Exodus 12 - Passover & The Lord's Supper (Part 1)

Being passed over is not something that we usually like. If you're passed over for a promotion at work, probably not too happy about that. When kids in gym class get passed over, being picked for the soccer team, they're disappointed.

But when it comes to God's judgment, you want to be passed over. That's what they were. So in Exodus 12, the Passover is instituted. The Passover lamb, of course, is a foreshadow of the gospel. What does John the Baptist say in John 1 29 about Jesus?

Behold the lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. So the Passover lamb represents Christ. The Passover is also a precursor to the Lord's supper. And in this chapter, the Lord gives the Israelites their new calendar.

So them as a new nation, they're gonna be a new nation. Now they're gonna have a new calendar. And because the Passover is a picture of Christ, we can say that their calendar was based around redemption and based on Christ, just like our calendar is based on Christ and that this is the year 2021, 2021 years after the birth of Jesus.

So the calendar revolves around redemption. As for the Israelites, they were to always remember that. Look at verse one of Exodus 12. It says, now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, this month shall be your beginning of months.

It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel saying, on the 10th of this month, every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.

Christ as the Passover Lamb and the New Calendar

So in this chapter, Christ is going to be the center of it, all right? Christ is the center of this chapter. It's true to the unbelieving Jew then, maybe, but certainly today, to the unbelieving Jew today, they view this chapter as a description on how to observe and how to eat the Passover.

But as Christians, we know the real significance to this,.

Right?

He says, a lamb for a household, a lamb. Okay, well, a lamb points to the lamb. As for the first month in verse two, what's the first month? Okay, so I'm hearing two things. A B, okay? And all right, so you're both right, all right?

Let me just read what John MacArthur writes about this. He says, the month of Abib, which is the end of March into April, by divine decree became the beginning of the religious calendar, marking the start of Israel's life as a nation.

Later, however, in Israel's history, after the Babylonian captivity, Abib would become Nissan or Nissan. Nissan's a vehicle, right? So I think it's Nissan, but verses four through six, look at it. And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house, take it according to the number of the persons.

According to each man's need, you shall make for your count or make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be, what? Without blemish. Does that sound familiar to you? Shall be without blemish, a male of the first year.

And you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Now you shall keep it until the 14th day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. Last week, we spoke about how this plague with the Passover and the killing of the firstborn is different from all the other plagues.

And we went through some of the reasons why this is different. Well, another difference is that this plague is not just announced that it's going to happen. There's a fair amount of preparation that's involved before it.

Also, the main thing I'd like to point out is that the Israelites were to participate in this plague. That's unlike all the other ones. So because they had been sheltered from the previous plagues now in order to be sheltered, they actually had to do something.

So it required an act of faith on the part of the Israelites and participating and going through all of this. Otherwise, this plague would fall upon them if they didn't listen to the Lord's command. Now, verse five says the lamb was to be without blemish.

Few things come to mind here. You say, well, this is symbolic of how, well, maybe not even symbolic, but it's how you should give God your best. Well, that's true, I think. But obviously, most of you were thinking something different when you heard that phrase, right?

First Peter 1 .19 talks about the precious blood of Christ as a lamb, what, without blemish and without spot. And of course, that speaks of his sinless perfection. Now, the lamb, verse six, it says, you shall keep it until the 14th day of the same month.

Sometimes there's those things that are preached and you've heard it preached before. And it's, well, that sounds so good. It must be true. And I don't know if this is actually the case or not. Maybe there's another verse that someone can bring up that will clarify one way or another.

But I've heard this preached, and let me know if you have as well, that what they were to do is they were to take the lamb, not just choose it and set it aside, but they were to take the lamb and bring it into their own home.

How many of you have heard this, right? Yeah, you bring it into your home and it's there long enough where you start to kind of form an attachment to it, sort of like a pet. But then once that attachment starts to form, the whole assembly of the congregation is to take it out and kill it at twilight.

If that's the case, whether they viewed it as a pet and grew an attachment, if that's the case, that would have been significant. That would have had an impact on them. It would have taught them something.

And what's the lesson that God is teaching through the sacrificial system? Who can tell everybody what's the lesson or at least one of the lessons?

Anyone wanna?

With the coming of Christ, we are to bond with him.

Okay.

Now, four days is not part of that, but of course, the New Testament is.

Okay.

And that's, I think with that, that is signifying that we're to bond with Christ.

All right, I didn't think of that, but that's fair. So growing the attachment or just a sacrifice in general, it sends the message that God demands an innocent sacrifice. God demands judgment. And now you have a substitute, an innocent lamb for sin.

