The Passover

The first of the listed topics I wanted to look at quickly is the Passover. It seems likely to me that I'll bang some other drums before I get to the other topics (the Psalms is a personal favorite), but these pictures are too good to pass up.

We know explicitly from Scripture that the passover is a type of Christ; see Jn 1.29, 1Co 5.7. The idea of Christ as a Lamb embodies the notion of the Passover.

The month of the Passover is the first month of the year in the Jewish calendar, and so the first image we're confronted with is that of a new beginning. It parallels our new life in Christ, I think.

As with the other plagues on the land, this was used to make a distinction between the Israelites and the Egyptians (Ex 11.7). So, too, we see that the death of Christ makes a distinction between Satan's children and God's children. What we often miss is that every firstborn in Egypt, Israelite and Egyptian alike, was under condemnation. They were all under the sentence of death. Likewise, all of humanity stands condemned before God; his children are distinguished by the blood of Christ. (We see later that the Passover was only to be eaten by Israelite citizens or those circumcised, which emphasizes the distinction further.)

The people were instructed to avoid all leaven. We see this symbol used repeatedly in the NT for human works and effort (Mt 16.6,12; Ga 5.9); in type, it represents that nothing is to be added to the work of Christ.¹

The people were also instructed to observe the passover for ever (Ex 12.24), just as we are to understand that the death of Christ is forever effective.

They were not to break any of the bones when they killed the Passover (Ex 12.46). In a fulfillment of prophecy (Ps 34.20), we read of Christ that none of his bones was broken (Jn 19.36).


If I'm permitted to read a bit between the lines here, I think we see some other interesting bits. It seems likely to me that the sacrifices were killed by the head of the house, so the father would see to it that the lamb selected was proper (a year old, without blemish; Ex 12.5, cf. Ep 1.4) and would slaughter it.

The picture becomes more poignant (to me, at least) when we realize that the father applied the blood to save his child—the firstborn did not save himself.

The blood alone was effective at mitigating judgment; the firstborn's feelings on the subject had little bearing on whether he woke up the next morning. His faith, in other words, affected how he slept, but it didn't keep him alive. This seems consistent to me with what (I think) the New Testament says about redemption—that it is accomplished solely through the faithfulness of Christ, by the power of his blood.


[1] We read of three times that Christ blesses bread in the gospel of Mark: the feeding of the four thousand, the feeding of the five, and the passover meal that he shares with his disciples. After the first two miracles, we expect—and rightly—that when Christ blesses the bread, it abounds. But here, he says, "Take, eat, this is my body" (emphasis added). And we see that his death is sufficient to cover all our sin. There is nothing to be added.