“Observe the month of Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God…” Deuteronomy 16:1
The story of the Passover is in Exodus 12. God’s people were slaves in Egypt and it had been like that for over 400 years. They had been oppressed by a cruel tyrant who defied God and abused his people. God said, “Let my people go,” but Pharaoh cared nothing for God.
So God came down in judgment and mercy. His judgment broke the power of Pharaoh, and his mercy protected his people. The wages of sin is death, and death came to every home in Egypt on that night of God’s judgment. But God told his people to sacrifice a lamb, and to paint the blood of the sacrificed lamb on the sides and top of the door frame of their house. Then God said, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you…” (Ex. 12:13). That’s where the Passover comes from.
The people were to celebrate this historical event by eating unleavened bread and by sacrificing and eating a lamb (16:3, 6-7). The Passover reminded the people of how God had saved them from the wrath of his judgment that fell on the land, how he brought them out of slavery through the blood of a sacrifice, how he had said to them, “You will be my people and I will be your God.” Now Moses is saying: “That’s worth celebrating!”
Reflect on the mercy that God has poured out for you at the cross, and his promise to all those who believe in him to “pass over” our sins.
