Christ in the Passover

God's Passover Lessons

by

Keith Hunt

PASSOVER, GOD'S OBJECT LESSON The Lord's redemption of Israel needed to be stamped indelibly on the minds and hearts of future generations. He intended that the ancient experience should have a lasting effect on His people; its importance must be reinforced with regularity for all time. Yet how can a people best remember its history? Books and scrolls capture only the interest of the scholarly; in time, words lose their meaning. God, the master Teacher, devised the perfect method. He commanded the annual reenactment of that first Passover night, a ceremony that would appeal through the senses to each person of every generation. Even as we teach little children today through object lessons, Jehovah took everyday acts of seeing, bearing, smelling, tasting, and touching and made them His allies in teaching holy truths to His people. LAMB God began His object lesson to Israel with the Passover lamb. First, the people had to single out from their flocks the handsomest, healthiest looking yearling. An animal of this age, just approaching the prime of its life, was frisky and winsome. Then the family had to watch it carefully for four days before the Passover to make sure it was healthy and perfect in every way. During this period of close observation, they fed and cared for the lamb and grew accustomed to having it around the house. By the end of the fourth day, it must have won the affection of the entire household, especially the children. Now they all must avoid its big, innocent eyes as the head of the house prepared to plunge in the knife to draw its life's blood. They did not have meat very often in ancient times, but how could they enjoy eating the lamb's flesh? The lesson was painfully sad: God's holiness demands that He judge sin, and the price is costly indeed. But He is also merciful and provides a way of escape (redemption). The innocent Passover lamb foreshadowed the One who would come centuries later to be God's final means of atonement and redemption. The parallels are striking. THE PASSOVER LAMB WAS MARKED OUT FOR DEATH In Isaiah 53:7 is the prophecy that the Messiah will be led as a lamb to the slaughter; 1 Peter 1:19-20 says Jesus was foreordained to die before the foundation of the world. THEY WATCHED THE PASSOVER LAMB TO SEE THAT IT WAS PERFECT According to Deuteronomy 15:21, only that which is perfect can make atonement. Jesus the Messiah presented Himself to Israel in public ministry for three years and showed Himself perfect in heart and deed toward the Father. Even Pilate found no fault in Him. Hebrews 4:15 says that He was tempted (tested) in all points, yet was without sin; 1 Peter 1:19 describes Him as a Lamb without blemish or spot. THEY ROASTED THE PASSOVER LAMB WITH FIRE Fire in Scripture speaks of God's judgment. Isaiah the prophet foretold that the Messiah would bear the sins of many, be wounded for sins not His own, be stricken with God's judgment, and be numbered with transgressors. As Jesus the Messiah suffered the fire of God's wrath and judgment, He cried out from the cross: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). Second Corinthians 5:21 says: "He [God] hath made him [Christ] to be sin for us ... that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." NOT A BONE OF THE PASSOVER LAMB WAS BROKEN The Roman soldiers did not break the legs of Jesus the Messiah as they did the legs of the other two men crucified beside Him. Redemption through the death of the Passover lamb was personal as well as national. Even so, salvation must be a personal event. In Exodus 12:3, the commandment is to take a lamb, a nebulous, unknown entity, nothing special; in Exodus 12:4, God says "the" lamb. Now he is known, unique, set apart. Finally, in Exodus 12:5, God specifies, "your" lamb; each redeemed soul must appropriate the lamb for himself. Arthur Pink quotes Galatians 2:20 to apply this truth to faith in the Messiah: "The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God [the Messiah], who loved me, and gave himself for me." 1 The New Testament refers to Jesus the Messiah more than thirty times as the Lamb of God. Faith and trust in the sacrifice of God's Lamb make a person or a nation belong to God. Exodus 12:41 calls the people of Israel the "hosts of the LORD," not the hosts of Israel. Redeemed by the blood of the Passover lamb, they truly belonged then to God  ...... 1 Arthur W. Pink, Gleanings in Exodus, pp. 89-90. ...... THE BITTER HERBS With bitter herbs they shall eat it (Exodus 12:8). Jehovah commanded the Israelites to eat the Passover Lamb with bitter herbs. The first symbolism that comes to mind is the obvious one - the hardships which the Israelites endured under the whips of Pharaoh's taskmasters. But there is a deeper lesson as well. Bitterness in Scripture often speaks of death. The bitter herbs are a reminder that the firstborn children of the people of Israel lived because the Passover lambs died. God created man to gain life through death, to receive physical sustenance from the death of something that once was alive, be it plant or animal. Even so, the believer in the Messiah Jesus receives new life through His death as the Lamb of God. Bitterness in Scripture also speaks of mourning. Zechariah 12:10 prophesies that one day Israel as a nation will weep and be in bitterness of deepest mourning for her Messiah, as when one mourns for an only child who has died. God says in Zechariah 13:9 that He w ill bring Israel through the judgment of fire and refine her even as silver and gold are refined. Then Israel will proclaim, "The Lord is my God," and in that day "the Lord shall be king over all the earth" (Zechariah 