A New Passover

Brian Carroll / General Adult

Work in Progress / Ezra 6:18–22

 

Introduction

• We’ve officially gotten past the “Hallow” part of the season we call “Hallowthanksmas.”

• Hopefully, you’ve got some candy left over.

• Maybe you’re working on collecting your parent tax from the trick-or-treating candy haul.

• But now it’s November.

• I need a moment of honesty - how many of you started putting Christmas decorations up this weekend?

• But there is still a major holiday between now and Christmas.

• I happen to love Thanksgiving.

• I love Thanksgiving food.

• I personally don’t understand why it’s only Thanksgiving food.

• Give me all the savory goodness…Turkey, dressing (for those of you who are transplants, dressing is similar to its yankee cousin, stuffing, only better).

• Then throw in some sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce.

• As a matter of fact, I could go for Thanksgiving food today.

• But it’s not just the food, it’s the opportunity to sit down with family and enjoy the meal together.

• I’ve just found that the busier life gets, the more I value sitting down at the table together.

• Especially on a day when just about everything is closed and the only place you’ve got to go is maybe to eat the meal again with the other side of the family.

• When we get to the end of Ezra 6, we get a picture of the family getting back together.

• And there’s no denying it’s been a busy, challenging season for this generation of Israelites.

• But finally, the temple is finished and the family gathers around the table.

• As you can see, we have our table set today as well.

• Hopefully we can learn some things from the family in Ezra 6 to inform our family today.

Ezra 6:19–22 ESV

¹⁹ On the fourteenth day of the first month, the returned exiles kept the Passover.

²⁰ For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were clean. So they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their fellow priests, and for themselves.

²¹ It was eaten by the people of Israel who had returned from exile, and also by every one who had joined them and separated himself from the uncleanness of the peoples of the land to worship the Lord, the God of Israel.

²² And they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, for the Lord had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, so that he aided them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

• As far as we can tell, this is the first time that the nation of Israel had observed Passover since the reign of King Josiah - almost a century earlier.

• Josiah was followed by wicked kings that led to the destruction of the Temple by the Babylonians.

• That was followed up by the exile.

• There is no biblical record of the exiles officially observing Passover during the time of the exile.

• You may have had individual Jewish families observe Passover, but we don’t see any kind of national celebration.

• The Passover was one of the most meaningful celebrations in Israel’s history.

• It was established by the LORD all the way back in Exodus 12.

• It reminded God’s people of the night He set them free from slavery in Egypt.

• While judgment fell on the Egyptians, God spared every home marked by the blood of a lamb.

• From that moment on, He commanded His people to remember His deliverance with a yearly meal of worship and gratitude.

• The Passover took place in the first month of the Hebrew year—called Abib before the exile and Nisan afterward.

• On the evening of the fourteenth day, families gathered to share the meal, and for the next seven days they ate bread made without leaven.

• The absence of leaven symbolized purity—a reminder to remove sin and corruption from their lives just as they removed yeast from their homes.

• Those seven days, known as the Feast of Unleavened Bread, were filled with worship and thanksgiving.

• The people brought offerings from the first grain harvest, setting the tone for a season of joyful dependence on God’s provision.

• By the time of Jesus, Passover had become one of the most important national celebrations, drawing crowds from all over Israel to Jerusalem.

• It was during this festival that Jesus shared His final meal with His disciples—the same meal that He transformed into what we now know as the Lord’s Supper.

• The heart of the Passover was always the same: remembering God’s power to save and His grace to redeem.

• Every generation of Israel was reminded, “We were once slaves, but the Lord set us free.”

• For Christians, we don’t observe Passover - but we do recognize that our observation of the Lord’s Supper parallels Passover in some significant ways…

• Needless to say, the renewal of this feast here in Ezra 6 has tremendous significance our story.

• The first thing we see in our text is this -

Passover was a place of Preparation (vv. 19-21)

• Passover wasn’t something that got thrown together as a part of a last-minute office birthday party.

• It was something that you approached with seriousness.

• It was something of great consequence.

• In fact, it says back in v. 18 that they were trying to do this “as it is written.”

• They weren’t taking any liberties with this event.

• They were going by the book.

• We read here in Ezra that the priests and Levites had to purify themselves.

• This was an elaborate process that involved specific sacrifices.

• The priests were required to be cleansed with water.

• And then they were required to wear specific garments.

• Once they were purified, they had to then work hard to ensure that they didn’t do anything to defile themselves.

• All of this had the purpose of preparing the priests to serve as the spiritual mediators between God and the people.

• The selection of the lamb was also significant.

• You couldn’t just go grab any old lamb from the flock.

• Exodus 12:5 “5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats,”

• You weren’t allowed to use the gimpy lamb or the lamb with the weird growth.

• Exodus 12:6 “6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.”

• It had to be done in a certain way, at a certain time.

• It wasn’t just the priests who had to get ready.

• V. 21 emphasizes that the people who participated had some expectations as well.

• They had to come to the feast clean.

• That meant that they had to follow the cleanliness codes from the Law too.

• As Christians, we need to recognize that the Lord’s Supper is a place of preparation as well.

• There aren’t any specifics in the Bible about how we prepare the table.

