Exodus 12:1–51, The Passover. How did Yeshua the Messiah perfectly all the types and shadows of the first Passover in Egypt?

According to the laws of statistical probability, what are the chances of an event happening and then fifteen hundred years later another event occurring bearing an uncanny resemblance to the first one? Now suppose that not only did fifteen hundred years separate the two events, but that they occurred in two different countries several hundred miles apart, which in the ancient world may as well have been halfway around the globe. Now suppose that the second event involved the death of a person, and that the events leading up to their death including the manner and timing of that death was beyond the control of the individual dying so that in no way could the person dying stage his death to mirror the first event. In fact, those killing the individual possessed no foreknowledge of the event that had occurred fifteen hundred years earlier. What are the chances of this occurring?

This is not a fictional story! Truth is stranger than fiction. The details of these two events are chronicled in the pages of the Bible. The first event occurred in ancient Egypt and is recorded in the Book of Exodus chapters eleven and twelve. There we find recorded the details of the Children of Israel’s first Passover while they were yet slaves in the land of Egypt. A whole series of events led up to this first Passover, which culminated with each family’s ritual killing of a lamb, smearing its blood on the frame of their doors, roasting the lamb, and then eating it. Doing this insured that the YHVH would pass over their homes leaving those inside alive. The firstborn of those whose homes did not have the blood painted on the door frames were killed.

The second event involves a descendant of those ancient people born in a different land fifteen hundred years later. His name was Yeshua of Nazareth, a Jew and viewed by many of his day as the long-awaited Messiah of Israel. One of the proofs of his Messiahship would be whether he would fulfill the many prophecies that had been foretold concerning him as recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). Not only that, the Jewish sages had predicted that many historical occurrences in Israel’s long history were but foreshadows of events to occur in the future. Israel’s first Passover was somehow to replay itself in the death of that prophesied Messianic figure who was to arrive sometime on the scene near the beginning of the fourth millennia from the creation of the world. Was this Yeshua of Nazareth to be that person who would fulfill those Messianic and redemptive expectations of the Israelite people from ancient times?

Let us compare the historical facts of the first Passover in Exodus with those events surrounding the death of Yeshua of Nazareth on the cross by the hands of the Romans. In the following study, we juxtapose the details of the first Passover with the events leading up to and including the death of Yeshua to see how Yeshua supernaturally and amazingly fulfilled, in fine detail, that which was prophesied to happen to him 1,500 years earlier.

 1. YHVH’s judgment comes upon the Egyptians at midnight because of their sins (Exod 11:4; 12:29).

Judgment was pronounced upon Yeshua late at night (after the Passover seder) in the Garden of Gethsemane where he was betrayed and arrested, and later during his trial (Luke 22:53, 66–71; 23:1–25). Though he was sinless, he carried the sins of mankind upon himself (2 Cor 5:21; Isa 53:6).

2. The first born had to die at the hand of YHVH as a judgment against sin (Exod 11:5).

Yeshua is the firstborn of Elohim and the first man born of the Ruach haKodesh (Set-Apart Spirit). In ancient times, as the firstborn was the head, priest and patriarch of his household and thus bore the judgment meted out by the death angel, so Yeshua bore the judgment of our sin which is death which is the wages of sin (Rom 6:23; 1 Cor 15:56).

 3. A perfect, blemish-free lamb was to be chosen for the Passover lamb (Exod 12:5; Deut 15:21).

Yeshua in accordance with Torah-law was selected four days before Passover and anointed (set apart) as the Lamb (John 12:1).

The people of Israel examined and accepted Yeshua at his triumphal entry in Jerusalem (John 12:2).

The religious system examined and rejected Yeshua (John 26:57) because he was a threat to their religious establishment.

Judas, one of Yeshua’s closest associates, declared him innocent (Matt 27:3–4).

Pilate’s wife declared Yeshua to be innocent (Matt 27:19).

The political system through Pilate declared Yeshua to be innocent (Matt 27:23–24).

Elohim, the Father of Yeshua, pronounced him guiltless and without sin (Heb 4:15; 1 Pet 1:19).

 4. This perfect lamb was marked for death and was set aside for a special purpose (Exod 12:3–6)

Yeshua was such a lamb (Isa 53:7; 1 Pet 1:19–20).

 5. The lamb was to be a year old; i.e., a mature adult (Exod 12:5).

Yeshua died for our redemption in the fullness of his manhood.

6. The lamb was separated out on the tenth day of the first month (the Passover was on the fourteenth day of the first month, Exod 12:3).

