‘It is the Lord’s Passover’

It’s an event that has inspired many a movie, book and song. The tale of Israel’s Exodus from Egypt does, after all, have all the ingredients of an epic love story. Drama, heartbreak, unbearable loss and then, breathtaking triumph—all interwoven with the golden threads of undying love. There is the cruel and merciless taskmaster leading a dynasty at the helm of civilization, a people oppressed, hovering on the edge of annihilation, and an Almighty God who liberates His people with “a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders” (Deut. 26:8).

Sunset on the 14th day of Nissan, the first month of the biblical calendar, ushers in the first of the seven biblical feasts or appointed times: the one-day festival of Passover or Pesach in Hebrew, followed by the seven-day feast of Unleavened Bread on the 15th day of Nissan and the Feast of Firstfruits on the 16th day of Nissan. Together, Passover, Unleavened Bread and First Fruits form an interconnected trio also known as the season of our freedom—and for good reason. 

The events that weave together to form the Exodus commemorate the most crucial, astounding, jaw-dropping occurrence in Israel’s history—God setting the Jewish people free from slavery and the evil slave master, Pharaoh, through the blood of the Passover lamb and a series of some of the most epic miracles in biblical history, and then launching the pack of former slaves on a journey that would forge them into a His “special treasure,” “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exod. 19:5–6). 

And we as Christians commemorate Passover as the most crucial, astounding, jaw-dropping occurrence in our history—God setting us free from slavery and the evil slave master through the blood of the Passover Lamb and a series of some of the most epic miracles in biblical history, and then launching us, a pack of former slaves, on a journey to forge us into “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people” (1 Peter 2:9). 

Pesach for the Hebrew year 5785 and the Gregorian year 2025 begins in Israel at sundown on Saturday, 12 April and ends at nightfall on Saturday, 19 April 2025, going through the seven days of Unleavened Bread and the one-day feast of First Fruits. 

The Jewish people have celebrated Passover in much the same way for generations. The celebration starts on the first night of Passover with a Passover feast known as a seder—which is the Hebrew word for order—simply because the events of the celebration have a very specific order. The seder is typically a lengthy affair that can go on for hours and include storytelling—lots and lots of storytelling—eating, drinking, toasting and rejoicing in God’s deliverance. Jesus’ Last Supper with His disciples on the evening before His crucifixion was a typical Passover seder meal (Matt. 26:17–30, Mark 14:12–21, Luke 22:7–38 and John 13). There are several elements in His seder that correspond with how the Jewish people celebrate today. Other elements of the current Jewish celebration came later. 

One of the important things that happens during the Passover seder is called the Ma Nishtanah—or the Four Questions. To start off the storytelling, the children around the table will ask the Passover “master of ceremonies” four questions, with the first question being: “Why is this night different from all other nights?”

The “master of ceremonies” will then be like: “Why, I’m so glad you asked!” and launch into the Hagadah—the Hebrew word for telling—which entails retelling, reliving, remarveling at the narrative of the Exodus and God’s wondrous work of setting the captives free. That is also how we will start—with a retelling, a reliving and a remarveling at the narrative of what our Passover Lamb did for us and God’s wondrous work of setting the captives free.

To me, Passover has always been the feast in which the fingerprints and footsteps of Jesus are most clearly visible—and we’ll explore those together tonight. For that, we start with the shadow, the mirror image—the very first Passover.

The First Passover

The Exodus occurred around 1,400 BC, some 3,400 years ago—depending on which historian you listen to. That’s a long time. And it has in the starring roles nations and peoples that you and I are (strictly speaking) not part of. I mean, it sounds quite epic—if you’re Jewish, that is. But why should it matter to us as Christians? Can’t we simply jump into the story straight away with Jesus, our Passover Lamb, and allow what happened in Egypt to stay in Egypt? 

We could. But if you don’t see the shadow, the mirror image, you miss out on the beauty, the wonder, the wow of seeing God’s masterplan come into fulfillment as He works and weaves the events of history together in a way that only an almighty God can so that His humans can do nothing but stand amazed at the tale of His tender love for us playing out in front of our eyes like an epic love story with Him staring as the hero that will move heaven and earth to rescue the object of His affections—us; a love story that started thousands of years before we were even born and will conclude when the Hero, our Passover Lamb, presents us, His beloved bride, to the Father “unblemished [blameless and faultless] in the presence of His glory with triumphant joy and unspeakable delight” (Jude 1:24 AMP). 

