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"Seizing the Moment: Hezekiah's Later, Greater Passover" |
‘Tis the Season...for Passover Outreaches!
A Tale of Two Calendars by Sam Nadler
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Passover is a great time for all believers to invite a Jewish friend to discover the Lamb of God. We are thrilled at the hundreds of people who attend our Messianic Passover Seders throughout these months. Using Passover for outreach is not a new idea, though. Hezekiah, the good king of Judah, did so over 2700 years ago. That’s what we read in 2 Chronicles 30:1-5: “Now Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover to the LORD God of Israel ... they established a decree to circulate a proclamation throughout all Israel from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to celebrate the Passover to the LORD God of Israel at Jerusalem. For they had not celebrated it in great numbers as it was prescribed. The couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with the letters … saying, “O sons of Israel, return to the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that He may return to those of you who escaped and are left from the hand of the kings of Assyria ... So the couriers passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulon, but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them. Nevertheless some men of Asher, Manasseh and Zebulon humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.” Hezekiah was quite concerned that the Passover feast be celebrated “as it was prescribed” (30:5). The feast “had not been celebrated in large numbers,” meant, among other things, that it had not been celebrated as a unified kingdom since the time of Solomon. So, they celebrated Passover a month later (30:2,3) This delayed the cleansing of the Temple and preparation of the priests. Rather than an unprepared Passover at the right time, Hezekiah wanted a properly prepared Passover a month later. He saw his own people of Judah and realized that God was worthy of the praise of many, certainly more than his own group. There could be no celebration without preparation.
Hezekiah’s Outreach Program But this also meant that Hezekiah would be reaching out to his sworn enemies in the northern kingdom of Israel! Why did he reach out? Because Passover had to be celebrated “in a prescribed way.” Deuteronomy 16:16 prescribes that all Jews everywhere were to come to the Temple in Jerusalem to celebrate Passover (as well as Pentecost and Tabernacles). Since the division after King Solomon's reign it was only the southern kingdom of Judah that met in Jerusalem for Passover worship. Even then, many in the kingdom of Judah had neglected it, or at least had not kept it as the Scripture required. One might think that Hezekiah need not encourage others to come and celebrate, that as long as he was personally celebrating and worshiping God, that was good enough. But it was not good enough for Hezekiah. He also understood that the meaning of Passover was not only to redeem Israel, but to reach out to others to be redeemed as well (see Ex. 12:4). Israel, therefore, reached out to their Egyptian neighbors and ultimately, there was a “mixed multitude”--not just Hebrews--that left Egypt (Ex. 12:38). Because the Lamb of redemption is always greater than your needs, you can share and reach out with the same grace you have received. Even then, redemption was to the Jew first, but not to the Jew only! Hezekiah saw that the Scriptures teach that all believers should encourage others to follow the Lord. This spiritual insight became a biblical mandate in the New Covenant, Matthew 28:18-20, “Go ye into all the world.” We see pictured here the kind of service we all need to be living out. The Passover redemption is a yearly reminder to be reaching out to others with an invitation to come to the Lord, celebrate redemption, and rejoice in the Lamb of God. Those that reach out share in the heart of God who desires “all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). For believers that do not reach out, they will eventually dry up spiritually. A hidden faith is not a fruitful faith. The truth is, with faith, the more you give it away, the more you have! In one year’s time a congregation can grow to be twice its size. How? It's simple really: each one, reach one. If each believer brings just one person to be part of his congregation, then that congregation’s attendance would soon double. Growth like this is important not merely so things will get bigger. Rather, just as in Hezekiah’s day, the Lord is always worthy of the praise of many!
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