PASSOVER/PESACH
Pesach is often called z’man cheruteinu, the season of our freedom. As we celebrate Passover, we remember the Exodus from Mitsrayim, how YAH set His people free from oppression and slavery.
It is said that as we celebrate and remember, we should feel as if we too were liberated from Egypt. Not just our fathers, but we too were set free. As we think of this, we should experience freedom in our lives.
This is the season when YAH does miracles and works salvation for His people. So, we too should experience freedom as did our forefathers. Whatever personal struggles we may be facing, we should expect YAH to set us free at this time as well.
However, there is a prerequisite. There is something we must do before YAH can set us free, and without this crucial step, we’ll remain enslaved in whatever troubles we’re experiencing.
The requirement: slaughter your idol.
Prerequisite for Redemption
When the time for the redemption from Mitsrayim came near, the people were not worthy of redemption. They had fallen to an extremely low spiritual level and had no deeds worthy enough to merit the redemption.
When Moshe came and told them the word of YAH to change their ways and abandon their Egyptian practices, they ignored his words and continued in their idolatrous ways (Yehez/Ezek. 20:7-8).
YAHUAH redeemed them for His own Name’s sake (Yehez. 20:9). The people were not worthy. He would bring them out for His Name, but He would only bring out those who belonged to Him. So, He gave them one last chance to prove that they were His.
YAH gave them two commandments: korban Pesach and circumcision. Those who did both would be freed.
What is korban Pesach?
Korban Pesach is the Passover offering. It is the lamb YAHUAH commanded Yisrael to slaughter before being redeemed.
YAH gave them specific instructions. He told them to select it on the 10th of Abib, bring it into their homes, and tie it to their bedposts. Then, on the 14th, they would slaughter it, roast it in fire, place the blood on their doorposts and lintels, and eat the meat with matzah and bitter herbs.
Why a lamb?
Sheep were worshiped by the Egyptians. They were idols that the Hebrews themselves had begun to worship as they followed the practices of their neighbors.
YAHUAH commanded them to kill it!
They had to demonstrate that they no longer worshiped the Egyptian idols. They had to prove that they rejected idolatry even if their life was at stake. (They feared the Egyptians would stone them for killing their idol. Shem/Ex. 8:26)
They had to affirm their loyalty to YAHUAH through the circumcision. With circumcision, they entered into a covenant with YAH to be His people and to make Him their Elohim - their only Elohim (Ber/Gen. 17:7).
This had to be done in order for them to be freed from bondage. They had to slaughter their idol and affirm their loyalty to YAHUAH.
This is Pesach!
Slaughtering Your Idol
Often we focus on the freedom of Pesach as we yearn for YAH's salvation in our lives, but we tend to miss the prerequisite that guaranteed freedom.
If we want salvation, deliverance, and freedom of any sort in any area of our life, then we must slaughter our idols.
There are many idols in the society around us today: money, materialism, self, success, pleasure - just to name a few.
It is so easy for the idolatry to seep into our lives. We find ourselves seeking, desiring, and doing things that are not set-apart, sometimes without even realizing it.
Identify your idol. What do we desire that is not set-apart? What inner drive do we have to go after things that are not of YAH? What causes us to behave in ways that are not proper in the eyes of YAH? What evil inclination lurks within us?
Bring it into your home. In other words, live with it. Face up to it. We have to face up to the idolatry in our life. Take ownership and responsibility for it. Admit that there is something not right in our life.
Then, tie it to your bedpost. You can’t sleep with an animal tied to your bed. Open your eyes, and see the idolatry in your life. We can’t close our eyes to it anymore. No more rationalizing, justifying, and making excuses - living in a dream world where what we’re doing is somehow okay.
Wake up and look your idol in the face! Don’t be fooled by its “innocence.” See it for what it is - an idol.
Keep it for four days. Understand fully that this idol is going to die. We're going to kill it. It’s not a momentary whim, a fleeting inspirational moment or “spiritual high.” No, contemplate fully for four days that we’re going to get rid of this idol. We're going to slaughter the yetzer hara, the evil inclination that drives us to sin.
After four days, on Pesach, slaughter the idol. WE put it to death, firmly stating that we no longer want to serve idolatry. We no longer want to do the things we’ve done in the past. We want that desire, that drive, that evil inclination to die.
Write the idol on a piece of paper and burn it along with a piece of chametz. Make a clear, firm decision to remove this idol from your life. Choose to leave it behind and commit to serving YAHUAH only. This is how we slaughter our Passover lamb.
True Freedom
When we do this, the Adversary (satan) cannot come after us. Blood on the doorpost was proof that Yisrael no longer served idols, and the satan could not touch them.
When we kill our idol, YAHUAH will keep the evil forces from us, and He will remove the evil inclination from our being so we no longer stray after the idols of our flesh.
That is the symbol of matzah. Bread with no leaven indicates no yetzer hara, no evil inclination within us.
Eat the Pesach with matzah. Slaughtering the idol removes the evil inclination. YAH sees our act of obedience rejecting idolatry, and He delivers us from the evil.
YAHUAH liberates us from the inclination that drives us to do evil.
That is true freedom. The spiritual freedom that brings physical freedom in its wake.
This year, observe Pesach. Focus on the above, and pray earnestly and sincerely for YAHUAH to help you slaughter your idol and destroy the evil inclination from you.
Ask for the fear of YAH to help you serve Him better.
Slaughter your Passover lamb, so you can really and truly experience freedom.