1. Adonai spoke to Moshe and Aharon in the land
of Egypt; he said, 2. “You are to begin your calendar with this month; it
will be the first month of the year for you. 3. Speak to all the assembly of
Isra’el and say, ‘On the tenth day of this month, each man is to take a lamb
or kid for his family, one per household — 4. except that if the household is
too small for a whole lamb or kid, then he and his next-door neighbour should
share one, dividing it in proportion to the number of people eating it. 5. Your
animal must be without defect, a male in its first year, and you may choose
it from either the sheep or the goats. 6. “‘You are to keep it until the
fourteenth day of the month, and then the entire assembly of the community of
Isra’el will slaughter it at dusk. 7. They are to take some of the blood and
smear it on the two sides and top of the door-frame at the entrance of the
house in which they eat it.
8. That night, they are to eat the meat, roasted
in the fire; they are to eat it with matzah [unleavened bread] and maror [bitter
herbs]. 9. Don’t eat it raw or boiled, but roasted in the fire, with its
head, the lower parts of its legs and its inner organs. 10. Let nothing of it
remain till morning; if any of it does remain, burn it up completely. 11. “‘Here
is how you are to eat it: with your belt fastened, your shoes on your feet
and your staff in your hand; and you are to eat it hurriedly. It is Adonai’s
Pesach [Passover]. 12. For that night, I will pass through the land of Egypt
and kill all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both men and animals; and I
will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt; I am Adonai. 13. The
blood will serve you as a sign marking the houses where you are; when I see the
blood, I will pass over you — when I strike the land of Egypt, the death blow
will not strike you. 14. “‘This will be a day for you to remember and
celebrate as a festival to Adonai; from generation to generation you are to
celebrate it by a perpetual regulation. 15. “‘For seven days you are to eat
matzah [unleavened bread] — on the first day remove the leaven from your
houses. For whoever eats hametz [leavened bread] from the first to the
seventh day is to be cut off from Isra’el.
16. On
the first and seventh days, you are to have an assembly set aside for God. On
these days no work is to be done, except what each must do to prepare his
food; you may do only that. 17. You are to observe the Festival Of Matzah [Festival
of Unleavened Bread or Chag haMatzod in Hebrew], for
on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt.
Therefore, you are to observe this day from generation to generation by a
perpetual regulation. 18 From the evening of the fourteenth day of the first
month until the evening of the twenty-first day, you are to eat matzah. 19. During
those seven days, no leaven is to be found in your houses. Whoever eats food
with hametz in it is to be cut off from the community of Isra’el — it doesn’t
matter whether he is a foreigner or a citizen of the land. 20 Eat nothing
with hametz in it. Wherever you live, eat matzah.’” (12:1-20 Exodus Complete Jewish Bible,
CJB)
|
Passover
means Pesach in Hebrew. It represents the day God showed mercy to humanity by
making His One and Only Firstborn Son the sacrificial lamb offering. His name
is Yeshua Ha Mashiac (Jesus Christ), the Lamb of God. Therefore,
7 Purge
(clean out) the old leaven that you may be fresh (new) dough, still
uncontaminated [as you are], for Christ, our Passover [Lamb], has been
sacrificed (1
Corinthians 5:7 Amp).
7
Get rid of the old hametz, so that you can be a new batch of dough, because in
reality you are unleavened. For our Pesach lamb, the Messiah, has been
sacrificed (1 Corinthians 5:7 CJB).
Let us take a look at the institution of
Passover, how it began.
The
first Passover was a period God decided to make a statement to the then most powerful
nation in the known world, ancient Egypt. He wanted to execute judgment. And
because He is a Righteous Judge He did not want to punish the righteous together
with the unrighteous. He decided to institute the principle of salvation which
is called Passover or Pesach; where the just are saved and separated from the
unjust.
What is Passover?
It
is the commemoration of the feast of salvation. It was when the foundation of
salvation was laid. It was laid with the blood of the Lamb. The principle of deliverance
was also instituted that same day. The ordinance of Passover has three main portions:
(1) the killing of the Passover lamb, (2) the sprinkling of the blood on the
lintel, and the (3) Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. The following
criteria was met by the assembly or congregation of Israel to be saved from the
judgment that would knock at the door of every home in ancient Egypt. The ritual
of the Pesach lamb offering is offered by one or more households in Israel but Christ
is the Lamb offered by God for the church and all who will believe.
29The
next day John saw Jesus coming to him and said, Look! There is the Lamb of God,
Who takes away the sin of the world! (John1:29
Amp).
