Today is week five in our continued study of the Old Testament book of Exodus so it marks the halfway point in our nine-week series.
After 400 years of slavery in Egypt, we’ve finally come to the point in the narrative when God’s chosen people leave the land of Egypt for the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey.
But before the Israelites leave Egypt, God has one final plague, the 10th plague to bring upon the Egyptians. God’s power to save his people through the judgment of this final plague and His redemption from slavery was so profound He gave his people two feasts, two observances that were to forever memorialize this grand work of God.
We’ll focus our attention this morning on these two feasts found in Exodus chapter 12 and see the vital role they play in our lives today. So take your Bible and turn with me to Exodus 12:1-20.
If you’re taking notes in the Exodus series study guide, week five is found on page 23.
Last week we saw the power of God revealed through the first nine plagues and in the continual hardening of Pharaoh’s heart.
• The Nile River into blood – but Pharaoh’s heart was hardened (7:14, 22)
• Frogs invaded the land of Egypt - Pharaoh hardened his heart (8:15)
• Gnats swarmed - Pharaoh’s heart was hardened (8:19)
• Flies - Pharaoh hardened his heart (8:32)
• The livestock died - the heart of Pharaoh was hardened (9:7)
• Boils – the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh (9:12)
• Hail - Pharaoh seemed to repent but it wasn’t real and his heart was again hardened
• Locusts – the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart
• Darkness – the Lord, again, hardened Pharaoh’s heart
By the time you get to Exodus chapter 11 Pharaoh’s heart is still hard but the Lord tells Moses that it will only take one more plague. One more horrific, unimaginable plague.
The Lord himself will go out in the midst of Egypt and every firstborn in the land, from the household of Pharaoh to the lowest of slave, even the firstborn of the cattle, will die.
Just as the Lord had decreed to Moses when he was still back in Midian at the end of chapter four! The Lord told Moses to say to Pharaoh “Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’” (Exodus 4:22b-23)
The Lord himself would judge the sin of Egypt by killing the firstborn sons of Egypt.
But not among the people of Israel because God had a plan in place to save them.
That plan is in Exodus chapter 12. Let’s look at the text. Follow along while I read and then I’ll pray.
Exodus 12:1-20 - The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 f“This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb gaccording to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be hwithout blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6 and you shall keep it until the ifourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.1 7 “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the jtwo 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 kunleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but lroasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10 And myou 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 nyour belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. oIt is the LORD's Passover. 12 For pI 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 qall the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: rI am the LORD. 13 sThe 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 tfor you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a ustatute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. 15 vSeven 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, wthat person shall be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day you shall hold a xholy 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 yon this very day I brought your zhosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. 18 aIn 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 bFor seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, bthat person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, cwhether 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.”
The events of Exodus 12 were so pivotal in the nation of Israel that God gave them a new calendar centered on His redemption of Israel!
The deliverance of God’s children from bondage in Egypt would be the beginning month for the their nation’s calendar. A new beginning, a new “age” in the history of Israel, symbolized by the new calendar.
Central to the new calendar were two new feasts that were to be observed by God’s people that would proclaim both the means by which God’s people are saved and the manner in which God’s people are to live.
So we are going to look at both of these feasts. The first feast describes the means by which God’s people are saved from God’s judgment upon the land of Egypt.
And what we see in verses 1-14 is our first point:
I. God’s people are saved from judgment through the death of a substitute
In the middle of verse three, the Lord told Moses and Aaron that each Israelite household was to select a lamb on the 10th day of the first month, according to their new calendar.
One lamb for one household. If it was a small household then they could combine households with their nearest neighbor for this first feast.
Verse five tells us that the lamb that was selected had to be without blemish and it had to be a male that was a year old, so it had some size to it.
Each household would take that cute, cuddly, unblemished lamb and keep it with them until the 14th day of the month. After a few days of really beginning to bond with this little lamb, every household was to kill their lamb at twilight.
This was a costly sacrifice with eternal significance!
After the lamb was killed they were to take some of the blood of the lamb and put it on the doorframe of the house, symbolizing that all of the people in the house had to pass through the blood and were under the protection of the blood.
They had to roast the lamb, whole, and then eat it with bitter herbs and unleavened bread, bread without yeast. All of the lamb had to be eaten before morning and any remaining portions had to be burned.
Everyone who was gathered in the home to eat the meal hat to eat it with their belt fashioned, sandals on their feet, and staff in their hand – ready to move quickly.
And just as they are ready to be on the move quickly, they are to eat quickly. Why? Look at the end of verse 11 “It is the Lord’s passover.”
This first feast is known as the Passover feast because as the Lord passed through the land of Egypt to kill the firstborn, he would passover the houses where the blood covered the house.
