My son is starting to be afraid of shadows in his bedroom at night. I try to explain to him that shadows are not real but only are the shapes made by an object blocking the light of his night-light. I try to point out a couple of examples to assuage his fear. I show him the shadow and the substance from which it is formed.
We can also describe the Passover as both shadow and substance. It is substance in the fact that it commemorates a historical past event. In picture form it reminds the Jewish people of how God delivered them from the slavery of Egypt. When Moses was speaking to the Israelites here in chapter 13, the Lord had just rained down 10 plagues upon Egypt over the previous several months. The Lord had picked up Pharaoh’s challenge to Moses when he asked, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice.” And in increasing magnitude God began to show to the Pharaoh, to Egypt and to all the surrounding nations just who the Lord is by bringing these plagues each of which deal in some manner with one or more of the Egyptian gods.
The last plague was the death of the firstborn. Every firstborn male in the country would die. God however provided a way of escape from that death for the firstborn. If they offered a lamb in their place and placed the blood of that lamb upon the doorposts of that home, they would be spared. This is the substance of what the Jews celebrated in Passover.
But there is also shadow. The shadow points to the real substance of an event to come, namely the offering up of Jesus Christ on the cross and the redemption of all who would come to Him by faith. So this morning we are going to look at the ordinance of the Jew’s Passover and then the application of Jesus’ Passover. First let’s look at the ordinance of the Jew’s Passover.
1. The Ordinance of the Jew’s Passover
There are four characteristics of the Jew’s Passover that we want to notice in this passage.
A. The Firstborn Is Set Apart – They Are a Purchased People
The first characteristic of the Jew’s Passover that we want to notice is that the firstborn is set apart. The significance of this is the firstborn are a purchased people. In verse 2, the Lord says, “Sanctify to me every firstborn, the first offspring of every womb among the sons of Israel, both of man and beast; it belongs to Me.” The word, “sanctify” means to set apart. It is the same word, translated “holy” that we looked at last week when we discussed the God who is. In other words God says that the firstborn male offspring are to be holy, or set apart unto the Lord. The Lord had a special use for the firstborn male.
Every firstborn man was to be given to the Lord for the service of God. They were to labor in all the preparatory work for the tabernacle. The Levites later are used instead of the first born. God substitutes the Levites because of their devotion to Him. But He never takes away the command that the firstborn must be redeemed because they belong to Him. The point is that God spared the lives of the firstborn in Israel. And because He did that they now belonged to Him in a special way. He owned them for His service. Because He spared their lives they no longer had say over what they were going to do. If the Lord told them that they would work in preparing sacrifices, they would prepare sacrifices. They were the Lord’s lock, stock and barrel. His ownership was a special one with them. Yes the Lord owned every other person due to His creator’s rights over them. He owned every Jew by virtue of the covenant he made with them. But He owned every firstborn because, during the night of Passover, God (in a way) brought them back from death and gave them a new offer on life. You could say that He gave them new life through the death of the lamb and the application of its blood to the doorposts. The firstborn were redeemed by that lamb and so became a purchased people. So God calls them into a special relationship by which He says that they are set apart for His special service.
B. No Leavened Bread – They Shall Be a Holy People
The second characteristic of the Jew’s Passover that we want to notice is there was to be no unleavened bread. The significance of this is they shall be a holy people. The end of verse 3 says, “and nothing leavened shall be eaten.” Verses 6 & 7 say, “For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; and nothing leavened shall be seen among you nor shall any leaven be seen among you in all your borders.”
Beside the fact that the Jews would have no time to prepare risen bread and signified their fast trek out of Egypt, leaven was also seen as a symbol of evil. They were leaving Egypt and they were to leave the evil of Egypt behind them. Jesus spoke of leaven in this way when he mentioned the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod.
There was to be a distinction between the people of Egypt and themselves. The Lord had already made that distinction clear enough through the great plagues that He had brought upon Egypt, leaving Israel entirely unscathed.
