Anniversaries are times when important events are remembered. Salvation history has anniversaries, too. Passover is the first of the annual feasts which highlight important events in the divine plan to save Man.
The last night the Israelites spent in Egypt, they were commanded to slay a lamb or a kid goat and paint its blood on their doorways.
- For Yahuwah will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, Yahuwah will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. (Exodus 12:23, NKJV)
Their homes were thus protected by the blood of the lamb. They were further commanded: "You shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever." (Exodus 12:24, NKJV)
Yahushua, the "Lamb of Yahuwah which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29, KJV) came to earth to be the true Lamb by whose blood repentant sinners may be "passed-over" and spared the condemnation of the law. Much more than a holiday just for the Jews, Passover is for all peoples throughout all time.
- So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to Yahuwah throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. (Exodus 12:14, NKJV)
Passover commemorates the death of Yahushua on the cross.
Once the blood of the true Lamb had been spilled on Calvary, the blood of animals was no longer to be shed. Yet the feast as a sacred time of holy consecration was to continue. The evening Yahushua was betrayed, He instituted a new way of observing the Passover: He established the communion service.
- And as they were eating, Yahushua took bread, blessed it and broke it, and gave it to them and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, "This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. Assuredly, I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of Elohim." (Mark 14:22-25, NKJV)
The blood of the Lamb, Yahushua, does more than provide a means for Yahuwah to pass-over the sinner and yet still be just. It also cleanses the soul from sin and restores the image of Yahuwah into the subconscious mind.
- Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Yahushua our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (I Corinthians 5:7, 8, KJV)
When Yahushua started the communion service as the new way to observe the Passover, He said, "This do in remembrance of Me." (Luke 22:19) Passover was kept by all the early Christians for several hundred years. In the 4th century AD, Passover was set aside by the still-pagan emperor, Constantine, in favor of Easter at the Council of Nicaea. It is the privilege of all who love their Saviour to remember His death at this time.
