Yeshua feeds the children at a village recreation.
Were you ever passed over as a child? Perhaps the coach didn’t pick you for a team or maybe you weren’t invited to a party?
For a child, being passed over can be devastating. Even as adults, being passed over for a promotion or an invitation to a gathering can be very discouraging, to say the least.
But being “passed over” during the first Passover was a miracle of deliverance that young and old alike in every generation can take hold of and cherish forever.
The Signs on the Door, by James Tissot
During the very first Passover in Egypt, God’s judgment killed the firstborn sons in the homes of every Egyptian who did not obey the God of Israel.
But the angel of death passed over every home that did obey Him.
God told the Israelites (and anyone else who wanted to place themselves under His plan of salvation) to procure a lamb, kill it, eat it, and place its blood over the doorposts and lintels of their dwelling places.
The firstborn in those homes were saved.
Nothing on this day happened by chance. God intended for this Passover to foreshadow the coming Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world — Messiah Yeshua.
On Passover, we have the opportunity to symbolically place the blood of the perfect, chosen Lamb of God, Yeshua, over our hearts and homes so that by faith, we too will be spared from the Divine judgment due to fall on this world.
“And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you [pasachti], and there shall no plague be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 12:13)
In Hebrew, the word for I will pass over is pasachti וּפָסַחְתִּי, which comes from the word pesach, which means to hop, to skip over, to spare, and to pass over.
The Angel of Death and the First Passover, illustration from Bible Pictures
and What They Teach Us by Charles Foster, 1897
Our salvation was wrought at such a great price.
The Messiah died in our place and paid the price for the sins that we committed. No matter who passes over us on this earth, Yeshua is our eternal hope for life, love, and acceptance.
Yeshua proclaimed this when He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.” (John 11:25–26)
With these words, He assured us that when God judges the world, we will be saved by the blood of the Lamb if we put our faith in the Messiah and the blood of redemption; God will again “pass over” us.
A Jewish man reads from the Haggadah during the Seder reciting the blessing over one of the
Four Cups associated with redemption.
The Prophetic Significance of Shed Blood
“Your lamb must be perfect, a male, one year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.” (Exodus 12:5)
Even though the blood of the lamb played a central part in the deliverance of the Israelites on that dark night in Egypt, the lamb is strikingly missing from the traditional Jewish Passover celebration.
Still, the Tanakh (Old Testament) makes it very clear that the cleansing of our soul can only take place through the shedding of blood.
“For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.” (Leviticus 17:11)
Because of that proclamation from the Lord, ancient Judaism was a religion of blood sacrifice. In the Holy Temple, the blood of sacrificial animals flowed like rivers from the altar.
In modern Judaism, blood sacrifice is no longer practiced. In fact, most Jewish people are repulsed by the very thought!
The importance of the blood of redemption and sacrifice of the lamb in Egypt, therefore, has lost its relevance for the Jewish people in today’s celebration of the feast.
Even so, it is an essential element of the first Passover and reveals the role that Yeshua the Messiah plays in our personal salvation.
How Yeshua Fulfills the Requirements of the Passover Lamb
Yeshua perfectly fulfilled the promise of redemption found in the Passover Lamb. Here are a few of those ways: The Passover lamb was to be chosen and set apart on the 10th day of the first month of Nissan.
Fulfillment: On the 10th day of Nissan, Yeshua rode into Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey and was hailed as the King of the Jews.
The lamb was to be inspected for four days until the 14th day of the month for any spot or blemish that might disqualify it as the sacrificial lamb.
Fulfillment: Yeshua openly taught in the Holy Temple and synagogues until the 14th day of the month and no fault could be found in Him.
At the appointed time, the Passover lambs were slain by the whole congregation of Israel.
Fulfillment: Yeshua, Lamb of God, was delivered and publicly killed on a Roman execution stake as the Passover lambs were being slaughtered.
“When we were utterly helpless, Messiah came at just the right time and
died for us sinners.” (Romans 5:6)
We cannot receive salvation by faith in our own works or perceived goodness.
While many people consider themselves good people worthy of going to Heaven by their own merit, the Word of God says that our righteousness is not clean by God’s holy standards:
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Isaiah 64:6)
However, the central lesson of Pesach is that we have all been offered the free gift of being “passed over” — salvation. That gift is by faith in the shed blood of Yeshua who is our Passover Lamb.
A Jewish father reads a Hebrew Haggadah with his son during the Passover Seder.
Please pray that the veil will be lifted and that the Jewish People will see Yeshua as the fulfillment of the Passover Lamb at this festive time.
Though we were dead in our trespasses and sin and so undeserving of being called His friends, in the immensity of His love, He reached out to us and offered us eternal life.
During Passover, may we once again be overcome with gratitude for all that Yeshua suffered for on our behalf.
“Let the message about Messiah, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom He gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.” (Colossians 3:16)
