A Christian look at the Biblical Feasts - The Passover

I begin this series with Passover, which is only a part of the story of what we will cover. See, Passover can be applied to one specific day as well as a broad spectrum title for an eight day event. What we will be going into this time is Passover, Unleavened Bread and the Feast of First Fruits.

To find the first mention we need to go way back. Back to Exodus 12:1-28 which says,  

12 Adonai spoke to Moshe and Aharon in the land of Egypt; he said, ² “You are to begin your calendar with this month; it will be the first month of the year for you. ³ Speak to all the assembly of Isra’el and say, ‘On the tenth day of this month, each man is to take a lamb or kid for his family, one per household — ⁴ except that if the household is too small for a whole lamb or kid, then he and his next-door neighbor should share one, dividing it in proportion to the number of people eating it. ⁵ Your animal must be without defect, a male in its first year, and you may choose it from either the sheep or the goats.

⁶ “‘You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, and then the entire assembly of the community of Isra’el will slaughter it at dusk. ⁷ They are to take some of the blood and smear it on the two sides and top of the door-frame at the entrance of the house in which they eat it. ⁸ That night, they are to eat the meat, roasted in the fire; they are to eat it with matzah and maror. ⁹ Don’t eat it raw or boiled, but roasted in the fire, with its head, the lower parts of its legs and its inner organs. ¹⁰ Let nothing of it remain till morning; if any of it does remain, burn it up completely.

¹¹ “‘Here is how you are to eat it: with your belt fastened, your shoes on your feet and your staff in your hand; and you are to eat it hurriedly. It is Adonai’s Pesach [Passover]. ¹² For that night, I will pass through the land of Egypt and kill all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both men and animals; and I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt; I am Adonai. ¹³ The blood will serve you as a sign marking the houses where you are; when I see the blood, I will pass over ^[a] you — when I strike the land of Egypt, the death blow will not strike you.

¹⁴ “‘This will be a day for you to remember and celebrate as a festival to Adonai; from generation to generation you are to celebrate it by a perpetual regulation.

¹⁵ “‘For seven days you are to eat matzah — on the first day remove the leaven from your houses. For whoever eats hametz [leavened bread] from the first to the seventh day is to be cut off from Isra’el. ¹⁶ On the first and seventh days, you are to have an assembly set aside for God. On these days no work is to be done, except what each must do to prepare his food; you may do only that. ¹⁷ You are to observe the festival of matzah, for on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt. Therefore, you are to observe this day from generation to generation by a perpetual regulation. ¹⁸ From the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month until the evening of the twenty-first day, you are to eat matzah. ¹⁹ During those seven days, no leaven is to be found in your houses. Whoever eats food with hametz in it is to be cut off from the community of Isra’el — it doesn’t matter whether he is a foreigner or a citizen of the land. ²⁰ Eat nothing with hametz in it. Wherever you live, eat matzah.’”

(v) ²¹ Then Moshe called for all the leaders of Isra’el and said, “Select and take lambs for your families, and slaughter the Pesach lamb. ²² Take a bunch of hyssop leaves and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and smear it on the two sides and top of the door-frame. Then, none of you is to go out the door of his house until morning. ²³ For Adonai will pass through to kill the Egyptians; but when he sees the blood on the top and on the two sides, Adonai will pass over the door and will not allow the Slaughterer to enter your houses and kill you. ²⁴ You are to observe this as a law, you and your descendants forever.

²⁵ “When you come to the land which Adonai will give you, as he has promised, you are to observe this ceremony. ²⁶ When your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this ceremony?’ ²⁷ say, ‘It is the sacrifice of Adonai’s Pesach [Passover], because [Adonai] passed over the houses of the people of Isra’el in Egypt, when he killed the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” The people of Isra’el bowed their heads and worshipped. ²⁸ Then the people of Isra’el went and did as Adonai had ordered Moshe and Aharon — that is what they did.

So what is this passage telling us? Well it is starting with the idea of the Lamb being brought to the house on the tenth day of the month and not slaughtered until the 14th for the Passover dinner that night. In reading this we need to remember that to the Isrealite people it's evening and then morning, meaning the dinner is actually had on the 15th day of the month. Hold that thought, it's important! We are then to eat the lamb with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs; and "have our belt fastened, shoes on and staff in hand", meaning we are to be ready to go at a moments notice! Eat quick, time to go is upon us. For seven days from the time of this first meal we are to not eat any bread with leaven, or yeast, in it, in fact we're not even to have any in the house! We're also to rest, keeping our work to a minimum, cooking. And that this is to be a perpetual regulation, a law for the descendants forever. Leviticus 23:5-8 reinforce this by saying,  

⁵ “‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, between sundown and complete darkness, comes Pesach for Adonai. ⁶ On the fifteenth day of the same month is the festival of matzah; for seven days you are to eat matzah. ⁷ On the first day you are to have a holy convocation; don’t do any kind of ordinary work. ⁸ Bring an offering made by fire to Adonai for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; do not do any kind of ordinary work.’”

