Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

Free Grace Media

Of Princeton, New Jersey

 

AuthorClay Curtis
TitleChrist Our Passover
Bible TextExodus 12:1-14
Synopsis The passover lamb is a type of Christ Jesus. Paul said, “For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.” (1 Cor 5: 7) Listen.
Date06-May-2018
Series Exodus 2016
Article Type Sermon Notes
PDF Format pdf
Word Format doc
Audio HI-FI Listen: Christ Our Passover (32 kbps)
Audio CD Quality Listen: Christ Our Passover (128 kbps)
Length 45 min.
 

Series: Exodus

Title: Christ our Passover

Text: Exodus 12: 1-14

Date: May 6, 2018

Place: SGBC, New Jersey

 

Exodus 12 describes the last night of Israel’s bondage in the land of Egypt. The children of Israel stand as a type of God's spiritual Israel, God’s elect. We were born into this world in bondage of sin with no way to free ourselves.  There is so much which glorifies Christ in these verses.  Therefore, we will take it verse by verse. 

  

Exodus 12: 1: And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2: This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.

 

This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. This typified what Christ fulfilled in the year he was made of a woman. Christ’s birth marked the beginning of a new calendar.  We began to mark our calendars AD—Anno Domini—which is Latin for the “year of our Lord.” Christ truly fulfilled all that was written of him.

 

Exodus 12: 3: Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house.

 

A lamb.  The Lord Jesus Christ is set before us throughout scripture as the Lamb of God. The passover lamb is a type of Christ Jesus.  Paul said, “For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.” (1 Cor 5: 7)

 

Exodus 12: 4: And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.

 

A lamb for an house, according to the number of the souls.  God has provided Christ the Lamb according to the exact number of God’s elect. He has provided his Son, and free redemption by him, for each and every elect child of God.  Every chosen child of God shall be born again of God. Through God-given faith, we “all eat the same spiritual meat,” Christ the Lamb. (1 Cor 10: 3) None shall be lost because God has provided atonement “according to the number of the souls” that he chose from before the foundation of the world. Christ said,

 

John 6:39  And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I SHOULD LOSE NOTHING, but should raise it up again at the last day.

 

Exodus 12: 5: Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats.

 

The lamb had to be without blemish.  In order to be a fit sacrifice to God for his people, Christ the Lamb had to have no sin of his own.  Therefore, Christ was born of a virgin. He was not born of Adam’s corrupt seed. The angel of the LORD told Joseph, “that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.” (Mt 1: 20) Therefore from the womb, Christ was without sin.  The Lord Jesus Christ lived from a perfect holy heart and always did that which is righteous.  Even when our Substitute bore our sin on the cross, he never was himself corrupted. On the cross, he was obedient even unto death. Christ remained spotless in his faithfulness to the Father.

 

I Peter 1: 19: 18: Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19: But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

 

The lamb had to be a male. God made the first head and representative male. Adam was the head and representative of all who would be born of him, that is, all mankind.  Likewise, God made the last Adam, Christ Jesus, male.  Christ is the head and representative of all those given him of the Father, that is, of all God’s elect. They each shall be born of Christ. The life Adam gave was temporal. But the life Christ gives his sons and daughters is eternal. That is one reason Christ is called “the everlasting Father.” (Is 9: 6)

 

The lamb had to be a male of the first year.  Christ Jesus was thirty-three years old when he went to the cross.  He was in the prime of life.  This declares that no man took his life from him.  He laid it down of himself. (Jn 10: 17-18)

 

The lamb could be taken from the sheep or from the goats.  When taken from the sheep it typified Christ who knew no sin, who “once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.” (1 Pet 3: 18)  When taken from among the goats, it typified Christ made sin for his people. On the day of atonement, ceremonially, the goat “bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited.” (Lev 16: 22)  This typified Christ who was actually made sin for his people, “For he hath made him sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Cor 5: 21)

 

Exodus 12: 6: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.

 

Keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month and kill it in the evening. The lamb was kept until the set time appointed by God and killed at the set time appointed by God. Christ came into this world at God’s set time—“when the fulness of THE TIME was come.” (Gal 4:4)  Throughout our Savior's life “they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because HIS HOUR was not yet come.” (Jn 7: 30)  But when God’s set time came, “Jesus answered them, saying, THE HOUR is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.” (Jn 12: 23)  This declares that Christ was in full control of his death. Again, no man took his life; Christ laid it down of himself and he raised it up again of himself. (Jn 10: 18)

 

The whole assembly of the congregation of Israel killed the lamb in the evening.  Christ was crucified because of the whole assembly of the congregation of God’s elect Israel. It was because he willingly went to the Garden of Gethsemane and presented himself to the Father and took upon himself the sin of each of God’s elect Israel. The sin of the whole assembly of the congregation of God’s elect Israel is the reason Christ was crucified.

 

Exodus 12: 7: And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.

