"These [in Berea] were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so." - Acts 17:11

(3) Speak unto all the assembly of Israel, saying, On the tenth of this month let them take themselves each a lamb, for a father's house, a lamb for a house. (4) And if the household be too small for a lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take [it] according to the number of the souls; each according to [the measure] of his eating shall ye count for the lamb. (5) Your lamb shall be without blemish, a yearling male; ye shall take [it] from the sheep, or from the goats. (6) And ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; and the whole congregation of the assembly of Israel shall kill it between the two evenings. (7) And they shall take of the blood, and put [it] on the two door-posts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. (8) And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; with bitter [herbs] shall they eat it. (9) Ye shall eat none of it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roast with fire; its head with its legs and with its in-wards. (10) And ye shall let none of it remain until the morning; and what remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. (11) And thus shall ye eat it: your loins shall be girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste; it is Jehovah's passover. (12) And I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am Jehovah. (13) And the blood shall be for you as a sign on the houses in which ye are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be among you for destruction, when I smite the land of Egypt. (14) And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall celebrate it [as] a feast to Jehovah; throughout your generations [as] an ordinance for ever shall ye celebrate it.


Notice in verse 3 that on the tenth day each person was to take a lamb for himself. In verse 5, the lamb must be without blemish and a male of the first year.

Think of Jesus in reference to these instructions. The meat could be either from the sheep or the goats. Jesus is a type of both sheep and goat.

Verses 6-8 show that the innocent lamb bled to death. Scripture also says that the bones were not to be broken, and it must be roasted whole. Jesus' bones were not broken either.

Through these verses, we see that Jesus was the perfect antitype of this lamb that was slain at the Passover service. By means of the blood that was smeared on the lintel and the doorposts, Israel was saved from the tenth plague, the death of the firstborn. The blood of the lamb redeemed, bought back, the firstborn of Israel. Otherwise, they too would have been killed.

Jesus' ghastly death and the terrible scourging He endured do the same for us; it redeems us, buys us back. Some Protestants say He died of a broken heart, but that is not true. Like the Passover lamb, He bled to death; His blood spilled onto the earth, and He expired an innocent and pure man. He had never sinned, just like the lamb without blemish and without spot.

Therefore, we call Him our Savior and Redeemer. Once we accept Him as our Savior, because He was sinless and He died for us, His blood covers our sins. He redeems us from the second death—from the death angel.

He is the firstborn among many brethren, and we are called the firstfruits. We are the firstfruits of spiritual Israel that are protected from that death angel, the second death.

God often works in dual stages, as shown here. The first is the type of the lamb slain at Passover, and the second is the antitype or the perfect fulfillment in Jesus Christ. For the type of the Passover lamb to be fulfilled perfectly and completely in the antitype of Jesus Christ, His crucifixion and death had to occur on Nisan 14. There is no other day in which the type would have been fulfilled because that is the day of the Passover.

— Richard T. Ritenbaugh

To learn more, see:
Christ's Death, Resurrection, and Ascension



 

Topics:

Firstfruits

Jesus Christ as Lamb of God

Jesus Christ as Passover

Jesus Christ as Redeemer

Jesus Christ as Savior

Jesus Christ's Crucifixion

Killing of the Lamb

Lamb

Lamb Symbolism

Lamb, Killing of the Lamb

Passover

Passover Lamb

Sacrifice, Unblemished

Symbolism of the Lamb

Without Blemish




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