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Picture

​(Early Church Mosaic of the elements of the Passover Seder Meal)

​Is Passover Important to Christians?

Is it true that a picture is worth a thousand words? 
 
I think so.  It would take very lengthy writings to convey all the details, emotions, feelings, and history that can be packed into one picture.  Kevin Carter won a Pulitzer Prize for one picture that he took of a starving child in Sudan.  Pictures are a powerful form of communication.
 
The feasts that God instituted in the Bible are designed to recall the pictures of God working among His people.   God uses word pictures to teach us about Him and His plan for us.  The most important feast is the feast of Passover.  The feast of Passover recalls the story of the Exodus but more importantly God established the events of the Exodus to teach His people about Messiah.  The Passover pictures Jesus.  The ones who truly understood the Passover recognized that Jesus is the Messiah. 
 
The account of the Exodus is given in Exodus 12 in the Bible.  In the shadow of God raining nine plagues on Egypt, He told His people to prepare to leave the bondage of slavery.  The tenth plague would be the plague of the death of the firstborn.  When the death angel passed through the land of Egypt he would visit every house.  If he saw the blood of the Passover lamb on the doorposts of the house, he would Passover that house. If a house did not have the blood, the death angel would visit that house and take the life of the firstborn males.  He would take the life of all of the firstborn male animals and even the life of the firstborn male child. 
 
There was only one way to avoid the penalty of the death angel; to follow God’s directions exactly.  God is pleased with our faith.  He wants us to trust him completely.  He wants us to follow His commands without questioning them or altering them. 
 
The three elements of the Passover meal (called the Seder meal) are found in Exodus 12. 
 
  1. The Lamb
Each household was to take a lamb (a sheep lamb or a goat lamb) that was a male without spot or blemish.  This lamb was to be roasted without a bone of it being broken.  His blood was to be sprinkled on the doorposts of the house.  Jesus was crucified on Passover.  He is our Passover lamb. Not one of His bones was broken.  Those whom the Romans crucified normally had their legs broken before sundown so they would die.  When the soldiers came to Jesus hanging on the cross, He was already dead so they did not break His legs.  All of His blood was shed for us. The Passover lamb was a perfect picture of Jesus the Messiah.
 
      2.  The Unleavened Bread

God told His children to make bread but do not put yeast in it.  It was called unleavened bread.  God told them to eat unleavened bread because it did not have time to rise.  The unleavened bread teaches us about God.  He wants His children to be ready to move when He says move.

      3.  The Bitter Herbs 

The bitter herbs remind us of the slavery God’s Children endured in Egypt.  The Messiah has come to deliver us from slavery.  Is that physical slavery or spiritual slavery?  Both.  Our greater need is deliverance from spiritual slavery or slavery to sin.  This leads to deliverance from physical oppression.  When we trust God as our Father, He will lead us to a place where we are free to serve Him.  This is the place where God will provide all we need.  (Matthew 6:33)
 
God told His children in verses 10 and 11 of Exodus 12 to consume all of the Seder meal.  Logic would say if they were about to take a long journey in the wilderness,  it would be expedient to save some of the food for the journey.  By eating all of it they had to trust God to provide for them the next day.  God told them to sleep with their shoes on their feet, their clothes on, and their staffs in their hands.  Those who follow God not only trust Him for their daily food, they are ready to leave everything they have on this earth and follow God wherever He leads.  Is not this what Jesus told His disciples?  (Luke 10:4). 
 
When Jesus ate the Seder meal with His disciples the night before He was crucified He plainly told them that He is the fulfillment of the Passover lamb.  Anyone who understood the Scriptures would have known that Jesus is the Messiah.  The Passover pictured Jesus.  Even John says if the disciples had understood the Scriptures they would have known that Jesus would rise from the dead.  (John 20:9; Psalm 16:10)
 
Passover is a very important Holy Day for Christians.  It pictures Jesus.  It tells us that He is the Messiah and that He is returning soon. 
 
©  Dr. Steven L Smith 2016
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