Jesus Christ is recognized as our Passover, yet His death did not align with the traditional timing of the Passover lambs' sacrifice at the beginning of the 14th day of Abib. Instead, His crucifixion occurred during the daylight hours of the 14th, around 3:00 pm, on the preparation day for the first day of Unleavened Bread. Despite this, Jesus observed the Passover with His disciples at the start of the 14th day, just after sunset, emphasizing the bread, wine, and footwashing as significant elements of the observance. His actions that evening focused on eating the Passover before His suffering, showing His fervent desire to share this meal with His disciples prior to His arrest and crucifixion the following morning. Although Jesus fulfilled the spiritual requirements of the Passover, the physical details of His death did not match the original instructions given to Israel. He was crucified rather than roasted in fire, His blood was not caught in a basin or smeared on doorposts, and His remains were not burned as specified. Additionally, He and His disciples left the house before morning, contrary to the command given to the Israelites. Nevertheless, Jesus absolutely fulfilled the Passover according to spiritual requirements that differed from the physical rites, satisfying the Father's plan. His example of observing the Passover at the beginning of the 14th day, with the bread and wine in remembrance of Him, sets the standard for how it should be kept, even though the timing of His death later that day carried broader significance beyond just the Passover sacrifice.

At Passover, the focus centers on Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God slain for the sins of the world, a human sacrifice of the most sublime quality. God, the righteous Judge of all mankind, provided Jesus Christ to pay the incalculable price for sin. The cup at Passover symbolizes the blood Jesus spilled in sacrificing His life, sealing God's agreement of salvation with us. Passover's purpose is not just to remember historical events, but to grasp the point of Christ's death, ensuring we do not treat it unworthily. Our pre-Passover preparations involve seriously reviewing our spiritual and moral failures in contrast to the perfect glory of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who lived without committing even one sin. Despite our self-examination, the focus at Passover remains on the payment for our sins through His sacrifice, concentrating on the most elementary precepts of our salvation and the part He plays in it. The Bible sees sacrifice as the holy act, the essence of love, manifested in God giving His only begotten Son. Jesus Christ, the sinless God-Man, offered a sacrifice that animal sacrifices could not match, cleansing sin and establishing a New Covenant based on an intimate relationship with our Creator. The theme of Passover is the awesome cost of salvation, shown in His sinless sacrifice, evoking revulsion at our sins causing such an injustice, while inspiring appreciation, indebtedness, and thanksgiving by departing from sin. His name is Savior, Redeemer, and Lamb of God, and His unique sacrifice, with the approval of the Father, was enough for all time.

Jesus Christ stands at the heart of Passover, embodying its deepest significance. At this time of year, the focus is on Him as the sacrificed Lamb of God, slain for the sins of the whole world. He is the object of the Bible, the very personification of love, both in His life and in His death. The law points to the righteousness attainable only through trust in Him, and He fulfilled the law perfectly, exemplifying God's desires in all that He did. Passover is not merely a ritual to remember historical events, but a profound call to grasp the significance of His death. The cup in the Passover service symbolizes the blood He shed, sealing God's agreement of salvation with us. Through His sacrifice, God provides powerful evidence of His seriousness and the means to forgive the debt of our sins. If Passover becomes just a pious habit, it loses its meaning, for Christ is not truly remembered. The focus during Passover is on the payment for sin through His sacrifice and on the grace of God justifying through His blood. His death and resurrection are the foundation of our faith, and His glorification is God's pledge of hope for our future. He was the Lamb foreordained before the foundation of the world, a purposeful part of God's plan before creation, underscoring the precious value of His blood. Passover compels us to examine how precious His blood is to us, to meditate on the value of His sacrifice, and to consider what a relationship with Him means. The Christian life is lived out of the revelation of the redemption He accomplished, and the value we place on His sacrifice is revealed in how we live day by day. The theme of Passover is the awesome cost of salvation, manifested in His sinless sacrifice—a sacrifice performed with full understanding, intense temptation, innocence, sympathy, empathy, compassion, and kindness for the eternal welfare of all. Sacrifice, as revealed throughout the Bible, is the holy act and the essence of love. God so loved the world that He gave in sacrifice, and Jesus recognized His body and life as a gift to accomplish God's will. Unlike animal sacrifices, which failed to produce a desire to obey God, His sacrifice has the power to cleanse from sin, establishing a New Covenant based on an intimate personal relationship with our Creator. When a human dies for us, especially the most valuable Life ever lived, we feel an immeasurable debt, and gratitude, worship, and obedience become the only appropriate responses to such a sacrificial gift as the body of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is our Passover, as affirmed in I Corinthians 5:7, and God ensured that the requirements of the Passover sacrifice were perfectly met in His death. According to the instructions in Exodus 12:46 and Numbers 9:12, the bones of the Passover lamb were to remain unbroken, a stipulation unique to this sacrifice. In fulfillment of this, when the Roman soldiers came to Jesus during the crucifixion and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs, thus preserving the integrity of His bones as recorded in John 19:33. This act also fulfilled the prophecy in Psalm 34:20, which declares that God guards the bones of the righteous, ensuring not one is broken. Furthermore, the unbroken state of Christ's body aligns with the covenant God made with Abraham in Genesis 15, where God swore a self-maledictory oath, promising to be cut asunder if He failed to fulfill His promises. Had Christ's body been divided, it would have implied that the Covenant-Maker had failed, but God, in His sovereignty, ensured that while Christ's blood was shed to seal the New Covenant, His body remained intact to satisfy the promises made to Abraham.

