The First Feast: Passover
🕊️ I. The Origin of Passover (Exodus 12)
God institutes the Passover before delivering Israel from Egypt.
📖 Exodus 12:3-14 (KJV) Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: 4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: 6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. 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. 8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. 10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. 11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD'S passover. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. 13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. 14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
Key Details to Highlight:
A lamb without blemish (v.5)
Blood on the doorposts (v.7)
Eaten in haste, with unleavened bread (v.8,11)
📖 John 1:29 (KJV) The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
📌 So the passover pictured Jesus’s death and blood sacrifice on the cross, thats what the passover is about, it was for the Old Testament saints to look forward to Jesus and believe.
📖 Matthew 26:17-18 (KJV) Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover? 18 And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples.
📖 Luke 22:15 (KJV) And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:
📌 So we know that the passover is directly connected to the Lords Supper, this is the same event, but now Jesus has brought this into the New Testament.
✝️ II. Jesus Fulfills the Passover
Main Point: Jesus was crucified during Passover exactly, He became the ultimate Passover Lamb.
📖 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 (KJV) Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
📌 We see here that Jesus is referenced as the passover then in the same sentence unleavened bread is used too, this is important because the passover is the day that kicks off the 7 day holiday called unleavened bread.
Nisan 14 — Passover (Jesus dies)
Nisan 15–21 — Unleavened Bread (Jesus buried)
Nisan 16/17 — Firstfruits (Jesus rises)
+50 days — Pentecost (Holy Spirit given)
📌 Sometimes the 2 are so closely tied that its often just called feast of unleavened bread, and the Apostle demonstrates that in this passage 1 Corinthians 5:7-8.
Another great truth is that Jesus died on that exact day of the passover…..
📖 Matthew 26:2 (KJV) Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.
Application:
We are saved by the blood of Jesus.
God’s judgment "passes over" those who are under Christ’s blood.
📖 Revelation 1:5 (KJV) And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
📌 Just like the passover if we don’t have the blood of the lamb (Jesus Christ) over us spiritually then we die the second death.
📖 Revelation 20:14-15 (KJV) And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
📣 3. A Warning to Be Ready
📖 Exodus 12:11 (KJV) And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD'S passover.
📌 Just as Israel had to be ready to leave Egypt in haste, believers today must be ready to leave behind the bondage of this world—and walk in the new life of faith. Egypt represents our old life in sin, and the Exodus pictures our salvation and sanctification.
So First, Jesus saved us from the bondage of the present world…
📖 Galatians 1:4 (KJV) Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:
📌 This world puts us in bondage by limiting our thoughts from eternity, it tells us what truths are real and not real, it puts a fake mask on us that some can’t handle, it puts pressure on us by telling us that success is materialism, it gives us fake security, promising internal peace when it doesn’t….
📖 Matthew 11:28-30 (KJV) Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
📌 Jesus's yoke is easy, because first he gives an eternal destination, that helps our minds, secondly, he reminds us that material things are vanity in eternity! He gives us an eternal goal to reach others who are lost, this gives us a purpose, and he reminds us of God the father who loves us no matter who we are, because he doesn’t base his love on worldly ideas, and that alone is enough to encourage us for greater things.
So, the leaving of Egypt represents turning from this world and understanding eternity, having an eternal destination and purpose
📖 Philippians 3:13-14 (KJV) Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
📌 The second part of it is doing it with haste! The Hebrews were to be ready to leave Egypt in haste, they were to eat the passover right away with their shoes and clothes girded meaning ready to take off! And there is a point we can learn from this….
📖 Luke 9:57-62 (KJV) And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. 58 And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. 59 And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. 61 And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. 62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
📌 Jesus is showing the importance of reality, that once we are saved we need to move with haste in the things of God and not look back to our old ways and be in the rat race of this world.
📖 Luke 12:35-40 (KJV) Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; 36 And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. 37 Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. 38 And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. 39 And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. 40 Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.
📌 So once we are saved we have eaten of the passover and have Jesus blood on the doorpost of our soul and spirit, so that death passes over us and we live forever, once we have eaten that passover we need to be ready to leave this world in haste and seek first the kingdom of God while we wait for the Lords return. This is the picture of the passover feast.
✨ Conclusion:
Jesus is the fulfillment of the Passover:
He was sinless.
He died in our place.
His blood brings deliverance.
He calls us to walk in holiness and be ready for His return. Amen
