Waverly Church of Christ

Over 3,400 years ago God instituted a meal which His people were to always remember.

His people were slaves in Egypt, who, for years had begged Him to deliver them.

God had sent Moses and his brother, Aaron, to Egypt to bring this about, but Pharaoh, the king of Egypt would not listen to them.

Nine plagues ensued to convince Pharaoh and his people that neither they nor their gods were any match for the God of the Hebrews.

Finally, because Pharaoh continued to harden his heart, God sent one final plague:

a. It was to be the death of all the firstborn in Egypt

b. From the firstborn of Pharaoh all the way down to the firstborn of the lowliest slave girl

c. Even the firstborn of the cattle were to die.

However, God issued a command to His people which if followed would spare them this horror (cf. Exodus 12:1-8):

a. Each family was to take a year old lamb without blemish from either the sheep or the goats (v. 5).

b. They were to slaughter it and roast it over the fire (v. 8).

c. The lamb was to be eaten along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs (v. 8).

d. None of the lamb was to be left until the following morning — if they did not finish the lamb, the rest was to be burned with fire.

e. They were to eat this meal with their sandals on their feet and staff in hand — it was to be eaten in haste (v. 11)

f. Blood from the lamb was to be smeared on the two doorposts and the lintel of the house where they were to eat it (v. 7).

g. This meal was called “the Lord’s Passover” because God went through the land of Egypt that night and struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast (v. 12).

Every year on this same night, the fourteenth of Abib, the Israelites were to reenact this meal, remembering its significance in their history as a nation — it was an acted parable, because each of the emblems represented something.

It was this meal that Jesus ate with His disciples on the evening before His death.