Passover and Christians: The Prophetic Beauty of God’s Redemption Plan
Is Passover for Christians or Just Jews?
Many Christians love the message of the cross and find it essential to their faith, yet few have explored the prophetically proclaimed cross from a historical perspective from thousands of years prior to the cross. Passover (Pesach in the Old Testament, and Pascha in the New Testament) traditionally gets overlooked by Christians because of the teachings that it is a Jewish feast. Yet the Old Testament is clear that the feasts are not Jewish, there are the Lords and anyone who is the Lords is welcome at the feast. Passover is one of Scripture’s clearest, most intentional pictures of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
As a believer in Jesus, I have found that understanding Passover deepens my worship, strengthens my reverence, solidifies the scriptural unity of the entire Bible, and reveals God’s intentional design for all humanity across history. The same God who delivered Israel from Egypt is the One who delivers humanity from sin. Passover is where that story begins to unfold a prophetic chain reaction in the most symbolic of forms.
The Foundation of God’s Redemptive Pattern
In Exodus 12 we see the Passover instituted by God on the night that Israel was delivered from slavery in Egypt. This is not some fable, myth, or metaphor, it was a real historical event that altered the identity of God’s covenantal people.
The First Passover:
- A male lamb without blemish (Exodus 12:5)
- The lamb set apart and examined for four days (Exodus 12:3-6)
- Blood applied to the doorposts (Exodus 12: 7-13)
- Bread without leaven eaten in haste (Exodus 12: 8-39)
- A command to always remember (Exodus 12:14)
God instructed Israel to tell their children:
“When your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover’” (Exodus 12:26–27).
Passover was a covenant marker designed to be an annual reminder. Every generation would learn, speak, and remember that salvation is God’s alone. The beauty of this is what was seen as a historical event was really a prophetic foreshadow. The Passover was not only about Israel’s deliverance, but it was also the preview to God’s future redemptive work in Jesus.
Jesus himself taught that the Law and Prophets testified about Him (Luke 24, and John 5). How would Israel know their redeemer and their salvation? Jesus would fulfill the law and the prophets. Passover is one of the clearest examples of this in all of Scripture.
Is Jesus the fulfillment of Passover?
Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. – Matthew 5:17
The Law was given to establish a nation, people, and guardrail for life. It never was and never will be a means of salvation. This is a common misconception with some in Christianity. For Jesus to be the Messiah He would have to do what He said He came to do, and the Father testified of Him. So let’s look at how/if Jesus accomplishes the law.
1. The Spotless Lamb and the Sinless Messiah
o The Passover lamb had to be without blemish. This was foreshadowed of Christ as he was described as without blemish (1 Peter 1:19). Pilate examined Jesus and declared he could find no fault in Him (John 19:4).
2. The Lamb who was slain and the slain Savior
o The lamb was killed at twilight (Exodus 12:6). The Gospels record Jesus’ crucifixion during Passover (Matthew 26:17-19, John 19:14). Paul also makes this connection that Jesus is our Passover lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7). This was not just symbolic language, it was apostolic interpretation.
3. The blood that saves and the cross that redeems
o In Egypt, judgement passed over the homes marked by blood. The blood didn’t make them morally perfect, it covered them. Likewise we are cleansed and justified by the blood of Jesus (Romans 5:9, 1 John 1:7). Salvation from Genesis to Revelation has always been by grace through faith, revealed in the first Exodus, and fulfilled in the Greater Exodus by Christ on the cross.
4. Unleavened Bread and a life without sin
o Leaven throughout Scripture often represents corruption (Matthew 16:6, 1 Corinthians 5:6-8). Israel was instructed to remove leaven from their homes during Passover. Jesus declares himself to be the bread of life, and the unleavened bread to be His body (John 6:35). He is the true bread of life, perfect, pure, without sin, and life-giving.
5. The Passover cup and the blood of the New covenant
o During the Passover meal, Jesus took the cup and said this is my blood of the new covenant (Luke 22:20). Israel had practiced for centuries with wine on both Friday evening and at the Passover. Jesus was revelation that this ancient feast and practice was always pointing them directly towards Him. What they practiced symbolically weekly and annually, he fulfilled literally in a single act of redemption.
Fulfillment doesn’t cancel it reveals the fullness
When many read Matthew 5:17 they wrestle with what it means. Fulfillment never means abolition in the Bible, it means completion. The fullness of the revelation cannot be revealed until it is completed. Kind of like hindsight. Once something is completed, we can see what it was or is. For Christians Passover is no longer some historical marker of Israel’s history. It is a part of our testimony. The symbolism now blossoms into a beautiful mosaic through the cross.
The story of the cross transforms faith alone, yet how much more do we solidify our faith when we see that the cross wasn’t some abstract moment or theology but a centuries long plan tied to the Passover.
- God plans salvation long before we knew our need of being saved
- Redemption always requires sacrifice
- God keeps covenant promises despite our infidelity to them
- Deliverance belongs to God alone
In 1 Peter 2:9 Peter connects our salvation directly to the pattern of the Exodus, “But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.” Just as Israel was called out of Egypt, believers in Jesus are called out of sin.
So why I believe Christians should fall in love with Passover
Over the last 5-6 years there has been a renewal of younger Christians returning to more traditional denominations and services. Ones steeped in historical rituals, practices, and centuries old ways. We all want to know we are a part of something larger than ourselves, and this one moment in time. For years some protestant Christian denominations have wondered into the anything goes and nothing stays concept of corporate worship. This forsakes and sometimes forgets that our faith isn’t new, we didn’t create something, we joined a heritage that was given to the lies of Abraham, Noah, Moses, long before the world met you.
When Christians rediscover the heritage of their faith in Jesus is solidifies and amplifies that we are joining with billions of those who came before us and will come after us doing the same thing.
1- Scripture becomes unified. The most uninspired page of the Bible is the one that separates the testimony of the Torah and the Prophets from the Gospels. The Old and New Testament are a part of one story.
2- Your Savior becomes clearer. Jesus wasn’t disconnected from the Torah; He gave the Torah to Moses. Jesus wasn’t disconnected from Creation, He was giving creation. Jesus’ death wasn’t some tragic accident it was a divine appointment spoken off from Genesis on. Only one was ever worthy to fix what we created.
3- Worship intensifies and deepens. We learn that the cross was not just an event but the climax of a story in which God invited humanity into long before you or I was ever thought of. It connects us to a larger narrative in God’s redemption plan. That all the world would have the opportunity to be delivered from the bondage of slavery of sin and death.
The Prophetic Lamb was always Coming!
In the book of the revelation given to John it calls Jesus “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” The cross was never damage control. It was also part of God’s redemption and the Passover from Exodus to Revelation testifies to this.
Long before Calvary, before Bethlehem, before Moses, God had already written a story of love through salvation. He gave clues throughout history so that when Jesus came, they and we would recognize the King of Heaven was and is the King of Israel. The king of the Jews was the King of the world, and through Him we pass from death to life, from chaos to order. The blood on the doorposts caused the angel of the Lord to Passover the house, just as death will Passover you when covered by the blood of the Lamb.
Passover is one of the brightest clues God has given humanity. It whispers throughout history so many marvelous and miraculous signs and wonders. The Lamb is coming. Then the Lamb of Egypt’s whisper becomes a firm declaration from Jesus, the Lamb has come.
