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Jesus died at the time of the Passover, not on the day of Atonement. God knew even at creation that the people he created would sin and that would require the suffering and death of His Son. And the Father knew what Adam and Eve’s sin would cost Him. What kind of love did the Father have that he would allow his son to die on a cross to redeem the same people who had rebelled against Him?
God demonstrated His love for humans by dying for them. In John 15:9-17 Jesus says there is no greater love than for a person to lay down his life for another person, and certainly there is no greater example of love than the Father sending His Son. This is the ultimate sacrifice.
Exodus 12:1-30 records the Lord’s instructions to Moses about how to observe the first Passover. A lamb was slain and a bundle of hyssop branches was dipped in the blood and brushed across the top and sides of the doorframes of their homes. The houses with blood applied did not lose a single person, but the oldest son in every house with no blood applied died. In other words, the death angel passed over the homes with blood applied.
Also, Israel was redeemed or delivered at the time of this original Passover. They were freed from bondage. This teaches us that Jesus’ death and resurrection established a new kingdom: a nation of slaves had been rescued and redeemed from bondage to the most powerful nation of the ancient world and now would launch a new kingdom.
As we celebrate Communion, we understand that we are in this new kingdom – not totally perfected as it will be in the new Jerusalem, but as a bit of a foretaste. When Jesus told people that the kingdom was the pearl of great price and that people should be willing to sacrifice everything in order to obtain it, He wasn’t talking about some distant future time, but about a freedom from death and sin and Satan that comes to those who choose to follow Him.
We understand that we are unworthy and do not deserve God’s love, but this is what God chooses to do. Romans 5:6-10 says that God loved us when we were unlovely. That’s when Christ died for us.
Even as God has loved us, we are called to love others. This is our mission, our calling. And just as God’s love is demonstrated to us in the sacrifice of His Son, our love for others is demonstrated in our deeds of love. God’s love for us is based in his nature, in who he is. Those who have been redeemed by Christ possess the nature of God and are freed to love others as they have been loved by God.