"These are the appointed times of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the LORD’S Passover. Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. But for seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.’”
Leviticus 23:4-11
The Feasts of the Lord were appointed by God to Moses, and are recorded in the books of Exodus and Leviticus. There are seven total Feasts, and the first is the Feast of Passover which is in Nisan, the first month of the Jewish year. Passover commemorates God delivering the Children of Israel from their slavery in Egypt. As one of the plagues brought on Egypt by Pharaoh's refusal to release the Jews from their captivity, Moses pronounced that God would kill all the firstborn of the Egyptians, including their livestock. The Lord “passed over” those houses and the first born inside which had taken the blood of a lamb and covered the top and sides of the doorway of their dwelling as God had instructed. Those firstborn without the blood of the lamb covering their doorway perished as the Lord passed over.
On the 10th of Nisan each Jewish family was to choose for itself a lamb without blemish. They were to observe it for defects or imperfections until the 14th day which was Passover. At twilight that evening, they were to kill the Paschal (anything related to Passover) lamb. As a remembrance of the original Passover in Egypt, they were to eat the roasted lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
The Feast of Passover is a type, or shadow, of Jesus as the Paschal lamb of God, without any blemish, whose blood was shed for us as a covering to save us from death. "The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29. "Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed." I Corinthians 5:7. Jesus was chosen by the Jews on the 10th of Nisan when he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and the people shouted "Hosanna!" and laid palm branches on the road in front of Him, honoring Him as a prophet and King. Jesus then went to the temple each day for the next four days and taught the people, answering their questions, His behavior and actions examined closely. This was the lamb being chosen for Passover, and then examined for imperfections, of which there were found to be none. On the 14th, Passover, Jesus was killed by crucifixion on the cross at twilight. At the very same moment all over Jerusalem, the Paschal lambs were being killed as well. Jesus was our Passover lamb, without blemish, killed for us. His blood covers us causing death to pass over us, just as the blood of the Paschal lamb was applied to the top and sides of the doorway.
The Feast of Passover is a type, or shadow, of Jesus as the Paschal lamb of God, without any blemish, whose blood was shed for us as a covering to save us from death. "The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29. "Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed." I Corinthians 5:7. Jesus was chosen by the Jews on the 10th of Nisan when he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and the people shouted "Hosanna!" and laid palm branches on the road in front of Him, honoring Him as a prophet and King. Jesus then went to the temple each day for the next four days and taught the people, answering their questions, His behavior and actions examined closely. This was the lamb being chosen for Passover, and then examined for imperfections, of which there were found to be none. On the 14th, Passover, Jesus was killed by crucifixion on the cross at twilight. At the very same moment all over Jerusalem, the Paschal lambs were being killed as well. Jesus was our Passover lamb, without blemish, killed for us. His blood covers us causing death to pass over us, just as the blood of the Paschal lamb was applied to the top and sides of the doorway.
"It was by faith that Moses commanded the people of Israel to keep the Passover and to sprinkle blood on the doorposts so that the angel of death would not kill their firstborn sons." Hebrews 11:28
"Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household ... Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight. Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs ... For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt ... Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slay the Passover lamb. You shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning. For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you. And you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever. When you enter the land which the LORD will give you, as He has promised, you shall observe this rite. And when your children say to you, ‘What does this rite mean to you?’ you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to the LORD who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but spared our homes.’” And the people bowed low and worshiped. Then the sons of Israel went and did so; just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. Now it came about at midnight that the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle." Exodus 12:1-29
