What Passover Means to Me as a Christian

Passover for many is a time of celebration as the wrath of all mighty God passes over his chosen people as recorded in the Torah in the book of Exodus. After the plague of blood, frogs, lice, flies, death of livestock, boils, hail, locusts, and darkness, the death of the firstborn Egyptian males was the last great plague that would befall Egypt because Pharaoh would drive the Jews out of Egypt. The plague of the firstborn Egyptians meant that God would 'nail' the 'heads' of the evil doing nation that held God's chosen people in captivity, and as a result Egypt would drive the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt on account of their God.

The firstborn of Egypt was killed, but the firstborn of Israel was saved because the Israelites marked their door posts with the blood of a slaughtered lamb as directed by Moses, and thus the angel of death was able to distinguish the Egyptians from the Israelites by the blood of the lamb thus saving the Israelite heads and killing the Egyptian heads. In the process the angel of death passed over the Israelites, and the Israelites ate unleavened bread and ate the lamb that was killed for its blood in small family settings. Overall, for several millennium now Passover has been celebrated as the feast when death passes over, and since unleavened bread was used for Passover and then the Israelites had been driven out without the opportunity to add leaven to the bread thus the Festival of Unleavened Bread emerged from Passover as the Israelites fled Egypt with a week worth of unleavened bread without time to add any leaven to it on the way out of Egypt.

Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread is clarified by Jesus Christ for the Christians because he becomes the lamb of God, and thus the Passover bread and wine becomes his flesh and blood as he becomes the Passover lamb. The Christians thus consume the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, and as a result the door post of their hearts is sprinkled with blood and as a result death passes over. The Festival of Unleavened Bread however follows in that it resembles the seven days prior to Christ crucifixion when he performed his greatest works of cleansing Israel of sin by cursing the fig tree that was not productive, clearing the temple, and other such things.

When Christians partake of communion today, they are partaking of the flesh and the blood of Jesus Christ in order that spiritual death may pass over, and they prepare themselves on a weekly bases by getting rid of the 'old leaven' and implementing the new teachings of Jesus Christ. Thus both Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread are both practiced with communion today among the Christians. Overall, Passover thus means to me that God's chosen people continue to be passed over by death through the blood of the lamb of God (Jesus Christ).