My point? Jump into the story straight away with Jesus and allowing what happened in Egypt to stay in Egypt would be like starting a book or a movie halfway in. 

So back to Egypt we go. First, let’s set the scene. We all know the story. Israel suffered tremendously under the evil slave master Pharaoh in Egypt. God heard their groanings and raised up a deliverer named Moses to lead the Hebrews from the Black Land of oppression and bondage to freedom and abundance in the Land of Milk and Honey. 

Let’s pick up the thread of the story with Moses standing in front of Pharoah for the first time asking rather politely: “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Let My people go…’” (Exod. 5:1). But Pharaoh, of course, refused. And so God unleashed the first nine plagues on Egypt. Through each of these plagues, the God of Israel called out and defeated nine of Egypt’s most “powerful” gods. And still Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened. Then came the grand finale, the closing act, the tenth plague—waged against the most “powerful” god of Egypt: Pharaoh himself.

But before the final plague hit, God warned Moses and gave him a list of very detailed instructions found in Exodus 12 to save Israel from what was to come. On the 10th day of the month of Nisan, the first month in the biblical calendar, every father in every household in Goshen had to select a one-year-old lamb from the family’s flock. But the lamb couldn’t just be the runt of the litter, the bedraggled one that would die of disease or feebleness anyway. The Passover lamb could have no broken bones, no spot and no blemish. The Passover lamb had to be perfect. 

After selecting the perfect Passover lamb, each family had to take the animal into their home to care for it, feed it and nourish it for four days. Those four days also gave them time to make 100% sure that the chosen lamb had no spots or blemishes, that it was, indeed, perfect. 

Then, on the fourth day, the 14th of Nisan, right at sunset, every household had to slaughter the lamb they had just cherished for four days. The blood of the Passover lamb then had to be applied to the doorposts and the lintels of the home, while the families remained tucked away safely inside—covered by the blood—to eat the Passover meal comprising a menu of roasted (not raw or boiled) lamb, unleavened bread and bitter herbs. The Israelites were to dine at the ready: feet sandled, waist belted and staff in hand—prepared to move at the Almighty’s command. This, God told Moses, would be “the Lord’s Passover” (Exod. 12:11). 

Of course, God had a very specific reason for His very specific instructions. That night, the Angel of Death would pass through Egypt, striking dead every firstborn—except where the sign of the blood marked the doorposts and lintels of the home. “And when I see the blood,” God promised Moses, “I will pass over you” (Exod. 12:13).  

From there, Passover. Wherever God saw the blood, He would pass that family over. Not because of the virtue, higher moral standards or righteous deeds of that family. Oh no. The blood was all that mattered. Wherever the blood had been applied, death could not touch. The blood of the Passover lamb saved. And the lamb became the symbol of Passover.

That was the first Passover, the type and shadow, the Passover that started everything, that changed the destiny of a people from slavery to freedom. But then, 1,500 years later, came the Passover that fulfilled that type and shadow, another Passover that changed the destiny of a people from slavery to freedom.

Passover Fulfilled

The Passover that fulfilled the type and shadow starts with the one ingredient essential to every Passover: a lamb. And God identifies His Passover Lamb for us as early as His birth. Roughly 700 years before Mary gave birth to her firstborn in a stable, the prophet Micah announced exactly where the birth would take place: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old,

from everlasting” (5:2). 

But why specifically Bethlehem? Why not Hebron or Tekoah or even Nazareth? Why did it have to be Bethlehem? Well, during the Second Temple Period, Bethlehem, or more specifically, Migdal Eder (Tower of the Flock), served as the spot where the lambs destined to become offerings in the Temple in Jerusalem were born and raised. In fact, every firstborn male lamb from the area around Bethlehem was seen as holy, consecrated for Temple sacrifice in Jerusalem. 

The implication? When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, it wasn’t simply a location chosen by God to fulfill the prophecies in Micah 4:8 and 5:2. The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8), born to be sacrificed for our sins, drew His first reincarnated breath in a manger in Bethlehem surrounded by the bleating of lambs born for the same purpose as Him: to be sacrificed on a hill in Jerusalem.

