Good Friday 2023 - The Passover Lamb

In John 1, John the Baptist is confronted by priest and Levites from Jerusalem who are sent to ask him if he is the Christ - the Messiah.

John the Baptist states that he is not the Christ and hints that he was sent to prepare the way for the Messiah.

John 1:29 (ESV)

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

The Lamb of God.

An interesting moniker. Why not ‘Behold, the Messiah!’ Surely, that would have made it much more clear to everyone who Jesus was. Why did John describe Jesus as “the Lamb of God?” and how does does that title mean that Jesus would take away the sins of the world?

That story begins about 1500 years before in Egypt and is recounted in the Book of Exodus.

Israelites in slavery for over 400 years

God, through Moses, intends to free the Israelites ; however, Pharaoh is not willing to allow his slaves to leave.

God then demonstrates signs and wonders in the form of nine plagues that wreak havoc on the land, livestock, and people of Egypt, devastating the nation and showing powerless their gods.

With a hard heart Pharaoh still refuses to free the people, so God announces a final judgment that will ultimately crush Pharaoh’s will and release the Israelites from his grip.

This final judgment was the death of the firstborn.

In order to be spared from this judgment, God provided a way for the Israelites so that the Angel of Death might ‘pass over’ their houses.

It is here that we will focus in. What was God’s provision to escape the judgment and find freedom?

It’s found in the Passover Lamb.

So how doe this relate to Jesus?

As John the Baptist was a prophet, he understood that as the passover lamb was God’s provision to escape the judgment and find freedom for the people of Israel, so now, Jesus has come as the ultimate Passover Lamb (in fact, he IS the Passover Lamb that every other passover lamb had been pointing toward).

The lamb was to be selected on the 10th day of the month of Nisan

Exodus 12:3 (ESV)

(Timeline)?

John 12:12–13 (ESV)

12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”

2. The lamb was to be a year old

- an adult lamb

- in it’s prime

Jesus was in the prime of his life.

- he began his ministry at around age thirty - the age when one was legally allowed to serve as a priest - though not an official priest at the time, Jesus is our hight priest.

3. The lamb was to be without blemish

Exodus 12:5

Jesus was a sinless sacrifice for us

1 Peter 1:18–19 (ESV)

18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

The sacrifice was to be without blemish the one who needed the sacrifice

4. The lamb was to be male

It was through the men that a covenant was established.

Jesus served as the representative for his new family.

Romans 5:18 (ESV)

18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

5. The lamb was to be sacrificed in Jerusalem

Deuteronomy 16:2 (ESV)

2 And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to the Lord your God, from the flock or the herd, at the place that the Lord will choose, to make his name dwell there.

Deuteronomy 16:5–6 (ESV)

5 You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, 6 but at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell in it, there you shall offer the Passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, at the time you came out of Egypt.

Jesus went to Jerusalem to become the Passover Lamb

“The reason Jesus came to Jerusalem this last time was not just to celebrate Passover; it was that he might become our Passover.”

Jerusalem is built on Mt. Moriah - the same mountain where Abraham offered Isaac hundreds of years before.

Now again, another Father is offering his Son as a sacrifice.

And, just like in the story of Abraham, God is providing a lamb - Here it is one and the same - His Son IS the Lamb.

6. None of the Passover Lamb’s bones were to be broken.

John 19:31–33 (ESV)

31 Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.

Psalm 34:20 (ESV)

20 He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.

crurigragium - used to break legs

7. The people were saved by the blood of the lamb.

Blood over the doorposts

Ephesians 1:7 (ESV)

7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

1 Peter 1:18–19 (ESV)

18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

Sunday (10th Nisan)

Jesus enters Jerusalem

Monday - Wednesday

While many Jews were cleaning their homes of chametz (leaven), Jesus was cleaning His Father’s house of the moneychangers

Throughout the rest of the week Jesus is examined by the religious leaders to see if there is any sin in him.

Wednesday PM

Jesus shares his Passover meal with dsiciples

early

no lamb

Lamb was coming

Thursday (14th Nisan)

Exodus 12:6 (ESV)

6 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.

Twilight was generally between 3-6pm

At exactly the same time that thousands of Passover lambs were being sacrificed in the Temple, the final Passover lamb died on a hill outside the city.

None of it was to remain until the next day

Typically, those crucified would hang there for days, but in this instance, the next day was a Sabbath, so Jesus did not remain until the next day.

Friday

1st Day of Unleavened Bread - A Sabbath

Saturday

A regular Sabbath

Sunday

1st Day of Feast of Firstfruits

1 Corinthians 15:20 (ESV)

20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

1 Corinthians 5:7 (ESV)

7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

The death by crucifixion of a man named Jesus of Nazareth at the time of Passover is one of the most attested to facts of history.

The fact that he serves as the final Passover Lamb is one of the most clearly fulfilled claims of prophecy.

The only question that remains is if he is a part of YOUR story.

John 1:29 (ESV)

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

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when Christ appeared . . . he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood. . . For if the blood of goats and bulls. . . sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ . . . purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

They nailed His body to the cross

There was a debt, He paid it off

We had a price, He paid the cost

The Father won, Satan lost

But, while He was on that cross we can't skip

From His hands and His feet something started to drip

Healing, power, forgiveness, ours!

Cleansing, peace, we've got the Victory!

Deliverance, mercy, life, freedom

We won, all those things the moment He started bleeding

He told the Father it's finished, then stopped breathing

Jesus Christ, He saved my life

By blood I'm bought, He paid the price

And we can all see paradise

All because He sacrificed

What can wash away my sin?

What can make me whole again?

What can make me white as snow?

No other fount I know

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

John 1:29 (ESV)

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!