Friday: Further Thought – Passover
Daily Lesson for Friday 1st of August 2025
Further Thought:
Read Ellen G. White, “The Passover,” Pages 273–280, in Patriarchs and Prophets.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
“The Passover was to be both commemorative and typical, not only pointing back to the deliverance from Egypt, but forward to the greater deliverance which Christ was to accomplish in freeing His people from the bondage of sin. The sacrificial lamb represents ‘the Lamb of God,’ in whom is our only hope of salvation. Says the apostle, ‘Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.’ 1 Corinthians 5:7. It was not enough that the paschal lamb be slain; its blood must be sprinkled upon the doorposts; so the merits of Christ’s blood must be applied to the soul. We must believe, not only that He died for the world, but that He died for us individually. We must appropriate to ourselves the virtue of the atoning sacrifice.”—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 277.
To this day, observant Jewish families around the world celebrate Passover, Pesach. They have what they call a “Passover Seder” (“Seder” means “order/arrangement”) during which they recount the Exodus and then enjoy a special meal as a family. Amazing that this has been kept since, literally, the time of the Exodus! Only the seventh-day Sabbath, which observant Jews keep as well, goes back even farther into antiquity.
Discussion Questions
|
(9)
*How fair was it that God killed First Borns in Egypt?*
The final warning given to Pharaoh in Exodus 11:4–6 marked a critical moment of decision. God explicitly declared that the firstborn of Egypt would die, but Pharaoh, hardened in pride, dismissed the warning. This set the stage for a decisive confrontation between divine authority and human defiance. Pharaoh’s continued resistance forced God to act in judgment, proving once again that His word never fails. As Scripture affirms, “God is not a man, that He should lie” (Numbers 23:19). He demonstrated His unmatched sovereignty—none could stop His hand (Isaiah 43:13).
The tenth plague revealed the impartial nature of God's judgment. The only safeguard against death that night was the blood of the Passover lamb applied to the doorposts (Exodus 12:13). Death visited every household—either the death of a lamb or the death of the firstborn. It wasn't a matter of nationality but of obedience. Even an Egyptian who heeded God’s instruction could have been spared, and any Israelite who failed to obey would have suffered loss. The decisive factor was not faith, but obedience. As James 2:17 reminds us, “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
Ultimately, the death of the firstborn was both an act of divine judgment and a picture of salvation through substitution. The plague showed that God's justice is perfect and that His mercy is available to all who receive it. Pharaoh rejected that mercy, and so faced the consequence. The Israelites, too, were spared not by merit, but by grace. As Romans 6:23 states, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God's justice is flawless—He sees all, knows all, and acts without error. Though we may not fully grasp His judgments, we can trust that He is righteous in all His ways (Psalm 145:17).
I disagree with the decisive factor being obedience. They first had to believe before they obeyed. It was a classic salvation by a faith which works. True faith always obeys. Our righteousness is by faith, a faith that appropriates, and lives out the righteousness of Christ in real time.
Exactly! This exchange demonstrates how easy it is to make a "works" issue out of a faith issue, and I think we all do it at times.
I believe that every sin is, at the base, a lack of faith. We do our own thing because we don't really believe that God loves us enough to ask us to do only what is for our own good. So we choose to do it our way ... not always consciously, but often out of habit.
The sin of Adam and Eve was a lack of faith in their Creator. Our sins are the same.
True obedience is not just about following rules it is the natural outflow of true faith. The Israelites obeyed God's command to apply the lamb’s blood because they believed His word. As Hebrews 11:28 says of Moses, “By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them.” Their obedience was the visible evidence of inward trust. This agrees with James 2:17, which reminds us that “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” Real faith moves us to action faith and obedience always go hand in hand.
I took a lead from my grandsons and did a deep dive with the search engines to find a range of conservative Christian views on the tenth plague. Most of the responses were similar to the ones that we have put forward in our discussion this week but one response was a bit out of the box and challenging enough for me to report it here.
In the lead-up to the tenth plague, the Egyptians had seen the power of Yahweh demonstrated. When the warning went out that a devastating tenth plague was coming, they were also told of a way to protect themselves from it. The lamb's blood on the doorposts and the lintel wasn't just for the Israelites but for anyone willing to believe. Salvation was offered before judgement was executed.
I don't have a biblical reference to back that notion up, but if you read the story of the tenth plague, there was a fair bit of interchange between the Hebrews and the Egyptians leading up to the tenth plague. The Hebrews received parting gifts from the Egyptians, and it does not take much imagination to think that there would have been some exchange regarding the prophesied effect of the tenth plague. What we do know is that there was a "mixed multitude" who went with the Hebrews on the exodus from Egypt.
