The Passover — Larry Steers

The Passover in Leviticus and First Corinthians

I'm going to read a verse or two from Leviticus chapter 23 tonight, to start with, Leviticus chapter 23, and we'll read verse 5. Interesting that there's really only one verse in this chapter that touches upon the Passover, that we're going to touch a little upon tonight, and that's Leviticus chapter 23 and the fifth verse.

In the 14th day of the first month at Even, is the Lord's Passover. Now we're going to come over to the New Testament, to 1 Corinthians chapter 5. 1 Corinthians chapter 5, and we will read verse 7. 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 7.

Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump as ye are on leaven. And notice the latter part of the verse, for even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. The latter part of that verse would give full authority to go back to the Old Testament and to look at the Passover, because Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us.

The Passover Lamb in Exodus 12

Now we want to come to the book of Exodus and chapter 12. The book of Exodus and chapter 12, and we'll read from verse 1. Exodus chapter 12 and verse 1. According to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house.

And if the household be 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 make your count for the lamb.

And your lamb shall be without blemish. A male of the first year, ye shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats. And ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. 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 post and the upper door post of the houses wherein they shall 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.

Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire his head and his legs and the pertinence thereof. And you shall let nothing of it remain until the morning. And that which remaineth of it until the morning, you shall burn with fire.

And thus shall ye eat it, with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand. This, and ye shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. And that's it all that we're going to read for tonight.

And we know that God will add his blessing to the reading of his precious word. What I have read is not unfamiliar to all of us. I appreciate that. And I think we have made the comment that of all of the portions of the Old Testament, likely Exodus chapter 12 is one of the most well known.

I may not add anything extra to this chapter tonight, but our appreciation of the chapter will be our appreciation of Christ. Now we're going to get to this chapter shortly, but yesterday I may have left you with a question.

Biblical Types and God's Purpose for the Ages

And I indicated that there are four sections of the Bible that set before us God's overall purpose for the ages, for the time that we're living in. And as the chart indicates, from eternity to eternity.

Now you maybe have found those four chapters, four portions. If you haven't, I'm going to touch them very quickly tonight. There are types in the Bible. And so we have indicated that across the top here, we have the word type.

So across the top, these are types and the fulfillment of the type is in the bottom section for the first three of the feast. There are three kinds of types in the Bible. There are personal types of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so there are men in the Bible who are types of Christ. For example, Aaron, Moses, David, Solomon, and you can add to that. All of those men had failures, but the failures are overlooked when we're thinking of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so we look at their lives to find that which characterizes them that would enhance our appreciation of the Lord Jesus himself. There was only one perfect man. And we sometimes think no mortal can with him compare among the sons of men.

And yet these men present to us the Lord Jesus Christ, personal types of Christ. There are secondly, sacrificial types of the Lord Jesus Christ. The primary fundamental sacrificial type of Christ is the Passover.

It is foundational. And the other types that follow it, the burnt offering, the peace offering, the trespass offering, the sin offering, the little picture that you have in the back of the hall are all types of Christ.

They are sacrificial types of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are dispensational types and woven into the dispensational types is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the two chapters in the Old Testament are very interesting chapters.

And so the first one is the one that's illustrated here, Leviticus chapter 23. And in this chapter, we will notice that God has a purpose and a plan. God doesn't react to things upon earth that happen just suddenly as a crisis.

God has a purpose and his purposes will be fulfilled. And so in this chapter, we are going to notice some of the purposes of God. And of course, the first one that we have here is a Passover. And at the bottom part, Christ, our Passover, sacrificed for us.

Daniel's Prophetic Timeline and the Times of the Gentiles

But there is another passage in the Old Testament. In fact, divided into two parts. And you will turn to the book of Daniel to get the other passage. And so in Daniel chapter two, you remember that Nebuchadnezzar, the emperor, the head of the Babylonian Empire, had a dream.

And he summoned the astrologers and the wise men to come and to interpret his dream. They said that if he would tell them the dream, they would interpret it. But Nebuchadnezzar was not to be fooled by these men.

And he said, no, you tell me the dream. And then I will have some confidence in your interpretation of the dream. And of course, they couldn't tell him the dream. And so they were placed under the sentence of death.