Now, as another show of their separation from Egypt, they were to put out and even sweep out any evidence of leaven from their homes. In symbol, they were to get rid of the evidence of corruption of Egyptian life. In application they were not to associate with the pagan practices with which many had probably grown too familiar. They were to put them out and sweep them out of their lives as they left behind Egypt with its denial of the true God and the practice of wickedness.
C. There Is a Feast to the LORD – They Shall Be a Joyful People
The third characteristic of the Jew’s Passover that we want to notice is that there was to be a feast to the LORD. The significance of this is that are to be a joyful people. In verse 6 Moses said, “On the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord.” An Israelite feast day was a celebration. It was, if you would a Jewish vacation. God saw the importance of resting from labor and so He provided three weeks in each year for such an occasion. This was a time during which they could relax from the rigors of agrarian life and enjoy themselves.
What we must see is that this joyful celebration was in the presence of the Lord. The Jews were to assemble together as a feast in worshipping the Lord. They were to recognize that their joyfulness came from the Lord. And so these feasts were a recognition that their satisfaction, blessedness and joy came from worshipping the Lord.
D. They Were to Have Signs – They Must Be a Reminded People
The fourth characteristic of the Jew’s Passover that we want to notice is that they were to have signs. The significance of this they must be a reminded people. What was the purpose of celebrating this Passover each year? Verse 9 says that, “It shall serve as a sign to you on your hand, and as a reminder on your forehead, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth.” And verse 16 says, “It shall serve as a sign on your hand, and as phylacteries (or a box of remembrance) on your forehead.”
And what was it about the Passover that the Jews were to remember? I think Moses makes it very clear in this passage. Four times this phrase is repeated, “For with a powerful hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt!” What did God want them to remember through the Passover? It was God who brought them out of slavery. They could never have done it themselves. It was only by the strong hand of the Lord that the Israelites were rescued from the hand of the Egyptians. This is why Moses declares in verse 3, “Remember this day in which you went out from Egypt, from the house of slavery; for by a powerful hand the LORD brought you out from this place.”
They were to be a reminded people.
2. The Application of Jesus’ Passover
Now let’s turn to the really exciting part. How does this all apply to us? How does Jesus’ work on the cross relate to the Passover so that we might call it the application of Jesus’ Passover? Here also we see four characteristics of Jesus’ Passover as they apply to us.
The Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians, says that Jesus our Passover has been sacrificed for us. So it is should be very plain to each one of us that in the same way that the Jewish Passover lamb had been a means of deliverance from the slavery in Egypt and from the death penalty upon the first born, so Jesus, the Passover lamb of God, is our means of deliverance from the slavery of sin and its penalty.
A. Those in Christ Are Set Apart – We Are a Purchased People
So the first characteristic of Jesus our Passover that we must notice is that those in Christ are set apart. The significance of this is that we are a purchased people. In the same way that the first born of the Jews were set apart for God so those who have trusted Christ as Savior are likewise set apart. They had the death sentence of the death angel upon them, yet they were redeemed (they were purchased) through the blood of that Passover lamb. In a similar fashion all of us had the sentence of death and condemnation upon us. We all deserved the punishment of God’s eternal wrath in the lake of fire. When we accepted Christ as our Savior, God delivered us from the wrath to come.
We need to notice something here. When the Israelites slaughtered the Passover, it did not save anyone in that household until the blood of that lamb was personally applied to the doorposts of that home. In the same way, though Christ died on the cross for your sin, it does not save you until you call out to Him to apply the blood that He shed upon your sin. So you may know everything about Christ’s death and resurrection. But if you have never called out to Christ to save you then you are still in your sins. They have not been paid for and the wrath of God still abides on you.
But those of us who are in Christ, have been set apart by God for His service. We are a purchased people. Redemption means ownership. God now owns us in a new way because He purchased us through the blood of Christ. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. We are set apart for God’s use. His indwelling Holy Spirit makes us His temple. He bought us. He owns us.
And the implication to this is that He has a right to tell us what to do with our bodies. We don’t have the right to choose to do what God says that we must not do. Those who are his and do not obey Him, who do not glorify God in their bodies, miss the joy that God brings to those who put that into practice in their lives.
