Christ our Passover, part 2 (2)
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Intro
Intro
Last week, as part of a two part sermon, we began looking at “Christ our Passover” as pertaining to the Lord’s Supper. Lord willing, I would like to continue that message today and focus our hearts and minds upon this blessed topic— especially in light of our taking of the Lord’s Supper today.
The verse from which this message is based is, 1 Corinthians 5:7, which in part reads:
1 Corinthians 5:7b (AV)
For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us
As we began last week to see, the passover in the Old Testament is an important part of God’s redemptive history. It was crucial in the revelation of God’s redeeming plan for his chosen people. All aspects of the passover pointed forward to the sacrifice our of Lord Jesus Christ and the shedding of his blood that would occur on the cross at Calvary. The old passover was a dimly lit revelation of the Gospel that would be fully brought to light by the Triune God in the New Covenant.
If you would, please, turn to Exodus chapter 12, staring in verse 1.
And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’S passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
look down to verse 22
And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the LORD will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD’S passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped.
Recap
Recap
In the last message, as we looked through this passage, I used some of Benjamin Keach’s book Tropologia: A Key to Open Scripture Metaphors on the types and shadows in the Scriptures. He had some great points laid out concerning the parallels that describe the types and antitypes of the passover as given in Exodus. As we continue looking at the passover in Exodus, I will be referencing some of his points— I think the order of things that he looks at in the Exodus passage is laid out in a good order to draw out Christ as our passover.
We have already looked at 13 things that are found in the Passover which pointed forward to Jesus Christ. The last thing we saw was that there was a making ready, a preparing for the meal. I hope that the Lord has been preparing us all for the blessed ordinance that we will be partaking of today, and let it be our desire that God will have us ready and acceptable to partake of the bread and the wine representing the body and blood of our Lord Jesus.
But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
The Next four points that we are going to look at are based upon Exodus 12:11 , which reads:
And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’S passover.
14. The Israelites were to eat the passover with their loins girded.
14. The Israelites were to eat the passover with their loins girded.
Keach said, “This signifies the girding the loins of our minds with justice, strength, and verity.”
Benjamin Keach, Tropologia: A Key to Open Scripture Metaphors (London: William Hill Collingridge, 1856), 640.
I take that as meaning the justice of God towards sin and the will to follow him. Verity meaning truth.
As part of the preparation they were to have their lions girded, and this was something that they were to maintain throughout the entire passover.
To gird requires one to lift the bottom of their tunic to the thigh, and then tie it up using the tunic itself. The tunic is girded up, wrapped around the waist to prepare for action. In the case of the Israelites, they were to be prepared for when the Lord set them free from the bondage of Egypt— ready to flee that evil land, ready to be obedient to God’s commands.
If you recall, in Ephesians chapter 6, concerning the Armor of God, we are instructed to have our “loins girt about with truth.”
Paul said in,
Ephesians 1:13 (AV)
In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
The truth is the Gospel, which is the doctrine of the Covenant of Grace, and with that we gird ourselves— we pull it in close to us, clothing ourselves in it, embracing it. We tie it tight about ourselves to prepare for everyday life. And as we prepare for the Lord’s Supper, we gird up our hearts, minds, and souls with the Gospel of our salvation. We remember how we have been redeemed and set free from the bondage of sin and the punish due it.
15. Exodus 12:11, tells us that they were to have their shoes on. They were to be ready for action, ready for God to do something.
15. Exodus 12:11, tells us that they were to have their shoes on. They were to be ready for action, ready for God to do something.
I can’t help buy think about the Armor of God here again from:
And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
This means that we are to have a solid knowledge and understanding of the Gospel— which is the foundation of our faith. As your feet plant you firmly upon the ground, so does our faith firmly plant us in the Gospel.
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
Christ is our solid rock, he is the sure and absolute foundation in which we stand, in which our faith is built. We must be always at the ready, having our feet firmly planted, by faith in Jesus Christ and his Gospel of Peace.
That preparation though, also requires us to be diligent in exercising our Christian duties, living a life of godliness and holiness that reflects the grace of God in the believer.
