This article discusses the meaning of Passover. Passover is a series of events climaxing at midnight on the fourteenth of Nisan. In order to assess the meaning of Passover I believe that we have to identify why we have Passover in the first place and to see if the solution fits the problem. There was a problem that ancient Israel had and there is a problem that all mankind has. They are similar but not the same. Mankind was created to be sons of God and inherit the Promised Land of God's Kingdom of Heaven, but we have been captured by Satan and lost our right to eternal life (the Tree of Life). To be a full son of God and be able to inherit the Kingdom we must be elohim and that means that we must have eternal life. It is a spiritual problem because elohim is spirit. Israel was created to be sons of God and inherit the Promised Land of the Kingdom of God in Canaan but was captured by Satan in Egypt and lost their right to live (males were to be killed). It is a carnal or fleshly problem. To be sons of God in Canaan they must be alive and there must be males.

The Final Solution

Passover solves the problem of God having sons. It is condensed in the story of the Exodus but it applies to the whole world.

God's solution for Israel and Egypt

God's solution for Israel and Egypt was this - if I cannot have my sons I will destroy everybody, including Pharaoh, because the project is a waste of time, it bears no fruit. Remember that anybody who went after His children into the Red Sea also died. Anybody who wants to purchase their mortal lives must sacrifice an appropriate lamb aside from any other contributions. This gave Egypt two problems: (i) they hated shepherds and did not have any appropriate lambs, (ii) Israel was given their lambs by their God (He took them from Laban) because of their promise through their father Jacob (Genesis 28:20-22) and those lambs were now required to be used to serve him in the wilderness.

God's solution for mankind

God's solution for mankind was: if I cannot have my sons (those who love me) I will destroy everybody, including Satan who is the obstacle to the system. Anybody who wants to purchase their immortal lives must sacrifice an appropriate lamb among any other contributions. This gave Satan's world two problems: (i) they hated Shepherds (people who looked after genuine sheep) and did not have an appropriate lamb, They had no problem killing Him, just not as a sacrifice. (ii) Christians were given their lamb by God because of their promise to love Him (John 14:15-17) and that Lamb, as the comforter, was now required to be used to serve God in the wilderness.

At best Satan's world is like the five foolish virgins in Matthew 25. At the last minute they would have to go looking for lambs just like the virgins had to look for oil.

Passover only gets us to the wilderness

Passover is God's implementation of His solution. The destruction for Israel was scheduled for midnight. Figuratively it is also midnight for Christians because it represents our darkest hour. It is this midnight event that ties together the two streams of Passover: the lamb (Christ) and the part that we play before and after (the vigil). These two can be represented by: (i) love of lambs in general and the offering of the appropriate one and (ii) vigilant watching in faith, are what averted the midnight disaster. What people typically see as Passover (the slain lamb) is a transaction. It is a deliverable that was necessary for the final outcome, which was to be passed over. The other part, the part that we play leading up to that, is in the vigil that begins when we sprinkle the blood on the lintel and doorpost and wait. For Christ the vigil started when He rejected Satan in the wilderness. Passover is the first step in solving the problem of obtaining sons of God. It falls into a larger context that I call the Pattern for Life. Passover, including the days of Unleavened Bread, only gets us as far as the wilderness, but then we have to bear fruit as is brought out in the parable of the sower (Matthew 13).

The meaning of Passover

In order to specifically understand the meaning of Passover we have to appreciate the difference between Yom Kippur (Atonement) and Passover. Why do we need both? Passover is about fleeing and escape. Atonement is more about ensuring that capture cannot happen again; but there is significant overlap. God faced a problem similar to getting a family away from a powerful, abusive husband. First He had to force the husband to accept terms of divorce. God is a God of Law and held Himself accountable under His own law. God set about to solve the problem of death (loss of life, the wages of sin) and loss (loss of health, loss of wealth etc.) which also comes from sin. Passover is the mechanism for fleeing and escape. Without falling in breach of His law we must trace the process for giving us both eternal life and freedom from loss, which make up the process of redemption. Beginning with Passover God has built into His law a mechanism for handling it all. God's Law show that we must compensate for loss.