On the same day Yeshua came to Bethany (John 12:1) where on the evening of the tenth day of the month Mary anointed Yeshua with spikenard (John 12:2–37), the very day the Passover lamb was to be separated.

7. The lamb was to dwell with the Israelites in the family’s house until the Passover day when the lamb was then slaughtered (Exod 12:5–6).

Yeshua dwelt with the Jews during this time, including a meal in Bethany, the triumphal entry, turning over the money changer’s tables at the Temple, and his trials.

Yeshua, our Passover Lamb, wants to dwell in our spiritual house.

8. The blood from the lamb was to be painted on the door posts and lintels of each family’s house (Exod 12: 22–23).

So Messiah’s blood (mark) must be placed on our foreheads (thoughts) and hands (actions) for us to be redeemed from the penalty of sin and to protect from the destroying angel of death, which is Elohim’s judgment against sin (Rev 7:3; 9:4; 22:4; Exod 3:9, 16; Deut 6:8; 11:18).

9. In order for one to be saved from the YHVH’s judgment on Passover eve, one had to enter the blood-painted door and be inside the house (Exod 12:22).

Yeshua is the door to salvation and to the Father in heaven and no one can be saved without coming through His blood for the remission of sins. There is salvation through no other “door” (John 10:9; 14:6; Acts 4:12; Rev 1:5; Heb 9:22; 1 John 1:7).

10. Hyssop was used to paint the blood onto the door posts (Exod 12:22).

Yeshua was given sour wine (a figurative symbol of blood) on hyssop while hanging on the cross (John 19:29). Hyssop was an aromatic “paint brush”-like herb. It was used in purification ceremonies in the tabernacle (Lev 14:4, 6, 51–52) and was used as a metaphor of inner cleansing in Psalms 51:7. Blood can symbolized many things, yet add to it hyssop and its cleansing powers from the stain and condemnation of sin and death are emphasized.

11. Later in Israel’s history, the lamb was taken to the tabernacle/temple to be sacrificed.

Yeshua was condemned to die by the Jewish priests in the temple in Jerusalem.

12. The lamb was roasted by fire (Exod 12:8–9).

Fire is a metaphor for judgment. Yeshua suffered the fire of his Heavenly Father’s wrath and judgment for man’s sins (Matt 27:46; 2 Cor 5:21). What’s more, while a person was dying a slow and agonizing death on the cross, it would feel like he was on fire as his body was burning up with thirst in the hot sun.

13. No bones of the lamb were broken, or else it would not have been blemish-free (Exod 12:46).

No bones of Yeshua were broken while hanging on the cross, although it was customary for the Romans to break the legs of the crucified to expedite their death (John 19:31–33).

14. Each Israelite was commanded to take a lamb and eat of it (Exod 12:3).

Salvation is an individual matter. Each must partake of the Lamb of YHVH individually. This is symbolized by each person taking communion, which is traditionally done during the third cup of wine during the Passover seder.

15. Later, according to Jews religious rules, the Passover lamb was roasted whole over an open fire spit with a pomegranate skewer running through in its mouth and out its vent (like a rotisserie, The Temple: Its Ministry and Service, p. 182, by Alfred Edersheim, Hedrickson, 1978).

Yeshua was “impaled” on a wooden cross—whole, and suffered the “flames” of Elohim’s judgment against sin.

16. The Pesach lamb’s blood was placed on the lintel and door posts of the Israelite’s doors.

Yeshua was pierced in the hands and head and bled therefrom. The blood on the door was a perfect outline of the blood on Messiah’s body while he was hanging on the cross.

You be the judge, and if you see a pattern here that is outside the realm of natural probability, then consider the truth that Yeshua was the long-awaited Messiah and the Redeemer, the Lamb of Elohim slain from the foundation of the world. It is his blood, when applied to the spiritual door frame (or your thoughts and actions) of your life, will cause YHVH’s judgment against you because of sin to pass over you. You will thus be spared from the consequences of your sin, which is death (Rom 6:23). Place your faith in him today. Believe that he died to pay the price for your sins through his shed blood—that he died in your place so that you would not have to die (Rom 10:9–13). Repent of your sins (breaking Elohim’s commandments as revealed in his law), and resolve to never sin again (1 John 1:9). Then ask Yeshua to take up spiritual residence within your mind and heart by his Set-Apart Spirit, and ask him to become the Master (Lord) of your life. Let him supernaturally transform your life from the inside out (John 3:15–18; 5:24). Now walk with him, obeying his word, and by his divine grace and empowerment, live forever!