Passover: Feast of Separation

 Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread mark the beginning of God’s plan of salvation. For ancient Israel, this feast launched a journey out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. For us today, it portrays the beginning of a journey out of this wicked world and into God’s Kingdom.

This journey cannot begin without one vital step: separation. God separates and distinguishes His people from those around them. Had there been no separation or distinction between the Israelites and the Egyptians, there could have been no deliverance for Israel. If there’s no separation or distinction between us and the world around us, there can be no deliverance for us, either.

Indeed, the whole Feast of Passover/Unleavened Bread, from beginning to end, is all about separation! We might go so far as to call it the feast of separation.

Making a Difference

For ancient Israel, the process of separation started during the months prior to Passover. After the first three plagues, God spoke through Moses and warned the Egyptian Pharaoh, “And in that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, in order that you may know that I am the LORD in the midst of the land. I will make a difference between My people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall be” (Ex. 8:22-23).

Each of the last seven plagues rained down upon the Egyptians, but not the Israelites. Though His people remained in bondage, God made a difference between them and the Egyptians. He separated them.

It wasn’t because of the Israelites’ own merits. It wasn’t because they deserved mercy, or because they were better than all other peoples on earth. “The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Deut. 7:7-8).

When God began to call us out of this world, He made a distinction between us and those around us. He separated us. But it wasn’t because of our own superiority or worthiness. Quite the contrary! As the apostle Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 1:26-29,

26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.

27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;

28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,

29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.

We are different and separate from this world because God chose us without any regard to our own merit. Apart from Him, not one of us amounts to anything.

The Bloodied Door of Separation

On the eve of the tenth and last plague, Passover came. Until now, God had asked virtually nothing of the Israelites. They simply watched as God spared them and punished the Egyptians. Now, He required something from them.

God told the Israelites to kill the Passover lambs late on Abib/Nisan 14 and smear the blood around the doorposts of their dwellings. Here’s Ex. 12:7, 12-13:

7 And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.

12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.

13 Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

Accordingly, Moses instructed the people, “And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning” (Ex. 12:22). The door and the blood separated those inside from those outside. Those behind the blood-smeared doorway would be spared; those outside would be subject to death.

At midnight that night, God did as He had said. “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” (Ex. 12:29). But the Israelites, shut in their homes with the lambs’ blood around their doors, passed through the plague unharmed.

At last, the Egyptian Pharaoh agreed to let the Israelites go free. “Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, ‘Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the LORD as you have said’” (Ex. 12:31).

The Passover lambs foreshadowed Jesus Christ’s death as our Passover Lamb: “For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us” (1 Cor. 5:7). He died late on Abib/Nisan 14, “the Preparation Day of the Passover” (John 19:14). When He died, He shed His blood for us: “You were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Pet. 1:18-19).

But Yeshua/Jesus is not only the Lamb; He is also the door. He proclaimed, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9). And when He died and shed His blood for us, that door turned bloody. The Passover lamb, the blood, and the door all foreshadowed Jesus Christ!

Just as the door with the blood of the lamb stood between the Israelites and death, so Jesus Christ stands between us and death. Those who accept and partake of His sacrifice will be spared; those who refuse will not. “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Just as God saved His people from bondage in Egypt, so He saves us from bondage to the sinful ways of this world. The apostle Paul wrote, “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin” (Rom. 6:6). And a few verses later, “But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness” (Rom. 6:17-18).

When Pharaoh released the Israelites, he said, “Go, serve the LORD as you have said” (Ex. 12:31). When freed from sin, we receive the same mission: “Go, serve the Lord.” “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Heb. 9:14).

It isn’t possible to serve two masters: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other” (Mat. 6:24). The Israelites couldn’t serve both the Egyptians and our great Creator. We cannot serve both this wicked world and our Creator: “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (Jam. 4:4). The two are separate, and one must choose!

After their first Passover, the Israelites no longer belonged to the Egyptians, but to God. Because of Passover — Jesus Christ’s death and our partaking of His sacrifice — we no longer belong to this world, but to God. We have been separated from this world, and that separation has been sealed by blood!

A Pillar of Fire and Cloud

As the Israelites began to trek out of Egypt after Passover, God went before them to guide the way. “And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people” (Ex. 13:21-22).

As the Israelites followed God, they journeyed further and further from Egypt. So it is with us. The longer we follow God, the further we journey away from this world.

But Pharaoh and his army pursued after the Israelites, intent on bringing them back into bondage (Ex. 14:1-9). So it is with us. This world and its ruler, Satan the devil, do not want to let us go. They continually pursue after us, intent on bringing us back into spiritual bondage. “In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you” (1 Pet. 4:4).

