Exodus 12 - Passover & The Lord's Supper (Part 2)

The Passover as Deliverance and Memorial

Okay, last time we covered the first half where the Passover was instituted. And what is the Passover? Who wants to give a 30-second or less summary of what the Passover is? Why is it called the Passover?

No one's called it.

A raise of hand. Or I'll call on the people who have their fingers.

On their nose.

No one's called it. All right, no volunteers. So the Passover was called that because when the Lord went through the land of Egypt, the Lord was going to execute this judgment of the death of the firstborn.

So all the homes that had the blood on the doorposts, the Lord passed over, his judgment passed over the homes that were, as we would put it, under the blood. And obviously that blood represents what?

Christ.

Yeah, it represents the blood of Christ. It represents the gospel. So we talked about that last week and look at Exodus 12, verse 13. It says, now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are.

And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. So we're going to pick up in verse 25, look at it. It says, it will come to pass when you come into the land which the Lord will give you just as he promised that you shall keep this service.

Now, what's the land that the Lord promised them?

Promised land.

Promised land, also known as?

Canaan.

Canaan, good. And it shall be when your children say to you, what do you mean by this service that you shall say it is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.

And the people in response to that, they bowed their heads and they worshiped. So last week we spent some time speaking of how we look back and the Israelites were to do this they were to look back, but they were not to go back.

And we'll see that in the following chapters at some point they start to grumble and complain and remember the good old days back in Egypt and they want to go back into bondage. And you think about the insanity of that.

And of course, that's a perfect picture for the people that get baptized and join a church and they're living for the Lord. But at some point they want to go back into their old life. So we talked a little bit about worship.

A big part of worship is remembering. And we see that with the Lord's supper. So we talked about the connection between the Passover and the Lord's supper. You'll remember that. So basically this Old Testament ordinance was turned into a New Testament ordinance to where now we look back at what?

The cross.

The cross, which delivers us from bondage to sin and its penalty. So they had Moses as the mediator of the old covenant. We have Jesus. They have the old, we have the new, bondage and slavery, bondage, slavery to sin.

So there's a continuity between the Old Testament and the new in that regard. Now, by the time Jesus and his apostles come along it's how long, I mean roughly, how long from Exodus 12 to Jesus and his ministry?

1 ,500 years, 1 ,450 years.

Right.

Yeah, I'm sure we could probably get a little more exact, but I'm going to say 1 ,500 years. And 1 ,500 years later, we see that Jesus is doing what? They're still, the Jews are still celebrating the Passover.

So they've been doing it. There was a time we just came up that they stopped doing it, but really for most of this time, they were year after year celebrating the Passover. And that's a good thing. They were obeying God, at least in that regard.

However, when people do something again and again and again, what's the danger that you run the risk of what?

Leaving things out or adding to it.

Okay, well, it could be corrupted, you could add. But I'm thinking of, you run the risk of just kind of going through the motions. Of course, that can happen with serving God or going to church where you just, well, that's just something you do.

And you drag yourself there and sit there, okay, and kind of barely sing, you know, and mumble the words, and you're half listening to the sermon. But you know, you're kind of going through the motions and you're doing what you're supposed to do.

And you figure that's better than staying home. But you know, that's the risk. And of course, with the Lord's Supper, you're just going, you just eat the bread and drink the cup and you don't really think much about it.

So we wanna try to avoid that, amen?

Amen.

And I bring all this up because yes, that is a danger with the Lord's Supper. I'm not gonna spend a whole lot of time on that. But with the Lord's Supper, there's guidelines. If we were to look more closely, we can see with the Passover, there are certain things that they were supposed to do.

I mean, God is fairly precise in what to do and what not to do. And that's really the same with the Lord's Supper. There are certain things that we are to observe and certain things we're not to do. And we're gonna look at that in 1 Corinthians 11 a little later on.

But there's guidelines that need to be followed and that'll come out later in the chapter as well. So just summarize that, we're to look back, remember these important events. And instead of just going through the motions, we're to remember and really try to appreciate the significance of what God did.

