Exodus: Model of Redemption; Ex. 1-12
The event of the exodus is
perhaps the most significant event in the Old Testament; it is the defining
event for the nation Israel. Everything in Genesis preceding the exodus builds up
to the exodus and pays the foundation for understanding its significance and
why God has done this in human history. Everything following the exodus—the
rest of the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, and all the way through the Minor
Prophets, and even into the New Testament itself—is built upon it and flows and
develops out of it. So the exodus event is a sort of corner stone, a lynch pin
in terms of God’s unfolding redemptive plan in human history. We will see that
in this event the family of Abraham becomes the people of God, and then the
people of God will become a unique nation, a nation of priests. It is at the
exodus that they are redeemed but it is at Sinai that they receive the law.
Israel was saved at the exodus. It is Passover that is the
picture of redemption; the law comes after. The law is how the nation, now that
they are viewed as a redeemed nation, is to live before God; it is not how they
come into relationship with God.
Deuteronomy 4:32-35 helps
us understand or gives the image of what is going on
here. God has taken the family of Jacob down into Egypt, they are going to be enslaved; they are isolated in Egypt for a purpose: to protect them so that God can bring
about His redemptive work through the nation. Deut 4:32 NASB
“Indeed, ask now concerning the former days which were before you, since the
day that God created man on the earth, and {inquire} from one end of the
heavens to the other. Has {anything} been done like this great thing, or has
{anything} been heard like it? Has
{any} people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you
have heard {it,} and survived? Or
has a god tried to go to take for himself a nation from within {another} nation
by trials, by signs and wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and by an outstretched
arm and by great terrors, as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
To you it was shown that you might know that the
LORD,
He is God; there is no other besides Him.” So God is going to do a unique thing
in the exodus event in bringing the nation out from this other nation that has
enslaved them.
In order to develop a
nation there must be three things. There needs to be a people. Only about
seventy people went down to Egypt but it is in the womb of Egypt that this nation develops. Secondly there needs to be
a constitution, a body of law to bind the people together. It is at Sinai that Israel is going to be given a constitution—the Mosaic law. Third, there has to be a land. This was promised to
them: the land that is presently, at the time of early exodus, occupied by the
Canaanites.
What we are going to see
is how God purchased or acquired His people out of Egypt in Exodus 1-18. The first section we will look at is
the acquisition of the people. This was miraculous, and we learn that it is
through that event that they become the people of God. The Scripture compares
the exodus event to a birth process. Hosea 11:1 NASB “When Israel
{was} a youth I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son.” There is a supernatural growth in
the womb of the nation Egypt, a miraculous growth. At the beginning, according to
Exodus 1:1, there are seventy souls who go down to Egypt with Jacob. It is during that time of roughly 430
years that Israel grows to 600,000 men (Exodus 12:37)—probably 2 to 3-million altogether.
Secondly, there was a
miraculous preservation of the nation inside the womb of Egypt. They are not ethnically akin to the Egyptians. The
Egyptians are very racist in their views and so it is somewhat miraculous that
they survive. We have seen that there was a miraculous growth of the nation of Israel in Egypt, a miraculous preservation of the nation.
There was a miraculous
birth of the nation. Egypt is a reluctant mother. When it was time to give birth
Egypt didn’t want to give birth, didn’t want to release the
Jews; so they go through the travail of the ten plagues, and God brings on
these labor pains to force the Pharaoh to release the Jews from captivity. Then
there was a miraculous protection of the new baby. Once she was born she was utterly
defenseless. These were not trained military men, they did not have weapons and
the mother now wants to kill the baby.
God’s acquisition of His
people, this miraculous redemption bring them out from the nation, is tied into
the tenth plague which was the death of the oldest son. It was through the
death of Pharaoh’s oldest son that God actually was going to redeem His people.
We see immediately the tremendous analogy to salvation; it was through the
death of God’s Son that He was going to redeem all of mankind. What delivered
from the death angel in Exodus chapter twelve is the ritual of Passover which
God explained to them, and Passover is the background to the Lord’s
table. Passover must be understood in the context of the tenth plague.
It is at this time that the entire world of Egypt is under a death sentence of God. The oldest son will
die unless the Passover ritual is followed precisely. The Passover ritual is
the only way to have life, otherwise God will kill the
firstborn from Pharaoh’s house to the handmaiden at the mill. For either Jew or
Gentile God is going to kill the firstborn in every household unless Israel is released. God provided a redemption solution to Israel so that she could avoid this death sentence. Just as
it is a deliverance from death and from slavery it is
a picture of our deliverance from the slavery of sin. It portrays what God has
done in saving us from sin. Only as the Israelites pass through this event
nationally is it a picture of their redemption. At the heart of the ritual is
the lamb; the lamb pictures the death of Jesus Christ. Cf. John 1:29.
Exodus 12:1, 2 NASB
“Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ‘This
month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of
the year to you’.” So this establishes the ceremonial calendar for Israel. This is the month of Nisan, which is roughly March
or April.
Exodus 12:3 NASB
“Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each
one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a
lamb for each household.’” There is very precise instruction for Israel. The lamb is a type, an example. A type is an Old
Testament figure that represents a New Testament truth. The lamb is the type; the
antitype is Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. The altar is a type of the cross.
