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"Jesus the Passover Lamb" Part 2 of 3 from the Spring 2017 Vision Newsletter
Continuing with God’s instructions for the Passover Feast, Exodus 12:5 states that the “lamb shall be without blemish.” The Passover lamb’s connection here to Jesus is more evident. While Jesus was fully man, He was also fully God and therefore, perfect. He was without sin and faithfully submitted to His Father’s will.
In verse 6, we’re told that the Lord then says to Moses and Aaron, “Now you shall keep [the lamb] until the fourteenth day of the same month.” The Israelites were instructed to keep their lamb in their house for four days, from the “tenth of this month” to the “fourteenth day of the same month.” Their sacrificial lamb wasn’t just something they picked up at the local farm when they were ready to slaughter it. They had to let the lamb stay with them for four days. Anyone who is a lover of animals may understand the implication of this. The family may have started to care for the lamb, seen it as something valuable and precious to their family, so when it was later sacrificed, it affected those who had to care for it in those four days. We also want Jesus’ sacrifice to affect us. He wasn’t just a stranger who decided to give His life for us; He is someone we know, who we love, and we can feel the loss of His death all the more for those reasons.
Exodus 12:7 describes that after the lamb is killed, some of its blood should be put on the two doorposts and the lintel of the house where it was eaten. God explains the importance of this in verses 12 and 13: “For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt; both man and beast…Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.” The Israelites who followed this instruction could rejoice in the fact that God spared their firstborns. God knew that this plague would urge the Pharoah to release the Israelites from slavery because of the fear of inciting more of God’s wrath. As God said of the houses that had the lamb’s blood on the doorposts, “I will pass over you,” slavery passed over the Israelites and they now had access to freedom. While slavery has been a reality for different groups of people over time, what has held all people captive since the time of Adam and Eve? Sin is the heaviest chain and we cannot lift it ourselves. And God knew this. So, He sent His only Son to earth to die for our sins, to release us from those chains. Because of Jesus’ blood on the cross, judgement for sin can pass over us and we can have access to a relationship with God again. Just as the lamb’s blood on the doorposts ultimately provided the Israelites their freedom, Jesus gives us freedom from the weight of our sins.