The LORD's Passover: God's Salvation Plan

Introduction

Today, we look at a passage that has so much that I could teach probably over 10 sermons from it. It is so rich theologically that getting a starting point was quite tricky. Yet, look at it we must. Now, for some of you, when you hear about goats and lambs, your first thoughts are goat muchomo and lamb chops. And when you think about Passover, Easter is what comes to mind, or perhaps some ritual that the Israelites performed in the Old Testament.

Hardly do we think about its theological implications both for the Israelites and ourselves. Most of us don’t know about the sacrifices, why it was initiated, its importance or significance. We are only glad that we don’t have to slaughter goats, lambs, bulls, etc., because we are probably scared of all the blood and activity associated with it. I can imagine the mama Jaydens of this world having to carry out such sacrifices. Our text today takes us both to the heart of the Passover meal and the beginning of the meal.

Last week, we looked at God’s salvation through judgment and saw how God saves His people through judgment. We saw that, to set the Israelites free, God said He would kill the firstborn of all Egypt, forcing Pharaoh to let His people go. No firstborn would be spared in all the land of Egypt except the firstborn of the Israelites. Through this very act, God would force Pharaoh to let the Israelites go.

We also saw that this judgment of the firstborn was a foreshadowing of what God was going to do about 1500 years later in Jesus Christ. Jesus, the firstborn of all creation, the firstborn from the dead, God’s begotten Son, was the firstborn who took upon Himself the wrath of God and the judgment of sin so that, through Him, God’s people may be saved. He is not only the God who judges the rebellious, but he is also the firstborn through whom God’s people are saved. So, the firstborn became the instrument of judgment to the Egyptians.

This week, we see God’s plan and instrument of salvation.

God’s Salvation Through The Lamb

A new beginning

Exodus 12:2 ESV

“This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.

God starts by marking this event as a turning point for the Children of Israel. This is no ordinary event. They are not merely coming together to have a wonderful meal, make merry, and then return to their daily tasks as slaves. It’s not about muchomo. Something is now happening. Their lives won’t be the same after this, and God is intentional in letting them know of this fact. As a result, this month shall be the beginning of months for them.

Reading Exodus, one thing may have escaped you that is important, not only to this episode but also key, especially in light of the question Pharaoh asked way back in Exodus 5:2, “ Who is the LORD that I should obey Him and let Israel go?” Pharaoh continued to live as if he didn’t know who the LORD /Yahweh is, despite the judgments against him, his people, and his gods. The culmination of this rebellion is what we saw last week when God promises one more plague that will force Pharaoh to let the Israelites go.

But it wasn’t just Pharaoh who didn’t know God or who didn’t regard His word given through Moses and Aaron. In Exodus 6, after Pharaoh first refused to let the children go and made their condition harsher, Moses told them God’s word as commanded, but, as verse 9 says, they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery. They didn’t wanna know...

Yet, we see a significant shift in chapter 12. While in Chapter 11, Pharaoh still refused to let the Israelites go, we see in Chapter 12 that the Israelites obey the instructions given to them. Something happened to them between Chapters 6 and 12. Unlike Pharaoh, who saw the acts of God yet hardened his heart, the Israelites saw the same acts and came to trust in the LORD, who fulfils His word.

The Instructions

The Lamb

Having seen the works of God in judging the Pharaoh and the Egyptians, the Israelites were now convinced of God’s power and resolve to do what He said He would do. Therefore, there was no hesitation on their part in carrying out the instructions God gave them through Moses and Aaron.

They were to take a lamb without blemish. Malachi 1:6–14 explains that what is blemished is unacceptable to the Lord (13), unworthy of his greatness and brings a curse on the one offering it (14). They were not allowed to pick the unwanted lambs. Only unblemished ones were acceptable.

The lamb was to be chosen on the tenth day and kept until the fourteenth day. The was no room for hurried actions or last minute decisions on the lamb that was to be chosen brcause the consequences of making a mistake by choosing a lamb with blemish led to death. Theufere, they were to choose the animal and spend four days with it, perhaps examining it.

The lamb was to be taken according to the number in their household, according to what they could eat. If it was too big for one household, it was to be shared with a nearby household? The sacrificial animal had an important function to perform by way of ensuring the protection of the Israelites.

The privileges of the lamb were conferred upon the whole congregation, as verse 3 says. Hence, the lamb had to be chosen carefully so as to match the number of people per household. All within the household were to partake of it so that none of it was left.

