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Christ Our Passover Lamb
Christ Our Passover Lamb
Christ Our Passover Lamb
For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. I Corinthians 5:7
The Passover lamb was the animal God directed the Israelites to use as a sacrifice in Egypt on the
night God struck down the firstborn sons of every household (Exodus 12:29). This was the
final plague God issued against Pharaoh, and it led to Pharaoh releasing the Israelites from slavery
(Exodus 11:1). After that fateful night, God instructed the Israelites to observe the Passover Feast as
a lasting memorial (Exodus 12:14).
The Old Testament is filled with historical fact that illustrates a spiritual truth, it is a shadow of what
God will fulfill in His only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. The Paschal Lamb (a lamb sacrificed at
Passover) and the Passover observance of the Old Testament portray the sacrificial offering of
Christ on the cross in minute detail. The Holy Spirit guided Paul to pen this statement in 1
Corinthians 5:7 . . . For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.. The first Believers
observed Passover. The Apostle Paul took the Feast to a deeper level, exhorting the Church to
grasp its symbolism. As we eat the unleavened bread, we must recognize that leaven, or yeast,
symbolizes sin. Sin has a costit was because of our sin that Messiah was sacrificed. You are a
new creation in Messiah! Therefore, rid yourselves of sin, for Christ, our Passover lamb, has been
sacrificed (1 Corinthians 5:7).
Lets take a look at what Christ is from the lenses of both the Old and New Testament:
- Christ is our great Authority (Matthew 28:18),
- He is our Ransom (1 Timothy 2:6),
- He is our Substitute (Isaiah 53:5-6, 10-12),
- Christ is our Way, our Truth, our Life (John 14:6),
- Christ is Example (1 Peter 2:21),
- Christ is our Life (Colossians 3:4),
- Christ is our Friend (John 15:13),
- Christ is Redemption (Ephesians 1:7),
- Christ is Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5),
- Christ is Our King (1 Timothy 6:15),
- Christ is the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2), and for this study,
- Christ is our Passover (1 Corinthians 5:7).
For the Church of the New Testament, and so for every redeemed soul, the beginning of months is
the cross of Calvary and the shed and sprinkled blood. The selection of the lamb on the tenth day of
the month and its being kept until the fourteenth, suggest unmistakably the coming of Christ in the
fullness of time, and the three and a half years of His public ministry . . . and the waiting for the
accomplishment of His sacrifice. The death of the lamb reminds us of how He (Jesus) was delivered
up and formally condemned to death. The sprinkled blood expresses our personal application of the
merits of His death, the complete justification and acceptance of the soul that has found refuge
under the precious blood.
This is the heart of what the Passover teaches us, taking us through the story of the deliverance of
the Hebrew children by the hand and grace of God. Deliverance not only out of Egypt, but also from
sin and death by the blood of the Passover Lamb. You reach the blood of Christ when you reach His
death. One dies to sin through REPENTANCE, One is buried (immersed) with Christ in BAPTISM,
and One rises from the watery grave to walk in newness of life (1 Corinthians 15:1-4, Romans 6:3-
5).