Key Verse: "This is a day you are to
commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival
to the Lord a lasting ordinance."
Exodus 12:14
"Celebrate the feast of unleavened bread,
because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt.
Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come."
(Exodus 12:17) "And when your children ask you, "What does this
ceremony mean to you?" then tell them, "It is the Passover sacrifice
to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared
our homes when He struck down the Egyptians." (Exodus 12:27)
The original act was an act of worship as the
first true act of freedom for the people of Israel. They had been brought to
Egypt by Joseph during a time of famine so that through Joseph God could
preserve their lives. (Genesis 37, & 39-50) After Joseph died, however, instead of
heading back to Canaan, the Israelites settled down to continue their lives
together. As they grew in number, the Egyptians began to become afraid of the
Israelites and the Pharaoh, who did not remember Joseph, began to create rules
to oppress them. Like the frog in the pot, the temperature kept rising until
finally the Egyptians had made slaves of their one time guests.
For four hundred years, the Egyptians
increased their oppression because of their fear. God, however, blessed His
people by continuing to increase their number even more. Finally, God raised up
a deliverer who, like Jesus, was not recognized for what he was. He got off to
a rocky start, but eventually, with the Lord's staff in his hand, freedom from
slavery was being won for the people of Israel.
Through Moses, God had sent plagues to attack
each of the so called gods of Egypt. The Egyptians had endured frogs, flies,
gnats, locusts, hail, no water to drink, nine plagues in which Pharaoh
continued to be stubborn and not let God's people go. Now, with this final
plague of the Passover, Egyptians would each lose their first born, but the
blood of a lamb, spread on the door posts of their houses, would protect the
first born of Israel. God was doing an amazing thing for His people and He did
not want them to forget it.
The Seder meal that Jews still celebrate today
is in obedience to God's command, on this night, years ago, that they do so in
order to remember what God did for them and also pass that memory on to the
next generation. It's a wonderful way for families to pass on their history of
an amazing, loving Father God.
The celebration, even in its original form,
points to the one true sacrificial lamb, Messiah Himself. No bones were to be
broken. None of Jesus’ bones were broken at the crucifixion. Each person needed
to partake of the lamb. No one could eat another person's portion. No one can
claim salvation for another. The opportunity for salvation was present for the
nation, but each individual had to participate if they were to be saved.
Finally, while everyone only receives a measured portion, there is enough for
all. No one is to be excluded. The Passover is a foreshadowing of Christ's
sacrifice on the cross which would offer salvation to the world.
As Jesus joins His disciples in fellowship for
the Passover on this evening to come, it is done in obedience to His Heavenly
Father's command, but also, in a new way, He is to become the Lamb of God for
all of us.
Hymn: "There
Is a Redeemer"
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