Exodus 12b Passover - "The Bread of Life" Christmas Eve

Exodus 12:7–20 (ESV) — 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. 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.”

Recap and Summary of The Rest of Exodus 12:

A worthy and suitable lamb - atonement (The family hides and rests behind the blood - red church doors)

Hyssop applied to the door - cleansing

They were to eat the whole lamb -

Gird up their loins and be ready -

Unleavened bread - uncorrupted from the gods and idols of Egypt

The blood shall be a sign for ‘you’ - Why is this sign for us? What should we see when we look at the blood?

When I (God) see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you. Does God see the blood when He looks at you? Have you, by faith, placed the blood of Christ on the door?

The Rest of The Chapter:

Death of the firstborn

Plundering the Egyptians

The beginnings of the Exodus

The institution of the Passover (rules and regulations) — A sanctified people for worship. We are saved and sanctified

Last week we went into detail about the Passover, but we didn’t spend much time on the feast of unleavened bread

The Feast of Unleavened Bread:

v. 15 - Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread - from 14th-21st. If you eat leavened bread you will be “cut off” from Israel. Again in vs.19, if a person eats the leaven they will be “cut off”.

They called it a feast, but I imagine it was difficult to celebrate that first time.

The bread in Deuteronomy 16 is called the bread of affliction - a remembrance of their slavery and bondage.

But later it would become a feast as they remembered God’s grace to them.

It would be celebrated with no leaven — a new loaf (no starter dough) was given to them by God himself in the form of manna from heaven - what was called “bread from heaven” (Ex. 16:4; Neh. 9:15; Ps. 105:40)

We have a liberated people - atoned for

They are provided for by God - manna and water and God’s presence

They have a leader through the wilderness in Moses who later gives them the law from God

But even Moses knows that someone better is coming.

Deuteronomy 18:15 (ESV) — 15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—

Not only do we not have to sacrifice a passover lamb again year after year, we no longer need to hold a feast eating only the bread of affliction.

The superlative nature of Christ

Pharoah commands death of babies

Herod commands death of babies

Moses with the Lord for 40 days on the mountain

Jesus with the Lord for 40 days in the wilderness

First public miracle: water to blood (symbol of death)

First miracle: water to wine (symbol of salvation)

Moses provides water in the desert

Jesus provides living water

Moses on the mount to deliver the Torah

Jesus on the mount to deliver a new Torah

Moses with God on the mount (only a reflection of God’s glory, fading away)

Jesus on the mount of Transfiguration (unborrowed, ever increasing glory - 2 Cor 3)

Moses institutes covenant for provisional atonement

Jesus provides ultimate atonement through a New Covenant

Moses commands the slaying of lamb

Jesus OFFERS HIMSELF as the Lamb! -

Moses institutes the feast of unleavened bread, the bread of affliction

Jesus offers to us the bread of life that is his own flesh.

John 6:32–51 (ESV) — 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” 41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

This Christmas we remember and celebrate Jesus as the lamb that came into the world - He saved us and freed us and cleansed us.

And we also celebrate Him as the Bread of Life who sustains us and satisfies us and gives us eternal life. No longer do we eat the bread of affliction. In Christ, we eat the Bread of Life! Bread that came down from heaven and humbled himself to the point of death, even death on a cross.