(This series of sermons is based on the work of Kevin Howard and Marvin Rosenthal in Feasts of the Lord, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Nashville, TN. 1997)
Two weeks ago, I introduced this series of messages on the seven “Feasts of the Lord.” The special holidays, or “holy days,” instituted by God were to be observed by the nation of Israel. While given to the Jewish people, these feasts are worthy of our attention because they point us to the Messiah—Jesus Christ. In Leviticus 23 we are given a list of these seven feasts. Today, and through the remainder of the month, we will examine the first feast: Passover.
Passover is the oldest holiday in human history. It spans some 3500 years of humanity. It is as old as the pyramids of Egypt. The Passover story begins with a death decree for all Jewish boys, soon followed by a bobbing baby in a basket in the Nile River. The Passover story features a cosmic game of chicken between Moses and a Pharaoh as God piles up plagues. There is a burning bush, slaves set free, an ocean opening, a drowning cavalry, and the birth of a nation at the base of a mountain.
Passover’s powerful message is practical for today. Understanding this holiday will bring to life the imagery in the events of the Upper Room, the symbolism of the Lord’s Table, and the meaning of Messiah’s death.
[ Ex. 12:1-14]
In Exodus 12:1-14 we read:
1 Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,
2 “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you.
3 “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household.
4 ‘Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb.
5 ‘Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
6 ‘You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight.
7 ‘Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.
8 ‘They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
9 ‘Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails.
10 ‘And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire.
11 ‘Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the Lord’s Passover.
12 ‘For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the Lord.
13 ‘The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
14 ‘Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance.
1. THE CORE OF PASSOVER
The Jewish people had been held as slaves for more than 400 years in Egypt. God was now going to bring them back to the Promised Land that was promised to the descendants of Abraham. In Exodus 11, God gave a warning the 10th and final judgment plague would befall the Egyptians and their false gods. At midnight, the Lord would pass through the land and kill the firstborn of each family and of all the cattle. With this final, climactic plague, God would dramatically free His people from the slavery of Egypt.
In Exodus 12, God instituted the Passover in explicit steps to be taken by those who trusted in Him so that they, unlike Pharaoh and the Egyptians, would not be struck down by the final plague.
In all biblical passages which address the subject of Passover, the lamb was at the core of Passover. It was the centerpiece of all that was occurring. If there was no lamb given, there would be no deliverance gained. So central was the lamb to the Passover observance that the term “the Passover” came be used interchangeably of the lamb, as well as the holiday. In Exodus 12:21 we read, Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slay the Passover lamb. One could not exist without the other. The holiday was embodied in the lamb—without it, the holiday was meaningless.
What were the Israelites commanded regarding Passover in Exodus 12?
*They were to select a year-old male lamb in its prime.
*The lamb was to be a perfect lamb without any defect or flaw.
*It was to be taken out from the flock on the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Nisan and kept until the fourteenth day of the month.
*On the evening of the fourteenth, as the sun was setting, the lambs were to be publicly killed by “the whole assembly.” This was to be done at “twilight”—the time between the descent of the sun and evening. This was from 3 PM to 5 PM.
*While all the assembly was responsible for the death of the lambs, each family was to individually apply the blood of their lamb to the doorposts of their home as a visible sign of their faith in the Lord (Ex. 12:13).
*At that moment, the innocent lamb became their substitute making it possible for the Lord’s judgment to “pass over” them.
*The lamb was to be roasted whole with fire portraying the judgment that would befall it instead of the firstborn.
*The lamb was to be eaten by each person in the household. Any that was leftover was to be burned.
*God required three symbolic foods to be eaten that Passover night—the lamb, unleavened bread (Matzah), and bitter herbs (Ex. 12:8).
*And so the Lord instituted Passover as a “night to be observed for the Lord for having brought them out from the land of Egypt; this night is for the Lord, to be observed by all the sons of Israel throughout their generations” (Ex. 12:42).
2. THE CHRONOLOGY OF PASSOVER
Passover is a one-day feast that is immediately followed by the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread. Both feasts today are usually blended and blurred together as a single entity and simply called “Passover.”
God ordained that Passover be observed each year on Nisan 14 (March/April), the day that God delivered His people from Egypt (Ex. 12:6).
God’s deliverance was so mighty and so awesome that Israel’s religious calendar was forever altered. The Jewish people reckon a new year’s beginning in two different ways: a civil new year in the fall with the month of Tishri; and a religious new year, which begins in the spring with the month of Nisan, in commemoration of this miraculous deliverance. The month of Nisan (known as Abib before Babylonian captivity, Ex. 13:4) became the first month of the Hebrew religious year from that time forward (Ex. 12:2).
