Why a Lamb?

“…they shall take to them every man a lamb…Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year…kill it in the evening…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…it is the LORD’’s passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt…and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses…and when I see the blood, I will pass over you…”(Read the whole account in Exodus 12).

Why a lamb? Scripture gives us a clue.

“And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham; But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock… Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture…All we like sheep have gone astray… ” (Ps.78:51,52; Ps. 100:3; Isa. 53:6).

Born in sin, the Israelites deserved the same judgment as the Egyptians. God likens his people to sheep. Only a sinless lamb could provide the blood covering for the sin of another sheep, theirs and ours.

“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29.

“Behold…”  Take a good long hard look at Jesus. “…this is the Son of God… Father, the hour is come: glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was… I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”( John 1:34; John 17:1-5;Rev:18).

“the Lamb of God…he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter… Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things…But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot; Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God…… Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil… (Isa. 53:b;1Pet. 1:18-21; Heb. 2:14).

“which taketh away the sin of the world…For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son…Christ also suffered for us…Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed…that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life… For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.” (a weaving of John 3:16 & 2Peter 2:24,25).

“Purge out therefore the old leaven,

that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened.

For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven,

neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness;

but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” 1Cor. 57,8.

The sinless Lamb of God died for his wayward sheep, to return us to the Shepherd of our soul. How will you celebrate the feast of Passover, remembering its results are not for one day or season but for eternity? May your life be found in worship of the Lamb, for,

“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain

to receive power and riches, and wisdom, and strength,

and honour, and glory, and blessing.” Rev. 5:12.

Amen.