God was making final preparation for Israel’s departure from Egypt. The Exodus would define this nation for generations and even millennium to come. As such, God wanted to make a feast and celebration that captured the import of what was about to happen. God wanted detail followed as they prepared for Passover. He wanted the people to be united in spirit and mission. As one looks at the preparation and specs for the feast, it clearly shows the nation it was time to move on and move out.
It is important to note that there was an element of being all in. Each household had to mark their doorframes with a sign showing the angel to pass over their home. That sign would also mark them as one of God’s chosen when the Egyptians mourned and grieved. The people of Israel had to make a choice. God was setting them apart for a great mission and new life.
When we follow the Lord, we, like Israel are making a mark on our hearts and lives that we are new creations. God spared nothing to give us that opportunity and he expects us to trust and start that personal relationship that will set us apart from the world. In Romans, Paul calls us not to conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Romans 12:1-2. We live in the world, but we are to be separate.
The Passover celebration represented Israel’s transformation from slaves to free people. Ironically, the sign above and to the sides of their doors formed the sign of the cross. God was foreshadowing the liberation from sin and death all who receive Christ would experience. It is also no coincidence, that Christ’s death also happened on the week of Passover. God’s message both then and now is simply, “I want to make you free. Follow me and I will walk you out of slavery and into a new life of freedom.” That was his message to Israel and that is God’s message to us!!!
God Bless You
14 “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance. 15 For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do.
17 “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. 18 In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. 19 For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And anyone, whether foreigner or native-born, who eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel. 20 Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.”
Walking With God 