Our
Lord Jesus: The Passover Lamb
The purpose
of this post is to help provide some additional context for Israel’s observance
of “The Passover”, as it has had an impact on what Christians are to believe
today.
As Christians
approach the season that many call “Easter”, those who study the Bible are
drawn to the Scriptural texts. Specifically, they are drawn to the New
Testament and the events leading up to and following the Crucifixion of our
Lord Jesus Christ. I’d like to view the
Lord Jesus’ suffering and crucifixion from a very different perspective. The
focus is His role as the “Lamb” of God.
In Bible
study, we are reminded of two important points: 1) “All scripture is given by
inspiration of God…” (2 Timothy 3: 16); and 2) “Whatsoever things were written
aforetime were written for our learning…” (Romans 15: 4). That is why we study
the Old Testament, as well as the New Testament. To appreciate the concept and role of the “lamb”
in this discussion, we first turn to the Old Testament. Those scriptural texts
were written to and for the Nation of Israel. We have previously been cautioned
to “rightly divide the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2: 15), but a key word in that
caution is “rightly”. Christians can still learn much from Israel’s scriptures.
My main point
is to show that it is not a coincidence that the Christian observance of
“Easter” is linked to the Jewish Feast of the Passover. The key to that link
is the role of the “Lamb”.
For some context,
I offer an opinion. That is, it was part
of God’s Plan for Israel and mankind to understand the depth of His love for
man in a way to which man could relate. (John 3: 16) God would take the physical form of a man, to
experience life as a man. (Galatians 4: 4-5) Later, after the era of man’s physical
experience with the Son of God had ended, the graphic nature of man’s earlier
experience with Him would be revealed and forever told to future generations. Further,
knowledge of that experience would serve as the basis for God’s testing the
faith of those generations.
But before
that would happen, God would want to use a surrogate / substitute from among
His other animal creations. He chose the lamb. The question was and still remains:
Could mankind learn any lessons from the surrogate?
Some Bible
scholars theorize that it was likely that the LORD God used “lambskins’ to
cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden after Adam’s sinful
fall. (Genesis 3: 1-21) Some also theorize it was likely that the offering made
by their son Abel was shown respect and accepted by the LORD because it was a
lamb, while the offering made by his brother Cain (a bloodless sacrifice) was rejected.
(Genesis 4: 1-7) The Bible does not confirm
either of those theories, but they might be true.
The first
documented use of a “lamb” as a sacrificial / burnt offering to God was
described when the LORD tested Abraham’s faith by instructing him to make his
“only” son Isaac a burnt offering. When Isaac asked his father Abraham: “where
is the lamb for burnt offering?”, Abraham responded: “God will provide
Himself a lamb for burnt offering”. And so the LORD did provide an alternate / substitute
burnt offering in the form of a ram (adult male sheep). Abraham had passed the
test of his faith in God, and Isaac’s life was spared. (Genesis 22: 1-18)
With that initial
entry into Israel’s Torah (part of our Old Testament), the “lamb” is not mentioned
again until many centuries later. That second use is key to this discussion.
As Moses was
preparing to lead the Nation of Israel out of their slavery in Egypt under Pharaoh,
the LORD instructed him to have the people initiate the ceremony that is now
called the “Feast of the Passover”. The major factor in the “Passover” was
for households to sacrifice an “unblemished” / spotless male lamb”. They
would then take the lamb’s blood and “strike it on the two side posts and on
the upper door post of their houses”, wherein they would eat the flesh of the
lamb that had been “roasted with fire”. The
blood of the lamb on the doorways would protect those inside the houses from
the judgment of the death of the first-born that the LORD would bring against rebellious Egypt. This
final plague would kill the first-born throughout Egypt, but would “pass
over” those houses that displayed “the blood” of the lamb. (Exodus Chapter
12). The outcome was dramatic and miraculous, and the blood of the lamb served
as God’s means to redeem Israel. There was not a single Hebrew death among
their first-born, but the Egyptians suffered painful losses as the LORD judged
them.
[Spoiler
Alert: The significance of the shedding of the blood of the lamb, and the
mutilation of its flesh become more apparent as we continue in the Scripture.]
