"Now Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 'This month [of Aviv] shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: 'On the tenth day of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man's need you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month..." (Ex.12:1-6a, NKJV).

Why did Yahweh ordain these four days? What are their prophetic significance? For nothing - absolutely nothing - is accidental or fortuitous in the details of Yahweh's commandments in the Torah (Law/Teaching). Remembering that a prophetic Day of Yahweh is a thousand human years (2 Pet.3:8; Ps.90:4), remembering that Yah'shua (Jesus) is the "last Adam" (1 Cor.15:45), and given that Yah'shua (Jesus) appeared the first time 4,000 years after the creation of Adam, it is realtively simple to assemble the data and come to the inevitable conclusion that these four days in Aviv represent these first 4,000 years of history leading to Messiah's coming.

The end of the 4th Prophetic Day is known as the Meridian of Time - the 'Middle of Time', as it were. It represents Phase #4 of the 7-Phase Cycle of the Sacred Festivals of Yahweh. By the time Yah'shua (Jesus) had completed His mission on earth, three of the seven festivals - which we are about to celebrate - were fulfilled. A short time later, on the Day of Pentecost, the fourth Festival of Shavu'ot (which is in the summer) was fulfilled too. The remaining Three Prophetic Days await the autumn or fall and are yet to be fulfilled when Yah'shua (Jesus) returns for the second and last time.

Our passage under study today tells us that the paschal lamb had to fulfil three creteria prior to its fulfilling the last on Passover Day itself:

• 1. It had to be without blemish (Ex.12:5) - this is a prophetic type of Yah'shua (Jesus) as the Lamb of Elohim (God) (Jn.1:29) who was Himself without blemish (1 Pet.1:18-20). During the crucifixion week, Yah'shua (Jesus) was carefully examined by many people so that this scripture could be fulfilled including the chief cohenim (priests) and zaqenim (Elders) (Mt.21:23), Pilate (Mt.27:1-2,11-14,17-26), Herod (Lk.23:6-12), Annas the Cohen Gadol (High Priest) (Lk.3:2; Jn.18:13,24), Caiphas the Cohen Gadol (High Priest) (Jn.11:49-53; 18:13-14,19-24,28), Judas (Mt.27:3-10), the Centurion (Mt.27:54), and the repentant thief on the cross (Lk.23:39-43) none of whom could find moral, ethical or spiritual fault with Him. He was truly unblemished;

• 2. The lamb was of the first year (Ex.11:4-7) - the firstborn of sons and of flocks (Ex.13:2,11-13) is required by Yahweh to be set-apart or made holy to Him. In the case of the firstborn son, it is because he is given the special responsibility to take care of the whole family and meet its needs when the father is no longer alive. It is for this reason that the firstborn son always gets a larger inheritance than his siblings - not because he is more important but because he has greater responsibilities to shoulder. Certain biological firstborn were set aside by Yahweh in favour of those more spiritual [1] to teach us that the spiritual is more important than the physical. Our first birth (from our mothers) constitutes us as sinners and the second birth (of the Ruach/Spirit) makes us believers and children of Elohim (God) (Jn.1:12; 3:1-7; Rom.9:8-13; 1 Cor.15:22; 15:45-47). Yah'shua (Jesus) was the firstborn of Mary naturally and the firstborn of Elohim (God) spiritually (Mt.1:21-25; Rom.8:29; Col.1:15,18; Rev.3:14);

• 3. The lamb was male (Ex.12:5) - it was through one man's sin (Adam's) that sin came into the world (Rom.5:12; 1 Tim.2:12-14) and it was through one man's redemptive sacrifice (Yah'shua's/Jesus') that that sin was erased for all who would accept Him (Rom.5:17-19). As rosh (head) of the family, the man has the responsibility;

• 4. The lamb is for a household - (Ex.12:3-4) - as we saw in a recent discussion on Baptism and Circumcision, salvation was intended for whole households, not just individuals. The lamb chosen was therefore a lamb for the whole household - the family. Similarly, by coming to emunah (faith) in Messiah, we too join a Household - the Household of Emunah (Faith) (Gal.6:10; Eph.2:19). Salvation for a household is available for all who put their trust in the Messiah, the Lamb of Elohim (God) (Gen.7:1; 18:16-19; Josh.24:15; Jn.4:46-54; Lk.19:5-10; Ac.16:15,31; 18:3,8). Thus we see a progressive revelation of the Lamb in Scripture: first, the lamb for the household (Ex,12:3-4); second, a lamb for the nation of Israel (Jn.11:49-52); and third, a lamb for the whole world (Jn.1:29). When the altar-bound Isaac asked his father Abraham, "Where is the lamb [for sacrifice]?" he did not know prophetically, as we do, that what he was asking was: "Where is the Redeemer?" The answer is, Yah'shua (Jesus) the Messiah (Isa.53:7).

The Lamb of Elohim (God) was put on display and found faultless. We, in our turn, are on display before the world - what will they see? If they see the Lamb of Elohim (God) in us, we will have done well.

Endnotes

[1] Examples of displaced firstborn sons include Cain (who was set aside for Abel) (Gen.4:1-18), Ishmael (who was set aside Isaac) (Gen.16:1,11-12,15; 17:17-19), Esau (who was set aside for Jacob) (Gen.25:19-26; Rom.9:8-13), Reuben (who was set aside for Joseph) (1 Chr.5:1), Manasseh (who was set aside for Ephraim) (Gen.48:8-22), and Egypt (which was set aside for Israel).

Acknowledgements

[1] Edward Chumney, The Seven Festivals of the Messiah (Treasure House, Shippensburg, PA: 1994)

Comments from Readers