14:9). THE UNLEAVENDED BREAD "And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread "in Exodus 12:8 The next symbol in God's object is the unleavened bread. The children of Israel ate the Passover lamb with bitter herbs and unleavened bread: then they were to eat no leaven for a full seven days afterward. The lesson went deeper than the obvious haste of the departure from Egypt. Leaven in the Bible is almost always a symbol of sin. 1 The putting away of all leaven is a picture of the sanctification of the child of God. Cleansed, redeemed by God's lamb, the true believer must put away the sinful leaven of the old life before redemption. In teaching His people this truth, God did not leave them to grapple with abstractions. The Bible speaks in terms of human experience. Leaven was something that every housewife, every cook, used in everyday life. The feel, the smell, the effects of leaven had obvious meaning. The Hebrew word for leaven is "chometz," meaning "bitter" or "sour." It is the nature of sin to make people bitter or sour. Leaven causes dough to become puffed up so that the end product is more in volume, but not more in weight. The sin of pride causes people to be puffed up, to think of themselves as far more than they really are. The ancient Hebrews used the sourdough method of leavening their bread. Before the housewife formed the dough into loaves ready for baking, she pulled off a chunk of the raw dough and set it aside in a cool, moist place. When it was time to bake another batch of bread, she brought out the reserved lump of dough. She then mixed the old lump into the fresh batch of flour and water to leaven the next loaves, again setting aside a small lump of the newly mixed dough. Each "new generation" of bread was organically linked by the common yeast spores to the previous loaves of bread. The human race bears this same kind of link to the sin nature of our first father, Adam. Often people excuse themselves for bad behavior or wrong attitudes by saying, "I'm only human." But being   ...... 1 Once, in Matthew 13:33, it is used as a symbol of growth and expansion. ...... "only human" is the sin nature within all mankind. Jesus spoke of leaven as false doctine and hypocrisy (Matthew 16:11-12; Mark 8:15; Luke 12:1, 13:21). The apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 spoke of leaven as pride, malice, and wickedness. He said, "Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump [a new person] as ye are unleavened [cleansed]. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us." On the other hand, Paul described the unleavened bread as sincerity and truth. The Hebrew word 'matzo" (unleavened) means "sweet, without sourness." The unleavened bread typified the sweetness and wholesomeness of life without sin. It foreshadowed the sinless, perfect life of the Messiah, who would come to fulfill all righteousness and to lay down His life as God's ultimate Passover Lamb. In Passover observances after the cessation of the Temple sacrifices, the matzo (unleavened bread) took on added significance when the rabbis decreed it to be a memorial of the Passover lamb. Thus, for the Hebrews, the putting away of all leaven symbolized breaking the old cycle of sin and starting out afresh from Egypt to walk as a new nation before the Lord. They did not put away leaven in order to be redeemed; rather, they put away leaven because they were redeemed. This same principle applies to the redeemed of the Lord of all the ages. Salvation is of grace, "not of works, lest any man should boast" (see Ephesians 2:8-9). THE BLOOD ON THE DOOR "And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning" (Exodus 12:22). Several times Scripture mentions a special mark that will secure immunity from destruction for those who fear the Lord. One such text is Ezekiel 9:4-6; two others are found in Revelation 7:2-3 and 9:4. When Egypt's judgment was imminent, God commanded the sons of Israel to mark the doors of their dwellings with the blood of the Passover lamb. Those marks painted on the doors set apart the houses of those who believed and obeyed God from the houses of those who did not. The "bason" mentioned in Exodus 12:22 was not a container in the sense in which we use the word basin today. The word is the Egyptian 'sap,' meaning the threshold or ditch which was dug just in front of the doorways of the houses to avoid flooding. The people placed a container in the ditch to prevent seepage. The Israelites killed their Passover lambs right by the doors, where they were about to sprinkle the blood, and the blood from the slaughter automatically ran into the depression (the bason) at the threshold. When they painted the blood on with the hyssop "brush," they first touched the lintel (the top horizontal part of the doorframe), then each side post (the vertical sides.)... Thus, the door was "sealed" on all four sides with the blood of the lamb, because the blood was already on the bottom. Author Pink sees this as a picture of the suffering Messiah Himself: "Blood above where the thorns pierced His brow, blood at the sides, from His nail pierced hands; blood below, from His nail pierced feet." 1 We see further symbolism in the words of Jesus, when he said: "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture" (John 10:9). The Israelites went in through the blood-sealed door on that first Passover night and found safety.... We who are redeemed by the true Passover Lamb find safety in Him from God's judgment, and, because of Him, we look forward to a future, eternal haven in the very presence of the Almighty, in the city whose "builder and maker is God" (Hebrews 11:10). ...... 1 Pink, p.93. ...... ................

