Bro. Tim Baker
First Baptist Church Festus/Crystal City, MO
October 18, 2009



Background of Passover

Genesis 47.1
Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers and their flocks and their herds and all that they have, have come out of the land of Canaan; and behold, they are in the land of Goshen.”
NASU

This was a beginning of prosperity for the people of Israel. They flourished while in Egypt.

Exodus 1.5-7
5 All the persons who came from the loins of Jacob were seventy in number, but Joseph was already in Egypt. 6 Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. 7 But the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly, and multiplied, and became exceedingly mighty, so that the land was filled with them.
NASU

They went from a people of 70 to a people of over two million in a period of 430 years. They had enjoyed the life that living in Egypt afforded them until a new King became ruler over Egypt.

As they experienced the heavy hand of Pharaoh, they began to cry out to God and seek His hand in delivering them from their bondage.

Exodus 3.7-8
7 The LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings.
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The people of Israel wanted God to relieve them of their pain and suffering that they were experiencing so that they could return to a way of life that they remembered to be pleasant and prosperous. However, they had failed to remember the promise that God had in store for them, that which was His plan from the beginning. God knew that they would have to forsake Egypt in order to serve the living God. Old things, old attitudes, old affections had to pass away – all things had to become new! Only a new beginning would bring back the life that God had promised, could provide, and bless them!

As God poured out plague after plague, Pharaoh continued to harden his heart. God was going to perform one last plague that would finally cause Pharaoh to let the people of Israel leave Egypt.

Exodus 4.22-23
22 “Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, ” Israel is My son, My firstborn. 23 “So I said to you, ‘ Let My son go that he may serve Me’; but you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn.”
NASU

Exodus 11.4-6
4 Moses said, “Thus says the LORD, ‘About midnight I am going out into the midst of Egypt, 5 and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the millstones; all the firstborn of the cattle as well.
NASU

However, the people of Israel were not automatically exempt from the plague affecting them. They would have to follow the instructions of God in order to be spared from God’s judgment upon the land of Egypt.

Exodus 12.23-24
“For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you. 24 “And you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever.
NASU

The Passover represented a new beginning for the people of Israel. However, before the new beginning could take place, they had to be obedient to the command of God and acknowledge His truth in order to be spared of His judgment.

Passover was not merely a stepping over or leaping over on that night of Egypt as the LORD struck all the firstborn of Egypt. Passover literally meant to “spread wings over” in order to protect.

Isa 31.5
Like flying birds so the LORD of hosts will protect Jerusalem.
He will protect and deliver it;
He will pass over and rescue it.
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Luke 13.34
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it!
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The slain lamb, the sheltering behind its blood, the eating of its flesh constituted the protection of God’s chosen people beneath the sheltering wings of the almighty. It was not merely that the Lord passed by the houses of the Israelites, but that He stood on guard protecting each blood stained door. “The LORD will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you” Genesis 12.23b.

God
1. Sheltered them from His judgment
2. Used the substitutionary death of the Passover lamb to bring forgiveness
3. Rescued Israel out of His mercy

“And you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever” Genesis 12.24.

God commanded the observance of Passover; so that, His people might reflect upon all that He had done for them.
1. As they entered into the Promised Land, they were to remember the Lord.
2. They were to rehearse and retell the events of the great redemption He had wrought for their fathers.
3. They were to rejoice
a. Past blessings
b. Present blessings
c. Look forward to what He would yet do for and through them.

The celebration of the Passover in Christ’s day

During Passover, Jerusalem would swell in its size. All the Jewish people from the different corners of the land would converge upon Jerusalem in order to celebrate Passover. Jerusalem’s population was normally around 600,000 people, but it is estimated that the population of Jerusalem would easily surpass the 200,000,000 mark.

Here is the picture:

People would leave their homes and begin to travel the roads to Jerusalem. Soon they would begin to meet others on their way to Jerusalem and caravans would begin to be formed. On their way to Jerusalem, they would sing “Songs of Ascent” as they would travel, preparing themselves for the worship and celebration to come in the days ahead. Their voices would ring out in the valleys as they ascended to Jerusalem.

“As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for you, O God” Psalm 41.2

“How lovely are Your dwelling places, O Lord of hosts! My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God” Psalm 84.1-2

“I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’ Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem” Psalm 122.1-2.

“Behold how good and pleasant it is. For brothers to dwell together in unity!” Psalm 133.1.

“Behold, bless the Lord, all servants of the Lord, Who serve by night in the house of the LORD!” Psalm 134.1

As worshippers would enter into the city of Jerusalem, the first to arrive would begin to pitch their tents around the temple. However, the space around the temple would soon run out and all the residents in Jerusalem were to open their doors to the visiting numbers who had come to worship.

There was a sense of excitement in the streets and city. Old friends and family members were reacquainted. New friends were made. Families were brought back together. Strangers who didn’t have families were brought into families. There was a great sense of belonging and unity for the purpose of remembering and celebrating, worshipping God for what He had done, what He was doing, and how He was going to use them in the future. Celebration was the theme within the city.

As the time for the Passover to be observed drew nearer, the synagogues were busy teaching about the Passover, the Passover lambs were being selected, and the homes were ridded of any leaven within them.

On the fourteenth day of Nisan, the slaughter of the Passover lamb took place. The priests chose companies of not less than ten people, nor more than twenty. Each group sacrificed one lamb, which they later ate as their ceremonial meal. The crowds of worshippers entered by company into the Temple’s courtyard. The Levites killed the lambs at the signal of the silver trumpets sounded by the priests. Then they removed the fat and burned it. They caught the blood of the sacrifices in bowls, which two rows of priests passed along to be poured out at the base of the altar.

While all this was happening, the Levitical choir chanted Hallel, the recitation of Psalms 113 to 118. The congregation joined in the liturgy by repeating the first line of each Psalm after the Levites sang it. They also chanted the Words Hallel Yah (Praise ye the Lord) at the end of every line. When the priests came to Psalm 118, the congregation repeated verses 25 and 26:

O LORD, do save, we beseech You; O LORD, we beseech You, do send prosperity!

Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the LORD;

These are the very words that rang out through the streets of Jerusalem a week before the crucifixion as Jesus rode into the city on a donkey in fulfillment of Zechariah 9.9. The two disciples sent by Jesus to prepare the Passover heard them again as they stood in the court of the priests to kill their lamb. As their memory of that joyful acclaim mingled with the reality of the death scene before them, one wonders whether they began to understand what the master had been trying to tell them when He said:

“Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished. For He shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked and spitefully entreated, and spitted on; and they shall scourge Him and put Him to death”. Luke 18.31-33; Matthew 20.18-19, 26.2; Mark 9.31-32, 10.33-34.

Christ serves the Passover and the Lord’s Supper

The slain lamb, the sheltering behind its blood, the eating of its flesh constituted the protection of God’s chosen people beneath the sheltering wings of the almighty. It was not merely that the Lord passed by the houses of the Israelites, but that He stood on guard protecting each blood stained door. “The LORD will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you” Genesis 12.23b.

God
1. Sheltered us from His judgment
2. Uses the substitutionary death of spotless lamb to bring forgiveness
3. Rescues us out of His mercy

Partake of the bread
Partake of the juice