Jesus Christ Our Passover: Part 3
Estimated reading time: 19 minutes
The Meaning of Passover
1 Corinthians 5:7 KJV:
Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover [lamb] is sacrificed for us:
The word “lamb” is missing, like the figure of speech ellipses. We’ll look deeper into two themes here: the lamb and leaven. We’ll also look at them from three different views: the Old Testament, the first century, and then traditions that evolved around the Passover up until medieval times.
By medieval times, traditions arose about the Haggadah and the Seder. The modern tradition even includes an egg cooked hard in an oven. The origin of that tradition is unknown, but it reminds you of the egg tradition in Easter. Other additions include the four glasses of wine during the meal (with no Old Testament precedent) and the leaving of an empty chair for Elijah. Malachi (4:6) foretells Elijah coming before the Messiah, so they believe that if Elijah does not come for the Passover, they will have to celebrate yet another Passover.
The Old Testament
Exodus 12:3–4 KJV:
3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: 4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
Later, that became a tradition of ten people for a lamb even though the number ten is not mentioned in the Scripture. At that time, it was common to eat lamb at a meal, so they knew how many people one lamb would feed. You can also see how this celebration brought the households together when it says that if your household is too little for a lamb, then go to your neighbor.
Exodus 12:5 KJV:
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
Here, we see it could have been a goat, not just a lamb. Later, it became solidified that the lamb was the picture God wanted to portray. The lamb is a type of Jesus Christ.
Verse 5 says the lamb must be a male of the first year. Jesus Christ’s ministry was only one year (though most believe it was three-and-a-half years), making Him a “lamb” of the first year. Years were measured in lunar months at that time, and some years even had an extra lunar month. Jesus Christ’s baptism in the Jordan was in February, and his crucifixion was the following April, which qualified as a lamb “of the first year.”
The lamb had to be without blemish; Jesus Christ was perfect in all His ways and sinless.
Exodus 12:6 KJV:
And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
That timing, choosing the lamb on the tenth day of the month (Ex. 12:3) and killing it on the fourteenth day of the month (Ex. 12:6), is significant. That timing was still in practice in the first century.
Killing it in “the evening” means in the afternoon because the day went from sunset to sunset (not midnight to midnight). The “evening” was in the afternoon, before sunset, because sunset began another day (the fifteenth). In Hebrew it is called “between the evenings.” The Hebrew term referred to when the sun started to go down in the afternoon, well before it set. We think of it as between 3:00 PM and 6:00 PM, though the actual time was based on the length of day at the particular time of year. Today, we think of evening as after sunset, but back then, what they called evening was what we would call afternoon.
It’s important to understand the culture of the time in order to understand the subject in God’s Word.
Exodus 12:7–9 KJV:
7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. 8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance [insides] thereof.
They removed the intestines, emptied their contents, then put the intestines back in so that the lamb was roasted whole. It had to be roasted, not boiled or sodden with water. The Egyptians often boiled their sacrifices; the Israelites were not to do that.
Jesus Christ fulfilled all the offerings. This record was prior to the law being given. The picture of the lamb is actually a sum total of all the offerings (even though this was before the requirements concerning the offerings were given in the law).
The lamb was a sin offering, and Jesus Christ was a sin offering. Remember, He became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). It was also a burnt offering because when they finished eating it, they burnt the rest of the carcass.
Exodus 12:10 KJV:
And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.
The lamb is also like a peace offering because the peace offering was the only offering under the law where the people could partake of the offering. In this case, they didn’t just burn it on an altar; they ate the offering. You can see how the lamb combines all the different aspects of the offerings.
One thing we should see here is that God wanted to get Egypt out of the people. God wanted them to see (and remove) the things that had crept into their thinking from the Egyptian culture so they would be ready to enter the promised land.
We’ve already talked about the blood on the doorpost and how, without the shedding of blood, there could be no remission of sins. Let’s see how the destroyer would see the blood on the doorpost and “pass over” that dwelling.
Exodus 12:11–12 KJV:
11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’S passover. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.
This last plague is really a sum total and shows that God is against all the gods of Egypt.
Exodus 12:13–15 KJV:
13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. 14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. 15 Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
That sounds serious. What is it about leaven? And why did they have to eat without leaven for seven days?
Exodus 12:16 KJV:
And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.
