In the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy God repeatedly tells the Hebrew children, “I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt”. God insists that these chosen ones remember where they came from and Who delivered them to be a peculiar people unto Him. For this purpose the passover is a feast of remembrance to be passed on from generation to generation. God wants us to remember our past life in sin not to relish in that sin but to distance ourselves from it. God took them out of Egypt and instituted His law as a means to take Egypt out of them. What about you? Does the Egypt of your past still exist in you? Do you still desire the Egypt of your past as the Hebrew people who built a golden calf and worshipped that calf as Jehovah. Maybe you have hung on to idols or behaviors from your past and ascribed the sacred name of Jesus to that idol. I strongly encourage you to read Exodus 32 and see what is in store for you if you are clinging to the idols and behaviors of your pre-Christian days. Jesus our Passover Lamb died to deliver your from Egypt and He gave us the Holy Spirit to conquer the Egypt in you.
The feast of passover is to be kept by God's chosen FOREVER.
I find this rather striking. I am fully aware of what Paul says in Colossians 2:16 “Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of holyday, or of the new moon or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ.”
The passover is not only a remembrance of the past deliverance but also a shadow of the future Messiah who will deliver His chosen from the bondage of sin. Jesus said He came to fulfill the law, not abolish it. The feast of the passover is a type of Christs sacrifice and I think its a beautiful way to not only remember how Jehovah delivered the Hebrew children from bondage in Egypt but how Christ fulfilled the law and became the final sacrificial Lamb once and for all. How Christians easily forget or conveniently ignore that Jesus sacrificed Himself as the Lamb of God during Passover. The feast of Passover lasts for seven days. Luke 22 tells us that Jesus desired to eat the passover with His disciples before He died. Pilate states in John 18:39 “ you have a custom that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?”. And we all know that they released the criminal Barabbas instead. In the words of Joseph who spoke to his brothers that sold him into bondage,” you meant if for evil but God meant it for good”. The mob that cried out ,” crucify Him , crucify Him.” Did not realize they had chosen the spotless Lamb of God to be slain for the sin of the world.
Jesus celebrated the Passover and so did Paul in Acts 12:4. The word translated “Easter” in Acts 12:4 in the King James Version is the Greek word, Pascha which literally means, “Passover”. There is no first century koine Greek word for “easter”*. I Cor. 5:7 Paul refers to “...Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us”. I think its a shame that Christians do not celebrate the Passover Feast as the first century Christians would have in memory of Christ the final sacrificial Lamb once and for all. Instead Christians incorporate paganism into this most sacred day of the year. For now, let us never forget what the Lamb has saved us from and is leading us to.
* As you may realize by now I exclusively use the King James Version but I am not KJV only. In spite of its antiquated language I think its still the best translation except for this reference in Acts 12:4. I have read some very weird explanations from KJV only people concerning this translation in Acts 12:4 but there is no way getting around the fact that Pascha cannot mean, “easter”. If the etymology can be stretched to mean “easter” then we might as well call Jesus Buddha. The 1611 KJV is translated from the Received Text or whats called the Majority Text of Greek manuscripts. The Geneva Bible was translated from these same texts 60 years prior to the KJV and reads almost identical to the KJV, Acts 12:4 is one exception. The Geneva Bible is the Bible of the reformation used by Calvin, Zwingli and the Puritans. I believe in biblical inerrancy in the original manuscripts. Some of you attend evangelical churches that do not accepted biblical inerrancy and you don't realize the importance of this issue. I will post more on this subject at another time.
ReplyDeleteA very beautiful post today and so very, very true - thank you for the reminder and for keeping us focused. Bless you for your thought provoking encouraging words that challenge us on our daily walk. - Sue thomas