So when Jesus fulfilled Micah’s prophecy, it was like God saying: “Look! There! It’s Him! That’s My Lamb.”

God’s second proclamation came roughly 30 years later when Jesus approached his cousin, John the Baptist, where he was busy baptizing in the wilderness. John took one look at Jesus and exclaimed: “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).

And so it was. The time had finally come. Some 1,500 years after the first Passover lamb was sacrificed in Egypt to ensure that the Angel of Death would pass over the homes of the Israelites, the ultimate Passover Lamb was about to be sacrificed on a hill in Jerusalem to take away the sins of the world and ensure that the Angel of Death would forever pass us over. 

We’ll pick up the story four days before Jesus was crucified. But before we get to that, let’s set the Passover scene during the Second Temple period, the period into which Jesus was born.

The Procession of the Passover Lamb

Along with Shavuot or Pentecost and Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles, Passover is one of the three “pilgrim” festivals, the three times a year that God required every Jewish male to make the pilgrimage from wherever he and his family lived to appear before the Lord God in the Temple in Jerusalem (Deut. 16:16).   

This means that Jerusalem would have been packed to capacity, with the population skyrocketing from roughly 200,000 to over a million. Think about it: every Jewish family from everywhere in the world would be there. And every family would have its Passover lamb in tow. 

Before we continue with the story, let’s recall God’s list of detailed instructions to Moses in Exodus 12—and how Israel followed these instructions during the time of Jesus. 

On the 10th day of the month of Nisan, the first month in the biblical calendar, four days before Passover, every father in every Israelite household had to select a one-year-old lamb from the family’s flock, a lamb with no broken bones, no spot and no blemish. The Passover lamb had to be perfect. After selecting the perfect Passover lamb from the flock, each family had to take the animal into their home to care for it, feed it and nourish it for four days. Those four days also gave them ample inspection time to make 100% sure that the lamb they had chosen had no spots or blemishes, that it was, indeed, perfect. 

And then, on Passover, four days after picking out the Passover lamb, the family would bring their lamb to the Temple, where it would be sacrificed. History tells us that during the time of Jesus, more than 250,000 Passover lambs would be sacrificed annually.    

But there was also another lamb, one particular lamb to be sacrificed on behalf of the household of Israel. This was the main Passover lamb, the last lamb sacrificed at twilight before Passover came to an end. 

In line with God’s instructions in Exodus 12, the father of the household of Israel, the high priest, would select this lamb from the special flock born and reared in Bethlehem—the spot where the lambs destined to become offerings in the Temple were born and raised and the spot where our Passover Lamb, Jesus, was born. And in line with God’s instructions in Exodus 12, the high priest would select the lamb for the “household of Israel” on the 10th day of the month of Nisan, four days before Passover. 

After the selection, the High Priest would then lead the selected Passover lamb in a special annual procession from the Temple, out through the eastern gate, up the slopes of the Mount of Olives all the way to Bethany and then again from Bethany, down the slopes of the Mount of Olives, into the city through the eastern gate and back to the Temple. 

And according to God’s instructions in Exodus 12, the lamb would then remain in the Temple for four days, where Israel would take care of the lamb, feed it and nourish it. And of course, those four days also give the nation ample inspection opportunity to make 100% sure that the lamb chosen had no spots or blemishes, that it was, indeed, perfect.

During this special annual procession of the Passover lamb from the Temple over the Mount of Olives to Bethany and then back again, the people—the household of Israel—would crowd the city streets to catch a glimpse of the Passover lamb to be sacrificed on their behalf. As you can imagine, it was a joyous affair, complete with jubilant spectators waving palm branches and singing passages from Psalms 113–118: “Save now, I pray, O Lord; O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Ps. 118:25–26b). 

This had been the tradition for years, for generations. But then, roughly 1,500 years after the first Passover lamb was sacrificed in Egypt, something different happened. Because on that day, at that hour, in the wake of the Passover lamb chosen to be sacrificed for the household of Israel, Jesus, the Lamb slain since the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8), entered Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives to be sacrificed as the Passover Lamb, riding on a donkey.

We read about His entry in Matthew 21:1–7, “Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, “The Lord has need of them,” and immediately he will send them.’ All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: ‘Tell the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey,

a colt, the foal of a donkey.”’ So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.”

