“The Passover Plan?”

   By the time this article is read, most of us will have already experienced the movie, “The Passion of the Christ”! It will also be weeks past our ministries annual “Seder Demonstration” (a bit early this year), but just before the traditional time when Jews the world over commemorate Passover, by participating of Seder ceremonies and reading from the “Haggadah”, to remember how God brought the Children of Israel out of bondage in Egypt thousands of years ago.

  The “Passion of the Christ” (Messiah) and the Passover commemoration are actually like conjoined twins that are inseparable. This is something that is not understood by unbelieving Jewish folk, and many Gentile Believers as well.

 Ask a Jew why they celebrate Passover and what the meaning of the occasion is, and they will likely give the same explanation that we just mentioned; “to remember how God brought his people out of bondage in Egypt”.  And, while it is true that God commanded Israel to celebrate the Passover for this very reason, it is only a small part of God’s overall plan. As we read the well known biblical story of the Passover in Exodus 12, another picture appears that quickly overshadows the first.

 It is noteworthy that the Passover events that are about to unfold on these pages mark a new beginning, as Israel is told the “this month shall be unto you the beginning of months”!  The Passover story was to be a picture, or type, of a covenant relationship that God would establish with Israel based upon atonement for sin, that could be obtained only by the offering of a substitutionary blood sacrifice.

 As we continue reading the first 14 verses of this chapter, an image starts to come into focus. There is a new central character here that everything else seems to revolve around . . . the LAMB! In fact, the lamb is mentioned 24 times in these 14 verses.

 It is important here to clearly identify who or what the Lamb is! Is it a part of the Passover?  Is it only a prop used during the commemoration? Does it play only a minor role?  The Word of God tells us that the Lamb IS the Passover! (vs. 11, 21, 27)  Everything else takes a back seat to the Lamb, and his role is in this prophetic drama. This brings to mind how the Apostle Paul called Jesus “our Passover who was slain for us”!

 The first thing we notice is that this is not just any ordinary old lamb. It is a perfect lamb!  It is a young male that ‘s without spot or blemish (vs.5).  The people were to keep and examine the lamb for 14 days to make sure it was pure and spotless. During his ministry, Jesus was constantly observed and scrutinized by religious leaders, the Romans and the people.

 The lamb had to die, because it was it’s shed blood that was to protect those who applied it, from the judgment that was to follow shortly. The perfect, spotless, innocent lamb’s sole purpose was to give it’s life for those who would accept it’s covering blood.  The death of this lamb is so central to God’s plan for Israel and the world, that we are instructed  “this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it for a feast to the Lord through out your generations; you shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever”. (vs.14)  Bare in mind that a memorial is a time when we remember someone who has died (Yizkor service), and God wants us to remember the death of the Passover lamb . . . for ever!

 When Jesus assumed his role as God’s “Passover”, or the “Lamb’s of God that taketh away the sins of the world”, it was in fulfillment of an amazing prophecy foretold by the prophet Jeremiah about a time when God would establish a new covenant with his people.  He said, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant (new testament) with the house of Israel, and the house of Judah; Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt . . .” Jer. 31:31-32

 The day that God took Israel “by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt” , the old covenant, is commerated in the Passover.  The death of Jesus, the fulfillment of the New Covenant promise mentioned by Jeremiah, is remembered when we partake of the “Lord’s Table”, first observed as a Passover Seder. 

 Dear friends, the lamb of the Passover, and Jesus, the Lamb of God are one and the same!  They are inseparable. Jesus said at the Last Supper (Seder), “as oft as ye do this, do it in remembrance of me”!   While most congregations celebrate the “Lord’s Table” quite often, and this is certainly a good thing,  I believe that Jesus extended an open invitation to all Believers, both Jew and Gentile, to partake and commemorate the Passover Seder each year, and remember the Passover lamb, through all generations, for ever!

 All the elements used during the Seder are reminders of God’s great plan of redemption, but one that stands out above all is the “afikomen” , or “middle motzo”! At the beginning of the service, three matzo are put into a napkin with 3 compartments.  To Believers, this is symbolic of the trinity, or triune nature of God. At a point during the Seder, the middle motzo is taken out, and broken in half. One half is distributed to the guests, and the other half is hidden somewhere within the house, where it will be sort, found, and reappears at the end of the observance.

 This is such a wonderful picture of how Jesus the Messiah, once hidden from the world, was broken for us, distributed to all who would partake, was taken away again and hidden, only to return again in the last days.

 As the movie, “The Passion of the Christ” brings to the forefront of our minds, the terrible suffering and humiliation Jesus endured, let us also remember Him as the spotless, innocent Passover lamb who died for you and for me!  Let’s remember that it’s the lamb’s shed blood that we need apply to the “door post and lintel” of our heart, to experience God’s forgiveness and redemption!

 The best way to describe Jesus, the Passover lamb is the say that “he hath borne our grief’s, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”  (Isaiah 53:5-5)

Ron Cusano

“The Lion’s Tribe”

Shiloh Ministries

www.shiloh-ministries.org