Our God is a God who saves…
The story of Passover is one amazing example that makes the sentiment ring true, and as we have begun the Feast of Unleavened Bread, this is a wonderful time to recount the events of the deliverance from the desert!
In ancient Egypt, Bnei-Yisrael found themselves bound in the chains of slavery, their cries rising up to heaven. It was there, in the midst of their suffering, that God demonstrated His unwavering covenant faithfulness through a series of extraordinary events that would forever define the identity of His people.
As we gather around our Seder tables, breaking matzah and tasting the bitter herbs, we don’t merely commemorate history—we participate in it! The Exodus narrative speaks profoundly to us as Messianic believers, revealing not only God’s redemptive power in ancient Biblical times, but also foreshadowing the ultimate redemption through Yeshua, our Passover Lamb. Through the dramatic confrontation between Moses and Pharaoh, the miraculous plagues, and the breathtaking parting of the sea, we witness a divine pattern of redemption that continues to unfold in our lives today…
The Passover Story
The First Passover
Starting in Exodus chapter 12, we see God establish the Passover ritual that generations and generations will go on to uphold throughout centuries…He begins His explanation of the ritual with instructions for selecting and slaughtering the lamb:
“Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month, each man is to take a lamb for his family one lamb for the household.” (Exodus 12:3 TLV)
The lamb was to be without blemish, a year old male and they were to watch over it until the fourteenth of that month when they would then slaughter it at twilight and place its blood on the doorposts and lintels of their houses.
“They are to take the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the crossbeam of the houses where they will eat it.” (Exodus 12:7 TLV)
Following their fulfillment of the previous commandments, each household was to prepare the Passover lamb for a meal and accompany it with a few other elements; elements that you will most likely recognize as the traditional items found on the Passover Seder plate.
“They are to eat the meat [the Passover lamb] that night, roasted over a fire. With matzot and bitter herbs they are to eat it.” (Exodus 12:8 TLV)
All of these specific instructions from the Lord were to remind Bnei-Yisrael of who their God was (just like the plagues had done), to remember their suffering in slavery to the Egyptians, to thank the Lord for His goodness even in the suffering, and to prepare them for their eventual escape.
However, there was one specific reason for God instructing them to do the somewhat strange thing of placing the blood on their doorposts…it was to protect His children from the final coming plague:
The Exodus Begins
Following the tenth and final plague came the deliverance that Bnei-Yisrael had been calling to the Lord for:
“So he [Pharaoh] called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, ‘Rise up, go out from my people, both you and Bnei-Yisrael, go serve Adonai as you have said. Take your flocks and your herds, as you said, and be gone! But bless me, too.’” (Exodus 12:31-32 TLV)
Immediately, Moses gathered the Lord’s people and about 600,000 men plus women and children departed from captivity in Egypt!
“So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders.” (Exodus 12:34 TLV)
“They had baked matzot cakes from the dough that they brought out of Egypt. It had no hametz, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not delay, so they had not made provisions for themselves.” (Exodus 12:39 TLV)
Does unleavened bread sound familiar?…Well, it should! This is where we get another defining ritual of the Passover feast–eating no leavened foods, and instead consuming the flat, unleavened bread we call Matzah.
One might think that the story of the deliverance from the desert ended here with their escape, but it did not…Along their journey, God continued to lead His people alongside them, appearing as a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night:
“Adonai went before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead the way and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light. So they could travel both day and night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night never departed from the people.” (Exodus 13:21-22 TLV)
This picture of God leading them out of Egypt is so similar to how we look to God for guidance and direction in our lives, and He is still a constant pillar of strength and light in the times we live in now!
