Exodus 12:3-14

Notice in verse 3 that on the tenth day each person was to take a lamb for himself. In verse 5 we see that the lamb was to be without blemish, a male of the first year.

Think of Jesus when you look at these instructions. It could be either from the sheep or the goats. Jesus is a type of both sheep and goat. Remember in the atonement offering that one of the two goats typified Jesus. He was represented as a goat in that ceremony.

We are told that the lamb was to be kept until the 14^th day of the same month and that it was then to have been killed at twilight. This was done by slitting its throat. They were then to take some of the blood and smear it on the doorposts and lintel of the houses where they would be eating the Passover.

So we see that the innocent lamb actually bled to death. This was how it died. Scripture says that the bones were not to be broken. It was to be roasted whole. Remember that Jesus' bones were not broken either.

We see in all these things that Jesus was the perfect antitype of this lamb that was slain at the Passover service. The blood was put on the lintel and on the doorpost as a sign for the death angel to pass over that house. And he was not to kill the firstborn who were inside. By means of the blood that was smeared on the lintel and the doorposts they were saved from the tenth plague—the plague of the death of the firstborn. It was the blood of the lamb that redeemed them. It bought back the firstborn of Israel. Otherwise, they would have been killed.

Jesus' ghastly death—the terrible scourging He endured—did the same thing for us. It bought us back. It redeemed us. The Protestants say He died of a broken heart. That is not true. Like the Passover lamb, He bled to death. His blood spilled onto the earth and He expired as an innocent and pure Man. He had never sinned—just like that lamb without blemish and without spot.

Exodus 12:3-5

That clearly instructs the Israelites to use a male lamb or a male kid of the goats from their flocks only. Note that it says male kid, and not the herd. If we take the word that is given in Deuteronomy 16:2, where it says "the flock and the herd," it would then be possible to have a Passover calf. That word there translated into English "herd" is baqar. That word means "bovine" in English.

Remember this in contrast to the Passover. It always had to be something from the flock—a lamb or a goat. You never heard of a Passover calf. Jesus Christ was not the Passover calf slain from the foundation of the world.

Notice the phrase "at the place which the LORD your God shall choose." This clearly contradicts Exodus 12 and Numbers 9 which command a domestically-killed Passover lamb.

Beginning in Exodus 25 we saw all the instructions for the building of the Tabernacle, for the making of the dress of the priests, for all of the furniture, for all of the appurtenances of the Tabernacle, and the consecration of both the priests and the Levites. All of this was given by command in the first month of the second year of the coming out of Egypt. We saw the completion in the story of the Tabernacle, and then the first thing they did was keep a Passover. That is recorded in Numbers 9. There was no change between Exodus 12 and Numbers 9, even though now the Tabernacle existed and the priesthood was installed and consecrated and in its place.

A domestically-killed Passover lamb was still the command after the Temple and the priesthood were in place. This makes it very clear these things that were offered at the Tabernacle, or the Temple, were not the Passover lamb. They were other offerings. That is six differences, with Exodus 12, Numbers 9, Leviticus 23, or Leviticus 33.