Passover Lamb
The Passover Lamb, Jesus, represents deliverance and salvation from sin and its consequences, demonstrating God's delivering power for men's salvation.
William Barclay emphasizes that the Passover Lamb symbolizes both deliverance and the means of deliverance. He illustrates how the original Passover Lamb represented God's powerful act of rescuing the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, paralleling Jesus as the ultimate Passover Lamb who delivers humanity from sin. The blood of the lamb was crucial for the safety of the Jewish homes during the Exodus, just as Jesus' sacrificial death is essential for salvation from sin's penalty and power. Barclay highlights that through Jesus, God's delivering power is made manifest for the salvation of all mankind.
Text
The Passover Lamb stood for two things.
The Passover Lamb was the symbol of deliverance. Nowhere in history did the Jews see the delivering power of God so clearly and definitely demonstrated as in the events which brought them out of Egypt. here was the deliverance par excellence, and without parallel. And to think of Jesus as the Passover lamb is to see in him the delivering and rescuing power of God come to earth for the salvation of men. Just as the first Passover lamb was the sign of God's deliverance of his people from their slavery in Egypt, so Jesus the second Passover lamb is the symbol of their deliverance from slavery to sin.
But there is a real sense in which the Passover lamb was more than a symbol of deliverance; it was the means of deliverance. It was the mark of the blood of the lamb, which the lamb had to die to provide, which was the means which kept the Jewish homes safe on that terrible night of death and destruction. The death of the lamb was essential for the deliverance of the people. Jesus therefore is the means of salvation whereby men are saved from the penalty and the power of their sins. Through his sacrifice and death that salvation came.
Sermon Outline
- The Passover Lamb as Symbol of Deliverance
- The Passover Lamb as Means of Deliverance
- The blood of the lamb marked Jewish homes, keeping them safe from death
- The death of the lamb was essential for the people's deliverance
- Jesus' sacrifice and death brought salvation from sin's penalty and power
Key Quotes
“And to think of Jesus as the Passover lamb is to see in him the delivering and rescuing power of God come to earth for the salvation of men.” — William Barclay
“Just as the first Passover lamb was the sign of God's deliverance of his people from their slavery in Egypt, so Jesus the second Passover lamb is the symbol of their deliverance from slavery to sin.” — William Barclay
“The death of the lamb was essential for the deliverance of the people.” — William Barclay
Application Points
- Recognize Jesus as the Passover Lamb, symbolizing deliverance from slavery to sin.
- Understand that Jesus' sacrifice and death are the means of salvation from sin's penalty and power.
- Trust in Jesus as the source of deliverance and salvation, rescuing you from sin and its consequences.