Passover, the lost law of God

October 7, 2022
Passover-the-lost-law-of-God

Passover is an extremely valuable law that contains God’s love for His people in all ages, but many people do not know about it. Based on the records of the Bible and the history of Christianity, failing to obey the Passover leads us to destruction. So, we must know what this law is so why people do not know about it, and why we keep it.

Passover is God’s law

We should understand that if Passover is not God’s law, we don’t need to keep it. However, if it’s God’s law, we should keep it with all our hearts, mind, and soul. If we study the Bible, we’ll find that both the old and new testament books of the bible record that God commanded His people to keep the Passover.

Old Testament

Exodus 12:1-14 …“This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year… take a lamb … Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs… it is the Lord’s Passover.“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.

The Passover of the old covenant is celebrated on the 1st month, 14th day, at twilight, by slaughtering a lamb. After celebrating this, the Israelite were freed from Egypt and God ordered that they commemorate this  feast annually as a  lasting ordinance. Based on the records of the Bible, each time the Israelites celebrate the Passover, they are protected and blessed by God. But each time they stop celebrating this feast, they fall out of God’s protection and grace.

New Testament

1 Corinthians 5:7 Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

Matthew 26:17-19… So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover. While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying,“Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying,
“Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Although the Bible records this law of God, many people do not know what it is and how to keep it. The Passover of the old covenant is celebrated on the 1st month, 14th day, at twilight, by slaughtering a lamb (Ex 12:1-13, Lev 23:5). The Passover of the new covenant is celebrated on the same day, but by eating the bread and drinking the wine that represents Jesus’s flesh and blood who is the reality of the Passover in the new testament times.

Both in the old and new testament times, keeping the Passover brings the people blessings to be closer to God and receive salvation. Though Passover seems like a simple and meaningless ceremony, it contains the following blessings that every God’s people need:

Passover is God’s love

Many people claim to believe and understand God’s love while not keeping the Passover. Can we fully understand God’s love without keeping it?

Let us think how Jesus Christ established the Passover of the new covenant? He became the Passover Lamb himself. What does that mean? In order to celebrate the Passover and receive blessings in the old testament time, they need to slaughter a lamb. The old testament is only a copy and shadow off the good things that are coming (Heb 10:1). In the new testament times, in order to give us life through the Passover, our God gave up His own life.

If we put the above verses together, we can understand that our God who loves us so much and laid down His own life on the cross to give us His flesh and blood to give us salvation and make us the true children of God. As sinners, we are not worthy of God’s love and salvation. But as we are cleansed of our sins and granted eternal life through God’s sacrifice, we can realize God’s love for us and even make efforts to be worthy of His salvation. In other words, God’s laws are God’s love that grants us hope for the kingdom of heaven and the Passover contains His earnest desire to bring us to heaven. The bible also teaches us that without obedience to God’s laws made through His sacrifice, we are far from God and are even closer to Satan who’s scheme is to reverse the law of God to make us sinners and loose the blessings of salvation.

Not keeping Passover is Satan’s scheme

Satan’s cunning words are always the opposite of what God says. That is why recognizing who’s words we are following is very important. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve receive 2 different words about the Tree of life. One is from God forbidding them to eat from it, while the other is from the serpent telling them that it’s alright to eat it.

Then, what about the Passover? We’ve learned that Passover is the law of God. However, many churches nowadays do not keep it and claim that it’s not necessary for our salvation? Did God ever say that? Even if we read all the books in the bible, God never abolished Passover and asked us to stop keeping it. Rather, He told us that Passover is a lasting or everlasting covenant that we should keep.

Exodus 12:11-14 … it is the Lord’s Passover…“This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come, you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.

Hebrews 13:20 Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep,

Matthew 26:17-19, 26-28 …prepared the Passover…Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

If God intended the Passover to be an everlasting covenant, who says Passover no longer needs to be celebrated? Just like in the garden of Eden, the devil’s scheme is always to give words that are opposite of God’s commands to lead the people to sin. The same thing happened with the Passover. After Jesus and the apostles left the Earth, Satan worked even harder to abolish the laws of God as the bible prophesied through Daniel 7:25 and the Parable of the Weeds and Wheat. Finally, in 325 AD, he managed to abolish Passover through the council of Nicea.

Earle E. Cairns, Christianity Through the Centuries p. 112

The Easter controversy arose about the second century over the question of what was the proper date to celebrate Easter. The Church in the East held that Easter should be celebrated on the fourteenth day of the Nisan, the date of the Passover according to the Jewish calendar, no matter what day of the week til fell upon. Polycarp of Asia was opposed in this view by the Roman bishop Anicetus, who believed that Easter should be celebrated on the Sunday following the fourteenth of Nisan. The Easterned and Western segments of the Church could not arrive at any agreement until the council of Nicea in 325, when the viewpoint of the Western Church was adapted. 

God never abolished the Passover, nor changed its date. Since it was not God who changed the law but men, what shall we do? Who should we follow?

Mark 7:6-8 He (Jesus) replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

Based on the above verse, letting go of God’s commands to follow the tradition of men is hypocrisy. God told us that if we only believe in Him with our mouth, but without His laws, we are far from Him and everything we are doing in His name is in vain.

Imagine having friends who call themselves your best friend. However, despite claiming to be your best friends, only one of them listens to you, understands you, and stays by your side when you need a friend to rely on. You’ll eventually realize they are just saying they are your best friends, but in reality, their hearts are far from you. Like this, we can all say we are God’s children. However, how many of us listen to God, understand His will, and stay by His side by following Him always? Who among us truly believes in God and follows Him always?

We shall keep God’s law

Although many people believe in God, they ignore His laws while thinking it’s alright because God is love or the laws are just insignificant. The dangerous part is people would rather keep man made laws than God’s commands. We should understand that God didn’t give us His commands to ignore them and cling to religious traditions that are not His at all.

Matthew 7:21-23  “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Why did God give us his laws? Is it to burden us to prove our faith in him? The Bible testifies that God’s laws contain God’s love and desire to bless and save us. He didn’t give us His laws to burden us, but to lead us to heaven. In addition, disobedience to God’s laws means obedience to Satan. Passover is a very important law of God that got lost due to Satan’s schemes. From now on, we should start keeping the Passover and learn the other laws of God who only want to save us and go to heaven.

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