Every generation of believers has had expectations of the future based on prophecy and promise. There are three related promises, one in Abraham’s era, the other in Moses’, the third in Ezekiel’s, which highlight the nature of Pesach (Passover) from the perspective of believers at the time. All three use the term “I will” seven times (the number of perfection and completion). This serves as the stamp of YHWH’s guarantee.
Abraham (pre-captivity)
“And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and I will multiply thee exceedingly. And I will make thee exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” (Gen 17:6-8)
Moses (while in captivity)
“Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the YHWH, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the YHWH your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am YHWH.’” (Exodus 6:6-8)
Ezekiel (in captivity in Babylon)
Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord YHWH: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.’ And when they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their deeds upon their own heads, declares the Lord YHWH.” (Ezekiel 11:17-21)
This last promise to Ezekiel remains the promise of our modern age! We are currently, and not-always-patiently, waiting for YHWH to honor it.
If you’ve read these Pesach studies in order, I’ve already underscored, bold-printed, and repeated again and again the fact that YHWH is not done with this Pesach-themed promise. We, as His people, are STILL captive in Babylon, regardless of what country our map apps or passports say we are in. Even the current nation-state called Israel is not as independent as their government proclaims. Since the time of Ezra, Israel has been a vassal-state of sorts. The existing form of the nation only exists due to the good graces of Persia (in Ezra’s day), then Greece, then Rome, and now the USA and the UN. If you are clutching your pearls and fainting over the current state of America, just wait. YHWH will bring the fullness of America’s deeds upon it’s head as well.
At the same exact time that Ezekiel was given his seven ‘I Wills’, Daniel was given a prophecy about when the people of Israel would FINALLY truly be freed and brought to the Promised Land (hint: it wasn’t in Ezra’s day, nor was it May 14th, 1948). Daniel Chapter 2 tells us Israel is only finally free when all of Babylon and its thematic descendants are fully destroyed, precisely as Egypt was in Moses’ day. The end of the Book of Revelation tells us that same exact thing. Every theme of Pesach (Passover) is not just foundational to our redemption from our “spiritual” bondage—we still await the fulfillment of the physical reality of these promises. We await the complete destruction of the false and destructive systems of THIS WORLD, and our complete physical exodus from our current dwelling places to the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Bonus: in that day it will be the full borders promised to Abraham originally, not the fraction of the land being fought over today.
Until that day, we continue to celebrate Pesach, knowing that Yeshua Messiah guaranteed our redemption on that night. But, he will also be our future Moses, leading us triumphantly out of Babylon and into that land–without a political campaign and without any Israelite firing a single shot.
Jeremiah also describes this day, “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares YHWH, when it shall no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As the YHWH lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers. Behold, I am sending for many fishers, declares the Lord, and they shall catch them. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.”
Amen