The Passover Restored by Christ – Part I

There is a very important command of God, which cannot be left out from the lives of the faithful saints who make it their goal to enter the kingdom of heaven and try to live a godly life of faith. It is the Passover of the new covenant, which is kept in the World Mission Society Church of God. Many people claim to believe in God and live according to the teachings of the Bible, but they do not know the central truth of the Bible, the truth of God that leads them to eternal life and salvation. They turn away from the righteous teachings of the Bible and follow falsehood. We, however, ought to understand the Bible correctly. If not, we will miss the core of the Bible and its true meaning and will not be able to attain salvation.

If a wrestling player loses his balance, he will fall and lose the game. If a hang glider pilot fails to maintain balance, he will fall headlong to the ground. An organization without central control can fall easily. A dogma without a truthful core may try to fill itself with falsehood. In the universe there is a center, and in a nation there is a central department for administration.

Thus, everything under the sun is composed of its center and various ancillary organizations that support it. So is the Bible; the whole context of all 66 books centers on God. And God laid the core of all the truths in the Passover of the new covenant, through which He revealed His will. The Passover of the new covenant contains the secret of eternal life, truth, salvation, love, heavenly kingdom, and a sign by which we can recognize God.

Now, the Passover of the new covenant proclaims the joy of emancipation and the grace of salvation to everyone who is enslaved to death, as the everlasting sign of David, as the brilliant light shining in the darkness, and as the truth.

1. The Origin of the Passover

In the days of Jacob, the Hebrews moved into the land of Egypt which had abundant food, and there they were mistreated as slaves for over four hundred years as prophesied (Genesis 15:13). In the time of Moses, the oppression became severe, and the Egyptians made the lives of the Israelites bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields, and at last God listened to the cries of the Israelites (Exodus 1:12-14). The Israelites were treated worse than animals. They groaned about their fate of slavery, and they cried out for emancipation.

Finally, their cries reached heaven, and God sent Moses the prophet to deliver them. Depending entirely upon God’s great power, Moses boldly asked Pharaoh to release the Israelites from slavery. However, Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he repeatedly refused the request of Moses.

Whenever Moses tried to yield the hardened heart of Pharaoh with God’s great power, Pharaoh became more stubborn. Then nine plagues were brought upon all of Egypt: the plague of blood, the plague of frogs, the plague of gnats, the plague of flies, the plague of pestilence, the plague of festering boils, the plague of hail, the plague of locusts, and the plague of darkness. When the plagues were brought upon Egypt one after another, Pharaoh promised Moses to let the Israelites go, because he could not endure the sufferings caused by the plagues. However, when God withdrew the plagues, Pharaoh’s heart became hardened again and he broke his promise to let them go. At last, the awesome power of God was revealed before Pharaoh. It was the tenth plague, the killing of the firstborn. Just then, the power of the Passover appeared. God told the Israelites in advance how to escape the tenth plague.

Exodus 12:13 “The blood (of the Passover lamb) 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.”

Thus, God promised to save those who kept the Passover from the plague.

According to God’s command, the blood of the Passover lamb was put on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses which kept the Passover. It was a sign that God’s people were living there (Exodus 12:13). The destroying angel passed over the houses that had the blood of the Passover lamb on the doorposts, without harming even a hair or bringing any plagues upon them. However, the houses that did not keep the Passover he entered and struck down every firstborn, both man and animal (Exodus 12:29).

As God prophesied, there was loud wailing throughout Egypt. It was because the LORD struck down all the firstborn, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the slave girl who was at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. There was not a house without someone dead, and they wailed loudly over this tragedy. All the Egyptians and even Pharaoh realized that the cause of such terrible plagues was that they kept holding the Israelites back. Therefore, Pharaoh permitted the Israelites to go, and finally the joyful day came when the Israelites were set free from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 12:31-33).

God commanded them to commemorate this day every year as a festival to the LORD—a lasting ordinance (Exodus 12:1-14). This is the origin of the Passover.

The Passover is described as 逾越 (yu yue) in Chinese, פֶַּסַח, (pesach) in Hebrew, and πασχα (pascha) in Greek. All of them mean “plagues pass over.” The Passover was a day of God’s great power on which the Israelites came out of Egypt where they served as slaves and received the land of Canaan as an inheritance. It is a truly important truth in which the profound will of God is hidden.

Even today, through the Passover we are to be released from the slavery of sin and be led to the everlasting kingdom of heaven. Thus, the history of the Passover at the time of the Exodus shows how it will be fulfilled in this age. We should understand God’s mystery hidden in the Passover. If you come to the World Mission Society Church of God (WMSCOG), you can understand that it is Christ Ahnsahnghong who restored the Passover of the new covenant in this age of the Holy Spirit.