The Passover originates from a story in the Book of Exodus that took place when the people of Israel were living in captivity in the land of oppression, also known as Egypt. God had told Moses that he would bring a plague on the land of oppression but that He would cover the people of Israel in order to make it known that God was making a difference between the Egyptians & the people of Israel. This should sound awfully familiar as we are living in a land filled with oppression that currently has a plague sweeping through it.
The Passover Lamb
In Chapter 12 of the Book of Exodus, God told Moses and Aaron that in the 10th day of the month of Abib (Nisan, which corresponds to March-April) every man was to take a lamb of the first year for his household. The spotless lamb (without fault or sin) was to be kept until the 14th day. They were commanded to kill the lamb in the evening and take the blood to put it on the doorposts of the house in which they were going to eat the lamb that night. They were instructed to eat the meat of the lamb with unleavened bread. They were also told to eat it with their loins girded, shoes on their feet, staff in their hand, and in haste because it was “the LORD’s Passover” (Exo 12:1-11). Then He explains why it is called the Passover…
“For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt: I am the LORD.
And the blood shall be to you for a sign 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/Oppression.”
Exo 12:12-13
God told His People to keep this feast to be a memorial throughout their generations. They were further instructed to eat unleavened bread for 7 days and to remove leaven from their houses. After being given these instructions, Moses told the people of Israel to take and kill the Passover Lamb, putting its blood on their doorposts so that the LORD would pass over them to not allow the plague to come into their houses to destroy them. Moses told the people to tell their children that this sacrificial lamb was the LORD’s Passover and that He would pass over the people of Israel when coming through the land of oppression as a destructive plague.
Being Passed Over
It came to pass that night that the LORD destroyed all the firstborn, including the firstborn of Pharaoh. There was such a great cry in the land of oppression because there wasn’t a household that didn’t know of one dead. Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron that night telling them to take all the children of Israel from among his people and go serve the LORD. Once the children of Israel did all that the LORD had commanded them, He brought them out of the land of oppression and sent them away from their oppressors with great treasures. Then the LORD told Moses to cleanse all the firstborn of the children of Israel.
How do you get cleansed?
Jesus/Y’hoshua said,
“I am the living bread which came down from Heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. …
Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
Whoever eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, has eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
He that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, dwells in me, and I in him.
As the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eats me, even he shall live by me.”
John 6:51-57
Y’hoshua was identifying himself (his flesh & blood) as being the Word of God that a person must consume in order to have Life. He went on to say, “The Words that I speak to you, they are Spirit, and they are Life.” (John 6:63)
Y’hoshua also told his disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees (the religious elite of his time) and of the leaven of Herod (the government of his time). This is as someone who is puffed up and full of hypocrisy.
“Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:
Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
1 Cor 5:7-8
Therefore, to be passed over by the plague of God’s Wrath sweeping through the land of oppression, the children of Israel must hurry up and consume the Passover Lamb by learning the Word of God. This is to be done without having the hypocrisy and wickedness of their oppressive leaders (both religious & secular).
“And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; …
And this is how you shall eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’S Passover.”
Exo 12:8-11