Exodus 12:14 records the time when God told the people of Israel to never forget The Lord’s Passover, that day in Egypt when He saw the blood on the doorposts of their houses, which had been applied for their deliverance from the plague that would result in the death of all the first born. Consequently, Passover has been and continues to be observed every year by the Jewish people as a commemorative command of perpetual obligation.
The night Jesus was betrayed He shared a Passover meal with His disciples, and unveiled to them the hidden treasure in this feast they had celebrated every year of their lives from childhood. Matthew 26:26-28 records, “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to His disciples saying, “Take, eat; this is my body.” Then He took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Here Jesus disclosed His identity, which had been concealed within the First Covenant, and He ratified the Second Covenant that had been prophesied in Jeremiah 31:31-34.
The particular instruction Jesus gave to His disciples at dinner while taking what today is referred to as Communion, brought a reminder of the past and a revelation for the present. They were reminded that the blood of the lamb, used for the deliverance of God’s people in Egypt, had to be applied to the doorposts in order to become “personal”. They were told that the sacrificial lamb typified Jesus, and that He was about to lay down His life to set them free from the slavery of sin. That night while celebrating the feast, Jesus fulfilled the Passover meal!
Bringing all of this to today… In and through the observance of Communion – partaking of the bread and wine, which represent the Lamb’s flesh and blood given once for all, every true follower of Christ can now recognize the full significance of the event of The Lord’s Passover and what it foreshadowed. Jewish and non-Jewish people who believe in Jesus and receive Him as Messiah/Savior are all passed over by the destroyer and spared of destruction. The blood of Jesus, Son of God / second person of the Godhead, is seen on the doorpost of every heart who believes, and receives.