Jesus, the Passover Lamb of God

Exodus 12 is about the first Passover, and it’s one of the most important chapters in the entire Word of God. Typically, I record one podcast for every chapter of the Bible, but this one is so centrally important to Judaism and Christianity that I decided to record two separate episodes. Part 1 is about Passover for Jews, and Part 2 is about Passover for Christians.

In the book of Exodus, the Jewish people cried out to God for deliverance from 400 years of slavery. The Lord responded by sending nine plagues against their Egyptian masters, and a tenth final judgment that would result in death for every home not under His protection. The final plague was death for every firstborn human and every firstborn animal not found safely under God’s wings.

The Jews were commanded to kill a lamb and place its blood over the door to each of their homes. This required a great leap of faith because the Egyptians were animists, and they would consider blood displayed from a sacrificial lamb to be blasphemous. Seeing the blood of the lamb, the Lord’s angel of death would “pass over,” sparing them from God’s judgment, while His wrath was poured out on Egypt. Religious Jews still celebrate Passover annually, commemorating Yahweh’s protection and their supernatural deliverance from bondage in Egypt.

The New Testament treats the Exodus account and the blood of its Passover lambs as prophetic foreshadowing pointing to Jesus. In identifying Him as Israel’s Messiah, John the Baptist called Jesus “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29b). Paul explicitly called Jesus, “Christ, our Passover lamb” (1 Cor 5:7b, NIV). The Lord’s impetuous friend Peter explained that we have been redeemed by “the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:19b). These and many other New Testament verses link Jesus to the Passover lambs whose blood identified and delivered God’s people.

All four Gospels clearly present Passover as the setting for Jesus’ Last Supper and His sacrifice at Calvary. God sent His only Son to the cross as “a lamb slain from the creation of the world” (Rev 13:8, NIV). We celebrate Jesus as the Passover Lamb of God, and His blood is what identifies us as belonging to God, just as the blood of the original Passover lambs did for Israel. The benefits of His blood can only be appropriated to us by faith and faith alone. By putting our faith in Jesus, He posts His blood over the door posts to our hearts; we are born again and His blood saves us from slavery to sin and eternal damnation.

Listen to Part 1 and Part 2 of this study of Exodus 12 on The Whole Word Podcast on Charisma Podcast Network now. {eoa}

Pitts and Mary Evans met at the University of South Carolina and have been married since 1981. They have three adult children, a daughter in-law, a son in-law and eight grandchildren. Pitts first attended Whole Word Fellowship with his parents in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was later called to full-time ministry and currently serves as the senior pastor of WWF and the Northern Virginia House of Prayer. He is the voice of our weekday The Whole Word Podcast. Pastor Pitts also directs our international ministry, overseeing humanitarian efforts, combating human trafficking, ministering in pastor’s conferences, Bible schools and seminaries in other nations. His primary calling is for recruiting and equipping the bride of Christ through Bible teaching and preaching. His new book, The Wife of God, is available from Amazon.