Exodus chapter 11. Exodus chapter
11 and Exodus chapter 12, we see the Lord instituting deliverance
in the Passover. Deliverance by Christ, our Passover. And that lamb that was put up
and observed, that is a type and picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ who was crucified. Remember in our reading, They
were told to put up that lamb and observe it, and then in the
evening they were to kill it. The Lord Jesus Christ died for
our sins according to the Scripture. According to the Scripture. So
the title I'm going to use is taken from verse 13. And the
blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are.
And when I see the blood, and I think that's very significant,
when I see the blood, When I see that blood atonement of Christ,
judgment will pass over you and the plague shall not be upon
you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt." Every believer
can identify with this story and know that the Lord Jesus
Christ is our Passover. The only reason God would pass
over us and show mercy and grace and love unto us is because the
Lord Jesus Christ, our Passover Lamb, was sacrificed for us. Even Christ, our Passover, Paul
said in 1 Corinthians 5, is sacrificed for us. Now what was true in
the day of Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage is still
true today. When God sees the blood sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ applied to our soul in mercy and grace
upon the door of our heart by the grace of God, God said, when
I see the blood, I'll pass over you. I'll pass over you. Because
our sins, our iniquities have been put away. Now the Passover
feast. instituted by God is one of the
clearest Old Testament pictures of salvation through the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot make too much of the
blood. The old timers called the gospel
of God concerning Christ, they called it a bloody religion. It's the blood, the blood, the
blood that make of atonement for our soul. But this Passover
feast and the Passover lamb is one of the clearest pictures
of salvation that we enjoy as believers through the blood atonement
of Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us
from all our sin. We see in the Old Testament scriptures,
God gave instituted types. We see several different types.
Instituted types, the Passover was an instituted type. We see
on the day of atonement that God gave. That was the instituted
type and picture of the gospel of Christ. And then we see providential
types. If you read over to chapter 14,
when Israel marched out of the land of Egypt, they came up against
the Red Sea. Well, guess what Pharaoh was
doing? His repentance and remorse didn't
last very long, so he assembled a great army to go after them
to kill them all. And they were up against the
Red Sea, and this is the providential type. And Israel couldn't fight,
but God parted the sea. He said, stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord. Now that's what we call a providential
type. So we see instituted types, providential
types, and then we have personal types. Personal types, can you
think of some of those? David was a personal type of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Certainly Isaac was a personal
type. Samuel being the prophet of God.
And the point I'm making is, the whole Old Testament says
someone is coming. And that someone is the Lord
Jesus Christ. And in the Gospels, we see the
Lord Jesus Christ has come to be our Passover lamb. He was
sacrificed and killed for our sin. And Paul writes this, Whatsoever
things were written aforetime were written for our learning,
that we through patience and comfort of the Scripture might
have hope. All the scriptures tell us about
Christ. These things are written that
you might believe that Jesus is the Christ. Now, you remember
the Passover story, don't you? Israel was in bondage for 430
years, as it says in chapter 12, verse 40. And the Lord sent
Moses to deliver his children from slavery by most unusual
means. The blood on the door. And God,
the blood of the Lamb, that designated Lamb, and through that Lamb the
firstborn were spared and the whole nation was delivered. God
sent nine plagues upon Egypt to show that He is God, but none
of those plagues set the people free. It only hardened Pharaoh's
heart It's only the blood that makes atonement for the soul.
It's only the blood shed that brings deliverance. The Lord
Jesus Christ, He is that sacrificial lamb. He didn't come with the
blood of bulls and goats. The Lord Jesus didn't. He came
with His own blood, and He obtained eternal redemption for us with
His own blood. The Lord writes this in Leviticus
17, For the life of the flesh is in the blood, I've given it
to you upon the altar to make atonement for your soul. It is
the blood that makes atonement for the soul. We studied and
read last week from Romans 5, being justified by His blood,
we shall be saved from wrath through Him. There's no deliverance.
God is holy and we're sinful. Because God is holy and we are
sinful, He must punish sin. There is no deliverance from
the wrath of God but in the Lord Jesus Christ. He suffered our
wrath for us. He took our judgment for us.
That sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ is a sweet smelling savor
unto the Lord. God is well pleased with his
son and well pleased with that sacrifice his son made for us
to put away our sin. Now, if we look at this story
in Exodus chapter 12, we see that every house among the children
of Israel had to have a special lamb typical of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Speaking to all the congregation,
chapter 12 verse 3, saying in the tenth month, that the tenth
day of this month shall you take every man a lamb according to
the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. And if the household
be too small, too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor
next unto his house take it according to the number of souls. Every
man according to his eating shall you make your count for the lamb.
And your lamb shall be without blemish, a male the first year,
and you shall take it from the sheep or from the goat, and you
shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month. And the
whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it. The
Lamb must die and you must put that blood upon the door. Now
all through the Scripture, we see the Lord Jesus Christ set
forth as the Lamb of God. In the Lamb of God. We had a
message on the radio this morning from 1 Peter 1 about the precious
blood of Christ as the Lamb without blemish and without spot. But
all through the Scripture we see the Lamb In type and picture,
all the way back to Abel's lamb. God had respect in Abel's sacrifice. What did he bring? He brought
the blood of the lamb. Cain, his brother, what did he
bring? The works of his hand. That was rejected. God said,
when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. So there we see the
Lamb again in type and picture. And then we see in the Old Testament,
the Lamb of God personified, the Lord Jesus Christ is a man
of sorrows. We see the forerunner of the
Lord Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, identifying the Lamb John chapter
one, verse 29. He said, behold, the Lamb of
God that takes away our sin. And then in the gospels, Luke
23 and Matthew 27, we see the Lamb of God crucified. They took
Him outside the city and they crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said, I'm determined to
know nothing among you, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. So
see, we see the Lamb typified, The Lamb personified, the Lamb
identified, the Lamb crucified, and then in the Revelation we
see the Lamb of God, what? Glorified. Worthy is the Lamb
that was slain to receive all honor, glory, and blessing. Notice,
every house among the children of Israel will take this special
Lamb. And it's certainly true today.
There's no salvation and no deliverance from sin without the Lamb of
God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't it interesting that God
had the remedy and the solution already prepared before Adam
ever sinned? The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Lamb slain. from the foundation of the world,
and in time, in the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son,
made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were
under the law. What did He redeem us with? The
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's called the Lion
of the tribe of Judah, but all the way through the Revelation,
the Lord Jesus Christ is seen in His sacrificial character
as the Lamb of God. As it had been slain, The Lord
Jesus Christ is our Lamb. Do you have any other hope of
sacrifice to put away your sin to Christ? Not believers. This special Lamb was to be slain.
It had to be without blemish. Did you notice that? Verse 5,
Your Lamb shall be without blemish. You couldn't bring a maimed or
a scurvy or a deformed Lamb. It had to be a Lamb without blemish. Without spot. Now what is that
a picture of? That's a picture of Christ, our
spotless, holy Lamb of God. The Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ,
He is without blemish. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
perfect man, the God-man mediator, without blemish, without spot,
and without sin, and without stain. Such a high priest became
us who were holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sin. Had no
sin, knew no sin, did no sin, without blemish." There's not
one blemish on him. None at all. None at all. It
had to be the male of the first year in the prime, the prime
of his life, chosen out from among the sheep or the goats.
And we know the Lord Jesus Christ is the chosen one, the chosen
man. And he died in the prime of his
manhood, 33 and some 33 years old. He is identified with us,
bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. We read in Philippians
2, he took upon him the form of a servant and was made in
the likeness of sinful flesh, God tending his own son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the
flesh. Being found in the fashion as
a man, he humbled himself, became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross. The Lord Jesus Christ was a real
man, identified with us, and identified with our sin as God
made him to bear our sin for us in his own body upon the tree. This special lamb was to be pinned
up and observed for four days. Did you notice that? In verse
six, he shall keep it up until the 14th day of the same month
and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall
kill it in the evening. This special lamb was to be observed
for four days to make sure it was without blemish and without
spot. Our Lord Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem, guess what, four days
before the Passover feast. And He was observed by all and
found to be without defect, without sin. The law of God tried Him. He was tempted and tested in
all points like as we are, yet without sin. Satan tried Him. Remember, he was tempted of the
devil 40 days in the wilderness, and our Lord said, the prince
of this world has come and he's found nothing in me. No sin. Satan tried him, the law tried
him, the Father observed him and said, this is my beloved
son in whom I am well pleased. Keep it up to the 14th day of
the same month, observe it, Make sure it's without blemish, without
stain, and certainly that is true of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The last part of verse 6 said, And the whole assembly of the
congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. The Lord
Jesus Christ must not only come and live for us, honoring the
law of God for us, but the Lord Jesus Christ must also die for
us, putting away our sin. Paul writes to the Hebrews, without
the shedding of blood, no remission. But the blood of bulls and goats,
we know, can't take away sin. We know the soul that sinneth,
it shall die. The wage of sin is death. The
Lord Jesus Christ died our death. He took our sin, and He took
the wrath of God and His own body upon the tree. My pastor
used to always say this, it's not the babe in the manger that
saves, It's the Christ on the cross that saves and is enthroned
in glory. It's his blood that justifies
us. Paul writes this. He said, I'm
determined to know nothing among you, but Jesus Christ and him
crucified. Christ crucified as our substitute,
satisfying the law and justice of God is all our salvation. It's all of our redemption. We
clearly see here a picture of substitution, don't we? The just
dying for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God. The
people were not required to shed blood or give blood. The sacrifice was provided for
them by God. Our sacrifice is provided for
us. Who provided that lamb of God?