Death came to every household in the land, either the death of the firstborn in judgment or the death of the lamb as the substitute for those who are in the house.
Why a lamb?
The theme is replete through Scripture.
Beginning in Genesis, Able brought the offering of the firstborn of his flock to God as a sacrifice to the Lord.
In Genesis 22, Abraham was called by God to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice to God (which seemed to go against everything the Lord had decreed.) Nevertheless, Abraham obeyed and told his son, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” (Genesis 22:8)
Here in Exodus, God made provision for one Lamb to be sacrificed for one household. Later in Exodus, God gives instructions for the Day of Atonement when one lamb would be sacrificed for the sins of the whole nation!
The picture of the whole Bible is that the only pathway to being right with God comes through the blood of the lamb that God provides! It may sound strange, it’s difficult to believe that the blood of the lamb spread on the doorframe would save the life of the first born but the Israelites experienced it firsthand to show us the concept of substitution!
Either the lamb dies or we die!
God used the sacrifice of lambs in the Old Testament to prepare his people for the perfect sacrifice He would later provide in his own Son as we’ll soon see.
It’s so important that God’s people remember that salvation comes through the death of a substitute lamb that in verse 14 we see the decree by the Lord that this Passover meal is to be a memorial day, a feast to the Lord throughout successive generations as a statue forever.
Because it is a continual reminder of the truth that God’s people are saved from judgment through the death of a substitute.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
2 Kings 23:21-23. Josiah, one of the last kings to reign over the southern kingdom of Judah before it was destroyed in 586 BC. He restored the Passover after it has not been kept for over 400 years. Since the days of Samuel, before King Saul, even King David didn’t fully keep the Passover feast!
On to the second feast decreed by God in this section..
In verses 15-20 we are introduced to the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which begins with the Passover Meal. The two go hand-in-hand and are sometimes referred to as a singular feast because they are so irrevocably linked.
All Israelite homes were to remove all leaven from the home beginning with the Passover Feast on the 14th day of the month. The Israelites were to then continue The Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven more days until the 21st of the month. No one was to eat any leaven during this time or they would be cut off from God’s people!
This seems like a really strong penalty for eating leaven, but again, we have to look at what it symbolized!
When the blood was placed on the doorposts symbolizing the saving work of God, the leaven was also removed from the home and it was cleansed, the Israelites were to continue living in their cleansed state for seven more days, eating no leaven.
Cleansing out the leaven and abstaining from the leaven was so important because leaven, throughout the Bible, almost always represents sin.
When God’s people were saved from the judgment they deserve because of the work of the substitute lamb, they were free from the corruption of sin and they had a responsibility to live in a holy manner (symbolized by no leaven)
Which brings us to our second point that deals with the manner in which God’s people are to live revealed in the feast of the unleavened bread:
II. God’s people are identified by their holiness
God would make the importance of holy living abundantly clear to the Israelites later in the book of Leviticus.
It is God who makes his people holy by the blood of the lamb but once we have been made holy by God, then God’s people are to be holy as the Lord who saved us is holy!
See why the Passover Feast and the Feast of Unleavened Bread are so closely tied? You can’t be holy apart from the substitutionary work of the lamb and you can’t be made holy by the lamb without responding in holy living!
That’s why in verse 17 the Lord decreed that the Feast of Unleavened Bread, like the Passover, was to be observed throughout the generations as a statue forever. The two are irrevocably linked. To forget the festivals was to forget and deny God!
So as one of you brothers astutely asked while we were studying this passage in the men’s Bible study Tuesday morning – Why don’t we as God’s people observe this today?
The answer is found in the NT.
Although there are several missteps and failures along the way from Moses up to the time of Jesus and even beyond, at least a few Israelites celebrated the Passover each year.
Then, when Jesus began his earthly ministry, he was about to be baptized by John the Baptist. And in John 1:29 – when John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
Right from the beginning of his ministry Jesus is introduced as the Lamb of God who doesn’t just cover over the sin, he takes away the sin!
Fast foreward three and half years or so…
…probably around AD 33. Thousands of Israelites were traveling to Jerusalem from all over the region to celebrate the Passover feast. The stories were spreading among the crowds of this “Jesus” healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, even raising the dead to life. Could he be the promised Messiah who would free the Jews from the Roman oppression.
As the Passover crowds swelled in Jerusalem so did the anticipation of a deliverer who would remove the stranglehold of Roman rule from the throats of God’s chosen people!
Jesus too was on the way to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover Feast for the last time. His Triumphal entry into Jerusalem is recorded for us in all four gospel accounts (Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-10; Luke 19:29-44; John 12:12-19)
As the people were throwing their garments on the ground and waving the branches in the air they were shouting!!! And in their loud pronouncement they reveal the identity of Jesus. First, they said, “Hosanna!”
