Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - THREE DAYS

 THREE DAYS

It has been said that every detail and mention in the Bible is of significance. This is probably why, at least in part, we have been advised not to change any part of the Scripture. For example, Matthew 5:18, NIV, states that: “until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the law until everything is accomplished”

For this reason, it is important to look at some of the smaller details which can be easily overlooked when reading Scripture. For instance, at the time of the Passover, the Hebrew people were told that: “…‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take…a lamb for a household…Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year…Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month…’” (Exodus 12:3,5-6).

By this instruction, the Hebrew families were to take in this year-old lamb three full days before it was to be sacrificed. This was long enough for the family to bond with it, to come to enjoy it being around, and for any children to play with it. They were to just become attached to it in so many ways that there would likely have been considerable difficulty in parting with this animal at the time of sacrifice. Yet, either the animal had to die or the eldest son and so a decision had to be made.

So why the three days of bonding followed by the agony of separation instead of just obtaining a perfect lamb and sacrificing it right away? If that had been the case, it would not have been allegorical in so far as the New Testament is concerned, because this event has an allegory as a reference to Christ.

Jesus had to be born and grow to a young man, just as the lamb had to develop for the first year of its’ life, and it had to be without blemish as was Christ.  When John saw Jesus coming toward him, he said: “…‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’” (John 1:29). Hebrews 4:14-15 goes on to say: 

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens,

Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, 

but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Christ has been referred to as “our Passover” (1 Corinthians 5:7) because He was without sin as the Passover lamb was without blemish. And the three days mentioned above? Well, three days were long enough for the family to become accustomed to the lamb being around corresponding to the three years that Christ had a ministry on earth and for the Israelites to become familiar with Him, as well as the three days that He spent in Hades between His death and resurrection. 

In Exodus 12, the Hebrew people were to put the blood of the lamb on the doorposts to ward off the Angel of Death. They were also told to eat the roasted meat of the Passover Lamb to sustain themselves over night. This parallels with how we are to take communion, the symbolic blood and body of Christ, to help protect and sustain us in this life.

It’s all there. The unblemished lamb corresponding to the sinless life of Christ: the three days of bonding with the lamb as with Christ being three years in ministry, “three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40), and then the use of the blood of the lamb for protection and sustentation as communion is symbolic for the Christian believer.

The allegorical aspect of the Bible is always something to think about.