The Passover Ritual, Part 3

By Bruce K. Waltke

[Bruce Waltke is Distinguished Professor of Old Testament at Knox Theological Seminary, Fort Lauderdale, and professor emeritus of biblical studies at Regent College, Vancouver. During his professional career he also held professorships in Old Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, and Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando.

This is article three in a three-part series on the Passover ritual. In their original form the articles were a series of evangelistic radio addresses delivered in the 1960s on “Heritage,” a radio program produced by Haddon W. Robinson for Dallas Seminary. They are published here for the first time by permission of Bruce K. Waltke.]

Chapter 4: The Standard For The Passover Lamb

An Exposition Of Exodus 12:1–14

Introduction

Most people are not sure whether or not they will go to heaven when they die. We all hope so, but most folks are not sure. If you think about it, I think you will agree with me that the reason we are not sure is that we are not sure whether or not we will meet God’s standards. We really don’t know just how severe or tolerant God will be with us. If he’s tolerant, maybe we’ll make it; if he’s not—well, we’d rather not think about that. Our uncertainty is like that of a farmer who enters his bull in competition at the state fair. Will he win the blue ribbon? It all depends on the judges. He’s never sure that his bull will satisfy the critical eye of the judges until all the ballots are in and they reach their verdict.

Usually it comes as a surprise to people to learn that the Bible says we can be sure right now whether or not we are going to satisfy God and hence be admitted into his heaven. God has revealed his standard clearly in the Bible. Either we are meeting this standard or we are not. Just as you can tell whether a piece of cloth is too long or too short by measuring it against a yardstick, or tell whether or not you are on time by checking a clock, by using the Bible you can tell right now whether or not you are good enough to enter heaven.

God’s Standard For Entering The Kingdom Of Heaven

The Standard Is Perfection

Just how good do you have to be to be acceptable to God? The Bible says you must be perfect. Perhaps you are thinking that you didn’t hear me correctly. You did. The Bible says you have to be perfect—in fact you must be as perfect as Jesus Christ. Nothing less will satisfy God. Let me prove it to you by quoting the Bible. Quoting Moses, the apostle Paul wrote to the church at Galatia in Galatians 3:10, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.” If we don’t keep the whole law perfectly, God said we are cursed. There is nothing gray here. Either we have kept the whole law, which is said to be perfect (Rom. 7:12), or we have not. Anything short of perfection is not acceptable to a perfect God. Let’s look at another verse. James wrote in James 2:10, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.” That is God’s standard: the whole law or nothing. The Bible knows nothing of a balance with the good works on one side outweighing the bad works on the other side. One bad work, and you’ve had it. There is no ambiguity, no contradiction, and no mincing of words in the Bible on this point. Jesus said in his famous sermon on the mount: “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:20). That’s the standard—perfection. The old Christian song is right: “God wants 100% and 99% won’t do.”

No One Meets The Standard

Is any man perfect? The Bible affirms what you already know to be true about yourself. The Bible says no one is perfect, and hence no one satisfies this standard. Once again quoting the Old Testament, the apostle Paul writes in Romans 3:10, “There is none righteous, not even one.” In verse 23 he concludes, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The question is raised in the book of Job, “Can mankind be just before God? Can a man be pure before his maker?” (Job 4:17). The implied answer is, “of course not.” David confessed in Psalm 51:5, “I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.” Similarly we read in Job 14:4, “Who can make the clean out of the unclean? No one!” Finally, in Job 25:4 Job raises the question that we should ask ourselves: “How then can a man be just with God? Or how can he be clean who is born of a woman?”

How Can Imperfect People Satisfy God?

I want to answer that question: how can imperfect man satisfy a God who demands perfection? In this series of articles we are considering the ancient Passover ritual instituted of God to picture his way of salvation. This ancient ritual vividly illustrates God’s answer to this basic dilemma. It illustrates how a perfect God can accept a sinful man into his heaven. You will recall that at the center of this ancient ritual was a lamb which saved Israel from God’s threatened judgment. That lamb as we have seen is a picture of Jesus Christ who today can save us from the day of God’s wrath. In the previous article we considered the supply of the lamb.[1] In this article I want us to consider the standard for the lamb prescribed in Exodus 12:5 and 6a. By understanding the standard prescribed for the Passover lamb, I hope we will be able to see how sinners like us can be acceptable before a righteous God.

The Standard For The Passover Lamb, Exodus 12:5–6a

Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month.

