Session 2

 

Dr.Nagy, I would like to ask you about the verse 12 of chapter 14 from the Gospel of Mark specifically the phrase that says, "Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb." Can you tell me what does "Passover lamb" mean?

The feast of the Passover for the Jews was one of the most important feasts. We read in the book of Exodus, chapter 12, that the Lord told, Moses, His Prophet, "Every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Now shall you keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it." All these were symbols in the Old Testament that were later revealed in the New Testament.
What is the meaning of the word "Passover", and why did the Lord ask the Israelites to offer the Passover lamb and sprinkled the blood on the two doorposts and on the lintel? Why was it important? 
The word Passover is a Hebrew word that means crossing, and the Passover took place when the people were crossing to Canaan. The Lord told the Israelites to offer the lamb when He was taking the people out of Egypt. When Pharaoh refused to release the people, the Lord stroke Egypt according to the Torah and the Bible by ten plagues and not nine as some people claim. The 10th plague was that an angel would go all over Egypt and kill the first born of every house even the first born of the animals and God placed a sign for this angel, which is the blood. This blood is the blood of the Passover lamb and when the angel would see the mark of the blood, he could not enter that house or kill the first born in it, but he would pass over this house. This is what led the Lord to tell the people to celebrate the Passover.
Actually, I still do not understand why the Angel could not tell the difference between the houses of the Egyptians and the Ones of the Israelites except for the sign of the Blood? And why could they not use another sign but the blood?

The blood was not only a sign for the Angel to discern between the houses of the Egyptians and those of the Israelites; the Lord could have chosen another sign. But using the sign of the blood had a spiritual significance. In order to place this blood on the doorposts, you had to kill an innocent lamb that had nothing to do with the Israelites or their going out of Egypt. This is a symbol of the redemption i.e. the death of a lamb on behalf of the first born of the house otherwise the first born himself would die. This was the irreversible judgment of God. This principle is obvious in other different religions as well.
Do we find any sign in the three major religions about redemption? I know, for instance that our Muslim brothers do not believe in redemption and do not see the need for it?
Let me pack up little bit to the history before any existence of any religion. We read in the book of Genesis the story of Abel and his brother Cain. Abel offered a sacrifice to God from the best of his sheep, and the Lord saw his offering and He accepted it because it was a blood sacrifice. As for Abel, he offered to God from the fruit of the land, but God Almighty did not accept the sacrifice. The two wanted to please God and to offer sacrifices, but the Almighty accepted the blood sacrifice and rejected the fruit of the land. As for the other three major religions Judaism, Christianity and Islam the story that entailed redemption and the death of a lamb on behalf of men was the story of Abraham, and it was mentioned in the three religions. For example, in Quran it is written about Abraham that just before he was about to offer his own son, he heard a voice saying, " We called out to him, "O Abraham! " Thou hast already fulfilled the dream! - Thus indeed so we reward those who do right. For this was a clear trail, and we ransomed him with a momentous sacrifice."(S.37, A.106-113) In Judaism we see the feast of the Passover and in Christianity we see Easter, which is the celebration of the death and the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. We also see the feast of the sacrifice in Islam, and we read in the Quran, " Therefore to thy Lord turn in prayer and sacrifice" So we see the issue of redemption in the three major religions.
Dr. Nagy, we still do not have an answer for this question. "Why the blood?" some people say, "why do you picture God as a bloody God who has to see blood, and who does not forgive man until He redeems him throughout this blood?"
As you already said, the blood shows that there is a sacrifice offered, and the blood required in particular is that of a living animal or creature. As the angel came to kill the first born of every family, there was a need for another to die on his behalf and to redeem him i.e. to shed his blood on his behalf. The Almighty specified the blood of the sacrifice and all those who would put it on the doorposts would be actually saying, "I accept my Lord the way you have chosen to redeem my son and to slay this lamb. I am placing the blood on the doorposts as a sign of acceptance for this work of redemption for my son and myself. I take refuge in it from death as I accept the work of this blood." In fact the blood has so many other significance.
Dr. Nagy, I would like to ask you, is there any relationship between the blood of Jesus, and the events taking place at that timing, which is the Passover feast for the Jews? 

The truth is that the Lord Jesus refused to die at any other time because He was the reason or the interpretation for the symbol of the Passover. The New Testament teaches clearly that Christ for us is like the lamb of the Passover to the Jews. He has to be without blame, and it is obvious that the Lord Jesus was the only one among those who lived who did not sin and had no guile in Him. He did not need the forgiveness of His sins or his transgressions to be covered. The enemy could not touch Him, and He was the only one whom it was written about, "Held in honor in this world and the hereafter and of (the company of) those nearest to Allah"(S.3 A.45-49) He is the one who died and shed His blood for others and fulfilled the heavenly justice to redeem them. Therefore, He had to die in this time of the Jewish feast.
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