Exodus 12:3-14
Jesus, Our Passover
We have been looking in the book of Leviticus at what I have termed
the "five practical sacrifices." I call them that because those
sacrifices were offered daily in the temple. However, there are two
more in the list of sacrifices that need to be understood. I call
those "ceremonial sacrifices" for two reasons:
1. Because they were only offered once each year.
2. Because even then, they only had an effect once. The
remainder of the times (1500 times for the Passover) they
were memorials, reminders, ceremonies.
One of these ceremonial sacrifices was the Passover and the other is
Yom Kippur. Most would disagree with me concerning Yom Kippur, but
for the time That is what I believe to be the case.
The Passover’s one time of effect was the first time it was offered,
as the children of Israel came out of Egypt. As God was using Moses
to convince Pharaoh to let the people go, He gave ten plagues. The
death of the first born was the tenth plague and the only way not to
experience the judgment was to offer a Passover Lamb.
Let’s study the Passover with three thoughts:
I. The Passover’s Sin
A. What was the sin for which the Passover was being offered?
B. The Passover was a completely different type of offering in
that it was not offered because of a particular sin.
1. Unlike the Sin and Trespass Offerings, this sacrifice was
not offered because someone broke a law.
a. Sin Offering
Lev 4:2 ..If a soul shall sin through ignorance
against any of the commandments of the LORD….
b. Trespass Offering
Lev 5:15 If a soul commit a trespass….
2. The Passover was offered because God was about to judge a
small portion of people for being sinners.
a. It was just a small portion of sinners, the firstborn.
b. It was not for a specific sin that they had committed.
c. It was because they were sinners and had been
corrupted by sin.
C. Let me clarify.
1. No innocents would or ever have died at the hands of God.
2. Everyone and everything that God was about to judge was
either a sinner (human) or had been corrupted by sin
(animal).
a. The fact that the firstborn could be an infant changes
nothing for we are all born, even conceived, in sin.
b. This reminds us that we are all condemned already.
John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not
condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned
already, because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God.
c. You and I are not going to be condemned. We are
condemned.
d. In fact, we have been:
(1) Accused
(2) Tried
(3) Condemned
(4) Sentenced
e. The only thing we are waiting on is for the sentence
to be carried out.
3. That God selected firstborns to pay for their sin is no
different than when God selected the Amorites, Hittites,
and Jebusites.
4. The payment of sin is due whenever God demands it.
D. But wait, it gets worse.
1. This was not just the firstborn of men but of animals too.
Ex 12:12 For I will pass through the land of
Egypt this night, and will 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 the LORD.
2. This was not just for the Egyptians but the Jews too.
3. This was not just for the infants but the adults too.
4. This was not just for the males but the females too.
There could be three firstborns in a house.
E. But wait it gets worse.
1. The Passover did not remove or atone for any sin.
2. The only (and I hate to use that word) thing it did was to
stop death that night by the death angel.
a. Death would still come to everyone that was spared by
that offering.
b. In fact, death could come from a cause other than the
Death Angel walking through on that VERY night. (I
don’t think it did. I don’t think God would want
there to have been any confusion about whether the
offering had been effective or not, but it could.)
II. The Passover’s Lamb
A. Without any doubt, the Passover Lamb pointed to Jesus.
B. Like every other blood sacrifice, the Passover Offering would
picture sin, salvation, or the Savior.
1. The Passover’s need pictured sin. Sinners were going
to die.
2. The Passover’s lamb pictured Jesus.
3. The Passover’s substitution pictured salvation. The
sinner walked away. The innocent lamb did not.
C. The Lamb pictured Jesus:
1. The Passover lamb was required for mercy.
a. For them - No Passover, no mercy, no life.
b. For all mankind - No Passover, no mercy, no life.
c. Two verses speak of the sacrifices.
Ex 12:3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of
Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month
they shall take to them every man a lamb,
according to the house of their fathers, a lamb
for an house:
Ex 12:5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a
male of the first year: ye shall take it out from
the sheep, or from the goats:
d. Although the text most speaks of the lamb, a goat
could also be offered.
e. \\#Ex 12:5\\ is the only verse in the Bible that
mentions the goat as being an acceptable animal for
the sacrifice.
f. Because of the repeated references to the Passover
being a lamb, the Passover—more than any other—
fixes the lamb in our minds as THE picture of Christ.