Purchase of the sons

All sin can be traced back to Adam because all human life came from him. Paying for Adam's life with all the evil that was generated from it, pays for all of us. The life of Adam's creator was far more valuable than Adam's, and so His life was given in exchange for Adam's and his progeny. It was done through a Testament which is a legal agreement.

Purchase of the wife

There is also an often overlooked element in that the whole system was stolen. The system included the means to produce more seed. Where the wife is involved, restitution depends on the husband or husbands. God's wife, the means to produce more seed, is an institution not an individual. Adam and Eve was humanity or man, . . . male and female created he them (Genesis 1:27 [KJV]), an institution. Israel was a nation, an institution. Adam and Eve were the product of an institution which bonded with God as a family. Humanity originally was the family of God, but Satan took over and the institution produced his children (John 8:44). The price had to be determined by the husbands. Who is the current husband where the Earth is concerned?

God might have had to buy back His own wife.

It may well be that the price for mankind was determined by Satan who thought that he had put one over on God by insisting on death. In any case, it is in addressing this dichotomy of problems (death and loss) resulting from the breakdown of His family, that Passover is born and has meaning. Passover is step #1, escape.

A new life

Our first objective is fleeing death for a new life. Exodus 10:24-26 (quoted before) gave Israel the freedom to leave Egypt but also the responsibility to serve God. Each lamb represented Christ, and symbolically redeemed the lives of the Israelites under Pharaoh, just as the Lamb of God redeems us from under Satan. One striking difference is that when Christians celebrate Passover we celebrate the single transaction made by our Messiah. In the case of Israel they needed a fresh transaction each year or else they were cut off (Numbers 9:13). It says that man shall bear his sin, whereas in the New Testament only death separates us from God (Romans 8:31-39).

In this and other parts of this series I discuss how Christ's death paid the price for our lives and the fall feasts (which I summarise in the Pattern for Life) show how we receive a new one. Further details are also found in the Book of Revelation (which I do not discuss here). For Christians the Passover celebration is neither a re-enactment of the events or a new redemption, but a memorial. For Jews the Passover celebration is not a re-enactment of the events either, but it is a new redemption. In the New Testament symbols are therefore added that expand on the meaning from the perspective of post-Christ, while the old Passover with its symbols is left intact. In the Old Testament the whole process repeated, hence there was a new sacrifice each year. Christ as the lamb shows how the price for a new life was paid: not only to escape death, (which we will examine now) but also absolution from all of the suffering that results from sin (which is discussed in the next section). Israel not only lived under the threat of death but was under heavy burdens in Egypt, while in the Promised Land they had milk and honey, as well as what comes from the vision of Micah, to look forward to.

The opportunity for a new life comes in Passover from the blood that was shed for us. In the first Passover of Israel they were offered the opportunity to leave Egypt (sin) and go to the wilderness (a place of adversity) to worship God their Father. They did not directly enter the Promised Land. In Egypt their future was death. Pharaoh had ordered that their males were to be killed and the whole race would be thereby destroyed. All of Israel was to be dead. If they went to the wilderness to worship God then they would be His and He would be their Father and they would have a future. Of course they jumped at the opportunity but when the reality of living in the wilderness hit home it was another story.

Notice the hint of three days and three nights in this scripture.

God considered Israel His son of promise. The ultimatum given to them was to free him (Israel) or your firstborn will die. Pharaoh was apparently not a first born so he did not fear for his own life.

The plagues that Egypt got were originally set for Israel if they disobeyed. Because it was Pharaoh and Egypt's fault that they could not leave they got the plagues instead.

So we see that the death of the firstborn was a plague for Israel that would come from disobedience, but Egypt suffered it because of their presumptuousness. Passover opened the way of escape for Israel and those who tried to recapture them died in the Red Sea whether or not they were firstborn. The real firstborn always was God's selection and it was Israel out of Abraham. The punishment was transferred to Egypt. Another dimension of this is given in Exodus 13.

