Spring feast
Passover
Pesach
14th of Nisan
Every detail of Passover was a promise. Jesus kept every single one.
Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. (1 Corinthians 5:7)
The lamb without defect. Blood on the doorpost. No broken bones. God drew the portrait of his Son's death hundreds of years before it happened, in specific, verifiable detail.
Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)
Jesus died on Passover day, at the exact hour the temple lambs were being killed. The timing was not a coincidence. He was the Passover Lamb — and he fulfilled every detail exactly.
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain. (Revelation 5:12)
Revelation pictures Jesus as the Lamb who was slain, even in heaven. One day the Marriage Supper of the Lamb will come — the ultimate Passover, when all of God's people gather at one table.
You’ve seen the shadow,
the fulfillment, and the promise.
Now read the complete guide to Passover — history, meaning, practice, and what it still reveals about Jesus.
Read the full guide ↓What Is This?
Passover is the night God rescued his people from slavery in Egypt. It was the last and most terrible of ten plagues God sent to Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt died that night. But God told his people to kill a lamb and put its blood on the doorposts of their homes. When the angel of death passed through Egypt, he passed over every home that had the blood on the door. Those families were safe.
That is why it is called Passover. The death passed over them because of the blood.
God told his people to remember this night every year forever. It is the most important story in the Old Testament. Everything in it points to Jesus.
Practice
How will you observe Passover?
Walk through it step by step — for families or on your own.
The Ten Plagues: God's War Against Egypt's Gods
Exodus 12:12 states it plainly: "I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt." The plagues were not random disasters. They were a systematic, public humiliation of Egyptian religion — a divine lawsuit against every power Pharaoh trusted instead of God. Each plague targeted a specific deity.
Plague 1 — Nile to Blood. The Nile was Egypt's entire economy and was worshipped as the god Hapi. God turned its lifeblood to blood. Egypt's most vital resource became its first disaster.
Plague 2 — Frogs. Heqet was the frog-headed goddess of birth and fertility — one of Egypt's most beloved gods. God turned her symbol into a nightmare. Frogs, which Egyptians considered sacred and never harmed, overran every bedroom, oven, and bowl in Egypt.
Plague 3 — Gnats. Rising directly from the dust of the earth (domain of Geb, the earth god), this plague crossed a line: the magicians could not duplicate it and told Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God" (Exodus 8:19). Egypt's religious professionals admitted defeat. This is the turning point.
Plague 4 — Flies. God introduced something new: he explicitly separated Israel from Egypt. The land of Goshen had no flies. This was not a natural disaster — it was a surgical judgment with divine addresses.
Plague 5 — Death of Livestock. Hathor (cow-headed goddess), Apis (the sacred bull worshipped as a god in Memphis), and Khnum (ram-headed guardian) all had their living emblems killed. Egypt's cattle were not merely livestock — specific animals were considered incarnations of gods.
Plague 6 — Boils. The priests of Egypt — the religious mediators between humanity and the gods — were so covered in boils they could not even stand before Pharaoh (Exodus 9:11). Sekhmet, the goddess of healing, could not heal her own servants. This plague also marks a shift: God now hardens Pharaoh's heart for the first time. He was confirmed in the direction he had already chosen.
Plague 7 — Hail. Nut (sky goddess), Set (god of storms), and Osiris (god of agriculture) all presided over the sky and harvest. Fire and hail fell together from a sky Egypt's gods claimed to control. God warned Egypt in advance — those who feared his word brought their servants inside. Grace was still available inside the judgment.
Plague 8 — Locusts. Whatever the hail left, the locusts consumed. Pharaoh's own officials begged him to relent: "Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?" (Exodus 10:7). Every god associated with grain and agriculture — Osiris, Min, Set — stood exposed as powerless.
