"The New-Born Lamb"
Miraculously, the Jews had survived as a distinct group 1000 years after King David. The last 400 of those years they were not independent but a vassal state of four different world empires. God preserved them because He promised their forefathers: Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. They were the only people who believed and worshipped the true Creator. All others worshiped false gods, for whom they made idols and devised deprived practices.
The Jews believed that God would send a deliverer, their Messiah, whom God would anoint to establish an eternal kingdom. Their Messiah would rule in peace and righteousness, while the knowledge of the Lord would fill the earth; but the Jews were not righteous at all, especially their religious leaders. They, along with the scribes and Pharisees, functioned like a para-aristocracy. They were not pious but wanted to appear that way. That appearance only added to their elitism. Jesus called them hypocrites and children of Satan. He said, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do” (John 8:44).
In truth, the Jewish leaders were captives of sin. Jesus told them, “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin” (John 8:34). The Pharisees preferred the appearance of righteousness far more than righteousness itself and the esteem of the people than their people’s spiritual welfare. These religious leaders did not realize that they were on the road to eternal damnation.
Every sinner is on the road to eternal damnation. We are selfish and readily use the things of this world to gain riches, positions, and power over others. Apostle Paul rightfully observed, “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). He also noted, “The wages of sin is death.” (Rom 6:23). The deliverance that the Jewish leaders needed most, the deliverance that all people need, is deliverance from sin. Sin keeps sinners from God’s presence and seals them to the devil, the prince of wickedness. Jesus came to liberate all people from Satan and bring them back to God, the source of all life.
The effort that God made to guide and rescue His people, especially those incidents recorded in the Old Testament, show how God will save His people. The last plague that befell the Egyptians and caused the Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go was the death of the firstborn. Before the angel of death swept through the land, the Lord told His people how to escape the plague. He ordered every family to take a spotless lamb into their house on the 10th day of the first month, sacrifice it on the 14th day, paint its blood on the door posts and lintels, and eat it after dark, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. The bitter herbs represent the bitterness of this life, which is affected by sin. Leaven puffs up bread and illustrates how sin puffs up people, just like it did to the priests, scribes, and Pharisees. Bread without leaven represents sinlessness. Jesus was without sin and is, as He said, “The bread which came down from heaven” (John 6:41). He was born at Bethlehem, a Hebrew word that means house of bread. While Jesus is the only sinless life, all people can be cleansed from sin through Him and robed in His righteousness. When the Hebrews cleansed their houses of leaven before the Passover meal, they symbolized their need to stop sinning, but its removal was not enough. Sinlessness can only be achieved by eating the Lamb with unleavened bread. Jesus said, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever” (John 6:51). All people who believe in Jesus and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost find that the Holy Ghost produces Jesus’ virtues in their lives. They become like Him.
These rituals attached to Passover focus on its central aspect: the sacrifice of the spotless lamb. The spotless lamb represents Jesus Christ. Isaiah prophesied, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment . . . for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken” (Is 53:7-8). John the Baptist declared Him: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Jesus, whose name literally means Jehovah saves, shed His blood in a willing sacrifice to atone for the sins of the world. Whoever washes his garments in the blood of the Lamb, that is, paints His blood on the entrances to their hearts, is saved from death.
Jesus’ birth as our Pascal Lamb is further illustrated by His birth. The Book of Mormon reveals that Jesus was born on the 10th day of the first month (3N 4:6), the same day that a Jewish family selected the Pascal lamb and brought it into their house. Jesus came into the world, the dwelling place of the human race, as the Pascal lamb, on the tenth day of the first month.
<> The Jewish convert Alfred Edersheim explained that Jesus was born at Migdal Edar, which means Tower of the Flock and is the tower that Jacob built as a memorial for his chosen wife, Rachel. She had just died in childbirth. Micah prophesied, “Thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem” (Micah 4:8). Migdal Edar, was the watchtower just outside Bethlehem at which Levitical shepherds watched over the birth of Temple sheep. All unblemished sheep were destined as Pascal lambs for the Passover sacrifice. More important, the tower contained a birthing room on the ground floor where the Levitical shepherds could examine each to see if it was unblemished. They had carved a depression in a stone, which was called the Manger. They placed each new-born lamb in it for examination. If it was unblemished, they bound it with swaddling bands to keep it from bruising itself while its skin was tender. After Jesus was born, He was wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in that manger, showing that He is the spotless Lamb, destined as the Lamb of God to be sacrificed the evening before Passover. His sacrifice protects believers from death.Christmas is a sacred time for all Christians. While Jesus was not born in winter, the celebration of His birth has made what used to be a pagan festival, a time of carousing and drunkenness, into a holy celebration of God’s gift to the world. The angels, who appeared to the shepherds keeping watch over the flock, sang, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14). This Christmas is a good time to remember how every aspect of Jesus’ birth foretold His purpose. The spotless Lamb came to earth, our temporal world. He came to save us from the angel of death. He came as our Pascal Lamb to free us from sin and the captivity of the devil. He brought peace by offering Himself as a substitutionary death for our sins and the sins of the world, thereby satisfying the demands of God’s justice. He opened the door to heaven so that all can return to God and receive eternal life where they forever sing, “Glory to God in the Highest!”