Behold the Lamb!

BEHOLD THE LAMB!

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The Passover commemorates the release of the Jews from bondage in the land of Egypt. In spiritual terms, Egypt represents the world spirit. The actual Passover celebrated in Egypt over 3,000 years ago was an expression, a foreshadowing of God’s ultimate sacrifice.

The Passover lamb portrays Christ who is to come and deliver God’s people, not from Egypt but from the wicked world spirit. In Passover, God is telling us that release from slavery to the wickedness of the world can come only through the blood of the atonement made by Christ and through eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ.

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BEHOLD THE LAMB!

The Spiritual Meaning of the Passover

“This month [Abib] shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. (Exodus 12:2)

The Passover commemorates the release of the Jews from bondage in the land of Egypt. So important is the Passover celebration that God designated the month in which Passover is observed (Abib; Nisan), the month in which Israel came out of Egypt, as the “beginning of months.” It is God’s desire that every Jew view the Passover as the beginning and foundation of redemption, frequently considering its significance.

In spiritual terms, Egypt represents the world spirit. The spirit of the world is wicked, as we see today. The world spirit always will war against God’s people and attempt to keep them in bondage. The people of Israel are not to be of the world spirit. They have been called out of the world to serve God, and to bless the world with the Presence of God’s Glory and the light of His righteousness.

‘Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.
‘And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.” (Exodus 19:5,6)

The Jew is not to be part of the sinful world spirit but part of God. The Jew may be gifted and have many abilities, but his first role in life is to reveal to the world the righteousness of God.

God has given the Jews many special observances, including the feast of Passover.

God announced the Passover in the following words:

“Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth day of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. (Exodus 12:3)

The most important aspect of Passover is the slain lamb.

God always meets Israel (and all other persons) at the altar of sacrifice. Blood must be shed, for apart from the shedding of blood there can be no atonement for sin.

‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.’ (Leviticus 17:11)

We must keep in mind that it is not God’s intention to bless the Jews and then curse all other people. Rather, the Jews are the firstfruits to God of mankind, belonging to God as a special treasure. It is God’s joy that through the Seed of Abraham all nations be blessed.

“In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” (Genesis 22:18)

There are three great symbols of Judaism:

The Altar of blood sacrifice
The Lampstand
The Booth

In these three symbols of Judaism God reveals His will for the Jews, and then for all persons.

The Altar of blood sacrifice is the place where God meets man. The bronze Altar of Burnt Offering was located at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When any one of you brings an offering to the LORD, you shall bring your offering of the livestock—of the herd and of the flock.
‘If his offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish; he shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the LORD. (Leviticus 1:2, 3)

The Lampstand, with its six side-branches, portrays Christ, who is the Hope of Israel. The oil of the Lampstand signifies the Holy Spirit who gives light to mankind through Christ.

The Booth reveals that God’s intention is to dwell forever in the heart of each of His elect. The Jew is especially chosen of God, and he who would know the true God of Heaven must come to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

When God began to present to His holy nation the plan of redemption, He spoke of a slain lamb; He spoke of sacrifice, of blood, of life given to save other lives.

The actual Passover celebrated in Egypt over 3,000 years ago was an expression, a foreshadowing of God’s ultimate sacrifice. The Passover lamb portrays Christ who is to come and deliver God’s people, not from Egypt but from the wicked world spirit.

In Christ is fulfilled the Booth, the Lampstand, and the Altar of sacrifice. Christ is God’s Booth. God dwells in Him, and He in God. Think about the following statements:

And I have put My words in your mouth; I have covered you with the shadow of My hand, that I may plant the heavens, lay the foundations of the earth, and say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’” (Isaiah 51:16)
Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. (Psalms 45:6)

God would never give such glory to another person; therefore, we can conclude from the above two passages that God dwells in Christ and Christ in God. God and Christ are One.

For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it; for how should My name be profaned? And I will not give My glory to another. (Isaiah 48:11)

God alone has authority and power to plant the heavens, lay the foundations of the earth and say to Zion, “You are my people.”

God would never say to anyone other than Himself, “Your throne, O God, is forever.” Yet, the two passages are clearly addressed to Christ.

Therefore it must be true that God dwells in Christ and Christ in God.

Christ is anointed with the Spirit of God (the meaning of the term Christ). Christ is God’s Lampstand—the One filled with the Oil of the Holy Spirit.

In the following verse, God spoke to Christ, proclaiming that He is the Lampstand of God, giving light to the world:

“I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, (Isaiah 42:6)

Christ is to be slain on the altar that God chooses so His blood may make an atonement for sin.

Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When you make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.
He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:10-12)

Christ is God’s sacrifice; the Lampstand of God’s Spirit; finally, the Booth.

The slain lamb, the figure of Christ, always is the emphasis of Passover.

In human thinking, the important aspect of Passover was the release of the Hebrew tribes from Egyptian slavery and their start toward the land of their inheritance. In God’s thinking it was not the release from Egypt but the lamb that is of primary significance; for the lamb speaks of Christ who is to come. Only Christ can bring true, eternal release to the Jews.

