Jesus the Lamb

It was Passover week, AD 33. The bleating of lambs could be heard all over Jerusalem as literally hundreds of thousands of the adorable, four-footed creatures crowded the temple courts, the city streets, and the campsites of the Jewish pilgrims gathered there for the annual Passover celebration. Unaware of their fate, the lambs would soon become the focal point of the celebration when they were sacrificed for the sins of the people on the altar in the great temple.

Passover was the festival commemorating the incredible miracle God performed for His people centuries before in Egypt, when He had instructed the Hebrew slaves to slaughter a lamb, “a male without defect” (Ex. 12:5) and place its blood on the doorframes of their homes. When the terrifying angel of death went throughout Egypt killing the firstborn of every household, it “passed over” the houses that were marked by the blood of the lamb. The result was the great exodus of the Jewish people, free at last from the slavery of cruel Pharaoh.

From that day forward Jews observed Passover, with thousands upon thousands traveling to Jerusalem every year for a big celebration. This particular year, Jesus and his disciples also went up to Jerusalem, with Jesus riding on a donkey and the crowd - already in a celebratory mood - shouting “Hosanna!” as he arrived.

Jesus, however, entered with a heavy heart, for unlike those unsuspecting lambs he was well aware of his fate. John the Baptist had prophesied it three years earlier when he saw Jesus for the first time on the banks of the Jordan and, with finger pointed and eyes blazing, shouted, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) And now that very hour was upon him. He himself was about to become the sacrificial lamb.

So, on that first Good Friday, the same day of the Passover feast, as the lambs were being taken into the temple courts to be prepared for slaughter, Jesus took up his cross and made his way to Golgotha. The only man in history who was sinless and without defect allowed himself to be nailed to the cross, his blood saturating the wood just as the blood had saturated the doorposts in Egypt.

Jesus hung on the cross for six excruciating hours. At twilight, which is also called the ninth hour, all the Passover lambs all over Jerusalem were slaughtered. At that exact moment, Jesus cried out, “It is finished” and breathed his last breath (John 19:30). The sacrifice was complete. In an incredible act of love, he died for the sins of mankind, so that by believing in him we are "passed over" by death and receive eternal life.

And now, as we look forward to Resurrection Sunday, we can rejoice knowing that death was not the end. Jesus is the risen Lord! “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” (Rev. 5:13)

Happy Easter!