Passover Lamb

DEVOTION

PROPHESIES ND FULFILLMENTS CONCERNINS CHRIST

PASSOVER LAMB

Ex 12:43-47

43 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "These are the regulations for the Passover: "No foreigner is to eat of it. 44 Any slave you have bought may eat of it after you have circumcised him, 45 but a temporary resident and a hired worker may not eat of it. 46 "It must be eaten inside one house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones. 47 The whole community of Israel must celebrate it.

NIV

Num 9:9-13

9 Then the LORD said to Moses, 10 "Tell the Israelites: 'When any of you or your descendants are unclean because of a dead body or are away on a journey, they may still celebrate the LORD's Passover. 11 They are to celebrate it on the fourteenth day of the second month at twilight. They are to eat the lamb, together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 12 They must not leave any of it till morning or break any of its bones. When they celebrate the Passover, they must follow all the regulations. 13 But if a man who is ceremonially clean and not on a journey fails to celebrate the Passover, that person must be cut off from his people because he did not present the LORD's offering at the appointed time. That man will bear the consequences of his sin.

NIV

Although the actually verses that deal with not having any bones broken are just a couple, it would seem appropriate to include them in their context. The Passover lamb was to be completely eaten but they were not to break any of its bones. If we think about eating all the meat of a lamb, all the meat around the ribs without breaking one of them, or the spinal column for that matter, it must have been a very difficult task. But this was the whole set up for Jesus being the Passover Lamb that would keep the death angel from visiting our home.

John 19:31-36

31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken,"

NIV

It was all about Jesus being the Passover Lamb. Not having any bones broken showed all of Israel, all the world that Jesus was the one who the prophets spoke about. It seems we always talk about Jesus being the Passover Lamb, but as we started to say, he keeps the death angel away. The whole purpose God directed Moses to give all the regulations about the first Passover, was so as the death angel killed the first born of every family, as well as all the animals, as they put the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of their living places, the death angel would pass over them. Here we are centuries after the first Passover and although we are not a member of one of the tribes of Israel, we celebrate the Passover in an entirely different fashion. First we are to consume all of the Passover Lamb, Jesus. We cannot take part of him, part of what he says, part of his commands, we have to eat all of his body. We use those terms when we take communion. Although Jesus does not stipulate they are to eat all if it, which is the implication. They were celebrating the Passover, the whole idea was to consume it all. They were eating the Passover lamb at that meal, and Jesus made the parallel between the lamb and himself. We are to take the blood of the Lamb and sprinkle it upon the doorpost of our heart. When we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior we accepted him as our sacrifice for sin, our Passover Lamb. We should be celebrating each day because the death angel cannot harm us, he has to pass over our heart, our lives. When we became born again, we were born of God, given the right to be called children of God. This meant at that moment we began our eternal life in the presence of our Lord. We took the blood of the Lamb and poured it out over our hearts. We took his body, without breaking a bone, and ingested him into our being. He is the New Covenant of God for all people. The idea of not breaking his bones could be seen as not just taking part of Jesus, not just incorporating him into our lives, or incorporating our lives into Jesus. We are born again. That has to mean something. The old self is dead. We have been raised a new creature in Christ, we are not just changed, we have been made new. Because the death angel has to pass over us, we are already living our eternal life. It may be true we are still captive to this physical body and its weaknesses, but we are truly a spirit who lives in a body. Our spirit is eternal. We will not have to be concerned about death. Yes, this body will give out on us someday, but where is the sting, for we have victory over death. Victory over the death of  the body and over the second death. We have the Passover Lamb living within us.