[0:00] As we heard this morning, this weekend is a particular, peculiar weekend in the history of the Church and in our own experience as believers.
[0:16] And this is Easter Sunday, which commemorates the resurrection of our Lord. And having heard of the resurrection this morning, I decided that rather than look at that section, to look at the Friday Pipe to Resurrection Sunday, when our Lord died upon the cross at Calvary.
[0:48] John, in his Gospel, introduces us to the Lord Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God, he says, who takes away the Son of the Lord.
[1:04] And there's no better place to begin our study or our discussion on the sufferings of our Lord on the cross at Calvary than on the Passover, where the Lord instructed Moses and Herod on how the Passover was to be instituted.
[1:34] We notice in verse 11, the way in which the children of Israel were to eat the Passover lamb. He says, you shall eat it with your belt in your waist, your sandals on your feet, your staff in your hand, so you shall eat it in haste.
[1:54] Because this was the preparation of the Lord. The children of Israel had no idea of what was going to take place in the day following.
[2:06] But the Lord himself knew fine. And he had all the preparation made for them. The lamb which they were to prepare had to be proven as one without blemish.
[2:24] It was no use to take a lamb out of the flock and then have it killed. It had to be kept for those three days so that it would prove to themselves that it was in fact a lamb without blemish.
[2:43] A perfect lamb for the sacrifice that was about to be executed. The Passover comes after something like three terrifying days in Egypt.
[3:00] When the Lord struck Egypt with a total terrifying darkness. Again that darkness reminds us of the darkness that surrounded the cross at Calvary.
[3:17] When for three hours there was that just absolute total and unnatural darkness. Surrounding our Lord as he suffered in our room and in our stead.
[3:32] There was that darkness brought upon Egypt prior to this terrifying death which was to be executed by the Lord upon them.
[3:46] The Exodus of which is, this is the beginning, gives us the beginning of the history of Israel.
[3:58] Where it is transformed and developed from a family into a nation. They came down to Egypt probably with maybe 70 souls.
[4:11] By this time 430 years later they are a nation of between one and a half and two million people. And this is not just an illustration of what God can do.
[4:28] It is in fact a type. A type of the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. And there is an important distinction to be drawn between an illustration and an attire.
[4:44] An illustration is simply a visual explanation of a concept that you get on a poster. It explains to you something. It explains to you something.
[4:56] And visually you can see the meaning of what the person who illustrated wants to bring to you. A type on the other hand is a prophecy.
[5:08] A prophecy which is expressed in a symbol or in symbols. A prophecy which is a prophecy of the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[5:21] In a symbol of the perfect Lamb which is to be slain. But in addition to obeying a prophecy it is also an absolute promise.
[5:34] It is a promise by God that he will fulfill what this type means. And God alone is the author of the type.
[5:48] And this all happened probably about 1500 years before Christ was born.
[5:59] And the space which is given over to the sufferings and the death of Christ in Scripture. Tells us of the importance of his death.
[6:14] And when you look at Exodus here you find the amount of space which God devotes to the way in which he exercised his authority over the Egyptians.
[6:29] And the way in which he brought the Israelites, the children of Israel, out of the bondage of Egypt onto the way to the promised land.
[6:43] And because of the amount of space which he did, the devoted to it, it should exercise our minds. And we should devote time to its study.
[6:58] In verses 4, 6, 9 and 10 of this particular chapter, there is something quite significant that is brought before us.
[7:13] And he tells us that each family was to kill a lamb, bring a lamb. And when we consider the size of Israel, probably something like 250,000 families, there would be about a quarter of a million lambs killed in Egypt that particular night.
[7:40] And in each of those verses 4, 6, 9 and 10, it says that God says to them, you will kill it. He doesn't say kill them.
[7:51] Even though there are thousands of them to be killed. Even though there are thousands of them to be killed. He says kill it. Kill the lamb. Significantly, I think, bringing to our attention that here is a type of the lamb of Calvary.
[8:09] That he is bringing to our attention the fact that the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world is to be killed at this particular time.
[8:22] And we find, of course, that having celebrated the Passover on the third day, he was crucified as the lamb of God on the Friday.
[8:35] And he rose from the dead on Sunday, the first year of the week as it was then. You know, so many of them were buried as risen in Egypt.
[8:46] They had to follow a pecuniary old and a particular arrangement in order to be safe from the visiting angel of death.
[8:58] death. The blood was first of all sprinkled, we see, in the second section of this particular chapter. In verse 22 it says you take a bunch of heaths, dip it in the blood that is in the basin and strike the litter and then the door posts. Firstly it was suggestive of the protection from the righteous wrath of heaven itself. The angel was to pass through the lamb, the blood was to be their protection and in the first instance they needed protection from the wrath of God. Hence the blood was between themselves and heaven. But secondly the blood was to be sprinkled on the door posts, separating them from the Egyptians. The same blood that separated them from the wrath of God, separated them also from the Egyptians. In the same way as when we come to Christ we are cleansed by his blood. It is the blood of Christ who saves us, but it is also the blood of Christ that separates us from the world which is brought about us.
