Read Exodus 12:1-14; 13:3-10.

Introduction⤒🔗

One Easter, the congregation of a small rural church decided to give a special Passion Presentation. Everyone took part: some sang the favorite hymns of Easter, others read portions of the Scriptures, and still others wrote special poems for the occasion.

One young man made a cross; with a hatchet he spliced apart some pieces of a log, bound them together in the form of a cross with a strand of cord, and inserted this rough-hewn cross into a slot he had hollowed out in the remainder of the log that served as a stand.

After the Passion Presentation had been given and the Easter season was over, the pastor decided to make that simple, rough-hewn cross a permanent fixture in the church. He prominently displayed it on the center of the communion table at the front of the sanctuary.

Some months later, the pastor happened to notice that the cross was gone; someone had removed it from its position on the communion table. When he inquired as to what had become of the cross, he was informed that the cleaning lady had removed it because she didn’t think it looked good enough to be prominently displayed in the front of the sanctuary—it was too crude and rough-hewn.

What happened to that little wooden cross in that little rural church can also happen to the doctrine of the cross in some congregations: it no longer has a place in their religion or in their life. But for our sake and for His glory, the LORD would have us to ever remember the cross of Calvary and the great sacrifice of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Old Testament counterpart to Calvary was the Passover. As the LORD gives instructions for the observance of the Passover night in Egypt, He emphasizes the importance of commemorating that night throughout the future generations of Israel’s history. As Old Testament Israel was to perpetually remember the Passover, so we are to remember Calvary, because of the great salvation accomplished there by Christ our Savior.

Remember Calvary, because of the Awful Price of Sin←⤒🔗

In the eleventh chapter of Exodus, at the LORD’s command, Moses announces the tenth and final plague the LORD will execute against Egypt, the death of all the first born:

⁴So Moses said, This is what the LORD says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. ⁵Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. ⁶There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. Ex. 11:4-6

Why the death of the firstborn?

First, the first born is representative of the entire nation.

When the LORD carries out the tenth plague, and every household in Egypt suffers the death of their firstborn, the Egyptian leaders cry out, “We will all die;” literally, “We are all dead men!” (Ex. 12:33)

Second, the punishment corresponds to the crime:

Pharaoh had given his people the command: “Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you must throw into the River, but you must let every girl live.” (Ex. 1:22)

The LORD instructed Moses to bring the following message to Pharaoh:

²²You shall say to Pharaoh, This is what the LORD says: Israel is my son, my first born, ²³and I have told you, Let my son go, so that he may serve me, but you have refused to let him go. Listen. I will kill your son, your first born. Ex. 4:22-23

Just as Pharaoh has held the LORD’s “first-born son,” (Israel), in perpetual bondage, and consigned him to death, so the LORD will repay Pharaoh by consigning his first-born son to the perpetual bondage of death. Death is used here in reference to its ultimate form: whereas physical death ushers the redeemed into the fullness of life in the kingdom of God; physical death ushers the unrepentant sinner into the full experience of death, condemnation in hell.

The final state of the unrepentant sinner corresponds to his crime: Sinful man is found to be in defiance of an infinite Being, the Lord God the Almighty. Sinful man willfully and persistently violates every aspect of His being:

• Insulting God’s person with blasphemy (Rev. 13:6) and the misuse of the divine name (Ex. 20:7)
   
• Defiling God’s purity with all manner of immorality and perversity (Eph. 4:19)
   
• Seeking to usurp God’s position with the attempt to assume the very throne of God (2 Thess. 2:4)
   
• Inverting God’s perspective of self-giving love (Jn. 3:16) with a self-centered existence (Gen. 11:4)
   
• Presuming upon God’s patience by refusing to take advantage of the opportunity the divine long suffering affords for repentance (Rom. 2:4) and persisting in defiant hatred of the Creator and His moral law (Rom. 8:7)

Sinful man is found to be in defiance of an infinite Being, a Being who responds to that defiance with all of His infinite being.

When you provoke a lion, you are unleashing a power that is utterly overwhelming and absolutely devastating by its very nature. But sinful mankind has incessantly provoked One who is far greater than a lion: he has defied and provoked his Creator:

⁴This is what the LORD has said to me, As a lion, a great lion, growls over his prey, and even though a whole band of shepherds should be called together against him, he is not frightened by their shouts or disturbed by their clamor, so the LORD of hosts will come down to do battle on MountZion and on its heights. Isa. 31:4

The condemnation to which unrepentant sinful mankind is destined is nothing other than a direct and eternal encounter with his Creator and Lord in the unmitigated presence of His infinite being.