Plague 9 — Darkness. Three days of thick, palpable darkness (Exodus 10:21-23). Ra was not merely one god among many — he was Egypt's supreme deity, the source of life, the power Pharaoh himself embodied on earth. Three days of total darkness declared Ra to be nothing. Meanwhile: "all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived."
Plague 10 — Death of the Firstborn. The final blow targeted Pharaoh himself as Egypt's divine king, Osiris (god of resurrection), Isis (protector of children), and Hathor (present at births). No idol, no prayer, no magic could stop it. And it reversed Egypt's own crime: Pharaoh had ordered the killing of Hebrew infants. God had warned him in Exodus 4:22-23: "Israel is my firstborn son. If you refuse to let him go, I will kill your firstborn son." He chose defiance. The judgment was just.
The ten plagues fall in three escalating groups of three, plus the climax. After nine demonstrations, God had given every possible invitation to repent. The tenth plague was not cruelty — it was the inevitable conclusion of a sustained refusal to acknowledge the one true God. And it was the moment that made the Passover lamb necessary: death was coming for every household. Blood was the only shelter.
Key Scriptures
- Exodus 12:1-14
- Exodus 12:21-30
- Leviticus 23:4-5
- John 1:29
- John 19:14, 36
- 1 Corinthians 5:7
- 1 Peter 1:18-19
- Revelation 5:6-10
The Shadow: What Passover Pictures
Every detail of Passover is a shadow of Jesus.
The lamb had to be without any defect (Exodus 12:5). Jesus lived a perfect life with no sin. The lamb had to be set apart for four days before it was killed (Exodus 12:3-6). Jesus rode into Jerusalem four days before he was crucified, and the people looked him over while the religious leaders tried to find fault in him. They could not.
The blood of the lamb had to be put on the doorposts. It was not enough to simply have the lamb. The blood had to be applied. In the same way, knowing about Jesus is not enough. His blood must be applied to your life through faith.
No bones of the lamb could be broken (Exodus 12:46). When soldiers came to break the legs of those crucified with Jesus, they found Jesus already dead and did not break his legs (John 19:36). This fulfilled the Passover instruction exactly.
The lamb was not hidden away and eaten privately. It was eaten as a family, together, at night (Exodus 12:8). Passover was always meant to be shared. The salvation God gives is not just personal. It draws people together.
"Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed." (1 Corinthians 5:7)
First Coming: How Jesus Fulfilled Passover
Jesus did not just use Passover as a teaching illustration. He fulfilled it.
He died on Passover day. The timing was not a coincidence. While the priests in the temple were sacrificing lambs for Passover, Jesus was on the cross outside the city. He was the true Passover Lamb, dying at the exact time the Passover lambs were being killed.
John the Baptist said it plainly when he saw Jesus coming: "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). Everything Passover promised, Jesus delivered.
The night before he died, Jesus ate the Passover meal with his disciples. He took the bread and the cup and said these are my body and my blood. He was saying: I am the Passover Lamb. This meal is about me now. Remember me.
The Last Supper as Passover
The night before Jesus died, he celebrated the Passover with his disciples. This was not merely a meal with Passover as its backdrop — it was a Passover Seder, and every element pointed to him.
The Afikomen. At a traditional Passover meal, the middle of three matzot (unleavened breads) is broken at the beginning. The larger piece is wrapped in linen and hidden away. The meal cannot end without it. When Jesus broke the bread and said "This is my body, which is broken for you" (1 Corinthians 11:24), he was holding the Afikomen — the piece broken, wrapped, and hidden in a tomb. The tradition existed before he arrived to explain what it meant.
The four cups. The Passover meal was structured around four cups of wine, each corresponding to one of God's four promises in Exodus 6:6-7: "I will bring you out… I will deliver you… I will redeem you… I will take you to be my people." The first cup opened the evening. The second followed the telling of the Exodus. The third cup — the Cup of Redemption, "I will redeem you with an outstretched arm" — was drunk after the meal. Jesus picked up this third cup and said: "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you" (Luke 22:20). The Cup of Redemption had always pointed here. He was saying: this promise is now cashed. My blood is the redemption this cup promised for a thousand years.
