Little Lamb

Dear Brethren,

We want to extend our fondest wishes for a memorable and meaningful Passover.  The Passover service, including the foot-washing, will be held on Tuesday evening, April 7th just after sunset.  The Night to be Much Observed is Wednesday evening, April 8th, and the First Day of Unleavened Bread is Thursday, April 9th.  During the seven days of Unleavened Bread we are to eat unleavened bread, and we are not to have any leaven products or leavening in our homes.  The Last Day of Unleavened Bread is April 15th.

God gave Israel a beautiful practice to help them appreciate the little lamb that would be their Passover.  If we were keeping Passover as it was originally established, we would choose our lamb this Sabbath.  This year, April 4th is the tenth day of the first month of the sacred calendar.  On this day, the precious lamb was selected by each family.  God said, "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."  (Exodus 12:3)

Why did God institute this part of the Passover?  Think of the impact this lamb had on the younger children.  Can you imagine how quickly the bonding and affection would take place between the children and the lamb?  "And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.  Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats."  (Exodus 12:4-5)  

When our children were young, I brought them a young kid as a pet.  They fell in love with that little goat immediately.  They petted, hugged, and fed the little thing.  He instantly became a member of the family!  The children of Israel also became personally attached to their lamb so that it was no longer simply another ordinary sheep.  Peter tells us, "…You were redeemed... with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot."  (1Peter 1:18-19)  "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"  (John 1:29)

For four days, the family cuddled and enjoyed the innocent animal.  What was their reaction four days later, when the lamb was taken to be slain?  "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."  (Exodus 12:6)

This valuable lesson was designed to teach that there is a severe price to be paid for sin – the shedding of blood.  This entire episode was deeply impressed on the young people, especially.  And be sure, the children would require an explanation because they would want to know what it all meant (Exodus 12:26).  "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.  And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.  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.  And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire."  (Exodus 12:7-10)

They were being taught that Passover is a life and death situation.  This is an important lesson for us as well because this is how Passover is first clearly revealed in the Bible.  "And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord's Passover.  [This is the first mention of Passover in the Scriptures.]  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.  And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt."  (Exodus 12:11-13) 

Passover was to be remembered and memorialized.  It looked forward to the day that Jesus Christ would fulfil the prophetic meaning of the Lamb of God.  "And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever.  Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the Passover.  And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.  For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians [this was God's righteous judgment for their Godless ways]; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you." (Exodus 12:14-23) 

Then God repeats the importance of observing this Passover ordinance forever.  "And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever.   And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the Lord will give you, according as He hath promised, that ye shall keep this service.  And it shall come to pass, when your children shall ask you, What mean ye by this service?  That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, who passed-over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped.  And the children of Israel went away, and did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they."  (Exodus 12:24-28)

The unblemished male lamb represented Jesus Christ as the perfect, sinless sacrifice for our sins. As a result of obeying God's instructions to put blood over and around their doors, the firstborn in each Israelitish home was spared from physical death by the blood of the innocent lamb.  In the same way, it is the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, that spares us from spiritual death, so that we might be saved by His life (Romans 5:10).

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"More about the Passover"


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