Passover & The Last Supper

Tonight at twilight is the Passover, the night which recalls how God protected His people from destruction and delivered them from slavery. Tonight, as Jews all over the world enjoy the Passover Feast, the youngest child will pose the question, “Why is this night different from all other nights?” The oldest person responds by telling the Passover story.

Life of Egyptian slavery had become very bitter for the Hebrews, so they groaned and cried out to their God for deliverance. God sent Moses to request that Pharaoh release His people so they could worship Him freely. Israel was God’s firstborn son and if Pharaoh did not let Israel go, God would take Pharaoh’s firstborn son. But Pharaoh refused to acknowledge God as greater than him and the gods of Egypt. His heart was hard and he hardened it, refusing to release God’s people. So, God graciously displayed His exceedingly great power by sending plagues of blood, frogs, gnats, flies, death of livestock, hail, locusts, and darkness, while continuing to request through Moses that Pharaoh let His people go. When Pharaoh still refused to release the Hebrew slaves, God gave Moses instructions for the first Passover, which he relayed to all the Hebrews:

Exodus 12:5-13 ESV - Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

The Hebrews did as God instructed and when God passed through the land of Egypt with the angel of death, not a hair on any Hebrew head was touched. In fact, it was so peaceful where they lived that not even a dog barked. After the Destroyer destroyed all the firstborn in Egypt, the Hebrews left Egypt at midnight to make their way into the wilderness. God had delivered them from slavery, and they were finally free to worship Him! With joy, they looked forward to possessing the land flowing with milk and honey, which God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. As all Israel left Egypt, they were set apart as a nation and became His sanctuary, the dwelling place of the only God who created heaven and earth and everything in it. (Psalm 114:2)

God commanded Israel to celebrate the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread each year to remind them once a year of God’s mighty hand which delivered them from slavery and how He set them apart as His holy nation. God also commanded that the firstborn son of every family and every firstborn animal must be consecrated to Him so that Israel’s redemption would be incorporated into their regular consciousness every time a firstborn was born. These observances would serve as a mark of their redemption on their hand and forehead.

Exodus 12:14 ESV - 14 "This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.

Exodus 13:2, 11-16 ESV - 2 "Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine." ... 11 "When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you, 12 you shall set apart to the LORD all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the LORD's. 13 Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. 14 And when in time to come your son asks you, 'What does this mean?' you shall say to him, 'By a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. 15 For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.' 16 It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt."

About fourteen hundred years later, it was on this night that Jesus ate His last supper, the Passover meal, with His disciples. As God’s firstborn Son, He told them He had longed to celebrate this day with them and pointed to the bread and wine from the Passover meal as His body which would be broken and His blood of the New Covenant which would be poured out for the forgiveness of sins. They sang the Hallel Psalms (Psalms 113-118) and praised God for His power and deliverance.

When the disciples began to argue about which one of them would be the greatest, Jesus told them that His followers must not try to take the highest place to lord over one another like Gentiles do, but must take the lowest place to love and serve one another. To demonstrate this, He washed their feet and told them to do the same for one another.

Judas had already received money to betray Jesus and after the meal and foot washing, went out to complete his task. Jesus immediately and enthusiastically proclaimed, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him!” knowing that His crucifixion was imminent.

After Judas departed, Jesus gave His disciples a new commandment that they must love one another the way that He loved them, by laying down His life for them. He told them if they loved Him, they must keep His commandments and if they obeyed Him, He would come and dwell within them. He was giving commands for His New Covenant community so that God’s Spirit could dwell with them as His people. His friends are those who keep His commandments and they would be the new sanctuary, the new Temple of God.

Jesus had tried to tell His disciples several times before in very literal terms that He was going to be killed and raised from the dead. But this night, He used figures of speech because His disciples could not bear any more. He prayed His final prayer for them and for all believers to be completely united in Him so the world would know that God sent Him and see God’s love.

In anguish, Jesus also prayed in Gethsemane, totally surrendering Himself to the will of God by saying, “Not my will, but Yours be done.” The religious leaders of the Jewish people had rejected Jesus’ ministry and claims of Messiahship. Regardless of His miracles like healing the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead, walking on water, commanding the storm, multiplying food, and other things only God can do, they hardened their hearts and refused to believe. When Judas and the High Priest’s band of soldiers came to arrest Jesus, Jesus turned Himself over to the power of darkness, saying this was their hour. All His disciples fled.