All right, any comments so far? No, all right. So we must give glory to God. That's what the Israelites were to do with the Passover, give glory to God and honor the memory of what God did in Egypt. With the Lord's Supper, we give glory to God, remember the memory of Jesus, do this in remembrance of me, eating the bread, drinking the cup.

And if I can just use Memorial Day as an illustration of this. So Memorial Day is coming up next week, right? It's Monday. And what is Memorial Day? It's a time to remember, right? Memorial, that's what a memorial is.

You remember those men and women who died in service to our country. And we do that, we celebrate Memorial Day because we believe that what they did was significant. If it wasn't significant, there'd be no point of making a big thing about it.

So they made a difference, what they did was important. If it wasn't for their service, we wouldn't have the freedoms that we have, right? Isn't that one of the big things that we appreciate about those who have fought in wars and defended this country?

Despite whatever problems we've had throughout our history, we appreciate that because without their service and sacrifice, we wouldn't have what we have. So, but what can happen is over time and you live in a generation that never really had to experience anything difficult, the Israelites were never in bondage.

They kind of, all of a sudden, they can't really appreciate the Passover like the generation that was actually in bondage or maybe the millennial generation today, that everything given to them on a silver platter or my generation too, I guess.

You know, it's different from a generation that the men had to go off and fight World War II, for example. So you can start to take things for granted and for Memorial Day, people can have the attitude, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, I guess it's important, but basically, I like it because I get a day off and that becomes the main point.

It's been said that those who forget history are what? Destined to repeat it. So it certainly seems to me that more and more people simply don't have that respect. Some don't really seem to appreciate and love this country as maybe generations did in the past.

And once you have that attitude and more and more people have that attitude, then all of a sudden, now you're at risk. And should you be surprised when you start losing those freedoms because the people don't really understand.

Or appreciate it?

Is that a fair thing to say, that that's kind of what is going on? So here's the point, when Israel began to forget about what the Lord had done for them, what happened? Yeah, when they started to drift from the Lord and they didn't appreciate being delivered from bondage, what did the Lord do to make them appreciate it?

He'd send them back into bondage and that's exactly what God did. He took away their freedom, they went back into bondage. Of course, the main event there was the Babylonian captivity which lasted for how long?

70 years.

70 years. So as long as they would remember and as long as they would obey God and stay close to God, God would bless them. When they didn't, when they forgot, when they drifted away, God brought judgment.

And of course, this country or other countries are not Israel, they don't have, we don't have a covenant with God. But I tend to think these same principles still apply. And of course, the ultimate apostasy is when they forsook the Lord and actually killed and crucified Jesus and then he destroyed the nation 70 AD and the Jews were scattered all over the world.

But with all of that said, this Passover went well for them, didn't it? We read about the judgment this morning throughout the land of Egypt. Did it say there wasn't a single house in Egypt where there wasn't one dead?

But with the Israelites, totally different, right?

Why?

Because they obeyed the word of God. Look at verse 28. It says, then the children of Israel went away and did so just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. And we need to see what the Lord has said, what he expects of us.

And we need to do that. And when you see, well, the nation is, the majority of people in this country are not doing it. So what can we do about, what can we do about it? That's for us, we can do what he asked.

But as far as everybody else, what can we do about them? You might be inclined to say nothing, but that's the wrong answer. Yes, yes, be an example. That way your witness has some credibility, but we tell them and we warn them, of course, pray for them, okay.

The Death of the Firstborn and the Justice of God

So now we get to the actual 10th plague, the death of the firstborn. Look at verse 29. And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive, who was in the dungeon and all the firstborn of the livestock.

So Pharaoh rose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. And I think a couple of weeks ago, and that's a pretty, well, I don't know.

Think about how they must, this is devastating. I mean, all of the plagues have been devastating, it's devastated the land, but this one is a little more personal, isn't it? So I think we touched on briefly the, it's more of the skeptic that raises these objections, but I'm sure Christians have thought about this, and maybe this ran across your mind, the justice of this.