Another Miracle in Egypt
While Bnei-Yisrael might’ve thought that they had escaped their captivity in Egypt, they had another think coming…
“When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants had a change of heart toward the people, and they said, ‘What is this we have done, that we let Israel go from serving us?’ So he prepared his chariots and took his people with him.” (Exodus 14:5-6 TLV)
But even though Pharaoh and his men were catching up to the Isrelites as they made their haste through the desert, God had another miracle in mind to deliver them from the hand of Pharaoh:
”Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. Adonai drove the sea back with a strong east wind throughout the night and turned the sea into dry land. So the waters were divided.” (Exodus 14:21 TLV)
“Then Bnei-Yisrael went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, while the waters were like the walls to them on their right and on their left.” (Exodus 14:22 TLV)
What an amazing feat of strength from our Lord, He truly has the power to part seas and move mountains! Also, think of how much faith the Children of Israel had to have in this moment while they were walking between the walls of the Red Sea? And that extreme faith would be highly rewarded with God making one final move to literally sweep their enemies away:
“But the Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots and his horsemen.” (Exodus 14:23 TLV)
“So Moses stretched his hand out over the waters, and the sea returned to its strength at the break of dawn. The Egyptians were fleeing from it, but Adonai overthrew them in the midst of the sea.” (Exodus 14:27 TLV)
Establishing Passover as a Perpetual Observance
Following the crossing of the Red Sea, we see that God commands the annual observance of Passover, which is why we still celebrate this Feast and commemorate what happened in Egypt every year, even until this day!
Exodus 12:14 says, “This day is to be a memorial for you. You are to keep it as a feast to Adonai. Throughout your generations you are to keep it as an eternal ordinance.” And continues in verse 17: “So you are to observe the Feast of Matzot, for on this very same day have I brought your ranks out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you are to observe this day throughout your generations as an eternal ordinance.”
Moses continues on in this portion to describe exactly how they are to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread:
“For seven days you are to eat matzah, and the seventh day is to be a feast to Adonai. Matzot is to be eaten throughout the seven days, and no hametz is to be seen among you, nor within any of your borders. You are to tell your son on that day saying, ‘It is because of what Adonai did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ So it will be like a sign on your hand and a reminder between your eyes, so that the Torah of Adonai may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand Adonai has brought you out of Egypt. You are to keep this ordinance as a moed from year to year.” (Exodus 13:6-10 TLV)
The Significance of Passover
As we reflect on this ancient story, we’re reminded that Passover serves multiple profound purposes in our lives as believers…
It is, as Exodus 12:26-27 tells us, “a memorial of deliverance from bondage.” When our children ask, “What does this ceremony mean to you?” we respond with conviction: “It is the sacrifice of Adonai’s Passover, because He passed over the houses of Bnei-Yisrael in Egypt, when He struck down the Egyptians, but spared our households.” This retelling isn’t merely historical recitation—it’s spiritual formation, shaping our identity as a people whose very existence testifies to divine intervention.
Moreover, Passover stands as a demonstration of God’s mighty hand. Exodus 13:16 declares, “So it will be like a sign on your hand and like frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong hand Adonai brought us out of Egypt.” Every time we observe the festival, we physically and spiritually embody the reality that our freedom wasn’t won through human strategy or strength, but through the overwhelming power of the Almighty.
Perhaps most powerfully, Passover reaffirms God’s covenant faithfulness. In the darkest moments of Israelite slavery, Exodus 2:24-25 reveals, “God heard their sobbing and remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God saw Bnei-Yisrael, and He was concerned about them.” When hope seemed lost, the God who makes and keeps promises stepped into history. As He promised in Exodus 6:6, “Therefore say to Bnei-Yisrael: I am Adonai, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will deliver you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.”
There is a saying:
“If we forget our history, we are doomed to repeat it.”
But for us as believers, there’s an even deeper truth: If we forget our history, we are doomed to under-appreciate the greatness of God. The memory of the deliverance from the desert and the memory of the sacrifice Yeshua made will fade from our minds unless we actively preserve them. Our job as believers is to recount the promises and miracles of God, passing them from generation to generation with faithful devotion.
This is why, as we explored in our blog post earlier this month Preparing Our Hearts and Homes for Passover, the detailed observances of Passover are not mere rituals but profound spiritual practices that embed God’s faithfulness into our very beings. When we eat the bitter herbs, we taste the bitterness of slavery; when we dip the karpas into salt water, we shed tears with our ancestors; when we recline at the table, we embody the freedom they gained.
And for us as Messianic believers, when we break the middle matzah—the afikomen—we recognize the broken body of Yeshua, our ultimate Passover Lamb, whose sacrifice brings eternal redemption.
As the festival of Unleavened Bread continues, may we carry the lessons of Passover forward into our daily lives—remembering this deliverance, recognizing God’s mighty hand, and resting in His covenant faithfulness that stretches from Egypt to Jerusalem to our present moment, and onward into eternity.
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