Had Any Such Passover Been Observed

When Josiah became king of Judah, he commanded the people to celebrate the Passover, which falls in early Spring. The Passover is the first of God's seven annual festivals and it is a reminder of how God rescued His people from Egyptian slavery. When God took the lives of all the Egyptian firstborn males to convince Pharaoh to let His people go, God spared the lives of the Jewish firstborn males by having the angel of death pass over their homes if the blood of a sacrificed lamb was on their doorposts.

The Passover foreshadowed the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, who is called the true Passover Lamb. Because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross, the angel of death can pass over our sins if we repent and give our lives to Him.

"For Christ,

our Passover Lamb,

has been sacrificed."

1 Corinthians 5:7b (NIV)

It is interesting to note that Jesus died on the day of Passover. These Jewish festivals have significant meaning and importance in Bible teaching. I wonder sometimes as to why Christians do not celebrate any of these Jewish holidays. We have our own "Christian" holidays, but many times they do not correspond to the right times of the year that the holiday represents and are interwoven with worldly practices and beliefs.

The Passover that King Josiah and all his people observed was the first since the days of the judges in Israel and the days of the kings in Israel and Judah.

"Neither in the days of the judges

who led Israel

nor in the days of the kings of Israel

and the kings of Judah

had any such Passover been observed."

2 Kings 23:22 (NIV)

When I was in Bible College, we celebrated the Passover Feast, but that was my first and only time. If Jesus continued to honour the Jewish holidays, shouldn't we?