PASSOVER QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

 

Passover/UB Questions- Answers

Five of the most often asked Questions

by

Keith Hunt 

PASSOVER AND UNLEAVENED BREAD FEAST QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 1. One of the most frequent questions is: What leavened products do I clean out of the house? People can get confused and some very nit-picky. The simple answer is; this is the Feast of unleavened BREAD, not unleavened Wine, Grape juice, 7 Up, Potato chips, and such like. The old English milk shakes (before the Big M came there) were puffy and light, but it's not the days of un-Puffy English milk shakes, it's the days putting out puffy leavened flour products. The Israelites left Egypt without hanging around to bake bread that PUFFED UP, from leaven agents. The symbolic type used in the New Testament is that "leaven" typifies sin (1 Corinthians 5). Hence for this New Testament feast of God we just remove FLOUR baked foods that are specifically made with leaven agents of some kind to PUFF it up. The most popular leaven agents in the Western world are "yeast" and "baking soda." Just put our flour products that are made to "puff up" and buy flour products that are made without a puffing up agent. Some unleavened bread can be one inch, two inches etc. thick, but they are still unleavened because no puffing up agent like yeast was used to make that flour product. And raw yeast and baking soda are not "puffed up" of and by themselves. You do not have to throw them out. It is the principle of "eggs" - they can be used to leaven, puff up, but of themselves they are not puffed up, you do not have to throw out your eggs. I think the egg example should clear up that uncertain question about yeast and baking soda. And remember the heart of doing this during this Spring Feast of the Eternal, is the MOST IMPORTANT thing. Some can make the "physical" side of this Feast more important than the spiritual heart side. They get the cart before the horse. Yes we do having certain physical rites in the Christian Church of God; water baptism, the symbols of the bread and wine in the Passover service, but partaking of those symbols means nothing if the heart and mind is not in touch and in tune with the Father and Christ. If you are a family, especially with small children, make the looking for and removing of leaven flour products a "fun time" - hide and seek type fun, and maybe a reward for helping find and clear out leaven flour products from the house. Maybe you would want to deliberately hide some leaven flour products so you can have the young children make a game out of it, as you of course explain the symbolic meaning behind it all. 2. Do we throw out the bottle of wine even if we have only used a small portion for the Passover service? For a single person, a couple, or a family, put out your small cups a wine/grape juice, say on the 13th, and also the unleavened bread to be eaten in the service. Now, if you buy or bake unleavened bread, do you throw it all out after you take a portion to set it aside for the evening Passover service? No, we do not! So then the same for the wine or grape juice. In a church service setting the elders will make sure there is usually more glasses of the fruit of the vine, and also unleavened bread, than the people who will be attending. As that fruit of the vine and unleavened bread has been sanctified for the Passover service, then what is left of both should be discarded. As the apostle Paul would say, "In my judgment, and I do have the Spirit of the Lord." 3. How do I observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread with a husband or wife that does not follow my faith? Let me be very clear on this. You DO NOT try and force your religious faith on your mate. Some unconverted or "different" faith mates will comply with your wishes that no leaven flour products enter the house for the 7 day Feast of UB (unleavened bread). But if they do not, you should do nothing to "twist the arm of" them to comply with your wishes. We are called