Perhaps you've heard of the Jewish
Passover, or perhaps you have participated in that, or what
is called the Christian communion service, or the Lord's Table.
What is it all about? What was the Passover all about? What is the communion of the
Lord's Table? What is that? Well, the story
and the term Passover begins in Exodus chapter 12, the Old
Testament book, the second book in the Bible, the book of Exodus
chapter 12. Let me read it to you. In Exodus
12, beginning with verse 12, the Lord is speaking. He says,
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 you 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." You shall keep it a feast by
an ordinance forever. Now, this is no Jewish fable. This is no mere tradition, no
superstition, certainly. This is the Word of God. This
is a command of the Lord God to His chosen people who Israel
represents, to His chosen people for them to observe this feast
or this Passover feast all their days. And this is all a picture. This Passover in the Old Testament
is a type, a typified, a symbol, It's symbolic of Jesus Christ
and Him crucified, the Passover Lamb. That when the Lord Jesus
Christ comes back, for He is Lord, when He comes back to this
world, which is represented by Egypt, when He comes back to
this world to destroy this world, He will bring His people out
of this world. all for whom Jesus Christ died. He will pass over. He will spare. He will have mercy on those in
Christ, like these Jews, these Israelites in the house where
the blood was. That God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
God manifests in the flesh when He comes back to destroy this
world, like Egypt. He will pass over, He will spare,
He will have mercy upon His people because of what He did for them. Only because of what Jesus Christ
did, the blood that was shed for the remission of their sin.
In 1 Corinthians 5, 7 in the New Testament, speaking to the
church, Paul says, Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. Let me read these verses to you
in Exodus chapter 12, make a few comments about this whole story.
And this all represents God's people who are chosen like Israel,
like the children of Israel. The truth revealed to them just
like the children of Israel. And they know that truth is of
a substitute, a lamb slain, one dying to take their place in
order to bring them out of this world that God will destroy,
like Egypt. In Exodus chapter 12, he said,
this month, in verse 2, will be to you the beginning of months. This month. By the way, the Jewish
calendar, the first month of the year is right around April,
what we call Easter or the Passover. That is the time when this was
held, this Passover. April, that's the first month.
And he said, this is the first month. It all begins right here.
New life begins. Life as it were from the dead,
out of bondage into freedom, the children of Israel. And so
it is with all of God's true people. If they ever see When
they see Jesus Christ and Him crucified, they're born again,
born of God, new birth, new life by the Word, by the Gospel. Verses
3 and 4, he says, speak unto the congregation of Israel. God's
truth, God's Word is to His people, because they're the only ones
that are going to be given ears to hear it, His chosen, like
Israel. He said, every man shall take a lamb, a lamb for a house.
You must have a lamb. Every house must have a lamb.
You must have a lamb. And there's only one. John the
Baptist one day was preaching. And when Jesus Christ walked
up, John said to all who heard, Behold the Lamb of God. which taketh away the sins of
the world." Or that is, Jesus Christ is the Passover Lamb. When God sees the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ apply to that soul, He will pass over. And He is the Passover Lamb before
the foundation of the world, predestined, predetermined to
be the substitute, the sacrifice for all of His chosen people
who were chosen in Him before the world began. You say, what
about the world, preacher? Yes, a people out of. Every kindred, tongue, nation,
and people on earth, the world, not every single person, no,
because every single person shall not be saved. Whoever Jesus Christ
died for, their sins are gone. When I see the blood, Christ
said, God said. And he says, Your lamb, in verse
5 and 6 of Exodus 12, shall be without blemish, a male of the
first year, taken out of the sheep, from the goats. Jesus
Christ was slain in the prime of his life, a male, the Son
of God. He is the only Redeemer, the
only mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus, the
God-man. Mary is not the co-redemptress
with Christ. She is a sinner saved by grace,
just like every other human being. Jesus Christ is the only Redeemer. the only mediator, the only one
we pray to, the only one God will accept, Jesus Christ, a
male, in His prime. Taken out of the sheep and goats,
Christ became a man, yet without sin. He says in verse 6, You
keep this lamb up until the fourteenth day of the month, and observe
him. He shall be observed by all the
congregation to be a lamb without spot. And Jesus Christ stood
before God, Accepted, holy, unblameable, unreprovable, perfect, spotless
Lamb of God is He, was He, observed by God, observed by man. He said, which of you convinces
me of sin? And He faced Satan himself. And
he said that Satan found nothing in Him, no sin, nothing to entice
in the Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect substitute, the perfect
Redeemer, the substitute, the second Adam, the covenant head
of His people. Do you understand what I'm speaking
of? You need to, because this is the Gospel. And He was killed
by all the congregation. In verse 6 it says, the whole
congregation shall kill that Lamb. Well, in Acts chapter 2,
when Simon Peter stood up to preach that message, he said
to all the people, being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, you have taken with wicked hands and crucified
and slain." He said in chapter 4, Herod, Pontius Pilate, The
Gentiles, the people of Israel, gathered together to do whatsoever
God's hand and counsel determined before to be done. Isaiah 53.10
says, It pleased the Lord to bruise him. Though men took him
and killed him, they did what God predetermined to be done,
to kill the Lamb of God, shed the blood for His people. In
verse 7, he says, You will take that blood and strike it on the
two side posts and upper door posts of the houses wherein they
shall eat it. This blood was not on every house.
