The Passover Lamb

What does it mean that Jesus is the “Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world? Jesus fulfills all the requirements of the sacrificial Lamb. The practice of Passover prepares the way for the Greatest Exodus - freedom for humanity from the slavery of sin and death.

Foreshadow

(That looks like 2 shadowing to me)

The Story has to come back in at the end.

Great authors do this. The drop all kinds of hints, foreshadowing throughout the book, and it all comes together in the end. They do that by writing the story backwards. Write your ending, then go back through and drop exactly as much foreshadowing as you want, as hidden or obvious as you want it.

I often do this in a sermon.

It isn’t an accident when I open with a story or observation or question. I know what’s coming, I know where the sermon is going, I know where it’s landing. And so the Intro is written backwards, to introduce the ideas, to raise the questions, to set the stage for what is to come.

This is how God works. But He writes His Story on History. We are living out the story, His Word speaks Creation into existence.

So when God tells a story to set the stage, he writes it in History.

Exodus

God promised the land to Abraham and led him there, but three generations later the growing family of God is back out of the land. Off to Egypt. For 400 years! And more than 80 of those in slavery and bondage - a Pharaoh who didn’t remember Joseph. God called Moses out of the wilderness and sent him to Pharaoh to “let my people go.” and Pharoah refused.

10 plagues God sent. To convince Pharoah, and to speak judgment over the gods of Egypt, the spiritual powers, and the sin of the people in idolatry.

And the last one for all. A word of judgment over the oppressor, the final freedom for the family, the house of Israel. Hear and listen as if you have to do this tonight… or your firstborn child will die in the night.

Exodus 12:1–13 ESV

1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 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. 4 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. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 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. 7 “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10 And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

Hear that? Judgment on the firstborn. Judgment on man and beast. Judgment on all the gods of Egypt.

Exodus 12:21 ESV

21 Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb.

Note, all throughout Scripture, the Passover lamb is spoken of in the singular.

Exodus 12:46 ESV

46 It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones.

And after the first one in Egypt, this couldn’t be celebrated just anywhere. It would be Deut 16:2

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.

First, in Shechem where the Tabernacle was, then in Jerusalem where the Temple was. Nowhere else. If you don’t make it to Jerusalem and have your lamb sacrificed in the temple, no Passover for you. And that’s a problem, because Passover is NOT OPTIONAL:

Numbers 9:13 ESV

13 But if anyone who is clean and is not on a journey fails to keep the Passover, that person shall be cut off from his people because he did not bring the Lord’s offering at its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin.

Note the connection to “bearing his sin.” Connecting Passover to the bearing of sins. There was a “makeup Passover” for those who were ritually unclean during the feast. (this year, it’s May 12th).

The Passover Lamb, a 1-year old, unblemished male lamb with unbroken bones, selected on the 10th of Nisan, killed on the 14th of Nisan, in Jerusalem, and the Judgment of YHWH passes over by the Blood of the Lamb.

The people are free from slavery, sin and death.

Celebrating Passover for 1300 Years

For the 1300 years since Moses, the people kept this festival… with some interruptions.

They don’t celebrate until God leads them into the Promised Land with Joshua. And that’s when the Manna stops.

Josiah finds the law buried in the basement of the temple, and it says when he found it that they hadn’t celebrated Passover since the time of the Judges. That’s 300 years.

And during the 50 year exile in Babylon, no Passover. Because they couldn’t just keep it anywhere, it had to be in Jerusalem. Imagine how excited they must have been to return, and they rebuilt and rededicated the temple, and then FINALLY:

Ezra 6:19–21 ESV

19 On the fourteenth day of the first month, the returned exiles kept the Passover. 20 For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were clean. So they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their fellow priests, and for themselves. 21 It was eaten by the people of Israel who had returned from exile, and also by every one who had joined them and separated himself from the uncleanness of the peoples of the land to worship the Lord, the God of Israel.

Note, they slaughtered “the Passover lamb.” Always singular, though the whole returning nation ate. The Rabbinic tradition says between 10 and 20. If you have less than 10, you better get together with your neighbor and join forces. You got to eat that whole lamb overnight and burn any extra.

Now let’s think about the scale of this for a minute.

All of the Jews, making pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and every 10-20 needs an unblemished 1-year old lamb with unbroken bones.

How many is that?

Josephus on Passover

Josephus writes in about 75 AD, and he is writing about the Jewish revolt, the Siege of Jerusalem… which he fought in and then became a historian for Caesar. So this is almost 40 years after Jesus but the numbers are likely close to the time of Jesus.

After the war (so if anything, the population was higher before) the general wanted to tell Nero how many people there were. But that’s hard to count, so they got clever. He asked the priest to count the number of sacrificial lambs, and then they multiplied by 10 to get a lower bound on the population.

Guess how many?

