IS THE PASSOVER ONLY FOR JEWS?

BY

HAROLD E. CORMANY

If you happened to see or hear the word "Passover" in the media over the last few months, chances are you saw or heard the word “Jewish” in front of it.

Most people consider Passover a religious observance of just one group of people, known as Jews or Israel. Actually, most of the world, including mainstream Christian religions could care less about Passover. If people think of Passover at all, they think of it as strictly Old Testament and of interest only to those who practice Judaism.

Yet the symbolism Jews use for Passover completely contradicts what is found in the Bible. The real meaning of the word ‘Passover' has been overlooked.

The first mention of Passover in the Bible is in the Old Testament, in the Book of Exodus chapter 12. The Lord God (Jehovah or Yaweh) tells the 12 tribes of Israel , then enslaved in Egypt, to prepare themselves for an exodus to a land promised to Abraham four hundred years earlier. Abraham was not a Jew. The tribe of Judah came through the loins of his grandson Jacob ( Israel ) along with eleven other brothers and at least one sister.

Israel originally came to Egypt as guests of the Pharaoh, who was so impressed with Joseph, the son of Jacob ( Israel ) through Rachel, that he appointed Joseph the number two ruler, a kind of Vice-Pharaoh. He also gave Israel an area called Goshen to live in. However, over the years the ruling Pharaohs changed and few felt as kindly towards Israel as Joseph's benefactor had. Eventually a Pharaoh, afraid their growing numbers could be a threat to his power reduced the 12 tribes of Israel to bondage and slavery.

Hearing the cries of the enslaved people, the Lord God responded to their pleas.

In the book of Exodus, God tells Moses that He would bring Israel out of Egypt and lead them into the Promised Land described in Genesis chapter 15. He instructed Moses to tell the Israelites to prepare themselves to leave Egypt. However, before they left, He would give them instructions that they had to follow explicitly. If they did not, all their firstborn would die.

Exodus 12 describes how God made this time the sacred New Year, the beginning of months. He told the Israelites to select a lamb, under one year of age, without spot or blemish on the 10 th day and keep it until the 14 th day of Abib (Nisan) and then He tells them what they were to do.

Exodus 12:3 “Speak you unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:

V.4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house, take it according to the number of the souls:” every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.

V. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: you shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:

V.6 And you shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.

V.7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper doorpost of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.

V.8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

V.9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire, his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.

V.10 And you shall let nothing of it remain until the morning, and that which remaineth of it until the morning you shall burn with fire.

V. 11- And thus shall you eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it in haste; it is the Lord's Passover.”

V. 12 “For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.

V. 13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.”

The term Passover refers to the time when God exterminated all the firstborn living in Egypt for their sins. However, if the Lord God saw the blood on the doorpost and lintels of the houses, He would "pass over" those houses and spare the firstborn within from death.

We discover the Old Testament Passover meal consisted of a whole, roasted lamb, eaten with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. This is very different from the Seder meal eaten by the Jews of Judaism, eaten on the 15 th and not the 14 th of Abib.

In the New Testament, we find that the Old Testament Passover was still being observed, but it's meaning and content had been forgotten in Jewish tradition. New Testament Christians were not observing Lent or Easter. Acts 12:4 contains a flagrant mistranslation ; the word Easter is only found in the King James version of the Bible and is actually the word Pascha, which is translated Passover everywhere else in the New Testament, and in most modern translations.

In the four gospels, we can read of Jesus (Jeshua) observing the Old Testament Passover with His disciples on the 14 th of Abib. However, during the meal, Jesus instructed the disciples to do something you will not find in any description of Passover in the Old Testament.

In John 13, Jesus washes the feet of His disciples and tells them that this should be done by each other at Passover. Jesus also changed the symbols of Passover from the roasted lamb and bitter herbs to unleavened bread and wine. We read this in Matthew 26. The actual change occurs in verses 26-29 where He says that the unleavened bread signified His broken body as described in the Old Testament in Isaiah 53. He tells them in Matt. 26:27-28 to drink the wine that represents His blood, which was to be shed (poured out) at His crucifixtion … shed for the remission of sins.

In I Corinthians 11, Paul's admonishes the new Gentile converts who were mixing the Old Testament observance of the Jews, with the New Testament observance that today many call the Lord's Supper. In verses 17-34 of this chapter, Paul describes how Christians should observe the Passover.

Paul states in verse 26 that this depicts Christ's death – not His resurrection. He also warns of the consequences of those who observe this ritual without understanding its meaning.

The question many people ask is, Should Christians partake of the Jewish Seder meal prior to observing the Lord's supper? The answer is No!

The Jewish Seder meal is a product of Babylon, a custom first adopted by the Jews during their Babylonian captivity. The true Old Testament Passover was a type of Jesus Christ's sacrifice for us. The entire lamb was to be roasted and eaten. Today in the Seder meal, only the shank bone is used.

Romans 5:7 says, “For Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” In the Jewish observance the contents of the meal which could include a turkey leg and thigh to replace the lamb, plus an egg from which Christianity gets Easter eggs as symbols of the Baal worship of most Gentile nations at that time. The Jews add meanings to their Passover that you will not find in the Old or New Testament.

Many Christians have changed the New Testament example of unleavened bread and wine, which is to be observed only once a year as a memorial, to taking the Lord's Supper-or communion- which consists of white leavened bread and grape juice, and doing this anytime they so desire.

For this reason Paul said in I Corinthians 11:29, “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself not discerning the Lord's body. V.30- For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” If done correctly, it does not picture his resurrection, but rather the Lord's death until He returns.

The Apostle Paul is warning us that we need to understand what this true Passover of Christ really means, otherwise, we could be eating and drinking judgment to ourselves; he said for this reason some are sickly and some die.

On this website, you will find sermons on the Passover, Sabbath and God's annual Holy Days, which all people should be observing. Nowhere in scripture will you find Christians instructed to celebrate Lent or Easter.

In fact, much of what is observed and celebrated by Christians today was originally “borrowed” from pagan religions. An example: have you ever wondered why churches today conduct Easter sunrise services? This is a throw back to pagan religions' ritual of worshipping the rising sun and is in no way connected to the resurrection of the SON of God. Many encyclopedias, historians and historical sources back this up in detail.

So is the Passover only for Jews? No, the Passover is for all who have accepted Christ as their Savior. Just as the blood of the Lamb in Egypt saved the firstborn in Egypt , so the blood of Jesus saves us from the second death. In 1 Corinthians 5:17 “For Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.”

The body of Christ cannot be represented by a portion of the lamb, and certainly not by substituting the leg and thigh of a turkey. There is a definite reason that throughout the New Testament, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is so often referred to as the Lamb of God.

Did Christ die only for the Jews? No, Christ died for all of humanity.

The blood of Christ, represented by the wine, was shed for the remission of sins. Scripture tells us “that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God'. For this reason, the Passover is for all of mankind.