Exodus 12:1-28 - The Passover Lamb
Notes
Transcript
The Word Read
The Word Read
Please remain standing for the reading of the Holy Scripture. Hear the Word of the Lord from Exodus 12:21-23.
21 Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. 23 For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.
Behold, brothers and sisters, this is the Word of the Lord. Please be seated.
Exordium
Exordium
Beloved in Christ,
I invite you to open Holy Scripture to Exodus 12:1-28 this morning.
It has been encouraging to hear from many of you over the last few weeks about how the Lord is moving in your hearts as we study the Book of Exodus. I have been continually overwhelmed with the sight of Christ each week. I can’t help but see Him as I study through these passages week after week.
Today and next Sunday, we will come face-to-face with the last few days of Jesus’s life, His death, burial, and resurrection. This morning in our passage, Exodus 12:1-28, we will see how Christ is the ultimate Passover Lamb. Next week in Exodus 12:29-51, we will see His glorious resurrection and how we have true freedom due to this supernatural event. Both the crucifixion and the resurrection are necessary. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:14
14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
The joy and wonder of our redemption and salvation will shine brightly in these Old Testament texts, especially if we consider them as the apostles did. As the apostle John writes in 1 John 4:19
19 We love because he first loved us.
The truth of our salvation is that Jesus died for us while we were sinners. He loved us first despite our warring against Him. In His kindness, grace, mercy, and compassion, the ultimate Passover Lamb, who arrived in Jerusalem with shouts of Hosanna from the people, set His face to the cross and purchased our redemption through His death on the cross.
The sermon title this morning is “The Passover Lamb.” My hypothesis for these verses is that The Passover Lamb saves the covenant people from certain death.
Exodus 12:1-14 - The Passover
Exodus 12:1-14 - The Passover
1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. 7 “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10 And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And 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. 14 “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.
As Yahweh de-creates Egypt, the Israelites will become a new creation born out of the very country that sought her destruction. The Exodus will be the nation’s beginning, so Yahweh tells Moses that this month (March/April—Abib) will be the first month of the year for the people of Israel. Moses is to bring the entire congregation of Israel together and relay this information to them.
Yahweh then begins to give instructions regarding the Passover meal. Every man shall take a year old, unblemished lamb for their home, or if the lamb is too large, they can share it with his nearest neighbor. The lamb will be kept from the tenth day to the fourteenth day. Then, on the fourteenth day, the whole assembly of the people of Israel will kill their lambs at twilight. Notice that this is corporate. The entire assembly will partake in the killing of the lambs.
The blood from the lambs will be spread on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses. On the fourteenth night of Abib, the lamb will be roasted on fire and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. The meal will be consumed with their belts fastened, their sandals on their feet, and their staffs in their hands. This signifies they are to eat in haste because the Passover is coming soon. They must be prepared to leave at any moment. Notice what the end of verse 11 states, “It is the LORD’s Passover.” The Passover is not the idea of the Israelites; it belongs to Yahweh. The Lord is their Deliverer and their Rescuer.
The LORD tells Moses that He will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down the firstborn of those in Egypt. He, and He alone, will execute judgments against man, beasts, and all the gods of Egypt. However, when He sees the blood of the lambs on the homes of the Israelites, He will pass over their homes without bringing destruction to them. God’s glory will shine brightly in salvation through judgment.
As we read this passage, you can see Christ so clearly. This should not surprise us either. In Luke 24:36-49, Jesus appears to His disciples after His resurrection. He says these words in Luke 24:44
44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
We read the Scriptures knowing it points to the Word of God who became flesh and tabernacled among humanity. So, we see Jesus so incredibly clearly in these verses.
First, Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God, and if you are in Christ, He is your Lamb of God. This morning, we started our service by reading John 1:29. In the passage, John the Baptist sees Jesus walking towards him. At this moment, John exclaims, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” The true Lamb of God has come, and He has come to give life to those under the bondage of sin’s power. Furthermore, John writes about this great Lamb in Revelation 5:6
6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
The great Lamb of God, slain, yet risen from the dead, holding power and standing in victory. Jesus, the great love of your heart, currently stands victorious.
Second, Jesus is the ultimate Passover Lamb. Paul pens these words in 1 Corinthians 5:7
7 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.
