Skip to main content

Passover and Jesus






The Messiah in the Passover, Edited by Darrell Bock and Mitch Glaser

Why should Christians celebrate and remember the Passover?  This is a striking question that needs to be understood as well as the historical and theological context of the Passover.  However obscure we sometimes view the Old Testament, there is some significant reasons why we should reach back and study the Passover.  Mitch Glaser in the Introduction states, “When Christians celebrate the Passover, they grow in their understanding of the Old Testament, affirm the Jewishness of the Gospel, deepen our understanding of the Lord’s Supper, and build community with fellow Christians…” (20).  This book is answer to why celebrate the Passover but even more importantly an answer to what the Passover is and what it signifies to us today.  The various contributors of this book, Messiah in the Passover, bring a wealth of ministry experience in relating the Jewishness of both Jesus and the Old Testament to their Christian faith.

Any good understanding of the Passover will inevitably be an examination of the first five books of the Bible, particularly the narrative in Exodus.  Robert Walter zeroes on some key concepts about Exodus 6 by looking at the concept of promise in the passage.  He writes, “The third promise is that God will redeem Israel.  The Hebrew verb ga’al used here can carry the sense of repurchasing something that once belonged to you.  It points to a transaction between two parties where the purchaser pays a price, and as a result takes ownership.  Likewise, through the Passover, God will pay a price (Lamb)to repurchase Israel, his firstborn from slavery, taking ownership and possession of his people and bringing them into the Land.” (35)  The buying back of that which was lost and now is one’s own is particularly powerful because it points to a God who is not willing to discard something that sinned, no matter how bad the action.  Further, the promise points to an overarching theme of the Passover, that God will make good on his promises, even at great cost to Him.

Brilliantly, Walter continues in his examination of the biblical material to draw significant parallels between Joseph and Jesus.  He writes, “Joseph’s words of hope find fulfillment through the blood of the lamb at Passover as Israel is set free from Egypt…The New Testament’s words of hope find fulfillment through the blood of Yeshua our Passover Lamb…”  These poignant connections between Joseph and Jesus give us confidence that God is working for his people in most extraordinary ways (Joseph from barely alive to leader of a nation, Jesus from despised and suffering servant to victor).  These words of hope are not vain wishful thinking but rooted in God’s historical actions, and this is accounted for both in Exodus and in the New Testament.

This was a very good book relating the Passover to the present day Christians, helping us with a fuller understanding of the importance of Passover.

Thanks to Kregel Publications for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God's Grace for All of Life

The Romance of Grace by Jim McNeely III To be honest, when I received this book in the mail I had visions of what it might be like with a title like, ‘The Romance of Grace.’  The emotional rollercoaster and one-sided perspective on how our emotions fuel our faith was my presumption about the book, but this was the furthest thing from the truth as I started reading.  The Romance of Grace by Pastor Jim McNeely III is a careful look at the movements of grace in the way God pursues us with his love and his desire to get us to love him back.  McNeely writes, “We are entering a cosmic romance with a passionate lover, and He is interested in our heart’s truest desire.  His deepest objective isn’t to make us more moral; it is to get us to love Him back.  Virtue is the fruit, not the root” (18).  Why is this helpful?  For one thing, beginning with God’s initiating grace frees us from starting out on the wrong foot in the way we tell the story and...
2 comments
Read more

Saving Casper

Saving Casper: A Christian and an Atheist Talk about Why We Need to Change the Conversion Conversation by Jim Henderson and Matt Casper http://www.amazon.com/Saving-Casper-Christian-Conversion-Conversation/dp/1414364881 Many readers will quickly know the authors of this book from their previous release Jim and Casper Go to Church.  Jim and Matt’s new book entitled Saving Casper focuses on the way we talk about conversion in the church and the devastating ways we have pushed away atheists and other non-believers by our posture.  Both Jim and Matt traversed the national landscape, meeting in churches and asking hard questions about faith, conversion, and life. The basic premise of the book and travel is laid out here in their words, “Part of what Casper and I are trying to achieve when we speak to a group of Christians is to help people move a little bit on their “judgment meter.”  This capacity, while intellectually and often theologically uncomfortable,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Journible The 17:18 Series: Acts

Journible The 17:18 Series: Acts The 17:18 Series: The Book of Acts by Joel R. Beeke and Rob Wynalda In Deuteronomy 17:18 Moses foretells of a future king coming to reign over Israel and copying the law himself rather than just acquiring a copy of the law.  The role of writing down or scripting the Word of God is of paramount importance for the growth of the believer.  With this truth in mind, Joel Beeke and Rob Wynalda have created Journibles.  This Journible on the Book of Acts is both a resource to copy the Scriptures yourself and engage in some questions about the text. On the right hand side of the Journible is blank lines with verse indicators for you to copy down the whole Book of Acts.  On the left side of the Journible are questions regarding context, theology, and details of the text for you to answer.  In other words, this Journible on Acts incorporates a place for you to write your own copy of Acts while engaging with the details of the te...
1 comment
Read more