This begs the question though: why is the donkey important? Why was this specific detail included in the Bible? Well, Matthew answers in verses 4–5: “All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: ‘Tell the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.”’” 

Roughly 500 years before Jesus came to Jerusalem on Lamb Selection day on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey, the prophet Zechariah saw exactly that scene and penned the promise, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey” (9:9). 

Here’s the implication. The crowds of people—the household of Israel—lining the city streets were observant Jews. They knew the Bible. And they knew all about Zechariah’s prophecy concerning the coming Messiah. More than that. These are people who actively waited for their Messiah. They knew the prophecies concerning His coming. They knew the prophecy in Zechariah concerning His coming. Moreover, many of them suspected, hoped that Jesus would be the long-awaited Messiah. And then, at that moment, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, on the foal of a pack animal, they all knew. It was a proclamation of Jesus as the Messiah, as the Passover for which they had been waiting. 

Therefore they turned their eyes from the High Priest and the Passover lamb to the true Passover Lamb of God. Matthew 21 tells us that the multitude spread their clothes and palm branches on the road, crying out: “Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Hosanna in the highest!” (Matt. 21:8–9).

What a scene! What a climax! But there’s more. After the procession, the Passover lamb chosen for the household of Israel would be led back to the Temple, where he would stay for four days, where the household of Israel would care for that lamb, nurture and feed it. And of course, those four days would also give the household of Israel the time to make 100% sure that the chosen lamb had no defects or blemishes, that the Passover lamb chosen to be sacrificed for the household of Israel was indeed perfect.

For the next four days, Jesus spent the majority of his time in the Temple, cleansing His Father’s house, teaching, sharing parables and being questioned. In essence, He spent four days being examined, prodded and probed by the Pharisees and Sadducees, just like the Passover lamb would spend four days in the Temple under the watchful eyes of the nation to make 100% sure that the lamb chosen had no spots or blemishes, that it was, indeed, perfect. Yet in all their questions, Jesus proved Himself righteous and just (Matt. 21:23, 22:15). In fact, even after His arrest, neither Pilate nor Herod could find any fault in Him (Luke 23:14b). Indeed, the Passover Lamb chosen by God had no spots or blemishes. He was, indeed, perfect. 

That’s exactly what Jesus, the Passover Lamb chosen for the household of God, did. The final destination of His entry into Jerusalem was the Temple. And for the next four days, He spent most of His time there. We read that He cleansed His Father’s house, that He preached but also that He was questioned.  In essence, He spent four days being examined, prodded and probed by the Pharisees and Sadducees, just like the Passover lamb would spend four days in the Temple under the watchful eyes of the nation to make 100% sure that the lamb chosen had no spots or blemishes, that it was, indeed, perfect. Yet in all their questions, Jesus proved Himself righteous and just (Matt. 21:23, 22:15). In fact, even after His arrest, neither Pilate nor Herod could find any fault in Him (Luke 23:14b). Indeed, the Passover Lamb chosen by God had no spots or blemishes. He was, indeed, perfect. 

The Seder

The stage was set. The Passover Lamb, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), was in Jerusalem and the day on which He would be sacrificed to fulfill the feast was drawing near. Luke 22:7 confirms this: “Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed.” Since the festivals are God’s appointed times, that they are like a date that God has with us, a special Daddy-daughter or Daddy-son date, this was also the case for Jesus. That Passover was an appointment that God had made with Jesus before the foundation of the world to be slaughtered as the Passover lamb that takes away the sins of the world. And Jesus was ready to show up for that appointment—regardless of the price He would have to pay. But before God’s Lamb would be slain, Jesus would eat the Passover meal with His disciples. 

That meal, that time with His disciples was very close to Jesus’ heart. In Luke 22:15, He tells them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” It was during this seder meal with His disciples that Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper and the New Covenant. Notice that when we say New Covenant, it doesn’t refer to a replacement or a nullification of the covenant with Abraham or Moses—and thus with current Israel. God instituted those covenants as perpetual, forever. But this covenant would be with us, the Gentiles, a way for us to become part of the promises and blessings, thus a covenant that compliments His other covenants.  