3. THE CONTINUITY OF PASSOVER
Passover is the oldest continuously observed feast in existence today, celebrated for some 3,500 years. For the Jews, Passover was so important that God gave an alternate date for those who were unable to observe Passover on Nisan 14. God commanded in Numbers 9 that those who had become defiled by touching a dead body or were away on a long journey were to celebrate Passover thirty days later on the fourteenth day of the second month. No other feast of the Lord offers a “rain check.”
There was only one Passover when the Lord passed through the land of Egypt in judgment. Every observance since then has been a memorial commemorating that occasion (Ex. 12:14; 13:3). It was commanded to be a memorial forever.
[ Ex. 12:25-27]
God also declared in Exodus 12:25-27 that is was to be kept by a service:
25 “When you enter the land which the Lord will give you, as He has promised, you shall observe this rite.
26 “And when your children say to you, ‘What does this rite mean to you?’
27 you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but spared our homes.’ ” And the people bowed low and worshiped.
Did you see the purpose for this service? The service was to raise questions in the minds of the children so that the Exodus story could be rehearsed from generation to generation.
The Lord, however, did not detail the order of the service, only that it was to be kept. The next two Sundays, we will explore the traditional Passover Seder (order of service) and examine the perfect picture of Jesus that is presented to us.
4. THE CHARACTER OF THE PASSOVER LAMB
As I said earlier, the lamb was the core of the Passover observance. The character of the lamb in the Passover is a picture of God’s Passover Lamb- Jesus Christ.
*They were to select a year-old male lamb in its prime.
Jesus was a man in the prime of His life at age 33.
*The lamb was to be a perfect lamb without any defect or flaw.
Jesus was sinless. He lived a pure life and was faultless.
*It was to be taken out from the flock on the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Nisan and kept until the fourteenth day of the month. Each family was to observe the lamb and confirm that it was fit. This would also allow time for each family to become personally attached to their lamb so that it would no longer be just a lamb (Ex. 12:3), but their lamb (Ex. 12:5). This would deeply impress upon them the costly nature of the sacrifice. An innocent one was to die in their place.
Jesus left His natural place in heaven and came to earth for a short time. Jesus was born into God’s chosen people. The nation of Israel witnessed His ministry, teachings, miracles, and sinlessness. He was indeed the only One who would be an acceptable sacrifice. An innocent one was to die in their place.
The sacrifice was costly—God’s own Son.
*On the evening of the fourteenth, as the sun was setting, the lambs were to be publicly killed by “the whole assembly.” This was to be done at “twilight”—the time between the descent of the sun and evening. This was from 3 PM to 5 PM.
Jesus died at 3 PM on Nisan 14. He had been rejected and sent to His death by the assembly of the people.
*While all the assembly was responsible for the death of the lambs, each family was to individually apply the blood of their lamb to the doorposts of their home as a visible sign of their faith in the Lord (Ex. 12:13).
All of us are responsible for Christ’s death—He died for OUR sins. Yet, each one of us must come to Christ in faith and let His blood cover our sins, or God’s eternal judgment will not “pass over” us.
*At that moment, the innocent lamb became their substitute, making it possible for the Lord’s judgment to “pass over” them.
Jesus was innocent. He died in your place and took your judgment.
*The lamb was to be roasted whole with fire portraying the judgment that would befall it instead of the firstborn.
Jesus took ALL of God’s judgment for us. God did not spare Him in any way.
*The lamb was to be eaten by each person in the household. Any that was leftover was to be burned.
Jesus must be YOUR Savior and Lord—not your parents’ or grandparents’. You can only receive Him for yourself. No one can get to heaven on your “leftovers.”
*God required three symbolic foods to be eaten that Passover night—the lamb, unleavened bread (Matzah), and bitter herbs (Ex. 12:8).
Jesus was the lamb. He was pure and sinless. Yet, He died a bitter death as He took our place on the cross.
*And so the Lord instituted Passover as a “night to be observed for the Lord for having brought them out from the land of Egypt; this night is for the Lord, to be observed by all the sons of Israel throughout their generations” (Ex. 12:42).
For the Christian, the Lord’s Supper is our memorial of what Christ did for us.
Dr. Eleanor Chestnut was a medical missionary in China during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. She built a hospital and performed surgery for free. One operation involved the amputation of a common laborer’s leg. Complications arose, and skin grafts were needed. A few days later, another doctor asked Dr. Chestnut why she was limping. “Oh, it nothing,” was her reply.
Finally, a nurse told the inquisitive doctor that the skin graft for the patient came from Dr. Chestnut’s own leg.
A few years later, in 1905’s Boxer Rebellion, Dr. Chestnut was killed by the very people she was helping.
Christ came to help us and gave His life for us. Will you honor His death for you by your living for Him?
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