Exodus 12 — Sketch

The First Passover

Big Idea:

• God has each of the Israelite households take a lamb — “year-old males without defects” — and slaughter it at twilight without breaking any bones.

• God then tells them to take the blood of the lamb and put it on the sides and tops of their door frames.

• Then they are to roast the lamb and eat it with bread made without yeast. And they are to eat it ready to leave with their robes tucked into their belt, their sandals on, and their staffs in hand.

• God instructs them in how to hold future Passover celebrations.

• At midnight, God goes throughout Egypt and kills the firstborn son in every house — but He passes over the Israelite houses with the lamb’s blood on the doorways.

• Pharaoh tells Moses to take the Israelites and leave.

• Israel leaves Egypt, plundering as they go.
  
  Jesus in This Chapter:

• The Egyptians believed that Pharaoh was the incarnate son of Ra, the sun god. So a plague that affected Pharaoh’s son was an affront to that idea. Jesus is the only incarnate Son of God.

• Throughout the bible, yeast is symbolic for sin. The Israelites were to eat unleavened bread as a symbol for Jesus’ sinless body.

• The sacrificed lamb was symbolic of Jesus as our ultimate sacrifice for sin, so the blood on the doorposts was also symbolic of Jesus’ blood. The message is that just as God’s plague of death passed over the homes covered with the blood of the sacrificed lamb, God’s judgment against sin will pass over us if we’re covered by the blood of Christ.

• The lamb had to be without defect because Jesus, whom the lamb represented, was sinless.

• The lamb's bones could not be broken because Jesus, whom the lamb represented, would be killed without His bones breaking (John 19:31-36).

• Just as God leads Israel out of slavery, Jesus leads us out of sin and death.

(Originally written April 22, 2022)