Passover--Easter: The Relationship

Chris and I had the opportunity to celebrate Passover with a dear friend and his family earlier in the week. We have been privileged to be part of his family's Passover observance for a couple of years now--and I always look forward to it. I love the history and the retelling of the story to ensure that all generations remember what God did for the Israelites.

Of course--Passover and Easter are somewhat tightly bound together in that the setting for the first Easter was Passover. Jesus celebrated the Passover with his disciples as the last meal he ate on Earth. And so, usually, the two observances occur close together.

And that is about as much thought as I ever gave to the relationship between the two.

But this year, as I was celebrating Passover it dawned upon me that there is a similarity between Easter and the Passover observance that I had not thought of. And it floored me.

Now I'm sure there is some reference to this in the Bible and that I have read over it all these many years--but still here it goes.

So I was at Passover dinner hearing the story of the Exodus and Moses' interaction with Pharaoh. And I was reminded that the Passover is a celebration of freedom. Freedom from slavery by the Egyptians.

And amazingly--there is the similarity--and it was there looking me in the eyes all of my life. Easter is a celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus which freed us from the law of sin and death. Or put another way--we were freed from the slavery of sin which results in death.

Like the Israelites were freed from being slaves of the Egyptians and death, we are freed from being slaves of sin and death.

And so, I am sure it was not a coincidence that Passover was the time God appointed for his Son to make the supreme sacrifice for us--but rather--as Moses led the Children of Israel out of slavery into the desert and ultimately the went into the promised land; Jesus leads believers out of slavery and sin and into the promised land of eternal life.

Happy Easter.