Exodus The Institution of Passover ~ Part 3 Exodus 12:1-28 So it was that the people Israel spent the next day in speechless excitement fulfilling the commands of the Lord their God exactly as Moses directed them. IX Every household took a lamb, a male one year old without spot or blemish, and killed it. They caught its blood in bowls, and with bunches of hyssop smeared the blood on the doorposts and the lintels of their houses. The flesh of the lamb they roasted. In the evening, then, inside their houses, they ate the lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They ate all of it, as the Lord commanded, leaving none for the morning. And they ate in clothes ready for a journey, their loins girded, sandals on their feet, staves in their hands. They ate in great haste. At midnight the Destroyer went forth. The angel of the Lord passed through all the land of Egypt. When he came to a house that had the blood of a lamb smeared on its door-posts, he passed over that house. But every other house was open before him, and he entered, and when he left, a first-born child lay dead. The Lord smote all the first born in Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sat on his golden throne to the first-born of the prisoner in his prison. All. So there went up over the whole land a great and grievous weeping, for there was not a house where one was not dead. And Pharaoh cried unto Moses and Aaron: Rise! Go forth from my people! Go, you and your children, and serve the Lord with all your flocks and all your herds. Be gone. Be gone and bless me too. 1 The Institution of the Passover D. The Exodus Account 1. God s Instructions Verses 1-11 2. Death and Life Verses 12-20 3. Moses Instructions Verses 21-28 Introduction: Having reviewed the types of Passover services one finds today, now we can go back to the text. Parenthetically, the next special series will probably be the one on the Ten Commandments, but I am not sure how long it will be before we go on to that. 1. God s Instructions: I want to start by recapping the first eleven verses and their context. First the Lord again spoke to Moses. The time was just prior to the arrival of the last plague, the Death of the First Born. Moses was given instructions for preparing the Hebrew people so death would not fall on their houses. Through the sacrifice of a lamb, the shedding and applying of its blood to their homes, the death that was to come would pass over them. As we have seen this is a picture of the work of Christ, for with the shedding of His blood for us, and our applying it to ourselves, the second death passes over us. 1 Wangerin, Jr., Walter, The Book Of God, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1996, p. 124-125.
The importance of this new ritual was so great that the month in which the Lord freed Israel from Egypt became the first month of the religious year for the nation. This was the true birth of Israel as a nation. The other point to remember is Passover was for the families within the nation. It was something shared on the family level. I sometimes wonder how much do we do that is family oriented. Sure there is Christmas and Easter, but the focus of Christmas is frequently the gifts and the tree. Even if the family goes to church this is more a corporate thing instead of a family thing. This, to a great extent, is true of Easter as well. Maybe we need to think, especially where children are involved, where we can have a time of worship and celebration of the Lord just for the family. Oh well enough digression. Anyway this brings us up to where we are today. 2. Death and Life: God makes it clear to both Moses and Aaron what His intents are here. He was killing the first born, not only men but animals as well. The intent is also to show the plague was not judgment on the people, but Egypt s gods. The death of the animals showed the impotence of the gods for, as we have seen, most of the animals were deified by the Egyptians. As we have stated before, the primary purpose here was to show God s glory that He is God. Only secondarily was the purpose to lead to the release of the Hebrew people. The gods possibly attacked here, aside from the animal related gods, were Min, god of reproduction; Heqet, goddess who attended women at childbirth, Isis, goddess who protected children; Pharaoh s firstborn son, a god. 2 The sign of God s mercy was the shed blood of the lamb. Stated this way it was an illustration of Christ s shed blood. It is unquestionable that it was the shed blood which saved, not the fact one was an Israelite or an Egyptian. After all, John the Baptizer said of Christ, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29 ESV). Again, the idea was just the lamb was spotless and without blemish so Christ was sinless, so that He could take on our Sin. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (Romans 8:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV). This is one of the most important accounts in the Old Testament for it clearly shows God had the specifics of our salvation planned out from the very beginning. The other point to note here is it was only the blood that provided salvation, nothing else. It is only Christ s blood that saves, not blood plus church membership, not blood plus a Christian family, not blood plus baptism, not blood plus one s prophetic view, only Christ s blood. 2 Hannah, John D., The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Volume 1, Exodus, Victor Books, Wheaton, IL., 1986, p. 120. ) 106 (
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8 ESV). To truly understand the basis of salvation one must recognize one cannot do anything to earn salvation, even if it is in addition to accepting the blood of Christ. Christ plus anything actually means that it is doubtful if the person is really saved at all, for it is clear Christ s work is not understood. One could spend weeks on just these few verses showing how they foreshadowed much of scripture, but lets move on. The Lord instructs the men that this day, that is the day death passes them by, will become a memorial, a celebration for the Hebrew people for all future generations. Notice it is to be a permanent or maybe even an eternal ordinance, or as noted last week, it wouldn t be a surprise if Passover was celebrated during the Kingdom Age. Now here we see the actual details of the feast that is sometimes also called The Feast of Unleavened Bread. First, the people were to eat unleavened bread for seven days. In fact they were to get all leaven out of their homes. This spoke of the need for a sinless condition before the Lord. It is only Messiah who could comply with the requirement. Any that were found to have eaten leaven were cut off, that is cast out of fellowship with the nation. And he cautioned them, saying, Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (Mark 8:15; 1 Corinthians 5:6 8 ESV). Scripture makes it clear that what is being dealt with here is sin. Those who reject Christ s payment for sin also have no fellowship with God. The Passover actually lasted seven days with the first and the last being set aside as Holy or separated days. These days were special with no work to be performed but only honoring the Lord and remembering what He had done for the nation. Moses repeats, in Verses 17 through 20, the instructions to emphasize the importance of the feast and that it was to be celebrated in perpetuity within the nation. This repetition is a typically Hebrew form. It should also be noted it wasn t keeping of the feast that provided salvation. While it did effect ones fellowship within the nation of Israel it did not put one right with God. It was the placing of the blood to cover the people that was the basis of safety. 3. Moses Instructions: Having received the instructions from the Lord regarding the details of the keeping of Passover Moses called for the elders and passed on the orders to them. With the slaying of the Passover Lamb the last steps are being taken to prepare for the depar- ) 107 (
