Why Christians Should Care About Passover

This is the time of year that Passover is celebrated by the Jewish people, but for Christians it is almost completely ignored. Passover is important for Christians to understand because it sets the stage for everything Jesus did to bring salvation. For example, Christians call Jesus “the Lamb of God”. When we give our lives to Jesus Christ, we say that we are “born again” because it is a new beginning for a new life. We say that by Jesus’ blood we have passed from death to life. All of this comes directly from the Passover. 

Passover was instituted by God for the Children of Israel as He was preparing to deliver them from Egypt. During this time of deliverance, God instructed them to count the month that they were in, the month Nisan, as the first month of the year. On the 10th day of Nisan, each family was instructed to take a lamb from among the flock and keep it until the 14th day. There were specifications for the age, gender and condition of the lamb. On the 14th day of the month they were to kill the lamb and take his blood and apply it to the door frames of their houses. Then they were to take the lamb and roast it with fire and consume the flesh along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They were commanded to keep this feast throughout all their generations as a reminder of the miraculous deliverance God brought them that very night. As God passed through the land of Egypt to execute judgment, when He saw the blood He passed over that house. This is why it is called “Passover”. 

Now, let's look at some of the symbolism we have in this celebration:  

• Nisan - the beginning of the year. This symbolized a new beginning, a new life. 

• 10th day of Nisan - Ten is the number of completion in terms of being made whole. The Children of Israel had suffered horribly during their slavery in Egypt and had begun to lose a sense of who they were and whose they were. The number 10 said that God was making them whole. 

• 14th day of Nisan - Fourteen is a multiple of seven, which is the number of completion in terms of being finished. God was bringing an end to their bondage. God was finishing their defeat and bringing them to victory! God was also finishing their time as strangers in someone else's land and was about to give them a land of their own. 

• The Doorway - a doorway is a passage from one place to another. The blood upon the doorway was both deliverance from death and a passage from death to life. 

• The Passover Meal - The meal consisted of the roast lamb, unleavened bread and bitter herbs which was a reminder of the deliverance that God brought to the Children of Israel that very night. Let's take a closer look at the elements of the meal.  

• Lamb Roast with Fire - Fire is a symbol of purification. They were being purified/purged as they consumed the lamb that was roasted in the fire. 

• Unleavened Bread - In the New Testament we learn that leaven was a symbol for both tainted doctrine and for sin. Unleavened bread is a symbol of the pure Word of God. 

• Bitter Herbs - Anything that is bitter disturbs its environment and beneficially stirs things up. 

The elements of the meal demonstrate that God will shake up any environment to purge and to deliver His people. They are a reminder that God is able to deliver out of any and every situation. 

How does all of this relate to Jesus? 

When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey and they spread palms before Him and cried Hosanna, that was the 10th day of Nisan. This act was Jesus presenting Himself as the Passover Lamb. We refer to the last meal that Jesus ate with His disciples as “The Last Supper” but that is not why this meal was important. This was the Passover meal. We know this because His disciples asked Him where they were going to celebrate the Passover and Jesus told them about the large upper room that was already furnished. This tells us that the meal took place on the 14th day of Nisan. Jesus did lay down His life on the cross on the 14th day of Nisan. This all means that the blood that He shed delivers us from death and allows us to pass from death to life. All of this was foreshadowed in the Passover! 

Understanding the Passover gives us more context and meaning to Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. Now we can understand why John the Baptist said in John 1:29 "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." John recognized who Jesus was and the purpose for which He came. I feel that in order for us to fully appreciate and honor all the Jesus Christ did on this earth, we should begin to understand all the foundation that God the Father set with Israel. After all, Jesus said in Matt. 5:17, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." Everything that Jesus did was a fulfillment of the requirements of the Law and the Word of God spoken by the prophets. Earlier, I mentioned that there were specifications for the Passover lamb. The lamb was to be a male of the first year, without spot or blemish. This meant that the lamb was to be pure, unblemished, perfect and spotless. Jesus met all of those requirements and became that perfect sacrifice for us.  

Let us begin to shift our focus away from Easter and on to the Passover in order to fully understand and appreciate the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, for it is that work which sets us free from sin and death!