The Christian PASSOVER
Our CHRISTIAN PASSOVER is Thursday evening, celebrating Jesus’ last Passover with His disciples! Jesus said He would not eat it again until He observes it with His disciples in His Kingdom (Luke 22:15-18, cf. Ezek. 45:21-25). The article below traces the history of the CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. John led the churches of Asia Minor to observe it annually on this date for decades after AD 70. But it was eventually replaced by the bishop of Rome with a truncated, weekly “Eucharist.” We choose to follow the apostolic tradition with our household rather than the traditions of Rome.
For those observing Passover with your household and/or fellowship, the following links include how to arrange the items on the seder plate, and a download of the PowerPoint presentation that we use for our celebration.
Christian Passover Seder Arrangement | Christian Passover PowerPoint
3 thoughts on “The Christian PASSOVER”
Greetings and thank you Pastor Tim for this post.
I have a question with regards to the passover meal.
Can a non christian feast on this? Can a non christian friends be invited to the feast?
People ate the passover meal before going through the Red sea (symbolic of baptism) and bible says the strangers where also there partaking in the meal. (Exodus 12:41-49) but the Scripture is a bit confusing for me. It says no foreigners shall eat it. But then it says he can eat when he is circumcised! Is circumcision the sign of being born again? The same strangers who was with them were baptised later into Red Sea. So is this applicable to our holy communion service also? No children or non believers can partake?
If you could kindly explain would really appreciate it. Many thanks.
Robert,
Excellent questions! The Christian Passover should be for baptized believers only. It is important to understand that we are NOT continuing Israel’s Passover according to the Law of Moses. We are memorializing Jesus’ Passover with His disciples. In the process we recognize and point out the many parallels with Israel’s Passover, such as the lamb vs. the Lamb of God, how the various elements (unleavened bread, etc) symbolize Christ and the Christian experience, our “exodus” from the kingdom of darkness, and how Israel’s wilderness experience after being ‘baptized’ in the Red Sea parallels this life as we await in hope of entrance into the ‘Promised Land’ (1 Cor. 10:1-12). For Israel, the exodus, Red Sea crossing, wilderness wandering, etc., were the reality, and Passover was just a retelling of their history. For us, the cross and our salvation is the reality, and Israel’s history is an allegory of our reality. We must be careful not to lose sight of this distinction so that we end up in legalism and in bondage to the Law of Moses.
There is a danger from two extremes when we are considering the Feasts. The first is becoming legalistic and in bondage to the Law of Moses. The second is complete neglect of the many parallels between the Exodus and the Christian experience that are specifically described by Paul in the New Testament, and how these are to be used as teaching tools. The middle road, (using the Feasts to teach God’s Plan) helps Christians stay on the ‘difficult path’ that leads to LIFE. By constantly showing the parallels with Israel’s history, we then can easily spot how Israel’s history with God, such as how the ‘Golden Calf’ incident, parallels Rome’s blending of paganism with Christianity. We can easily see what God’s reaction to idolatry and His many warnings to Israel about idolatry, partnership with the world, defiling God’s covenant, blending the holy with the profane, etc., apply to us and our New Covenant relationship which has parallel restrictions and warnings (cf. 2 Cor. 6:11-7:1). Israel’s history shows us God’s attitude towards disobedience and polluting His holy things with profane things, how we are to be a separated people. For example, the Babylonian Exile shows that God’s grace is not inexhaustible. It has a limit, which is a warning to us.
As far as the children of Christian parents participating in the Christian Passover, I think they should definitely attend. Remember, Israel’s Passover was for the whole household. However, I would withhold from them the specific breaking of the ‘bread’ of which Jesus said, ‘this is My body’ and the third cup of which He said, ‘this is the blood of the New Covenant.’ They should not partake of those elements UNTIL they have been baptized into the body of Christ. God commanded Israel to observe the Passover annually including the entire household (including children) to teach the children about Israel’s history and God’s supernatural deliverance. In the Shema (Deut. 6:4-9), God told Israel that they must diligently teach their children. The feasts were teaching tools to do just that. Paul stated that the ‘Law’ (including feasts) was the tutor to lead Israel to Christ (Gal. 3:24).
Regarding circumcision, that was the seal of Israel’s covenant until Christ came. Paul explains that baptism is the seal of the New Covenant (Col. 2:11-14), and that in baptism we experience the ‘circumcision’ of Christ, that is ‘circumcision of the heart.’
Tim,
Thank you for posting your article! Happy Passover
On You Tube, One for Israel.org has a 40 minute video, “Israeli professors unveil secrets of the Passover Sedar”. It shows how Jesus was the lamb in the passover in Old Testament Genesis 22:2 when Isaac was offered as sacrifice and in Isaiah 40-55 Isaiah’s new exodus.