That sentence of death included Daniel and included his three companions. And so Daniel obtained permission to have an audience with Nebuchadnezzar. And it's very interesting what Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar.

He said, but there is a God in heaven. And then Daniel said that that God in heaven revealed us the secrets of men. And that God has spoken to Nebuchadnezzar and has given him the vision because God is going to reveal to Nebuchadnezzar.

And Daniel uses the expression, what shall take place in the latter days? And so when we come to Leviticus chapter 23, we do have the latter days. And so Daniel then interprets the vision, but also gives to Nebuchadnezzar the vision and the significance of it.

So Daniel reminds Nebuchadnezzar, yes, there was a head of gold and the head of gold is Nebuchadnezzar. And the moment that Nebuchadnezzar and his armies put their foot upon the city of Jerusalem, the times of the Gentiles commenced.

And on this chart, the times of the Gentiles will continue until the moment of the rapture. And then after that, when the Lord Jesus himself will deliver Jerusalem and the times of the Gentiles will come to an end.

So in the book of Daniel, in that image that Nebuchadnezzar saw and the times of the Gentiles, that's the time that we are living in. We are living in the times of the Gentiles. You remember the rest of that vision that Nebuchadnezzar had, the breast of silver, the empire of the Medo-Persians under Cyrus and Darius.

And those men are mentioned in the Bible. And then you have the belly and the thigh of brass, which represented the Greek empire under Constantine. And so Daniel is revealing to Nebuchadnezzar the things that are going to take place hereafter, in the future from Nebuchadnezzar.

And so there was the legs of iron, which represented the Roman Empire. And then the feet of iron and clay, which I would suggest represents the reconstitution of the Roman Empire in a day that is yet to come.

Daniel's Seventy Weeks and the Prophetic Gap

But then there's also another chapter in Daniel, and that's chapter 9. And in chapter 9, you have the great ABC of prophecy. And that chapter has 70 weeks of Daniel. I'm not going into all the details of the 70 weeks, because if you take one of your recent Truths and Tidings, there was an article in it that was pretty good on the 70 weeks of Daniel.

69 of those weeks, they are not weeks of 7 days. They are weeks of years. And 69 of those weeks have passed. Now here's the point. Between the 69th week and the 70th week, we have a gap. The gap between the 69th and 70th week is the same gap that we have here on this chart.

This represents the space between the 69th and the 70th week of Daniel. That's the time that we're living in. There is no prophetic scripture in this period of time that is being fulfilled relative to the nation of Israel.

And the old brethren used to use the expression, the prophetic clock stopped. It stopped when the Lord was upon this earth after he was crucified and went back to heaven. The prophetic clock stopped. And so there is a space of time between the 69th and 70th week of Daniel, the time that we are presently in.

And that prophetic clock will not commence again until after the rapture and the tribulation commences to start and God begins again to take up Israel. And so that will be the last three of these feasts.

And so that is the ABC of prophecy. And that fits in with what we have in Leviticus chapter 23. Now just very briefly, quickly, in the New Testament, Matthew chapter 13 and the seven parables of the kingdom tie in with the chapter in Leviticus chapter 23 and with the prophecy of Daniel.

The Seven Churches and the History of the Church

And then the other chapter, two chapters actually in the New Testament, Revelation chapters 2 and 3. And in Revelation chapters 2 and 3, you have seven churches that can be looked at at least two ways.

They can be looked at as seven literal assemblies where that's what they were. And the difficulties that are found in those assemblies were difficulties that actually existed in an assembly at the time when that vision was given to John on the Isle of Patmos.

But they're also prophetic. They represent periods of time. And so you start with Ephesus, that's the apostolic period. And then you come to Samaria, that's the time of suffering of the martyr. When under Roman emperors, when authority was given to the authorities of the Roman Empire to punish, to put to death Christians, to take them into the arena, to feed them to the lions, and they suffered.

Like you and I can hardly imagine. Then when you come to the next assembly, which is Pergamos, you have the time under Constantine when the world entered in because Constantine at the point of the sword forced pagans to be baptized.

And when they were baptized, they were supposed to be Christians, but you know that that didn't work. And so the testimonies actually became diluted under Constantine. Those four periods of time are past.

When we come, however, to the next four assemblies, those three periods of time are past. When we come to the next four, they are concurrent and they are present in the day-to-day, in the space here between these feasts.