ture from Egypt. Moses gives the specific instructions that will lead to their safety when the Lord passes through the nation taking the lives of the first born. They are to take the blood of the lamb and using hyssop they are to paint it on the door frame, the side posts and the lintel, the support over the top of the door. It is the sight of this blood that will cause the Lord to have the destroyer pass over their home sparing them. The blood is painted on the door, that is covering the house, and all that are within the house are covered by it. We will see something similar with the service of the temple, but the picture here is the effect of the covering. We must remember that Christ s blood doesn t mean that our sins no longer matter, but that they have been paid for. Our sins are covered by Christ s blood and so God no longer sees them. Sin is not excused it is paid for. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God (Romans 4:7 8; 5:1, 8 9 ESV) Once again just as the Hebrew who didn t sprinkle the blood on his door posts would have to face death in his house, so will the individual who doesn t accept the blood of Christ have to face eternal death. THERE IS NO OTHER WAY. Moses then instructs the people as to the perpetual nature of this feast and reinforces the importance by telling them that they are to tell their children of the Lord s word through all generations. It is here we see what became part of the Seder, the asking of questions by the children and the answering by the parents. The story of Passover was to be recounted for all times by the Hebrew people to their children. The focus then here is the efficacious nature of the shed blood, For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God (Romans 6:23; Hebrews 9:22; Romans 5:9 ESV) Conclusion: The point we need to remember is, the people around us are facing just as real a plague as faced by Egypt in the day of Moses. Each and every individual, outside of Christ, is under the curse of death. If they do not place the shed blood of the Lamb on their door posts and lintels they will suffer the consequences of that curse. Look at the lost around you. They are dead. We also need to remember, we live in a culture where more and more, individuals haven t really heard a clear testimony of the Passover Lamb. Even in many so called Christian churches there is no teaching of the curse of sin and death and the need for shed blood. ) 108 (
Back in the dayi listen to the radio quite a bit. On one occasion I have heard an ad for Christ Church Unity. The call was to come to Unity church to hear the principles of Christian living, of traditional Christian principles. Those who get entangled with this cult know nothing of the passing over of judgment for those covered in the shed blood of the Lamb. We have the only answer to death. But, Political Correctness has blunted the teeth of many a church and many a believer. We need to learn from the example of Moses and Aaron. We need to be willing to risk everything to, in a loving way, present the offense of the cross. On one talk show, discussing the first amendment, an individual took the position any speech that was offensive to anyone should be considered wrong and therefore subject to restraint. This individual was a college professor. Scary isn t it. While this view is a reflection of extreme PC and in direct contradiction of the first amendment, the day is coming when to present the gospel in an environment may be considered legally a violation of freedom of speech, maybe even considered a hate crime. But even if it never reaches that extreme, we live in a society that believes one s faith should be kept a private matter and not shared with others. But in the final analysis, we are not accountable to either our government, society or culture when it comes to the issue of giving out the message of the shed blood of the Lamb. We are only accountable to God. And so like Moses and Aaron, one day we may be chased out of Pharaoh s court and told not to return on pain of death. But we must keep giving out the message of sin, judgment and most of all God s love and mercy. And what better time to spread this message than when we are entering the holiday season, remembering the incarnation of God, the coming of the Messiah, the Christ. Let us daily pray that God will give us the chance to share the message of love and hope with those who need to hear it. Pharaoh had us all enslaved, laboring in his land, The Lord God heard our cry and freed us by His hand. And by the blood of the pure and spotless Lamb, Passover Lamb's blood upon the door, Forming a cross to seal us from death's jaw. And by the blood of the pure and spotless Lamb, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, God of Abram, Thank you for the Lamb. God gave us Israel, but we turned away. God gave the Law to us, but we disobeyed. ) 109 (
God gave His only Son to come and set us free: Yes we all did turn away, and we all were lost, So we took a perfect Lamb and nailed Him to a cross. And by the blood of the pure and spotless Lamb, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, God of Isaac, Thank you for the Lamb Three days He lay, then Jesus did rise, So all who will believe, never have to die. And by the blood of the pure and spotless Lamb, Passover Lamb's, blood upon the door, Forming a cross, to seal us from death's jaw. And by the blood, of the pure and spotless Lamb, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, God of Israel, Thank you for the Lamb. 3 3 Dauermann, Stuart, and San Nalder, Avodat Y shua, Passover Lamb, Purple Pomegranate Productions, San Francisco, CA, 1991, #319. ) 110 (
Exodus The Institution of Passover ~ Part 3 Exodus 12:1-28 IX The Institution of the Passover D. The Exodus Account 1. God s Instructions Verses 1-11 2. Death and Life Verses 12-20 3. Moses Instructions Verses 21-28 Introduction: 1. God s Instructions: 2. Death and Life: (John 1:29; Romans 8:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 2:8; Mark 8:15; 1 Corinthians 5:6 8)
3. Moses Instructions: (Romans 4:7 8; 5:1, 8 9, 6:23; Hebrews 9:22; Romans 5:9) Conclusion: Personal Application: We are coming up on Thanksgiving this month, so take this opportunity to meditate on the blood upon the door and to appreciate just how much you have to be grateful for. Prayer for the Week: Father we can never thank You enough for our Passover Lamb. Help us to bring You glory as we share the message of Your Son s shed blood. In His name, amen.