Ep 29 “The Family Table: Passover, Easter, and God’s Appointed Times”

In this special Passover–Easter episode, Jeff and Kim take you on a journey from Eden to Egypt, from the upper room to the future feast. Instead of internet myths or modern traditions, this conversation goes back to the real story — the story God wrote. Together they explore the seven biblical feasts, the meaning of Passover, how Jesus fulfills every part of it, and why the early church gathered around a simple family table. This is a fresh, accessible look at the season of rescue, freedom, and resurrection… and an invitation to see your own place at God’s table.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome back to Engage the Scripture. Today is our special Easter and Passover episode, and my wife, Kim, is here with me for this one. Kim, this season is so full of meaning, but it's also full of misinformation. Every year the internet fills up with claims about Easter, where it came from, what the traditions mean, what Christians supposedly took from other cultures, what's pagan and what's not. And most of it just isn't true. So today we're slowing down. We're going to pull from actual scholarship. Peer-reviewed historical, cultural, and literary research, so we can give you the real story, not the internet version.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Right, because when you look at the actual evidence, most of these things people worry about online didn't come from pagan worship at all. Take eggs, for example. The egg tradition came from medieval Christians. Eggs are forbidden during Lent, so families bulled them so they wouldn't spoil. And then decorated them and celebrated with them when Lent ended. That's not pagan, that's just common sense.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

And the bunny. Let's talk about that one because the internet loves to make it spooky. The truth is, the Easter bunny isn't a goddess or some hidden pagan ritual. It comes from German folklore. The Oster has, or the Easter hare, a springtime custom that families brought with them when they immigrated to America. Scholars are unanimous. There is no ancient goddess behind it. It shows up in the 17th century German writings. It's simply a cultural symbol of spring, fertility, and new life. The same way Passover has parsley and corrosive. Culture adds things. Families add things. That's just how it works.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

And what about the candy and baskets? Our kids love those things.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

Yeah, me too. If there's a Reese's egg in the house, it's already gone.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

All the candy and basket stuff is pretty recent. Mostly 1800s and early 1900s, American marketing. Nothing dark, nothing spiritual, just culture doing what culture does.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

And while we're clearing things up, let's talk about the name Easter. You've probably heard it comes from a pagan goddess named Easter or Ostra. But as Dr. Michael Heiser pointed out, that ideal rests on one line from an 8th century month with no supporting evidence. Easter most likely just means the dawn or the East, the spring month of new light. It was always about the resurrection.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Alright, that's the name part. But the way Christians actually celebrate, that's where things get really interesting.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

You got it, and this is where the table comes in. When we say table, we're talking about the meal Jesus shared with his disciples during the Passover season. The meal that shaped the early church's practice of breaking bread together. Jesus himself had become the Passover lamb. They carried forward the parts of the meal he reinterpreted, the bread and the cup, proclaiming his once-for-all sacrifice until he comes. Then, as the church grew, those Passover patterns shaped the regular meals of remembrance.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

At the Passover table, one of God's appointed times, this wasn't just Israel's rescue anymore. It was the promise God made from the beginning that he was calling a people for himself from every nation. The table made that real. And just to be clear, the early Jewish believers still celebrated Passover every year. That didn't go away, but the bread and the cup Jesus gave them at the Passover meal became their regular rhythm. Week after week, in homes across the Roman world, Christians gathered around a simple table to remember their rescue and their freedom in Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

And we actually see this in real time in the New Testament. In Corinth, Christians didn't meet in church buildings. Those didn't exist yet. They met in someone's home, and when they gathered, they shared a full meal. Picture a big family dinner. People brought food, they ate, they talked, they prayed, and right in the middle of that meal, they broke the bread and shared the cup the way Jesus taught them. So the picture is simple. The early church treated this as the family table Jesus gave them. The place where they remembered their rescue, their freedom, and their identity in him.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

And then centuries later, American revitalism brought tent meetings, altar calls, and big Easter events. And somewhere along the way, the simple table Jesus gave us, the Passover meal, and the communion he revealed in it, got overshadowed by production and performance.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

But scholars and honestly the Bible keep pulling us back to this. The meaning matters more than all the stuff we've added. And if we're going to understand this season the way the early church did, we have to start where they started, at the table.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

And that's really the heart of the whole episode. Passover was always meant to bring God's family to the table, to remember the rescue, to tell the story again, and to show each generation who they are. Jesus didn't erase that, he fulfilled it. And the early church, Jew and Gentile, kept gathering around the simple tables so they wouldn't forget the freedom God gave them both. It was a family meal, one that started long before them in the Passover story, led straight to Jesus, shaped the early church, and points us towards the future feast he promised. It's the same family story we're invited into today. Alright, Jeff, let's jump in.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Okay, let's start at the beginning, because if we don't start there, none of the rest of this makes sense. When God created the world, he wasn't building a religion. He wasn't setting up a system, he was creating a family.

