1 Corinthians 5:7-8 - Homilies By E. Hurndall

"Our Passover."

What the Jews had, we have—only with fuller and richer significance. They had the foretastes, the shadows; we have the substance. The events in their history point forward to the greater events in ours. They had a Passover, and so have we; and theirs was a prefigurement of ours.

I. CHRIST IS OUR PASSOVER .

1. He was typified by the Paschal lamb. Often called the "Lamb" (for example, John 1:29 ; Revelation 5:12 ).

2. Identified with deliverance from wrath and bondage.

II. THE INFLUENCE OF OUR PASSOVER ON OUR LIFE . At the Passover the Jews were exceedingly anxious to get rid of every particle of leaven ( Deuteronomy 16:4 ); so all who can call Christ their Passover should search and purify their hearts. As the Feast of Unleavened Bread followed the slaying of the Paschal lamb, so the unleaven of righteousness, of godly life, should abide with all who have part in the great Passover. This is "keeping the feast." It is then a feast, a time of joy to the believer, when all leaven of "malice and wickedness" is excluded. The "unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" is not only wholesome, it is surprisingly sweet. The influence of Christ's death is not only towards salvation, but towards holiness. If we are his we must depart from evil. We must have works as well as faith—the former a natural outcome of the latter. The one is not without the other—the Passover and unleavened bread go together. Profession by all means, but certainly practice as well. We must show that we are out of Egypt by a repudiation of Egyptian manners. "Christ our Passover;" "For to me to live is Christ."—H.