Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. 1 Corinthians 5:7
How many birthdays have you had? If you calculate one for every year you have lived, you can come up with a number in a flash. But what we call birthdays are actually anniversaries, the anniversary of the day we were born. If we look at it that way, we have had only two birthdays, the day we were born, and the day we were saved. In the same way, there was only one Passover, in which the Israelites were delivered from bondage in Egypt through the shed blood of the lamb being applied to the lintels and doorposts of their houses. What the Jewish people have celebrated annually since that great event is the anniversary of that Passover. But just like Christians have a second birthday, so there is a second Passover, which our text identifies as Jesus Christ.
Our first birthday was limited in that it provided us only with physical life, life for our mortal sojourn on earth from our birth to our death, leaving us with nothing for the great eternity beyond. We desperately need the second birthday. In the same way, the first Passover was limited, providing the Israelites with only the initial deliverance from Egypt, a deliverance benefitting the Israelites alone, having no real impact beyond that point, and providing no benefit to the Gentiles. To obtain an eternal deliverance from the bondage of sin that applies to Jew and Gentile alike, we desperately need a second Passover. The Israelites could provide the sacrifices for the first Passover, as long as they did so carefully and in accordance with God’s instructions. But we have no way to provide the sacrifice for the second Passover. That is why God provided that Sacrifice in the Person of His Son.
One of the interesting facts about the Passover is that it applied to the tenth plague, the plague that claimed the firstborn of Egypt. This plague was unlike the others. In the first nine plagues, the Israelites were immune to the devastation and trouble that afflicted the Egyptians. All of those great plagues had no impact on the Israelites, and they needed no action to preserve themselves. But the last plague required action, because the death angel was to pass through the entire land, and would visit each house where acceptable blood was not applied. Only a sacrifice would preserve the Israelites, and such a sacrifice could have preserved the Egyptians if they had believed and acted. In the same way, the plague of sin, which carries the penalty of the second death, applies to Jew and Gentile alike. The second Passover is equally available to Jew and Gentile alike. And we have entered into the protection that the second Passover provides.
All of the imperfections of the first Passover are set aside as we appreciate the infinite value and the perfect character of our Passover, and the deliverance that He has provided. -Jim MacIntosh