Congregation Shema Yisrael

Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. -I Corinthians 5:7-8 NAS

The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” -John 1:29 NIV

This one verse out of John evokes a series of images including the continual burnt offering as described in Exodus 29:38-42 as well as the Olah or Elevation offering for willful sin¹, the Chatot offering for unintentional sin², and the Asham or guilt offering³. It also summons, especially at this time of year, the Passover lamb and all the meaning that is attached to the seder Jewish and Messianic communities are going to hold in a few days. Additionally, John’s statement reminds us of who takes away “the sins of the world” and the price that had to be paid for removal of sins.

We traditionally think of Yeshua (Jesus) as having paid the price for our sins by his “bloody, sacrificial death” by being executed on a stake, but when we say (or when John said) that he’s “God’s lamb”, exactly what does that mean? This isn’t a frivolous question. Our understanding of significant portions of the Bible rest on the answer, as does the answer of what Yeshua’s death and resurrection means to us. Did Yeshua “fulfill” all of the sacrifices listed in the beginning of Leviticus once and for all by his death, or only certain ones? If only certain ones, which ones? Does this mean that there may be sacrifices that will be reinstituted when Ezekiel’s (the third) temple is built? I know anyone who is a Christian generally believes they know the answers to these questions, but how often do we take the time to really look at these questions based on what the Bible actually says? That’s the point of my missive.

It can’t be a coincidence that Yeshua was executed literally on the eve of the beginning of Passover. In fact, as Yeshua was hanging on the Roman’s stake, thousands upon thousands of lambs were being sacrificed by an army of priests in the temple, within line of sight of Golgotha, where the Master and the two thieves were slowly dying. Legions of Jewish men, representing their families, were bringing the lambs prepared for the slaughter, in obedience to the commandment recorded in Exodus 12:24, Exodus 34:18 and many other portions of the Torah. Later that afternoon, after Yeshua had died, the outdoor ovens would be glowing hot in preparation for roasting those lambs for the Passover seder meal.

The rendition of the original Passover in Exodus 12 shows us the literal events of the Passover and the commandment to perform the Passover every year, including “the telling” or the Haggadah, exist as reminders of Jewish slavery and God’s grace in leading the Children of Israel to salvation and reconciliation with Him. Both in the reciting of these events, and in the eating of foods symbolizing slavery, affliction, redemption, and freedom, we see and act out this reminder year after year on the 14th day of the month of Nissan (usually this occurs sometime in the month of April). Even without the ability to offer a sacrifice at the Temple in Jerusalem, both traditional Jews and the Messianic community world wide, express our continued desire to obey God, celebrate our freedom from physical slavery and slavery to sin, and in the case of Messianics (and someday, the entire believing community), cry out to Messiah to come and free us from our current, fallen world. Messianics also especially celebrate all that was accomplished on our behalf by Messiah Yeshua in this death and resurrection.

To say that Yeshua functions as our Passover lamb, we have to understand what the lamb originally did:

Take care of them (the lambs) until the fourteenth day of the month (Nissan), when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the door frames of the houses where they eat the lambs. That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. Do not eat the meat raw or cooked in water, but roast it over the fire; head, legs, and inner parts. Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the LORD’s Passover. “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn, both men and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.

-Exodus 12:6-12 (NIV)

These set of verses tell us several things. First, the original Passover lamb was to be slaughtered near twilight. The blood of the lamb was then applied to the sides and tops of the door frames of the houses of those Jewish families who were obedient to the commandment (presumably all of the Jewish families). The blood was a sign telling the “Destroyer” to pass over these houses and spare the first borns within from death; the “Wrath of God”. This is also a judgment on “all the gods of Egypt”. That night, the families were to roast and eat the lamb along with bitter herbs and unleavened bread (matzah). None of the meat was to be left over until the next day and any excess was to be burned. They were also to do the eating in haste, dressed and ready to leave at a moment’s notice.