And so in the world today, we have what Thyatira represents. Thyatira represents the Catholic Church and Catholicism. And then the next assembly is Sardis. And Sardis represents the Protestant Reformation coming out of Catholicism.

When Catholicism was at its height and in its power and actually ruled over the kings and the rulers of Europe to the point where the Pope who was in Rome demanded that the King of France who had been excommunicated would come and crawl to the feet of the Pope and kiss the feet of the Pope before he would be reinstituted.

You and I don't understand really what it would mean to a king at that time to be excommunicated by the Catholic Church because it simply meant that his subjects no longer owed allegiance to him. That's Thyatira.

Sardis coming out of that, the Protestant Reformation under men like Martin Luther and so on. And then when you come to Philadelphia, it's a very interesting statement that is made about Philadelphia because the Lord says, I have loved thee.

Philadelphia represents a coming out of Sardis. And in the language of the Hebrew epistle, let us go, therefore, unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. And then Laodicea, the last of the last times.

Those last four assemblies and what they represent are all found on this earth today. Now, I have said that to indicate that they are tied together. These four chapters in the word of God, two in the Old Testament and two in the New Testament.

Christ Our Passover and the Personal Application of the Lamb

Now, we're going to come back to Exodus chapter 12. I want to notice some very precious things. There are probably no one to most here, but Peter says that he would not be negligent to put the believers in mind of the word of God, of the truth, even though they know it and be established in it.

We need to be reminded. And so there may not be anything remarkably new here tonight. And we trust, though, that it will draw our hearts out to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. With this in mind, Christ, our Passover was sacrificed for us.

And so Paul takes us back when he's writing to the Corinthians. He takes us back to the Passover and he makes that application to us today. As we have indicated on the chart, the Passover speaks of the death of Christ.

And so come then to this chapter. You need to keep your Bible open to this chapter. And so you'll notice when you come to verse three of the chapter, you have the expression a lamb and the expression a lamb emphasizes the essential need for a lamb.

That was our desperate need and our sins. We needed a lamb. And so attention is immediately drawn to a lamb. But then you'll notice when you come to verse four, he says the lamb. And that expression implies that there are no rivals.

There's none comparable. The Lord Jesus is the lamb. He stands unique. John the Baptist could point him out. Behold, the lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world, the lamb. That is the uniqueness of the lamb.

No rival. But then when they come down to verse five, you have the expression, your lamb. That becomes very personal. Now, I have no hesitation. I don't know who's here tonight. Some of you, I do not know.

But I have no hesitation at any time to present a little gospel message when it comes to the ministry of the word of God. And so when it comes, verse five, he says, your lamb. Looking at the individual, every soul needs a lamb.

And the lamb, of course, is Christ. And so I hope that everyone here has the lamb. I hope there has been a moment when the lamb and the sacrifice of the lamb has become very precious to you and very important to you.

And meaning everything to you and that you rejoice tonight that the lamb is your lamb. That's a precious statement. Your lamb will take us back to the moment that we were saved when the lamb became our lamb.

And again, coming to the words of Paul, Christ, our sacrifice has become our lamb. Notice that when you come down to verse two here, it is the first month. Now, when we come to the first four feasts, we're going to notice that the counting of days becomes very important.

And so for the first month and on the 14th day of the month, the lamb was to be sacrificed. And then you will notice that it says on the 10th day of that month that the lamb was to be chosen. Now, just try to imagine a little picture in your mind for a moment.

It's all right to use a little imagination and try to put yourself into the picture. And so here in Jerusalem, at the time when the Lord was upon earth, there were hundreds of lambs that were brought to Jerusalem for the purpose of the sacrifice of the Passover.

Every family was to have a lamb. And so they would choose a lamb and they would choose the lamb on the 10th day of the first month. And so chosen on that particular day. There was a long period of time before the lamb would be recognized.

I'm going to suggest this is a suggestion to you. And so when I suggest something, I'm just suggesting it. That chosen on the 10th day and the period of time before the 10th day would remind us. That the Lord Jesus was upon this earth for 30 years unknown.

So the lambs in the little flock unknown, not chosen yet, not recognized yet. And so the Lord Jesus spent 30 years on this earth unknown. 30 years in obscurity. And during those 30 years, you know very, very little about the Son of God.

