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[0:00] Exodus chapter 12, last week, remember we mentioned the fact that as we begin to look at the Passover feast that God instructs for Israel that it was a consecration of the people of the people of Israel.

[0:30] The people of Israel toward God in preparation for their deliverance from Egypt and their journey to the land of their inheritance.

[0:41] And so we looked at the idea of consecration out of the book of Joshua, I believe it was. And so tonight we begin in actual first verse, first couple of verses of chapter 12, looking at the Passover.

[1:01] So take note with me, verses 1 and 2 of Exodus 12. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months.

[1:16] It shall be the first month of the year to you. Now notice again, he's still dealing not only just with Moses, but with Aaron as well, as he had through all of this dealing with Pharaoh for the deliverance of Israel.

[1:32] So he spoke to Moses and to Aaron. And he begins to say here, There's something now that's going to take place. Notice a little phrase.

[1:50] He spoke to them in the land of Egypt. That little phrase speaks to us concerning the relationship now that's going to take place between the law of the Passover and the law of Moses given on Mount Sinai.

[2:08] In the land of Egypt, the law of Passover is going to be given. Then they will journey to Mount Sinai where the law of God was given to Israel.

[2:19] So that tells us now that this law of Passover that he's about to give them is really the foundation of the giving of the law.

[2:30] And then later on, it takes place at Mount Sinai. Now, this month, he says, this particular month, the month they were currently in, shall now be unto you the beginning of months.

[2:47] It's going to be to you literally to be to you the head of the month or the beginning of the month. The beginning then of your year.

[3:00] Now, no doubt from this point prior, Israel had a different set of months and the counting of those months.

[3:13] But now this is going to be something different. From this point, a beginning of a new year, a different year. Speculation is that it commences with the sowing for the harvest and terminates then or ends with the end of the harvest.

[3:32] Now, the Egyptians commenced their year with the Nile River, the overflowing in particular of the Nile River at the summer solstice.

[3:44] So now God is saying to Israel, this particular month that we're in right now is now going to be the beginning of months for you. At the beginning of your year.

[3:56] So here it's as if it's a fresh start, which it's going to be. All right. After 430 years of knowing nothing but bondage and servitude in the land of Egypt.

[4:13] Not their land. How many generations passed in 430 years? Some never saw that freedom. But now this group is going to.

[4:25] So it's a fresh beginning for them. And it's going to have to be then, no doubt, something tremendous that they're going to look toward and forward to. So this month then, which is going to be the beginning of your new year, is going to be called a bib.

[4:43] Literally the ear month. That's when the corn was then in the ear. So it relates to the harvest, as we said a minute ago. Later on, after the captivity, we see in Nehemiah that the first of the year, the first month of the year is called Nisan.

[5:00] But either name you use, it corresponds to our month of April. All right. Now look at verse 3. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house.

[5:27] All right. Speak to all the congregation of Israel. That group that's represented, if you will, by the elders of the families. On this, on the tenth day of this new month.

[5:41] All right. Everyone is to take to himself either a lamb. It's a young one of sheep or of goats, according to the father's houses.

[5:53] All right. The picture here is every single family of the whole congregation. Every single family is to do this particular thing, to take a lamb on this tenth day of the first month.

[6:10] Take a lamb. And then he's going to tell them what they're going to do with that. So it speaks of the family unit here. It's not just an indiscriminate group of people that decide to come together like dinner on the grounds or something.

[6:28] Amen. Or like Sunday night birthday fellowships or Sunday morning after service dinners or what.

[6:39] This is the eatinest church we've ever been a part of. Amen. You know, when years ago I had the privilege of going to a mission trip to Bosnia.

[6:50] And when the week we were there, the ten days we were there, they were having some kind of special festivity, festival. And everywhere you went, every house had outside a big, what we would call a big smoker.

[7:06] And had the big pig on the spigot just rolling around all day long. And we asked about that and asked what festival it was.

[7:17] And I forget what they told us. But come to find out that the people of Bosnia, which were by religion, they were Orthodox. And the Orthodox found any reason they could to have some kind of a feast or festival.

[7:33] And they're worse than we are. Not by much. But they're worse than we are. All right. So, by the natural disposition of the family, they were to bring that family together and to bring then that pig.

[7:49] Or not a pig. See, I've got... I've got pig on the mind. Man, I'm in trouble. But, yeah, rescue me. Yeah. Yeah. He doesn't say a big...

[8:01] Well, you can use a goat if you don't have a lamb. All right. All right. Let's go to verse 4 before I get into trouble here. Now, he makes a stipulation here. If the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls.

