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Scripture Reading: Num. 9:1-14
In this message we will consider 9:1-14, a record concerning the keeping of the Passover. No matter how busy God's people were and no matter where they were, they were required to participate in the Passover once a year.
Although Numbers chapters one through eight were spoken in the second month of the second year after the exodus from Egypt (1:1), the people were charged to keep the Passover in the first month. While in the second month Moses was busily recording all the divine provisions, God charged him to write something about what was to take place in the first month. These verses record what the Lord spoke to Moses "in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt" (9:1). This indicates the importance of the Passover.
The children of Israel were to keep the Passover "at its appointed time" (v. 2). This appointed time was on the fourteenth day of the first month, at dusk (v. 3a).
Numbers 9:3b says, "According to all its statutes and all its ordinances you shall keep it." Statutes are regulations without judgments, and ordinances are regulations with judgments. The fact that the Passover was to be kept according to all its ordinances and judgments indicates that the keeping of the Passover leaves no opening for man's ideas and opinions.
Verse 6 speaks of "certain men who were unclean through contact with the dead body of a man, so that they could not keep the passover on that day." When Moses brought their situation to the Lord, He said, "If any man of you or of your generations is unclean through contact with a dead body, or is far off on a journey, he shall still keep the passover to Jehovah. In the second month on the fourteenth day at dusk they shall keep it" (vv. 10-11a).
"They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break a bone of it; according to all the statute for the passover they shall keep it" (vv. 11b-12). Here we see that the children of Israel were to eat the Passover with unleavened bread. Unleavened bread signifies the Christ who is without sin. Whenever we receive Christ as our life supply, we receive a life that is without sin. Thus, to eat the Passover with unleavened bread means to eliminate all sinful things. When we enjoy Christ as our Passover, we must purge away everything sinful.
The Passover was also to be eaten with bitter herbs. The bitter herbs signify regret and repentance with a bitter sense regarding sins. To eat the Passover with bitter herbs means that we need to regret and repent, to experience a bitter taste regarding sinful things.
None of the Passover was to be left until the next morning. This indicates that we should enjoy the Passover in its freshness. This also indicates that we are to receive Christ in a full way, not partially. Instead of allowing anything of Christ to be left over, we should take Him in full.
Furthermore, the people were not permitted to break a bone of the Passover lamb. The unbroken bone indicates that Christ's divine life is unbreakable. When the Lord Jesus was crucified as our Passover lamb, His legs were not broken (John 19:33, 36). This signifies that in Christ, the Passover lamb, there is something unbreakable and indestructible. This unbreakable and indestructible element is His eternal life. In Christ as our Passover lamb there is the divine life, the eternal life, the unbreakable and indestructible life, that can impart life into us.
"The man who is clean and is not on a journey, yet refrains from keeping the passover, that person shall be cut off from his people, because he did not offer Jehovah's offering at its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin" (Num. 9:13). This signifies that the redeemed believers are required to take the Lord's table (Luke 22:19).
"If a stranger sojourns among you and will keep the passover to Jehovah, according to the statute of the passover and according to its ordinance, so shall he do; you shall have one statute, both for the sojourner and for him who was born in the land" (Num. 9:14). A stranger being permitted to keep the Passover with the sons of Israel signifies that the believing Gentiles have been destined to partake of the Lord's table.
Numbers 1—8 are the words spoken by God to Moses on the first day of the second month in the second year after the exodus from Egypt, whereas the words in 9:1-14 were spoken in the first month of the same year (v. 1). However, in this portion of Numbers, the word concerning the unclean ones and the ones on a journey still partaking of the Passover was to be applied on the fourteenth day of the second month (vv. 10-11). Hence, the word in 9:1-14 is here referred to in the second month. This shows the importance of keeping the Passover in relation to the move of God's redeemed people with God in His activity.
We should not think that partaking of the Lord's table has nothing to do with God's move or with our move with God in His activity. The Lord's table has much to do with God's move on earth. Therefore, we must keep the Lord's table.
The Passover includes a number of crucial points. The Passover signifies a new start, because it takes place in the first month of the year. Therefore, the Passover should remind us that we need a new start.
The Passover reminds us that we are a people who should have died under God's righteous judgment. But for us who should die under His righteous judgment, God prepared a replacement, Christ, who died a vicarious death for us, thus saving us from the death-judgment of God's righteousness.
The Passover also reminds us that we belong not to ourselves but to the One who died for us. Now we should enjoy Him for our entire life. We have been replaced by Christ, we belong to Him, and we should enjoy Him by taking Him as our life, our life supply, and our everything.
The Passover in the Old Testament was a yearly reminder to the children of Israel. Today we, the believers in Christ, have a weekly reminder, the Lord's table. Every week, on the first day of the week, we should have the remembrance of the Lord at His table, enjoying all that He is to us. However, some may come to the Lord's table without knowing what they are doing. Whenever we come to the Lord's table we should be reminded that we need a new start, a new beginning on the eighth day, which is the first day of the week and a day in resurrection. We also need to be reminded that we were destined to die under God's righteous judgment, but God prepared Christ to be our replacement to die for us. Therefore, we have been saved from the death-judgment. Furthermore, at the Lord's table we should be reminded that we do not belong to ourselves but to the One who replaced us and who is now our life and life supply. Since Christ is our life and life supply, we should live by Him. This is the significance of the Passover and also of the Lord's table.
Both the Passover and the Lord's table are feasts. Whenever we participate in the Passover or in the Lord's table, we partake of a feast to enjoy Christ in the presence of God. This enjoyment is a mutual satisfaction to God and us.
By the time of 9:1-14, the children of Israel had been formed into an army, all the defiling things had been dealt with, all the tests had been completed, the Nazarites had been consecrated to the Lord to the uttermost, and God's people had participated in the divine provisions. They even had a corporate table for feasting before God and with God on Christ as their mutual enjoyment. Now they were ready to move on, to journey to fight for God that He might gain the ground on earth to build up His kingdom with His house.