The Command That The Lamb Be Perfect

There are two truths I wish to point out concerning the standard for the Passover lamb. The first truth is this: the lamb had to be perfect. Consider Exodus 12:5: “Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.” In Leviticus 22:22–24 God tells us what he means when he requires that the lamb be without blemish. It could not be blind, or have a crooked nose, or a broken hoof, or any broken bones; it could not have any boils, scabs, scars, or scurvy upon its skin—its wool must be fleecy white. It had to be perfect to be acceptable before God.

Like the Passover lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ was absolutely perfect and was therefore acceptable to God. The apostle Peter described Jesus as a lamb without blemish and without spot, for we read in 1 Peter 1:18–19, “Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”

The outward perfection of the Passover lamb portrayed the inward perfection of our Savior. He was without sin and therefore acceptable to God. This is the consistent teaching of Scripture. The prophet Isaiah described Jesus beforehand thus: “His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet he was with a rich man in his death, because he had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in his mouth” (Isa. 53:9). Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “[Jesus] knew no sin.” In Hebrew 4:15 we read, “[Jesus was] tempted in all things as we are, yet [he was] without sin.” Returning to Peter, we read, “[Jesus] committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth” (1 Pet. 2:22). In order that he might be without sin, Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and brought forth by the Virgin Mary. Because he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, the angel Gabriel referred to him as “that holy thing” (Luke 1:35, KJV). Jesus of Nazareth was without blemish, holy, and sinless. Two times the heavens opened and God said: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17; 17:5). The first point then is that our Passover lamb, Jesus Christ, was perfect.

The Proof That The Lamb Was Perfect

The second truth I wish us to note concerning the standard for the lamb is that the lamb was not only perfect when it was selected, but had to be proven perfect over a period of time. Exodus 12:6a says, “You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month.” According to verse 3 the lamb was selected on the tenth day: “Speak to all the congregation of Israel saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household.’” The Passover lamb was probably kept in an enclosure between the tenth day, when it was selected, and the fourteenth day, when it was slain. Thus there was a four-day period during which the lamb could be observed and proven to be perfect.

Likewise our Lord was proven to be perfect. His life was observed for thirty-three years by family, friend, and foe, and no one could find a blemish in him. His own family eventually came to believe in him as the lamb of God. For example, the writers of the New Testament letters James and Jude were probably our Lord’s natural brothers. At the end of his life Pontius Pilate, his foe, confessed, “I find no fault in this man” (Luke 23:14; cf. John 19:4, 6). Of the Pharisees, also his foes, Jesus asked: “Which one of you convicts me of sin?” (John 8:46), and there were no accusers. As we have seen, his intimate friends, the disciples, said he was without sin. Even Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him, later said, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood” (Matt. 27:4). So then, Jesus, our Passover lamb, was proven to be perfect.

But what does the perfection of the Passover lamb have to do with our imperfection? Just this: When we place our faith in this perfect lamb of God, Jesus Christ, God imputes, or reckons, his righteousness as our righteousness. The apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:21 that we become the righteousness of God in him. Let me illustrate the point. I am told that when ewes give birth to their lambs, sometimes the young lambs of one ewe will die, while in other instances the ewe will die, leaving her young as orphans. Now if the shepherd attempts to take an orphaned lamb and place it with a ewe that has lost her young in order that the ewe might suckle the lamb and care for it, the ewe will reject the orphaned lamb. The ewe, I am told, will smell this lamb, and when she realizes that the lamb is not her own, she will reject it. In order to remedy this situation, the shepherd will take the skin from the dead lamb of the ewe and place it on the lamb which has lost its mother. When the ewe smells the scent of her own lamb, she accepts the orphan lamb in the skin of her young and cares for it.

In somewhat the same way, when we receive Jesus Christ by faith, we are clothed in his righteousness and become acceptable to God. Three times the Scriptures tell us that when Abraham believed God it was imputed to him for righteousness (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3; Gal. 3:6; cf. James 2:23). Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:30 that Christ is made unto the believer righteousness. The original Scofield Bible had an excellent quote from John Bunyan in its note at Romans 3:21, which reads as follows: “The believer in Christ is now, by grace, shrouded under so complete and blessed a righteousness that the law from Mt. Sinai can find neither fault nor diminution therein. This is that which is called the righteousness of God by faith.”[2]

Just as the Bible is explicit concerning our imperfection, it is also explicit concerning our perfection in Jesus Christ. There is no room for guesswork here. If you are not clothed in his righteousness, you are damned; if you are clothed in his righteousness, you are safe. The issue then is this: have you trusted in your perfect Passover lamb who was proven to be without blemish and spot? You must measure yourself by this standard. Through faith in Jesus Christ you can have the thrill and delight of knowing that you are as perfect as God requires you to be. Trust Jesus right now to provide you with his righteousness.

