Today as we come to the Lord’s Table, we look back to the Feast of Passover—not merely as a historical event, but as a prophetic shadow pointing to its ultimate fulfilment in Jesus Christ.
In Exodus 12, God instituted the Passover on the night He delivered Israel from bondage in Egypt. Each household was commanded to take a spotless lamb, kill it, and apply its blood to the doorposts of their home. When the Lord passed through the land in judgment, He said, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” The blood of the lamb was the difference between life and death.
This was never just about Egypt. It was a shadow—a divine picture—of something far greater to come.
Jesus is the substance.
John the Baptist declared in John 1:29, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” At Passover, Israel sacrificed lambs. At the cross, God provided His Lamb.
Let’s consider the parallels:
- The Passover lamb had to be without blemish (Exodus 12:5). Jesus was sinless, the perfect sacrifice (1 Peter 1:19).
- The lamb was slain, and its blood was applied to the doorposts. Jesus was crucified, and His blood is applied to our hearts by faith. Just as judgment passed over those under the blood in Egypt, God’s judgment passes over those who are covered by the blood of Christ.
- Not a single bone of the Passover lamb was to be broken (Exodus 12:46). At the cross, though the legs of others were broken, Jesus’ bones were not broken (John 19:36), fulfilling the Scripture.
- The Passover meal included unleavened bread, symbolising the removal of sin. Jesus, during the Last Supper—celebrated at Passover—took bread and said, “This is My body.” He was declaring that He is the true unleavened bread, the sinless One given for us.
- They also ate bitter herbs, reminding them of the bitterness of slavery. Christ drank the bitter cup of God’s wrath on our behalf, so that we could be set free from the bondage of sin.
- Passover marked Israel’s deliverance from physical slavery. The cross marks our deliverance from sin, death, and eternal judgment.
- Paul makes it clear in 1 Corinthians 5:7: “For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.”
- But the cross did more than just deliver us—it established a New Covenant.
- Under the old covenant given through Moses, God’s law was written on tablets of stone, external to the people. It revealed God’s standard but could not transform the human heart. It commanded righteousness, but it could not produce it.
The New Covenant, promised in Jeremiah 31:31-33 and fulfilled in Christ, is far greater. God says, “I will put My law within them, and write it on their hearts.” This is the law of Christ—not merely an external code, but an internal transformation.
Through the blood of Jesus, we are not just forgiven—we are made new. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell within the believer, becoming our teacher, our guide, and the One who leads us into all truth (John 16:13). No longer is our relationship with God based on external adherence to written commandments, but on a living relationship with Him, empowered by His Spirit.
Hebrews 8 declares that this is a “better covenant, established on better promises.” Why? Because it doesn’t depend on our ability to keep the law—it depends on Christ who fulfilled the law on our behalf, and now lives in us by His Spirit.
This is why communion is so powerful. It is not just a remembrance—it is a proclamation. Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” When we take the bread and the cup, we are declaring that the shadow has been fulfilled, the Lamb has been slain, and redemption has been accomplished—and that we are now partakers of this New Covenant.
As you take the bread today, remember His body—broken for you, though He was without sin.
As you take the cup, remember His blood—the blood of the New Covenant, not applied to doorposts, but to your heart, securing your eternal salvation.
Just as Israel had to personally apply the blood, each of us must personally receive Christ by faith. It is not enough that the Lamb was slain—the blood must be applied.
And just as Passover marked a new beginning for Israel, communion reminds us that in Christ, we are a new creation—no longer living under the old written code, but walking in the newness of the Spirit.
- So today, examine your heart. Come with reverence. Come with gratitude. Come with faith.
- Because the Lamb of God has been sacrificed.
- And through His blood, judgment passes over you.
Amen.
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In Christ’s love,
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