God’s Plan of Salvation begins with the Passover.
Millions have rejected this most important day
thinking it is for the “Jews” only. They have been
deceived into believing the pagan holiday Easter is
the day to be observed for modern day Christians.
Little do they know that their very eternal life is
wrapped around this ancient ceremony. Notice what
your Bible says about the
PASSOVER
.
Turn to the twelfth (12
th
) chapter of Exodus and begin reading in verse
one. “And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in
the land of Egypt, saying, this month shall be unto
you the beginning of months; it shall be the first
month of the year for you. Speak you unto all the
congregation of Israel, saying, in the tenth day of
this month they shall take to them every man a
lamb. Your lamb shall be
without blemish, a male
of the first year. You shall keep it up until the
fourteenth day
of the same month and the whole assembly of the
congregation of Israel shall kill it in the
evening. And they shall take of the blood, and
strike it on the side posts and on the upper door
post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it….For
I will pass through the land of Egypt this night,
and will smite all the first born in the land of
Egypt, both men and beasts; and against all the
gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the
Lord. And the blood for you will be 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. And this day
shall be unto you a MEMORIAL; and you shall keep it
a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; you
shall keep it a feast by an ORDINANCE FOREVER.”
(Exodus 12:1-7, 12-14).
The slain lamb, without blemish, represented Jesus
Christ. “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not
redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and
gold, from your vain conversation (conduct) received
by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious
blood of Christ,
as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot:” (I Pet. 1:18-19). So you see that
as the children of Israel had to come under the blood
of this slain lamb, WE TOO have to come under the
blood of Jesus Christ. Christ is referred to as a
lamb in several passages in the Bible. As John the
Baptist saw Christ approaching he said, “Behold the
Lamb
of God who takes away the sins of the world.” (John
1:29).
Jesus Christ observed the Passover His entire
life. However, the night before He was crucified
He instituted a great change in this ceremony.
He knew that He was going to fulfill the real
meaning of the Passover, so, “He took bread and
gave thanks, and brake it, and gave it unto them
saying, This is my body which is given for you;
this do
in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after
supper saying, This cup is the new testament in my
blood, which is shed for your.” (Luke 22:19, 20).
In John
6:53-54 Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except you
eat the flesh (bread) of the Son of man, and drink His blood,
(wine) ye have no life (eternal) in you. Whoso eateth my flesh,
and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him
up at the last day. (resurrection).”
After
implementing the NEW SYMBOLS for the Passover “He (Christ) riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments; and took a
towel, and girded Himself.” (John 13:4, 5). “After that He
poureth water into a basin and began to wash the disciple’s
feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded.”
(John 13:13, 14). He continues, “You call me Master and Lord;
and you say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master,
have washed your feet;
you also
ought to wash one another’s feet.” Christ was
teaching us to be servants and to be humble in our Christian
lives.
We no longer
slay a lamb at this time of the year. Christ fulfilled that
role. We do however, take the bread and wine as a MEMORIAL to
Christ’s death. John was inspired to write that failure to
observe this simple ceremony would negate our eternal life.
(John 6:53-54). Paul wrote to the Church in Rome that “…all
have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”, however,
“…being justified
(made clean) freely by His grace through the
redemption
that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth
to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His
righteousness for the
remission forgiveness)
of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;…”
(Rom. 3:23-25).
The Passover is only the beginning. Once we have been cleansed of our sins
through the blood of Christ, what does God require of us? The
Days of Unleavened Bread reveal this ageless secret.
