The next few weeks, leading up to Easter, we are beginning a new series called Hope Rising. We are going to dive into the final few days of Jesus earthly life to discover the beauty and power of this pinnacle moment in the Gospels.

As we look towards Easter, I want to take a moment to first look back at the elements of a significant event in biblical history, the Passover. Not only does the feast of Passover commemorate Israel’s liberation from Egyptian slavery, but it also served as a prophetic dress rehearsal for the life and death of Jesus.

The beauty of the Passover is that the freedom Israel experienced freedom from oppression, bondage, hardship, and slavery, also declared a prophetic picture of the freedom spiritually we would receive through Christ.

Through the sin of Adam, mankind was subjected to sin and the curse. We were placed under bondage, desperately in need of redemption and a savior.
The beauty of the scripture is that God throughout the Old Testament give prophetic pictures and foretells of what He will do to bring salvation to mankind.

As we jump into the message, let’s first take a look back at what the Israelites experienced.

As the book of Genesis ends, you see the Children of Israel living in the land of Egypt after the service Joseph provides to Pharaoh. After Joseph’s death, along with all of his brothers and their generation. There arose a new king in Egypt who did not know Joseph, and He looked at the children of Israel that they were more and mightier than the Egyptians Ex. 1:5-9.

Out of fear, he deals shrewdly with them, setting taskmasters over them to afflict them with burdens. They experience affliction for roughly 430 years. During this time period, there is no recorded word from the Lord concerning Israel.

In the time of their affliction, God hears their groaning and raises up Moses. Moses, raised in Pharaoh's house until the age of forty, fled the land of Midian after he attempted deliverance by his own hand. Another forty years pass, and God reveals Himself to Moses at the burning bush. He commissions Him and then sends him to Egypt to deliver the people from Pharaoh.

The climax of this deliverance is the tenth and final plague, which was the death of the firstborn.

In preparation for the plague, the Passover is instituted by the Lord.

As the people obeyed the instruction of the Lord, and the final plague took place. God delivered Israel from the hands of the Egyptians through the blood of a lamb. They plundered their enemy and began the Exodus journey to the promised land.

The Exodus signifies liberation, divine intervention, and the formation of a covenant between God and His people. The beauty of this story is that it is both historical and prophetic.

Passover isn't just a commemorative meal; it’s a detailed "dress rehearsal" for the life and death of Jesus.

1. The Passover Lamb
In the Exodus, every family had to select a lamb to be sacrificed.

• The Requirement: The lamb had to be "without blemish" (Exodus 12:5). It was watched for four days to ensure it was perfect.
• The Fulfillment: John, as he sees Jesus coming to be baptized, makes this declaration. John 1:29 “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
• In Jesus final week, he entered Jerusalem four days before the Passover (Palm Sunday), during which he was "inspected" by the Pharisees and Pilate, who famously said, "I find no fault in him" (John 18:38). Jesus was the spotless lamb of God.
• The Bones: Another powerful depiction about the Passover lamb is that Ex. 12:46 stated that none of the lamb's bones could be broken. During crucifixion, Roman soldiers typically broke the legs of crucifixion victims to speed up death. When they were about to, they found Jesus already dead and left his legs intact, fulfilling the typology (John 19:33).

2. The Unleavened Bread (Matzah)
During Passover, all leaven (yeast) is removed from the home. In the Bible, leaven often symbolizes sin or pride.

• The Appearance: Matzah is unique—it is pierced (with holes) and striped (from the heat of the oven) to prevent it from rising.
• The Fulfillment: At the Last Supper, Jesus took the bread and said, "This is my body." The Matzah breads physical description is a mirror of Jesus’ physical suffering: he was "pierced for our transgressions" and "by his stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5).

3. The Blood on the Doorposts
The climax of the Passover story is the blood of the lamb painted on the doorframes, which caused the "Angel of Death" to pass over those homes.

• The Protection: The blood in the Exodus story was a sign of substitutionary life—the lamb died so the firstborn wouldn't have to.
• The Fulfillment: In the New Testament, Jesus' death is framed as the ultimate "Passover." His blood is seen as the covering that both protects and delivers the believer from spiritual judgment and bondage. The "doorpost" moved from the house to the heart.

4. The Third Cup: Redemption
A traditional Passover Seder involves four cups of wine, each representing a promise from God.

• The first cup represents Sanctification: I will bring you out and set you apart.
• The second cup represents deliverance: I will rescue/free you. Freedom from bondage pointing to the Lamb of God.
• The third cup is known as the Cup of Redemption. This is the cup referenced by Jesus in Luke 22:20 “Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.”
• The fourth and final cup is Praise: I will take you. Jesus said of this cup in Matthew 26:29 “But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”

• The Timing: It is widely believed by scholars that the cup Jesus used to institute the "New Covenant" at the Last Supper was this specific third cup, drunk after the meal.
• The Fulfillment: By identifying His blood with the Cup of Redemption, he was claiming to be the mechanism by which God would finally buy back (redeem) humanity from "slavery" (sin).

This is more than a coincidence. It is a powerful declaration from heaven of what God intended to do to bring redemption to humanity.

Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He alone is the one who provides a way out of bondage. He is the one who brings divine deliverance to our lives and establishes a relationship with us to take us from slavery to freedom.

The key question of this message is found in our personal decision. Will we choose to recognize our need, and through faith in Christ, apply the blood to our hearts?