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.