Was the Death of the Sacrificial Lamb Which Saved the Sacrificer a Prophecy?

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It is well-known among Christian scholars and laypeople that Jesus was the Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7). In other words, the Old Covenant sacrificial offerings of clean animals appear to be symbolic customs or prophesies pointing to Christ. If that is true then one might ask, how does the sacrifice of these clean animals for the sins of the people experience death so that those making the sacrifice could avoid death? Even this element of the sacrificial system points to first-century events surrounding Jesus’ death:

47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.” 49 Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! 50 You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” 51 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52 and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. 53 So from that day on they plotted to take his life [emphasis mine]. (John 11:47-53.)

When Caiaphas said, “[I]t is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish,” Caiaphas was referring to the fact that killing Jesus would save the lives of all Israel by avoiding an inevitable war of independence from Rome. Throughout His ministry, Jesus presented Himself as the Messiah. The Messiah was expected to rule over an empire centered in Jerusalem. Thus the Sanhedrin expected that Jesus would eventually be crowned the sovereign king of the Jews. However, Israel was a Roman province so it could not crown its own king. The coronation of Jesus, or any Messiah, would, therefore, be a declaration of war with Rome. And it is this war with Rome that would result in “the whole nation perish[ing]” according to Caiaphas. In John 11:47-53 we see that the Sanhedrin plotted to kill Jesus “officially” to avoid the “the whole nation perish[ing]” through a war of independence from Rome. Here one can see the earthly, mundane side of how the sacrificial lamb was killed so that the people would not be. Even this element of the Law, like so many others, was a prophecy fulfilled in the first century in the crucifixion.

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