The concept
of God’s using the blood and flesh / body of a sacrificial lamb was emphasized further
in the Old Testament. When Israel’s priests were charged to perform their religious
duties in the Tabernacle, twice a day they were required to kill a lamb of the
first year, and make it a burnt sin-offering on the altar. They were to perform
this act continually. (Exodus 29: 35-46) It was to serve as a constant reminder of their
sins and their need for atonement through the sacrificial death of an innocent
lamb. The blood had to be shed. (Hebrews 9: 22)
This same
concept was then applied to the entire Nation of Israel. As the LORD made the
covenant with them, He made them a “holy nation of priests”. (Exodus 19: 1-10) He
instructed them to make similar, “unblemished” / spotless, burnt sin-offerings to
atone for their sins / transgressions of His Law. The requirement for blood
sacrifice remained the same, but because of the variations in economic status
among the people, the animals to be sacrificed varied. Even so, the blood of
the sacrifice was sprinkled about upon the altar, and the flesh was
burned on the altar, making “a sweet savor unto the LORD.” (Leviticus
Chapter One)
This practice
continued over the next many centuries, even as Israel fell in, and mostly out
of harmony with God’s will. As part of God’s Plan for man’s salvation, He spoke
through the Prophet Isaiah to alert Israel to the coming of their Messiah.
He Himself would suffer “as a lamb to the slaughter” on behalf of the Nation,
and serve as their sin-offering to the LORD. He would shed His blood through tremendous pain
and physical mutilation and suffer death to atone for their sins and iniquities.
(Isaiah 52: 13-15; Chapter 53) This
prophecy was written approximately 700 B.C.
Aside from
the years when their temple had been destroyed by invading armies, the Nation
of Israel continued its religious practices of sacrificing lambs and other animals.
Individual families observed the Passover as they were able. At the time
of the Lord’s First Advent, the temple was operating. But the time of the
surrogate / substitute was coming to an end. Israel’s temple would be destroyed
by the Romans in 70 A.D.
“When the
fulness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under
the Law, To redeem them that were under the law, …” (Galatians 4: 4-5) The
announcement of the beginning of the Earthly Ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ
was made by John the Baptist, who told those being baptized: “Behold the
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” (John
1: 29) John repeated that declaration
the next day (John 1: 30-36), but there is no further record in the New
Testament Gospels of the association of Jesus with the term “Lamb”.
However, it
is well-documented that the Lord Jesus was well aware that the timing of His suffering
and death would be linked to the Nation of Israel’s observance of Passover in
Jerusalem. Each of the Four Gospels
speaks about that. (Matthew 26: 1-2; Mark 14: 12-16; Luke 22: 7-20; and John
13: 1)
It is of particular relevance to this
discussion that Christians recognize our relationship with the Lord Jesus in
the context of Judaism’s observance of the Passover. The Apostle Paul confirmed
that link when he was chastising his new Corinthian converts / believers for
their sinful behavior. He used an analogy related to the Feast of the Passover,
when he said:
“ 6 Your
glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole
lump? 7 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: 8 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.” (1
Corinthians 5: 6-8) (See also Exodus 12: 12-20)
As Christians today, we believe the
Gospel that indeed the Lord Jesus fulfilled the mission for which He was sent
to redeem us: He endured tremendous physical and mental suffering; He shed His
innocent blood to atone for the sins of mankind; He died the painful death of
crucifixion and was buried; and on the third day He was resurrected, having defeated
death so that we might have eternal life. (1 Corinthians 15: 1-4; Romans 10:
9-13) [The sacrificial animals called “lambs” in no way suffered as the Lord did.
Their deaths were quick and painless. But knowing what He accomplished, we can still
acknowledge that our Lord Jesus was our
”Passover Lamb”.
In concluding this Bible review of “The Passover
Lamb”, the Scripture removes any doubt that the “Lamb” noted above is our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. The Book of Revelation makes several inferences or specific
references to the Lamb that was slain, and His blood. (Revelation Chapters Five
and Seven; !2: 10-11) And most
importantly, the closing chapters identify the Lamb as He who sits along-side
God the Father, and He who will ultimately judge mankind. (Romans 2: 16) Eternal life will come to those whose names
appear in The Lamb’s Book of Life. (Revelation Chapters 19, 21 and 22)
Dr. W.A. (Bill) Robinson