This is God's lamb. Only that which God provides
will God accept. You remember what Abraham told
Isaac when they went to Mount Moriah to worship God? Abraham
had the fire and had the knife. He laid the wood on Isaac's back,
typical of Christ carrying the cross. And Isaac turned and looked
to his father and he said, where's the lamb? We've got to have a
lamb to worship God, to approach God. There must be blood upon
the altar. And Abraham turns and says to
Isaac, my son, God will provide himself, Genesis 22, as the lamb,
as the lamb. He provided himself as the lamb
and he provided for himself a lamb. Isaac certainly believed in substitution,
didn't he? When God told Abraham to lay
that boy on the altar and to cut his throat. And Abraham took
that knife to slay his son, that promised seed. And yonder, the
angel of the Lord stopped his hand and yonder over there caught
in the thicket by his horn was a ram. And God told him to take
that ram and offer it in the stead of his son Isaac was spared,
but the substitute, Ram, died. I tell you who believed in substitution,
Isaac. Thank God for the lamb, and that's
us. Thank God for the lamb, the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is the land that God provided,
and only that which God provides will God accept. We're accepted
in the beloved, remember from a couple weeks ago? Now, a very
simple and direct command was given to the people, verse 7, They shall take of the blood,
kill the sacrifice, and put the blood in the basin, as it says
there in verse 22. Take a bunch of hyssop and dip
it in the blood, as in the basin, and strike the lintel and the
two side posts. And none of you shall go out
of the door of the house until the morning. That is, you put
that blood on the door, and you go in and sit down, and you believe
God and rest. That's what faith does. They
shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and
on the upper door post where you shall eat it and go in and
sit down and look and believe, look to God and believe the Lord
Jesus Christ. They were to take the blood from
the slain lamb, catch it in a basin and take the hyssop, that's a
small little branch, dip it in the blood, strike the lentil,
Two side posts, no blood was to be put on the threshold. On
the threshold, that's where you walk across. The blood of Christ
is not to be trampled upon, but put it up here on the lentil
in the side post. Notice here, this was done by
personal faith. Moses and Aaron didn't put the
blood on the door. These people put the blood on
the door because they were told to, and you know what? They believed
God. They believed God. The people
who believed God did as God commanded. They believed and obeyed God
and rested in His promise. They demonstrated publicly that
they believed God. How'd they demonstrate that?
The blood was on the door. They believed God. God granted
them faith. The blood on the door denotes
an outward profession and confession of our faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Faith, we know, is a gift of
God. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. Without faith,
it's impossible to please God. Those that come unto God must
believe that He is, and that He is rewarder of them that diligently
seek Him. Why is it impossible to please
God without faith? A man without faith is without
Christ. Saving faith is the gift of God
looks to the Lord Jesus Christ only for all of salvation. Without faith, it's impossible
to please. God, a man without faith, is
a man without Christ. He that heareth my word, and
believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall
not come into condemnation, but is passed from death into life.
