Lessons from Passover
Mark 14:1-2; Mark 14:12-26
Passover was a celebration of God’s deliverance of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. God’s people had been enslaved for 430 years and they were crying out for God to deliver them. In response God declares that he will deliver them and bring them to a promise land.
Exodus 3:7-10; Exodus 6:6-7
In response to their deliverance God commands them to memorialize this day and to hold a festival to remember God’s mighty acts and outstretched hand which rescued them from Pharoah. The feasts are called the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Passover.
Exodus 13:3 “Then Moses said to the people, “Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the LORD brough you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing with yeast.
Exodus 13:8-10 “On that day tell your children, ‘I do this because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt….For the LORD brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand. You must keep this ordinance at the appointed time year after year.”
Mark 14:1-2 “Now the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were scheming to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. But not during the festival, they said, or the people may riot.”
The Feast of Unleavened Bread
This feast required families to prepare beforehand for the approaching week. The families were to clean all of the leaven or yeast from their home.
Yeast or leaven created fermentation in the bread and caused it to sour. The fermentation process caused the bread to “puff” up and rise.
In the New Testament yeast was considered a picture of sin able to permeate and impact the entire life of an individual.
1 Cor. 5:6-8 6 “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
When we tolerate a little sin in our lives it spreads throughout our heart and impacts our whole being. You don’t compartmentalize sin. Sin permeates.
Psalm 32:3-5 “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of the summer. Then I acknowledged my to sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgression to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.”
2 Cor. 13:5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?”
We must examine our heart and lives. Where is the yeast hiding in our lives?
Passover
The centerpiece of the Passover meal is the lamb. It was first eaten in Egypt the night God delivered the Israelites from Egypt.
In the New Testament Jesus is described as our Passover lamb. He was the lamb sacrificed for our sins and when his blood is applied to our heart we are given eternal life instead of death. Our deliverance is only possible because of the sacrifice of the Lamb.
John 1:29 “The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
1 Corinthians 5:7 “Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”
The Four Cups of Wine and the Unleavened Bread
First Cup is the Cup of Sanctification.
1) Exodus 6:6-7 “Say therefore, to the sons of Israel, I am the Lord and I will bring you out from under the burden of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage.”
2) Sanctification means to be “set apart.”
3) 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 “Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor practicing homosexuals nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
Second Cup is the Cup of Miracles
1) Exodus 6:6 “…I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgement.”
2) This cup represents the cup of plagues God sent upon the Egyptians to deliver his people.
3) Colossians 2:1 “And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.””
4) God wants to do the extraordinary in our lives. He desires to display his wondrous, mighty acts in our lives.
Unleavened Bread
1) Mark 14:22 22 “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”
2) The bread represents Jesus. His body broken, pierced and bruised for our deliverance. He was broken so that we can experience wholeness.”
3) Is. 53:4-6 – But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Third Cup is the Cup of Redemption
1) Exodus 6:6 “…and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm…”
2) Mark 14:23-24 23 “Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them.”
3) This cup symbolizes the blood of the Passover Lamb that was shed for the redemption and deliverance of God’s people. Today, we are redeemed by the finished work of Christ on the cross.
4) Galatians 3:13 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree…”
5) Titus 2:11-14 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”
Fourth Cup is the Cup of Completion and Praise
1) Exodus 6:7 “I shall take you to me for a people and I shall be a God to you.”
2) God has declared that we are his people.
3) Rev. 19:7-9 “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready! Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints. Then the angel said to me, “Write. Blessed are those who invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb! And he added, These are the true words of God!”
The Final Hymn
1) Mark 14:26 “When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.”
2) Psalm 118:22-26 “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now, I pray, O LORD; O LORD, I pray, send now prosperity. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!
3) Jesus, who was rejected by the religious leaders, has now become our cornerstone. We can build our life upon his finished work.
Take Aways:
1) This week begin with self-examination. What “little” sin have you tolerated in your life? How might it be permeating and affecting other areas of your life? Take time to confess it before the Lord (Ps. 32:3-5; 2 Cor. 13:5; 1 Cor. 5:6-8).
2) In what ways have you seen God’s deliverance and miracles at work in your life? Share your story with someone else (Col. 2:1; Job 9:10).
3) How has God redeemed your life? How has his redemption caused you to be zealous for good works? (Titus 2:11-14).