The Power of Passover in our Lives Today
What if Father God, the creator and sustainer of life, the giver of all that is good and perfect, sent you a map for a journey, promising He would personally meet you at specific places on that map? Would you show up? Or would you consider other demands on your time more important? In Leviticus 23 God gives us this map. It is called The Seven Feasts of the Lord. We embark on this journey at Passover, the first of the Seven Feasts. We prepare for Passover much as we would prepare for any journey. We mark our calendars so this time is set aside, we consider what we should take or what is best left behind and we invite others to go with us. The analogy of a journey is important because a journey is an experience. We can learn about Passover through Bible study, we can celebrate Passover by attending a seder dinner, but until we actually experience Passover we have not started our journey.
Historically, the Hebrews used “God’s map” to travel from being slaves in Egypt to being free in the Promised Land. Their journey was a foreshadowing, a physical picture of a Messiah who would Himself become our way from the bondage of sin to freedom in Him. We are blessed to live in a time when we can look in a rearview mirror to understand the true meaning of the Exodus. 1 Corinthians 10:11 reminds us that “all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”
Our Messiah, Jesus Christ, perfectly fulfilled every prophecy of the first Passover. The lamb had to be the firstborn male. It had to be without blemish or spot. It was brought in on the 10th of the month, inspected for four days and killed on the 14th.
Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey on the 10th day and was examined by Pilate, Herod, Annas, Caiaphas, and the whole assembly. Not a blemish was found. Jesus, the Lamb of God, was crucified on the 14th day at the moment the priests were sacrificing the lamb for the sins of the nation. Not one of the lamb’s bones was to be broken; Jesus dismissed His spirit, so that not a bone was broken.
Pesach, the Hebrew word for Passover, means to “pass over” or to “hover over.” In that name, there is the double meaning of the Death Angel passing over in judgment, but the Divine hovering of God in mercy for those who by faith were obedient to take the blood of a lamb and put it on their doorposts. Passover is judgment or mercy. John 10:9 states, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” The decision is yours. To begin this journey of the Seven Feasts of the Lord is not to simply acknowledge that Jesus is who He says He is. To begin you must apply the blood of the Lamb of God on the doorpost of your heart and ask Jesus to be your Lord — Lord of your whole life.
But what if you have already started your journey? What if you are already a follower of Jesus? The map of the Seven Feasts winds around in an upward spiral like a helix. Each feast is in the same position on each cycle of the spiral. However, as you experience each feast, again and again, you should be traveling up the spiral to a higher level. You should have a deeper understanding of each feast, how Jesus is the fulfillment of all seven feasts and what that means for you personally, experientially.
Proverbs 15:24 The way of life winds upward for the wise.
Once when I felt Passover was becoming too mundane I asked the LORD why it is necessary to repeat the same thing every year. “I’ve done this. I know this,” I bemoaned. The answer came in a poem from a book titled The Circle of the Spirit by Joan Walsh Anglund
“Because the path that is worn by many feet will be followed by many others,
and the Way is made apparent by the pathway worn by its followers.”
Psalm 25:4. Show me your ways o Lord, teach me your paths.
So we celebrate Passover every year in the same way with the hope that others will see the path and follow. We once again drink of the four cups, eat matzah, horseradish and haroset. We sing the same songs and once again hide the afikomen for the children to find and take to Papa who will redeem it. And once again we run to the door, calling for Elijah, hoping above all hope that this year he will come.
Malachi 4:5-6. See, I will send you the Prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers.
The sages believe that whoever expands upon the story of Exodus deserves praise. You should expand upon the story by including your own story of freedom. Your story will become part of the worn path that others will follow. Your story will inspire and bring glory to The Lamb of God who gave His life for us.
Shalom
Tana Fleming
Tana Fleming is a covenant member of People of Mars Hill. She is passionate about the Feasts of the Lord and encouraging others to leave a written spiritual legacy for the next generation. Her four grandchildren keep her young and full of joy.