The lamb would be killed on the 14th. The 15th would be a holy day, like a Sabbath when they couldn’t do any work. The 21st would also be a holy day with no work therein. These special holy days were separate from the regular weekly Sabbath. If one of these special days fell right next to the weekly Sabbath, then there would be two days in a row that were holy, and no work could be done in them.
Exodus 12:17 KJV:
And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.
Those seven days after Passover became known as the feast of unleavened bread.
From the first Passover, all the way to the first century, they didn’t really know what the unleavened bread was all about. They just did it. There were various traditions and ideas about what the unleavened bread meant, but they didn’t really know. It wasn’t until the Apostle Paul, in Corinthians, explained what the leaven was all about.
Exodus 12:26–27 KJV:
26 And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? 27 That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD’S passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped.
The Jews were very obedient in many categories. When God said to do something as an ordinance forever, they did it. Later, King Josiah went through the whole land cleansing it of idols so that the people could celebrate Passover. He took it literally and seriously that they were to cleanse out the idolatry and that it was the blood that would enable the forgiveness of sins.
In the previous session, we saw that redemption was out of something and to something. They had to be delivered out of the bondage of Egypt to become a people and enter into the promised land.
Remember, because the lamb was before the law, it represents all the different offerings. This includes the offering for atonement (from being enemies to being reconciled). The offering was also a testimony that the person who offered it would be accepted. The burning of an offering and the smoke going up signified God’s acceptance of you (the offeror). That caused great thanksgiving. The Passover was a very joyful time.
John 1:29 KJV:
The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
The First Century
We’ll look more in depth in a later session, but for now, remember the dates and that the lamb was a type of Jesus Christ. He fulfilled all the offerings and the traditions associated (in the first century) with the Passover.
One of the traditions that had been added by the time of the first century was that, after they chose the lamb, there was a big procession. Think of the triumphal entry when Jesus rides in on the colt. The essence of that triumphal entry is the choosing of the lamb. The people chose Jesus to be the lamb that year.
Another tradition they added was to take the lamb and put it in the temple. Everyone and anyone could come and examine the lamb to ensure it had no spot or blemish. That’s what happened on Monday and Tuesday of the crucifixion week. One by one, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians, all these different groups of people came and examined Jesus Christ. They gave Him the hardest questions they could come up with and He passed every single test.
Remember in Exodus, when they ate the lamb, they were to eat unleavened bread and continue to eat only unleavened bread for seven days. By the first century, they had added many traditions regarding all the things you had to do to cleanse your house of leaven. From the 10th through the 13th people were busy ensuring there was no leaven in their houses. They had a whole ritual of how to do that.
After the triumphal entry, Jesus goes into the temple and overturns the tables of the moneychangers. He said they’d made His house a den of thieves. That’s His cleansing of His house. He cleansed the temple because it was the house of God.
Another tradition that had been added, relating to leaven, was that on the very last “evening” (afternoon) before Passover (the 13th), the head of the house would go through his house in silence, examining the house to ensure there was no leaven. In the examinations Jesus went through in the trials, He did not answer; he kept silent.
You can refer to the teaching, Jesus Christ Our Passover Lamb, for more details.
What About the Leaven?
1 Corinthians 5:7 KJV:
Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
We think of leaven as a little packet of yeast. Back then it wasn’t really talking about yeast, but about the old dough. When you mix water with flour it starts fermenting. As it ferments, it becomes more and more rancid. When you make a new batch of dough, you take a little bit from the old batch and it permeates the new batch and makes it rise.
We use other things make bread rise, like baking soda or baking powder. But they allowed the dough to ferment. And they would add a small amount of the old dough into the new dough.
The Easton’s Bible Dictionary, in the entry for Leaven, says, “the remnant of dough from the preceding backing which had fermented and become acid.”
Purging out the old leaven means purging out that old piece of dough that you were going to use for the new batch. You can’t use the old stuff in a new lump. You need to be an entirely new lump of dough.
The main point of leaven has to do with its pervasive nature, if you put it in something, it will contaminate and corrupt every part of what you put it into. A tiny amount of old dough in a new batch will fill the whole new batch with that old stuff. It paints a picture of the corruption and defilement of sin and how it works.
“Various substances were known to have fermenting qualities; but the ordinary leaven consisted of a lump of old dough in a high state of fermentation, which was mixed into the mass of dough prepared for baking….”
“The most prominent idea associated with leaven is connected with the corruption which it had undergone, and which it communicated to bread in the process of fermentation.”
