LAMB OF GOD-THE PASSOVER LAMB
Locusts and Honey
1 Cor. 2:13
Vol. 9, Pt. 4
Introduction
In our prior edition of Locusts and Honey we dealt with the pivotal account of the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. This account is “pivotal” because it represents a picture of the central point in the history of mankind which was the sacrifice of God’s only son, Jesus Christ for our sins. The central point in history is the incarnation, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is what it is all about. It stands at the center stage of history which begins at the creation and the Garden of Eden and ends at the restoration of the new heavens and earth after the return of Jesus Christ.
If the account of Abraham and Isaac demonstrates God’s future plan to send his only begotten son (John 3:16), the account of the Passover lamb illustrates how the blood of the Lamb covers our sins and protects us from sin, judgment and death. The events which happened at Passover are commemorated by the very important Feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread among the Jews and are used to educate each upcoming generation as to how God protects, redeems and delivers his people.
A Synopsis of What Happened on Passover
In the process of extracting the Jewish people from Egypt, God sent the final and Tenth Plague to strike down the firstborn of Egypt. God protected the first born of the Israelites by the blood of the Passover lamb. The account of the Passover lamb and the institution of the Feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread can be found in Genesis, Chapter 12. Here are some of the characteristics of the Passover lamb:
· It could be a sheep or goat;
· It was to be without blemish;
· It was to be male;
· It was to be one sacrifice for one household;
· It was to live with the family from the 10th of the month to the 14th day of the month;
· It was to be killed at twilight;
· It was to be roasted, not boiled. That included the head, inner parts and legs.;
· It was to be eaten with unleavened bread. There was to be no leaven or yeast;
· It was to be eaten with bitter herbs;
· Any part that remained after being eaten was to be burnt before morning;
· The Hebrews were to eat the Lamb dressed and ready to go;
· The blood was to be placed on the doorposts and lintel of each house;
· Blood was to be applied with a hyssop branch;
· None of the bones of the Lamb was to be broken.
At midnight, the Lord struck down the first born of each person and the first born of each animal, but “passed over” all those dwellings where the blood had been spread. The first born from the Pharaoh to the prisoner in the dungeon died as well as the first born of each animal. The Pharaoh after the Tenth Plague (and many other warnings) finally let the Hebrews leave Egypt. The Hebrew people had eaten of the lamb and goats sacrificed and were dressed and ready to depart.
So what does the Passover Lamb have to do with Jesus?
The Passover Lamb is a picture to show what the Messiah would do in the future. The shed blood of the Passover Lamb protected the Israelites from judgment and death and enabled them to escape their enslavement and captivity. Similarly, the blood of Jesus does the same for us. If we are covered with the blood of Jesus then we are protected from the judgment of God and the chains of our enslavement to sin are broken and we find freedom.
Many people have written about the comparison of Jesus to the Passover Lamb. Some of the comparisons including the following:
· Blood Shed for Us-The blood of the Lamb was spread upon the lintel and the two doorposts of each house. The blood covered those people of God who had the faith to apply it. The blood of Jesus covers our sins and provides us protection against judgment and death. Some see the way that the Lamb’s blood was sprinkled (Door post, lintel, door post) to be in the form of a cross. (See Romans 5:8-10; Exodus 12: 7; 12:21-23).
· The lamb or goat was to be male and first-born. Although many sheep or goats are female, there was a specific requirement that the Passover lamb be male and be first-born. The first-born male of the Israelites and their sacrificial animals were considered to belong to God. Jesus was the first-born son of God. He was God’s unique (“only begotten”) son.
· The lamb had to be one year old. The lamb had to be a young lamb and in the first part of its life. Some feel that this reflects that Jesus was young (about 33 years old) when he was sacrificed for our sins.
· No Blemishes. The Lamb was to be without blemishes or defects. It was suitable for sacrifice. Jesus was suitable for sacrifice in that he was without blemish—he was sinless. (Ex. 12:5; 1 Pet. 1:18-19).
· The Lamb had to live with the family. Each lamb was to live with the family for four days. In short, the Hebrews were not sacrificing a lamb which they did not know. Instead the lamb lived with them and became part of the family before it was sacrificed. Likewise, Jesus lived with his people prior to his sacrifice for them.
· The sacrifice was of the whole lamb. Most sacrifices involve just part of the lamb or goat. However, in this instance, the entire lamb or goat was roasted. It had to go through the fire and be burnt. Jesus went through the fire for us. His sacrifice was total and not just in part.
