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JESUS, THE PASCHAL LAMB
John testified that Jesus was the Lamb of God. The next day John saw Jesus
coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of
the world!" John 1:29
It was a typological forecast of the death of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, which was presented in Exodus 12. The Paschal lamb was to be slain on
the Passover day. The instructions to celebrate the Passover festival were given
in strict elegance, style and accuracy in Exodus Chapter 12. The Lord also told
them that if they did not slay the Paschal lamb and apply its blood over the
doorposts of their houses, it would be disastrous for them, because if the
destroyer-angel, who passes that house sees no blood mark on the side posts and
the lintels of any house, he would kill the first born in that family; the first
born of not only of that family, but also cattle of that house.
“The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see
the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I
strike Egypt” Exodus 12:13
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, “This month is to be for you the
first month, the first month of your year. Tell the whole community of Israel
that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family,
one for each household. If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they
must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number
of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in
accordance with what each person will eat. The animals you choose must be
year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the
goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the
people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are
to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of
the houses where they eat the lambs” Exodus 12:1-7
According to the Lord’s commandment, the lamb must be without blemish
prepared for the Passover. It should be slain on the fourteenth day and roasted
over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. Each
family must to kill one lamb for the members of its family; nevertheless if the
family is small and the meat is more than the family could eat, the meat should
be shared by neighbor’s family. The love of Christ is revealed here. Neighbor’s
family joining the meal signifies the love that Jesus wants you and me to share.
On the tenth day of the festival, Jesus entered Jerusalem for the celebration of
Passover. It was the preparation of the Passover eating on the night before His
crucifixion. Even while it was time for His glorification, He was demonstrating
that He was born poor. When He sailed on the water, he did it in a borrowed
boat. When He ate the Passover, He did it in the borrowed chamber. When He was
dead, He was buried in a borrowed Sepulcher. Now, on the day He was to be
glorified He rode a borrowed ass’s colt. It is worthy to note here that Christ,
in riding the ass’s colt, gave us a shadow of his power over the spirit of man,
who is born as the wild ass’s colt.
“But a witless man can no more become wise than a wild donkey's colt
can be born a man” Job 11:12.
When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on
it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches
they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
"Hosanna!” "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!"
"Hosanna in the highest!" Mark 11:7-10 The King of kings was glorified on
the specified day, which is on the tenth day of the Passover festival. The
people shouted, “Hosanna!”
Jesus, being the Jew, ate the Passover exactly on the night before His
crucifixion. It was just as Jews did according to the instructions God gave
Moses and Aaron. Jesus did not fail even in keeping up the Jewish tradition.
It was on tenth day that Jesus, the Lamb of God, was glorified. The night before
He was crucified, Jesus ate the Passover just as Jews ate it on the night before
the Passover lamb was slain. “Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because
it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate
this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. In the first month
you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day
until the evening of the twenty-first day. For seven days no yeast is to be
found in your houses. And whoever eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off
from the community of Israel, whether he is an alien or native-born. Eat nothing
made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread." Exodus 12:
17-20
“Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast--as you
really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” 1 Corinthians
5:7
“Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice
and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth”
1Corinthians 5:8
Yes! Jesus Christ was beaten up on the cross of Calvary and was crucified
exactly on the fourteenth day of the Pass over festival. The roasting of the
Paschal lamb on the fourteenth day denotes the exquisite sufferings of the Lord
Jesus, even unto death, the death of the cross. His body as the unleavened bread
and blood as the wine is available for us as emblems representing His crucified
Christ, who commanded us to do eat and drink His blood until He comes for the
second time. In doing so we would proclaim His death. “For you know that
it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed
from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19but with
the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” 1 Peter 18:19
Christ suffered in the end of the world (Heb. 9:26), by the hand of the Jews,
the whole multitude of them (Luke. 23:18), and for the good of all his spiritual
Israel. (7.) Not a bone of it must be broken (v. 46), which is expressly said to
be fulfilled in Christ (John. 19:33, 36), denoting the unbroken strength of the
Lord Jesus. “By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that
the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel” Hebrews
11:28 There should be no confusion as to whether Jesus kept the law
or not. Jesus came in to this world to keep the law and he kept it. Exodus
12:6-8 And 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.
