Never Forsaken: Parallels in the Passover

 

“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgement on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.  Exodus 12:12-13

 Today we read about the observation of the first Passover. It was thus named because the LORD passed over the homes of the Israelites and preserved them from the plague of the death of the first born because of the testifying blood they had placed on the two doorposts and the lintel of the house they were in (Exodus12:27). I love how, when God was describing the observance of this time, He told them what they would be doing in the future, after they had been freed from slavery in Egypt, but He told them while they were still there. What a beautiful gift!

 On the fourteenth day of the month, they were to slaughter a lamb, which would be for their dinner. This was done with intentionality, having each household account for how much they would eat and sharing a lamb with other households, so that there would be no leftovers and no waste. The blood of this lamb, having been drained into a basin, would be painted on the doorposts of their homes with a hyssop branch. The blood would mark their home as one believing in and falling under the protection of the Lord God, YHWH, and God promised that He would pass over all the homes with the blood of the lamb on their doorposts when He went throughout Egypt executing the plague of the firstborn. In that same Passover meal, they were to eat bread made without leaven and in future observances of this time, the Festival of Unleavened Bread, they were to eat bread without leaven for a week.

 There are a lot of parallels here, and I’m certain that’s no coincidence. Working backward, we take a look at the bread which was to be made without leaven. Here it represents leaving in haste but later, in Matthew 16:5-12, Jesus warns the disciples to beware the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Is yeast bad? No, but it represents how a small thing can have such a large influence. God had called His people to be holy and not follow the abominable practices of their neighbors; this goes double for Egypt. God was calling his people out of Egypt, and He wanted the Egypt out of them as well.  And this was a serious observation. God said that anyone found eating anything with yeast in it during this time, was to be cut off from Israel.

 Then, looking at the sacrificial lamb of Passover, we are naturally drawn to the Lamb of God, Jesus, who took away the sins of the world (John 1:29). Jesus was taken by the Pharisees on the evening of the Passover and killed the next day. He was stretched out on a cross, which has interesting parallels to the doorposts and lintels of the Israelites. Have you ever seen someone, typically from a more Catholic or Orthodoxed background, cross themselves; first touching their head, then their heart, then moving from shoulder to shoulder? Many similarities are seen in the way the blood was painted up and down on the sides of the doorposts and then from side to side across the lintel. This blood was painted with a hyssop branch which was used throughout the Old Testament to symbolize, “the boundary between death and life, between impurity and holiness” *. This, too, was mirrored in Christ’s sacrifice as the sour wine on the sponge was lifted up to Him on a hyssop branch (John 19:28-30).

Here’s the Thing: I imagine that there are even more parallels between these stories than I have seen, God’s perfect plan and design have no accidents in them. As the feast of the Passover approaches this Thursday, April 2^nd, even if you do not celebrate in your home with roasted lamb, bitter herbs and unleavened bread, I encourage you to celebrate the Passover in your heart. Think back on the freedom that God has given us from sin and death through Christ Jesus, His Son. Wonder at what you have been saved from, and what you have been saved for.

* https://biblically-accurate.com/hyssop