From verse 15 we see that the sign meant that He would always redeem His firstborn and that was Israel (Exodus 4:22). Egypt did not belong to God but going through the same Passover process was open to them as well. Egypt was in opposition to God, and therefore sin, as defined by the first and second commandments. God did not redeem the firstborn of Egypt (sin) but destroyed them. Our firstborn represents our strength and our progeny. Egypt's was cut off.

By the time the death angel came Egypt was devastated and in shambles. All that was left was its military might and its stores of personal wealth which they now had to share with Israel. Beginning with the tenth plague Israel had to do something. For the others all that was required was to live in Goshen, now they had to kill a lamb, mark their houses and stay indoors. It was no longer sufficient just to have been given the opportunity and it did not matter whether or not you had Abraham as your father. You needed that blood to show your allegiance to God. Finally they had to survive the wilderness, a short period of adversity, in order to enter the Promised Land.

It is much the same for Christians. We have our part to play in showing that we are of the firstborn of God. Next we have to survive the wilderness of this life. Passover provides the opportunity to flee but it does not give us a free pass to skip the wilderness.

Absolution from suffering

We have just discussed the first step in the plan which was to get the sons, the second step has to do with restoring them to goodness. Absolution is forgiveness from sin but the sin caused the suffering. Sin is loss of what was originally good. For many, if not most of us, it has been lost for so long that we could not recognise it and we would not know where to look. Passover teaches us to identify the loss and to find what was lost. When we recognise our saviour abused for our sakes, we know that we are in the right place. As we obey Him we gradually find what was lost. In Isaiah (Isaiah 53:5) we learn that we are healed by Christ's stripes. So we find healing. Healing is equivalent to forgiving sins (Matthew 9:2–8; Mark 2:3–12; Luke 5:18–26). Sickness usually results in suffering but suffering in general comes from need. Relief from suffering comes when our needs are supplied But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19 [KJV]). Whenever people suffer it can be relieved by providing something that they lack and they need a deliverer to supply it. Sometimes the suffering is because we are temporarily overwhelmed and can be revived, He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. [30] Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: [31] But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint (Isaiah 40:29-31 [KJV]). Sometimes the situation is hopeless and we are too simple to know where to turn but The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me. [7] Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee. [8] For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling (Psalms 116:6-8 [KJV]). So we find the remedy for our suffering, we find what was lost. He has set a system in place to correct the problem permanently by taking the burden on Himself.

Everything was originally very good, And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day (Genesis 1:31 [KJV]). The truth is that all suffering comes from loss. Life was not created with suffering in mind. We lost something. The suffering is because of all of the things that we lose when separated from the love of God through sin. That loss is something that we should be ashamed of. The Children of Israel spoiled the Egyptians to help eliminate that shame. We know that because they became naked (the source of the original shame - Genesis 2:25, 3:10) when they lost those valuables; And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf. [25] And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:(Exodus 32:24-25 [KJV]). They did not leave empty-handed. They took their cattle and other possessions required for their daily needs. The broken bread shows us the price that was paid for our transgressions/sins so that Christ can annul them, i.e. wipe our tab clean, but just saying that is somewhat vague. Forty stripes with a rod was what was the maximum permitted under Jewish law for someone considered wicked.

Our suffering is linked to somebody's sin. Ultimately it is Satan followed by Adam but our hands are not clean. With every action we all fall into one of two camps: righteous or wicked, but fortunately for us God's mercy wins out when there is even a little good. Noah survived to begin a new world. Before the flood we should have been ashamed but instead ...GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Genesis 6:5 [KJV]) and even after all these centuries we are not.

Sodom should have been ashamed but even after all these centuries we are not. Israel's wickedness showed up in the wilderness but it had been there all along. They should have been ashamed but after all theses centuries we are not. It showed up as griping and complaining and rebelliousness. We can so easily forget the destitution of the former lives that we had in Egypt. God knew that there were to be hard times crossing the wilderness but He expected them to remember the power that He had demonstrated in Egypt and look to Him. Israel lost focus and began to complain about the food, look to a golden calf and refused to enter the Promised Land for fear of the dangers. Passover does not negate any of that. All of us are wicked and subject to these tendencies.

