This morning for our Bible study,
I would encourage you to turn to Exodus chapter 12 Exodus chapter
12 and we have before us this glorious picture and Picture
of the gospel and story concerning the Passover when the Lord instituted
the Passover Israel had been in Egyptian bondage for 430 years
and God is about to deliver this nation and through the blood
sacrifice of the Lamb, and this is all a picture of salvation
through the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Now in Exodus chapter
12, let's begin reading at verse 11. And thus shall ye eat it
with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet. staff in
your hand, and you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's
Passover. For I will pass through the land
of Egypt this night, and I will smite all the firstborn in the
land of Egypt, both man and beast. And against all the gods of Egypt
will I 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 a plague shall
not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt."
Now there's given to us throughout the Old Testament many glorious
stories picturing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This
is one of those stories. The Passover here is a picture
of salvation through the blood sacrifice of Christ. We read
in the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 5, 7, Christ, our Passover, is
sacrificed for us. Now, in these few moments of
this broadcast, I'm going to try to point out some of the
glorious things this Passover typifies about the gospel of
the Lord Jesus. The Passover lamb is a type of
salvation in Christ. Redemption through the blood
is no new thing. It's as old as God. We read in
Scripture the Lamb, Christ Jesus, being slain in the purpose and
decree of God before the foundation of the world. All through the
Scripture we read about the Lamb of God that was promised, identified. Behold the Lamb, John said, the
Lamb that was crucified at Calvary and the Lamb that was glorified
when He by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand
of God. So this Passover lamb here is
a picture of all of God's salvation through the lamb, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now let's look at some particulars
about this Passover lamb. This lamb was to be a special
lamb. If you read Exodus 12, it was to be a lamb without blemish.
It must be perfect to be accepted, and we know that's the picture
of Christ. He had no sin. The lamb was to be the male of
the first year in its prime. Our Lord gave his life in the
prime of his manhood. The Passover lamb was to be taken
out from the sheep. The Lord Jesus Christ was taken
from among men. He was the seed of woman, the
seed of Abraham. He was the seed of David according
to the flesh. This lamb here in this Passover
story was to be observed four days. Our Lord entered Jerusalem
four days before the Passover, four days before he was sacrificed
and observed all the law without fail, observed all without fail. The law tried him, observed him.
He had no sin. The Father observed him. from
glory said this is my beloved son and who I am well pleased.
This Passover lamb was observed and approved and the Lord Jesus
Christ was observed as our God-man mediator and approved by God
Almighty. We know something else about
this Passover lamb. This Passover lamb was to be
slain, kill it in the evening. Sin deserves death. The wages
of sin is death. Christ Jesus, as our substitute,
had to die in order to make sufficient payment for sin. He came in the
evening of time to sacrifice himself for our sin. Once in
the end of the world, he came. In the end of the ages, he came
to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Something else we
know about this Passover lamb, how it pictures the gospel, the
lamb, this Passover lamb was to be roasted with fire. The
wrath of God And that picture is the wrath of God upon this
sacrifice. The wrath of God is a fire. Our
Lord, as our substitute at Calvary, endured the wrath of God for
our sin. It pleased God to bruise Him
in our room and in our stead. So yes, you see, as you study
Exodus 12, and really if you look at all the Old Testament
scriptures, it all tells us that someone is coming. And that someone
is the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Old Testament pictures
Christ in personal types, providential types, and here we have this
instituted type. Secondly, the blood must be applied
to the door. We read this here in Exodus 12.
This Passover lamb was to be sacrificed. They were to, by
a means of faith to take the blood that was shed, put it in
a basin, take the hyssop, and strike it on the doorpost and
the lintel. And God said, when I see the blood applied to that
house, I'll pass over, and the firstborn of that house would
be spared. Now, it was not enough that the blood was shed. The
blood must be applied to the door. Now this is what God gives
to us when he gives us spiritual life. And this blood being applied
to the door is a picture of faith. Faith. These people believe God. He justifies us through the blood
and gives us saving faith to receive and believe Christ Jesus
as our sufficient atonement. God applies the blood to the
heart and we receive it by faith. We, by faith, sprinkle the blood
on the doorpost of our heart. We publicly and openly confess
the Lord Jesus Christ in total dependence upon him. I noticed
something else about this Passover lamb and this blood that was
to be put on the door. No blood was No blood was to
be put on the threshold, on the lentil in the side post. We don't
trample underfoot the blood of Christ. The blood is precious
to the believer. The blood also, thus applied,
protected the firstborn in the house. all the firstborn in that
house. God said, when I pass through
and I see that blood, I'll pass over you. If the blood of Jesus
Christ be sprinkled on our soul, and we enter in by faith into
that covenant of grace, we shall be protected from ever, forever,
from the wrath of God. There's no condemnation to those
who are in Christ Jesus. The blood applied to the door.