God reveals His plan of salvation for mankind through His commanded holy days, with the first step shown in the observance of the Passover. This annual keeping reminds us of the initial step in fulfilling God's plan to redeem man from sin and provide forgiveness, as He will not tolerate sin and requires justification for entry into His Kingdom. Passover, one of God's festivals, was instituted by Him and commanded to be observed. When God called the children of Israel out of Egypt, He instructed them to choose an unblemished lamb, kill it at twilight on the 14th day of Abib, and put its blood on their doorposts and lintels as a sign to the death angel to pass over their homes, saving Israel's firstborn. This ritual of killing the lamb and applying its blood represented the death of Jesus Christ, who was God in the flesh. As the Lamb of God, He lived a perfect, sinless life, gave His life, and shed His blood to save us from eternal death by paying the penalty for our sins. Through faith in His sacrifice, we receive forgiveness and come into a right relationship with God. His life, worth more than all human life combined, paid the price for all sin, redeeming us from the penalty of breaking God's law and freeing us to live righteously. Our Savior was crucified in the early afternoon on the day of the Passover, completely fulfilling the symbolism of the lamb even to the very day. Jesus Christ observed the Passover during His life on earth, setting a perfect example for us to follow in keeping this festival. New Testament Christians are commanded to observe the Passover as a memorial of the death of Christ, our Passover, who was sacrificed for us. During the Passover meal, He washed His disciples' feet, demonstrating humility and service, and commanded Christians everywhere to follow His example. He also instructed His disciples to partake of unleavened bread and wine during the New Testament Passover service as a memorial of His death for all time, since His death fulfilled the symbolism of killing a lamb, eliminating the need for its slaughter. Converted Christians must observe the New Testament Passover every year, as unless we eat His flesh, represented by the unleavened bread, and drink His blood, symbolized by the wine, we have no life in us and will not inherit eternal life. The New Testament church of God continued to keep the Passover yearly, and the apostle Paul taught Gentile Corinthians to observe it using the symbols of bread and wine, instructing us to keep the Passover until He comes.

Jesus Christ fulfills multiple facets of sacrifice, with His death on Passover afternoon representing more than just the sin offering. The Passover observance, commemorated annually at the beginning of the 14th of Abib, emphasizes a distinctive meal rather than atonement or forgiveness, as seen in the detailed instructions God provided for the Israelites in Egypt. These instructions focus on the preparation and consumption of the Passover lamb, highlighting its role in redemption and purchase from Pharaoh, not cleansing from sin. The blood on the doorposts symbolized the life of the lamb given to redeem those within each participating house, demonstrating God's mercy and exemption, passing over Israel's sins without addressing them directly. The Passover sacrifice differs significantly from the sin offering, with its emphasis on eating as a shared meal among households, unlike the restricted consumption by priests in the sin offering. Jesus Christ's observance of Passover with His disciples continues this theme of fellowship and peace, focusing on unity with the Father and each other, rather than on sin. During this special occasion, He expressed fervent anticipation for this fellowship meal, emphasizing the bread and wine as symbols of His living body and the blood of the New Covenant, representing eternal life and a profound relationship with God. The bread, symbolizing Christ's sinless life, imparts spiritual strength as we partake, uniting us with the living Savior. The wine, representing the blood of the covenant, signifies God's pledge of faithfulness and the promise of spiritual completion. Passover, thus, is not primarily about atonement but about God's gracious acceptance and the ongoing fellowship with Him, initiated through Christ's sacrifice. It is a solemn yet joyful celebration of the peace and well-being we have in Christ, looking forward to the ultimate fulfillment of redemption in the Kingdom of God.

