Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
The direction was given through Moses for the night of the final judgment on Egypt, requiring each household to take a spotless male of the first year from the sheep or goats. They were to slay it and mark the doorposts with its blood as the sign for the destroying angel to pass over, then eat it roasted that night ready for departure. The unblemished lamb pointed to Jesus as the sinless Lamb of God in perfect purity. Its slaying and its blood signified His death on the cross for the life and sins of the world, whose merits alone cleanse from sin and shelter from wrath and judgment. Its benefit reaches only those who show faith by obedience inside the marked house, a yearly memorial to keep God's deliverance before children and youth.
Passover Night and Requirement
The directions were given through Moses before the midnight judgment on Egypt, which was the last and most severe plague upon the land. Its nature and effect were told beforehand to Pharaoh, to the Egyptians, and to the Israelites. That night was terrible to the Egyptians and glorious to God's people. It came because the king and his idolatrous priests opposed to the last letting Israel go, while the people desired that the Hebrews be permitted to leave, and it was intended to show that the Lord alone is God.
The lamb required for preservation and departure was without blemish, a male of the first year, taken from the sheep or from the goats. It was a spotless lamb set apart for sacrifice. Its blood was to be placed on the doorposts as a sign marking the homes of those who trusted the directions given.
Each family, alone or joined with others, was to slay the lamb or kid and with hyssop strike its blood on the two side-posts and the upper door-post as a token and sign without. All were to gather inside the house whose doorposts were marked with its blood. The blood marked the dwellings the destroying angel was to respect and pass over, not entering there, while he passed through Egypt slaying the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast.
Within the marked house the lamb was to be eaten roasted whole at night, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. The people ate gathered within their own dwellings around the table, in haste with loins girded, shoes on feet, and staff in hand, prepared for immediate release and departure. There appeared no token of deliverance on that last night of bondage except the slain lamb and its sprinkled blood. That night Pharaoh sent word that they could go free, and they set out for the promised land.
Christ Foreshadowed by Lamb
The lamb without blemish pointed to Christ as the sinless Lamb of God, setting forth His perfect purity and innocence. The spotless year-old lamb set apart for sacrifice looked forward to His death on the cross on the hill of Calvary. The lamb slain each year was a symbol of the death of the Son of God and of His body given for the life of the world. Jesus is the antitypical Lamb set apart as an oblation, who at the Passover season voluntarily presented Himself as Redeemer, dying for the sins of the world and laid in the tomb.
The blood put on the houses signified Christ's blood shed for the sins of the world as the only true propitiation for human sin. That blood is efficacious for the believing sinner to cleanse him from sin, preserve from death, and shelter him from the wrath of God to come upon the impenitent and unbelieving world. As the lamb's blood brought deliverance from the destroying angel, Christ's merits alone avert judgment and condemnation and bring salvation to fallen humanity.
The Passover ceremony was instituted by Christ Himself before His incarnation, and He is the foundation of the whole Jewish economy and religious system. Type met antitype when He stood among the priests and leaders in humanity with divinity clothed in flesh. His public entry into Jerusalem at the Passover season was His voluntary act of presenting Himself as Redeemer and calling attention to the sacrifice that was to crown His mission to a fallen world. Even in youth Jesus began to see the meaning of the Passover service as bound up with His own life and mission to save the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The Passover revealed and represented Him and cannot be fully explained apart from Him. He is the key that unlocks the Old Testament and gives access to its rich treasures, so that rejecting Him makes all religious services and ceremonies valueless. In the paschal lamb God desired Israel to behold the Lamb of God and through the symbol to receive Him who gave Himself for the life of the world, the same truth taught in His words that the bread He gives is His flesh given for the life of the world. But the Jews made the symbol all-important while its significance went unnoticed, discerning not the Lord's body. While celebrating the Passover with great display they refused mercy itself standing among them, and those careful not to enter the judgment hall lest they be defiled so they might eat the Passover were putting to death the spotless One the lamb represented.
Faith Obedience and Remembrance
Salvation provided in the lamb was not automatic, but effective only for those who by their own acts showed faith in it by doing what God commanded. The household had to manifest that faith by obedience, gathering inside the house prepared to leave and marking the doorway with blood as directed. The blood was the sign the destroying angel was to respect in passing over the dwelling, yet it did not shield a household that disregarded instruction. Even a Hebrew household that refused the directions would have its firstborn exposed to judgment just as the Egyptians were.
The faith and obedience of the parents covered not themselves alone but their children with them, so that the whole marked household that trusted and obeyed was shielded from the destroying angel. That covering of the children through the parents' faithful act stands as a lesson on gathering children within and guarding the family.
The Passover was ordained to be kept yearly in memory of deliverance, to keep God's wonderful works before the mind. Its observance was to call minds away from world-loving interests and temporal cares and anxieties to review His miracles, mercies, and loving-kindness, that love and reverence might increase and lead to ever looking to Him and trusting Him in trials and not turning to other gods. The lamb was slain and eaten at a night assembly as a hasty meal, roasted with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, with loins girded, shoes on feet, and staff in hand, while the story of the sprinkled blood, the death-dealing angel, and the grand march from the land of bondage was rehearsed. Kept in solemn assembly at Jerusalem in solemn silence, the service stirred the imagination and impressed the heart, fixing the memory of God's past deliverance and His commandments in children and youth.
The demand for a year-old lamb without blemish pointed to perfect purity and teaches daily consecration to God and constant dependence on atoning blood. It teaches that those who give themselves to God are to offer Him their best service. The sacrifice of the life given for the life of the world is to be made by the church in all succeeding ages a subject of deep thought and study, with every fact connected with it verified beyond doubt.
