The Lamb who was to die

Saturday April 3, 2021

You have been redeemed... by the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot. 1 Peter 1.18, 19

The Lamb who was to die

Following a famine, the people of Israel found themselves enslaved in Egypt. God had a plan to deliver him and bring him free to the land he had prepared for them. But before that he asked them to kill a lamb and eat it. They were also to mark their doorposts with the blood of the animal (Exodus 12.3-13).

That night there was nothing tragic about the families who had sacrificed the lamb and put blood around their doors. But in families where the commandment of God had not been heeded, the eldest son died.

This biblical episode foreshadows the salvation that God would later offer to all mankind to save them from the punishment they deserve because of sin. The Lamb sacrificed is Jesus who died for us in Jerusalem on the anniversary of the Jewish Passover. Christ sacrificed is our true Passover :

- The flawless lamb was to stay near the house for four days. The contemporaries of Jesus were able to observe the perfection of his human life, and God declared : “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my pleasure” (Matthew 17.5).

- The lamb was sacrificed : an animal had to die to save a human being. But to save us from eternal torment, God sacrificed his only begotten Son.

- We had to eat that lamb. We “eat the Lamb” when we believe that Jesus' death gives us eternal life. We will be “safe from the blood of the Lamb” because God will not strike the one who has put his trust in him.

Source (The Good Seed)