The Lamb for the Family and Nation - Exodus 12:1-13

A lamb for the individual. God started that in Genesis 3 when He clothed our first parents with coats of skins. Blood had to be shed; innocent animals had to die that our first parents Adam and Eve might be clothed. This is a symbol, of course, a picture of being clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ who died for us. Oh, He took our sin upon Himself that we might have His righteousness.

Now Exodus 12, the circle gets bigger. We've had the sacrifice for the individual there in Genesis 3 and in Genesis 22. Now in Exodus 12, we have the sacrifice for the household. Nine times in Exodus 12 you'll find household or house. The setting, of course, is Egypt. The Jews are about to be delivered; it's the first Passover. 

"Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying: 'This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you,' a brand new beginning. 'Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: On the tenth day of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man's need you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight,' that is, between the evenings, as it were. 'And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. Then they shall eat the flesh on that night, roasted in fire; with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire—its head and its legs and its entrails. You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, your staff in your hand. So shall you eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike 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. Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.'"

There's nothing really complicated about this feast, the feast of Passover. In Exodus 11, the lamb is needed. Then in Exodus 12:1-5, the lamb is chosen. Exodus 12:6-7, the lamb is slain. Exodus 12:8-20, the lamb is eaten.

The lamb is needed. Why? Because death is coming. My, what a picture of our world system today. There in the land of Egypt, bondage—oh, how people are in bondage today, bondage to sin. People think that sin means liberty. "I can do what I want to do." Oh, you can, but you can't change the consequences. You can jump off the roof of a tall building and say, "I'm free to fall," but you aren't free to live when you get to the other end. You cannot change the consequences. Bondage, darkness—death came at night. Oh, the darkness in our world today, moral darkness. You'll notice that death came to the firstborn. God does not accept our first birth. You can go through Scripture and find that God rejects the firstborn and chooses the second-born. He rejected Cain and chose Abel. He rejected Ishmael, Abraham's firstborn, and chose Isaac. He rejected Esau and chose Jacob. And He will not accept my first birth. My first birth brings death. There has to be a second birth.

The lamb was needed because death was coming to Egypt. There's only one solution: the death of a lamb, the shedding of the blood, the applying of the blood to the door. The lamb needed.

Now the lamb chosen. Did you notice the sequence in Exodus 12:1-5? "A lamb," Exodus 12:3; "the lamb," Exodus 12:4; "your lamb," Exodus 12:5. It's got to be personal. You don't dare say Jesus is a lamb; He's one of many prophets and teachers; He's a fine religious leader. You can't say that; death will catch up with you. Oh, you can't even say Jesus is the lamb. John the Baptist said, "Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." You can say, "Oh, He's the only lamb," and He is, but that won't save you. You've got to be able to say, "Your lamb. He is my lamb." It isn't enough to say He died for the sins of the world. He loved me and gave Himself for me.

Now all of this was by the grace of God. Exodus 12:11 says, "It is the Lord's Passover." Moses didn't invent it; Aaron didn't get it out of a committee meeting. It didn't come from the world; it didn't come from Egypt. This is God's work; it's all of grace. God in His grace says, "I will save the firstborn if they will but put the blood on the door and believe."

I notice that this lamb has to be perfect, without blemish, without spot; that this lamb had to be the very best that they had to offer. Oh, the lamb was tested, you notice. From the tenth day to the fourteenth day, they watched that lamb. They had to be sure that there was no blemish, there was nothing in that lamb that would make it unacceptable to God. The Lord Jesus Christ, during His final week of ministry before Calvary, was tested. The Pharisees came and questioned Him, the Sadducees, the Herodians, the Roman government, the Jewish religious leaders—all of them tested the lamb. And you know what? He came through without spot. They couldn't find anything wrong with Him. The Father had said, "This is My beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased." The Father approved of the lamb. Pilate approved of the lamb: "I find no fault in Him." Even Judas said, "I've betrayed innocent blood." They had to hire—the religious leaders had to hire false witnesses to lie about the lamb. Even the demons confessed that He was the Son of God. Oh, Jesus Christ is the perfect lamb. There is no other lamb. The lamb is chosen by God, and you choose the wrong sacrifice and you've chosen the way of death. 

