Friday, February 8, 2008
1 Corinthians 5:7 For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed.
THE NAMES OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR: THE PASSOVER LAMB OF GOD
The Passover Lamb was also a picture of Christ. The apostle Paul writes of Jesus: "For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed" (1 Cor. 5:7). All Jews would quickly recognize this picture, for they all tried at one time or another to be present at Jerusalem for this Passover feast. All living within twenty miles of the city had to come each year.
The Passover Lamb pictured complete deliverance. The blood was shed as the lamb was killed by the priest. The meat was given to the family to roast. In Egypt that blood had been painted on the door frames and they were pardoned of sin. They had the proof of it as the angel of death passed over them that night in Egypt.
We read the record of this in Exodus 12:5-14: "Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire -- its head with its legs and its entrails. You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. Now 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 the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance."
When Jesus was crucified and died on the cross, this picture was fulfilled. He paid for the sin of all -- He washed us from each spot and stain. He delivered us from death and the devil. The angel of death cannot but pass over forever. We are delivered from the slavery of sin!
