The Passover as Type of Christ's Redemption

The Passover commemorated Israel's exodus from Egypt on the fourteenth of Abib (Nisan), occurring between mid-March and mid-April when Palestine bloomed with fresh verdure and ripening barley fields. The Paschal moon flooded the landscape nightly with splendor as pilgrims from across Palestine and beyond arrived in Jerusalem in family groups and bands, filling the city to overflowing.

This festival bore profound typological meaning. First, it foreshadowed a future and greater redemption (Galatians 4:4, 6). Second, the victim—a lamb without blemish and without spot—struck a type of "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29; 1 Corinthians 5:7; 1 Peter 1:19). Third, the lamb was slain not by priests but by the head of the Paschal company; its blood shed and sprinkled on the altar, roasted whole without broken bones, symbolized Him put to death by the people (Acts 2:23), whose blood was shed on the altar of His cross during a Paschal festival, whose side the soldier pierced yet broke not His legs (John 19:32-36).

Fourth, eaten at the sacrificial meal with bitter herbs and unleavened bread (symbol of purity), it pointed to that one oblation whereby Christ made us at peace with Elohim (Ephesians 2:14-15). Fifth, at a Paschal Supper the Christian Eucharist was instituted by our Lord (Matthew 26:17).