The Passover
Matthew 26:1-2. “When Jesus had finished this discourse, He said to His disciples, “You know that the Passover is coming in two days, and the Son of Man is to be betrayed and handed over for crucifixion.”
The Backstory
The children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, are in Egypt. It’s been a long four hundred and thirty years. The Bible tells of the beginning of that sojourn, with Joseph (Gen. 27:18-28), and the end of the sojourn with Moses (Exodus 12:33-40). In the middle, we don’t know much, we just know that they came first as guests of Pharaoh, and left in a hurry, as enemies of Pharaoh.
In the first part of this sojourn, they were welcomed, even celebrated. Jacob’s children entered Israel during a time of great famine. They came looking to buy food and provisions, because they heard that a great leader had the wisdom and foresight to save for a rainy day. They heard that a great leader would allow them to buy provisions. They heard that a great leader, had not only saved enough for his land and his people, but he had saved enough to sell to foreigners. This made the land of this great leader prosperous in a time of famine, and this great leader became a man of great political and social power.
This great man was ordained by God for this moment since he was a child. He had the God-given ability to interpret dreams. He dreamt as a little boy, and it sent his brothers into a fit of jealousy, and envy, so much so, that they sold him to a band of traveling Ishmaelites, who sold him to the captain of Pharaoh’s guard in Egypt.
We too must learn to save for a rainy day. While we trust God for our daily bread, and He says our bread and water will be sure, Like Joseph, God wants us to be the head and not the tail. We must put aside not as hoarders do, but we put aside so that we can help others in their time of need. The provisions that we store up is not just for us, it is so that we can be a blessing to others in difficult times. God puts those who he can trust in positions to help the fatherless, care for the widows, and lift up the downtrodden. This is not that we can be glorified, but so that He can be glorified! Because of Joseph’s faithfulness, not only his family, but all of Egypt prospered. What is God trying to do through you and I?
God made a promise to Abraham, that He would be the father of a great nation (Genesis 12:1-3). God made a promise to Noah, that if he is faithful and preach and listen to His word, and build an ark on dry land, that one day, he would send the rain, to cleanse the earth, and only those who are faithful and come into the ark would be saved (Gen. 6:13-22). God made a promise to Adam and Eve, that one day He would send his Son to crush the head of the deceiver and save his Children (Gen.3:15). But this journey will be painful, His Son will be bruised. “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was crushed for our wickedness, the punishment for our well-being, fell on him, and by His stripes, we are healed (Isaiah 53:5).
In these cases, God worked through His Children. He could have sent cherubim’s and seraphim’s, the angels on high. He could have emptied heaven’s throne room, but he sent man to be servants to man. Faithful men and women, to share His word, so that all men would be saved. God works to save His people through the lives of His people.
God called Joseph, and gave him the gift to interpret dreams, and orchestrated it so that this gift, would lead him to Egypt so that he could be in a position to save not only his family, but all of Egypt. God’s promise to Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation, was to be fulfilled by allowing them to prosper in the greatest nation of that time. This prosperity, lead to their enslavement over the fear of their strength and influence.
The Passover
“And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, what mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, it is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, who has passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed their head and worshipped.” Exodus 12:27 KJV
The Passover commemorates God’s deliverance of His children from bondage in Egypt. God commanded Moses to tell the people, to slay a lamb as a sacrifice and spread its blood on the doorpost of each house. As the Lord passed-over to “smite” the Egyptians, all who remained in the house would be saved. (Exodus 12:23)
God’s plan of salvation is not to save us from the bondage of a nation, or a people, but to save us from the bondage of sin and to redeem his children unto himself.
The Passover points to Christ’s sacrifice on the cross to save us from sin.
The Passover points to the Cross, where the Lamb of God was slain.
The Passover points to the Cross and the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. John 1:29.
The Passover points to the cross, that’s why we can sing, “Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God almighty, Just and true are your ways.” Rev. 15:3
Matthew 26:1-2 - When Jesus had finished this discourse, He said to His disciples, “You know that the Passover is coming in two days, and the Son of Man is to be betrayed and handed over for crucifixion.”
Here Jesus was reminding His disciples that the Passover was two days away. He was preparing them for the eye opening, life changing, lifesaving experience. In two days, the Lamb would be slain. He was letting them know, and reminded us today, that the symbol of the sacrificial lamb would be fulfilled. He was letting us know that He is The Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the World.
Noah and his family were saved by being faithful and staying in the Ark. The Children of Israel were saved by faithfully covering the doorpost with the blood of the lamb. Today, because of the sacrifice at the Cross, we have the opportunity to choose salvation by faith and be covered by the Blood of the Lamb.
Salvation is free, the sacrifice was made, the ark of safety is available to all, be faithful, choose Christ today.
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