A few days later, undoubtedly on the eve of the Seventh Day of Unleavened Bread, the Egyptian army caught up with the Israelites. “And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD” (Ex. 14:10).

But as at first, God again made a distinction between His people and the Egyptians. He separated them. “And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night” (Ex. 14:19-20).

Just as God separated His people from the Egyptians during the ten plagues and again at Passover, so now He literally stood between them. He gave light to His people, but darkness to the Egyptians. His people could see; the Egyptians remained blinded by the darkness.

So it always is with those who follow God and those who remain in the world. Compare the words of the prophet Isaiah: “The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow; let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. He will be as a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem” (Isa. 8:13-14). The apostle Peter added, “Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,’ and ‘A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense’” (1 Pet. 2:7-8).

No Looking Back

When the Israelites had seen the Egyptian army marching after them, they’d suddenly regretted leaving Egypt. Though they’d cried out to God for deliverance from slavery and He had answered their prayers, that was all forgotten now.

11 Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt?

12 “Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.’” (Ex. 14:11-12.)

This would happen again many times in the coming years. Whenever facing some new difficulty, the Israelites expressed regret for leaving Egypt, the land of their bondage and oppression. Egypt was familiar. The Promised Land seemed so far away, as if only a dream.

So it is when many new members of the Body of Christ face trials and difficulties. So it can be with any of us, if we focus on the difficulties rather than on the God who guides us through them. Sometimes this world may seem appealing, even though it really has nothing to offer but emptiness and despair. This world is familiar. The Kingdom of God seems so far away, as if only a dream.

But you cannot go both ways! You cannot go back to this world and also press forward into the Kingdom of God. God has separated us from this world, and we must never wish to return. The apostle John wrote,

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.

17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15-17.)

The Waters of Separation

Through the night, God stood between His people and the Egyptians. At the same time, He divided the Red Sea and told His people to walk through it. “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left” (Ex. 14:21-22).

In the last hours of the night, during the morning watch, the Egyptians pursued Israel into the sea (Ex. 14:23-24). But God “took off their chariot wheels, so that they drove them with difficulty” (v. 25). And when the last Israelite was safely across, God hurled the sea back together and the walls of water crashed down upon the Egyptians. The whole Egyptian army perished in the sea. As Moses had told Israel, “For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever” (Ex. 14:13).

When daylight came, the Israelites saw only the dead Egyptians washed up on the shore (Ex. 14:30). Their former oppressors were now dead, and they had fully left Egypt behind. Again, God separated those who were His people from those who were not.

The apostle Paul wrote that Israel’s crossing of the Red Sea was a type of baptism. “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Cor. 10:1-2). And what happens at baptism? We die to sin and are born anew: “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4).

Like the Egyptians, our old way of life perishes. As Col. 3:5 tells us, “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”

In the eyes of God, we are now clean. He has separated us from our sins. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psa. 103:12).

From Darkness to Light

When God created the world, one of His first acts was to create a separation between darkness and light. “Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness” (Gen. 1:3-4).

This separation of light and darkness reappears both at the beginning and at the end of the Feast of Passover/Unleavened Bread. The symbolism presents itself both in Israel’s journey out of Egypt and in our journey away from this world.

After eating the Passover lamb and being released from bondage at night, the Israelites journeyed out of Egypt by day and saw the bodies of the Egyptians: “They departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day after 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. 33:3-4).

The Israelites crossed the Red Sea during the last hours of the night, the morning watch (Ex. 14:24). When it was fully light, God killed the Egyptians and the Israelites saw their bodies: “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).

Both at Passover and at the Red Sea, the Israelites emerged from night into day, from darkness into light, and saw the bodies of the Egyptians. They had been spared; the Egyptians had been slain. And the Israelites had been fully separated from their former way of life.

What happens when God calls us out of this world? “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9).

We are separated from the darkness of this world. “The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light” (Rom. 13:12). Again, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them” (Eph. 5:11).

Conclusion

From beginning to end, the Feast of Passover/Unleavened Bread teaches us about separation. God made a distinction when He chose each of us and began to call us out of the darkness of this world into His marvelous light.

Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, through our partaking of His sacrifice, and through baptism, God has separated us from our sins. He cleansed us and set us apart to Himself as a special people. We no longer belong to sin or to this world, but to God.

And, of course, when we eat unleavened bread for seven days, this, too, pictures our separation from sin: “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” (1 Cor. 5:7-8).

Let us never again desire this world. Let us no more look longingly back to a way of life we have left behind, as the Israelites looked back to Egypt or as Lot’s wife looked back to Sodom. Let us instead press on toward the Kingdom of God, journeying further from this world with each passing day. As Pharaoh exclaimed to Moses, “Go, serve the LORD as you have said!”