As it may please Almighty God to bless us together this evening I will speak to you from the book of Exodus and chapter 12 and we'll read verse 42. The book of Exodus chapter 12 and reading verse 42. It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations.

We should be very thankful that God in his mercy and love to his church has recorded the details of the Passover when it was instituted on that memorable night what a night it was Israel had been there in captivity in Egypt as we read for 430 years a long time wasn't it and of course they were oppressed but the time of deliverance had arrived and it was to be a glorious deliverance and it was to be ordained by Almighty God and in that deliverance there was set before the Israelites a wonderful picture of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now of course we don't know how many people were given that spiritual sight to understand what it signified. but we are wonderfully blessed today we can look back and we can see the relevance of it and the significance of it and the importance of it and as we go forward to realise that it existed more or less there were some gaps but more or less until the last Passover which was carried out in the upper room by the Saviour himself when he instituted what we refer to today as the Lord's Supper. It replaced the Passover. And what a mercy then we have that picture for us, to encourage us to realize the relevance of these things.

And so we're told as Moses wrote these words, It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in all their generations. Well, we can understand that they would not want to naturally forget that deliverance. There they were in Egypt. in bondage and it wasn't an easy life. It had changed dramatically from that time when Jacob and his family came into Egypt, when Joseph was in charge of everything and there was a wonderful provision made for them. But gradually the Egyptians realized that there was a problem. The Israelites were growing and prospering and they would soon perhaps destroy the Egyptians. So therefore they loaded them with work to do and taskmasters to keep them doing that work. And therefore they were under bondage and it was not an easy life and it was a hard life.

And what did they do? They cried unto the Lord. That is always the secret. When we are faced with difficulties, when perhaps we're faced with impossible situations, what are we to do? Cry unto the Lord. This deliverance which the Lord brought about Man could not have thought upon but God in his wonderful plan knew how to achieve this. Pharaoh had been shown the power of God with those plagues which had been brought upon the Egyptians but they had not really had any real effect. They perhaps tempted Pharaoh to listen to what Moses requested but He hadn't given in and he was still stubborn and hard-hearted. And Israel's case got harder because there was that situation where they weren't given any straw for the brick making and they had to go and find it themselves and it was not easy to find. And so their time became more difficult and harder. But the Lord knew what he was doing. That's a consolation, isn't it? In our lives today, God knows what he's doing. We may think we seem to be in a very strange situation, perhaps we might feel to be in a vacuum, can't really see any way out, and things seem to almost go around in circles. But my friends, remember, the Lord God omnipotent reigns. And he hasn't changed from eternity. He reigned and always does reign and always will reign. So may our confidence be in our God.

And so here was Israel in this great time of need. But the Lord knew what they needed and the Lord knew how he would come and deliver them. And so we read in this 12th chapter, And of course they didn't realize what it was for. And this Passover was then carried on right until the time when the Saviour instituted the Lord's Supper, but there was a great significance in it. And the significance was that this Lamb represented none less than the Lord Jesus Christ, that One who was to be offered up for His people's sins, that One who was to bear the punishment instead. And there were very strict conditions, weren't there, laid down. The Lamb had to be as perfect as possible. No faults. As perfect as possible. And of course we see the significance of that because the blessed Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, was perfect. No sin. No sin. He was perfect.

And we can perhaps Remember the time in the life of John the Baptist when the Saviour was revealed and John the Baptist spoke those glorious words, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Well, prior to that time, the Church of God needed faith, God-given faith, to behold that Lamb of God the Lord Jesus Christ and it was set forth in the Passover for all those years and so a lamb was taken and the instructions were given with regards to what they should do with it they were told they should take a lamb without blemish a male of the first year you should take it from the sheep or from the goats he 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.

You see how important it was. The blood had to be taken. And the blood had to be put on the doorposts and the lintel. And not only that, and they shall eat the flesh in the night, roast with fire. Yes, not boiled or sautéed, roast in the fire. And we may think, well, why was that? Well, what it signifies very gloriously, and the Lord Jesus Christ was roast in the wrath of God to atone for our sins. What a saviour, what a glorious, wonderful God we have.

and so here was the instruction that to take this lamb without blemish out of the sheep and from the goats and keep it until the 14th 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 posts of the house wherein thou shalt 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.

You may ask, well, what significance are those two elements? The unleavened bread, well, bread of course generally had yeast, added to it which made it swell up and before it was actually put in the oven to cook or on the hearth or whatever it was but there was that need therefore that there should be no yeast, no leaven put into it so it remained in a flat state and that really speaks to the people they were to cleanse themselves, as God gave them ability, from sin. That sin which swirled them up and that sin which destroyed the simplicity of the glorious scene that was before them and so how necessary it was that they were therefore to take this and keep it in this unleavened bread and then with bitter herbs.

