Jesus Christ: Our Passover Lamb

Well, good day, brethren. We’re going to have to dive right in today because we’re going to be taking on a big task. We’re going to go through all the places in the Old Testament that the word Exodus is found. And if you know the Old Testament, the Exodus story is repeated and mentioned and alluded to all over. It’s in the Psalms, it’s obviously in the book called Exodus, it’s throughout the prophets. They continually, continually mention it.

There’s upwards of eighty plus times that God is mentioned, and He’s the God that brought you out of Egypt. He calls Himself that as well. So it’s over and over again. So if you can get your Bibles and your fingers ready, we’re going to go through, and every time that word Exodus is in there, we’re going to look at it. We got through. It’s not found in the Old Testament. The word Exodus, aside from the book named it, it’s not found in any verses throughout the Old Testament.

So the first time it is found is in the book of Luke. So let’s turn over to the book of Luke, chapter nine. It’s the first time the word Exodus is found here. If you’re catching on to me, this is also a little bit of a trick. But the word Exodus is found in this verse. So Luke nine and verse thirty. Now, this is the Transfiguration. So, Jesus is talking to Elijah and Moses here, and the disciples are there. A few of the disciples are there as well. So, Luke chapter nine, verse thirty. “And behold, there talked with Him two men, which were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory, and spoke of His decease, which He should accomplish at Jerusalem.”

The word “decease” there is the Greek word Exodus. That’s the first time that word is used in the Bible, but it’s interesting because it’s mentioning Jesus’s death as an Exodus. You may not have thought of it like that before, but it makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it? Jesus died, Jesus Christ died during the Passover, right before the Passover started, those seven days of unleavened bread. His death is known as an Exodus, and it’s part of our Exodus story as Christians. It’s a crucial part, and we start thinking about His death a lot more as we take the Passover symbols, and that’s coming up soon. So there’s a lot of parallels between those two.

Just so that we can know for sure that this also means Exodus, what happened to the Israelites, and what happened to Jesus’ death, let’s turn to Hebrews eleven. Over to Hebrews eleven, another place that Exodus is mentioned in the New Testament. Hebrews eleven and verse twenty-two. “By faith Joseph, when he had died, made mention of the departing exodus of the children of Israel and gave commandment concerning his bones.”

Brethren, the Passover in the Old Testament, that first one, has many parallels for us as Christians who take the Passover symbols of the bread and the wine every year, and that’s what we’re going to do today. We’re going to take a look at that first Passover in Egypt, all the details and lessons that we can glean from it to help us prepare to take the symbols of the bread and wine this Passover. So let’s turn to Exodus twelve. Turn over to Exodus twelve. This is going to be our home base, this chapter. We’ll come back here repeatedly. So if you have a bookmark or a ribbon, you can put it there because we’ll be back here often.

Exodus twelve, and we’ll start in verse eleven. “And thus shall ye eat it, with your loins girded,” the Passover lamb, “...your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and ye shall eat it in haste, it is the LORD’S Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night,” it’s God talking, “...I will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. And the blood shall be for a token,” that’s the blood from the lamb that they placed on their doorposts. “It will be a token upon the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you and plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt.”

So this is often where we think, when we think of the Passover, God passing over, that moment. But for the Israelites back then, it started many days earlier. Of course, there were all of the plagues leading up to that event, and they were seeing the power of God, but the Passover meal started days earlier. We’re going to start back there and go point by point the things that they did as they prepared for the moment that we just read.

So the first point is they had to select a lamb. They had to select a lamb. We’ll start in verse one of Exodus twelve. Go back. So we were just in the middle of that story, as they were just about to leave Egypt. But we’re going to go back to verse one. “And the Lord spoke unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, this month shall be unto you the beginning of months…” That’s the month of Abib, but it also can be called Nisan. You’ll hear both of those. One of those is the Babylonish name, that’s where it comes from. The other is a Hebrew name.

Abib or Nisan should begin, “…the beginning of months, and it should be the first month of the year unto you. Speak you unto the congregation of Israel, saying in the tenth day of this month…” Abib, “…they shall take away them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house.” So they had to find and select a lamb. “And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next onto his house take it according to the number of the souls, every man according to his eating shall your count for the lamb.”