So, what did—and does—such a seder look like? As you can imagine, the elements of a traditional Passover seder had evolved and changed during the 1,500 after the day Moses and the Israelites first celebrated the festival in Egypt. But the way Jesus and His disciples celebrated Passover some 2,000 years ago has many of the elements we still find in a traditional seder today. 

It all started with preparation—a big part of which entails cleansing the house of all leaven or yeast. Why? Well, because God said so. “Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread,” He instructs in Exodus 13:6. Leaven is, of course, symbolic for sin, death and decay, which is why Paul instructs us in 1 Corinthians 5:7–8: “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. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

We read in the Gospels that Jesus’ Passover seder also started with preparation. In Luke 22:8 we read: “And He sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.”

These two disciples spent their day seeing to the unleavened bread or matzah, the wine, the roasted sacrificial lamb, the bitter herbs, the salt water for dipping and the charoset. They set the table and arranged cushions or mats for seating. They ensured that there was a basin for washing and candles to be lit.    

The seder meal traditionally starts after sunset and usually lasts anything between three to six hours. It was important that nobody eat anything from midday onward until they reclined at the table for the Passover feast. Note that I said “until they reclined at the table” not “until they sat at the table.” So why the reclining? I mean, Matthew 26 and Luke 22 clearly specify that Jesus and His disciples reclined. Well, the reason is simple. Royalty and nobility used to eat while reclining and on this night, on Passover, the people of Israel commemorate God breaking the joke of slavery, giving them freedom and making them His, thus royalty, nobility.  

Over the course of the seder, two of the most important activities are drinking four ceremonial cups of wine—or grape juice—and breaking and eating the matzah or unleavened bread. And it was this wine and matzah of a Passover seder that Jesus chose to represent His body and blood of the new covenant. 

The Bread and the Wine

There’s quite a bit of speculation about the elements of Jesus’ seder. Did Jesus wash His disciples’ feet instead of their hands during the ceremonial washing? Did Judas dip his hand into the dish with Jesus while eating the bitter herbs or the parsley dipped in salt water? Ultimately, there’s no way to know. And perhaps more importantly, what difference would that make? What we do know is that there was unleavened bread and wine that night—two humble staples that would never be viewed as the same again. 

The First Cup

Four cups of wine are drunk during the course of the seder. Why four? We find the answer in Egypt. Moses’s first encounter with Pharaoh was somewhat of a let-down—to say the least. To be frank, Pharaoh basically laughed Moses and Aaron out of the palace, mocking their request, and more importantly, their God. Moreover, instead of letting the Israelites go, Pharaoh added to their daily burden, increasing their labor from intolerable to impossible. 

Can you imagine how Moses must have felt? God plucked him from the backside of nowhere as he was minding his own business tending sheep in the desert, gave him this outrageous task to fulfill, which Moses vehemently protested, listing every conceivable reason why God’s plan could not work and why he was definitely not the man for the job. Regardless, Moses did it anyway, going along with God’s seemingly impossible scheme in obedience. He did everything God asked, yet nothing seemed to happen according to plan. Instead of leading the Israelites from Egypt in freedom, he had made things worse for them. 

Moses proceeded to approach God with a tantrum so typical of humanity. You might be familiar with it. I certainly am. It goes something like this: “God, I did everything you asked. And now everything is falling apart. What have you done? Why did you allow this? How could you?” 

And God? God in His faithfulness and mercy assured Moses of Israel’s deliverance and renewed His promise. In fact, He promised four specific things in Exodus 6:6–7: “I am the Lord; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take you as My people, and I will be your God.”     

The four cups of wine during the seder represent the four promises made and the four promises fulfilled: 

• The first cup is the cup of sanctification, drunk for the first promise: “I will bring you out.”
• The second cup is the cup of deliverance, drunk for the second promise: “I will rescue you from bondage, from being slaves.”
• The third cup is the cup of redemption, drunk for the third promise: “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm.” 
• And the fourth cup is the cup of praise or acceptance, drunk for the fourth promise: “I will take you as my own people.”

Originally, these four promises were made to a nation of slaves who would later become Israel. That was the mirror image. But thanks to Jesus, our Passover Lamb, these promises are now also ours. 

