Introduction

God's purpose for mankind is to reproduce His own kind—that is, to fashion in each person His holy character. God gave to Israel seven annual festivals which reveal the steps to the fulfillment of that plan. Through this inductive study guide you'll learn about the first step in that plan: Passover, the first festival of the year.

Evidence From Scripture

EXODUS 1:13-14 "So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor. (14) And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage -- in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor."

EXODUS 3:7 "And the Lord said, I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows."

1. What was life like for an Israelite in Egypt?

JOHN 8:34 Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin."

2. What is sin? Read 1 John 3:4

3. How was an Israelite's bondage in Egypt analogous to bondage to sin?

4. Can one live in sin and be in God's family? Read 1 John 3:5-10 and comment.

EXODUS 12:3 "Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: 'On the tenth day of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. (5) Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or the goats.'"

I CORINTHIANS 5:7 "For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.

5. List the requirements of the sacrificial animal.

6. Compare those requirements with Jesus Christ, our Passover sacrifice.

EXODUS 12:6-13 "'Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month…"

7. Who killed the lamb? Who is responsible for Christ's death? When was Christ crucified?

8. What is the symbolic meaning of putting blood on the door posts and lintel?

9. Why would unleavened bread and bitter herbs be part of the meal?

10. Why were they to eat it in haste?

11. What would happen to an Israelite who did not have blood on his door posts and lintel?

12. What is the penalty for sin? Quote a verse from the New Testament which proves it.

13. Is blood required also for deliverance out of bondage to sin and its penalty? Read Romans 3:24-25.

EXODUS 12:14 "So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance."

14. How long is this festival to be kept?

15. Would you say this is an important day in God's sight?

16. What does " feast to the Lord" mean?

17. Do you think this is a festival that Satan, God's adversary, would like us to forget or take lightly?

MATTHEW 26:17-19 "Now on the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread…"

MATTHEW 26:26-28 "And as they were eating…"

I CORINTHIANS 11: 23-28 "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you:…"

18. What changes in the Passover ceremony did Jesus make?

19. What does it mean to "eat" Christ's body? What does it mean to "drink" Christ's blood? Is the bread and wine literally the body and blood of Jesus?

20. How does one eat or drink "in an unworthy manner"?

21. How does one examine himself? What does one look for in this self-examination?

22. What additional ceremony did Jesus perform and commanded His disciples to do likewise? Read John 13:1,3-17.

23. What lesson(s) are we to learn from performing this ceremony?

Summary

1. What does God want us to understand about Passover in our age? Does He consider the day on which He allowed His only Son to die worthy of man's remembering in the 21st century?

2. What importance do people you know in your community give to the celebration of Passover? How do they see it fitting into God's Plan?

3. Summarize your convictions now about the meaning and value of commemorating Passover.