This blood was not applied to the houses of the Egyptians.
This is particular redemption. This is an atonement applied
to God's people only. Jesus Christ did not die for
every person in this world. If He did, every person would
be saved because it's the blood that's saved. God says, when
I see the blood, I will pass over. Not see your works, not
see your decision, not see your new life, your new leaf you've
turned over. No, when I see the blood. Who
applied this blood? Did the people apply this blood?
No, sir. No, sir, they didn't. And you don't either. I don't
either. God applies the blood. God applies that blood. To whomever
He chose, He applies His blood. It's on the houses of His people.
Because when He sees the blood, He will pass over. So Jesus Christ
did not die for every single human being. Whoever he died
for they're saved buddy. They will be saved because God
said so Because it's the blood that's the payment for sin if
Jesus Christ died for and paid for the sins of God's people
They're gone Verse 8, they'll eat the flesh and that night
roast with fire and unleavened bread and eat bitter herb. Roast
with fire. Oh, modern religion has softened,
has taken away the offense of the cross. God is a consuming
fire. Hebrews 12.29 says that. Roast with fire. The Lord Jesus
Christ endured the fiery wrath and indignation and hatred of
God against sin for His people. And those who are not under that
blood, the wrath of God abides on them. John 3.36 says that. Not the love of God. The love
of God and wrath of God both can't abide at the same time
on the same person. No, sir. The love of God was
in the house where the blood was applied. The wrath of God
was outside upon the Egyptians, those outside the house. Not
love, wrath. Roast with fire, fiery indignation
and wrath and anger of God, a holy God against sin. Unleavened bread,
that's sincerity, that's truth. People truly broken over sin
and see their need of a substitute, a lamb like Christ. Bitter herbs,
those who have tasted the bitterness, the dregs of sin and need a substitute. Verse 9 says, Not raw or sodden
with water, No, a complete finished work that Christ performed, that
He alone performed, and not anything left for you to do. You are not
to add to this. The whole legs and head and countenance
thereof, you are complete. God's people are complete in
Him. Nothing to remain in the morning. Eat it. You must eat
it, Christ said, except you eat My flesh and drink My blood,
you have no part in it. Shoes on your feet, shod with
the gospel, staff in your hand, eat it in a haste. This is serious.
This is urgent. It's the Lord's Passover. He
said, I will pass through this land. I will smite. I will execute
judgment. He said, I will. I'm the Lord
and the blood. Verse 13, shall be to you. God's
people whom He is speaking to. who received this, who are born
of God. When I see the blood, he says, I will pass over you
and not destroy you. When I smite the land of Egypt,
I will. And he said, you're going to
observe this as a memorial, a feast, a solemn feast yet a joyful time
forever. And you're going to tell your
children what this is all about. This is what the Passover represents. Jesus Christ crucified for His
people. The Lord's Table, Christ said,
this do to His people, He said, to His disciples, He said, this
do in remembrance of Me, a memorial, a feast, a solemn, a serious
occasion, yet a joyful, wonderful thing, how that the Lord brought
His people out of Egypt by His shed blood. Do you know? Do you have a Lamb? I pray God
will reveal Himself to you. Amen.