Perhaps we should carry this thought with us into our modern thinking. All too often we think of salvation for ourselves and much of out language we use to describe it is in terms of "our salvation". But salvation is available for "whosoever"
What is the meaning of the symbolic saying that believers are covered by the blood of Jesus and that His blood cleanses them from all their iniquities?
I do believe that Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. I hear the Saviour say, "thy strength indeed is small, child of weakness, watch and pray, find in Me thy all and all"
Romans 8:26.
2 Corinthians 12:9.
We trust that God will cleanse us from all sin. No man can cleanse himself. Yet I know Christ cleanses me, because I have asked for forgiveness and claim his promise that He will purify me from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9.
Through faith we receive the grace of God; but faith is not our Saviour. It earns nothing. It is the hand by which we lay hold upon Christ, and appropriate His merits, the remedy for sin. And we cannot even repent without the aid of the Spirit of God. The Scripture says of Christ, "Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." Acts 5:31. Repentance comes from Christ as truly as does pardon. The Desire of Ages 175.4.
Is not God wonderful? I believe so. What's more He is making a home for us who have turned to Him. A home beyond the stars. We don't deserve it our only duty is to turn to Him.
Hebrews 7:25
John 14:1-3.
I understand and am marveled at the beauty of what the Passover represents. What puzzles me is why did Paul continue to keep it and why did John also teach others to so. The controversy over the keeping of the Passover based upon the Scriptures and what is called Easter continued for some time. Check this out.
https://www.gci.org/articles/the-passover-easter-quartodeciman-controversy/
Thank you, Daniel, for pointing us to this excellent article on the Quartodeciman controversy. I understand that was one of the issues addressed at the first Council of Nicea, without being fully resolved.
As for Paul: The way I see it, he was a Jewish Christian. The festivals were part of his DNA, and I wouldn't be surprised to find out that he took part in other festivals as well - not because he believed they needed to be kept, but because it was part of the Jewish calendar.
The article to which you pointe us says this
I don't see that as Paul teaching others to keep the 14th day of Nisan. Note that Polycarp's argument "was not so much scriptural as it was traditional." It seems he was referring to the tradition of Passover that continued to be kept by the early Christians as a memorial of the Lord's death. (I also address this under Monday's post.)
Have you run into any other suggestion that Paul taught the keeping of the traditional Passover as a memorial of Christ's resurrection?
Just as some Jews today commemorate Passover mainly as a cultural or historical tradition—focused on heritage rather than its deeper spiritual meaning—many Christians, unfortunately, approach the resurrection of Christ in a similar way.
For some, Easter becomes more about seasonal celebration, family meals, and symbolic customs like eggs and springtime imagery, while the profound spiritual significance—the victory over sin and death, the hope of eternal life, and the foundation of Christian faith—is downplayed or even forgotten.
The danger in both cases is reducing God's mighty acts of deliverance to mere rituals or stories from the past. Passover was meant to be a perpetual reminder of God's power to save, and the resurrection is central to the Christian’s living hope (1 Peter 1:3). If we lose sight of the spiritual core, we risk having a form of godliness without its power (2 Timothy 3:5).
True observance calls us to remember, internalize, and live out the implications of what God has done—not just annually, but daily.
Beverley – I appreciate your insight: “True observance calls us to remember, internalize, and live out the implications of what God has done – not just annually, but daily!
When our faith is too closely tied to keeping traditions instituted by man, we are in danger of letting go of the hand of God and placing our trust in the institutions and their framework based on organizational efficacy.
Christianity offers no substitute for faith in God's providence encountered through His Justice, Grace, and Mercy!
No one answered the question....
How fair was it that God killed First Borns in Egypt?*these children are innocent was not given a fair judgement individually but suffered the sins of their fathers.Does that made God's judgement towards their wicked fathers unfair to the firstborn?
As I mentioned in one of my previous comments, we must live with some unanswered questions. In science, we often have to say, "insufficient data". It is not very satisfactory, but until the data becomes available, we have to live with it.
We should avoid providing a speculative answer based on unreliable assumptions. That does more harm than good.
I agree with Maurice that certain questions are better left unanswered. That being said, I think the following should be considered:
At first glance, the last plague seems unfair—especially since children died. But God had given Egypt many chances to repent through nine previous plagues. The death of the firstborn was not sudden or without warning; it was the final judgment after repeated rejection of God's mercy.
Pharaoh had enslaved God's people and refused to let them go, even after God called Israel His “firstborn” (Exodus 4:22). God gave a clear warning: Let My firstborn go, or I will take yours. Even then, God provided a way of escape—the blood of the lamb on the doorposts. Anyone, even Egyptians, could have obeyed and been spared.
Sin always affects others. The firstborns suffered because Egypt, as a nation, hardened its heart. While it’s hard to accept, God’s justice is always mixed with mercy, and He sees the eternal picture we cannot.
