Four Aspects of Christ as Our Passover

The Lord institutes the Passover, with the passover lamb, in Exodus 12. In this 'beginning of months', that is the month of Abib (נִיסָן), a lamb is to be chosen to be sacrificed. Meticulous details go into this selection, and below are 4 key aspects of that lamb.

THE LAMB

1. The lamb chosen for sacrifice, needs to be without blemish. That is, it should not be hurt, it should not be sick, it must be spotless. 

Exodus 12:5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year.

2. The chosen lamb must be killed among the entire congregation of Israel, at twilight.

Exodus 12:6 Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.

3. Of course when a lamb is getting killed, there is going to be blood shed. The blood that is shed must be put on the door posts and lintels. This serves as the token, for the Lord to pass over that house. That house is thus safe from destruction.

Exodus 12:23 For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.

4. The bones of the lamb should not be broken

Exodus 12:46 In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, nor shall you break one of its bones.

Lord Jesus Christ

Centuries later, the Lord Jesus Christ comes into the world, and He is called as our Passover (I Corinthians 5: 7). How exactly? In parallel to the above-mentioned 4 points about the passover lamb, let us see how Christ is our Passover.

1. Christ is sinless, just like the spotless lamb, in Him there is no sin at all. In fact, He was made sin for us, so that we can be delivered from that sin.

I John 3:5 And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.

II Corinthians 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

2. A huge crowd gathered and said, nay, shouted, "Crucify Him". And then Christ was killed for the whole world to see, just like the lamb.

The Acts 3:14 But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.

3. Without blood shed, there is no remission of sins. It has always been that way. The blood of Christ redeems us, and provides us a way to evade the 'destruction', just like the blood of the lamb.

Ephesians 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace

4. After being crucified, Jesus Christ is hanging on the cross, while the soldiers are breaking the legs of the two thieves hanging beside Him, to ensure their death. Bu when they came to the Lord, the did not break His legs. His bones were not broken, just like the lamb.

John 19:33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.

Now it might be clearer to us, why Christ is our Passover. In fact, this Lamb is even present in the New Jerusalem City, as mentioned in Revelations. Let us thank our Lord Jesus Christ, for being the ultimate sacrifice, for being the spotless lamb, for being Our Passover.

Revelation 21:22 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.