Resurrection and Passover by Asher Intrator
Messianic Jews celebrate the death and resurrection of Yeshua (Jesus) as part of Passover Week each year. We teach about the crucifixion on the Shabbat right before Passover and the resurrection on the Shabbat immediately after.
The connection between Passover and the resurrection of Yeshua is profound. In both events we find the expression lifnot boker, meaning: "right before the breaking of dawn."
Exodus 14:27 Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea and the sea returned to its full strength lifnot boker and the Egyptians fled.
John 20:1 On the first day of the week, lifnot boker while it was still dark, Miriam from Migdal, came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed.
The Israelites left Egypt on the night of the Passover, and camped two nights during the journey (from Sukkot to Eitam to Pi Herut – Exodus 13:20, 14:1). God opened the sea throughout that second night. On the morning of the third day, they passed through the Red Sea and rose up through to the other side.
The Angel YHVH was with them and led them through the crossing. The Israelites passed through the water like a massive, symbolic group baptism (I Corinthians 10:1-2). Walking up out of the sea was a symbolic resurrection for them. We believe the Angel YHVH in the pillar of cloud and fire to be Yeshua Himself in His pre-birth form.
After Yeshua's crucifixion, His body was placed in the grave. His soul and spirit descended into hell. Before dawn on the third day, He destroyed the forces of hell and rose up back into His body. The moment that He walked out of the tomb was the same hour on the same day that He rose up out of the Red Sea more than a thousand years earlier.
The two events happened in the same way, on the same day and at the same time, because they are essentially connected in the eyes of God. They are united into one. Yeshua was the central figure in both events. Miriam was there, and Moses was there, but the resurrection and the exodus were brought about by Yeshua, the Son of God, the Messenger of YHVH.
One of the most significant elements of the traditional Passover Seder is that in every generation we are to see ourselves as if we just passed out of Egypt. Similarly, in the New Covenant, we are all to see ourselves as if we were crucified and resurrected with Yeshua. The historic exodus of the children of Israel with Angel Yehovah is the foundation of the spiritual exodus of all the children of God through Messiah Yeshua.
The past, present, and future overlap and become one as we see this prophetic picture of the exodus-resurrection from God's eternal plan and perspective.