Christ is our Passover: He is the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world and becoming our life supply for us to fulfill God’s purpose. The Passover is a type of Christ; Christ is not only the Passover lamb but also every aspect of the Passover.
Christ died on the cross as the perfect, spotless, real Passover Lamb, and because of His blood God’s judgement passes over us, no longer affecting us. Before He was killed as the Passover lamb on the day of the feast of the Passover, Christ was examined by the Jewish and Gentile leaders and found to be perfect, without fault; three times Pilate admitted, I find no fault in Him.
In man’s eyes, Christ was perfect and faultless; in God’s eyes, Christ was fresh, never having been used for another purpose except for God’s purpose – He is a “one year old lamb”.
Furthermore, it wasn’t just the Roman soldiers or the envious Jewish leaders that put Christ to death; we all had a part in killing the Lamb of God, and Christ died because of us and for us. Hallelujah for Christ, the Passover lamb! Today we can apply the blood of Christ and enter into the enjoyment of Him as our life supply.
The main emphasis with the Passover was not merely the passing over of God’s judgement when He saw the blood on the doorposts of the house; the main thing about the Passover was that the people of Israel had to prepare and eat the entire lamb with the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs so that they would be inwardly supplied to fulfill God’s purpose.
Christ died for us on the cross as the Lamb of God so that we may enjoy Him and eat Him to be inwardly supplied to fulfill God’s purpose. He was roasted on the cross by the fire of God’s judgement; He was judged by God on our behalf, and the fire of God’s judgement “roasted” Him as the Lamb of God.
We should not take Christ merely as our pattern outwardly to imitate His living (that is, eating the lamb raw) or as a martyr who died for His great teachings (that is, eating the lamb boiled) but accept His redemptive death on the cross under God’s judgement and eat Him!
Eating the Flesh of the Passover Lamb – Eat Christ for our Life Supply
In Exodus 12:8-10 the blood of the lamb had to be sprinkled on the doorposts and the flesh had to be roasted and eaten by the people of Israel for their life supply. In a similar way today, we need to not only apply the blood of Christ to be spared from God’s judgement but also eat Christ to be supplied with life.
In John 6:53, 55-57 the Lord Jesus told us that unless we eat the flesh of the Son of Man, we have no life within ourselves, and that His flesh is true food and His blood true drink. This means that the Lord’s life is for us to eat and drink so that we may be inwardly supplied.
At the Table meeting, we are not only reminded of what Christ passed through but we realize that the Lamb of God accomplished redemption for us and now we can eat and drink Him to be our life supply.
Hallelujah, Christ as the Lamb of God is eatable! We apply the blood of the Lamb and we eat His flesh by faith to be inwardly supplied. Our Christian life is a life of eating the Lamb of God; we don’t just apply His blood but we eat Him!
In the gospel of John we see that Christ is the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world (John 1:29) and His life is true food and drink for us to partake of and be supplied. In order to solve the problem of the fall of man and to accomplish God’s original intention, both life and redemption are needed.
Christ died as the Lamb of God to redeem us; God’s judicial redemption through the blood of Christ is the procedure to reach God’s goal of dispensing Christ as life into us for our organic salvation (see Rom. 5:10). The blood of Christ opened a new and living way for us to come in and enjoy the Lamb of God; the blood is the procedure, and the feeding on Christ is the goal.
Lord Jesus, we apply Your blood right now and we come in to eat You as the Lamb of God. Praise the Lord, God in Christ is edible! We can eat Christ by faith and be inwardly supplied for the fulfillment of God’s purpose! Lord, fill our daily life with much eating of Christ as the passover lamb!
The Flesh of the Lamb was to be Roasted with Fire – Christ was “Roasted” by God’s Judgement on the Cross
The Passover lamb was not to be eaten raw or boiled but roasted with fire (Exo. 12:8-9). The fire signifies God’s holy wrath exercised in judgement; on the cross, the holy fire of God’s wrath burned Him and judged Him as He was the unique sinner bearing all the sins of the world upon Him.
God’s fire consumed Him and judged Him; His heart was like wax melting within Him, His strength was dried up like a shard, and His tongue was stuck to His jaws (see Psa. 22:14-15); therefore, He cried, “I thirst” (John 19:28).
To be roasted with fire signifies Christ’s suffering under the holy fire of God’s judgement; He was judged by God for the fulfillment of the redemption, He bore our sicknesses and carried our sorrows, and He was smitten and stricken by God (Isa. 53:4).