That's not totally brought out here, but it will be later on. Verse 22 of Hebrews nine. What does that say? Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. There's no forgiveness of sin. And of course, Hebrews 10 four says, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sin.

So obviously killing animals and killing this lamb and having blood everywhere, that's not a pleasant thing. It's not supposed to be a pleasant thing. God is sending a message and he's kind of training the Israelites throughout the generations, planning on what he's going to do in the future.

So it kind of gets across the seriousness of sin and God's holy and righteous character. All right, any comments or questions so far?

No, all right.

One more comment about verse six. The lamb was to be killed. When?

At twilight.

At twilight. Now the argument is made that when Jesus died, it was at the same exact hour that the Passover lamb was to be killed. But certainly we remember when Jesus was crucified, what happened? The sun went dark, right?

So it was a twilight situation. But this idea of how this is all pointing to Christ and how God is trying to teach the people something, I think as Christians, sometimes we're so familiar with the message of the gospel and the message of the cross.

Now Jesus died and rose again the third day. We think we have that kind of all figured out and we understand it and hopefully we do. But not everybody understands the purpose of that. Not everybody understands why that would have to happen.

When Jesus came and when he was crucified, should the people have recognized what was happening? Because obviously many in Israel didn't. They didn't see the significance of that. How many of you have ever had somebody ask you, why did Jesus have to die?

Like you tell them about the gospel and they say, well, why is that necessary? Has anyone ever had someone ask you that?

Once.

Well, we should be prepared for an answer, right? So why did Jesus have to die on the cross? What's the meaning behind that? Well, when Jesus came to this earth, to the nation of Israel, especially when he died and the apostles are preaching that everyone must believe on him and believe on his death and resurrection, in order for that to make sense, there had to be some sort of context that's already established.

Otherwise, if it's just pulled out of the air, well, why should we believe that? What does that even mean? Well, here's the thing. The Passover is the context. So if they knew about the Passover and they understood the Passover, then the death of Christ makes sense.

So the point is the Jews had all of the information necessary to make the cross meaningful. The Jews understood what? Sin, right? They understood that with God's law. They understood sacrifice. They understood the shedding of innocent blood, right?

So they had everything. This is the context of the gospel of the cross. And then when we get to the New Testament, the apostle Paul told the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 5, verse seven, he said, for indeed Christ, our Passover was sacrificed for us.

So Christ is called our Passover. So the average person on the street might not understand that, but the Jews, many of them did, and at least all of them should have based on this. And even if you're not Jewish, if you read the Old Testament and you have an idea of what the Old Testament is all about, even that provides the context for the gospel.

And of course, as I've said many times, I'll say many more times, the New Testament makes no sense without the Old Testament. I mean, the word itself or the phrase itself, New Testament presupposes that there's what?

An Old Testament. So the context of the gospel is being brought out here in Exodus 12. So here's the main difference, all right? The Passover was the symbol, but Christ is the substance. So remember that.

The Passover is the symbol, points ahead. Christ is the substance. Look at verse seven. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lentil of the houses where they eat it.

It's kind of a strange thing, right? Without the cross, without knowing about Jesus and what he did, this whole thing's kind of bizarre. It's just like the story when we were going through a Genesis, God telling Abraham to sacrifice his own son, Isaac.

That's a really weird, troubling story if you don't know what it's really about. Melchizedek, why is that even mentioned? It makes no sense without Jesus. So for all the households that did this, take the blood, put it on either side.

I want you to just kind of imagine this in your head. Put it on this side of the doorpost, this side, up top. So the households that did that, the Lord, when the Lord, or as we said last week, the death angel.

Anyone find the death angel? Jim, you found it?

Well, there's no such thing in scripture.

Okay.

I looked it up.

All right, well, we get to the bottom of that then. Can I read it?

Yeah, go ahead.

Number one, there are a number of religions that do believe in the death angel. And, you know, they're not included in this. The angel of death concept is not taught in the Bible. The Bible nowhere teaches that there is a particular angel who is in charge of death or who is present when every person dies.

2 Kings 19 .35 describes an angel putting to death 187, 185 ,000 Assyrians who had made it Israel. Some also found in Exodus 12, the death of the firstborn in Egypt as the work of an angel. While this is possible, the Bible nowhere attributes the death of a firstborn to an angel.

Whatever the case, while the Bible describes angels causing death at the command of the Lord, scripture nowhere teaches that there is a specific angel of death. God and God alone is sovereign over the timing of our deaths.