When we contemplate our lives in the context of Passover we should feel ashamed. That is natural. If we feel no shame we have not thought about it. Shame is the first step to change i.e. repentance.

Our suffering is not always a result of a deliberate shameful act by us

Our obedience minimizes suffering in this life, the wilderness, but does not eliminate it completely. Suffering is not necessarily the direct result of something that we did to be ashamed of. Nevertheless it is always shameful to be less than the original very good that we started with in Genesis 1:31. For the sake of restoring the very good we are purified by trials and chastised when necessary.

Even so it is unavoidable because all of us sin.

We are all accountable to do good not just avoid evil. It does not matter whether or not we know better.

A study of the word wicked shows that it covers a range of deviant behaviour which leads to sin. Sin starts with wickedness.

In the Old Testament (Isaiah 53:5) we learn that we are healed by Christ's stripes. We should be ashamed of what we did to Him. We caused it.

Can that benefit from the stripes be further clarified?

covering shame

It is the mutilation (killing and skinning) and consumption of the original lamb in Genesis 3:21 that covered the nakedness of Adam and Eve. Shame is the consequence of our sin. Covering nakedness covers shame. and that is one thing that Passover definitely does.

Shame comes as a result of wickedness or sin. Sickness and disease come from sin which starts with wickedness - beginning with Adam and Eve. Christ covered our shame/nakedness, the consequence of our sin (Romans 6:23) - by His own death and mutilation. Lambs were flayed after death and the skin of the burnt offering was given to the priest (Leviticus 7:8) just as the original skin was preserved as a covering for the shame of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:21). Christ was symbolically flayed before death with the 40 stripes. That covers our shame, hence in settling the debt for our wickedness with His stripes, Christ covers our shame, the consequence of our sins, so that among other things, we can be healed.

It is very important that we understand this. Paul is explaining that what the Corinthians were doing was shameful but Passover is about covering shame.

Through Passover we not only receive life but other benefits which we must be careful not to forget. For example sickness is something to be ashamed of: we were not created to be sick. Sickness demonstrates degradation from very good, so sickness is taken care of by covering shame. The same can be said of hunger and other evils.

Passover covers a whole lot of loss and shame. If we treat Passover carelessly we put our wellbeing in danger.

Other streams in Passover

The first part (step 1 and 2) has to do with what God did and continues to do for us, but the second stream of Passover has to do with our vigilance in looking for what was lost. This is captured by the footwashing part of the Lord's Supper and the Night to be Much Observed. It has to do with how Christ lived His life and how we must live ours. The third stream has to do with the I-don't-knows like why there is no mention of something like the first omer at the first Passover. For this I have to guess. Going into the wilderness (the part of the wilderness that was in Egypt) three days to worship would have brought them to the first omer. Since they were prevented by the circumstance of dealing with Pharaoh, the symbolism is missing. Instead we have the days of unleavened bread spent in Egypt and the focus is on deliverance from Pharaoh and Egypt (sin). The first omer cannot be spent in sin because it represents the acceptance of Christ (corresponds to His resurrection). It also impacts on the count to Sinai because that begins with the first omer. I am going to speculate that the first omer is somehow in the pillar of cloud and fire. I do not know when that started but it is possible that it started on the day after the first days of Unleavened Bread. That pillar lead them to Pentecost and beyond but depended on their obedience at Passover.

Passover is the beginning of everything. It is our Messiah crucified from the foundation of the world to purchase our lives and bring us hope. It was from the beginning and features in every key beginning. I explore this fact in Passover was from the beginning. It is the beginning for us and there is still much to be done. If death and some nebulous hope was all, then there would be nothing beyond death for God to describe. The rest of the feasts show us that there is more, a Kingdom to inherit, and there is an order.

