The keeping of the Passover was central to Israel’s relationship with God and served as an annual remembrance of their deliverance from Egypt. So it is with the church, for we read that “even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us” (1 Cor. 5:7). However, it was “upon the first day of the week” that “the disciples came together to break bread” (Acts 20:77And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. (Acts 20:7)), and also Paul could say, “As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup” (1 Cor. 11:26), for we need the constant and regular reminder of what our Saviour suffered for us.
In Israel, however, we find that the Passover was kept in three different places — in Egypt, in the wilderness and in the land. Each of these has a spiritual significance for us, in connection with our remembrance of the Lord.
In Egypt
The Passover was first kept in Egypt, where they were in imminent danger of judgment. God could not pass over the Israelites while killing all the firstborn in Egypt, for the Israelites were sinners just as much as the Egyptians. The blood-sheltered house kept those inside from God’s judgment, while they feasted on the roast lamb, a picture of Christ. There are several things to be noted in connection with keeping the Passover in Egypt.
First of all, it was in view of sheltering them from God’s judgment, for the blood kept God from judging those in the house. The fear was the fear of God’s judgment, for God could not pass over sin in His people while judging the Egyptians. Second, it was eaten privately, within their houses, simply as families. It was not done as a collective or public act. Third, it was in view of their immediate departure from Egypt, and thus they were told to eat it “with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste” (Ex. 12:1111And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord's passover. (Exodus 12:11)). Finally, it was to be followed directly by the feast of unleavened bread.
All of this speaks, in New Testament terms, of a simple understanding of the work of Christ. We may well remember the Lord with a sense of having been delivered, with a plain understanding and yet a heartfelt appreciation of Christ and His work, and how we are delivered from judgment by His sacrifice on the cross. We may have perhaps very little understanding of the collective aspect of the truth of the one body, yet have a true understanding of our being delivered from the enemy’s power, as Israel was at the Red Sea. There may also be a true heart for Christ and a wish to separate from sin in our lives, as well as from the world, typified by the feast of unleavened bread and the departure from Egypt. In such cases we do not know fully what our old sinful self is capable of, yet our hearts well up in thanksgiving and praise for what Christ has done for us. Thanksgiving is the keynote of our hearts and voices.
In the Wilderness
However, we find in Numbers 9:22Let the children of Israel also keep the passover at his appointed season. (Numbers 9:2), in the first month of the second year after the children of Israel had left Egypt, that the Lord reminded them through Moses, “Let the children of Israel also keep the Passover at His appointed season.” Accordingly, it is recorded that “they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at even in the wilderness of Sinai” (Num. 9:55And they kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at even in the wilderness of Sinai: according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel. (Numbers 9:5)). There are certain things connected with keeping the Passover in the wilderness. First of all, it was kept with a sense that the Lord was for them, rather than being against them. They were now a redeemed people, having nothing more to fear, either from God’s judgment as to sin or from Pharaoh’s power. In Egypt the Lord was against them, and His grace provided the blood so that He could pass over them. At the Red Sea, Satan, in the person of Pharaoh, was against them, and God judged him and his hosts there. Thus, in the wilderness, there was deliverance and a settled peace, which gave to this Passover a quality that could not be present in Egypt.
Second, however, their joy was not complete, for it was the place where they learned, among other things, what their own hearts were. Thus we find, for example, permission given to keep the Passover in the second month, for those who were unclean. Likewise, we find a solemn penalty mentioned for one who was clean, yet who refused to keep the Passover (Num. 9:1313But the man that is clean, and is not in a journey, and forbeareth to keep the passover, even the same soul shall be cut off from among his people: because he brought not the offering of the Lord in his appointed season, that man shall bear his sin. (Numbers 9:13)). If they had been sheltered from God’s judgment in Egypt by the blood, they now had to learn what was in their hearts. On the other hand, they learned, too, what God was and what His heart was in spite of their failure.
Again, we may remember the Lord in this way, with a full understanding of our deliverance, not only from God’s wrath, but also from Satan’s power, as shown in Pharaoh. Our appreciation of Christ is increased, although sorrow is present, because we are learning ourselves as we walk through the wilderness. We realize more and more what we have been saved from, and our praise and thanksgiving increase as we see the fullness of the deliverance Christ has wrought for us.
In the Land
Again, we find here typically a further spiritual advance — an increased understanding and appreciation of Christ and His work. First of all, the keeping of this Passover in the land was preceded by circumcision—something that had not taken place in the wilderness. Having learned what they were by sad experience in the wilderness, they now have no confidence in the flesh, but are willing to have done with it. Along with this, the “reproach of Egypt” is rolled away, and every connection with it is completely severed. Their spending forty years in the wilderness was occasioned by their wanting to return to Egypt instead of going up into Canaan, and in the wilderness they had constantly recalled to mind the things of Egypt, instead of trusting the Lord. There is no more of this in Canaan.
Connected with the Passover in the land was also the eating of the old corn of the land, instead of feeding on manna. Christ in manhood (typified by the manna) is now replaced by Christ in glory (typified by the old corn of the land), for now that they have crossed the Jordan (bringing before us our death with Christ), conflict is in view, in order to possess the land and dwell in it. The Lord appears to Joshua as “captain of the Lord’s host,” who leads His people into the full enjoyment of the land. In being identified with a risen Christ in glory and in having Him as our object, we are done with the world, with Satan, and with self. Of course, the believer never ceases to enjoy Christ in manhood, and he will, at times, be in the wilderness again, as to his experience. But once he has entered the land, the things that characterize the wilderness are past. In seeing Christ in glory, who has passed through death and everything connected with it, the believer is free to look back at the cross, and this is perhaps brought before us by the stones put into the midst of Jordan. There were stones placed there in Gilgal as a reminder to Israel of their deliverance in crossing the Jordan, but Joshua himself (a type of Christ) placed twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, perhaps the unseen reminder of the death of Christ that makes it possible for us to be dead and risen with Him. Faith sees these stones put there by Joshua while enjoying the blessings of the land. More than this, the collective aspect of the Passover is introduced in the land. No longer was it to be eaten simply as families in their homes, but it must be eaten “in the place which the Lord shall choose” (Deut. 12:1414But in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee. (Deuteronomy 12:14)) and connected with “a holy convocation” (Lev. 23:77In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. (Leviticus 23:7)). No doubt this has its New Testament counterpart in the truth of the one body, and in the fact that those who remember the Lord should do so in recognition that “we being many are one bread, and one body” (1 Cor. 10:17).
Eating the Passover in the land thus represents the fullest appreciation of Christ and His work, for the one who eats it in the land does so as being dead and risen with Christ, while enjoying all that is his as a heavenly man and having a risen Christ in glory as an object. But the Lord appreciates whatever apprehension of Christ that we have, as typified in the various burnt offerings. Whether a bullock, sheep, or only a pigeon, the Spirit of God says of each one that it was “a sweet savor unto the Lord” (Lev. 1:9,13,179But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord. (Leviticus 1:9)
13But he shall wash the inwards and the legs with water: and the priest shall bring it all, and burn it upon the altar: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord. (Leviticus 1:13)
17And he shall cleave it with the wings thereof, but shall not divide it asunder: and the priest shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood that is upon the fire: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord. (Leviticus 1:17)). He values any appreciation of Christ, yet wants us to “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).
W. J. Prost