Daily, and most especially upon receiving the ordinances, we must know with certainty that glorious Gospel that saved undeserving wretches such as us.
16. Also in the Exodus passage, verse 11, on the passover, God told them to have their staff in their hand.
16. Also in the Exodus passage, verse 11, on the passover, God told them to have their staff in their hand.
Having a staff in hand symbolizes that one is about to go on the move, going forth from the place at which they current stand.
Having read some of John Bunyan earlier in the week my mind went to think about Pilgrims Progress, and about Pilgrim carrying a staff. A staff has often been used symbolically of a pilgrim on a journey. Peter said in 1 Peter 2:11
Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
John Gill wrote of that verse,
quote
An Exposition of the New Testament, Volumes I–III (Chapter 2)
… pilgrims; whose habit is Christ and his righteousness; whose food is Christ and his fulness; whose staff is Christ and the promises; whose guide is the blessed Spirit; the place for which they are bound is heaven, the better country, where is their father’s house, their friends, and their inheritance; this world not being their country, nor their resting-place, it became them to have their conversation in heaven
end quote
We are pilgrims in this land and upon our journey we lean upon our staff, which is Christ and all of the promises of the blessed Covenant of Grace— from them we get our strength.
17. Next in verse 11, they were instructed to eat in haste.
17. Next in verse 11, they were instructed to eat in haste.
Normally, folks sit down and relax at a meal. When you think upon the scene of the Lord’s last supper, they were without shoes, nor did they have staff’s in hand. They were reclined around the table.
The instructions by God in Exodus were specific for the Israelites whom he was about to lead out of bondage in a magnificent way. They were to eat in haste, quickly, being prepared to depart upon the Lord’s call.
Robert Hawker wrote:
The state of departure here described becomes a beautiful figure of a soul when receiving Jesus, in turning his back upon the world and every thing in it,
And, I add, that a state of readiness should exist in the believer to carry out his Christian duties and service to God.
Furthermore, every believer should be anxiously awaiting our Lord’s return— not at ease, but at the ready to meet our Lord face to face— whether at his glorious return or when he calls us home to himself.
Exodus 12:11 ends with God saying “it is the LORD’s Passover”. All of this preparation, all of the instruction given, all of it was for the LORD’s Passover.
God continues in verse 12,
For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.
Verse 13, Exodus 12.13
And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
That brings us to our last point from Exodus 12,
18. The blood of the lamb was shed.
18. The blood of the lamb was shed.
Look down at Exodus 12:21,
Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.
That spotless lamb that had been chosen was slain. He was sacrificed for the salvation of the Israelites from the bondage of the Egyptians. This was not a careless sacrifice. The sacrificing of the lamb, including the collection and application of his blood, was a deliberate act and done with the utmost attention and care.
Charles Spurgeon once preached,
Spurgeon’s Sermons: Volume 33 (THE BLOOD OF SPRINKLING AND THE CHILDREN.)
The Spirit of God in the passover ceremonial lays special emphasis upon the sprinkling of the blood. That which men so greatly oppose, he as diligently sets forth as the head and front of revelation. The blood of the chosen lamb was caught in a basin, and not spilled upon the ground in wastefulness; for the blood of Christ is most precious. Into this bowl of blood a bunch of hyssop was dipped. The sprays of that little shrub would hold the crimson drops, so that they could be easily sprinkled. Then the father of the family went outside, and struck with this hyssop the lintel and the two side posts of the door, and so the house was marked with three crimson streaks. No blood was put upon the threshold. Woe unto the man that tramples upon the blood of Christ, and treats it as an unholy thing!
The blood of that passover lamb was set apart, it was sanctified by God for use as a covering. With that blood covering, he could look upon his people with acceptance, passing-over them— sparing them from his judgement and wrath. This was all a type that was a demonstration of what God would do with his Son-- the perfect, spotless, sinless, Lamb of God.
In his death, Jesus Christ would take the wrath of God that we deserve. His death was an atonement of our sins, and by the shedding of his blood he redeemed us as a people to himself. The blood of Jesus Christ covers the elect, sparing them from God’s judgement and making them acceptable before God.
