The Passover Feast, Exodus 12:14-27 (Jewish Feasts-1)
Series Introduction
This morning we will begin a series of sermons in examination of the six major Jewish Feasts of the Old Testament. While these will be primarily teaching sermons, reminding us and perhaps opening our eyes to some new information, our focus will not be merely the accumulation of information about the roots of our faith, but to learn how to apply that information in relevant ways.
Of primary concern will be for us to see the ways in which every major Jewish Feasts points to Jesus Christ. You see, the Old Testament is not divorced from the New Testament. Jesus did not establish a profoundly new way of relating to God; He fulfilled all of the promises of the Old Covenant. He became the revelation of the fullness of God which is alluded to in types, figures, and shadows in the Old Testament; that is, the covenant which God made with Israel.
Israel was, and in many ways remains, God’s chosen people, though which God would bring life to the entire world. It is rightly said that Israel is the vehicle, the vessel, or the conduit, through which God has brought salvation to the world.
While it occurs to me that many Christians and the Western Christian Church in general has not focused a great deal attention on the feasts, festivals, symbols, and beauty of the doctrines and theology of the Old Testament, within these things are contained a wealth of beauty for the modern believer. In remembering the Old we do not lose sight of that which has come to us in Christ, but see every more clearly the wonder of God’s unfolding revelation and intentional plan.
The World War I era American Evangelist Gipsy Smith once wrote, “Remembrance is a paradise from which we need not be driven.” In remembering the Holy Feasts of Israel, it my deepest desire that we may be exposed to or reminded of an increased appreciation for the beauty of intentionality with which the Sovereign God of the universe has revealed Himself unto His creation.
As Israel celebrated the Holy Feasts which they had been commanded to observe in the Law, they celebrated the very thing which would free them and us from the consequences of our inability to keep the law; Christ! So, as we move into this series of sermons, let us prepare our hearts to see Christ in new ways.
Sermon Introduction
There are some things in this life that are bittersweet. I remember when Sebastian was just a little child, about the age of 6 months old; he loved to eat raw lemons. If Christian and I were at a restaurant and a lemon came on the rim of our water or drink, he would point to it and fuss until we gave it to him. He would proceed to eat all of the body of the lemon, save for the rind, which he would gum a little and chew. I could never understand what it was about that lemon that tasted good to him, but he enjoyed it greatly.
There are many things which are bittersweet. The Passover Feast is one of these things in the Bible. The Passover was held every year in celebration of God having “passed over” the children of Israel during the last of the 10 plagues which God delivered to Egypt as the result of Pharaoh’s disobedience to the will of God as delivered to him by Moses and Aaron, to free the Jewish Nation from slavery after more than 400 years of captivity, bondage, and slavery.
Exposition
Exodus 1:6-14: Introduces the situation in Israel. Joseph, the youngest and favored son of Jacob, you will recall had been sold in slavery in Egypt by his brothers, largely out of jealousy. But what they meant for evil, God meant for good. Joseph amassed great power in Egypt, becoming the second in command in all of Egypt, the only greater power was Pharaoh himself.
The events described in the early portion of Exodus bring us to a place generations after Joseph; to a time when the Israelites had become enslaved, were persecuted, and even feared because of their great numbers. We see again in the events leading up to the Passover event which the feast commemorates and is ultimately fulfilled in Christ, and commemorated to this day each time we celebrate communion; we again see God using Pharaoh to nurture the one through whom He would bring great blessing to Israel.
Joseph had gained great power in Egypt and Moses was raised the secretly adopted son of Pharaohs very daughter. Herein is a great principal which we do well not to fail to recognize in our own lives. The Lord, He who is sovereign upon the earth and seated high above all of the powers and rulers of this earth, is able to use whatever means He deems fit to deliver and bless His people. The blessing of God may, and often does come through unlikely sources.
Exodus chapter 2 outlines Moses birth and the events surrounding his having to flee from Egypt. Then in chapter 3 the Lord appears to Moses in a burning bush, the invisible becomes visible as God interacts with the man Moses; giving him instructions on what He is to do. The Lord commands Moses to instruct Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, the mightiest ruler in all of the then known world, to let the Jewish people go as the Lord has instructed.
In Exodus chapter five, Moses and Aaron stand before Pharaoh and demand on behalf of the Lord that he let the Jewish people go so that they may worship the One True God. In Exodus 5:2 Pharaoh gives the all too familiar statement of our day as well, "Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD and I will not let Israel go.” (NIV)
In response to this, Pharaoh actually makes their labor harder, forcing them to make mud bricks with no straw. No comes the series of plagues that God, through Moses, delivers upon Egypt to display His mighty and awesome power that His majesty might be displayed and that Pharaoh’s heart might be swayed.
