The 10th and final plague, the death of the first born, only impacted the Egyptians because God passed over the Israelites who sprinkled the blood of a perfect lamb over their door posts. This foreshadowed the work of Jesus, the spotless lamb of God who covers the sin of humanity for all who put his blood over the door posts of their heart.
The Message
I love the song “Hallelujah, Praise the Lamb”; but have you ever wondered how weird that song must sound to non-Christians? They must wonder why we worship a lamb! Sheep are known to be dumb, defenseless animals. They’re meek and gentle, and in the animal kingdom that makes them a great meal for predators! Obviously we don’t idolize leaders who are like sheep. In fact, we urge our kids not to be like sheep and follow a leader into bad situations. Why, then, are we praising a lamb in this song? The answer: Jesus is called the Lamb of God.
John 1:29: The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”
Now here is why knowing the Old Testament is as important as knowing the New Testament People who read only the New Testament see a verse like John 1:29 with “Lamb of God” as a title for Jesus, but they have no idea why. Today we will see in Exodus why Jesus is called the Lamb of God and why we worship Him as the sacrificial lamb.
So far in this series, we have seen God multiply His people, hear their cries for relief, raise up a leader, and use His power to completely decimate Egypt’s gods, their economy, and their confidence.
We have gone through the first nine plagues of Egypt, and we saw that they all had the same effect: they all left Pharaoh’s heart hard! In spite of all the disasters, Pharaoh was unable to release the Israelites to worship God on their own terms.
Now, however, we will see how things finally change, and how God will pass over the Israelites with the final plague he inflicts upon Egypt. Ultimately, Pharaoh will send the Israelites out. They will be Free at Last!
The Final Plague
Last week we left off with Pharaoh telling Moses to get out of his presence and never come back. As Moses prepares to leave, he has one more message for Pharaoh from God – the Final Plague.
Exodus 11:4-6 – So Moses said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt – worse than there has ever been or ever will be again.
In this plague there is no “if” left for Pharaoh. This is simply a message of what is about to happen. When God spoke to Moses from a flaming bush in Midian, He promised that His “firstborn” (Israel) would be freed from oppression at the cost of all firstborn sons in Egypt, including Pharaoh’s. This is the pinnacle of God’s conflict with Pharaoh and the outcome He has been working toward; but why was this the important last plague?
Why the Death of the Firstborn?
First, this is divine, righteous judgment from God for the deaths of countless Israelite children 80 years earlier – deaths likely ordered by the father or grandfather of the current Pharaoh. Also, God had already answered this question when He spoke from the burning bush: His “firstborn” (Israel) belongs to Him and not to Pharaoh.
Exodus 4:22-23 –Then say to Pharaoh, “This is what the LORD says: ’Israel is My firstborn son; and I told you ‘Let My son go so he can worship me.’ But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.”
Throughout scripture, the firstborn has always belonged to God. Remember that He asked Abraham to sacrifice his firstborn (Isaac) to Him and then provided a substitute sacrifice. God included the ownership of the firstborn in the Passover instructions He gave Moses:
Exodus 13:1-2 – The Lord said to Moses, Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offering of every womb among the Israelites belongs to Me, whether human or animal.
The human firstborn sons should be consecrated to God through sacrifice, and the firstborn of livestock should be sacrificed to God as well. The Israelites followed this law for centuries. In the New Testament we see Jesus’s parents bringing two doves to the temple to consecrate Baby Jesus to God.
The Passover Instructions
In past plagues God differentiated between Egyptians and Israelites. This time He will protect His children again, but with one difference: this time, in order to be spared, they must actively follow God’s instructions.
Exodus 12: 21-23 – Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them,”Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin, and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the door frame. . . . When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the top and sides of the door frame and will pass over that doorway, and He will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.
In this tenth and final plague, those who follow God’s instructions will be spared –“passed over” – because of the blood of a Spotless Lamb.
The Passover Celebration
While God is giving the Israelites instructions for this first saving Passover from the plague of death, He is also giving Moses instructions for an annual celebration to commemorate this event for all time. God knows this is a defining moment for His people. He wants to make sure they never forget His sovereign might in defeating the so-called gods of Egypt and the nation of such economic and military might. Exodus 12 contains instructions for the annual celebrations of both the Passover and the following Festival of Unleavened Bread. The instructions “sandwich” the actual event of the plague and of Pharaoh releasing the Israelites.
It’s easy to gloss over some of these scriptures, but they are loaded with clues about what God was doing.
The Israelite calendar was reset and differentiated from those of other nations. The Israelites were given a new beginning. Each new year would now begin based on the remembrance of what God did in redeeming His people.
