Beginning of Passover

November 10, 2013 Background Scripture: Exodus 6:2 – 30; 12 Lesson Passage: Exodus 12:1 – 14 The Passover observance is an ordinance of Judaism that is unlike any other. Although the Christian Communion or Lord’s Supper ordinance was derived from the Passover, the two are strikingly different when one considers their purpose and ceremonial procedures. The Lord’s Supper was instituted by Jesus as he and his disciples celebrated the Passover on the evening he was betrayed. Jesus used some remnants that remained from the Passover meal but not remnants from all of the ingredients that were required for the Passover celebration. It is true that the Passover foreshadowed the Lord’s Supper but yet the Passover remains unique in its meaning, celebration, and its participants. The Passover was and is an observance that celebrates a defining time in the history of the Jewish people. That time is marked by undeniable involvement of the one true and living God in the affairs of His chosen people, the Jews. Through a display of nine national disasters that were prophesied by Moses to Pharaoh, God exacted an open attack against all the gods the Egyptians were worshiping. The tenth and defining blow came on the night when God sent a death angel to kill all first born of humans and animals throughout the land of Egypt. The only exceptions would be those who remained inside of their dwellings which had been anointed with blood from an unblemished lamb that was killed on that evening according to God’s instructions. On that night, the death angel passed through the land of Egypt but when he came to those dwellings which were anointed with the blood, he passed over them and the occupants were not harmed. The meat of the lamb that was slain was roasted and consumed with bitter herbs and unleavened bread by the occupants that evening. The celebration commemorating the night the death angel passed through the land but passed over the dwellings anointed with the lamb’s blood was commanded by God to be observed the first month of the Jewish calendar perpetually. The Passover meal was to include roasted lamb, bitter herbs, and unleavened bread. The Passover celebration was to be a continuous reminder to the Jewish people of God’s miraculous deliverance of their ancestors from Egyptian bondage. Jesus, like other Jews, celebrated the Passover every year. On the night that he was betrayed by Judas, Jesus was celebrating the Passover along with his disciples. As the Passover meal came to an end, Jesus took some of the unleavened bread and the wine they drank with their meal and used those simple elements to institute what we know as the Lord’s Supper. There was no reference to the bitter herbs or the roasted lamb at this point. The Lord’s Supper commemorates a greater deliverance. This deliverance is for people from all nationalities and languages. It is a deliverance from the eternal death penalty of sin. This deliverance is for whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord for forgiveness of their sins. This deliverance does not benefit people simply because of their association within a house with a group. Each person must accept the deliverance for himself (herself). When the death angel passes through God’s creation, those who are under the blood of Jesus will be passed over. The Lord’s Supper is personal. The Passover is a historic Jewish memorial celebrated by the Jews and it had its beginning in the land of Egypt. Robert C. Hudson October 29, 2013