Passover and the Lamb of God

It has been some time since my last post, yet again, I find the timing is so amazingly appropriate as we celebrate the first of the Spring Feasts, Passover.  Most outside the Jewish faith know that Passover at least involves a special dinner called a seder and, once upon a time, a sacrificial lamb. Again I am reminded of the obscure verse in Zephaniah 1:7 “Be silent in the presence of the Lord; for the day of the Lord is at hand, for the Lord has prepared a sacrifice; He has invited His guests.” 1 Corinthians 5:7 proclaims Christ to be the sacrificial Passover lamb.  John the Baptist in the spirit of Elijah, claims Jesus to be "the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."  John 1:29

Of course, these claims ignite enormous controversy today just as it did in Jesus’ time: John 7:12, “There was much muttering about him among the people:  While some said, ‘He is a good man,’ others said, ‘No, He is leading the people astray.’”  This is certain, one cannot sit on the sidelines.  Meeting Jesus demands a response, much in the same way Jesus queried his disciples, “Who do men say that I, the son of man, am?” then zeroed in on their personal response, “but who do you say that I am?” [Matt 16:13]  Ultimately to the Jew, whether Jesus is the sacrificial Passover lamb or, to the Gentile, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world is accepted by faith, yet an honest inquiry into the feasts witnesses their fulfillment in Christ, history confirms His mission and existence, and testimonies speak of changed lives, making “faith the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” [Heb. 11:1]

The first Passover, approximately 3,000 years ago, eternalizes that incredibly eerie, agonizing night where ALL firstborn, man or beast, in Egypt died at the hands of the angel of death (sent by God), and the gods of Egypt were judged [Ex. 12:12].  It was the last plague let loose on the hardhearted Egyptian Pharaoh to liberate God’s people, to separate them out [Ex. 11:7].  It was the last (of ten) plagues suffered by any who did not in faith participate in the very explicit commands of God for every household to select from their flock, an unblemished lamb, examine it for four days for any disqualifying imperfection, then slaughter it. They were then to take a bundle of hyssop, dip it in the basin of the lamb’s blood and strike the blood on both sides of their door and the upper doorpost, thus identifying themselves with the true God, saving them from His wrath.  They were then to roast the sacrificial lamb with fire - not eaten raw, nor boiled in water, but roasted in entirety, head to toe, entrails too.  It was to be eaten along with bitter herbs and unleavened bread that night, in haste, prepared to leave - loins girded, shoes on their feet, staff in hand.  Any morsel of flesh remaining by morning needed to be consumed completely by fire. But that was not all.  They couldn’t just hang around satisfied in their identification; they were called to act.  

The children of Israel were to flee the land of their enslavement, taking their unleavened dough, carrying their kneading trough upon their shoulders. God caused the Egyptians to gladly give the children of Israel whatever they needed - gold, silver, clothing.  I can almost hear their moaning, “here, take it, just get out!”  

God then commanded His people to observe Passover in every generation.  Only those circumcised could keep the Passover, including servants bought for money or sojourners in the land. The roasted lamb was to be eaten in one house, and not a bone was to be broken, nor was any flesh to be carried from that house.

Passover is followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread, a seven-day abstinence from eating anything leavened.  Passover itself was sporadically observed until the time of the second Temple when its observance took on imminent significance.  I say imminent because the build up to the Messiah was to be observable!  

When silence from God was broken with the thunderous prophet John the Baptist rousing Judea with “repent!” the Pharisees and the Sadducees didn’t see their sin, obscured through the lenses of their own rich godliness.  But God wanted us to see our spiritual poverty, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” [Matthew 5:3, Luke 6:20)

When God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son, his only son, the son whom He loved, but then God provided “himself” a ram; when God commanded Moses that a sacrificial lamb without blemish would secure salvation from God’s wrath, and explained to Aaron that blood makes atonement for your souls [Lev. 17:11], and the priest who is anointed and consecrated to minister as priest in his father’s place shall make atonement [Lev. 16:32], He was making a connection to His own son, whose blood would be shed for the remission of sins [Heb. 7]. When John the Baptist then proclaimed, “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” He wanted us to recognize that lamb.

