The house of God was completed at the beginning of the month Adar, the last month of the year. The Passover, of course, occurred on the 14th day of the first month (Ex. 12:2). Before the Passover could be celebrated, however, it was necessary for things to be in order according to the word of Moses, especially, in connection with the purification of the priests and Levites (2 Chron. 30:3). Even in a day of weakness, God’s holiness in connection with His house must not be compromised (Psa. 93:5; 1 Pet. 1:16). It was not sufficient that the priestly class and those that served in the house were pure, but it was also necessary for the people to have separated themselves from the filthiness of the heathen before they could eat (Ezra 6:21). This is also true of the assembly. The Apostle Paul had to address a situation in Corinth where the immorality of one had tainted the whole assembly. He reminds them: “Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor. 5:6-8).
For Israel, the Passover looked back to the sacrifice of the lamb which had preserved them from judgment, and to their deliverance from bondage in Egypt. Though there was no longer an outward display of God’s awesome power, such as the dividing of the Red Sea, Haggai reminds the people: “the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my Spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not” (Hag. 2:5). God’s power had not changed. In our day, we err if we expect a Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, we can say with confidence that the same Spirit remains with us today — indeed, indwelling every true believer of God, and collectively the assembly. Furthermore, we can (in great weakness no doubt) continue to show forth the Lord’s death in the remembrance of the Lord, a memorial to Christ’s death and of our deliverance from bondage.