Jesus Christ is recognized as our Passover, yet His death did not align with the traditional timing of the Passover lambs' sacrifice at the beginning of the 14th day of Abib. Instead, His crucifixion occurred during the daylight hours of the 14th, around 3:00 pm, on the preparation day for the first day of Unleavened Bread. Despite this, Jesus observed the Passover with His disciples at the start of the 14th day, just after sunset, emphasizing the bread, wine, and footwashing as significant elements of the observance. His actions that evening focused on eating the Passover before His suffering, showing His fervent desire to share this meal with His disciples prior to His arrest and crucifixion the following morning. Although Jesus fulfilled the spiritual requirements of the Passover, the physical details of His death did not match the original instructions given to Israel. He was crucified rather than roasted in fire, His blood was not caught in a basin or smeared on doorposts, and His remains were not burned as specified. Additionally, He and His disciples left the house before morning, contrary to the command given to the Israelites. Nevertheless, Jesus absolutely fulfilled the Passover according to spiritual requirements that differed from the physical rites, satisfying the Father's plan. His example of observing the Passover at the beginning of the 14th day, with the bread and wine in remembrance of Him, sets the standard for how it should be kept, even though the timing of His death later that day carried broader significance beyond just the Passover sacrifice.

At Passover, the focus centers on Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God slain for the sins of the world, a human sacrifice of the most sublime quality. God, the righteous Judge of all mankind, provided Jesus Christ to pay the incalculable price for sin. The cup at Passover symbolizes the blood Jesus spilled in sacrificing His life, sealing God's agreement of salvation with us. Passover's purpose is not just to remember historical events, but to grasp the point of Christ's death, ensuring we do not treat it unworthily. Our pre-Passover preparations involve seriously reviewing our spiritual and moral failures in contrast to the perfect glory of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who lived without committing even one sin. Despite our self-examination, the focus at Passover remains on the payment for our sins through His sacrifice, concentrating on the most elementary precepts of our salvation and the part He plays in it. The Bible sees sacrifice as the holy act, the essence of love, manifested in God giving His only begotten Son. Jesus Christ, the sinless God-Man, offered a sacrifice that animal sacrifices could not match, cleansing sin and establishing a New Covenant based on an intimate relationship with our Creator. The theme of Passover is the awesome cost of salvation, shown in His sinless sacrifice, evoking revulsion at our sins causing such an injustice, while inspiring appreciation, indebtedness, and thanksgiving by departing from sin. His name is Savior, Redeemer, and Lamb of God, and His unique sacrifice, with the approval of the Father, was enough for all time.

Jesus Christ stands at the heart of Passover, embodying its deepest significance. At this time of year, the focus is on Him as the sacrificed Lamb of God, slain for the sins of the whole world. He is the object of the Bible, the very personification of love, both in His life and in His death. The law points to the righteousness attainable only through trust in Him, and He fulfilled the law perfectly, exemplifying God's desires in all that He did. Passover is not merely a ritual to remember historical events, but a profound call to grasp the significance of His death. The cup in the Passover service symbolizes the blood He shed, sealing God's agreement of salvation with us. Through His sacrifice, God provides powerful evidence of His seriousness and the means to forgive the debt of our sins. If Passover becomes just a pious habit, it loses its meaning, for Christ is not truly remembered. The focus during Passover is on the payment for sin through His sacrifice and on the grace of God justifying through His blood. His death and resurrection are the foundation of our faith, and His glorification is God's pledge of hope for our future. He was the Lamb foreordained before the foundation of the world, a purposeful part of God's plan before creation, underscoring the precious value of His blood. Passover compels us to examine how precious His blood is to us, to meditate on the value of His sacrifice, and to consider what a relationship with Him means. The Christian life is lived out of the revelation of the redemption He accomplished, and the value we place on His sacrifice is revealed in how we live day by day. The theme of Passover is the awesome cost of salvation, manifested in His sinless sacrifice—a sacrifice performed with full understanding, intense temptation, innocence, sympathy, empathy, compassion, and kindness for the eternal welfare of all. Sacrifice, as revealed throughout the Bible, is the holy act and the essence of love. God so loved the world that He gave in sacrifice, and Jesus recognized His body and life as a gift to accomplish God's will. Unlike animal sacrifices, which failed to produce a desire to obey God, His sacrifice has the power to cleanse from sin, establishing a New Covenant based on an intimate personal relationship with our Creator. When a human dies for us, especially the most valuable Life ever lived, we feel an immeasurable debt, and gratitude, worship, and obedience become the only appropriate responses to such a sacrificial gift as the body of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is our Passover, as affirmed in I Corinthians 5:7, and God ensured that the requirements of the Passover sacrifice were perfectly met in His death. According to the instructions in Exodus 12:46 and Numbers 9:12, the bones of the Passover lamb were to remain unbroken, a stipulation unique to this sacrifice. In fulfillment of this, when the Roman soldiers came to Jesus during the crucifixion and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs, thus preserving the integrity of His bones as recorded in John 19:33. This act also fulfilled the prophecy in Psalm 34:20, which declares that God guards the bones of the righteous, ensuring not one is broken. Furthermore, the unbroken state of Christ's body aligns with the covenant God made with Abraham in Genesis 15, where God swore a self-maledictory oath, promising to be cut asunder if He failed to fulfill His promises. Had Christ's body been divided, it would have implied that the Covenant-Maker had failed, but God, in His sovereignty, ensured that while Christ's blood was shed to seal the New Covenant, His body remained intact to satisfy the promises made to Abraham.