When God sent Samuel to the shepherd fields of Bethlehem [1 Sam. 16:1] to select Israel’s king from amongst the sons of Jesse, He wanted us to recognize the rod that would come from the stem of Jesse [Is. 11:1].  

When the temple sacrificial lambs were kept in the same shepherd fields of Bethlehem, He wanted us to recognize the little child born as the sign spoken of in Isaiah 7:14, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son.”  He wanted us to recognize His sovereign choice when He ruled in the heart of Caesar Augustus to call a census just so that ruler spoken of in Micah 5:2 would be born in the shepherds’ fields of Bethlehem: “But you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.”

When God commanded at Passover an unblemished lamb be examined for four days, He wanted us to connect with the Lamb of God entering the Eastern gate of Jerusalem along with all the sacrificial lambs destined for examination before Passover’s slaughter.  He wanted us to hear the millions of pilgrims watching the entry procession of sacrificial lambs, celebrating in parade and praise to the refrains of Psalm 118, routine at Passover, but piercing this one historical day,  “Save now, I pray, O Lord…Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” 

When God spoke through Zechariah (9:9), “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!  Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!  Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey,” he wanted us to recognize Jesus the King upon a donkey crossing from the Mount of Olives, the site of the red heifer purification sacrifice, down through the Kidron Valley where the blood of lambs would flow,  into the Eastern gate.  He wanted the people to be praising still from Psalm 118 (part of the Hallel of Passover), “Open to me the gates of righteousness; and I will go through them…I will praise you, for you have answered me, and have become my salvation….”

When God commanded “on the first day [of Passover] you shall remove leaven from your houses” He wanted us to recognize Jesus the lamb, who on this first day rode in as King and cleansed the temple, driving out all those who bought and sold in the temple, overturning the tables of the money changers and the seat of those who sold doves…[quoting Jer. 7:11] “It is written ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”  

Again, when God commanded four days of examining the lamb for any imperfection, He proved the Lamb of God by the questioning of the chief priests and elders.  Jesus met their examinations head on establishing His authority, speaking in parables:  the two sons and the wicked vinedressers, the latter which quotes again from the very Psalm 118 of Passover, ‘the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone’ [Matt. 21:23-46], and then the parable of the wedding feast [Matt. 22].  He perplexed the Pharisees and the Sadducees who were “astonished at His teaching.” [vs. 33], and no one, including the lawyers, were able to refute anything He said [vs. 46].  Pilate concluded this examination period of the Lamb of God by washing his hands of this ‘just person’ [Jesus] blood, and declaring, “I find no fault in this Man.”  

When God detailed the Passover meal, He detailed the Messiah.  A woman lights the candles, because the light of the world came through a woman.  Hands are ritually washed, but Jesus came to serve and call us to serve, thus at the last supper [the seder meal], he also washed the feet of his disciples [John 13:2-17].  That eerie first Passover night, details specified the Hebrew people were to eat “with your loins girded, shoes on your feet, and staff in your hands.”  Jesus in essence was telling his disciples, “How lovely are the feet of him who brings good news” a commission we would carry on by “girding our waists with truth, putting on the breastplate of righteousness and shodding our feet with the gospel of peace.”  [Eph. 6:14-16].

The unleavened bread of the seder meal details, not only the Messiah’s perfection, but also that He is the “one mediator between God and men, the ransom for all” and that “I and my father are one” [John 17:21].   The bread is presented in three parts, all roasted, striped and pierced [Is. 53:5], yet only the middle one is broken - the “afikomen”.  God must have wanted His disciples to recognize the Afikomen when Jesus broke the bread, saying “This is my body given for you,” [Matt. 26:26, Mark 14:22] wrapped it in linen, hiding it away as would be his own in burial. Yet after a time, that body would be resurrected, and He would take that hidden piece of bread, break it and say, “take, eat; this is my body” [Luke 22:19].  The reward is obvious, just as Jesus [Matt. 13:44] tells us “the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.  When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.”  and that we now “we have this treasure in earthen vessels…” [2 Cor. 4:7].

