The Crucifixion and the Passover Connection

By Darrell Tuttle

The record of our Lord’s crucifixion, found in the New Testament, is one that most believers are very familiar with. We have been taught about the crucifixion in Sunday school classes, have sung about it in hymns, we’ve read a number of books on the subject, an enormous amount of information can be found on the internet concerning the Crucifixion and, we have even been able to view Mel Gibson’s version of the crucifixion in his movie, The Passion. However, with all this information at our disposal, most Christians are not aware of the direct connection between the crucifixion of Christ in the New Testament and the Passover of the Old Testament.

In the Old Testament God instructed the Israelites to partake of the first Passover while they were still being held as slaves in Egypt. God gave the Israelites very specific requirements for this first Passover in an effort to protect them from the final plague - the death of the first born. These instructions can be found in Exodus 12: 1-14, 46.

For Passover, a lamb was selected as a sacrifice. The lamb had to be a male without any birth defects, such as a limp or blindness and the lamb had to be without a blemish of any kind. The lamb was taken into the home four days prior to its sacrifice to be observed and examined for any such defects. It was not uncommon for the children of the home to fall in love with the little lamb and often viewed it as the family pet. At the end of the four days it was customary for the head of the household to rise up and declare the lamb clean. At this point the lamb was legally acceptable as a Passover offering.

The lamb was then killed and its blood applied to the doorposts of the house in order to notify the Angel of Death to ‘Passover’ this house. The lamb itself was roasted on a spit with a rod inserted horizontally and another rod inserted vertically to open the chest cavity, forming a cross. While eating the lamb great care was taken to insure that no bones were broken. Those who ate the Passover lamb did so while fully clothed, in preparation to make a speedy departure.

Once the Israelites left Egypt there was another ordinance given pertaining to the observance of Passover. Found in Deuteronomy 16:5,6, this final instruction is to only partake of the Passover lamb in the place where God has placed His name. The special place where God placed His name was Jerusalem, and even today the Passover lamb can only be eaten inside the walls of Jerusalem. This is why Jesus and His disciples went to Jerusalem to partake of the final Passover meal, better known as “the last supper.” (Luke 2:41, Luke 22: 8-12.)

The parallels between the crucifixion and the Passover should be coming into focus. We now know from reading the Scriptures, especially John 18:39, that Jesus was crucified at Passover. This fact alone is amazing because Jesus could have been crucified on any other day of the year but He wasn’t. He was crucified on the very day of Passover.

Paul referred to Jesus as our Passover in 1 Cor. 5:7. Jesus was also referred to as the “Lamb of God” by John the Baptist at Jesus’ baptism in John 1:29 and again the next day in John 1:36. Jesus also met all of the requirements of the Passover lamb. Jesus was a male, without birth defects or blemishes. Jesus was in Jerusalem four days prior to His execution and examined for blemish by the Scribes, the Pharisees, Caiaphas, and Pilate. At the end of those four days the head of the household, which was Pilate, stood up and declared Jesus clean, not just once but on three separate occasions. (See John 18:38, 19:4, 19:6.)

At this point Jesus had met the requirements necessary to make Him legally acceptable as the Passover lamb. Jesus was then led away to be placed on the cross and in the process, none of His bones were broken. (Psalm 34:20; Exodus 12 states that the Passover Lamb's bones are not to be broken.)

If we will partake of this Passover Lamb and place His blood on the doorposts of our hearts then we too can give notice to the Angel of Death insuring our eternal life. Furthermore, just as the Israelites partook of the Passover lamb in anticipation of a speedy departure we too, after partaking of the Passover Lamb, can look forward to a speedy departure someday soon, to a heavenly promised land, thanks to our Passover Lamb of God, Christ Jesus.

Darrell Tuttle was saved at an early age in an Indiana orphanage the moment he read Psalms 68:5. Darrell has been practicing Messianic Judaism for the past fifteen years. He and his wife Teresa live in South St. Louis, where they own and operate a small company called Divine Sign Design, that reduplicates the sign that Pilate made for Jesus in John 19:19.