The Fourteenth Day

 •  3 min. read  •  grade level: 7
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The lamb was thus to be taken out from the sheep or from the goats on the tenth day of the month; nevertheless it was not to be slain on that day. “Ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening” (Ex. 12:66And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. (Exodus 12:6)). Under this arrangement the victim was for three or four days under the immediate observation of those for whom its blood was to be shed. This finds its answer in the years of the public ministry of the Lord Jesus. During the first thirty years of His earthly pathway He lived in the retirement of Nazareth. His perfections during those years are known to God alone. It was when He emerged into public view that John the Baptist gave utterance to that marvelous word: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:2929The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)). There before John’s eyes was He to whom the Paschal lamb and every other sacrifice pointed. He had come from heaven to fulfill all the types and shadows of the law. But He did not go to Calvary at that moment. He was indeed on His way thither when John beheld Him, but three and a half years of ministry—matchless ministry—ran their course ere “His life is taken from the earth” (Acts 8:3333In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. (Acts 8:33)). He was thus, as it were, “taken out” on the tenth day, and “kept up” until the fourteenth. The typical picture is the more complete when we remember that His death actually coincided with the Passover feast of that year. His priestly murderers would fain have had it otherwise, fearing a tumult amongst the people (Matt. 26:55But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people. (Matthew 26:5)); but God’s hour had struck, and the deed must be done at that time, and at no other.
During His three and a half years of ministry the Savior lived in the fierce glare of hostile criticism. No ascetic was He, as John; not in the desert was His home; He moved freely in and out amongst the people. All the facts of His life were therefore fully known. If His foes could have discovered a single flaw in Him, how it would have delighted their evil hearts! But He was God’s holy One. The Paschal lamb was to be “without blemish”; only thus could it set forth Him who was at once holy in nature, and stainless in all His ways. At the end His judge had to say, “I find no fault in Him” (John 19:66When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him. (John 19:6)) and His enemies could only find the semblance of a charge against Him by bribing men to commit perjury in their court (Mark 14:55-6055And the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death; and found none. 56For many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together. 57And there arose certain, and bare false witness against him, saying, 58We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands. 59But neither so did their witness agree together. 60And the high priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee? (Mark 14:55‑60)).
His spotless life proclaimed His fitness to die in atonement for the sins of others. Could it be proved that He was ever guilty of the smallest transgression, then salvation is impossible for any of us; for in that case He would have needed a Savior for Himself. His years of public life demonstrated that death had no possible claim upon Him. He was thus divinely competent to take up the sin question and settle it to the eternal satisfaction of the claims of the throne of God. “Hallelujah what a Savior!”