Another bible dictionary says that leaven symbolizes corruption, defilement, and sin.
We’ll see that the main things leaven represents are hypocrisy and legalism.
God does not use words lightly, and when you see the meaning of something, you’ll see that it remains consistent all the way through. If God changes the meaning of something, He lets you know.
Matthew 16:6–12 KJV:
6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. 7 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. 8 Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? 9 Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? 10 Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? 11 How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? 12 Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
So far, it seems as if the leaven is wrong doctrine. But remember, the Pharisees were notorious for saying the right things but doing the opposite. It was less about wrong doctrine and more about hypocrisy. They said one thing and did another.
Luke 12:1–2 KJV:
1 In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
The Aramaic behind the word “hypocrisy” literally means “to receive faces” or “take faces.” Sometimes, you put a face on to mask yourself, but most of the time, it is to receive face. The Pharisees played favorites and had great respect of persons. If you did everything the way they wanted, then you were accepted; if you didn’t, then you weren’t. There are many different ways to manifest hypocrisy. Legalism is what starts a person on the path to being a hypocrite.
The first part of Galatians chapter 5 is about how Christ becomes of no effect to you if you don’t walk by grace.
Galatians 5:6–9 KJV:
6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. 7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? 8 This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. 9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
Legalism had started filtering into the entire church in Galatia, and it became about works instead of grace. Earlier, the Pharisees had gotten so legalistic that they missed the whole point of the law. They got so wrapped up in all the little details of the things they were requiring that they forgot that all those things were to point toward the Messiah. They were playing favorites and being two-faced. They took little details from the law and turned them into loopholes to get out of taking care of their parents, which was part of the law.
1 Corinthians 5:6–8 KJV:
6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover [lamb] is sacrificed for us: 8 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.
We keep the meaning of the feast in our hearts. What’s malice and wickedness, and what’s sincerity and truth?
We cannot have old leaven in our lives. We can’t try to change the old man nature and make it new. It will just permeate our whole life.
Malice is evil habits, and wickedness is evil coming out in word or deed. That’s basically legalism and hypocrisy.
Psalm 139:23–24 KJV:
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
It’s not just condemning yourself, “Oh, I’m a sinner.” That’s also the Pharisaical way of doing things. Instead, you examine your life and ask God to show you where those evil habits are where I start going into legalism (saying one thing and not doing it). We are supposed to look in our own lives and see where there’s leaven in our own hearts so that we can get rid of it and be a new lump.
You can’t get rid of sin completely, but you can get rid of legalism and hypocrisy.
1 Corinthians 5:7 KJV:
Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
You can fill in the missing word “bread” but its bigger than that. When the figure of speech ellipses is there, the emphasis is on the missing word. It’s about it being “bread.” What does bread mean? Then you think, “That reminds me of communion.”
Communion has two ingredients: bread and wine (no lamb). The bread represents the broken body, and it’s for our healing. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:34, 48, 51). Jesus is the only one who can help us not be legalistic. If I’m focused on Him as my life and my relationship with God through Him, I won’t get into legalism and hypocrisy.
The Greek word translated as “sincerity” means to be judged by the light of the sun or to have purity. The word for “truth” means unconcealed, not hidden; in other words, truth out in the open.
We’re to celebrate the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity or purity where God is shining the light on whatever area needs to be exposed, and then truth (out in the open) ends up not being concealed or hidden anymore. We live our lives with the truth out in the open.
1 Corinthians 11:26–29 KJV:
26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come. 27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body
Not discerning that Jesus really is the unleavened bread. Just like He’s the lamb, He’s also the unleavened bread. And Jesus Christ is the only way that you can have a life without legalism and hypocrisy. Otherwise, it will always be about rules and regulations.
We talked about out of bondage and to relationship. Forgiveness of sins and healing is based on God’s sacrifice of His Son and how we are bought with a price. It’s not just about God being forgiving; He had to pay this price so we can have and walk in sincerity and truth. God knew it wasn’t possible without it. That old dough would always pervade our whole life. We could have never lived an unleavened lifestyle without what the Lord’s body represents. That’s why we have to discern the Lord’s body, and we examine our hearts (let the sun shine in) when we partake of communion and ask God where are the things that we need to change.
1 Peter 1:18–22 KJV:
18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, 21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. 22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
Jesus Christ was sacrificed on our behalf, for us.
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