The Passover Sacrifice
Notes
Transcript
The Lord is going to send His last and final plague upon Egypt this very night. But this plague is different from all the others.
The Lord has made a distinction between the Israelites and the Egyptians from the fourth plague on (with the possible exception of the locust plague). But in this plague, there will be no such distinction. This plague will fall upon all the firstborn in the land of Egypt (Exodus 12:12). Living in Goshen would provide no escape for it was still in the land of Egypt. The distinction was not going to be by location but the blood of the lamb. It was either the life of an innocent substitute or it was the life of the firstborn. One or the other had to die.
This plague is different from all that had come before because it is not only the last of the plagues for Egypt, but it is the first of the feasts for Israel. This marks a new beginning for the nation. For this reason in the first part of Exodus 12, it is not the plague that is in view, but the Passover. Why is this feast so important? Here are just a few reasons:
1. Commences the birth of the Hebrew nation.
1. Commences the birth of the Hebrew nation.
This is Israel’s spiritual “4th of July.”
2. The first of the national feasts of Israel.
2. The first of the national feasts of Israel.
These feasts cover God’s complete program for redemption in both logical and chronological order. Redemption must be first.
3. This first Passover is here divinely ordered with minute detail given.
3. This first Passover is here divinely ordered with minute detail given.
The Holy Spirit of God labors with the details because every point has significance to the child of God. In this respect it is the most explicit type of redemption given in Scripture. Many sacrifices occur commencing with Genesis 3, but none are so full of meaning as the Passover. Here the direct significance and appropriation of Calvary is seen in minute detail.
4. The Passover embodies the only divine legislation for Israel in Egypt.
4. The Passover embodies the only divine legislation for Israel in Egypt.
This is what they had to believe to be saved out of Egypt and so worship the LORD acceptably. This was the issue between life and death, between being the children of Israel and the children of the world, between redemption and destruction. And the lamb was in the center. The lamb made the difference.
5. The Passover was the only sacrifice offered in Egypt.
5. The Passover was the only sacrifice offered in Egypt.
There is no other God-given sacrifice that is to be made or appropriated in Egypt. It is this one sacrifice that positionally takes us out of Egypt and into the sphere of walking in fellowship with God.
6. The Passover is mentioned more than any other feast in the Old Testament.
6. The Passover is mentioned more than any other feast in the Old Testament.
The Old Testament refers to a dozen occurrences of the Passover, and it is mentioned over 50 times within those occurrences which is more than any other feast. If something is mentioned 10 times more than something else, it is not 10 times as true, but 10 times as important. What the Spirit of God holds as important is referred to the more.
The Passover was one of three pilgrim feasts in which all the males were to appear in Jerusalem. These were called pilgrim feasts because of their pilgrimage requirement.
7. The Passover is mentioned more than any other feast in the New Testament.
7. The Passover is mentioned more than any other feast in the New Testament.
The feast of Unleavened Bread is referred to 9 times, the Feast of Tabernacles twice, but the Passover is referred to 27 times directly besides indirect references.
Any way you approach this feast, and this sacrifice it is important. This brings us to another important point.
The observation of Passover was principally a feast.
The observation of Passover was principally a feast.
The observation of Passover each year, commemorating the experience of Israel in Egypt, was principally a feast (Lev. 23:4-5; cf. Ex. 12:14).
But this night in Egypt, the first Passover was more than a feast—it was a sacrifice. This is a significant difference. Passover was first a sacrifice, and then, and only then, is it a feast. (See Exodus 12:21; 26-27; Cf. Deut. 16:1-2; in the NT, 1 Cor. 5:7).
A sacrifice is namely just that-a sacrifice of one life for another life. If the sacrifice does not die and shed its blood, another will die because he is under the wrath and judgment of a righteous and holy God. By the death of the sacrifice and the appropriation of the blood, the wrath has been averted from the intended victim. A substitution has been made and God is propitiated (satisfied). The innocent has died in the place of the guilty, and justice has been met. There cannot righteously be punishment the second time for the same crime. The guilty is free because of the sacrifice made.
