Good Friday 26

Exodus 12:1–27

1. A BONDAGE RELEASED

Now in Chapter 11, we are drawn to understand that the 10th plague was a plague without negotiation or conversation with Pharaoh. The other 9 plagues, Moses goes to Pharoah and asks to let the people go. Pharaoh refuses each time. The tenth is a declaration of judgment on Egypt and a delcaration of freedom from captivity for Israel.

Exodus 11:1 “1 Now the Lord said to Moses, “One more plague I will bring on Pharaoh and on Egypt; after that he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out from here completely.”

The Passover was a feast to commemorate the freedom from the bondage of the Egyptians. They were slaves in Egypt and faced great hardship under this rule. But God protected them and multiplied them in such harsh environments.

The Passover event was final plague and the key to their release from bondage. That freedom came in haste as the Egyptians would run them out of Egypt and then pursue them as they fled. V 11 commemorates their hasty flight from their captors

Exodus 12:11 “11 ‘Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the Lord’s Passover.”

The cross of Jesus Christ is the key to the freedom for the captives to sin. We are bondlaves to our own sin natures and Jesus’ death and resurrection is a means that we are free. Paul writes,

Romans 6:22 “22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.”

2. A LAMB SLAUGHTERED

Exodus 12:3–5 “3 “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household. 4 ‘Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb. 5 ‘Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.”

The Lamb had a purpose.

Preparation: They were to choose the animal on the 10th day and yet they would not kill it until the 14th. This was strategic and careful planning of the lamb to be slaughtered. It was not done haphazardly. The preparation was key to the celebration just as you might plan a dinner party today. In that preparation, there was an element of worship.

Plenty: The lamb was about more than the blood spilt. Passover was a feast and you eat at the feast. If there was a number of people in your home greater than what meat that animal could provide, then you would partner up with a neighbor so there was plenty of meat to go around. This speaks of sufficiency. Was the sacrificed lamb enough for the worship celebration to continue? H

Perfection: The lamb was was to possess no physical abnormalities. This lamb was to be beautiful and lovely. It was to be prized and the best that could be given. It was not second rate, hand me down, sickly, ugly lamb. Remember in Gen 4 that Abel gave the firstlings of his flock and God had “regard” for Abel’s sacrifice because it was the best of his flock.

Progression:

Alec Moyter makes this last clear and helpful point for us as he draws a connection for us in the whole of Scripture. With Abel there was 1 lamb given for one man. With Israel in Egypt, this lamb selected was to represent the household. During the latter festival of the Day of Atonement, it was the lamb sacrificed for the sins of a nation.

With Jesus, we see he is redeemer who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus does not just sacrifice himself for sinners, but for sin. Sinners reap the benefits as God’s elect, but the world is corrupted by sin as well. Redemption in the blood of Jesus frees this world from corruption as it frees the individual.

Jesus is foreshadowed as the perfect and final Lamb of God. Jesus was not just a physically perfect sacrifice, but morally and spiritually perfect as well. He was sinless in every way and he was offered up, not for His sins, but for the sins of His people. We also know that Jesus’ perfection was the reason that His sacrifice was sufficient of cover our sins. Instead of physical food to eat, Jesus body and blood provide spiritual and eternal lasting nourishment for all who partake in him.

3. A FAITH DISPLAYED

Exodus 12:12–13 “12 ‘For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against 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 live; 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.”

Now when we consider act of wiping the shed blood on the doorposts, we see Israel called to trust in the promises of God’s word. They are called to act outwardly with such promises and produce a sign of their faith. Circumcision was the sign of faith sign of faith in our promise keeping God with Abraham. The blood on the doorposts was a sign of faith in our promise keeping God under Moses. The marching around the city of Jericho was a sign of faith in our promise keeping God. Baptism is the New Covenant sign of faith in our promise keeping God. All of these acts of obedience begin in the heart of a person to believe that God is sovereign, that his promises are true and his will is good.

So the Jews took the blood and they painted their doorposts in faith that God would passover them and He was faithful to his promise. It could have been considered a strange thing to do in the midst of the terror and destruction of the plagues that have already ravaged the city. When consider acts of faith that the Lord calls us to, the seem strange to an unbelieving world.

Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me is to radical act in faith against what culture considers normal. The cultural backlash could be great if you obey the Lord, but the spiritual ramifications are greater if you ignore the Lord and his gift of grace.

