The meaning of the Paschal Feast in the Old Law and the New Law. The Jewish Pasch was instituted by God through Moses, in thankful commemoration of the deliverance of the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt, and also as a type of their future deliverance from sin and hell. The Christian Paschal Feast was instituted by God through His Church, in thankful commemoration of the redemption of all mankind from sin and hell by Jesus Christ, of our deliverance by Him from the bondage of Satan, and of His overcoming the death of the body by His glorious resurrection. The former was a reminder of the promise of redemption, the latter a reminder of its fulfilment, of our real redemption by the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world.
The importance of the Paschal Feast, as a type of our redemption, is shown by the command of God to make it from thenceforth the beginning of a new year.
The Paschal Lamb, a type of Holy Communion. The paschal lamb was not only a sacrifice; it was also a food which had to be partaken of. In Holy Communion our Lord, the true Paschal Lamb, gives Himself to us to be the Food of our souls. This priceless Food, if It is to nourish us, must be partaken of, mingled with the “bitter herb*’ of penance and a sincere confession of our sins. If we receive It worthily, It strengthens us for our journey through the wilderness of this life, and will enable us to reach the Promised Land of everlasting happiness. “He that eateth this bread”, said our Lord, “shall live for ever” (John 6, 59).
The connection between type and fulfilment. It could not be said that the bones of our Lord were not broken, because the bones of the paschal lamb, which was a type of Him, were not broken. The case must be reversed; for a type points to the person typified, and not the person to the type. Because, therefore, God in His omniscience knew that no bone of the crucified Redeemer would be broken, He commanded that no bone should be broken of the paschal lamb, which was intended to be a type of that Redeemer. It is the same with all types. The omniscient God has so disposed them that they point to the Redeemer, to His work and His kingdom.
Persons and things as types. The types about which you have till now learnt (Adam, Abel, Noe, Melchisedecb, Isaac, Joseph and Job), were men. But the paschal lamb and the slaying of the first-born were things . You will come across many other things which were types of our Lord, such as the manna, the brazen serpent &c. &c.
Application. How the Israelites must have thanked God, when their first-born sons were spared, and when they were delivered from the cruel slavery of Egypt! Thank God daily that