The lamb was tested. The lamb was chosen. Thirdly, the lamb was slain, Exodus 12:6-7. We aren't saved by the example of the lamb. We aren't saved by the life of the lamb; we're saved by the death of the lamb. Not the innocence, not the beauty, but the death of the lamb. Now a lamb is a symbol of innocence, purity. Who would want to come and kill a lamb? But God says blood has to be shed. Life is given for life. You see, the wages of sin is death. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. And so the lamb had to die for the firstborn. On the fourteenth day of the month, as evening was drawing near, they killed the lamb. And then the household, they put the blood of the lamb on the door, and then they waited in the house. And if they went outside the house, they weren't covered by the blood. Remember, if you're under the blood, if you've been saved by the blood of the lamb, that blood takes care of your salvation. No matter how you feel. The firstborn may have been sitting there in that house trembling, saying, "Oh, father, father, are you sure I'm going to make it?" Father says, "The blood is on the door. You have safety." 

Now where does certainty come from? It comes from the word. Exodus 12:13: "When I see the blood, I will pass over you." Father, how do I know I won't die? Because God doesn't lie. How do we know we're saved? The word of God tells us so. It's the Lord's Passover. "When I see the blood, I will pass over you."

Enjoyment. They had the feast. I can see the firstborn just enjoying the feast and ready to move. It was a pilgrim feast. They had their shoes on their feet and their belts and they were ready with their staff to move. By the way, our Christian life is a pilgrim feast. We better be ready to move; the Lord could come back today. Oh, you look at your sins, you say, "I'm such a failure. I've—I've just done so many things I shouldn't do." But remember, God sees the blood. And the blood of Jesus Christ has atoned, has covered, and has washed away our sins. The lamb needed; death is coming. The lamb chosen; God says, "Here's your way of salvation." Just slay the lamb, put the blood on the door. It wasn't the hyssop, that frail shrub, that made the salvation possible. It was the blood. You see, how much faith do I need? Just enough faith to say, "Jesus, save me. Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom. Lord Jesus, save me, forgive me, come into my heart, cleanse me of my sin." The lamb was eaten. We'll not go into that, but God provided strength for them for the journey. You see, He saves us, and He keeps us, and He assures us, and He strengthens us so that we might make our pilgrim journey. He redeemed them from Egypt by the blood of the lamb.

Isaiah 53:8 reads like this: "He," Jesus, "was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken." Now during these days we've been looking at the growing, enlarging circle of influence in the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Genesis 22, a sacrifice for the individual, the ram died for Isaac. And Jesus Christ died for you and for me; Paul said he loved me and gave himself for me. Exodus 12, the sacrifice for the household as they were meeting together in those little households around the lamb; the blood on the doorposts protected them from the death that was coming at midnight. Now we have a lamb, a sacrifice for a nation, and that nation is the nation of Israel. Twenty-six times in the book of Isaiah the prophet uses the phrase "my people," and in each case, it refers to Israel. And so it refers to Israel here: "for the transgressions of my people he was stricken." All I'd like to do today is to try to answer the question: what is the relationship between the death of Jesus Christ, His substitutionary death, and the people of Israel?

Jesus died for us as individuals; He loved me and gave Himself for me. He died for the sins of the whole world; the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. But He also, in a very special way, died for the people of Israel.

First of all, the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ is pictured in Israel's ceremonies. It's hard to believe that this nation could not recognize their own Messiah. It's hard to believe that even the disciples, who were Jewish men, could not understand His sacrificial death on the cross. The daily sacrifices—a lamb was sacrificed in the morning, a lamb was sacrificed in the evening. In the book of Leviticus, you have described the peace offering, the trespass offering, the burnt offering, the various sacrifices that were brought. Now Jesus is pictured in all of these sacrifices. Hebrews 10 makes that very clear: "A body You have prepared for Me." And when the sacrifice was laid on the altar, when the blood was shed, it was a picture that one day a final and complete sacrifice would be made. "For by one offering He," Jesus, "has perfected forever those who are being sanctified." On the Day of Atonement every year, Israel had a demonstration of Calvary. Here were the two goats. Over the one goat the sins of the people were confessed, and the goat was taken out into the wilderness. The other goat was slain and the blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat. Somebody had to die, and that somebody turned out to be a goat who was offered for the people. Leviticus 16. Passover—the lamb died that the firstborn might not die. So the substitutionary sacrifice of the Lord Jesus was pictured in Israel's ceremonies. Oh, they were so blind to it though. Why? Because they were proud of being the children of Abraham. John the Baptist said, "Don't come and tell me you're the children of Abraham. God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones here on the shore of the Jordan River. Don't brag about your pedigree, don't tell me about your heritage; you've got to be born again." And the only way is by trusting the lamb. It was John the Baptist who said, "Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."