(1) The plague of blood; God turned the Nile River into blood. (2) The plague of frogs; when frogs came up from the Nile and covered the land. (3) The plague of Gnats. (4) The plague of flies. (5) The plague of the livestock; all of the livestock of the Egyptians died but none of the Israelites. (6) The plague of boils; men and animals alike were covered in festering boils. (7) The plague of hail. (8) The plague of locusts; covered the land and devoured what crops were left over from the hail. (9) The plague of darkness; as light hid itself from Egypt for a period of three days. (10) The final plague was that of the firstborn.
Exodus 12:21-33: Only the children of the covenant; those of the provision of God’s sovereign protection, were spared. Here we see the biblical account pointing the way all the way to the Cross of Jesus Christ! You see, God made a way for salvation through the blood of the spotless and blameless lamb which was sacrificed as a part of the meal of the Passover; just as He has made a way for salvation for the whole world through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ!
Passover is the oldest religious feast held by any people group in the world. It is still celebrated by orthodox Jews who have not received the fullness of revelation in Christ, and we still celebrate it, in fullness, in the elements of communion.
The time of the Passover is in the month of Nisan, the first month of the Hebrew calendar, in the spring time (March-April). The Feast of Passover is immediately followed by the feast of unleavened bread. All of the elements of the Passover feast in one way or another point to and symbolize our bondage to slavery of sin as the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt and the deliverance which came through the shedding of the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ ultimate provision.
The central elements of the Passover Feast are a lamb roasted over an open fire which speaks of God’s protection and provision for his people – Israel is God’s firstborn. The bitter herbs present in the meal represent the bitter suffering of Israel while in captivity in Egypt. The flat unleavened bread recalls the haste of their departure as they had no time to prepare the bread with yeast (leaven).
Luke 22:7-21: The primary purpose of the Passover Feast, in the mind of first century Jews, would have been to bring to mind that which God had done for His people in their deliverance from Egypt.
And yet, contained within the very symbolism of the Passover mean, embodied in the original decree of God through Moses, and contained within the beauty of the Passover was the ultimate fulfillment of God in Christ to free His people from not only earthly captivity, but spiritual enslavement to sin and to its eternal consequences. Jesus said that He did not come to destroy the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them; and that is exactly what God has done in Christ.
The blood of the lamb which was sprinkled on the doorposts of the house of every Jew in Egypt to mark the homes of God’s covenanted people foreshadowed the blood of the Lamb of God which would one day save all those who would call upon His name for forgiveness.
The wine which was drank at the table of the Passover, which according to rabbinic teaching must be red, pointed to the blood of Christ at the Cross and the foreshadowed the communion cup of the Sacraments of the Church. There is no division between that which is taught in the Old Testament and that which is taught in the New Testament.
There are not two Gods; one of wrath and one of grace. There is but one God of promise and fulfillment; revelation and salvation; Law and mercy.
Conclusion
The prevailing and overarching theme or parallel motif of both the Passover events of Israel’s being freed from bondage and the symbolism contained in the feast of remembrance alongside the institution of the Lord’s Supper and the events of the crucifixion is the idea of covenant. ‘
On the eve of the Passover, as God spared the first born of Israel and slay the first born of Egypt, God revealed Himself as the god of the Fathers of Israel, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who had remained steadfast in the Covenant of God.
On the eve of the Crucifixion, as God spared not His own Son, He revealed Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who had delivered His people Israel from Pharaoh and who know offers deliverance to all who receive His Son; the spotless and blameless paschal (Passover) lamb!
Hallelujah! Praise Him! The same God who delivered them has delivered us! The same God who delivered His people from the bondage of Pharaoh and the affliction of slavery has delivered us from sin! The same bitterness represented by the bitter herb of the Passover Seder has been removed from our lives as well.
We have tasted the sweetness of salvation; drank from the cup of redemption!
Jesus is the Passover Lamb. In the prophetic book which bears his name, Isaiah spoke of the coming Messiah in terms of the Passover Lamb who would take upon himself the wrath of God for the freedom of His people. There is no question that with regard to biblical doctrine, Jesus is the foreshadowed Passover Lamb.
The only real question to ask oneself is, “Is He my Passover Lamb?” Are the doorposts of my house covered in the blood of the Lamb? Amen.
