| “For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7). |
| When the Israelites kept the Passover, they probably did not realize the full meaning of it. Yes, they knew that if they put the blood on the door, they would be safe inside, and the firstborn in that house would not be killed. Later on, when the Lord gave them the law through Moses, they learned the importance of sacrifices in which blood was shed. However, the full importance of the Passover was not brought out until the New Testament. |
| As we see in our verse for today, the Apostle Paul could remind those in Corinth that “even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.” This shows that the Passover was a picture of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, for He was the true Lamb of God. When John the Baptist first saw the Lord Jesus, He said by inspiration, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). All those lambs that were offered every year when the Passover was kept could not take sin away permanently; they rather looked on to the Lord Jesus, who was the true Passover. |
| History tells us that at the time the Lord Jesus was here on this earth, the population of the city of Jerusalem was about 55,000 people. However, it is estimated that at Passover time, there were about 180,000 people in the city. They came from many areas around Jerusalem, to keep the Passover there. Can you imagine that number of extra people in the city? They did not have hotels and other accommodation the way we have today, and even today, more than 100,000 extra people coming into a city of that size would make many problems — water, places to stay, toilets, garbage disposal, etc. You can picture it, and smell it! Somehow they all had to find places to sleep at night, and food to eat. |
| Can you imagine the number of lambs that were slaughtered every year at that time? Every family would have had a lamb, so thousands would have been sacrificed. The narrow lanes of that city would have been crowded with lambs being led along. Yet those sacrifices “can never take away sins” (Hebrews 10:11). But the Lord Jesus, “after He had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down on the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:12). The work was done, and God was fully satisfied. His Son was the true Passover. |