Why bitter herbs? Just to show that what there was was that the blessed saviour and of course it wasn't revealed really in those days would have much bitterness to pass through in his death upon that cross at Calvary. And through, of course, the judgment hall, it was bitter, was it not, for the Savior. We know he cried to his Father, if it be possible, let this cut pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. It was a bitter path. and therefore the Church of God were to have some understanding of the cost of their salvation.

So there we have this picture, and they were told, eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire. his head, with his legs, and with the pertinence 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.

Well, the great significance was this. They were to eat of this Passover lamb in a physical way. And the Church of God are to eat spiritually of the blessed Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, to feed upon what He has done, what He has accomplished. And it's good, therefore, to recognise that here was a very vivid picture, representing what the Saviour would have to pass through. Bitter herbs, roast in the flames, all so that you and I, as unworthy sinners, could be redeemed. And the wonderful truth was that the Lord was so willing to do this.

And then they were instructed how to do it. And you shall eat it with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. It wasn't a time to just sit down and dilly-dally. They knew they would have to be on the journey, a journey out of Egypt. And so they were told how to do that. They had to be ready for that journey. And it's a wonderful picture, really, for the Church of God to realize that we today are journeying through time. And we are to be ready for that time when the Lord will come and return to take his people home. And what a mercy, therefore, if you and I are ready. We don't have to look around. We shan't have to wonder where our salvation is. We won't have to think, well, do I possess the life of God in my soul? We'll have the evidence within.

So here was the evidence in a physical way for these Israelites. They were to eat it with their loins girded, ready for the journey. Shoes on their feet, staff in their hand, and ready in haste. For the time will come which will hasten us out of time into eternity. And so says Moses, what the words of the Saviour, 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 then this wonderful significant statement. 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. Well, that was vital, my friends, on that night. And it's vital for you and me that you and I know that we are under the blood. Word of God tells us in the Hebrews, without shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness, there's no remission of sin. And my friends, what a glorious truth it is. as the lamb was slain here and the blood was shed and placed upon the doorposts and lintel to give safety to the Israelites. So it does today. The great and wonderful shed blood of the Saviour who willingly gave his life so that you and I might possess life.

What do we say tonight? Do we stand amazed? Do we stand and say how wonderful to think that nonetheless the Lord Jesus Christ would be willing to stand in my place, to die in my place, to shed his most precious blood so that I, by his grace, am cleansed by the precious blood of Christ. Every one of us tonight need to be under the blood. We need to know that this great Saviour did shed his blood, and my friends, didn't shed it in vain. And what a mercy if you and I have the evidence that it was shed for us.

Would it be a great blessing It is a vital requirement. Let us not pass by and think it's just some theory. It's not some theory. It's the work of God. And it gives us the entrance into glory. It's the unmistakable passport. It's the certificate that God gives to all of his church. And we can see here then the great truth of this. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. What a mercy when God sees the blood of the Saviour shed for us and He passes over us.

And this day shall be unto you for a memorial and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. and shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever." Well, what a mercy it is if you and I are able to enter into the great truth of this simple position which is shown to us in the ordination of the Passover.

And then he tells us, he goes on and says, seven days shall he eat unleavened bread. Even the first day he shall put away leaven out of your houses. For whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. And in the first day thereof shall be in holy convocation. a holy day. And in the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation to you. No manner of work shall be done in it. Say that every man must eat that only may be done for you. And ye should observe the feast of unleavened bread. For in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out to the land of Egypt. Therefore shall he observe this day in your generations by an ordinance forever.

What is a blessing, my friends, for you and me, if we're concerned to get rid of leaven, which, to really put it very simply, is a worldly mindedness and the vanities of this life. They don't go together, do they? with a holy ordinance. What a blessing God gives us strength to turn away from them. Here were these Israelites to take of unleavened bread. They weren't to take bread which had been leavened. No, it was to be unleavened. And the significance of it was that they would then do those things which are in accordance with God's will and God's purpose.

And so we're thankful to read an account like this, and we're told in the first month, in the first month, on the 14th day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread until the one and 20th day of the month at even. Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses. We could put that in present day terms and say nothing worldly found in our houses. And you shall eat unleavened bread until the one and twentieth day of the month and even. Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses. For whatsoever, whosoever rather, eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger or born in the land. He shall eat nothing leavened. In all your habitations shall he eat unleavened bread."

That was a very stringent requirement, wasn't it? But it was a requirement of Almighty God. And if we think of that in terms of a present day situation, with our worldly mindedness, we stand guilty, don't we, of offending Almighty God.

Well, what a blessing it is if God gives us grace to truly seek to live a holy life in thought and word and deed. What a blessing it is to have such a kind and gracious God. You and I, in and of ourselves, don't have strength or ability to do it, but we have a God who is able to strengthen us with might in our inner man.

