Exodus 11, 12:1-11.
ONE more plague was coming on Pharaoh and his people, and it was a terrible one. All the first born—the oldest one in every family in all the land of Egypt—were to die at midnight of a certain day. Not one would escape, from the king’s oldest child to the oldest child of the very poorest people, and even the first born of the beasts were to die. It makes us think of the day of judgment when all the unsaved will stand before the throne of the Lord Jesus; none will be spared then. They might have been saved during their life time, but would not listen to the pleading voice of the Lord Jesus. Just so it was with the people of Egypt; they might have escaped all the fearful punishment that God visited upon them, but they would not obey Him; would not do what He asked— “Let My people go.” They hardened their hearts, again and again, when He sent to them, and after a while God, Himself hardened their hearts.
There is a verse in the book of Ecclesiastes which I want you to read for a moment. It is in chapter eleven, the ninth verse. You will find it speaks to those who are “out for a good time,” without God.
“Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.”
The first verse of the next chapter is a good one for us to remember too: “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.”
In the twelfth chapter of Exodus we find God changing the beginning of the year for His people, Israel. The seventh month of the year was now to be the first, because it was the month in which God brought them out of Egypt. Everything was changed for them by His passing over those who were sheltered by the blood of the lamb.
Every family was to take a lamb on the tenth day of the month—not just any lamb, but a spotless one. In the evening of the fourteenth day all these lambs were to be killed, and their blood was to be put on the doorposts, and over the door of each home. Then, the flesh of the lambs was to be roasted, and eaten the same night with unleavened bread (bread made without yeast), and bitter herbs. The people were told exactly what to do; the whole lamb was to be roasted, it was not to be boiled, nor could it be eaten raw. “Roast with fire” was the only way for God, and whatever was left when they were finished eating, was to be burned up.
And how were the children of Israel to eat the lamb? All dressed and ready to go in a moment; even their staffs or sticks to help them in walking, were to be in their hands, and they were to eat “in haste!” For on that solemn night, God was going through Egypt, taking a life in every family, except those who had the blood sprinkled on their door posts. “When I see the blood, I will pass over you,” was God’s sure word to His people. With the dawn they would be on their way out of Egypt.
In all this, God has given us another picture of Jesus, and of God’s way of salvation.
Truly, when we come to God, through Jesus, it is a new start; all our past life seems wasted, and best forgotten, so it is “the beginning of months” from the time we are saved.
The spotless lamb whose blood was shed, tells of the Lord Jesus whose precious. blood cleanses from all sin; the roasting with fire is a picture of His bearing the punishment for our sins on the cross. Eating the flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs; the dress of the people; their hurrying through the meal, and burning what was left, all have lessons which even the youngest may understand. Leaven in the Bible is always a “type” of sin, and there was no sin in Jesus, nor can we go on in sinful ways or thoughts, and with God at the same time.
“Bitter herbs” turn our thoughts to the Lord on the cross, as we think of how our own badness made Him suffer so much there. Quickly He is coming to take His loved ones away to a better world, even His own home in the sky, but whether He comes at once, or not for some time yet, the saved ones should be always expecting Him, not settling down as though they were going to be always here.
The passover lamb was not to be common food; they were to eat it as part of this solemn dealing of God; it was to represent Jesus punished for our sins; His blood shed, and those who believe in Him, waiting for His coming, living by Him—Himself their food in that they should be studying the word of God and living for Him.
ML 01/08/1922