God reveals His plan of salvation for mankind through His commanded holy days, with the first step shown in the observance of the Passover. This annual keeping reminds us of the initial step in fulfilling God's plan to redeem man from sin and provide forgiveness, as He will not tolerate sin and requires justification for entry into His Kingdom. Passover, one of God's festivals, was instituted by Him and commanded to be observed. When God called the children of Israel out of Egypt, He instructed them to choose an unblemished lamb, kill it at twilight on the 14th day of Abib, and put its blood on their doorposts and lintels as a sign to the death angel to pass over their homes, saving Israel's firstborn. This ritual of killing the lamb and applying its blood represented the death of Jesus Christ, who was God in the flesh. As the Lamb of God, He lived a perfect, sinless life, gave His life, and shed His blood to save us from eternal death by paying the penalty for our sins. Through faith in His sacrifice, we receive forgiveness and come into a right relationship with God. His life, worth more than all human life combined, paid the price for all sin, redeeming us from the penalty of breaking God's law and freeing us to live righteously. Our Savior was crucified in the early afternoon on the day of the Passover, completely fulfilling the symbolism of the lamb even to the very day. Jesus Christ observed the Passover during His life on earth, setting a perfect example for us to follow in keeping this festival. New Testament Christians are commanded to observe the Passover as a memorial of the death of Christ, our Passover, who was sacrificed for us. During the Passover meal, He washed His disciples' feet, demonstrating humility and service, and commanded Christians everywhere to follow His example. He also instructed His disciples to partake of unleavened bread and wine during the New Testament Passover service as a memorial of His death for all time, since His death fulfilled the symbolism of killing a lamb, eliminating the need for its slaughter. Converted Christians must observe the New Testament Passover every year, as unless we eat His flesh, represented by the unleavened bread, and drink His blood, symbolized by the wine, we have no life in us and will not inherit eternal life. The New Testament church of God continued to keep the Passover yearly, and the apostle Paul taught Gentile Corinthians to observe it using the symbols of bread and wine, instructing us to keep the Passover until He comes.

Jesus Christ fulfills multiple facets of sacrifice, with His death on Passover afternoon representing more than just the sin offering. The Passover observance, commemorated annually at the beginning of the 14th of Abib, emphasizes a distinctive meal rather than atonement or forgiveness, as seen in the detailed instructions God provided for the Israelites in Egypt. These instructions focus on the preparation and consumption of the Passover lamb, highlighting its role in redemption and purchase from Pharaoh, not cleansing from sin. The blood on the doorposts symbolized the life of the lamb given to redeem those within each participating house, demonstrating God's mercy and exemption, passing over Israel's sins without addressing them directly. The Passover sacrifice differs significantly from the sin offering, with its emphasis on eating as a shared meal among households, unlike the restricted consumption by priests in the sin offering. Jesus Christ's observance of Passover with His disciples continues this theme of fellowship and peace, focusing on unity with the Father and each other, rather than on sin. During this special occasion, He expressed fervent anticipation for this fellowship meal, emphasizing the bread and wine as symbols of His living body and the blood of the New Covenant, representing eternal life and a profound relationship with God. The bread, symbolizing Christ's sinless life, imparts spiritual strength as we partake, uniting us with the living Savior. The wine, representing the blood of the covenant, signifies God's pledge of faithfulness and the promise of spiritual completion. Passover, thus, is not primarily about atonement but about God's gracious acceptance and the ongoing fellowship with Him, initiated through Christ's sacrifice. It is a solemn yet joyful celebration of the peace and well-being we have in Christ, looking forward to the ultimate fulfillment of redemption in the Kingdom of God.