By Dr. Anne Davis

We celebrate Passover as a past event and put the message of Passover into our lives today. What is the message? God set His people Israel free from bondage in Egypt, which represents freedom from bondage to sin. Then God gave His people the Law at Mount Sinai to instruct them how to walk in that freedom by overcoming sin in their lives.

What about Gentile believers in Christ? When he or she first believes in Yeshua, this person is added to the family of God. When that happens, God sees the person as perfect, without sin, just like a newborn baby is perfect without sin, which is why this moment of entering God’s family is called “the new birth”. Then God gives these believers in Christ the gift of His Holy Spirit. So, they no longer need to memorize 613 laws because, when they walk in the faith and love of their Lord Yeshua, they experience freedom from the damaging clutches of sin.

Now let’s return to Passover, which we celebrate as a past event. But did you know that Passover is prophetic of future events that have not yet occurred? Of the five annual festivals of Israel, only Passover, the first festival, and Sukkot, the final festival, last for seven days. The number seven represents spiritual perfection, and that is exactly what we have in Passover and Sukkot. But how can Passover represent spiritual perfection of something future?

At the time of the Passover in Egypt, God rescued ALL His people from bondage in Egypt, which is spiritual perfection and prophetic of the end of time. Of course, at the time of their rescue from bondage in Egypt, He then patted them on the back and said, “Let me show you how to walk in that freedom,” which led to God’s giving them the Law at Mount Sinai.  Sukkot is the last of the annual festivals when ALL of God’s people will finally be able to come into His holy presence in righteousness without sin, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Passover. Sukkot represents spiritual perfection at the end of time, and Passover is offering prophetic information about the future.

Now let’s return to the prophecy in Passover.

The prophet Ezekiel tells us that Passover will still be celebrated in the Millennial Kingdom, which will follow the Great Tribulation. So, whatever Passover foretells will continue after the Millennial Kingdom ends.

We get a hint in Exodus when the people of Israel were leaving Egypt. We read, “The Lord brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts” (Ex 12:51). The Hebrew translated “hosts” is עַל־צִבְאֹתָם (al tzivotam) meaning “according to their battle formations.” That is, the people were an army, although God helped to cause the victory. But this defeat of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, who represent Satan and his forces of evil, could only be accomplished because, we read that “all the sons of Israel did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron” (Ex 12:50). Thus, those in the army were completely obedient with trust and faith in their commander. This, I believe, is a glimpse of Sukkot and the end of time. We see God and His people working together to cause the miracle of defeating the enemy.

Now let me show you how prophecy can instruct us how to live our lives today. Although God participates in the battle, both at the time of Passover and Sukkot, it is not with human weapons but by playing on the weakness of the enemy. Consider the event that took place shortly after the Pharaoh of Egypt allowed God’s people to leave the land where they had been brutally enslaved.

We learn that “when the king of Egypt [the Pharaoh] was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants had a change of heart toward the people, and they said, ‘What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?’ So, he [the Pharaoh] made his chariot ready and took his people with him” (Ex 14:5-6).

When God’s people realized that Pharaoh’s mighty army was thundering behind them with the intent of bringing them back into slavery, we hear that they were “very frightened” (Ex 14:10). We must remember that the people of Israel comprised an army at that time, and they had “gone up in martial array from the land of Egypt” (Ex 13:17-18). Thus, they were prepared for battle, but they were afraid.

I trust you are learning now in your own life not to be afraid of things like the covid pandemic, but to trust God and know that He is in control. We simply need to follow and obey Him, which is what the story of Passover is teaching us.

At the end of time, which Sukkot represents, all of God’s people will have no fear when they face Satan and his army in battle because they will have complete confidence in God whom they trust and obey. But now we must grow in our ability to trust God even in the face of tragic events.

So, this year let us remember that Passover begins God’s planting stage when He instructs His people in the ways of righteousness. Now we are learning how to walk in the ways of God in humble obedience as the Spirit guides us. But as we look to the future, we know that God’s people will have learned to trust in their commander-in-chief, who is Yeshua the Messiah, who will lead them in a victorious battle to overcome Satan and all the evil that he represents.

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