[8:21] And every man according to his eating shall you make your account for the lamb. So, if your family was like Calvita and I, you know, we're the only two in our household now.

[8:33] Everybody else has grown up and gone. It would be hard for us to eat a whole lamb. And that's what's going to have to happen here. All right. Calvita doesn't eat a whole lot.

[8:46] So, that would leave all the rest of it to me. It would take more than one sitting for us to eat a lamb. So, what we would do, we would call up, though they don't live right next door to us, we would call up Ted and Yolanda and say, Hey, Ted, you're not Ted.

[9:05] Where's Ted? There you are over there. All right. Or Jim and Sharon, one of the two. Yeah. And say, Hey, you know, come on over to our house. Why don't we just bundle together here and share that lamb together?

[9:21] Now, if the four of us couldn't consume it, we'd have to bring somebody else in. All right. There were restrictions on the number of families that could be brought together. But nonetheless, that's the picture that he's showing here.

[9:35] Now, how they determined that is this. I'd call up Ted and I'd say, Ted, how much of that lamb can you eat?

[9:48] And you would respond. About that much. About that much. Yeah. And how much would Yolanda eat? Probably more than you would. No. Less than meat. You can tell.

[9:58] No, don't tell her I said. Tell her I said no. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, but that's how it would work. Those, you know, you're going to have to figure out. How many each person would be likely to eat?

[10:11] And then you go get your calculator out and you figure out, all right, how much that's going to be. And you're going to need to bring some people, more people in to help consume all of that lamb.

[10:24] So that's the picture that he has here. Always remember, God doesn't just do things just for fun. Amen. God always has a purpose in what he does.

[10:35] And there's a purpose in the idea here that that lamb has to be totally consumed. Thank you. Yes. Now, verse 5.

[10:49] Take notice of this. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. Ye shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats.

[11:01] Now, can have no natural imperfection, no disease, no deficiency whatsoever, or redundancy of parts.

[11:14] In other words, can't have two tails, three years, five legs, none of that. All right.

[11:25] It has to have specific things. Make sure it's without blemish in its natural state. Now, the Pharisees later on and the priests in particular later on, the rabbis, bickered about this.

[11:43] And just like the Pharisees adding to the law, they would add to some of the requirements to the point where they came down with at least 50 deficiencies that this animal cannot have.

[11:56] All right. If they had any of these, it would render the lamb unworthy to be used as a sacrifice. In other words, if they had, there were five different categories for the ear.

[12:09] Either of those five things, if they had that, couldn't use it. Three in the eyelid, eight in the eye, three in the nose, six in the mouth, and on down it goes until you got to 50 different deformities.

[12:23] All right. Aren't you glad, or I bet Israel was glad that God didn't go that far? Because how hard would it be to find a lamb that pure?

[12:35] Now, as the lamb then was intended as a sacrifice, the characteristics of that lamb were very significant, if you will.

[12:47] Why was it necessary for it to be freed from any blemish or deformity? Who it represented, or will represent.

[13:00] Yes. Yes. Okay. What is it about the Lord Jesus that it would represent, in this case, about freedom from the blemish? Without sin. Perfect. Okay.

[13:12] Yeah. Without sin. The perfect lamb of God. All right. So those are the characteristics he's relating to here. And it's because it's going to be a picture of the lamb of God that will take away the sins of the world.

[13:27] And I'm sure, I don't know that Israel could understand that at this point. But God presented that to them because he knew what it was going to stand for.

[13:39] They would later on come to understand some of this as time goes by. All right. So, why was it to be one year old?

[13:54] Because it was an adult.

[14:19] When it reached one year, it became an adult. As opposed to a junior lamb. Have you raised lambs before, Rocky?

[14:31] No, I have not. But I have read about animals. And typically, in historical items, that an animal is considered an adult.

[14:44] Okay. When it's then come to reach its full vigor of life and so forth. Okay. Yeah. That's right. It's going to get all the hair it can. You know, all the fur and all the deals.

[14:55] Yeah. Have all of it. Yeah. Be able to have little ones. All kinds of stuff. Yeah. Now, here's a harder question. Why a male?

[15:07] And I know what you're going to say, but it's wrong. You're going to say, because Jesus is a male, right?

[15:18] Came as a man. But that's not the answer. Why was it to be a male? Think about it just a moment. What's about to happen here? What's about to happen?

[15:30] And what does that slaying of the Paschal lamb represent? What does it represent? All right.