When we think, “After all I have to think about myself” or “I have to look out at what’s best for me” we fail to recognize the greatness of God’s plan for our lives and miss the real joy He wants to bring us by obeying Him.
B. No Leaven in our Lives – We Are to Be a Holy People
The next characteristic of Jesus our Passover that we must notice is that we are to have no leaven in our lives. The significance of this is that we are to be a holy people. In 1 Corinthians 5:6-8, of which I quoted in part earlier, Paul says, “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
Our lives as Christians ought to be lived in such a way as to sweep out the old leaven from our lives. We are to put off our old ways of life and live holy lives. Even as Peter says in his first letter, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior.”
True holiness ought to be part of our lives. It is not a holiness that results in boasting but a holiness that causes one to reflect the character of Jesus Christ in a humility that recognizes our transformation is a product of the grace of God.
And holiness doesn’t mean that we just don’t do certain things. Yes it does mean that we put off certain habits in our lives, but holiness calls for a replacement of those things with godly behavior. We do not just stop lying, we start telling the truth. We do not just stop stealing, but we work with our hands and give to those in need. We don’t just stop thinking impure thoughts we begin to think upon the beauty of our great God. The absence of wrongdoing is not holiness. Holiness is part of the process of becoming like Jesus Christ. And this passage says that we too must be conformed to the image of Christ.
C. Our New Life in Christ is to Be a Celebration – We Are to Be Joyful People
The third characteristic of Jesus our Passover that we must notice is that our new life in Christ is to be a celebration. The significance of this is that we are to be a joyful people. In the same way that the celebration of the Jew’s Passover was to be a joyous celebration, so we too as Christians ought to have the joy of the Lord as our strength. In John 15:11, Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” Also He said in John 10, “I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly.”
Our lives are to be characterized by joy because of the greatness of the Father’s love that He has given to us. When we recognize that we have become recipients of the love of God it ought to cause us to rejoice. Think that the greatest being in the universe has set His affection upon you to love you. Shouldn’t that cause us to rejoice?
I was just reading about an ancient ruler in Persia named Shah Abbis. He loved his people and in order to understand them better, he mingled with them in various disguises. One day he went to the public baths and sat beside the man who tended his furnace. At meal time he shared the lonely man’s food, talking with him as a friend. Again and again the Shah visited him until the man grew to love him. Some time later the Shah revealed who he really was. Overcome with amazement, the man spoke at last: “You left your palace and your glory to sit with me in this humble place, to eat my coarse food, to care whether my heart was heavy or glad. You have given to me a very great gift.”
In the same way the Father has given Himself to us first in Jesus and now through His Holy Spirit who dwells in us. It ought to cause us to sit in amazement and rejoice at the One who would pour such great love upon us.
We also ought to be a joyful people because of our home in heaven. The 70 disciples who were sent out by Jesus came back rejoicing because demons were subject to them. But Jesus replied, “Rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven.” Our eternal place in heaven ought to cause us to rejoice greatly in our God.
Joe Hopkins was telling me the other night, how after he became a Christian his family used to heap abuse on him for being a Christian. Yet he would continue to smile. He asked them, “Why are you so mad?” They said, “Because you are so happy and you don’t deserve to be. And Joe replied, “I know I don’t deserve to be. I deserve hell yet God has given me heaven. That’s why I’m so happy.” When we recognize that our lives are so wicked as to deserve death in hell, yet God by His grace has given us eternal life it ought to cause us to rejoice.
Even in the midst of difficulties it ought to allow us to rejoice. Paul and Silas were able to praise God while in prison after have been beaten and placed in stocks. How were they able to rejoice? Through the Holy Spirit that indwelt them. Paul says that the Thessalonians were able to receive the Word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit.
Joy in the Christian life is not optional. It is part of the fruit of the Spirit. God’s Holy Spirit wants to put joy into each one of our lives. But we must yield to Him. I truly think that there are so many grumpy Christians because they have not yielded themselves to allow the Holy Spirit to take charge of their lives. They want to run it themselves and then wonder why they don’t experience the fruit of the Spirit and His joy.
