WHAT IF GOD HAD NOT COMMANDED THE KEEPING OF THE PASSOVER

One of the most profound and significant events in the Bible is the establishment of the Passover as an eternal institution, as described in Exodus 12. On the tenth day of the first month of the Hebrew calendar, each Israelite household was to take a lamb without blemish and keep it until the fourteenth. At twilight they were to kill it and then they were to take some of its blood and smear it on the doorposts and the lintel of their house were the lamb was being eaten (Exodus 12: 1-7).

This action led to the protection of all the firstborn of Israel, while the angel of death was killing the firstborn of Egypt. Thus, in commemoration of this great event, Israel was to keep the Passover from generation to generation,

But what if God had not ordered the killing of the Passover lamb as described in the book of Exodus and, consequently, had not ordained the commemoration of that event throughout all generations?

Obviously, had this been the case, the firstborn of Israel would not have been spared. Of course, God could have simply ordered the death angel to pass by the Israelites’ homes and concentrate only on the Egyptians. The Israelites could have been ordered to commemorate the event in some other way, rather than the yearly killing of a multitude of gentle lambs. But He chose the more dramatic and memorable way for a special reason.

Christians who understand typology know that the killing of the lamb represented much more than just the sparing of the Israelite firstborn. The Passover not only look back to a time of physical protection, it also looks forward to a time of spiritual protection as a result of the great spiritual lamb: Jesus Christ.

The Passover foreshadowed Jesus Christ, “the lamb without blemish… foreordained before the foundation of the world” (I Peter 1: 19-20). That precious Lamb was to be sacrificed “to bear the sins of many” (Hebrews 9:28, Matthew 26:28), so that we might be delivered “from the wrath to come” (I Thess.1:10).

To give total and undeniable evidence that Christ was the fulfillment of the Old Testament Passover, God orchestrated the events so as to bring about the sacrifice of Christ on the day and the hour when the Passover was killed (Matthew 27:46-59). Thus, the New Testament Passover Lamb was sacrificed and, as a result of its shed blood, the death angel spares those who now believe.

If God had not instituted the Passover, the truth of Christ’s sacrifice as the Lamb of God who died for the sins of the world would not have been as powerfully demonstrated. Also the grand design of God’s plan would not have been as astonishingly evident. All along God has given foretastes of what is to come with brilliant typologies and He has brought about their fulfillment with perfect timing.

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