Jesus Our Passover Lamb Series

Moses 8 JESUS - OUR PASSOVER LAMB

Exodus 12:1-13:16 12:43-13:16

1 Corinthians 13:16

C. The Promised Protection

b. Described

The first sacrifice God gave Israel was the Passover Lamb, by whose blood they were spared and by whose meat they were strengthened for the journey ahead. When Jesus Christ began His ministry, John the Baptizer, sent to announce Him as Isaiah's Servant messiah (Isa. 40:1; Mt. 3:3) he said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” (Jn. 1:29). This meant Jesus was the suffering Lamb pictured in chapter 53 who was "Led to the slaughter" (53:7)..

This sacrificial death of Jesus, the God Man, who paid our sin debt on Calvary was not only prophesied (Isa. 53; Ps. 22; Zech. 1l:12, etc), it was pictured in the Jewish sacrificial system. The oldest and simplest was the “burnt offerings” offered by men like Abel (Gen. 4:4) and Jacob (Gen. 31:54).

But it was God who offered the first sacrifice when at the Garden of Eden, He killed and spilled an animal’s blood, to use its hide to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:21). This is the first sacrificial picture of our salvation in Christ.

Jesus the Lamb God offers for us. The saved, in heaven, says John the Apostle are clothed in “white robes” (Rev. 7:13. Why? Because, he says, “These are they who. . . have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’ (Rev. 7:14).

All sacrificed animals in the OT are pictures of Jesus Christ. And this is true of the PASSOVER LAMB, the national sacrifice of the Jewish people, practiced annually until this day. Paul ties this in to the Christian church. He says, Get rid of the old yeast. . . For Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival. . .with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth “ (I Cor. 5:7, 8).

So let us go back to this dark, bright night - dark for the loss and bright for the saved and look at Jesus the Passover Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

I. THE LAMB REQUIRED

First, the Lamb was needed, and its blood placed upon the door if one was to escape the awful judgement of God. The need was UNIVERSAL. Both Egyptian and Hebrew would not be spared without the blood. Why?

1. God’s Rejection (Jn. 3: Rom. 7:18).

To all of Adam’s race, red - yellow - black - white, God says the firstborn must die because our first birth will not do. Jesus told Nicodemas, the religious leader - “You must be born again” (Jn. 3 ). Paul said in his flesh (unredeemed human nature) lived no good thing (Rom. 7:18).

2. God’s Retribution (Ex. 7:4).

Our sins not covered by the blood of Christ, will be punished by God. When Hebrew babies were fed to the river and Hebrew sons, husbands and fathers were beaten to death in the fields, many a Hebrew wife and mother cried “Where is God?”

God, my friends, then as now was keeping records. God says of all the plagues, “I will lay my hand on Egypt. . . with mighty acts of judgment” (Ex. 7:4). The Bible says, “. . .man is destined to die once, and after that to face the judgment” (Heb. 9:27).

To be spared from this we a sacrifice God has give us. As the song says, “O my loving brother/ when the world is on fire/ You’ll need my Jesus to be your Savior.” God will punish our sins, either in us or in the substitute He has provided.

II. THE LAMB CHOSEN

Each Hebrew family, probably by the father, tselected a lamb. It was chosen before it died. Jesus was chosen by the Father before creation, before there was a world to save. Rev. 13:8 calls Him “the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.” It was chosen on the tenth day of the month. Ten is the number of completion (ten fingers, toes, commandments).

God, like Israel made preparations. Gal 4:4-5 says, “ . . .when the time had fully come, god sent his Son . . . to redeem. . .”

The universal Greek language, to preach the Gospel with and the Roman peace and roads to carry and protect God’s missionaries were in place. Jewish synagogues, all over the world to furnish preaching stations for the heralds of Jesus were in place.

The time was RIGHT. All of human history was doing the bidding of God, preparing the way for His Son. Ladies and gentlemen, when Egypt was running wild, it didn’t seem like God was in control, but He was. He always is!