“The Lamb”
[Exodus 12:1-14]
April 2, 2015 Second Reformed Church
After riding to Jerusalem, Jesus
returned to Bethany in the evening to sleep.
In the days to follow, Jesus taught
plainly about Who He is, and He foretold the destruction of the Temple and all
of Jerusalem, and He told them about a day when He would return to earth.
The Passover feast was near, and the
preparations were underway.
“So Jesus sent Peter and John,
saying, ‘Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.’ They said to him,
‘Where will you have us prepare it?’ He said to them, ‘Behold, when you have
entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into
the house that he enters and tell the master of the house, “The Teacher says to
you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”
And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there.’ And they
went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover” (Luke
22:8-13, ESV).
We may remember that the Passover
was instituted by God as Israel prepared for the Exodus out of Egypt. After four hundred years in slavery, God was
freeing Israel and taking them to the Promised Land.
But first, Moses went to Pharaoh and
asked him to let the people of Israel go.
Nine times Pharaoh said he would – in response to nine plagues that God
sent against Egypt. And nine times, Pharaoh
recanted as God lifted His Hand and drew back the plagues.
It was at this point that God
instituted the Passover – before the tenth plague – which had been
revealed: all those who did not have the
door posts and lintel of their homes covered by the blood of the Passover lamb
would be subjected to the death of every firstborn male – of each human and
animal family.
The Passover Lamb was prophetic of
Jesus. Jesus, the Incarnate God,
fulfills the Passover feast:
“The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in
the land of Egypt, ‘This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It
shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of
Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb
according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. And if the
household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take
according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall
make your count for the lamb.’”
First, we see that the Lamb was
sacrificed for a specific group of people – for a household – or several
households – not for each individual.
Jesus was sacrificed for a specific
group of people.
As Paul wrote: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing
salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly
passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present
age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God
and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all
lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are
zealous for good works” (Titus 2:11-14, ESV).
And Peter explains: “But you are a chosen race, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may
proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once
you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:9-10,
ESV).
And John records: “And they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy
are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by
your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people
and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they
shall reign on the earth’” (Revelation 5:9-10, ESV).
Just as God called on all the
believers of Israel and Egypt on that day to sacrifice the lamb for the
salvation of their families from the Wrath of God, so Jesus – the Lamb of God –
was sacrificed – not just for anyone, but for a specific people – all who ever
come to belief in God the Savior.
And we can have assurance as we
evangelize – as we tell others Who Jesus is and what He has done – that all
those who will ever believe in the Lamb Who was slain for their salvation will
believe – as Jesus promised: “I am
praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have
given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am
glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world,
and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have
given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I
kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not
one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture
might be fulfilled” (John 17:9-12, ESV).
Salvation is from God, in Christ
Jesus, and through the Holy Spirit Alone for the people of God.
“Your lamb shall be without blemish,
a male a year old.”
Second, the lamb had to be perfect –
no spots or blemishes or defects, because God will not accept an inferior
sacrifice. The sacrifice made to God had
to be the absolute best of all possible sacrifices for Him to accept it.
And so, when God sought to save His
people, He sent His Only Begotten Son.
As the author of Hebrews says – in
order for Jesus – the Son of God – the Lamb of God – to take our place under
God’s Law – keeping it perfectly – thus meriting righteousness and the ability
to be our Substitute before God’s Wrath for our sin – He had to be sinless: “For
we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews
4:15, ESV).
And John wrote, “The next day he saw
Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the
sin of the world!’” (John 1:29, ESV).
“You may take it from the sheep or
from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month,
when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at
twilight.”
Third, the lamb must be from among
the sheep or the goats. The lamb had to
be a lamb. The lamb could not be a dove
or a donkey or a mouse – it had to be a lamb.
Similarly, the Incarnate Son of God
– the Lamb of God – had to be a real human being – He had to be like us in
every way – as the author of Hebrews wrote in the passage we just quoted (yet
without sin).
Isaiah describes the Lamb of God as
an average person from among the people:
“For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of
dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty
that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2, ESV).
Jesus’
own neighbors didn’t understand how this “nobody” came to be a wise man:
“And when Jesus had finished these
parables, he went away from there, and coming to his hometown he taught them in
their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, ‘Where did this man
get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not
his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and
Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all
these things?’ And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet
is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household’” (Matthew
13:53-57, ESV).
