The Passover

2022-02-26

The sacrifice of Jesus Christ is the true Passover. The Passover in the Old Testament prefigures our Lord. We are explicitly told this in the New Testament:

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. (1 Corinthians 5:7-8)

Here is how the Lord fulfills this ancient feast:

  1. A lamb (Exodus 12:3). Jesus is “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
  2. Without blemish (Exodus 12:5). Jesus was “without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).
  3. It shall be killed in the evening (Exodus 12:6). He died when “there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour” (Mark 15:33) and was buried that evening (Mark 15:42-47).
  4. It shall be roasted with fire (Exodus 12:9-10). Jesus descended into hell (Acts 2:27; Ephesians 4:9; 1 Peter 3:19).
  5. It must be eaten in haste (Exodus 12:11). One must accept Christ in haste because judgment in coming (Hebrews 3:13). We know neither when Jesus is coming nor the hour of our death.
  6. God spares those who have applied the lamb’s blood to their doorposts (Exodus 12:13, 23). Jesus said His blood was “the blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28).
  7. Leaven is not to be eaten with the Passover and subsequent feast (Exodus 12:15). Dispensing with the old lifestyle goes with trusting Christ as our Passover, as we previously saw in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8.
  8. A bone of the Passover shall not be broken (Exodus 12:46). John 19:36 quotes Exodus 12:46, applying it to Jesus, because the thieves’ legs were broken to expedite their dying. But Jesus was already dead. His legs were not broken.
  9. The same night judgment comes, those who have the lamb’s blood will flee (Exodus 12:30-31). Luke 17:30 shows us that the same day the Lord comes, judgment will come on the world. (This is a simplified discussion.)

The bottom line is that the world needs Jesus, the Lamb of God, and they need Him immediately. The Egyptians only had their firstborn children and animals destroyed. The entire world will be destroyed one day. Are you ready for the Lord’s return?