60_Understanding the Passover

Exodus 12:3-11 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.

7 “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10 And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.

A 19th-century Jewish Rabbi, Morris Joseph, declared, “Passover affirms the great truth that liberty is the inalienable right of every human being.” He encapsulated the essence of the Passover—a pivotal event that echoes throughout history, transcending its immediate context in Egypt to resonate with our lives today. The Passover is not merely an ancient story of deliverance; it is a declaration of freedom and redemption that points us to a deeper, eternal truth.

From the beginning of the plagues, God made it clear that Israel was His chosen people by his sovereign choice, and that he would shield them from all harm. In Exodus 4:22, God declares, “Israel is my son, my firstborn.” This divine claim was not rooted in any worth of the Israelites but in God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Up to the ninth plague, therefore, the Israelites played a largely passive role in their deliverance.

Circumcision, the sign of this covenant, symbolized their unique relationship with God. It was an outward mark of an inward trust, a declaration of faith in the God who had called them to be His people. Moses brought out the true symbolism of circumcision when he exhorted them (Deuteronomy 10:16), saying, “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.” This was a call to get rid of their self-will and yield fully to God.

But even circumcision, the mark of the covenant, could not shield them from the judgment of the final plague. Yet, by the time of Moses, many Israelites had strayed. As Joshua 24:14 reveals, they had turned to the gods of Egypt, disloyal to the God of their fathers who had led them, kept them, and multiplied them. As the shadow of death loomed over Egypt, God instructed His people to act. They were to select a lamb without blemish on a specific day of a specific month. They were to kill it, and apply its blood to the doorposts and lintel of their homes. This act was more than a ritual; it was a statement of faith and obedience.

The Passover was rich with meaning. It was, first and foremost, a decisive victory over the gods of Egypt. In Exodus 12:12, God declares, “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn—both men and animals—and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt; I am the Lord.” The death of Egypt’s firstborn could not be averted by the Egyptian gods. It was a final and conclusive demonstration that they were powerless before the God of Israel. True sovereignty belonged to the Lord alone.

But the Passover was also deeply personal. It signified that the Israelites, though they were the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, needed redemption. They were part of the covenant that God had made with their fathers, and they belonged to God. But that covenant owed its foundation of grace to a sacrifice foreshadowed in the Passover lamb. Without the shedding of blood, there could be no forgiveness of sin. The coming of Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, echoes throughout Scripture. As Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:18-19, “You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”

It wasn’t enough for the lamb to be killed; its blood had to be applied on their doorposts and lintels. In the same way, it is not enough to acknowledge that the man Jesus Christ died on the cross. The one who comes to him must eat his flesh and drink his blood. We must believe that God sent Christ to be Lord of all. He has done everything for us, delivering us from the wrath of God. He who died for our sins, and was buried, but rose again, is now to be received by us as Lord. He is our daily food, his death our daily drink so that we can live in the newness of resurrection and not in the oldness of our own self-will. This is the evidence of our repentance towards God and our faith in Christ.

The instructions for the Passover meal were equally symbolic. The lamb was to be roasted, not boiled, signifying the fiery trials and suffering of Christ for our sins. It was to be eaten with bitter herbs, a reminder of the bitterness of the death he faced when he became a sin offering for us. Equally, it reminds us of the need for repentance from our sinful self-will. The unleavened bread, made without yeast, symbolized purity and sincerity towards God and each other. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 5:8, we are to celebrate the Passover “not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

The Israelites were to eat the meal with their belts fastened, sandals on their feet, and their staffs in their hands, ready to leave Egypt at a moment’s notice. This posture of readiness speaks volumes to us today. We too were redeemed to leave behind the bondage of sin and walk eagerly in the freedom that we have in Christ.

This readiness requires a mindset of trust and vigilance. Peter urges us in 1 Peter 1:13 to “gird up the loins of your mind.” We must prepare ourselves for the challenges of faith. We must resolve to trust God’s promises even when circumstances seem to contradict them. We must be sober, not giving in to self-indulgence and slackening our grip on the reins of self-control. We must be alert to the weakness of our flesh and the ever-present temptation to stray from God’s path. Only through vigilance and distrust of the flesh can we persevere in faith, fixing our hope on the grace of God that is ours in our Lord.

The redemption of the Israelites’ firstborn from death by the Passover lamb meant that they belonged henceforth to the Lord. This truth applies to every believer. Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body.” As those redeemed by Christ, we are called to live for the honor of God. Our life is not to be spent on ourselves or for the fleeting pleasures of this world.

The Passover story challenges us to live as those redeemed from death and redeemed to God. Do we recognize the cost of our sin, and the love of God that made our salvation possible? The blood of Christ our Lord, shed for our sins, shields us from judgment and unites us with him in death and burial to sin. The bitter herbs remind us of the suffering he underwent for us and the need for heartfelt repentance from our self-will. Let us live in the reality of that death. Let the unleavened bread of truth and sincerity be our daily experience as we live in the newness of life, with eyes fixed on him. Let us constantly feed on him, living by the promises of God.

In this reality, we will walk in the freedom and hope that Christ has secured for us. And as we do, we will echo the faith of the Israelites, for the God who delivered them from Egypt is the same God who has delivered us from bondage and brought us into His glorious kingdom. God bless.