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Passover: Freedom in the Messiah

PASSOVER IS A SEASON OF FREEDOM

The Biblical Jewish Festival of Passover commemorates the Israelites’ liberation from the land of Egypt. Today, Passover is celebrated with a dinner accompanied by liturgy (holy readings), and symbolic elements reminding us of the Passover. Today, as believers in Christ, we know Jesus as the Passover lamb. He was the slain lamb sacrificed for our sins. The symbolic elements of Passover are represented so we can Embrace the Festivals Holistically. To understand Jesus’ story of redemption, we must understand the individual freedom in the components through Passover.

IDENTITY – WE ARE SONS

In Passover, we experience the spiritual blessing of being adopted sons and daughters in Christ’s death. Ephesians 1:3-6 describes this adoption as sons and daughters. In 1 Peter 2:9,10, we see that we have been chosen by God, grafted into the family of God. We are adopted for the express purpose of proclaiming God’s greatest to the rest of the world. Just as the Israelites were freed from slavery (Exodus 4:23), so we are freed through Jesus’ compassionate death (Galatians 4:5,6). We are brought out of our slavery, sanctified for the presence of God.

DELIVERANCE – WE ARE RESCUED

To “rescue” someone is an indication they can do nothing to influence their own redemption. Try as we might, we are not capable of rescuing ourselves. We can’t save ourselves, no matter how strong, capable, smart or perfect we may try to be. The Israelites were delivered from their “bondage” or “service” of the Egyptians and their gods in the Passover story (Numbers 33:4). This redemption is a great act of God’s power and sacrifice to free us. Today we know that Jesus’ redemption is a free gift. Matthew 26:26-29 tells us Christ was the price given that we might be redeemed. We could never earn the grace of Christ. Rather, we are redeemed by a loving God, without any merit of our own (Colossians 1:13,14).

PASSOVER AND THE KINGDOM  – WE HAVE A FUTURE

Because we are redeemed, we have the future hope of the time when we will see Jesus (Romans 8:23-25). We are granted eternal life through his death. The sacrifice of the Passover lamb gave the Israelites an opportunity to step toward the Promised Land of Israel. Today, we can experience the Promised Land and the Kingdom of God in our own lives. His Kingdom is already here, and when we give our hearts to Jesus, we become a part of that Kingdom.

PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE

On the evening we celebrate Passover, there is a time for everyone to share how Jesus has brought freedom into their lives over the past year. We all share what freedom we expect to experience in the coming year. As you prepare for Passover, consider journaling about the following questions in preparation for Passover.

  1. How has Jesus’ death given me freedom to experience deeper intimacy with Him?
  2. How has Jesus’ death changed my experiences in worship?
  3. Based on Jesus death, what have I discovered about repentance over the last year?
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Passover: Our Freedom Story

OUR STORY IN THE PASSOVER SEASON

The Biblical Jewish Festival of Passover commemorates the Israelites’ liberation from the land of Egypt. Today, Passover is celebrated with a dinner accompanied by liturgy (holy readings), and symbolic elements reminding us of the Passover. Symbolic elements of Passover, the Seder are use so we can Embrace the Festivals Holistically. In order to fully understand the story of Passover, we must first understand how it tells OUR story.

We are storytelling in the Passover season. When we look at the Exodus, we can see that in fact it is a story—and it’s an epic tale of freedom. God wrote this story as a picture of all our stories. What we see in the Exodus is symbolic of what we live when we taste God’s redemption. As our lives come to embody the purpose and truth to which the original Exodus pointed, we will continue telling the story of freedom in our generation.

THE EXPOSITION – EGYPT

In Exodus 1, the plot begins with the Israelites enslaved by the evil Egyptian Pharaoh. The king “did not know Joseph” or in other words, he did not know the God of Joseph. He forced them into slave labor out of his fear that they would rise up against Egypt, or escape. This is a compelling story and an exciting, if a bit horrifying, beginning. Today, we can ask ourselves a question about this plot. What was our “plot” or storyline of our personal and family lives before we encountered Jesus? Who were the major characters in our stories?

THE RISING ACTION – BONDAGE

Israel was in bondage. They needed a savior, and God commissioned Moses to go lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. Like Israel, we’ve all been in bondage—or else we would never have come to Jesus. While bondage is a general human condition, we all have bondages from which we’ve been redeemed. So our story starts with our own Egypt, the place of our bondage from which we needed to be freed. What conflicts characterized our lives before encountering Jesus? How did these conflicts create patterns of bondage? What idols needed to be defeated in order for our bondage to be broken? How did we see tensions (relationships and circumstances) arose that revealed our need for redemption? What did God have to do in order to expose and destroy our idols?

