Passover, Blood, and Bunnies...oh my!

This is from an older blog I wrote on Easter about 2 years ago. After teaching tonight at our Good Friday service, I felt it was worth revisiting for the sake of any who may have missed it the first time around. As usual, comments always welcomed!

Though Passover is a Jewish holiday, it is equally important for Christians. Passover commemorates the incredible display of God's power that brought Israel out of Egypt and formed them into a nation. Passover reminds us that our relationship with God is always one of faith leading to obedience. Any Hebrew family that did not believe Moses' word from God and did not cover the door of their home with the blood of the passover lamb was not spared--regardless of their ethnicity. The door of a home represented the entire household. By following Moses' instructions, the family was believing in faith that God would free them from bondage and protect them from death.

Fastforward 1,400 years or so... Jesus celebrates His last meal with His followers. That meal is the Passover Sedar. He lifts the final cup of the Sedar and says, "This is the blood of the new covenant...my blood poured out for you." Only later would the disciples remember this event and connect it with John the baptizer's first words about Jesus 3 years prior to that--"Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!"

Lamb of God, Blood, new covenant, passover...it all came together for them now! Jesus was claiming to be the Passover lamb for the entire world--Israelite and gentile--and just as in Egypt, those who believed Him in faith and "covered themselves" with His blood by entering into the new Covenant of God with His people, were trusting that God, through Jesus, would free them from spiritual bondage and protect them from spiritual death.

They would join Him and form the New People of God--those who belong to God and are in Covenant with Him through the final Covenant Mediator--Yeshua' Hamashiach (Jesus Christ).

Something to think about this week instead of bunnies, eggs, and pastel bonnets!

Be blessed,
JMS