Author: Jay Lehman

“Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household … The blood on the doorposts shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt’ “ (Exodus 12:3,13).

“The next day John saw Jesus coming to him and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’ “ (John 1:29).

The death of the Egyptian firstborn was the last of ten plagues God used to deliver His people from bondage in Egypt.  God instructed the Israelites to sacrifice a lamb and spread its blood on their doorposts.  When the Lord visited the land at midnight, He “passed over” the homes with the blood applied.  The Egyptians without the blood in place suffered the death of their firstborn.

In the sight of God, the only difference between the sons of Egypt and the sons of Israel on that night was the blood of the lamb.  Jesus is our Passover Lamb.  In God’s eyes at the final judgment, the only difference between the children of God and the lost will be the applied blood of the lamb, Jesus Christ.

If you have believed the gospel message of Jesus Christ that His blood was spilled for you and was the sufficient sacrifice for your sins, you are set free from the penalty of your sin and the judgment of God will “pass over” you.  Jesus is our Passover Lamb!

Jesus was present as the Passover Lamb, because Jesus was there from the beginning!

“Jacob came to a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head, and lay down in that place.  He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.  And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants’ “ (Genesis 28:11-13).

“Jesus said to Nathanael, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man’ “ (John 1:51).

In Genesis chapter 28, we find Jacob on the run.  After cheating his brother, Esau, out of their father’s blessing, Jacob fled to the safety of his uncle, Laban.  One night along the way, Jacob has a dream.  He saw a ladder between heaven and earth with angels ascending and descending upon it.  The ladder was a portal to heaven.  Jacob called the place Bethel (house of God), the place where he heard God’s voice.

Fast forward to John chapter 1.  Jesus’ new recruit, Nathanael, was more than likely familiar with the story of Jacob’s ladder.  Nathanael recognized Jesus as the Son of God, the King of Israel (John 1:49).  Jesus replied to Nathanael, “You were impressed that I saw you under the fig tree from far away, but you are about to see even greater miracles” (John 1:50).

One of these greater miracles?  “You will see the Son of Man as the ladder of Jacob with angels ascending and descending” (John 1:51).  Jesus is foreshadowed in Jacob’s ladder.  Jesus will become the portal between earth and heaven, between God and man.  Jesus is the portal, the mediator, the way.

“For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all” (I Timothy 2:5-6).

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me’ “ (John 14:6).

Jesus was present in Jacob’s dream, because Jesus was there from the beginning!

“Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, ‘My father!’ And he said, ‘Here I am, my son.’ And he said, ‘Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’  Abraham said, ‘God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’  So the two of them walked on together” (Genesis 22:7-8).

“Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (I Peter 1:18-19).

Abraham climbed Mount Moriah by faith.  As he and Isaac climbed together, Abraham believed that God would provide the sacrifice.  And God did!

“Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son” (Genesis 22:13).

Jesus was the ram caught in the thicket, a crown of thorns as it were upon His head.  The ram, the burnt offering for Abraham, is a preview of the Christ who became a sin offering for us.  “But Jesus, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:12).

God provided a sacrifice for Abraham and God provided a sacrifice for us.  Jesus Christ is the lamb who was slain.

Jesus was present on the mountain with Abraham and Isaac, because Jesus was there from the beginning!

“And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High.  He blessed Abram and said, ‘Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand’ “ (Genesis 14:18-20).

“For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace.  Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually” (Hebrews 7:1-3).

Look at these New Testament descriptions of Melchizedek, King of Salem.  “King of righteousness … king of peace … without father or mother … no beginning or end of days … made like the Son of God … and a perpetual priest.”  These are all descriptions of the Jesus we know.

The book of Hebrews goes to great lengths to explain how Jesus is a forever priest after the order of Melchizedek; a forever priesthood that predated and outlasted the priesthood of Aaron and the Law.  Here is just a snippet, “And this is clearer still, if another priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become such not on the basis of a law of physical requirement (a description of the priesthood of Aaron’s line), but according to the power of an indestructible life.  For it is attested of Jesus, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek’ “ (Hebrews 7:15-17).

Jesus was present on the plains of Salem, because Jesus was there from the beginning!

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

I don’t think that it is an accident of translation that the first verse in the Bible and the start of John’s gospel begin with the very same phrase, “In the beginning.”  At the very birth of creation, God was there and at the very birth of creation, the Word was there.  Later in John’s opening chapter, the Word is identified as Jesus Himself.

“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).  The bottom line?  Jesus was present from the very first verse of the Bible.

Paul writes the same thing in Colossians chapter 1, “For by Him [Jesus] all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things have been created through Him and for Him.  He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:16-17).  Jesus is both the creator and the sustainer of His creation.

As we begin this advent journey of seeing Christ in the Old Testament, let us start at the very beginning.

Jesus was present at the creation of the world, because Jesus was there from the beginning!