In AD 31, Christ and His disciples gathered together in the Spring, to celebrate the Passover. They had a meal together, and Christ gave them unleavened bread and wine, along with specific meanings to what they represented. He also washed their feet, something unusual for anyone other than a servant to do. This year many Christians around the world shall celebrate the Passover, by meeting together, eating unleavened bread and drinking red wine, and washing each other’s feet.
But where did it all start, and what does it all mean?
We can go back to the book of Exodus to find out when the Passover was instituted. It was against a backdrop of a race of slaves living in Egypt, who earnestly desired freedom and prayed often to God for deliverance. One man, called Moses, grew up in the palaces of the Pharaoh, being brought up by Pharaoh’s daughter. She knew he was a Hebrew baby (Exodus 2:5–6), but brought him up as an Egyptian, but with Moses’ own mother nursing him when he was a baby. He undoubtedly gained much insight into Egyptian culture, learnt a great deal and was no doubt a very well-educated man. But, he was Hebrew, born an Israelite, the same as the slaves of the country.
When Moses was 40 years old, he saw an Egyptian beating an Israelite slave, and took pity on the slave. He struck the Egyptian, and killed him (Exodus 2:11–12). He thought that no one had seen it or knew about it, but after 2 days he started to speak to some Israelites, who objected to his interference, and they said “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” (verse 14).
This frightened Moses, as he realised that people did know about his murderous act. Pharaoh sought to kill Moses, so Moses fled from Egypt into the land of Midian. It was there that he met some women, the daughters of Jethro. He married one of them and lived with them for another 40 years, before he was visited by God, probably on Mount Sinai.
In Exodus 3, we see what happened, starting in verse 1. Moses saw a burning bush, and wondered why it kept burning without burning up. And God spoke to Moses from the bush and told him who He was, and that Moses had to return to Egypt to free the Israelites from slavery.
Moses was a bit fearful about this, and asked that he could get his brother Aaron to speak for him, when he visited the Pharaoh. So he returned to Egypt. Probably by this time, 40 years after he had fled, there was a different Pharaoh in charge of Egypt, but we don’t know for certain. But Moses was probably still a bit scared that the Pharaoh was going to have him executed for the murder he committed 40 years previously. But God was sending Moses on a special mission, and Moses should have realised that God was backing him up and would not allow him to come to any harm. So Moses and Aaron went before the Pharaoh to tell him to let the people go. Pharaoh refused, and God started sending plagues on Egypt, 10 in all. After the 9th plague, Pharaoh was still reluctant to let the Israelites go. But by this time Pharaoh and the Egyptians were starting to fear Moses (Exodus 11:3). But after each plague, when it looked like Pharaoh was going to let the people go, God hardened the heart of Pharaoh, so that he would not let the Israelites go (Exodus 10:27).
If God had not hardened the heart of Pharaoh, it is possible that Pharaoh would have given in after just a few plagues, or maybe even the first (turning rivers into blood). But God had a plan in mind, and wanted to institute the Passover at that time. He also wanted the people to see the great significance of Passover, as a means of releasing them from bondage in Egypt. It would have been easy for God to have let the people go, by not hardening Pharaoh’s heart, so that they could have left much sooner. Or God could have performed just the one plague, that which was the death of the firstborn, to institute the Passover. But instead, God chose to use 10 plagues on Egypt before the people could leave.
The number 10 is also the number of Commandments that God was going to give to Moses at Mount Sinai, after the Israelites had left Egypt. And when the Israelites had left and began to have their own society, instead of being in Egypt, He told the people to pay tithes, which is 10% of their increase. Tithing had already existed though, as Abraham had paid tithes to Melchizedek, who later became Christ. So we see that the number 10 is important to God, which may be why he sent 10 plagues on Egypt.
So when Egypt had suffered 9 plagues, they were almost ready to let the people go. Before the 10th plague, God told Moses to tell the people what to do. In Exodus 11 we read that God was going to kill the firstborns of the Egyptians, but allow the Israelites to live.
God gave these instructions in Exodus 12:1, “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.’ ”
In Egypt, the Israelites had only know the Egyptian calendar and did not know God’s calendar. So God told them that it was now the first month of the year. The first day of the new year on God’s calendar is the 1st of Abib, and it was on 30th March, this year, 2006.
And on the tenth day of Abib, which this year is 8th April, the Israelites were told to take a lamb. It had to be a 1-year old male lamb, and it could be either from the sheep or goats. They had to keep that lamb until the 14th of Abib (Exodus 12:5–6). They had to kill the lamb at twilight. Twilight is the period between sunset and darkness. The Bible elsewhere tells us that the day begins at sunset, rather than at midnight. So at the start of the 14th Abib, the lamb had to be slaughtered, and the Passover meal eaten on that night of the 14th, which was roast lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, and was to be eaten quickly. The people had to be dressed ready to leave. This was to be their last night in Egypt!