With that in mind, can we apply this to Yeshua as our Passover lamb? What does his blood cause to “pass over” us? What originally “passed over” on the original Passover? Death and a judgment on the gods of Egypt. I’m going to save that part until later and address other portions first.

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

-Matthew 26:26-29 (NIV)

Symbolically (and not literally), Yeshua is saying to the disciples to “eat his body” or rather to “eat the Passover Lamb” and to “drink” the blood (again, not literally) as a sign of the renewed covenant (not literally “new” (Neos), since the Greek word for “new” used in Matthew 26 is the same as the word “new” in “New Moon”…something that isn’t completely new and that has never happened before, but rather, something that is new this time around and recurs periodically). While the blood of the Master isn’t splashed on anyone’s door post, the blood and the meal (it wasn’t actually the Passover meal, since it occurred the day before on the 13th of Nissan), nevertheless serves as a sign for us.

To this day, a portion of the Haggadah in the Passover seder includes the eating of Maror or “bitter herbs”, in obedience to the commandment. Matzah, of course, is also part of the meal as well as the Week of Unleavened Bread, which lasts for a total of eight days (seven days in Israel).

Chametz (leavened products) is considered representative of sin during Passover and thus removing leaven from your house is equivalent to searching for and removing sin from your life. There is a specific process involved in removing Chametz from the home as Passover approaches. for the Messianic believer, this process takes on the additional meaning of preparing ourselves, by examining our lives for defect, much as the Passover lambs were examined in the days before the sacrifice, and emptying ourselves of those things that are displeasing to God.

While the Jewish families in 1st Century Israel may have “eaten in haste” (we don’t know for sure), modern Passover seders don’t usually encourage wolfing down the meal, and are usually pretty relaxed relative to the actual eating of food. We also don’t usually eat lamb because we can’t sacrifice the lamb in obedience to Torah. Also, Messianics don’t usually eat a lamb because our Passover lamb Yeshua, was sacrificed once and for all.

Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.

-Hebrews 7:27 (NIV)

Part of both traditional Jewish and Messianic Haggadahs includes a reference to a Lamb shank to represent both the desire to obey the full Exodus 12 commandment by being able to perform the complete sacrifice, and in looking forward to the return of the Lamb of God, Yeshua the Messiah. Now what about this “pass over”?

As I previously mentioned, the Destroyer came to bring death to each first born son, man and animal and to “bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt”. The blood of the lamb on the door posts of the obedient resulted in the Destroyer passing over that house; thus no judgment was applied to a house that displayed the blood of the lamb. What judgment passes over us who have the blood of God’s Lamb as our sign? The answer we most often hear is that Jesus died for our sins on the cross and was resurrected on the third day, as a sign that we too would be resurrected and live forever with him. This doesn’t exactly fit into the metaphor of Passover, though. The more consistent interpretation is that God’s Wrath passes over us, exempting us from death due to the sacrifice of our Lamb. By accepting his blood and (symbolically) eating his flesh, we become partakers of the covenant and “grafted in”, as Paul describes in Romans 11. The analogy isn’t quite perfect, but I’ll let it stand for now.

What about bringing judgment on all the gods of Egypt? Is this something just “left over” that doesn’t have a Messianic application? What does Egypt have to do with it? In Messianic but not traditional Jewish thought, the land of Egypt (Mitzraim) is representative of sinfulness, just as the Land of Israel is representative of righteousness. To leave Egypt behind is to walk away from a life of slavery to sin. We can say that everyone who becomes a believer in Yeshua leaves such a life of sin behind, just the same way that the Children of Israel were freed from that slavery. Of course, everyone who didn’t obey the commandment regarding the lamb’s blood and stayed behind, were subject to God’s Wrath which ultimately included death. The wrath that we partakers of the lamb’s blood escape then, is the wrath that awaits everyone who doesn’t listen to God. The Children of Israel listened, escaped sin, and lived. Everyone who didn’t listen and didn’t obey, never escaped and suffered the consequences.

