Passover and Freedom

Sometimes, perhaps to often, Christians are guilty of using allegory too much when reading the TaNaK (OT). Christians see many examples of ‘shadows and types’, which, while often very valid, can lead to even greater truths being hidden and remaining unseen and therefore not engaged with and enriched by.

There are a great many ‘shadows and types’ or allegory in the Passover story. The Apostle Paul spoke of Yeshua as ‘Our Passover Lamb’ when he called upon followers of Yeshua to celebrate Passover. The Passover meal was clearly very important to Yeshua when he called his followers to remember him as they yearly partook of this memorial. We can see a great many ‘shadows and types’ in the whole exodus tale (please see my article Our Passover Lamb for some of these - http://www.charismacomputers.com.au/Christian%20site/Our%20Passover%20Lamb%20apr09.pdf).

However, there is a very important message for all people in the Passover story. It is not just a message of the grace of the Almighty in bringing the Jewish people out of slavery in Egypt; it is not just a message of freedom to be whatever we want to be; but freedom to serve the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

We see this in Ex 8:20 Then the LORD said to Moses, Rise up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh, as he goes out to the water, and say to him, Thus says the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve Me.

Passover commemorates the end of Jewish slavery and suffering. It is a yearly reminder that God is aware of the suffering of innocents and desires to bring good news to the poor; heal the broken-hearted and give freedom to the oppressed.

But God’s grace; His offer of freedom is always in harmony with all his attributes such as his justice.

Families and societies experience the truth that freedom without boundaries fails.

Freedom without boundaries, without consequences, without rules, leads to anarchy, to injustice and to suffering. Whether it is the pain and grief we feel when our children use their freedom to swear and speak disrespectfully to others, or where societal freedoms lead to risks to the security and well-being of others from bullying resulting in suicide, to the freedom of hate speech and incitement resulting in acts of terrorism.

Societies quickly learn that no one can be totally free at the expense of other people's rights. The misuse or abuse of freedom can often have very sad and tragic consequences.

So when we consider the Festival of Passover, we also recognize that the freedom experienced when the Israelites travelled for three days from slavery in Egypt and passed though the Red Sea, they were only a part of the way on their journey. This journey continued on to receiving the divine instructions (Torah) at Mt Sinai that would give them the boundaries and principles for how to be properly free, that is, to be truly free by knowing the moral code that guides and empowers a responsible life of freedom.

The Jewish people were freed from physical slavery in order to voluntarily place themselves under the restrictions of moral integrity.

As Rabbi Benjamin Blech states in ‘Freedom without limits’:

“Freedom without any restraints may very well be just as destructive as slavery. "No one can ever tell me what to do" – an idea not limited by ethical constraints – is potentially just as much a threat to the social order as slave masters…  

This is what Abraham Lincoln understood so well in his famous words, "Freedom is not the right to do what we want, but what we ought." 

And this is the real message of Passover: God granted us the gift of physical freedom, so that we might become truly free to be guided by our spiritual selves”. - see http://www.aish.com/h/pes/t/f/Freedom_Without_Limits.html

Christians if truly grafted into the cultivated olive tree of Israel, and if obedient to the words and actions of Yeshua and the Apostle Paul should also participate with Israel in this very important festival (for more on Christian observance of biblical festivals see my Col 2:16 and the Sabbath article at circumcisedheart.info).

Christians should also especially remember Yeshua at this time (and always!), as without his life, his death and resurrection most ‘God-fearing’ Gentiles would never have seen ‘the light’ and found salvation.

The grace that the Almighty extends always requires a response to be fully embraced. The Jewish people in Israel needed to be obedient in taking some of the blood of the lambs and placing on their doorposts.

Those who recognize Yeshua as their Master also need to act obediently and hear his call to ‘do the will of the Father’ if they wish to be adopted into his family and have citizenship in the coming Kingdom of God.

May your participation in this Passover be a special anointing on you and your families lives and may your celebration of it bring a sense of unity and solidarity with the Jewish people as the storm clouds continue to grow around them in these dark days.