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Listen "#69 | Passover and Atonement: Jesus the Passover Lamb"
Episode Synopsis
In this episode we start digging into how our understanding of the passover lamb in the Exodus as a symbolic representative of Amun-Ra helps us understand Jesus being identified as the passover lamb in the Gospels, as well as other passages in the New Testament. Equating Jesus with the passover lamb presents a bit of a riddle because it implies Jesus is somehow being equated with Amun-Ra. However, the answer to this riddle is found when we recognize an important distinction between the story of the Exodus and the story of Jesus. In the Exodus narrative, the "evil" force empowering Israel's slavery was external to the Israelites - it was a god that YHWH was judging, with Pharoah as a key embodiment and agent of that god. In other words, the enemy was an entity located outside of their human nature.
Contrast this with the Gospel narratives - especially John - that locate the "evil" force empowering our slavery as being internal to our human nature. In other words, it is the power of sin in our flesh that enslaves us (John 8:31-36). When the gospel writers identify Jesus as our passover lamb they are not saying Jesus is Amun-Ra. They are saying that the forces that enslave human nature were successfully killed and overcome in Jesus. But in order for that to happen, like the Israelites at the Exodus, Jesus had to partner with God in battle against the forces of evil in his own human nature. Through his incarnation, Jesus makes contact with the power of sin in the flesh and successfully overcomes it, with the most intense portion of that battle taking place in the events leading up to, and including, his crucifixion. This is one of the reasons Matthew, Mark, and Luke want us to realize that Jesus' death took place at exactly the same time that the passover lambs were being killed in the temple.
John in the book of Revelation also sees Jesus in this way when he describes Jesus as being worthy to open the scroll precisely because he has overcome the forces of evil within himself, something no one - in heaven, on the earth, or below the earth - has ever done before.
Key Passages:
John 1:14; 3:6; 6:63; 17:19 - the word flesh is characterized in John as being primarily negative.
Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34, Luke 23:44 - Jesus dies at around 3pm in the afternoon.
Revelation 5:1-10 - Jesus is worthy because he has overcome the forces of evil, not only the internal forces in his own human nature, but also the external forces that seek to leverage those internal forces for their own ends.
Explainer Video on how to use www.biblehub.com and www.blueletterbible.org
Leave us a question or comment at our website podcast page.
* Intro Music: "Admirable" Carlos Herrera Music
Contrast this with the Gospel narratives - especially John - that locate the "evil" force empowering our slavery as being internal to our human nature. In other words, it is the power of sin in our flesh that enslaves us (John 8:31-36). When the gospel writers identify Jesus as our passover lamb they are not saying Jesus is Amun-Ra. They are saying that the forces that enslave human nature were successfully killed and overcome in Jesus. But in order for that to happen, like the Israelites at the Exodus, Jesus had to partner with God in battle against the forces of evil in his own human nature. Through his incarnation, Jesus makes contact with the power of sin in the flesh and successfully overcomes it, with the most intense portion of that battle taking place in the events leading up to, and including, his crucifixion. This is one of the reasons Matthew, Mark, and Luke want us to realize that Jesus' death took place at exactly the same time that the passover lambs were being killed in the temple.
John in the book of Revelation also sees Jesus in this way when he describes Jesus as being worthy to open the scroll precisely because he has overcome the forces of evil within himself, something no one - in heaven, on the earth, or below the earth - has ever done before.
Key Passages:
John 1:14; 3:6; 6:63; 17:19 - the word flesh is characterized in John as being primarily negative.
Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34, Luke 23:44 - Jesus dies at around 3pm in the afternoon.
Revelation 5:1-10 - Jesus is worthy because he has overcome the forces of evil, not only the internal forces in his own human nature, but also the external forces that seek to leverage those internal forces for their own ends.
Explainer Video on how to use www.biblehub.com and www.blueletterbible.org
Leave us a question or comment at our website podcast page.
* Intro Music: "Admirable" Carlos Herrera Music
In God we trust