PASSOVER WEEK:

PASSOVER WEEK: (GOD WAS PREACHING THE CROSS BEFORE THE CROSS) Passover was never just about Israel getting out of Egypt. It was God laying down the pattern. A spotless lamb. Blood applied. Judgment coming. The only thing standing between a house and death was the blood. That was prophecy. God was already showing what He would do in Christ. In Exodus 12, the lamb had to be without blemish, and when the blood was applied, judgment passed over that house. Then Jesus steps onto the scene and John says, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” Paul says, “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.” That is the New Testament telling you plainly that Passover was pointing to Jesus the whole time. Jesus didn't stumble into that week. He was not getting pushed around by Judas, Pilate, or the chief priests. He was moving exactly when Scripture said He would move. He rides into Jerusalem on a donkey just like Zechariah said. The people cry out from Psalm 118. The timing connects with Daniel’s prophecy with exact precision. God had this marked out long before men ever thought they were in charge. And the Passover pattern keeps tightening. In Exodus, the lamb was selected and inspected. In the Gospels, Jesus presents Himself publicly and is examined from every angle. Priests question Him. Rulers question Him. Witnesses are brought in. Accusations are thrown. Lies are stacked up. Yet no real blemish is found, because there was none. The spotless Lamb was standing in front of them. That is why Jesus had to be sinless. A guilty sacrifice cannot die for the guilty. A stained substitute cannot stand in the place of the stained. The Lamb had to be clean. Jesus did not come to weaken the Law. He came to fulfill it. What the Law demanded, He met. What the prophets announced, He fulfilled. What the sacrifices pictured, He embodied. Then the corrupt trials begin, and the whole thing is a disgrace. False witnesses. Illegal proceedings. Corrupt judges. Predetermined hatred. The men pretending to defend righteousness were breaking their own standards to condemn the only righteous Man in the room. Religion showed its true face that night. It was not after truth. It wanted blood. Then the cross. The true Passover Lamb is offered. The innocent for the guilty. The righteous for the unrighteous. The clean for the unclean. Sin is not fixed by effort. Sin is not removed by ritual. Sin is not erased by feeling bad. Sin has to be paid for. That is why the blood is all through Scripture. In Egypt, the blood turned away judgment in type. At Calvary, the blood of Christ satisfied judgment in truth. God said in Exodus, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” That was bigger than Egypt from the start. And when Jesus cried, tetelestai, He was not announcing defeat. He was declaring the debt paid. The work completed. The offering accepted. Finished. Nothing left for man to complete. Nothing left for religion to patch up. Nothing left for works to improve. That is why Revelation 5 puts everything on the Lamb. He alone is worthy because He alone was slain and redeemed a people by His blood. Nobody else could open that scroll because nobody else could pay that price. And then the tomb is empty. If Christ stays dead, there is no Gospel. No victory. No justification. No future resurrection. No hope. But He did not stay dead. The resurrection is God’s declaration that the sacrifice was accepted and death was broken. The Lamb was slain, and the Lamb rose. So when I read Passover, I do not just see Moses, Egypt, doorposts, and lambs. I see Jesus. The Lamb was chosen. The Lamb was examined. The Lamb was slain. The Lamb got up. And the only refuge for a sinner now is the same refuge God has been pointing to from the beginning: The Blood of Jesus Christ. #MoreJoyMinistries