“HOSANNA!” A Greek word, that finds it’s roots in the Hebrew. It was originally a prayer addressed to God meaning “save us now”
Then they used language of Psalm 118:25-26a “Save us, we pray, O Lord! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
It’s no coincidence that Psalm 118 was part of the liturgy used by the Jews during the Passover, but now the people were seeing its literal fulfillment before their very eyes! As the Lamb of God who takes away sin, made his way to Jerusalem to save his people.
Jeusu, as the lamb of God, rode into Jerusalem on Sunday (the 10th day of the month) presenting Himself at the same time the Jews were selecting the Passover lamb for themselves.
Think about that for a minute! God in flesh, walked into the temple — into his house — to present himself and the people passed by, overlooked, the Lamb of God as they searched for their own Passover Lamb!
Jesus walked into the temple – the Lord’s house — and looked around and walked out. Nothing happened. I wonder what the disciples must have been thinking. Certainly, they must have been wondering “why don’t you do something?!”
Mark 11:11, simply and blandly tells us that Jesus just walked in, looked around, and then left the city to spend the night in Bethany.
It was rather anti-climactic.
But just a few days later, on the 14th day of the month, something spectacular happened.
Turn in your Bible with me to Luke 22. This is the first of two New Testament passages we are going to look at to see how Jesus fulfills both the Passover Feast and Feast of the Unleavened Bread.
Luke is the 3rd gospel account in the New Testament – Matthew, Mark, Luke.
Luke 22, look at verse seven.
Luke 22:7-8 - 7 zThen came athe day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8 So Jesus1 sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.”
Peter and John prepared the lamb so Jesus could gather indoors with his disciples for the Passover lamb. Now skip down to verse 14.
Luke 22:14-20 - 14 fAnd when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. 15 And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you I will not eat it2 guntil it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 And he took a cup, and hwhen he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18 iFor I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine guntil the kingdom of God comes.” 19 jAnd he took bread, and hwhen he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, k“This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, k“This cup that is poured out for you is lthe new mcovenant in my blood.3
Jesus knew what was coming but his opening words to his disciples there in verse 15 “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”
Even though he knew he was about to suffer and die, Jesus couldn’t wait to eat this Passover meal with his disciples. Why? Because Jesus, as the God-man, fully-God, took this divine dinner for Israel and applied it to his own sacrifice that he was about to make on the cross!
Exodus 12:5 tells us the Passover Lamb was free of all defects (blemish).
Listen to these words in 1 Peter 1:18-19 “knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”
Jesus took the bread, the unleavened bread of the Passover meal, and he gave the bread new meaning.
The bread represents the body of Christ, which he voluntarily took on and unselfishly gave on the cross for the benefit of others.
A little later in 1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.”
God’s people are saved from judgment through the death of a substitute…. And Jesus became our substitute!
As the Lord spoke through Jeremiah, the New Covenant now provides forgiveness of sin because God provided a substitute to pay the penalty required because of sin — His own son, Jesus.
In Luke 22:19, the disciples probably expected Jesus to pick up the bread and say something like – “this is the bread of slavery that our people ate in slavery in Egypt.” Instead, Jesus speaks specifically of his body given “for you”, a remark that could have a sacrificial and substitution tone to it. Jesus is the sacrifice. Once for all.
Then as he was still sitting there in the upper room, he took the cup after the meal and said, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”
The cup was a symbol of Jesus’ blood, the lambs blood, that would soon be shed to provide cleansing from sin.
Perhaps today you’re struggling to understand how the blood of Jesus, shed almost 2,000 years ago, can have any saving power. Let me assure you, the Israelites on the eve of the Passover struggled to understand how that blood brushed on a doorframe could save them from the judgment of God.
Yet, those who took God at his word knew that judgment was coming and protection was provided under the blood of the lamb. Those who had faith in what God said, they were saved!
And it is the same for us. If we take God at his word, that judgment is coming, and that salvation is found in Jesus alone, we will be saved by grace through faith because are lives are then marked by the blood of Jesus, our substitute!
A Christian isn’t someone who just believes there is a God and tries to be good or someone who tries to live by the Ten Commandments, none of that makes you a Christian! A “Christian is someone who recognizes that he or she is a sinner deserving nothing less than the terrifying judgment of God and takes refuge in nothing other than the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.” (Nancy Guthrie, The Lamb of God, pg. 82)
Ask God to save you today. You need not fear the day when we will all stand before God! You can know that you are safe, protected by the blood of the Lamb.
But know this!
While God passed over the sins of the people in the Old Testament and He continues to be patient waiting for others to believe in Jesus, He cannot look past your sin forever!
As we read earlier as a congregation in Hebrews 9:27, “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.”