And in salvation, God applies the blood to our heart and we
receive that by faith just as these early believers believed
God and took that blood and applied it to the door. Now thirdly,
we see this. Passover lamb was to be roasted
and eaten. These Hebrews were given particular
instruction how to eat the lamb. In Exodus 12 verse 8, and this
is what every believer does by faith, we feed upon Christ. He
said, except you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have
no life in you. Now in Exodus chapter 12 verse 8, it gives
us some special instruction how we're to observe, how they were
to observe the Passover lamb, and again it's a picture of salvation
in Christ. It is to be eaten with unleavened
bread, this Passover sacrifice that God instituted. And here's
how it pictures the gospel. We come to Christ in sincerity,
humility, believing, submitting to the pure unleavened gospel
of God's saving grace. There's no room for boasting
or introducing the leaven of works or the leaven of sin. We
take the gospel in its purity and we believe it as God presents
it with unleavened bread, and that's what that pictures. Secondly,
the instructions for eating this lamb, they were to eat it with
bitter herbs, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs.
They were to eat remembering their bitter bondage. Even so,
the believer feeds upon Christ, remembering what we are by nature
and what we have been made by his grace. By the grace of God,
we are made new creatures in Christ. Christ will be sweet
to us if sin is bitter. So we take the gospel, believe
the gospel in sincerity and truth, unleavened bread. We eat it with
bitter herbs. We receive it remembering that
we're sinners saved by the grace of God. In Exodus chapter 12,
they were instructed to eat it not raw or sodden with water. Believers love to feed upon the
pure, unpolluted meat of the gospel. You cannot preach God
too big or man too small, too sinful, nor Christ too glorious
and great. A watered-down gospel cannot
save. We're to eat it Eat it, he says
here in Exodus 12, eat it not raw nor sodden with water, but
roasted with fire. Eat all of it, verse 10. Let nothing of it remain until
the morning. Eat all of it. The whole lamb
was good for food, the head, the legs, the inward parts. And
this is how the believer feeds on Christ. His head, typical
of his beauty, his wisdom, his deity, his legs, speaks of his
power, his stability, Christ is our foundation, his inward
part. We feed upon the bowels of mercy. We look to God and cry for mercy. In Exodus 12, verse 11, the instruction
was to be, the Passover lamb was to be eaten in haste. Eat
it quickly. It's the Lord's Passover. And
we come to Christ now. He says, eat it with your loins
girded. Believers are girded about with truth. He said, eat
it with shoes on your feet. If the Lord's passed over, eat
it in haste. And the believer has the preparation
of the gospel of peace applied to him. Eat it with staff in
your hand. were supported by his word and by his gospel. Now in Exodus 12, 12 we read
that judgment fell upon every house. There was death in every
house. Either the firstborn died or
a substitute died, but there was a death in every house. God
must execute judgment either in us or in our substitute Jesus
Christ. Exodus 12, verse 13 says, and
the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where
ye are, and when I see the blood, I'll pass over you." God is extremely
faithful and just to pass over us and deal with us in mercy
because of the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Lamb. We're redeemed, not with the
blood of bulls and goats, but with the precious blood of Christ. Our assurance and confidence
and hope does not depend upon the amount of faith we demonstrate
toward the blood, our confidence and ground of assurance is that
Almighty God is satisfied with the blood sacrifice of Christ.
It's a sweet-smelling savor unto God Almighty. The Passover lamb
is a picture of that blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ and salvation
by the glorious grace of God. Now I would encourage you to
get your Bible and study and read Exodus chapter 12 and consider
how God for Christ's sake would pass over the sinner because
of the blood sacrifice made on his behalf by the substitutionary,
intercessory work of the Lord Jesus Christ.