The Israelites were told to stay indoors that night, while the death angel passed over. If they had followed God’s instructions carefully, they would have used the blood from the lamb they sacrificed to smear onto the doorposts of their homes, as a sign to the death angel that the people in that house were obeying God. Of course, the Egyptians did not smear blood on their doorposts, so when the death angel passed over their homes, it killed the firstborn people in houses without blood on the doorposts. The death angel also killed the firstborn son of Pharaoh.
In verse 24 we read: “And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever.” God commanded the people to keep the Passover, and not just for that night when they left Egypt, but to be kept forever.
So the Israelites kept the Passover and the firstborn of the Egyptians died, and during the hours of daylight the Israelites plundered the Egyptians, according to God’s command, taking all their jewellery and gold. They gathered together, being led by Moses, and left Egypt to head for the Promised Land.
So in the days of Jesus, the Jewish people who lived in Israel, the Promised Land, were still keeping the Passover. Although they did not all keep it on the right day, as today they keep the Passover one night later and call the whole Feast of Unleavened Bread by the name of Passover, combining the two into one. But Christ knew when the Passover was, He was the One who had told Moses what to do and when. So Christ was keeping the Passover at the start of the 14th Abib, in Jerusalem, with His disciples.
In the Old Testament, we saw that the Israelites ate lamb at Passover, but when Christ came in the flesh, He was the fulfilment of the Passover lamb. At the Passover meal that Christ had with the disciples, they probably ate a lamb, as Christ had not yet been sacrificed. But Christ ate unleavened bread with the disciples, and gave a new meaning to it, to symbolise His body which would be broken, just as they broke the bread they ate. He also added to that the drinking of red wine to symbolise His blood, and also the footwashing.
Matthew 26:26–28 reads: “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body.’ Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.’ ”
Christ gave a new focus to the Passover. Christ told the disciples before the Passover, that He was going to be killed on that day. Matthew 26:1 reads: “Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, that He said to His disciples, ‘You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.’ ”
Instead of focusing on the lamb, which was what was sacrificed in Egypt and in ancient Israel, He pointed out the bread that was traditionally eaten with this meal. He said that it was His body. He could have said that the lamb was His body. Christ had already been referred to as a lamb, in John 1:29–30, “The next day John [the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, “After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.” ’ ”
Also in Revelation 5:6 and 7:10 we see Christ referred to as the Lamb.
So why did Christ not say that the lamb of the Passover meal was His body?
Up to that time, the Israelites were still sacrificing animals at the temple. And killing a lamb for the Passover meal. The animal sacrifices were instituted for sin, as special offerings to God to ask for forgiveness for sin. The meat of the sacrificed animals was food for the priests who served in the temple. But when Christ died, He became the ultimate sacrifice, and His blood was worth far more than that of any animal.
Look at Hebrews 9:11–15, “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”
Christ is the Mediator of the new covenant, which we also read about in Matthew 26, in which Christ stated that the wine represented the blood of the new covenant, His blood. By His blood, we have remission of sins, as Christ also said in the same verse (Matthew 26:28).
But looking again at this point about the lamb, Christ told the disciples that the bread represented His body, and that they should eat the bread every year at Passover, drink the wine and do the footwashing. The ancient Israelites were commanded to keep the Passover forever, and just before Christ died, He changed the symbols and practice of what we do at Passover, but nevertheless, the Passover still remains every year for us to keep.
But the lamb was no longer to be continued as being necessary at Passover, because Christ was the lamb who was going to be sacrificed within a few hours. Once Christ had been sacrificed, there was no longer a need to have animal sacrifices, and no longer a need eat the lamb at the Passover. Christ is our lamb, and we must take Christ into us, by listening to His words in the Bible, by keeping the Passover and doing as He commanded. Now the unleavened bread, which Paul referred to as “the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” in 1 Corinthians 5:8, is a symbol of Christ’s body, which was crucified to pay the penalty for our sins.
So we have the bread, which is representing Christ’s body, and the red wine, which is symbolic of His shed blood, to pay for our sins, and to bring us into a new relationship with God, a new covenant. The new covenant contains the promise of eternal life. Just as the Israelites took the Passover prior to leaving Egypt and heading to the Promised Land, we take the Passover and look forward to the Promised Land of the Kingdom of God, which is a spiritual land, and the place where our hearts and citizenship should be.
