Interlocked Lesson 12 Part 1

Passover

What is something you have sacrificed in your lifetime?

Not that you’ve killed something ok…

I mean what or when was a time that you wanted to do___________ and instead, you gave you what you wanted so someone else could have ____________.

Examples, it could be time, it could be something money related.

What is the Passover?

The final plague in the 10 plagues of Egypt was the death of the firstborn.

But let’s back up for a moment.

In the garden, man rebelled against God.

What was the punishment for man’s rebellion?

death.

Death, not just in this life, but in eternity as well.

That is the consequences of sin.

But because of God’s love for us, God wanted to show us through the old testament what He would do in the New.

God needed to show us our sin could be punished without us being punished.

See, we don’t learn lessons quickly or even the first time.

We need repetition.

We needed to see something pay for our sins over and over and over again… because unfortunately, even though man sacrificed animals for their sins, man still sinned.

God was going to show them something through the final plague in Egypt though that was a clear picture of what God was going to do to pay for our sins.

Someone read Exodus 12:3–7 “3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. 4 If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. 5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. 6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. 7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.”

Exodus 12:22 “22 Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning.”

Exodus 12:46 “46 “It must be eaten inside the house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones.”

A plague was coming.

A plague that would kill all the firstborn in the family.

*Raise your hand if your a firstborn in here today?

Imagine you are living in this time, how comfortable are you feeling in your life knowing this plague is coming?

Low key, that’s terrifying.

In fact remove the low key. That’s just facts.

Terrifying.

You know what though, I read that slightly differently, or I did growing up.

I’m a third-born.

Bro I’m good.

I have nothing to worry about personally.

But guys, that’s exactly what Satan wants us to think about life all the time.

In my sin, I’ve got nothing to worry about.

I’m a third born.

Bro…

we all die. The only thing about this plague is that you know if you’re a firstborn, you are going to die sooner!

Unless God…

Exodus 12:12–13 “12 “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.”

God provides a way.

The promise keeper, is also the Savior.

But make no mistake. Something had to die.

Either the firstborn son would die in the homes

or

the lamb would die…

God provided a way.

For the firstborn to live there must be be a death.

God would accept a death of a substitute in place of the firstborn.

God used the passover and the substitute lamb to explain how Jesus would save all of mankind, not just firstborn sons.

Why the details though?

Why would they kill a lamb and put the blood on the doorposts?

Because years later,

God would want us to know EXACTLY who Jesus is.

That He is the sacrificial lamb.

Let’s look at a few examples:

God told Israel the blood had to be that of a baby lamb or goat.

Exodus 12:5 “5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.”

What is Jesus called?

Passover lamb or Lamb of God.

Someone read John 1:29 “29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

1 Corinthians 5:7 ...”For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”

The sacrifice needed to be male. (again Exodus 12:5).

Jesus was a man.

Matthew 1:21 “21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.””

The lamb needed to be perfect without defect.

Jesus was perfect. He is God. He never sinned.

1 John 3:5 “5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.”

The lamb was to be killed at twilight (just before darkness.)

Jesus died at this time on the cross

Mark 15:34 “34 And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).”

Mark 15:37 “37 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.”

In Jewish culture Twilight is officially designated as the time between 3 and 5 pm.

The lamb’s blood was to be applied to the doorframes of the house

Jesus died on the wooden cross shedding his blood.

1 John 5:6 “6 This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.”

Hebrews 9:22 “22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

None of the lamb’s bones were to be broken

Jesus’ bones were not broken

John 19:32–33 “32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.”

Explain, if criminals had been on the cross too long, soldiers would come and break the legs of those being crucified.

The reason is because the only way you can breathe on the cross is to push up with your legs, catch an breath, and then relax your legs, but no longer breathe.

Your entire final moments of life are a battle between excruciating pain, pushing your legs against nails to breathe, or suffocating to death.

Eventually, pain wins, your legs fail, and you will suffocate to death.

People in the blood covered house would be saved

People who trust in Jesus will be saved

John 10:9 “9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.”

You see, this final plague of Egypt had great detail.

The detail wasn’t just random.

It was so that when Jesus came, we would see that HE is the Messiah!

He is the Lamb of God.

He is the shedding of blood that would satisfy the wrath of God that would take away our sins.

APPLICATION:

Revelation 5:1–6 “1 Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” 3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. 4 I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. 5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” 6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.”

Y’all.

I love these passage of scripture so much because it’s a great example of one of my favorite words.

Juxtaposition.

Juxtaposition means 2 things placed close together that contrast one another or have a contrasting effect.

So look at verse 5.

The Elder says “Week no more, the Lion… can open the scrolls.”

Then what does John see?

“I saw a lamb, standing as if it had been slain...”

Jesus is the lion and the lamb.

He is the most powerful being in the universe who created us, but also died as the final sacrifice.

That same God from literally Genesis to the end of time has given us this picture.

The gentle Lamb of God, also the ferocious lion, has paid the debt of sin you owe Him, so that you can live for eternally with Him.

How will that change you today?

How will that dictate your goals and aspirations in life.

May it always do so!