IT IS THE LORD’S PASSOVER
Exo. 12:11-14
Morning Meditation 10/8/14
Verses 11-14 say, “ And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD'S passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.”
In this present lesson, Moses continues to receive instructions from the Lord on how they are to keep the Passover. God carefully instructs Israel through Moses about how HE WANTS this done. The Passover is HIS IDEA. It is His provision for Israel’s redemption from Egyptian bondage. God makes a difference between His people and Satan’s. Egypt represents the world, the place of Satan’s domain. The act that will set Israel free (The Lord’s Passover) will condemn Egypt. It must be done exactly like God says it should be done. Remember, it is His Passover. He has the SOVEREIGN RIGHT to set the conditions for its observance. This is true of anything He does.
Verse 11 begins by saying, “And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD'S passover.” God instructed Israel to eat the Passover with their traveling clothes on. When they ate the Passover they were to be ready to go. The word for “haste” translates “chippazown” and means “haste or hurried flight.” God says, “When you eat the passover, dress for flight. You will leave Egypt in a hurry. I want you to be ready to leave.” God says, “Sleep with your clothes on!”
We need to learn the lesson intended here. When we come to God in repentance for our sins and trust Jesus as our personal Saviour, He becomes our Passover (1 Cor. 5:7). Repentance prepares us to leave where we are (in bondage to sin) and begin the journey into a new life. This new life will not be the old one made over. It will be the creation of a new life altogether. Paul says in Ephesians 4:24, “And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” God is saying to Israel and to us, “This is MY PASSOVER and this is not just a feast that can be enjoyed in Egypt where you plan to stay. You are leaving here never to return. You are going to embark on a journey that will not end until I have taken you to the land I promised you, i.e., a land that flows with milk and honey. So God says, “I want you to eat this Passover with your traveling clothes on.” When we trusted Jesus as our Saviour we should have been told to trust Him with our traveling clothes on. We immediately become pilgrims the moment we trust Him as Saviour. We are on a journey that will not end until we are safely home in the New Jerusalem. Those who teach salvation without repentance are telling people, “It is ok to trust the Lord in your pajamas. Your not really going any place. You are just going to enjoy your present life a lot better.” When repentance is preached people are being told, “You are taking of the Passover for the purpose of deliverance. Get ready for the change. You have been living in bondage to sin. You will not live in bondage to sin in the future. God will lead you in a different way from this day forward. He will save you and lead you out. To follow His instructions you must learn to think like He thinks. You begin by seeing that you have been thinking wrong. So repent of your wrong thinking and doing and take Christ with your traveling clothes on.” Some people begin to resist Jesus (His Word) immediately after their claim of trusting Him. I am afraid they misunderstood and have taken the Passover with their Pajamas on. God says, “Dress for flight!”
Then God tells Moses, “For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.” This is not an empty threat. This shows the severity of the Passover night. Israel will be safe. In fact, the Passover made them SAVE and at the same time made the Egyptians UNSAFE. Jesus said, “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (John 12:31-32). Jesus our Passover is sacrificed for us on the cross. He says that when He is lifted up, “. . .the prince of this world . . .” will be cast out. The act of saving is also the act of condemnation for those who reject Jesus as their Passover.
God says to Moses tell them that “ . . .the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are . . .” The word “token” translates “owth” and means “a distinguishing mark, a banner, a warning, a proof.” What did the distinguishing mark represent? It represented their faith in what God said. They believed God concerning their deliverance BEFORE the deliverance took place. They placed the MARK according to God’s direction because they believed the death angel would pass through the land as God had said. When they placed the token on their houses, they were saying, “We believe God.” The token was also a warning to the Egyptians who did not believe God. This token would be their marching banner. We as a people of God are still marching under the banner of the blood. When someone suggests taking the songs about the blood out of our books of praise, they run into immediate opposition by those of us who march through this world under the banner of the blood.
It was a scarlet thread that Rahab the harlot hung out the window of her house, that was on the wall of Jericho, when God gave Israel their first victory as they entered the Promised Land. When they saw the scarlet thread they said, “This woman has come to faith in Israel’s God and is celebrating the blood of the Passover Lamb!” She found safety under the blood. Amen!
Then we find in verse 14, “And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.” The words “This day” is not just any day. It is “This day, i.e., the day of the Passover.” There is a day in our lives as Christians that God does not want us to ever forget. It is the day we came to the cross and accepted the work of the cross as HIS PASSOVER for us. And we put our hands on the Passover Lamb and received Him as our PERSONAL SAVIOUR. What do I mean as Personal Saviour? At least two things. First, Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. But that does not mean the world will be saved. It means they CAN be saved. When we hear that Jesus loved the world and died to save the world and we come to Him individually and trust Him and ask for His forgiveness, it becomes PERSONAL at that point. The second thing it means is that sponsored salvation is not taught in Scripture. It has to be a personal matter. Your parents can’t trust Jesus for you. The Church cannot secure salvation for you. It is a personal matter. You must trust Jesus for yourself. Your parents may have meant well when they dedicated you as a baby. But no salvation took place then. Salvation takes place when you hear God’s instructions and respond positively to what He says. “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, REPENTANCE TOWARD GOD, AND FAITH TOWARD OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST” (Acts 20:21). Caps mine.
The word “memorial” means, “bring to mind, to remind.” The Passover is to be observed as a regular feast to remind the entire nation that God delivered them from an impossible situation and brought them into the land and gave them victory over all their enemies. They were to observe the Passover every year and when their children ask, “What does this mean?” They are to explain their deliverance so that their children would share their faith in God.
Why baptism for the Christian? It is a picture (token) of our faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as the basis for our salvation. Why the Lord’s Supper? It is a token of our faith in His sinless sacrifice (unleavened bread), and our faith in His shed blood for the remission of our sins. When we do it, we do it in remembrance (1 Cor. 11:24).
It is the LORD’S PASSOVER. May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.
In Christ
Bro. White