Now, maybe you can understand Pharaoh on his throne, but the one in the dungeon, the animals, some people will ask questions about the morality or the justice of this. And for the skeptic, what's the first inclination that they have?

I mean, Christians know better, at least we're supposed to know better. We can still ask questions, that's fine, but what's the first inclination an unbeliever would have? Yeah, yeah, what kind of God would do something like this, right?

And you've heard objections like this. What kind of God would do this? I thought God was supposed to be a God of love, and how many times have you heard that applied to so many different things? Well, I mean, I would respond and say, well, what about the responsibility of Pharaoh?

What responsibility does Pharaoh have here? Pharaoh knew the Lord's power. Pharaoh should have known that, yeah, this was going to take place. Pharaoh theoretically could have issued a decree, and all of his subjects would have listened to put blood on their doorposts, but they didn't.

So instead, once again, the people of Egypt suffered because of their representative, or they suffered because of the poor decisions of their leader. And as we said, that's the way it is for every nation, that all of the people will suffer because of the sin or the decisions of the leader.

So I just find it strange that people are, well, maybe I don't find it strange, I guess I'm used to it, but people are quick to point the finger at God. They're quick to blame God, but what about Pharaoh?

And I think this really goes to the depravity of the human heart, that that's almost mankind's first response, to blame God. Blame God for anything and everything. Well, he's sovereign, he's in control, anything bad that happens, God's fault.

And we need to guard against that as well, because even believers can be tempted when you face something tragic. I mean, let's face it, those kind of thoughts can creep in.

Larry.

Even in the insurance industry. Oh, that was an act of God, so we don't have to cover you.

Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Jim.

You've probably seen this,.

But there's a church in Greensboro.

That has a big sign, help, period.

Yeah.

What kind of a message does that send to everybody in the Bible? How can he possibly allow all these things to happen in this world? You know, I mean, it just sends a wrong message.

Yeah, well, let's answer that question. What message does it send? Of course, that's a Bible verse, God is love, that's true. The big capital letter, period, that's not in the Bible, right? So when you add that, you're trying to make a statement that God is love, and correct me if I'm wrong, but what they're trying to say is God is love and God is only love.

So God is not, God has no anger, God has no wrath, you know? Hell is cold, if not non-existent. I mean, that's the clear message, I think. All right, so that's obviously not true because according to the word of God, Pharaoh loses his firstborn son.

Look at verse 31. That he, that is Pharaoh, called for Moses and Aaron by night and said, rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel, and go and serve the Lord as you have said.

Also take your flocks and your herds as you have said and be gone. And Pharaoh sometimes has these things that he throws in there and kind of catches it. Whoa, I didn't expect that. What does he say? And bless me also.

Thinking, yeah, right. I'm not gonna bless you. Did he bless him? Yeah, well, it's not recorded. So after the 10 plagues, Pharaoh finally gives in. Of course, we said this was the whole plan all along.

The first nine plagues were never meant to cause Pharaoh to act. This was the plan from the beginning. So Pharaoh kind of admits defeat here and he gives up, all right, go. I'm not gonna try to bargain with you or try to compromise with God anymore.

And the fact that he asks for a blessing that he recognizes that Moses really is the one in power because God is on his side. So he recognizes that. And of course, this moment of humility, will it last?

No, he changes his mind again. So he doesn't learn. Look at verse 33. And the Egyptians urged the people, it is the Israelites, that they might send them out of the land in haste, for they said, we shall all be dead.

And it goes on to tell of how the Egyptians gave them what? What did we talk about? That was the last week or the week before. They gave them, yeah, silver, gold and changes of clothes, basically. And we remember how some people today are now trying to take that and make it into an argument for reparations.

