Passover ... a God event...by Sam Gordon
Easter is fast approaching! We need to ask ourselves afresh what significance and importance does this festival hold for our lives? Is it merely another traditional feast or is it perhaps just another well-earned break, giving rest and refreshment in the midst of our busy schedules? Why do we bother at all with such religious rituals?
A God event
Our faith is not based purely on theological truth. No, our beliefs are rooted in God events in time. In the Passover story we remember that God has come down to deliver us from real bondage. The story of Moses and the plagues of Egypt is not a myth. It is a real story that records the concern and love of a real God for his people.
The Jewish world celebrates Passover as it happened in their personal lifetime. Herein lies an important lesson: a people that remember a great God event in history as if it happened in their personal history will not easily forget God. Surely the Jewish world’s tenacious preservation of truth has something to do with their nearer identification with their God. They are a people who remember!
Jesus, as he celebrated Passover, also called attention to this truth when he said: ‘Do this in remembrance of me.’ A people that forget God will eventually go to oblivion!
Emancipation
The constant turmoil of our world clearly reveals that man does not have the freedom to bring about true harmony and peace. He is oppressed and in bondage not only by his own inward failure but also the collective fallenness of his world; at every point, man needs help or freedom. Very often, though he tries hard to deny it, Passover is a message of hope for it records how a people and a world can be freed from internal and external bondage by the shedding of another’s blood.
On that fateful night over 3,000 years ago when the destroyer passed over Egypt, even the Israelites were in danger of death. Only the blood of the lamb saved them! Likewise, the blood of the Lamb spilt at Calvary saves the world from its guilt and bondage. Any freedom that does not spring from this source will be another form of bondage.
Travel light
The Israelites ate the Passover in haste. In the Passover, God delivered them and led them out to follow and obey him throughout all their generations. The lesson is clear: those who partake of the Passover focus their desires, longings, and dedication upon this loving God who has redeemed them unto himself.
So it should be today. Our celebration of our Lord’s love and redemptive work should loose us from the world, within and without (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:8). The Passover is the beginning of a very unique pilgrimage that will only end when we enter the eternal city of God. Until then, we are to be in the world but not of it.
Accountability
As the yearly celebration of Passover comes around, we should renew our commitment to God. Frequently, Israel reaffirmed her love for God by re-establishing this great Feast (2 Chronicles 30:1-5). The truth is, we all need seasons of reflection, repentance, and renewal. Only the Feast of Passover can adequately challenge the basic roots of our commitment, for it is through this Feast that God has purchased us and made us his own special people.
The erosion of faith is a steady, almost undetected disease. It happens to those who no longer celebrate the goodness of God. When we become thankless, we eventually end up faithless! Passover is a time for all of us to thank God. He has redeemed us by the blood of the Lamb and this is a great salvation. Yes, it is with great joy and expectation that we then welcome the season of Passover. Indeed our entire future in God is in some way dependent upon it!
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