The Passover
October 17, 2022
Commentary
Don’t pass over the Passover. This is God’s memorial day. The Passover marks the beginning of deliverance from bondage and the beginning of the Jewish religious year (vv. 1-2). The Lord said, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you” (v.13). The sprinkled blood on the Israelites’ houses provided protection from death when God destroyed the Egyptian firstborn. It was to be a constant reminder that God had intervened in Egypt and had rescued Israel from the cruelty of the Egyptians. Parents were to instruct their children from generation to generation, telling them the story of redemption through the blood of the lamb. The death of the lamb marks a new beginning just as the death of Christ on the cross marks a new beginning for the believing sinner.
The Lamb chosen (vv. 1-5) – Although the Passover was not celebrated until the fourteenth day, the lamb had to be observed for four days to make sure it had no blemishes. Christ also had to be observed for four days in Jerusalem prior to His crucifixion.The Lamb slain (vv. 6-7) – No atoning virtue resided in the living lamb, it had to die. In the same way we are not saved by Christ’s example or His life but by His death.The Lamb eaten (vv. 8-14) – The blood of the lamb saved the Israelites from death; but the people had to feed on the lamb to gain strength to live day by day. Salvation is just the beginning! We must feed on Christ if we are going to have the strength to follow Him.
Application
The blood of the lamb separated Israel from the Egyptians. Jesus blood separates me from the world.
Exodus 12:1– 14 (NET)
1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month is to be your beginning of months; it will be your first month of the year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel, ‘On the tenth day of this month they each must take a lamb for themselves according to their families —a lamb for each household. 4 If any household is too small for a lamb, the man and his next-door neighbor are to take a lamb according to the number of people—you will make your count for the lamb according to how much each one can eat. 5 Your lamb must be perfect, a male, one year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 You must care for it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then the whole community of Israel will kill it around sundown. 7 They will take some of the blood and put it on the two side posts and top of the doorframe of the houses where they will eat it. 8 They will eat the meat the same night; they will eat it roasted over the fire with bread made without yeast and with bitter herbs. 9 Do not eat it raw or boiled in water, but roast it over the fire with its head, its legs, and its entrails. 10 You must leave nothing until morning, but you must burn with fire whatever remains of it until morning. 11 This is how you are to eat it—dressed to travel, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.
12 ‘I will pass through the land of Egypt in the same night, and I will attack all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both of humans and of animals, and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, so that when I see the blood I will pass over you, and this plague will not fall on you to destroy you when I attack the land of Egypt.
14 ‘This day will become a memorial for you, and you will celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—you will celebrate it perpetually as a lasting ordinance.
Illustration: Food For 3 Million Would Have Taken 1500 Tons
The Passover story is extremely familiar; you might say it is overly familiar. Did it ever occur to you that all of this didn’t just happen but because God had a plan? After the Exodus from Egypt Moses and the people were in the desert. The feeding of 2 or 3 million people requires a lot of food. According to the Quartermaster General of the Army Moses would have needed 1,500 tons of food each day. That would have required two freight trains, each a mile long every day. Besides he would have needed firewood to cook the food. That would have taken 4,000 tons of wood (several more freight train cars) just for one day. They also would have had to have water and that would take 11 million gallons each day (A few more freight trains). To get across the Red Sea in one night there had to be a space of dry land 3 miles wide so they could walk 5,000 abreast. Do you think Moses figured all of this out before he left Egypt? I don’t think so. (Lou Nicholes – Missionary/Author).