Christ didn’t die as a martyr for His convictions and teachings; He was judged by the fire of God’s holiness as He bore the sin of the mankind. Eating Christ as the roasted Lamb of God means believing that on the cross Christ suffered for us under God’s judgement.
God forbids that we eat the lamb “raw” or “boiled”. Eating Christ “raw” is to take Christ as our example and try to imitate Him; this is the way the modernists take, rejecting Christ’s redemption. Eating Christ “boiled” means regarding Christ’s death on the cross as persecution and martyrdom; Christ was not merely persecuted or martyred by man but He was judged by God on the cross for our redemption.
Hallelujah, our Christ is the Redeemer, the Lamb of God who was roasted by the fire of God’s judgement on the cross for our redemption and organic salvation!
Lord Jesus, thank You for being burned and “roasted” by the holy fire of God’s wrath on the cross. You are the Lamb of God who was judged for us as You bore our sin. Lord, we believe into You as our Redeemer! We refuse to merely “imitate Your good living” or “consider Your death as a martyrdom”. We believe that You died as our Redeemer, being roasted by the holy fire of God, and we eat You as our Passover lamb roasted with fire!
Eating the Whole Lamb with its Head, Legs, and Inward Parts – Taking Christ in His Entirety
When it comes to eating a lamb, some may prefer the leg, others the inward parts, and still others some other parts of the lamb. But the children of Israel were to eat the lamb with its head, legs, and inward parts (Exo. 12:9).
This means that we need to take Christ in His entirety with His wisdom (the head of the lamb), His activity and move (the legs of the lamb), and His inward affection and feeling (the inward parts of the lamb).
We need to eat Christ in His entirety, not pick on aspects of Christ that we like. If we eat Christ as the roasted Lamb of God we will live because of Him (John 6:57). Don’t exercise your preference when you eat Christ: eat Him and take in His wisdom, His activity and move, and His inward affections and feelings.
Christ is to us the wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24), and we can experience Him in His inward parts (Phil. 1:8). We need to take the person of Christ as our person, including His head, His inwards, and His legs.
Lord Jesus, keep us eating You and enjoying You in Your entirety. Save us from exercising our preference when eating You as the roasted Lamb of God. We want to genuinely feed on You by taking You as our person. We take You in Your wisdom, Your activity and move, and Your inward affection and feeling. Lord Jesus, we take You in by faith as the Lamb of God for our inward supply!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. James Lee’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Exodus, msg. 23, as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (1), week 5 / msg 5, The Passover.
- Hymns on this topic:
# What He is: He’s the Shepherd. / He’s the lamb of God, the he-goat. / We rest and feed in the pasture land. / We strike the blood and eat the lamb. / He’s the Shepherd! Wonderful! (Hymns #1103)
# Let us eat Jesus every day, / Eating His flesh in such a way / That in the trials great or small / He as a Man will be our all. / Eat, eat more of Jesus! / Eat, eat more of Jesus! / Why should we undernourished be / When we have His humanity? (Hymns #1146)
# When He fills our inward parts, we’re never quite the same, / So much richness we can taste by calling on His name. / “Services” but once a week for us will never do. / Every day we need the fellowship to take us through. (Song on Eating Jesus)
Today people try to use three ways to take Christ. As fundamental Christians, we believe that on the cross Christ suffered for us under God’s judgment. He was burned and “roasted” by the holy fire of God’s wrath. As our Redeemer, He was judged for us. This is to take Christ roasted with fire. This is the proper way ordained by God. A second way, advocated by modernists, is to take Christ “raw.” This is to take Christ as an example and to imitate the way He behaved. The third way is to take Christ “boiled.” This is to regard Christ’s death on the cross as persecution and martyrdom, not as death for our redemption. How do you take Christ—roasted, raw, or boiled? If you believe that Christ died on the cross as a martyr because of man’s persecution, then you eat the Passover lamb by boiling it in water. However, if you believe that He died as our Redeemer, being roasted by the holy fire of God, then you eat Him as the Passover lamb roasted in fire. Witness Lee, Life-study of Exodus, msg. 23
Amen…we cannot experience the genuine exodus from the place of tyranny and usurpation to the place of wilderness where serving and feasting to the living God in tabernacle, if there is no sprinkle of the blood of the lamb to the door post and eat the cooked meat of the lamb for our strength…Praise You Lord for the bread and the wine on Your table it strengthen us, remind us, and encourage us to keep it until Your coming back the fullness of our enjoyment of You as a good land.