Passover is the Jewish Feast of freedom. In Passover we see a picture, a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ. The very existence of prophecy tells us that the Lord has already seen what, for us, is invisible. The old saying that, “history repeats itself” is nowhere clearer than in the biblical types that manifest themselves in proclamations of later—and greater—demonstrations of the Lord’s authority over the events of history. The words of Isaiah 46: 9-10 makes this clear: “Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure.” From God’s point of view, history is not so much, a line as an expanding set of rings that enlarge upon an originating idea. Therefore, it is important that we revisit the first Passover and examine how God is still using it to speak today. This year Passover began on the Sabbath, April 12th and ends on April 20th that coincides with our Easter or Resurrection Day. God seems to be highlighting this Passover as it is being observed by both Jews and the Church. The Bible is a book of blood. It tells us about the blood redemption all the way from Genesis right on through to the Book of the Revelation. We have the account of the first Passover in the Book of Exodus—the Book of Redemption. It teaches that Redemption is wholly from God and by His power and centers on the Blood of the Lamb. God declared the month of the Passover as the first month for the children of Israel. Time began to be marked by Redemption!

The First Passover—Exodus 12

The first Passover is God’s story of deliverance for His people who were held in bondage by an ungodly and tyrannical system. Only after Pharoah’s repeated refusals did this feast become a living reality. First, the Egyptian waters were turned to blood. Then came successive plagues of frogs, lice, flies, cattle disease, boils, fiery hail, locusts, and supernatural darkness. These nine plagues had failed to soften the heart of Pharoah. Moses warned him that one final plague would come. The angel of death would visit every Egyptian household. Egypt’s power was negated by the blood of the Passover lamb. Moses commanded the elders of Israel to slaughter lambs in the evening. The lambs had to be spotless—without blemish and to test this it was kept for four days and then killed—a sacrificial lamb. The lamb’s blood had to be applied with hyssop to the doorposts of the house, each side and the top. The blood of the lamb had to be applied there openly and publicly and unashamedly showing they believe in the blood so death would not come to the house. The whole lamb was to be roasted by fire picturing the fires of God’s wrath and judgment against the Egyptians and all the gods of Egypt. They were to eat the lamb with unleavened bread because leaven in the Bible is an illustration of sin. They were to eat it with bitter herbs as a symbol of pain and suffering. They were to eat quickly in expectancy of their imminent departure from captivity. Egypt’s first-born sons died while the angel of death “passed over” the Jewish homes with the blood of the lamb on their door posts. This celebration was to be a memorial of redemption each year in the first month of the Hebrew year—Nissan and was the first law Moses conveyed to the people.

Passover—A Picture of Christ

The blood-soaked wooden door posts and lintels were types of the Cross of Christ. He, Himself is the “…Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” (Jn. 1: 29) Passover is mentioned 36 times in the New Testament. In both testaments, the blood of the lamb delivers from slavery—the Jew from Egypt, the Christian from sin. In the New Testament, Jesus is the sacrificial lamb. No coincidence that He was sacrificed on Passover. Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:21 emphasizes that Jesus Christ is the perfect Lamb. “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus, who never sinned, took on the sins of humanity, enabling believers to be made righteous in God’s eyes. Pharoah the King of Egypt was a type of the devil. He wore a crown with a serpent on it, the symbol of Egypt. We have the serpent vs. the lamb and it is the Lamb who defeated the serpent. This picture takes on a deeper meaning in the fact that sheep are immune to the bite of a variety of poisonous snakes. Today they utilize lambs to produce anti-venoms. They inject a lamb with specified quantities of venom and the blood immediately goes to work producing antibodies to combat the venom. When the blood of the lambs have generated enough antibodies, those antibodies are extracted from the blood of that lamb and an anti-venom is formulated. There is indeed power in the blood of the Lamb! Jesus is also the unleavened bread of the Passover. The Manna was itself a type of Christ—the Bread of Life. Passover is the festival of the new birth, when death directly resulted in resurrection. Its cup and bread became the symbols of salvation. The Passover experience intertwines the atoning blood of the lamb with the judgment of the evil world. It combines salvation and judgment, the Bible’s two major themes. In Egypt, the Jew marked his house with the blood of the lamb. Today, the Christian marks his house—his body, “the house of the Spirit”—with the blood of Christ. As Christians we are urged to purge our lives of sin, even as Jewish homes are cleansed of leaven in anticipation of Passover: “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” (I Corinthians 5:7) Jesus fulfilled all the typology of the Passover Lamb in a spiritual sense.