If we were to change the name of our church to “Joyful Baptist Church” would people believe it? If you were to say “I go to Joyful Baptist Church,” would someone say, “Why? You don’t act like it.” Those who rely on heartless legalistic ritual in Christianity ought to be depressed. But what about we who claim that the Bible is our source of living? What about we who say that God’s Holy Spirit dwells within us? If you are a joyless Christian yield yourself to the Holy Spirit, start getting into God’s Word, “Happy is the man who does not delight in the council of the ungodly but whose delight is in the law of the Lord.”
Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us and we are no longer under the condemnation of sin. God’s wrath no longer rests on us. Shouldn’t that make you exceedingly joyful? If everything else in your life was miserable and difficult shouldn’t that one thought cause you to rejoice? The early believers could rejoice and worship in the midst of physical and emotional and mental anguish, why can’t we? It doesn’t mean that we ignore the suffering but God can bring joy to us in the midst of it.
The Scripture says that the joy of the Lord is our strength. Is God’s joy what brings you strength to your life? Let’s not work up some false strength by our own effort but allow our joy in God to strengthen us to deal with the difficulties in our lives.
We ought to be a joyful people.
D. We Are to Have Signs – We Must Be a Reminded People
The fourth characteristic of Jesus’ Passover is that we are to have signs. We must be a reminded people. As Moses told the Israelites that their Passover should be a sign of remembrance to them that the Lord by His strong hand brought them out of Egypt. In the same way we must continue to be reminded of what the Lord has done for us. He has saved us from our sin and He continues to work in our lives today. But we must continue to be reminded. This is why I have a thank you Lord list that I keep track of what God has done in my life. We all have a tendency to forget just how the Lord is working in our lives. And I think the passage this morning shows us that we ought to have two kinds of reminders. First the passage says that we ought to have corporate reminders.
1. We are to have corporate reminders
Corporately the passage says that we are to remember that the Lord brought us out of slavery. The Passover itself was a corporate reminder. We too must take advantage of corporate reminders (What the Lord did for us).
The Lord’s Supper is to be a continual corporate reminder of what Christ accomplished for us. It holds no saving significance, it is merely a reminder. Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” The Passover celebration (after the initial one) did not save anyone. It was a reminder. The death angel didn’t come every year to kill the firstborn, but it was simply a reminder of what the Lord did. In the same way the Lord’s supper does not save. It was that initial offering of Christ on the cross that saves. The shedding of His blood and death was what saved. This is simply a reminder. But I think it is an important reminder. If we fail to partake in the Lord’s supper, I think our lives will grow callous to the price that Jesus paid on the cross. We are forgetful people and need to be reminded.
Also the emphasis that we place on thanksgiving is a corporate reminder of all that the Lord has done for us throughout the year. As a matter of fact as we have a special Thanksgiving service on Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving this year we are going to ask to you fill out some cards that we will hand out concerning what the Lord has done for you this year because we need to be reminded on an ongoing basis.
The preaching of the gospel is an ongoing reminder of the redemption of Christ. If in the preaching of God’s Word we do not have a retelling again of the redemption of Christ then what takes place is merely academics. If my preaching does not remind us about the reality of Christ in our lives then that preaching is ineffective, unproductive and useless. We need to be a reminded people.
2. We are to have personal reminders (v. 8)
But secondly, I think this passage shows us that we need to have personal reminders. Verse 8 describes this. “And you shall tell your son on that day, saying, ‘It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.” We need to be able to tell others what the Lord has done in our lives personally. And we ourselves must revel in what God has done for us. How can we do that unless we remind ourselves concerning His acts on our behalf?
Moses mentions two kinds of signs here in this passage. He mentions signs to remind yourself about the Lord and signs to remind others. Verse 9 says, “So it shall serve as a sign on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead for with a powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.
He notes two different personal reminders, one upon your hand, and one upon your head. The reminder upon your hand is a sign to remind yourself. When you want to remind yourself of something you might write it on your hand. Kevin Zakariasen, who came with his family back in July, missionary to South Africa, was notorious for this. I can remember Kevin having all kinds of notes written on his hands to remind him of stuff. He didn’t carry a notebook, after all he had his hand. Do you have something to remind you personally about the Lord’s work in your life? Something written on your hand as it were.
