Good Friday, April 19th was also the start of Passover. ‘Pesach Sameach’ to all our Jewish / Messianic friends. Elizabeth Njeri writes from Israel about Passover.
Passover: God’s Purposes and Redemption
Passover, what a significant time, there is a clear pattern in the Bible of timing and the manifestation of God’s promises and purposes. It is beyond coincidence Passover represents a time of redemption during the old covenant and the new covenant. This points to significance and deliberate intention of God’s purposes for humanity. In the old covenant, it was the time when He delivered His chosen people from long term bondage. In the new covenant, God provides redemption for all humanity scattered throughout the nations.
It could be the most significant moment in time when a bridge for eternal redemption was created not only for Israel but all tribes and nations. As we celebrate the Passover Seder here in Israel we will remember God’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage which lasted for over 400 years. Indeed a reason to celebrate Jesus, our Passover lamb, was slain in the same season – a direct fulfillment of God’s intention – the redemption of humanity. The fact that He could leave heaven to live on earth and then ultimately die is a direct visual that God, in His mercy, is deeply committed to redeeming man.
Here are Bible verses on the origin, timing, and relevance of Passover origin:
Exodus 12
The Lord said to Moses in the land of Egypt, this month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month every man shall take a lamb…a lamb without blemish…keep it until the fourteenth day of this month when the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.
They shall take the blood and put it on the doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it… and you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.
For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt both man and beast and on all the gods of Egypt
The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are and when I see the blood I will pass over you and no plague will befall you or destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
God says that it is HIS PASSOVER (verse 11) not Moses or the nation of Israel. This is very important because the lamb was slain for all the tribes, nations and peoples, and therefore, Jesus is the Passover lamb.
God is the author and origin of the covenant and Feast of Passover.
Timing
Verse 13 talks God says ‘when I strike the land of Egypt’. He did on the 14th day of the first month of the biblical year. Time and God’s purposes are bound in time the progression from the 1st day to setting the lamb aside on the 10th day of the slaying of the lamb on the 14th day is synonymous with the killing of Jesus in the new covenant.
Luke 22
Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near which is called the Passover. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put Him to death for they feared the people. Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover had to be sacrificed….and the hour came, he reclined at the table and the apostles with Him, and He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer…” as you continue to read Jesus that same night He was arrested, it was a heavy duty night till His crucifixion.
The blood needed to Passover God’s wraths for billions of people was shed, redemption is now a reality.
This is a time to be awake to God’s purposes for this extremely important and significant season.
Relevance
Shedding of blood – there is a lot of power coming from the blood which has been shed, in exodus it is the blood that protected the nation of Israel from the plague.
Hebrews 9
“…and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”
Revelation 5
“Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth.”
What an amazing scripture the Passover in the New covenant sealed eternal redemption for all humanity regardless of your tribe, tongue, people and nation.
Revelation 12
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.
What significant time to be awake, alive and waiting on the fulfillment of His purposes as we commemorate His Passover. We as the Bride of Jesus Christ must come in His Passover with full assurance of His redemption and be petitioning those in the world to come into His alignment this Passover season.
