Worthy is the Lamb who was slain | JOE AMARAL

In first Corinthians 5:7, the Apostle Paul makes a statement about Jesus that is often overlooked or not fully understood by many in the church. Paul says that Christ—who is our Passover Lamb—was sacrificed.

What does that mean and why use the symbol of a Lamb? Paul is not the only one to do this. In the book of Revelation, the Apostle John makes many references to Jesus as the Lamb who was slain, and the only one who was worthy to open the seals and scrolls.

But what does a lamb have to do with the sacrifice of Jesus? In order to understand this, we must go back to the Old Testament… to the time of the Exodus. This is where we learn about how God delivered his people from the bondage of Egyptian slavery with ten powerful plagues.

We know that Pharaoh would not let the slaves go. With each plague, Pharaoh continued to harden his heart until the very last one—the plague of the death of the firstborn son. Every firstborn male would die when the angel of death passed through the region.

God gave Moses very specific instructions on how to escape this plague. It had nothing to do with the people. It wasn’t about their goodness, their perfection, or any of their abilities. Instead, we’re told that it had everything to do with the Lamb. Moses was to take a firstborn lamb with no defects, no broken bones; he was to sacrifice it and apply the blood of the lamb to the sides and tops of the door posts of their homes.

When the blood was applied in this manner, a Hebrew letter known as “chet” was formed on the door posts of the homes. In Hebrew, the letter “chet” is the symbol for life. What a beautiful and powerful illustration of what the lamb did for us. You see, when the angel of death would approach the home, he would see the symbol of life over the door frame written in the blood of the sacrificial lamb, and he would have to pass over the home.

Here we are today in 2024, and nothing has changed. We are not spared the wrath and judgement of God because of who we are or because of anything we have done, but rather, we are spared because of what Christ has done. Jesus, the firstborn, without blemish as declared many times by Pontius Pilate and King Herod, with no broken bones, shed His blood to be applied to the door posts of our hearts. So, when the destroyer, the enemy of our souls comes to attack us, if we have applied the blood of Christ, the Lamb of God to the “door posts of our hearts”, he may not enter.

Let’s renew our commitment and confession of Christ once again this Passover and Easter season. Let’s reflect on the goodness of God and how He did not spare His son so that He could become the sacrificial lamb, whose blood would cover our sins and give us eternal life.

We close as we began… “Christ, our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed for us.”