(Ex.13:11-16) "Now when the Lord brings you to the land of the Canaanite, as He swore to you and to your fathers, and gives it to you, 12 you shall devote to the Lord the first offspring of every womb, and [the first offspring of every beast that you own; the males belong to the Lord. 13 But every first offspring of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck; and every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. 14 And it shall be when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ then you shall say to him, ‘With a powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. 15 It came about, when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that the Lord killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast. Therefore, I sacrifice to the Lord the males, the first offspring of every womb, but every firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ 16 So it shall serve as a sign on your hand and as phylacteries on your forehead, for with a powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”
Jesus was going to be that replacement for the world. Jesus dying for all sin for all men - so that we would not have to die - only IF we believed in Him. If ONLY we believed in Him!!!
With all these references to Jesus coming as the Lamb of God, when Jesus finally came to earth (as 100% man and 100% God), most people did not recognize Him. Even when John the Baptist, surrounded by a crowd of witnesses, saw Jesus walking toward him and John exclaimed, "Behold the Lamb of God!"... Just how blind and skeptical can we be?
And the Israelites WERE waiting for their "Messiah" (which is Hebrew for "Christ"). The knowledge of all these things would have been passed along from generation to generation. They would have been reminded constantly of God's promises and prophecies and great stories of hope and power, like - how God provided the ram so that Abraham could sacrifice the ram in place of his son, or - how God delivered them from slavery in Egypt... How can one fail to connect the dots when one hears the good news...
(Luke 2:10-11) But the angel said to them (the shepherds), “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord..."
(Acts 13:32-33) And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, 33 that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus...
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(Hebrews 9:11-16) ...when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; 12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. 16 For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it.
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