Introduction:
In Leviticus 23 is Scripture’s most detailed description of the feasts of the Lord given to the children of Israel. Seven feasts were commanded as consecrated times of rest, convocation, sacrifice, and commemoration, serving as mileposts throughout the year. Each one symbolically marked a significant event in the redemption history of God’s people. These feasts are all types, they are shadows; they are descriptions of the plan of God hundreds of years before God brings it to pass.
“How do you know that, Preston?” In the second chapter of the Book of Colossians, Paul speaks of food… drink… festival (feast days) … new moon or a Sabbath day. All of these refer to Jewish observances. Now, he says this about them: “Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ” (Colossians 2:16-17). Notice, he said these feasts that were instituted of the Lord back hundreds and hundreds of years ago, they are shadows, they are types of the things that were yet to come.
Some of you may be wondering why we would have such a study from the OT. We are not doing this to encourage anyone to go back under the Law of Moses and begin to keep these feasts once again. We do not live under the Law of Moses but are under law to Christ (1 Cor. 9:21). We do not seek salvation from the Law of Moses but in the gospel of Christ (Rom. 1:16). The very reason we look back to the Old Testament is because it points us forward to the New Testament. Paul wrote that the OT was written for our learning (Rom. 15:4). According to Hebrews 7-10, the Law of Moses contains many types, figures, shadows, symbols of things to come. Colossians 2:16-17 specifically mentions the feasts of Israel saying that they “are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ”.
So, in our series we will see how that the gospel of Jesus Christ was portrayed in the annual feasts of Israel long before Jesus ever came to the earth. These annual feasts “… are the appointed feasts of the LORD, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them.” (Leviticus 23:4) Notice, these were the appointments of the LORD [Yahweh], not man. They were holy convocations which literally means “something called out”. God gave the time, the place, the people, and the practice. They were made holy, set apart by God. Israel was to proclaim them each year at their appointed times. This was important not only because God commanded them to do so, but because each appointment was a proclamation of The coming of the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Prophet, the Priest, the King, Jesus Christ, The Savior and Lord of all, His saving gospel, His everlasting kingdom.
Let’s start with the Lord’s Passover (Lev. 23:5), this takes us back to Exodus 12. God’s people had been in bondage to Egypt for many years and Pharaoh would not let them go free, even after God had sent many plagues upon Egypt. The last plague, the death of the firstborn, would finally move Pharaoh to let Israel go. In fact, he would send them out as quickly as possible. It was at this time that God gave the Passover. It was the month, Abib (Exo. 13:4), which corresponds to our March/April, to mark the beginning of the year for Israel from this time forward.
I. THE PASSOVER IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
A. The Plague Announced (Ex. 11:1-10)
The description of this plague was announced in the hearing of the people (11:2). Exodus 11:4–8 This is a staggering plague. The death of the firstborn of all the people and cattle in the land of Egypt. But so the people will know that there is a distinction between God’s people and Egypt, none of the people of Israel will be afflicted by this plague. I do not think Moses’ response should be too surprising (end of vs. 8). Because of the stubbornness of Pharaoh, all of these lives are going to be lost. Because Pharaoh will not submit to God, a catastrophic judgment must fall. Moses is angry at Pharaoh because he has not relented even though he has plainly seen the hand of God in these judgments. This is what we are reminded of in Exodus 11:9-10.
B. The Passover Insituted (Ex. 12:1-28)
The death of the firstborn plague was to change everything in the life of Israel. The calendar was going to change for Israel now. This month would now be the beginning of the months (12:2). This event marks a new year. On the tenth day, every man will take a lamb for their household. If the household is too small to eat a whole lamb, then another household could join so that the whole lamb was eaten (12-3-4). The lamb must be without blemish and was allowed to be a sheep or a goat (12:5). The lamb was kept until the fourteenth day of the month and then the lambs would be killed at twilight (12:6). Once the lamb was killed, the people were to take some of the blood and put it on the top and the sides of the door frames of the houses in which they eat (12:7). The meat was to be roasted and eaten that night with unleavened bread and bitter herbs (12:8). There were not to be any leftovers and its remains were to be burned by morning (12:10). Finally, they were to eat the lamb with their belts fastened, sandals on their feet, staff in hand, and to eat quickly.
