📖 Biblical Definition
The Passover lamb was the central element of Israel's redemption from Egypt. Each household was to select an unblemished male lamb, keep it four days, slaughter it at twilight, and apply its blood to the doorposts and lintel. When the LORD passed through Egypt to strike the firstborn, He would see the blood and pass over that house (Exodus 12:13). Every detail pointed to Christ: the lamb without blemish (His sinlessness), the blood applied (His atonement received by faith), the four days of examination (His public ministry tested and found faultless), and not a bone broken (John 19:36). Jesus was crucified at the very hour the Passover lambs were being slaughtered in the temple.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
PASSOVER: A feast of the Jews, instituted to commemorate the providential escape of the Hebrews, in Egypt, when God smiting the first-born of the Egyptians, passed over the houses of the Israelites.
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PASS'OVER, n. 1. A feast of the Jews, instituted to commemorate the providential escape of the Hebrews, in Egypt, when God, smiting the first-born of the Egyptians, passed over the houses of the Israelites which were marked with the blood of the lamb. 2. The sacrifice offered at the feast of the passover.
📖 Key Scripture
• Exodus 12:3-13 — The institution of the Passover and the lamb's blood on the doorposts.
• 1 Corinthians 5:7 — "Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed."
• John 1:29 — "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"
• 1 Peter 1:19 — "The precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot."
• Revelation 5:6 — "A Lamb standing, as though it had been slain."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
The Passover lamb has been sentimentalized or stripped of its substitutionary meaning.
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Liberal theology rejects the idea of substitutionary atonement — that an innocent victim must die in place of the guilty. They find the Passover imagery barbaric and reinterpret Jesus' death as merely an example of love or a protest against injustice. But without the blood of the lamb, there is no passing over of judgment. The entire Exodus narrative demonstrates that God's wrath is real, that it falls on sin, and that only the blood of a substitute can shield the guilty. To strip the Passover of its sacrificial meaning is to strip the gospel of its saving power. "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins" (Hebrews 9:22).
Usage
• "Christ was crucified at the precise hour the Passover lambs were being sacrificed — God's timing is never accidental."
• "The blood of the Passover lamb did not make the Israelites sinless — it made them safe from judgment. So it is with the blood of Christ."
• "Every detail of the Passover lamb pointed forward to Christ — unblemished, examined, slain, and not a bone broken."