SPEAKER_00 6:30

Genesis 1 isn't just a creation story, it's a family story. God makes men and women in his image. And that's family language. It means you belong to me, you carry my likeness, you're part of my household, you belong at the table.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

Exactly. And he places them in Eden, which is more than a garden. It's sacred space, the place where heaven and earth overlap. It was the first home where God dwells with his human family.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

The picture is beautiful. God walking with his people, talking with them, partnering with them. That's the heart of the whole Bible. God with his family.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

But the story doesn't stay that way for very long. The first family decides that they want to run life on their own terms. They rebelled. And that rebellion fractures the relationship with God.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

And from that moment on, the story becomes the story of God bringing his rebellious family back home.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

And the rebellion doesn't stop with Adam and Eve. It spreads. By the time you reach the Tower of Babel, humanity isn't just drifting. They're united in pushing God out.

SPEAKER_00 7:39

And that's where something major happens. Humanity keeps pushing God away, and in response, God divorces the nations, handing them over to other spiritual powers.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

But here's the point: humanity walks away and God lets them go.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

And that's where Abraham enters the picture. God reaches into a world that has turned its back on him and says, I'm going to start again. I'm going to build a new family.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

But God does not let go of everyone. A family that wants to be close to him. A family that will show the nations what it looks like to belong to the true God.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

Yes. One that belongs at God's table. And once God calls Abraham, the whole story starts moving in a new direction. God isn't just choosing a man, he's building a family.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

And as that family grows, Isaac, Jacob, the twelve tribes, God shapes them with rhythms to remember who they belong to.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

Those rhythms were the laws and commands God gave them, not just to make life part, but to form their identity as his family, to teach them how to live close to him again and to share a real fellowship at his table.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

And part of those rhythms, a huge part, are the feasts. These aren't random holidays, they're family gatherings. God was calling his family back to the table. These seven appointed times were his invitations for Israel to gather every year, stop their normal routines, and to remember his story together as one household.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

Every feast has a purpose. And in Leviticus, the word isn't actually feast, it's Moeid. The word means appointed time, a time God Himself put on the calendar. These weren't random holidays. They were sacred gatherings, moments when God called his family together to remember his story. Some of these appointed times look back, some look ahead, but all of them keep God's people connected to the story of redemption. And if it helps, think of it this way. These feasts are the moments when God's people stopped everything in order to be together. Kind of like how our families come together for Christmas or Thanksgiving. Not because they're casual holidays, but because they're times that shape who we are. That's what the feasts were for Israel. Sacred gatherings where God pulled his family close and reminded them of the story they lived in.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

Yes, and there are seven feasts: four in the spring, three in the fall. In Leviticus 23, God lays out these set times and says, These are my appointed feasts. They weren't optional. God commanded his family to come, to gather around the table and stay connected to his rescue story. The feast in the spring celebrated God's rescue, and many Christian scholars see the fall feast as pointing forward to God's future restoration.

SPEAKER_00 10:47

And when Scripture talks about these feasts, it's really talking about God's calendar, the way he marked time for his people. These weren't dates Israel invented. God set them apart himself as moments for his family to stop, gather, and meet with him.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

And here's the part that matters for today. Passover is the first of those seven feasts. It's the starting point, the night everything changes.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

So let's talk about that starting point, the night everything began to change. Israel has been in Egypt for generations. They're not visitors anymore, they're slaves. Their whole life is shaped by Pharaoh's power.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

But God hears the cries of his family, he sees their pain, and he moves. Passover is the night God breaks Egypt's grip and brings his people into freedom.

SPEAKER_00 11:41

And God tells them, you're going to remember this night, tell it to your children, sit at the table every year and retell the story of how I rescued you.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

That's why Passover isn't just a historical moment. It's a family meal, a yearly reminder that our God saves, He delivers, and keeps His promises.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

And the whole meal is built around symbols. And it was more than a meal. It was a meal designed to be tasted. On the table you had the Passover lamb, the unleavened bread, and the bitter herbs. Every flavor carried meaning. Every bite told the story of God's rescue.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

And here's where the gospel story of rescue becomes breathtakingly personal for every one of us. On that first Passover night in Egypt, God told the Israelites to take the blood of a perfect lamb and paint it on the doorpost and lintel of their houses. When the Lord Himself passed through the land, he would see the blood and pass over. Death could not touch those inside. It wasn't about how good the family was. It wasn't about their effort or their worthiness. It was about the lamb that died in their place and the blood that marked them as God's own.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

Fast forward to the upper room, Jesus sets with his disciples at the same kind of table. He takes the bread and says, This is my body given for you. Then he takes the cup and says, This is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. In that moment, Jesus is stepping right into the Passover story, taking the place of the Lamb.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

In that moment, Jesus was saved, I am the true Passover Lamb. My body will be broken, my blood will be poured out, and when you trust in me, my blood marks the doorpost of your life. Death has to pass over you. That's the heart of the gospel. The same rescue story that began in Egypt reaches its climax at the cross. Jesus became that sacrifice that we could never provide. His blood does what the blood of every other lamb could only picture. It brings us out of slavery to sin, out of the Egypt of our own rebellion, and into the freedom of God's family.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

