Passover Lesson

Resource: Oakes, John. From Shadow to Reality. Illuminations Publishers International. 2005

• Passover is the second most important festival to the Jews—after Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

  • During this time of year, this meal is celebrated by Jews throughout the world

  • I will show you how every single detail has incredible significance for the New Covenant—salvation by the blood of Jesus!

  • We will see that God intended this grace long ago, for everyone, not just for the Jews to remember the passover happening in Egypt.

Background to the Passover--

• Summarizing God's deliverance from the Egyptians in Exodus: The Israelites were crying out to God because of the harsh treatment and bondage in Egypt. God speaks to Pharaoh through Moses, saying "Let my people go."

• Ten times Pharaoh agreed and then changed his mind, so God brought unnatural disasters (plagues).

• The 10^th and final is killing of the first born—God provides a way for the Israelites to avoid the plague.

  4 So Moses said, "This is what the LORD says: 'About midnight I will go throughout Egypt 5 and every firstborn [male] in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the firstborn of the servant girl who is behind the millstones, as well as every firstborn of the livestock. -- Exodus 11:4-5 HCSB

  • Slaughter a lamb without defect

  • Put blood on the whole wooden door frame

  • Do not break any of the lamb's bones (Exodus 12:11)

The Parts of the Meal--

 1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: 2 "This month is to be the beginning of months for you; it is the first month of your year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they must each select an animal of the flock according to [their] fathers' households, one animal per household. 4 If the household is too small for a [whole] animal, that person and the neighbor nearest his house are to select one based on the combined number of people; you should apportion the animal according to what each person will eat. 5 You must have an unblemished animal, a year-old male; you may take it from either the sheep or the goats. 6 You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight. 7 They must take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat them. 8 They are to eat the meat that night; they should eat it, roasted over the fire along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or cooked in boiling water, but only roasted over fire—its head as well as its legs and inner organs. 10 Do not let any of it remain until morning; you must burn up any part of it that does remain until morning. 11 Here is how you must eat it: dressed for travel, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in a hurry; it is the LORD's Passover. -- Exodus 12:1-11 HCSB

• Eat roasted lamb

• Eat unleavened bread and bitter herbs

• Eat in haste

Order of the Passover--

1. The Jews start Passover with a ritual cleansing of all the yeast from their houses

2. The family gathers for the meal, assembling each part:

   1. Lamb

   2. Unleavened bread

   3. Bitter herbs

3. The Patriarch of the family will read sections of Exodus

4. A young boy will ask the four questions

   1. Exodus 13:14—what does this mean?

      1. Read the rest of vs.14 through 16

   2. Why is this night different from all other nights?

      1. It is a special night of worshiping God for the way He brought deliverance

   3. Why on this night do we only eat unleavened bread?

      1. The unleavened bread is to remember the haste in the escape from slavery

   4. Why eat bitter herbs?

      1. Remember the bitterness of slavery under Pharaoh

5. The bread is in three pieces, and one of the pieces is put away

Significance for us in the New Covenant--

1 The Festival of Unleavened Bread, which is called Passover, was drawing near. 2 The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to put Him to death, because they were afraid of the people.

3 Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, who was numbered among the Twelve. 4 He went away and discussed with the chief priests and temple police how he could hand Him over to them. 5 They were glad and agreed to give him silver. 6 So he accepted [the offer] and started looking for a good opportunity to betray Him to them when the crowd was not present.

7 Then the Day of Unleavened Bread came when the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8 Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover meal for us, so we can eat it."

9 "Where do You want us to prepare it?" they asked Him.

10 "Listen," He said to them, "when you've entered the city, a man carrying a water jug will meet you. Follow him into the house he enters. 11 Tell the owner of the house, 'The Teacher asks you, "Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover with My disciples?" ' 12 Then he will show you a large, furnished room upstairs. Make the preparations there."

13 So they went and found it just as He had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

14 When the hour came, He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him. 15 Then He said to them, "I have fervently desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." 17 Then He took a cup, and after giving thanks, He said, "Take this and share it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you, from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." -- Luke 22:1-18 HCSB

1. "The essence of the Passover is that of the Lord's Supper. It is all about remembering where we have come from, the bitterness of our enslavement (to sin), and the price of our deliverance by the blood of the Lamb" (Philip Lester quote in Shadow to Reality, by John Oakes).

2. "Because of the blood of the Passover lamb, God "passed over" the houses of the Jews. Because of the blood of the Lamb of God, "slain from the creation of the world," God will pass over the sin in our own personal house—our lives" (Shadow p.174).

3. Explain the correlation between the wooden door frame and the wooden cross beam

4. "Do not break any of the bones" (Exodus 12:46) & Psalm 22:17 messianic prophecy

   1. This command would seem obscure to the Jews but has fulfillment with Jesus

   2. The soldiers did not break His legs, but did the other two (John 19:31-32)

5. Unleavened bread—the Jews had to leave too quick to put leaven in their bread.

   1. Leaven in the Old and New Testament represents sin.

      1. Luke 9:62 shows that Jesus expected us to immediately leave our life of sin and not look back.

   2. As stated before, the Jews searched the house before passover, in order to make sure there was no leaven.

      1. Similarly for us, God expects us to search our hearts before we partake in the communion with our Lord.
         
         

A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. -- 1Corinthians 11:28 NIV

6Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? 7Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth. -- 1Corinthians 5:6-8 NIV

1. Two things – 1.getting rid of the sin, and 2. being without sin

   1. The blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, causes God to passover our sins

   2. However, this makes us urgent to deal with our sin that we confront in our hearts

1. Bitter Herbs—the Jews were to remember the awful, bitter slavery in Egypt.

   1. Maybe you think this was easy for them to remember how awful it was, especially when compared to the great freedom God gave them?

   2. However, they're longing to go back there a relatively short time later (Numbers 20).

   3. What a great lesson for us to always remember the bitter slavery of bondage to sin.

2. They also had three loaves of bread and four cups of wine

   1. The third loaf is broken into pieces and hidden around the house. Once we find the pieces, we share them together.

   2. The third cup of wine is traditionally known as the cup of redemption.

      1. They drink it right after the meal.

      2. It is the cup Jesus took and said: "This is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you" (Luke 22:20).