Our Jewish friends will celebrate the Passover (Pesach) this year commencing at sundown on Saturday evening April 23rd, 2005 and will last eight days (seven days for most Reform Jews, some Conservative Jews, and Jews in Israel), concluding on Sunday evening May 1st, 2005, or in the Hebrew calendar, from 15 Nissan 5765 to 22 Nissan 5765. In Exodus 12 we see the first instance of the Passover. Just as we Christians take communion to look back to the death of Jesus on our behalf, Israel celebrated the yearly Passover looking forward to this very same event. Exodus 12:1-14 records the Passover.
The Passover and its Symbolism
Ex 12:1-2 “The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, ‘This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.’ God changed their calendar! And it has remained changed to this very day. We celebrate New Years day on January 1. But Israel’s religious calendar is different because of what God said here in Exodus 12:2. Their religious calendar starts with the month of Nisan (March-April) and goes through to the month of Adar (February-March). God knew that everything begins with the Passover. Jesus’ death on the cross is the beginning of the New Covenant of grace; it is the beginning of the New Creation, and it is, once a person places their faith in Jesus, the beginning of real life as God had intended it to be.
The Personal Nature of the Passover God could have just had one lamb killed for the entire nation. But each household (or a few together if they had small families) had to take a lamb, inspect the lamb, and kill the lamb. It was a “Hands on” ceremony. This pictured for us the entirely personal nature of the cross. Just as each Israelite household had to kill their lamb, so our own personal sin was responsible for Jesus going to the cross. Paul noticed this when he wrote ‘the life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me’ (Gal. 2:20b NIV).
Exodus 12:5-6 commands: “The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.”
The Perfect Lamb! Jesus lived on this earth for about 33 years and faced the same kinds of temptations that we do. Yet He was without sin! Israelites were to take the lamb on the 10th of the month and keep it until the fourteenth of that same month, where it was to be slain at twilight. “Twilight” is between the sun’s decline and sunset (3-5 p.m.). Scholars have shown that Palm Sunday (Matt 21:1-11) was in fact the 10th of Nisan – the very day when the spotless lamb was to be chosen! For the next 4 days Jesus was examined in Jerusalem, showing Himself to be the spotless lamb without defect. On the 14th of that month, around 3 o’clock in the afternoon (twilight, Matt 27:46) while all throughout Israel different households were starting to kill their lambs, Jesus died on a cross.
Exodus 12:7-10 further instructs: “Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.” (Many have pointed out that the top and sides of the doorframes makes the top of a cross.) The blood of course looked forward to the blood of Christ. That same night they were to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and unleavened bread.
Fire, in this sense, speaks of God’s judgment (Mal 3:1-5, 4:1-3, Matt 3:12). Just as the spotless lamb had to be cooked by fire and anything that they didn’t eat was burnt up, so Jesus was fully judged for our sin while on the cross.
The bitter herbs were to be a reminder of the bitterness that accompanied their life down in Egypt. We also, when thinking of the cross, ought to remember the bitterness and bondage that God has rescued us from.
Leaven (yeast) in the Bible speaks of sin and Paul encourages us to put away sinful acts though he sees our position as “without yeast as you really are” (1 Cor. 5:7-8).
Exodus 12:12-13: “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 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.”
As judgment was to come upon Egypt, the only hope for an Israelite was to be under the blood. There may have been some righteous amongst them and some who were polluted with sins, but it wasn’t a matter of whether they were worthy of salvation. It simply came down to whether they were sheltering under the blood of the lamb! The rest and peace that we have as Christians doesn’t come from our own worthiness. It comes from the simple fact that we believe that the blood of Jesus has been shed for our sins. Jesus is our peace. (See Col 1:20, Eph 2:13-14, Rom 3:24-25. 5:1,9)
When to Celebrate Passover, Communion, and Easter?
Today we recognize that “Christ our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (I Cor.5:7) so that celebrating the Passover is left as optional for believers. We in one sense “keep it” by partaking of the Lord’s Supper.
Originally, Passover and Easter were always observed at the same time. Early Christians linked the observance of the death and resurrection of Jesus with Passover and observed them on the 14th day of Nisan, regardless of the day of the week on which the date occurred. Later Christians insisted that Easter be observed on the day the resurrection occurred, Sunday, and that the preceding Friday be observed as the date of the crucifixion. Eventually, as part of the, de-Judaizing tendency of early Christianity, they split Easter from its Jewish origins. The Council of Nicea in 325 AD decreed that Easter should be on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox. (Though the Eastern Orthodox still follows a different calendar.) Donna and Mal Broadhurst, (Passover: Before Messiah and After) write of the Nicea decree: “Along with turning their back on Jews, the Gentiles turned their back on the Jewish Scripture. They disallowed Jewish input to their faith, life-style, and worship. … It took a major reformation centuries later to begin to undo the horror and destruction the church brought on the world when the Gentiles at Nicea formally adopted the policy of having ‘nothing in common with the Jews.’”
Because of the commercialization and pagan origins of the celebration of “Easter,” many churches are starting to refer to it as “Resurrection Day.” I like that. The resurrection of Christ is the central theme of Christianity. (1Cor 15:1-17). What is important is the true reason behind our celebration- Christ was resurrected from the dead, making it possible for us to have eternal life! He is risen indeed!
