How can Deuteronomy 16:7 deepen our understanding of Christ as the Passover Lamb? “You are to cook it and eat it in the place the LORD your God will choose, and in the morning you shall return to your tents.” How this single verse enlarges our view of Jesus as the Passover Lamb The Command to “Cook and Eat” – Share Fully in the Lamb • Exodus 12:8-10 lays out the original Passover: the lamb had to be entirely consumed, nothing left until morning. • Deuteronomy repeats the idea: the worshiper must “cook” (roast) and “eat” the sacrifice. • John 6:51—Jesus: “the bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.” Consuming the lamb foreshadows receiving Christ personally and completely; His sacrifice is not admired from afar but taken in by faith (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). “In the Place the LORD Chooses” – God’s Appointed Site and the Cross • Under Moses, the chosen place became Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 6:6). No private altars were allowed; worship centralized where God set His name. • Luke 22:7-13—Jesus keeps Passover in Jerusalem, the divinely chosen city. • Golgotha, just outside the temple precincts, is still within that ordained locale; Christ dies precisely where the Father appointed (Acts 2:23). • The exclusivity of place underlines that only one sacrifice, in one Savior, is efficacious (John 14:6). “Return to Your Tents in the Morning” – From Sacrifice to New Dawn • Israel stayed the night near the sanctuary, then left at sunrise. The darkness holds death; the morning signals deliverance. • Mark 15:42-46—Jesus’ body taken down before nightfall, completing the Passover pattern. • Matthew 28:1-6—at dawn His empty tomb proclaims a new exodus. Worshipers who left the sanctuary at first light mirror believers who depart the cross changed and free. Unity of the Passover Narrative • Exodus 12:46—“You must not break any of its bones.” John 19:36 applies this to Jesus: “Not one of His bones will be broken.” • 1 Corinthians 5:7—“For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” • Together with Deuteronomy 16:7, the Spirit stitches centuries of revelation into one seamless tapestry: a prepared lamb, eaten in God’s chosen place, completed by morning, all pointing to Christ. Personal Takeaways • Participation: Receive Christ wholly; partial acceptance is impossible. • Location: Salvation rests only in God’s ordained provision—Jesus alone. • Timing: Night may linger, but resurrection morning is certain. • Identity: As Israel headed home marked by Passover, believers carry the imprint of the Lamb into everyday life (1 Peter 1:18-19). Deuteronomy 16:7, tucked in the feast regulations, quietly forecasts the passion, death, and triumph of Jesus—the flawless Passover Lamb who satisfies God’s decree, nourishes His people, and ushers in a dawn that never fades. |
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