The Passover
Zion's Advocate, Vol. 38, No. 12, December 1899
For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I Cor. v. 7, 8The establishment of the ancient passover of the Israelites marked a new era in the history of that favored people. For a long period they had been held under Egyptian bondage, and the burdens of their servitude had become unbearable. God had heard their cries, and, remembering his covenant with their fathers, had sent Moses and Aaron to deliver them. The fact of his existence and the superiority of his power over the gods of the Egyptians had been fully demonstrated by the plagues brought about and the miracles performed. The greatest of all these wonderful events was about to be enacted. The time had come for the chosen nation's deliverance. Four days before they were to march out, every household, or combined household, was ordered to select an unblemished lamb. The evening before they were to depart from Egypt these lambs were ordered to be slain. They were ordered to strike the blood upon the two side-posts and the upper door-posts of the houses in which the lambs were eaten. The flesh, after being thoroughly roasted whole, was to be eaten by them; and what was not eaten was ordered to be burned up so that nothing would remain.
This was to be the beginning of a new year to them. It is believed that the year, from the creation to this time, began about the time of the Autumnal Equinox, or the middle of our September. This new year began about the time of the Spring Equinox, or the middle of our March. This was a figure, we think, not only of the gospel dispensation or era, but likewise of the experience of sweet rest and deliverance entered by all true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. The spotless lamb sacrificed pointed to the immaculate Lamb of God. In the purity of his life and character he stands as the antitype of the unblemished lamb offered in the passover. No guile was found in his mouth, no blemish stained his life. He was holy, harmless, and separate from sinners.
The thorough roasting of the lamb was figurative of the extreme suffering endured by our blessed Saviour when he was sacrificed for us. The lamb was roasted whole. It was not cut into parts. It is stated that not a bone of it was to be broken. The same is said of the body of our Lord. The application of the blood to the door-posts of the houses points to the application of the "blood of sprinkling" to the hearts and consciences of those who are born again. As this secured all the Israelites from the destroying angel that passed over that night, and, entering the houses of the Egyptians, brought death to the first born of each family, so the blood of Christ, shed for many for the remission of sins, secures just that many from everlasting death and punishment. The lamb was to be eaten, showing that Christ is the food of his people, who eat his flesh and drink his blood in a spiritual sense. It was to be eaten with bitter herbs, signifying the repentance, and contrition and deep sorrow of the Lord's people who are made partakers of his benefits. It was also to be eaten with unleavened bread; "in like manner are Christ's disciples cautioned against the leaven of malice, and of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy." As they ate the lamb they were to be dressed for traveling; we are likewise to be on a journey, thus declaring ourselves to be "strangers and pilgrims on the earth."
How dim is the figure when compared with the substance! "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us." The safety of Spiritual Israel is secured by this great offering, and their final deliverance from all sin is certainly assured. The blood shed in this holy sacrifice is a safeguard to them from any visitation of the angel of destruction. Being reconciled by the death of their Substitute, they shall be saved by his life.
Let us, then, keep the feast in our communion with God through faith and obedient service. This feast is for all for whom this passover was sacrificed. It should be kept, not with the old leaven of hypocrisy but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
J. R. D.
Copyright c. 2003. All rights reserved. The Primitive Baptist Library.
