The Lamb

[NOTE:  This post published too early!  It's supposed to be Monday, but it published Sunday.  I don't know how to fix it!]

"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 members 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. That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs. Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the LORD’s Passover.  On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. 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 12:3-13

It's possible that you'll consider my Easter character today might be silly.  Today I want to talk about the Passover lamb.

There are several specific links from the Passover animal and Christ.

First, the sacrificial lamb (goats were acceptable too) was a male, one year old, and without blemish.  Importantly, when God looked for the ultimate, eternal sacrifice for our sins, there was only one without blemish:  his son, Jesus Christ.

Second, in Exodus is says that all the people are to participate in the killing of the lamb.  We are all responsible for the death of Jesus, for his sacrifice.  We are all part of the system that killed him.

Third, The lamb was to have no broken bones.  Christ's legs were not broken on the cross, although that was the custom of the time.

Fourth, the lamb was chosen carefully and set aside for the sacrifice.  The sacrifice was the lamb's life purpose.  So it was with Jesus.  The sacrifice of Jesus' life for our sins was always part of God's plan, and it is why Jesus came to earth.

Finally, the blood of the Passover lamb was shed to give righteousness to the people, to cleanse them from their sins and make them right before God.  Jesus' blood was shed to give righteousness to the people, to cleanse them from their sins and make them right before God.  But the difference here is that Jesus' blood conquered sin for all eternally; the blood of the lamb could never do that.

I love how God sets eternal plans in motion for generations.  Thousands of years before Christ, God set the stage for him by delivering his people, and using a sacrificial lamb.  That sacrifice has shown us the way to Christ.  In fact, the entire Passover meal is a foreshadowing of the life and death of Christ.

There are many more links between the lamb and the Lamb.  I invite you to study them for yourself!  It's amazing to me how everything God has done through the millennium has shown us the way to Christ.

From the lamb to the Lamb.  What a sacrifice God made for us.  What a love he has for us.