The Berean

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"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
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Exodus 12:3-14

(3) speak ye unto all the company of Israel, saying, In the tenth of this month -- they take to them each man a lamb for the house of the fathers, a lamb for a house. (4) `(And if the household be too few for a lamb, then hath he taken, he and his neighbour who is near unto his house, for the number of persons, each according to his eating ye do count for the lamb,) (5) a lamb, a perfect one, a male, a son of a year, let be to you; from the sheep or from the goats ye do take `it'. (6) `And it hath become a charge to you, until the fourteenth day of this month, and the whole assembly of the company of Israel have slaughtered it between the evenings; (7) and they have taken of the blood, and have put on the two side-posts, and on the lintel over the houses in which they eat it. (8) `And they have eaten the flesh in this night, roast with fire; with unleavened things and bitters they do eat it; (9) ye do not eat of it raw, or boiled at all in water, but roast with fire, its head with its legs, and with its inwards; (10) and ye do not leave of it till morning, and that which is remaining of it till morning with fire ye do burn. (11) `And thus ye do eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and ye have eaten it in haste; it is Jehovah's passover, (12) and I have passed over through the land of Egypt during this night, and have smitten every first-born in the land of Egypt, from man even unto beast, and on all the gods of Egypt I do judgments; I `am' Jehovah. (13) `And the blood hath become a sign for you on the houses where ye `are', and I have seen the blood, and have passed over you, and a plague is not on you for destruction in My smiting in the land of Egypt. (14) `And this day hath become to you a memorial, and ye have kept it a feast to Jehovah to your generations; -- a statute age-during; ye keep it a feast.


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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