In Shemot or Exodus, we have the Feast of Passover in a beautiful new creation pattern. The word beginning should point us to the first day of creation.
Day One–
Genesis 1:1: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Exodus 12:1-2: The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. (bold accents added)
We can also find the word ‘abar, to pass through, twice in Exodus twelve. We have connected this word to the first day of creation in many other re-creation patterns.
Exodus 12:12: “For I will pass through (‘abar) the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.”
Exodus 12:23: For the Lord will pass through (‘abar) to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.
Day Two–
The Feast of Unleavened Bread has much to do with separating or dividing. The action verb of the second day is to divide, separate, or distinguish. You separate leaven from unleavened bread. You divide a lamb that is blemish free from the goats or sheep.
Exodus 5:5: Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
Exodus 15:15: Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day, you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
Just as God separates light from darkness and the righteous from the wicked (Mt 13.49), we have leaven separated from the lump of dough.
Day Three–
Most of Passover involves purifying your sanctuary or heart and becoming children of the Kingdom of God. If you remember, the trees created on the third day can symbolize kingdoms, houses, or dwellings. In chapter twelve, we see the commandment to place the lamb’s blood on your house lintels and doorposts of your house.
Exodus 12:22: And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning.
Death came to those who disobeyed the commandment of the Holy One. Life came to those who heeded the Word of God. Two kingdoms are at play in the Exodus, Pharaoh’s Great House of Bondage versus the House of God, where the Destroyer cannot enter.
Day Four–
This day is all about signs and seasons. In Genesis 1:14, we read;
“Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years.”
Exodus 13:9-10: It shall be as a sign to you on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the Lord’s law may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. You shall therefore keep this ordinance (Passover) in its season from year to year. (bold accents added)
Interesting! So we have signs and seasons in Exodus’s new beginning.
Fifth Day–
On the fifth day, the subjects of the kingdoms are to multiply after their kind. One of the ways that the previous re-creation patterns do this is to circumcise future generations. This action brings others into covenant, essentially multiplying after their kind.
Exodus 12:47-48: All the congregation of Israel shall keep it (the Passover, refer to verse 43). And when a stranger dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it, and he shall be as a native of the land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat it.
A massive gathering of people joins the covenant at the first Passover. The Exodus account surpasses the forefathers’ bringing their household into a covenant to bringing strangers from the nations into it.
Sixth Day–
The sixth day is when God creates humanity and beasts. Adam is like a firstborn as he is called the son of God (Lk 3.38). In the Exodus account, God takes down the firstborn of Pharaoh’s Great House, from the throne to the livestock, and exalts Israel, his firstborn. Firstborn points me to the sixth day of creation.
Exodus 12:29: And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock.
Exodus 4:22: Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Israel is My son, My firstborn.”
Seventh Day–
The Shabbat is commanded as a remembrance of the Exodus, as we read in Deuteronomy 5:15;
“You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord, your God, brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
Hopefully, you can see that Israel is supposed to be the new Adam, a new humanity that reflects the image of God. The Passover is essential to the story of God’s salvation. Celebrating it is one of the most extraordinary things we can do to experience the magnitude of Yeshua, the Lamb of God who takes away the world’s sin.
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