God’s Grace and the Passover- Ex. 11-12:28

Hannah speaking-foolish things of the world this world1 Cor 1:25

We come to one of the most beautiful, deadly, and terrifying parts of this wonderful book we call Exodus: the Passover. This meal, eaten by those who take serious the Word of God, protects them from the horrific God, Yahweh.

More than that, Yahweh gives them instructions about the lamb that would receive the punishment due to sinners. We see, as New Covenant believers, the glorious shadow of the Lamb of God, Jesus our glorious Savior, by who’s blood we have been delivered from death.

Chapter 11 and most of chapter 12 are bursting at the seams with grace. Yahweh will reveal Himself to Moses as “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious” (Ex. 34:6). In these two chapters we see a tsunami of God’s grace flowing through these pages into the innermost parts of our souls.

Before diving in, I want to start with our concluding thoughts. For you, Christian, as you read these verses and behold the wonders of God’s grace, praise the LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious. Let His overwhelming grace move you to know Him more and to make Him known.

For you, who know not Christ, let the grace of God draw you like an oasis in the desert. Let your insatiable thirst, unquenchable by the things of this life, cause you to run to the perfect Lamb of God and fall at His feet, begging Him to save you from the judgment of God.

I. God’s Grace in the Spoils- 11:1-3 (Gen. 15:14)

While I would prefer to walk through this in a step-by-step format, we will take them as they appear in the text. The Egyptians had enslaved Israel for 400 years. They served without pay. Now the Lord was reversing their situation. This Army-but-not-army of Israel was plundering the nation without actually raising one weapon.

God wrought it in the hearts of the Egyptians to give anything Israel asked for, again demonstrating His sovereignty over all. The tangible, physical blessings are a picture, a type to what Paul calls “the riches of His grace, which He lavished on us” (Eph. 1:7-8).

We could argue that, from a human perspective, Israel deserved this. From from a God-centered perspective, they were under His wrath. His abundant grace is demonstrated in the spoils. God’s grace is also abundant in the announcement.

II. God’s Grace in the Announcement- 11:4-8

God reveals His last plague against Egypt. It is a terrible plague, one that God says will affect every single home Egypt, whether the Pharaoh or the lowliest peasant.

But even in the judgment there is grace. Israel was not better than Egypt. Both Israel and Egypt, like every human begin, were children of wrath. They stood, rightly so, under the just judgment of God. But Egypt is judged and Israel is spared. Why? You will have to wait and see. For now, observe God’s grace in giving this announcement. God was warning Egypt of this coming plague.

But Pharaoh and Egypt again reject the Lord, and even in that rejection we see God’s grace.

III. God’s Grace in the Rejection-11:9-10

Pharaoh will be judged for refusing to know the LORD even after all God has done in His sight. When he entered the LORD’s presence at his death, Pharaoh was excuse-less.

But God’s grace can be seen in this rejection. For God tells Moses that this rejection is coming ahead of time. God tells us today that there is coming a day when people will reject God’s rules and Word (2 Tim. 4:3-4).

IV. God’s Grace in the Instruction- 12:1-13

Had God not instructed Israel into the necessity of the Passover Lamb, they too would have perished. They would have fallen under the just judgment of God.

10th day of the month- select a lamb

had to be male

had to be perfect

had to be a year old

14th day they had to kill it at midnight

They had to put blood on the sides and top of the door

They had to eat the meat with unleavened bread and bitter herbs

They could not leave leftovers

They had to eat ready to leave Egypt

If Israel did not follow God’s commands exactly, they would face judgment. If they followed God’s commands exactly, the lamb would receive the punishment that they deserved. If we cannot see the beautiful picture of Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God (John 1:29) in this, then I don’t know what to do. We deserved God’s righteous judgment, but the Lamb of God took all of God’s wrath for our sins (Rom. 3:21-26; 2 Cor. 5:21). This is amazing grace!

V. God’s Grace in the Memorial- 12:14-22

There is also grace in the Memorial. This yearly week would bring back all the Lord’s miraculous deliverances of Israel from Egyptian bondage. God calls it a “permanent ordinance” (12:14).

*It is instructive each time they partook of it—every time they observed this memorial they would relearn everything that God had done for them.

*The Lord’s Supper is instructive each time we partake of it—God has given use the Memorial

“Rather than behaving as the Israelites who looked back on life in Egypt with desire (see, for example, Numbers 11:5-6), God’s people are to recall the bitterness of life without God in this world, having had no hope (Ephesians 2:11-13).”—Michael Morales, Exodus Old and New, 72

1 Corinthians 5:7-8. Baptism is a proclaiming sacrament; the Lord’s Supper is a purifying sacrament.

VI. God’s Grace in the Passover- 12:23-28

The Lord’s work on Israel’s behalf saved them from all their troubles, delivered them from death, and blessed them with abundance.

God provided that Lamb (promised in Gen. 22:8). He passed over the Israelites because the Lamb took their place in death.

We see Christ, the perfect Lamb of God, who died in our place. He who knew know sin became sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21).

This, the Lord tells Moses, is to be observed as a memorial. It is instructive, teaching Israel year after year that they had been enslaved to Egypt and were hopeless until the Lord intervened. What a beautiful picture of the spiritual reality of every child of God who, through the blood of the Lamb, had the sentence of death passover them and placed on Messiah Jesus.

This, Paul tells us in Colossians 2:17, is a shadow of what is to come, namely Messiah Jesus.

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Before diving in, I want to start with our concluding thoughts. For you, Christian, as you read these verses and behold the wonders of God’s grace, praise the LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious. Let His overwhelming grace move you to know Him more and to make Him known.

For you, who know not Christ, let the grace of God draw you like an oasis in the desert. Let your insatiable thirst, unquenchable by the things of this life, cause you to run to the perfect Lamb of God and fall at His feet, begging Him to save you from the judgment of God.