The Feast of Passover - 2B

Continued from... ... Seven Yearly Feasts of the Lord - Part 2A

In the first part of the discussion on the Feast of Passover, we said that in Jehovah’s bid to save His people, He made provisions to PASS OVER them—and thus the Feast of Passover came to be; a new beginning God gave to the children of Israel. Still leaning heavily on Ralph Mahoney's work on the subject in The Shepherd's Staff, we shall now proceed further... ...

Deliverance From Sin

Just as Passover was the end of slavery, hardship, and poverty for the Old Testament Israel, so when we [Christians, NT Israel] come to our Passover Lamb, Christ, we have a NEW BEGINNING. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Cor.5:17).

The sins, faults and failures of the past no longer bind us. We are part of a new family, with a new genealogy, with a new covenant, and a better, more wonderful Deliverer than any could ever imagine. Of our Deliverer, the Bible says, “…and thou shalt call His name JESUS: for he shall save His people from their sins” (Mat.1:21). Moses’ deliverance was wonderful; he saved from slavery and its bondage. Jesus’ salvation is more wonderful; He saves from sin and its penalty. Praise Him! We start a new life with a new beginning when we come to Christ.

Before now, we had read in Exo.12:3, “In the tenth day of this month Israel shall take to them every man a lamb… for a house.” Herein, we come upon the concept of Household Salvation. That is, through one man, the Lord can bring salvation unto an entire household/family today just as He brought deliverance to an entire house through the house-head in Egypt.

Thus, we see a wonderful promise for parents and family heads, in that household salvation is a biblical concept. Not only can you enjoy salvation; by acts of faith and obedience, you can bring salvation to your whole household. Let us see two examples in Scriptures.

• To Zacchaeus, the sinful tax collector, the Lord said: “…This day is salvation come to this house…” (Luk.19:9). Zacchaeus faith to follow Jesus brought salvation to his household.

•  To the Philippian jailer, Paul and Silas said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house… and was baptized, he and all his, straightway… and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house” (Acts 16:31, 33, 34).

You can as well ask the Lord to use you to lead your relatives, your parents, or/and your children to saving faith. You must tell them how to receive Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Remember, it was “…a lamb for a house.”

The Feast of Passover - 2A

Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

All we have been doing, PART-1A through PART-1C, is building a solid foundation for what comes ahead, which is, a purposeful exposition on each of the Seven Yearly Feasts of the Lord, one after the other; examining not only what they each meant to Old Testament Israel, but also what God wanted them to mean to the Israel of the New Covenant.

So with today's newsletter, which is essentially PART-2A of the Series: "Seven Yearly Feasts of the Lord", we shall begin with the Feast of Passover. Let us begin... ...



One Bible scholar once said, “If you desire a good understanding about a particular subject, you must go to its beginning. In keeping to such a principle, it is thus fitting to start at that point in time past, when the God of Israel introduced the Feast of Passover to Moses (Exo.12:2).

He started with the following statement, “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: the first month of the year unto you.” With this statement God inaugurated the Jewish Religious Calendar, and the specific day He made this statement became the FIRST day of the FIRST month, the most important month in the Religious Year.

We have already mentioned the names of the seven months of this particular calendar, and we have also related them to the twelve months of the Jewish Civil Calendar in PART-1A of this Series. It is when we get to Exo.13:4 that we read of Moses naming the first month as the month of Abib (also see Deut.16:1).

We are going to make progress forward from the first day, and as such we must go back to Exodus Chapter 12 Verse 3 says, “In the tenth day of this month Israel shall take to them every man a lamb… … for a house.”

Seven Yearly Feasts of the Lord – Part 1C

In case you have not read the PART-1A of this Series, please go HERE. And if you have not read the PART-1B, then go HERE.


In the previous newsletter, we began consideration of the annual feasts from a broad perspective. We talked about the THREE ASPECTS of the THREE Festival Periods (or Seasons) in a detailed manner. We also had the opportunity to answer the Question of why the festivals were observed. Now, we shall proceed to consider the festivals in the light of New Testament times.

FESTIVALS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES

From the first Passover in Egypt in the time of Moses until the First Coming of Jesus Christ was about fourteen centuries, that is, 1400 years. By New Testament times, the Jews were scattered all over the world.

At the first observance of Pentecost after Jesus' resurrection, the Bible confirms that there were "DEVOUT men from every nation under heaven" (Acts 2:5) in Jerusalem for this feast of Pentecost.

This shows that most Jews were no longer observing the command to come up to Jerusalem. Only the devout were making the costly, dangerous journey from distant lands to honour God's commandment concerning the Feasts (or Festivals).

Even in Old Testament times, we read in Neh.8:14-17 that the observance of the Feasts was restored under Ezra and Nehemiah after they were last celebrated in the days of Joshua, son of Nun. This was over five hundred years of non-observance.

Whenever these Festivals were observed, they were a prophetic pageant pointing to something God would do. Observance was a statement of faith-- faith in action. They were a confession that the Sovereign Lord had a plan for Israel and the Gentile nations; and that in His time (the appointed seasons) God will act and "...who can hinder him?" Job 11:10

The vast majority of Israel did not understand the far-reaching significance of the Festivals they celebrated. The devout men, however, would continue to obey and honour God in their observance.