Passover is such a rich time, holding so many layers of meaning to it. These passages show us some of it, but also point to the rest. Looking surface deep first we see the direct tie into what was happening in Egypt, fleeing to freedom. The night after Passover is literally the night that God killed all the first born in the land of Egypt and spared those with the lambs blood on their doorways, the Isrealites. Bringing them to freedom from Slavery. Making this a lasting reminder not just of anything spiritual, but a historical event to be remembered throughout time.

In the next layer we have the sacrificial system that came about from that time and developed throughout time. In that the Passover Lamb, the one which became their sin offering every year on the day of Passover, would be brought in to Jerusalem five days before Passover, through the Eastern gate, from Bethlehem. To be then slaughtered for our sins on Passover itself. What does this sound like to you? We then add the Unleavened bread over the course of seven Hebrew Days, eight to the Gregorian mind. We see scripture repeatedly equate leaven to sin, showing us that during this time frame we are not to have sin in our homes, or to intake sin; it is apart from us, separated from the time of Passover. 

With Passover we also must mind a passage from Exodus 12:43-45 and 48-49. which sums in saying that no uncircumcised can join in the dinner of Passover. Romans 2 and Galatians 6, among others, make it clear that physical circumcision is not of the most value, but circumcision of the heart is. We must then use scripture against scripture to see that the restriction here is not on the physically uncircumcised- but on the unbeliever. No unbeliever is to take part in the Passover, our faith would apply as circumcision of the men who are not physically circumcised. But please, I encourage you to seek ircumcision if the Ruach HaKodesh is so leading you.

Likewise, Passover is so special that if we have been made unclean by contact with a dead body we are not to have the Passover day celebration on that day, but celebrate it on a secondary day offered to us giving us time in which to be clean and not skip it all together. According to Numbers 9:6-14.

What then is First Fruits? Lets look first to Leviticus 23:9-14 which says,

⁹ Adonai said to Moshe, ¹⁰ “Tell the people of Isra’el, ‘After you enter the land I am giving you and harvest its ripe crops, you are to bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the cohen. ¹¹ He is to wave the sheaf before Adonai, so that you will be accepted; the cohen is to wave it on the day after the Shabbat. ¹² On the day that you wave the sheaf, you are to offer a male lamb without defect, in its first year, as a burnt offering for Adonai. ¹³ Its grain offering is to be one gallon of fine flour mixed with olive oil, an offering made by fire to Adonai as a fragrant aroma; its drink offering is to be of wine, one quart. ¹⁴ You are not to eat bread, dried grain or fresh grain until the day you bring the offering for your God; this is a permanent regulation through all your generations, no matter where you live.

The truth is this alone doesn't tell us much, all it sums up to is on the Sunday during Unleavened Bread there is another day to recognize, First Fruits. A day for tithes and offerings, with a Feast. 

Now that we have a basis in the Old Testament of what these days are lets look to the New. Why are they so important and special to Christians? The simple answer is Yeshua! We know from verse after verse that Yeshua was crucified on Passover. So lets look in depth at that.

Biblically we know the Messiah entered Jerusalem five days before Passover, extra biblically we know that he entered the city via the Eastern gate. And just like the passover lamb who entered the city on that day, through that gate, Yeshua was born of Bethlehem. Our ultimate sacrificial lamb! On the day of Passover he was killed, aligning his death even to the time of the sacrifice in the temple. As he died he made atonement for our sins, separating his people from their sin as he entered the tomb, just as the leaven leaves our homes for Unleavened Bread. And then, before dawn the Sunday morning, he is Resurrected!  1 Corinthians 15:20-24 says, 

²⁰ But the fact is that the Messiah has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have died. ²¹ For since death came through a man, also the resurrection of the dead has come through a man. ²² For just as in connection with Adam all die, so in connection with the Messiah all will be made alive. ²³ But each in his own order: the Messiah is the firstfruits; then those who belong to the Messiah, at the time of his coming; ²⁴ then the culmination, when he hands over the Kingdom to God the Father, after having put an end to every rulership, yes, to every authority and power.

Does that not raise the bar on the day of First Fruits? It is the day our Lord and Savior rose from the Grave! Triumphant over sin! His death and resurrection are the reason these Holy Days are so special to me as a Believer, and they beat Easter for me hand over fist once we look into the depth and richness of the Holy Days. These are the actual days that these events took place, and don't fluctuate much beyond the lunar calendar. Every one of them with Prophetic value for Christ, in this first coming of his.