• And I’m 99% confident that the deacons who prepared the table didn’t offer any sacrifices (other than getting here a little early), nor did they wear any priestly vestments in preparing.

• Instead, the Lord’s Supper is concerned with the heart-preparation of the participant.

• The Apostle Paul warned the church at Corinth about taking of the Lord’s Supper.

• In 1 Cor. 11, he cautioned about taking the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner, before taking time to conduct self examination.

• In the same way the priests of Ezra’s day had to prepare to lead the Passover observance, people who would take of the Lord’s Supper today must prepare.

• The first question you have to ask is this: Am I really a Christian?

• To be quite blunt, the Lord’s Supper is not for nonbelievers.

• It is given to the church as a family meal, not a religious ceremony.

• If you’re not a believer, we love you and we pray that you will turn to follow Christ, but the Lord’s Supper isn’t for you.

• The second question to ask is this: Have I confessed my faith in Jesus through the act of baptism?

• We do not believe that Baptism is necessary to get into heaven.

• Because the church administers the Lord’s Supper, the church is responsible to make sure that only Christians partake of the Supper.

• The biblical way for the church to know if people profess to be Christians is not if such people claim to have prayed a prayer, but if they have testified publicly of their faith in Christ through believers’ baptism.

• Believers’ baptism is the public declaration of faith in Christ. 

• In Acts 2, we see a whole bunch of people become Christians, but before they participate in the Lord’s Supper, they are first baptized.

• Hear me correctly this morning - nobody in this room is doubting your salvation because you have not been baptized.

• But we are asking the question, why have you not been baptized?

• The third question to ask is this: Am I unrepentant or hard-hearted in any way?

• Do you have besetting sin that you continue to toy with?

• Are there issues in your walk with God today that you need to resolve?

• Because we know that self-preparation is necessary before eating at this table, if there are things you cannot resolve before we serve, then there is no shame in not participating today.

• But I would challenge you to take steps today to resolve those matters before we gather around the table again.

• I’d love to talk with you more about what it means to become a Christian, pursue baptism, or even help you walk through any sin struggles you’re facing.

• When the Jews keep this Passover, we find this to be true:

Passover was a place of celebration (v. 22)

• For these Jews, the Passover, and the subsequent Feast of Unleavened Bread, were a time of great joy.

• There was the double recognition.

• They first acknowledged how God rescued them from slavery in Egypt.

• That is the historical anchor of the whole celebration.

• We celebrate Christmas and Easter as Christians - but those celebrations are anchored in historical realities.

• But for these exiles, there is the very real understanding that God has freed them from their own modern slavery.

• Here, it was by turning the heart of the King of Assyria.

• Because these empires just swallowed each other up, the King of Assyria was just another title for the King of Persia.

• Just like the Jews in the time of the Exodus saw God’s hand at work in mighty ways, these Jews recognize that God’s hand was at work in their release as well.

• For Christians, the Lord’s Supper has that same layered meaning.

• It has a historical anchor.

• We go back to the Gospels and we see Jesus sharing this meal with his disciples

• We know that there was a moment in history where the blood of Jesus was spilled and the body of Jesus was broken.

• The Lord’s Supper calls us to remember that singular event that transformed history.

• If you are a Christian, then you have ALSO personally tasted deliverance.

• You’re not an outside observer.

• You’re a direct participant.

• When you taste the bread, your mind is to recognize the body that was broken IN YOUR PLACE, FOR YOUR SINS.

• When the sweet taste of grapes hits your tongue, your mind is to recognize the blood that was spilled to make atonement - to cover you.

• That is cause to celebrate with great joy.

• Jesus said in John 8:34-36

John 8:34–36 ESV

³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.

³⁵ The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.

³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

• I just want to encourage you today that if you are a follower of Christ, you’ve been set free.

• It’s not an illusion of freedom…you are truly free.

• The Apostle Paul said in Romans 6:17-18

Romans 6:17–18 ESV

¹⁷ But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,

¹⁸ and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

• Instead of living your life in the bondage of sin, you now joyfully walk as a slave of righteousness.

• Paul described himself as a servant of Jesus Christ.

• There is no greater freedom in the world than to be set free from our bondage to sin and to be free to live as a servant of Jesus.

• The Jews in Ezra’s day experienced great joy as they took place in a 7-day feast.

• Christian, let me remind you today that the Lord’s Supper is a wonderful, family table, filled with joy and gladness.

• But the joy that we find at this table last longer than 7 days.

• It should inform us all of the days of our lives.

Preparation of the Table (TITLE SLIDE)

• At that time, would those serving please come down front as we begin to prepare the table.

• As we do so, I want to give you a few moments to conclude that self-examination I spoke of earlier.

• This is the invitation for you today…examine your heart.

• If you don’t know where to start, maybe a simple first step for you would be to pray the words of Psalm 139:23-24 in your heart and let the Lord speak into your life.

Psalm 139:23–24 ESV

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!

²⁴ And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

• I believe if you will genuinely pray this prayer, God will show you what he wants to show you.

• There might be some one in the room today that God answers this prayer with, “You need to turn from sin and trust in me. You need to become part of my family.”

• There might be some that God answers this prayer with, “It is time to stop disobeying me in regards to baptism.”

• And if we’re honest, all of us who pray this prayer and mean it, God is going to show us the deficiencies in our hearts.