Holy week begins today, and billions of people will celebrate and remember Jesus’s final week on earth. Reflecting on this, the Lord reminded me that Kristin and I had created and led a Holy Week study a few years ago. Over 7 weeks, a group of people traveled through Jesus’s final week together. We saw Palm Sunday, where Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and surveyed the Temple. On Monday, He cursed the fig tree and cleansed the temple. On Tuesday, He taught the people, prophesied about future events, and also had controversy with the Pharisees. On Wednesday, He continued to teach while the Sanhedrin plotted His death. Thursday, Jesus washed His disciples’ feet, had the Passover meal, and instituted the Lord’s Supper. On Friday, He was beaten, betrayed, and crucified as the perfect, unblemished Lamb of God.
Thirdly, as the perfect, unblemished Passover Lamb, He is killed, and His blood is applied to His people. In our passage in Exodus, the blood is a sign revealing these are the Lord’s people. It is also a seal. When the Lord sees the blood, He passes over them. They are protected from the destruction that is to come. Death would be necessary for every home in Egypt on this dreadful night. It would either be the firstborn or a lamb. The people of Israel will follow the instructions of Yahweh, trusting in faith that He will rescue their firstborns.
Jesus, as the ultimate Passover Lamb, offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for sin and has saved us from eternal death. This is where we begin to see ourselves in the story of the Exodus. Had it not been for Christ, we would be like the Egyptians. We would experience the judgment and wrath of God poured out upon us forever because we were unrighteous. Yet, Christ took our sins so that we might come and taste the goodness of God.
Here is where our focus should be during Holy Week. As Jonathan Edwards once quipped, “Our sin was the only thing we contributed to our salvation.” At the forefront of our minds should be Jesus, the Passover Lamb. Has your heart meditated on Jesus’s ultimate sacrifice this morning? Have you looked with grief upon the crucifixion of your Lord and Savior, knowing it was your sin that caused Him to be murdered on the cross? Have you also delighted in your salvation, experiencing the joy of your redemption? Experiencing the joy of Jesus?
As the Passover was a memorial feast for the church in the Old Covenant, the Lord’s Supper is our feast in the New Covenant instituted by Jesus. “Do this in remembrance of me,” He says. When we come to the Lord’s Table, we humbly recognize that we can only come by grace. Christ saved us. There is nothing within us worthy of taking the Lord’s Supper apart from grace. Yet, how often have we flippantly come to the Lord’s Supper without taking hold of the grace that sustains our hearts in this sacrament?
We attended an EPC church in Mooresville for a few weeks right before our move to Eden. Their practice is to take communion every week. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but there was something incredibly special about that time each week during the service. I asked the pastor why they take communion every week. He responded, “We used to take communion once a month, but we moved to weekly. As a result the church has never been stronger or more spiritually vibrant. We come to the Table every week and are reminded how desperately we need Christ’s nourishment and grace.” The Lord’s Supper is a memorial feast for us. We come by grace, needing grace. We recall the great work of Christ on the cross. We reflect on our present salvation and how God’s grace sustains us day by day. Finally, we look forward to the day when, by grace, Christ will bring us home, and we will be made like Him.
As the Exodus is the great act of salvation in the Old Covenant and the Passover serves as the church’s memorial feast, so the crucifixion of Christ is the ultimate act of salvation in the New Covenant, with Communion being the church’s memorial feast where Christ Himself nourishes us.
Exodus 12:15-20 - The Feast of Unleavened Bread
Exodus 12:15-20 - The Feast of Unleavened Bread
15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. 17 And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. 18 In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. 19 For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. 20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.”
The Feast of Unleavened Bread is intricately tied to the Passover. The feast is meant to remind everyone that the people of Israel left Egypt in haste. There was anticipation that Yahweh would soon fulfill His promise in Exodus 2:23-25.
The weeklong feast would have two days of corporate worship, the first day and the seventh day. In our day, corporate worship has fallen out of favor. Like you, I have spoken to many Christians who would say they love Jesus, but they don’t need the church. This is a distortion of God‘s Word. Hundreds of years ago, David Clarkson wrote a fantastic book called Prizing Public Worship. In his writing, he compellingly argues that corporate worship is superior to private worship. God‘s glory demands corporate worship. In the book of Hebrews, the author commands the Church to continue gathering for corporate worship, unlike others who have stopped gathering (Hebrews 10:25). Furthermore, in Hebrews 12, the author shows us that when we gather for corporate worship, we are spiritually lifted into the heavenly places where we joined the multitude of angels and saints who have gone before us praising the living God. There is no gathering place like the church in the world. The thrill of the Super Bowl does not come close to the joy we should experience on Sunday morning. As a body of Christ, we praise him for ransoming us from sin, delivering us from the devil, sticking closer to us than a brother in trials and tribulation, being the author and perfector of our faith, and meeting with us. Truly, there is nothing like the gathering of the holy saints on Sunday morning.
