In our Sabbath School class this morning, the following question was in our Sabbath School Bible Study Guide for the past week:

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Read the account in 2 Chronicles 35 about the Passover.......What was it about the Passover, and what the Passover symbolized, that made it so crucial to a revival?

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Obviously the Passover was crucial to revival in Israel.

What does the Bible say about the Passover, and why?

[ September 28, 2002, 04:04 PM: Message edited by: Daryl Fawcett ]

Remember what Passover was a type pointing toward.

This if followed to it's fullest would remove idolatry and restore the Sanctuary services and worshiping God on his expressed terms in pre-calvary times.

[ September 28, 2002, 05:00 PM: Message edited by: Edward F Sutton ]

Here is where the Passover was first instituted:

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Exodus 12:1 And the LORD spake unto 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 ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:
4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: (or from the goats?? - my question which I will seek to find an answer)
6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.
10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.
11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD'S passover.
12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.
13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye 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 smite the land of Egypt.
14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.

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I assume forever meant until the memorial was no longer necessary or replaced by something else by God Himself in the person of Jesus Christ.

This is where the Passover was instituted. If I am reading this correctly, it was instituted as a memorial. What kind of a memorial?

[ September 28, 2002, 05:21 PM: Message edited by: Daryl Fawcett ]

Seeing that revival is also a part of this topic, I found the following related to the Sabbath School lesson topic interesting:

1) Josiah recognized the need for revival.

2) Revival starts with a single individual. One person can make a difference and light the torch of revival. Examples included Joan of Ark,
John Westly, Luther, Joseph Bates, etc.

3) Josiah began to SEEK the Lord at age 16 (2 Chron. 34:3). Illustration of intensity of seeking is when at the end of swimming as far as you can underwater every cell in your body screams out for oxygen. Jer. 29:13

4) Revival involves eliminating distractions in our life. Heb. 12

5) Revival is prompted by discovery of new insight into the will of God.

6) Revival to be sustained needs the involvement of the group. 2 Chron. 34:29-33 One glowing ember separated from the group quickly goes out.

I especially liked #6 as I feel that it is so very true. It is like a flock of Canada geese heading south for the winter. They fly in V formation to help one another on the long journey.

[ September 28, 2002, 06:26 PM: Message edited by: Daryl Fawcett ]

A memorial is usually thought of as a commerative of something past. However it can also be a signpost or boundry marker.

Passover(Judgement of the living before the Exodus to the promised land), prepared the people for Yom Kippur or (judgement of the living - sealing - year by year - a memorial of something future - that will happen in our lifetime.

Wasn't the Passover a memorial to remind them of when the Angel of Death passed over their firstborn in Egypt and they were protected from the death that happened that night? Also as a memorial that that night they were freed from the slavery that had been their lot for as long as most of them could remember? The symbolism of the Passover included many things. It was a time of celebration and a time of reflection. It pointed forwards to the Messiah's death, it pointed backwards to the exodus and salvation of the first born children from the Angel of Death and more.

Jesus instituted what we call communion in place of the Passover offering, as He was offered up at Passover and there was no longer a need for the sacriicial lamb. Thus Passover is now, and was then, a pointing forward to the second coming.