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122_The Feast of the Passover

Ex 23:4-5 “These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. 5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight,[a] is the Lord’s Passover.

Ex 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.[a]

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.

There was a young man who had grown up in poverty. His mother worked hard to ensure that he could go to school. He excelled academically, won a fine scholarship, and finally secured a high-paying job. To celebrate, he took his mother out to a good restaurant. As they sat at the candlelit table, attentive waiters hovering around to make sure they had everything they wanted, he saw the tears running down his mother’s face. She smiled at him, and said, “I’m crying with joy, because I remember the nights you and I had just a bowl of rice and salt to eat in our tiny one-room house. I’m thankful because that memory tells me how far we’ve come.”

Celebration at its deepest is not just about abundance—it’s about remembering and about thankfulness. That’s exactly what the Feast of the Passover was for Israel: a celebration rooted in memory, drenched in meaning, and foreshadowing something far greater than lambs and herbs and fire.

Leviticus 23:4-8 lays out the appointed feasts of the Lord. These were holy gatherings where God’s people were to stop and remember – and worship. Part of the weight and wonder of these feasts comes from knowing how Israel was introduced to celebration. When the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, they had no time, no rest, no seasons. There were no feast days and no celebration—only endless days of burden. When Moses and Aaron approached Pharaoh and said, “Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness,” Pharaoh scoffed: “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice?” And he accused them of distracting the people from their labor. This king accurately mirrors the burden of sin, which provides no space for rest from guilt, allows no room for worship, and cannot understand the joy that flows from freedom.

But the God of Israel called them not just to be free but to be His own people. He gave them times and seasons and feasts, not as empty rituals, but as rhythms of remembrance and renewal. And at the very beginning of this divine calendar stood the Passover.

When we think of a feast, we often imagine good things to eat in abundance. But the feasts of the Lord were much more than parties for personal enjoyment. These were holy gatherings centered on the Lord – Leviticus repeatedly names them “the feasts of the Lord.” Sadly, by the time our Lord Jesus walked the earth, they had become “the feast of the Jews.” The focus had moved from God-centered worship to the ideas and traditions introduced by people with their own beliefs and agendas. In our own day, too, our most sacred acts can become man-centered rituals if we are not vigilant.

The Passover marked a new beginning, breaking the unending cycle of oppression. It was God’s doing, giving them a new calendar, a new identity, and a new hope. And it all began with the sacrifice of a lamb: “the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover,” (Exodus 12:27). The blood of the lamb was then put around the doors of the Israelite houses.

When the destroying angel passed through Egypt that night, death took away the firstborn in every house without the blood mark. The Israelites were probably no more righteous than the Egyptians. It wasn’t their righteousness that saved them. But when they did what God had commanded, their firstborn were redeemed from death. The Passover foreshadows the great truth of the gospel, that nobody can earn their salvation. The Lamb of God, Christ Jesus, was sacrificed to take away the sin of the whole world. When we believe the word of God and profess our faith in Christ, we are delivered from judgment.

The Passover observance did not stop at the blood on the door. The Israelites were to roast the lamb and eat it with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. Thus they identified their very beings with the sacrifice. The herbs reminded them of their bitter and grievous bondage, a picture of man’s bitter enslavement under sin. They also symbolized the bitterness of the realization that sin is not just a mistake but deadly, destructive, and opposed to the goodness of God. This is the ground of repentance, and only the truly repentant soul can rejoice in the sweetness of grace.

The Passover foreshadowed our life as God’s people, living a new life in holiness.
1 Corinthians 5:8 exhorts us to celebrate the feast, not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

They were to eat in haste—with their belts fastened, sandals on, staff in hand. Their deliverance was not just a past event—it was a call to move forward out of bondage, ready to follow God wherever he leads. There’s no clinging to Egypt when the lamb has been slain. This posture of readiness is what Peter refers to when he writes, “gird up the loins of your mind.” The journey of faith is not leisurely, but requires urgent focus, trust, and constant dependence on the promises of God.

The Passover marked every firstborn in Israel as God’s peculiar possession, being redeemed, spared by the blood. belonged to God. “You are not your own. You were bought with a price. Therefore, honor God with your body.”

When the firstborn of Egypt died, it wasn’t just a display of power but, as Exodus 12:12 says, “I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt.” In God’s final word to Pharaoh, he exposed the impotence of idols and underlined his supremacy. Hebrews 2:14-15 echoes this when it says that Christ, by His death, destroyed the one who held the power of death—the devil—and delivered us from lifelong slavery.

But the Passover too was forgotten over generations, as Israel drifted into idolatry. Until a young king, Josiah, rediscovered the Book of the Law and determined to bring back the observance. He tore down the altars of Baal, cleansed the land of idols, and called the people together. And the Scripture says, “No such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges.”

It wasn’t just a return to ritual—it was a return to God, a meaningful feast grounded upon repentance. The joy of the Passover is that amidst judgment, God provided a way of escape for his people through the slain Lamb.

There is only one safe place in the day of judgment – under the blood of the Lamb. Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed. Today, every time we come to remember the slain and risen Lamb of God, at the Lord’s Supper, let us come in faith and a good conscience, led by the Spirit and abiding in Christ. It is no mere ceremony, but a remembrance of our Deliverer, a communion in his death, and in his risen life. It is a renewed commitment to follow Him wherever He leads. Let us fulfil our pledge at the table, keeping the feast day by day as a celebration of grace and a declaration that we belong to the Lord. God bless.