The direction was given through Moses for the night of the final judgment on Egypt, requiring each household to take a spotless male of the first year from the sheep or goats. They were to slay it and mark the doorposts with its blood as the sign for the destroying angel to pass over, then eat it roasted that night ready for departure. The unblemished lamb pointed to Jesus as the sinless Lamb of God in perfect purity. Its slaying and its blood signified His death on the cross for the life and sins of the world, whose merits alone cleanse from sin and shelter from wrath and judgment. Its benefit reaches only those who show faith by obedience inside the marked house, a yearly memorial to keep God's deliverance before children and youth.
Passover Night and Requirement
The directions were given through Moses before the midnight judgment on Egypt, which was the last and most severe plague upon the land. Its nature and effect were told beforehand to Pharaoh, to the Egyptians, and to the Israelites. That night was terrible to the Egyptians and glorious to God's people. It came because the king and his idolatrous priests opposed to the last letting Israel go, while the people desired that the Hebrews be permitted to leave, and it was intended to show that the Lord alone is God.
The lamb required for preservation and departure was without blemish, a male of the first year, taken from the sheep or from the goats. It was a spotless lamb set apart for sacrifice. Its blood was to be placed on the doorposts as a sign marking the homes of those who trusted the directions given.
Each family, alone or joined with others, was to slay the lamb or kid and with hyssop strike its blood on the two side-posts and the upper door-post as a token and sign without. All were to gather inside the house whose doorposts were marked with its blood. The blood marked the dwellings the destroying angel was to respect and pass over, not entering there, while he passed through Egypt slaying the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast.
Within the marked house the lamb was to be eaten roasted whole at night, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. The people ate gathered within their own dwellings around the table, in haste with loins girded, shoes on feet, and staff in hand, prepared for immediate release and departure. There appeared no token of deliverance on that last night of bondage except the slain lamb and its sprinkled blood. That night Pharaoh sent word that they could go free, and they set out for the promised land.
Christ Foreshadowed by Lamb
The lamb without blemish pointed to Christ as the sinless Lamb of God, setting forth His perfect purity and innocence. The spotless year-old lamb set apart for sacrifice looked forward to His death on the cross on the hill of Calvary. The lamb slain each year was a symbol of the death of the Son of God and of His body given for the life of the world. Jesus is the antitypical Lamb set apart as an oblation, who at the Passover season voluntarily presented Himself as Redeemer, dying for the sins of the world and laid in the tomb.
The blood put on the houses signified Christ's blood shed for the sins of the world as the only true propitiation for human sin. That blood is efficacious for the believing sinner to cleanse him from sin, preserve from death, and shelter him from the wrath of God to come upon the impenitent and unbelieving world. As the lamb's blood brought deliverance from the destroying angel, Christ's merits alone avert judgment and condemnation and bring salvation to fallen humanity.
The Passover ceremony was instituted by Christ Himself before His incarnation, and He is the foundation of the whole Jewish economy and religious system. Type met antitype when He stood among the priests and leaders in humanity with divinity clothed in flesh. His public entry into Jerusalem at the Passover season was His voluntary act of presenting Himself as Redeemer and calling attention to the sacrifice that was to crown His mission to a fallen world. Even in youth Jesus began to see the meaning of the Passover service as bound up with His own life and mission to save the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The Passover revealed and represented Him and cannot be fully explained apart from Him. He is the key that unlocks the Old Testament and gives access to its rich treasures, so that rejecting Him makes all religious services and ceremonies valueless. In the paschal lamb God desired Israel to behold the Lamb of God and through the symbol to receive Him who gave Himself for the life of the world, the same truth taught in His words that the bread He gives is His flesh given for the life of the world. But the Jews made the symbol all-important while its significance went unnoticed, discerning not the Lord's body. While celebrating the Passover with great display they refused mercy itself standing among them, and those careful not to enter the judgment hall lest they be defiled so they might eat the Passover were putting to death the spotless One the lamb represented.
Faith Obedience and Remembrance
Salvation provided in the lamb was not automatic, but effective only for those who by their own acts showed faith in it by doing what God commanded. The household had to manifest that faith by obedience, gathering inside the house prepared to leave and marking the doorway with blood as directed. The blood was the sign the destroying angel was to respect in passing over the dwelling, yet it did not shield a household that disregarded instruction. Even a Hebrew household that refused the directions would have its firstborn exposed to judgment just as the Egyptians were.
The faith and obedience of the parents covered not themselves alone but their children with them, so that the whole marked household that trusted and obeyed was shielded from the destroying angel. That covering of the children through the parents' faithful act stands as a lesson on gathering children within and guarding the family.
The Passover was ordained to be kept yearly in memory of deliverance, to keep God's wonderful works before the mind. Its observance was to call minds away from world-loving interests and temporal cares and anxieties to review His miracles, mercies, and loving-kindness, that love and reverence might increase and lead to ever looking to Him and trusting Him in trials and not turning to other gods. The lamb was slain and eaten at a night assembly as a hasty meal, roasted with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, with loins girded, shoes on feet, and staff in hand, while the story of the sprinkled blood, the death-dealing angel, and the grand march from the land of bondage was rehearsed. Kept in solemn assembly at Jerusalem in solemn silence, the service stirred the imagination and impressed the heart, fixing the memory of God's past deliverance and His commandments in children and youth.
The demand for a year-old lamb without blemish pointed to perfect purity and teaches daily consecration to God and constant dependence on atoning blood. It teaches that those who give themselves to God are to offer Him their best service. The sacrifice of the life given for the life of the world is to be made by the church in all succeeding ages a subject of deep thought and study, with every fact connected with it verified beyond doubt.