CHRIST OUR PASSOVER
1 CORINTHIANS 5:7 NKJV
7 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.
I can’t say I am much of a baker. Or any kind of cook when it comes down to it. But I do know that leaven in bread dough causes it to rise. Paul is not talking about baking here in this chapter. He must address some problems in the Corinthian church again.
Paul likens sin to leaven and encourages the church to get the sin out. In this case, it was sexual sins. Remember, Corinth was a wild town. Some of the things that went on there would make Las Vegas blush. But not much.
Then Paul uses a phrase that may seem a bit strange to his Gentile audience. Christ our Passover.
To a Jewish church, they would know at once what Paul had referenced. The Passover feast was one of the most celebrated in Judaism. Passover was the night that God’s judgment came upon the land of Egypt. The angel of death went throughout the entire country, and the firstborn in every household died.
However, in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were living, it was a different story. The people of Israel were to take a lamb for each household and sacrifice it. Then they would take the blood of the lamb and put it on the lintel and the doorposts of the house. When the angel of death saw the blood on the door, he would pass over that house, and the firstborn in that home would be spared.
This was the last plague that struck the land of Egypt and was the act that culminated in all of the Israelites being set free. Each year they were to hold a Passover feast to remind themselves and their children what God had done in delivering the nation.
We have an even better deliverance than the nation of Israel experienced. Instead of a lamb, Jesus, the Son of God, was sacrificed for us. And His blood was shed for the remission of our sins. No longer do we live in fear of God’s judgment. No longer do we fear what happens after death. God sees the blood, and judgment passes over all who have made Jesus their Lord and Savior.
APPLICATION:
We may not have a feast, but we do celebrate Easter. It does happen to coincide with the time of the Jewish Passover Feast. But we are not simply looking back to what God did 2000 years ago. We are rejoicing that what was done then is still in effect now. Our salvation was purchased through Christ our Passover.
PRAYER:
Lord Jesus, thank You for Your sacrifice. You have spared me from judgment and forgiven me of all my sins. Your blood was greater than the blood of any lamb, for You are the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.