We're given a few details, but very few details of those first 30 years. But we do know what God esteemed about those 30 years. We know that God looked upon His Son when He was baptized in the waters of Jordan.

And God Himself surveying those 30 years of obscurity. God said, My beloved Son, in whom is all my delight. In those 30 years, He never sinned against the Father. He never outraged the Father. He delighted the Father in every aspect of His sojourn here for those 30 years.

Christ's Sinless Life and Heavenly Revelation

But then you'll notice here that the lamb was taken on the 10th day and was kept until the 14th day. That's a period of time when they looked at the lamb. They saw the lamb. And it's likely that they examined it carefully every day.

They explored the lamb to make certain that it was a lamb that qualified. And I would suggest that that would equate to the 3 1⁄2 years that the Lord Jesus moved upon this earth observed by men. When they saw Him, they listened to Him.

They watched Him. And as they observed Him, they had those 3 1⁄2 years. But really, when you really look at it, we don't know very much either about that. We have the four gospel records. There are details that are given to us in other parts of the Word of God.

But really, when you consider the vastness, and remember that Gabriel said to Mary, He shall be great. When you consider the greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ, we know very, very little. I have a cousin, as far as I know, died not saved.

She said to me one day, what are you going to do in heaven for all those years of eternity? And she was trying to tell me it must be a boring place. I knew what I was going to do. There are things I don't know, but I knew what I was going to do.

And I would suggest again that for an endless eternity, God is going to unfold to our wondering eyes continual revelation about the person of His Son that are inexhaustible. And there will never come a moment when God will have to say, I have no more to say.

It will be one, wondrous, continuous revelation, and unfolding to our wondering eyes of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Does it kind of make you homesick for heaven? That you're going to stand in the presence of the Savior, and He is going to tell you more and more and more about His person until there will be no end.

And so they chose this Lamb. And notice verse 5, that it was a Lamb without blemish. That is the purity of the Lamb. I would suggest, and you will agree with this, that in our day, when there are all kinds of false teachings and ideas that are supposed to be based upon the Bible, and that touch in a negative way the person of Christ, that we would need continually to exalt the perfect manhood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember what the Hebrew writer says? That He was holy, undefiled, separate from sinners. Remember what Peter said about the Lamb? As a Lamb without spot and without blemish. The Lamb, the purity of the Lamb.

So he reminds us here, without blemish. Notice, he says in verse 5, that the Lamb would be a male of the sheep or of the goats that would emphasize the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Of the sheep or of the goats.

There were times when a female animal could be offered. The female animal would remind us of the humility of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said that Himself. He said, I am meek and lowly of heart. But the male animal here would remind us of the power and of the strengths of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He was the Creator. He was omnipotent. And we were marveling a little tonight that He stood silently in the presence of men and I would suggest put His hands behind His back and allow them to bind Him.

And He was all-powerful. I don't know about the hymn. He could have called 10 ,000 angels, but He could have spoken one word. And He could have delivered Himself. But He willingly allowed men to bind Him.

And He willingly allowed men to spit in His face. That's the lowest mark that one person can place upon another person. Did I not quote the verse? I hid not my face from shame and spitting. I know that if we knew that there was someone outside this hall tonight with the intention of spitting in our face when we stepped outside the building, we would move our face.

We would try to protect our face with our hands. But the Bible says that He hid not His face from shame and spitting. He allowed, stood silently and allowed men to spit into His face. And He was omnipotent.

He was all-powerful. Now, there's another example that is emphasized here. And it says, A male animal of the sheep or goats. Notice verse 5 again. Of the first year. That would suggest the prime, the very best of the animal.

And so He was the very best. And then you will notice that it says it was to be kept in verse 6 for those few days. Careful examination. Come down to verse 6 again. Then they were to kill it. You notice that the word it is in the singular.

In Jerusalem, there were hundreds of lambs that were slain on the Passover. Every family had a lamb. Every family slayed, slew, killed a lamb. But it says here it, God looked at all those lambs as one.

All of those lambs put all together. Spoke of one man. Of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that word singular is a singular. Notice that it says when He was killed. When the lamb was killed in the evening in verse 6.