That first passover was made with imperfect and sinful men— sacrificing a lamb that had no sinlessness or perfection in itself that could take away sin and the judgement it deserves. But Christ, was a perfect,Great High Priest who offered up himself as a perfect sacrifice.
Like those men of old, there is nothing that we can offer God, nothing that we can sacrifice, nothing that can earn us favor or merit with God— there is nothing in or of ourselves that will cause God to passover us in his wrath and judgement against sin— nothing, but the shed-blood of Jesus Christ, can satisfy the wrath of God that our sin deserves.
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
The lamb of the old passover perished. Everything must have been eaten before the morning, and what was not, was burned so that nothing remained.
But praise God! The Lamb of God that was slain for the sin of the world did not perish. His body did not rot away in the grave. He is risen and He lives.
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Preparing for Communion
Preparing for Communion
As the time approaches for us to partake of the Lord’s Supper, we must prepare ourselves.
The institution of the Passover in Exodus was a positive command with strict instructions— Exodus 12.24-25
And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the LORD will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service.
Christ in the same way gives a positive command concerning the Lord’s Supper that must be strictly obeyed.
And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
Do this in remembrance on me. This is something that the Lord Jesus has commanded his redeemed people to do. There are no options there. He says do it and we joyfully do it out of love and obedience— remembering, that we are redeemed, that we have had our sins washed away, that we have been reconciled to God— all because of what Jesus Christ has done, which is symbolized in the elements of the bread and the wine.
God instructed the Israelites to perform the passover perpetually, until the coming of the Messiah who would fulfill that passover and offer up himself as the sinless Lamb of God— a final, once for all sacrifice. The Lord’s Supper too, is a perpetual ordinance for the Church until the return of Christ.
The Gospel is to be ever before us— both in our personal lives and in our church life. All that Jesus has done for us in accomplishing the Covenant of Grace we see in those elements, and therefore we can only cast ourselves upon him in our heart, mind, and service.
It is a great honor to fulfill our Lord’s commands in this remembrance. While there is an element of joy in remembering the Gospel of our salvation and of partaking of this ordinance together, there must also be soberness and respect. Hebrews 12.28-29 says,
Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.
Let us have grace, let us hold fast to it-- that is, the doctrine of grace, the glorious Gospel. It is by that in which we serve God. It is the Gospel, that is our reason to remember all that God has done for us through Jesus Christ, who is our surety of the Covenant of Grace. That Covenant and the accomplishment of it, by the death and blood-shedding of Jesus Christ, is the only way that we can come before God acceptably— it is impossible by any other means. As we approach the table we cannot forget our sin that put Jesus upon that cross. We cannot forget our depravity that brought down the wrath and judgment of God upon our Savior on that cross. Are we worth God’s grace and love that he would send his only begotten Son to die for us? There is nothing in us that makes us worth it, and therefore we approach the Lord’s table with that sense of unworthiness— a sense in that we don’t deserve anything good from God. Praise God for his grace and mercy, for the love that he had for us before the foundation of the world, which was established his that glorious eternal Covenant of Grace— for without that we have nothing.
How great a sin then if we neglect so great a calling by our Lord to do this act of remembering his death and blood-shedding. And as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11.29
For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
God forbid that we neglect this ordinance or handle it in an improper manner. Jesus said,
If ye love me, keep my commandments.
And if we keep the command, and uphold the ordinance in the holy manner it deserves, may we be able to proclaim as the Psalmists,
Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.
As we come before the triune God in this act of worship, let us pray that he will bring to us a sense of his holiness, his righteousness, and may he press upon us a sense of his amazing grace and eternal love whereby he sent his Son to take on flesh, live as a man— the God-Man who lived a perfect, spotless, and sinless life, and who was in complete obedience to God the Father. May he remind us, and press it upon our souls, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ— the Lamb of God, by whose blood which has been sprinkled upon us, saves us from the wrath of God.
For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
short break. prepare our hearts. prayer.