We've been studying the first Passover and today the Lord establishes it as a perpetual religious holiday for the people.
The tenth plague is about to fall upon Egypt but no Israelite with the blood of the lamb applied to their doorposts will be touched by the plague. "On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt." (Exodus 12:12-13) The gods of Egypt don't exist and the Lord has shown them to be false idols. The gods in whom the Egyptians trusted have had no power against the Lord; they were able to put on no defense. He has exposed the lie of idolatry, and in that sense He has brought "judgment" upon the gods of Egypt.
"This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord---a lasting ordinance. For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do not work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do." (Exodus 12:14-16) Their meal on the night before the exodus was a hasty one and there was no time to allow dough to rise, so the dough was prepared without yeast. The people will have to take unleavened dough with them on their journey and prepare bread with it for the next seven days. For all the generations to come the eating of the unleavened bread is to be observed to commemorate the first Passover. Any Israelite who refuses to abide by the rule regarding yeast during Passover is to be excommunicated; that's how important the remembrance of the Lord's great deliverance should be to the nation of Israel.
To stress what an important holiday this is, we might compare the observance of it to the Christian observance of Christmas or Easter. Wouldn't we find it odd if someone who professes to be a Christian shows no respect or interest in the two primary holidays of their faith? We would have to conclude that this person is a very casual Christian at best. In the same way if a Jewish person cares nothing for observing Passover then we might conclude that person is not maintaining a close connection with their faith. If a day when the Lord did a mighty, miraculous thing means nothing to a someone who professes to believe in and serve Him, that person needs to examine his heart to see what's gone wrong and to make things right. Though excommunication might seem like a harsh and public way of censuring a person who refuses to observe Passover (or any other major religious holiday), the purpose of excommunication was for the person to examine his heart, repent of anything he'd put between himself and God, and return to the fold with a renewed enthusiasm for his faith and with a restored relationship with the Lord.
"Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come." (Exodus 12:17) There are days I celebrate as a lasting ordinance. For example, the day I accepted Christ as my Savior is a day that will always be holy to me. It was the greatest day of my life when the Lord brought me out of sin and darkness into the light. It happened on Sunday, August 30, 1992 at around 10:30 in the morning. No matter how many great works and miracles the Lord does in my life, none will be greater than what He did on that day. But even if I didn't recall the exact date I could still commemorate the day of salvation in my heart as a holy day. I could look back on that day and rejoice in what Christ did for me. There are other days in my life where the Lord came through for me in mighty ways, and in a lot of cases I don't recall the exact date of these great works of the Lord, but I can still honor them in my heart. I can still thank the Lord for all He's done. I am sure there are days in your life that stand out as days when God did big things. These are the days we look back on when facing new challenges and struggles in life; we look back on those days to remind ourselves how many times the Lord has already come through for us and to reassure ourselves that He's going to keep on coming through for us. These are the days we tell others about to encourage and strengthen them in their faith. This is how the Lord wants the Israelites to regard the holiday of Passover: as a day when He did mighty things, as a day to look back on for all the generations to come, and as a day to talk about to strengthen their faith for the future.
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