The Jewish Passover usually comes around each year in our month of April. Those who are familiar with Old Testament history understand the significance of this holy day for the Jewish nation. God delivered the children of Israel from their Egyptian bondage through a series of ten plagues which broke Pharaoh’s stubborn heart of rebellion. He would not let Israel go, for He refused to hear God’s instruction through Moses, the spokesman for God and leader of the nation of Israel. The tenth and final plague brought upon Egypt was the death of the firstborn in every household. Not only were human firstborns affected, but the firstborn of all livestock died as well. To prevent death in the households of Israel, the blood of a sacrificial lamb was to be painted on the lintel and over the doorposts of the houses. God’s destroyer “passed over” the houses where the blood marked the presence of the faithful. “And it came to pass 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 livestock. So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead<\/em>” (Exodus 12:29-30). The full account of the Passover, which was to be observed annually by the Jews in commemoration of this historic event, is recorded in Exodus 12.<\/p>\n As significant as this event was in the history of Israel, it received little if no attention in the New Testament churches, for they were composed of both Jews and Gentiles. Passover was meaningless to a Gentile. However, to make a significant point concerning the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf, the apostle Paul stated in I Corinthians 5:7-8, “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. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.<\/em>” Inspired Paul says that Christ, not a physical lamb, is our (a Christian’s) Passover. Furthermore, to the Colossians, Paul wrote, “Therefore let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ<\/em>” (Colossians 2:16-17). Passover was significant to the Jew for it reminded him of a historic occurrence in Israel. But the Christian celebrates the sacrifice of Christ, whose blood causes the Destroyer to “pass over” us in his sentence of judgment and eternal death.<\/p>\n Should Christians, therefore, celebrate the Jewish Passover? Specifically, should local churches arrange and provide for such a celebration? If they should do so, by what authority would they proceed with such a celebration?<\/p>\n Since the New Testament declares that Jesus is our Passover, it appears that any celebration of an Old Testament Jewish festival is superfluous, at the very least. Since the New Testament also teaches that such festivals are no longer valid in view of the sacrifice of Christ, such a Passover celebration is also without divine authority. There is no record that New Testament churches provided such meals, either with or without an admission price! Clearly, any local church that chooses to celebrate the Passover today is treading on very dangerous ground. Rather than bringing Christ honor, they dishonor Him by hanging on to a festival that was never meant for anyone but Old Testament Jews.<\/p>\n Jesus was a Jew, living under the old covenant. It was fitting and proper for Him to observe the Passover. Matthew 26:17-29 accounts that Jesus took advantage of the Passover to institute a new feast for His disciples. “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body: Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins<\/em>” (Matthew 26:26-28). He further explained that this eating and drinking was to be a Kingdom (church) observance. “But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until the day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom<\/em>” (Matthew 26:29). After Pentecost, (50 days after the Passover) the church observed the Lord’s Supper (also known as the “breaking of bread”) on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7). Such observance is Christ’s approved means of remembering His sacrificial death. The resurrection of an invalid Jewish feast to commemorate God’s salvation is unworthy of those who wear the name of Christ.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Mark W.White via\u00a0Biblical Insights, Vol. 13, No. 1, January 2013 The Jewish Passover usually comes around each year in our month of April. Those who are familiar with Old Testament history understand the significance of this holy day for the Jewish nation. God delivered the children of Israel from their Egyptian bondage through a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[115,638],"class_list":["post-37454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-old-law","tag-passover"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":27761,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-christians-required-to-observe-passover\/","url_meta":{"origin":37454,"position":0},"title":"Are Christians required to observe Passover?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is the Passover meal a requirement for Christians meaning if they do not eat it they sinned or is it more of a celebration or memorial as to what Christ has done for us? Please explain if possible. Answer: The Passover was a memorial under the Old Testament. It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45471,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-passover-paradigm-for-christs-death-and-gods-wrath\/","url_meta":{"origin":37454,"position":1},"title":"The Passover Paradigm for Christ\u2019s Death and God\u2019s Wrath","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 19, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer How can understanding the connection between Christ's death as the Lamb of God and the Passover event help us in understanding Christ's death as it relates to God's wrath? First, to see Christ's death connected to Passover is biblical: \"Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed\" (I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8959,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-the-law-be-a-dividing-wall-if-other-nations-could-become-israelites\/","url_meta":{"origin":37454,"position":2},"title":"How could the law be a dividing wall if other nations could become Israelites?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 2, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Exodus 12:48-49 tells us that someone from another nation (a Gentile) could be circumcised and keep the Passover (in other words obey God) and become part of Israel (a Jew). Verse 49 says that there's one law for everyone. Jew or Gentile must obey the same law.\u00a0It seems that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50234,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jewish-feasts-and-festivals\/","url_meta":{"origin":37454,"position":3},"title":"Jewish Feasts and Festivals","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 29, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kyle Campbell via\u00a0Truth Magazine In order to fully understand the Jewish religion and people, and to gain a greater perspective of a number of events in the New Testament, one needs to study the Jewish feasts and festivals. The Jewish feasts and festivals were scheduled at specific times in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":94619,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/some-obvious-shadows-of-jesus-in-exodus\/","url_meta":{"origin":37454,"position":4},"title":"Some Obvious Shadows of Jesus in Exodus","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 17, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Exodus is rich in foreshadowing Jesus. A mark of divine wisdom is in the embedding of the shape and form of Jesus long before He arrived in the flesh, showing a wisdom too great for human wisdom alone to account for it. Moses is a lot\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55507,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/christians-and-the-passover\/","url_meta":{"origin":37454,"position":5},"title":"Christians and the Passover","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 5, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Gilbert Alexander The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is honored with deep love and respect by all Christians everywhere, and they assemble in localities throughout the world on the first day of every week to remember His death in His memorial supper as He commanded and as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/scan0011-6-300x296.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37454\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}