And this is what the lamb should look like in verse five. “Your lamb shall be without blemish. A male of the first year, you shall take it from the sheep or from the goats.” I’ll say lamb throughout. That’s typically what you think of with the Passover and the Passover lamb. But it could also have been a goat as well, so depending on what they had back then. For those in ancient Israel, and it would be the same today, lambs without blemish were worth a lot more than your average lamb. They had better wool. For a male lamb, it would’ve been a great candidate for breeding because it was healthy and it had good wool. It had all of the qualities that you’d want to pass along to further generations of sheep.

So for those, when they were selecting this lamb in ancient Israel, they knew the cost of it. This was important. It was valuable. And notice that they had to select it on the tenth. So it had to be killed on the fourteenth, later in the evening on the fourteenth, but it had to be found and select on the tenth. This was for a reason. In verse six, “And you shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation shall kill it in the evening.” They had this lamb with them for four days and took special care of it. Some Bible historians think that they may have even kept it with them in their house. Can’t know that for sure, but the lamb was with them.

So if you had a mom and a dad and maybe kids, they probably helped to feed the lamb. And it came and nuzzled against their hands and was a lamb. We’ve likely all seen lambs before and know that they’re just docile creatures. But it was there, and it was without blemish. You can imagine with the father, if he knew that he needed to have a lamb without blemish and had a firstborn son, he would’ve taken extra special care to make sure it had no blemish. No problems. It wasn’t sick. So he was probably over those four days, going through its wool, making sure everything was perfect, no scars, special care.

Brethren, as we’re leading up to the Passover and taking the symbols of bread and wine, thinking about Jesus Christ and what He did, we should also be thinking about it, examining Him. What He did, what He was like. Just as that lamb was without blemish, we have a sinless substitute from Jesus Christ. Let’s turn to John one. Start to see the parallels between what they were doing back then and what we’re doing today.

John one, and we’ll start in verse twenty-six. “And John the Baptist answered them saying, I baptize with water, but there stands one among you whom you know not. He it is who comes after me, is preferred before me, whose shoes’ latchet I’m not worthy to unloose.” He’s talking about Jesus Christ. Verse twenty-nine. “And the next day John sees Jesus coming unto him and says, behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.” Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God. It’s interesting that John the Baptist didn’t call Him the Messiah. He immediately called Him Lamb. The Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world. He is our Passover Lamb.

First Peter one, and we’ll start in verse eighteen. First Peter one eighteen. “For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by the tradition of your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as the Lamb without blemish and without spot. Who verily was for ordained before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest into you in these last times.” Unlike in ancient Israel, they were looking at the lamb and trying to find blemishes and fault.

We’re not going to find those with Jesus Christ, but we have to know that He was sinless. So as we’re thinking about His sacrifice and what He did and His sinless life to be able to be that substitute for us, because we deserve death, we’re looking for that, that He doesn’t have any fault. Romans six verse twenty-three. Romans six twenty-three. “For the wages of sin,” The wages of our sin. “... is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Let’s go to Luke twenty-three, thinking of this lamb without blemish, our Savior. As He was going to... Just before His crucifixion, He was also found without blemish.

Luke twenty-three and verse one. “And the whole multitude of them arose and led Him to Pilate.” So, all of the Pharisees and priests and who wanted Jesus dead. “And they began to accuse Him saying, we have found this fellow perverting the nation and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that He is Christ, a King. And Pilate...” So, the Roman governor. “He said, are you the King of the Jews? And Jesus answered him, you say it. And then Pilate said to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault with this man.”

Verse thirteen. “And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers of the people he said unto them, you have brought this man unto me as one who perverts the people. And behold I have examined him before you and have held no fault in this man touching things you accuse him.” Fifteen. “Nor neither Herod who also examined Christ for I sent you to him, and lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto Him.” This is our lamb without spot. Our Passover Lamb.

Second Corinthians five. Ancient Israel had to select a lamb without blemish. It took time and effort. They knew it was valuable. That weighed on them. We should also know our Passover Lamb as well. Second Corinthians five and verse twenty-one. “For He has made Him to be sin for us,” God did “...who knew no sin, that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him.” Once again, brethren, Jesus Christ was our sinless substitute. He died in our place so that we can... Our sins no longer separate us from God. We can have eternal life. But that is the lamb that we have.

