" For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; "
" and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ' Take, eat: this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me. '"
" In the same manner, He also took the cup after supper, saying, ' This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me. '"
" For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. "
( I Corinthians 11:23-26 )
According to my calendar, Passover is on April 17th in the year 2003. It is amazing, that of the millions of christians who claim to be Bible believing, and born-again, very few of them celebrate, or observe, in any way, the Passover feast. My Bible contains 78 references to Passover, yet only 2 references to Communion, and no references to Easter! What is going on?
Easter, even if you take away the bunny, the eggs, and the rest of the commercial hype, still has its roots in a pagan fertility rite. It has been molded into something, which is supposed to be acceptable to all people, but is certainly not Biblical. Easter is supposed to be somehow related to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but His resurrection can be understood far better in relation to the Passover.
The " Exodus " is a historical fact. It occurred around 3600 years ago. After 400 years of slavery in Egypt, God raised up Moses to lead His people out of slavery. Through a series of plages ( This is all recorded in the 2nd book of the Bible. ) the Pharaoh, probably Ramses II, was persuaded to let the people of Israel depart from bondage in Egypt. The last of the plagues was the death of the firstborn Egyptian children, and the firstborn of their animals. The children of Israel were told to apply the blood of a lamb ( which they killed at twilight and cooked ) to the two doorposts, and on the lintel, of the houses where they ate it. This they had to do, without leaving their houses.
Much of God's teaching to mankind has been with symbolism. Here, we can visualize a man opening the door of his house, and taking a handful of hyssop ( with lamb's blood on it ) and applying it, first to the doorpost on his left hand, then to the doorpost on his right hand, and then to the lintel. ( on top of the door ) Sketches have been made, depicting how this would have looked from the outside of the door. The result is a bloody cross,- demonstrating to the children of Israel how 1600 years later, Yeshua, Messiah would be crucified, so that the destroyer would " pass-over " their sins. The bloody cross forms a barrier in front of the man,- and everyone else in his household, so that when the destroyer passes by, in judgement, he will pass over this household.
Along with the passover lamb were a number of other parts of the original passover observance. The passover meal was to be eaten when fully clothed and prepared to travel. The lamb should be eaten with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. It should be eaten in haste. All these things are reminders, so that the children of Israel will never forget their bondage in Egypt, and God's deliverance from that cruel bondage. The attire was to remind them of their flight. The bitter herbs were a reminder of the bitterness of their bondage. The unleavened bread was to remind them how they didn't even have time for their bread to rise. ( Leaven is also a symbol of sin. )
Curiously, there is no mention in the early scriptural accounts concerning the cup of wine. I suspect this is because the use of a red wine was so common that it would be assumed.
Christ was no ordinary man. He was the Spirit of God in human flesh. He routinely celebrated the Passover, until what we call the " last supper ". The day before the beginning of the Passover observance is called the preparation day. On this day, His disciples located the upper room and completed the preparations. Christ told his disciples that He desired with fervent desire to eat that Passover with them before He suffered. Then He told them that He would not eat of it any longer until it was
" fulfilled in the kingdom of God ". ( See Luke 22:15-16 )What Christ told them at that time was recorded in Matthew 26, Mark 14, and Luke 22. He also revealed the same thing to the apostle Paul. Paul records this in I Corinthians 11. Christ was in the midst of a Passover celebration. He told them that the unleavened bread ( It is like what we call a cracker. ) symbolized His body, broken for us. His body was broken for us in a number of ways. He was falsely accused, humiliated, spit upon, his beard was plucked out, he was whipped, and then finally He was crucified. We are told that by His stripes ( whip marks ) we are healed. A careful study of scripture shows that He was referring to physical healing.
From tradition ( and a little common sense ) we can conclude that the cup was probably consumed throughout the meal, however, the important cup, was the one consumed after the meal. ( See Luke 22:20 ) He told them, " This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins. " If you understand God's teaching through symbols, you can easily see that Jesus is not telling anyone to drink blood. He is simply saying that the cup, in the Passover meal, is symbolic of the blood which He has shed for our sins,- as the unleavened bread is symbolic of His body broken for us.
Passover was, and is, an annual observance. We are not told how often to observe the unleavened bread and the cup, if in fact we are to observe it, apart from Passover. I believe it is a good thing to observe what is usually called " holy communion " frequently. ( We celebrate it weekly. ) It serves as a useful reminder of what Christ, our Passover Lamb, did for us. As we break the bread and drink the cup, let us not forget that ," Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us! "
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