The Works of Josephus: New Updated Edition Chapter 9: What Injunctions Caesar Gave When He Was Come within the City. The Number of the Captives, and of Those that Perished in the Siege; As Also concerning Those that Escaped into the Subterranean Caverns, among Whom Were the Tyrants Simon

So these high priests, upon the coming of their feast which is called the Passover, when they slay their sacrifices, from the ninth hour till the eleventh, but so that a company not less than ten belong to every sacrifice (for it is not lawful for them to feast singly by themselves), and many of us are twenty in a company, (424) found the number of sacrifices was

By which they estimate 2-3 million people swelling into Jerusalem as you have to have more than 10 but less than 20 people to celebrate.

256,500 Passover lambs. A quarter million. That is mind-blowing.

There’s some mythology around “all Passover lambs are raised in Bethlehem” and “swaddled in cloths to avoid breaking bones.” I want to buy that, but I dug in and there’s no good evidence, it appears to be made up in later centuries, mostly in the late 19th century (Alfre Edersheim’s The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. 1883). Would love to chat more about that if you are interested.

The scale doesn’t hold up. From all the surrounding countryside, shepherds would bring their best for the Passover.

But many born in the great pasturelands around Bethlehem. It’s a perfect spot. Small towns, like Bethlehem, too rocky and hilly for crops, but good pasture and grass for sheeps… and near enough to Jerusalem to make that trip. Great for sheep all the way back to the time of David… hence David the shepherd. It’s sheep country.

On the 10th of Nissan, all the sheep, male 1-year old lambs, brought into the City of Jerusalem. In through the Sheep’s Gate, which is in the Northeast and convenient access to the Temple Mount. You don’t want to parade 250,000+ sheep through the whole city.

And they are examined by the priests and Levites to see. Are they unblemished, are they worthy for the sacrifice.

Story of the Passover Lamb

And on that day. We celebrate it tomorrow, Palm Sunday, the Triumphal Entry… but the calendar would have it on Nisan the 10th… Jesus enters Jerusalem.

As John the Baptist said long before: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”

And he lived a perfect, unblemished life to full maturity.

The lambs were judged to see if they were worthy… and so was Jesus. After the Last Supper, he was betrayed and dragged before the high priest Caiphas… Matt 26:59-60 and with Pilate John 19:4.

Matthew 26:59–60 ESV

59 Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death, 60 but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward

… and they twisted his words about the temple.

And likewise before Pilate.

John 19:4 ESV

4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.”

He was tested and proven: an unblemished lamb.

Yet they crucified him. On the very day the Passover Lamb was to be slain.

John 19:14 ESV

14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”

The 14th of Nisan before the Sabbath. I believe that’s the Festival Sabbath on the 15th of Nisan from Thursday sundown to Friday sundown, followed by the weekly Sabbath from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown… hence the three days and night in the tomb and why they waited to treat the body until Sunday morning.

His bones were unbroken, even as they went to break his bones on the cross as they broke the rest, in order that they be dead before the Sabbath began at sunset… they found Jesus already dead. For he gave his life, it was not taken from him. (John 19:36).

John 19:36 ESV

36 For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.”

Later that day, in the Twilight hours, the Passover lambs would be slain in the temple. For nothing. Because on that day, in that moment, the Passover Lamb laid down his life.

The Passover Lamb, a 1-year old, unblemished male lamb with unbroken bones, selected on the 10th of Nisan, killed on the 14th of Nisan, in Jerusalem, and the Judgment of YHWH passes over by the Blood of the Lamb.

The people are free from slavery, sin and death.

Jesus. The Passover Lamb. The perfect man in the prime of life with unbroken bones, selected on the 10th of Nisan, killed on the 14th of Nisan, in Jerusalem, and the Judgment of YHWH passes over by the Blood of the Lamb. The people are forever free from slavery, sin and death.

He is the new Adam, representative of all mankind, the ultimate Firstborn.

At 30 the Jewish man could serve as priest, he is into his prime, his fullness… and here is our high priest.

He took on all the bitterness of tears, the man of sorrows, the burden of sin and slavery.

And he offers us the blood of the sacrifice, his blood, the cup of a new covenant.

It is judgment on and victory over the gods of Egypt, the gods of this world, and every other spiritual power.

It is judgment on and victory over sin, yours and mine, forever.

It is judgment on and victory over death itself. No more cycle of sacrifice and death as payment for sin. The angel of death Passes Over, and we will live forever.

The early church recognized Jesus, the Messiah, as the Passover Lamb. In perhaps the earliest book to be written, the letter to the Corinthians, we read it last week:

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.

When God writes His Story, it all leads to Jesus.

The Passover, the Passover Lamb, the Exodus, the People of Israel, Israel and Egypt and all of Creation… it was always about Jesus. It was all preparing the way, laying the foundation, that we could catch a glimpse of who Jesus is and what He has done for us.

Behold the Passover Lamb.

Passover Begins

Today is Nisan the 14th.

Tonight, at sundown, begins the Passover.

Even now, everyone would be frantically preparing the sheep for the slaughter. We don’t do that, except to learn and remember the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

Because of Jesus, we are forever free from slavery, free from sin, and free from death.

Revelation 5:1–14 ESV

1 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” 6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” 11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” 13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” 14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.