“6 Passover Symbols That Might Change How You Look at Easter,” Liahona, April 2018

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6 Passover Symbols That Might Change How You Look at Easter

By Valerie Durrant

Church Magazines

As we remember the symbolism of the Passover, our understanding and joy for the reality of the Resurrection will deepen.

Image

table set with passover meal

I love Easter, a holiday that commemorates Jesus Christ freeing the children of God from the bondage of death and hell.

But 1,500 years before the Resurrection, a similar holy day commemorated Jehovah freeing of the children of Israel from their bondage in Egypt.

Easter remembers the Savior’s atoning sacrifice; Passover foreshadowed it. Together, they can deepen our understanding of the Resurrection. Below are just a few connections between Passover and Easter:

Passover	Easter
1. Passover centered on the paschal lamb, a male without blemish (see Exodus 12:5), with no broken bones (see Exodus 12:46).	1. Jesus is the Lamb of God (see John 1:29), free from sin with no broken bones (see John 19:36).
2. Unleavened bread, free of corruption (see Bible Dictionary, “Leaven”), accompanied the Passover feast (see Exodus 12:8, 15).	2. Jesus is the Bread of Life, in whom there is no impurity (see John 6:35).
3. Bitter herbs, a symbol of the Israelites’ bondage, accompanied the Passover feast (see Exodus 12:8).	3. We may be subject to the bondage of sin, but because Jesus drank the bitter cup (see D&C 19:18), we can overcome through His Atonement (see 1 Corinthians 15:22).
4. The Passover feast was to be eaten in haste (see Exodus 12:11).	4. The Savior’s body was prepared in haste for burial (see John 19:31).
5. Believers who painted the blood of the lamb on their door frames were saved from physical death (see Exodus 12:7, 13).	5. Believers who “apply the atoning blood of Christ” (Mosiah 4:2) to their lives through repentance and sacred ordinances can be saved from both spiritual and physical death.
6. The day after the firstborn were slain, freedom was declared to the captive Israelites (see Exodus 12:29–32).	6. The day after the Firstborn of the Father was slain, Jesus declared freedom to those captive in the Spirit World (see D&C 138:18, 31, 42).