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- PASSOVER
"When disciples followed a rabbi, they followed him closely so they would never be out of his sight, never be someplace where they couldn’t hear him speak. They followed him so closely that his sandals often kicked up dust."
May you be covered in His dust.
If this is your first time getting Covered in His Dust, WELCOME! I usually send my notes on Monday and Friday mornings (in the USA), but tonight, I’m sending my notes about the Passover.
Read Exodus Chapter 12 before reading my notes. They’ll make more sense.
I’ve read the Book of Exodus many times, and I have a ‘good idea’ of what Passover is about, but honestly, I have more questions than answers.
Tonight, I want you to leave with a good understanding of what Passover is, why it’s celebrated by the Jewish faith, and what it means to us as Christians.
If I’ve made any mistakes, please let me know. I know some of you have strong connections to Judaism, and I want to represent their faith well.
It all begins in the book of Exodus.
The Israelites are oppressed as slaves in Egypt under Pharaoh's rule.
God selects Moses to lead them out of this bondage.
Moses confronts Pharaoh, demanding liberation for his people, yet Pharaoh's heart remains hardened.
God sends nine devastating plagues upon Egypt, each more powerful than the last.
After the darkness shrouds the land of Egypt in the ninth plague, God instructs Moses regarding the final, most solemn decree—the passing over of the Angel of Death.
Enter Passover.
God commanded the Israelites to prepare for Passover by sacrificing a lamb and anointing their doorposts with its blood. This act served as a signal, ensuring that when the Angel of Death passed through Egypt, those marked by the blood would be spared.
God also provided specific instructions for preparing and eating the Passover lamb, including roasting it whole and eating it with bitter herbs and unleavened bread.
What is unleavened bread?
Unleavened bread, also known as matzo or matzah, is made without yeast or other leavening agents. Instead of rising, it remains flat and dense. It has a cracker-like texture and is typically thin and crispy.
"Leaven" is an agent that causes the dough to rise and become light and porous through fermentation. Yeast is one type of leavening agent.
Why did God direct the Israelites to eat unleavened bread???
God told the Israelites to eat unleavened bread because they were going to leave Egypt quickly, and there wasn't enough time for the bread to rise. So, they made flat bread without yeast, which they could prepare and eat quickly. It showed how urgent their departure was and prepared them for their escape from slavery in Egypt.
And why the bitter herbs?
The bitter tastes were to remind them of their bitter years of enslavement, underscoring their need for liberation from Egypt's oppression.
After the Passover meal, marked by obedience and faith, the Angel of Death does indeed pass over, sparing the marked homes.
Finally, Pharaoh relents and permits the Israelites to leave. With the unleavened bread in hand, symbolizing their hasty exit, they begin their journey to freedom.
We all know the story of God demonstrating His power by parting the Red Sea, allowing His people to cross on dry land while the pursuing Egyptian army was swallowed by the waters.
This momentous event is commemorated annually by the Passover celebration—a testament to God's deliverance and the Israelites' exodus from slavery.
Wait. What exactly is the difference between a Jew and an Israelite?
Simply put, an Israelite traces their lineage back to Jacob, also known as Israel. A Jew encompasses those who practice Judaism, the religion rooted in the sacred texts of the Hebrew Bible. The names are often used interchangeably.
How and why do Jews celebrate Passover today?
Jews celebrate Passover today to remember the story of the Exodus when the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt. In Judaism, it's a big deal, a time to be thankful and a time to renew their faith.
Passover is about freedom, redemption, and the special bond between God and the Jewish people. It reminds them how God saved them from being slaves and still looks out for them today.
In Israel, Passover lasts seven days, and outside Israel, it's eight. The first and last two days are full-on festival days with special prayers and no work. The middle days, called Chol HaMoed, are a bit more relaxed.
In Israel, Passover lasts for seven days, while outside Israel, it's eight. This difference comes from historical and religious practices.
Inside Israel, Passover follows the original seven-day tradition observed by the Israelites leaving Egypt. Outside Israel, an extra day is added to account for uncertainties in the calendar, making it an eight-day observance.
The highlight of Passover is the Seder, a special dinner held on the first two nights (or just the first in Israel). It's all about retelling the Exodus story using a book called the Haggadah, along with special foods and rituals.
Before Passover, there is a Day of Preparation (remember this for later) that involves a thorough cleaning called 'bedikat chametz,' which translates to 'searching for leaven,' to remove all leavened products from their homes.
If they cannot remove all the leavened food, or if they have expensive foods or wines, they might sell them to someone who isn't Jewish for Passover and then buy them back after the holiday, a practice known as 'mechirat chametz.'
During Passover, Jews today still avoid eating leavened bread and anything made with leavening agents. Instead, they eat matzah, flatbread, to remember how quickly they had to leave Egypt.
At the Seder, they eat bitter herbs to remember the bitterness of slavery, Charoset, a mixture of chopped nuts, apples, cinnamon, and sweet wine or grape juice to symbolize the mortar used by the Israelites as they worked as slaves building pyramids, and a lamb shank bone to represent the Passover sacrifice.