The same preacher, John the Baptist, that said, identified him as
the Lamb of God, you read his sermon in John chapter 3, he
said, I must decrease, he must increase, And then he said, the
Father hath given all things into his hand. The Father loved
the Son and given all things into his hand. And then he said
this in John 3, 36. These are his words. He that
believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. When they put the blood on the
door, they would go inside. They were to roast the meat of
the lamb. and to eat it with bitter herbs
and unleavened bread. The whole lamb was to be roasted,
and the whole lamb was to be eaten. It's the whole Christ
of God that saves His people from their sin. Verse 9, it says
there, they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire
and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs. Verse 8, they shall
eat of it, eat it not raw, nor sodden with water, but roast
with fire his head, his legs, with the innards, let nothing
of it remain until the morning, and that which remain of it until
the morning, you shall burn it with fire. Eat the whole lamb.
Remember our Lord said in John chapter 60, except you eat my
flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you. We eat his
blood, we eat his flesh and drink his blood. That is, we live upon
the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what saving
faith looks unto. Christ is the bread of life.
He that cometh to me, He said, will never hunger. He that believeth
on me shall never thirst. We come to Him by faith. We believe
Him by faith. They were to eat the lamb with
bitter herb, unleavened bread. We believe the unleavened gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Leaven is the type of sin. We
believe the unleavened gospel. that pure gospel of the free,
sovereign grace of God, no leaven of works. And we're to remember
the bitterness of our sin when we partake of the Lord's table,
knowing that He has put away our sin by the shedding of His
blood, by the breaking of His body, by Him bearing our sin
in His own body upon the tree. Verse 10 said, they would eat
all the lamb, and the lamb that was not part of the lamb that
was not eaten, which would be burned and consumed with fire.
They were to feed upon the lamb until midnight, when the Lord
came through, as it says in verse 29, Exodus 12. And it came to
pass at midnight, the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land
of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne,
unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon, and
all the firstborn of the cattle. They were to eat all the lamb.
And we feed upon Christ all our believing life by faith in Him. And when the Lord comes, faith
will end in sight. Verse 11, it says they were to
eat the lamb. Did you notice this? They were
to eat the lamb with your loins girded, shoes on your feet, staff
in your hand, Eat it in haste, eat it right now, it's the Lord's
Passover. They were to eat this lamb, fully
dressed, ready to leave the land of Egypt. They were ready, eat
it, ready to leave, ready to move out. Believers here, our
strangers and pilgrims, we are eagerly awaiting our departure,
moving into our heavenly home. We're just passing through pilgrims
and strangers. Like Abraham we're looking for
a city whose builder and maker is God. Looking for that blessed
hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus
Christ. Now look at verse 12 and 13 in
closing. For I will pass through the land
of Egypt, Who's going to pass through? Who's going to judge
our sin? He pointed unto me and wants
to die after that judgment. 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, against all the gods or princes
of Egypt, idols of Egypt. I will execute judgment. Does
he have a right to? I am the Lord. He has a right
to, doesn't he? Verse 13, and the blood shall
be to you for a token upon the houses where you are. God said,
when I see the blood, I'll pass over you and the plague shall
not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. Now we know the rest of the story,
don't we? The Lord passed through, killed all the firstborn of every
Egyptian, and God delivered the firstborn of Israel because their
sin was covered with the blood. And God delivered that whole
nation out of bondage for 430 years. Two, three million people,
God delivered. How many lambs were slain that
night? A bloody place, wasn't it? It's only the blood of Christ. I repeat myself often, don't
I? The blood of Jesus Christ is the only place, only one that
can cleanse us from all our sin. The Lord said, I will pass through,
kill every firstborn son. I will execute judgment upon
the gods and pagans and idols of of Egypt, it's his right to
do so. Every house where there was no
blood on the door, the holy wrath and judgment of God came. Every
house where the blood had been sprinkled on the door, the Lord's
judgment fell on the substitute, the lamb, and the firstborn son
was delivered. Judgment fell, but on the substitute,
on the lamb. And that's our hope. God still
says, God still says this, when I see the blood, I'll pass over
you. We can be assured by the eternal
unfailing word of his promise, those for whom Christ shed his
blood, they are delivered. And they shall never, never perish. Thank God for our Passover. And
that's what the Lord was doing there. He was observing this
Passover feast. And then He instituted the Lord's
table and said, this is take, eat, this is my body. The unleavened
bread represents His body. My body is broken and shed. My body broken for you because
of sin. And then that cup, he said, you
drink this cup, New Testament, my blood, which is shed for you. This do in remembrance of me.
We don't do this to be saved or to be justified. We do this
as a memorial unto the Lord Jesus Christ.