[10:34] So often we are afraid of those who are our friends, how they will receive us if or when we can't believe in this.
[10:50] How we will receive us once we are cleansed by his blood. But what we found, what all of us have found, is that the same blood that cleansed us and protected us from the wrath of heaven also separated us with no difficulty whatsoever from all of us from all of you in this world who are outside of Christ. And the same blood brought us into a closer union with those who are God's people.
[11:23] So we are saved by the mercy, the sovereign grace of God himself.
[11:33] Favor and mercy. There are two or three ways of looking upon this mercy from the Passover lamb.
[11:45] First of all, it is a sparing mercy. It says, I will pass over you. It could also mean I will step over you or I will leap over you.
[11:59] The idea is that they are being spared from judgment and that all of that night, all over the land, those who were outside of the protection of the blood of the Passover lamb were suffering because God was fulfilling his promise.
[12:21] And the elders, both of men and women and of animals, were being slaughtered by his angels.
[12:34] But they were left over, they were passed over. But it's also a brooding, and we see that in Deuteronomy 32 and verse 11, where it speaks of this brooding.
[12:54] It says in verse 10 of Deuteronomy 32, The way in which the eagle protects his own.
[13:30] But we also see the way in which God's brooding, God's protection, works in the life of our own saviour. In Matthew's Gospel 23, it says, The brooding of God's presence around his own.
[14:08] Wishing to protect, wishing to protect those who are under the covering of the blood of salvation. But it's also an assuring version.
[14:22] When he says here, For I will pass through the land. He doesn't say, When you see the blood, You will be saved.
[14:37] He says, When I see the blood. He is the one who looks for the blood. He is the one who assures us That the blood is sinned by him.
[14:49] And thus, That we should be freed from all fear. Where we take Christ to us. Where we are cleansed and covered by the blood of the pastor now.
[15:00] We have the promise of God that when he sees that blood, He will pass over us. But it's also a delivering machine.
[15:12] After the feast of the Passover, They came out with a glorious deliverance. Out of Egypt. They had been in bondage, In a hard, hard bondage, For so many years.
[15:26] But now they were to receive the booty. There was to be a great flaw. And Pharaoh, Who, On so many occasions, Refused to let them go.
[15:40] He was now saying, Take them. Take those children of Israel. Take them away. Out of our land. And make sure that they take everything that they possess with them.
[15:54] But there's also a warning. In all of this. The blood was sprinkled on the lintel on the door. No one was allowed to go out during the night.
[16:08] And none of the blood also was allowed to fall upon the floor. None was to fall upon the threshold. It was important that no one would walk upon the blood of the pastor now.
[16:24] Trouble under fruit, The son of God. Paul says, An account in the blood and an holy thing.
[16:36] How much worse the punishment will be. If we have heard of the gospel of Christ. If we have heard of the pastor now.
[16:47] And have decided that it's not for us. That we have trampled under fruit. The blood of salvation. We think sometimes that the children of Israel were let off with the death of Christ.
[17:11] But what we sometimes don't remember or understand. That less than 40 years after Christ was killed upon the cross of Calvary.
[17:24] The Romans came and besieged Jerusalem. And it's estimated that one and a half million Jews were killed in Jerusalem by the Romans.
[17:40] Jerusalem was raised to the ground. The temple was totally destroyed. And a further hundred thousand, they reckon, were taken prisoner. The individual soul was saved from death by the Christ who is on the cross.
[17:57] The fact that Christ died will save Noah. Unless we accept him personally.
[18:08] Then they pity it is of Noah. We have to accept this Christ. We have to, by faith, lift the sacrifice of Christ between our guilty souls and the avenging God.
[18:28] And when he sees the blood, he will move on. That is the arrangement of the daily.
[18:40] What about the chapter that it affords God's people? The first thing that it brings to mind is the fact that there is condemnation.
[18:52] I will strike all the firstborn of the land.
[19:03] The sentence of death was passed upon all the firstborn. Not just on the Egyptians. All were condemned already. There was no difference between Jew or Gentile.
[19:18] The condition of all men under the law is that they were under the curse of the law. The sentence of death is already passed because we have all sinned.
[19:30] And it doesn't matter who we are in this world or what privileges we have. The condemnation is still the same.
[19:41] That he was married. The firstborn. Unless we come to this ground. There is condemnation but there also here is a substitution.
[19:56] You shall take every man a lamb for an house. Every condemned one required a lamb to redeem him from death.
[20:08] Either the firstborn or an innocent substitute must die. This is God's method and there will be no change from it.
[20:21] And in our own experience, in our own lives, either we are to suffer eternal death and condemnation for eternity.
[20:33] Or we have to rely on an innocent substitute. To die in our room and in our sin. In fact, that Christ be our Passover sacrificed for us.
[20:50] As Paul puts it to the Corinthians. So there is a condemnation, there is a substitution. But there must also be an appropriation. You shall take of the blood, he tells Moses and Aaron.
