1 And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, 2 This month shall be to you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.3 Speak you to all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: you shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:6 And you shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. it.9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the entrails thereof.10 And you shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remains of it until the morning you shall burn with fire.11 And thus shall you eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’s passover.12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.13 And the blood shall be to you for a token on the houses where you are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. 14 And this day shall be to you for a memorial; and you shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; you shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.

The Passover is about a Lamb, a Lamb that was slain. The Passover was about a lamb back in the time of Moses, and it is still about a Lamb, whether that lamb be Moses’s lamb or Mary’s Lamb. You see, Mary’s Lamb was a fulfillment of the prophecy of Moses’s lamb.

The Passover background.

The Jews were slaves in the land of Egypt. And, God is going to take them out of slavery in Egypt; He’s going to redeem them, and He’s going to bring them into the Promised Land, the land that flows with milk and honey, out of the land of bondage and into the land of victory.

How is He going to deliver His people? He’s going to do it with a Lamb. If you were to think of the epitome of weakness, it would be a lamb, a little, innocent, weak, small, defensive animal, a lamb. “As a lamb before her shearers is dumb, so he” Jesus, “openeth not his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). He just seems to present Himself to death.

They were down in Egypt. Pharaoh is a picture of Satan. Egypt is a picture of bondage. The emblem of Egypt was a serpent. That’s the symbol of Egypt, a venomous, poisonous, dangerous serpent.

A Symbolic Promise in Moses’ Lamb

The Jews are slaves in Egypt, and God is getting ready to bring them out.

In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: kill it in the evening” (Exodus 12:1–6). verse 11: “And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’s Passover” (Exodus 12:11). “Moses, tell the people to take a little lamb. It is the lamb that is going to deliver them”

What Kind of Lamb?

The Lamb Had to Be Male

Exodus 12:5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: you shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:

The Lamb Had to Be Without Spot or Blemish

It was examined for three-and-one-half days. They looked at the lamb to see if there was any spot, any blemish. The lamb had to be spotless, a perfect lamb, picturing the spotless Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ

It was examined for three-and-one-half days. They looked at the lamb to see if there was any spot, any blemish. They would go carefully through the wool. They would open the mouth—examine the inside of the mouth. They would examine even the eyelids of the little lamb. And, that lamb had to be spotless—a perfect lamb, picturing the spotless Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Condemnation of the Lamb

The lamb was to be slain—that innocent little lamb (Exodus 12:6). God is teaching His people so long ago what the Bible teaches in the New Testament, “without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin (Hebrews 9:22). Salvation is not learning lessons from the life of Christ; it is receiving life from the death of Christ. That is what it is all about. And so, you see the character of the lamb; you see the condemnation of the lamb.

The Appropriation of the Lamb

They were to “take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it” (Exodus 12:7). They had to act in faith and follow Moses’s guidelines given by God, in order for the first born to be spared.

Everybody that went into that house, or everybody that came out of that house, went in and out under the blood. That is, they were confessing that there had been a lamb slain for that house. There’s no way that they could hide it, nor should they be ashamed of it. There was no substitute for it.

“And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water”—that is, “boiled in water”—“but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. (Exodus 12:8–11).

The blood has to be applied, but the lamb is to be consumed. Now, this lamb was to be roasted with fire because it pictures, again, the Lord Jesus Christ, who took the fires of Hell for us. Can you imagine what the Egyptians must have thought—a quarter of a million lambs being roasted. They are feeding and feasting together on a lamb. The lamb that died for them is now the lamb that is in them.

Don’t Leave Any of the Lamb

“Eat all of the lamb; don’t leave any of it” (Exodus 12:10). So many times, people act as if it is alright to just take part of Jesus, and later take the rest. Well, I’ll take Jesus as my Savior; later on I may make Him my Lord. No, no. You take all of Jesus or none, it is not partial, it is all or nothing.

Eat the Lamb with Bitter Herbs

They were to eat the lamb with bitter herbs. That refers to brokenness, understanding what despicable sinners we are. Many people strut down church aisles like they’re doing God a favor. God, you should be proud you have gotten someone as fine as me, never understanding the magnitude of their sins.