2. The lamb had to be without blemish and of the first year.
That speaks of Jesus’ perfection and purity.
3. The lamb had to be a male. That was to point that the
Messiah would be a male.
4. From the tenth day to the fourteenth day, the lamb had to
be "kept up."
Ex 12:6 And ye shall keep it up until the
fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole
assembly of the congregation of Israel shall
kill it in the evening.
a. The lamb was selected on the 10th day, then protected
and guarded until it was slain on the 14th.
b. Jesus entered Jerusalem on the 10th day of Nissan and
was slain on the 14th.
(1) I can show that to you using the Bible, history,
and logic; but it would take too long to do it
now. So for now, just take my word for it.
(2) Summary:
(a) We know from the Bible and history that the
Passover was on Thursday that year so the
14th was on Thursday.
(b) We also know that Jesus entered Jerusalem
in the Triumphant Entry on Sunday, the
10th.
(c) The Jews thought they were selecting their
King that day, but Jesus did not go to the
palace.
i. He went to the temple.
ii. Because Passover lambs were not slain
at the palace but at the temple.
(d) The Jews thought they were selecting their
King, but they were selecting their
Sacrifice!
(e) As the Passover lamb was kept up from the
10th to the 14th, so Jesus stayed near
Jerusalem.
c. Facts not mentioned.
(1) \\#John 12:1\\ tells us that six days before the
Passover, Jesus entered Bethany.
(a) Passover was on Thursday.
(b) Six days before would be on Saturday.
i. Thursday (14th day)
ii. Wednesday (13th day)
iii. Tuesday (12th day)
iv. Monday (11th day)
v. Sunday (10th day)
vi. Saturday
(2) \\#John 12:12\\ "On the next day," Jesus entered
Jerusalem with what we call the Triumphant
Entry. That would be Sunday, the 10th.
5. The Passover had to be roasted in fire. Fire pictured the
judgment of God, the hell that Jesus endured for us.
Ex 12:9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all
with water, but roast with fire; his head with
his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.
6. \\#9-10\\ The Passover had to be eaten.
a. This pointed to the fact that Jesus has to come
INSIDE of us.
b. What Jesus does for us is not an outward work but an
inward work.
John 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh
of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have
no life in you.
7. The blood had to be applied.
Ex 12:7 And they shall take of the blood, and
strike it on the two side posts and on the upper
door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat
it.
a. A very popular and good radio and television preacher
has said it was the blood of Jesus that saved us, but
His death.
b. He is wrong. It was both.
c. Just like if one had killed the Passover and not
applied the blood, the firstborns would still have
died; so if Jesus had died but His blood not been
applied, we would still perish.
D. The Passover Meal goes on to picture the Exodus, but that is
not our focus tonight.
III. The Passover’s Fulfillment
1Cor 5:7 … For even Christ our passover is
sacrificed for us:
A. All of this means absolutely nothing if Jesus did not die on
the Passover.
1. We are speaking of Jesus being the Passover Lamb, not the
day-after Passover Lamb.
2. Most people believe that Jesus was crucified the day after
the Passover because they believe Jesus ate the Passover
with the disciples.
3. It makes far more sense that Jesus ate the Passover with
His disciples a day early than it does that He was
crucified a day late.
B. And that is what the Bible the indicates:
John 18:28 Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas
unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and
they themselves went not into the judgment hall,
lest they should be defiled; but that they might
eat the passover.
1. This is the morning of the day Jesus would be crucified
on.
2. Notice, the religious leaders had NOT eaten the Passover
yet.
3. In fact, later that day, the Passover still had not been
offered for it was still too early.
John 19:14 And it was the preparation of the
passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith
unto the Jews, Behold your King!
4. They were still preparing to offer the Passover.
C. Jesus was not close to being our Passover. He is our
Passover. He is the one who caused us to pass from death to
life.
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