In the exodus from Egypt, Israel left one kind of bondage only to enter another. After the Jews settled in Canaan they embraced demons. They gave themselves to serve the lusts of their bodies (a vicious kind of slavery) and burned their children as burnt offerings to the god Moloch.

Israel turned against the Lord. The members of the royal priesthood accepted the chains of demonic bondage. As a result the Lord gave them into the hands of their enemies. They have been dispersed among the nations for twenty-five hundred years.

We understand, therefore, that the central issue of Passover is not the physical release from Egyptian slavery but the eternal release of spirit, soul, and body that can come only at the hand of Christ.

The true Passover Lamb is Christ. Christ is the Hope of Israel, the Light of Israel, the Bridegroom of Israel.

In the Passover, God is telling us that release from slavery to the wickedness of the world can come only through the atonement made by the blood of Christ, and through eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ. To be free from the sin of the world we must eat Christ—eat of Him in whom God dwells, whom God has chosen.

When we eat Christ we come into union with Him. We marry the Bridegroom. The Lord has come to Israel in the Person of Christ. The Lord, the Bridegroom, has come for His Bride. Israel is the Bride of the Lamb.

John, the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth, was a true prophet of God, coming after Malachi. John pointed to Jesus of Nazareth as God’s Passover Lamb.

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)

Indeed, the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world. He is our Passover. By the protection of His blood we are saved when the judgment of God strikes the gods of this world.

Even though we are shielded from the death angel by the blood of Christ, we still remain chained in bondage to the wicked world spirits, to the lust of our flesh, and to our stubborn self-will.

How can we escape the chains of spiritual slavery? By eating the flesh of God’s Lamb and drinking His blood. Only by eating of the Lamb of God and drinking His blood can we escape spiritual slavery and begin the sometimes joyous, sometimes painful, journey toward the land of inheritance, the land of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Christ stands before the door of the heart of each of His elect, Jewish and Gentile. He patiently knocks. If the individual opens the door and receives Him, Christ enters and dines with him or her. He gives him to eat of His body and to drink of His blood. This is the new covenant spoken of by Jeremiah the Prophet.

“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—
“not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD.
“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law [Torah] in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. (Jeremiah 31:31-33)

Christ is the living Word of God, the Torah made flesh. As He feeds us with His body and gives us to drink of His blood, the Torah is put into our mind and written in our heart. Then we are able to serve God in righteousness and be His people.

God in Christ has died for every Jew as well as for the sins of the whole world. The price of redemption has been paid by the blood of the righteous Lamb of God on the cross of Calvary. The eternal atonement, the perfect reconciliation, has been made.

We are protected from the angel that executes judgment. We are forgiven our sin through the atonement made by the blood of the righteous Jesus. As we are married to Him by eating His flesh and drinking His blood, we partake of the Divine Nature so we can overcome the compelling power of sin and rebellion.

It is God’s will that Israel reveal His righteousness—God’s righteousness.

In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which she will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.’ (Jeremiah 33:16)

Jerusalem is destined to be named, “The Lord Our Righteousness.” This is a most remarkable promise. Such an identification with the Lord and His righteousness can come into being only through marriage, for it is by marriage that two become one.

God’s provision for the sin of Israel is to marry Israel so Israel is protected from judgment, forgiven of all sin, and filled with the Divine Nature. Then Israel will be The Lord Our Righteousness.

By eating God’s Lamb and drinking His blood the Jew can receive the righteousness and fellowship with God that his soul craves. God has made this provision for His people.

God says to the Jew, “Come, come, My beloved. Come, Israel My bride. The winter is past. The rain is over and gone. The flowers have already appeared in the land.

“For a long time I have expressed my anger toward you. You have received double for your sins. Now I have come to comfort you, to take away your sins, to marry you.

“Your God has come to marry you.

“Will you now hear Me, your Lord, your God?

“When I came two thousand years ago you rejected Me. How I would have gathered you under my wings. How I wept over Jerusalem with a broken heart, with a depth of anguish only Christ can know.

“But you missed the day of your visitation and you delivered Me, your grieving Lord, into the hands of Gentiles to crucify. Yet I had committed no crime.

“O Israel! Israel! Israel! Will you break My heart again?

“I hung on the cross as an atonement for your sins. I cried out in My agony, fearing that God had forsaken Me. This I did for you, O beloved.

“Can you not feel my heart of love for you? I promised that I would come, and I did. As I spoke in the Prophets, so it came to pass.

“I had to give you up for a season. I turned to the Gentiles. Many Gentiles have loved Me through the centuries and have become part of My Bride.

“But you, Israel, are My firstborn. I have not forgotten you.

“The price of redemption has been paid. Will you open your hearts and allow me to remove your sins? Will you permit Me to come in and give you of My body to eat and My blood to drink?

“Much trouble is coming upon the world. The nations will rage one against the other. They will turn against you because Satan, your adversary, is in them. You cannot save yourselves. Only I, Christ, can save you.

“Do not fear, My Israel. I am your God. I will come and save you.

“I am your Passover Lamb. I have been sacrificed so you may be free to worship and serve God. Come to My table. My banner over you is love.”

(“Behold the Lamb!”, 3214-1)