 

And they shall.  Who was it that took the blood and applied it the door posts of the houses? It is common to hear this preached as a type of our believing on Christ.  There is a song we sing that speaks of the sinner applying the blood of Christ to himself.  But notice in verses 21-22 that it was each elder, the head of his own house, who applied the blood to the doorposts of his own house.

 

Exodus 12: 21: Then Moses called for all the ELDERS of Israel, and said unto THEM, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. 22: And YE shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.

 

Christ is the Elder who is Head of his house.  He must receive the glory for shedding his blood for each of his people AND for applying his blood within each of his people.

 

Hebrews 9:14: How much more shall the BLOOD OF CHRIST, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, PURGE YOUR CONSCIENCE from dead works to serve the living God?

 

Through the Holy Spirit, Christ makes his everlasting covenant in our heart when he purges our conscience with his blood.  We see a type of Christ joining the new everlasting covenant of grace within the hearts of his people by the way Moses dedicated the first covenant of works to the children of Israel:

 

Hebrews 9: 18: Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.19: For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and ALL THE PEOPLE, 20: Saying, THIS IS THE BLOOD OF THE TESTAMENT WHICH GOD HATH ENJOINED UNTO YOU. 21: Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. 22: And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. 23: It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

 

Moses was a mediator between God and his people typifying Christ our Mediator.  Moses dedicated the first covenant of works by sprinkling the people with the blood of calves and goats. But in regeneration, through the Holy Spirit, Christ our Head sprinkles the hearts of each of his people with his own blood. He speaks effectually into our hearts, saying, “This is the blood of the new everlasting testament which God hath made unto you.”

 

We see another type of this inner work the night Christ observed the first Lord’s Table with his apostles. He gave them the cup of wine, saying, “This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.” (Lu 22: 20) 

 

Christ is the Elder—the Head of his house—who through the Holy Spirit applies his own blood which purges our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.  Only then is a believer given faith and repentance. So it is in the next verse of our text that we behold the believer’s faith in Christ and repentance from dead works.

 

Exodus 12: 8: And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

 

Everything written in this verse is a picture of the believer’s faith in Christ and repentance from dead works. Each thing written is very important because each thing pictures what is included in God-given faith and God-given repentance.

 

They shall eat the flesh in that night. As soon as the blood of Christ is applied to the doorpost of our hearts by God, we are made willing to eat Christ’s body and drink his blood by believing on him.

 

John 6: 53: Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 54: Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55: For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56: He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. 57: As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.

 

 

The lamb must be roasted with fire.  Faith believes on Christ crucified. On the cross, having been made sin for us, the Lord Jesus Christ was made a curse for us. God poured out on our Substitute the fire of his holy wrath. True faith does not partake of Christ in order to make his blood effectual for us.  True faith eats the Lamb already roasted with fire, confessing, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Gal 2: 20) God-given faith believes that when Christ bore the fire of God’s wrath, “our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” (Rom 6: 5)

 

They must eat the lamb with unleavened bread. Leaven is a type of sin: sin of self-righteous works and sin of our unholy heart.  Just as leaven makes bread rise, sin puffs us up in pride of self-righteous works and pride of a sinful heart.  That was once what all our religion was.

 

Christ makes his people unleavened when of God, Christ is made unto us Righteousness and Sanctification. (1 Cor 1: 30) Christ made his people righteous by dying for us on the cross. Christ makes us holy by creating in us a new spirit in which is no guile—no sin. Both these works are necessary and both are by Christ. So it is written,

 

Psalm 32: 2: Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, AND in whose spirit there is no guile.

 

We worship God “in spirit” when Christ our Sanctification dwells within us giving us a new spirit in which is no guile.  We worship God “in truth” when we believe on Christ our Righteousness.  That is what Christ meant when he said,

 

John 4: 24: God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH.

 

By this two-fold work for us and in us, Christ makes us unleavened so that we worship him with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.    

 

1 Corinthians 5: 7: Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as YE ARE UNLEAVEND. FOR EVEN CHRIST OUR PASSOVER IS SACRIFICED FOR US: 8: Therefore let us keep the feast, NOT WITH THE OLD LEAVEN neither WITH THE LEAVEN OF MALICE AND WICKEDNESS; but with the UNLEAVENED BREAD OF SINCERITY and TRUTH.

 

Before, we brought the old leaven trying to add our self-righteous works. Now, we truly worship God with the unleavened bread of Truth trusting Christ our Righteousness.  Before, all our worship was the leaven of malice and wickedness because it was all from our sinful, natural heart. Now, we truly worship God with the unleavened bread of sincerity in the new spirit in which is no guile where Christ our Sanctification dwells.

 

This is what was pictured by them eating the lamb with unleavened bread—it true faith believing on Christ, not attempting to add our righteousness or our sanctification, because of God, Christ is made both unto us. (1 Cor 1: 30)

 

They must eat the lamb with bitter herbs.  Accompanying God-given faith in Christ is God-given repentance which includes bitterness and sorrow of heart over our sin.  There is yet our old man of sin abiding in us bringing forth nothing but self-righteousness. Beholding Christ on the cross, we abhor our sin and mourn because our sin is against him who loved us and gave himself for us.