Jesus and His disciples drank the first cup of wine together during that last seder before His crucifixion. We read the account in Luke 22:17: “Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, ‘Take this and divide it among yourselves…’”  

Breaking the Bread

One of the central elements on every feast or Shabbat table are the plump, golden loaves of sweet bread or challah. But Passover is, of course, different. Instead of challah, the Passover table has three unleavened breads or three sheets of matzah. Why three? As Christians, we believe that the three sheets of matzah represent the trinity: Father; Son and Holy Spirit, with the middle matzah representing the Son, Jesus. And that’s important. Why?

During the seder, the person presiding or leading the evening, kind of like the master of ceremonies, will take the middle unleavened bread or sheet of matzah, lift it up and break it into two pieces and distribute it to everyone around the table as he proclaims, “This is the bread of affliction.” One of the pieces is placed back between the other two sheets of matzah on the table. The other piece—called the afikoman, Greek for “that or the one that is coming” or simply, “the coming one.” Sounds familiar, right? The Bible describes Jesus as the coming One. John 16:28 is one example, “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world.” And why is He here? Why did He come? The Father sent Him to be our Passover Lamb who takes away the sins of the world to restore our relationship with the Father, to restore the intimacy between us and the Father and to give us eternal life.

There’s more though. The afikoman is wrapped in a linen cloth and hidden somewhere in the room. After the meal, the children of the house will have the opportunity to search for the afikoman. It’s a happy, festive affair to which all the children look forward. Because the child who finds the afikoman gets a prize. And we are not talking about a bar of chocolate or a cheap toy. A big prize is up for grabs! 

The correlation between Jesus and the afikoman is clear. Just like the afikoman, Jesus’ body was broken for us and then, like the afikoman, wrapped in linen and hidden for three days in the grave. John 19:40 says: “Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.” Luke 19:42 adds: “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” 

But the afikoman does not stay hidden forever. Neither does Jesus. Three days after our Passover Lamb was slain and after our afikoman was wrapped in linen and hidden in the grave, Mary of Magdala was the first to find Him. And today? Today, our Afikoman is still to be found. And those who do, receive the greatest, most precious prize of eternal life in His presence, beholding His glory. 

So what happened with Jesus and the afikoman during the Last Supper? We read in Luke 22:19 that Jesus took the bread of affliction, blessed it as per the custom, broke it and then distributed it to His disciples around the table, saying: “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

With these words, Jesus imbued Passover with a wonderful added significance. Exodus 12:14 explicitly instructs that Passover should be a “memorial,” “an everlasting ordinance.” And every year, as the disciples ate the bread of affliction at Passover, they would remember God bringing out the Children of Israel from Egypt during the Exodus. However, by equating the unleavened bread with His body, Jesus ensured that going forward, His original disciples as well as His future disciples—including us, here, today—would also eat the bread of affliction over Passover as a memorial of His suffering, sacrifice and death as the Passover Lamb. 

Next on the Agenda

Next on the traditional seder agenda is the second cup of wine. The Gospels are not clear when exactly Jesus and His disciples drank their second cup of wine. We do, however, know that they drank it in remembrance of the second promise from Exodus 6:6–7: “I will rescue you from bondage, from being slaves.”

Once the second cup is drunk comes the event which everyone has been looking forward to since afternoon: dinner. Over time, the Passover menu has changed and evolved, however, God’s menu as communicated to Moses in Exodus 12 remains a fixture: roast lamb, bitter herbs and unleavened bread or matzah.

After everyone has eaten their fill comes the highlight for every child in the room: finding the Afikoman.  

The Third Cup

That brings us to the third cup—the cup of redemption—drunk in remembrance of the third promise in Exodus 6:6–7: “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm,” which Jesus would fulfill hours later by dying on the cross, thus redeeming us with outstretched arms. 

How do we know that it was the third cup? Well, the order of the seder dicates that the first two cups of wine are drunk before the meal, and the gospels make it clear that Jesus equated the wine to His blood after the meal, which leaves the third and the fourth cup. Could it be the fourth then? Doubtful. But more about that later.   

We thus assume that it was with the third cup that Jesus instituted the new covenant for the forgiveness of sin: “Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, ‘This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many’” (Mark 14:23–24).  

