Passover or the Feast of Freedom
is the foundational feast of the Jewish people.
In it, we remember God's loving kindness
in saving his people from bondage in Egypt
and creating Israel as a nation.
All that so that God himself would dwell among His people
and give us His Word in order to bless all nations.
But could it be that this feast actually alludes
to an even greater salvation yet to come?
In the story of the crossing of the Red Sea.
Moses encourages his nation to trust God.
Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.
Then, after God saves them from the Egyptians, it says.
When Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used
against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord
and they believed in the Lord and in His servant, Moses.
But this would not be the
last time at which God was gracious towards his people.
God spoke to the Prophet Isaiah in Chapter 52
about a totally new exodus.
Be cheerful, shout joyfully.
Together you ruins of Jerusalem for the Lord has comforted His people.
He has redeemed Jerusalem.
The Lord has buried His holy arm in the sight of all nations
so that all the ends of the earth may see the salvation of our God.
Isaiah prophesied that God would restore the nation of Israel,
that He would save them from their enemies, grant them peace and security.
However, this time the salvation
will not only include a physical redemption.
Rather, it will include a spiritual redemption reaching the whole world.
And this is what Isaiah talks about in the next chapter.
Chapter 53.
All of us, like sheep, have gone astray.
Each of us has turned to his own way.
But the Lord has caused the wrongdoing of us all
to fall on Him, just like the Passover lamb.
Isaiah prophesied
that the servant of the Lord would give his life to save his people.
In chapter 53, The Salvation that the servant of the Lord brings to
Israel is not from Egypt or from the plague of the first born.
Rather, it is the salvation from our personal sinfulness.
The salvation God offers to us is from our guilt.
After Isaiah describes the death of the servant,
he continues to prophesy that he would prolong his days.
How can it be the only way the servant of the Lord
can prolong his days after his death is through His resurrection?
No wonder that when we quote these verses to our Jewish brethren,
they think we quote from the New Testament.
But the Hebrew Bible states clearly
that the Messiah had to suffer and die to redeem his people.
But he doesn't remain in the grave.
He rises and grants forgiveness of sins
and justifies the sinner by the knowledge of the righteous one.
My servant will justify the many.
In first Corinthians 15, Paul boldly declares
that if the Messiah has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain.
Your faith also is in vain.
If the Messiah has not been raised, in other words,
since the beginning of the faith in Yeshua, the Messiah, his resurrection
stood as the cornerstone, the very foundation
upon which the truth of Yeshua stands or falls.
If you're sure did not rise up from the dead, then his death is meaningless.
We are still in Egypt without a savior.
Guilty before God and slaves
to sins, bondage.
The disciples did not expect the resurrection of Yeshua.
They thought and hoped that he would free
Israel from the Egyptians of that time, the Romans.
They thought he would strike them and drive them out of the land.
They missed part of the message of the prophets.
They thought that the idea of a crucified
Messiah is a failing Messiah at best, or worse, a false messiah
whom they would need to replace with another Moses
who would deliver them from the Romans against all odds.
And in contrast to their initial expectations after Yeshua's death.
Something happened.
The disciples began to insist that
Yeshua, in fact, rose from the dead and conquered death.
They began to proclaim their message in Jerusalem,
in the very place where Yeshua was crucified and buried,
where everyone could go and check if the tomb was in fact empty.
Not only did they proclaim the message boldly,
but they were ready and willing to suffer and even die for it.
And most of them did.
The significance of
the resurrection is that it validates Yeshua's message.
His gospel is true.
Yeshua claimed to be God himself, who came to free us from sin,
to cleanse us from our guilt and justify us.
The resurrection is the proof that his radical claims
about his identity and work were true.
Moreover, his resurrection gives us hope
and assurance that this life is not all that there is.
The death is not the end.
On the basis of Yeshua's resurrection, the New Testament proclaims that anyone
who puts his faith in him will rise up from the dead to everlasting life.
But the fact is, Messiah has been raised from the dead.
The first fruit of those who are asleep
for since by a man death came, by a man
also came the resurrection of the dead.
Four as in Adam all die.
So also in Messiah, all will be made alive.
The gift of salvation is given freely.
We receive it through faith, through putting our trust in the Savior of Israel.
Yeshua, notice that in the story of the Exodus.
Or more specifically in the crossing of the Red Sea, the nation of Israel
did not need to do anything to merit their salvation from the Egyptians.
Their own power could not stop the Egyptian army
God alone, granting them freedom and salvation.
They only needed to step in faith towards the water.
As the author of Hebrews puts it
by faith, they pass through the Red Sea
as through dry land.
All people, Jews and Gentiles,
are guilty before God and find themselves separated from Him
due to their personal sinfulness.
In Hebrew, the word sin comes from the same root
as missing the mark in our inherent sinfulness as humans.
We miss God's mark, but through
Yeshua, as death and resurrection, he opened a new way to enter
into an eternal relationship with God through faith.
Yeshua was delivered over because of our wrongdoings
and was raised for our justification.
This relationship cannot be broken since it is established
upon the perfect sacrifice of the ultimate Passover lamb.
The sacrifice of Yeshua.
Behold the lamb of God who takes away
the sin of the world for by one offering
He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
So what about you?
Have you put your faith in Yeshua?
If not, today is the day of salvation.
If you want to receive forgiveness of sins, eternal life
and a living relationship with your loving creator,
simply talk to your Heavenly Father in your own words.
He listens and that is the meaning of prayer.
Rejoice with us.
For He is risen.
He is risen indeed.