I do. I have kept this folder of notes, and memos and reminders of events in which the Lord worked. I’ve had it since college and look back occasionally to remember all the Lord has done in my life. Let me read just a few of these from this to help you understand what I mean about personal reminders about the Lord’s work in your life.
The sign which is upon your head (usually a small box that was tied to the person’s forehead was to remind others of that person’s relationship to God). This personal reminder for others of God’s work in our lives is not a box that we tie to our heads. It is deeper than that. It is the visible, outward change that is taking place in our lives. It is when people see that we are different they look up and take notice. When we talk differently, and act differently and dress differently from the world people begin to say what happened to him.
I’ve shared this before but an example can be seen in a friend of mine name Marchello. Marchello went to college with me. In the year between when he transferred out and transferred back into school I became a Christian. One day Marchello came up to me and said, “Dave, what happened to you? You used to be depressed all the time and angry and cursing. Now you’re smiling and happy and singing. What took place?” As a personal reminder to Marchello of what took place in my life I was able to tell him about my great God and how with a powerful hand the Lord brought me out of slavery. Our lives need to be lived in such a way as to show how God is working in us.
We need to be reminded about our God. We need corporate reminders and personal reminders. We need to remind ourselves about the Lord’s work in our lives and we need to remind others about the Lord’s work in our lives.
This is what God’s redemption is all about. Let’s not forget the ultimate reason God has redeemed us. God has redeemed us because He wants to bring honor to His name through His great work in our lives. And this redemption is offered by freely receiving it. We deserved death and the innocent substitute, Jesus, took our place.
In speaking about our redemption, let me close with a parable from John Piper’s book, “The Pleasures of God.”
Once there was a land ruled by a wicked prince. He had come from a foreign country and enslaved all the people of the land and made them miserable with hard labor in his coalmines across the deep canyon. He had built a massive trestle for the trains that carried his slaves across the canyon to the mines each morning, and it was heavily guarded.
Two men were still free in the kingdom – one old and the other young. They lived on an inaccessible cliff overlooking the trestle. They hated the trestle because it kept those people in slavery. At last they resolved to blow it up and destroy the slave labor of the enemy prince. They planned and prayed and they reminded themselves of the reality of heaven.
The night came when the deed would be done. Their hearts were pounding with joy. It was a hard plan. It would be possible to time the trek of the trestle guard so that the explosive could be carried to the vulnerable spot on the trestle. But there would be no time for the carrier of the explosives to return. It was certain that he would be seen and the plan foiled if he tried to return. To make sure the trestle blew up the two men agreed that the young man would detonate it by hand on the trestle. He would blow it up.
But they believed in heaven and they would be reunited, and they loved the people of the land and wanted to free them. So the honor of this sacrifice made their hearts leap with joy. The hour came. They folded up the map of their strategy, stood from the table and embraced each other. When the young man got to the door, he turned, looked at the old man and said, “I love you Father.” And the old man took a deep breath – with joy – and said, “I love you too, Son.”
This is what took place in our redemption. God loved us so much that He wanted to free us from the dominion of Satan. So Jesus the Son offered Himself to set you free from the penalty of death and sin. You who have heard this message for so long, will you today still trample under foot the Son of God or will you accept Him as Your Savior.
You who know Christ already, Do you recognize that you have been set apart, that you are to be holy, joyful and reminded?
Let us pray:
Father, we ask you this morning to remind us of the price that Your Son paid for us. Help us to remember that we have been bought with that price. Help us to recognize that this calls us to be holy because you own us. Help us to remember all that you have done for us and that your joy ought to be a shining reminder to the watching world of just how much you have done for us.
Lord if there are some here who are having difficulty rejoicing in You for whatever reason, may the presence of Your Holy Spirit cause them to recognize the immensity of your great love for them.
And Lord I pray that if there are some here who have not come to your to receive your salvation full and free, may they do so today and not put it off any longer.