And well, there's always gonna be people trying to do things like that. It appears to me that the Egyptians, this had nothing really to do with reparations. They just wanted them to go. So if you're asking me for my money, hey, whatever, just take whatever you want and get out of here because the longer you stay, I'm gonna die.

So that was the, I don't think it had anything to do with reparations from the Egyptian's point of view. It's just, hey, take what you, I don't care. Just get out.

Larry.

I have a cross reference to that urged the people. Psalm 105, 38, Egypt was glad when they departed for the fear of them had fallen upon them. So they were afraid for their lives.

Yeah, you would be too if you were one of them. Of course they were. Look at everything that's happened. So remember, Egypt had never seen devastation like this. And they knew that whatever they knew, they knew is all the result of Moses and Aaron and their God.

And God was on the side of the Israelites. That was clear. But that, yes, Mark.

Just one interesting point.

When he said the firstborn,.

It doesn't distinguish between male and female in here. It's kind of like what you're thinking. Why, we usually figure it's the firstborn male without even saying it, but there's no word.

Right.

He didn't think it was a couple of daughters and the firstborn of the cattle was a female or a male.

Right, because there are things about the firstborn male in God's law. Any thoughts on that?

Anyone? Jim?

Traditionally, it was the firstborn male. Now that firstborn male didn't have to necessarily be the firstborn. It could have been a second or a thirdborn. But it was always the firstborn male that would inherit whatever the, whatever the parent or.

Yeah, they got the double portion of the inheritance.

So it could have been, you know, I said it's the firstborn male because that's what, I mean, it says firstborn, so I think that's probably.

You think it's implied?

Yeah, I think so.

Okay. Kathy?

Chapter 11, verse five says firstborn male.

Oh, there we go. Settled.

In my Bible anyway.

All right, we better check this then. What is it? Chapter 11, verse?

Five.

Five. Does everyone have that?

Only? No. No. No.

Firstborn male only.

It just says firstborn in the land.

Right.

Hmm. Okay.

Well, I'm kind of curious why the parent died. I mean, he might have gotten older just using that.

Yeah, that's interesting. I never thought of that before.

I'm kind of wondering.

What Bible are you reading from, Kathy?

Okay, so the Holman says firstborn male.

The Kathy version only.

I wish I had my complete Hebrew.

Does anyone else have a version that says firstborn male? Okay, so the NIV, Tanya?

The nearly inspired version?

Yeah.

The nearly inspired version. All right, so, I mean, this tells us something that at least.

Oh, yeah, firstborn is a female servant, even to the firstborn is a female servant.

Okay.

All right, so some have it, some don't. So I guess there's some scholars and translators who see it differently. Yes.

Did I hear the firstborn is a female servant?

Yes.

Yes, their firstborn would die as well. Servants or it doesn't matter.

Okay.

But it didn't say the female.

No.

Mine says female servant.

All right. Well, that's interesting. All right, well, yes.

Well, I also have firstborn son in Exodus 4, 23.

Exodus 4, 23 says firstborn. Firstborn son.

My son, Captain Exodus.

Yeah.

Exodus 4, 23. I will kill your son, your firstborn. Well, that's the new King James that has. So, yeah, well, it's more than implied then, right? Just took a little digging. So good, good that we settled that.

So am I correct?

Yeah, I forgot what you said now. Yeah, yeah, Jim's correct. Okay, that's the main thing. Jim's right. All right. All right, let's move on.

Firstborn Pharaoh.

So this recognition of the greatness of God, because Moses is in the position to bless Pharaoh now. So he recognizes the greatness of the God of Moses and Aaron and that recognition of the greatness of God apparently led to some of the Egyptians to maybe attach themselves to the Hebrew people.

Because we see in verse 37, it says, the children of Israel, they began their march out of the land, 600 ,000. That's men not counting the children. That's where you get the estimate of maybe 2 million or more total.

But look at verse 38. So when Israel goes out, it says a mixed multitude went up with them also and flocks and herds, a great deal of livestock. So now we read about the mixed multitude. Who's the mixed multitude?

