LORD’s Passover

And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD's Passover.

Exodus 12:11

Many Christians understand the historical significance of the Old Testament observance of Passover and even know that the “Last Supper” was actually Christ celebrating the feast with His disciples. Modern calendars mark when the Jewish holiday occurs today, but few believers have ever seen this Feast of the LORD celebrated.

John 6:4 describes Passover as a “feast of the Jews”, but it is also deeply Christian. 1 Corinthians 5:7 says: “For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.” In order to better understand this expression of the Savior, believers must grasp that this is the LORD’s Passover and not just the holiday of another religion.

Everything about the Passover belongs to the Lord, its history, its symbolism, its message and even the dinner itself. The LORD himself told Moses exactly what to say and do. A perfect lamb was chosen and then lived with the family for four days before it was killed and the blood was smeared on the headboard and sides of the doorframe. Judgment was to fall on every household in Egypt, so the sacrifice of the lamb was to protect the children of Israel who believed God’s instructions. God declared: “Now 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 the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:13).

For over two millennia the Jewish people have celebrated the LORD’s Passover to remember what God did the night of the Exodus to deliver them from slavery. But the celebration is more than just historical; it was prophetic because it clearly illustrates the substitutionary death of the Lamb of God on the 14th of the month of Nisan, which was the very day the LORD’s Passover was to be sacrificed.

If you ever have had the chance to attend a Passover Seder service, go for it. It is well worth the price of admission (it usually includes a catered meal). The program is an object lesson of God’s faithfulness through the ages, Jewish culture and the telling of the Passover story. A traditional Jewish Seder service would be very edifying, but one with a messianic congregation would be even more enlightening. There, it would be even more evident that Jesus Christ is the LORD’s Passover.