Christ, Our Passover

WORSHIP ARTICLE | Shawn Chancellor | Amarillo, Texas

Fear and helplessness. This must have been what the average Israelite felt by the ninth plague. Nine times, Jehovah had struck the gods of Egypt. The intensity of the plagues had increased from annoying frogs and flies to decimated herds and crops. The people had been struck with boils, and hail had destroyed the fields. Despite the devastation, Pharaoh refused to submit, and he did not let the children of Israel go. However, God had one more plague in store, and this time, Pharaoh would relent.

The tenth and final plague was the death of the firstborn. In Exodus 11, Moses warned Pharaoh about this plague.

“Moses said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘About midnight I am going out into the midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the millstones; all the firstborn of the cattle as well” (Exodus 11:4–5 NASB).

In preparation for this plague, Israel was to sacrifice a lamb and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs (Exodus 12:3-10). They were to collect the lamb’s blood in a basin, and using a bunch of hyssop, they were to put the blood on the doorpost and the lintels of their house. This lamb was sacrificed so that their firstborn would live.

“The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; 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” (Exodus 12:13, NASB95).

On the night of the Passover, “the Lord struck all the firstborn of Egypt” (Exodus 12:29). “There was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead” (Exodus 12:30). However, the Lord passed over the houses of Israel and spared their firstborn. As God had promised, Pharaoh ordered Israel to leave, and their bondage in Egypt was brought to an end.

This event was so significant in the history of Israel that it caused them to reorder their calendars, making the month of Nisan in which the Passover occurred the first month of the year (Exodus 12:2). The feast of Passover was to be observed every year followed by seven additional days in which there was to be no leaven in the house (Exodus 12:14-20). This feast was a reminder of God’s deliverance of His people from bondage and death.

Christ our Passover

Several New Testament passages allude to a connection between the Passover Lamb and the sacrifice of Jesus. John makes this connection when he records that like the Passover lamb, not one of Jesus’s bones were broken (John 19:31-36; cf. Exodus 12:46). Peter states that we are redeemed “with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:19). The Passover lamb was to be “unblemished.” Its sacrifice was connected to the redemption of Israel from Egypt. However, the most direct connection is made by Paul, who states, “For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7).

These passages, especially 1 Corinthians 5:7, permit us to make typological connections between the Exodus Passover and the sacrifice of Jesus. Just as Israel was enslaved by a power that they could not overcome through their own strength or ingenuity, without Christ, we are incapable of freedom from the bondage to sin. Just as Pharaoh refused to allow Israel to go worship Jehovah (Exodus 5:1-2), sin prevents us from fellowship with God. Israel was delivered from slavery by grace (God’s gracious act of redemption) through faith (“The sons of Israel went and did so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron so they did” Exodus 12:28). Likewise, we are delivered from spiritual death by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8). The grace that saves us is found in the sacrifice of Jesus (Romans 3:24-26). The faith that saves is seen in our obedience to the Gospel (Romans 1:5; Romans 6:1-13; Colossians 2:12).

What does this mean for us?

As noted above, the Passover was followed by a seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 12:17-20). For seven days, there was to be no leaven found in the houses of Israel. The leaven was removed before the Passover meal (Exodus 12:14) and not brought back in until after the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Anyone who ate anything leavened during these seven days was to be “cut off from Israel” (Exodus 12:16).

In 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, Paul alludes to this practice. In this context, leaven is representative of sin (either the adultery described in verse 1 or, more likely, the arrogant attitude of the congregation that led them to ignore apostolic instruction cf. 1 Corinthians 5:2, 6; 4:6, 18, 19). Thus, the call to “clean out the old leaven” (vs. 7) is a call to repentance. This call to repentance is based on what Christ has already done to deliver them from condemnation to sin.

It is clear from reading 1 Corinthians that many in the Corinthian church were struggling with the transformation required to be children of God. In short, their “old man” thinking inhibited their “new man” living. We see this most clearly in their attitudes toward sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 5:1-2, 6:12-20), marriage (1 Corinthians 7), idol worship (1 Corinthians 8-10), and the resurrection doctrine (1 Corinthians 15). Throughout the letter Paul corrects Greek and Gnostic concepts that were corrupting the fellowship at Corinth. There was a need for deep-seated change among these brethren. This change was far more profound than behavior modification. They needed to change how they saw the Lord, the world, and one another.

This need for transformation, a radical change in thought and action, is inherent in the Gospel call and the Passover imagery. Israel could not worship God properly while they were enslaved in Egypt. Something had to change. They had to leave Egypt behind. Likewise, we must leave behind the “old man” and move into a new mode of living and thinking. We cannot serve two masters, walk two paths, or be two creatures (Matthew 6:24; 7:13-14; 2 Corinthians 5:17).

The need for this change is predicated on the fact that “Christ our Passover” has already been sacrificed. Once the Passover lamb was slain and the blood was put on the doorposts, Israel’s deliverance was effectively underway. As a result, they were to eat the Passover meal dressed and ready for their journey out of Egypt (Exodus 12:11). It is this connection between the slain lamb and transformative change that Paul emphasizes in 1 Corinthians 5:7. He is not only telling those brethren that they need to make changes, but he says it is high time the changes were made.

This transformation is the only legitimate response to the fact that the Passover Lamb has been sacrificed. Paul uses a similar line of reasoning in Colossians. In Colossians 1:13, he proclaims that God “rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved son.” This, of course, was accomplished through the sacrifice of His Son on the cross. Paul goes on to state that we can be “buried with Him (Jesus) in baptism” and “raised up with Him through faith in the working of God” (Colossians 2:12). He further explains, in verse 13, that “raised up” refers to new life made possible by the forgiveness of our sins. In Colossians 3:1, Paul describes the life we should live as a consequence of being “raised up with Christ.” What he describes in verses 2-17 is, to borrow the language of 1 Corinthians 5, a life free of the “leaven of malice and wickedness.”

Paul makes a similar argument in Romans 6. Christ has died, and we can join Him in His death through baptism (Romans 6:3). We can then be raised to “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). This new life is one in which we are no longer “slaves to sin” (Romans 6:6). As a result, we are to present our “members as slaves of righteousness to God” (Romans 6:13).

To be clear, neither our point in this article nor Paul’s point in his epistles is to diminish the role of grace in our salvation. Just as Israel was hopeless without God’s intervention in Egypt, we are hopelessly lost to sin without His intervention at the cross. Nor are we attempting to balance grace and works as if there is some ledger that must be reconciled. We are noticing that there is only one legitimate and appropriate response to the sacrifice Christ made to deliver us from the condemnation of sin. We must clean out the old leaven, examine our lives, and sweep them clean of any vestige of the old man that we might be a new creature.

Conclusion

The significance of the Passover and its ultimate fulfillment in Christ serves as a reminder of both God’s deliverance and the call to live transformed lives. As believers, we are invited to reflect on the grace that saves us and the responsibilities that come with that grace. Just as the Israelites were called to remove leaven from their homes, we, too, must examine our lives for any remnants of sin and embrace a spirit of repentance and renewal. By recognizing the sacrifice of Jesus as our Passover Lamb, we can strive to embody His teachings and live in accordance with our new identity, free from the bondage of sin and fully engaged in a transformative relationship with God.

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April 2025 | GROW magazine