ICS Daily Devotions
Jesus, the Passover Lamb
Matthew 26:18 And He said, “Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.”
The Passover meal brings back memory to every Jew regarding the faithfulness of God when He delivered them from the land of bondage. They are reminded of how their forefathers were spared the death of their firstborn when they sprinkled blood on the doorpost and acted in faith towards God’s instruction. It was a memorial meal for every Jewish family and a remembrance of the new start for those who were coming out of Egypt.
The Passover was first celebrated about 1500 years during the time of Moses and has continued on as a lasting ordinance until the day when Jesus was about to celebrate the Passover with the disciples. The Passover was a type and shadow of the coming work of Jesus Christ. Everything from the Abrahamic covenant to the Passover meal pointed towards the coming work of the Messiah.
Jesus was also about to bring the people into something new when Jesus asked the disciples to prepare a place for the Passover. Celebrating the Passover was the perfect feast to anticipate what Jesus was about to do. Jesus was about to bring the complete plan of God for redemption into fruition when He said His time is at hand. Jesus was fulfilling the Abrahamic covenant so that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through His death. The Passover was just a shadow of the good things to come in Jesus’ work of redemption; the application of blood on the doorposts during the Passover was able to deliver them once from the angels but it was just a physical deliverance.
Before the Passover meal, the Israelites were supposed to do a house cleaning to ensure that it was free from old leaven: leaven represented evilness, sin and the old life during their time of bondage in Egypt. There would also be three unleavened breads on the table placed in an embroidered bag. The three breads symbolized the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. There would be a cup prepared for Elijah on the table who would announce the coming of the Messiah. There would also be a place prepared at the table for the Messiah to come and a cup at the end of the table for Him. This was the cup of blessings. The cup of the Messiah was normally placed upside down. It is believed that the Messiah would drink of the cup and entered into a new covenant with the people. An unblemished lamb was later sacrificed in the temple.
On the night of the Last Supper, Jesus took the seat which was meant for the Messiah at the table and reached out to the embroidered bag and took the bread from the middle pocket that symbolized the Son: He was entering into a new covenant with God on behalf of mankind, which would be sealed with His blood. Jesus reached out for the cup of blessing which is the Messiah’s cup and filled it with wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” Jesus became the unblemished lamb which was about to be sacrificed that night. He fulfilled everything that was prophesied and also whatever the Passover practices meant to be.
Jesus acted as our substitute. God poured out His wrath on account of our sins onto Him instead of us. God, then, provided a Lamb of His own and accepted the life of that substitute. When we consider the cross, the resurrection, the ascension, and the outpouring of the Spirit at the Day of Pentecost, we will begin to see the depths and riches of all that God was communicating through the announcement of John the Baptist who said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).
Sermon series: Cell Group Campaign Session 5 – The Passover