The blood was to be a sign for the people. In the scriptures blood represents life (cf. Genesis 9:4). Now this life has a new dimension in its meaning. The blood represented that God would pass over the house and the plague would not destroy them (12:13). This was not going to be a one-time act but to be observed every year through the generations (12:14). The people will eat unleavened bread for seven days. If leaven was eaten during that time that person was to be cut off from Israel. The first day and seventh days were to be holy days where no work was to be done, functioning as a Sabbath where the people rested from worked and worshiped in a holy assembly. The eating of the unleavened bread began at the start of the Passover (the fourteenth day) and continued for one week until the 21st day (12:18). This would be done when they came into the land of Canaan (12:25) and this Passover feast will be taught to your children (12:27).
C. The Plague and The Exodus (12:29-42)
Just as the Lord had said, at midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, From Pharaoh’s firstborn to the firstborn of the livestock. Also, just as the Lord had said, Pharaoh calls for Moses and Aaron and tells them to leave. The Egyptians were also urgent in sending the people of Israel out of the land, fearing that they were all going to die (12:33). The Lord gave the people of Israel favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, giving them their silver and gold jewelry along with their clothing. Even some of the Egyptians came with them, according to Exodus 12:38. Therefore, God brought the people out of Egyptian slavery with a mighty hand.
II. THE PASSOVER IN THE NEW TESTAMENT (Application)
A. 1.) There Is NOT an Exodus Without The Passover
There is an important order that is taught from this sequence in the book of Exodus. The lambs must be slain, the blood is placed on the doorposts, and then the exodus occurs. There is not the exodus from slavery without the lambs slain and the blood spilled. God is teaching us an important principle which is plainly stated in Hebrews 9:22. Blood must be shed for this event to occur. The writer of Hebrews also makes this point earlier in his sermon (Hebrews 2:14–15)
Notice the Passover picture is here where we are described as being subject to lifelong slavery that Jesus destroyed through His death. Romans repeatedly declares how we have been “set free” (Romans 6:7, 18, 22; 8:2, 21). There are many places in the New Testament where we see Jesus pictured as the necessary Lamb that was offered which causes us to be set free. In John 1:29 we read John the Baptizer calling Jesus “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” The apostle Paul directly calls Jesus our Passover in 1 Corinthians 5:7. The apostle Peter says that Christ is the “lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:19). Hebrews 9:14 declares that Jesus offered Himself unblemished to God. We cannot be set free from sin without a perfect lamb being slain.
B. 2.) Judgment Belongs On All;
The blood is the only reason that God passes by and withholds His judgment. The way this reads in the book of Exodus is interesting. God does not merely say that He will pass over the people of Israel and strike down only the Egyptians (11:7). Exodus 12:13 indicates that God will see the blood and therefore pass over the houses of Israel because of the blood. This is another picture that God explicitly teaches in the New Testament. We deserve the wrath of God and His righteous judgment is withheld because of the sacrifice of Jesus.
Romans 3:21-26 perhaps gives us the clearest picture of our atonement in Christ. Let us not misread what the text is saying. Too often God is pictured as standing as wrathful against us and the sacrifice of Jesus turns away His wrath. Paul rather says that God has been showing divine forbearance and passes-over the sins previously committed. The basis by which He could pass over the sins in the past as well as in the present is through the redemption that is found in Christ “whom God put forward as the sacrifice of atonement by his blood.” (Rom. 3:25) This is a picture of God’s love toward us who did not want us to receive the judgment we deserve. Therefore, God put forward the appropriate sacrifice we needed so that He does not need to judge us. This is the picture of the Passover and the picture of the new covenant relationship we have with God.
C. 3.) The Lord’s Supper Is The Culmination Of The Passover
The significance of Jesus instituting the Lord’s Supper on the night of the Passover should not be lost on us. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke all note that it was the first day of the Unleavened Bread feast which was the set up for the Passover.
