This Friday evening, April 6th, is Passover, the
first of the three Spring Feasts God commanded Israel to keep annually. Passover has been celebrated for 3500 years
and provides the Jewish roots for our remembrance of the sacrifice of Jesus on
the cross and the celebration of His resurrection.
I Cor. 5:7-8: “Clean
out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact
unleavened. For Christ our Passover also
has been sacrificed. Therefore let us
celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness,
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
Jesus perfectly fulfilled the prophetic actions Jewish homes
re-enact in the Passover Seder. He is
the Passover Lamb slain on the very day the priests were sacrificing the lamb
to commemorate God’s deliverance from the slavery of Egypt. Four cups of wine are served in the Seder,
based on the four declarations God made to Israel in Ex. 6:6, 7. God told Moses to tell the people: “I am the Lord, and I will bring you out (Cup
of Sanctification)....I will deliver you (Cup of Deliverance)….I will also
redeem you (Cup of Redemption)…..Then I will take you for My people (Cup of
Marriage).”
Jesus also is the sinless Bread of Life pictured in the
Feast of Unleavened Bread. Jewish homes
will thoroughly clean their homes from top to bottom this week in preparation
for the week long celebration of Unleavened Bread. This is a wonderful picture of the work each
of us should do daily in separating ourselves from sin. “Be holy, for I am holy.”
Jesus also fulfilled the third Feast, First Fruits, by
rising from the dead—the first fruits hope for resurrection that we all, as
believers in Jesus, hold as our own glorious hope. Because He defeated death we too have the
hope of resurrection. Paul sums it up
clearly in I Cor. 15: “…if Christ has
not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins…But now
Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen
asleep.” We proclaim to the world the
Good News. He died and took away your
sins. But the grave is empty! He is Risen!
Hallelujah!
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