In the Passover Seder, the four cups of wine symbolize the four expressions of deliverance promised by God in Exodus 6:6-7
"I will bring you out": This cup represents the promise of liberation from slavery in Egypt.
"I will free you": This cup symbolizes the promise of freedom from bondage and oppression.
"I will redeem you": This cup signifies the promise of redemption, being brought closer to God's presence.
"I will take you as my people": This cup represents the promise of becoming God's chosen people and entering into a covenant relationship with Him.
Each cup is drunk at specific points during the Seder, accompanied by blessings and readings from the Haggadah, to commemorate these aspects of the Exodus story and God's redemption of the Israelites.
This will be significant as we explore Passover from a Christian perspective.
What are the main differences between Jews and Christians?
Both Christians and Jews believe in the same God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, often referred to as the God of Israel or simply God the Father. However, Jews do not accept Jesus as the Son of God or as part of a triune Godhead, as Christians do.
While Christians believe that Jesus fulfilled many prophecies from the Hebrew Scriptures (what we as Christians call the Old Testament), Jews do not believe Jesus was the Messiah. They believe that when the Messiah arrives, certain criteria must be fulfilled that Jesus did not meet according to Jewish interpretation.
Jews expect the Messiah to be a human descendant of King David, who will usher in an era of peace and justice here on earth.
The New Testament gives genealogies that show Jesus was a descendant of King David. He is the Son of God, the long-awaited Messiah who came to fulfill spiritual salvation through his death and resurrection.
While Christians interpret many Old Testament prophecies as fulfilled in Jesus, Jews often understand these prophecies differently or believe they are yet to be realized.
For instance, passages like Isaiah 53, which we, as Christians, see as a prophecy of Jesus' suffering and death, are interpreted by Jews as referring to the nation of Israel or a righteous remnant within Israel.
I encourage you to read Isaiah Chapter 53.
Do
You
See
Jesus?
It's incredible and beautiful to think that the prophet Isaiah wrote about Jesus 700 years before His birth!
Why is Passover important to us as Christians?
First of all, Passover reminds us that we were once slaves but are now free.
Jesus probably celebrated Passover annually with his family and continued this tradition with His disciples. This celebration brought Jewish people to the Temple in Jerusalem, which stood on Mount Moriah, the same mountain where Abraham showed his faith by offering Isaac as a sacrifice to God, a foreshadowing of Jesus' own sacrificial death.
John the Baptist, seeing Jesus coming toward him, cried out,
“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
On the day before His crucifixion, Jesus said to His disciples,
“I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you.”
During the Passover Seder meal, He identified the unleavened bread and wine with His own body and blood.
Jesus then tells His disciples,
“This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”
As Christians, many of us may not fully recognize that Jesus was sharing a Passover meal with His disciples, which we know as the Last Supper.
After the Last Supper, Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. He then spent His last hours being “inspected in God’s house” as the Pharisees and teachers of the Law tried to find fault in Him. But they could not find it, even with false testimonies.
He was taken before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, for trial. Pilate found no fault in Jesus and attempted to release him, but the Jewish religious leaders insisted on Jesus' crucifixion.
Pilate then sent Jesus to Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, who was in Jerusalem at the time. After being questioned by Herod, Jesus was returned to Pilate, who eventually agreed to the crowd's demand for Jesus to be crucified.
Just like the instructions for the Passover Lamb, Jesus was tested for blemishes and declared perfect by both Jew and Gentile.
Jesus was killed because He was perfect. Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice, the perfect Lamb who died in our place as an offering to God.
At the first Passover in Exodus, God instructed the Israelites to slaughter a one-year-old male lamb that had no defects. They were also to make sure that no bones were broken in the process.
King David prophesied in the Psalms,
"He keeps all his bones;
not one of them is broken."
When Christ was crucified during Passover— not a single bone was broken.
"Since it was the day of Preparation (for the Passover), and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.
By breaking the legs, the crucified would die more quickly, often within minutes, because they couldn't support their weight and breathe properly. This was important in the context of the Sabbath because Jewish law prohibited leaving bodies hanging overnight, especially during Passover.1
Exodus 12:6 says that the lamb was to be killed at twilight, or “between the evenings.” Ancient Jewish tradition describes this time as when the sun starts to set until it has completely gone down, approximately 3-6 p.m.
Mark 15:34-37 says that Jesus finally died around the ninth hour of the day. The first hour of the day was at sunrise —approximately 6 a.m. This makes the ninth hour around 3 p.m.
Jesus died at the exact time that Passover lambs were being killed, according to Moses’ instructions in Exodus 12:6.
“For Messiah, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”
This was written in the Book of Leviticus 3500 years ago, foreshadowing the coming Messiah:
"For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life."
I want to leave you with one scripture that has a deeper meaning for me today than it did yesterday. I hope it encourages you.
"The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, 'Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!'"
I’ll see you on Friday!
I love you,
George
Uncovering Scripture
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George Sisneros serves as a full-time missionary in Guatemala. He is the founder of Ordinary Missionaries and the El Rosario Christian Academy for Boys.
He’s been married to his wife, Vonda, for 25 years. He’s a father to nine children, five adopted.
George and his family will be expanding to Cuba in 2024.