29
The next day, Yochanan saw Yeshua coming toward him and said, “Look! God’s
lamb! The one who is taking away the sin of the world! (John 1:29 CJB).
1. The
Killing of the Passover Lamb
According to the Covenant, the sacrifice
must be done with a male lamb in its first year; it must be an abled bodied
well fed lamb. Christ offered Himself in the prime of His life. He was the lamb
without blemish indicating purity, flawlessness and perfection. Christ was and
is holy, pure and without spot or wrinkle.
19
on the contrary, it was the costly bloody sacrificial death of the
Messiah, as of a lamb without defect or spot (1 Peter 1:19 CJB).
19 But
[you were purchased] with the precious blood of Christ (the Messiah), like that
of a [sacrificial] lamb without blemish or spot. (1 Peter
1:19 Amp)
According
to tradition, the Korban Pesach (Passover lamb) must be separated and isolated
for 4 days before Passover. In other words it must be singled out and set apart
from the rest of the flock and checked for defects. This is to get the lamb
ready for the sacrifice. Before Christ was crucified during Passover, He
entered Jerusalem 4 days prior in fulfilment of the separation and isolation customary
for a Passover lamb. This is an indication that Christ got Himself prepared
before His crucifixion on the cross of Calvary. Passover Lambs must be killed
and roasted whole with fire. If we continue with this analogy of Christ
as the Passover lamb we see that He went through severe pain and suffering and
eventually died on the cross. He then descended into Hell (which is associated
with fire) to conquer death and the grave for our sake. Because of His ultimate
sacrifice we are exempted from Hell’s fire. Again, No bone of the lamb must be
broken. None of Christ’s bones were broken when He was crucified. The Spirit of
the Lord Jesus was not broken neither was His strength and power.
33 But
when they came to Jesus and they saw that He was already dead, they did not
break His legs. 36 For these things took place, that the Scripture
might be fulfilled (verified, carried out), Not one of His bones shall be
broken; (John 19:33, 36 Amp).
33 but
when they got to Yeshua and saw that he was already dead, they didn’t break his
legs. 36 For these things happened in order to fulfill this passage of the
Tanakh: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” (John
19:33, 36 CJB).
2
The Sprinkling of Blood on the Lintel
The
blood of the lamb must be sprinkled on the lintel or doorpost. The blood of
Jesus Christ that was shed or sprinkled on the cross not only saves but has
applied benefits such as healing, deliverance, etc. It is THE solution to every
problem in life. It atones for sin because the ultimate sacrifice has been made.
The children of Israel were instructed to use hyssop to apply the blood to
their doorposts. To use the blood of Jesus Christ as a solution to the problems
of life must be done with belief and faith. God instructed that it was to be
applied to the doorpost and lintel. These are crucial loadbearing structures
and the same can be said about the blood of Jesus. This means that you must not
scorn or treat with disdain the precious blood of the covenant. It is the blood
of Lamb of God that seals your salvation, carries and abolishes the burden of
sin.
29 How
much worse (sterner and heavier) punishment do you suppose he will be judged to
deserve who has spurned and
[thus] trampled underfoot the Son of God, and who has considered the covenant
blood by which he was consecrated common and
unhallowed, thus profaning it and
insulting and outraging the
[Holy] Spirit [Who imparts] grace (the unmerited favour and blessing of God)? (Hebrew
10:29 Amp)
29
Think how much worse will be the punishment deserved by someone who has
trampled underfoot the Son of God; who has treated as something common the
blood of the covenant which made him holy; and who has insulted the Spirit,
giver of God’s grace! (Complete Jewish Bible).
It
is only the blood sprinkled with careful obedience to the instruction which
saved the children of Israel from the destruction. It was not because they were
children of Abraham. Thus Beloved obedience to the word of God, commandments
and instructions are what saves.
3. The
Feast of Unleavened bread
During
this feast all leaven is removed from the home and not consumed for seven days.
Seven is a number of completion in Christianity. However what is the
significance of this? Jesus says it best in Luke 12:1-3 (CJB)
Meanwhile,
as a crowd in the tens of thousands gathered so closely as to trample each
other down, Yeshua began to say to his talmidim (disciples) first, “Guard
yourselves from the hametz (leaven) of the P’rushim (Pharisees), by which I
mean their hypocrisy. 2 There is nothing covered up that will not be uncovered,
or hidden that will not become known. 3 What you have spoken in the dark will
be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be
proclaimed on the housetops.
I
leave you with this caution from our Lord Beloved. Let Him who has ears hear
what the Spirit is saying. Shalom.
Comments
Post a Comment