And back to ancient Israel. Turn back over to Exodus twelve. And point number two. So they selected the lamb, the second thing they did, they killed it. They killed the lamb. Exodus twelve and verse six. “And you shall keep that lamb up until the fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.”

This is something different for... and foreign for many of us, especially in Western nations, just the modern world, we don’t kill animals.

I can count on one hand how many animals I’ve killed in my life. Some fish growing up. We’d eat them after we’d catch them. It’s not quite the same. A mouse, maybe, a chipmunk, but I’ve never killed anything like a lamb. And I hazard a guess that most of you have not either. Maybe there’s a few hunters here who’ve killed a deer, but when you kill a deer, usually it’s with a gun, and it’s farther away. What they had to do here is killing a lamb in ancient Israel in Egypt here, and they had to slit its throat.

They had to catch the blood for this lamb, especially so they could put it on their doorpost, but the trachea and esophagus were both cut, and blood would come out. They’d find that spot. At least, this is how I understand they do it still today. First, when Jewish, they kill things that are kosher. They find that spot, the knife goes in, and blood comes out. And the lamb twitches a little bit, and then it’s dead. But before that, the lamb is docile. It’s a lamb. And they know how to soothe it. And then that quickly happens, humanely, and the lamb’s dead. But we don’t do that. We don’t understand that death the same way.

So for us, thinking about Jesus Christ’s death, it takes us stopping and thinking a little bit more. For ancient Israel, they knew life and death. It was a little clearer, especially with this lamb. That blood got on their hands, and it was warm. It stained the wool and got all over that pure white wool. It’s been sobering. So, for us, where we get meat from the store, and it’s a steak, and it already looks like that, it doesn’t look like what it was, a cow, a chicken. We have to stop and think and meditate on what Jesus Christ went through because we don’t have that obvious physical symbol of killing a lamb.

So for the Israelites, they had to butcher the lamb. They were responsible for its death. And for us, we were also, because of our sin, responsible for Jesus Christ’s death. Let’s turn to Isaiah fifty-three. Isaiah fifty-three, and we’ll start in verse one. Starting to think of our role in what Jesus Christ went through, yours and mine. Isaiah fifty-three and verse one. “Who has believed our report? To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as the tender plant and out of the root of dry ground. He’ll have no form or comeliness. And when we shall see Him,” it’s talking about Jesus Christ, “...there’s no beauty and that we should desire Him.”

Now, we start getting into our role. Read yourself into this first one. It says our and we. That’s you and me. “He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid our faces from Him. He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities, our sins, and the chastisement of peace was upon Him. And with His stripes, we are healed.” Starting to get into the bread and the wine and the meaning of those.

Jesus Christ was scourged for us, and then he was killed, crucified, and killed for us, for you and me, for our sins. Verse seven, seeing more of that Passover parallel. “He was oppressed, He was afflicted, and He opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and a sheep before the shearers is dumb, so He opened not his mouth.” A docile lamb that we can think of for all of those who killed one in Egypt with ancient Israel, lamb to the slaughter.

In verse ten, “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him.” It was God’s will that that would happen so He could expand his family. These are heavy things, brethren, but there’s joy at the end of it. This is a crucial part of God’s plan. It’s no wonder that God had a type of it all the way back in Egypt during the Exodus in the Old Testament and is fulfilling it in a grander way, in this awesome way with Jesus Christ and a new for you and me.

Let’s turn to Romans four. The lamb had to die. Romans four and verse twenty-five. “Who was delivered to death for our offenses and was raised again for our justification.” So once again, just our sins made this happen. Let’s go over to Romans five, one more verse for this. In verse six, Romans five, six. “For when we were without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die but peradventure for a good man, some will even dare to die. But God commands His love toward us, in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies, we are reconciled to God by the death of His son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we now received the atonement.” Receive forgiveness.

