Passover

Why is it significant that Joshua chose to celebrate Passover despite the pressing and immense task of taking the Promised Land? Read 05:10 &version=KJV&src=tools" target="_blank">Josh. 5:10 ; Exod. 12:6; Lev. 23:5; 28:16 &version=KJV&src=tools" target="_blank">Num. 28:16 ; Deut. 16:4, 6.

The second important activity that precedes the conquest is the celebration of Passover. This takes place in the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, in careful compliance with the instructions given by God. The symbolic significance of the Passover observance receives special emphasis: the events in Joshua mirror those of the Exodus. Passover evokes the night of the tenth plague (Exodus 12), when the angel of the Lord killed all the firstborn in Egypt and spared the Israelites. This is followed by the Exodus from Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, and the journey through the wilderness.

In contrast, the story of the second generation starts in the wilderness, continues with the crossing of the Jordan, involves circumcision and the celebration of Passover, and leads to the crucial moment when another miraculous intervention of the Lord is to be expected against the enemies of Israel, the inhabitants of Canaan. Together with all the preceding acts, the celebration of Passover marks the beginning of a new era in Israel’s history.

Also, through the symbol of the sacrificial lamb, the Feast of Passover pointed back to the redemption of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. But it also pointed forward to its antitypical fulfillment in the Lamb of God (01:29 &version=KJV&src=tools" target="_blank">John 1:29 , 01:36 &version=KJV&src=tools" target="_blank">36; 1 Cor. 5:7; 1 Pet. 1:18-19), who ransomed us from the bondage of sin. At the Lord’s Supper, before offering Himself as the Ultimate Sacrifice, Jesus transformed Passover into a memorial of His death (Matt. 26:26-29, 1 Cor. 11:23-26).

However, Passover and the Lord’s Supper signal an even more glorious reality: that of the redeemed multitude passing into the heavenly Canaan. John the revelator portrays this antitypical “crossing” event as the 144,000 walking on the sea of crystal, the antitypical Red Sea and river Jordan, before the throne of God (Rev. 4:6; Rev. 7:9-10) and celebrating the antitypical Passover and Lord’s Supper at the marriage supper of the Lamb (26:29 &version=KJV&src=tools" target="_blank">Matt. 26:29 , Rev. 19:9).

What are ways we can, even when we are not celebrating the Lord’s Supper, keep the reality of the Cross always before us?