The blood of the lamb was to be put on the doorposts and the lintels of the house. It was this blood that was to act as a sign for the LORD to passover. Now, it’s not like the LORD could not distinguish between the Egyptians and the Israelites. He had done so in the immediate six preceding strikes. He knew the boundaries of their land (8:22), he could distinguish their cattle from the Egyptians’ (9:4, 6), he could shelter them from the hailstorm (9:26) and give them light while Egypt was shrouded in palpable darkness (10:23). Such a God does not need signposts.

Therefore, the blood on the doors must have had some other significance, and this is borne out by the fact that it is not ‘when I see you’ that the Lord will pass over, but when I see the blood (12:13). The God of judgment, who came to impose a penalty of death justly due, saw the blood and ‘passed over’ in peace. He came in wrath, but Whenever He saw the blood, He left in peace. The blood satisfied His wrath and He passed over the houses.

Not only that, subjectively, they were made safe (or saved) by faith, the faith by which they believed and acted upon the word of God. They obeyed his commands to choose and kill the lamb, to smear its blood and to take refuge in the blood-marked houses, and they believed his promise that under that shed blood and within those houses they would be secure and immune.

Verse 22 says that “none of you shall go outside until morning.” The blood could not protect those who were outside the house when the Lord passed over. Going out was a mistrust of the Lord and disobedience to His command. It was only those found in households marked by the blood who would be saved.

But it wasn’t just the blood that was an essential part of this meal. Verses 12:7-11 underscore the importance of the animal’s meat. Between verses 5-11, the word, eat, is mentioned 7 times, highlighting the importance of eating the meat of the lamb. By eating the meat of the lamb, the people identified with the lamb and partook of it as a sacrifice that redeems them from the strike. All those who were saved that night were those who applied the blood on their houses and ate of the meat of the lamb whose blood was applied to the doorposts and lintels of their houses.

The manner in which they ate the meat was also important. They were not to eat it raw or boiled but roasted. Exodus 12:11 “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.” They traditionally had house sandals or none (as some of you do), but they were to eat it like they were dressed ready to take a journey immediately after, with their staff in hand. With their loins girded signifies or underscores preparation for anything strenuous or difficult. They were to be ready to be thrust out of Egypt, to embark on a journey to meet the Lord who had saved them. It was a hurried meal. It had a sense of urgency, signifying a departure immediately after the meal.

They were to eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Leaven signals a corruption, and, in eating unleavened bread, they signified the cleansing and purification that they had undertaken through the lamb. The removal of leven signified the removal of sin and their cleansing. Anyone who kept leven showed that there was no cleansing on purification and, therefore, could not be among God’s people.

The bitter herbs, it is believed, were a reminder of the bitter or harsh treatment they underwent in Egypt.

And they were to eat it all. They meticulously chose a lamb among based on how each person could eat in a household. They were not preparing a feast where there was plenty to go around and plenty leftovers. This was carefully planned.

Why? Because the lamb served a purpose; to save those who partook of it and appropriated its blood by putting it on their houses. If any of it was not eaten, it was to be burnt. It had one purpose only, to provide Passover cover and Passover nourishment for the people whose number and needs it matched, and once that had been achieved, it was not available for anything or anyone else.

The substitute

Verse 29, which we shall look at next week, says Exodus 12:30 “And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead.” There wasn’t a house where someone was not dead.

In a sense there was also ‘someone dead’ in the houses of the Israelites too, for the lamb had died and had been brought into the houses to provide the main part of the Passover feast (7).

Verses (3–10) to make it clear that the chosen lamb was an exact equivalent to the number and needs of its people and it was as such that the lamb died. In Exodus 4:22, God tells pharaoh that ‘Israel is my firstborn son’ (4:22). Pharaoh’s firstborn is a single individual; the Lord’s firstborn is the corporate entity of Israel. So, when the lamb died, it was as a substitute for the Lord’s firstborn, the people whom he had chosen, and purposed to redeem.

This isn’t the first time a lamb becomes the substitute. Abraham, having been asked to sacrifice his own son by God, was asked by Isaac where the sacrifice was. He answered in Genesis 22:8, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” Indeed, God did provide for Himself a lamb on Mt Moria, showing what He would do to save His people.

Now in Exodus 12, God again provides a lamb as a substitute for His firstborn, Israel. But this lamb, just like the lamb in Genesis 22, was only a shadow of what was to come. Both were pointing to something greater.

Pointing to Christ

Now, if all these things sound familiar, it’s because they are. They all relate, in a very striking way, to a person each one of us here knows. In our NT reading, John the Baptist sees Jesus walking towards Him and says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World.” Genesis 22 and Exodus 12 were all pointing to the lamb of God who was to come and be the substitue for His people.

Jesus became the lamb who was sacrificed so that God’s elect may be saved from the penalty and power of sin. He is the Lamb of God because God Himself provides the lamb by which His people are saved.

