by
Jon Thompson

What do you think of when you hear or read the story of the Passover?

Do you think about when Yeshua said to His closest disciples “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover meal with you before I suffer”
(Luke 22:15)?

Or does it call to mind the consternation His disciples must have felt when He continued with “For I tell you, I will never again eat one [Passover] until it finds its fulfillment in the kingdom of Elohim”
(Luke 22:16)?

Perhaps you reflect on the two previous years Yeshua celebrated the Passover with them and what He might have taught them at the Seder table. Or that His disciples continued to celebrate the Passover every year after Yeshua was resurrected and how difficult yet exciting those meals would have been. Difficult because Yeshua was no longer with them on that day they are commanded to keep. Exciting because they knew Yeshua was resurrected and would one day eat the feast with them again as He promised.

When you think of Passover do you reflect on the eighteen years Yeshua faithfully obeyed His Father's command to keep the feast between the time He was twelve years old and when His ministry began? We know nothing of those years, but knowing He was sinless, He must have kept the commandment to celebrate Passover each year, because to violate the commandment is sin.

Maybe you think back to the story of Mary and Joseph who took their twelve-year-old son Yeshua with them to Jerusalem for Passover and didn't realize He stayed behind in the temple until they were on their way home. When they found Him three days later in the temple He was talking with the teachers in the temple—the priests, who were amazed at His understanding of the Torah. When Mary told Yeshua they had been looking for Him, He said, “Why were you looking for me? Didn't you know that I had to be in my Father's house?” (Luke 2:49)

Or maybe you think about how Passover would have been in Mary and Joseph's lives as they taught the Messiah how the Elohim of Israel showed Himself mighty against all the gods of Egypt and delivered the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt.

Can you imagine the annual Seders pass as Yeshua grew and began to understand the meaning behind the teaching of the Exodus? How it culminated in YHVH giving His people instructions for living, including the instruction to keep the Passover for all their generations. Perhaps Joseph said to Yeshua: “Because YHVH commanded us saying: ‘You shall observe this rite as an ordinance for you and for your sons for ever.’ And when your children say to you: ‘What do you mean by this service?’ You shall say: ‘It is the sacrifice of YHVH's Passover, for He passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when He slew the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” (Exodus 12:24,26-27) “And because YHVH commanded me to teach these things to my children so they would not forget.”

What do you think their reaction was the year Yeshua first caught a glimpse of how the Passover event and the commanded annual remembrance of it taught about His mission?

Perhaps you think farther back. To a time when the chosen people of YHVH were oppressed in slavery to a master in Egypt. When they could do nothing to free themselves from bondage, and YHVH sent a prophet as an instrument to show Himself mighty against all the false gods of the nation. Moses told Pharaoh repeatedly to let Israel go that they might serve YHVH in the wilderness. That same Moses raised his staff and YHVH brought the plagues upon the mightiest nation on earth.

After the death of the firstborn on the Passover night, Pharaoh finally relented and let Israel go. That same Moses raised his staff, YHVH split apart the waters of the Red Sea and the people of YHVH walked through on dry land. Pharaoh followed with murderous intent. Moses again raised his staff and YHVH caused the waters of the sea to collapse on the Egyptians and destroy them. The people of YHVH were free from bondage.

Do you consider that the same Moses said that YHVH would raise up a Prophet like him from among His people? That Prophet was Yeshua. Paul called Yeshua the Passover Lamb. Nobody called Him the easter ham. The only mention of Easter in the King James Bible is when Herod has Peter in prison and intends on making a display of him. There is no indication that any of the disciples in the New Testament celebrated anything relating to the resurrection except for the Biblical feasts of the YHVH—Passover, Feast of First Fruits, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. All of which picture the death, burial, and resurrection of Messiah.

Passover is rich with symbolism that teaches about the mission of Messiah. When you think about it, do you look back on all of these pictures? Or do you look forward to the greater Exodus that YHVH promises.

“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says YHVH, when it shall no longer be said, ‘As YHVH lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As YHVH lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where He had driven them.’ For I will bring them back to their own land which I gave to their fathers.”
(Jeremiah 16:14-15)

Are your thoughts taken to the future when the ultimate fulfillment of Passover will take place?

Either way, whether you look forward to the prophetic fulfillment yet to come, or look back on the rich tapestry of YHVH's awesome deeds already fulfilled, keep this Passover knowing that YHVH is faithful, He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.