Just as blood on the doorpost saved the firstborn in Egypt, Christ’s blood saves us. So let’s look at the third point here. The third thing that they did, they put the blood on the doorposts. The Israelites took the blood from the lamb and put it on doorposts. Back to Exodus twelve. Again, brethren, these are heavy things. Passover is one of the times that we stop and we think about these, what Jesus Christ did in a deeper way. Think about it throughout the year, but in a deeper way we do this as we lead into the Passover because it’s so crucial. We don’t want to make light of it.

Don’t worry, we’ll get to a point where there’s that joy. This Passover has both of those things. Exodus twelve and verse six. They put the blood on the doorposts. “And you shall keep the lamb up until the fourteenth day of the same month, when the whole assembly of the congregation shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take the blood and strike it on the two posts on the upper posts of the houses wherein they shall eat it.” So they put it on their doorposts. This formed a very visible mark. It was very clear what was occurring.

There are symbols and things that we see. When we get to the bread and wine, we’ll dive into those more deeply. But they should have a rich meaning too, just as it was obvious to all of those who were doing this in Egypt of what was occurring that that blood was a sign that God would pass over them, that the firstborn would not die in that household. It should be obvious to us the meaning of that bread and wine.

You think of some of the firstborn sons, maybe they’re ten years old, and they see their dad put that blood there. He may have explained in a simple way what it meant and that it would mean that he’d lived through the night, that ten-year-old boy. He may have went and touched the blood and felt it sticky on his hand. It was real to him, just as what we do in the Passover service should be real to us, and what it means should be real to us.

But there’s another element here with the blood on the doorposts that we can draw a parallel with Jesus Christ and His death, and that’s that it only happened once. After this one time, there was blood on doorposts, there’s no evidence that the Israelites continued to do that. They had a Passover lamb, and they ate it and a meal, all of those things, but God wasn’t passing over them every single year. It was looking back to that moment, and that blood was one time on those doorposts just as Christ died once for us all.

Hebrews nine. What Jesus Christ did for us is special, and we must not forget that. Hebrews nine and verse nineteen. “For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,” So this is talking about the old covenant here in the Old Testament, “...saying, this is the blood of the testament, which God has enjoined unto you. Moreover, he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all the things by the law were purged with blood.”

So in the Old Testament, it was very clear when you were going and you had a lamb or a bull or whatever it was that was sacrificed for sin to make you right with God in the Old Testament, old covenant. Verse twenty-two. “And almost all things by the law purged with blood, and without the shedding of blood is no remission of sins.” Now, verse twenty-eight.

“So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for Him, He shall appear a second time without sin unto salvation.” Jesus Christ died once for us. He went through terrible torture, scourging, and then crucifixion.

Hebrews ten. We’ll go over there, and we’ll start in verse five. Just the page over. Hebrews ten, five. “Wherefore, when he comes into the world, He says, sacrifice and offering you would not, but a body have you prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, you have no pleasure.” God doesn’t have pleasure in those things. “Then said I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book written of me to do your will, O God. Above, when He said sacrifice and burnt and offering for sin you would not, neither had you pleasured therein, which were offered by the law. Then said He, Lo, I come, do your will. He takes away the first that he may establish a second.” That old Testament, old covenant for a new covenant. That’s what we have.

In verse ten. “By the which we are sanctified through the offering of the blood of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily ministering, offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.” Never permanently take away sins. “But this Man,” Jesus Christ, “...after He’d offered one sacrifice for sins, sat down on the right hand of God.” Just as they put blood on that doorpost one time, Jesus Christ died one time for us. They looked after every Passover, ancient Israel kept looking back to that moment. And that’s what it referenced for them.

For us, in the New Testament, we’re looking back to Christ’s sacrifice and that Passover event. Back to Exodus twelve and the third point, third thing they did, they ate the lamb. They ate the lamb. Exodus twelve and verse seven. “And they shall take the blood and strike it on the two door side-posts and on the upper doorpost of the houses wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh that night, roast it with fire, and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs, they shall eat it, eat out of it raw nor sodden with water, but roast it with fire, his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.” The purtenance, the innards, thereof.