He is the lamb that was provided to take away the sin of the world. He is the substitution for God’s people, by whose blood they are cleansed, like the Israelites were in Exodus 12.

1 Peter 1:18–19 ESV

knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

He is the Lamb without blemish. He was the perfect lamb without any sin that could taint His sacrifice.

He was crucified on the day of preparation, the day when the Israelites would prepare and sacrifice the passover lamb.

John 19:36 says, “Not one of his bones will be broken.” Just like the Israelites were to prepare it whole, with its head and legs, so God fulfilled His promise in His lamb, none of whose bones were broken.

He is the lamb of God because He is God. John 1:34 says that He is the Son of God. This is the same one whom the same chapter says He is the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

His sacrifice was an atonment for our sin. 1 John 2:2 “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” Propitiation simply means a sacrifice that appeases the wrath of a deity. He was the sacrifice that appeased the wrath of God.

He was the substitutionary atonement for God’s elect, so that through Him, through His blood sacrifice, they may receive mercy and be cleansed. We were debtors to God. It was us who owed God the debt. But it was the Passover lamb, Jesus Christ, who died in our stead, so that God may be merciful to the undeserving.

Refer to Come behold the wondrous mystery - Stanza 2-3

All this happened centuries ago. The Exodus happened 1500 years before Christ, which is 3500 years ago and the crucifixion happened almost 2000 years ago. The only people who witnessed the Exodus were those liberated. How wee they to remember that day?

The People’s Remembrance Through The Passover Meal

In light of what God had done, He commanded the people to remember the events of that day as a memorial throughout all generations. They were to remember God’s redemption through the feast of unleavened bread which immediately followed the Passover.

Humans are prone to forgetfulness. As we shall see as we go further along in the book of Exodus, it did not take long for the Israelites to forget this event. At the Red Sea, they accused Moses of bringing them out to kill them, three days into their journey, after crossing the Red Sea, they complained about luck of water, and later on, the forgot about the bitterness of slavery and complained about the leeks and garlic they had while enslaved in Egypt.

Yet God wanted them to always remember Him and what He had done throughout the ages. Their salvation/ redemption was important but their remembrance was too. As Exodus 12:12 shows, they were to remember that God passed through all the land of Egypt that night and struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt.

They were to remember that God’s judgment, was so comprehensive that even the animals were not spared.

They were to remember that not only Pharaoh and the Egyptians were judged, but also their gods, so that they would not worship them when they left Egypt.

They were to do this (their children) when they got to the Promised Land, so that they would remember who saved them, and how, so that they would not depart from Him to worship other goods.

They were to remember that this God is the LORD /Yahweh, not any other God. It was not molech, baal, or any other god but the LORD.

And these things they were supposed to do with their children and also the temporary dwellers or sojourners among them. They were to be a witness, not only to themselves on their children, but even people from other nations that came to dwell with them. The witness of God was to all nations.

Their witness was not only about God’s salvation but also His cleansing of His people, signified by putting out all leven. They were to put out all leven for 7 days.

This was their last meal in Egypt, the Last supper before God’s passover and it points to another meal, another Last Supper, and another remembrance meal.

Pointing to the Last Supper

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 ESV

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

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On the night He was betrayed, Jesus had a meal with his disciples. During that meal, Jesus told His disciples all that was about to happen to Him and the significance of it. At the end of it, He broke bread and drank wine with them, instructing them to always do this in remembrance of Him.

In 1 Corinthians 11, Jesus gave the same instructions to the Church through Paul. The bread symbolised His body that was given up for His people. The bread symbolised His body that was given up as a propitiation for our sin. And He instructed that the Church should do should do this often in remembrance of Him. When we partake of the bread, we partake of the body of Christ as the lamb of God slain for the forgiveness of our sin.

When we partake of the wine, we partake of the blood of Jesus which he shed for our salvation. Like the blood of the lamb that was put on the doorpost as a sign, marking the people of God, Jesus’ blood is the blood of the Lamb by which His elect are saved.

Holy Communion/Eucharist is the ordinance that Jesus left the Church to perform perpetually in remembrance of Him. It is the passover meal We are to always take in remembrance. Whenever we partake of it,

We proclaim His death, the death of the lamb through whom we are saved. We are saved through the death of the Lamb. As 1 Corinthians 15 says, Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.

We remember what God sowed us from slavery to sin and Satan through the sacrifice of the lamb of God.

We bear witness to countless generations of the same truth achieved 2000 years. You and I were not present at that Passover, yet we have come to believe that we are saved by the sacrifice of the lamb of God and proclaim His death until He comes. We remind ourselves because, as humans, we are prone to forget.