The death of the firstborn was actually the first plague the LORD declared He would enact against Egypt. When the LORD sent Moses back to Egypt, He gave him this message to convey to Pharaoh:

²²You shall say to Pharaoh, This is what the LORD says: Israel is my son, my first born, ²³and I have told you, Let my son go, so that he may serve me, but you have refused to let him go. Listen. I will kill your son, your first born. Ex. 4:22-23

But it is the last plague the LORD does in fact execute against the rebellious nation of Egypt.

Throughout the encounter between Moses (representing God) and Pharaoh, the LORD again and again seeks to turn Pharaoh from his stubborn rebellion, to induce him to repent, to spare him from the ultimate consequence of his sin. The LORD employs a vast array of measures: He sought to move Pharaoh by afflictions and by promises, by mercy and by judgments. But when Pharaoh spurns every overture and persists in hardening himself against the LORD, the LORD finally gives him over to the ultimate consequence of sin. That which the LORD threatened and forewarned, He did in fact finally execute:

²⁹At 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. ³⁰Pharaoh 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.Ex. 12:29-30

Along these same lines, note 2 Chronicles 36:15-17, a passage that relates the LORD’s dealings with the people of Israel at a later date in their history:

¹⁵The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had compassion for his people and for his dwelling place. ¹⁶But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the LORD was aroused against his people and there was no remedy. ¹⁷He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians, who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and spared neither young man nor young woman, old man or aged. God handed all of them over to Nebuchadnezzar. 2 Chron. 36:15-17

Note, too, Proverbs 1:24-28, a passage in which the wisdom of the LORD (perhaps a pre-incarnate manifestation of Christ (?)) declares,

²⁴Because you refused to listen when I called—I stretched out my hand, but no one paid attention; ²⁵you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke. ²⁶Therefore, I will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when what you dread overtakes you; ²⁷when what you dread overtakes you like a storm and your calamity sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish overwhelm you. ²⁸Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. Prov. 1:24-28

The Lord Jesus, who presently extends the invitation, “Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28), shall on the last day say to all those who have rejected Him and the witness of His Father, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41b). At Calvary we witness the awful price of sin, that which the unrepentant sinner will finally experience.

Consider not only what sin finally costs the unrepentant sinner, but also what it cost God to redeem His people:

³Speak to the whole congregation of Israel and tell them, On the tenth day of this month every man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household... ⁶You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to slaughter [their animals] at twilight... ⁹Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roast it over the fire—roast its head and its legs together with its entrails.Ex. 12:3,6,9

The lamb was to be selected on the tenth day of the month and slain on the fourteenth day— perhaps to allow time for its intestines to be emptied of stool? Then, on the fourteenth day of the month, the lamb was slain, its blood poured out, and its body roasted over the fire—for the salvation of God’s people.

When we consider the fate that the Egyptian Empire finally suffered, and the means of redemption provided by the LORD for His people in the form of the Passover sacrifice, we are confronted with the awful price of sin—the price that shall be personally paid by the unrepentant sinner; the price that was paid by the Savior on behalf of all those who trust in Him. The hymn writer Thomas Kelly expressed it well when he wrote:

You who think of sin but lightly,
nor suppose the evil great,
Here [at the cross of Calvary] may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.

Mark the Sacrifice appointed;
see who bears the awful load;
It is the Word, the LORD’s Anointed,
Son of Man and Son of God.

Just as Old Testament Israel was commanded to perpetually commemorate the night of their deliverance by means of the annual Passover, so must we as New Testament Christians ever remember Calvary, because of the awful price of sin: the price that shall be personally paid by the unrepentant sinner; the price that was paid by the Savior on behalf of all those who trust in Him.

Remember Calvary, because It is the Only Provision for Our Salvation←⤒🔗

Exodus 12:1 emphasizes that the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron “in the land of Egypt,” giving them instructions for the observance of the Passover Sacrifice. The LORD comes to His people while they are still in their bondage and He provides the means of their salvation. In this light consider such New Testament passages as Romans 5:8, “God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us;” and Luke 19:10, “the Son of man came to seek and to save what was lost.” We must not seek to make our own provision for our salvation; we must look to Christ and trust in Him as the divine Savior provided for us.