And 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. And they shall eat the
flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter
herbs they shall eat it.
Leviticus 23:5-8 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the
LORD'S Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of
unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. In the
first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work
therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days:
in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
When was Jesus crucified? After the Passover meal? or before the Passover
meal?
1. Matthew 26:5 But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar
among the people.
2. Luke 22:15 "And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this
Passover with you before I suffer" to my friend, but then he said, it was his
just "DESIRE" THAT WHICH WAS NOT FULFILLED.
According to Scriptures evening to evening is one day as we read in Genesis
1:5 "And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the
evening and the morning were the first day." It was on the 14th of Nisan
that Jesus ate the Passover and not on the 15th day of Nisan inasmuch as the
lamb was to be killed on the evening of 14th of Nisan, the blood was to be taken
and stricken on the same night, on the door posts, flesh roasted and eaten in
haste, because God killed the first born of Egypt on the same night to force
Pharaoh release the Israelites in bondage. Similarly, Jesus, the Messiah was
killed on the same night, which is the 14th of Nisan in order to give rest to
all the lambs that surrendered their value to Him and cast the shadow on the
true Lamb of God, Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord's Supper is the New
Testament. 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 "For I have received of the Lord that which
also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was
betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take,
eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup
is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in
remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do
shew the Lord's death till he come." Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled the law
of Moses in eating the Passover meal with his disciples and He is the Passover
Lamb that was taken by the Jews on 14th of Nisan and was condemned to death on
the same night. 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 Purge out therefore the old leaven,
that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is
sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither
with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of
sincerity and truth. In eating the Lord's Supper, we do eat the true
Passover. Wednesday evening to Thursday morning is the5th day of the week.
Thursday evening to Friday morning is the 6th day of the week. Friday
evening to Saturday morning is the7th day of the week. Saturday evening to
Sunday morning is the 1st day of the week. Lord Jesus Christ is the
Messiah, the true lamb of God. He was buried before Thursday evening (15th of
Nisan which was the 6th day of the week) and accomplished three days and three
nights in the grave.
The Ten Commandments as in OLD TESTAMENT:
Exodus 20:1-17 And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God,
which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any
graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is
in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not
bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous
God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and
fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them
that love me, and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD
thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name
in vain. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour,
and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in
it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy
manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within
thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that
in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath
day, and hallowed it. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be
long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou
shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false
witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou
shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant,
nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. Lord Jesus
Christ asked us to follow the following two commandments.
Mark 12:30-31 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the
first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
Indeed, these two commandments from Lord Jesus Christ embed in themselves the
essence of all the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament. In addition, we also
see in the Old Testament there was a mediator between men and God, the high
priest, who alone is authorized to go in to the most holy place, Ezekiel 44:13
"And they shall not come near unto me, to do the office of a priest unto me, nor
to come near to any of my holy things, in the most holy place: but they shall
bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed." But now, in
the New Testament period we are under the "Grace" and we can go to God, the
Father straight through the Son, Jesus Christ, who alone is the mediator and our
High Priest. Hebrews 5:1 For every high priest taken from among men
is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts
and sacrifices for sins:
Hebrews 5:9-10 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation
unto all them that obey him; Called of God an high priest after the order of
Melchisedec.
Jesus kept the Passover and was slain as Paschal lamb His blood is available
for cleansing us from all our sins. It is because His blood cleansed our sins
the destroyer-angel would have nothing do with us. He has passed over us, and so
we do not have to fear. Our sins are washed in the blood, that was not only
applied to the side posts and the lintels of our body but it has cleansed us
totally. We are safe in the hands of our Almighty Jesus Christ.
Thanks to God in the name of His one only Son Jesus Christ.
God bless you.
Leslie M. John
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