On the 14th day of the first month, the Jews celebrated the Passover. It was to commemorate their exodus from Egypt. The primary portion of the Passover meal consisted of a lamb without blemish (Exodus 12:1-5).

Today, as Christians, instead of observing the Passover, we observe the Lord’s Supper in re-membrance of Christ, our Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7). Every first day of the week, we partake of unleavened bread that represents the body of our Savior, the Lamb of God (Acts 20:7).

Our Passover Lamb is far more significant than the Passover lamb of the Old Testament, which was simply a foreshadow of something better to come. Our Passover Lamb is unique; in fact, He is one of a kind. We should remember the significance of God providing for us a Lamb Who would become the propitiation for our sins.

In order for this part of God’s scheme of redemption to work, Jesus had to be willing to give up, not only heaven, but the glorious nature that He possessed, and take on a flesh and blood body. Paul referred to this as Christ being made poor (2 Corinthians 8:9). In Philippians 2 he described it as Jesus making Himself nothing.

Philippians 2:7 (NIV)
⁷ rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

So, Jesus gave up heaven and became the Lamb of God. Taking on a human body, however, was not enough. In order to become our Passover Lamb, He had to be sacrificed. Paul goes on to say, “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!” (ver. 8).

Never before or since has anyone humbled himself to this extent. Jesus, being God manifested in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16), could have put a stop to all of this; instead, He was obedient to death, becoming the sin-offering that we so desperately needed, and He did so without protesting. In this way, He fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah.

Isaiah 53:7 (ESV)
⁷ He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

Jesus knew what He was getting into before His incarnation. During His personal ministry, as the time was getting close for Him to complete His mission on the cross, He revealed His fate to His apostles. He told them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death 19 and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified…” (Matthew 20:18-19).

It is amazing that Jesus was willing to come to this earth, not only to die, but to be tortured on a cross. We should forever be thankful that the Son of God was so willing to become our Passover Lamb.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.