Well, it doesn't exactly describe what that means except that it's a mixture, right? A mixture of different people. So you figure this might be some Egyptians who intermarried with the Hebrews. That's possible.

Might just have been Egyptians who became converts. Converts. And hey, I saw what the God of the Hebrews can do and his power. So now I'm gonna follow and worship him. Could have been other slave groups or other ethnicities that were living in Egypt.

And whoever could have just followed them out and think the land is just devastated. So why would you wanna stick around here? Let's go with them. God's on their side. And you can understand why others would follow the Hebrews out.

So we don't know exactly who they are, but we do read about them again in Numbers chapter 11, verse four. And one thing we would glean here from the mixed multitude, they had a negative impact on the children of Israel because they apparently led them, however that started, the mixed multitude had a negative influence that caused the Israelites to grumble and complain.

And think about the good old days in Egypt, where they start to romanticize their time in slavery. Oh, you remember the onions we used to have and the leaves? I mean, yeah, we were slaves and we were beaten and mistreated and had nothing and worked like animals all day long and whipped and, but we had onions and garlic.

So that's what people do. They think back, back then they didn't think it was great, but they romanticized things in their mind and they have a different view of it. And that's what the Hebrews did.

Jim.

I think also that those Egyptians and whatever other nationalities were in Egypt at the time and came out with the Israelites, they also brought little trinkets and statues and stuff of their gods. And that had an influence because the Egyptian, I mean, the Israelites were under that for 400 years.

So, and we see evidence of that when we look at other parts of the Old Testament, Jacob and, I can't remember the wife that brought out her father's.

Right.

And she wasn't, she wasn't, I don't think she, she wasn't an Israelite, was she?

Yeah.

She was.

Yeah.

Okay, well, I think the point still is though that those other gods came out, so they would have that much of an influence on them.

Right, the children of Israel always were affected by and kind of adopted the negative customs of the people. Obviously they're commanded not to do that, but over time they did it. Hey, just like Christians are affected by, hey, the world around us, right?

That's the way it goes. I want to read what Matthew Henry says about the mixed multitude. He says, "'The children of Israel set forward without delay. "'A mixed multitude went with them, "'some perhaps willing to leave their country, "'laid waste by plagues, others out of curiosity, "'perhaps a few out of love to them "'and their religion, "'but there were always those among the Israelites "'who are not Israelites.

"'Thus, there are always, "'or there are still hypocrites in the church.'". So Matthew Henry takes this and he makes application to the New Testament church, which really if you're preaching out of the Old Testament, I mean, you do that kind of a thing.

So Henry makes this application to the Christian church that there's a mixed multitude among us, so to speak, Marcus.

Even amongst the disciples, Jesus chose Judas Iscariot.

Right.

That's always the way it has been, part of the plan, I would say.

Yeah, and this is the whole concept of the wheat and the tares, right? And you can't always tell the difference. Lord, should we go start the inquisition and just pluck them all up? No, let them grow together and the Lord will sort it out.

Romans 9, six, Paul says, "'For they are not all Israel who are of Israel.'". So that's true. Just because you were an Israelite in the covenant didn't actually mean that you were a true Israelite, that your heart was right with God.

And that's the application with the Christian church. So if I can put it this way, not all Christians are really Christians. So for whatever reasons, there will be people who attach themselves to the church.

Why do they do that? Well, it's like the mixed multitude. Who knows who they are and why they did what they did. There will be people who attach themselves to the New Testament church. Same thing. They, in the end, will have a negative influence on the church and her testimony.

We've talked about this before. That's the devil's strategy. You attack the church from the outside, you only get so far. But if you can infiltrate and get in, then you can dismantle from the inside. I mean, if you can get an unbeliever or two or three on the deacon board, hey, Satan's got a foothold in the church, does he?

If you can get the pastor or a Presbyterian church, the whole board of elders or unbelievers, I mean, kiss the thing goodbye. But that's what he does. So the Lord knows there is a mixed multitude with them and that's the same today.

