12 Ways Jesus Fulfilled the Passover Lambs

In 1 Cor. 5:7, the Apostle Paul calls Jesus Christ our Passover Lamb. Throughout the New Testament, in fact, Jesus is called a Lamb.

Why is this? Did Jesus truly fulfill the Passover lamb? Yes, He did! Here are twelve ways.

Number one: Jesus, mounted on a donkey, entered Jerusalem on Nisan 10 to become our Passover Lamb, and the multitudes acclaimed Him as the King of Israel. We know this from comparing and combining the accounts in the four gospels, especially the detailed accounts in Mark and John. Likewise, in Ex. 12:3, God commanded the Israelites to select lambs for the Passover on Nisan 10.

Number two: once set aside, the Passover lambs would have been inspected daily from Nisan 10 until Nisan 14 to ensure that they had no blemishes. So, too, as we find in Luke 22:53, Jesus Christ was questioned and cross-examined daily from Nisan 10 until His crucifixion on Nisan 14, as the priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees sought desperately to find some fault in Him.

Number three: on Nisan 14, the day of Jesus’ crucifixion, Pontius Pilate three times declared Him to be without fault. 1 Pet. 1:19 also calls Jesus a Lamb without blemish and without spot. So, too, the Passover lambs had to be without blemish and without spot, as we are told in Ex. 12:5.

Number four: in Ex. 12:6, God commanded the Passover lambs to be slain by the whole assembly of Israel. In John 3:16 and throughout the New Testament, we find that Jesus died for the sins of all mankind, and therefore we all brought about His death.

Number five: Isa. 53:7 prophesied that Jesus Christ would be led as a lamb to the slaughter — the PERFECT description of a Passover lamb!

Number six: John 19:36 tells us that not one of Jesus’ bones was broken, a direct fulfillment of God’s command in Ex. 12:46 not to break any of the Passover lamb’s bones.

Number seven: Jesus Christ shed His blood to deliver us from the death penalty for our sins, just as the Passover lambs shed their blood in Egypt to deliver the Israelites from the death angel.

Number eight: God commanded the Israelites in Egypt to smear the lambs’ blood around the doors of their dwellings. In John 10:7 & 9, we read that Jesus Himself is the door, and we also read in John 19:34 that He shed His blood for us at His death.

Number nine: the Israelites roasted the Passover lambs with fire, as we can read in Ex. 12. Even this foreshadowed Christ’s death. Fire represents trial and suffering for the purpose of purification, as we see in 1 Pet. 4:12-13, Mal. 3:2-23, and 1 Cor. 3:15. Christ suffered on our behalf, even the death of the cross (Phil. 2:8). Furthermore, Heb. 2:10 says that Christ’s sacrifice was made perfect through sufferings, and 1 Pet. 4:12-13 compares it to a fiery trial!

Number ten: the normal method of roasting a lamb is on a spit suspended over the fire between two stakes. So, too, Jesus Christ died suspended on a cross between two criminals!

Number eleven: God commanded the Israelites to sacrifice the Passover lambs at an appointed time on Nisan 14, as we see in Num. 9:2-13. So, too, Jesus Christ died at an appointed time on Nisan 14, His death foreordained, according to Rev. 13:8, from the foundation of the world.

We’ve now seen that Jesus Christ fulfilled the Passover lambs in every way possible. The whole Passover ceremony, from the very beginning, pointed to Christ and Him crucified, as we find in 1 Cor. 2:2!

So we’ve seen eleven ways that Jesus fulfilled the Passover lambs. One more remains, and it’s a big one!

Number twelve: Christ our Passover died on the afternoon of Nisan 14, at the ninth hour. We’re told this three times in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. Our Passover sacrifice happened on the afternoon of Nisan 14! When the Passover lambs died in the Old Testament, it was “between the two evenings,” which is falsely translated “twilight” in some versions. However, a careful study of the Bible shows beyond any shadow of a doubt that “between the two evenings” means the afternoon at the ninth hour — precisely the same time of day that Jesus died! And of course it was. Passover always pointed to Jesus Christ and His crucifixion, just as it does today!

Jesus Christ fulfilled everything about the Passover lamb. He didn’t fulfill everything except the time of its death; He fulfilled everything! And there we have it: twelve ways Jesus Christ fulfilled the Passover lambs.

Jesus Christ is our Passover lamb. Our Passover lamb died on the afternoon of the 14th. One can only partake of a Passover sacrifice after it has happened, which means that Passover must take place after Christ’s death, which was on the afternoon of the 14th!

If you’d like more information about this topic, you can find a link to the book The Lord’s Passover here: https://wccongregationofgod.org/the-lords-passover.html. You can read it for free online, or order it in paperback or e-book format from Amazon.

I hope that you all, like the Bereans, will study God’s word, examine these things, and see whether they are true. I hope you have an amazing week, and may God be with you in your studies and your walk with Him!