What Was the Passover Feast?

The Night God Passed Over

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Every year Jesus' family walked to Jerusalem “at the Feast of the Passover” (Luke 2:41). What was this feast, and why did it matter so much? It began on one night in Egypt, long before Jesus was born.

Slaves in Egypt. God's people, Israel, were slaves in Egypt for many years. Pharaoh would not let them go, even after God sent plague after plague on the land.

The last plague. God said, “For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:12). It would be a night of judgment on Egypt and its false gods.

A lamb for each home. Each family was to take “a lamb for a household” (Exodus 12:3). The lamb had to be perfect: “Your lamb shall be without blemish” (Exodus 12:5). Without blemish means with nothing wrong at all.

Blood on the door. They were to “take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses” (Exodus 12:7). The lintel is the beam across the top of a door.

God's promise. “Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you” (Exodus 12:13). Every family inside a marked house was safe.

Ready to go. They ate the lamb with a belt on, sandals on their feet and a staff in their hand. “So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover” (Exodus 12:11). In haste means quickly, ready to leave.

Flat bread. They ate it “with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs” (Exodus 12:8). Unleavened bread is flat bread made without yeast. There was no time to wait for bread to rise.

Set free. That very night Pharaoh called for Moses and told Israel to go (Exodus 12:31). God kept His word and brought His people out of slavery.

A day to remember. God said, “So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations” (Exodus 12:14). A memorial is something that helps you remember.

Children's questions. God expected children to ask, “What do you mean by this service?” (Exodus 12:26). Parents were to answer, “It is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt” (Exodus 12:27).

In Jerusalem. Later God told Israel to keep the Passover at the place He would choose (Deuteronomy 16:5-6). In Jesus' day that place was Jerusalem and its temple. That is why Mary and Joseph made the long trip each spring.

What we learn. God rescues His people, and He wants us to remember what He has done. Remembering His help in the past helps us trust Him today.

What to do. Ask a parent to tell you about a time God helped your family. Then thank God together for His help.

Passover was Israel's great feast of rescue. Jesus' family kept it every year (Luke 2:41), and every detail of it came from Exodus 12.

Pesach. The Hebrew word pesach (say: PEH-sakh) means to pass over. God promised, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you” (Exodus 12:13). The feast is named for that act of mercy.

A new calendar (12:2). God said, “This month shall be your beginning of months.” Israel's year was reset around the day God saved them. Their whole life was to be measured from their rescue.

The lamb (12:3-6). The lamb was chosen on the tenth day and kept until the fourteenth. It had to be “without blemish, a male of the first year.” A perfect lamb died so that the firstborn of the house could live.

Hyssop and blood (12:22-23). The family dipped a bunch of hyssop in the blood and marked the lintel and doorposts. Then “the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses.” Safety came from the blood, not from how good the family was.

Unbroken bones (12:46). “Nor shall you break one of its bones.” John 19:36 shows this rule came true at the cross.

A lasting memorial (12:14). The feast was to be kept “throughout your generations.” Passover was followed by seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:5-6). Yeast was cleared out of every home.

Teaching the next generation. Exodus 12:26-27 expects children to ask what the service means. Deuteronomy 6:7 says, “You shall teach them diligently to your children.” Passover was a family Bible lesson every year.

The place God chose. Deuteronomy 16 moved the feast to the place God would choose, and it named Passover as one of three yearly feasts when Israel's men appeared before the Lord. By the time of Jesus, huge crowds of pilgrims filled Jerusalem every spring.

Lambs at the temple. In Jesus' day the Passover lambs were brought to the temple courts on the afternoon of the fourteenth. Families then ate the meal together that night in homes across the city.

Luke 2:42. Mary and Joseph went up “according to the custom of the feast.” They did not keep God's command only once in a while. They built their family life around it.

Application. God's people remember His rescue on purpose. Christians do the same when we read the Bible together, share how God has helped us, and take the Lord's Supper.