And for those who have not believed in Jesus, by faith, God will demonstrate His righteous justice. John 3:18 “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
I urge you today. Believe in Jesus and be cleansed through the work of the great High Priest, the perfect sacrifice, Jesus!
Perhaps this morning you are thinking, “but you don’t know what I’ve done, there must be something I need to do, the debt is to great.” Perhaps you’re attempting to pay off your debt through good behavior, religious behavior, or even wallowing in your shame in a type of “self- punishment.” But let me tell you that only ends in misery and greater debt. We simoly cannot repay what we owe!
Praise be to God, Jesus, the spotless Passover Lamb has paid it all!!!
As I already said, the picture of the whole Bible is that the only pathway to being right with God comes through the blood of the lamb that God provides!
Why don’t we as God’s people observe the Passover today?
Because we have something new, something better!
Jesus gave the Passover Feast new meaning, true meaning! The Passover Feast was always meant to point us to the perfect Lamb.
Notice the similar wording. In Luke 22, Jesus speaks of “doing this in my remembrance” This is a memorial meal.
Today we have Communion, or the Lord’s Table, the Lord’s Supper — what ever title you prefer. It reaffirms our covenant commitment and participation in the new covenant. It is a continual sign of the New Covenant at work in us.
Brother and sister in Christ, do you protect and uphold the Lord’s table as a sacred sign of the New Covenant? Here are some evaluation questions: Do you confess and repent of your sin before approaching the table so as not to blaspheme the work of Christ? Do you reconcile broken relationships with other believers before drinking the cup or eating the bread as Scripture commands you to do? Does our church protect the Lord’s Table by limiting participation to believers who are a part of the New Covenant?
Gathering around the table must never become mundane or boring for God’s people.
So what about:
The FEAST of the Unleavened Bread…
In the New Testament it is also tied to Jesus and his work as the Passover Lamb.
Now turn to 1 Corinthians 5. The second New Testament passage where we see both the Passover and the unleavened bread tied to the work of Jesus.
In 1 Corinthians 5 Paul is telling the Corinthians how important it is for the church body to guard the church from the invasive destruction that sin brings. We as the members of the church are to guard the church from bringing disgrace upon the name of Christ by allowing those who claim the name of Jesus to not continue to live in blatant, outward, unrepentant sin.
1 Corinthians 5:6-8 - 6 fYour boasting is not good. Do you not know that ga little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, hnot with the old leaven, ithe leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Jesus is our Passover Lamb!
The Passover and feast of unleavened bread were to be an lasting observance by God’s people that would symbolically remember God passing over the sin of his people.
Once they were covered by the blood of the lamb on the doorposts they were to do very specific things in the home — unleavened bread! We as Christians, covered by the blood of the lamb, are to live in a certain way – holy!
The command of this passage is cleanse!
Are you a Christian? Is Jesus your lamb? Are you under the protection of the blood? Then a couple of questions for you. If you claim to be under the blood of Jesus, when you co-worker sins against you, do you forgive? When someone lashes out at you in anger to do you respond in anger? Do you like to stir up arguments and really get them going? When your spouse treats you poorly, do you do the same to get back at them?
If the blood of Jesus has truly cleansed you, then celebrate the festival! Celebrate his work in you by continuing to keep out the leaven!
We as followers of Jesus must strive to live a holy life! Which is how we continually observe the feast of unleavened bread today!
The wonderful news for us is that the death of the Passover lamb is not the end of the story! After the substitutionary death, Jesus rose from the grave, conquering death! He ascended into heaven and took his place at the Father’s side. Even this very moment he upholds the universe by the power of his Word. He is coming again, not riding on a peaceful donkey, but on a white horse as KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS! HE will judge the unbelieving world while those who believe in him will reign with Him for all eternity. Revelation 22:17, 20 as gospel call… 17 The Spirit and mthe Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And nlet the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the owater of life without price. 20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely sI am coming soon.” Amen. tCome, Lord Jesus!
He is the perfect Lamb of God given for our sins.
Listen to the words of John in Revelation 5
Revelation 5:11-14
Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” 13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” 14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.
The disciples couldn’t wait for Jesus to establish his dominion and glory and kingdom.
Someday, on that great day of the Lord, he will.
Are you longing for Jesus to establish his dominion and glory and kingdom?
May we continually say, “Hosanna, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
And one of the key ways we do that is:
COMMUNION
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 shows the centrality of this practice in the life of the early church. So, after I pray we will use this passage as a guide for our time of remembrance.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
© Geist Community Church
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce this material in any format, provided that you do not alter the content in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. Questions? Email: church@geist.org. Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: by Matt Walker. © Geist Community Church—McCordsville, Indiana. www.geist.org
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