A new calendar begins. The month of redemption becomes the first month of the year for Israel. Time itself is restructured around deliverance.

For the Christian, the same principle applies. The day of conversion is the new beginning. Whatever calendar one's family or culture uses, the believer's real chronology starts at the cross — and runs forward.

The lamb taken on the tenth and kept until the fourteenth. Four days of inspection. The lamb that would die in the household's place lived among them for four days first.

Jesus entered Jerusalem on the tenth of Nisan, four days before His crucifixion — the day the Passover lambs were being selected. He was inspected by the religious authorities for four days, and like the lamb, found without blemish. The fulfillment is precise.

Without blemish. The acceptable substitute must be without defect. Centuries of Levitical sacrifices reinforced the principle. The lamb that dies in the sinner's place cannot itself bear blame.

1 Peter 1:19 names the connection: the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. The Passover lamb was a prophecy made of flesh and blood.

The blood applied. The lamb killed was not enough; the blood must be put on the doorposts personally. The application of the blood to the individual house is what brought deliverance.

For the believer, the parallel is exact. Christ died for the world (1 John 2:2). But the blood must be applied to the individual heart by faith (Romans 5:1). The crucifixion alone does not save; the personal application of its benefits does.

The most important verse in the chapter and arguably in all of Exodus. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. God does not look at the worthiness of the family inside. He looks at the blood.

The Hebrew family inside the house could have been deeply imperfect, full of doubts, in fear. The deliverance did not depend on them. It depended on the blood. So with the believer — the assurance of salvation rests not on the perfection of the believer but on the blood of Christ.

The destroyer. A specific agent of death is named. The Lord passes over; the destroyer is not permitted to enter. The same agent that strikes Egypt is restrained at the bloody door.

Hebrews 11:28 — Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. Faith and the blood together kept the destroyer back.

Neither shall ye break a bone thereof. John 19:36 quotes this verse as fulfilled at Christ's crucifixion. The Romans typically broke the legs of the crucified to hasten death; Christ's legs were not broken because He was already dead. The Passover ordinance was fulfilled to the letter.

The Passover lamb in Exodus prefigured everything about Christ — the type and the antitype meet at every detail. Even a small ceremonial command finds its fulfillment fifteen centuries later at the cross.

Even a Gentile could keep the Passover, provided he joined the covenant. The door was always open to those who would come in. The mixed multitude that left Egypt (verse 38) became Israelites through the covenant signs.

For the New Testament believer, the parallel is the Lord's Supper. It is for those who have come under the new covenant. The Gentile who has trusted Christ and been baptized has every right to the table — as full a right as any Jew.