The Passover

In the Beginning

“The Passover” is a broad subject. We begin this issue with a look at The Last Supper of our Lord and his disciples, at which he instituted a memorial of his approaching death, using bread to symbolize his broken body and “fruit of the vine” to symbolize his shed blood. For the remainder of the issue we look back to the Old Testament Passover episodes. First, a detailed look at the type in Time Elements of the Passover: Type and Antitype. It was at this exodus observance of “Passover” that the celebration acquired its name from the “passing over” of the firstborn by the death angel at midnight, before the morning of Israel’s deliverance.

Some days after the Exodus Passover, the Israelites found themselves trapped between the wilderness and the Red Sea, which Pharaoh supposed was his grand opportunity. But God overruled it as an everlasting testimony to his saving power. Israel passing over the Red Sea is the subject of The Eleventh Plague, the Eleventh Miracle. Forty years later the Israelites “passed over” another watery barrier when the Jordan River was dried up for them. This is considered in The Passover Renewed.

Many years later, following the end of the northern kingdom of Israel, good king Hez­ekiah of Judah observed a grand Passover ­reuniting the scattered northern remnants of ­Israel, discussed in The Passover of Hezekiah. King Josiah, the last noble king of Judah, tried to reform his people and observed another grand Passover, considered in the article It is a Fearful Thing. We end with a verse-by-verse examination of 2 Kings 2 which describes the “passing over” of Jordan by Elijah and Elisha, and the prophetic lessons contained in that ­experience.

These thoughtfully prepared lessons all speak in one way or another, through picture or direct exhortation, of the blessed benefits ­secured to us through our Passover Lamb as a ransom for our sins. He was actually perfect, sinless, we inherently sinful, but justified through his offering. And we have the gracious privilege of becoming part of the body of Christ by being transformed into his character likeness. The wisdom from above is pure, peaceable, gentle, easily intreated, merciful, fruitful, equitable and honest (James 3:17). These are the qualities we should emulate. “Therefore let us keep the feast … with … sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:8).