Exodus 12:3-6
Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.
This week, as we look forward to celebrating Easter, we will be heeding the words of John the Baptist when he saw Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Our Lord Jesus fulfils many Old Testament types and shadows, and notable of this is the lamb one. As we will notice throughout the week, everything that happened to Him leading and up to His crucifixion had significance in as far as the Old Testament sacrificial system was concerned. Today, we begin by beholding Him as the sacrificial lamb.
Every year, the Israelites were commanded to commemorate the Passover so as to be reminded of the great deliverance from Egypt. Part of what they were supposed to do was to slaughter a lamb. This followed that original lamb whose blood they marked on their door posts. Now, when you look at the suffering and eventual killing of Jesus, it happened on the passover week. Matthew 26:1-2 records these words of Jesus for us, _”When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.””_ Jesus dying during passover was not a coincidence but a fulfilment of Scripture. Paul, in fact, refers to Him as our passover lamb:
…For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. (1 Corinthians 5:7)
The author of Hebrews further exalts Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice in chapter 10. Not only is He the ultimate sacrifice but the better one since after He offered Himself, there is no need for any other sacrifice to be made. In view of this, He exhorts us then:
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:19-22).
Reflections
1. How does this passion week work out your affections for Christ?
