"When I See the Blood" Sermon: Exodus 12:1-14 (manuscript)

“When I See the Blood”

Exodus 12:1-14

April 9, 2020 YouTube

            To better understand Maundy Thursday, and we should keep in mind that we saw on Sunday, that the first Palm Sunday occurred on the tenth day of the month, which – as we will see in a moment – is when the Passover lamb is to be set aside.

            The “Maundy” of “Maundy” Thursday refers first to the foot washing that Jesus performed for the disciples.  One of the other things that occurred that first Maundy Thursday was the institution of the Lord’s Supper.

            Our text this evening comes as God is about to deliver Israel from slavery in Egypt.

            And we see, first, a lamb must be chosen.

“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.’

The deliverance of the people will be – first and foremost – a deliverance of the group.  They are saved as individuals, of course, but they are saved as a people – as those God has chosen to deliver.        

 “’Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. 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.’”

The people are to choose a lamb – a one-year-old male without blemish – one for each family.  God will not accept a sacrifice that is blemished – it must be pure and holy.

And let us understand that God is having Israel use symbolism that they should recognize when the Savior comes, because – as the author of Hebrews explains, an animal can’t pay the debt of sin to God, nor can an angel pay the debt of sin to God, only a human can pay the debt of sin to God.  So, all the sacrifices that were made throughout history were all pointing to the One Who is a man and Who can take our place.

Peter writes, “knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (I Peter 1:18-19, ESV).

Paul writes, “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (I Corinthians 5:7, ESV).

And so the people keep their lambs from the tenth day until the fourteen day – three days – and then, as the new day began – at the end of the fourteen – the whole congregation is to gather together and slaughter their lambs together.  Because, despite all the lambs that were slain that night – they slaughter them as one, because salvation is by One, our Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the Lamb Who was chosen to be slaughtered for the sins of all those who would ever believe in Him.

Peter writes, “For it stands in Scripture: ‘Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame” (I Peter 2:6, ESV).

            The families of the nation of Israel had to choose a lamb to symbolize their deliverance from Egypt, before it happened.  And Jesus was chosen, the holy and sinless One, to be our Sacrificial Lamb, to secure deliverance from sin and death for all of His people throughout time and space.

            Second, they had to take the blood.

            “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.”

            After slaughtering the lamb, the blood was collected, and they painted it on the two sides of the door and the beam above the door, so anyone inside the house would be symbolically covered with the blood.

            Bringing the symbolism forward – those who believe in Jesus with their hearts and minds, and confess Him as Savior, are covered in Jesus’ blood – symbolically.  The shedding of Jesus’ blood is necessary to deliver His people.

            As we read, “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).

            It was necessary that the people of Israel paint the doorposts and lintels of their homes to symbolically cover everyone inside, so they would be safe from the angel of death, and so they would be delivered.

            It is necessary that we are symbolically covered with the blood Jesus shed as part of His deliverance of us from sin and death which we receive through faith and belief – and remember as we commune with Jesus in the Lord’s Supper.

            Some years ago I was talking with an organist about the new PCUSA hymnal, and he was so excited that they cut out all the hymns – or modified all the hymns – so all the language of blood had been removed from the hymnal.  If you don’t take the blood, you will not be delivered.

            Peter addresses the elect – those who have been delivered by Jesus – and writes, “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you” (I Peter 1:2, ESV).

            You must have the blood sprinkled on you – you must be stained with the blood of Jesus – or you have not been delivered.  Deliverance – salvation – is the work of Jesus – and if His blood is not on us, we have not been delivered.  Don’t fool yourself – if you don’t want the blood, you don’t want Jesus.

            And God tells Israel to eat all of it or burn it.

“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.”

Eating the whole lamb reminded Israel that God requires the whole animal in a sacrifice – and God requires that the whole believer to be devoted to God – and God required that the whole Jesus die – in order to be accepted

Finally, it is the Lord’s Passover.

“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. 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.”

God told them to eat quickly because they didn’t know when God would tell them to go – and because God did not want this act of eating to be seen as a meritorious work to them.  God wanted them to understand that they were relying totally on God’s sending of the angel and then delivering them out of Egypt, just as we contribute nothing, but wait on the salvation of our God and Savior.

And God says, “It is the Lord’s Passover.”  It is not the Passover of the Israelites.  It is not a Passover that they established – their deliverance was not their own doing.  No, God told them to mark themselves with the symbols; He is God Who delivers.

Likewise, Jesus saves all those who will believe – He delivers us by His own hand, His own work – we have nothing of our own to add.

Jesus says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you” (John 15:16, ESV).

Paul writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,” (Ephesians 1:3-5, ESV).

God gave Israel the lamb and the blood to mark themselves – already chosen to be redeemed by God.  Likewise, God gave us His Son, the Lamb Who takes away the sins of the world – Who marks us and chose us before the foundation of the world to be redeemed by Him.

And so, God chose a people, marking them with the blood of the Lamb – before Creation and in time, and God delivers a people from His Wrath – by His Own Hand – it is the Lord’s Passover.

“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.”

And so, when we gather, we remember what God has done to save a people for Himself throughout history and through Jesus, and we commune with Jesus Himself, as we receive the symbols of bread and wine – the unleavened bread and blood of the Israelites, and the body and blood of Jesus, our Savior.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, as we remember the institution of the Passover meal and the blood that had to be shed to mark the Israelites You delivered from slavery and wrath, keep before us the connection to the Lord’s Supper and the body and blood of the Lamb of God, Who delivers us from our slavery to sin and from the Wrath of God.  For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.