The Four Cups of Passover

The Jews today commemorate Passover with four cups, unleavened bread and the Seder plate. All of these conclude in the anticipation of a future deliverance! I believe that God has a message for us today as well as we anticipate God’s deliverance from the bondage of government corruption and overreach! God is still in the deliverance business—He has a plan, He is in control and He loves us!

Seder is a Hebrew word meaning “order” and usually refers to the service conducted at Passover. It is the story of the first Passover under Moses (Exodus 12) and includes songs and prayers. It also includes a requirement to drink four cups of wine (or grape juice). The four cups are a vital part of the dinner and one of the most important aspects of the seder. They correspond to four “I wills” God promised the Jewish people in Exodus 6:

“I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians” (v. 6). “I will rescue you from their bondage” (v. 6). “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments” (v. 6). “I will take you as My people, and I will be your God” (v 7). THE FIRST CUP: This is the Cup of Sanctification. It is consumed early in the meal. Sanctification means “set apart.” Jewish people acknowledge, remember, and praise God that He selected, exalted, and set them apart by giving them His commandments. Likewise, God has set apart the Church as the Body of Christ to bring glory to Him and to fulfill His mission on earth—teaching believers to understand His Word and equipping them to fulfill the Great Commission of spreading the Gospel to reach the lost.

THE SECOND CUP: This is the cup of Praise. After the story of the Exodus—the ultimate account of liberation from slavery—is read, the Cup of Praise is drunk with a prayer of praise to God for being the constant source of deliverance in every generation of Jewish history. From Abraham to today, God has delivered His people from their enemies and He is our Deliverer today!

THE THIRD CUP: This is the cup of Redemption. It is drunk after the meal and after the afikomen (the middle matzoh bread broken in half, wrapped in white linen cloth and hidden) is found. (Jesus’ body was broken, wrapped in linen and laid in a grave.) In the ancient world, redemption referred to slaves being purchased and liberated. Jewish people thank and praise God for freeing them from Egyptian bondage. Not only did God deliver them from the physical hardship of slavery but also from the constant exposure to Egypt’s false gods. No longer would the Israelites and their children be forcibly subjected to the worship practices of a pagan culture. The third cup also has particular significance for Christians. It is the same cup Jesus took after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you” (Lk. 22: 20). The Cup of Redemption symbolizes what Jesus did for us. He shed His blood to redeem us from slavery to sin. That is why the apostle Paul, a highly trained Jewish scholar, wrote, “For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us” (1 Cor. 5:7).

THE FOURTH CUP: Everyone partakes of this cup near the end of the dinner. It was called the Cup of Acceptance or the Cup of Anticipation and celebrates the relationship God desires with His Chosen People: “Next year in Jerusalem!” This is the cup the Lord Jesus used to symbolize the ratification of the New Covenant and to institute communion. He did not drink it Himself, however, but said He will drink it when the Messianic Kingdom is established: “Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” (Mt. 26: 27-29) Each time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper in church and partake of the communion cup, we memorialize the Lord’s sacrifice of Himself as the Passover Lamb of God. Too few churches today understand the significance of this beautiful Jewish holiday. Not only does it help Christians learn more about biblical Jewish history and culture, but it also helps us understand more about what it truly means to be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. The resurrection is the key feature in the life of Jesus. He rose from the grave on the third day. It is fascinating that Israel is also prophesied to rise again…on the third day. (A day is as a thousand years—2 Pt. 3:8) Hosea predicts that: “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face; in their affliction they will seek me early. Come, and let us return unto the LORD as he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us; in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.” (Hosea 5: 15-6:2) The Lord promised to raise Israel on the third day, just as He, Himself had risen from the grave on the third day.

May God perform His Divine Deliverance as in the First Passover—a Feast of Freedom in our nation and in the lives of the people. May He expose and judge the evil schemes of the enemy that have enslaved the people and perform a Divine Reversal through a great move of His Spirit. May His outstretched hand render scrolls of redemption, recompense and rectification. AMEN