The Passover
Notes
Transcript
Welcome
Welcome
Good morning once again everyone! It is so good to be gathered together today to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection. As we are in our Gospel Story sermon series, you might have been able to guess that we aren’t quite to the Easter story yet. But, we are conveniently at the first Passover that occurs when God brings the Israelites out of Egypt. Passover has a lot of implications for us, it ultimately points us to what Jesus does through his death and resurrection. And so today, we are going to be looking at the first Passover and how it relates to, and points to, the Lamb of God, Jesus, who was killed as our Passover lamb and who we share in his resurrection.
Prayer
Prayer
Engage / Tension
Engage / Tension
Last week we left off with God sending the first nine plagues on Egypt. At first they start off more annoying than anything else. Flies and frogs. But then they progressively get more severe. Their water is turned to blood, hail destroys people and livestock, darkness falls on the land, and the Egyptians get covered in painful boils. All of this has happened though, and Pharaoh refused to listen to what God was saying through Moses and Aaron. God then prepares Moses and Aaron to tell the people what to do, so as to avoid the last and final plague that will be sent on Egypt and Pharaoh.
Bible
Bible
1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt,
2 “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.
3 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.
4 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.
5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.
6 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.
7 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.
8 That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast.
9 Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs.
10 Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it.
11 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.
12 “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.
13 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.
When God begins to talk about this last plague, notice how important the events of this plague would be for the Israelites. Not only would this be an event for them to remember, but their entire year was actually going to be structured around the events of Passover. God then tells them exactly what they should do to prepare. They are to take a lamb for each family, or share it with another small family based on what people will eat and make sure that it is a perfect lamb. It can’t be one that is sick or have anything wrong with it. After caring for them for so many days they all were to slaughter them at the same time and after the lamb is killed, they are to spread some of the blood on the doorframes of their houses. They’re then given instructions on how to prepare the lamb and even how to eat it.
But on that night, God will come through Egypt and will kill every firstborn, people and animals, as a way of judgement against the gods of Egypt. This is God showing Pharaoh once and for all, that Yahweh, the God of the Israelites, is the only true God. But, the blood that is on the doorframes will be a sign, and God would pass over those houses that have the blood of the lamb on them.
Now, there are a lot of good questions that can be raised about this plague. Why did God do something like this? Does this make God evil for killing these people? I think that is a question that many of us have likely asked at some point in our lives if we have heard this passage. So, let’s address that really quick.
One of the first things we have to remember is what God told Abraham all those years ago.
1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
God made it clear long ago, that if a nation was evil towards the Israelites, then they will face punishment for it. Egypt itself experiences both aspects of this promise from God. When they listen to Joseph about the famine and honor him, things go well. They are able to survive the famine and even save Joseph’s entire family. (Which is the Israelites) But the problem for Egypt begins when they forget all of this. When they have a Pharaoh who doesn’t know or care about Joseph and what God did through him. Just as Egypt was blessed when they helped Israel, so now they are cursed for the evil that they have done. Which leads me to the next point. God is killing the firstborn of the families, and because of how we think about it, we think God is only killing children here. The firstborn is not focused on children. This would be the firstborn in every family no matter the age. Which would mean that a large portion of those affected by this plague are actually going to be those in leadership and ruling positions. The firstborn males in the family that would have inherited titles and positions. Now, compare this with the evil that Egypt had done to Israel. They attempted to have midwives kill Israelite babies, but when that failed they sent soldiers in to take all of the baby boys and kill them. So, when Egypt does that evil against Israel, God is not just going to let it go. (We will even see God at time deal justice to his own people when they disobey him)
But one of the most important things to remember here, is that God has given Pharaoh nine opportunities to listen to him. He did not just completely destroy Egypt, even though he could have. He gave multiple opportunities for Pharaoh and the people to listen to his word and to let the people go.
And finally, I want us to see that killing the firstborns in Egypt is not something that God enjoyed. He did not find pleasure or joy in sending this plague on these people.
31 Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel?
32 For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!
As we see here, God doesn’t want anyone to die, instead, he desires for people to repent of their evil and turn to him.
Hopefully that begins to answer the questions this passage raises, but now let’s move on and look at what the passover means for us at Easter.
The Perfect Lamb
The Perfect Lamb
First, the lamb that is killed acts as a substitute. If you were an Israelite and you wanted your family to survive this plague, then you had to kill an innocent animal. And you had to demonstrate that you did that by spreading the blood of that lamb over your doorway. If you did that, if you listened to what God said and obeyed, then your family would be spared. In the same way, Christ gave his life as our substitute.
18 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,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
This is what makes Christianity so different from any other religion. Our gospel is not a gospel of rules and regulations that you must follow to be saved. Our gospel is a gospel of grace. Grace is undeserved, unmerited favor. Because of the grace that is offered to us through faith in Christ, we are forgiven. We aren’t forgiven because we are “good people.” We are forgiven because the lamb of God, who was perfect, without blemish, without sin, died in our place. Our hope is not in ourselves, but entirely in Jesus, who gave his life for us, for paid the penalty of our sin on our behalf.
(Credit card debt illustration)
If you had debts, and someone just stepped in and paid them, without you doing anything to deserve it, what would that be like? That is precisely what Christ does for us.
1 Cor 5:7 “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” Because of our sin, we owed a debt we could not pay. But Hallelujah! Christ paid a debt he did not owe – by going to the cross, and enduring the wrath of God in our place. He was, and is, our Passover lamb.
Respond in Faith to the Lamb
Respond in Faith to the Lamb
The second point that I want us to see, is that in order to escape this plague, the Israelites had to have faith. They had to believe what God said and accept this sacrifice of a lamb to protect them. They could have refused. The people could have heard God’s word and decided not to listen to it, but if they did that the same plague that would fall against the Egyptians would fall against them.
For us, we also are called to respond in faith. This doesn’t mean that we earn God’s forgiveness by works or deeds, but that we acknowledge how we are saved through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Paul makes this abundantly clear to us in Romans.
9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”
God has given us a promise – that if we trust in Christ for salvation, we will be saved. If we confess our sin; if we give up all attempts to earn forgiveness by our works of self-righteousness; if we humbly accept as a free gift what God has offered us through Christ, then we will be saved.
That’s what we must do, and without delay. In the passage from Exodus, we read that the Israelites were instructed to eat the Passover in haste, "with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand." In other words, they had to be ready to leave Egypt at a moment’s notice. In the same way, you and I have to be ready. I invite you to put your faith in Christ, the lamb of God, and to receive from him forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life, even today, even this morning.
Application
Application
1 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.
3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.
4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.
6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.
7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
9 Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.
10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
Jesus is our passover lamb. He is the lamb of God who was killed on our behalf, so that we might have salvation and forgiveness of our sins. And unlike the lamb the Israelites used at the first Passover, the lamb of God did not remain dead. Jesus rose and defeated death and sin once and for all. Place your faith is the risen Christ, give your life to him, and experience the mercy and grace of God.
Prayer
Prayer