Our Passover Lamb

God brings ten plagues against the nation of Egypt because Pharaoh would not let God’s people, the Israelites, leave Egypt. In Exodus 12 the last plague is unleashed upon Egypt. The last plague is the death of the first born. The Israelites are saved from this plague if they follow the instructions that God gives them.

This is when God establishes the Passover.

The Passover celebrates God’s miraculous deliverance of His people from slavery in Egypt. The focal point of the ceremony was the sacrifice of the Passover lamb whose blood was placed on the doorframes of the houses of the Israelites. While God enacted this final plague, the Israelites in the homes with the blood of the lamb on them were spared from the death of their first born.

God gave the Israelites clear specifications for the lamb that could be used at Passover – the lamb had to a young male, without any blemish or defect. In order to ensure its purity, the lamb was examined for a time following its selection. Those animals meeting God’s requirements were sacrificed in public, and none of the animal’s bones could be broken.

Exodus 12:46

It must be eaten inside the house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones.

The severity of the coming judgment required that the people of God observe this sacrifice with the utmost care. The annual commemoration of the Passover reminded the people both of the faithfulness of God to provide deliverance for His people and of their ongoing need for a substitute to pay the price their sin deserved.

The Passover sacrifice is a clear picture in the Old Testament of the coming work of Jesus.

At the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry, John the Baptist called Jesus the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

John 1:29

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is recognizing Jesus as our Savior who died as a sacrifice for our sin.

Jesus’ life met the requirements for a Passover sacrifice.

Jesus was a young male.

Jesus was perfect in all His ways.

1 Peter 2:22

He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth.

Jesus died a heinous, public death.

Mark 15:20

And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put His own clothes on Him. Then they led Him out to crucify Him.

Jesus’ bones were not broken in the crucifixion.

John 19:36

These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of His bones will be broken.”

Jesus’ death and the shedding of His blood brought us salvation and spare us from the coming judgment.

Romans 5:9

Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him!

Ephesians 2:13

But now in Christ Jesus you once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Jesus fulfills the divine image of the Passover lamb.

1 Peter 1:19

But with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

1 Corinthians 5:7

Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch – as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

Jesus’ perfect purity and substitutionary death uniquely qualified Him to be the Savior. As the one and only Son of God, He could do what no one or nothing else could ever do – He could eternally satisfy God’s wrath against sin.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is receiving Jesus as the atoning sacrifice for our sin.

There is one difference between the Passover lamb of the Old Testament and our Passover lamb, Jesus. The difference is that the lamb had no choice in being the sacrifice. Jesus chose to be our sacrifice.

With Jesus as the Atoning Sacrifice, Raising the Roof and

Removing the Walls,

                                                     Joe