Chapter Five: The Death Of The Passover Lamb And The Death Of Jesus Christ

Introduction

The Nature Of Saving Faith: An Allegory

Methodist Bishop Munsey tells an allegory that vividly describes faith. He pictures a man who was walking along, not particularly minding where he was going. As he was walking along in this preoccupied state of mind, suddenly he fell off the edge of a cliff and found himself falling to a certain death. Fortunately, however, as he hurtled down he reached out and grabbed hold of a limb that was jutting out of the cliff-like rock. As he grasped this limb holding him, suspended as it were, between life and death, an angel suddenly appeared to him. In his desperation the man cried out to the angel asking him to save him. The angel responded by asking, “Do you believe I can save you?” Having observed the obvious strength of the angel, the man cried back, “Yes, I believe you can save me.” Then the angel asked, “Do you believe I will save you?” Seeing the grace and kindness that radiated in the angel’s face, the man cried out, “Yes, I believe you will save me.” The angel then replied, “Let go”’ That’s a perfect illustration of what faith in Christ involves. It means to let go of everything else you may be trusting and trust only him to save you. It means to let go of your faith in your own good works; it means to let go of the religion and traditions in which you may have been reared. Let go of everything and trust only Jesus Christ.

The Object Of Saving Faith: The Lamb Of God

But is Christ trustworthy? Like the angel in Bishop Munsey’s allegory, is Jesus Christ able and willing to save you? How could God point to Christ and say, “This is the one that can and will save you”? One way he could do it is by giving us a picture of Jesus ahead of time. I am sure that all of us have seen a picture of something before we saw the reality. For example, most of us, I am sure, have seen a picture of a car before it appeared on the market. Because we saw the picture ahead of time, we recognized the car when we saw it in a showroom window or on a street. Have you ever seen a picture of a person before you met that person, and because you had seen his picture, you knew who he was when you saw him in person? Before I saw in person the late Adlai Stevenson, the Democratic party candidate for president in 1952 and 1956, I had seen many pictures of him; and because of this I recognized him immediately when I saw him in person. Now, God did something just like that. He sent to the earth a picture of his Son fourteen hundred years before he sent him to the earth in order that men might recognize him when he appeared. The picture God sent was the lamb of the Passover ritual.

The Slaying Of The Passover Lamb, Exodus 12:6b

Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight.

Let me show you how the lamb of the Passover ritual was a picture of Christ Jesus. If the lamb is a picture of Jesus Christ, then the two should look alike. In previous articles I have pointed out striking similarities between the lamb of the Passover ritual and Jesus Christ. In this article I want to study the death of the Passover lamb and the death of Jesus. Their deaths are so similar that I am convinced that the lamb of the Passover ritual is God’s picture of Jesus Christ and that God sent this picture on ahead of Jesus in order that men might recognize him as God’s Savior.

The Manner Of The Lamb’s Death

The first similarity in their deaths is so obvious that at first it escapes our attention. Both the Passover lamb and Jesus Christ were slain! They did not die natural or accidental deaths. Both were deliberately put to death. Not only were they both slain, but both were slain by the whole congregation of Israel. Concerning the Passover lamb we read in Exodus 12:6: “Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight.” In precisely the same way the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel killed our Lord. Peter summarizes the action of the nation of Israel thus in Acts 2:23: “You (referring to the congregation of Israel) have taken Jesus of Nazareth and by wicked hands have crucified and slain him.” The chorus of the frenzied mob still rings in our ears today. “Crucify him, Crucify him!” (Luke 23:21).

This similarity becomes even more remarkable when it is remembered that, like the Passover lamb, Jesus Christ was without blemish. Pilate, who sentenced him to death, confessed just prior to the sentence, “I find no fault in this man” (Luke 23:14; cf. John 19:4, 6). Think of it—this executor of the much lauded Roman law openly acknowledged that he found no fault in Jesus Christ, and yet he sentenced an innocent man to death in complicity with the desires of the congregation of Israel. Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him, also confessed after his dastardly act, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood” (Matt. 27:4). The high priest Caiaphas accused Jesus of blasphemy because he claimed to be the Christ, the Son of God (Mark 14:61–64). And yet this was neither a lie nor blasphemy, because he had authenticated his claim. He was without blemish, flawless—and yet like the Passover lamb which was also without blemish, he was deliberately put to death.

The Timing Of The Lamb’s Death

The second similarity involves the time of their slaying. At the end of Exodus 12:6 it is recorded, “Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight.” The phrase that interests us here is “at twilight” (NASB) or “in the evening” (KJV). Actually, the Hebrew says, “between the evenings” (בֶּין הָעַרְבָּיִם [bên hâ ʿarbâyim]). According to the best Jewish authorities (Josephus, the Talmud, the Midrash, etc.), the phrase “between the evenings” refers to that period of time between 3 o’clock and 6 o’clock in the evening.