Only a real human being could be the
Savior of real human beings.
God used the animal – a lamb – to be
the sign of those who believe in the Lamb of God – Who is the True Substitute
and Savior of His people.
“Then they shall take some of the
blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which
they eat it.”
Fourth, the blood of the lamb must
be shed.
After the lamb was killed, God
instructed all those who believed that night to take some of the blood from the
lamb and spread it along the doorposts and the lintel as a sign that they were believers
– and thus, would not be subject to the final plague.
So, also the Lamb of God had His
blood poured out as a covering and a payment for sin for all who will ever
believe.
The author of Hebrews explains the
necessity of His blood being shed: “Indeed,
under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the
shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22, ESV).
As John writes, “But if we walk in
the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the
blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7, ESV).
Just as the blood of the lamb saved
the believers from the Wrath of God that night in Egypt, so Jesus’ blood shed
for all we who believe saves us – eternally – from the Wrath of God – having
taking the penalty for our sins upon Himself on the cross.
“They shall eat the flesh that
night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall
eat it. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with
its legs and its inner parts. And you shall let none of it remain until the
morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. In this manner
you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your
staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste.”
We can understand why the believers
in Egypt needed to eat in haste – they had to run from Egypt as soon as God
gave the word.
The burning of the leftovers and
bones may have been to keep the bones from becoming “relics” like the serpent
on the staff would become or the bones in the Middles Ages.
But as to why the lamb was to be
roasted and not boiled or eaten raw – we don’t have an answer.
What we can say is, fifth, that the
whole lamb was put through the fire and eaten.
After the lamb was drained of blood, the whole animal, with its head and
legs and inner parts, was put on the spit over the fire and roasted.
Similarly, we can say that Jesus
endured under God’s Law and then under God’s Wrath in body, soul, mind, and
spirit – His whole self was involved in making atonement for us with God.
After
keeping every one of God’s Laws perfectly, Jesus was betrayed by one of His
closest followers – sold for a mere thirty pieces of silver. Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane and
prayed:
“And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly;
and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke
22:44, ESV).
He
was taken away at night, tried in secret, beaten and mocked, condemned as a blasphemer,
and turned over to the Roman government to be put to death.
He
was questioned, flogged – a leather whip embedded with sharp rocks, metal, and
glass was brought down upon His flesh – and it sunk into Him and tore Him.
Then
He was crucified – spikes were driven through His wrists and ankles to hold Him
to the wood long enough that He should collapse under His own weight and
suffocate – if He didn’t die of blood-loss first.
And
about the ninth hour, God poured out His Wrath against all of the sins of every
believer throughout time and space – and the Sinless One found Himself caught
in the horror of being forsaken by God:
“And
about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lema
sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” (Matthew
27:46, ESV).
Like
the lamb that was roasted – body, head, legs, and inward parts – Jesus endured
all of the suffering that His entire being could suffer – He was consumed by
God’s Justice.
“It is the LORD's Passover. For I
will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn
in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will
execute judgments: I am the LORD. 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 no
plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
“This day shall be for you a
memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your
generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.”
Sixth, the Passover is about God’s
work of salvation.
In the end, it’s not about the
Egyptians or the Israelites or you or me – it’s about God, the Lord. This is the Lord’s Passover – this is the
Passover of YHWH – the Almighty God.
God is the Judge of Sin.
God is the Savior according to His
Sovereign Will and Pleasure.
God chose to have mercy in the sign
of the blood and in the gift of His Son.
The Passover was given and now the
Lord’s Supper is given that we would understand that we cannot be right with
God on our own. We need Someone Who will
stand in our place – Someone Who will died for a whole people – Someone Who is
sinless – Someone Who is a human – Someone Who would shed His blood and die –
yet live – Someone Who would give His whole self to the obedience of God and
submit to God’s Judgment for everyone else who would ever believe – Someone Who
would offer up Himself in our place having fulfilled all the requirements of
the Passover Lamb.
Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my
own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down
my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must
bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock,
one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life
that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my
own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up
again. This charge I have received from my Father” (John 10:14-18, ESV).
Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You for
sending Your Son, the Lamb of God, to incarnate as a real human being, to live
and die and be our Substitute before You.
Thank You for the great mercy of saving us for Your Glory. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
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