Should Christians Celebrate Passover? Have you ever stopped and wonder what a bunny leaving chocolate eggs around the house has to do with Christ?
Have you thought about the origins of Easter and if you as a Jesus follower should be celebrating this holiday? We should be going directly to our bibles and seeing what it has to say about how we are supposed to live our lives and what holidays we should be celebrating.
If ever in doubt go straight to the source. Read, ask God for understanding and wisdom and then read your bible. As we discuss Passover and Easter I will make sure to use verses directly from the bible and encourage you to always do the same!
What is Passover?
Passover is a remembrance and celebration of both the Jews being freed from slavery in Egypt and Jesus being our Passover Lamb freeing us from death from sin. This holiday is celebrated for 8 days.
The first day is a larger celebration where you are to eat lamb, unleavened bread, drink grape juice and you are not supposed to do any work on the first and last day of Passover.
“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.“
Genesis 12:18 KJV
During Passover you put away any leaven from your home which is bread and anything that would puff up. Leaven is mentioned many times in the bible and symbolises sin. We are to put away sin.
Putting away leaven is showing that we are obeying and remembering what our God and Jesus have done for us. You also consume grape juice which symbolises the blood Jesus spilt for us and finish with hymns and prayers.
“Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.“
1 Corinthians 5:6-8
The History Of Passover In The Bible
Old Testament
You most likely know the story of Moses and the liberation of the slaves from the Egyptian Pharoah. How the plaques passed over the Jews and destroyed the land of Egypt. How God parted the red sea and the Jews crossed over safely while the Egyptians met their doom as the waters fell on top of them!
I think something many people seem to miss is that Passover wasn’t just for the Jews. Many Egyptians left with Jews and God spoke saying that if anyone wanted to celebrate Passover with them that they could as long as they were cleansed and circumcised.
It would be the same rule for both the Jews and others. Throughout the bible Passover is mentioned and an important holiday which God decreed to be celebrated forever (Exodus 12:24)!
And if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the passover unto the LORD; according to the ordinance of the passover, and according to the manner thereof, so shall he do: ye shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land.
Numbers 9:14
Throughout the Old Testament Passover is mentioned and celebrated over and over again and can be found in many books such as Joshua, Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy and more.
New Testament
In The New Testament Jesus celebrates this feast with his disciples and makes a speech during the last supper. Something I have heard a bit said is that when Jesus died, he did away with celebrating the feast.
But he never not once said to not celebrate them. He actually said do these things in remembrance of me. His disciples afterward continue to celebrate this important feast but now the meaning and main purpose of this celebration has changed from Moses to Jesus.
Remember Jesus never did away with any of Gods commandments. The reason we no longer have to sacrifice animals anymore for our sins is because Jesus became our ultimate sacrifice, but all the commandments and laws still stand today.
The apostles kept the feast after Jesus was gone as well because they knew how important the feast of God where. Paul made a point to rush away so that he could keep this important feast.
“But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.”
Acts 18:21 KJV
What Does The Bible Say About Celebrating Feast
Jesus obviously celebrated Passover as we saw above, and he told his disciples what to do in honour of him when celebrating it. As Christians we should follow Christs example and celebrate Passover the way he has asked us to.
These are not only the feast in the Bible there are several more which are said to be God’s feasts. Not Jews feast but Gods feast. While we are celebrating on earth our Godly father celebrates in heaven.
These are his feast that he has proclaimed and ordained for all of time. Seriously how cool it that! Here is a short part of Leviticus 23 but read the whole chapter to get a better understanding of all the feasts God (Yah) proclaims we are to celebrate, how we are to celebrate them and when.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.
Leviticus 23:1-2
People get so caught up in the fact that God showed these feasts to the Jews and claim that these feasts are for only the Jews. They forget it’s God’s feasts not Jews feasts.
God mentions that strangers who come in and want to be a part of this religion can. After Jesus died on the cross his teachings which included participating in Gods glorious feast where to be taught to the whole world so everyone could take part.
I believe Jesus knew his teachings would get muddled along the way. He made a point of saying he did not come to abolish anything that God our father has said to do. If you read on from the passage below you will find he actually toughens the same laws!
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Matthew 5:17-18
Heaven and earth are still here so all of God’s laws are still in place.
Where Did Easter Come From?
You will probably notice that Easter and Passover generally coincide pretty closely in dates. Pagan holidays merged in with Biblical holidays so more people would celebrate. Easter was a pagan festival celebrating spring in the northern hemisphere.
The eggs symbolise fertility and new life along with bunnies as they are very fertile. They had a god named Ishtar who represented fertility and is a whole other story on its own. But as you can see Easter did not come from the Bible.
Is It Ok For Christians To Celebrate Easter?
This is pretty controversial debate and I want to ask why? Before you go on what do you feel in your heart? If you had to give up this holiday, would you feel resentment or annoyance?
Look into your heart and then read the scriptures and pray to God. A lot of times we feel like we are giving up something by not celebrating the holidays of the world. But I promise you Gods holidays are so much more fulfilling and there’s more of them!
Here are just a few quotes but I want to mention throughout the bible God is constantly warning his people not to follow other nations practices, not to do what they do, to be careful and not to be like the world. We are to be separate people.
“You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me.”
Exodus 20: 3-5 KJV
“When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations.”
Deuteronomy 18:9 KJV
“No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.”
1 Corinthians 10: 20-21
There are so many bible verses on this topic but I will leave you with one more.
“When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.”
Deuteronomy 12:29-31
Why Christians Should Celebrate Passover Over Easter
Honestly, it is such a blessing and so much fun to celebrate the holidays God has ordained. To know he is also celebrating up in heaven! We have a blast with the kids’ reading bible stories, reinacting, water painting pictures and cooking up yummy foods together.
I don’t want you feeling discouraged but instead feel excited about being able to celebrate this awesome 8 day holiday with your family.
Passover is a biblical holiday mentioned many times in the Bible while Easter is not a biblical holiday mentioned by God. If anything God mentions to not practice holidays from other traditions as that is not how he wants us to celebrate.
I hope you have found this post informative and will look into this important matter further. As always have a blessed day and hopefully an amazing Passover!