Comparing Christ & The Passover Lamb

Christ’s significant and perfect fulfillment of the passover lamb

Passover is one of my favourite parts of the Easter Celebration. As we look back at the works of God in Exodus 7-14 we are able to see how God was using the Israelites escape from Egyptian slavery as a physical analogy of a spiritual truth. Not only does it show us our own slavery to sin, need for a redeemer and God’s victory over sin, it also validates that Jesus’s death on the cross was what was required for anyone to have eternal life. Could Jesus have atoned for our sin any other way than being slaughtered? Scripture is clear that He could not.

Passover - Why a lamb?

In Exodus 7-12, plague after plague is being poured out from Heaven onto the Egyptians. Ironically, each one of the plagues directly undercut one of the gods worshipped by the  Egyptians. God was making clear that there is only One Triune God over all things. The choice to worship anything or any one other than Yahweh for only Yahweh was all-powerful. Interestingly, the passover lamb was no different.

The Egyptian god Amun was the protector of the Royal Family, the “king of the gods,” and specifically ruled over “fertility, Creation & the Cosmos.” Essentially, Amun was the equivalent of Yaweh within the Egyptian religious establishment. Amun was depicted as a man with red or blue skin and the head of a sheep. The slaughtering of lambs was a direct assault against the Egyptian’s claim that Amun was god over all. In this incredible moment God was not only undercutting the manmade gods of the Egyptians but was setting up the future pinnicale moment when the only True God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords would redeem Creation and flood the Cosmos with Grace, Truth & Everlasting Life. Christ’s death as our passover lamb meant that the true Creator would protect the chosen children of the King through His own blood. 

Requirements for the passover lamb

Gender

The instructions for the passover lamb were extremely detailed. In general, lambs killed for sin offerings were female (Lev 4:32). However, the passover lamb was specifically required to be a male (Ex 12:5).

Condition

The lamb chosen for passover was to be without blemish (Ex 12:5) and was to be selected on the 10th day of the month (or 5 days before the feast of passover). It was to be then brought into their home, well loved and bonded with by the family members (Ex 12:3 and various manners and customs sources). According to biblical customs manuals, the practice of the day was to use oil to rub down the heads, legs and hooves of the sheep while they were grazing. This prevented various illnesses, cuts, and head injuries due to butting between animals. These same Jewish scholars claim that upon selection of the passover lamb the shepherd would first rub the lambs feet and legs with oil to more easily identify if any blemishes were present prior to bringing them in from the fields. In addition, the oil ensured that blades of grass and various other organic material glanced off of them and did not cut them as they were brought in.

Sacrificial Process

All Israelites were to bring their chosen lambs to the temple on the day of passover to be slaughtered. The entire congregation was then to watch this 3pm blood bath occur. It was crucial that none of the bones of the lamb were broken during this process (Numbers 9:12). In short, the lamb’s blood had to flow to produce death and the requirement that all bones must remain in tact prevented the breaking of the lambs neck or death in any other way. The timing of the death should not go unnoticed. It allowed time for the body to be prepared with herbs and spices before the feast that evening. The Israelites were then to dip hyssop branches in the blood of the lamb and cover their doorposts and the wooden lintel with it (Ex 12:22). As the life blood of the lambs drained from their bodies it was directed into the Brook Kidron where it mixed with water. The full extent of the feast was to finish on the night that the lamb was killed and none of the sacriice was to remain until morning (Ex 12:10)

Atonement

The people of Israel were not passed over primarily because they were a special people nor did they receive grace simply because they were present to see the sacrifical lamb killed (and maybe even get some blood on them). Their “saving” came from the covering of the people with the lamb’s blood. The lamb had paid the price for their sins and the lamb’s blood covering the entrance of their home represented a complete covering of all those inside with the currency required for payment. Had an Israelite slaughtered the lamb and then spent the night in the home of an Egyptian without blood on the lintel he would have experienced the same fate as the unbelieving Egyptians. Simply participating, or being present to have mental knowledge of the sacrifice was not enough. The full covering of the people with the blood was the requirement. 

The Lamb Of God Who Takes Away the Sins of the World

The God Man

John’s declaration in John 1:29 could not be more perfectly accurate. It is in this book that we see how critical the execution of the Lamb of God was. It is within these chapters that John so beautifully weaves together the truth that Jesus was not simply a divine being but had to be God in the flesh. The God Man. Had any other divine being died it would not have been the Creator, Ruler of the Cosmos and King above all Kings as represented by the lamb.

Condition

Our perfect Lord arrived without blemish. No one else was capable of offering atonement for no one else was perfect and without defect. Every other human being had fallen short of the glory of God and required saving. It was only because of Christ’s perfect life that He alone qualified to be the sacrifical lamb 

Selection

Jesus arrived at Jerusalem 5 days before passover and is brought in on the back of a donkey. His triumphal entry would have taken place on the same day that the passover lambs were being selected and brought in from the fields. In the days after his arrival He is taken into the homes of his close friends and the time spent feasting and teaching only increased their love and bonds for one another (John 12). Interestingly, it is within these 5 days that Jesus receives the anointing of his feet with oil by Mary in John 12. 

Sacrificial Process

While some aspects of the death of Christ clearly deviate from the process of killing and eating a lamb, the ideas remained much the same. First, He was not killed in private but before the whole (or at least a majority of) congregation of the Jewish leaders. Second, He was crucified on a wooden cross on which his blood poured down just as it covered the wooden lintels. Prior to His death he is offered a mixture of bitter herbs/vinegar as a pain killer which is lifted to him on a hyssop branch. Then, at the perfect time of 3pm,  Jesus cries out with a loud voice and “yielded up his spirit.” While most crucified individuals were left to bleed out the process could be sped up by breaking the legs of the victims. This prevented the ability to push up with their feet to gasp for air and forced death by asphyxiation. In order to ensure that Jesus’ death didn't drag on until the sabbath, the soldiers were sent to break his legs. However, upon finding him already dead, his legs remained unbroken. Due to the massive amount of trauma of flauging it is likely that a build-up of fluid had formed around His heart and lungs. It is due to this that the soldier’s piercing of His side produced blood mingled with water. He was then removed from the cross to avoid being left until morning and his body was prepared with spices by Joseph and Nicodemus. 

When we look at this crushing of Christ we have no other choice but to fall at His feet and declare that He alone can redeem. He alone is God over all. He alone perfectly fulfilled the role that we were hopelessly unable to fulfill. We cannot believe that we can have a relationship with God through any other means or religious pursuits other than through the shed blood of Christ. 

But He [our perfect Passover Lamb]* was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

As a result of this we, “have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this surpassingly great power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on all sides, but not crushed [Like He was]; perplexed, but not in despair [As when he cried…]; persecuted, but not forsaken [My God, My God, Why have YOU forsaken me?]; struck down, but not destroyed [Then He yielded up His spirit]. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. II Corinthians 4:7-10

Because of what He endured on our behalf we never have to go that far. Let us marvel in amazement at 

The Lamb of God Who Takes Away the Sins of the World!

*words in brackets/italicized are added by the author of this article for affect