Eat the Lamb with Unleavened Bread

They’re to eat of it with unleavened bread. Leaven is a symbol of evil. Not only are we to be broken over our sins, but we must be broken from our sins. Unleavened bread means that they’re done with the old way. This is the first day in the new calendar for these people. Old things are passed away, behold, all things become new.

Eat the Lamb with Their Loins Girded

They are to eat it with their loins girded, their staff in their hand, ready to travel, because when you receive the Lord Jesus Christ, that’s not the end of it; that is the beginning of it. When they walked out of that house and when they walked out of Egypt, a lamb walked out inside of them. It is Christ in you, the hope of Glory, the beginning of a new year, the beginning of a new life. They were starting brand new from this point.

The Saving Power of Mary’s Lamb

Jeremiah the prophet, after Moses, taught there was coming a new day for Israel—there was a day when God is going to make a new covenant with them. Jeremiah 31:31-32: “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel”—the new covenant is another way of saying “a new testament.” A covenant and a testament are the same thing. We have, in the Bible, the Old Testament and the New Testament—the old covenant and the new covenant. God says, “I’m going to make a new testament with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah”—“Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of … Egypt” He’s talking about the old Passover—“which covenant they broke, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD” (Jeremiah 31:31–32). So, He says, “I’m going to make a new passover, a new covenant—not like the one I made with the old Passover.” And, this new one is this: He said, “I’m going to write God’s law in their hearts. They will have an intimate knowledge of Me, and I will remember their sins no more” (Jeremiah 31:33).

The Jews would keep this memorial feast once a year. They do this in anticipation that Elijah would come and tell them that the Messiah was coming. They’re waiting for him, hoping that he would come at any time and say, “Blessed [is] he that cometh in the name of the LORD” (Psalm 118:26).

John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah, saying, “Behold, the Lamb of God, [that] taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29)—John 1 and verse 29. Two thousand years ago, John the Baptist said, “Behold the Lamb of God” (John 1:29). He is the Elijah who has announced that our Messiah has come.

Mary’s Lamb Was a Spotless Lamb

1 Peter 1:18 For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

By the time of Christ the Jews had begun to raise Passover lambs in Bethlehem, Because God’s little Lamb would be born in Bethlehem. A special breed of lambs would be raised right there. And, these lambs were special lambs because they were born to die. They would bring those lambs from the fields of Bethlehem, they would bring them up to Jerusalem, and they would bring them in on Passover in through a gate called the sheep gate. Now, on the same day that those shepherds were bringing that those lambs in from the fields of Bethlehem up to Jerusalem, up to the Temple Mount, up there to be sacrificed, that same day, the day that Christians call Palm Sunday.

God’s Lamb would be coming that Palm Sunday. He would be coming up through that eastern gate, going into that same temple area. And, the people would be saying, “Hail Him! Hail Him!” They’d be throwing their garments down in front of Him and their palm branches. But, before long, that same fickle crowd would be screaming for His blood, saying, “Nail Him! Nail Him! Crucify Him!” The lambs were coming. God’s Lamb was coming. Up there on that Temple Mount they would be examining the Passover lambs. The priests, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the Levites would be looking at those lambs to make sure that they were spotless and perfect, the same time they were examining God’s Lamb, Jesus.

Have you ever wondered why so much time in the gospels is given to the last week in the life of Christ?

Because of the examination that is going on, they were examining Jesus. He was examined by Herod, He was examined by Pilate. He was examined by all of those who were there looking for some fault, looking for some flaw. They had to get false witnesses to find some fault in Him, because there was no fault in Him. He could say, “Which of you can convict Me of sin?” They had to say, as Pilate, “I find no fault in Him.” They had to say, “Never a man spoke like this man.” He was God’s spotless Lamb!

The Lamb was Convicted

Pilate said, “Let him be crucified” (Matthew 27:2). And, the Jewish sundown begins at 6:00 p.m. Jesus now says to His disciples, Go into the city and prepare for us. We’re going to eat Passover.” It was the last of the old ones and the old covenant, and it was hosted by Jesus Himself.

