And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. Exodus 12:24.
There were quite a number of the Egyptians who were led to acknowledge, by the manifestations of the signs and wonders shown in Egypt, that the gods whom they had worshipped were without knowledge and had no power to save or to destroy, and that the God of the Hebrews was the only true God. They begged to be permitted to come to the houses of the Israelites with their families upon that fearful night when the angel of God should slay the firstborn of the Egyptians. The Hebrews welcomed these believing Egyptians to their homes, and the latter pledged themselves henceforth to choose the God of Israel as their God and to leave Egypt and go with the Israelites to worship the Lord.
The Passover pointed backward to the deliverance of the children of Israel and was also typical, pointing forward to Christ, the Lamb of God, slain for the redemption of fallen humanity. The blood sprinkled upon the doorposts prefigured the atoning blood of Christ and also the continual dependence of sinners upon the merits of that blood for safety from the power of Satan and for final redemption. Christ ate the Passover supper with His disciples just before His crucifixion, and the same night instituted the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, to be observed in commemoration of His death.... After partaking of the passover with His disciples, Christ arose from the table and said unto them, “With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer.” He then performed the humiliating office of washing the feet of His disciples. Christ gave His followers the ordinance of washing feet for them to practice, which would teach them lessons of humility....
The example of washing the feet of His disciples was given for the benefit of all who should believe in Him....
The salvation of men and women depends upon a continual application to their hearts of the cleansing blood of Christ. Therefore, the Lord's Supper was to be observed more frequently than the annual Passover. This solemn ordinance commemorates a far greater event than the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt. That deliverance was typical of the great atonement which Christ made by the sacrifice of His own life for the final redemption of His people.—Signs of the Times, March 25, 1880.
From From the Heart - Page 223
From the Heart