Jesus, Our Passover Lamb

Below are notes to a sermon preached Sunday evening, June 06, 2004, at Gospel Light Baptist Church, Albany, Georgia. 

JESUS, OUR PASSOVER LAMB
By Michael D. O’Neal                        Pastor, Gospel Light Baptist Church                        Albany, Georgia

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Scripture Reading: Exodus 12:1-6

Text: Exodus 12:5

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

Introduction: Jesus said that there are things found in the Old Testament that are about Him:

John 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

Specifically, he said that the writings of Moses, such as our passage before us tonight, told of Jesus, when He stated:

John 5:46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.

After His resurrection, Jesus had a Bible study with two discouraged disciples:

Luke 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Tonight I want us to look at one of the most obvious references to Jesus Christ in the book of Exodus, in the passover lamb.

1 Corinthians 5:7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

Tonight’s message is titled:

JESUS, OUR PASSOVER LAMB

I want you to notice that we find in the passage:

1. “a lamb” in verse 3;
2. “the lamb” in verse 4; and
3. “your lamb” in verse 5

I. JESUS IS THE PROVIDED LAMB

Exodus 12:3 Speak ye unto 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:

Notice the words, “a lamb,” and remember that our Lord came into this world as “a lamb.”

When Abraham obeyed God in taking Isaac to the mountain to offer him up for a sacrifice, Isaac asked his father where the lamb was for a burnt offering:

Genesis 22:8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

There it is again: “a lamb.”

The words “a lamb” occur in the Bible in 27 verses, exactly as many books are in the New Testament.

They occur FIVE times in the New Testament, and each time is a reference to the death of the Substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Acts 8:32 The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:

1 Peter 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

Revelation 5:6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

Revelation 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

(This is a reference to the antichrist, but he speaks LIKE a lamb; that is, he is a COUNTERFEIT substitute for the Lord Jesus Christ. During the Tribulation he will imitate the death and miraculous resurrection of Christ.)

Revelation 14:1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.

A. He was supplied by God

B. He was a substitute

C. He was satisfactory to God
     1. God was specific in His instructions.
     2. Another animal’s blood would not prevent the death of the firstborn.

II. JESUS IS THE PARTICULAR LAMB

Exodus 12:4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.

The first time the words “the lamb” occur in the Old Testament is when Abraham was going to offer up Isaac on the mountain in Moriah.

Genesis 22:7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

Where is the lamb? was his cry! Abraham’s answer: GOD WILL PROVIDE A LAMB! Where is the one God provided? Answered by John the Baptist in the first time the words “the lamb occur in the New Testament:

John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

THE means a number of things, and one of them is “unique.”

A. He was unique in His manifestation

B. He was unique in His miracles
     1. Nicodemus – John 3:1-2

C. He was unique in His message
     1. John 7:46 The officers answered, Never man spake like this man.

D. He was unique sin His mission
     1. John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 

III. JESUS IS THE PERSONAL LAMB

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

There is only ONE place in the Bible where the words “your lamb” occurs, and that is right here.

A. There must be a personal alarm

B. There must be a personal answer

C. There must be a personal application
     1. The blood had to be applied to the door of the house.
     2. This is what we mean by accepting Jesus as your personal Savior.

Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

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