The blood of the lamb having been sprinkled according to the ordinance of Jehovah, the flesh of the animal was to he cooked and eaten. Here also for every detail there was divine legislation; nothing whatever was left to the decision of the people. So we read, “They shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof “ (Ex. 12:8-98And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. (Exodus 12:8‑9)). Eating has in Scripture the double force of appropriation and identification. In John 6:51-57 the Savior insists upon the necessity of eating His flesh and drinking His blood in order to have and enjoy eternal life. It is folly to drag the Lord’s Supper into John 6, for it had not been instituted at the time our Lord thus spoke. The meaning is that not only must He be slain in order to meet the need of sinful men, but men must distinctly appropriate Him in faith in that character. Hence the language of the new song in heaven, “Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood” (Rev. 5:99And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; (Revelation 5:9)). They who surround the throne adoringly acknowledge that their every blessing is due to the Savior’s death. Israel’s feeding upon the lamb in Egypt is thus typical of our appropriation today of the once-slain Christ.
But there is more than this. It was distinctly forbidden to boil the flesh, as also to eat of it raw. It must be “roast with fire.” Fire is the emblem in Scripture of the holiness of God in judgment. It is not enough for me to know that Christ died; it is essential that I should believe that He died atoningly, having first exhausted all the judgment of God that my sins deserved. “His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Pet. 2:2424Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Peter 2:24)). Feeding, as it were, upon the roast lamb, I enter in some measure into the awful judgment which fell upon Christ as my sin-bearer, and I realize that but for His self-sacrificing love I must myself have remained under the wrath of God forever (John 3:3636He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36)). A sense of this doubtless weighed heavily upon the soul of Saul of Tarsus in Damascus when for three days he could neither eat no drink (Acts 9:99And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink. (Acts 9:9)).
The “bitter herbs” which accompanied the roast lamb are suggestive of the same principle. The realization that sin—my sin—is of such exceeding gravity in the sight of God that nothing could expiate it, and thus save me from eternal ruin, but the death of Christ, and that in the midst of circumstances of unparalleled grief and shame, is bitter indeed; though the knowledge of redemption yields ultimately and forever exceeding joy.
Anything that remained of the Paschal lamb was to be destroyed in the morning. The sacrifice in all its ceremonial was to be completed within a single night. “Ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire” (Ex. 12:1010And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. (Exodus 12:10)). The rising sun was thus to see no trace of the slain lamb. In like manner the atoning work of Christ is not a progressive, but a completed thing. It is not in process of being accomplished; it has been accomplished definitely and eternally. As a fragrant and hallowed memory Calvary’s costly sacrifice abides with God and the redeemed forever, but the sacrifice itself is past and completed. So divinely efficacious is it that nothing further could ever be required or accepted. For God’s suffering Lamb the dark night of judgment is no more, and He lives on high in the eternal sunshine of divine favor and love.