Today we further our study of the Passover, which was judgment upon Egypt, but deliverance for God's people. In I Corinthians 5:7 we read "...for Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed." The Passover was a biblical model of the sacrifice of Jesus that sets us free from the bondage of this world. The first instruction the Lord gave concerning the Passover was that the Jews were to change their calendar so the month in which it took place was the first month of the year, to represent how the Passover would make a new beginning for them (see Exodus 12:1-2). This was a prophecy that when we partake of the Passover sacrifice of Jesus we become a "new creation," and "all things become new" to us (see I Corinthians 5:17 NKJV). Now we will look at the next aspect of the Passover that illuminates what the cross accomplished for us in Exodus 12:3, 5-6:

 

     "Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying,

     'On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves,

     according to their fathers' households, a lamb for each household.
 

     'Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old;

     you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
 

     'And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month,

     then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight."'

 

 

Here we see that the lamb was to be taken into the house for five days before it was to be sacrificed. This was to be prophetic of how Jesus would enter Jerusalem five days before he was crucified. We also see that Jesus was crucified on the Day of Preparation for the Passover, and died that evening (see John 19:14). In Exodus 12:6 we also see that the lambs were to be killed at twilight. Because the Hebrew day begins in the evening (6:00 p.m.), at the very time when all of Israel was slaying the typical Passover lambs, the Passover Lamb, Jesus, was dying on the cross right in their midst, perfectly fulfilling the type.

 

As we see in Exodus 12:5, the Passover lambs had to be an "unblemished male." This was to speak of the sinless nature of Jesus. The reason why the Israelites were to take the lamb into their houses five days before the sacrifice was to thoroughly examine it for flaws. What did the Jewish leaders do to Jesus the entire five days that He was in Jerusalem before His crucifixion? They examined Him continually seeking to find fault so that they could condemn Him, but they found none. Even Pilate finally said, "I find no fault in Him" (see John 19:4 NKJV). Jesus was the acceptable Passover sacrifice of God.

 

In Exodus 12:6 we read, "...the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight." In Matthew 27:22 we read of the crowd gathered at the trial of Jesus, "…They all said, 'Let Him be crucified!'" In verse 25 it states, "And all the people answered and said, 'His blood be on us and on our children!'" This was not just a statement of how the Jewish people rejected Him, but about how He was being crucified for the sin of all men, and because all men have rejected Him.

 

As the Lord Himself declared in Matthew 25:40, "...Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me." To the degree we have ever rejected even the least of the Lord's people, we have rejected Him. We may be appalled by how Judas betrayed the Lord, and Peter denied Him when He needed His friends the most, but to the degree we have ever betrayed one of the Lord's people, even the least of them, we have done it to Him. To the degree we have denied, or refused to associate with one of the Lord's people, even the least of them, even those who may have doctrinal error, or other problems, we have done it to Him.

 

Jesus was without blemish, perfect, but we are not. That is why He died for us. He even died for those who crucified Him. Regardless of the flaws or sins in our lives, He will forgive us, and cleanse us. If we have denied Him or betrayed Him by denying or betraying any of His people, He will forgive us of that also. He forgave Peter, and He could have even forgiven Judas if he had returned to Him as Peter did. What made Judas incorrigible was that he hung himself. Obviously Judas felt great remorse for what he had done, but by hanging himself he tried to pay the price for his own sin.

 

When we try to pay the price for our own sins it can make us incorrigible or beyond help. By doing so, we refuse the grace of God at the cross. We must learn that, regardless of how great our mistakes are, we can never pay the price for our own sin. The cross alone is the propitiation for sin. To offer any other kind of penitence is an affront to the cross, and a statement that the cross is not enough, that we somehow must pay the price for this one. We must flee from all such delusions that there is anything we can do to pay the price for our own sin, and flee to the cross. There we will find grace and forgiveness from the Perfect One who is also perfect in love.