For us as Singaporeans, National Day marks the most nationalistic event in our calendar. Leading up to it you see flags displayed, you see the rehearsals of the annual national day parade. On this day, we mark our independence years later with a public holiday. The nation of Israel also celebrated their national day in the form of the Passover, and today we will understand why they are celebrating, and why another nation’s “national day” even matters to us.
(A) The Passover: God’s Salvation for a Nation (Lev 23:4-5, Exo 12:1-14)
Today, we are continuing to look at the appointed feasts of the LORD for His people. The Passover is significant because it tells the story of their salvation and deliverance. As we read in Exo 12:1-14, this was the last plague that God inflicted on Egypt to deliver and bring them out of the land of their slavery. The Passover comes immediately after the Sabbath in Lev 23. If the Sabbath, as we learnt last week, represents a continual weekly worship, the Passover then is the first of the annual feasts that God has commanded his people to.
The Passover is celebrated in the first month, on the 14th day of the month, and at twilight (Lev 23:5). Exodus tells us that the month of the Passover is to be the beginning of months for the Israelites, it shall be the first month of the year for them (Exo 12:1-2). The Passover defines their yearly calendar and this marks the nation of Israel. The Passover then signifies a beginning of sorts, there is an element of newness or a new start for the Israelites.
A series detailed instructions are provided in Exo 12:3-14 for us regarding the Passover. There are 2 important days -- the 10th day of the 1st month, and the 14th day of the 1st month.
10th day of the 1st month
The people were told to take a lamb for each household, and this lamb had to be a male lamb without blemish, a year old and either a sheep or goat. This lamb will be a substitute for their sins.
14th Day of the 1 st month
On this day, the whole assembly was told to kill their lambs at twilight (probably evening). Then, they were to take some of the blood and put it onto the 2 doorposts and lintel in the house that they eat in. The people were to eat a roasted lamb that night, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, and burn any leftovers. Only then would the sacrifice of the lamb be complete. They were to eat it with haste, and belt fastened, sandals on feet, staff in hand. God also revealed that He would execute judgments by striking all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, and on the gods of Egypt. The blood will therefore be a sign for the Israelites, where God will pass over them and not strike their firstborn.
What does this mean? The Passover is so different from our typical new year where everyone is having fun. Instead, for the Israelites, they mark the start of their year with a bloody event, where an unblemished lamb is killed in every single household. Later, we will read that during the Passover, God is executing judgement on all the gods of Egypt. Hebrews 9:22 tells us that there is no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood, so this mass killing is needed to substitute for the death of the Israelites’ firstborn.
We also learnt previously that the sin offering is unique in a way that everything is burnt up and nothing is left for eating, because precisely it is an offering for atonement. A life for a life, there is nothing left. But in this case of the Passover, we notice that God allows the people to eat the Passover Lamb. This is a God of provision! Even when he is executing judgement, he gives his people food from the lamb. He allows them to eat of it even though was to be their substitution. How are you grateful for God’s provision today? Trusting in God’s provision is not an easy exercise. If you are a student, you could worried about improving your grades. If you are a working adult, you could be constantly working towards the next pay rise. More often than not, the comfortable life that others seem to have will make us discontented too. But this command tucked away in the narrative reminds us that this God is one that provides, even in judgement. How can we learn to worry less about this world, and remember the God who is providing for us?
Lastly, we are also told that the people had to eat dressed for the move. There is a sense of being on the move and urgency. The Israelites when they ate this meal are like people who sit there with their bag straps over their shoulders, they are all ready to run off. Although this might seem fair enough because we know that the Israelites are about to leave Egypt, we also know that these laws were given to a people who were on the move and had not yet settled in the Promised Land. They are reminded every start of the year of this hurried departure from Egypt which was not their home. Similarly, are we here to stay in this world? Are we building our empire in this world? Because when Christ returns, we are leaving this world. We will do well to remind ourselves that this world is not the last. Our perspective has to be eternal.
(B) The Feast of Unleavened Bread: A New People Fighting Sin (Lev 23:6-8, Exo 12:15)
The Feast of Unleavened Bread is referred to in both Lev 23:6-8 and Exo 12:15-20. Let's take a look how it was described in both passages.
| Lev 23 | Exo 12 |
|---|---|
At this point, it is important to know what leaven is, and its significance in the Bible. Leaven is the yeast that makes bread rise, and it is commonly used in the Bible to signify sin and evil, Hence, when God called the Israelites to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, He was telling them to put away their sin. In Exo 12:15, we are told that that was the first thing they did upon leaving Egypt. In fact, their putting away of sin was a thorough/complete one, not only were they not to eat of it, they must remove every trace of it from their homes. It is a clean-out of all the leaven. Essentially, the Israelites were serious about fighting their sin. They are a people called to wipe out sin and evil every start of the year with the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Are you fighting your sins today? As Christians, we are fighting sin every single day. The moment you wake up in the morning, you fight. What are you instantly thinking about the moment you wake up? Are you looking to your phone for messages, looking to check social media, worried about the next thing at school or work? How can we consider God the first thing every morning?
We are all inclined never to think or consider God in our lives, and so we surely must fight to even start thinking about him, and how he is real, he is there, he has a larger plan for our lives than our daily grind. Holiness and sanctification never comes incidentally. The Israelites were meant to be a nation that fought their sins, and we are no different. In 1 Cor 5:7, Paul tells the Corinthians to clean out their sins, because their Passover Lamb has already been sacrificed. This applies to us today too!
How, then does the Passover apply to us today? We've caught glimpses of continuity and significance throughout the passage. But to how does the Passover apply to us today?
The Passover parallels our lives in many ways. Like the Israelites who were freed from their identity as slaves to Egypt, we are told that we are a new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17) when we place our faith in Jesus Christ. Just as Israel finds its independence in the Exodus, and mark a new beginning, we too mark a whole new start when we believe in Christ’s work on the cross. Just like how the Israelites cleared out the leaven, Christians too, are called to clear out and fight sin. We know that we are not people who are perfect, people who suddenly act as if God is real. Rather, it is so much easier to continue as people who are leaven. But how and why do we have the power to live new lives? When the lamb died on the Israelites’ Passover, we too remember that our saviour was eating the Passover when He was sent to the cross as the ultimate Passover lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7), such that we can say with so much confidence that the Holy God would pass over our sins in his righteous judgement. There was no way for us to survive his judgement except through his son Jesus Christ. He is the true unblemished Lamb who knew no sin, but he becamesin, he took all our leaven, so that we might become righteous in him (2 Cor 5:21).
So we too today, are looking to respond with obedience, we are looking to put away our leaven every day (2 Pet 3:14), waiting with our belts fastened, feet with sandals, and staff in hand. All ready for our saviour’s return. Remembering the Passover then is the same as remembering the finished work of Christ and all that it entails for our new life, marked with new priorities.