So now that we have a basic basis from the Bible about the trio grouped together as Passover let us look in depth at the symbology, as it can apply to us today. This is done how we do it, with expanded explanations included.

First, five days before Passover, we welcome to the lamb into our home. Now for those of you know that we live on a farm - No, Not a real sheep in our house. We have have large stuffed white fluffy sheep that comes out just for this event! Perfectly white, just as what would have been expected. We use it as a reminder that on that day Jesus went into Jerusalem, our Passover Lamb, being prepared for what was to come. This lamb is kept in a focal area of our home, usually near the kitchen table, where you just can't help but to see it; and thus always be reminded.

During these days between then and Passover is preparation time, a time to purge the house of all leaven. A deep spring clean of the whole home, and a root for the reason we do spring cleanings, to ensure that everything is spotless and I have no major housework needed during Unleavened Bread. Purging not only the physical yeast from my home but anything that may be considered 'leaven' that may have snuck in during the year, like a video a friend may have bought us that is not edifying. I may also prepare freezer meals to make it easier to relax over the next week. 

The day of the 14th of Nisan we have a game with the children. This game gets called 'Find the Leaven'. It begins will all lights in the house off and the children each getting a flashlight (Or having to work as a team around one flashlight). The mother, me, will have hidden small pieces of normal bread throughout the house, the last leaven in the home. The father then has a wooden spoon and a feather in his hands and one child has a paper bag in hand. The family, as a unit, then goes about the house with the flashlight and the children must find these small bits of bread with the flashlight, the father sweeps them with the feather onto the wooden spoon and puts them in the bag without touching the bread.  Once all has been found, the bag is rolled up and put in the wood stove. Fire is traditional for this game, but if you don't have that then simply make a show of throwing it out and removing the garbage bag from the home. The symbology in this is quite simple, and can be explained to the children to help them understand more. The leaven is simple, that is the sin in our lives, and the light is none other than the Light of God, who shines on all our sins and seeks them out. The feather and spoon are a team, both his grace and his disciple as they face our sins and sweep them away. Finally, fire destroys them, removing them from us forever. 

Then we spend the afternoon in rememberance of what Yeshua had done for us that afternoon as the lamb who died. It is both solemn and a day to rejoice, and for the children you can emphasize the times of the day. Nine am when he was put on the cross, noon when it went dark, three pm when he died and the veil in the temple was torn and the dead rose. We close this evening with a communion service with our dinner much like our Sabbath incorporates, this would have been the night of the Last Supper.

Then is the Seder Dinner, with the daytime being the day of the crucifixion at 3pm and the evening meal also beginning the first day of Unleavened Bread. The meal this evening is a very big deal; it is the Seder Meal. This is the tradition going back to Moses, originally only a reminder of the Isrealites being freed from Egypt, but for a Believer this is the meal to share the Lamb was was slaughtered, to remember that Yeshua died on the cross that day to pay the penalty for us. Now, as I explain this I do need to say one thing. There is a piece missing, the Haggadah. Many will use a Hagaddah for the seder meal to walk though all the details, and if you like ritual I encourage you to find a messianic hagaddah. We instead do our own prayers at the beginning of each segment that feel much more natural and from the heart for us. This also doesn't fall under the technically 'Kosher' regulations for these events as much of that is under Rabbinical Law that we do not follow. With this meal you cook not only Lamb as the main dish, but matzah, a special bread which has no leaven, and is striped, bruised, and pierced with dark spots, fork holes and lines. Also needed is your Shabbat candles, one of the lamb bones, a small bowl of salt water, parsley, horseradish (or something else that fits 'bitter herbs'), and a dessert (typically charoseth). You'll also need a cup to share and pass and a pillow for the seat of the Head of the Home. Before preparation formally begins there is one thing you must remember, if you have a fluffy sheep as your lamb, hide it! The lamb can't be in two places at once after all, both out for view and on our plates.

As all gather around the table for the feast they would have their shoes on, as those in Egypt had their sandals on ready to go. Our coats hung on the backs of our chairs to leave at a moments notice. Some may even choose to have a weapon of some sort near in relation to the 'staff in hand'. But with all that in place there is also a pillow at the chair of the Head of the home, or even everyone seats, as while those in Egypt had to prepare to leave we are already free! And can thus relax in comfort. How free we are indeed now that Christ has also washed our sins away! When all are settled into place the mother then lights the two Shabbat Candles, which if you don't know can have a few representations; we choose to use Creation and Redemption. As a woman, Eve, was involved in the bringing of sin into the world at Creation so too was a woman, Mary, vital to bringing in the ultimate of Redemption, Jesus Christ, so then the woman of the home lights the candle to remind of these monumental events in history. She then lights the first candle on the Menorah, symbolizing the first Holy Day in the span of the seven given to us in Scripture by God.

