Jesus as the Passover Lamb: The 4-Day Examination and 2030 Prophecy

One of the most overlooked aspects of “big picture” Biblical Prophecy concerns the Passover Lamb. The Old Testament required the lamb to be thoroughly examined for 4 days before it was sacrificed at Passover.

This rule was implemented to ensure that the lamb would be a perfect sacrifice, a sacrifice that was “without blemish” (Exodus 12:1-6).

When considering the life of Jesus and its relationship to the Prophetic Word, we must always remember that Jesus came to fulfill God’s Law perfectly :

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come

to destroy, but to fulfill.” Matthew 5:17

We must also remember that Jesus Christ was and is the unique Personage of the Universe, being both God and man at the same time. As He stated, “Before Abraham was, I Am” (John 8:58).

Before the Incarnation, Jesus Christ was the Eternal 2nd Person of the Trinity, Jehovah, of the Old Testament record. It was this same Jehovah who had walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and had made the promise to personally undo and rectify the results of their Fall into sin.

It is therefore of great interest to realize that Jesus Christ had to be subjected to a thorough 4-day examination. Both His Humanity and His Divinity had to demonstrate that He was qualified to be the Perfect Sacrificial Lamb.

The 4 Day Examination of Jesus

In the Book of Exodus, we read of how each Hebrew house was to bring a lamb without blemish into their house to be examined for 4 days to ensure that it was indeed perfect. At the end of the 4th day, the lamb was then to be sacrificed.

When we remember that Jesus came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17), these events begin to take on greater significance. This is especially true of the 4 days prior to Jesus’ Crucifixion.

While common Christian culture teaches that Jesus was crucified on a Friday, this presents a problem with this interpretation. Scripture indicates that He was to remain in the grave a full 3 days and 3 nights (Matthew 12:40).

Therefore, the Crucifixion would have to have occurred at the end of the day on the Wednesday prior to Jesus’ Resurrection. This means that in order to perfectly satisfy the Law, Jesus’ examination would have had to begin on the Sunday before the Crucifixion. This sheds new light on the events of the 4 days prior to the Crucifixion.

For when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the young donkey on Palm Sunday, He was fulfilling prophecy by presenting Himself to the Nation of Israel as their Messiah (Zechariah 9:9). He was also beginning the necessary 4-day examination prior to His sacrifice at Calvary.

When the Hebrew people laid down palm branches in front of Him, they were in essence acknowledging the fact that Jesus was the perfect Son of God, an event which is recorded in all 4 Gospels (Matthew 21:8, Mark 11:8, Luke 19:36, John 12:13).

Later, Jesus would also be examined numerous times by both Pilate and Herod (Luke 23:15), which had prompted Pilate to famously remark that neither he (nor Herod) had “found any fault in this man” (Luke 23:4,14,15).

Even the Jewish religious authorities unwittingly acknowledged the perfection of Jesus, as we are told that they had attempted to find “false witnesses” to testify against Jesus (Matthew 26:59), thereby acknowledging that Jesus was indeed perfect in all His ways.

This examination of Jesus continued even while He hung on the Cross.

For on the Cross, one of the thieves crucified with Him came to the realization that Jesus was truly the Perfect Son of God. He stated, “…this man hath done nothing amiss” (Luke 23:41). Afterward, he acknowledged Jesus as his Lord: “Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom” (Luke 23:42).

after which he acknowledged Jesus as his Lord, “Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom” (Luke 23:42).

The perfection of Jesus was also attested to by the Roman soldier administering the Crucifixion. He stated, “Certainly this was a righteous man” (Luke 23:47).

Jesus as Jehovah in the Old Testament

It is of great interest to recognize the fact that Jesus Christ was both God and man at the same time.

Therefore, to properly examine His qualifications as an acceptable sacrificial Lamb, we must consider both His Humanity and His Divinity. Jesus’ New Testament humanity must be examined for 4 days, while His actions as Jehovah in the Old Testament record must also be scrutinized.

The duality of Jesus’ Personage is evidenced by the statement that Jesus made to the religious leaders of His day when He proclaimed to them, “Before Abraham was, I Am” (John 8:58).

By making this statement, Jesus was equating Himself with the “I Am” of the Old Testament. He was thereby claiming to be the same Person who had met with Moses at the burning bush on Mount Horeb (Exodus 3:14).

We know from God’s Word that Jehovah was predominantly dealing openly with humanity during Old Testament times. This was especially true concerning His dealings with the Nation of Israel. Jehovah was the 2nd Person of the Trinity.

We know this because Scripture explicitly states that “no man hath seen God” the Father at any time (I John 4:9-12). Yet, on numerous occasions in the Old Testament record, we are told that God, as Jehovah, openly appeared unto mankind.

Except for conversations with some of the major prophets, God the Father, “Adonai”, is noticeably absent from the Old Testament record, while God the Son, “Jehovah”, is extremely active in open and visible dealings with mankind. While no man has ever seen God the Father at any time (I John 4:12), God the Son, or Jehovah, was often openly seen by individuals throughout the Old Testament record.

One of the benefits of using the King James Bible is its differentiation between the 1st and 2nd Persons of the Trinity. This distinction is indicated through the capitalization of specific letters in the phrase “Lord God.”

When a passage refers to God the Father, the King James Bible capitalizes all the letters in the word “GOD.” When the Son of God is being referenced, the word “LORD” is capitalized.

Thus, God the Father is indicated as “L-o-r-d G-O-D”, and God the Son is rendered as **“L-O-R-D G-o-d”. **

The first time that Jehovah appeared to mankind was unto Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. We know that this was a physical appearance, because we are told that after the Fall, Adam and Eve “hid themselves from the presence of God” (Genesis 3:8). If God in the Garden was merely just a voice, there would obviously be no need to physically hide from Him.

