This is an unusual year… The Feast of Passover in Israel begins this coming weekend as Christians in the Western nations gather to celebrate Easter. The two holidays seldom coincide, but their significance is closely intertwined.
Passover celebrates God’s salvation of Israel from slavery in Egypt
Easter acknowledges God’s salvation for mankind from the bondage of sin
Passover recognizes the sacrificed lamb that rescued the firstborn son from Egypt’s final plague
Easter recognizes that God offered up His own Son to rescue us from sin and grant us eternal life
Passover is the climactic event that set the Jewish people on their way to the Promised Land
Easter celebrates Christ’s resurrection and points to a day when we will enjoy eternal life with Him
As we celebrate Easter (Resurrection Day) this year, we should not only be enriched by the clear connection with Passover, but we should also remember the debt we owe to the Jewish people for giving us the Word of God, the roots of our faith, and most importantly our Messiah, Jesus Christ.
Let us not forget what our Lord did for all of us - as prophesied by Isaiah in Isaiah 53.
He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Here is an important truth… God has given us the opportunity to come into relationship with Himself, The Living God through Jesus (Yeshua) and enjoy eternal life. While salvation first came to the Jews, the Gentiles have been grafted in so that they can partake of Christ’s blessings as well.
How could we ever repay such a debt? Below I have listed four ways...
- Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ with all of our being.
- Place our complete faith in Him and Him alone.
- Obey Him and do what He has asked us to do.
- Finally, be thankful and grateful for all He has done for us!
Just like in Egypt, when the Angel of Death passed over the Children of Israel, saw the blood of the innocent lamb on the door posts and lintel and sparred all Jewish first born male children, so because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ, The Lamb of God, Yeshua our Messiah, we have passed from death unto life. What a gift He has given to us.
This Passover and Resurrection Day, may we all surrender ourselves completely to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Yeshua Ha'Mashiach, our Messiah, who was the Passover Lamb for us. Oh how He gave so much so that we would know His love for all eternity!
Happy Pesach & Resurrection Day to All!
If you would like to learn how as a Christian you can celebrate Passover, click here the information is really great and accurate.
Before I end this report I would like to leave you with this thought. In Exodus 12:3-6 God instructed the Jews to find a perfect one year old lamb without any blemishes. On the 10th day of the month (Passover month) they were to bring the lamb into their homes. This is what I want to draw out that is not really discussed in detail anymore. Imagine when that lamb came into the home, the children would have to care for the little lamb. The lamb became a pet, the kids began loving the lamb. Then on the 14th day, four days later, the lamb would be sacrificed. Imagine the heart break the children would experience. I'm sure it brought them to tears and every year they would have to endure this. Yeshua was that lamb without blemish. He presented Himself to the people, He went to their homes (temple) as their lamb and then became the passover lamb that was slaughtered for you and for me.
God wasn't trying to hurt the children. He only wanted them to know how grave sin is. The consequences of sin is that the innocent must be sacrificed. There is no remission of sin except through the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22). God also wanted His people to know how His heart would be broken when His son would come and have to die for the sins of the world. As God's people we need to stop and consider what our sins have cost God and our Messiah and Savior. Sin has a price and thank God that that price was paid for us through Jesus Christ! Be thankful and grateful for what God did for us!
Keep looking up because Messiah's return is at the door!
'But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require from the watchman's hand.' Ezekiel 33:6
Peace and Love in Jesus The Messiah,
Shalom v'ahava b'Yeshua Ha'Mashiach
שלום ואהבה בישוע המשיח
Bro Stef
Watchman & Publisher
But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. ~1Thessalonians 5:1-6