[15:41] So, what then does the characteristic of it being a male lamb represent? Realize here. What does it mean? What does it mean? Realize here.

[15:53] The sacrifice that Jesus was going to make on the cross of Calvary, that this represents, was an atonement. All right?

[16:04] The Passover lamb and the spreading of the blood upon the doorpost and the lintel of the doorway was what would prevent death from happening to the firstborn of the people of Israel.

[16:23] All right? All right? So, the firstborn male of the lamb was a replacement, a substitute for the firstborn males of Israel.

[16:45] So, they would not die. Yeah. This says firstborn is what Scripture says. So, they've been a male or female. Yeah. Yeah. But, of course, for Israel, the idea here is the male, male as being the one that, from which the family continues on, the lineage.

[17:04] Okay? All right. So, it was an atoning sacrifice. The Passover was going to be an atoning sacrifice for the people of Israel.

[17:17] Now, take note of verse 6. You shall keep it, that is, the lamb or the goat.

[17:29] If they didn't have a goat, I mean, if they didn't have a lamb, they could use a goat. All right? You shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month. And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.

[17:42] Now, the lamb was separated from the rest of the herd, or whatever they call them. Flock. It was a flock, wasn't it? Did it have wings like a bird?

[17:55] No. Okay. Separated from the flock on the tenth day of the month. Was not slain until the fourteenth day of the month.

[18:11] Why the four days? Why was there a four-day period before the animal was slain? Consecration.

[18:22] Well, it's a picture of consecration, isn't it, from what we saw last week. What else? Sort of to become a part of your family. Right?

[18:33] And to be a part of your family. Okay, that's one of the things that supposition and speculations a lot have. That it was so you could get close to it, unless it would be a true sacrifice.

[18:47] But also in that is the idea, not necessarily a part of the family, but being present there, separated by itself, probably in the house.

[18:57] You saw it every day. Every hour of the day that you were in the house. What do you think that would do for you?

[19:08] Or to you? You know that little lamb is going to die. If you ever had to have a pet put to sleep, you'll understand because you're very attached to it.

[19:26] Okay. And you're making the sacrifice of something that you have basically fallen in love with. So what do they see in that? What do they see in that?

[19:44] God is telling them to slay that animal. Would it not serve as something that speaks to them about what God is about to do on their behalf?

[20:03] That He was going to deliver them from the bondage that they've had for over 400 years. And that's what God was going to do. As He promised early on that He would do.

[20:16] All right? Sacrifice. Deliver the people of Israel out of Egypt. And now He's saying, it's about to take place.

[20:27] And here's what to do to prepare for that. And here's this little lamb wandering around your place, watching you ban at you. All right?

[20:37] They take long for children to get accustomed to little pets. All right? But you see that lamb. And there is what God's going to do.

[20:54] Sacrifice that lamb for us. But recognize something else here. Don't know how much of this that they saw, but there's something else that's pictured in that.

[21:11] What is it? What is the slaying of that little lamb going to represent? The death of the true lamb of God, not to redeem out of Egypt, but to redeem from the bondage of sin.

[21:39] All right? Yeah. There was a picture years ago that somebody painted that had the face of a lamb.

[21:55] Close-up face of a lamb. But integrated within that, if you look closely, was the face of a lion. Yeah.

[22:07] Yeah. That little lamb is going to become, what? The lion of the tribe of Judah. The true redeemer.

[22:19] All right? For Israel and for the entire world. Now, so, there's the time element.

[22:32] Now, to be slain by the entire assembly of the congregation of Israel, not, of course, again, not assembled together, but that meant that every family among the people of Israel were to do this.

[22:48] Nobody was exempt from that. No exceptions. It had to be done, and it had to be done at the same period of time. Now, it was to be done in the evenings, or literally between the two evenings.

[23:04] The Jews divided the day into morning and evening, and it's not like us. All right? Let me tell you what it is here. Till the sun passed the meridian, all was morning or forenoon.

[23:18] After that, all was afternoon or evening. So, their first evening began just after twelve o'clock and continued till sunset. The second evening began at sunset and continued all night or during the whole time of twilight, it says.

[23:37] So, between twelve o'clock and the termination of twilight, the Passover was to be offered. God didn't set any particular time in that. All right? Now, that's all I'm going to confuse you with in that.

[23:50] All right? Because I wanted to get to something here. The Passover now, but let me mention this if you will. The Passover really was slain close to or about the ninth hour.

