As we approach the upcoming Spring Feast Days, let’s ask ourselves: Do we recognize the difference between Passover night and the Night to Be Much Observed?

The night of Passover begins on the evening of the 14^th of Abib, which is at sunset on Friday, April 11^th,  this year.  The following evening, on the 15^th of Abib, or at sunset on Saturday, April 12, the seven Days of Unleavened Bread commence with the Night to Be Much Observed.

Each night provides an important New Covenant milestone in our relationship with God. Let’s review the Passover night from Exodus 12.  As the evening of the 14^th of Abib began, the Israelites were to kill the unblemished male lamb of the first year and put the blood on the doorposts and lintel with a bunch of hyssop (Exodus 12:6-7, 22, NKJV).  This act would allow the judgment of death to pass over that household. By the blood of the lamb, the Israelites were exempt from the judgment of death and redeemed from the grasp of Pharaoh.  Similarly, we, too, had the judgment of death pass over us and were redeemed by the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19). Jesus, on the final Passover night, explained this through the symbol of the wine that his disciples would share.

Back to the Israelites, on the daytime portion of the 14^th of Abib, they were busy organizing themselves to depart from Egypt. As the day began to end, they left Egypt and stayed at Succoth on the night of the 15^th of Abib.  God told them that this night also held significance in their relationship with Him and what He did for them; that night was to be a solemn observance because it marked the occasion of God bringing them out of the land of Egypt. (Exodus 12:42; note that the KJV says it is to “be a night to be much observed unto the Lord,” which is why we call it by that name today).

Passover night commemorates when Israel was spared from the judgment of death on their firstborn, and the Night to Be Much Observed signifies Israel’s liberation from the land of slavery. Both events parallel our New Covenant relationship with God. God has saved us from the judgment of death and the penalty of sin through the blood of Christ and is also leading us out of the spiritual slavery of this world on our journey to the Kingdom of God.

The appointed festivals of God are wonderful blessings that, starting with Passover, mark a milestone of events in God’s plan for mankind, culminating in our Spiritual Father dwelling with His Holy Children for eternity. I pray that everyone in Beloit, Chicago, and Northwest Indiana experiences the most spiritually enriching Passover, Night to Be Much Observed, and Days of Unleavened Bread.