JESUS: OUR PASSOVER LAMB!
The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world (John 1:29).
The Bible lets us know that as they were eating the Passover, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “…Take, eat; this is my body” (Matthew 26:26). With their trembling fingers, they took the bread wondering, “We’ve been having Passover every year, but not like this.”
Jesus made them realize that year after year, as they ate the Passover lamb and the unleavened bread with bitter herbs, they were merely commemorating the real Passover, which typified Christ. The disciples didn’t immediately realize the import of what Jesus did that night when He broke bread with them. They only began to get a glimpse of it much later. Jesus is our Passover Lamb. The Bible says Christ Jesus, our Passover, is sacrificed for us (1 Corinthians 5:7).
Exodus 12:1-8 shows us the reference, as well as the importance of Jesus being our Passover Lamb. The eighth verse gives us a picture of what Jesus and His disciples ate on the night He was betrayed; it says, “And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.” This explains how they came about the unleavened bread that was on the table—it was part of the Passover meal. That bread was what Jesus took, broke, and gave to His disciples saying, “This is my body.”
The disciples didn’t know that Jesus Himself was the one being typified by the slain Passover lamb. He is the “…Lamb (of God) slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8).
As you study about the Lord Jesus, it’s important to see, and relate His life with the prophecies, types and shadows of the Old Testament. The disciples didn’t understand that as they broke that bread, it was the Messiah Himself, in His vicarious death
Further Study:
1 Corinthians 5:7-8;
Hebrews 10:3-4