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Passover and Christ: Part I
I am going to be putting forth some writings on the Passover and Jesus Christ. For Christians, this is the most important week of our lives. Because of this week, we have hope, because of this week, we have meaning, because of this week, we have love given to us and shown before our eyes. I am going to first put forth the fulfillments we find in Christ that are shown in Exodus 12.
Before we start into Exodus 12, we must first understand that we see a lot of parrellels in the Israelites captivity and ourselves. The Israelites were slaves to the evil Pharoah, just as we ourselves are slaves to sin and do the will of our father the devil before we are saved. Then just as God saved the Israelites by His hand so God saves us from captivity of evil, death and slavery.
I will be putting forth Exodus 12 and then showing how Christ fulfills its entirety.
Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you.
Exodus 12:1-2
We are told that when we become one of Christ's own, that it is our new birth. Our life, because of the Lamb of God, starts over and the day of our regeneration becomes the first day of the rest of our lives. We are a new creation, behold old things have past away, new things have come. Just as the Passover started the year for the Jews, Christ has started our lives over and this new life is the one that we have hope in because of the Passover Lamb: Jesus Christ.
Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household. ‘Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb.
Exodus 12:3-4
Here we find the first actual look to the person of Christ. We are told that the Jews will choose for themselves a lamb for the slaughter of their sins. John the Baptist proclaims: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
Further, we are told that this lamb was chosen 5 days before Passover (the 10th day). Interestingly, five days before Passover Jesus rides into Jerusalem readied to be the sacrificial Passover Lamb.
On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.” Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”
John 12:12-15
Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight.
Exodus 12:5-6
There are quite a few pictures of Christ found here. You will notice that the lamb must be unblemished. The father of the household would do a careful examination of the lamb to make sure it was the best, unblemished lamb that the family owned. They would find a lamb with no faults, no issues, no spot, absolutely nothing wrong with it. Meaning, there would be no reason for wanting this lamb to leave the household. Spotless lambs were the highest value and taken care of with utmost importance. The reason that it was to be a year old was that this meant that the lamb was now full grown. It was no longer a baby lamb, but a full grown lamb. It must be a male because it was to take the place as the propitiation, expiation and atonement for the first born male that was supposed to die.
Christ was our unblemished Lamb. Even Pilate said that he found no fault in Christ. Peter tells us that there was no deceit found in his mouth, that although he was reviled, he did not revile in return. He was without sin. He was the Righteous One, the Just One. He was a grown male, He was the second Adam, to save sinners from the their head, Adam, from their sin. Just as the Passover lamb was to be a male to take the place of those males who were to die, Jesus took the place of the whole world as the propitiation, expiation and atonement.
We'll continue this study tomorrow and also look further into the importance of the Passover.
Before we start into Exodus 12, we must first understand that we see a lot of parrellels in the Israelites captivity and ourselves. The Israelites were slaves to the evil Pharoah, just as we ourselves are slaves to sin and do the will of our father the devil before we are saved. Then just as God saved the Israelites by His hand so God saves us from captivity of evil, death and slavery.
I will be putting forth Exodus 12 and then showing how Christ fulfills its entirety.
Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you.
Exodus 12:1-2
We are told that when we become one of Christ's own, that it is our new birth. Our life, because of the Lamb of God, starts over and the day of our regeneration becomes the first day of the rest of our lives. We are a new creation, behold old things have past away, new things have come. Just as the Passover started the year for the Jews, Christ has started our lives over and this new life is the one that we have hope in because of the Passover Lamb: Jesus Christ.
Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household. ‘Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb.
Exodus 12:3-4
Here we find the first actual look to the person of Christ. We are told that the Jews will choose for themselves a lamb for the slaughter of their sins. John the Baptist proclaims: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
Further, we are told that this lamb was chosen 5 days before Passover (the 10th day). Interestingly, five days before Passover Jesus rides into Jerusalem readied to be the sacrificial Passover Lamb.
On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.” Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”
John 12:12-15
Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight.
Exodus 12:5-6
There are quite a few pictures of Christ found here. You will notice that the lamb must be unblemished. The father of the household would do a careful examination of the lamb to make sure it was the best, unblemished lamb that the family owned. They would find a lamb with no faults, no issues, no spot, absolutely nothing wrong with it. Meaning, there would be no reason for wanting this lamb to leave the household. Spotless lambs were the highest value and taken care of with utmost importance. The reason that it was to be a year old was that this meant that the lamb was now full grown. It was no longer a baby lamb, but a full grown lamb. It must be a male because it was to take the place as the propitiation, expiation and atonement for the first born male that was supposed to die.
Christ was our unblemished Lamb. Even Pilate said that he found no fault in Christ. Peter tells us that there was no deceit found in his mouth, that although he was reviled, he did not revile in return. He was without sin. He was the Righteous One, the Just One. He was a grown male, He was the second Adam, to save sinners from the their head, Adam, from their sin. Just as the Passover lamb was to be a male to take the place of those males who were to die, Jesus took the place of the whole world as the propitiation, expiation and atonement.
We'll continue this study tomorrow and also look further into the importance of the Passover.
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