1 Blood on the Doorpost - Exodus 12:1-13 Argyle 4/24/16 52 Key Bible Stories Introduction to Scripture God s people were in trouble, so they cried out to God. God heard them and disguised as a burning bush, appeared to a man named Moses. That got Moses to slow down and listen. God said to Moses, I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey... What s interesting here is realizing what God meant by I have come down to rescue them... We see it in what he said next. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt. So often when God does something, he involves his people in that work. So he sent Moses to Pharaoh to tell him to free the Israelites. As you can imagine, Pharaoh wasn t interested in letting all of this free labor go. So God sent a series of plagues on Egypt to convince Pharaoh to free the Israelites. He turned the water of the Nile River to blood and he sent infestations of frogs, gnats, flies and locusts. God afflicted the people with boils and the livestock with a plague. He sent a hail storm to destroy the crops and three days of absolute darkness over the whole land. Yet, Pharaoh refused to let the people go. So God prepared to send a tenth and final plague on
2 Egypt - the death of every first born son. But God would spare the first born sons of the Israelites. That brings us to this morning s Scripture passage in Exodus 12. (Read) (Pray) Introduction We have talked about types before. Type is a technical, theological word. According to the Life Change study on Exodus, A type is an Old Testament person, object, or event that God designed to resemble its antitype in the New Testament. A type pointed ahead and prepared God s people for what was coming. God s rescue of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt is a type of his rescue of us from slavery to sin. And the Passover lamb is a type of Jesus Christ. So, in studying the details of this first Passover we are helped to understand the meaning of Jesus death on the cross and how we need to respond to it. The Importance of Details Some of you have heard me tell about the very expensive lunchkim and I had in Montreal several years ago. I had noticed that the Phillies were playing a twilight doubleheader against the Montreal Expos. Since Kim had always wanted to visit Old Montreal, I suggested we drive up for lunch at a nice French restaurant in Old Montreal and then go to ballpark to see the Phillies. It was a win-win - a nice lunch and a couple of ballgames. She agreed and we headed for Montreal on a beautiful Monday morning. We had a lovely lunch at a French restaurant and
3 with great anticipation headed to Olympic Stadium for the ball game. The Montreal fans never really supported the Expos, so it was not unusual for the first couple of parking lots to be closed. But when we got to the main lot, there were fewer cars than normal. This made me a little nervous. My nervousness increased when the women at the ticket gate asked me how she could help us. I told her we were there for the Phillies game. There is no game tonight, she said. The schedule says that there is a doubleheader tonight between the Expos and the Phillies, I replied. Let me check with the box office, she said and picked up the phone to make a call. When she got off the phone she explained, The Expos are playing the Phillies tonight, Sir, but the games are in Philadelphia. Right teams, wrong ballpark. Details are important. One of the things that stands out as we read the Passover account is the importance of details. God is very specific in his instructions about the Passover to the Israelites. He tells them exactly when to eat the Passover, what the menu will be, how the food should be prepared, how they are to dress, who was invited and why they were doing this. Why was God so specific? As we look at the details, we begin to see why they are so important. The main course for the meal was a lamb, but not just any lamb. It had to be an unblemished lamb, pointing ahead to the need for a perfect sacrifice to die for the sins of the world. Side dishes included bitter herbs representing the bitter years of
4 slavery in Egypt and unleavened bread reminding them of the haste with which they were going to leave Egypt. They were to eat with their cloaks tucked into their belt, their sandals on and their staffs in their hands so they would be ready to flee when the word cam. Every detail was important. Every detail pointed to some important truth or experience. As the Israelites celebrated the Passover in the coming years, it was important that they include each of these elements to remember what God had done. You can imagine the kids saying, Do we have to eat the bitter herbs? and their parents responding We cannot forget the bitter years of slavery that God rescued us from. This is not the only place in the Bible where we see that God is concerned with details. We see it in the specifications for the tabernacle and the temple, in the Old Testament dietary regulations, in the commands that God gives us. We see it in Jesus explanation of the Ten Commandments in the Sermon on the Mount where he says that if we even lust after someone, we are breaking the command not to commit adultery and if we are angry with someone we are breaking the command not to commit murder. Seems pretty picky, but we learn from these instructions about the Passover that details are important. When the Israelites followed these details, they remembered what God had done and followed him. When they ignored these details they wandered from God had wound up in all kinds of trouble. Details are important.
