The Passover

grows out of · the accepted offering

Abel's accepted offering is individual; Passover makes the same logic national. A life is given, and the one who brings it is spared.

points forward to · the lamb without blemish

John notes that no bone of Jesus was broken, quoting the Passover regulation, and places the death at the hour the lambs were killed. The blood on the doorposts finds its answer at the cross.

points forward to · named outright

Paul makes the identification explicit rather than suggestive: Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed, therefore keep the feast.

points forward to · behold the Lamb

John the Baptist's title for Jesus draws on the Passover lamb and the daily temple offerings at once, and John's Gospel keeps the Passover clock running to the crucifixion.

grows out of · the Lamb enthroned

Revelation's central image is a Lamb bearing the marks of slaughter standing at the throne — Passover language taken all the way to the end of the story.

points forward to · the meal fulfilled

The Last Supper is a Passover meal. Jesus takes the bread and cup of a rescue from Egypt and gives them a new referent — his own body and blood — so the annual remembrance of one deliverance becomes the sign of a greater one.

points forward to · out of Egypt

The blood on the door and the path through the water are two halves of one rescue: judgement passed over, then slavery left behind.