With these words, Jesus again imbued Passover with a wonderful added significance. Remember, Exodus 12:14 instructs that Passover should be a “memorial,” and every year, as the disciples drank the four cups at Passover, they would remember God bringing out the Children of Israel from Egypt during the Exodus. However, by equating the wine with His blood, Jesus ensured that going forward, His original disciples and every one of His future disciples—including us, here, today—would also drink the four cups of Passover as a memorial of His suffering, sacrifice and death as the Passover Lamb.

This was a defining moment in history. Reflecting on it, Paul marvels: “That the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes” (1 Cor. 11:23–26).

The Blessings After the Meal

The blessing after the seder meal is called the Hallel, which comes from the word hallelujah, which, of course, means “praise the Lord.” And the Hallel is simply the collective name for Psalms 113–118. In Jesus’ time—and even today—Psalms were set to music, which enabled the Jewish people to sing their way through the Psalms. And that’s what Jesus and His disciples would have done after the Last Supper. Matthew 26:30 confirms this, “And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.”

The Fourth Cup—The Cup of Praise or Adoption

But didn’t we forget something? Ah yes! Of course! The fourth cup, the cup of praise or acceptance, drunk in remembrance of the fourth promise in Exodus 6:6–7: “I will take you as my own people.” 

That night, the night Jesus was betrayed, the night of the Last Supper, Jesus and His disciples lingered over that fourth cup for a long time. John 14, 15, 16 and 17 give us a glimpse into their time together. It was a precious time during which Jesus spoke about the promised new Helper—the Holy Spirit—the True Vine, the world’s hatred and contempt, believers’ hardships in the world, His consolation for us and the coming prosecution. He prayed for Himself, for His disciples and then for all believers—including you and me. And then, finally, the Last Supper was over and Jesus and His disciples went to the Mount of Olives, to Gethsemane.

That night, Jesus imbued the fourth cup with a wonderful added significance. Because of His blood, because of the sacrifice of our Passover Lamb, we have been adopted and accepted as God’s own. He made us sons and daughters of the Most High, co-heirs with Him, our elder brother. I don’t think we can even begin to understand what that means, what it all entails. In fact, I believe that one day when we see Him face to face and we grasp the full extent of what this promise holds for us, we’ll be astounded at everything that is ours—simply because we are His. 

That is why we can drink the fourth cup—the cup of praise or adoption—as His sons and daughters. And may we remember what Jesus promised about the next time He will share a cup of wine with us. “I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom” (Matt. 26:29).

The implication? The next time Jesus shares a cup of wine with you will be at the wedding supper of the Lamb, when He finally comes to take us as His bride, as His own. 

Can you imagine? Can you fathom what glorious inheritance is yours because of our Passover Lamb? Because I can’t.

The Sacrifice

In the aftermath of the Last Supper, Jesus’ disciples were tired. A seder is, after all, a long, protracted affair that can last late into the night. His disciples possibly thought that the evening was at an end, that they could go to bed after a meaningful, eventful night. But Jesus knew that the seder was only the beginning, that the main event was yet to come. Which brings us to that event: the crucifixion, the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb. 

First, a bit of context. They say that during the time of Jesus, some 250,000 lambs would have been sacrificed at the Temple in Jerusalem on Passover. The sacrifices at the Temple would have started at about 9:00 a.m. with the one-year-old spotless lambs that every individual father in every household in Israel would have selected from the family’s flock four days earlier on the 10th day of the month of Nisan. Then, when every individual lamb of every individual family from Israel had been slaughtered, the High Priest would get to the last lamb, the main lamb, the one particular lamb selected in Bethlehem to be sacrificed on behalf of the household of Israel, the lamb led in a special annual procession from the Temple over the slopes of the Mount of Olives to Bethany and then back again while the people of Jerusalem crowded the city streets waving palm branches, the lamb that spent the next four days in the Temple being scrutinized, prodded and probed to ensure his perfection. That lamb.

And after the bloody work of sacrificing or overseeing the sacrifice of 250,000 lambs starting at 9:00 a.m., the High Priest would scrutinize the lamb to be sacrificed on behalf of the household of Israel one last time and then proclaim: “I find no fault in him”—right before sacrificing him. Sounds familiar? That is exactly what Pontius Pilot proclaimed over Jesus, our Passover Lamb, before handing him over to be sacrificed for the household of God.