 

Zechariah 12: 10: And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in BITTERNESS for him, as one that is in BITTERNESS for his firstborn.

 

Exodus 12: 9: Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. 10: And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.

 

Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire. We believe on Christ knowing there was no other way our sin could be put away and we be made the righteousness of God except by Christ bearing our sin and our curse under the fiery wrath of God.

 

His head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning.  God-given faith receives all of Christ. We are fully committed to Christ and do not trust him half-heartedly.  We cannot be lukewarm in our commitment to Christ and his church.  We must not partake of some truth only. To the church at Sardis the Lord said,

 

Revelation 3: 15: I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16: So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17: Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 19: As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: BE ZEALOUS THEREFORE, and repent.

 

And that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.  A few weeks ago Brother Paul Mahan told me a story. He has Rolph Barnard’s bible. He took it out during a men’s meeting. Each man wanted to look at that bible, simply because it was Brother Barnard’s bible. Finally, one of the men said, “We need to burn that thing!”

 

You recognize why the man said that, I am sure.  The Lord provided the brazen serpent in the wilderness to which the children of Israel looked and were saved from the serpents. Afterwards, they began to worship the brazen serpent rather than Christ who it represented.  God declared that it is nothing but a piece of brass, burn it! 

 

So the children of Israel were to burn what was left over of the passover feast so that they would not start worshipping the parts left over rather than Christ who it represented.

 

Exodus 12: 11: And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD'S passover.

 

Thus shall ye eat it. This is how the believer is to partake of Christ all our lives, as a pilgrim and stranger in this earth, ready to depart and be with Christ at any moment.  We are to have our loins “girt about with truth” (Ephesians 6:14); our feet are to be “shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15); with the staff of faith in our hands.  We are to be hastening to that day we shall depart, eagerly anticipating going home to be with our Lord forever.

 

It is the Lord’s Passover. This is our motive.  Salvation is of the Lord!  God chose the Lamb. He slew the Lamb. He applies the blood. He gives the gifts of faith and repentance, making us willing to eat the Lamb. The glory belongs to him! So we know it is sure salvation.

 

Exodus 12: 12: For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

 

Exodus 12: 29: And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all 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; and all the firstborn of cattle. 30: And Pharaoh rose up 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.

 

I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.  The firstborn is like the firstfruits—what the first is the rest are.  The firstborn was sin and so were all the rest.  All must die under the just judgment of God for all have sinned.  So all the firstborn in the land of Egypt were smitten that night and all died under the just judgment of God. We tend to think of firstborn babies. I am a firstborn, AJ is a firstborn, Rob is a firstborn.  All ages of firstborn sons died that night. There was not a single house without a dead firstborn son in it.  To destroy the firstborn was to destroy the heir. It ended a man’s name and his dynasty. So Christ crushed the devils head and destroyed his name forever. And so all who meet God not under the blood of Christ shall die and their name put out forever.

 

When I see the blood, I will pass over you. The difference between the Egyptians and Israel was made by God.  God provided a lamb for the firstborn in Israel.  And those under the blood were passed over because they died in the lamb.

 

Christ the Lamb of God—God’s Firstborn Son—died in place of a multitude no man can number. Christ applies the blood and brings each of his redeemed to eat his flesh and drink his blood in faith.  And when God sees the blood of his Son, he shall Passover us. It is because our judgment was settled by Christ on the cross.  Christ the Firstborn arose to establish God’s name forever!  Those who are brought by God to believe on Christ, live and go out free because of Christ the Firstborn among many brethren. In Christ the Firstborn all who he redeemed are his firstborn sons. We are the church of the firstborn.

 

Therefore, everything God declared Pharaoh and the Egyptians would do in thrusting Israel out of Egypt was brought to pass by God exactly as he said,

 

Exodus 12: 31: And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as ye have said. 32: Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also. 33: And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men. 34: And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. 35: And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: 36: And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.

 

Every blessing God gave to his people in Christ before the foundation of the world, God brings to pass for his elect who believe on Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.

 

Romans 8: 1: There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

 

Ephesians 1: 6: To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 7: In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; 8: Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; 9: Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:

 

Exodus 12: 14: And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.

 

This day shall be unto you for a memorial: and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD.  We do not keep the Passover feast—Christ ended it, he is our Passover sacrificed for us.  But we have a memorial to remember Christ by.  We keep the feast our Lord instituted by partaking of the unleavened bread to remember his broken body and the wine on the lees (unleavened) to remember his shed blood.  This we do in remembrance of Christ. This we do showing forth his death until he returns.  And we keep the feast spiritually, by living each day by faith in Christ our Passover who is sacrificed for us.

 

There is coming a day when God shall pass through once more at the great day of judgment.  Only those under the blood of Christ will be saved. Will you be found under the blood of Christ Jesus?  If you have not believed on Christ flee to the Lamb, today. The LORD God says, "when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt."  May God be pleased to make you believe on Christ today. And may God be pleased to keep every believer ready to depart this land of Egypt at any time now.      

 

Amen!