“Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:” (1 Corinthians 5:7)
As we come to the twelfth chapter in our look at the Book of Exodus, we arrive at the first religious holiday given in the Bible. When compared with other ancient religious observances, the Passover is quite unique. Not only does it pre-date the Pagan religious “holy” days, it radically differs from them. The instructions for how the Passover would be observed were given by God to man, whereas the religious commemorations of the Pagans were the efforts of man to appease the Divine. The Passover was God’s idea; it was His method for the Salvation of the First-born of Israel.
The Apostle Paul calls Christ our Passover in the Book of First Corinthians; He is the Passover Lamb sacrificed for the believer. That Christ was given as the sacrificial Lamb on our behalf was also God’s idea and not ours, and this is but the first of many parallels rendering the Passover a perfect portrait and foreshadow of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s consider some others:
Christ Is Our Beginning
“This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.” (Exodus 12:2)
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Although there is a great effort being made in Academia today to rid Christ from historical reckoning, substituting the secular designation of “C.E.” (Common Era) for the traditional A.D. (Anno Domini, “the year of the Lord”), the fact that man has chosen to divide time itself between the days before the coming of the Lord and those after is undeniable. The Christian can also divide the days of their own life similarly, for to call the moment when we accepted Jesus as our Savior our “New Birth” is no exaggeration or hyperbole. We are born again when we come to Christ and are saved and will forever have a “second birthday”, a day when our life began anew.
The month of Abib (or Nisan), the Hebrew month wherein the Passover falls, is the beginning of the Jewish religious calendar. This marks the New Year, God’s saving of the First-born and the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt serving as the moment when the nation was born. It all begins at the point where God saves us. Nothing that has happened before really matters.
Every Man Requires A Lamb
“Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them EVERY MAN a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:” (Exodus 12:3, emphasis added)
“But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.” (Galatians 3:22)
Every one in the “congregation of Israel” required a lamb for the Passover. Not just every family, but every person in each family. Christ is the Lamb of God given, not just for some, but for the whole world (John 1:29). Anyone who is going to be saved must partake of the Lamb.
The Lamb Is Sufficient
“And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.” (Exodus 12:4)
“By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10:10)
Some households were too little for the lamb, but the Lamb is not too little for any household! The sacrifice of Christ is sufficient for the remission of all sins, no matter how great. There is no sinner too vile, no heart too dark that it cannot be saved by the Blood of the Lamb. The Lamb is enough for all of us.
Lord willing, we will pick up here in Part 2 tomorrow. To God goes all glory. In service to Him,
Loren