I want to look at one other portion of this passage. If anyone eats leavened bread during this week, they shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, regardless of whether they are Israelites or aliens. A cursory read of these verses might suggest this punishment is much greater than the sin committed. Why would the Lord command the people of Israel to excommunicate someone who eats leavened bread instead of unleavened bread?
The issue is much deeper than simply food choice. The person who fails to eat unleavened bread during the feast consciously eats the leavened bread. This person does not embrace God‘s salvific act in the Exodus. They have not embraced Him nor the sign He has given His people.
It’s tragic, isn’t it? To know there will be some who will eat leavened bread in the years to come because they disdain God and have not embraced salvation. I read that and think of everyone who grew up in the church. They sat under faithful preaching. They knew the warm love of a congregation. They even saw God working in the lives of his people. They probably even saw other people come to know Christ. They saw the transformation of the Saints. However, they did not embrace the gospel. They heard of the incredible work of Jesus Christ and rejected the call to salvation. It breaks our hearts. How many of us know friends we grew up with in Sunday school, youth groups, or youth retreats, yet they’ve abandoned the faith? Or maybe we’ve watched our children’s friends reject the gospel as they left the home. Or maybe, and probably most painfully, we’ve watched this happen in our homes. We don’t feel a sense of superiority. Instead, we feel a great sense of sadness, knowing they have left the community of faith, rejecting the great God who is, by tremendous grace, willing to save them.
Instead of pride building up, tears flow freely when we pray for them. And desperate prayer should be our response to situations like this. This is why our Wednesday evening prayer night is vitally important to the life of our church. We cry out to God, pleading and begging him to save those around us. We know that we can do nothing to bring those individuals salvation. It is only a work of God‘s spirit. So, if you are free Wednesday evenings at 6:30pm, join us in prayer as we cry out to the living God to create new life in the hearts of those who do not yet know Him. Without this we will not see the harvest.
Exodus 12:21-28 - Worship and Obedience
Exodus 12:21-28 - Worship and Obedience
21 Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. 23 For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. 24 You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. 25 And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. 26 And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ 27 you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’ ” And the people bowed their heads and worshiped. 28 Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
Moses relays Yahweh’s instructions he received to the elders. The people are to use hyssop, a type of shrub, to spread the blood on the doorposts and lintel. The detail may seem irrelevant to us, but it isn’t. In fact, hyssop appears at the crucifixion of Christ Jesus. John 19:29
29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.
The hyssop branch was used for ritual cleansing and symbolized spiritual cleansing. Christ had come to bring spiritual cleansing to those who belong to Him. We are not the ones who eat leavened bread but unleavened. Due to the wondrous work of Christ on the cross, we are declared righteous and clean before God.
I love verses 25-27. It is the parent’s responsibility to tell their children why this service is essential to their lives. They are to declare to their children the great salvation out of Egypt brought by God. Is this not the most incredible privilege of every parent? Those of us who are parents get to declare the Gospel of Christ Jesus to our children daily. We tell them the story of Christ saving us when we were not worthy to be saved. We remind them that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. When they ask for the thousandth time, “Why do we have to go to worship on Sunday morning?” We don’t say, “Because I’m your parent, and that’s what we are doing.” We don’t say, “Because this is what we do on Sunday mornings.” We say, “Because Christ Jesus has delivered us from the power of sin, the devil, and the world. Our great Savior has redeemed us. We get to worship the risen and resurrected Lord Jesus Christ! This is the most important morning of our week!” When we do this, it is also a reminder for us. We have been saved even though we are unworthy sinners who deserve judgment like the Egyptians. We get to come into the presence of God every Sunday to worship the God who loves us.
Do we see how the people of Israel respond to Yahweh’s instructions? They bow their heads, worship Him, and then obey Him. Looking forward to their salvation, they respond in worship and obedience. We are called to the same realities as we look back at the cross. What is our response to the work of Christ? As Jesus says in Luke 6:46
46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?
Worship and obedience is to be our response to our great Lord. Worshipping the Christ we love so much.
Conclusion
Conclusion
The Exodus event was the birthing of the nation of Israel out of Egypt, a new creation. They are commanded to celebrate their salvation with the Passover meal and the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. Whose work are they ultimately celebrating? Christ Jesus! Jesus saved them out of the land of Egypt. They are being led by the very one who would die on the cross for their sins almost 1,500 years later. Christ is the Passover Lamb who brought them redemption. Christ is the Passover Lamb who has brought you redemption. He bore your sins on the cross. He took the wrath of God on your behalf. He gives you his righteousness and takes your sins. Brothers and sisters, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away your sins and gives you eternal life!