Now we get to this whole issue of the Passover and in verse 43, it says, and the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, this is the ordinance of the Passover. What does he say? No foreigner shall eat it. Now this doesn't mean they were mistreating the foreigner.

Hey, treat the foreigners poorly. That's not what he's saying. He's saying they shall not eat of the Passover, okay? He doesn't say mistreat them because he's going to remind them that you were once sojourners.

So don't mistreat the sojourner. One more thing just to add in here, 430 years they were in Egypt, right? Verse 40, look at verse 40. It says, now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was 430 years.

What's significant? He calls that what? The sojourn. What does that mean? Sojourn. So that was not their home. That is not, they were strangers, right? They were pilgrims. They were just there temporarily.

Verse 42, it is a night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generation.

So about this whole idea of the Passover, there were specific regulations to it. Certain things that they were to do, certain things they're not to do. One of the things that they were not to do is let the stranger eat.

So what's the application for the Lord's supper? All right, well, get in your, go ahead.

No, I was just gonna say, we as believers, true believers, are just sojourners here.

Yeah, yep, yep.

Yep, we're strangers and pilgrims on the earth because our citizenship is in heaven.

Amen.

But if the Passover was to be a solemn feast, what does that word solemn mean? Serious.

Serious, right.

Formal, serious, reverent. You know, I think of the word reverent. When you come to church, there should be a certain amount of reverence, I think.

I would say sacred.

Sacred, that's good too. So there are things that they were to do, they were not to do. And when it comes to the Lord's supper, it's the same thing. So if Passover was to be solemn, is it a stretch to say that the Lord's supper should be a solemn, solemn event?

I mean, essentially they're connected, right? So of course it should.

We are to examine ourselves.

We are to examine ourselves. That's exactly right. So go ahead and turn to 1 Corinthians 11 for a moment. We're almost done. But it's important when going through the Old Testament to make New Testament application.

We learn about the original meaning and context. We don't want to spiritualize the Old Testament. We want to know what it meant and why for them. That's important because that's the primary meaning, but the Old Testament has implications for us.

So we try to make application. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 27 and 28, Paul says, therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.

Does this sound like a serious or a solemn occasion? Yes, it does. But as Larry said, let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. Now to eat or drink in an unworthy manner with the Israelites, this is someone who is uncircumcised and they were outside of the covenant, right?

The stranger shall not eat. If they wanted to partake, they needed to be circumcised and basically what's the New Testament application? And what would you say it is? To make application, if somebody is on the outside and they want to partake of the Lord's supper, what do they have to do?

Spiritually circumcised.

Yeah, they need to get saved and to partake of the Lord's supper, I mean, you kind of need to be part of a church, but this is what, and I don't want to make the mistake of comparing circumcision to baptism, okay?

But you would believe you get saved, you know, you get baptized, you join a church, you're part now of the community and then you now have the right to eat from the Lord's table.

Marcus.

I'm definitely not trying to be argumentative here at all. But it might seem so when I continue.

That's okay.

When I continue my thought.

That's all right.

Whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. Aren't we all guilty of the body and blood or am I missing something here? No, I take it very, very serious when I take communion and I do always examine myself and I always find myself in need of forgiveness and thankful for it, but what does that mean to be guilty?

We're guilty. Our sentence has been dismissed and he's taken the charge, but aren't we guilty?

Well, if you're saved and you're forgiven, then you're not guilty. If I'm going to interpret this in light of the Passover, because we've talked about this before in the past, what does it mean in an unworthy manner?

Well, he doesn't really spell it out for us. You know, we always make a point that if you come into church and we're having communion, you should, if you have unconfessed sin, you should confess that before you partake.

We've talked about, you know, going through the motions. You don't want to do that. You want to focus and remember and it should be meaningful to you. But as far as an unworthy manner, the one thing I'm sure of, if you're not saved and you partake, you're partaking in an unworthy manner because you're not worthy to partake of it, right?