Passover Lamb

Exodus 12:3-6

            Having kids has definitely changed my perspective on many things. There are things that I see differently now, not necessarily because I am wiser (although I hope I am) but because experiences can shape the way you view things.

            One thing that I have a new understanding on is the Passover lamb. We read in Exodus 12 that each family had to pick their lamb and bring it into their homes for four days. This is an interesting part of the Passover tradition that isn’t talked about as much.

            Having kids has made me think about this in new ways. I know that all my kids generally love animals- especially April. I can remember taking the kids to a zoo before April could even walk and with each passing animal she would ooh and aah. There’s not a doubt in my mind that if I brought a young lamb into our house for four days our kids would grow very attached.

              Four days of feeding, protecting, and making sure that lamb stays fit to be the sacrifice it needs to be. However, one can only imagine at the end of those four days the tearful questions of “why” as the lamb was about to be taken for that sacrifice. Fathers and mothers all over Israel would have the chance to explain to their kids about the events of Egypt. They would tell them that the Lord came through the land that night and would only pass over the homes that had the lamb’s blood on the doorpost. They would be able to explain, “Child, this lamb is a substitute- only by the blood of the lamb was life offered where there should have been death.”

            Obviously, this brings us to roughly 2000 years ago around this same time of year that another Passover lamb was getting ready to be sacrificed. The countless number of lambs that were killed from the Exodus to Jesus were only a picture of a greater sacrifice to come.

John the Baptist testified to this- “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)

Peter wrote of it- “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19)

John saw it- “And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain” (Revelation 5:6)

            Easter is a time when we celebrate the resurrection of this lamb. This is as it should be, 1 Corinthians 15:12-19 show us how important this is. However, we must never stop celebrating the life of the lamb as well, for if His life was not what it should have been, there would not have been a resurrection.

           When we think of the life of Jesus, the only innocent life that has ever been lived, it might by easy to have tearful questions of why. Like a young Israelite child who had grown to love the lamb wondering why it must now be taken to be killed. Allow the Word of God to explain, “Child, this lamb is a substitute- only by the blood of the lamb is life offered where there should be death.”