Christ our Passover lamb
"For our Passover lamb was slain for us: Christ." (1. Kor. 5,7)We do not want to pass over or overlook the great event that took place in Egypt almost 4000 years ago when God freed Israel from slavery. Ten plagues, described in Exodus, were necessary to shake Pharaoh in his stubbornness, arrogance, and proud resistance to God.
The Passover was the final and definitive plague, so terrible that all the firstborn, both human and cattle, were killed as the Lord passed by. God spared the obedient Israelites when they were commanded to kill the lamb on the 14th day of the month of Abib and to put the blood on the lintel and doorposts. (Please refer 2. Mose 12). In verse 11 it is called the Passover of the Lord.
Many have probably forgotten the Passover of the Old Testament, but God reminds his people that Jesus, our Passover, was prepared as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world. (Johannes 1,29)He died on the cross after his body was torn apart and tortured by whippings, and a spear pierced his side, causing blood to flow from it. All this he endured, just as it had been prophesied.
He left us an example. At his last Passover, which we now call the Lord's Supper, he taught his disciples to wash one another's feet as an example of humility. To commemorate his death, he gave them bread and a little wine to symbolically share in the eating of his flesh and in the drinking of his blood (1. Korinther 11,23-26, Johannes 6,53-59 and Johannes 13,14-17When the Israelites in Egypt smeared the blood of the lamb on the lintel and doorposts, this was a foreshadowing of the blood of Jesus in the New Testament, which was sprinkled on the doors of our hearts so that our consciences would be cleansed and all our sins purified by his blood (Hebräer 9,14 and 1. Johannes 1,7). The wages of sin is death, but the priceless gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. In the Lord's Supper we remember the death of our Savior so that we do not forget the painful and very shameful death on the cross that occurred 2000 years ago because of our sins.
The beloved Son, whom God the Father sent as the Lamb of God to pay our ransom, is one of the greatest gifts to humankind. We did not deserve this grace, yet God chose us through His grace to give us eternal life through His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, our Passover victim, willingly died to save us. We read in Hebräer 12,1-2 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
by Natu Moti