And Passover wasn't the only feast happening that we hear. Right after Passover came the feast of unloving bread. It was a picture of leaving the old life behind. Jesus is buried during the feast, laid in the tomb like a seed planted in the ground. And then comes first fruit. The feast that celebrated the very first bundle of the harvest. That's the day Jesus rose from the dead.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

The Apostle Paul even calls Jesus the first fruit of those who have fallen asleep. And when you look at the timing, it's stunning. The cross, the burial, and the resurrection all unfold in the rhythms of God's appointed times. They happen during Passover week, right alongside the three spring feasts God placed in that same week from the very beginning. Passover shows us why Jesus died. The Feast of Unleavened Bread shows us that the old life is gone. And first fruits shows us that a new life has begun. Jesus fulfills every part of the story. The Lamb who dies, the one who is buried, and the one who rose to bring us into the freedom of God's family.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

Jesus kept God's appointed times. And at the Passover table, he showed his disciples how the whole story pointed to him.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

And it's in the middle of that gathering, God's family coming together, that Jesus sits down at the table with his disciples. And just so you know, scholars debate the exact timing of the Last Supper, but everyone agrees on this. Jesus intentionally placed his words and actions inside the Passover story.

SPEAKER_00 15:37

He sure did. He gathered with his disciples at the Passover feast God had commanded Israel to keep every year. And there, in the middle of that commanded meal, he took the bread and the cup and centered them on himself. And that becomes the pattern for what we now call communion.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

Jesus takes the bread and the cup and he gives them their fulfilled meaning. This is my body, this is my blood of the new covenant. And he told us, do this in remembrance of me. In other words, keep coming back to this family table, keep remembering what I have done for you.

SPEAKER_00 16:12

From the beginning, God's plan was bigger than one family. When he told Abraham, All nations will be blessed through you, he was already pointing to the table big enough for the whole world.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

The nations were always meant to be a part of this story. To sit at this table, but they drifted, they ran after other gods, and the story waited generation after generation until that moment God had planned from the beginning. Galatians 4 and 4 says, when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son. At just the right moment, the moment the world needed rescue, Jesus stepped in to bring the nations back.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

And that's why this matters. It becomes a preview of the day God gathers his whole family at the final feast.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

And that meal during the Passover season, the meaning grows in Jesus, but the message stays the same. God rescues his family. And this table doesn't just look back to Egypt or to the cross. It points ahead to the great feast to come.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

All of the feasts worked like rehearsals, yearly rhythms that train God's people to expect him to act again. But it also taught them to look ahead to the day God would finish the story.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

So, until that day comes, we continue to take the bread in the cup, proclaiming his death until he returns and drinks it new with us in his father's kingdom. It's the family table, the reminder that God has brought us out of our own Egypt, out of sin, bondage, and the old life, and into freedom.

SPEAKER_00 18:17

And that's why this season is so meaningful. Not because of the decorations or the events. Those things are fine and fun. But because this season pulls us back to the table. Back to the story of freedom that began in Egypt, was fulfilled in Jesus' death and resurrection, and will be completed at the feast to come.

SPEAKER_01 18:37

For us, this became real years ago. I had personally grew up in church, but had never been exposed to the Passover meal, just the usual Sunday service and Easter events. But when I started studying in Bible college, and later through one of my most cherished professors, Professor Sean Sam's, I began to see the depth behind it. So naturally I wanted to celebrate it, and I didn't know anyone around me who actually kept the Seder. So I found a guy by the name of Paul Wilburn and his ministry. Paul is a messianic Jewish brother in the Lord, and he does a beautiful teaching on the Passover meal. Years ago, Kim and I sat down, just the two of us, and walked through our very first Seder with his video. And honestly, we fell in love with it. Since then, we've shared this meal with so many people through the years, teaching the meaning behind each part and pointing everything back to Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 19:35

And if you're like us and don't have people around you who celebrate the Seder and you want to check it out, you can watch the same teachings we used. It's right on Paul Wilburn's website, Wilburn Ministries.com. It's easy to find and it's such a blessing.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

And just to be clear, we're not saying you have to keep the Seder to be saved or to please God. You don't have to take a bath to be saved either, but it feels good. Many of you have already been honoring the heart of this every time you take communion. The Seder meal just helps you to see the fuller story behind the table you've already been coming to.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

Yes, and as we wrap up today, our hope is that all of this helps you see Jesus more clearly, the Lamb who died for us, the one who rose for us, and the one who will welcome us at the feast to come. And as we step into this season, we just want to bless you and your families. So, in the words of our Jewish friends, Hog Samaya, a joyful Passover to you and your home.

SPEAKER_01 20:39

And may you experience the hope and the joy of resurrection. Happy Resurrection Sunday.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

Thanks for listening. We hope to see you at the table.