Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John 1:29
This week around the world the Jewish people are celebrating Passover. This holiday is observed in memory of the Israelites Exodus from Egypt after over 400 years of slavery. The word Pesach is the Hebrew word for Passover meaning, passage or to pass.
Exodus 12 describes the Lords ordinances for the first Passover.(Read it!) As a believer in Jesus, the Messiah, it is impossible to read this chapter without connecting Gods deliverance of the Israelites through the blood of the lamb to the Lamb of God spoken about in John 1:29.
To put it simply Pesach, or Passover, is the celebration of our passage from slavery to freedom, death to life. There was only one way to make this passage for the Hebrew people then, and theres only one way for us to make this passage now. It is through the blood. (The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you. Ex 12:13.) It is only through the sacrifice of the lamb and the blood on the doorposts that the people could be saved from death and pass from slavery to freedom. The blood on the doorposts signified to God those who believed in Him and trusted in His salvation. So too, the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, protects and saves those who believe and trust in Him. (Truly I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in the One who sent Me has eternal life and does not come into judgment but has passed (Pesach) out of death into life. John 5:24)
Passover is not about what the Israelites did, it is about what God did and still does for those who choose to believe and accept His sacrifice. This is the message of Passover; Its the blood that saves. Just as the Israelites could not save themselves, so too are we without hope in this world. But God so loved, loves us, He sent His Son to save us, to give us life through His blood; (For you were redeemed with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. 1Pet 1:19 )
As Christians we celebrate the Lords Passover by believing and trusting in the blood that was shed for us on the cross. Jesus is our Passover. He made a way, a Pesach, (passage) from death to life, for all those who would willingly accept and apply the blood for the cleansing of our unrighteousness and washing away of sin. (All things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Heb 9:22)
Through the blood of Jesus, the Passover lamb, we are able to fulfill the commandment of Exodus 12:27 to observe not only this day, but every day, as a permanent ordinance, to commemorate, celebrate, and rejoice in our salvation, our Pesach! (And it will be said in that day, Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited, that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation! Is 25:9)
Behold! The Lamb of God!