to peace, to be peaceable people. God looks on the heart. He can see the situation. He understands the situation. You are called to be peaceable. Your focus is that you do want you can, which will be that you will eat only unleavened flour products for those 7 days of the UB feast. You have no power (and do not try - you are called to be peaceable) over others that do not see things in the way God has revealed them to you. 4. What about adult children living in your house, who do not follow your faith? Your house is always your house. You have the right to have household laws that reflect your faith. If you have adult children who (for whatever reason) desire to live in your house, you need to make it clear to them there are certain basic rules your house lives under. Christian parents should not allow their adult single children, living "at home" to bring their boy or girl friend in for the night and sleep with them (which also means having sex with them). You have the right to lay down that rule, if they want to live in your home. So for the UB feast, you let them (nicely of course) there will be no UB flour products allowed in the house for those 7 days. Then you need to relax, this feast is to be enjoyed, not held as some kind of "witch-hunt" and "spy" time. If your adult son or daughter sneaks a leaven flour dough-nut into your home and into their room in a nap-sack ... well you may not know it, so don't, don't turn this Feast of the Lord into a "spy-and-search" and "I'm watching you, and I'll catch you" Feast. God will know your heart and a spy attitude will obliterate your spiritual observing of this Feast. 5. What about friends and relatives not of your faith coming to visit during the UB Feast? Be kind, be polite, be peaceable, as much as lies within you. Lovingly explain to them (if they do not know) how you physically live with flour products during this 7 day Feast of UB. You may be surprised how many will want to know more, and be quite open for you to explain. Nations today in the Western world are very diverse in culture and religion, hence there is quite an open understanding and acceptance of various religious practices and faiths. There are many other QUESTIONS about the theology and practice concerning the Feasts of the Lord. The above are the most common 5 questions that I have heard and been asked over the years, from people who have come to see the wonderful truths and blessings in observing the Festivals of the Lord.

PASSOVER HYMNS-- JESUS I HAVE PROMISED

 Jesus,

I Have Promised

John Ernest Bode, 1816 - 74

O Jesus, I have promised To serve thee to the end; Be thou forever near me, My Master and my Friend.

An Anglican clergyman, John Bode wrote this testimony of intent for the confirmation service of his daughter and two sons—the original poem (titled "A Hymn for the Newly Confirmed") reading "O Jesus, we have promised."

The bold beginning of this hymn reminds me of a camp-meeting testimony one never hears anymore: "I'm going to go all the way with Jesus." I'm going to be faithful to the end, till I die; God and you all can count on me, come hail or high water.

It also draws me to the gospel story of Peter's brash claim that he would never deny his Lord: "Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will" (Matthew 26:33).

But as I take a closer look at Bode's pledge of fidelity, it does seem less rash than Peter's. Only four of Bode's original forty-eight lines describe "my promise" as opposed to God's provision. Its bravado is tamed by its humble request for help. God, I promise to serve you—to the end. And you—be at my side; be my guide and guardian; let me feel you; let me hear you.

Two "let me see you" verses are consistently deleted from our hymnals. One of these refers to Jesus' response to Peters broken promise.

O let me see . . .

The look that beamed on Peter

When he thy name denied;

The look that draws thy loved ones

Close to thy pierced side.

Lord, if I stumble, if I'm not faithful on some count, gently tug me back to and through repentance.