The LORD declares, “This month is to be for you the first month, it shall be the first month of the year for you” (12:2). What the LORD is providing is a new beginning, a new life, and a whole new order of things. Here we should take into consideration such New Testament passages as 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away, they have become new;” and 2 Peter 3:13, “according to his promise, we are watching for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness resides.” This is God’s provision for us and for our salvation: to make you a new creation, and give you an inheritance in a new creation.

What the LORD required was the selection and the sacrifice of a lamb: a lamb “without defect” (12:5), a spotless lamb. Ultimately, the LORD Himself provides that “lamb” in the person of His own Son, Jesus Christ: When John the Baptist saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, there is the Lamb of God!” (Jn. 1:36) What is absolutely necessary in order for us to be spared from the judgment of hell is a sinless substitute to take God’s righteous judgment upon Himself, and that Substitute is Jesus: “Christ...died for sins once for all, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones, so that he might bring us to God” (1 Pet. 3:18a).

The LORD required personal identification with that substitute; translated into New Testament terms, what is required is personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. According to Exodus 12:7, the lamb’s blood must be applied to the door post of each individual Israelite home, and to be spared from the judgment, each individual Israelite must stay in the house covered with the blood of the lamb:

²²Take 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. Not one of you shall go out the door of his house until morning. ²³When 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 the doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down. Ex. 12:22-23

Furthermore, according to Exodus 12:8, each of the Israelites had to eat the roasted flesh of the lamb, receiving life and nourishment from the sacrificial lamb. For our salvation, God requires us to have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ: we must entrust our lives into His hands, (just as you entrust your money to the bank), and receive Him as our Savior and Lord: “to all who did receive him, to those who are believing on his name, to them he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).

The LORD required that His people eat the sacrificial lamb garbed in travelers’ dress: their coats on and their walking staff in hand (12:11). The LORD was leading His people out of Egypt into a new life in His kingdom as His redeemed people. Our relationship with Christ means we now have a new and different relationship to the world: we no longer belong to the world, we are now on a spiritual journey to the kingdom of heaven.

Just as Old Testament Israel was commanded to perpetually commemorate the night of their deliverance by means of the annual Passover, so must we as New Testament Christians ever remember Calvary, because it is the only provision for our salvation. Just as the LORD instructed Old Testament Israel to apply the blood of the sacrificial lamb to their doorways and stay in the house, so the LORD instructs us to come to Christ—putting our trust in Him—and abide in Him, as He alone is able to deliver us from hell and bring us into the kingdom of God: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we can be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Remember Calvary, and Never Lose Sight of It←⤒🔗

The Passover was to be remembered as a yearly memorial, a perpetual reminder of the LORD’s great work of salvation. The children of Israel are commanded to “commemorate this day” (Ex. 13:3). In the same way must we as Christians ever remember Calvary.

When you feel forsaken by men, or by God, remember Calvary.

A man in Dundee, Scotland, who had fallen and broken his back, was confined to his bed for forty years. He never had a day without pain, but God gave him the grace and strength to keep going. His cheery disposition and great love for the LORD inspired all who visited him. One day a friend asked, 'Doesn’t the devil ever tempt you to doubt God?' 'Oh, yes, he tries, especially when I have to lie here and see my old schoolmates driving by, having a good time with their families. At times it’s as if Satan whispers, ‘If the LORD is so good, why does He keep you here? Why did He allow you to break your back?’ When the friend asked how he handled such attacks, the man replied, I point him to Calvary and the wounds of my Savior and say, ‘Doesn’t He love me!’ The devil can’t answer that, so he flees every time.¹

In John 15:13-14, the Lord Jesus Himself assures us,

¹³No one has any greater love than to lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴You are my friends.

When you feel the guilt of your sin, remember Calvary:

^1b...if anyone sins, we have someone who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. ²He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins.1 John 2:1b-2a

literally, 'he is the propitiation for our sins,' (i.e. the sacrifice that satisfies the divine justice and appeases the divine wrath of God).

When you encounter the lure of temptation, remember Calvary:

²⁰I have been crucified with Christ: it is no longer I who live, but Christ living in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Gal. 2:20

²⁴Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the sinful nature along with its passions and lusts. Gal. 5:24

In the hour when we face temptation, let us pray, “Lord, cause the new life that I now have in you to express itself in me.”

