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BIBLE STUDY
                                   
                                   
 

The First Passover – and the Last

Read Exodus 7:1-6 and 11.

1. Compare the Moses of Exodus 11:4-8 to the Moses who first spoke to Pharaoh. How
has Moses grown as a leader, a prophet and a person?

2. How could Pharaoh be so foolish and hardhearted as to see God’s overwhelmingly

supernatural power and still ignore Moses’ warnings? In what ways do we harden our
hearts against God, and why?

Read Exodus 12.

For the Jews, Passover commemorates their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. As the name
suggests, the focal point of the festival is the sacrificial lamb (in Hebrew, the “korban pesach”)
whose blood caused death to pass over them during the tenth and final plague on the firstborn.

On the first Good Friday, almost 2000 years ago, Jesus became the Passover lamb who takes
away the sins of the world. When God incarnate shed his own blood on our behalf, he made all
who trust in him holy through his sacrifice – a sacrifice he made once for all (Hebrews 10:10).

Consider the ways in which the first Passover (Exodus 12:3-13) foreshadowed the last:

• The lamb was to be a male without defect (even Pilate said of Christ, “I find no fault in
him”).

• The people are required to collectively participate in slaughtering the lamb.

• There is deliverance only for those who are covered by the blood of the lamb.

• Nothing of the lamb is to be left until morning.

Everything Jesus did from the moment he made his final entrance into Jerusalem was in
preparation for his own once-for-all Passover.

• On Palm Sabbath, Jesus cleared the Temple to prepare for his sacrifice (Mark 11:15).

• His last supper with the disciples was a Passover seder (Mark 14:12)

• Jesus, the one and only Lamb under the New Covenant, and the last Passover lamb
under the Old Covenant, were both slaughtered on the same Passover.

4/1/10: Lesson 6
For the Christian, Jesus is the Lamb:

Who takes our place…

… and whom we imitate in love by giving our lives on behalf of others.

Isaiah 53:2-7
2
He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty
or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one
from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by
God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
5
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment
that brought us peace was upon him and by his wounds we are healed.
6
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has
laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the
slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

Who redeems us from slavery…

… and who teaches us the true meaning of freedom.

John 1:29

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes
away the sin of the world!”

I Peter 1:18-19
18
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were
redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers,
19
but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

Mark 10:44-45
44
and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.
45
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a
ransom for many.

I Corinthians 6:19-20
19
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have
20
received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God
with your body.

4/1/10: Lesson 6
Of whom we partake…

… and in whom we learn to appreciate how God cares for us.

1 Corinthians 5:7
7
Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ,
our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

Matthew 26:26-30
26
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples,
saying, "Take and eat; this is my body."
27
Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you.
28 29
This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I
tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with
you in my Father's kingdom."

Who we worship in his triumph…

… as we celebrate and participate in his resurrection this Easter Sunday and every day. Our
Lamb not only died to destroy Death, but rose again so we could walk with him in newness of life!

Revelation 5:1-14
6
Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled
by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the
7
seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He came and took the scroll from the right hand of
8
him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-
four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls
9
full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song:

"You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your
10
blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You
have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."
11
Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and
ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the
12
elders. In a loud voice they sang:

"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and
honor and glory and praise!"
13
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all
that is in them, singing:

"To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for
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ever and ever!" The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped.

Calvary is not the end of the story, gentlemen, but the beginning.

Happy Easter!

4/1/10: Lesson 6