The Passover

 

The Passover Exodus 12

In Genesis 46, Jacob took his family down into Egypt. And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls... And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them. Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. (Exodus 1:5-8) So here was Israel, enslaved in Egypt, when God sent Moses with a message for Pharaoh, Let my people go. When Pharaoh refused, God sent the 10 plagues upon Egypt. Exodus 12 tells us of the last plague, death of the firstborn, and the institution of Passover.

1 And the LORD spoke 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.
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:
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.
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:

This first month is the month Abib. On the tenth day every house was to choose a lamb and set it apart, making sure it was without blemish.

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.

On the 14^th day of the month they were to kill the lamb, sacrifice it...

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.

Then they were to take the blood and put it on the door frame...

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

Then they were to eat the lamb, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Eat it fully dressed and in haste. Why do all this?

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.
13 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.

According to v 11, it was the LORD’s passover. The blood on the door was not for the neighbors, it was for the LORD. The important thing was that the LORD saw the blood. He explains in v 12 & 13:

I will pass through the land of Egypt and smite all the firstborn (this and the other 9 plagues were judgment on the gods of Egypt). And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. They were redeemed by the blood of the lamb!

The LORD instituted Passover as an annual feast to remind Israel that they were redeemed from their bondage in Egypt by the right hand of God. The unleavened bread reminded them they had no time to prepare proper bread, they ate in haste; the bitter herbs/vegetables reminded them their life in Egypt was bitter, was bondage, was a life of slavery. They were redeemed. Passover commemorates the greatest work of God in the Old Testament.

While the feasts of the LORD looked back at his great works for them in the past, they were also prophetic, looking forward to the even greater redemption through the promised Messiah. Speaking by the Holy Spirit, the apostle tells us in 1 Corinthians 5:7, For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us. The wonderful feast of Passover is a type, a foreshadowing, of Christ, a picture of his suffering for us.

A male lamb without blemish was chosen and set apart – Christ, the lamb of God, was holy, harmless [without guile or fraud, harmless, free from guilt], undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens (Hebrews 7:26); and he through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God (Hebrews 9:14)

The blood was applied to the door – they literally took blood and placed it on the door posts and lintel. This was done by faith. God had promised them, When I see the blood, I will pass over you; they had never seen anything like that before. Those who believed the promise applied the blood, those who applied the blood were spared. What a beautiful picture! We do this spiritually when we believe in Christ. And through our faith in Christ we are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. (1 Peter 1:19) 

You see how it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and  rise from the dead?

They ate the lamb – This is very interesting, very personal. They sacrificed the lamb, applied the blood to the door, then ate it. Christ is our Passover lamb. We trust in the blood, then we eat the lamb. What? How?