Reading 1Corinthians 5:7, we find that “Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.” Is there a connection between the Passover and Jesus Christ? We can answer this question by understand what the Passover is about. We find the Passover instituted in Exodus 12. The Nation of Israel was enslaved in Egypt, and events were building quickly to the horrifying devastation that would finally force Pharaoh to free the Israelites from slavery. God commanded of Moses and Aaron to let all the Israelites set aside a lamb for each household in the Nation. Before nightfall, the Israelites were to kill the lambs and put the blood over each door post. The lambs were to be eaten by the Israelites. (Exodus 12: 1-10) A profoundly significant event was to take place outside the home while they were inside eating their Passover meal. The Lord our God spake: for I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and will strike all the first born in the land of Egypt, man and beast alike. I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt. The lamb’s blood over your door post will be a sign that the plague will pass over you. (Exodus 12: 12, 13) There are vital lessons for all of humanity in these events. God called the sacrificial lamb “the Lord’s Passover” and the “Passover sacrifice of the Lord.” (Exodus 12: 11, 27) It’s name came from God’s promise, “When I see the blood, I will Passover you; and the plague shall not be on you.” (Exodus 12: 13) Some 1,500 years later, the Apostle Paul used this same term to describe Jesus Christ. In the setting of the original Passover, the sacrifice of the lamb signified that those partaking of that sacrifice would be spared from death. The sacrifice was a requirement for the Passover. Paul and the other New Testament writers understood that the Passover lamb slain at the time of the exodus foreshadowed the later sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Paul wrote, “Walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma.” (Ephesians 5: 2) The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus Christ “has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” and “offered one sacrifice of sins forever”. (Hebrews 9:26; 10:12) Like the ancient Israelites and Egyptians, all people have the death penalty hanging over our heads. We have earned it because of our sins (Romans 6:23) but, just as the sacrifice of Passover lamb at the time of exodus spared the obedient Israelites, Jesus Christ’s sacrifice has removed that death penalty from us (Romans 5:9: Ephesians 1:7: Colossians 1:4). John the Baptist, when Christ came to him to be baptized, exclaimed: “Behold! The lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Thanks to Jesus Christ “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8), we have had the death penalty Passover us. The Passover lamb also foreshadowed Christ in other ways. It was to be “without Blemish” (Exodus 12:5). This was symbolic of the spiritual purity of Jesus Christ, “who committed no sin”. These and many other scriptures help us understand the wonderful truth that, as the Lamb of God, “Christ our Passover, was sacrificed for us”.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Apr 2014 00:36:09 +0000
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