Let's Celebrate Passover

Sermon OverviewScripture Passage: 1 Corinthians 5:7-8The Passover, also called Palm Sunday, is a Jewish tradition that should be inextricably interwoven with our celebration of Easter.1 Corinthians 5:7 says, “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.”Though historically a Jewish tradition, Passover is an event we as Christians have reason to celebrate because it is a prophecy of our redemption through Jesus Christ.In the Book of Exodus, the Passover was a tradition in which the Israelites sacrificed lambs and painted the doors of their homes in the blood of those lambs; the lambs had to be spotless in order to cause the death angel to “pass over” the homes.After the lamb was sacrificed, each family would share it in a feast, celebrating the atonement. Through this, God was teaching His people one of the fundamental truths of His Word: without shedding of blood, there is no remission.As Christians, we celebrate Passover because it speaks of how God provided our redemption. The Old Testament feast was a prophetic portrayal of Jesus, who was yet to come. In Jeremiah 31, God prophesied a new testament, and told of a different Passover lamb to come: His very Son, Jesus Christ.John 1:29 confirms this promise: “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’”Jesus is the lamb without spot or blemish. (See 1 Peter 1:19.) The last week of His life, Jesus was examined and questioned by His enemies, and they found no fault in Him.He became the sacrificial and saving lamb, as He explains during The Last Supper: “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19).When we receive the saving power of salvation in Jesus Christ, we are nourished by Him and called to share the feast with others.Adrian Rogers says, “Salvation is not learning lessons from the life of Christ; salvation is receiving life from the death of Christ.”Apply it to your lifeAs we near the Passover celebration, remember the spotless, sacrificial, saving, shared lamb of God: Jesus Christ. As Adrian Rogers says, “In His blood, we are safe; in His Word, we are sure.”