 

THE CLIMAX – JUDGEMENT ON IDOLS 

God redeemed his people Israel through the many plagues he sent upon Egypt. The climax comes to a peak when God strikes the firstborn of Egypt on the night of Passover. This changed Pharaoh’s heart and redeemed the Israelites. Like Israel, all who trust and follow Jesus call out to Him to be rescued. And why do we do this? Because in the midst of our chains, God’s grace is already working in us to show us our misery. His grace gives us hope that someone, somewhere will rescue us. Then, at some point, Jesus intervenes, destroys the idols that bound us, and takes us out of our Egypt. Now we can ask ourselves how Jesus’ redemption finally broke into our lives? What events took place to help us see we were enslaved to sin and needed redemption?

 THE FALLING ACTION – REDEMPTION 

The Israelites were redeemed out of Egypt. Moses led them out of the wilderness and they fled so quickly, their bread didn’t even have time to rise. They realized in that moment that their God was bigger. As Christians, whether by a process of time or a moment in time, Jesus reveals Himself to us too. At some point, we were convinced we could trust Him to rescue us. How did  we encounter Jesus’ love so we could surrender to Him? How did we experience Jesus’ death as the gateway to our freedom, forgiveness, and reconciliation?

THE RESOLUTION – FORMATION AND NEW LIFE 

Israel was formed in the wilderness over a 40-year period before they were able to step into new life in the Promised Land. Like Israel, God called us out of our old life and into a new one. He invite us into the resurrection life of Jesus in the holiday of First Fruits. He also drew us into a life of holiness through the holiday of Unleavened Bread. Because He freed us, we wanted to be different. We want to know the beauty of holiness, leave behind what we’d been and become something different. Now we can ask ourselves how God changed our lives as a result of trusting in Jesus? In what ways were we immediately different? In what ways has it taken time to for God’s holiness to work out in us? How did the hope of new life and resurrection change the way we live?

PUTTING STORY INTO PRACTICE

On the evening we celebrate Passover, there is a time for everyone to share their story. Each person shares a testimony of how Jesus has brought freedom into their lives over the past year. Those of us who have not yet experienced that freedom can listen to the incredible stories of those whose lives were changed. As you prepare for Passover, consider journaling about your own story, and how you have seen Jesus in your redemption story.

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Sabbath Candles

Sabbath and the Gospel

Sabbath

Sabbath is a time of rest as we remember that our Creator called us to rest in his goodness and grace. But how does Sabbath interact with the bigger picture of the gospel? Sabbath began at the creation of the world. God declared his power and authority over time and space by resting from the work that he had done. Adam and Eve followed this same pattern of rest in the Garden of Eden. There was wholeness in Sabbath rest because it created a set-apart time. This set apart time was declaring that man is given freedom from work through God’s rest. God created this sacred space and sacred time set apart from all the rest of time in order to bring wholeness to his creation.

God next gave the people of Israel the mandate to follow Sabbath as a gift and a provision for their tangible and spiritual needs. He gave them twice as much manna in the wilderness of Sinai so they could rest on Sabbath. This was not given to the people out of a religious “saved by works” mandate, but rather meant to declare His imminence and give the people of Israel the conviction that they were set apart as a nation for something more. They were to declare the goodness of the Living God Yahweh to the rest of the nations. They were to reflect this in their daily practices and new hearts in Yahweh.

Jesus in the Sabbath

When God became flesh and dwelt among us in the form of Jesus, He kept Sabbath. In addition to keeping the Sabbath, he performed miracles on the Sabbath, and taught and preached and cast out demons on Saturday. He was designating his power over Sabbath and his authority over time, just as he had when he created the world. He was showing us what life in the age to come would look like. Today, as followers of Jesus, keeping Sabbath is a practical expression of following God’s mandate of rest as well as living as Jesus lived.

Sabbath invites us to see gospel restoration. This leads to us adjusting our schedules so that we can be restored, and then extend that life to other people so that they can be restored. We are given the hope that someday we will rest in eternity with Jesus and be forever with him. Sabbath strengthens the hope that we will be resurrected and that His promise will be true.

Sabbath in History

Jesus’ disciples, His apostles, the early church and believers for centuries have all received the gift of stepping into this seventh day sanctuary. Today, we do the same. We do not celebrate Sabbath as some religious attempt to find God through it, but rather to see His lovingkindness in it. Sabbath is a moment in time when we cease from work and rest. We lay down the cares of this world, rejoice in the beauty of sharing life with others, and consider God’s goodness in our lives. All of this is a part of the bigger gospel story that God has been telling since the beginning of time: we were created to worship Him and enjoy Him forever. Sabbath is the loving provision God gave to us to see His goodness and kindness.

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