Passover and Communion: The Big Picture

It has almost been a week since I last posted. I had an interesting conversation with a young man at work last night. He has only been a Christian for about 3-5 months. We began by talking about communion and its meaning, proceeded to talk about Paul, and finished by talking about the church and Constantine. This conversation inspired me to post about the relationship between communion and the Passover. Connections like these can be seen all over the bible.

Communion and Passover are both done in remembrance of what God has done. Today, communion is a remembrance of Christ's sacrificial death on the cross for us. Passover, was a celebration of God's deliverance of Israel out of Egypt. As we all are aware, Israel was enslaved in Egypt for 400 years. For 400 years, Israel cried out for a deliverer to come and deliver them out of the hard hand of Pharoah. God's ways are not our ways. The deliverer would come from among them. He was one of them. His name was Moses. Remember, Moses, just like Jesus went into the desert and wandered for a long time until he came to a watering hole and the house of Jethro. Jethro would become Moses' father in law. Anyways, we're all familiar with the burning bush, where God called Moses. Moses went back to Egypt and commanded Pharaoh by the words of the Lord to let Israel go. Nine times he commanded Pharaoh, nine times Pharaoh disobeyed. The tenth time, a serious plague would come upon Egypt. Every male firstborn in Egypt would die if Pharaoh did not let Israel go. What about the Israelites living in Egypt? The Lord had a plan. He instructed Moses to have every Israelite slave cover their doorposts in the blood of a pure spotless lamb. When the Spirit of God moved through Egypt, those doors with the blood on them would be passed over. From that time forward, Israel was to celebrate Passover every year in the Hebrew month of Nisan on the fourteenth day. Israel did as the Lord commanded. In fact, some Egyptians decided to believe and stay with an Israelite family until the Lord passed over. Pharaoh had seen enough; for even his firstborn son was dead. He let the Israelites go free. Deliverance had come to Israel!!

Fast forward to the time Jesus earthly ministry. In Jesus we have another deliverer. He would deliver us from sin and death. How? Jesus is often referred to as the lamb of God. What animal did the blood belong to at the time of Israel's deliverance? A lamb, a pure and spotless lamb. Jesus is the pure and spotless lamb sacrificed for us. The lamb in the story of Israel's deliverance is a picture of Jesus. What would wash away our sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus...you all know the song. We were covered in the blood of the pure and spotless lamb of God just like the doorposts of every Israelite home in Egypt were covered with the blood of a lamb. We have passed over from death to life because of the blood of Jesus. In hebraic thought, Egypt is a picture of the world system. We are to be in the world but not of the world. Israel was in Egypt but were to remain faithful to the Lord. Passover and Communion are one in the same. The facts and details of Israel's deliverance from Egypt and our deliverance from sin are identical.

Remember, please feel free to test everything you read on my blog. Paul says we are to show ourselves approved through study of God's word.