History teaches that the final Passover lamb for the household of Israel would have been sacrificed at 3:00 p.m. That means six hours from the first sacrifice at 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. for the last. This is in line with Exodus 12:6, which says that the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed “at twilight.” The Hebrew translation for “at twilight” is beyn ha’arbayim or “between the evenings,” which literally means the time between the decline of the sun at noon and sunset at about 6:00 p.m. Which means that the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed at about 3:00 p.m. History also teaches that the Passover lamb to be sacrificed for the household of Israel would have been bound to the altar in the Temple from 9:00 a.m until the time came for it to be sacrificed at 3:00 p.m.

That means that six hours after being bound to the altar in the Temple, the High Priest would finally sacrifice the final Passover lamb, the lamb chosen for the household of Israel, and symbolically cry out in a loud voice: “It is finished.” And it would be. With those words, the Passover sacrifices would be complete for another year.  

That’s the way it worked every year. But then, one particular year, approximately 2,000 years ago, something earth-shattering occurred. At that exact time, no more than a few hundred meters away, Jesus, the Passover Lamb sacrificed on behalf of the household of God, died on the cross to take away the sins of the world. Mark 15:25 tells us that He was crucified at “the third hour,” that is, the third hour of daylight, which is 9:00 a.m., the same time that the Passover lamb for the household of Israel was tied to the horns of the altar in the Temple. And just like the Passover lamb in the Temple, our Passover lamb hung on the cross for six hours—from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. 

And then, some 1,500 years after the Angle of Death passed over the children of Israel because of the blood of the Passover lamb in Egypt, the appointed time had finally come for its fulfillment. Our High Priest and Passover Lamb Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “It is finished,” and he bowed His head and gave up His spirit (John 19:30). And it was. The angel of death would forever pass over us because of Passover, because of our Passover Lamb, because of His blood.

The Gospels make a point of stating that Jesus died without any of His bones being broken. Why is that detail important? Because it is in fulfillment of two Old Testament prophecies. The first comes from Exodus 12:46, which prohibits breaking the bones of the Passover lamb. The second is from Psalm 34:20, which promises that not one of His bones will be broken. Instead, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:5).

The Bloodiness of it All

Every year on Passover I’m struck anew by the sheer, well, bloodiness of it all. So many lambs. And so much blood. Was it all really necessary? Yes, actually. God is a merciful God. Infinitely so. But He is also holy. And utterly righteous. I have sinned. Badly. In fact, I’ll probably never stop sinning as long as I draw breath. In His mercy and infinite love, God still wants me, would move heaven and earth to make me His. But I’m guilty, I carry the stains of sin. And “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). If God so desires me, then the price for that sin has to be paid. It can’t simply be overlooked and it will most certainly not simply disappear. Someone has to pay. In blood. From Genesis right through to Revelation, the Bible speaks about blood. Leviticus 17:11 makes it clear: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood.” So if life is in the blood, it makes perfect sense that only blood can save and reconcile. Blood for blood. Life for life. 

For millennia, that blood came from animals like the Passover lambs. Millions of them, sacrificed repeatedly. But their blood could never fully erase our sin and be reckoned full payment to ransom us from death. Which is why there had to be so many lambs and so much blood. Yet the time came when Jesus, our High Priest, our Passover Lamb, “went once for all into the [Holy of] Holies [of heaven], not by virtue of the blood of goats and calves [by which to make reconciliation between God and man], but His own blood, having found and secured a complete redemption (an everlasting release for us)” (Heb. 9:12 AMPC).

The blood of the lambs of Egypt and Bethlehem was the mirror image, the promise of something to come. The blood of the lambs could cover, but the sins remained. The blood of Jesus is different. The blood of Jesus erases, washes clean, takes away—permanently. One single offering for all, forever.    

The blood of the first Passover lamb in Egypt saved the household of Israel from the plague of slavery. And 1,500 years later, on exactly the same day, the blood of Jesus, our Passover Lamb, saved the household of God from the plague of sin and death forever.

Therefore, together with the high priest and together with our High Priest and Passover Lamb, we can cry out in a loud voice “It is finished!”    

Therefore, chag Pesach sameach (Happy Passover), precious child of Abba Father, who can rejoice, “For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us” (1 Cor. 5:7).