5 The Effectiveness of Blood The second thing I want to look at this morning is the effectiveness of blood. We understand this in the physical realm. Blood takes the oxygen we breathe in through our lungs and transports it to the cells in our bodies. As it does that it collects carbon dioxide and transports it to the lungs where it is exhaled. Blood supplies nutrients to the cells and collects waste products to be eliminated. Blood also transports hormones throughout the body and regulates our temperatures. When we are injured it clots to protect us from bleeding out. Blood is very effective for providing and protecting our bodies. We would be in trouble without it. We would be in trouble spiritually, as well, if not for the effectiveness of sacrificial blood. God told the Israelites to slaughter an unblemished lamb and to smear the blood on the sides and tops of the doorframes of their houses. That way as God passed through Israel striking down the firstborn sons of Egypt, he would pass over the houses that were marked with the blood. The blood indicated that an unblemished lamb had been sacrificed in that house. It was a visible token that a life had been laid down there as a substitute for the firstborn of that house. So, as the Lord passed through Egypt that night, striking down the firstborn sons and even the firstborn animals of Egypt, the sons of the Israelites were spared.
The blood had been effective in turning away the wrath of God and protecting the Israelites. 6 It is not hard for us to see in this the connection with Jesus death on the cross. Let s look at a few New Testament verses. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood to be received by faith. (Romans 3:25) But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:13) Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:19-22) In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Hebrews 9:22 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (I John 1:7) As our closing hymn this morning we will be singing Nothing But the Blood of Jesus. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus; What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. The Necessity of Appropriation The last thing I would like to point out this morning is the necessity of appropriation. God had provided a means of protection to the Israelites from the
7 10 th plague, but they needed to appropriate it to their lives. They needed to slaughter the lamb, smear the blood on the doorframe and stay inside all night. Walter Kaiser wrote, On that same night, the fifteenth of Abib, the Lord would pass through Egypt and strike down the firstborn of all men and animals whose household had not been believingly placed under the blood of the sacrificial substitute. In order to experience God s protection, the Israelites needed to believingly place themselves and their household under the protection of the sacrificial substitute. Israelite fathers didn t need to protect their households, in fact they couldn t. They just needed to trust in the protection God had provided for them. They needed to apply or appropriate God s protection through faith. We are in a very similar situation. We cannot fix our sin problem. As sinners there is nothing we can do to satisfy God s righteous wrath against sin. This is a penalty that must be paid for our sin. One day when we stand before God, we will all pay that penalty unless. We will all pay that penalty unless we have believingly placed ourselves under the blood of the sacrificial substitute. For the Israelites that sacrificial substitute was the Passover lamb. For us that sacrificial substitute is the One that the Passover lamb pointed to, Jesus Christ. When we believe in Jesus Christ we are not just smearing his blood on the doorframes of our houses, but covering ourselves with his saving blood. That s what the writer of Hebrews meant when he said that because of the blood of Jesus,
8 we can have confidence to enter God s presence. As the Apostle John wrote, the blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin. But that is only true if we appropriate what Jesus has done to our lives. Every one of us must make our own decision. Our parents can t place their children under the protection of Jesus blood. Husbands and wives can t place their under the protection of Jesus blood. Friends can t do it for one another. Pastors can t do it for their congregations. We all get to make our own decision. Do we want to trust our lives and futures to Jesus Christ by believingly placing ourselves under the blood of Jesus or do we want to trust our lives and futures to our own efforts and accomplishments. That s an easy decision for me. I m the guy who drove to Montreal for a baseball game that was being played in Philadelphia. How about you? Where have you put your trust for eternity? If you are unsure of where you stand with God, talk to Bryan or me or to a knowledgeable Christian friend about it. Imagine the tragedy of a Jewish home who had neglected to place the blood of the sacrificial lamb on their doorframe that night that God passed through Egypt. Maybe they were too busy? Maybe they thought just killing the lamb was enough? Maybe they didn t think the threat was real. Don t make that mistake.