· What was left was to be burnt. Sacrifices which were holy were never thrown out if there were anything left over. Instead, what remained, if anything, was to be burnt. Jesus was a holy sacrifice. His sacrifice was complete. There are no leftovers.
· No bones were to be broken. At the cross the Roman soldiers broke the bones of the legs of the two crucified with Jesus but did not break Jesus’ legs seeing that he was already dead. The Passover Lamb was to have no broken bones. (See John 19:36).
Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread
To make sure that God’s people never forgot what God had done for them, God instituted the annual celebration of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread are considered to be a “feast to the Lord.” (Ex. 12:14). The Jews call the Passover Feast by the name “Pesach” meaning “to pass over.” It is fairly clear from Scripture that Passover and the meal associated with it should be celebrated on the fourteenth day of the month Nisan. (See Lev. 23:5-7; Ex. 12:6; Nu. 9:1-5 and Nu. 28:16). Jews have the Seder or Passover meal on the fifteenth of the month because animal sacrifices no longer occur in Jerusalem due to the destruction of the Temple.
Before we proceed further, there are a couple of things regarding Jewish dates which I should make clear. The first is that Scripture calls the Passover month Abib; however the name of the month “Abib” was changed to a different name of “Nisan” after the Jews returned from the Babylonian Captivity. It is the same month with just different names. Second, the Jewish day works differently than our days. The day for Jews begins at sundown instead of after mid-night for us. For instance your Jewish friends consider the Sabbath or Saturday holy; however they begin celebrating the Sabbath at sundown Friday evening and the Sabbath ends at sundown on Saturday evening. Third, the Jewish calendar is not like our Gregorian Calendar. Our calendar is based upon the sun while the Jewish calendar is based upon the lunar calendar. For instance the Feast of the Unleavened Bread which we will discuss in the future, begins upon the fifteenth of Nisan. That date varies each year somewhat like Easter does for Christians. For instance, Nisan 15 in 2023 will be on Thu., April 6; in 2024 it will be on Tues., April 23; in 2025 it will be on Sun., April 13 and in 2026 it will be on Thu. April 2.
Immediately after the Feast of Passover (the day after), God instituted the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That Feast begins on the fifteenth of Nissan. During this Feast, the Jews are to eat unleavened bread. No leaven or yeast is to be eaten or found in the house from the 14 of the month until the evening of the twenty first day. The rules for celebrating The Feast of the Unleavened Bread are found in Exodus 12 and 13. Part of the reasons for the Feast were to educate the first born sons of the importance of Passover and to cause them to remember what God had done in redeeming the Hebrews from the bondage of slavery in Egypt.
During the feast there was to be no leaven in the household or in the areas where the Israelites lived. People ate unleavened bread. There were several reasons. One reason was that the Israelites had to be ready to go. There was no time for the bread to be prepared to rise. Exodus 12:24 says, “So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders.” (See Ex. 12:29). From a spiritual side, the Jews see yeast as exemplifying sin. The spiritual meaning of getting rid of the leaven (“chametz”) is to get rid of sin. Observant Jews clean their houses thoroughly and also clean their ovens and cooking utensils thoroughly to make sure that there is no leaven present. Spiritually, the Jews see leaven as representing sin. One needs to be scrupulous in removing both the leaven from the home and to also be scrupulous in removing sin from your life.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread along with Passover represented a wonderful opportunity to thank God for removing Israel from the bitter bond of slavery in Egypt and to remember God’s efforts to extract Egypt from slavery through the Tenth Plague and the Angel of Death. Faithful Jews were saved from the judgment upon the firstborn through the blood of an innocent lamb or goat. Remembrance of this great salvation was assisted through the combined Feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread. It also provided a way for the Jews to teach their children about God. In fact children as a part of this celebration are to ask questions such as “Why is this night different from all other nights?” In my opinion, the emphasis on removing leaven/sin is interesting. After all, the Jews were saved by the grace of God and by placing blood upon their homes. Therefore why is there a great emphasis upon removing leaven/sin for the days of these feasts? I believe the answer is that we are saved for a purpose. We are not saved because we are holy. Instead we are saved by grace so that we can become holy. Holiness for both the Jew and the Christian is not an accident. Instead it is an intentional act. God saved us to become a holy people. He took the Israelites out of Egypt in order to make them a holy people not to be a bunch of people acting like Egyptians and taking their gods and their evil ways into the Promised Land. Similarly, when we come to know God we become part of the church, the ekklesia, meaning the “called out ones.” We are called out from the world. Part of our purpose is to become holy, to become lights in the darkness and the shining city sitting on the hill in a dark world. The Israelites were called to holiness, and we are too!
