And Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the Passover. Exodus 12:21
If the children of Israel were to have safety in their homes as the death angel swept through Egypt, a lamb must die. If they were to have a meal to sustain them as they marched out to freedom, a lamb must die. If the Passover were to be a real thing, a lamb must die. If Israel were to exit the land of their captivity and become a nation in the promised land, a lamb must die. We know what happened. We also know that if we were ever to be saved from judgment and now bound for Glory, a lamb must die.
John Baptist’s great declaration beside the Jordan was ‘Behold the Lamb of God’. Just as those lambs were killed in Egypt on Passover night, so Christ once suffered for sins (1 Peter 3:18). As we gather today to recall that suffering, to remember the great sacrifice on Golgotha, we bless the Lamb for His submission to the will of His Father that we might be saved.
Those families who killed the Passover lambs in Egypt would have been sorrowful that such an innocent animal, possibly even a favourite pet of the children, must be slain. And that sorrow would be mingled with joy at what the death of that lamb achieved. So we today feel the sorrow of what our Saviour must endure at the cross, even as we rejoice that His sufferings and His blood have purchased our redemption. -Jim MacIntosh
Here is the link to the video of this message: https://youtu.be/lyuFlhla3oM