The Meaning and Fulfillment of Passover

Larry Siegle

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Introduction

• Text: Exodus 12 — the night God passed over Israel.
• Key verse: “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” — Exodus 12:13 2
• Thesis: Passover was not a ritual Israel invented but a rescue God commanded; every element was a picture awaiting fulfillment — and fifteen centuries later, at a Passover table, Jesus said, “This is My body… this is My blood.”
• Roadmap: four points — the Deliverance Remembered, the Seder Table, the Upper Room, the Lamb Fulfilled.

I. The Deliverance Remembered (Exodus 12)

• A lamb without blemish — chosen the tenth day, examined four days, one lamb per household; the lamb died so the firstborn did not. Ex. 12:5
• The blood on the doorposts — applied with hyssop to lintel and side posts, never the threshold; shed at the altar but applied to the house. Safety rested on God’s sight. Ex. 12:13
• The meal — lamb roasted with fire (judgment fully borne), unleavened bread (haste, life without corruption), bitter herbs (the taste of bondage), eaten belted and staff in hand. Ex. 12:8
• Supporting: Ex. 12:27 — “the Passover sacrifice of the LORD.”

II. The Seder Table

• The Seder plate — Zeroa (the lamb), Maror (bitterness of slavery), Charoset (mortar sweetened by hope), Karpas (new life and tears), Beitzah (festival offering, mourning), Chazeret (bondage tasted twice).
• Four cups from the four “I wills” of Exodus 6:6–7 — Sanctification, Deliverance, Redemption, Praise.
• Three breads in one bag — only the middle is broken, half hidden away, then brought back as the last thing eaten. Ex. 12:17
• Illustration — the Afikoman: broken as a body is broken, wrapped in white linen as for burial, hidden as in a tomb, brought back and shared; the meal cannot end without it. Israel has kept this custom for centuries with no agreed explanation — the picture outlived the meaning.

III. The Upper Room 12

• Setting: “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” — Luke 22:15
• The institution of communion — Matt. 26:26–28: He did not add a new ceremony; He filled an old one with Himself. “This is My body” over unleavened bread; “the new covenant in My blood” over the third cup, the Cup of Redemption; “Do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19) — the memorial changed its object.
• Seder-to-Table correspondences: lamb → “This is My body” (John 1:29); unleavened bread → sinless life, body broken (1 Cor. 11:24); broken middle matzah → death, burial, return (Luke 24:30); Cup of Redemption → blood for remission (Matt. 26:28); bitter herbs → self-examination (Isa. 53:5); blood on the doorpost → redemption through His blood (Eph. 1:7).
• Illustration — the cup He would not drink:He named the covenant over the third cup, refused the fourth until the kingdom (Matt. 26:29), and in Gethsemane asked that another cup pass — it did not. The meal was not yet finished.

IV. The Lamb Fulfilled 16

• The death — condemned on Preparation Day (John 19:14), examined by Pilate and found faultless, offered vinegar on hyssop, not a bone broken (John 19:33, 36).
• The burial — wrapped in clean linen and hidden in a tomb, as the afikoman is wrapped and hidden; buried as the Feast of Unleavened Bread began, leaven put out of the house (Luke 23:53).
• The resurrection — Israel waved the sheaf of Firstfruits the day after the Sabbath of Passover week; on that day the tomb was empty. The hidden bread was brought back, and He was known at Emmaus in the breaking of bread (1 Cor. 15:20; Luke 24:30–31).
• Anchor text: “Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.” — 1 Cor. 5:7–8

Conclusion & Call to Action

• Closing image: it was never enough that the lamb was slain in the courtyard — the blood had to be taken and put on the door of the house where you live.
• The appeal: the question is not whether the Lamb is sufficient, but whether His blood has been applied to you.
• Urgency: “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” — 2 Cor. 6:2 20

Bottom line: the outline moves from picture (Exodus) to memorial (the Seder) to fulfillment (the upper room and the cross), closing with a personal application of the blood.