It's a good question. I dont agree with Maurice's dodge that we should not reflect or speculate on the answer. The actions of God in the text are there for us to reflect upon and discuss.
My answer is that the death of the Egyptian first-borns is a symbolic part of the narrative. If death occurs in the ancient world, it was part of a larger worldview in which God and gods killed humans with impunity. Remember that in Genesis 6-9, God floods and drowns almost all the humans in the whole world (except for eight). These biblical passages are not to be taken literally, but are reflections of what the ancient Jewish community thought about these matters.
I believe it is important to consider the perspective from which we, in our time - the age of the indwelling Holy Spirit – ‘judge’/interpret the events unfolding during the time of the Exodus.
It appears to me that God dealt with two battles: the Egyptian’s ignorance and misplaced allegiance to false gods, and the Hebrews’ doubt and trepidations. Both needed to find out who this God was who claimed to hold supremacy and power over all gods – the "I AM WHO I AM - claiming to be the God of their forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The struggle between knowing about God’s Will, and the application of His Will by faith, is the struggle all who are called to trust in Him will experience. Following Him by faith becomes easier with time, though only the unmitigated Love of our Creator revealed and established within us by His Holy Spirit is able to bridge the deep divide between flesh and spirit.
As born-again Christians we are taught to open our heart and listen to what the Spirit reveals. Faith in our just, loving, caring, compassionate heavenly Father will motivate us to engage in acts of righteousness designed for us to engage in - Eph.2:10; Rom.1:17; 1 John 3:1-10.
Thanks, John H. Yes. Our Saviour is truly wonderful!
I pray, by God's grace, through faith, that my family (and yours, too) remains covered; choosing to accept Calvary's cleansing blood, through Christ Jesus.
How can we talk so freely about “innocent” when all have sinned and all born in sin, shaped in iniquity? Seem like we have created a god in our own image such that we feel free to judge him on these matters.
We must see that Pharaoh and Egypt represent types of Satan and the world of which he, Satan, is the “ruler of the world” (Jn 12:31) in which the people of God are enslaved in sin far from their homeland, heaven (Jn 15:18,19; 17:6,9,14-16; Phil 3:20; 1 Jn 4:4-6; Gal 4:26; Heb 12:22-24). Israel was enslaved in Egypt far from their homeland. The firstborn of Egypt typified the children of Satan and the firstborn of Israel the children of God (Ex 13:2,12,13; 22:29; Lev 27:26,27). The children of God are saved from the wrath of God; the children of the Devil are not.
Moses and Aaron could not enter the earthly promised land but they are citizens of the heavenly. Who knows how many of the Egyptian firstborns are actually citizens of the kingdom of God saved by grace like all the saved from the beginning? How many firstborns of Israel actually belong to the kingdom of the Devil?
Here is another question for y'all. When we celebrate Communion it is a celebrate of the Last SUPPER!! Instead of copying what Christ did why do we copy the Roman Catholic Church?
While I recognise there is sum similarity between the Catholic communion and our own, there are also some important differences. We believe the bread and wine are symbolic, whereas the Catholic church believes the doctrine of Transubstantiation - the bread and wine bcome the actual body and blood of Christ during the Eucharistic prayer. That is quite a materiad difference.
I have been in churches were the bread and wine are served within the context of a more substantial meal rather than the little sample sizes we normally get. I rather liked the idea. The fact that it was differnt to what we normally do was an invitation to think more closely about the meaning of the meal and also gave more opportunity to interact with others. It also took away that sense of urgency to get it over wity quickly so that we could get home for Sabbath lunch.
Daniel if I may too, I find an answer in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26.
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
I firmly believe we are not copying others, because we do as Paul outlined, inspired by the Holy Spirit.
In terms of communion, the last supper Jesus celebrated is obviously a model for us. But beyond that, there aren't a lot of rules given in the Bible about how to celebrate it. We know the Christians in Acts celebrated it, but the exact details are not really spelled out. This is quite different from Passover where there are a lot of specific rules.
I have taken part in communion during Agape feasts and I have taken part in the more "typical" fashion. Both are as meaningful as I allow them to be. I don't see one as superior to the other.
There are a lot of errors in the Catholic Church, but I feel we also need to be careful about making everything in the Catholic church an error. We might be surprised at what else we might find we inherited from them. As Maurice has said, the main error of the Catholic church in terms of communion is the fact that they believe Jesus is sacrificed again in the host objects. The other details are fairly insignificant to me.
Thank God only He is able to distinguish who is just and who is not! No man can do that. So, in His perfect and omniscient mind, and if not a single hair falls from our heads without His knowledge, He is more than able to know the heart of a creature who dies.
How do we partake of Christ’s experience? By being close to Him. Let us allow Him to get close to us and completely guide our lives.