If “the gods of Egypt” are then representative of all those things and practices that are considered “gods” in our world today (money, drugs, sex, pride, and so on), then those who do not heed the message are left to suffer God’s wrath and the coming of “the Destroyer”.

Since Passover is a commandment that is supposed to be enacted on an annual basis, are we as believers in the Messiah and grafted in Gentiles to the Jewish root, required to partake of the Passover yearly in order to maintain that “sign on the doorposts”? I wouldn’t necessarily say so, particularly since the Jewish people cannot obey the commandment today, there being no Temple and no Levitical priesthood (at the moment, anyway). Also, even in the days of the Temple, there was no requirement to put the blood of the lamb on the door posts again and no Destroyer roamed the Land, bringing death to the firstborn if the blood was not found. The actual penalty for disobedience was being “cut off from your people”, but what being “cut off” means isn’t clear. It is clear, at least for the Children of Israel, that there was (and is) a consequence for willful disobedience.

So if we don’t lose our “salvation” as a result of not celebrating the Passover, should Gentile believers in Yeshua still celebrate as a requirement for obeying God? My answer is “Yes” based on us being grafted in, and on the other specifics of the Exodus 12 commandment to eat matzah and eat bitter herbs, as well as the Matthew 26 commandment to eat and drink of him. These interwoven commandments are neatly obeyed by Gentile participation in a Passover seder each year on the 14th of Nissan.

What about communion you say? There’s nothing in the Bible that causes Matthew 26 to turn into a communion service given once every month or once every few weeks on Sundays in the church. The commandment is completely consistent with an annual celebration of Passover and I can find no valid Biblical reason to change this.

What about Easter? There are all kinds of uncomfortable and uncomplimentary things that Messianics sometimes say about Easter and its origins. Easter is the most holy event on the Christian calendar and focuses on the resurrection of Christ and the gift of eternal life (while Passover focuses more on the death). There doesn’t seem to be anything I can find in the Bible that requires we remove Passover and replace it with Easter (which is not described in scripture at all) in our worship of the Messiah, and our celebration of death to a life of sin and life everlasting with God. Easter maps poorly, if at all, to the original Passover events and their symbolism, and seems to be held together much more by centuries of tradition rather than millennium of devotion to God. Putting everything I’ve cited in this article together, an annual Passover seder seems much more consistent with obedience to God and worship of the Messiah.

I realize I haven’t addressed any of the questions regarding the overall sacrificial system described in the beginning of Leviticus, but I think that’s a blog post for another time. It seems clear that Yeshua’s sacrifice functions quite well as the mirror for the sacrifice of the Passover lamb. We celebrate the passing over of God’s Wrath and our freedom from a lifetime of sin that causes us to be deserving of such wrath. Passover, both ancient and modern, speaks of the Messiah and of our freedom in him. He is God’s Passover Lamb, like the Ram provided as a substitute for Issac we see in Genesis 22. God Himself provided the lamb for us.

There is a great deal more that can be said on this subject. I highly recommend that you read a book called King of the Jews written by D. Thomas Lancaster. Chapter 16 One Long Day is an amazing blending of the Biblical account of the crucifixion of Yeshua with the historical and cultural information available about the Passover Day in 1st Century Israel. More than any other story, both written and filmed, it provides a realistic and soul wrenching account of the day our Passover lamb was sacrificed for us.

For further reading on the concepts of salvation and judgment, I recommend David Rudel’s The Gospel You’ve Never Heard (which I reviewed in another post on this blog).

As always, please feel free to write comments or questions in response to this article. I’ll do my best to respond and answer any queries you may have. As we approach another Passover, I wish anyone reading this blessings in His Name.

References

1: Leviticus 1:2-3
2: Leviticus 4:1
3: Leviticus 5:1