Exodus 5:1 “And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.”
“Interesting” is not adequate to describe the connections we find throughout the Old Testament to the New Testament in God’s Word, the Holy Bible.
The creation in Genesis 1 connected to John 1: 3 in the NT is an example. I often refer to “God-Jesus” in a prayer or sermon and Christians have asked me why I do that. It’s because the Bible tells us that Jesus was God in a man’s body here on earth (Isaiah 7: 14, 9: 6, John 1: 1).
Genesis 3: 15 “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” This is directly referring to the disdain between Satan and Jesus and is the first of the many prophesies of Jesus’ coming in the Old Testament.
Jesus’ death on the cross and specifically, the shedding of His blood is connected to the Passover 1500 years before He was born. Jesus’ shed blood for the remission of the sins of mankind is our blood on the doorposts and lintels of the Passover. We have been rescued and set free!
Exodus 12: 7 “And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.”
The Hebrew people had been in Egypt for 430 years. At some point in that time the Egyptians became afraid because their numbers were increasing so prolifically, they would rise up against the Egyptians and take over the country.
This fear (at a time in that 430 years which we do not know) led to the enslavement of the Hebrews. They cried out to the Lord for their freedom because of their oppression.
God sent Moses and his brother Aaron to Egypt to broker their freedom and deliver God’s spoken word to Pharaoh (king of Egypt) “Let my people go.”
God hardened Pharaoh’s heart so he would not release the Hebrews. To convince Pharaoh, the Egyptians and perpetually, the world and history, of God’s omnipotent power, He sent plagues on Egypt.
The tenth and final of the plagues was the death of the firstborn (Exodus 11). God sent the death angel on Passover. Its purpose was to kill the firstborn of every family and their livestock.
The death of the firstborn was the final plague and the one that convinced Pharaoh to release the Hebrews slaves.
Their release came suddenly. The significance of unleavened bread is connected to that rush to leave Egypt. The Hebrew women traditionally made bread in the morning using yeast. Yeast causes the dough to rise.
I occasionally get in a bread making mode. My last recipe called for a two hour wait after the initial mixing. The dough literally doubled in size. Then I rolled it out, cut the rolls and wait another two hours for it to further rise. After that four hour plus wait, I place the rolls in the oven.
On the morning of the Hebrew’s release from Egypt, there was no time to wait for the bread to rise; thus, the connection to unleavened bread.
The date of the Passover (because calendars did not exist as we use today) is established the same as Easter. Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere.
Jesus’ presence on Passover weekend in Jerusalem was not a coincidence. The Passover celebration was specifically recognition of the sacrificial ritual. The crucifixion on that weekend reflects that concept.
God instructed Moses and Aaron to tell the Hebrew people to kill a one year old lamb without blemish as a sacrifice. Smear it’s blood on the doorposts and lintels (door frame) of their houses and the death angel would “pass over” them.
The significance of blood is stated in Leviticus 17: 11 “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls.” God tells us that blood is alive (with which science agrees).
Hebrews 9: 22 also (New Testament) gives us a substantiating statement “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission of sin.”
We must acknowledge, the shed blood of Jesus is complete for eternal salvation. Jesus became the complete and final sacrifice. After the Passover, the Jewish people continued to take their sacrifices to the altar for 1500 years as an atonement for their sin.
Jesus changed all that. His blood is our atoning sacrifice. That is all we need! That is sufficient! By our faith based belief in Him, we are saved!
As we examine the scriptures and connect the dots, we clearly see the related concepts between the Passover blood and our crucified Christ Jesus. Jesus became our “blood on the doorposts” and gave us by grace and mercy, eternal life.
Grace is the unmerited (undeserved) mercy/favor of God. We cannot earn it by our actions; only by believing in the slain lamb of God, Christ Jesus.
A question that may arise is; should Christians celebrate Passover? Celebrate may not be an applicable term but we should be aware of the significance and connection of the blood on the doorpost and our crucified Savior.
Jesus is that slain lamb that provides eternal life for the believer.
Van Yandell is a retired Industrial Arts teacher, an ordained gospel evangelist and commissioned missionary. His email isvmy3451@gmail.com