The Darkness, Judgment, and Death of Christ

At a recent conference. After the breaking of bread. And after we had risen from the breaking of bread. One of our brethren came to me a little bit disturbed. He said, during a meeting this morning. No one mentioned the hours of darkness at the cross.

This lamb was killed in the evening. It was killed in the hours of darkness. It was mentioned here on Sunday morning. I noticed that. It's the one thing to be occupied with what the Lord Jesus Christ did.

But may God help us to get to the cross. And to appreciate what took place in the hours of darkness. When alone. Those who followed Him all forsook Him and fled. Forsaken by God. My God, why hast thou forsaken me?

And that darkness that settled upon the cross at Calvary. Was a darkness that could be felt. No human eye ever pierced the darkness. No human eye has ever seen or witnessed what happened in the hours of darkness.

That's why the scene was enclosed in darkness. We were thinking for a few moments tonight. That Abraham told those two young men to stay at the foot of the mountain. Because they could never understand.

What was going to happen on the mountain top. When a father was going to place his son upon an altar. And shed the blood of his son. And the son was going to be consumed by the fires of the altar. They wouldn't understand that.

They knew the love that Abraham had for Isaac. They wouldn't grasp that. And God wouldn't allow man to view the darkness. Because the God of heaven in that darkness. Was going to pour His wrath out upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so it says here that the lamb was killed in the evening. And then notice that the blood of the lamb was shed in verse 7. A sacrificial death. Six times. In Exodus chapter 12. You read of the blood.

900 times in the Bible. You read about the blood. Over and over and over again. The blood had to be shed. There had to be precious blood that was shed. You will notice. When you read concerning the details of the cross.

That there is only one reference to blood. Just one. Now I want you to be very careful here. And I want you to sort of grasp what I'm trying to say. There is no record in the Bible. Of blood from the crown of thorns.

There's no record. I'm not saying there was no blood. I'm saying there's no record in the Bible. There's no record in the Bible of blood from the hands and feet. And there is no record in the Bible. Of blood relative to the back that was so cruelly torn.

By the Roman scourge. You understand, of course, that there was more than one soldier with a scourge. The Bible said. The spiders. Plural. Made long their furrows upon my back. He gave his back. To those who scourged him.

At least two Roman soldiers. That's in the plural. One on either side. No doubt. With a Roman scourge. The scourge was back. But there's no record of blood. The only record of blood. Is when a soldier pierced the side.

And from that. Wounded side. There was a fountain that was open for sin and for uncleanness. Precious blood flowed. From the side of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is that precious blood. That cleanses from all sins.

I read one of the old time preachers. Who made the comment. And maybe we have failed somewhat in this. That every gospel message should be saturated. With the blood of Christ. That's very precious to us.

The precious blood. Of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so here the blood had to be shed. It is interesting that Zechariah gives us that comment. They shall look on him whom they have pierced. And John. When he is referring to the piercing of the side.

Of the Lord Jesus by the Roman spear. Takes it back to Zechariah. And so Zechariah in his prophecy. Is speaking about the piercing of the side. Of the Lord Jesus Christ. David speaks about the hands and feet being pierced.

But thank God for this. That at Calvary the fountain was open. And precious blood was shed. Notice then when you come down. That the hyssop was used to apply the blood. I'm going to point out. I don't think I'll get that far.

Maybe. I don't have our meeting tonight. But I'm going to point out. That there are eight recorded Passover's in the Bible. And when I say eight recorded Passover's. I'm thinking about Passover's where we have some details given.

For example. Not when the Lord Jesus went up to Jerusalem at the Passover. But Passover's where there are details given. Now notice a very precious thought. In the land of Egypt. When the Passover lamb was slain.

The blood was caught in a basin. And the hyssop was used to apply the blood. To each door post and above the door. In the eight recorded Passover's. In the Bible. Only once. Was that blood applied. It was only applied.

In the land of Egypt. That's very precious brethren. That's all God required. God only required one shedding of blood. That one shedding of blood. Is represented by that lamb. That was slain in Egypt.

When the blood of that lamb. Was applied to the door post and above the door post. And never again. Do you read in the Bible. That that blood was applied. In that manner. In the other Passover's. That they observed.

The preciousness of it is this. That the shedding of that precious blood. That one act. Has satisfied. Every demand of God. And the blood need never be shed again. And there's no record of. In those other Passover's.

