Carey's Bible Study Notes
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passover
life of christ: Exodus 12.3-13, 15-16
christ our passover lamb
introduction
After we leave the story of Abraham and go to the rest of the stories in the OT, we need to be careful to avoid the pitfall of placing all the OT stories on the same level in terms of significance. According to Paul, God making the covenant with Abraham and his seed Christ is the pivotal event in the OT. Although numerous events occur between the time God made the covenant and the time He fulfilled it with the coming of Christ, this one event remains paramount. The rest of the events in the OT either enhance, develop, or help explain the significance of the agreement God made with Abraham.
setting for the passover
At the time of the institution of the Passover, Israel is in bondage in Egypt. After Jacob�s son Joseph became second in command over all Egypt, he sent for his entire extended family to come to Egypt and live there. For the next 430 years, the Israelites lived quietly in Egypt growing into a mighty nation. Towards the end of that 430 years, the Pharaoh at that time enslaved the Israelites because of the potential threat they posed towards national security. Although secular historians would see this as a purely political matter, the Bible sees this as a spiritual matter. Egypt in the eyes of the Bible is nothing less than a malevolent force representing the forces of darkness which from time to time are able to wreak havoc upon the people of God. Although Egypt is the first nation in the Bible to assume this role, future manifestations of the forces of darkness include Babylon and Rome. According to the apostle John, one last manifestation of the forces of darkness will be the Antichrist and the nations which support him.
By showing His power through a series of 9 plagues, God tried to convince Pharaoh to free His people. After Pharaoh refused to relent, God sent word to Pharaoh that He was going to strike Egypt with a final plague which would force Pharaoh to let His people go. This plague involved nothing less than the death of the first-born of all Egypt, not just the first-born of people but the first-born of every living beast, from the house of Pharaoh to the lowliest creature in the field. Since the Egyptians believed that Pharaoh and the beasts were manifestations of deity, such a plague would strike right at the heart of their religion. By striking dead these creatures, God would be striking dead their gods, thereby showing that He alone was God.
institution of the passover (Exodus 12:3-13)
Unlike the previous nine plagues in which none of the Israelites were harmed, this plague posed a real threat to them since the angel of death was going to be indiscriminate in killing the first-born of Egypt. Unlike the previous nine plagues, the Israelites were going to have to take special precautions if they were going to escape God�s wrath in this final plague. God gave special instructions to the people to select a lamb on the 10th day of the month of Abib (the middle of our March through the middle of our April) and slaughter the lamb on the evening of the 14th of Abib. Moses specified that the lamb was supposed to be one-year-old male , that is, in his prime, and that he was supposed to be spotless without any broken bones.
Our OT versions say that the blood was to be put into a "basin." The word "basin" though also in Hebrew literally means "threshold." If this meaning applies here, it means that the blood from the lamb also spilt on the threshold which led into the house. The family was to take a branch of hyssop dipped in the blood and smear it on the door-posts and lintel which framed out the door. When the death angel saw the blood outlining the door, he was supposed to pass over that house and proceed to a house without this sign.
One interesting observation about this is that unlike later observances of this feast when the families would bring the lamb to the priests to be slaughtered, the father in this first Passover did the actual sacrificing himself. Apparently, right at the beginning of His relationship with His people God was wanting His people to be in a direct relationship with Him without the need for priests. The sacrifice of the Lamb made this relationship possible. It was only after the people heard God speak to them at Mt. Sinai that the people rejected this kind of relationship in favor of a relationship based upon human priests. A direct relationship though with the Father was what God had desired all along.
Why this sacrifice? The tenth plague involved the death of the first-born of all of who lived in Egypt�Egyptians, beasts, as well as the Israelites. If the Israelites themselves were not to die, then somebody or someone would have to die in their places. God provided the lambs/goats as substitutes for the death of the Israelite first-born. That the lamb was supposed to represent the Israelites is most vividly seen in that the Israelites were supposed to eat the lamb, that is, appropriate it for themselves.
