LOOKING FORWARD TO YAHSHUA OUR PASSOVER
LOOKING FORWARD
The world with its sacred seasons and holidays is careful to observe them from year to year, not only in memoriam of events they commemorate, but also as an inspiration to the living that a lesson may be taught from the past.
ORDAINED FROM AGES PAST
As the saints enter another Sacred Year, with the observance of the sacred feasts and days that Yahweh has ordained from ages past, we hope to look into their meaning today for us, and thus get a portion of their treasure for those of us who wish to obey in the least jot or tittle of the law which governs our obedience.
Three annual special feasts were appointed unto Israel, and with them seven annual Sabbaths, in addition to the weekly Sabbath day. At each of these all men of Israel, with the strangers dwelling in their midst who wished to worship the Elohim of Israel, were commanded to be present annually, and to take part in the worship.
Why was Yahweh so careful about this? Why were these feasts to be kept? What did it all mean? Did Yahweh merely crave praise and worship from His creatures? Or, were blessings hidden in these feasts that the worshippers would receive when obedient? Yahweh forbid that we should think of Him as being anything but desirous of the welfare and blessing of His creatures, and with this in mind, may we proceed to the examination of the sacred seasons, called “Feasts of Yahweh.”
PASSOVER
Passover, the fourteenth day of the first sacred month, was a commemoration of the deliverance of the firstborn males among Israel in Egypt. On this night the climax of the persecutions of the Egyptians against Israel came, and the glorious deliverance of the firstborn among Israel. It is not only a commemoration of Egypt’s persecution, but also a memorial of the deliverance of the firstborn through obedience.
YAHSHUA OUR PASSOVER LAMB SLAIN FROM FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD
Let us look deeper, however, and find a wealth in the Passover memorial. Prophetically Passover day, and Passover memorial, pointed unto the true Lamb – “slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8), slain in type in every death, whether of goat or lamb or bullock. It was in Egypt that the great Passover memorial began; and at the Passover at Calvary, in fulfillment of the prophetic picture painted upon the minds of the worshippers for the centuries past, the Savior of the world became, and was clearly seen to be by the true worshippers, the true Passover Lamb, and of Him Paul states this fact, “Messiah our Paschal Lamb is sacrificed; therefore, let us keep the feast.” (1 Corinthians 5:7, 8).
PASSOVER FROM DEATH TO ETERNAL LIFE – REDEEMED
Passover pointed forward to Messiah’s death; but, far more wonderful it pointed also to His deliverance as the “firstborn of every creature.” Not only does Passover commemorate for us the death of “Messiah our Paschal Lamb,” but it also is a memorial of the deliverance of every one of us (as the firstborn, born-again creatures) from the death common to the world, and the guarantee of resurrection from that death, through the merits of His death, just as the firstborn of Israel were delivered from the death angel, through the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb.
“THIS DO FOR A REMEMBRANCE OF ME”
So, to us who enter fully into Passover, the message is forceful. Not only do we look back to the deliverance of the firstborn sons in Egypt, and the death of the firstborn of the persecutors; but we today, by being in Messiah, enjoy the blessings that came to us through Passover, even more so than fleshly Israel enjoyed the benefits of the Egyptian Passover. But what of the future? As the Master said unto His followers, “This do for a remembrance of me.” And Paul states, “As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Master’s death – till He come.” (1 Cor. 11:23-26).
PASSOVER PROPHETICALLY POINTED FORWARD TO CALVARY
Just as Passover memorial throughout past ages prophetically pointed forward to Calvary, to the supreme sacrifice, and the deliverance of the firstborn in the Anointed; so, today, as we from year to year observe the Passover, not with the old sacrifices, but with the greater Lamb, of which the bread and fruit of the vine are memorials, we look forward to a greater deliverance than that of Egypt, – even to the resurrection of the dead, who come forth in the first resurrection, and over which the second death hath no power, because the blood of the great Paschal Lamb has been applied, and with it has come a guarantee of life far greater than that of the firstborn in Egypt. “Messiah our Paschal Lamb, has been sacrificed for us; therefore (for that reason) let us keep the feast.” Hallelu-Yah.
UNLEAVENED BREAD
The Feast of Unleavened Bread followed the Passover (Leviticus 23:5, 6), reads, “In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is Yahweh’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the month is the feast of unleavened bread.” The first and the last days are Sabbath days.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread commemorates the flight from Egypt, and the deliverance of the entire company of the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage. Their flight from bondage, and toward the Promised Land, began on the fifteenth – following the Passover. Numbers 33:3 records, “And they departed from Rameses in the first month; on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the Passover the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.”
Because Israel had no time for preparation of the dainties of life, and no time to wait for the rising of the dough, they ate bread unleavened during their flight from Egypt. To Israel this feast
was given as a memorial of their flight from Egypt, and of it Yahweh said Israel shall teach its meaning unto their children, saying, “And thou shalt show thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which Yahweh did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt. And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that Yahweh’s law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath Yahweh brought thee out of Egypt. Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year.” (Exodus 13:8-10).
FREEDOM FROM THE BONDAGE OF THE WORLD
Like Israel in Egypt, mankind was in bondage to Satan before Messiah became our Passover upon Calvary. Since then, in this season, the days of unleavened bread, we have been fleeing from the bondage of the world, toward the Promised Land. While the world may live on its dainties and pleasures, the child of deliverance cannot partake of the table of devils and of the Savior at the same time. Ours is a life of denial, while under the leadership of a greater than Moses, toward the Promised Land – the New Heaven and the New Earth. A fitting symbol of our life of denial of the things of the world, and a memorial of our haste in flight, and our deliverance, is the feast of unleavened bread.
And Paul makes its wealth of meaning for us so clear. Since we are now in the days of unleavened bread, in our flight from Pharaoh Satan and his hordes, and since yesterday our Passover was sacrificed, today our diet is not as heretofore, but one truly represented by the unleavened bread. Paul says, “Let us keep the festival: – and How? Not with “old leaven” for that is not a suitable type to commemorate our bread. But keep the feast with the unleavened principles of sincerity and truth, truly represented by the body of our Savior and Deliverer, who said, “This (unleavened bread) is my body (free from leaven, sin and malice) broken for you.” And again, “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you: … “This is that bread which came down from heaven … He that eateth of this bread shall live forever.” (1 Corinthians 11:26; John 6:53-58).
And for tomorrow? Not only do we look back to the beginning of man’s deliverance from bondage yesterday at Calvary, but must realize our journey today, as we subsist upon His broken body, the true bread unleavened. But tomorrow, as the days of unleavened bread end, and our flight brings us through the Red Sea, and we see the enemy of our soul destroyed, and we are safe, then shall we recall that Moses and the children of Israel sang that great song of deliverance, known as the song of Moses (Exodus 15), and we shall join in that great antitypical song of “Moses the servant of Elohim, and the song of the Lamb” (Rev. 15:3). Hallelu-Yah.
By C. O. Dodd (deceased)
Originally printed in the March, 1940 issue of The Faith