Secondly, the substitutionary sacrifice of the Lord Jesus on the cross was made possible by the Jewish nation. You see, Jesus was a Jew. God called Abraham, Genesis 12; He said, "Through you, Abraham, all of the world is going to be blessed." How is that possible? Well, Sarah gave birth to Isaac, and then Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau, and God chose Jacob. And then Jacob had twelve sons, and one of them, Judah, was chosen to be the tribe through which the Messiah would come. And Jesus was born of the family of David of the tribe of Judah in Bethlehem. And you see, Israel provided the body for the Lord Jesus. Mary, that beautiful young girl, said, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to your word." She gave her body to the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit performed a miracle, and the virgin birth—prophesied in Isaiah 7:14—the virgin birth was made possible. Israel was looking for a king, not for a humble Savior, because they did not understand their Old Testament Scriptures.

Thirdly, the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ was prophesied in Israel's Scriptures. Not only pictured in the types and the ceremonies, but prophesied. Isaiah talks about it here in Isaiah 53. David talks about it in Psalm 22. We could go on and on: Romans 10, 1 Peter 2. Well, let's look at Isaiah 53. It opens in Isaiah 53:1-4 by describing an unbelievable person: "Who has believed our report? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" Isaiah said here is something so unbelievable. Now actually Isaiah 53 could start back in Isaiah 52:13. This is the great servant passage in Isaiah, and this servant is not Israel. When he says, "for the transgressions of my people he was stricken," he can't be talking about Israel. Israel cannot die for Israel. No, he's talking about the Messiah. Isaiah 52:13: "Behold, my servant shall deal prudently; he shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. Just as many were astonished at you, so his visage was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men." He's talking here about what he went through, what Jesus went through in His trial, persecution, and death. You couldn't recognize Him as a human being. Who can believe this? Well, Isaiah 53:2 says He's going to grow up. He is human and yet He is divine. "A root out of a dry ground"—Israel was certainly a dry ground when Jesus came. "He has no form or comeliness, and when we see Him, there's no beauty that we should desire Him." The Lord Jesus didn't have a halo around His head; His face didn't shine; He looked like any other Jewish man. "He is despised and rejected by men," forsaken by men. "A man of sorrows"—literally means pain—"a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him." Rather interesting, he's talking here about the Lord Jesus Christ. He was born a root out of a dry ground. He grew up before God—"this is my beloved Son." He was humble yet He was exalted. He was hated and yet He did what He did for those who hated Him. "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted." Remember what they said when He was hanging on the cross: "He trusted God, let God come and deliver Him. He is smitten of God, He's a blasphemer." Acts 8:34-35 makes it very clear that this is our Lord Jesus Christ. An unbelievable person who paid an unbelievable price. You know, Israel stumbles over the cross. Paul tells us that in 1 Corinthians. Israel has stumbled over the cross. They—they can't understand how their Messiah, their redeemer, could be a human being. God is spirit. How could He be despised and rejected? How could He die? They don't understand their own Old Testament Scriptures. Look at the price that He paid, Isaiah 53:5: "He was wounded for our transgressions." That word wounded means pierced through. They put nails through His hands and His feet, and a spear came and pierced His side. Wounded, not for His transgressions—our transgressions. "He was bruised"—that word means crushed. "He was crushed for our iniquities. The burden of sin laid upon Him," but not His sin; He had no sin, He did no sin, in Him was no sin. It was your sin and mine. "The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes," the blows, the whips that cut into His flesh, "we are healed."