The Story of Moses : Exodus 12
Passover
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
Chenoa Baptist Church
06-01–2025
In Christ Alone
In 2013, the PCUSA (Presbyterian Church) was putting together a new hymnal and wanted to include “In Christ Alone.” But there was a problem. They didn’t like one of the lines of the song and asked Keith Getty and Stuart Townsend if they could change it.
What was the issue?
“On that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.” They wanted to change it to “on that cross as Jesus died, the love of God was magnified.”
Keith and Stuart refused to change the lyric and that denomination voted to not include the song in the new hymnbook.
Why? Because we are saved by God from God! By nature, we are objects of God’s wrath, (see Romans 9:22) but God makes a way for His wrath to be appeased.
How, through the perfect sacrifice of His Son on the cross. Moses wrote that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. (Hebrews 9:22)
Charles Spurgeon proclaimed:
“See how red your guilt is. Mark the scarlet stain. If you were to wash your soul in the Atlantic Ocean, you might make every wave red that washes all its shores, and yet the crimson spots of your transgression would still remain. But plunge into the “fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins,” and in an instant you are whiter than snow. Every speck, spot, and stain of sin is gone, and gone forever.”
Let’s sing that verse from Christ Alone together:
In Christ alone, who took on flesh / Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness / Scorned by the ones He came to save
'Til on that cross as Jesus died / The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid /Here in the death of Christ I live, I live
Review
Over a period of nine months, the Egyptians had seen the Nile turn to blood, been inundated with frogs, been stung by gnats, been harassed by flies, lost their livestock to the plague, been infected with boils on their skin, endured the most violent hailstorm in the history of their country, watched a swarm of locust eat what was left of their food stores, and endured 72 hours of darkness so thick it could be felt.
They had cried out to their gods in vain. These three plagues would show them, once and for all, that God was the only God and He alone was worthy to be worshipped.
The people were terrified of what could come next. But Pharaoh didn’t care. His heart was hard as stone.
There is one more plague to come. It will cause Pharaoh to finally let you go and the people of Egypt will repay for 400 years of slavery.
The Israelites were God’s “first born,” and because Pharaoh wouldn’t let his first born go, the Egyptians will forfeit their first born.
This would be the most terrible of the plagues and cast an already distressed Egypt into deep mourning.
Please turn with me to Exodus 12.
Prayer
The Passover Commanded
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.
What was about to happen was so important that God literally reset the Jewish calendar! Their calendar would mark their deliverance from Egypt.
When we are born again, we get a new way to tell time. I’ll be 57 next month but spiritually I’m 35 years old spiritually.
“Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.”
On the tenth day of Nissan, (March/April), each family is to choose one year old lamb without defect, the best lamb of the flock. In Deuteronomy 17:1, Moses wrote that bringing a lamb that had blemishes was an abomination to God. The substitute had to be perfect.
If the family is too small, they would join with other families. In New Testament times, ten, and not more than 20, was the minimum number of people needed to celebrate this meal.
Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.
The lamb would be brought into the house for five days. Don’t you think that in those five days the children gave it a name? Maybe “Lammy?” They would feed it and it may have even slept at their feet for those five days.
But then, the father would take the lamb and cut its throat between the evenings - 3:00 pm. I can imagine that the children screaming, the lamb squealing, and the blood spurting from its neck. The innocent lamb was to die in their place.
Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.
The blood was to be applied to the doorframes of their houses.
Let me let Chuck Swindoll paint the picture better than I could:
Moses leaned down so that Abiah could see the lamb he was holding in his arms. He had come to the girl’s house to observe the Passover with her and her mother. The ten year old had los her father less than a month ago, when an Egyptian overseer beat him to death for not making his quota of bricks. Moses was here to comfort them and help them perform the rite of Passover.
“Abbi,” he said to the girl, “Put your hand on its forehead.” Moses took her hand in his and placed it above the lamb’s eyes. “Mariah, you too.” The girl’s mother stepped forward and placed her hand next to Abbi’s. “Let’s pray,” he said.