2 Peter 1:12–15 “Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.”

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Even though Peter is sure they know these things, he makes it a point to remind Christians of these truths. Not only that, he makes it a point to write them down so that they may have a way of constantly remembering, even after he has died.

His diligence, and that of his fellow apostles is what ensures that for generations, until Jesus returns, God’s people will be able to remember these truths.

Application: What does all this mean for us?

We are saved by grace through faith in the Lamb. Exodus 12:28 “Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.” Because of all they had seen God do through the plagues, the Israelites went and did as God commanded, and God saved them. Moses and Aaron were also in their households under the protection of the lamb. Romans 5:6–8 “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Ephesians 2:4–5 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—” The only thing dead things can dois give off a foul smell, like Mary told Jesus about her brother Lazarus who had been dead for four days. They can do nothing else. let alone save themselves. Yet, God, by His grace, makes us alive.

We are saved through faith. In Chapter 6, the Israelites had no faith in the word of the Lord, yet in chapter 12, they did everything according to what Moses and Aaron told them. They trusted that God would save them through the lamb. Likewise, we do not come to God blindly. Faith is not a blind faith. Faith is based on knowledge of what God has done. It is based on what God has done previously that we come to know Him. It is why it was important to have a memorial, so that the future generations may come to know the same God.

We are saved by the lamb and through the lamb. John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” ‘No one comes to the Father’ is a universal negative. There is no other way to the Father except through the Son.

Muslims do not have another way. Buddhism is no other way. Hinduism, Mormonism, or any other way outside of Jesus is no other way. Think about it, how could God put His only begotten Son to death only to have several other ways. His death would be meaningless.

There is no salvation outside the household of God. Acts 20:28 “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” The Church is the household of God, which He has secured by His own blood. It is into the body of Christ, the Church, that we are baptised into by the Holy spirit. No one outside the household of God will be saved.

There are many who think that because they are part of the physical body of believers, they are saved. Coming to Church is no guarantee

Those who are to be saved partake or eat the lambs flesh and apply His blood. Jesus said to the Jews in John 6:53 “So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” Eating the flesh of the lamb was an important part of the passover meal, like the blood. Likewise we must also partake of His flesh and His blood, like Israel did in Exodus 12, for us to be saved.

This does not mean that taking physical Communion will save anyone. (Story of the Requiem mass.)

Partaking of Jesus means putting faith in Him, following His teachings, and living in submission to Him. If you love me, you will obey my commands (John 14:15). If you abide in my word, then you are my disciple. You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free (John 8:31).

We are to put out the leven. Those who do not are cutoff from the congregation. In 1 Corinthians 5:7 “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.” Paul ties both aspects of the first passover meal to the Christian life. Christians are to put away their former life of corruption. You may come as you are but you cannot stay as you are.

You cannot continue to live as you used to. Ephesians 4:21–24 “assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

Titus 2:11–12 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,” Some have used God’s grace as a means to continue living as they used to before their profession of faith. By doing so, they are denying that they are recipients of God’s grace.

There are many in our churches who live as they want yet think because come to church every Sunday, partake of Holy Communion, they are secure in God’s love. Yet, in Exodus 12:19, God says that whoever does not put out leven will be cutoff from the congregation forever.

Put off your sins, put off your lying, your cheating, your gossip, your sexual immorality, your bribes, your selfishness, etc. God has made provision for you in His Son, the Lamb of God, to be made clean. Come boldly before the throne of grace; If you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness;

The haste of the passover is a reminder to us of the urgency of the gospel. The people were to eat the Passover girded, with them cloaks and belts, sandals and staff in hand. It was a hasty departure from slavery to freedom. There is no need to delay. Yet, many delay their departure, having convinced themselves that they have plenty of time. No one knows the day or the hour of their death. The only thing we are sure about is that some day, we shall all die. We shall stand before God to give an account of our lives. Do not delay for tomorrow is not guaranteed. Not even your next breath is guaranteed. All you can be sure of is now.

We are to remember our redemption through Holy Communion. The anguish and bitterness of suffering is quickly lost on humans once that anguish is taken away. We forget how far God brought us from slavery and we quickly run into other forms of slavery.

We are set free yet we run to slavery to Material things.

Many are set free yet many run to be bound to power and money, hoping to find fulfillment and salvation in these things.

We are saved by grace, through faith in the lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

There may be some of you here who have not trusted in the lamb of God. God’s judgment is upon you, even this very day. Your tomorrow is not guaranteed. Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart.

Like the hymn we sang, Grace greater than all our sins says,

second Stanza

Pray… Seek out the elders...