No angel or demon can in any way sense cause our death before the time God has willed it to occur. According to Romans 6 .23 and Revelations 20 .11 -15, death is separation. Separation of our soul, spirit, from our body, physical death, and, in the case of unbelievers, everlasting separation from God, eternal death.

Death is something that occurs, that occurs. Death is not an angel, a demon, a person, or any other being. Angels can cause death, and may be involved in what happens to us after death, but there is no such thing as angel of death.

Also, if we read, when we get up to verse 25, it says that, that God will appoint an angel, because God isn't the one that's actually killing, an angel of the Lord is, but that's, there's no specific angel of death.

So, that's what I think of it.

All right, does anyone want to challenge that? I mean, feel free to make the case if you want. I mean, I don't know that it's that big of an issue. It's something that we've become accustomed, obviously, because just about everybody's heard it.

I think Larry said last week it was DeMille.

Yeah.

And came up with that idea of an angel of death.

But I think it's important, just in general, to use the language of Scripture when it comes to anything, because when we use terminology that's not found in the Bible, and we probably all do it, and we do it with the Trinity, certainly, but it can cause confusion.

So, whenever possible, I think it's best to use the terminology we find in Scripture. So, for the households that did this, and they put the blood on the doorposts, these houses were under the blood. So, I say, well, that term, under the blood, isn't in the Bible, right?

But I don't know, maybe it is.

But we understand the concept. Someone, when they die, or they're forgiven of their sin, they're under the blood. God's judgment passes over. And imagine the two doorposts, and the lentil, which is on the top.

If you kind of connect the dots, I mean, you can envision a cross on either side, where Jesus would have his hands, and the crown of thorn with his head. Yeah, so.

Right.

Right.

And then the Lord. Yes, Mark.

Well, it's the Lord that does this, for I will pass through the land of Egypt, and I will execute judgment. I am the Lord, and when I see the blood, I will pass over. When I smite the land of Egypt, my mind is speaking.

There's no angel involved.

Right.

That is true.

And then the Lord gives the details, and how to eat the Passover meal. So let's turn to the gospel of Luke, chapter 22, for a moment. And as you're turning there, let me point out how in verse 14, that the Hebrews, they're told to keep this, that is the Passover, as an everlasting ordinance.

Okay?

An everlasting ordinance. Now, some people have made the argument that that Hebrew word everlasting does not actually mean everlasting, or it doesn't require the literal eternality of it. I'm not gonna get into that, but obviously, if it did, that the Passover was to be celebrated forever and ever and ever, if Jesus comes along and changes it, you can understand how that might raise a few questions.

Certainly to the unbelieving Jews, that is a huge issue. So we're going to address that. But look at Luke 22, verses seven and eight. And again, the Passover is a precursor to the Lord's Supper. Yes, Marcus.

Well, we'll observe Good Friday until the Lord returns.

Yeah.

So, that's sort of the same thing.

Okay.

Good point.

So Luke 22, seven and eight. It says, then came the day of unleavened bread when the Passover must be killed. And he, that is Jesus, sent Peter and John, saying, go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.

So this is how long after Moses? About 1500 years. And they're still celebrating the Passover. Okay, there's a time where they stopped doing it, but 1500 years, hey, they're keeping the ordinance. They're still doing it.

That's good. Verses 19 and 20. And Jesus took bread and gave thanks and broke it and gave it to them saying, this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Likewise, he also took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you.

So you see what Jesus does here. He takes this Old Testament practice and he alters it and makes it into a New Testament ordinance. So for a Jew who didn't believe that Jesus was the Messiah, this would have been, and still is to Jews today, this is highly offensive to say the least, okay?

So if they thought the Old Testament, which they obviously didn't call it the Old Testament, but they saw the Old Covenant as something that would last forever. We have this covenant with God that will go on for forever and ever.

And the Passover is an everlasting ordinance. And it says this right here in the Torah, in the law of Moses. It's an everlasting ordinance. Here's the thing. What they didn't understand is that it's not the case and the law or the Old Covenant was actually temporary.

So the law was given for what purpose? We've talked about this many times. What was the purpose of the law?

To prove to us that we're law breakers.

Right.

The law is meant to show you that you've all broken it and you're all guilty of sin. And therefore you need a savior. And that was pictured in the sacrifices. So this is where the Messiah comes into it.

The Passover points ahead to Jesus as the Lamb of God. We only have so much time. So again, we're only going to cover half of the chapter and then we'll have Lord willing part two next week. But as far as the gospel and this being a foreshadow of the gospel, part of the gospel, which is the good news.