Here we have the selection of the lamb on the tenth of the month. Jesus entered
into Jerusalem in the triumphal entry (Palm Sunday) on the tenth,
and it is on the fourteenth that Jesus is then taken to the cross. So all of these dates are specifically fulfilled in the chronology
of Christ.
Exodus 12:4 NASB
“Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest
to his house are to take one according to the number of persons {in them;}
according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb.” The first
thing we need to observe is that the killing of this lamb portrays our
salvation. This is given in the first seven verses of Exodus chapter twelve.
The eating of the lamb portrays our sanctification. This is covered in vv.
8-11.
Two things we should
notice from these verses. 1) The supply is sufficient for everyone who wants to
be delivered. This relates to the doctrine of unlimited atonement, that Jesus
Christ’s death is sufficient to save every human being who ever lived in human
history (1 Timothy 4:10) but it is effectual or efficacious only for those who
apply it. It was effective only for those who applied the blood to the
doorposts of the house. 2) The supply is valuable and is not to be wasted; it
is not to be taken for granted. If the family was too small they were to go and
share it with the family next door. The New Testament refers to the blood of
Christ as being precious, more valuable than gold or silver.
The standard for the lamb,
Exodus 12:5, 6 NASB “Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year
old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same
month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight.” This refers to the
impeccability of Jesus Christ: that He was without sin. So they were to take it
on the tenth day and kill it on the fourteenth at twilight. Jesus died between
three and six pm. His body had to be down off the cross and in the grave before
the sun set.
The
slaying of the lamb itself. Exodus
12:6, 7 NASB “…the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight. Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it
on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it….
[46] It is to be eaten in a single house; you are not to bring forth any of the
flesh outside of the house, nor are you to break any bone of it.” They were not
to break a bone. This was to set up a type and also indicate a respect for the
body of Christ because His human body housed the second person of the Trinity
and God the Father treats the physical body of the Lord Jesus Christ with
respect. Isaiah 53:9 NASB “His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor
was there any deceit in His mouth.” John 19:33
NASB “but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead,
they did not break His legs… [36] For these things came to pass to fulfill the
Scripture, ‘NOT A BONE OF HIM SHALL BE
BROKEN’.” Psalm 34:19 NASB
“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers
him out of them all.” What was to happen is described in the sprinkling of the
blood is Exodus 12:7 NASB “Moreover, they shall take some of the
blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which
they eat it.”
The first seven verses of
Exodus 12 portray our salvation; the meal itself portrays our sanctification,
the spiritual life of the believer. The blood has been applied and we as a
family of believers are inside the house now. We are saved and are secure and
it really doesn’t matter how we feel when we are inside the house.
Exodus 12:8 NASB
“They shall eat the flesh that {same} night, roasted with fire, and they shall
eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.” So the first part of the meal
is the roasted lamb. They were to eat the entire lamb which represents feeding
on the entire person of Christ. We see that same imagery in John 6 when Jesus
said, “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides with me.” That is not
talking about salvation, it is talking about ongoing
fellowship and spiritual nourishment. So eating the roasted lamb represents
feeding upon all of the doctrines related to the person of Jesus Christ. We are
personally to meditate, to contemplate, to study every aspect of the person of
Jesus Christ; we are to think His thoughts; we are to be completely saturated
with the mind of Christ. According to 1 Corinthians 2:16 we
have the mind of Christ. We are to think like he thinks, we are to react
like He reacts, we are to live as He lived and have the character He
exemplified. That can only be accomplished by internalizing His Word.
That is represented by the
second thing that was eaten that night: the unleavened bread. Matthew 4:4 NASB
“But He answered and said, ‘It is written, ‘MAN
SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH
OF GOD.’” It not only represents the Word
of God but it also represents a particular attitude. Exodus 12:31 NASB
“Then he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, ‘Rise up, get out from
among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, worship the LORD, as you
have said’.” This is the Pharaoh telling Moses to take the people out of the
land. [32] “Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and
bless me also.’ [33] The Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the
land in haste, for they said, ‘We will all be dead.’ [34] So the people took
their dough before it was leavened, {with} their kneading bowls bound up in the
clothes on their shoulders.” The point is that they are in a hurry. They are
leaving the old life and are going to the new life. They don’t have tome to
leaven the bread, wait for it to rise and go through the whole process, they
have some place to go. The picture for us is the sense of eternal destiny,
recognition that we have a new destiny in Christ. That is where we are headed
from salvation; don’t look back to the old life, focus on the new life. We have
a new direction, a new calling, and we are to leave the old life without making
any provision or preparation. We are not to compromise with it, we are to go
forward. It is a new life, it is lived on a new basis with new power, new
provision, new promises and principles, and we are to learn what that is all
about and advance in that direction. The bread represents the fact that they
are in a hurry to leave the old and go to the new, just as we should be in the
Christian life.
The third element of the
meal is bitter herbs. This is a reminder of their slavery in Egypt, and to us it should be a recognition that there will
still be hardship and suffering in this life. There is always suffering
involved with our identification with Christ. If we are to be different, think
differently from what we were, then we will suffer for it.
This pictures the fact
that we should live our lives as if we are going somewhere. That is what they
are doing; they are eating that meal standing up with their staffs in their
hands ready to go somewhere. The image there for us is that we should live our
new life as if we are ready to go somewhere. We are advancing in the spiritual
life and we are putting behind us the old things. 2 Corinthians 5:17 NASB “Therefore if anyone is in Christ,
{he is} a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have
come.”