The Passover, as a significant New Testament ritual, holds profound importance in uniting us with God and with others who partake of it. Jesus Christ is central to this observance, as the bread and wine symbolically join us with Him, the object of the sacrifice. The bread represents His body, overwhelmingly a symbol of life, even eternal life, reflecting His sinless life that sustains and strengthens us spiritually. When we partake of the bread, we are reminded of the brutal end of His life as a Man, which brought reconciliation and allowed for spiritual fellowship, but more so, it connects us to the living Savior, abiding in us and offering true satisfaction and immortality through His purity. The wine of Passover symbolizes Christ's blood, representing the New Covenant. This blood is not merely about the remission of sins but is a pledge of God's faithfulness and purpose to perfect us within the covenant. Jesus identifies the cup as the New Covenant in His blood, emphasizing a relationship of eternal life and abundance that transcends physical circumstances. This covenantal blood, ingested during Passover, signifies an internal transformation, a guarantee of God's commitment to complete His work in us, culminating in the future Kingdom when Passover will be fully fulfilled. Passover, distinct from atonement or sin offerings, focuses on fellowship and peace, resembling a peace offering where death provides the occasion for harmonious communion with God. It is a demonstration of God's acceptance based on His grace, initiating ongoing fellowship with the Father and the Son, as well as communion with others who share in the one, living Bread. Jesus fervently desired to eat this Passover with His disciples, not for physical food, but for the fellowship and the peace that flows from the Father, setting aside the anticipation of suffering to enjoy the moment of well-being. This ritual is a solemn yet joyful celebration of peace, well-being, and acceptance by God through Jesus Christ. It serves as a memorial of His death that sealed the covenant, and a grateful observance of our spiritual abundance and hope due to God's faithfulness. The manner in which we approach and observe Passover is critical, as it indicates the value we place on this covenantal relationship, ensuring we do not partake on autopilot but with a fitting appreciation of the depth and significance of these symbols.

The Passover holds a central place in God's purpose, marking the foundation of the covenant relationship between God and His people in both the Old and New Covenants. In the Old Covenant, God initiated His relationship with Israel through the Passover event. In the New Covenant, Jesus Christ established a renewed relationship with His followers on the last Passover night before His crucifixion by introducing new symbols to commemorate His sacrifice as the true Passover Lamb. This sacrifice of Jesus Christ, a sinless life, is deemed by God as sufficient to cover the sins of all mankind for all time, purging the infection of sin and enabling a relationship with God for those who accept it in faith. Jesus Christ is the true Passover Lamb, sacrificed for the entire world, so that God may pass over the sins of mankind. His death, planned by God from before the foundation of the world, serves as the substitution for sinners, providing the only means for the remission of sins. Without His sacrifice, there is no forgiveness, and each person would die in their sins. His perfect, unblemished sacrifice, offered voluntarily, is sufficient for all time and for all of mankind's sins, laying the foundation for eternal life. On the last night of His life, during His final Passover meal with His disciples, Jesus Christ instituted new symbols representing His body and blood. He commanded His followers, who have repented and accepted His sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins, to partake of these New Covenant symbols as a solemn memorial of His death. Each observance of this memorial serves as a renewal of the believer's relationship with God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The proper keeping of Passover is a matter of life and death, just as it was in the Old Testament when God passed over the homes of the Israelites. Without partaking in the symbols of His body and blood, there is no life in the believer, making the annual reaffirmation of the covenant through Passover essential to an ongoing relationship with Jesus Christ and God the Father. The importance of Passover is evident in its role as the starting point of eternal life and the plan of God. Israel's journey out of Egypt would not have begun without God passing over their sins, and similarly, believers cannot reach their spiritual inheritance without starting and continually reaffirming this covenant through Passover. Keeping the Passover as commanded by Jesus Christ, including footwashing, partaking of the bread, and partaking of the wine, is vital for eternal life, as He is the only way to salvation.

