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symbolically partaking (eating) the lamb of God, salvation comes to any person who by faith trusts in
Him.

It is interesting that at 3:00 PM on the day that Passover would begin (at or about 6:00 PM) the Israelites
were commanded to sacrifice their Passover Lamb, the EXACT time when Jesus said, “It is finished.” The
lamb of God gave up His life at the exact time the Passover lambs were killed! Was that a coincidence,
or was it a fulfillment of the Passover rehearsal?

The New Testament establishes a relationship between this prototypical Passover lamb and the
consummate Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 5:7). The prophet John the Baptist recognized
Jesus as “the Lamb of God” (John 1:29), and the apostle Peter links the lamb without defect (Exodus
12:5) with Christ, whom he calls a “lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:19). Jesus is qualified to
be called One “without blemish” because His life was completely free from sin (Hebrews 4:15). In
Revelation, John the apostle sees Jesus as “a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain” (Revelation 5:6). Jesus
was crucified during the time that the Passover was observed (Mark 14:12).

The Bible says believers have symbolically applied the sacrificial blood of Christ to their hearts and thus
have escaped eternal death (Hebrews 9:12, 14). Just as the Passover lamb’s applied blood caused the
“destroyer” to pass over each household, Christ’s applied blood causes God’s judgment to pass over
sinners and gives life to believers (Romans 6:23).

As the first Passover marked the Hebrews’ release from Egyptian slavery, so the death of Christ marks
our release from the slavery of sin (Romans 8:2). As the first Passover was to be held in remembrance as
an annual feast, so Christians are to memorialize the Lord’s death in communion until He returns (1
Corinthians 11:26).

The Old Testament Passover lamb, although a reality in that time, was a mere foreshadowing or
rehearsal of the better and final Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ. God was illustrating His progress of
redemption. Through His sinless life and sacrificial death, Jesus became the only One capable of giving
people a way to escape death and a sure hope of eternal life (1 Peter 1:20-21).

Moses directed the people to Sinai, a mountain in today’s southern Saudi Arabia. On this mountain God
gave His chosen nation His Laws. God also made a special covenant at Mount Sinai (Deut. 5:2-3). This
covenant and law was made only with Israel. It served to sanctify Israel as God’s chosen people on earth
(Deut. 7:6). It also taught men the horribleness of sin and revealed that no man was without sin (Rom.
7:13). Israel’s experience with the law demonstrates clearly the need for a redeemer from sin. Israel
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was a monument to the futility of redemption by the works of the flesh.

If Jesus is our atonement, why did He die at Passover instead of the Day of Atonement?

Every one of the Old Testament sacrifices typified Christ. The Passover, or paschal, sacrifice was a type
of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God. The paschal lamb was to be a male, without spot and
blemish, and not a bone was to be broken. Jesus fulfilled this picture perfectly. As the Israelites applied
the blood of the sacrifice in faith, so we today apply the spotless blood of Christ to the “doorposts” of
our hearts. In all these ways, “Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7).

10 https://www.gotquestions.org/Passover-Lamb.html (Used by permission)

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