Monday, March 8, 2010
1 Corinthians 5:7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.
CHRIST, OUR PASSOVER LAMB, WAS SACRIFICED FOR US
In the Passover there is more than an important identification of Jesus as the Savior and an advance description of His redeeming work. There is more here even than God making history into prophecy and bringing that prophecy to life in an ancient annual celebration.
There is an immediate personal connection here, and not just for ancient Israel or the first disciples, but for each of us as well. This is as immediate as personally holding the Passover lamb being sacrificed -- as Peter or John did on Maundy Thursday afternoon in the temple courtyard. Actually more so, because as the the Apostle states with emphasis, "Christ, our Passover Lamb, was sacrificed for us."
An anniversary is a day set aside to remember a past event that happened to others which has some continuing effect upon us. But this was not how the more devout in Israel looked at Passover. They considered themselves as "eating the Passover" with all who ever had -- one long table of celebration reaching down through the centuries, going all the way back to that first Passover night in Egypt's Nile Delta region.
You see, they realized as a genetic fact that they too were delivered in and with their ancestors. There was no future for Hebrews in Egypt, so later Jews were conscious that but for God's redeeming hand they would never have been born. And what they realized individually was as true of their nation: no Passover, no Exodus, no Israel. This event marked the birth of their nation.
This is even more true for us whom the Spirit has brought to trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord. Christ, our Passover Lamb, was sacrificed for us. No sacrifice, no Substitute. No Savior, no gospel, no faith. Without the Redemption worked by Jesus through His living and dying in our place you wouldn't be who you are: redeemed, restored, forgiven.
