like present–day believers in Jesus, are a pilgrim people with a destination – the Promised Land. We are part of that free, but holy, nation a people set apart for God. It’s for one reason only, for:
CHRIST OUR PASSOVER
‘Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed’ (1 Cor 5:7). What a wonderful statement! The Old Testament story of the Passover spoke of judgement of human sin and in the provision of atonement and liberation from slavery. For God’s elect people it speaks of protection from evil, redemption from sin, release from oppression and dedication for spiritual service. The sacrificial ritual wonderfully serves as a mirror to reflect the many-sided splendour of almighty God. The Passover lamb sacrificed in Egypt is a forerunner of the Christ sacrificed at Calvary. There’s only one question in life to ask: ‘Have you taken part in the Passover?’ For what happened through the Passover lamb in Israel’s experience happens now through Jesus in our experience.
(Synopsis for overhead projection)
CHRIST, OUR PASSOVER
THE PASSOVER IS AN IMPORTANT JEWISH FESTIVAL
BUT WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR CHRISTIANS?
ALL HUMANITY HAS INHERITED A SINFUL NATURE AND NEEDS REDEMPTION
THE BACKGROUND TO THE EXODUS AND PASSOVER
Exodus 12 : 1 - 29
- THE YOUNG NATION HELD AS SLAVES IN EGYPT
- MOSES COMMISSIONED TO LEAD THE ISRAELITES
- PLAGUES ONLY MADE PHARAOH HARDEN HIS HEART
- MOSES GAVE INSTRUCTIONS FOR A PASSOVER MEAL
- GOD PROMISED A GREAT DELIVERANCE TO FREEDOM
- THE EXODUS A FORESHADOWING OF REDEMPTION IN JESUS
THE PASSOVER LAMB - A TYPE OF JESUS
IT MUST BE A PERFECT OFFERING
- AN UNBLEMISHED LAMB : ‘You are my beloved son’
- KEPT UNDER SCRUTINY : ‘Holy, blameless, pure’
THE PASSOVER LAMB - A TYPE OF JESUS
IT MUST BE A SACRIFICIAL DEATH
- GOD IS LOVE BUT CANNOT TOLERATE SIN
- PHARAOH REFUSING TO REPENT HAD TO FACE GOD’S ANGER
- CHRIST BECAME A PROPITIATION FOR SINNERS : ‘Humbled
Himself … obedient to death … on a cross’
THE PASSOVER LAMB - A TYPE OF JESUS
IT MUST BE AN INDIVIDUAL PROTECTION
- EACH HOUSEHOLD RESPONSIBLE : ‘Take some blood and put
it on the sides and tops of the door-frames’
- SAFETY ONLY UNDER THE BLOOD : ‘When I see the blood I will pass over you’
- A PICTURE OF ATONEMENT OF JESUS : ‘Offered for all
time one sacrifice for sins’ (Hebrews 10:12)
THE PASSOVER LAMB - A TYPE OF JESUS
IT MUST BE APPLIED PERSONALLY
- EACH PERSON INSTRUCTED TO BE READY FOR DEPARTURE:
‘None of you shall go out of the door until morning’
‘Eat … with your cloak tucked into your belt …
sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand’
- JESUS SAID : ‘I am the bread of life’ (John 6:35)
CHRIST IS OUR PASSOVER
- AN IMPORTANT QUESTION : Have you taken part in the
Passover? The Passover lamb sacrificed in Egypt is
a forerunner of the Christ sacrificed at Calvary
‘CHRIST, OUR PASSOVER, HAS BEEN SACRIFICED’ (1 Cor.5:7)