As the two bowed their heads, Moses glanced up and looked toward the west. He saw the bright slice of sun setting behind he war monuments in the treasury city of Ramses. It looked like a flat red wafer descending in a wine-colored sky. The Lord’s angel would be here soon.
“Lord,” he said, “We offer this lamb as a sacrifice to You according to Your command. Use it, its body and blood, to deliver us from the angel of death. Now, O Lord, come quickly, Amen.”
The other two repeated Moses’s “Amen” and watched him as he placed the animal in a shallow wood basin. Moses dug his fingers into the lamb’s thick wool at the base of the neck. With one hand clutched tightly into the pelt, he drew a knife with the other. The dagger was one that he had received from a rich Egyptian family - one of many fine articles they had given him as a result of God’s decree. As he gripped the gold handle and raised the knife, shards of light danced on the silver blade. With one swift jerk, he cut deep into the neck.
Blood gushed from the wound into the basin. The lamb jolted, quivered, then fell limp. Moses loosened his grip. After washing the blood from his hands, he knelt beside Abbi, who was struggling to understand this gruesome ceremony.
“I know, child. It’s not a pretty sight,” he said in a soft tone. “But the price of deliverance is high. The Egyptians will lose their first born tonight, but you and I will be spared because of the blood of this lamb.”
That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs. Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it.
The lamb must be roasted whole over fire. None of its bones should be broken. Anything left over, must be burned. There is to be no left-overs.
One commentator writes,
“The meat of the animal had been set apart for the Passover celebration; it was too sacred to be used at any other time. The Hebrews were not to save any meat for later. In addition, the full consumption of the sacrifice points to its completeness and efficacy. It signifies a full-scale redemption.”
This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.
Most people wore robes and when in public they would wear a belt. But when they got home, they would take their belt off.
But they were to eat this meal with the belt on, shoes on, and staff in hand. They were to eat it quickly.
This was not an Egyptian ritual. This is the Lord
This celebration not only looked back on their deliverance from Egypt, it also was meant to look forward to the coming of the Messiah.
“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.”
The tenth plague would come that very night the angel of death would bring judgement on the gods of Egypt. Remember, this was a showdown between Yahweh, the true God, and all the false gods of Egypt.
This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.
Like the pile of stones, or the little diecast bus that sits on our mantle, we talked about last week, this meal was to be a way to remember what God did when He brought them out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
“For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do. In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And anyone, whether foreigner or native-born, who eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel.”
After celebrating the Passover, they were to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days they were to eat bread with no yeast, or matzo.
In the Bible, leaven/yeast is a word picture of sin and corruption. Jesus warns His disciples against the “yeast” of the Pharisees (Matt 16:11) and says that a little yeast can affect a whole batch of dough (I Cor 5:6)
“Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.”
This is to be a celebration to remember their exodus from Egypt. The Jewish people still celebrate Passover and the Fast of Unleavened Bread today. But, unfortunately, they only celebrate it looking backwards. We’ll come back to this.
“Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning.”
Moses gives the people instructions. Slaughter the lamb. Use hyssop, a plant, and put the blood on the doorframe. Hyssop are tiny white flowers with fragrant aromatic leaves in the mint family and its use prevents the blood from coagulating. It was always connected with purification through sacrifice. One that is done, stay inside, don’t go out until the sun comes up.
“When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.“Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants.”
Because of their obedience, the destroying angel will “passover” the Israelite houses.
In the first three plagues, the Israelites and Egyptians both dealt with the Nile turning to blood, the frogs, and the gnats. Plagues 4-9, God made a distinction between His people and Pharaoh’s people.
But this last plague would again be felt by both Israelites and Egyptians. Why? Because the Israelites had worshipped the false gods of Egypt.
Moses wrote:
"For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are. Even now, while I am still alive and am here with you, you have rebelled against the LORD. How much more rebellious will you be after my death! (Deuteronomy 31:27)
God not only needed to get them out of Egypt but He needed to get Egypt out of them.
