Passover

What is “the Passover of the Jews” (John 2:13)?
Passover is a Jewish feast that commemorates God’s deliverance of the Jews from slavery in Egypt and destruction of the idol-worshipping Egyptians who had enslaved the Jews and disobeyed God’s repeated commands to release them: ... ‘It is the sacrifice of the Passover of the LORD, who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households’... (Exodus 12:27).

When is Passover?
Passover is the evening of the fourteenth day of the Jewish calendar’s first month, Nisan, which typically falls on March or April in our Gregorian calendar: “The LORD’s Passover is at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month” (Leviticus 23:5).

Why is it called, “Passover”?
While destroying Egypt, the LORD passed over and spared the houses of the Jews that had been marked by the blood of the Passover lamb: 1 And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. 3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month, every man shall take to himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his next door neighbor take it according to the number of people. According to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. 7 And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 And they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted with fire, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat any of it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roast with fire, with its head, its legs and its entrails. 10 And you shall not leave any of it until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. 11 And thus shall you eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’s Passover. 12 ‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will slay all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. 13 And the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. 14 And this shall be for you a memorial day; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; as a perpetual statute you shall keep it a feast.” (Exodus 12:1-14)

What was the requirement for the Passover lamb’s condition?
It had to be “without blemish” (Exodus 12:5).

What does the Passover lamb symbolize?
Jesus, who according to Hebrews 4:15 is the only one “without sin.”

What does the blood of the lamb symbolize?
The blood that Jesus shed on the cross to protect us from the wrath of God aimed at sinners.

Should the wrath of God aimed at sinners fall on you or pass over you?
 

Why?