This selfsame Jehovah, whom we now know as Jesus, would also later appear to Noah and his family from inside of the Ark.

Notice the language He used when He beckoned them to “Come into the Ark” (Genesis 7:1). Afterward, He closed the door, quite possibly also from the inside (Genesis 7:16).

This Pre-incarnate Jesus also appeared on numerous separate occasions unto Abraham.

The first appearance occurred when He told Abraham to leave his father’s house (Genesis 12:1). He later promised Abraham that his seed would inherit the land of Israel (Genesis 12:7). He appeared again to show Abraham the expanse of the land (Genesis 13:14-18). Then, when Abraham was 99 years old, He met Abraham and promised him an heir whom we now know as Isaac (Genesis 17:1).

Jesus also later appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre to announce the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:1).

We know from Hagar’s encounter with the Angel of the Lord in Genesis 16:7-13 that the Angel of the Lord is presented here as God. Hagar confirmed that she had physically seen God. Since no person has ever seen God the Father at any time (I John 4:12), this would identify the Angel of the Lord as the Pre-incarnate Jesus Christ.

It was the Pre-incarnate Jesus, known then as Jehovah, who appeared to Isaac at Beersheba (Genesis 26:24). He also wrestled with Jacob at Peniel (Genesis 32:30) and later changed Jacob’s name to Israel at Padanaram (Genesis 35:10). This same Jehovah-Jesus appeared unto Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:2), assuming the names of both “the Angel of the Lord” and the great “I Am.” He later gave Moses the 10 Commandments on Mount Sinai (Exodus 20).

It was also the Pre-incarnate Jesus, then known as Jehovah, who had led Israel through the Wilderness. We are told that the Hebrew people did not tempt God the Father in the Wilderness, but rather, they had “tempted Christ” (I Corinthians 10:9). He also appeared to Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and 70 elders at Israel’s 1st Communion (Exodus 24:10).

It was this selfsame Jesus to Whom Moses is said to have spoken to “Face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Exodus 33:11).

Jesus as the Captain of the Lord of Hosts later appeared unto Joshua before the Battle of Jericho (Joshua 5:15), and to all of Israel in Judges 2:1-4. Jesus as the Angel of the Lord also appeared to Gideon before he fought the Midianites (Judges 6:12), then later to Manoah and his wife to announce that they would have a son, Samson (Judges 13:21). It was Jesus who appeared twice to Samuel (I Samuel 3: 1-21).

Jesus also appeared physically to David as the Angel of the Lord (II Samuel 24:17), and twice in dreams unto Solomon (I Kings 11:9). It was Jesus who had twice comforted Elijah in his time of need (I Kings 19:7) and had later killed the 185,000 soldiers of the Assyrian army during the reign of Hezekiah (Isaiah 37:36).

The actions of God the Father are noticeably absent in the Old Testament record. Apart from appearing unto Abraham in the form of a smoking furnace and a burning lamp (Genesis 15:17), and in non-visual conversations with the Prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, the actions of God the Father are seldom mentioned in the Old Testament.

The 4 Day Examination of Jehovah

The Old Testament record is filled with information about the actions of Jehovah the 2nd Person of the Trinity, whom we now refer to as Jesus Christ.

It’s important to realize that the God of the Old Testament, Jehovah, was and is perfect in all of His ways. He was therefore qualified to be the perfect Passover Lamb sacrifice, as He had promised to be in Genesis 3:15.

Notice the wording of this passage of Scripture. Here Jehovah states that He personally will undo the tragedy of Satan’s work in the Fall: “I” will put enmity between thee and the woman…”

Since Jehovah Himself was to be the Passover Lamb, He too must be subject to a 4-day examination prior to the event itself. God lives by His own principles, for He truly “magnifies His Word above His Head” (Psalm 138:2).

It is also of great significance that this examination of Jehovah would occur over a period of exactly 4 days. When measured in “God Years,” this would represent a period of 4,000 years, for “One day with the Lord is as one thousand years with man” (Psalm 90:4, II Peter 3:8).

When the Archbishop of Ussher developed his Biblical timeline, he established the fact that Adam was likely created in the year 4004 B.C.

The most probable year of Jesus’ birth is often placed around 4 B.C. When combined with Ussher’s date of 4004 B.C. for Adam’s creation, this would make the expanse of Old Testament time approximately 4,000 years.

Incredibly, this makes the period of the Old Testament record to be the exact length of time of 4,000 years needed for an examination of Jehovah Himself to qualify as the Passover Lamb!

At the birth of Jesus Christ, the Old Testament Personage of Jehovah no longer existed solely as the 2nd Person of the Trinity. Jehovah had now become both God and man at the same time.

This was necessary to qualify Him to be able to redeem humanity in a just manner. Therefore, the Old Testament record of the actions of Jehovah concerning mankind are complete and cover a length of time of 4 “God Days”, or 4,000 years.

These days can be examined by one and all to determine whether Jehovah, as God, is qualified to be the Sacrificial Lamb. The entirety of the Old Testament record reveals Him to be perfect in all His ways.

When we take these 4,000 years of the Old Testament record and add them to the 2,000 years of Israel being set aside as prophesied by Hosea, we once again arrive at the year 2030 A.D. This calculation begins with Israel’s rejection of the Messiah at the Crucifixion in 30 A.D. The year 2030 A.D. would therefore mark the completion of mankind’s 6,000 years of self-rule, followed by man’s 1,000 years of rest in the Millennium, beginning in the Jubilee Year of 2031 A.D.

 

Read Rob’s book “PARADIGMS TOSSED”, Debunking Faulty Christian Beliefs and learn how best to hear “Well Done” after your life is over and you’re face to face with Jesus someday!