The Passover/Communion, a Christians Journey
Most Christians are not aware that those who are teaching that the word Easter, as read in some Bibles, is a mistranslation of the word pacha meaning Passover and should not have been inserted in the Holy Scriptures. Yet many of those who are teaching the Word, neglect to tell their congregation this important fact, and they continue with the chocolate easter bunnies and of the rolling of dyed Easter eggs. Why, because the people say it is fun? Is it any wonder that when we read why God asks the question “will a man rob God” in Malachi 3:8, we are bewildered. The answer is that we are robbing Him, robbing Him of His blessings because our minds are filled with false gods and false teachings. God stands ready to bless His children, but because of false teaching, He is not able.
This subject is for those who are interested in what is written in the Bible because we appreciate what Jesus Christ has done for us and want to be blessed with His Word and have our minds sealed with His teachings.
Study
In the Bible, the Passover is found in Exodus 12. However we read:
Luke 22:1, “Now the feast of unleavened bread drew neigh, which is called the Passover.
We see that the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened bread are two Feast according to Leviticus 23, one following immediately after the other and are linked together.
Leviticus 23:4, “These are the Feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their seasons. 5, In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lords Passover. 6, and on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
The Passover is one day, but the 2nd Feast, the Feast of Unleavened Bread lasts 7 days. Why? We will get to why the Feast of Unleavened Bread is 7 days shortly.
When we accept, willingly, to act on God’s condition of being baptized, which is a picture of our death, burial, and resurrection, we willingly meet God’s conditions and the death occurs to our old man, that is, to our natural life.
Ephesians 4:22, “That you put off concerning the former conversion, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts”.
This is the time, while we are alive, we are reckoned as to the death of the flesh nature within us.
Romans 6:11, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be indeed dead unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Baptism is a new beginning and a new birth to us. We have left Satan’s dominion and answered God’s calling to seek the Kingdom of God. We now are infant children with a new birth, meaning being born again. 1st we were born of our physical parents, 2nd we are born of God.
1st Peter 2:1-2, “Wherefore laying aside all malice and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speaking, 2, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.”
We are made of the clay of the earth having a physical body. The promised Seed we read about in Genesis 3:15 is placed within us. The outer shell of the seed needs to be broken in order to release the inner substance of what our new life experience will become. This is the reason for trials and tests. God will give us a body that is proper for us. We will be exactly where we belong in the Kingdom.
Why does the Feast of Unleavened Bread last 7 days? The Passover pictures our new life with our new beginning, whereas, the number 7 is the biblical number for completeness, meaning, we have a new life because of the Passover, and immediately after the Passover, we will strive to eliminate sin and try to honestly lead a sinless life until Christ returns or our natural death takes place.
How Should We Eat the Passover
The Lamb is a picture of the sacrifice of Jesus as food for us.
John 6:53, Then Jesus said unto them, “verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat of the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you.”
He is also our bread from heaven
John 6:32, “For the bread of God is He Which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life to the world.”
We are to put the blood of His sacrifice on the lentil and doorpost of our house, Exodus 12:7. His life saving blood covers the door post of our mind to protect us from satan’s lies. This is visible to God on the outside of us denoting what we do and how we act. This causes God to pass over us and not judge us because He knows that we are eating and drinking His acceptable sacrifice within us.
Roasted with fire, Exodus 12:8, John 6:63. Roasted with fire is the work of the Holy Spirit which is our teacher. We take the Lamb inwardly as food which nourishes us with spiritual food, Psalms 78:24-25. This is also the food of angels, which gives life to our spiritual man, our new man, Ephesians 4:24. Our minds are protected from the lies of deception outwardly by the sprinkling of Christs blood on the doorposts of our mind, and we are also filling ourselves inwardly with the Lamb of God.
Genesis 12:11. ” And thus shall we eat it, with our loins girded and shoes on our feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste.
These Commands are Stated in the Old Testament as pictures for us but the Reality is Fulfilled in the New Testament
With our loins girded: Luke 17:8, 12:25; Acts 12:8. Girding our loins means that we are ready to go to work. The 1st work that God expects us to do:
2nd Timothy 2:15, “Study to show thy-selves approved unto God, a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
With our shoes on our feet:
Ephesians 6:15, And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
The Angel who freed Peter from prison told Peter to put on his shoes, in Peters case sandals, Acts 12:8. The meaning here is that God sent a messenger to release Peter from prison, and he was told to put on his sandals because he was still sojourning to the land of Canaan, the promised land. We will eventually find that this land is none other than Jesus Christ, the Prince of peace. Peter was not in a peaceful place within himself as yet.
With our staff in our hand: Genesis 32:10; Hebrews 11:21. Jacob never gave up his staff because he was on a journey which to us means just like the number 7, meaning completeness, and 7 days of unleavened bread. For the totality of our human life, we are sojourning to the promise land.
Our Promised Land
1st Peter 2:11, “Dearest beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshy lusts, which war against your soul.”
Like Abraham, the prophets and the Apostles who went before us, who were strangers and pilgrims sojourning to the good land, Genesis 12:1; Deuteronomy 1:25, which is promised to Abraham and his seed. There is no profit in loving the traditions of men which cause us to wander endlessly in the wilderness. Jesus Christ paid an awesome price at the cross to redeem His children. Because of His love for us, He became our Passover, 1st Corinthians 5:7, and our Feast of Unleavened Bread, 1st Corinthians 5:8. We are planted and rooted in Christ as our good land.
Colossians 2:6, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. 7, Rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.