Cool Parallels between OT Sacrifice and Jesus

In the Old Testament there are a lot of rules about sacrificing, the different types of sacrificing and the rules for offering each. Hebrews 10 deals with Jesus as the final atonement sacrifice for our sins, and 1 Corinthians 5 calls Jesus our "Passover Lamb." Here are some interesting parallels that show how Jesus fits these descriptions.

• The passover lamb is to be "without defect" (Ex. 12:5). Jesus never sinned (Heb 4:15)
• Exodus 12:11 says they are to eat the Passover meal with their "cloak tucked into their belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand." These things symbolized being prepared to move, leave or travel. After Jesus' resurrection, he told us to go to the ends of the earth. We were challenged to go out, to spread the good news. More importantly, though, the next scene in exodus was the Israelites actually leaving captivity, being set free. Once we accept Christ as our Passover sacrifice, we need to be prepared to leave captivity and move to freedom from sin.
• Exodus 12:13 says "The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt." This is where we get the understanding that Jesus' blood acts the same way as the blood of the passover lamb. We allow it to mark us and God's judgment will pass over us. 
• Exodus 12:46 says they are to partake of the passover sacrifice but "not break any of the bones." John 19:32-33 says that, although it was customary to break bones when taking men off the cross, none of Jesus' bones were broken.
• Jesus came to Jerusalem and was crucified at Passover (Luke 22:15).
• The once-a-year atonement sacrifice (Yom Kippur) made by the High Priest was the only time he was to enter the "most holy place" in the temple. The High Priest was to make two sacrifices. One of a bull for his own sins. "He is to take some of the bull's blood and with his finger sprinkle it on the front of the atonement cover (of the ark of the covenant)." (Lev. 16:14). This made him clean to come before the Lord. Then he was to sacrifice a goat for the sins of the people and, "take its blood behind the curtain and do with it as he did with the bull's blood" (Lev. 16:15). Hebrews 10:19 says that "we have confidence to enter the Most Holy place by the blood of Jesus."
• The last part of the Atonement sacrifice is that a second goat was brought to be the scapegoat. This goat would have all the sins of Israel laid on its head, and would carry them off into the desert. The sacrifice cleansed the people, the scapegoat removed the sin from the people. Jesus is our scapegoat! On the cross, he "took away" the world's sins (Rom 11:27, Heb. 9:28, 1Jn 3:5)

These are not prophecies fulfilled but rather ways in which God designed Jesus' sacrifice to represent rituals that first-century Jews would understand. Those that "got it" would become the first early Christians, understanding that the sacrifice made in Jesus' crucifixion stood as the final blood sacrifice for the atonement of our sins and our deliverence from God's judgment.