The Sacrifice of the LORD's Passover

"And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD's passover." -Exodus 12:26, 27 [KJV]

My soul! thou hast lately been at the table of the Lord, to celebrate Christ as thy passover. If thy children ask of thee, as the Jewish children were here supposed to ask of their fathers, "What mean ye by the Lord's supper?" Wouldest thou not catch at the favoured opportunity to inform them? Yea, wouldest thou wait to be asked? Can there be a duty, or a pleasure upon earth, like that of a tender father instructing his household in the things, which accompany salvation? Can the imagination figure to itself any sight equally lovely to that of a parent, or a master of a family, encircled by his little ones, and answering to their interesting questions; yea, anticipating their inquiries, by speaking of Jesus, His person, His grace, His love, and all the wonders of His work, in the accomplishment of our salvation?  

And, indeed, these were among the precepts under the old testament dispensation. "Ye shall lay up (said Moses) these My words in your heart, and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way; when thou liest down, and when thou risest up," Deuteronomy 11:18, 19. And if the subject of redemption was so interesting then, though but in type and figure, what ought it to be now, when Jesus, the whole sum and substance of it, hath come and finished it by His blood?  

My soul! what sayest thou to these things? Hast thou children, a family, a household, a charge of souls about thee? And wilt thou not, at thy return from the Lord's table, or from the Lord's house to thine own, season thy conversation with speaking of Jesus? Wilt thou not begin the sweet subject of redemption, by way of calling up their inquiries, and exciting their attention? Wilt thou not tell them where thou hast been, and what thou hast been to the table of Jesus for; what thou hast seen there, and what thou hast felt, and known, and enjoyed of the Lord's presence, in holy communion? Surely their minds, how young soever, will long to know more and more of a service so truly interesting; and they will be looking forward to the time of life when a ripeness of understanding, under the awakening influence of the Holy Ghost, may prepare them to join the Lord at His table also, that they, with all the ransomed of the Lord, may celebrate the Lord's passover.  

Methinks I hear the earnest question of such, like the Jewish children, "What mean you by this service?" and that, when opened and explained, followed up by a thousand more: hath Christ been your passover? Hath He been with you at the feast? Hath He manifested Himself to your soul otherwise than He doth to the world? Have you seen the goings of your God and king in His sanctuary?" And hath Jesus made your heart burn within you, while talking with you by the way, and in making Himself known to you, in breaking of bread, and in prayer.

-Robert Hawker (1753-1827 A.D.)