Passover Symbolism and the Deliverance of Lot

 God’s Word is filled with Passover symbolism and foreshadows of Jesus Christ’s death as our Passover Lamb. In fact, one could make a case that the entire Bible points to Passover because the entire Bible points to “Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2) — and that’s what Passover is all about!

“Before the foundation of the world” (1 Pet. 1:20), God planned for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to cover our sins. And at Creation, even before He had created man, God likewise established His appointed times or Holy Days — including Passover, setting the sun and moon in the sky “for signs and seasons [moedim; appointed times], and for days and years” (Gen. 1:14). So the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the symbolism of Passover is woven throughout the Bible, from the very beginning to the end.

The Bible first mentions “unleavened bread,” or the Hebrew matzah (Strong’s # H4682), in Gen. 19, the story of Lot. Now I don’t know whether this event literally took place at Passover or not, but there are some incredible parallels nonetheless.

Let’s take a look!

Lot and his family had been dwelling in the city of Sodom, a city of sin and wickedness. “But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the LORD” (Gen. 13:13). Sadly, some of Lot’s daughters had even intermarried with the depraved and vile men around them (Gen. 19:14).

God sent two angels to Sodom, posing as human beings. When Lot met them, they expressed an intent to stay in the city square that night, but Lot begged them to spend the night in his house instead: “Here now, my lords, please turn in to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way” (Gen. 19:2). Notice that we have here a foreshadow of the foot-washing ceremony at Passover!

Next, we read that, after the angels agreed to spend the night in Lot’s house instead, that Lot “made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate” (Gen. 19:3). A feast with unleavened bread. This is the first time that the Bible mentions unleavened bread, or matzah. At this point, the parallels with Passover ought to be unmistakable!

After this, wickedness, sin, and the peril of death suddenly surrounded Lot’s house: “Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot and said to him, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally’” (Gen. 19:4-5).

When Lot tried to dissuade these sick perverts, they threatened to do worse to him than they thought to do to his guests (Gen. 19:9). “But the men [angels] reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door” (v. 10).

Lot and his family were safe inside the house with the angels. The door was shut, and all the wicked remained outside. Likewise, when Israel kept the Passover in Egypt moments before being released from bondage, they remained safe inside their dwellings with the lambs’ blood around their doors and their doors shut fast (Ex. 12:7, 13, 22-23).

But there’s another fascinating detail here in this story of Lot. “And [the angels] struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door” (Gen. 19:11). The men were blinded to the door and could not find it.

Who is the door? Jesus Christ! “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved” (John 10:9). But the wicked could not find the door and could not enter in. They were blinded. Likewise, at the Passover in Egypt, death could not enter the doors of the Israelites’ dwellings. They were protected by the blood of the Lamb.

“The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). But those who are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ are spared. He protects His people. He is both the door and the blood, and unrepentant sinners have no part of Him.

Thousands of years before, God had warned Cain, “Sin lies at the door” (Gen. 4:7). But Cain did not heed; he let sin in and fellowshipped with it. Likewise, sin and death now lay outside the door of Lot’s dwelling. But he was protected. Sin and death would again lay outside the doors of the Israelites’ dwellings. But they would be spared.

Now one can safely assume that, after this incident, there was no sleep to be had for Lot or anyone in his household that night. Instead of sleeping, they prepared to leave. The angels told him, “Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city — take them out of this place! For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it” (Gen. 19:12-13).

Likewise, for the Israelites in Egypt, there would’ve been no sleep to be had on the night of Passover. Instead, they were ready to leave at a moment’s notice: “And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’s Passover” (Ex. 12:11). It was a night of vigil, a night of watching.

At this point, apparently it was safe for Lot to leave his dwelling, for he “went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters” (Gen. 19:14), and tried to persuade them to leave the city with him. But they refused. They chose the way of sin and death.

So, very early in the morning, “when the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry” (Gen. 19:15). Paralleling this, very early in the morning, after God struck down the firstborn in Egypt, “the Egyptians urged the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste” (Ex. 12:33).

But Lot was wasting too much time getting ready. “And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city” (Gen. 19:16). Again, when the Israelites left Egypt, “they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves” (Ex. 12:39).

Early in the morning, following a type of Passover, Lot was driven out of Sodom. This happened before the sun had even risen, for the sun only rose about the time that Lot entered the next city: “The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar” Gen. 19:23).

Early in the morning, following Passover, Israel was driven out of Egypt. This, too, almost certainly began before sunrise, for the Egyptians clamored to send them out of the land in haste. Again, when Israel crossed the Red Sea at the end of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, this happened before sunrise, in the last watch of the night, the morning watch (Ex. 14:24-26).

When the sun had risen and Lot entered Zoar, God destroyed Sodom: “Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the LORD out of the heavens” (Gen. 19:24). The sinners of Sodom inherited the wages of sin: death.

As the Israelites departed their homes in the morning hours following the Passover, they saw the Egyptians burying their dead: “On the day after [morrow of] the Passover the children of Israel went out with boldness in the sight of all the Egyptians. For the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the LORD had killed among them” (Num. 33:4). The Israelites saw the wages of sin, death, as they departed Egypt.

Again, when the Israelites had crossed the Red Sea and the sun rose, they saw the bodies of the Egyptians who drowned in the sea: “And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. So the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore” (Ex. 14:27, 30). The Israelites saw the wages of sin, the dead bodies of their former oppressors and slave-masters.

Genesis 19 is such a fascinating story! On the surface level, it shows God’s great mercy to His people, even in the midst of their own failures and mistakes.

But deeper than that, we also see foreshadows of Passover, Jesus Christ’s death, and our deliverance from the bondage of sin! Lot and the angels washed their feet, and ate a feast with unleavened bread. Following a night of vigil, as the morning dawned, Lot and his family were cast out of Sodom. The angels literally took them by their hands and hurried them out! And as soon as Lot reached safety, as soon as he had been brought out of sin and darkness, and as soon as the sun had risen, God destroyed all the sin of Sodom in a fiery inferno!

Likewise, when we receive the blood of Jesus Christ, and when He brings us “out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9), we must not linger in sin as Lot had started to do. We must depart from sin immediately. We must “flee fornication” (1 Cor. 6:18; KJV) and all other sins.

For all sin will be consumed in a fiery inferno known as the lake of fire, and all who cling to their sins will perish with them!