Everything about the celebration pointed to the haste with which the Israelites left Egypt: unleavened bread (no rising time needed; meat quickly roasted over an open fire; cloaks tucked into their belts; sandals on their feet inside the house. This would be unusual for a festival but reminded them of their speedy departure from Egypt.
Bones were not to be broken. We’ll see the significance of this a little later.
The entire community was to participate, and the commemoration was to be experienced in community – in their homes, around tables, shared with neighbors.
This is established as a lasting ordinance so that when children ask what all this means, their parents and grandparents can tell them about God’s mighty acts in delivering them from Egypt.
One unexpected requirement was that every male must be circumcised. Circumcision identified a member of God’s community; and the Passover was for God’s people only. Any male who did not meet God’s requirement could not participate.
Free at Last
Moses has confronted Pharaoh on God’s behalf. After one miraculous sign and nine plagues, we finally have reached the point of the story to which this whole book has been leading – the point when the Israelites are FREE AT LAST.
Exodus 12:29-36 – At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night; and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead. During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites. Go, worship the LORD as you have requested. Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.”
The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. “Or otherwise,” they said, “we will all die.” The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. The LORD had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.
After 430 years in Egypt, the Israelites finally are heading back to the land God promised to their ancestor Abraham. God has carried out every twist and turn in this story exactly as He pleased, leading to this very moment He described to Moses at the burning bush. He has utterly defeated Egypt in every way.
As they walk out of their captivity, they don’t leave empty-handed! They take with them the silver and gold and fine clothes of their Egyptian neighbors – materials they would need to build a tabernacle for their God.
And that is the story of how God led the Israelites to be Free at Last!
Jesus is Our Passover Lamb
Like the story of the plagues, the Passover instructions and the guidelines for the following festival were passed down from generation to generation. It was at Passover that Jesus, age 12, was accidentally left behind by the family. And it was a Passover celebration that brought Jesus and His disciples together the night before His crucifixion. Although the disciples did not know it in that moment, Jesus was reorienting the Passover.
The entire Passover celebration has many, many implications for our Christian beliefs. The Passover lamb was a symbol of freedom for the Israelites, and Jesus serves in exactly the same for each of us.
God passed over the Israelites and saved the lives of all who covered their doorposts in the blood of a spotless lamb. We however, no longer have to make this sacrifice year after year because our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed once and for all. He was murdered on a cross without a bone being broken! The Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 5:7, “For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed.” If we cover the doorposts of our hearts with the blood of Jesus, God will spare us from the death we, too, deserve. He will give us freedom from sin, shame and death.
As Jesus sat at that table with His disciples, remembering and celebrating God’s epic work of delivering the Israelites from captivity, He had a new plan in store for them – a new tradition for them to keep and remember as an even bigger moment in their salvation.
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 – For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
The bread, in remembrance of the unleavened bread of Passover, symbolizes His body, which is given for all. The cup, symbolizing His blood spilled for us, replaces the sacrifice of the Old Testament covenant. These symbols remind us not only of God’s redeeming work in freeing Israel, but also of God’s saving work for ALL OF US, redeeming us from sin and death.
Additionally, there’s overlap between Passover and the Lord’s Supper in who should participate. Just as the Passover was to be repeated annually by all God’s people, Jesus says this new symbol, communion, should be repeated by all Christians so we all remember. And just as the Passover was limited to those who were circumcised, communion is limited to believers of Jesus – the community of God.
Put Yourself under the Blood
The entire story of Exodus shows us that God is all-powerful and faithful. He can be trusted to respond to the cries of His people, lead them out of oppression, and defeat all their enemies for them. In this final act of the plagues, the people had to make a decision. Would they listen to Moses, follow the Passover instructions and put themselves under the blood of the lamb? Would they submit to the almighty power of God, which they observed first-hand, and protect themselves from His righteous judgment? By trusting God and following His instructions, their lives are finally set free from the bondage of Egypt. They walk away, free from slavery, to freely serve and worship their God.
Today that same decision faces every person on earth. The story of Exodus is not just a good Sunday school story to tell our children (although we should be doing that). No, it reminds us of the supreme power of God and points us to the freedom offered to every single one of us through Jesus.
The Israelites protected themselves from certain death by placing themselves under the blood. Our decision is not whether to slaughter a lamb and wipe the blood on the doorposts of our homes, but whether we will accept the blood of the slaughtered Lamb, Jesus Christ, whose blood was splattered on the cross on which He hung. The Israelites walked out of Egypt free; and you can walk out from under the shame of your sin, knowing it has been passed over – covered over – by the blood of the perfect Lamb of God.
If you have never made the decision to put your trust in Jesus Christ, I urge you to do that today. Trust Him to pass over your sin and give you eternal life and freedom to serve your God!
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