Back to top

Sabbath Bible Lessons

Light for Today From the Sanctuary Service

 <<    >> 
Lesson 8 Sabbath, May 21, 2011

Annual Assemblies: Passover

“In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord’s passover” (Leviticus 23:5).

“There were three annual feasts, the Passover, the Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. . . . Of these the Passover was the most largely attended. . . . The time of the Passover corresponded to the close of March or the beginning of April,.”—The Desire of Ages, pp. 75, 76.

Suggested Reading:   Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 537-542

Sunday May 15

1. THE FIRST ANNUAL ASSEMBLY

a. What was celebrated on the 14th day of Abib, corresponding to the end of March and the beginning of April? Exodus 12:5–7, 11; Leviticus 23:5.

b. To what events, past and future, did the Passover point? Exodus 12:14, 17; 13:3, 4; John 19:14, 15. Explain the spiritual meaning. 1 Corinthians 5:7 (last part).

“On the fourteenth day of the month, at even, the Passover was celebrated.”—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 539.

“The Passover was to be both commemorative and typical, not only pointing back to the deliverance from Egypt, but forward to the greater deliverance which Christ was to accomplish in freeing His people from the bondage of sin. The sacrificial lamb represents ‘the Lamb of God,’ in whom is our only hope of salvation.”—Ibid., p. 277.

“The lamb was to be eaten with bitter herbs, as pointing back to the bitterness of the bondage in Egypt. So when we feed upon Christ, it should be with contrition of heart, because of our sins.”—Ibid., p. 278.


Monday May 16

2. A SYMBOLIC SIGNIFICANCE

a. In what sense has Christ become our Passover? John 6:51–58, 63.

“The lamb was to be prepared whole, not a bone of it being broken; so not a bone was to be broken of the Lamb of God, who was to die for us (John 19:36). Thus was also represented the completeness of Christ’s sacrifice.

“The flesh was to be eaten. It is not enough even that we believe on Christ for the forgiveness of sin; we must by faith be constantly receiving spiritual strength and nourishment from Him through His word. . . . Jesus accepted His Father’s law, wrought out its principles in His life, manifested its spirit, and showed its beneficent power in the heart. Says John, ‘The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth’ (John 1:14). The followers of Christ must be partakers of His experience. They must receive and assimilate the word of God so that it shall become the motive power of life and action. By the power of Christ they must be changed into His likeness, and reflect the divine attributes. They must eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God, or there is no life in them. The spirit and work of Christ must become the spirit and work of His disciples.”—Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 277, 278.

b. What followed the Passover celebration? Exodus 12:15–18; Leviticus 23:6.

“The Passover was followed by the seven days’ feast of unleavened bread.”—Ibid., p. 539.

“The use of unleavened bread also was significant. It was expressly enjoined in the law of the Passover, and as strictly observed by the Jews in their practice, that no leaven should be found in their houses during the feast. In like manner the leaven of sin must be put away from all who would receive life and nourishment from Christ.”—Ibid., p. 278.

c. In what sense does God want us to be a new unleavened lump? 1 Corinthians 5:7 (first part); 1 John 5:18; Jude 24.


Tuesday May 17

3. FREE FROM LEAVEN/DELIVERED FROM SIN

a. What was symbolized by the fact that, for seven days, the Jews were not to eat anything fermented, and that all leaven was to be removed from their homes? Exodus 12:19, 20.

“The use of unleavened bread also was significant. . . . The leaven of sin must be put away from all who would receive life and nourishment from Christ.”—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 278.

“The unleavened bread . . . represented the Saviour.”—The Desire of Ages, p. 77.

b. Give examples from the New Testament where leaven is considered a symbol of sin. Matthew 16:6, 12; Galatians 5:9; 1 Corinthians 5:8.

“The Jews had been accustomed since the days of Moses to put away leaven from their houses at the Passover season, and they had thus been taught to regard it as a type of sin.”—Ibid., p. 408.

c. How did Christ update the Passover feast by bringing a New Testament counterpart? Matthew 26:18–20, 26–29.

