JESUS THE ULTIMATE PASSOVER

Jesus died at the very time when Passover week was reaching its climax. Jesus is the ultimate Passover, the final sacrifice. Fourteen centuries earlier the slaughtered Passover lamb and the liberation from Egypt had been the foreshadowing. The slaughtering of Jesus, the Lamb of God, and the great liberation from sin and Satan that Jesus’ death achieved—this was the fulfillment. The timing of the Passover and the crucifixion matched perfectly, again linking the ancient Scriptures with the person of Jesus.

How could so many prophecies turn out to be so accurate? And how could one person be the fulfillment of all those things which were written so many years earlier? The answer is simply that these predictions in the Old Testament were promises from God, and that this Jesus is the One God sent to save us. How else could the person and the predictions match so precisely?

Old Testament predictions didn’t stop at the death of the Messiah. Psalm 16:10 said, “You will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.” Isaiah 53:11 said, “After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge, my righteous servant will justify many.” Psalm 22 said that after being forsaken by God and pierced by men, the afflicted one would live and rejoice and bring far-off nations to the Lord. Sure enough, Jesus didn’t stay in the grave, and his body didn’t decay. He rose from the dead, saw the light of life, and has brought joy, salvation, and eternal life to people from many nations ever since.