And you need what before the good news? The bad news and sin is part of the bad news. So where's sin pictured in all of this? What's the symbol of sin here in Exodus 12? Good, the leaven. So they were told, the Israelites were, to rid their household of leaven for seven days.

Get all of the leaven out. They were not to eat it. Of course they ate unleavened bread. So leaven is symbolic for sin. So all the elements of the gospel are here. The shed blood, the sin, all of it. Verse 14, the Lord said, "'So this day shall be a memorial to you, "'shall be to you a memorial, "'and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord "'throughout your generations.

"'You shall keep it as a feast by what? "'An everlasting ordinance.'". So here's the question. If Jesus changes this, does that mean that Jesus violated this command? Now you kind of, well, I already know the answer is no,.

Right?

But how do we explain it? Because if Jesus is putting an end to the Passover, which is to go on forever, that technically, if that's what is happening, that would mean Jesus is going against Moses. Moses says, do it forever.

Jesus puts an end to it. That would make Jesus a sinner because he's violating God's law. Therefore, it would make him a false prophet. And of course, that's exactly what the Jews, many of them said, and that's what they would still say today.

Marcus.

Well, I'm just thinking, I've never fully understood it myself other than just that I believe it. The sins of the people, the nation Israel, were supposedly placed on this animal and it was sacrificed.

And then Isaiah, of course, in the messianic thing said, oh, we like sheep. As Don Australia, we've turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. And they recognize that, I think, as a messianic prophecy.

The Lord laid our sins on it. And of course, 1 Peter 2, 24 corroborates that. Also, he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree. Although we don't understand how it happened, like the sin that I'll commit when I cut somebody off in traffic.

On the way home or whatever.

That somehow was placed on Christ back when. And how that happens, I don't know. But that is, this is in God's eyes of justice. It seems he's faithful and just to forgive us. And we say, no, it doesn't seem just.

We don't deserve to be forgiven. That doesn't seem just.

But it is just.

It's just because Christ was innocent and therefore a suitable substitute or sacrifice better than a lamb before the goat.

Because what God does is he operates through a system of representatives. So the whole human race fell because one man sinned. Eve technically broke God's rule first. But she wasn't the head of the human race.

Adam was. So when Adam sinned, we all fell in Adam. Because Adam was the representative, as theologians call it, the federal head of humanity.

That's why I don't eat spare ribs.

Okay. Yeah, no, okay, I got it.

That's bad.

But Jesus is the second Adam. So he's the new representative. So all who are in Adam, first Adam die. All who are in the second Adam, he is now our representative. We all shall live. So that's the way God does it.

Just like representatives today. We all have representatives in this country. Every nation has one person or a group of people who represent everybody else, right? I mean, that's just the way it is, dad.

Why can't verse 14 encompass, at least to some degree, the ordinance of communion?

Okay, Exodus 12, 14?

Yeah.

You wanna read it for us?

So this day shall be to you a memorial. You shall keep it as a feast of the Lord throughout your generation. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. So I would say, why can't we, why can't a Jewish person who's a born-again believer continue on with that command to keep it everlasting by taking communion?

Yeah.

They do, they convert a lot of these things to make them fit because it is the fulfillment. Some things are just a picture. But Christ, of course, was a fulfillment of all that Old Testament stuff.

Right, and you're right on track. I mean, that's exactly the right answer. Jesus has not brought to an end the Passover. There was a change because there's a change of covenant. There's old covenant, now new.

So there's a change, but he did not. So yes, you're exactly right. Remember what Jesus said about the law when he came in the Sermon on the Mount? He said, I did not come to destroy the law. I came to fulfill it.

So the Passover would point back as they celebrated it generations to come, it would point back, right, as a remembrance to what the Lord did and saving, rescuing, delivering his people from bondage. What does the Lord's Supper do?

We're remembering, we're looking back what the Lord did in delivering his people from bondage. So there's some changes in the details. It's bondage from sin instead of bondage from slavery in Egypt, but one foreshadows the other.

So they're different, but they're the same. Do you understand how that is? Okay, so the Passover, there's a prophetic element to it because as of now, it hasn't happened yet. And I love this chapter because the Lord is talking as if all this has already taken place.

You've already been delivered. If you look, if we were to keep reading and the Lord's Supper has a prophetic element to it. I mean, yes, we look back, we remember, but Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11, 26, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

So looking ahead to the return of Christ is part of the Lord's Supper. And we see Jesus making reference in Luke 22 to this question of whether or not this endures forever. He said, well, we're still doing it.