Luke 22:53 NLT - 53 Why didn't you arrest me in the Temple? I was there every day. But this is your moment, the time when the power of darkness reigns."

Through His imminent death as the Passover Lamb, Jesus knew that He was inaugurating a new kind of Kingdom, not like the devil’s, which is Babylon. Jesus was inaugurating a Kingdom where God’s will is done, fulfilling God’s original purpose for mankind by being fruitful and multiplying in life and love. He would not bow to the gods of this world by using its tactics or tools of violence or deception. He made no attempt to retaliate, defend Himself, or deny His identity, and He rebuked His disciples for drawing the sword, which is Babylon’s way.

Even as the firstborn Son of God, who is the exact image of God and equal with God, Jesus did not use this to His advantage or try to escape the suffering that God had ordained for Him at the hands of sinful men who irrationally hated God. Actually, it is on the cross that Jesus is the greatest expression of God’s exact image: self-sacrificing, unmerited goodwill and love, in stark contrast to the devil’s image of self-preservation, anger, hatred, murder, and death.

For us today, through faith in Jesus as the eternal Passover Lamb and faith in His blood which was shed for the forgiveness of our sins, we gain the right to become sons of God, a new creation of humanity, and to participate in Jesus’ Kingdom. Like Israel was delivered from Pharaoh’s oppressive slavery to become a holy nation of God with God dwelling among them, we are delivered from slavery to sin and the devil, to become a new kind of holy people and the new Temple of God where His Spirit dwells.

This said, the historical events of the first Passover also point forward to a Passover that is still yet to come. The original Passover became known among Jews as the “day of the Lord” when God delivered His people by bringing judgment on Pharaoh and Egypt. As such, celebrating Passover looks back to these historical events while also looking forward to the final, definitive Day of the Lord, when God will deliver His people from this world to bring them into the “promised land” of the world to come, dwelling with Him in a restored Eden-like creation, and partaking of the ultimate, eternal Passover Feast. This is why Jesus told His disciples that He eat or drink it again until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.

However, no one knows exactly when this day will come, not even Jesus. It will be like the night the Destroyer passed through Egypt to take the firstborn of every household without the blood of the lamb covering their door. The Destroyer will pass through the world, taking those who have hardened their hearts in rebellion against God by not trusting in Jesus’ sacrifice for their sins. There will be so much death that vultures will gather to gorge on the feast that God has prepared for them: the bodies of those who rebelled against Him. (See Ezekiel 39:17-20; Revelation 19:17-18.) After this, God will gather His elect to dwell with Him forever in resurrected bodies in the new creation.

Matthew 24:36-42 NKJV - 36 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. 37 "But as the days of Noah [were], so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 "For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 "and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 "Then two [men] will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. 41 "Two [women will be] grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. 42 "Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.

Luke 17:37 ESV - 37 And they said to him, "Where, Lord?" He said to them, "Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather."

The good news is that God truly is God and is still sovereign over the world. The good news is that God will ultimately judge all evil and deliver His people from the pain and suffering in this world to enjoy unhindered fellowship with Him in the world to come. The good news is that God has made a way of salvation through the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, and anyone who spiritually paints His blood on their hearts is marked for redemption at the end of the age. But similar to the first Passover, before the final day comes, there will be great trials and tribulation, great conflict and chaos in the earth and in the heavens, and there will be an antichrist leader who hardens his heart to resist God and deceive anyone who can be deceived so that they become marked for the beast.

For this reason, we must remember in our daily lives that we are a redeemed and consecrated people who owe our lives to the Lamb who laid down His life for us. We have been spared from death, the wrath of God, and have been delivered from the gods of this world in order to make us free to live for God, bearing His mark rather than the beast’s. So, on this Passover night, remember God’s great redemption and all He has done for you. Let Him restore the joy of your salvation as you renew your resolve to follow the Lamb, Jesus Christ, shining as a light in the midst of this dark and dreadful world.

Yes, tonight is different from all other nights! Praise the Lord for His mighty hand and outstretched arm which He uses to deliver salvation to His people! Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive all power and glory! Jesus is King! Amen!

Passover Scriptures

The Original Passover: Exodus 5-15

The Last Supper, Passover with the Disciples: Matthew 26; Mark 14; Luke 22; John 13-18

Note: This day is observed as Maundy Thursday in some churches.