Moses specified that first the lamb was not supposed to be boiled but roasted. This allowed the person preparing the feast to cook the lamb in tact; boiling the lamb would require it to be broken into pieces in order to make it fit into the pot. Next, Moses dictated that the size of the family determined the # of lambs it was to prepare for the feast. If the family was large, more than one lamb might be required. On the other hand, if the family was small, it was supposed to combine with another family so that none of the meat might later be thrown away; trashing the remainder of the meal would desecrate the sacrifice.
In addition to eating the lamb, the family was supposed to eat unleavened bread and bitter herbs. The bitter herbs represented the bitterness of their slavery in Egypt, while God mandated the unleavened bread because He wanted them to be ready to leave at a moment�s notice�something which leavened bread would prevent since it took time for leavened bread to rise. Finally, the people were supposed to eat standing up, with their feet sandaled and their loins girded. (A person girded their loins by taking the lower fringe of the back of the garment, bringing it between their legs, and then tucking it into their belt in the front. This allowed for faster walking.) These final preparations insured that the Israelites would be ready to leave Egypt in a moment�s notice.
feast of unleavened bread (Exodus 12:15-16)
Immediately following the instructions about the Feast of Passover are the instructions concerning the Feast of Unleavened Bread. God did not institute this Feast until after the exodus from Egypt because implementing it at the time of the first Passover would have delayed the hurried exodus from Egypt. On that first Passover night, God wanted the people to be ready to leave at a moment�s notice; the Feast of Unleavened Bread, however, required the people to celebrate it for 7 days.
The primary focus of the Feast of Unleavened Bread was the removal of leaven from the homes of the Israelites and the prohibition to eat for 7 days any bread which had been leavened. The purpose of the Feast was to celebrate that first Passover night when the people refused to bake their bread with leaven because of the delay which might be caused by the bread taking time to rise. The people had to be ready to leave at a moment�s notice. Waiting for the bread to rise would have delayed their departure. Moreover, Moses mandated that the people celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread for a period of 7 days. The first and seventh days were to be set aside for worship, during which the Israelites were to refrain from working.
application to christ
The story of the Exodus and that first Passover night introduces the element of salvation. Up until this time, God had revealed Himself to His people as Creator and also as God Almighty (El Shaddai, Abraham�s favorite name for God.) With the sending of the 10 plagues though and the deliverance at the Red Sea, God now shows Himself to be the Savior of His people.
This is so important for where we are right now as Southern Baptists. There is a major debate raging right now between the BGCT and the SBC not over the Bible but over who God is. The question is, "Is God really Savior who saves His people" or "Is God simply concerned about control who decides to save some and send many to hell?" When I look at this event and look at who Jesus is, I come away with the unmistakable and undeniable impression that God is Savior. People do not die and go to hell because God is capricious but because people reject the love God has shown us in Jesus Christ. At His very core, God is Savior who desires that none perish but that all be saved.
The Feast of Passover reveals that although God saved His people, it was at a price. In the case of the Israelites, that price was the death of a one-year-lamb which was spotless and without blemish in every respect. God had mandated that the first-born in each household die. A person could have the death of a male lamb to substitute for his death or he could die himself; either way, God required the death of the first-born. God showed His graciousness though to any who would believe Him by allowing them to substitute the lamb for the first-born son.
It does not take any stretch of an imagination to see how that first Passover relates to Christ. The apostle John takes great pains to show how Jesus was the ultimate fulfillment of the Passover lamb. At the beginning of Jesus� ministry, John the Baptist points to Jesus as "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). It is by no accident that Pilate condemns Jesus to death at the start of the Feast of Passover at the very moment the priests have begun to slay the lambs in the Temple in preparation for the Passover meal. Later after Jesus dies on the cross and the Roman soldiers come to verify His death, John says that the soldiers unknowingly fulfilled Scripture by refusing to break Jesus� legs. By keeping His limbs intact, Jesus fulfilled the requirement that not a bone of the Passover lamb should be broken. Paul is even more specific in claiming that Jesus fulfills the role of the Passover lamb by even calling Jesus "our Passover [lamb]" (1 Cor. 5:7). By Jesus serving as our Passover lamb, He takes our place in death. God still requires the death of the first-born (in our case, each and everyone of us because of our sins); by claiming Jesus as our Passover lamb, His death substitutes for our death.