The cup he did not drink. Then came the fourth cup — the Cup of Praise, "I will take you to be my people." Jesus stopped. He said: "I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom" (Matthew 26:29). He left the fourth cup untouched.
The Passover Seder is unfinished. The fourth cup is still waiting. Jesus will drink it with his people at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9). Every time the church takes the Lord's Supper, it is holding that fourth cup and saying with Jesus: not yet. We are living in the gap between the third cup and the fourth. "You proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" (1 Corinthians 11:26). Come, Lord Jesus.
The hyssop. Exodus 12:22 told Israel to apply the lamb's blood to their doorposts using a branch of hyssop — a small bushy plant used throughout the Old Testament for purification. John records that when Jesus was dying on the cross, someone lifted wine to his lips on a hyssop branch (John 19:29). This is the only Gospel that identifies the plant. John was making a deliberate connection: the same instrument used to apply the Passover lamb's blood at the first Passover was used to minister to the true Passover Lamb at the last.
Second Coming: What Passover Still Points To
Passover has not been left behind. It is not only a past event.
The book of Revelation pictures Jesus as the Lamb who was slain (Revelation 5:6). He is the Lamb even in heaven. He will always be the one who was sacrificed for sinners.
One day there will be a great celebration called the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:6-9). All of God's people from every age will sit down together at a table. The one sitting at the head will be Jesus, the Lamb. It will be the ultimate Passover. The rescue will be complete. The table will be full.
Passover points forward to that day when salvation is complete and God's people are gathered from every nation, eating and celebrating together in the presence of their King.
What This Means for the Church
Passover tells the church who Jesus is.
He is not just a good teacher or a moral example. He is the Lamb of God. He took the punishment that belonged to us. His blood covers us. Death passes over us because of him.
This is why the Lord's Supper is so important to the church. Jesus himself linked it to Passover. When we take the bread and the cup together, we are doing what God commanded at the first Passover. We are remembering the rescue. We are saying together: we were saved by the blood of the Lamb.
Passover also tells the church that God keeps his promises. He promised to rescue Israel. He did. He promises to rescue all who trust in Jesus. He will. The God of Passover is the same God we trust today.
Scripture vs. Tradition
| What it is | Description |
|---|---|
| Scripture says | Remember the Passover and what God did |
| Scripture says | Jesus is our Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7) |
| Scripture says | Take the Lord's Supper in remembrance of him |
| Helpful practice | Read Exodus 12 and the Gospels during Passover season |
| Helpful practice | Take the Lord's Supper specifically at Passover time |
| Optional tradition | Holding a simple Passover meal with symbolic foods |
| Optional tradition | Telling the story with questions and answers around the table |
| Extra-biblical | The full Jewish Seder ceremony and its specific order |
| Extra-biblical | Any requirement to observe Passover in a specific Jewish ceremonial form |
Reflection and Prayer
Questions to think about:
- Do I actually think of Jesus as the Lamb of God? What does that phrase mean to me?
- When I take the Lord's Supper, am I really remembering? Or is it just a habit?
- God rescued Israel from physical slavery. What has Jesus rescued me from?
- The rescue was complete. Not "mostly done." Done. How does that change how I live?
Prayer: Jesus, you are the Lamb of God. Thank you for taking my place. The death that should have come to me passed over me because of your blood. I did not earn this. I could never earn this. You did it all. Help me to remember what you did. Help my family to know you as the true Passover Lamb. And help us to look forward to the great feast that is coming when all your people will sit at your table. Amen.
How to Observe Passover
Walk me through it —
Key Scriptures
- Exodus 12:1-14
- John 1:29
- 1 Corinthians 5:7
- 1 Peter 1:18-19
- Revelation 5:6-10
Connected Feasts