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by Sindhu George
In the book of Exodus, we read about the first Passover. When Moses was about to lead the Israelites out of Egypt after over 400 years of slavery, God instructed each Israelite household to sacrifice a lamb and apply its blood to the sides and top of their door frames. They were to stay inside that protection all night because God was about to bring a plague to Egypt. At midnight He would go throughout Egypt killing every firstborn male. However, if a door frame had the blood of the sacrificed lamb on it, God would pass over that house.
That first Passover was a reflection of a sacrifice in the future when God would send His own Lamb, one that would end all future need for such sacrifice. This sacrifice would pay the price for the sins of mankind once and for all.
Jesus is called the Lamb of God.
Now let’s look at New Testament times. When Jesus was condemned to die on the cross, He was innocent. He had committed no crime. Like the Passover lamb of the past, Jesus was without defect, He had never offended God. He went willingly to the cross and like a lamb, suffered in silence.
God put all of our offenses – yours and mine - on Jesus. Jesus carried our pains, our offenses, and our imperfections – everything that was wrong with us. He took the punishment that we deserve. We have all wandered away from God’s Law to live according to what we think is right. Everything that we did or will do wrong – our enslavement to sin - was put on Jesus’ back and from His sacrifice, we received His innocence. He paid the price with His blood. We are protected under that blood. We are accepted because Jesus was condemned to die.
Unlike the sacrificial lambs of the past, Jesus is alive today. After three days in the grave, by God’s power, Jesus rose from the dead and walked among His followers again. His resurrection guarantees our own resurrection to life with God. Jesus now sits at the right hand of God the Father and reigns in Heaven as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Jesus died as the sacrificial Lamb for us. Our response is to admit that we are
sinful – to know that our way of life is an offense to God – to believe that
Jesus paid the price for that sin – and to live as beloved children of God
assured of eternal life.
See Also:
Jesus, the Passover LambPassion Week Supplement in Malankara World
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