Lessons From The Gospel of John: Passover

“The Jewish Passover was near, so Jesus went to Jerusalem.” (John 2:13)

There are only two points that I want to bring out in this verse, but they are very important points. First, and certainly foremost, is that John very pointedly calls this “the Jewish Passover” or “the Jew’s Passover”. John was Jewish. This was his Passover as well, wasn’t it? Yes, in the physical sense it was, but here he wants to point out to us that Jesus is our Passover Lamb.  Jesus fulfilled the Passover requirement and was in fact the ultimate and final Passover. It was to Jesus that all the Passovers of the previous 2500 years pointed toward.

The other point is that Jesus celebrated the Passover. He knew that He was going to be the Passover Lamb yet He never missed going to Jerusalem for this celebration. John made a note in his book of all four Passovers that Jesus kept after His baptism. This was the first one. The fourth one was the Passover when He was offered as the Perfect Sacrifice.

The Passover was a divine institution. Since Jesus fulfilled this obligation we are no longer required to journey to the Temple every year for this feast but there are other divine institutions that are still valid. Marriage is a divine institution older than the Passover by several thousand years! Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are new institutions. These were set up by Jesus Himself and are to be kept by His followers. Tithing, an Old Testament institution, was endorsed by Jesus when done from the heart. (In fact Jesus seemed to be advocating giving 100% rather than just the tenth.)

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