Why the Passover Matters

Each year we remember the events and experiences most important to us. It may be our wedding anniversary, the birth of a child, the birth of a nation, the passing away of a loved one. For the Israelites, the anniversary they kept was the ‘Passover’ – the day death fell on Egypt, and death ‘passed over’ Israel (Ex 12:12-13).

The Passover was the tenth and most devastating plague. It was God’s final act of judgment on Egypt for having enslaved and oppressed his people. On that night, God took the life of every firstborn in Egypt, including the cattle. But Israelite homes, if they carefully followed God’s instructions, would be spared. God’s instruction for the night was to sacrifice a lamb, brush the blood of that lamb on their door posts (Ex 12:3-7), and then to share the lamb for dinner as a family.

The blood of the lamb represented the life that would otherwise have been taken when God passed by in judgment. The lamb symbolically took the judgment that would otherwise have fallen on them.
In other words, the sacrificial lamb was God’s provision to spare Israel from the judgment that fell on the Egyptians.

The result of this devastating night of the ‘Passover’ was that Pharaoh finally let God’s people go. This had always been God’s plan and purpose. Through this tenth and final plague God revealed the extent of his power and love for his people.

Israel as a nation was to always remember this night as the climax of God’s salvation. Each year on the 14th day of the month of Abib they were to relive the Exodus experience by eating the Passover meal. For seven days following, they were to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread to remember their departure from Egypt. This reminded them of their hasty exit when they had no time to add yeast to their dough (Ex 12:33-34). This great salvation was also to mark the beginning of Israel’s year. Moses is told that ‘This month is to be for you the first month of your year’ (Ex 12:2).

The celebration of the Passover was therefore the most important anniversary in defining Israel as a nation. Life began for Israel as a nation on that day. They had been rescued from slavery to serve a new master. They owed their lives to God. And they would always remember God’s unchanging power and love towards them.

As Christians today, we have an even greater Passover to celebrate and remember. We remember that ‘Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed’ (1Cor 5:7). We remember the cross as the beginning of our new life – a life in which death has passed over us, because death fell on Him; a life set free from sin and death in order to serve a new master, our Lord Jesus Christ. We remember that ‘He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again’ (2Cor 5:15). Because he died for us as our Passover lamb, we now belong to him and our life is now hidden with Christ (Col 3:3).

The death and resurrection of Jesus will always be the most important event and the defining moment for every Christian.

Pastor Owen Seto.

The Reason For Easter

If Jesus was such a good man why was he crucified by the Roman authorities 2000 years ago? Death by crucifixion was reserved for the lowest of criminals – murderers, insurrectionists, slaves.

On the surface the motivation appeared political. The Jewish religious leaders were threatened by Jesus’ rising popularity. His popularity threatened to undermine their power base. When Jesus was brought before Pilate, these were the charges laid against him: “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king” (Luke 23:2). Jesus was further accused of undermining Jewish law and of seeking to destroy the temple.

Yet Jesus was the most law-abiding, God-fearing man who lived. He taught his disciples to respect and honour both the Jewish and the Roman authorities (Matthew 22:15-22; 23:2-3). After close scrutiny Pilate himself, declared Jesus to be innocent of all the charges (Luke 23:14).

So why was Jesus put to death? The New Testament witness clearly tells us that Jesus was not the helpless victim of a harsh political agenda. Jesus was handed over to death by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge (Acts 2:23). ‘It was the Lord’s will to crush him’ (Isaiah 53:10). Jesus himself predicted that he would suffer, die and on the third day rise again ( Luke 9:22, 44; 11:29–30; 13:32–34; 17:25; 18:31–33). Jesus said it was his mission to come ‘to give his life as a ransom for many’. Jesus handed himself over to death to bring salvation to many. Why is this necessary?

The Bible says that all of us without exception have rejected God’s rightful rule over us (Romans 3:10). The penalty for rebellion is death and judgment (Hebrews 9:27). The just and holy God never allows guilt to go unpunished. Every crime must face its just penalty. Yet in his love, God sent his Son Jesus to take that justice on himself. In his crucifixion, Jesus willingly took our death penalty in our place. Jesus died, the innocent for the guilty to win our pardon. ‘Christ died for sins, once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God’ (1Peter 3:18). The result is that all who trust and follow Jesus receive the benefits of his death, a complete and unconditional pardon.

At the trial of Jesus, we should imagine ourselves as part of a great prisoner exchange. Jesus the perfect Son of God was crucified. Barabbas, an insurrectionist and a murderer, was set free (Luke 23:18-19). You and I are ‘Barabbas’. We are the guilty ones, but because of him, we have been set free.

This then is the reason why we celebrate Easter. Because Jesus was crucified, that he might give his life as a ransom for many, to bring you and I to God.

Pastor Owen Seto.