The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” We are to be a living sacrifice, unlike the Old Testament sacrifices of killing animals, as Christ wants us to live. He was our ultimate sacrifice, and we must be willing to sacrifice something for Him, i.e. our lives, as a living sacrifice, which means that we die to the flesh but live for Christ and the Father.
Instead of a sacrifice that takes away life (from a lamb), Christ went first as a real sacrifice, giving up His life, and receiving eternal life in His resurrection, so that we can become living sacrifices to God, and receive eternal life when Christ returns.
Christ also referred to Himself as bread some time earlier, before He died. In John 6, He called Himself “the Bread of Life” more than once (verses 33, 35, 48). He came down from heaven to give life to all (verse 33). At the Passover, when we eat the bread, remember that it represents Christ, not just the crucifixion of His body, but also that He came to give us eternal life, because He was the bread of life.
We should also note that taking the Passover, in ancient Israel, was for everyone. Most of the animal sacrifices involved a person taking an animal to the priests at the temple. But when the Passover was instituted, there were no priests; the Levites were just like the others. The Passover was something for everyone, as Israel was to be a nation of priests (Exodus 19:6).
Today, we as a part of God’s Church, should take the Passover, as we are the new priesthood. Christ, as Melchizedek, is our High Priest (Hebrews 7) and we are a royal priesthood. Look at 1 Peter 2:5, 9, “You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ… you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.”
We have been called out of darkness, out of a spiritual Egypt (note as well that the 9th plague in Egypt was one of darkness, although the Israelites had light, the Egyptians were plunged into total darkness). We have been chosen to be a royal priesthood, to proclaim the praises of God, who calls us into His marvellous light, which is the truth that God reveals to us. Remember, the unleavened bread is about sincerity and truth.
Christ is our high priest, and is Melchizedek (Hebrews 7), to whom Abraham had paid tithes. We are the priests of Melchizedek, and our priesthood is ministering to God, to proclaim the praises of God. Passover gives us this relationship. Without Passover and the sacrifice of Christ, we are condemned to die in the flesh and not live forever.
But let us look now at the other thing that Christ instituted at His last Passover on Earth. He washed His disciples’ feet, as we read in John 13:4–5, Christ “rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.”
Footwashing was done in ancient times as a necessary courtesy to visitors to a person’s home, as they wore sandals, and walked on dusty roads making their feet very dusty and dirty. Today we wear socks, shoes and travel on buses, in cars, or walk on pavements. Our feet don’t get covered in dust, so the symbolism might not be so clear in our modern world. But, consider this, the footwashing was to remove dust and dirt. And what else is connected with dust in the Bible? What came from dust? Adam was created from the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7). In washing a person’s feet, consider that you are washing away the dust, washing away the physical carnality, looking forward to a future spirit life, cleansed from all sin. The dust on their feet represented sin because the flesh always sins. Our sins must be washed away.
So when we wash someone’s feet, we might not find any dust or dirt there, but remember that when Christ did it to His disciples, He would have been washing away a day or more worth of dust. We have to have our carnality washed away. Water is also a symbol of the Holy Spirit, and of cleansing. Isaiah 44:3 reads: “For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring.” And in Revelation 22:17, “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.” The water of life in Revelation refers to eternal life.
Also remember that when a person is called by God, and granted repentance, that the person is then baptised in water. Water is a natural cleansing agent. It washes away dirt, and symbolically, at baptism washes away sins (spiritual dirt). God wants us to be clean. But not just our feet. We wash the feet, because of the meaning it had in the time of Jesus, when servants washed the dirty feet of honoured guests and visitors. But the feet can also refer to what we do with them, i.e. walk. We must walk the Christian life, not just talk about it. And washing the feet makes them clean, so that we can walk a clean life with Christ.
Also, Jesus cleansed the temple at Passover, see John 2:11–17. He had to cleanse the physical temple in Jerusalem, as people were abusing it and using it for things that were just to make money rather than worship God. This is like the footwashing, a cleaning away of bad things. He wanted to remove the filth from the temple, the filth of human sin and disregard for things holy. He wants to cleanse us from sin, from all unholy things. At Passover we can be cleansed from the unholy. Footwashing for us symbolises this.
These are the things that God commands us to perform at Passover each year now. Not so important now is the eating of a lamb, because the Lamb of God was slaughtered in 31AD, i.e. Christ. Now that Christ has been sacrificed, and been resurrected, we have Christ the living Lamb with us.
So keep the Passover this year, and every year, remembering that Christ is with us, He wants to cleanse us, and to give us eternal life.