When you are confronted with an “insolvable” dilemma, remember Calvary:

²⁵God presented Christ Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement... ²⁶he did it to demonstrate his justice...so as to be just and the one who justified the man who has faith in Jesus.Rom. 3:25­-26

Calvary demonstrates that even the dilemma of how a just and holy God can forgive sin and still not violate His justice is not an insolvable problem for God—Calvary proves that nothing is too hard for the LORD!

When you find yourself being swept along by the current of the world, (the outlook, the attitude, the busyness of the world), remember Calvary:

¹⁴...far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by means of which the world has been crucifies to me and I to the world. Gal. 6:14

When you encounter the seduction of false teachers, remember Calvary:

³I delivered to you as of first importance that which I also received, namely, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; ⁴and that he was buried; and that he has been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. 1 Cor. 15:3-4

Just as Old Testament Israel was commanded to perpetually commemorate the night of their deliverance by means of the annual Passover, so must we as New Testament Christians ever remember Calvary, and never lose sight of it. Remember Calvary throughout all of your life and in the hour of your death. In the words of the hymn writer, Henry F. Lyte,

Hold Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies.
Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

Conclusion←⤒🔗

For our sake, and for His glory, the LORD would have us to ever remember Calvary, because of the great salvation accomplished there by Christ the Savior.

Discussion Questions←⤒🔗

1. Timewise, how does the LORD describe the Exodus that was about to occur? See Ex. 12:1-2 Just as the Exodus became a new beginning and the entrance into a new life, how does Scripture tell us about the man who has put his faith in Christ? See 2 Cor. 5:17 Have you experienced this all-essential spiritual reality in your life?

¹The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, ²This month is to be for you the first month, it shall be the first month of the year for you. Ex. 12:1-2

¹⁷...if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Cor. 5:17

2. What instructions does the LORD give for the selection of the Passover lamb? See Ex. 12:3, 5 Whom does John the Baptist declare to be the Lamb of God, the One to whom all the O.T. sacrificial lambs pointed? See Jn. 1:29 How does the Apostle Peter describe the Lord Jesus in 1 Pet. 1:18-19; see, also, 1 Pet. 3:18a Have you placed your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, receiving Him as your only Lord and Savior?

³Speak to the whole congregation of Israel and tell them, On the tenth day of this month every man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household... ⁵Your animal must be a year-old male without defect; you may choose it from the sheep or the goats. Ex. 12:3, 5

²⁹...[John] saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! Jn. 1:29

¹⁸...you were redeemed from your futile way of life handed down from your forefathers, not by perishable things, such as silver or gold, ¹⁹but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or defect, [the blood] of Christ. 1 Pet. 1:18-19

¹⁸Christ indeed died for sins once for all, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones, so that he might bring us to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive [again] by the Spirit. 1 Pet. 3:18

3. What two-part relationship were the Israelites required to have with the Passover lamb? See Ex. 12:7-8 Do you have the same “under His blood” and “Him in you by His Holy Spirit” relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ?

^7[The Israelites] are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and top of the doorframes of the houses in which they will eat the lambs. ⁸That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire; they are to eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Ex. 12:7-8

4. What would befall the Egyptians on the night of the Passover? See Ex. 12:12 What does Exodus 12:13 imply would befall those Israelites who did not avail themselves of the shed blood of the lamb? What does this tell us about the absolute necessity of availing ourselves of the Lord Jesus Christ as our only and sure hope of salvation? See Acts 4:12.

The LORD declared,

¹²I will go through the land of Egypt in that night and strike down every first born—both man and beast—and I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.¹³The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are residing; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague shall come upon you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. Ex. 12:12-13

¹²Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12

In this passage, the “name” of which Peter speaks is the name of Jesus Christ the Lord.

5. The Passover event was to be commemorated each year by means of the annual Passover Feast (Ex. 13:3,5,10). For the N.T. Church, the Passover Feast has been replaced by the Lord’s Supper; how is the Christian to observe this sacrament in a worthy manner? See 1 Cor. 11:28-29.

²⁸Now a man should examine himself; and [having done] so, let him [then] eat of the bread and drink from the cup; ²⁹for anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body [of the Lord], is eating and drinking judgment upon himself. 1 Cor. 11:28-29

To “recognize the body of the Lord,” means to recognize the sacredness of the sacrament and then to partake of it in a worthy manner by repenting of any sin you may be retaining in your life.