Jesus throughout the Scriptures: Exodus (4)

Pray Psalm 119.49, 50.
Remember the word to Your servant,
Upon which You have caused me to hope.
This is my comfort in my affliction,
For Your word has given me life.

Sing Psalm 119.49, 50.
(Wycliff: All for Jesus)
LORD, remember all the good Word You have spoken unto me!
For I ever hope in You, LORD as I serve You joyfully.

This my comfort in affliction, this my comfort in all strife:
that Your Word is my redemption, giving me eternal life!

Read Exodus 12.1-24; meditate on verses 12, 13.

Preparation
1. What did God instruct the people to do?

 2. Why should they do that?

Meditation
Some of the people of Israel, upon hearing the instructions God gave through Moses, might have remembered the blood shed to cover Adam and Eve and the ram in the thicket which took the place of Isaac. With the Passover they would have seen a trajectory, but not merely from the past. The Passover was to be a perpetual memorial of God’s delivering grace, how, when He saw the blood on the doorposts, He would pass by that household and turn His wrath away from them.

Year after year, what began here as a sign of God’s delivering grace would be continued, ever looking back to the first Passover and ever pointing forward to the next.

And though the people could not realize it, pointing forward to the final Passover which took place on a Roman cross on a hillock outside Jerusalem.

Those who were not under the blood of the Passover lamb would experience the wrath of God, just as those who do not embrace the blood of Jesus condemn themselves to eternal wrath. Those who were under the blood of the lamb were to consume it entirely. In like manner, we feed on Jesus through both His Supper and His Word, which brings joy to our soul to feed on it (Jer. 15.16).

The Passover is a type of Christ which Paul and John made clear in their writings. Jesus is the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world by sheltering His flock under His own blood. As we feed on Him day by day, we are enriched in our great salvation and transformed, from glory to glory, into the likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 3.12-18).

Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us; let us keep the feast of celebrating His offering by sheltering under His blood and feeding on all His Word (1 Cor. 5.7, 8).

Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
“Therefore the LORD God of hosts, the Lord, says this:
‘There shall be wailing in all streets, and they shall say in all the highways, “Alas! Alas!”
They shall call the farmer to mourning, and skillful lamenters to wailing.
In all vineyards there shall be wailing, for I will pass through you’, says the LORD” (Amos 5.16, 17).

This lamentation of Amos, from God to Israel, was reminding them of the original Passover, and calling them to remember that this had been done once before and could most surely be done again—protection only to be found snuggled tightly in God’s care within His parameters of safety.

The spies warned Rahab that she and her family would remain safe only by abiding within her home, when Israel overcame Jericho. She was to bring them inside; “so it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head…” (Josh. 2.19). God’s parameters.

Jude warned God’s people to “stay always within the boundaries where God’s love can reach and bless you” (Jude 1.21 TLB).

God instructed Moses and Aaron to tell the people: take some of the blood of the slain lamb without blemish and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where you eat the Passover meal (Ex. 12.7). “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” (Ex. 12.13).

We must stay within the parameters of God’s grace, mercy, forgiveness, cleansing, and restoration to experience the passing over of His wrath from us to the Lamb of God, His Son Jesus.

“Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain
to receive power and riches and wisdom,
and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” (Rev. 5.12).

“And without shedding of blood there is no remission…but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation” (Heb. 9.22, 26-28).

Stay safely hidden with Christ, covered by His blood, within His boundaries, to be passed over by God’s wrath. All worship and thanks and praise and obedience to “Jesus Christ…the ruler over the kings of the earth…Who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood…to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (Rev. 1.5, 6).

We would be wise to heed the warning from God through Moses and Aaron, Amos, the Jericho spies, and Jude, as His Word is true and unchanging: “I will execute judgment: I AM the LORD” (Ex. 12.12).

“If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared” (Ps. 130.3).
“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us…” (Eph. 1.7, 8).

The Loving blood-splattered Doorpost and Lintel.

Reflection
1. We are delivered from the judgment of the Lord. This is good news! How does this fit into the Gospel when we are sharing it with someone?

2. If someone rejects the Gospel when we share it, do we need to advise them of the ongoing wrath of God? Explain.

3. How should being “passed over” by God cause us to regard Him?

The paschal lamb was typical. Christ is our Passover, 1 Corinthians 5:7. Christ is the Lamb of God, John 1:29; often in the Revelation he is called the Lamb. It was to be in its prime; Christ offered up himself in the midst of his days, not when a babe at Bethlehem. It was to be without blemish; the Lord Jesus was a Lamb without spot: the judge who condemned Christ declared him innocent. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Exodus 12.1-20

Pray Psalm 119.51-56.
Ask the Lord to give you a greater hunger for His Word, that you may learn to trust Him more and to rest in and be comforted by His promise and Name.

Sing Psalm 119.51-56.
(Wycliff: All for Jesus)
Though the proud deride and taunt me, I will trust Your faithful Word.
Let Your judgments from of old be all my comfort, holy LORD.

Indignation grips me, Savior, for those who forsake Your Word.
All Your statutes, all Your favor, I will sing with joy, O LORD!

In the night Your Name attends me, and I keep Your holy Word;
let Your precepts all befriend me, as I keep them, glorious LORD.

T. M. and Susie Moore

If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).

For more insight in teaching and learning in Jesus, see our book, Know, Love, Serve. Learn more and order your copy in book form by clicking here, or in PDF by clicking here.

Support for Scriptorium comes from our faithful and generous God, who moves our readers to share financially in our work. If this article was helpful, please give Him thanks and praise.

And please prayerfully consider supporting The Fellowship of Ailbe with your prayers and gifts. You can contribute online, via PayPal or Anedot, or by sending a gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, P. O. Box 8213, Essex, VT 05451.

Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.