Jesus, Our True Passover Lamb

Exodus 12:3

3… every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.

Jews worldwide are celebrating Passover this week. The feast, which has been kept for generations, commemorates the deliverance of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. (Exodus 12:14)

The night before the Israelites left Egypt, the destroyer went through the land killing the firstborn of man and beast. Only those households with the blood of the Passover lamb on their doorposts were spared.

God had told the Israelites, “Take a lamb, a lamb for a household.” It was a lamb for each family. This tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our true Passover Lamb, is for whole families to be saved!

So your children are blessed once you receive Jesus. Your unsaved spouse and grandparents are blessed too, because Jesus is now the Lamb for your whole household. Your unsaved loved ones will enjoy the blessings of the saved. The Bible says that the sanctified will sanctify the unsanctified. (1 Corinthians 7:14) Yes, they will still need to personally receive Jesus as their Saviour, but God has marked them for salvation because you are saved!

So each household took a lamb which God said had to be without blemish. Why? Because the lamb typified Jesus, the true Lamb of God who is without sin. John the Baptist said of Jesus, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)

The lamb was then killed, and its blood put on the two doorposts and lintel of the house (Exodus 12:7), such that it looked like a cross. Today, the destroyer has to pass over every family that believes in the finished work of the cross and puts its faith in His blood, because there has been a death already. The blood proves it — the innocent Lamb for the guilty family!

Now, Jesus also celebrated the Passover the night before He was crucified. But He instituted the greater Passover. This time, it was not deliverance from Pharaoh and Egypt, but from Satan and his kingdom of darkness. It was not deliverance from slavery in Egypt, but from a life of bondage to sin to a life of liberty as free men and women in Christ. Beloved, when the Son sets you free, you are free indeed!