“This should be me.”
In remembering and retelling the Hebrew Passover, Christ followed the requirements of the law, but He transformed and fulfilled the meaning of the lamb, the bread, and the wine. However, one thing remained the same: the need for a substitute as a sacrifice in place of the guilty sinner. The following day Jesus was brutalized and executed on a Roman cross. To those who watched, the murder seemed senseless, but from God’s perspective it completely paid the cost of redemption. Isaiah had prophesied that, like a lamb led to the slaughter, the Messiah would be pierced for our transgressions, and the punishment for us would fall upon Him (Isaiah 53:5-7). Paul said that Christ Himself is the Passover lamb, sacrificed for our sins (1 Corinthians 5:7). All who consider the sufferings of Jesus should be haunted by these four words: “This should be me.”
The Bible says that all have sinned and deserve one punishment: death. The blood, gore, stench, and wails of the animal sacrifices reminded Old Testament Israelites daily of the wages of sin and cost of redemption. But Paul told us the good news that comes through Christ, the sacrificial Passover Lamb who died to forgive all of our sins: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23)
- Suzanne Keffer and Michael J. Svigel, Insight for Living Ministries
Related links:
Billy Graham - Steps to peace with God
Chuck Colson - The Truth about Everything; Death on a Friday Afternoon
Tags: Theology