“As [Christ] ate the Passover with His disciples, He instituted in its place the service that was to be the memorial of His great sacrifice. The national festival of the Jews was to pass away forever. The service which Christ established was to be observed by His followers in all lands and through all ages.

“The Passover was ordained as a commemoration of the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage. God had directed that, year by year, as the children should ask the meaning of this ordinance, the history should be repeated. Thus the wonderful deliverance was to be kept fresh in the minds of all. The ordinance of the Lord’s Supper was given to commemorate the great deliverance wrought out as the result of the death of Christ.”—Ibid., pp. 652, 653.

d. Why, then, is the Old Testament Passover no longer to be observed? Hebrews 9:28; 10:8–10.

“Our great High Priest has made the only sacrifice that is of any value in our salvation. When he offered Himself on the cross, a perfect atonement was made for the sins of the people.”—Lift Him Up, p. 319.


Wednesday May 18

4. THE LORD’S SUPPER

a. To what events, past and future, does the Lord’s Supper point? 1 Corinthians 11:26.

“When the Saviour yielded up His life on Calvary, the significance of the Passover ceased, and the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper was instituted as a memorial of the same event of which the Passover had been a type.”—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 539.

“The Communion service points to Christ’s second coming. It was designed to keep this hope vivid in the minds of the disciples. Whenever they met together to commemorate His death, they recounted how ‘He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is My blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom’ (Matthew 26:27–29). In their tribulation they found comfort in the hope of their Lord’s return.”—The Desire of Ages, p. 659.

“Till He shall come the second time in power and glory, [the] ordinance [of the Lord’s Supper] is to be celebrated.”—Ibid., p. 653.

b. Why did the Lord add the foot washing ordinance which was to precede the Lord’s Supper? John 13:12–14, 34, 35.

“This ordinance [of foot washing] does not speak so largely to man’s intellectual capacity as to his heart. His moral and spiritual nature needs it. If His disciples had not needed this, it would not have been left for them as Christ’s last established ordinance in connection with, and including, the last supper. It was Christ’s desire to leave to His disciples an ordinance that would do for them the very thing they needed—that would serve to disentangle them from the rites and ceremonies which they had hitherto engaged in as essential, and which the reception of the gospel made no longer of any force. To continue these rites would be an insult to Jehovah. Eating of the body, and drinking of the blood, of Christ, not merely at the sacramental service, but daily partaking of the bread of life to satisfy the soul’s hunger, would be in receiving His Word and doing His will.”—The Review and Herald, June 14, 1898.


Thursday May 19

5. THE FIRST FRUITS

a. Describe the ceremony performed on the second day of the Passover festival. Leviticus 23:10, 11.

“The Passover was followed by the seven days’ feast of unleavened bread. On the second day of the feast, the first fruits of the year’s harvest, a sheaf of barley, was presented before the Lord.”—The Desire of Ages, p. 77.

b. What was symbolized by the sheaf of barley (the first fruits of the harvest) waved before the Lord? 1 Corinthians 15:20, 23.

“Christ arose from the dead as the first fruits of those that slept. He was the antitype of the wave sheaf, and His resurrection took place on the very day when the wave sheaf was to be presented before the Lord.”—Ibid., pp. 785, 786.

c. Who else are represented by the sheaf of the first fruits? Matthew 27:52, 53; James 1:18; Revelation 14:4.

“Christ the first fruits represented the great spiritual harvest to be gathered for the kingdom of God. His resurrection is the type and pledge of the resurrection of all the righteous dead.”—Ibid., p. 786.


Friday May 20

PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONS

a. What is the double meaning of the Passover?

b. What does the unleavened bread represent?

c. What is the symbolic meaning that anything fermented was to be eliminated from the Israelite homes during the Passover celebration?

d. What is the counterpart of the Passover in the New Testament?

e. What was symbolized by the sheaf of barley waved before the Lord on the second day of the Passover feast?

 <<    >>