So they had to skin this lamb, back here, all these ancient Israelites, skinned the lamb, and they prepared it, but they had to eat it whole. So it was roasted whole. We can’t know for sure exactly how that all worked. Likely, they took out intestines and the stomach, because that would’ve tainted the meat. How exactly, they did it. But they roasted it whole, all of it. And it would’ve been very clear that it was still a lamb. That lamb that was killed as it was roasting still looked like a lamb, obviously without skin, but the shape of a lamb.

They would’ve still have known what animal that was. It’s not like it was a steak or a lamb chop or what we typically will eat with meat. They knew what they were eating. That meaning of what that lamb had done, its blood, was very clear to them and in their face. Elsewhere, God says that no bones should be broken, and there’s a parallel there with Jesus Christ of that Passover lamb. So we can’t know exactly how they ate it, but they roasted a whole.

And then the family, maybe they were tearing off pieces of flesh of that lamb and they were eating it. But it’d been very real to them. Roasting that lamb, smelling the fire, smelling those bitter herbs, very sensory and heightening the mood of the evening as they’re waiting for God to pass over. And God makes clear that for them, this wasn’t an ordinary meal.

In verse ten, “And you shall let nothing of it remain until the morning. And that which remains until the morning shall burn with fire.” Burn it up. This isn’t just a meal that you have casually. There was lessons God wanted them to learn. Just as for us with the Passover and the symbols we take in the New Testament, there’s lessons He wants us to learn. That’s why He burned it up. There’s not leftovers. It’s not your typical meal. Hey, we made a lamb, and now the next day, we can have a little more of that lamb. No. God wanted it special for that evening only. So, as they were eating, they saw that lamb, they saw the carcass. They were staring at that body that died, that lamb that died so that they’d be passed over.

Let’s turn to John six. John six. Start thinking about what we eat and what we take during the Passover service. John six, and we’ll start in verse fifty-three. “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Who so eats my flesh and drinks my blood shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” It’s awesome to just slow down and think about being able to have eternal life. “For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells in me and I in him.”

So back in Egypt, the Israelites consumed that lamb. They internalized it. It was very clear what was happening and the role that lamb took. We take in the bread and the wine, and it symbolizes taking in Jesus Christ, becoming part of us, that sacrifice. Thinking that through and making it live in us. Let’s turn to Luke twenty-two. So, we don’t kill a lamb anymore on the Passover. It’s different because Jesus Christ shifted the focus.

Luke twenty-two, and we’ll start in verse one. “Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh,” just as it is for us, “...which is called the Passover. And the chief priests and scribes sought how they may kill Him,” kill Jesus, “...for they feared the people. And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests how he might betray them.” I’m sorry, I skipped to verse four there. It’s talking about Judas. “And they were glad and covenanted to give him money. And he promised,” Judas, “...and sought opportunity to betray Him in the absence of the multitude.”

And verse seven, “Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the Passover must be killed.” It was just before it. Context makes that clear. “And He sent Peter and John saying, Go and prepare us the Passover that we may eat.” So they were going to keep the way that they did in Old Testament one more time, but Jesus tweaks it, as we know. Verse nine, “And they said unto Him, where will you that we prepare? And he said, behold, when we are entered into the city, there shall be a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water, follow him to the house where he enters in.

And He said, and you shall say unto the good man of the house, the master,” So Jesus, “...says unto you, where is the guestchamber where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples?” So there was a process in preparing for the Passover. Even all these many, many years later, there was still this process. “And he shall show you a large upper room furnished, there make ye ready. And they went and found it as He had said, and they made ready the Passover. And when the hour was come, He sat down,” Jesus Christ, “...and the twelve apostles with Him. And He said unto them, with desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you.” This crucial moment, just before He would suffer and die.

“For I say unto you, I will no more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God. He took the cup and gave thanks and said, take this and divide it among yourselves. For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God shall come.” Here’s where we get to our Passover service. “He took the bread and gave thanks and broke it, and said unto them saying, this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Likewise also, He took the cup after supper, saying, this is the New Testament in my blood which is shed for you.”

Let’s look at this one more way in First Corinthians. What do these symbols mean. They’re our Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ, His body and blood. Those had deep symbolism for those who came out of Egypt in the Old Testament, and they remembered that first Passover night. We look back to the Christ’s sacrifice. First Corinthians eleven, and we’ll start in verse twenty-three. “For I’ve received the Lord which was delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, take eat. This is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Think about it. Think about His body being broken.