Peter didn't keep his rash promise. But his fall didn't keep him from making a more reasonable claim a week later, after Christ's resurrection. As the disciples finished a seaside breakfast, Jesus fired a question direcdy at a humbled Peter: "Do you truly love me?"

"Yes, Lord."

Then "take care of my sheep" (John 21:16). 

Then get up. We're going to keep walking—to the end. Follow me; serve me. In this conversation Jesus even gave Peter a hint of what his "end" was to be-—-a martyr's murder.

And empowered by the Spirit, Peter remained faithful. He saw his service through. For his children—and for us-—-Bode explains how:

My hope to follow duly Is in thy strength alone.

As I first looked at "O Jesus, I Have Promised," I saw it as a presumptuous testimony of intent. Oh, be careful little tongue what you promise. But I have softened my view. Thanks to Jesus' redemptive response to a bumbling Peter. Thanks to Bode's graceful lines. I can see why it has been ranked high in polls of "favorite hymns." I can see why it was recendy sung at a funeral, as a testimony to the life of a generous, committed woman. She had made and by grace kept the promise.

And Jesus I have promised To serve thee to the end; O give me grace to follow, My Master and my Friend.

And in the end, she had staked a claim:

O Jesus, thou hast promised To all who follow thee That where thou art in glory There shall thy servant be.

O guide me, call me, draw me, Uphold me to the end; And then in heaven receive me, My Savior and my Friend.

Bode wrote a testimony to live by and die by. A prayer for the young and old. For tomorrow and today. For you and me.

Lord, make this testimony of intent the theme of my 

life.

From the book "Spiritual Moments with the Great Hymns" by Evelyn Bence.

Jesus said, "He that shall endure to the end shall be saved." We must start on the road to salvation with Christ as our Passover sacrifice. And we must keep on the straight and narrow road to eternal life, with Jesus and the Father IN us ..... John 14:23; Gal.2:20. And yes in the last part we can change to "And when you come receive me, My Savior and my Friend."  If you didn't know it, to be correct with Scripture, we do not go to heaven, anytime, but heaven is coming to us. All that theological truth is in many of my studies studies.

Keith Hunt

PRACTICE OF THE 14 CONTINUES MORE THAN EVER

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA   

The Quartodeciman Controversy

This practice led to a significant 2nd-century dispute known as the Easter Controversy, which centered on whether the holiday should follow the Jewish calendar or always be celebrated on a Sunday to honor the Resurrection. 

• Asiatic Practice: Led by figures like Polycarp of Smyrna and Polycrates of Ephesus, these Christians claimed their tradition of celebrating on the 14th of Nisan was inherited directly from the Apostles John and Philip.
• Roman Practice: The Church in Rome and most other regions insisted on a Sunday celebration, citing traditions from Peter and Paul.
• Conflict and Resolution:
  • Pope Anicetus (c. 155): Met with Polycarp to discuss the issue. While neither persuaded the other, they remained in communion.
  • Pope Victor I (c. 189–199): Attempted to excommunicate the Asiatic churches for their non-conformity. He was rebuked by St. Irenaeus of Lyons, who advocated for peace and reminded Victor of his predecessors' moderation.
  • Council of Nicaea (325): Officially settled the matter by decreeing that Easter should be celebrated by all Christians on the same Sunday. 

Aftermath

Following the Council of Nicaea, Quartodecimanism gradually declined and those who continued the practice were eventually regarded as heretical sects, such as the Audaeans. By the 5th century, the practice had largely disappeared. 

THE PRACTICE OF KEEPING THE 14TH AS A MEMORIAL OF THE LORD'S DEATH, CONTINUED WITH PEOPLE AND GROUPS OF PEOPLE, HERE AND THERE, IN THE HILLS AND VALLEYS, AND THE BRITISH ISLES.  IN THE 20TH AND 21ST CENTURY THE PRACTICE HAS ONLY INCREASED THE MORE.

PASSOVER HYMNS THAT TOUCH THE HEART

Softly and Tenderly, Jesus Is Calling

Will L. Thompson, 1847-1909

Softly and tenderly, Jesus is calling, Calling for you and for me; See on the portals he's waiting and watching, Watching for you and for me.

