Circumstances of the Israelites at this time; how solemn, how stirring, how intense in interest! The institution of the Passover seems to have a threefold design. It was—1. An act of faith and obedience on the part of Israel. 2. A memorial of their deliverance. 3. A type of Christ. In the last view we will study it to-day, looking less closely at those points which we had on a former occasion, and connecting with the actual celebration of the Passover that which God connected with it—the feast of unleavened bread and the offering of the first-fruits of the barley harvest.
The Passover, then, was a type of Christ.
I. The victim was to be a lamb; and this title is applied to Christ (John i. 29).
The first altar exhibits a lamb slain; the first act of God for Israel is the slaying of the lamb; the first deed of the new dispensation was presenting, and then offering, the Lamb; the first opening of the sanctuary above, shows the "Lamb that was slain."
1. Without blemish (Matt. xxvii. 4; 1 Pet. i. 19; Heb. vii. 26).
2. Set apart four days (ver. 3, 6; John xii. 1, 12).
3. Roasted with fire (Isa. liii.; Ps. xxii.; Luke xxii. 44).
4. Not a bone to be broken (John xix. 33).
5. All the congregation were to take part (ver. 6; Matt. xxvi. 1; Acts ii. 23-36).
6. The blood was to be shed and sprinkled. Where? On the side-post and upper door-post; not on the floor, where it would be trampled on (compare 1 Pet. i. 19; Heb. x. 29). It is not enough that Christ's blood is shed; it must be sprinkled on our hearts (Heb. xii. 24; 1 Pet. i. 2). The act of sprinkling it upon the door-posts was equivalent to a profession, "I am the Lord's." It was the means of safety, "When I see the blood," etc.