[24:13] All right? Isn't that interesting that in Matthew 27, verse 46, in that passage, one of those passages that deals with the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, Scripture said about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama thabak thanai, that is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

[24:39] At the ninth hour. All right? What a true representation the Passover feast and the slain of the Lamb was about the death of the Lord Jesus in His crucifixion.

[24:51] Verse 7 now. They shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses wherein they shall eat it. So, you get the picture here.

[25:03] You have the side post, you have the lintel or the above post. All right? Some of that blood from the slain animal was to be put on those posts. All right?

[25:14] To serve as a sign. God said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. That's a good song too, by the way. All right? When the blood, when the blood was applied, the destroyer, God would see that blood applied and the destroyer could not enter into that house and do its nefarious work.

[25:37] Now, take notice, if you will, what's missing here when he talks about the blood being applied to the two side posts and the upper lintel, what's missing?

[25:53] Something's been omitted here. Something that God omitted. There's another part to the doorway.

[26:04] Threshold. The threshold. Look over, if you will, with me to Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9.

[26:23] Look at verse 11. It's talking about the high priesthood of the Lord Jesus. But Christ being come and high priest of God, high priest, excuse me, of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

[26:57] For if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifyeth to the purifying of flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

[27:16] Now I want you to notice again in verse 14. I think I've mentioned this before, but in verse 14 again, how much more shall the blood of Christ, now look at this phrase, who through the eternal spirit, all right, let me read to you that verse out of the expanded translation that Kenneth Weist wrote, how much more shall the blood of the Messiah, who by virtue of the intermediate instrumentality of his eternal spirit and in brackets, his divine essence as deity, thus his own volition as a member of the Godhead, offered himself spotless to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

[27:58] Again, that is a scholar writing that. It's wordy, all right, but it's explanatory. The idea of the eternal spirit is this. In the Old Testament economy of sacrifices and before Christ died, did those bulls and goats and heifers and all of those sacrifices have anything to say about it?

[28:27] Did any of them walk up to the head of the household and say, man, I want to be your sacrifice? No. No. Had no say so.

[28:39] They were just ignorant, if you will, animals that had no idea what was going on until their throat got slit and at that point they still didn't know they were going to be a sacrifice. All right?

[28:51] But Jesus, the idea of the eternal spirit or giving his life through the eternal spirit is the idea that he gave that with his own consent.

[29:04] All right? He said, in essence, yeah, I'm going to die. I, what does it say? He said, I give my life, no man takes it from me, I have the power to give my life, and to take it and to raise it again.

[29:25] All right? Yeah. You talk about the glory of redemption through Christ. That's it.

[29:36] Yes, certainly. Now, see if I can explain this. Certainly, it was the Father's divine will that the Son would die as a sacrifice for the sins of the world.

[29:58] But realize something again with me. Who is Jesus? He's God in the flesh. Somewhere in the book of Acts, the Apostle speaks of God in the eternal counsel, the eternal counsel of God.

[30:24] The eternal counsel of God was the time in eternity past, before creation of the world, that the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit met together in counsel to lay out the plan of redemption for mankind that was going to be created, that's going to fall into sin.

[30:48] Amen? Jesus was a vital part of that. He knew that they had determined that's the way it's going to happen when He came to the Garden of Gethsemane.

[31:05] Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me. Why did He say that?

[31:18] Let's see if you remember. Why did Jesus say that to the Father? If it be possible, let it pass. Let's do it some different way.

[31:32] What was He saying? what was the most desperate part of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus?

[31:47] Separation between Father and Son. Thank you. That's it. And that's the cup in Gethsemane that He did not want to partake of. That would cause a momentary separation of fellowship between the Father and the Son that had never, ever happened from eternity past to that present time before.

[32:16] But it's going to as He hangs on the cross as the sin sacrifice for ungodly mankind.

[32:26] that's why He says, Eli, Eli, Lama Fabak Thani, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

[32:40] Forsaken by the Father, forsaken by the Spirit, totally on His own. And the wording of that gives us the idea of Him being left in the condition of despondency and despair all by Himself.

[33:04] Yeah. Yeah. Did He know that that was going to happen? Yes. Because of the divine counsel of God in eternity past.

[33:16] But it still didn't make it any less severe. Especially in His humanity. All right? Yeah. But thankfully that was just for a brief moment of time.

[33:31] Because He says, my God, my God. You see, He never abandoned the relationship that He had with the Father.

[33:44] Never thought that was not going to be anything that would totally disappear. And what happened three days later? He came out of the grave.

[33:58] Amen? He went, ta-da! Remember the story? Some of you weren't here. Let me tell the story. A little story about a little girl in a Christian school.

