Passover or Communion?

Passover or Communion? 1Exodus 12:43-51.

The road to Succoth was packed with travelers escaping the slavery of Rameses. God told them to go and changed the heart of the Pharaoh to release them.

These people obeyed God and were faithful to their instruction; but they knew nothing about where they were going. They were leaving their birthplace of Egypt and traveling to a new land. They were like teenagers heading out to face the world that they had only heard stories of.

Prior to the first plague their knowledge of God was passed down to them in the stories of their ancestors Adam, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel.

If the Children of Israel were to survive they must have faith in God which is belief in the unseen. Generation after generation spoke of the great faith of the patriarchs and they proclaimed God’s deliverance; but many died before seeing the mighty hand of God.

From the time God made the promise to Abraham, that his family would be a great nation, it had been four hundred thirty years. It was this generation that would see the power of God as God would strike that land of Egypt with the terrible plagues leading up to the release of the Children of Israel from slavery.

This generation would learn to know the power of God and learn how to respect God as God. They would enter a new world, a world of great blessing for the faithful and terrible consequences to the unbeliever.

How to live godly lives had to come from instruction and the first instruction was how to prepare the Passover meal. Though they received the instruction once, while in Egypt; now they would receive it again, having escaped Egypt. As we study we must remember only the faithful would benefit from the observance of Passover.

And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover: No foreigner shall eat it. But every man’s servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then he may eat it. A sojourner and a hired servant shall not eat it. In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, nor shall you break one of its bones. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. Exodus 12:43-47(NKJV)

The Passover was to be an annual event. It was to remember the importance of keeping the ordinances of God; which brought life to those who obeyed and death to those who did not.

Most important to God was that the Passover was not to become a social event that unbelievers were invited to. It was first for the Hebrew people and second it was for those who converted to their belief and dedicated their life to God by being circumcised; a symbol of obedience to God.

This was to be strictly adhered to; even the meat was to stay inside their house so they would not be tempted to share it, for to let an unworthy person eat it would be disrespectful to God.

In addition, the lamb had to be prepared and ate in such a manor not a single bone was to break. This fact draws us to another story in the Bible taught to Christians by Jesus Christ Himself.

John the Baptist recognized Jesus as the Lamb of God; Jesus was unblemished by sin and chosen by God to be a sacrifice for many.

Later we read that Jesus was crucified and our sin placed upon Him by God; He was the sacrificial lamb and His blood spilled for us. We are also told that not a bone on His body was broken.

On the Passover, Jesus met for the last supper with His disciples and instituted a new ordinance which is a completion and perfection of the Passover feast.

Jesus took bread and broke it, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

Then he took a challis of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you. Which caused the disciples to question why is He doing this?

They too were like young adults being introduced to a new world. He also told them that He would not do this again with them until they joined Him in His kingdom.

This ritual was instituted by Jesus to ensure that they church would observe more than one Passover a year; but that it might continue in churches as a regular observance of the significance of His death.

Inviting Jesus into your heart covers the threshold of your heart with His blood, protecting you from the Angel of Death and the bread is symbolic of the unleavened bread for our lives are to be swept clean of sin.

And when a stranger dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as a native of the land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat it. One law shall be for the native-born and for the stranger who dwells among you.” Exodus 12:48-49(NKJV)

Like the Passover, to partake of the elements of communion is for only those who have committed their lives to God and have had their hearts circumcised. To take communion unworthily is to eat and drink damnation to your soul.

It began with the Passover in Egypt and was to be kept through all generations so they may recognize the perfect sacrifice of Jesus. Now it exists as communion for all who believe.

As with the Children of Israel, Christians are to follow the ordinances of God with accuracy; taking their role in life and the performance of their obligations to God serious.

We need forgiveness, we need a covering for our sin, and we need to respect the God who brought that to us.

Thus all the children of Israel did; as the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. And it came to pass, on that very same day, that the LORD brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt according to their armies. Exodus 12:50-51(NKJV)

No longer were they slaves, they became the people of God who would enter into a new land and become not only the people of God, but an army to fight for what is right.

The same continues today if you have made Christ your savior. As Christians we keep ourselves according to God’s instructions. We do those things we are instructed to do and we gladly allow those who would join themselves to us, into our congregations.

We partake of communion in remembrance of what the perfect sacrifice means for our life and we await entering the new land, the land of promise which is heaven; the place where we can dwell with God in perfection for eternity.