As Baptists, we believe that God has ordained us to observe 2 ordinances: the Lord�s Supper and baptism. The Lord�s Supper was instituted at the very time Jesus was observing His last Passover meal on earth. By sharing the wine and unleavened bread with His disciples, Jesus was claiming that He was the fulfillment of that first Passover. God did pass over His people in a physical sense nearly 3500 years ago; however, that Passover does not even begin to compare with the Passover Jesus is preparing for us. Many of the Israelites who benefited from that Passover nevertheless died spiritually because of their rebellion. Those who partake of Jesus� Passover will never, no never die spiritually.
Although the Jews later changed the custom of each family sacrificing the lamb for themselves, we see at the very start that God all along had wanted each person to be directly involved in the sacrifice of the lamb and enjoy its benefits for itself. The institutional priesthood arose simply because the people were afraid to deal with God directly (Ex. 20:19); however, that was not God�s original intent. Today we fulfill that original intent as we practice the priesthood of each believer. We come to God directly because of our direct participation in the death of Christ by placing our faith in Him. We don�t need the prayers of "sanctioned" ministers or even long-deceased saints in order for God to bless us. We can come directly to God in prayer. This belief in the priesthood of each believer means that each and everyone of us is directly responsible for our own relationship to God. We are directly responsible to God for what we believe and how we respond to what we believe. As a result, I need to give people the freedom to believe and relate to God in the way they believe God wants them to relate.
This does not necessarily mean that a person is going to be right in what s/he believes; in fact, a lot of people are dead wrong in what they believe. I once helped conduct a Disciple Now Weekend in Plano, Texas at which a young lady told me that Jesus disobeyed His parents when He was 12 years old at the Temple. When I challenged her about the accuracy of her belief, she told me she had the right to interpret Scripture anyway she wanted to. Whereas I affirmed her in that belief, I also told her that she had the right to be wrong too. Having the right doesn�t necessarily mean that I am always right. It does mean though that since I have the responsibility to relate directly to God, I must have the freedom to do so, which that first Passover Feast affirms.
In addition to the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Unleavened relates directly to Christ and our faith. Upon looking at the different elements of this Feast, one can easily see how as a result of this Feast, by the time of Jesus leaven became a symbol of sin and evil. If the children of Israel had failed to remove leaven from their bread, they would not have been ready to participate in the great salvation God was giving to them. They would have been stuck in Egypt waiting for the bread to rise while God was destroying the Egyptians at the Red Sea. The same applies to you and me with regards to sin. If we allow sin into our lives, then we are missing out on the great salvation God is trying to accomplish in our individual lives. God is wanting to do something wonderful in our lives; by toying with sin, we miss out on this wonderful salvation.
Next, not only does the element of rest play an important role in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, it also plays a role in our relationship with God. When God created the world, the Bible states that God rested on the 7th day. Whereas Moses specifies in detail what happened during those 7 days, he does not mention an 8th day probably because he wanted us to think of us living perpetually in the 7th day�a day of rest. By rest, God does not mean that we will refrain from physical work but that we will refrain from emotional and spiritual toil and labor. God does not want us to toil and be under great stress in our relationship with Him; rather, He wants us to be completely at peace with Him. Unfortunately, when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, they broke the rest God had given them. Our relationship with God and each other became one of strife and conflict. The Feast of Unleavened Bread informs us that God wants to restore that rest to His people. The author of Hebrews informs us that God provides us that rest through the ministry of Jesus (Heb. 4:1-11). By taking our sins upon Himself, Jesus removes the cause of our conflict with God. From now on, we are to be at peace with God as we now live in His Spirit and obey Him. Moreover, Christ removes our conflict with each other. If Christ�s people are living underneath His lordship, then He will create peace and unity among His people. Since Christ is completely at peace with Himself, He creates peace among His people. The NT calls this "reconciliation."