[34:10] And the teacher asked the students in her class, what's the first thing that Jesus said when He was resurrected from the dead? Little Susie raised her hand. Just, I know, I know, I know.

[34:23] Teacher said, Susie, what's the first thing Jesus said when He rose from the dead? That's when she stood up from her chair and went, ta-da! Yeah, yeah.

[34:35] So that's what I was alluding to. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. Now, that's the sprinkling of the blood, a picture of redemption that was for us.

[34:51] 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 18 and 19 said, For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ.

[35:09] Notice the word precious. Amen? The precious, if you will, life-giving blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

[35:25] Yeah, yeah. Now, with the blood applied to the doorpost and the lintel.

[35:37] Well, hang on, realize something. it was a picture of the house that that blood was applied to was freed from its guilt and sin.

[36:00] All right? As it was done, as seemingly done on a consecrated altar. All right? Or consecrated on an altar.

[36:11] And that was evident from the fact that that blood was to be applied with a hyssop bush.

[36:23] Only prescribed by law in the connection with purification and in the sense of expiation of the sins. So that's an interesting picture there.

[36:36] That that became like a consecrated altar for the people in that house. All right? So, so recognize, of course, the law given later, at a later point.

[36:50] But, Israel had no common altar. They were in Egypt, in a heathen land. Land. So, the houses they were assembled in for the Passover served as consecrated altars.

[37:08] And the people found in them were thereby freed from the work of the destroyer. All right? Picture of being freed from the guilt and penalty of sin, if you will.

[37:21] now, again, realize, the Israelites were sinners just like the Egyptians. All right?

[37:33] We talked the other time about in 400 years how much the culture of that place may have become a part of the people of Israel. So they were sinners as well.

[37:45] But God was pleased to accept them through the shedding of the blood of the Lamb and the application of the blood to their doorposts and so forth.

[38:00] Now, again, Hebrews chapter 10 verse 29. Blood was not applied to the threshold.

[38:14] As the notes said and you read, so that it wouldn't be trodden underfoot. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 29, Jesus speaks of that here.

[38:27] Now, we'll look at it quickly, but we want to be sure and put it in the context in which it was written here. The context in which this was written to the Hebrews was that there were a number of Hebrews of Jews that had professed, yes, Jesus is the Christ.

[38:50] But for some reason they were enticed to go back to offering the Old Testament sacrifices. All right? Now, the warning that Paul gives, or the writer gives him, I seem to think it's Paul, but the writer, whatever you think it is, whoever you think it is.

[39:08] Now, the writer of the Hebrews addresses that in, well, verse 26, for if we sin willfully after that we receive the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.

[39:27] That idea, if we sin willfully, it's the idea of going back to the Old Testament sacrifice, if you take it in the context of the letter. All right? Now, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries.

[39:46] He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Now, look at verse 29. Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace.

[40:14] Now, so what he's saying is here, you have acknowledged Jesus as the Christ through his death, burial, and resurrection, and you go back and offer those Old Testament sacrifices again of the slaying of the animals.

[40:32] All right? You are saying that the blood of the covenant that Jesus shed for you is an unholy thing. All right?

[40:44] And you've trodden underfoot the Son of God. You've trampled all over him. All right? Because you're saying it wasn't sufficient.

[40:56] His sacrifice was not sufficient. All right? Now, that's why the blood was not applied to the threshold.

[41:10] Read that out of the Amplified. How much worse or sterner and heavier punishment do you suppose he will be judged to deserve who has spurned and thus trampled underfoot the Son of God and who has considered the covenant blood by which he was consecrated common and unhallowed thus profaning it and insulting and outraging the Holy Spirit who imparts grace.

[41:35] All right? So, through the faith in his promise and God's promise of passing over their house when the blood's applied that was a firm pledge of deliverance and they could trust that believe that because God's the one that said to do it.

[41:56] All right? Let's pray together. Father, again, thank you for your loving kindness today. Thank you, Father, for the blessing and the privilege of coming again together to study your word.

[42:11] It's almost as if we're coming together to celebrate a Passover which we've done in the study but to celebrate studying your word together, hearing from you, hearing what you've said, seeing what you have provided not just in that first Passover but the true Passover that has been shed for us.

[42:33] Father, we thank you and we praise you for that this evening. Again, thank you for these precious folks that have come out today to study your word. I ask your blessings upon them that as they've been fed the word of God that you will nourish them spiritually and physically sustain them and watch over them and use them for your glory.

[42:55] And we'll thank you for it in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Thank you.