Then Jesus would have taken the 3rd cup of wine - the cup of redemption, which would be the cup of identification.  The cup of the new covenant in His blood [1 Cor. 11:25].  God must have wanted us to make that connection with the blood of the Passover.  

On the seder plate are symbols of the bitterness of slavery and sweetness of salvation.  Parsley (life) dipped in salt water (tears).  Tears (bitter herbs) turned into joy (sweet charoset).  The unbroken shank bone of a lamb for the perfect Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world [Num. 9:12]. 

The fourth cup of wine is the cup of praise and Jesus did just that as He prayed to bring glory to the Father, and that his disciples and all “under the Passover blood” throughout future generations would be sanctified by truth.  [John 20:17].

When God commanded Passover, it was a feast of identification.  Identification of the one true God over the gods of this world.  Identification of His people who would be bought with a price.  Identification of His bride who would be gathered from all nations by grace through faith [Eph. 2:8].  

Find the stark comparison then of that eerie night of the first Passover to the night of the Passover Lamb of God, sacrificed outside the camp for the household of faith, taking on the mantle of God providing himself a ram caught in the thickets - accepting the crown of thorns - taking the curse upon himself (all who hang are cursed) - bearing the wood as Isaac before him had for his own sacrifice, while the sacrificial lambs of every family of Israel were slaughtered (Josephus estimates there were 250,000 lambs sacrificed at Passover in AD66).  Imagine the blood pouring into the basins, out through the Kidron Valley; the howls, the cries, the sound of the shofar.  Jesus - pierced for our transgression, crushed for our iniquities, chastised for our well-being, scourged for our healing - bearing the judgment of sin upon his shoulders.  The earth shook, the heavens trembled, the sun and the moon were darkened and the stars no longer shone.  The day of the Lord is great.  It is dreadful.  Who can endure it?

The guard offers Jesus a hyssop branch bearing vinegar and gall. Of course it would be born on a  hyssop branch, used to rid a house of contaminants [Lev. 14:33-53].  Jesus refuses the elixir of the condemned.  Under the weight of sin, Jesus cries out from Psalm 22:1: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?  Why art thou so far from the words of my roaring?” and now cries out “I thirst” and drinks [Matt 5:6]. It is a feast of identification.  He identified with me, a sinner.  "I thirst."

Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Father into thy hands, I commend my spirit.”

Some speculate that Jesus was crucified on the Mount of Olives where the red heifer was sacrificed and roasted down to ash for the purification of the priests serving the temple and the temple vessels.  If so, the centurion who cried “truly this was a righteous man!” [Luke 23:47] as the earth quaked may have been witness to the roaring of the Father in the Holy of Holies as He rent the veil that separated man from God just as a father would in the death of His son, His only son.   

The high Sabbath quickly approached, the condemned lingered in agony waiting to have their legs broken, hastening death.  Naked, hanging for all to see in all their public humiliation.  Jesus’ crime written in three languages for all to understand:  “King of the Jews”.  The centurion pierced Jesus’ side to confirm his death - the separation of plasma in the blood.  No bone needed to be broken.  The King of the Jews fulfilling, “No one has taken [my life] from Me, but I lay it down….  I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep" [John 10:11].

Are you a sinner?  Do you thirst?  Jesus encouraged, “Blessed are they who thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled” [Matt. 5:6].  “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, “When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice  and righteousness in the Land.  In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, ‘The Lord our righteousness.’”  Jeremiah 23:5

Shalom!  

Sources:

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11934-passover-sacrifice
http://www.chosenpeople.com/main/holidays-and-festivals/594-the-origin-of-the-afikomen
https://thefamily.com/tag/temple-sheep/
http://www.chosenpeople.com/main/prophecy/226-behold-yeshua-the-passover-lamb-of-god