[21:06] And it shall be a token upon the houses where you are. The death of the lamb again availed nothing until the blood was applied.
[21:20] They could take the lamb in on the tenth day, have it for the three days to prove it. They could kill it, they could host it, they could eat it. But unless the blood was on the lintel and on the doorless, it availed them nothing.
[21:36] They would not be saved by the death of Christ. But only by the personal acceptance. An appropriation of that death on the grounds of justification before God.
[21:52] It is hard to us times to believe and to understand that we are justified before God.
[22:03] We find so much in our own lives that would condemn us. And Satan daily brings to our attention ways and reasons why there should be no salvation for us.
[22:21] But that is not what God tells us in his own word. When we accept Christ, we are covered by the blood of the Paschal Lamb.
[22:34] And we are declared righteous before the throne, before the judgment seat of Christ himself. God declares us to be righteous as if we had never sinned.
[22:50] When we take Christ to us. And when the blood of Christ is strengthened upon us.
[23:01] The sacrifice of Christ is between us and the arranging God. He sees the blood and he passes over.
[23:14] And as I have said to him, not only does he pass over, but he is like the brooding hen. He protects. He broods over us. He covers us.
[23:25] He keeps us from all of the evil of this world. And there is also for us confirmation.
[23:37] He says, when I see the blood, I will pass over. When Jehova passed through Egypt that night, he was not looking for Israelites or Egyptians.
[23:52] The only thing he was looking for was the blood of the Lamb. The precious blood of Christ is ever before his eyes.
[24:03] Christ is at God's right hand. He is a constant reminder of God the Father.
[24:15] That he fulfilled the commission that was given him in eternity. In eternity, God loved his old people. In such a way that he chose them to be with them throughout the ages of eternity to come.
[24:37] But in order that they be with them, it was necessary that one would die in their room and in their place. Christ accepted that commission. The Father of the glorious scripture gave them to those people who we have chosen.
[24:56] Thine the way that thou hast given them to me. But in order to receive that inheritance, he had to suffer for them.
[25:07] He had to die for them. The Paschal Lamb had to go and die upon the cross of Calvary upon that day. The leaven was put away from the houses on the first day.
[25:31] Nothing that would purify, nothing that would corrupt was to be left in the houses. And so often that you complain about how poor your witness is.
[25:48] But remember what David said. He said, although one house may not so with God, yet he has made an eternal covenant with me, ordered in all things, man sure.
[26:06] And that's the only thing that we can rely on. This is the confirmation that it is an eternal covenant. It is ordered in all things.
[26:18] And it is yours. And as it was in the life of David, so it is in the life of you and I. Scripture confirms to us in so many ways that ours is a secure life.
[26:36] Our is a secure eternity. But there is also a reciclation. The Lord says, none of you shall go out until the morning.
[26:56] I suppose that many of them would be wondering what was going on. It would be peculiar if they were stressed about what was going on outside of their houses.
[27:11] But God said to them, when I see the blood, I will pass you by. And they had to calmly rest behind the shelter of this blood.
[27:24] And in so doing, they had quietness, confidence, strength. Where else can we hide except under the blood of salvation?
[27:39] There is no safety for us outside of the blood sprinkled house of refuge. We cannot have any refuge anywhere else except under this blood.
[27:56] In the knowledge that where he sees the blood, he will pass by. And as we saw in that small section of the book in Deuteronomy, how precious is he to God himself.
[28:13] Well, he says, you are as dear to him as the apple of his eye, because you are blood-bought people. When I see the blood, I will pass over you.
[28:28] And as I mentioned already, there was separation. Pharaoh rose in the morning probably. He wouldn't have gone much sleep.
[28:41] Pharaoh said, rise up, go, take your flocks and be gone. Pharaoh was desperate to get rid of this people.
[28:52] He wanted them out of his sight, out of his touch. The blood had been shed, the blood had been clied. The Israelites had no difficulty now getting away from those who had been their oppressors.
[29:10] Those who had treated them as slaves. Those who had not paid them for generations probably.
[29:22] But God, through Pharaoh, had instructed the people of Israel to give them of the riches of the land of Egypt. And so you are, if you are in God's care, not only will he separate you from this world and all of his care and all of his difficulties, but he will have the riches of this world.
[29:48] And he will fulfil every promise to you. Come out from among you, Paul says. Come out from among them and be disciples, says the Lord, and I will receive you.
[30:01] And in another place he says, I have loved you with an everlasting love, with loving kindness that I brought you.
[30:16] And I believe that this day, where we remember the Passover of Friday, Calvary of Friday, and the empty tomb of resurrection morning on the Sunday morning as we have it, on Easter Sunday, and it reminds us that we have confirmation from God himself, that we will be with him where he is, that we will receive the Lord and be with him, and that we shall receive the inheritance which he has so gloriously promised us.
[31:00] May that be your portion, but only if you accept and apply the blood of Calvary. Let us pray.