The Israelites ate unleavened bread or matzah during the feasts. The unleavened bread is bread that does not have sin in it. It is a humble meal, not blown up with pride. It is food for those who are ready to depart and go where God leads. It is the “hard tack” for those who are pilgrims and seek the Kingdom of God as opposed to the Kingdom of this World. As part of the Feast, Jews ate bitter herbs to remind them of the hardship of Egypt. The Jews when they were in the desert from time to time looked back to the “good old days” of Egypt when they had plenty of food and water. Yet like all of us their memories were selective. They remembered the good but not the evil. They forgot the slave driver’s lash, the toil, the killing of the babies, and the indignity of being an enslaved people. As part of the two feasts, they were reminded by the bitter herbs of the bitterness of their slavery.
Jesus as Passover Lamb
God set in motion a witness to the coming Messiah by using the Passover Lamb to deliver the Israelites from death by the shed blood of the lamb. When John the Baptist first saw Jesus he recognized him as the “Lamb of God” and said “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29). The Apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:19 “that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers not with perishable things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”
Unless we somehow miss the point, we are reminded that Christ died at the Passover Season. There are no coincidences in God’s plan for us. In short, as the lambs were being killed for Passover, Christ suffered and died for us covering the real sins of mankind with his shed blood. Both in Mark and Matthew it makes clear that Jesus and his disciples were preparing for Passover. Jesus’ disciples came to him and asked where he wanted to eat the Passover. Both Mark and Matthew report that the question was addressed to Jesus on the first day of Unleavened Bread, “when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed.” (See Mark 14:12; Matt. 26:17). Much has been written regarding exactly when Jesus was sacrificed. Like many, I believe that the last supper was a Passover meal on Thursday evening (the beginning of the Jewish Friday). Jesus was condemned, crucified and died on that Friday before sunset (when it became the Sabbath during the Passover Season). In John 18:28, it says that Pilate went outside to meet the Jewish leaders so that they might not be defiled and might eat the Passover. I believe that this was the Sabbath meal (beginning on Friday evening and the Sabbath during the Passover period). (John 18:28).
The important thing, however, is not exactly when various people took meals during the Passover Season but the fact that Jesus was the Passover Lamb.
The Lord’s Supper
Most (but not all) theologians believe that Jesus celebrated the Passover Meal on the Thursday evening (beginning of Friday [Thursday after dark] when he was crucified). At that meal, he took the bread which was most likely unleavened and proclaimed it as his body and the wine he proclaimed as his blood. Earlier Jesus had said that if you were going to follow him you needed to eat his body and drink his blood (Jn. 6:56; Matt. 26:26; 1 Cor. 11:23-26). At the last supper, he told the disciples that the bread was his flesh and the wine was his blood. He also washed the feet of his disciples. It is of interest to me that the “bread” was “sinless” in that it was made without leaven. Jesus was the sinless Son of God. He was the Bread of Life (Jn. 6:35). He was the “perfect (unblemished) lamb.” Previously Jesus had also instructed his disciples that he was the “vine” and the fruit from that vine was his life. Like the grapes he was to be squeezed by tribulation and his blood would provide life and joy to the world. After the Last Supper Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane. “Gethsemane” means the place of the olive press or where there was crushing. It is also of interest to me that Jesus washed the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper. The washing of the feet is a sign of humbleness. The unleavened bread (Matzah) is a sign of humbleness. It does not have the leaven of pride in it. Jesus was humble. Paul pointed out in Philippians 2:6-8 we are to be humble like Christ who “did not think equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross.”
Summary
Jesus is the Passover Lamb. His blood was shed for our sins. God pictured the coming Messiah to Moses and the Israelites and instituted the Feasts of Passover and the Unleavened Bread to testify both to the Jews and to us that God brings us deliverance from slavery, sin and death through the shedding of innocent blood. That blood in ancient times was exemplified through the shedding of the blood of innocent lambs and goats. In these “last days” God has revealed to us that the true Passover Lamb is not a simple lamb or goat but is the true Lamb of God who is the only begotten Son of God. His blood which is flawless is sufficient to redeem us from sin and to liberate a holy people who are to be priests to God and who are to live holy lives free from evil and sin.
Next week, we will be looking at the Great Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) and what it means.
