Spring Holy Passover: April 11th after sundown - Days of Un
Passover The Passover pictures our being rec- onciled to the Father through our Savior Jesus Christ who rescued us from the penalty of our past sins. The historical record of the first Pass- over that the Israelites kept in Egypt is found in Exodus 12. The lambs they selected were without blemish, a male of the first year (Exodus 12:5). As soon as the lambs were killed, the blood was put on the two door- posts and on the lintel of the Israel- ites’ houses (Exodus 12:7). They were protected from the plague of death by the blood of the lambs that had been applied. Today we can be protected from the penalty of eternal death our sins have earned through the shed blood of Christ, our Passover Lamb, who was sacrificed for us (I Corinthi- ans 5:7). Jesus instituted the New Testament Passover symbols on the evening of the very day the Passover lambs had always been slain – the 14th of Abib. During supper, on the evening before Jesus’ crucifixion, He instituted the washing of feet as a part of the new way of observing the Passover (John 13:1-17). He commanded His dis- ciples to follow His example and to wash one another’s feet (John 13:14- 15), teaching others to do likewise (Matthew 28:19-20). He also introduced the symbols of the bread and the wine. Unleavened bread was to symbolically represent Christ’s body which was brutally beaten (Mat- thew 26:26-29). It is through Christ’s
Unleavened Bread The observance of the Feast of Un- leavened Bread impresses on us that we must do our part to keep the sins Jesus covered with His shed blood out of our lives. The Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures the keeping of God’s commandments. Immediately after the Passover, God commanded the Israelites to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 12:15-20). The first and the seventh days were set apart as “holy” days on which the people were to assemble. The Israelites were to put all leaven and leavened food out of their homes and off their property during the sev- en Days of Unleavened Bread (Ex- odus 13:7). A leavening agent is any substance used to puff up – to pro- duce fermentation, causing dough to rise. Yeast, baking soda, and baking powder are leavening agents. Leaven is often referred to in the Bi- ble as a symbol for sin (Matthew 16:6). Leaven puffs up, and so does sin. Unleavened bread is a flat bread that contains no leavening agent, and therefore typifies the absence of sin. God specifically commands His peo- ple to eat unleavened bread each day during this festival (Exodus 12:15). The act of eating unleavened bread during these days symbolizes the keeping of the commandments -ac- tive obedience to God. God wants Christians to forsake this world’s ways of sin (Revelation 18:4).
stripes that we may be healed (Psalm 103:2-3). Wine was to symbolically represent His blood, which was to be shed for the forgiveness of past sins (Matthew 26:27-29). Christ was arrested like a criminal (Matthew 26:47-56). He was brought informally before the Sanhedrin by night, beaten and spit upon (Mat- thew 26:67). He was then sent to Pi- late and Herod and mocked by their soldiers (Luke 23:11). Before deliver- ing Christ to be crucified, Pilate had Him scourged (Matthew 27:26). After He was crucified, one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, which ended His life. In ancient Israel males had to be cir- cumcised in order to partake of the Passover (Exodus 12:48). In the New Testament, circumcision is of the heart (Romans 2:29). Those who re- pent, are baptized, and have received God’s Spirit (through the laying on of hands) have become spiritually cir- cumcised. Therefore, the Passover, unlike any of God’s other annual fes- tivals, is limited to baptized members of God’s Church. Jesus commanded His disciples to keep the Passover in memory of Him until He returns (I Corinthians 11:26). It was kept by the apostles, is kept by the Church today, and will be kept by Christ and born-again Christians when He establishes the Kingdom of God on Earth (Matthew 26:29).
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