And so, the time moved on, and then Moses gave the command for all the elders of Israel and said unto them draw out and take your lamb according to your families and kill the Passover and ye shall take a bunch of hyssop hyssop was a plant which was readily available and dip it in the blood that is in the basin and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin, and none of you should go out at the door of his house until the morning."

If that had been done, if there was blood in the door posts and lintels, then they were safe. And my friends, you and I, by the grace of God, are eternally safe. If blood is over us, if the shed blood of the Saviour is over us, we are safe. We are eternally safe.

And so here was a situation where, 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 to you, what mean ye by this service? A number of times in the Word of God where the Lord caused situations to be kept and shown so that children would ask a question, what does this mean? What does this mean? It's good, isn't it? If children ask us such a question, questions to realize the relevance of these things.

And ye shall say, they were told what to 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 their head and worshipped.

Well, it must have been a wonderful scene, wasn't it? Obedient people doing the will of God. And the children of Israel went away and did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. So did they. It's blessed, isn't it, to be obedient in the things of God.

And it came to pass, my friends, God's words come to pass, don't think they don't. And it came to pass that at midnight, darkest time, when people are unprepared, at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt. From the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne, until the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle. None escaped. There were no exceptions.

And that's exactly the same in our lives today. We can't think, well, I'm excused. I can be accepted. No. You and I stand before this same all-powerful, mighty God.

what a blessing it is therefore to realise that this great God has set before us a wonderful remedy and the wonderful remedy is in the Lord Jesus' only begotten Son the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world and tonight May our confidence not be in anything that you and I have done, not trying to justify ourselves, but to come and bless God for his great and glorious plan of salvation, set before us then in this simple picture of the Passover. But we can move on, can't we? We can move on to the glorious New Testament.

And we see in the New Testament, therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was indeed the Lamb of God, and he, in the upper room, partook of the last Passover. The last Passover. And then he instituted the Lord's Supper. What a wonderful occasion it was and how wonderful it is for us today to be able to partake of the Lord's Supper and realise the importance of it and the relevance of it. And to thank God that we today are wonderfully privileged with this.

Well, the Apostle Paul, when he wrote to the Corinthians, He wrote these familiar words, which I usually use for the Lord's Supper, which tells us about what it was. And he tells us this. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he break in and said, take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. And after the same manner, also he took the cup when he had stopped saying, this cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do ye. as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come.

Well, there was the Passover. And far more difficult, wasn't it, to carry out. And yet the Lord, you see, took that last Passover and then instituted the Lord's Supper for us today. What a mercy, therefore, for us to realise the great blessing that this is. And the Lord tells us just very simply, for as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. Significant isn't it? Wonderful for us today as we celebrate the Lord's death in such a simple way, a way that we cannot fail to understand and yet to praise God that the Lord in his love and mercy has given his church this wonderful blessing.

Remember also when the Lord Jesus was crucified upon that cross at Calvary. What a day that was. And what did he say? The last words, it is finished. What is finished? He'd kept the law of his father 100%. It was finished, the work that his father had given him to do. and there was a wonderful acclaim that that was true. We're told that the veil of the temple, there was that veil which separated the holy of holies from the holy place in the temple as it had been in the tabernacle, was torn from the top to the bottom. What did it signify? It signified this, the high priest was able to go into the most holy place once a year on the day of atonement, not without blood. Not without blood. And now the Lord Jesus had satisfied the law of God and he was now that wonderful and glorious high priest He didn't have to go into the holy place every year. What did he do? He entered into glory. The most holy place represented glory. And Christ went into glory. He didn't have to come and go through that awful agony of persecution and of crucifixion. He'd satisfied the law. His work was finished and therefore there was no need for all these Old Testament ceremonies. They were all done away with in the life and death, resurrection and ascension of our great and glorious Saviour. So tonight, do we not have cause to praise our God for his wonderful mercy and for his wonderful blessing towards such unworthy sinners.

Just going back for a moment with regard to the leaven, etc. We read in the Corinthians that the Apostle tells us in the fifth chapter, and he tells us this, Purge out therefore the old leaven, those evil things which don't do us any good, that ye may be a new lump as ye are unleavened. For even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

It's good if God gives us that godly sincerity and truth in these things. And as we ponder them, to realise they have a wonderful relevance to us today. We can see the wonderful plan of God, how it was unfolded, and praise Him for His love and mercy to such unworthy sinners, and to realise the blessing of that great truth, when I see the blood, I will pass over you.

And so when the Saviour sees that blood, when the Father sees that blood shed for us, He passes over us and we are eternally safe. Well tonight, may we be able to think on these things, meditate upon them and give honour and glory to God for his wonderful plan of salvation.