It's not Passover, but it's the Lord's Supper and they're connected. We're doing it now, but is it really gonna last forever? What about the end of the age? Then it stops, right? Well, I don't think it does because look at Luke 22, starting in verse 14.

When the hour had come, he sat down with the 12 apostles with him. And he said to them with fervent desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say to you, I will no longer eat of it.

Until what? Until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup and gave thanks and said, take this and divide it among yourselves. For I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until.

So he's still pointing forward until the kingdom of God comes. So when Christ returns, if you take revelation literally in Matthew 24 and chapter 25, literally Jesus returns, sets up his kingdom on earth for a thousand years.

In Matthew 26, 29 is just a little more clear, little more forceful. During the Passover, Jesus says, but I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom.

So is this an everlasting ordinance? Well, we know it goes through the millennium. Are we gonna be, that's a time of feasting. Could it go on forever and ever? It very well could. In the new heaven, in the new earth might it be happening?

I don't see why not. So it's an everlasting ordinance. Jesus altering it makes no, there's no problem there. All right, any comments or questions on that?

Jim.

Has anyone ever been asked why the blood was so important?

Why is the blood so important? I mean, I'm asking, has anyone ever asked that? Yeah, I just did.

I think it's because one statement in scripture it says because of God's just justice, but also the life is in the blood. And I think that sums up the whole reason for the blood. Sacrifice was essential because that blood is what gave us remission of sins.

Okay.

Can I throw something back at you?

Go right ahead.

First Corinthians 15, flesh and blood shall not inherit.

The kingdom of God, right?

I've heard some make a big issue about this. There's no blood in heaven, or they make a big issue about that. Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom, but that's true. The life is in the blood here, right?

In this life, the life is in the blood, but in heaven, life is through what?

The spirit. So I don't make of that what you will.

All right, go back to Exodus chapter 12. So I believe this is actually an everlasting ordinance. The Israelites simply did not see the full significance of the Passover. They had types, they had shadows, but as I said before, they have the symbol, but Christ is the substance.

And we'll look at a few more verses,.

And then we will close.

Worship, Memory, and the Danger of Going Backward

But before we do, I just want to comment on how a large part of worship. So for the life of the believer, worship to a large degree is looking back. Worship is about remembering. I think one of the saddest things today about Christian worship is that it's so entertainment driven.

People base a church service on whether or not it was entertaining. And that's kind of the whole thing with the church growth movement and seeker. So is it entertaining? But worship is about looking back and looking at what God has done.

And when we look back, it prepares us for what's ahead. So we want to look back, but we don't want to go backwards, okay? We don't want to go backwards because in the 20th century, a new movement rose up called Hebrew Roots.

You've heard of Hebrew Roots or the Hebrew Roots Movement. Basically, it's the idea where some professing Christians, they came to the conclusion that we need to get back to our Hebrew roots. My first thought is, well, I'm not Jewish, so I don't know.

But we need to get back to our Hebrew roots. But listen, we do not go back to the symbol when we have the substance. We have Christ, we have the spirit, we celebrate the Lord's Supper, which points back to the cross, and we have the substance.

We don't go back to the Passover. So for Christians to be celebrating the Passover instead of the Lord's Supper, it makes no sense. It makes no sense. Unless the church wanted to do it to show the symbolism and to bring Christ out as a way to teach people once or something, fine.

But to do that continually doesn't make any sense. So we look back, but we don't go back. Anyone familiar with this?

Jim?

I just wanna say, I'm sorry. I was gonna say I wasn't familiar with the title or term of it, but the mentality I've definitely heard.

Right.

Yeah, New Testament Christians basically going back to Old Testament practices. And just to prove that that's wrong, even the New Testament apostles, I mean, these are men that were actually Jewish, unlike all of us.

The apostles didn't even live like Jews. I know some people would challenge that, but let me just prove it. Galatians 2 .14, you remember what Paul said to Peter in the book of Galatians when Paul rebukes Peter?

That's kind of a big deal. Paul says to Peter, if you being a Jew live in the manner of Gentiles and not the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live like Jews? So did you catch what Paul said? Said, Peter, you're Jewish and you live like you're a Gentile.

So New Testament Christians do not go backwards into Old Testament Judaism. We have the substance. So we don't go backwards.

Amen.

All right.

The Passover Meal and the Blood of the Lamb

Look at verse 11. The Lord says about this meal, and thus you shall eat it with the belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover, where I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and will strike 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.