Bible Study 2: The Passover - A Feast of Salvation

2.1 Key themes⤒🔗

The message of Passover is, The Lord passes over his people when he judges the world.
God set the Israelites apart from the Egyptians with the blood of a lamb.
Jesus is the true and final Passover Lamb:
- He is perfectly without sin.
- He was examined and found innocent.
- He was killed in the place of his people.
- We must believe God’s promise to save us through him.
With the Lord’s Supper we celebrate the true Passover sacrifice: Jesus Christ.

2.2 Exodus 12:1-7, 12-14←⤒🔗

^1. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,

^2. “This month is to be your beginning of months; it will be your first month of the year.

^3. Tell the whole community of Israel, ‘On the tenth day of this month they each must take a lamb for themselves according to their families—a lamb for each household.

^4.If any household is too small for a lamb, the man and his next-door neighbor are to take a lamb according to the number of people—you will make your count for the lamb according to how much each one can eat.

^5. Your lamb must be perfect, a male, one year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

^6. You must care for it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then the whole community of Israel will kill it around sundown.

^7. They will take some of the blood and put it on the two side posts and top of the doorframe of the houses where they will eat it.

…

^12. ‘I will pass through the land of Egypt in the same night, and I will attack all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both of humans and of animals, and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord.

^13. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, so that when I see the blood I will pass over you, and this plague will not fall on you to destroy you when I attack the land of Egypt.

^14. ‘This day will become a memorial for you, and you will celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—you will celebrate it perpetually as a lasting ordinance.

2.3 Leviticus 23:4-5←⤒🔗

^4. ‘These are the LORD’s appointed times, holy assemblies, which you must proclaim at their appointed time.

^5. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, is a Passover offering to the LORD.

2.4 The message of Passover←⤒🔗

The Sabbath day reminds us that we are on our way to God’s eternal rest (Lesson 1). But before we can enter God’s rest, we need to be saved from our sins. That is what the Passover feast shows us.

The name “Passover” already tells us what the message of this feast is. The message is that the Lord “passes over” his people when he judges the world. He passes over them because their sins are covered!

Examples of “Passover” can already be found in the book of Genesis. In Genesis 3 we read that Adam and Eve disobeyed God and then became ashamed and afraid. However, God did not kill Adam and Eve for their sin. He passed over them and killed animals in their place. Then he used the animals’ skins to cover their nakedness.

In Genesis 22 we read that God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. Abraham obeyed God. But just before he killed his son, the Lord gave a ram in the place of Isaac. Again, God passed over a person and an animal was killed in his place.

But the first real Passover feast would come many years later, when God’s people were in Egypt…

2.5 The first Passover feast (Exodus 12)←⤒🔗

In Exodus 12 the Lord tells Moses that he is going to bring judgment over the Egyptians. In one night he will kill all their firstborn sons. Why? Because they have refused to obey God’s command to let the Israelites go free. They have seen many miracles from God, but they still follow their own gods and do as they please.

By this time God’s people, the Israelites, have been in Egypt for 400 years. They have started to live like Egyptians and to worship Egyptian gods. Yes, some of them have worshipped the true God. But they have not been living holy lives. They deserve God’s judgment, just like the Egyptians.

But in Exodus 12:13, God gives a promise to the Israelites. When he sees the blood of a lamb on their doorframes, he will “pass over” them. He will not destroy them along with the Egyptians.

With the blood of the lamb, God will set his people apart from the Egyptians. He will save them, not because they are better than the Egyptians, but because of his grace. This is the grace that he had promised long ago, to their forefather Abraham: “I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you” (Genesis 17:7).

Exodus 12:21-30 tells the rest of the story. Everyone who believed God’s promise killed a lamb and painted its blood on their doorframes. When God saw the blood, he passed over that house and did not kill the firstborn son. In every house in Egypt that night, there was either a dead eldest son or a dead lamb!

2.6 Jesus, our true Passover Lamb←⤒🔗

Every year, through the Passover, God showed his people that he would one day cover their sins forever. This promise was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

When John the Baptist saw Jesus, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). John understood that Jesus is the true and final Passover Lamb.

The lamb of the Passover Feast was a picture of Jesus:

The lamb had to be perfect, with no sickness or disabilities. Jesus is the perfect man. He is the only person who ever lived and never sinned (1 Peter 2:22). That is why he could pay for his people’s sins.
The Lord told the Israelites to choose the lamb on the 10th day and care for it until the 14th day. In this time they had to examine it, to make sure it is perfect. Jesus was also examined during his time on earth. He was tempted in every way, but never sinned (Hebrews 4:15). Even the worldly judge, Pilate, examined him and found him innocent (Luke 23:4).
The Israelites had to kill the lamb. This was the only way to be saved from God’s judgement. Like the lamb, Jesus also had to die. His death was needed to cover our sins.
Finally, God’s people had to believe his promise to save them. They had to paint the blood on the doorframe and stay in their houses. Like them, we should believe God’s promise to save us through the blood of the Lamb. We need to put our trust in Christ, not in anyone or anything else.

2.7 The Christian’s Passover feast←⤒🔗

On the night before Jesus was crucified, he celebrated the Passover with his disciples. This would be the final Passover, because the perfect Lamb (Jesus) would be sacrificed the next day. That evening Jesus gave his followers a new feast in the place of the Passover Feast. This feast is the Lord’s Supper (Eucharist, Holy Communion).

With the Lord’s Supper we do not bring new sacrifices, but we celebrate the true Passover sacrifice: Jesus Christ. Every time when we celebrate this feast, we also look forward to the day of Christ’s return. On that day God’s judgment will pass over us, because we are covered with the blood of Jesus