Raw Lamb

Exodus 12:5-10
 5"Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. 7 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. 8 Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 DO NOT EAT IT RAW, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire—its head with its legs and its entrails. 10 You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire.

Some passages of scripture leave you scratching you head, don't they?  I mean, really; would you want to eat raw lamb?  Doesn't even sound appetizing. I would definitely opt out.

Why did the Holy Spirit go out of His way to make a point of even mentioning this?  As usual, He has something VERY important to tell us.

The lamb had to meet several qualifications.  It had to be:
1.  Without blemish
2.  A yearling male
3.  A sheep or a goat
4.  There was to be one lamb per household.
5.  They were to keep it in the house from the 10th day of the month to the 14th day.  That's a total of 5 days. {5 is the number of Grace.}
6.  It was to be killed at twilight:  3pm, Hebrew time.
7.  It's blood was to be sprinkled on the doorposts and the lintel on the OUTSIDE of the house where they would eat the lamb;
8.  Then they had to eat the flesh on that same night, ROASTED IN FIRE, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

Here is where God makes a point of saying, "DO NOT EAT IT RAW."  Why?

Because it's a picture of Jesus as the sacrificial Lamb of God and what He went through to redeem all of us.  Yes, He was "ROASTED IN FIRE;" the fires of God's judgment.  That's why He cried out, "I thirst."
Eating the Lamb "raw" means it didn't go through the "roasting" part, through the fire.  That is what paid for all our sins.  They were also told not to boil the lamb.  Boiling typifies watering down the word of God.  

Both are like saying, "Jesus is a good teacher and a good moral example.  If everyone would just follow His teachings, this world would be a much better place."  

While all that is true, can you see what's wrong with that viewpoint?  Yes. It denies the fact that Jesus is Almighty God; that He bore ALL our sins in His own body and endured the FIERY judgment from God that we rightfully deserved.  It lowers Him down to merely a "good or great teacher."  He is SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT!!!

It also denies the fact that we need a Savior.  We cannot be our own lamb, i.e. pay for our own sins, because we are blemished with sin.  No matter how hard we try, we can NEVER be good enough.  God has no choice but to reject our offering.  Without an acceptable sacrifice, we go to hell...NEEDLESSLY when we could have accepted the perfect sacrifice that was already offered FREELY for us, the UNBLEMISHED Lamb of God, JESUS, Who was roasted in fire.

No, Church, cannot accept either boiled or Raw Lamb.