Our Passover Lamb

The Lamb Without Blemish

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The Passover lamb was not just part of a meal. It was a picture God would explain many years later.

A perfect lamb. “Your lamb shall be without blemish” (Exodus 12:5). The lamb could not be sick or hurt. It had to be perfect.

Jesus, the perfect One. Jesus never sinned. Peter says we are redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19).

The Lamb of God. When John the Baptist saw Jesus, he said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Every Passover lamb had been pointing ahead to Jesus.

In our place. In every Israelite house, a lamb died so that the family could live. Jesus died so that we could live. That is why the Bible says, “Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7).

At Passover time. Jesus was crucified during the Passover feast in Jerusalem. It was no accident. God had planned it all along.

No broken bones. God said of the Passover lamb, “nor shall you break one of its bones” (Exodus 12:46). When Jesus died, the soldiers did not break His legs. John says this happened “that the Scripture should be fulfilled, ‘Not one of His bones shall be broken’” (John 19:36).

The blood applied. The lamb had to be killed, and the blood had to be put on the door. Knowing about the lamb was not enough. In the same way, we must trust Jesus for ourselves.

Safe from judgment. “Having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Romans 5:9). Justified means God declares us right with Him.

Worthy is the Lamb. In heaven, the Bible says, people sing, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain” (Revelation 5:12). The Lamb is Jesus, and He is alive forever.

Chosen and watched. Each family kept its lamb for four days before the Passover (Exodus 12:3, 6). They would have looked at it closely. Jesus lived among people for years, and even His enemies could not find anything wrong in Him.

Only once. Israel killed a new lamb every year. Jesus died only once, and that was enough forever. The Bible says we are made holy “through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10).

What to do. Thank Jesus this week for being your Passover Lamb. If you have never trusted Him, you can ask Him today to forgive you and make you His.

Again and again the New Testament explains the death of Jesus with pictures from the Passover. Jesus and His apostles taught these connections themselves.

“Christ, our Passover.” Paul writes, “For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7). The word translated Passover here refers to the Passover lamb itself.

The Lamb of God. John the Baptist's words in John 1:29 combine several Old Testament images, including the Passover lamb and the lamb of Isaiah 53:7, “led as a lamb to the slaughter.”

Without blemish. Exodus 12:5 requires a lamb tamim, whole. First Peter 1:18-19 echoes this: believers were “not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold… but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

The timing. All four Gospels tell us that Jesus was crucified at Passover. It was not a coincidence. God had planned the timing from the beginning.

Unbroken bones. Exodus 12:46 forbids breaking the lamb's bones. John 19:36 says this Scripture was fulfilled when the soldiers did not break Jesus' legs.

Substitution. In Exodus 12 a lamb dies in the household's place. The New Testament describes Christ's death the same way: “Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).

Application by faith. Hebrews 11:28 says Moses kept the Passover “by faith.” The blood protected only the households that applied it. The gospel likewise calls for personal trust in Christ.

Inspection and innocence. The lamb was kept from the tenth to the fourteenth day (Exodus 12:3, 6). In the Gospels, Jesus is examined by religious and Roman authorities, and Pilate concludes, “I find no fault in Him at all” (John 18:38). The perfect Lamb was found without fault.

Once for all. The Passover was repeated every year. Hebrews contrasts the repeated sacrifices of the old covenant with Christ's single offering: “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10).

Redemption language. The exodus is the Old Testament's great picture of redemption, a people bought out of slavery. The New Testament uses the same language for Christ's work, so the Passover helps us understand what happened at the cross.

The worthy Lamb. Revelation presents the risen Christ as “a Lamb as though it had been slain” (Revelation 5:6), worshiped by heaven: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain” (5:12). The sacrificed Lamb is also the living King.

Remember and Tell

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God did not want His people to forget the Passover. He told them to keep it every year and to tell their children about it.

Children ask questions. “When your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’” (Exodus 12:26). God expected children to wonder, and He wanted parents to explain.

Tell the story. The answer was, “It is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel” (Exodus 12:27). Parents were to tell what God had done for them.

Talk about it every day. Later Moses said, “these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7). Talking about God is for every day, not just holidays.

To the next generation. Psalm 78:4 says, “telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.”

Jesus' last Passover. On the night before He died, Jesus ate the Passover with His disciples. He said, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (Luke 22:15).

A new remembrance. Jesus took bread and said, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19). Christians remember Jesus when they share the Lord's Supper.

The cup. Jesus also took the cup and said, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:20). His death would rescue people from sin, the way the Passover rescued Israel from Egypt.

Remembering helps us trust. When we remember what God has done, it helps us trust Him for what is coming next. Israel would need that trust in the desert.

You can tell too. You do not have to be a grown-up to tell others what God has done. You can tell a friend, a brother or a sister about Jesus.

A picture of the future. The Passover looked back to Egypt. The Lord's Supper looks back to the cross and forward too. Paul says that when Christians share it, “you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26).

Write it down. Some families keep a list of prayers God has answered. Reading it later is a good way to remember how faithful God has been.

What to do. This week, ask a parent or grandparent to tell you about a time God helped them. Then tell someone what Jesus has done for you.

God wanted His people to remember how He saved them. The Passover was not a one-time event only; it was to be kept “throughout your generations” (12:14).

Designed to be asked about. The rituals of the Passover invited questions (12:26). The answer was given in the first person plural, “delivered our households” (12:27), so that each generation would own the story.

The Shema's instruction. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 extends the principle to all of God's words: they are to be talked about “when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.”

Generational faith. Psalm 78 describes the purpose: “that the generation to come might know them… that they may set their hope in God” (Psalm 78:6-7). Memory produces hope.

The last Passover. In Luke 22, Jesus eats the Passover with His disciples and shows them that it was about Him. The bread is His body “given for you”; the cup is “the new covenant in My blood” (Luke 22:19-20).

“In remembrance of Me.” The Lord's Supper does for the church what the Passover did for Israel. Paul writes, “as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26).

From the past to the future. The Passover looked back to Egypt and forward to the land. The Lord's Supper looks back to the cross and forward to Christ's return, “till He comes.”

Every believer a witness. Telling what God has done is not limited to parents or pastors. Young believers can bear witness to what Christ has done for them.

Memory and identity. Israel's feasts were not only reminders. They shaped who the people were. Each year a family stepped back into the story and said, in effect, “This is our story.” When Christians worship and remember the gospel together, it shapes us the same way.

Remembering in the wilderness. The generation that left Egypt soon forgot what God had done and grumbled (Psalm 78:11, 17). Remembering is not automatic. It has to be practiced.

Bitter herbs and joy. The Passover meal had both bitter herbs and celebration. When we remember Jesus, we feel both too: sorrow for our sin and joy that we are forgiven.

Application. Write down three things God has done for you or your family, and share one of them with someone this week.

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