American European Bethel Mission

Dear friends happy holy week,

Let us meditate, pray and worship our Lord this week…The celebration of the Passover entailed either a lamb or kid being selected from the Israelite flock, of the first year, without blemish. The lamb was to be killed while the sun was setting. The blood was to be caught in a basin and with a sprig of hyssop the blood was to be placed upon the two side posts and the lintel of the door of the Israelite house. The whole lamb was then roasted to be eaten with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. Not one bone of the lamb could be broken. The lamb's flesh was to be entirely consumed and if it was not, the flesh had to be burned.

Within the Lord Jesus Christ's death upon the Holy Cross the true meaning of the Jewish sacrifice of the Passover lamb was fulfilled. At the time of Passover, it was the custom to release one prisoner of the people's choice. Pilate, the Roman governor, offered the people the choice of releasing the Lord Jesus Christ or Barabbas. The people chose to have Barabbas, a man imprisoned for sedition and murder, released and the Lord Jesus Christ crucified.
The Prophet Isaiah said, "He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers' is silent, so He did not open His mouth" (Isaiah 53:7).

Love,

Pastor Jim Stretchberry