Some thoughts about the Easter Holiday!


The song Christ our Passover was written to illuminate the Palm Sunday account. However, as I have meditated on this verse this Easter God has given me new insights into the meaning of Easter. The song is taken from I Corinthians 5:7 “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us therefore let us keep the feast.” There are three other lines to the song that combine to form a cacophony of sound like the confusion that must have greeted Jesus as he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. The second part of the song with its own distinct melody is… ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Matthew 21:9 The third part of the song with a third melody also comes from Matthew 21:9 …” Hosanna in the highest, and the final part of the song with a still different melody is simply… “Alleluia’. As I was teaching this song to my students the significance of these bible verses began to make this a very meaningful Easter. 


The context of Christ’s arrival in Jerusalem is significant. Jesus chose to come at Passover. Passover is an important festival in Judaism. It represents the Israelites being delivered from Egyptian bondage by God’s Covenant through his servant Moses. The Mosaic covenant is a unique covenant in the Old Testament. It is the only conditional covenant of the four Old Testament covenants. In this covenant with Moses God promised to deliver his people from oppression as long as they would follow the law handed down to Moses on Mount Sini. The study of this law, and its significance to how we should live is still the centerpiece of worship for modern Judaism. Jewish houses of worship are called synagogues. Every synagogue is equipped with a room for prayer, and significantly rooms for study. This third covenant made with Moses centered on the law. Jesus came to fulfill that law with a new covenant where the law could be written on our hearts. This new covenant is based upon Jesus' life, death and resurrection. He came to become the final Passover lamb to deliver a people of faith from the bondage of licentiousness, and the failure to keep the law. No person can meet the conditional requirement of the third covenant. Jesus Christ became the second Adam, met the requirements of the law, and provided a surrogate sacrifice in this final fifth covenant. Unlike the covenant of Moses it is unconditional. The only requirement is that people believe in the substitutionary death and resurrection of Christ who is the final Passover lamb that will pay for the sins of mankind. Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane uses the resurrection account to sanctify our lives. John 17:19 Christ sanctifying work allows for us to walk righteously in the promise of the new covenant. Like the Jews we still need to study God’s law, but the Holy Spirit sent by Christ himself empowers us to live a godly life. So this fulfills the first half of the verse. Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Now we will turn to… therefore let us keep the feast. 


What is the feast? The most logical place to start looking is the seder supper. Jesus strategically uses the seder to institute a new feast which Christians today call Communion. Since Jesus Christ became the final Passover lamb we eat and drink in a feast that celebrates His final sacrifice for sin. When we remember His death and resurrection, then we are illuminating our faith in a very demonstrative way. There are four cups in the passover meal and Jesus drank three cups at the last supper. 


  • The first cup is the cup of bringing Israel out of Egypt. God is also bringing His grafted gentile people out of a fallen world. 

  • The second cup is the cup of deliverance from bondage. God delivered Israel from bondage. God is also delivering His people of faith from temptation. 

  • The third cup is the cup of our redemption. God redeems Israel and people of faith by paying the price of our sins in a final blood sacrifice on the cross. This cup is drunk after the meal, and this was the last cup that Jesus drank with His apostles. 

  • The fourth cup is the cup of restoration and praise. Just as Jesus Christ was restored in His resurrection we will also be restored. Jesus drank this last cup on the cross when he said, “I thirst’ before his death. 


Christians typically take communion differently than the four cups at the seder meal. They pass out bread and grape juice to reenact the meal Jesus shared with His disciples. Perhaps Christians should consider the seder as we keep the feast. But even more importantly we should remember that last cup that Jesus drank on the cross when he proclaimed, “it is finished”. All was accomplished when the second Adam hit the reset button, and restored us to the original purpose of our creation. We keep this feast as a sacrament and a communion with Christians all over the world. Paul’s words in I Corinthians still ring true today Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, therefore let us keep the feast.


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