CHRIST OUR PASSOVER LAMB [ I ]
Living Bread Nugget 1115 [Exodus 12:1-14; 1 Corinthians 5:7-8]
Origin of the Passover
The Passover was instituted by God himself as a final solution to the deliverance of the children of Israel from their taskmasters, who had kept them in a prison without walls for nearly 400 years. The Webster’s dictionary defines it as the Jewish spring festival commemorating the liberation of the children of Israel from slavery. It was held from the 7th day to the 21st day of the month Abib, the first month in the Jewish calendar [i.e. March – April in the Gregorian calendar, today’s universal calendar]. God himself pronounced it as the beginning of months for the liberation of Israel from slavery. It was their own freedom festival. They had to be delivered before they would have privilege of granting freedom to others. The Passover involved animal sacrifice, each family or a family group was to use a Lamb without blemish. It became an annual memorial after the events of Ex 12. In the plan of God for salvation, the Passover is a typology of the sacrifice of Christ for our sins and deliverance from the enemy of our souls, the devil.
Exodus 12:1-2
1And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying,
2This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
A lamb was the animal of choice for sacrifice. Their blood was valuable in cleansing the sins of the people, because without the shedding of blood there can be no remissions for sins [Heb 9:22]. Why the choice of a young lamb? Why not a mature sheep or goat, which to the human sense seems to be the right thing to do? Young lambs are at peace even if they are on their way to the butcher’s table. A lamb sheep or goat at infancy, only a year old would bleat, but their bleating is that of submission. They are totally at the mercy of the owner. The sprinkling of the blood of a clean animal was sufficient in purifying the flesh of sins in the Old Testament. [Heb 9:13].
Instructions from God on the Passover
Read the account for yourself in Exodus 12:3-14
3Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: 4And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. 5Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: 6And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel
shall kill it in the evening. 7And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. 8And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. 10And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. 11And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’s passover. 12For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. 13And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. 14And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
Some points as it relates to this scriptural passage are:
1. Every soul was to be accounted for in the sacrifice. A lamb for a family or part thereof if the family is too small to consume the lamb in one night [v3-4]
2. The lamb was to be without blemish, a sheep or a goat not over a year old [v5].
3. All families were to kill their lambs at an appointed day and in the evening and the blood was used as an Identity by marking doorposts [v6-7].
4. The flesh should be eaten roasted not raw with bitter herbs, and waste should be burned with fire [v7-10].
5. They were to eat it in haste and ready to leave Egypt in a hurry.
6. God himself was going to do the separation of the living from the dead by way of the Passover, the blood of the Lamb being the token or cover from the divinely sanctioned death [v11b-v12].
7. The Passover is a memorial, an ordinance forever [v14]
So we see that the Passover was a very important biblical covenant [Ex 12 v 1- 14 a] of the deliverance from Egypt. God himself made this plan for their redemption, not Moses — it is the LORD’s Passover V11b. In our next nugget we see how this covenant relates to the eternal covenant we now have, a perfect covenant secured by the blood of Jesus compared to this Passover in Ex 12 secured by animal sacrifice.
Prayer of Faith
Lord thank you for freedom and liberty from the slave market of sin. Thank you for liberating my soul from bondage. Let the precious blood of the Lamb cleanse me and make me every wit whole. I make my heart an altar of sacrifice to you in Jesus Name. Amen.