The best picture of this work of redemption is seen in Christ's becoming the Passover Lamb of God. In the Old Testament the children of Israel were in Egypt, a land of bondage and slavery (Exo. 1:8-14). In order to force the king of Egypt to release His people Israel, God intended to pass through the land and destroy the firstborn of every household. As long as a person was the firstborn of his family, he was destined to die. This is a picture of mankind under the bondage of sin. There is nothing that man can do to free himself. In spite of all man's achievements and the efforts he has exerted, he cannot save himself from God's judgment. Man in this modern age has made great achievements; he has landed on the moon and has made great breakthroughs in science and medicine. Yet all of his achievements cannot help him to escape God's judgment on sin. In this world man is under the bondage of sin and is destined to suffer God's judgment.
Under such a circumstance God prepared a way through which the people of Israel could be delivered from His judgment. He ordered the children of Israel to kill a lamb and put the blood on the doorposts of their houses. In the night the messenger of God passed through the land and executed judgment on the land. In all the houses that did not have the blood on their doorposts, the firstborn was killed; but those who hid under the covering of the blood were saved and delivered. This occasion was remembered later by the Jews as the Feast of the Passover.
The Passover is a type, or a picture, of God's work of redemption which He accomplished in the New Testament in Jesus Christ. Christ is the real Lamb of God. He was not merely a great teacher or a great religious leader. He is the Redeemer of mankind. The Bible says that He is "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). After thirty-three and a half years of living on this earth, Jesus Christ died on the cross. His death was not an ordinary death. Many great leaders of the world died for their causes. Many national heroes shed their blood for their countries. But Jesus died for the sins of all mankind (2 Cor. 5:14). He died as the unique Redeemer.