Jesus Christ is central to the understanding of Passover, as He declared in John 6:48 that He is the bread of life. He contrasts the manna eaten by the fathers in the wilderness, who still died, with Himself as the living bread from heaven, promising that those who eat of it may not die. In John 6:51, He states that the bread He gives is His flesh, offered for the life of the world, symbolically pointing to His death, burial, and resurrection. These symbols are integral to the way of life He established, through which we renew our commitment to Him and His Father. Without taking Passover properly, there is no eternal life in us, underscoring its profound importance. The emphasis in Passover is not merely on the killing of the lamb but significantly on the eating of it. Jesus Himself focused on the eating, as seen in John 6, relating it to the daily provision of manna that sustained the Israelites. Eating the Passover symbolizes the continuance of the relationship with Christ our Savior and God our Father, abiding in Him, and developing a bond that culminates in marriage. While killing the Passover lamb highlights responsibility for the Savior's death and recognition of sin, eating it represents the ongoing, more challenging aspect of living in Christ, which is essential for becoming one with Him. This emphasis on eating over killing is evident in the concern of Jesus and His disciples to eat the Passover on the fourteenth, aligning with the importance of maintaining and growing in this relationship.

Jesus Christ as Passover embodies the ultimate expression of sacrificial love and service. His death stands as the supreme example of unselfish giving, reflecting the profound love of God and the Son, who freely offered Themselves for our well-being. This sacrifice, tied to the Old Testament Passover, underscores His violent death for the remission of mankind's sins and establishes the foundation of the New Covenant. Remembering His act, as instructed in I Corinthians 11:24-25, ensures that we retain a right sense of obligation, not as a burden, but as a source of wonder that He would pay so much for us. This remembrance during the Passover service focuses on fellowship with Him, where He is both the host and symbolically the feast itself, motivating us to love as we failed to do before, which placed us in debt. As we approach this season, we are called to seek a deeper understanding of what we are and what Christ was, did, and is, to be filled with an awe-inspiring sense of indebtedness to Him.

While most professing Christians consider Passover to be a Jewish festival, it should also be a sacred observance for all Christians. Jesus Christ, through the apostle Paul, commanded the church to celebrate the Passover on the night in which He was betrayed, which was the evening of Nisan 14 on the Hebrew calendar. The Christian Passover is a solemn observance that commemorates the agonizing blood-sacrifice of Jesus Christ to pay for our sins, to redeem us from spiritual bondage, and to open the way to fellowship with the Father. Each year in the Passover ceremony, baptized Christians wash one another's feet to follow Christ's example of selfless service, as well as partake of the bread and the wine, recommitting themselves to the everlasting covenant they have made with God. As Paul writes, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes.

Jesus Christ stands as the central figure of the Passover, embodying its deepest spiritual significance. As our Passover, He was sacrificed for us, a truth plainly stated by Paul in I Corinthians 5:7, where Christ is identified as the fulfillment of the Passover type from Exodus. His sacrificial death secured our redemption, justification, and forgiveness by grace, cleansing us of corruption and carrying away our sins. This act of sacrifice mirrors the blood of the Lamb that covered the Israelites, ensuring their deliverance from bondage in Egypt, and points to Christ's role in freeing us from spiritual slavery to sin. Beyond the moment of sacrifice, Christ's connection to Passover extends to the ongoing spiritual nourishment He provides. He is the bread of life, as He declared in John 6, urging us to consume Him for true sustenance. This consumption, akin to eating unleavened bread during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, represents taking in His character, teachings, and examples daily. By doing so, we are sustained, energized, repaired, healed, and enabled to grow spiritually, just as physical food nourishes the body. Without Christ in us, we lack spiritual life, emphasizing the necessity of diligent focus on Him. Christ's role as our Passover also encompasses His agency in leading us out of bondage, much like God's strong hand delivered Israel from Egypt. He calls us out of the world, separating us from spiritual evil, and leads us toward holiness and righteousness. As the One who does the heavy lifting in our walk of faith, Christ, through His mercy, love, blessings, and providence, makes everything possible for us, guiding us toward the Kingdom of God. His focus in these holy days, particularly Passover, is not on our sins but on His redemptive work and transformative power in our lives.