'Covenant Implications of Passover"pt.2 Exodus 12:7-13

Introduction:

We have been looking at Exodus 12 in regards to the covenant implications of Passover. Passover is not just a story but it is the dramatic unfolding of the glorification of God through His decrees coming to pass to fulfill His redemptive purpose in the world through Jesus Christ.

As the covenant people of God we benefit from this in tremendous ways, the half has not even yet been told for what awaits us as the people of God.

As the days go on I can honestly say the anticipation of the fulfillment of God’s redemptive purpose increases. Christian we were made for something greater than this world. I feel the urgency and anticipate the coming of our Lord.

That original Passover brought an urgency with it too for the covenant people of God who were in bondage and enslaved in Egypt. We see this urgency being expressed by God to His people in verses 7-11. Look back at your text:

I. The Urgency of Passover (7-11).

When I refer to the urgency of Passover I am talking about how God’s instruction to His people is directing them in such a way as to indicate the immediate nature of their liberation and departure.

We learn from this section of text that once the blood from the Passover lamb is applied to the doorway of the houses the people are to roast the lamb whole and eat it along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

The lamb would be roasted whole with the inside organs in tact, bread would be prepared without yeast and eaten along with bitter herbs.

The picture is one where there was no time to fully dress the animal and cook it another way. And the bread would not have time to rise and the bitter herbs were a depiction of their bitter years of slavery in Egypt.

But it wasn’t just the food preparation that was indicating the sense of urgency in the Lord’s instruction. Verse 11 describes the manner in which they were to eat.

They were to eat like they were in a hurry, with their belt fastened around their waste, with sandals on their feet, with their staff in hand. They are to eat like they are prepared to immediately leave for a journey.

One might even say that the original Passover was the first fast food.

But the Passover was a meal that would be eaten in faithful confidence of the Lord fulfilling His promise of the deliverance of His covenant people. The Lord had promised Abraham that He would deliver them and He also promised Moses that the people were to be delivered.

In all the other 9 plagues the lord never spoke with such certainty to Moses. Actually to the contrary the Lord told Moses that pharoah would not let His people go. But the Lord was bringing about the fullness of His judgment upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt all for the glorification of Himself.

And just think what it would have been like to spend your life in slavery while hearing of the Lord’s coming deliverance passed on for generations but to know those generations died without ever experiencing the liberation that was foretold.

Imagine all the anguish and pain and injustice they had encountered. They probably reflected on all of this while they ate those bitter herbs on that original Passover.

But the roasted lamb and the unleavened bread was the reminder that their deliverance was at hand. It had finally happened and this was the moment of their redemption from the hundreds of years of slavery in Egypt.

Christian it reminds me of our redemption from the bondage of sin where we were in bondage to the sin nature under the tyranny of the devil and the Lord brought about our deliverance.

But I am also reminded of our deliverance to come when Christ will return to deliver us from this world system and transform these bodies of flesh into glorified bodies where all the effects of sin are gone forever more.

Christian, the birth pains are intensifying upon the earth. Nations are perplexed because of the trouble coming upon the earth. Jesus told us in Luke 21:28- “28 Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

And today is a day of covenant urgency for the lost to be saved and the weary believer to find a renewed hope that our final deliverance is not far away. I know many are weary from the journey but Christian raise your head your redemption is drawing near.

This is not a time to faint with fear but a time of urgently getting ready for the final journey. We need not fear what is coming upon the earth we as the covenant people of God from among all the nations of the world who are in Christ are secure in His covenant grace just as His people were on that original Passover. Look back at your text to verses 12-13:

II. The Security of Passover (12-13).

The very end of verse 11 says, It is the Lord’s Passover. This whole covenant provision of deliverance is the Lord’s doing. He will be the one who will pass through the land of Egypt on that original Passover night. He will execute His judgments upon Pharoah and the people of Egypt. All the firstborn would die regardless of their ages. The young and old who were the firstborn died on that night.

Fallen man in his cosmic rebellion against the Almighty God who is perfect in holiness and awesome in power, fallen man has a rendezvous with his creator on the final day. We can see it depicted here in the judgment of God upon Egypt. This is the micro-cosom of judgment of the macro-cosom of judgment to come.

There should be no surprise that we see parallels of some of the plagues on Egypt mirrored in the end times in the book of Revelation. There will be no place to hide on that final day. Nor was there a safe place to be on that original Passover night when the Lord passed through the Land of Egypt.

The only security that one could have was in the covenant provision that was supplied by the Lord Himself. It was under the sign of blood on the doorpost and over the lintel of the doorways to the homes of the covenant people of God.

The Lord said Himself that, “when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.”

The Lord would see the blood of the Passover Lamb and His wrath would pass over the households of the covenant people of God. All the firstborn, form the youngest to the oldest were secure in the households that were under the covenant provision of the Lord of glory.

D.A. Carson puts forth an imaginary story between two Jewish men… “The day before the first Passover....”

Christian you don’t secure yourself to Christ, He secured us to Himself for the glorification of God but the benefit of His grace to us is the basis of our eternal security in Him. This is the faith that we live by in Christ. Not in our confidence to hold to Him but in our confidence in Him to hold to us.

This is the basis of our security now and the basis of our security to come for all eternity. Not because of the reality of a Passover Lamb instituted at a point in time in Exodus 12 but in the lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world and He came in the fullness of time, sent by God, born of a virgin under the law that we might be adopted as sons and daughters of God.

We went from slaves in bondage to being adopted into the house of the Lord.

Conclusion:

You see Christian He didn’t just free us, He didn’t just save us from His wrath, when the only begotten Son of God died in the place of sinners He made them children of God!

We come to Him for all that we need today on that basis. Our identity has changed when the Lord saw the blood of Christ applied to our lives he brought us out of bondage to Himself.

Confess and receive from your Father today all that you need from Him.

Unbeliever, you must be born again. You have no greater need than to have the blood of the lamb of God over the door of your life. Believe the gospel. Let’s Pray!