This is God’s program for Israel in Egypt. The LORD cannot righteously spare the Israelites divine judgment for they have sinned and are under the same sentence of death as the Egyptians. Israel deserves nothing but wrath, just as the Egyptians. We have already seen that the religious life of the children of Israel was that of idol and demon worship the same as the Egyptians (Josh. 24:14; Ezek. 20:6-9).
“Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.
We also read in Leviticus 17:7 these words:
“They shall no longer sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat demons with which they play the harlot. This shall be a permanent statute to them throughout their generations.” ’
It was not because of Israel’s righteousness that she was spared (Cf. Deut. 9:4-5), but because of God’s word and covenant promise. It was by God’s great mercy and love that Israel was chosen (Deut. 7:7-8) and not because of their loveliness.
“The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples,
but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
There must be a sacrifice made of an innocent victim, and the blood applied to their dwelling, and then, and only then, will God be propitiated. Then the righteousness of God shall be met, and justice cannot demand punishment for the sin twice. The guilty will be free—forever free—because a sacrifice has been made for them.
This is God’s program for us. (1 Cor. 5:7; Greek ‘Huper’]. This preposition signifies “in the place of.” It definitely speaks of substitution: one thing “instead of”another. So great is this theme in the New Testament that we can only but mention the verses, all of which use huper:
Romans 5:6, 8;
For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
14:15; 1 Cor. 11:24; 15:3; 2 Cor. 5:14, 15, 21; Gal. 1:4; 2:20; 3:13; Eph. 5:2, 25; 1 Thess. 5:10; Tit. 2:14;
who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
Heb. 2:9; 10:12; 1 Pet. 2:21; 3:18; 4:1; 1 John 3:16.
We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
Substitution is throughout the Scripture. If there is no substitution, there can be no salvation.
It has been well expressed by someone in this way: “In the final analysis it is either His blood or ours.”
For the whole land of Egypt there was only one way out of death, and that was the blood-sprinkled way of a substitute. Likewise, for everyone today there is only one way out of eternal death and that is “the blood of sprinkling” of Jesus Christ who gave Himself a ransom for all (1 Tim. 2:6).
Heaven’s new song will be Rev. 5:9.
And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
Twenty-six times in the book of Revelation the Lord is referred to as “the Lamb”—each occurrence emphasizing His sacrifice for men either accepted by those who believe or spurned by those who are in unbelief. It is the Lamb that is seen in wrath (Rev 16:16-17) and who among men will be able to stand. Men have rejected His salvation and spurned His blood and there is only wrath before them. All who reject the blood of the Lamb have a sure title to the lake of fire. A bloodless salvation is the product of Satan. With God, without the shedding of blood is no remission (Heb. 9:22) of sins (Matt. 26:28).
The whole program for the Passover sacrifice was (Exod. 12:13).
‘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.
God’s eye was not on the house, but on the blood. His eye was not upon any in the house where the blood was applied for it made no difference concerning their character, pedigree, ceremonial service, moral standing, volunteering, good works or anything else. All that made any difference is whether they were under the blood or not.
They either were or they were not. There was no neutral position. They either had slain the lamb and applied the blood to their dwelling, or they had spurned the word of God and dared to stand the consequences in brazen unbelief.
It is the same today. It is not a matter of a person being not good enough for heaven or bad enough for hell. No one deserves heaven. If God destroyed the world and all who are in it, He would be infinitely just. We deserve nothing; we are by nature children of wrath even as others. It is God’s great mercy and love that have provided a way out of justice through grace (Eph. 2:3-9). It does not make any difference what we have to our credit or what we have to our discredit. We are not saved by journalists works but by His grace. We have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins (Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14).
Do you have the Lord’s salvation? Or are you still trying to make it on your character and good works?
If the blood of an animal sprinkled upon the doorposts of the houses of the children of Israel made them perfectly secure from death, . . . Hebrews 9:14
how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
… and make us eternally secure.
We have a blood … Hebrews 12:24.
and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.
Hebrews 13:12-13.
Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate.
So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.
This One, who is the Sacrifice, is also the living Savior able to save all who come to God by Him (Hebrews 7:25). If you meet Him today as your Savior, you will never face Him in wrath as your Judge.