When Jesus was with His disciples at the Last Supper, He told them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God” (Luke 22:15-16). Now, we remember our deliverance from the bondage of sin each Lord’s day in the Lord’s Church, His kingdom (Col. 1:13–14). By partaking of the Lord’s Supper, we are proclaiming His death until He comes (1 Cor. 15:23–26). Just as the Lord’s Passover was a memorial of unleavened bread to be passed on to their children for generations to come; The Lord’s Supper is a memorial of unleavened bread to be passed on to our children for generations to come. Israel had a great story to tell their children about how God delivered them from bondage in Egypt, But we have an even greater story to tell our children about how God can deliver us from the bondage of sin.
There were two additional instructions regarding the supper of the Lamb, Exodus 12:43, 46. No foreigners could eat it. So, the Lord suffers for those who know Jesus as Lord and Savior. (Such may go through the motions, but no real communion). No bones of the Lamb were to be broken. This was amazingly fulfilled at the cross of Jesus (Jn 19:31-37).
The scriptures want you to see that what Jesus is doing on the final day of His life is also mirroring the Passover. This is when the Passover Lamb had to be sacrificed. Jesus is going to die as the Passover Lamb on the Passover. This is further pictured with regards to Barabbas. John 18:39 tells us that it was the custom to release one of the criminals on the Passover. The true criminal, Barabbas, is set free and the perfect Lamb of God, Jesus, is slain. All reenacting the Passover.
In 1 Corinthians 11 Paul gives teaching regarding the observance of the Lord’s Supper. Do you recall what those two elements of the Lord’s Supper represent. The bread represents the body of Jesus. This is the sacrifice of Jesus, remembering the Lamb that was slain for us. The cup represents the blood of the covenant. Remember that without blood there is no forgiveness and a new covenant cannot be established without the shedding of blood. We are remembering… The freedom we have, The exodus we have experienced from sin, Because we have this new covenant given to us, Because the Lamb was slain. The Lord’s Supper is the culmination of the Passover.
D. 4. Being Set free From Slavery Means Belonging To God
“The Lord said to Moses, consecrate to Me all the first born. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is Mine” Exodus 13:1-2 These verses show that we belong to God. Because the people of Israel had been set free and had not suffered the plague of the death of the firstborn, the firstborn belong to God. The New Testament also keys in on this teaching for us as Christians. Where Paul writes in (1 Cor. 6:19–20)
The apostle Peter argues that we must purify our souls by obedience to the truth because we were ransomed with the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:17-23). We must see that we are dead because of our sins and because we have now been set free by His blood, then we belong to Him. He bought us.
E. 5.) This Salvation Was A Shared Experience
Each individual did not eat a Passover meal to themselves. The household gathered to eat and if there was going to be too much lamb for the household to eat, then another household was to join with them to eat the meal. The Passover was considered a community event that all the people of Israel did together. Their salvation was a shared experience, something they had in common.
We see the New Testament also speak of our salvation in terms of something that we have in common together (Titus 3:4–7) Think about how often the scriptures speak of us in a corporate sense, like in the above passage. God saved us. God did not just save me, He saved US! It is terrible that we have eliminated this community concept in regard to our salvation. The Lord’s Supper reflects the corporate nature of our salvation as we remember Jesus each week together. When we do not join together then we show that we do not understand the salvation experience.
Yet this corporate act was to be taken very personally. When the father explained to his son about the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Passover, notice what was to be said: “You shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’” (Ex. 13:8) Notice how the son was to take this event personally. Not just what God has done for us. But it is what He has done for me. We must take the sacrifice of Jesus personally to ourselves every day. Carry the cross with you each day. Reflect on your freedom in Christ each day. Jesus did this for you. Jesus gave Himself for you. Jesus gave Himself for us. This must change how we live our lives and how we live with one another as a community in Christ.
Conclusion:
For Israel, the Passover was the great remembrance of deliverance from Egypt. A lamb was slain. Its blood was placed on the doorpost. When judgment came, those under the blood were spared. It was a night of rescue, A night of mercy, A night when bondage began to break.
In the New Testament, that whole picture comes into focus in Jesus. He was crucified at Passover. That is not a coincidence; It is fulfillment. John the Baptist saw Jesus and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” The Passover pointed ahead to the true Lamb – the one whose blood would not merely spare from physical death, but deliver from sin itself. In Egypt, the people were rescued from slavery. In Christ, we are rescued from a deeper bondage!