For 1,500 years, Israel killed a lamb at Passover. Jesus died at Passover, as the Lamb of God.

On the night Israel escaped Egypt, God told every family to kill a spotless lamb and paint its blood on the door. Where he saw the blood, death would pass over. Not one bone of the lamb could be broken. Israel kept the feast every year for about fifteen centuries. Then Jesus, whom John the Baptist called "the lamb of God," was put to death at Passover. Pilate found no fault in him, and the soldiers did not break his legs.

THE SHORT VERSION
1

The Passover lamb had to be without blemish. Pilate said of Jesus, "I find no cause in him."

2

Its blood saved the house. Not a bone could be broken.

3

Jesus died at Passover, and the soldiers did not break his legs.

The first Passover

Israel was enslaved in Egypt. God was about to strike the land with one last plague: the death of every firstborn. But he gave his people a way to be saved.

"And it shall be a lamb without blemish, a male, of one year... And they shall take of the blood thereof, and put it upon both the side-posts, and on the upper door-posts of the houses."

Exodus 12:5 and 7 ยท around 1450 BC

"And the blood shall be unto you for a sign in the houses where you shall be; and I shall see the blood, and shall pass over you."

Exodus 12:13

The lamb died so the firstborn could live. And there was one more rule:

"In one house shall it be eaten, neither shall you carry forth of the flesh thereof out of the house, neither shall you break a bone thereof."

Exodus 12:46

Israel kept this feast every year, lamb after lamb, for around fifteen centuries.

The Lamb of God

The first time John the Baptist saw Jesus, he didn't call him a teacher or a king:

"Behold the lamb of God, behold him who taketh away the sins of the world."

John 1:29

Without blemish

The lamb had to be perfect. At the trial, the Roman governor examined Jesus and came out with his verdict:

"Behold I bring him forth to you, that you may know that I find no cause in him."

John 19:4

At Passover

Jesus was condemned on "the Parasceve of the Pasch" (John 19:14): the day of preparation for the Passover, when the lambs were being prepared for the feast. The Lamb of God died in the very days the Passover lambs did.

Not a bone broken

Crucified men could take days to die. To hurry it along before the feast, the soldiers broke the legs of the men on the crosses.

"The soldiers, therefore, came; and they broke the legs of the first, and of the other that was crucified with him. But when they were come to Jesus, as they saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs... For these things were done, that the Scripture might be fulfilled; You shall not break a bone of him."

John 19:32 to 33 and 36

His blood on the door

Paul says it straight: "For Christ, our Pasch, is sacrificed" (1 Corinthians 5:7). Pasch means Passover.

And Peter: "you were not redeemed with corruptible things, gold or silver... But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled" (1 Peter 1:18 to 19).

Why this is a big deal

For fifteen hundred years, every Passover lamb was a rehearsal. A spotless male, killed at the feast, its blood the sign that saved, not one bone broken.

Then the real Lamb came, and every detail landed on him.

Keep exploring

Foreshadows Abraham offered his only son on the same mountain where Jesus died. Foreshadows Moses lifted a serpent on a pole to save the dying. Jesus said it was a picture of his death. Foreshadows The moment Jesus died, the curtain hiding God was torn in two, from the top down.
Check it yourself: sources
  1. Exodus 12:3 to 13 and 12:46, Douay-Rheims Bible.
  2. John 1:29, 19:4, 19:14 and 19:31 to 36, Douay-Rheims Bible. Link
  3. 1 Corinthians 5:7 and 1 Peter 1:18 to 19, Douay-Rheims Bible.

Bible text: Douay-Rheims. Last updated 16 October 2026.