Today is Sunday 4 April 2021. It is the Resurrection Sunday for (western) Christianity and the 8th day of the Hebrew “Pesach”, i.e. the Feast of the Passover.
What is the Passover? Just a religious Feast, or a type, or, a model by which God is showing to us what He wants us to understand so that we may experience it in our lives.
There are several messages that one can receive through the story of the Passover. The first and foundational one is found in the Hebrew descendants of Abraham in Egypt, who were slaves to Pharaoh for 400 years. By God’s supernatural intervention they were freed to leave. Their passing over from the slavery of Egypt to the freedom in desert, was a PASS OVER from the natural reality in which they lived, to a supernatural realm, which invaded this world and made it possible for them to depart in freedom.
Their deliverance was based on the blood of the animals that was put on the doorposts of their homes, which was a type of the Blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus, who is our Passover Lamb. Through His blood we are also freed from the bondage of Sin and Death, to pass-over to a new life in the freedom of Christ.
That is one more foundational message in the story of the Passover, and the fulfilment of the original Passover. The Resurrection of Jesus from the dead was a PASSing OVER from Death to Life, which opened the way and made it possible for all who believe in Jesus, His sacrificial death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, to partake of this Passover.
But the message of the Passover is not limited to these core, foundational principles by which we may be redeemed from the grip of Death to become children of God, and heirs of His Kingdom, where Jesus rules as King and serves as High Priest.
The message of the Passover is also a message of experiencing the power of God which makes the impossible and the supernatural, possible and natural.
When the Hebrew slaves in Egypt were freed, they did not only depart from slavery; they also departed from abuse, oppression and poverty, but they did not remain poor for the rest of their lives. They departed from Egypt with wealth, as much as with the assurance of certain provision and victory throughout their journey to the Promise Land.
All of their experience of God in their lives was an experience of PASSing OVER from the reality of this life to a supernatural realm, where the reality was established by a Supernatural Power that was far greater than their own.
That started with the deliverance from Egypt, the possession of the wealth of the Egyptians, the passing through the waters over to their freedom through the desert, the provision of food and water in the desert, as well as victory in battle, during the ongoing journey to the Promise Land.
Let’s read the story of the Passover and find out what it means for us today; how it can be fulfilled in our lives in the New Testament.
Exodus 12:31 Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the LORD as you have said. 32 “Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also.”
33 And the Egyptians urged the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We [shall] all [be] dead.” 34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders.
35 Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. 36 And the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them [what they requested.] Thus they plundered the Egyptians.