Then the Seder properly begins, the Head of the Home leading in a prayer. He then tells a small rendition of what happened in Egypt, what caused the Original Passover, followed by speaking of Christ's death and resurection, our Passover Completed. With that done he lifts the cup with wine, a symbol of our joy for our Salvation both from Egypt and from our sins, and passes it around for everyone to have a sip. From the Seder plate he then takes some parsley and dips it in the salt water, sharing it with everyone. This symbolizes how they crossed the red sea and into fertile lands, or how we have crossed over to follow God and will one day be in Paradise. The Maror is served next, or the horse radish, which symbolizes how bitter the slavery in Egypt was or to a Christian, how bitter life was without God in it. Then, while the lamb bone remains ever present on the seder plate, the lamb is passed out as the head of the home speaks of what it represents, the lamb that was sacrificed at Passover so many years ago to save the Hebrew first borns from death as well as the ultimate passover lamb, our Savior Yeshua. From here the wine cup is refilled, and again passed around for a sip, as our joy continues as our plates are filled. 

The head of the home then prays and breaks the bread further, for this is the time of communion. As Christ broke the bread and shared the wine so too do we, breaking the bread of his body and sharing it amongst ourselves, remembering what he has done for us. Followed by the last round of the wine, the blood of Yeshua washing away our sins. After the weight of this act has lifted, only then can we enjoy dessert. The sweet gift of his salvation and promise of paradise.  The rest of the evening is spent as a family, perhaps reading from the Bible.

Now, because Passover is based upon the Lunar calendar but First Fruits is always done on the first day of the week the days between the two can fluctuate, in the 30 AD when Jesus died it was three days, but in any given year it could be two, it could be five! In any case between them there are many ways to celebrate Unleavened Bread. You can do games with the children to teach them of what happened in Egypt with the plagues, do crafts pertaining to Yeshua' death and resurrection, etc. It can also be done that the Menorah is lite with the first and second candles, showing Passover has passed and Unleavened Bread is going forward.

Come First Fruits, you then have a day of great joy! What is necessary this day is to give, whether that's tithing at your church, giving to a charity or specifically to a worthy cause we must give the first fruits of our year to further God's Kingdom. Once this is done only then can we fully eat, a small breakfast is fine (and in many cases for people's health, like my own, necessary), with another large feast either late in the afternoon or early evening. The Lord is risen, let us give him our best and celebrate! Light three candles on the Menorah to celebrate and show that the Light of God is now shining through three of the Holy Days.

Indeed, to me, one of the most important things, and done during the dinner of First Fruits for us, the Afikoman bag. This is a bag with three compartments, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, each with a piece of the matzah bread inside it. The head of the home then removed the middle piece of matzah, the bruised, pierced, striped, body of christand breaks it, wrapping it in a white cloth and hiding it away. Once he has returned to his seat people may take matzah from the plate on the table and eating can then begin. Over the course of the meal someone, traditionally the children, will sneak off to find the Matzah. Once found they remove the body from the wrap and fold the wrap nicely, placing it under the "stone", a pillow just for this purpose that is within view of the dinner table (or on the dinner table if there is space). The bread, the body of Christ, is then re-hidden by the children in close proximity to the dinner table. After dinner, the Father rolls away the "Stone" to find an empty tomb! Folded cloth that had once held the matzah. At exclaiming "He is gone!" The children rush to reveal the matzah and shout "He is Risen!" Jesus is no longer in the tomb. The entertaining aspect to this is this afikoman bag tradition, without the explanation for the symbology, came seemingly out of nowhere to the Jewish people and has been carried on since before the death of Christ! Clearly with adaptation now in play for the Christian, the shouting and knowing what is being done by the matzah's movements. With Christ arisen we can truly celebrate, as all calms again the children give the broken pieces of matzah to their father and settle in.

One of the least things that we brought into Unleavened Bread was for our children. We found that these days could pass by almost unnoticed by them beyond the changes regarding yeast and so brought the hannukah pockets we have over to this holiday. Starting with Passover they then get one pocket each morning, with a small toy or a candy inside. Something to just remind them that these days are indeed still special and set apart.

From here we simply finish out Unleavened Bread, ending it on the last day with a final large Feast in celebration of our sins being washed away by the Blood of the Lamb.

HalleluYah, He is Risen!