The Passover Enacted
"When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’” Then the people bowed down and worshiped. The Israelites did just what the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron.”
It is customary to this day, when a Jewish family celebrates Passover for the youngest child to ask why they do this and what does it mean. The adults would explain the story of the Passover and the Exodus and tell of God’s faithfulness to their people.
When Moses finished with the instructions, the people were overwhelmed by God’s gracious provision and worshipped. Then they got to work slaughtering the lambs.
The Tenth Plague
“At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.” During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested. Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.”
This plague was specifically against the Egyptian god Osris, the giver of life and Pharaoh, the incarnation of the god Amon Ra.
Do you think this is unfair? The Egyptians had killed the Hebrew babies. They had enslaved them for over four centuries.
The 1998 movie, “Prince of Egypt” imagines this event this way.
[Prince of Egypt- Death of the First Born]
Jesus the Passover Lamb
Later in the Old Testament, Abraham took his only son Isaac up the mountain to sacrifice him to the Lord. When Isaac asks where the animal is for the sacrifice, Abraham says,“God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” (Genesis 22:8)
At the last minute, God provided a ram caught in a thicket to take Isaac’s place. Abraham names that place, “God will provide.”
Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would be like a lamb:
“He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7)
John the Baptist proclaimed that Jesus was the lamb of Passover that takes our punishment in our place:
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)
The Apostle Paul and the early Christians saw the symbolism of Passover and the Feast of the Unleavened Bread:
“Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” ( I Cor 5:6-8)
The lamb had to be spotless, without blemish:
“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” (I Peter 1:18-19)
The writer of Hebrews makes this clear:
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)
The lamb died as a substitute for one who is condemned. The passover looked back at the deliverance out of Egypt but it also was meant to look forward to when the Messiah would come and die in our place as our passover lamb.
The angels and the redeemed multitudes sing praises to the lamb that was slain:
“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals,
because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.” (Rev 5:9)
- Garden of Eden- 1 animal covers 1 person
- Passover-1 Animal covers 1 family
- Day of Atonement-1 animal covers 1 nation
- The Cross of Calvary-The Lamb of God covers the whole world
1900 years after the first Passover, on the 10th of Nissan, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.
On the 14 of Nissan, when the Passover lambs were being slaughtered, Jesus hung on the cross.
The blood of the lamb in Exodus was God’s gracious promise to the Jewish people in Egypt.
The blood of Jesus is God’s gracious promise in the present to anyone who would, by faith, apply the good to the doorposts of your life.
Jesus celebrated the Passover with his disciples in the Upper Room, in what is commonly known as The Last Supper. It wasn’t a casual meal between friends. It was the Seder meal of Passover.
At this meal, Jesus instituted the celebration of communion to replace the Passover. Jesus didn’t come to abolish the Mosaic law. He fulfilled it and then instituted a new convent of grace at that passover meal.
Paul wrote to the church at Corinth:
“For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; [This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins - Matthew 26:18] do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” (I Cor 11:23-26)
As Christians, we don’t celebrate the Jewish feasts anymore because those were what the writer of Hebrews called, “shadows of things to come.” (Hebrews 10:1) Christ is the fulfillment of the feast. He is our Passover lamb.
Dr. John Currie writes:
“The fact of the matter is that when Christians celebrate the Lord’s Supper they are keeping the Passover that God commanded his people to honor in perpetuity....The reason that Christians celebrate the Passover in this way is, first, to remind themselves of the work of Christ in delivering his people from death and darkness. It is, furthermore, a sign that believers are the people of God and the covenant, and that God dwells in their midst. And, finally, it is a sign of the continuity of the people of God from the Old Testament to the New Testament and beyond.”
There is a church in Werden, Germany that has a lamb on top instead of a cross. When they were building the church, a stone mason fell and the other workers thought he had died.
When they got down, they found him stunned but alive. Just as he fell, aa shepherd had been passing by and he fell on one of the lambs. The lamb died breaking his fall.
In verse three, we see a lamb.
In verse four we see the lamb.
In verse 5, we see your lamb.
