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Was Yeshua the "Passover Lamb"?

Someone recently wrote to ask us this great question: "In Hebrews 9:12, does it mean Yeshua took His Blood to the heavenly tabernacle or was His blood poured out on the ground as a Passover Lamb?"

RESPONSE: First, we must remember the "Passover Lamb" was NOT a "sin offering." The lamb for the original Passover was not even a sacrifice! The lamb was offered as a substitute, not as a "sacrifice." The "angel of death" passed over the believing Hebrews when the lamb's blood was on their door posts. So, though not a "sin" sacrifice, the lamb's blood was offered as a substitute, giving the Hebrew first-born males the chance to live.

This is the whole connection: Yeshua was our substitute - and by believing and following YHWH's Torah to help us to lower our tendency to sin and do our best to NOT sin anymore, we have the chance for eternal life!

In Exodus 20:21 (which is verse 24 in some Bibles), YHWH says: "For Me, you need only make an altar of earth...." He goes on to say that if you do make an altar out of stone, not to use cut stones because if you use a tool on it, you profane it....

Remember the day Y'shua died there was a great earthquake that split the earth open beneath Him (Matthew 27:50-51); and then later, when a Roman soldier came and pierced His side, blood and water came out of it and spilled into the earth (John 19:33) which proved our Messiah to be dead.

Matthew 27:50 Then again Y'shua cried out with a loud voice and gave up his spirit. 51. And immediately, the curtains at the door of the temple were torn in two from the top to the bottom. And the earth was shaken and the rocks were split. 52. And the tombs were opened and many bodies of the Set Apart believers who were asleep arose, 53. And went out. And after his resurrection, they entered into the Set Apart city and were seen by many. 54. And the centurion, and those with him who were watching Y'shua, when they saw the earthquake and those things that had occurred, they were very afraid and said, "Truly this was the Son of Elohim." (AENT)

Notice that, when Yeshua offered Himself on our behalf, where did his blood spill? Onto the Earth! The Earth was the altar! Yeshua's blood was poured on the "altar" to make atonement for us! He WAS, in essence, the final sin "sacrifice" - but not for sins committed on purpose, rather for your "sin nature" which would condemn your soul! (See this article). Yeshua martyred Himself on our behalf - and there is no "law" against that. He chose to do it....

(NOTE: Our use of the term "martyr" is intentional because traditional Jews love to point out that "G-d never required human sacrifice!" Well, Y'shua wasn't a "human sacrifice" because nobody "sacrificed" Him. He was a Divine Sacrifice who willingly went to the cross/stake. As a human being, He had the choice to obey YHWH or not. As we see time and time again, He CHOSE to obey. He KNEW who He was....)

More food for thought: It has been suggested by biblical archeologist Ron Wyatt that the Ark of the Covenant may have been directly beneath the cross/stake at the time, and that Y'shua's blood fell onto it. No one really knows, but the bottom line is, His blood was NOT - like all the other Temple sacrifices - touched by human hands (which sprinkled the blood). The fact that it fell onto the earth was probably enough (after all, YHWH Himself made the earth).

Moving on:

Psalm 89:14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; grace and truth attend you. Perfect "justice" demands the death of the sinner. But perfect "mercy" provided a substitute for the truly repentant sinner.

Psalm 85:10 Grace and truth have met together; justice and peace have kissed each other. 11 Truth springs up from the earth, and justice looks down from heaven.

The mercy of YHWH, which could never have been seen without the existence of sin, is finally manifested for all mankind when He allowed His only begotten Son to die - which provided salvation for all mankind. With His blood, Yeshua wiped away NOT the "law/Torah" as Christians proclaim; but rather, He wiped out the documented opinions of men (bill of charges) against us and took them from our midst....

Colossians 2:14 He wiped away the bill of charges against us. Because of the regulations, it stood as a testimony against us; but he removed it by nailing it to the execution-stake 15 stripping the rulers and authorities of their power he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them by means of the stake.

The Torah is holy, righteous and good. To suddenly have it "nailed to the cross" would mean that the things of God were originally evil, something to be done away with. Please check out this final note concerning Yeshua's "sacrifice" which we borrowed from a footnote to Ephesians 5:1 from the Aramaic English New Testament:

Offerings "qurbana" and sacrifices "dabekha" are two different entities. Although there are certain aspects to Mashiyach's death that are utterly unique to him (Zechariah 12:10, etc.), his death nevertheless echoes aspects of offerings and sacrifices that came before. The qurbana is the human life (nefesh) that Y'shua voluntarily offers up on the stake. The result of that offering is his blood put out on the "altar"; hence dabekha.

However, this is certainly not, as some critics suggest, "human sacrifice." Rather, this indicates Y'shua's status as Mashiyach ben Yoseph. Per strict accordance with Isaiah 53 and Genesis 22:8, Mashiyach ben Yoseph was required to suffer and die. After his death, the offering of himself became a sacrifice that was taken up, and he was resurrected three days later. Many of YHWH's prophets also suffered and were martyred at the hands of those who fought against the Malchut Elohim. In the case of Mashiyach, his shed blood is counted as the acceptable offering, the Lamb of YHWH, which is most Set Apart unto YHWH.