Jesus, took bread and broke it, And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is [broken] for you” (Luke 22:19). This broken bread represents My body.” If you were to take a piece of matzo bread and look at it, you would see it both striped, and pierced, and baked in fire. “With His stripes we’re healed. He was pierced for our transgressions” (Isaiah 53:5).

Leaven represents sin, when Jesus took the bread and said, “This is my body” (Luke 22:19), it was unleavened. There was no sin in it because in from Adam all the way down—all of us have inherited the sin of Adam. Thank God, there is a new Adam, Jesus the Lamb, the new passover. There is new unleavened bread. There’s a brand new start in the Lord Jesus Christ. He took the cup—Messiah’s cup, Messiah’s cup—and He says, “ ‘This cup is the new [covenant] in my blood.’ Drink ye all of it” (Luke 22:20). And, the old Passover is over; there is a new Passover.

The Lamb is Condemned

Jesus now goes to dark Gethsemane, from there, He goes up to the Temple Mount, and there Jesus was crucified Mount Moriah. Mount Moriah where was the Jewish temple built. On Mount Moriah
years ago, before Jesus was born in the flesh, God came to the father of the Hebrew nation. His name was Abraham. And, God said to Abraham, “Abraham, take your son, Isaac—your only son, the son of promise, the son of miracle, the son of your love, the son of all of your hopes—take that son and sacrifice him upon a place that I will tell you of the exact place.” Mount Moriah, the same place where Jesus died! And, Isaac, who as they’re going up Mount Moriah, he says, “Father, father, look—you’re going up there to make a sacrifice. Here’s the wood to burn the offering. Here’s the fire to set the wood on fire. Where’s the lamb?” He didn’t know that he was the lamb. And, Abraham said in faith, “God will provide Himself a lamb. ”

You remember that dramatic moment when Isaac got up, because there was a ram with his head caught in a thicket—a ram crowned with thorns that pictures the Lord Jesus Christ. And, Abraham called that place Jehovah Jireh—“the Lord will provide.”

Now, we understand what Jesus meant when He said, “Abraham saw My day and was glad” (John 8:56). Abraham saw that God would provide Himself a lamb. The Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ! There on Mount Moriah, 3:00 in the afternoon, the lambs were there, and God’s Lamb was there. The priests took the throats of those little lambs, and with their lethal knife they cut those throats; and the blood began to flow. God’s Lamb is hanging on the cross, and the sun hides its face. It becomes dark as midnight. And, God’s Lamb cries out, “My God, my God, why hath thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34). He became the sin bearer. And, all of the sins of all of the worlds were distilled upon the Lord Jesus. He cries out in victory, “ ‘It is finished’ (John 19:30. You can stop killing lambs now, I just finished the sacrifice once and for all. As John the Baptist said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, [that] taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

The Confession of the Lamb

In the old Passover they had to openly confess the lamb, in order for judgment to Passover them. The Passover angel came through the land of Egypt. And, if there was a house that did not have the blood on the door posts, judgment came to that house.

Jesus said, “If you’re ashamed of Me, I’ll be ashamed of you” (Luke 9:26). You are to openly and publicly confess the Lamb. Take the blood by faith and strike it on the door posts of your heart. Remember, Jeremiah said, “I’ll make a new covenant. This time I’ll write it upon their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33). Openly and publicly confess the Lord Jesus. Romans 10:9–10: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9).

Sharing the Lamb

In Moses’s lamb, they fed on the lamb. We feed upon the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s why we have the Lord’s Supper. It is Passover now that has been transformed into a memorial feast remembering God’s Lamb. And so, we sit at the Lord’s Table, still celebrating Passover. We take that broken bread: “This is my body which is [broken] for you” (Luke 22:19). “This is my blood” (Luke 22:20). This is the new covenant that Jeremiah spoke of so long ago.

“For … Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7).

People in the land of Egypt overcame judgment
because they by faith went under Moses’s lamb

Since Jesus died on the Cross, the only way people can escape Judgment is by faith, placing themselves under the blood of Mary’s Lamb, JESUS.