Jesus And The Passover
The next day John saw Jesus coming unto
him,and said, Behold the Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world.
(John 1:29)
Every year at Passover, a lamb was selected and brought into the family's home. Most Christians know that. Here is what most Christians don't realize:
the lamb was not slaughtered immediately. It was brought in on the 10th day of Nisan and it stayed with the family for four full days. It lived in the house. It ate from their hands.
The children played with it. They gave it a name. They fell in love with it. For four days, that lamb became part of the family.
Speak 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 a house: And if the
household be too little for the lamb, let him and
his neighbor next unto his house take it according
to the number of persons; every man according to
his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
(Exodus 12:3-4)
Then on the 14th of Nisan, the father took the lamb his children had been holding and sleeping beside for four days, and slaughtered it. The blood was painted on the doorposts.
The family ate the lamb together that night. And death passed over every house covered by the blood of the lamb they had loved.
That was the Passover. And it happened every single year for 1,500 years.
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the
first year: you shall take it out from the sheep, or
from the goats: And you shall keep it up until the
fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole
assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it
in the evening. (Exodus 12:5-6)
Now here is what makes that devastating. Jesus entered Jerusalem on the 10th of Nisan. The exact day the Passover lamb was selected.
He rode in while crowds waved palm branches and shouted Hosanna. Selected publicly, the same day every family in Israel was selecting their lamb privately.
And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed
the passover, His disciples said unto Him, Where will you
that we go and prepare that you may eat the passover?
And He sent forth two of his disciples, and said unto them,
Go into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing
a pitcher of water: follow him. And wherever he shall go
in, say to the owner of the house, The Master says,
Where is the guest room, where I shall eat the passover
with my disciples? And he will show you a large upper
room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us.
And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and
found as he had said unto them: and they made ready
the passover. And in the evening He came with the twelve.
(Mark 14:12-17)
Then for four days, Jesus was also examined.
The Pharisees tested Him. The Sadducees tested Him.
The Herodians tested Him. Pilate examined Him. Herod examined Him. Every single one
reached the same conclusion. "I find no fault in this man." No blemish. For 1,500 years, every Passover lamb had to be inspected for four days and found without blemish
before it could be sacrificed. Jesus was inspected for four days and also found without fault or blemish.
Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews
took Jesus, and bound Him, And led Him away to Annas
first; for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, who was the
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Now Annas had sent Him bound unto Caiaphas the high
priest. Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall
of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went
not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but
that they might eat the passover. Pilate then went out unto
them, and said, What accusation bring you against this
man? (John 18:24; 28-29) When Pilate heard of Galilee,
he asked whether the man were a Galilean. And as soon
as he knew that He belonged unto Herod's jurisdiction, he
sent Him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem at
that time.... And Herod with his men of war despised Him,
and mocked Him, and arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe,
and sent Him again to Pilate. (Luke 23:6-7)
Then on the 14th of Nisan, at the exact hour the Passover lambs were being slaughtered in the Temple, Jesus died a cross. The lambs were slaughtered at three in the afternoon.
Jesus died at three in the afternoon. While the priests were killing the Passover lambs and painting their blood on the altar, the actual Passover Lamb was dying on a hill outside the
city walls with His blood running down the wood of a cross. And most Christians who have celebrated Easter their entire lives have no idea that every detail was following a script
that had been being rehearsed for fifteen centuries.
But here is the part most people have never heard.
Not a single bone of the Passover lamb was allowed to be broken. That was the law.
In one house shall it be eaten; you shall not carry forth any of
the flesh outside of the house; neither shall you break a bone
of it. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. (Ex. 12:46-47)
When the Roman soldiers came to break the legs of the men on the crosses, they broke the legs of the criminal on the left. They broke the legs of the criminal on
the right. When they came to Jesus, He was already dead. They did not break His bones. John recorded it and wrote:
Then came the soldiers, and broke the legs of the first, and of
the other who was crucified with Him. But when they came to
Jesus, and saw that He was dead already, they broke not His
legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and
immediately came there out blood and water....These things
happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: Not one of
His bones will be broken." (John 19:32-34; 36)
A law about a lamb, given to Moses in the desert 1,500 years earlier, was fulfilled in the body of a man hanging between two thieves on a Roman cross.
We knew that the lamb represents Jesus. But did you know about the inspection? Did you know Jesus entered Jerusalem on the exact day the lamb was chosen?
Did you know He died at the exact hour the lambs were slaughtered? Did you know about the law forbidding broken bones?
Did you know that the Passover lamb's blood was applied to the door frame using a branch of hyssop, and that hyssop is the same plant used to lift the sponge of
vinegar to Jesus' lips on the cross? That the plant that delivered the blood of the lamb in Exodus was present at the death of the Lamb in the New Testament.
Most Christians have read the crucifixion dozens of times without understanding they were watching the Passover unfold in real time. Because nobody ever told them
the Passover was never JUST a memorial. It was a rehearsal. A 1,500 year dress rehearsal for a day that had not happened yet. A 1,500 year rehearsal for the
one true Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world.
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