The Passover: God's Ultimate Display of Love and Salvation

What does the Bible say about the Passover?

Exodus 12:3 …take to them every man a lamb according to the house of their fathers a lamb for a house... 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt both man and beast and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment I am the Lord. 13 …and the blood shall be to you a token upon the houses where you are and when I see the blood I will pass over you and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt.

In 1 Corinthians 5 7-8, Paul writes: …Christ Our Passover is sacrificed for us; therefore let us keep the feast …with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Passover has been celebrated for thousands of years.

God calls for a searching and a casting out of leaven from the home – leaven is a symbol in the Bible of sin.

To prepare for Passover they had to get rid of any leaven. The Jews of today follow a cleansing process. The wife thoroughly cleans the house, but she deliberately leaves ten small pieces. Then the father and the children take a candle, and they search through the house to find every bit of leaven.

God wants us to clean up our act - to get rid of any leaven. God's church is called a spiritual house; 2 Peter 2:5. We want to address sin, and deal with it in our life. We can take the candle – the word of God - Psalm 119:105, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Let us examine ourselves and keep that closer walk with him, asking him to daily help us with our daily cleansing and living.

At the time of the Passover the children of Israel were in the bondage of Egypt. They were enslaved, in captivity. When God's judgment came they were sheltered – by the safety of the blood.

Egypt represents the world. Passover recalls God's deliverance of His people from that slavery of Egypt. As the saved, we know Heaven as our new home, our new direction for life.

God sent Moses to Pharaoh demanding the release of the Israelites, but Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let God's people go.

God sent ten plagues – the last was that every firstborn of every household would be destroyed. But God instructed the Israelites to sacrifice the lamb, and mark their doorposts with its blood, and then the angel of death would “pass over” and not bring judgment to that household.

Passover is a reminder of God's power – and promise - to deliver His people from bondage, and of His great faithfulness. The lamb is a sacrifice for sin – a symbol of Christ, the Lamb of God; John 1:29, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.

We can be saved by the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Lord our righteousness. We can be saved by God and made safe by God. Those who trusted in the blood of the lamb are delivered from Egypt, that picture of the world system. The ruler of Egypt, Pharaoh, is a type of satan. Sin is likened to slavery and bondage.

Our salvation is truly in knowing the shed blood of Christ over our life. It is the blood of Jesus that redeems us – we can know His redemption power. We can find that great safety that is in Christ - under the shelter of His blood.

The lamb was killed between the evenings - Exodus 12:6; it refers to the ninth hour of the day – that means 3pm. This was exactly the moment that Christ died.

The believers had to smear the blood on the two door posts and on the lintel - the top part. Passover reminds us of sin’s enslavement - Thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt.

Passover tells of the freedom of redemption – it’s a powerful symbol of our salvation for us today. Christ Our Passover is sacrificed for us. The work of His cross is the fulfillment for you and me today.

Passover declares Israel's passage from bondage to freedom. For you and me it's very fitting for us to remember the bondage of Egypt - we used to be a slave to sin. Now God has set us free; we're no longer slaves to sin, we're no longer a bondman in Egypt, we're a son, a child, of God, by faith.

Passover celebrates your freedom. You've been set free. I once was under bondage, under the servitude to satan, and sin. But now I've been set free, I've been liberated, I've been redeemed.

Galatians 5:1, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

There had to be a death in every home that night - either a dead lamb or a dead son.

God promises and extends to us His offer of great deliverance and victory. Have you taken shelter – by His saving grace and love – do you know and apply the shed blood of Jesus to your life? There's no other way that you can be saved – no other salvation, other than by the blood of Jesus.

He willingly went to the cross - deliberately - Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. We can take shelter under His blood. No man-made righteousness of our own will do. It has to be the blood of Jesus.