Now it was exactly at this time of the day that our Lord was crucified upon the cross. Not only was he slain at the same time of the day that the Passover lamb was slain, but he was probably put to death upon the cross on the very day that the Passover lamb was slain. From John 18:28 we are led to believe that the Jews would eat the Passover on the very day that Jesus Christ was crucified. “Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the Praetorium so that they would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover.” That he died between 3:00 and 6:00 in the evening is clear from Matthew 27:46: “About the ninth hour (i.e. our 3:00 p.m.) Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” Finally in Matthew 27:50, which is sometime later, we read: “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit.” From these verses we conclude then that Jesus Christ died at exactly the same time the Passover lamb was slain in perfect fulfillment of the type. So you see, Christ was similar to the Passover lamb because he, too, was slain by the whole congregation of Israel, was without blemish, and died at precisely the same time as the Passover lamb.

The Instructions Concerning The Lamb’s Bones, Exodus 12:46

It is to be eaten in a single house; you are not to bring forth any of the flesh outside of the house, nor are you to break any bone of it.

The third similarity is based on the instructions prescribed in Exodus 12:46. In this passage,, God instructs the Israelites: “nor are you to break any bone of it” (i.e. of the Passover lamb). Likewise, when our Lord was slain, not a bone of his was broken, though this was contrary to the custom of a Roman crucifixion. The apostle John so simply and clearly points out this similarity that we need only to read his account of the crucifixion as recorded in John 19:31–37:

Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with him; but coming to Jesus, when they saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. For these things came to pass to fulfill the Scripture, ‘Not a bone of him shall be broken’ [cf. Ps. 34:19–20]. And again another Scripture says, ‘They shall look on him whom they pierced’” [Zech. 12:10].

As the apostle John states, God divinely foreordained these similarities between the Passover lamb and Jesus Christ that we might know that Jesus is his Passover lamb for us—and is thus worthy of our faith. Both were deliberately put to death by the congregation of Israel, though they were without blemish; both died on exactly the same day of the year, at precisely the same time of the day; both did not have a bone broken, though this was contrary to the custom of the time. I find these similarities too striking to be merely coincidental. In all of this I see the hand of God sending his creation a picture of Jesus Christ ahead of time in order that we might know that Jesus of Nazareth is his Passover lamb, able and willing to save us.

Let me put it another way. Do you know anybody else who fits this picture? Think of all the great religious leaders who have lived upon this earth. Has any been absolutely sinless and yet been crucified by Israel and then slain on the same day the Passover lamb was slain, at exactly the same time, and then while others had their bones broken, his bones were not broken? It’s like Cinderella’s slipper, isn’t it? The slipper fits only our Lord Jesus.

But how does this show that Christ Jesus is our Savior? As we pointed out in an earlier article,[3] the lamb of the Passover ritual was slain to save Israel from God’s threatened judgment. Like the man in Bishop Munsey’s allegory, the Israelites too were hanging suspended between life and death. On that midnight centuries ago, God threatened to strike the Israelites with death. There was but one way of salvation: let go and trust the lamb. God did not first give them his law and say, “Keep this.” Rather, God instructed them to sacrifice the lamb and strike the blood of that lamb upon the doors of their homes. There was nothing but the blood of a lamb to save them. The Israelites did let go, and placed all their faith in the Passover lamb. They slew the lamb and applied its blood to their homes. In fulfillment of his promise, when God saw the blood he spared the Israelites from the threatened death. You see, the lamb was a savior; but it is merely a picture of Jesus Christ, the real Savior.

Like the man in Bishop Munsey’s allegory, and like Israel, we too are hanging suspended, as it were, between life and death. God has threatened a day of judgment for every man after he dies. The stakes are high. To face this judgment means eternal death. But God has provided a deliverer, the Lord Jesus Christ.

But maybe you are holding on to something else. Maybe you are holding on to your good works; or perhaps you are holding on to your church or synagogue, or to some religion. They cannot save you. God has but one way of salvation—the lamb, the Lord Jesus. Let go of whatever it is that you are trusting. God cannot and will not save you until you let go. Throw yourself into the arms of Jesus Christ. He alone is trustworthy, for he is God’s designated Savior.

Notes

1. See Bruce K. Waltke, The Passover Ritual, Part 2,” The Emmaus Journal 21 (Summer, 2012): 47-58.
2. Cf. C. I. Scofield, ed., The Scofield Reference Bible (New York: Oxford, 1917), 1194.
3. Waltke, The Passover Ritual, Part 2,” 47-58 (esp. 50-53).