Jesus, Our Passover Lamb

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The Passover lamb was more than a meal. It was God's picture of the Savior He would send. Every lamb at every Passover pointed ahead to Jesus.

The Lamb of God. When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming, he said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).

Without blemish. The Passover lamb had to be perfect. Jesus was perfect too, because He never sinned. Peter wrote that we were redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19). Redeemed means bought back.

A boy at the feast. At twelve, Jesus came to Jerusalem for the Passover with Mary and Joseph (Luke 2:41-42). He came to the feast with Mary and Joseph. He knew He had come to do His Father's work.

The last Passover meal. Years later Jesus ate the Passover with His disciples. He said, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (Luke 22:15). Fervent desire means a very strong wish.

The bread. Jesus took bread and said, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19).

The cup. He took the cup and said, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:20). A covenant is a promise God makes and keeps.

The Lamb on the cross. In that same Passover season, Jesus died on the cross. Paul wrote, “For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7).

Not one bone. The Passover lamb's bones were never to be broken (Exodus 12:46). At the cross the soldiers did not break Jesus' legs. John wrote that this happened so that “Not one of His bones shall be broken” would come true (John 19:36).

Quiet like a lamb. Long before, Isaiah wrote, “He was led as a lamb to the slaughter” (Isaiah 53:7). Jesus did not fight back. He gave His life because He loves us.

Blood that saves. In Egypt the blood on the door kept the family safe. Jesus' blood takes away the sin of everyone who trusts Him. “Without shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). Remission means forgiveness.

Alive again. The Lamb who died did not stay dead. Jesus rose on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). In heaven, God's people sing, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain” (Revelation 5:12).

What we learn. The Passover was God's picture of Jesus. Jesus is the perfect Lamb who takes away sin. When we trust Him, God's judgment passes over us.

What to do. When your church takes the Lord's Supper, remember Jesus, our Passover Lamb. Thank Him for giving His body and His blood for you.

Every Passover lamb was a promise in picture form. The New Testament says plainly that Jesus is the Lamb those pictures were waiting for.

Pascha. The Greek word for Passover is pascha (say: PAHS-khah), taken from the Hebrew pesach. Paul writes, “For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7). Jesus is not just like the lamb. He is our Passover.

The Lamb of God. John the Baptist called Jesus the Lamb of God, “who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). The Passover lamb protected one household. This Lamb takes away the sin of the world.

Without blemish. Exodus 12:5 required a lamb “without blemish.” Peter applies that to Christ's “precious blood” (1 Peter 1:18-19). Only a sinless substitute could die for sinners.

Why animals were not enough. “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). The lambs pointed to forgiveness, but they could not give it. They taught Israel to wait for a better sacrifice.

The timing. Jesus died during the Passover feast in Jerusalem, the same city where He had sat among the teachers at twelve. God's calendar and God's Lamb met at the cross.

The Last Supper (Luke 22:15-20). At the Passover meal Jesus gave the bread and cup a new meaning: His body given and His blood shed “for you.” He called the cup “the new covenant in My blood.” The Lord's Supper looks back to the cross the way Passover looked back to Egypt.

John 19:36. The soldiers broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus, but not His. John connects this with the Passover rule of Exodus 12:46: “Not one of His bones shall be broken.”

Isaiah 53:7. “He was led as a lamb to the slaughter.” Seven hundred years before the cross, Isaiah described a silent, willing Lamb who would carry the sin of others (Isaiah 53:6).

A greater exodus. The first Passover freed Israel from slavery in Egypt. The cross frees us from slavery to sin. The blood on the door meant judgment passed over. “Without shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22), and Jesus' blood brings full forgiveness to all who trust Him.

Revelation 5:9. In heaven they sing to the Lamb, “For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” The Passover that began with one nation ends with people from every nation.

Application. The Lord's Supper is not a ritual to earn God's favor. It is a meal of remembering and thanking. Come to it trusting the Lamb who already paid for your sin.

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