“After the same manner, He took the cup when He had supped saying, this is the cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do you, as often as drink it,” that one time per year. It’s special, “...in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord’s death till He come. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup, unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.”

Why we think about these things leading up to Passover and what Jesus Christ went through is because we have to take it seriously and remember what He went through so that it’s not lost on us. We can internalize it and take it and come out of the Passover service and be more determined than ever to lead sinless lives. Verse twenty-eight, “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat that bread and drink that cup. For he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation or judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.”

We should discern what those things mean. The Lord’s body means the bread and the wine as we take them. How the wine, the blood is forgiveness from sins. How the bread, that physical beating that Jesus Christ took, is broken for us that we can have healing, that we can be healed physically. Brethren, we don’t select a lamb like Israel did. We don’t kill it with our own hands. We don’t put blood on our doorposts. We don’t see all the death that happened in Egypt during that first Passover, when there were people that died, and it was very real life and death was very clear. Yet it should still be real to us what all these things mean.

Discern the Lord’s body and the symbols. That’s all very heavy, brethren, but there’s also joy, just as there was joy for ancient Israel. So the last thing they had to do was leave with haste. Leave with haste back. Back to Exodus twelve and verse twenty-nine, twelve, twenty-nine. Exodus twelve, twenty-nine. “And it came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all of the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon, all the firstborn of the cattle.

And Pharaoh rose that night, he and all of servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt. And there was not a house there was not one dead. So He called for Moses and Aaron and said, Get out of here.” Verse thirty-three. “And the Egyptians were urgent with the people that they may send them out of the land in haste.” These slave people, the Hebrews, the Israelites, and they, “Get out of here.” They were urgent.

Verse thirty-four. “And people took the dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs were being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses, and they borrowed of the Egyptian jewels and silvers, jewels of gold and raiment. And the Lord gave people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. So they lent them things as they were acquired, and they spoiled the Egyptians.” They came out with a high hand.

Brethren, when we take the Passover symbols, we get a clean slate. Our sins are forgiven. It’s a somber, serious moment when we do those things, and we want to take it seriously. But it’s also joyful that we have that and are able to be right with God, to put sin out of our lives, that He can build His holy righteous character in us. Taking those symbols gives us momentum leading into the Days of Unleavened Bread when we humble and draw closer to God. Recommit ourselves in a greater way to living His way.

Brethren, I want us all to think, as we draw to a close, of the firstborn in Israel, who was very real to them that they were spared. The Egyptian firstborn were not spared. The Israelites’ ones were, because of that blood. When they walked through the door and saw that, it was real. When they ate that lamb, it was real. They would never have forgotten that moment.

Brethren, we’re firstborn, too. Let’s turn to Hebrews twelve. Hebrews twelve. As we pray, Hebrews twelve describes this, we come before something, and we’re also part of it. Hebrews twelve and verse twenty-three. I’ll start in verse twenty-two. “But you are come unto Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable company of angels.” When we’re on our knees praying to God, this is what’s around us. You picture it.

“To the general assembly of the church of the firstborn,” that’s us. We’re the church of the firstborn, “...which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling.” When we come out of Passover, we won’t be sinless quite yet. We’re not born into the God family, and we’ll need that blood of sprinkling. Jesus is our mediator, that we can have forgiveness and be assured of it.

Come boldly before God and ask Him for that when we do make mistakes. So just as those firstborn in Israel look back, we as a church of the firstborn, look back to Jesus’s sacrifice. And let it be more real than ever before in our lives, as we take those symbols. Jesus Christ’s death was an Exodus. We saw that. The death of our Lamb, Jesus Christ, should have an even deeper meaning than anything that ancient Israel even saw because we know the spiritual elements of it.

Brethren, before we take the symbols this year, the bread and the wine, let’s all meditate on their meaning. Think about them. As we put the bread in our mouths and chew, that’s Christ’s body broken for us, so that we can be healed. We drink the wine to remember the forgiveness of sins. A clean slate. Let’s all remember the Lamb that died so we can live. Our Lamb, Christ, our Passover.