March 1

Exodus 12:21-51

            They had to pick out a lamb. Four days before they killed it, they had to pick out a lamb to observe it.  They needed to observe it for any flaws.  The lamb had to be perfect. The lamb might have lived with them.  They must have had a close relationship with it.  Ever watched any You Tubes of lambs?  They are really cute — fluffy wool, dark eyes, ears sticking straight out from their heads, playfully spastic as they jump around.  Four days is long enough to become emotionally attached to the cute little thing.  Then they had to slay it at twilight before the night and day began.  Even in a culture where the slaying of an animal was somewhat routine, it must have hurt.

            Jesus arrived in Jerusalem on the 10^th of Nissan, the day everyone was to pick out a lamb.  He presented Himself as king by riding in royal procession upon donkey according to the prophetic utterance of Zechariah 9:9.  Multitudes loved Him.  Multitudes hated Him.  The leadership had determined that He must die to save the nation. Rejected as King, they chose Him as the sacrificial Lamb.  Jesus died at three in the afternoon on the Day of Preparation, just at the time when the priests were beginning to slay the Paschal lambs.  By sunset His body had been placed in a tomb.

            The Galileans reckoned their days differently than did Judeans.  So, Jesus could genuinely enjoy the Galilean Passover on the evening before He died. By this time in history, the Jews had been celebrating Passover for about 1,470 years.  As He broke the unleavened bread (unleavened spoke of sinlessness), He said, “This is My body broken for you.” Every Seder (Passover meal) has four ceremonial times when everyone sips from a cup of wine.  The third time is called the cup of redemption.  As Jesus led them in the Seder, He lifted up the cup of redemption and said, “This cup is the New Covenant in My blood.  Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of Me.” The next day at the very time that the Judeans were slaying the Passover Lambs, His blood was flowing down the cross to the ground. He gave up the ghost and died. 

            For 3½ millennia Jewish people have celebrated Passover.  I know of no other ritual that has endured for so long.  Why has it endured?  It has endured because it speaks of the glory of God in how He has and He will deliver His people from their sin. The Passover shouts at us that the seed of the woman has crushed the head of the serpent, that the seed of Abraham blesses all the families of the earth, that the servant of the Lord was smitten by God, afflicted for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, that the Lion of the Tribe of Judah has become a lamb to take away the sin of the world, that the Son of David has taken up his scepter to reign, that the Old Covenant which was written on stone tablets is being replaced by a New Covenant which is being written in our hearts.

            We must pick out a lamb.  Will it be the perfect, sinless Lamb of God who was slain on our behalf?  Or will it be another one of our own making or choosing?  The ones of our own choosing are inherently flawed. He is the only perfect One.  To choose another is to invite the wrath of the Lamb.  To choose Him is to invite His unmerited love. Now that is Glory!  Indeed we serve a glorious King.  Speak His glory to someone today!

--Pastor john