The biblical feast of Passover points to both the deliverance of God’s people from Egypt and to the Messiah who was to come. As believers in “Christ, our Passover”, we are both God’s workmanship and His co-workers. Authors of fiction sometimes discover that the characters in their stories at some point take on a life of their own, and the author in awe just sits back and records what he or she is seeing them saying and doing. In effect, they let the characters themselves hold the pen. As God’s workmanship and His co-workers, we would do well to follow this advice:
“When writing the story of your life, don’t let anyone else hold the pen… except God.”
Paul explains that believers are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works:
Ephesians 2 (NKJV)
Saved by Grace through Faith
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
We are also God’s fellow workers, His field, and His building. He who plants and he who waters are one:
1 Corinthians 3
Watering, Working, Warning
5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
We live this out by faith, following God’s direction:
Proverbs 3
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
The feast of Passover points to this combination of faith and divine direction. When the Israelites were about to leave Egypt, Moses gave them God’s direction for each household to put the blood from a year old lamb on the doorposts and lintels of their doors, and the Angel of death would “pass over” their house. Those who did not believe him and obey this command would suffer the death of their firstborn.
Centuries later, the Crucifixion of Jesus (Yeshua) took place on Passover. In a real way he became our Passover Lamb who by his death and resurrection has delivered believers into eternal life:
John 3
Eternal Life through Christ
13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
1 Corinthians 5
Christ, Our Passover
6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 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. 8 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.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came for all. Those who receive and believe in Him are born again as sons and daughters of God. Grace and truth and the full revelation of God’s character come through Christ, our Passover, as described in the first eighteen verses of John’s gospel:
John 1
The Eternal Word
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
John’s Witness: The True Light
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
The Word Becomes Flesh
14 And the Word became 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.15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’” 16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
David Krause, dhkrause@neteze.com, https://compellinglove.net/, 3/29/2015
Compelling Love 
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