Come home.

Our hymnbooks are full of invitations.

Sometimes the songs request that God come to us. Sometimes they bid us to come home to him.

Written in 1880 by Will Thompson, an Ohio music-store owner and music publisher, this soft and tender invitation became a favorite at turn-of-the-century revivals.

Nineteen years after the song's publication, Thompson visited a dying Dwight L. Moody-—-the premiere, nationally renowned evangelist of his day. Though visitors were restricted, Moody insisted that Thompson be allowed to come in. A reflective Moody, looking back over his persuasive ministry, his crowd-drawing preaching, gave Thompson the ultimate compliment:

"I would rather have written 'Softly andTenderly,' than anything I have been able to do in my whole life." Thompson's song tugs at the heart.

Come home, come home, Ye who are weary, come home. Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, Calling, O sinner, come home.

Another notable in Moody's circle of friends, gospel songwriter Fanny Crosby, once nudged a New York "Bowery bum" toward the Kingdom, piquing his interest by noting that "the sweetest words in our language or any other are mother, home, and heaven."

Come home. The invitation works for the dying: The choir of Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church sang Thompson's classic at Martin Luther King's memorial service.

Time is now fleeting; the moments are -passing . . . Shadows are gathering; deathbeds are coming, Coming for you and for me. Come home. Come home.

It works for the homesick. Cynthia Clawson's interpretation of the song winds hauntingly through the 1985 movie Trip to Bountiful, the story of an old woman's obsession: to escape Houston and her ditzy daughter-in-law and get back to her homestead in Bountiful, Texas. (I think of the William Wordsworth lines: "Homeless near a thousand homes I stood, And near a thousand tables pined and wanted food."

It works for the wayfaring. My colleague Peggy says she came to Christ, being drawn by Thompson's music as rendered in the Bountiful movie, which is ultimately a woman's journey to freedom. Not freedom from a daughter-in-law but freedom of spirit. Peggy recalls watching the movie when it was broadcast on TV.

"It was one of those serendipitous events. I turned on the TV and there were two women riding on a bus, talking. Believe it or not, the scene was compelling.Then came the song: 'Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, See on the portals he's waiting and watching,  Watching for you and for me.' The image flashed into my mind of Jesus standing on a rock beckoning me with soft and loving eyes. He was motioning to me with his right arm to come to him. He could not understand why I would not come and accept this love that was waiting, just for me. For weeks afterward I sang that song and tried to learn the words. I sang and cried while I did the dishes. I sang and cried while I folded the clothes. One day my husband started singing along. Starded, I asked him how he knew the words. He said it was an old hymn they sang in all the Baptist churches. (I had never heard it in a Catholic church.) I was amazed—right here in my own home was someone who could teach the words to me. 'How could you know this song and not sing it or share it?' I demanded. To him it was just another hymn among many. To me it evoked a personal call from Jesus to me to open my heart to him. It was the most beautiful music in the world:

O for the wonderful love he has promised . . . Though we have sinned, he has mercy and pardon, Pardon for you and for me. Come home. Come home.

Fanny Crosby placed home among the most beautiful words in any language. And poet Wordsworth pictured God as being "our home."

Home, where the porch light is always on, beckoning. Not understanding why any homesick child would not come all the way in.

If you make the Most High your dwelling ...

then no harm will befall you,

no disaster will come near your tent.

Psalm 91:9 -10

Lord, I have come to you as my home. And yet I know that you are always beckoning me further in. I open myself to you today. I hear your call to come home, past the parlor, into the kitchen to sit at your table.

From the book: "Spiritual Moments with the Great Hymns" by Evelyn Bence.

Ah yes, the Passover is the time to draw close to Christ, to meditate on His love and mercy; a time to deeply think about sin, yes to remember we are sinner, but also to be lifted up in praise and wonderment that Jesus gave His life so we could live forever in the Father's Kingdom. We are indeed saved by grace. If you have never studied my study called "Saved by Grace", then you need to do so. I feel it is one of the best and most important studies I was inspired to write.

Keith Hunt