This week an NBA player Jaden Ivey is making the news because he stood up against the NBA’s LGBTQ plus agenda. He came out on IG and said it was a sin and he would not stand for it. He was dismissed from the team and the promised salary. Our faith in Christ looks strange to the world but it is pleasing in the sight of a holy God.

4. A WRATH APPEASED

Exodus 12:12–13 “12 ‘For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against 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 live; 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.”

Exodus 12:23 “23 “For the Lord will pass through to smite 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 come in to your houses to smite you.”

The Cross and Salvation: The Doctrine of Salvation I. Introductory Concerns

The biblical doctrine of justification deals with the fundamental issue of how guilty sinners can be acquitted and restored to favor with an infinitely righteous and just God. As absolutely righteous, God is the perfect standard of what is right. As absolutely just, God consistently rewards moral good and punishes moral evil. Because he is “the righteous Judge” (

That faith in Christ is our pathway to justification. Abraham believed and it was accounted as righteous. You and I are granted the righteousness of Christ by faith in Him. That right standing before God is the reason that you can celebrate this weekend and throughout our lives. You are no longer guilty before the Lord. Your guilt was not erased…it was transposed on another. Jesus took your guilt and shame. He bore our sins on the cross, taking sin upon the sinless.

The ransom has been paid to free you from enslavement. Also, the debt has been paid to free you from the consequences of God’s holy wrath. Your sin has earned the wrath of God as its consequence. A judge has no good and just reason to let a murder go free. We all deserve the wrath of God for our sin but thanks be to God that He sent his son to appease the wrath of God on our behalf.

Colossians 1:21–22 “21 And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, 22 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—”

5. A CORRUPTION PURGED

Intermixed with the Feast of the Passover is the Festival of the Unleavened Bread. This seven day observance was one which started and ended with a “holy assembly” of God’s people where the people worshiped the Lord. On the first day and the last day, there was no work allowed. Throughout this week, the emphasis was to purge the leaven from the home and start fresh afterwards. Think of this holy week as starting anew. Leaven had a corrupting nature about it. This allowed the Jews to start fresh after the Festival and start fresh in their New year.

The bread with leaven was not a delectable and enjoyable bread. It was flat and it was bland. It was missing the best part of the bread as far as I can say, the plumb, moist goodness in the middle.

It represented the haste of leaving captivity. They would not stay captives any longer and therefore the annual reminder for families was just how graciously and quickly the Lord executed their deliverance. The newness then applies to their newly gifted freedom. They would tell their generations of a faithful redeeming God who saved them in the exodus.

The apostle Paul took such a meaning in the NT context and applied that newness in Christ to the old life of sin.

1 Corinthians 5:6–8 “6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? 7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

Therefore the picture of corruption of sin that is cleansed and made new by Christ is quite clear. He purges the sin in our lives and cleanses our dwellings.

6. A CELEBRATION ENJOYED

Exodus 12:24–27 “24 “And you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever. 25 “When you enter the land which the Lord will give you, as He has promised, you shall observe this rite. 26 “And when your children say to you, ‘What does this rite mean to you?’ 27 you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but spared our homes.’ ” And the people bowed low and worshiped.”

Together with the passover meal, the combined celebration was of a momentous time in the history of the Jews where God displayed that his people will abandoned to slavery and corruption. Jewish families would set aside time to travel back to Jerusalem. The passover meal and 7-day festival was one of worship. Two days where the people rested in the Lord. Every day there was a offering made to the Lord. All eyes were set upon Jerusalem, at the temple, where the presence of the Lord dwelt. All eyes were on his saving power and his outstretched arm of deliverance.

We come this weekend to remember in a greater way the deliverance we have in Christ. We celebrate his deliverance every day but we set aside time to worship and celebrate all that he has done for his glory and for our good.

Jesus has freed us from bondage

Jesus sacrificed his life as the Passover Lamb

Jesus has appeased the wrath of God

Jesus cleansed us from the stain of sin and called us to newness in him

Jesus invites us to respond in faith, believing that all he has accomplished is sufficient to save us from sin.

Jesus invites us to worship Him as the executer of the Final Exodus through His death and resurrection.

300 Quotations and Prayers for Christmas They Found the Lamb of God While Keeping Sheep

While they were keeping their sheep they found the Lamb of God, whose fleece bright and clean was made wet with the dew of heaven when it was dry upon all the earth beside, and whose blood when sprinkled on the doorposts drove off the destroyer of Egypt and took away the sins of the world.

JEROME (CA. 347–420)*