Sometimes pictures are worth a thousand words and I think the one above speaks for itself.
"Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the door frame. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the door frame and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down."
Exodus 12:21-23
The Passover Lamb in the Old Testament in this passage was when the Israelite nation was in bondage and slavery in Egypt. God had brought a series of plagues and natural disasters upon Egypt and yet Pharaoh kept saying "no" to letting the people leave the country.
Then came the final plague of the Death of the Firstborn - where God promised that if they would not let His people leave Egypt there would be a plague where the firstborn of people and animals would die. God told that on that night the Israelite's were to kill a sacrifice, a lamb and to spread it's blood over their doorposts. When the angel of death came if he saw the blood he would Pass Over their homes.
Thousands of years ago before Jesus was born, God started pointing at Jesus. He started to prepare our hearts to receive Him.
When John the Baptist saw Jesus in the New Testament he said, "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29
Passover is the celebration of the Israelite nation being saved out of slavery and the country that held them by the blood of their lambs. Easter is the celebration of a perfect, blameless lamb named Jesus who died a torturous death to save us, all people of the world. It was our sin that kept Him there up on the cross on that Friday morning and it is His blood that saves us.
Jesus did not stay dead! Sunday morning when they went to check His tomb His body had disappeared. He had come back to life appearing to many, he roamed the world for 4o days. Jesus Christ is NOT dead! It is by the blood of Jesus, by accepting His sacrifice on the cross that covers your heart. After 40 days Jesus was taken up to heaven where He now sits at the right hand of God the Father and intercedes on behalf of His people. He is still working.
Easter is the culmination of all these incidents coming together. Passover is complete, Jesus has died, but does not stay dead, He is alive and because of His blood, we get to experience Psalm 103
"Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s......"
And this my friends makes Easter something worth celebrating!
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