That they ever applied the blood again. The blood has provided God. With a righteous ground. Whereby he can look upon a guilty sinner. And that sinner's sins can be forgiven. And God at the keeping. Of his absolute standard of holiness.

Can forgive that sinner. On the grounds of precious blood shed. And take that sinner to heaven. Thank God. For the one shedding of precious blood. The hyssop of course applied. Why the hyssop would speak of faith.

Applying the blood. Now we might have a little difficulty here. For the Lord Jesus cried finished. And then after he cried finished. The blood was shed. Now how do you reconcile the two? I would just make this suggestion.

You might have another suggestion. When the Savior cried finished. That mighty cry. Has reached the soul of millions. Down through the years of time. And there will be millions of souls in heaven. I'm not exaggerating that.

There will be millions of souls in heaven. Because of that triumphant cry. That the work is finished. There has come a time. In the experience of every one of us who are saved. When we realize that all was completed at Calvary.

That God requires nothing of us. That the work is finished. But God also said. When I see the blood. And so in the land of Egypt. As God looked down upon that land. Every little house of the children of Israel.

Where the blood was on the door post and above the door. God said I have to see the blood. Finished intended for the ears of men. The blood was for the eye of God. You would notice. Perhaps we may say a little about it.

When we come to the great day of atonement. That the blood was sprinkled upon the mercy seat. And the place where God dwelt amongst his people. Was above the mercy seat. And between the two cherubim that came out of the mercy seat.

And so God would be pictured as looking down upon the blood. God had to see the blood. Finished for us. The blood for the eyes of God. But then for us as well. Precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ was shed.

So notice when you come to verse 11. They were to eat the Passover in haste. Their loins were to be girded. That was so that they could travel quickly. Now I don't know whether you've ever given a thought to this.

The city where I live. And there are cities in the United States far larger. But the city where I live. Would be over 2 million people. The children of Israel numbered over 2 million people. There were 605 ,000 men.

Qualified to be fighting men. If they all had a wife and two children. You got over 200 million very easily. Probably more than that. Now you just stop and think. Here is one of the greatest miracles of the Bible.

One of the great miracles of the Bible. 200 million people in one night. Exited from the land of Egypt. In a very orderly way. And traveled to the banks of the Red Sea. Now I know. That if 2 million people.

Exited overnight from the city of Toronto. It would be total chaos. And yet they exited. It's a great miracle. In total order. To eventually reach the banks of the Red Sea. So he says the loins girded.

Girding the Mind and Living Ready for Departure

Now Peter goes back and picks that up. And so Peter says. Gird up the loins of your mind. To gird up the loins of your mind. I mean you protect your mind. This mind. Is greater than any computer. Every one of us know.

Those who are older. They'll tell me at the end of this meeting. They'll be sitting. Maybe at the breaking of bread. And suddenly something that happened. If you're old enough now. 70 years ago. Will pop back into your mind.

There is no delete button to the mind. So you need to be very careful. What you allow to be put into your mind. And so Peter says. Gird up the loins of your mind. He goes back to the example. Of the cloaks.

The flowing garments being girded up. In the land of Egypt. And they would have their shoes on their feet. Ready to go. Their staff in their hands. And then in verse 9. There are directions given. For the eating of the Passover.

The Fire of God's Judgment and Feasting on Christ

Notice what he says. First. They were not to eat it raw. Now I don't know. What raw lamb would taste like. It just wouldn't be suitable to my appetite. But the. The instructions were clear. It was not to be eaten raw.

Why was that? Because the Passover speaks of Christ. It reminds us of his death. Of Christ our Passover. It had to pass through the fire. There had to be the fire. The fire of God's judgment. That's what Jeremiah said.

In Lamentations chapter 1 and verse 12. From above. He has sent fire. Into my bones. And it prevails against them. The fires of the judgment of God. Was what the Lord Jesus Christ. Bore on our behalf.

At Calvary. There was no holding back. There was no restraining of that fire. That fire in its entirety. Fell upon the Lord Jesus at Calvary. And the picture here is. They couldn't eat it raw. It had to pass through the fire.

And so the lamb. Had to pass through the fire. But you notice what else he says. Nor sodden with water. Why was it not to be sodden with water? Because water would dilute the fire. And there could be nothing.