The Passover was not just a dead lamb although Christ is our Passover. Passover has to do with the firstborn that died in place of the rest. The rest would have perished at the hands of the death angel who represented the last enemy, death (1 Corinthians 15:26-28). It starts with death and is completed with redemption from death. Christ is the firstborn (Romans 8:29-30). That is the significance. The firstborn carries the inheritance (discussed at later date). All of the others are passed over but one dies and that is Christ. The Passover has also to do with passing over all the families and not missing any out. This concept is reflected in many things but primarily in the death of the firstborn of Egypt. The lamb represents Christ who died as the firstborn of the families of the Israelites. The death angel killed the Egyptians but our saviour died at our own hands. The definitive incident that showed who was passed over, and who was not, came at midnight on the 14^th, although some things were done in preparation. I don't think that I have to explore all of the implications (which are many) because I think that you get my point. So while we agree on the main subject, I think that we may differ somewhat on how we perceive the whole. In other words, the lamb is how we are passed over but the event where it was put to use is where the name came from. The lamb, the firstborn and the death angel are linked by (i) the event where the debt was paid by the death of the lamb, followed by (ii) the completion of the transaction (the pass over, which was the delivery of the service that was paid for i.e. when they were spared from death at midnight). Between the two lies our part, the vigil. The transaction is wasted on us if we do not complete the vigil (be ready to go) and participate in the service i.e. worshipping God as supreme.

Another place where I differ conceptually from the common view is that I maintain that Christ never reverted to the Seder. He established something separate because His Passover was earlier but nothing has changed for the Jews. Christ did not remove anything from them. What Christians celebrate is not what Jews celebrate. Jews do not celebrate eternal life. They primarily remember deliverance from Egypt and some look for a saviour for Jacob's physical seed. Christians are supposed to focus on the future of mankind. The distinction came about because of the Sinai problem where they lost their designation of being able to approach God. The celebration for the original (Melchizedek) priesthood has never changed, it just never had any symbols before. Christ added symbols. Early Christians were Jews and celebrated both, and there may still be merit in doing that for Jewish Christians. The early Christians would not have been allowed to continue in the Temple as Israelites if they did not celebrate the Seder according to the Aaronic priesthood. They would have been kicked out of the congregation of Israel but they clearly remained.

With regard to proceedings at the Seder, while I think that it is useful to explore the meaning it must be remembered that it is not scripture as in God-breathed, but a tradition.

How we got here in the new Covenant

In the original Passover God intended that Israel would leave Egypt and worship Him as His children.

If they did not worship Him they would incur the penalty of disobedience but because it was not their fault the penalty would be exacted from those who were at fault: the Egyptians. This gave rise to all the plagues culminating in the death of the firstborn.

Egypt got the treatment that Israel would have received.

The firstborn was the heir but also represented Christ the Saviour. When Israel left Egypt it was intended that they would worship God wholeheartedly but from the beginning there were problems. They no longer had Egypt to blame so God added the sacrifices and offerings. 

So you see that God never intended to have offerings or sacrifices. The Passover was to be a one time event and represent what would happen in the future: one sacrifice by Christ. All of what is written in the Bible about sacrifices and offerings was never intended to be there. It was not His original intention to have anything about killing animals in sacrifice. It does not apply to the New Covenant and was never intended for the old one. The continued need for sacrifices brought God no pleasure at all. What He really wanted was their genuine worship, and their love for each other.

All of that was done away in the new priesthood which is where we are now, the New Covenant. This new priesthood is actually going back to the old priesthood which made each firstborn represent Christ, who was the firstborn Himself.

So we have come full circle and there are no offerings or sacrifices as was always intended. I pointed out earlier that there were a series of one-sacrifices leading to where we are now (Passover was from the beginning). They were under the original priesthood. There is only one sacrifice or offering recognised by God for us and that is us.

That is not to say that there would have been no worship. The Ten Commandments and other laws of worship were given from Exodus 20 onward. By then Israel had already done their share of disobedience. God established Laws and an Aaronic priesthood to serve in a Tabernacle. From what is said by His prophets that was not His original intention. The Tabernacle might well have been served by firstborn from every tribe. Things got even worse in Exodus 32 following the Golden Calf incident. What then about Exodus 10?

Notice that Moses said that he did not know. I do not know either except for what his prophets said. We do not have to pretend that we know everything. It was the way that most people worshiped and Moses therefore accounted for that, but Israel was not just any nation.